Henry A. Fitzhugh

Our Descent From Henry VIII?

By

Henry A. Fitzhugh

D

ear Reader, before you cringe in horror at such family disloyalty, let me hastily explain that the Lady in question is my great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great-great-grandmother, Mary Boleyn Carey. Time is the universal healer, and when you read this brief summary of the evidence, you will see why I am forgiving, amused, and perhaps just a little bit proud to claim a probable descent from King Henry VIII.

Everyone has heard of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, for whom he threw over Queen Catherine of Aragon and whom he later beheaded in the Tower of London, for adultery, witchcraft, sorcery, incest, and offending his Dignity. But few know of her sister Mary Boleyn. Both sisters were brought up in the Court of the French King Francis I[1] as part of their improvement, which was undoubtedly aimed at raising their value on the marriage market, in order to serve the vaulting social and political ambitions of the Boleyns. Mary certainly took full advantage of the opportunities available and the lax moral tone[2] of the French Court, for King Francis said he had “ridden her” as “my hackney”[3], and twenty years later, when all the tumult of Anne’s execution had passed, he referred to Mary as “a great whore, the most infamous of all”[4]. Francis I was arguably the most powerful King in Europe, so he should know. Slightly more tactfully: “Warm hearted and ductile, Mary made the mistake of scattering her favours too widely and making her affairs too public. It was one thing to be the King’s Mistress; quite another to be known to be at everyone’s disposal. Even at the lascivious French Court there was a code of discretion; Mary had offended it. She was either sent or withdrawn hastily to England.”[5]

References to Mary Boleyn having an affair with Henry VIII abound in the footnotes of all references to the Tudor period, but my attention was caught when a historical novel, The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory, was published in 2001.[6] The main story line in the novel is that King Henry was attracted to Mary Boleyn just after her marriage to William Carey, and that Henry soon displaced William and took over Mary for an affair of some six years or so, giving her two children into the bargain, namely Catherine Carey and Henry Carey. The point is strongly made that the King would never share the favours of a mistress; he had his Royal pride, and he would have to be sure that any child was his, for illegitimate claims abounded in those days.[7] All of this began before but overlapped with the King’s growing attachment to Anne Boleyn, who was less beautiful but had more magnetism and cunning than her sister.[8]

The novel covers the rise and fall of the Boleyn family to the day of execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, but from the standpoint of our own family history the central question is this: was Catherine Carey the natural daughter of William Carey or of King Henry? We have a line of descent from Catherine (see family tree following), so we could be illegitimately descended from Henry VIII. The rest of this note weighs up the available evidence.

All of the references following agree that Henry and Mary had an affair, and this is never doubted anywhere. Those that mention dates place it between 1519 and approximately 1525.[9] There is a hint, no more, in some of the references that Mary’s marriage to William Carey, who was then one of the King’s Gentlemen, was in fact a marriage of convenience for Henry. In other words, the marriage was a useful way to keep Mary accessible, without the risk that he would have to acknowledge her or any children in the way he did for the unmarried Elizabeth Blount and their son Henry FitzRoy.[10] That son had been born in 1519, the same year that Henry started the relationship with Mary. Henry later admitted the affair in 1528, by asking the Pope for a Dispensation to marry Anne Boleyn; he needed this because of his “affinity” and “consanguinity” with Mary.[11] Canon Law made no distinction between a licit and an illicit sexual connection, so Henry’s affair with Mary Boleyn made Anne Boleyn his sister-in-law.[12] It is worth noting that in a contested divorce suit, consanguinity could only have been conclusively proven if there was a child to show for it. In other words, Henry could have denied that impediment to his marriage if there had been no child.

Mary was married in early 1520, on February 4. King Henry’s wedding present was 6s 8d.[13] Bruce is brusque: “It was a sorry match for a Boleyn, but Mary had spoiled her chances for a good one.”[14] Catherine Carey was born in 1524, and Henry Carey on March 4, 1526. He was said in his infancy to resemble King Henry.[15] In 1533, Henry Carey, although aged only seven, claimed he was “Our Sovereign Lord the King’s son”.[16] At this time, his aunt (and stepmother) Anne was on the throne and desperately trying to have a male child of her own, so whoever put the child up to such a statement must have been pretty confident.[17] There are also at least two direct and contemporary references that state that Henry Carey was King Henry’s child. In 1535, Sir George Throckmorton accused Henry to his face of “meddling” with Mary Boleyn and her mother. “Never with the mother”, replied Henry.[18] Cardinal Reginald Pole also said much the same in a private letter to Henry.[19] And in the same year, John Hale, Vicar of Isleworth, stated that a Monk at St Bridget’s Priory Abbey pointed out “yongge Master Care” as the King’s bastard son.[20]

Only two references doubt this story.[21] Both simply express doubt and offer no evidence at all. In fact, Fraser’s dates are probably incorrect when she says the affair was probably over before the children were born; this is flatly contradicted by Weir.[22]

Дата добавления: 2015-08-05