Geoffrey Boleyn

Arms of the Boleyn family.

Sir Geoffrey or Jeffery Boleyn (1406–1463) was a London merchant and Lord Mayor of London.

Life

Hever Castle.

Blickling Hall as it is today.

Geoffrey Boleyn was the son of Geoffrey Boleyn (d. 1440) yeoman of Salle, Norfolk, and Alice,^[1] and grandson of Thomas Boleyn (d. 1411) of Salle and Anne, an heiress, daughter of Sir John Bracton, a Norfolk knight. He went to London, was apprenticed to a hatter, and became a freeman of the city through the Hatter’s Company in 1428. In 1429 he transferred to a grander livery company, the Mercers’ Company, of which he became master in 1454.^[2] As a wealthy mercer he served as a Sheriff of London in 1447, as member of parliament for the city in 1449, as alderman in 1452, and Lord Mayor of London in 1457/8,^[3] and was knighted^[4] by King Henry VI.^[5] He purchased the manor of Blickling in Norfolk from Sir John Fastolf in 1452, and Hever Castle in Kent in 1462.^[5]

He was buried in the church of St Lawrence Jewry in the City of London.^[5]

Siblings

The brasses of five sons and four daughters were still in situ in Salle's parish church in 1730.^[6][7]

• William Boleyn.^{[8][note 1]}
• John Boleyn.^[8]
• Thomas, prebendary of St. Stephen’s, Westminster, precentor and sub-dean of Wells, Master of Gonville Hall, Cambridge, and Master of the college at Maidstone,d.1472.^[11](executor to Geoffrey's will).
• one unknown brother.
• Cecily (1408–26 June 1458^[12]), died unmarried at Blickling.
• three unknown sisters.

Relatives

• Simon, parochial chaplain of Salle, Norfolk died 3 August 1482.
• James of Gunthorpe, Norfolk, died 1493 (executor to Simon's will).
• Thomas of Gunthorpe, Norfolk (executor to Simon's will).
• Joan named in her brother's (Simon) will., married to Alan Roos^{[note 2]} of Salle, died 1463, he was the receiver (responsible for collecting rents) to Margaret Paston's (née Mauteby d. 1484) properties in Salle.^[15] Secondly she was married to Robert Aldrych, died 1474.

According to British historian and author, Elizabeth Norton, Geoffrey Boleyn who died in 1440 was their great-uncle.^[16]

Marriage and issue

Boleyn married Anne Hoo (1424 - 1484), the only child of Thomas Hoo, Baron Hoo and Hastings (d. 13 February 1455), by his first wife Elizabeth Wychingham, by whom he had two sons and five daughters:

• Sir Thomas Boleyn (d. 1471/2).
• Sir William Boleyn (d.1505), mercer, who married Margaret Butler, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond.^[17]
• Isabella (1434–85) who married Henry Aucher (1410–60).
• Alice Boleyn b.abt.1438 d. abt. 1480 m. Sir John Fortescue of Punsborne, Hatfield, Herts d. 1500.
• Anne Boleyn (born c.1440), second daughter, who married Sir Henry Heydon (d.1504), by whom she had eight children. She died c.1509.^[18]
• Cecily Boleyn b.abt.1442.
• Elizabeth Boleyn b.abt.1459.

Sir Geoffrey Boleyn died in 1471.^[5] He and his wife Anne were the great-grandparents of Queen Anne Boleyn.^[19]

Arms of Geoffrey Boleyn

The arms are Boleyn, Argent, a chevron gules,between three bulls heads couped Sable, quarterly with arms of Bracton, Azure, three mullets, a chief dauncette or.^{[note 3]}

Notes

1. William settled in Lincolnshire and died in 1427, he is the ancestor of the Lincolnshire branch,^[9] English antiquarian William Stukeley was a member of the same family on his mother side.^[10]
2. Son of Thomas Roos (died 12 October 1440),^[13] a prosperous merchant who built the north transept chapel and like the Boleyns of Salle, was a member of the Guild of the Holy Trinity (An amalgamation of the Guilds of St Mary, St John and St Catherine) of Coventry^[14]
3. Coat of arms of Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, Lord Mayor of London, 1457.^[20]

Notes

1. Franklyn, Charles Aubrey Hamilton, The Genealogy of Anne the Quene, 1977
2. Franklyn, op. cit.
3. Beavan, The Aldermen of London, p. 17
4. "Six Wives", by David Starkey, published by HarperCollins Publishers, 2003, p.257
5. Weir, p. 145.
6. "Salle, The Story of a Norfolk Parish, its Church, Manors and People", by Walter Langley Edward Parsons, published by Jarrold and sons, 1937, p.42
7. "An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk", by Francis Blomefield and Charles Parkin, volume VIII p.275.
8. "The publications of the Harleian Society, the visitation of Norfolk", edited by Walter Rye, London 1891, volume XXXII, p.52
9. "An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk", by Francis Blomefield and Charles Parkin, volume VI p.386.
10. "Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, Comprizing Biographical Memoirs" of William Bowyer, by John Nichols, printed by Nichols, Son, and Bentley, London 1812, volume V p.499
11. "Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College, Boleyn pedigree p.18"
12. "Engravings of Sepulchral Brasses in Norfolk ", by John Sell Cotman and Samuel Rush Meyrick, volume I p.23
13. "An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk", by Francis Blomefield and Charles Parkin, volume VIII p.275.
14. "Religion and the Early Modern State, views from Russia, China, and the West", by James D.Tracy and Marguerite Ragnow, published by Cambridge University Press, p.326
15. "Salle, The Story of a Norfolk Parish, its Church, Manors and People", by Walter Langley Edward Parsons, published by Jarrold and sons, 1937, p.149.
16. "The Boleyn Women", by Elizabeth Norton, published by Amberley Publishing 2013, chapter 1, Norfolk Origins.
17. Richardson 2004, pp. 178–179.
18. Moreton 2004.
19. Hamilton, op. cit
20. "The general armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time", by Bernard Burke, published by Harrison and Sons in London, 1884, p.96

References

• Cokayne, George Edward (1949). The Complete Peerage, edited by Geoffrey H. White XI. London: St. Catherine Press. p. 51.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1945). The Complete Peerage, edited by H.A. Doubleday X. London: St. Catherine Press. pp. 137–142.
• Hughes, Jonathan (2007). "Boleyn, Thomas, earl of Wiltshire and earl of Ormond (1476/7–1539), courtier and nobleman". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2795. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Ives, E.W. (2004). "Anne (Anne Boleyn) (c.1500–1536), queen of England, second consort of Henry VIII". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/557. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Moreton, C.E. (2004). "Heydon, Sir Henry (d. 1504)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13167. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Richardson, Douglas (2004). Everingham, Kimball G., ed. Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company Inc. ISBN 978-0-8063-1750-2. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
• Weir, Alison (1991). The Six Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Grove Weidenfeld. p. 145. ISBN 9781446449097.

External links

• Boleyn's memorial brasses: Jmc4-Church Explorer
• http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/BoleynTree.html
• Lundy, Darryl (7 Feb 2013). "Sir Geoffrey Boleyn". The Peerage.com. p. 326 § 3252. Retrieved 2 May 0008. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
• "Royal Berkshire History". Retrieved 2008-05-02.
• Boleyn pedigree: History of Gonville and Caius College
• Will of Geffray Boleyn, Mercer and Alderman of Saint Lawrence Jewry, City of London

1. K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, I Domesday Book, (Boydell Press, 1999), p. 229
2. Ann Williams, G.H. Martin, Domesday Book; A Complete Translation, (Penguin Books, 1992) p. 85
3. Claire, 2013. Anne Boleyn’s Family Tree, www.theanneboleynfiles.com, February 8
4. The Boleyn Family, www.englishmonarchs.co.uk
5. Elizabeth Norton, 2013. The Boleyn Women, Amberley Publishing
6. Tricia J Mccall, Ancestors of William Henry Cress Generation, www.genealogy.com, Generation Page No. 21, 20, 19, 18, 17
7. BOLEYN FAMILY, www.tudorplace.com