Maria Boleyn: biography and the famous beauty novel

When this name is pronounced, Anna, the youngest sister of Mary, is most often recalled. But what is known about it?

Origin

Born Mary (Mary) Boleyn in the family of one of the courtiers King Henry VIII in the Norfolk manor house Blickling Hall, which belonged to the family Boleyn, and grew up in Heiver (Kent).

Her father, whose name was Thomas Boleyn, made a successful career at court, although in his veins and did not flow blue blood. The mother was Elizabeth Howard, whose own brother later became the lord-treasurer of the king. There are some disagreements among historians about the date of the birth of Mary: the majority is sure that it was 1499, others are for the period from 1499 to 1508. There are also some doubts about which of the famous sisters was the eldest. But those who attribute primacy to Anna, can not explain the fact that none other than the grandson of Mary, Lord Hansdon, asked him to give him the title of Count Ormond. If Anna were the eldest, then this title should rightly belong to her daughter Elizabeth I. So, most likely, the elder sister was still Maria Boleyn. Anna was born either in 1501 or in 1507. They also had a brother George.

Education

As befitting the noble maidens of the time, Mary was still attached to the young adolescence as the maids of honor of Maria Tudor, sister of the same Henry VIII, who played a crucial role in the life of both the eldest and the youngest of the Boleyn family. In 1514, she accompanied the princess to Paris for a marriage with the King of France, Louis XII. After she performed her role, Maria Tudor left her with her, and did not send her home. Perhaps, Father Maria tried, which by that time had become the ambassador of England in France. And even when Maria Tudor returned to her homeland in 1515 after the sudden death of her husband, not married for a year, her former favorite stayed in Paris and began to serve a new pair of monarchs - Queen Claude and King Francis I.

Whatever it was, the stay at the royal court had a significant impact on the career of the young lady-in-waiting. Over time, her parents could find her a safe lot from among some lords, and she would have lived comfortably the rest of her life, having given birth to a couple or three heirs. But it did not quite happen.

The affair with the French court

Maria Boleyn was not quieter at all, but managed to twist a few novels with some courtiers of the king, and then with Francis I. Clear evidence for this is not, perhaps it's just an exaggerated rumor, although the king himself spoke of her as a rather frivolous girl. Be that as it may, Maria's reputation was not at all impeccable, which influenced the attitude of the court to her younger sister Anna, who did not allow herself such liberties. The fact is that Mary lived and behaved as she would like, she was almost not interested in wealth and power, she did not seek to marry by calculation, unlike her sister.

But stay in France ended in 1519. Maria's father influenced the fact that his eldest daughter received a maid of honor from Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England, the first wife of Henry VIII.

First marriage

In 1520, a 21-year-old beauty marries. William Carey was a suitable party.

He was one of the king's courtiers, and quite influential. Of course, the king himself was invited to the ceremony of their marriage. It is commonly believed that it was then that he drew attention to Mary. She was handsome and outwardly matched the standard of beauty of that time: light-haired, lush-chested and white-haired. Photo of Maria Boleyn, of course, does not exist, but there are many pictures with her portrait. Here's one of them.

Henry and Maria Boleyn

Their romance began soon after her wedding.

By that time Henry had already been married to Catherine of Aragon, who still failed to please him with the rightful heir of the masculine gender, and whose appearance he was trying to achieve. During this time, their relations have cooled, although they remained rather friendly, so to speak, mainly because the queen did not interfere with the King's novels on the side. For example, before Mary, Henry's favorite was a certain Betsey Blount, who was the first of his women to give him a son. But in 1522 her place was surely taken by the eldest daughter of the Boleyn family. She confidently kept her positions until 1525. Did Henry love Maria Boleyn? The story is silent about this.

The fact that she was married did not bother anyone: neither her, nor her husband or parents, who were endowed with generous estates, so that they would not interfere with the monarch's whims.

Although the parents did not mind at all, even on the contrary, because according to the court mores of that time, to slip their children into bed with influential people and to use these relations to obtain possessions or titles was not considered anything mean, but was in the order of things. Therefore, when 3 years later the king refocused on their youngest daughter, the Boleyns again jubilated.

Maria Boleyn never claimed the title of queen, she was satisfied with the state of her constant lover. But her sister Anna went much further: she demanded a divorce from Catherine and a legal marriage with the king.

So, when Maria stopped interested in Henry, she was allowed to return to her husband.
This happened in 1525, and in 1526 Henry Carey, the son of Maria Boleyn, was born. But her husband soon after that, namely in 1526, died, leaving his wife with two young children in her arms. She could be doomed to poverty, because he owed huge sums of money, and if it were not for the intervention of her sister Anna, it is unlikely she could have been able to get even with them herself. The king gave her from the treasury 100 pounds as an annual income.

Children

Maria Boleyn and William Carey had two children - the daughter of Catherine Carey (in 1524) and the son of Henry Carey (in 1526). Fatherhood is attributed to Henry, they say, they were born during the period of the novel of Mary and the King. Whether it is true or not, there is no official proof. However, there are indirect ones: contemporaries said that Henry was very much like a king outwardly, and also a certain priest John Hale in his memoirs called the young Mr. Carey Bastard Heinrich. Although it is believed that at the time of the birth of his son, the romance of Mary and the voluptuous monarch had already exhausted itself, and she went to the lawful spouse. But about the paternity of her daughter, Catherine, there is no such certainty. Be that as it may, Maria never sought Henry to recognize them as her children-either because they were not so, or to save them from imminent death at the hands of the legitimate heiress of the throne of Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, who Then became known as the Bloody Mary.

Second marriage

When her sister Anna, having achieved her goals over many years, becomes the Queen of England in 1933, Maria still serves at the court, now in the retinue of her sister. But suddenly, unexpectedly for all, she marries. Her chosen one this time was William Stafford. Maria's husband Boleyn was a very poor man, he did not have any title. From this it follows that this was a union of love, which was quite a rare phenomenon among the courtiers.

The fact that her sister married almost a commoner, so angered the Boleyn family and Anna herself, that she exiled the Stafford out of the royal court. They lived in Rocford (Essex County). The spouses had no common children.

Although Anna then made steps towards reconciliation: for example, she sent them gifts and money to Roachford to support them financially. It is not known whether Maria Boleyn had been offended by Anna for the rest of the day or not, but the fact remains that she did not visit her either during her time in prison or before her execution in 1536. Perhaps she was just afraid of falling out of favor with the king, who had already undeservedly executed her brother George, and Anna accused her of being a witch.

last years of life

Maria did not survive her sister for long. For unknown reasons, she died in 1543. Until the end of the days she lived with her husband and children in Essex and led a pretty quiet life. From Anna, she inherited a small inheritance, thanks to which her family was not bad.

Maria Boleyn lived this short but eventful life. Her biography served as inspiration for many filmmakers who filmed the story of her fate.