The Boleyn family appeared from nowhere at the end
of the fourteenth century, moving from peasant to
princess in only a few generations. The women of the
family brought about its advancement, beginning with the
heiresses Alice Bracton Boleyn, Anne Hoo Boleyn and
Margaret Butler Boleyn who brought wealth and
aristocratic connections. Then there was Elizabeth
Howard Boleyn, who was rumoured to have been the
mistress of Henry VIII, along with her daughter Mary and
niece Madge, who certainly were. Anne Boleyn became the
king's second wife and her aunts, Lady Boleyn and Lady
Shelton, helped bring her to the block. The infamous
Jane Boleyn, the last of her generation, betrayed her
husband before dying on the scaffold with Queen
Catherine Howard. The next generation was no less
turbulent and Catherine Carey, the daughter of Mary
Boleyn fled from England to avoid persecution under Mary
Tudor. Her daughter, Lettice was locked in bitter
rivalry with the greatest Boleyn lady of all, Elizabeth
I, winning the battle for the affections of Robert
Dudley but losing her position in society as a
consequence. Finally, another Catherine Carey, the
Countess of Nottingham, was so close to her cousin, the
queen, that Elizabeth died of grief following her death.
The Boleyn family was the most ambitious dynasty of the
sixteenth century, rising dramatically to prominence in
the early years of a century that would end with a
Boleyn on the throne.
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