maxasaurusrex | (no subject)

This is an essay I wrote for my grade 12 Ancient history class. We had to pick a question and answer it. And, in my attempt to worm around the restrictions, I did a character breakdown of Mary Boleyn, based on the question "Who was the other Boleyn girl." I kicked ass and took named with this essay, even though it seems a bit shitty now that I read it.

Sister, Lover, Mother; who was the other Boleyn girl?

In the shadow of the notorious Queen Anne Boleyn lives Mary, a girl who inspires images of innocence and fairness, of youth and silence, who lived quietly, losing all touch with the court. However there is something hiding behind that porcelain portrait. Mary Boleyn was not who we commonly believe her to be. Mary is composed of mists and shadows, and the fame of her sister further aided in her slip into the shadows of history. There are more questions than answers about this girl. Who was she, really? Was she really the youngest sister? Was her influence only as far as her affair with Henry VIII, and what of her two husbands? What is her connection to royalty through her own children? Through careful looks into the research of Tudor experts, a gradual image begins to emerge form the darkness prompting the question; “Just who was the other Boleyn girl?”

Mary is often thought to be the youngest sister of George and Anne Boleyn, despite evidence to the contrary. In 1499 Thomas Boleyn married Elizabeth Howard, uniting two power hungry families. Letters sent by Thomas reference his wife’s amazing fertility, delivering a child every year after their marriage. Of their children were Mary, Anne, George, Thomas and Henry. Thomas and Henry died in their infancy, leaving only the three notorious Boleyn siblings to remain. On Anne’s patent to become Lady Marquess of Pembroke she is stated as being “One of the daughters” of Thomas Boleyn, the wording of which conveying that Anne was not the eldest daughter. In 1597, Sir George Carey, 2nd Baron Hundson claimed to be the legitimate heir of the Boleyn family. Due to the rules of hierarchy, if the men in a family fail to produce an heir, the duty of carrying on the line rests in the oldest female. George Boleyn had no children, and if Anne were the eldest daughter, Queen Elizabeth I would have been the legitimate heir, and with her childless death, the Boleyn line would have ended. This, of course, must mean that Mary was the oldest, carrying on the line with her son Henry Carey and his eldest son George Carey. Further evidence to Mary being the eldest Boleyn lies in her marriage, more specifically, when it happened. Traditionally the eldest female was married first. Mary was wed to William Carey on February 4th, 1520. Why then, if Anne was older, would Mary have been wed first? All in all, Anne was a much more interesting girl, while no better off in terms of title. If she had been the eldest, she would have been married off first. While nothing is definite, a majority of the evidence certainly suggests that she was the eldest sister.

Beyond being a sister, Mary was a lover. She was a lover of both kings and men, notorious for her place in the beds of the patriarchy and obscure in her two marriages. Most people are unaware that Mary slept with not only Henry VIII, but also with Francis I. In 1514, Mary accompanied Henry VIII’s sister, Mary Tudor, to France when she was to marry Louis XII. When Louis passed and Mary Tudor returned to England, Mary Boleyn stayed on in the court of Claude de Valois, where she met Francis I. Very few details about the affair are recorded, but it is said that Francis called Mary “[his] English mare”, and “a great whore, the most infamous of all”. It is recorded vaguely that she went on to engage in many affairs around the courtiers, and garnered an ill favourable reputation for herself and her family. Upon Mary’s return to England she was wed to William Carey. The relationship was an awkward one, and was likely not consummated quickly. She hadn’t been married long before she engaged in her famous affair with Henry VIII. The dates of the affair are commonly agreed upon to be 1522 to 1526. This is mostly due to the increase in favours that Thomas Boleyn, George Boleyn, William Carey and Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk, her father, brother, husband and uncle, respectively. On top of the evident increase in favours to those around her, these days also coincide with the end of Henry VIII’s previous affair with Bessie Blount, who gave him an illegitimate child. During these years of the affair, Mary had two children. Towards the end of 1526, it is believed that Henry came across Anne and started the ill-fated courtship, pushing Mary from favour. After the affair, she went back to her husband, William Carey. Unfortunately, in 1528, William died and with him went all Mary’s financial nets, leaving her near destitute and out of favour with her family in light of Anne’s success. It was in 1534 that Mary married William Stafford, a soldier of little standing, and thus a disgraceful match. It was thought to have been a love match; as such a move had Mary expelled from court in disgrace and disowned by both her family lines. Mary certainly wasn’t the squeaky clean innocent that people believe her to be, but she is every bit the romantic.

And last but not least, Mary was a mother. Over the course of her life, Mary is believed to have had four children, only two surviving past infancy. The two surviving children, Catherine and Henry, carry the name Carey. The two deceased children, Edward and Anne, are Stafford. The conditions of the birth of Catherine and Henry Carey are suspect though. Catherine is believed to have been born in 1524, and Henry in 1526, placing the conception of both children in the midst of Mary and Henry VIII’s affair. There is speculation about the father of these children, as she only became pregnant during the time of the affair, and not in the two years afterwards where she was again reunited with her husband, conveying the idea that her relationship with her husband was almost entirely non sexual. In turn, she only became pregnant again once she married William Stafford. Another hint to the parentage of Catherine and Henry would be the amount of favours that Mary’s husband, William Carey, received. The bulk of the grants that were given to William were concentrated around 1524, and 1526, the years of birth of both Catherine and Henry. It is believed by some historians that Henry was showing his interest in the children in such a way as to set up fitful lives. Henry VIII also took a special interest in the education of the children. Upon William Carey’s death, the King awarded gaurdianship of Henry Carey to Anne, so as to keep him well educated and well tended to in the face of Mary’s impending poverty. Henry even showed interest in Mary’s children long after Anne’s fall from grace and execution. He recruited Catherine into the court of Anne of Cleves, a move with is completely unfounded, if not motivated by personal favouritism. A similar sentiment was extended to Henry Carey, as at age 19, he had a place in Henry VIII’s own court. On top of his place in court, Henry Carey was bestowed with the title of Baron Hunsdon. Hunsdon Hall was where Henry chose to educate all of his children. Unfortunately the only way to tell if the children were official royal bastards would be if Henry VIII acknowledged them. Before Mary came along, Henry VIII had another child by Bessie Blount. That child, Henry Fitzroy, was bestowed with titles such as Earl of Nottingham and Duke of Richmond and Somerset. Such recognition made it known that Henry Fitzroy was the son of the King. Unfortuantely, not much dottage was paid on Mary’s children. Some speculate that the King regarded Mary’s children this way due to his relationship with Anne. As a point of interest, after Henry VIII passed, his habit of favouritism to Mary’s children passed on to Elizabeth I, who doted upon her cousins lovingly.

Mary Boleyn sunk into obscurity long before the sword touched her sister’s fair neck. And maybe it’s because of this that she managed to survive through the ravaging of her family. She led a life that touched many of the great names of the 16th century, and then she faded away. Mary is an enigma that exists solely in others accounts of her. She was the elder sister of the infamous Anne Boleyn. She was her confidant, her friend, and her most hated enemy. She slept in the beds of two great, oposing kings, and was said to have loved one of them. And in addition, she was wed twice. Once for proximity to the king she loved, and one for the lowly soldier that she loved. It was within this love marriage that she raised her children, two of which undoubtedly carry the regal Tudor blood in their veins. All the whispers of her life that we can gather weave a tail of a girl who suffered by her family, loved by her family, and disappeared from her family. It is within these glimpses of her that we must realize that we’ll never know the full story of the other Boleyn girl.

Anyways, if you're interested in that sort of thing, I'd like some feedback, as I am a validation starved teenager who likes comments.