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00:00She was our most infamous queen, the second wife of Henry VIII, tried on his
00:18orders for crimes of adultery and treason. Anne Boleyn was led from her
00:25rooms at the Tower of London to her death by an executioner's sword.
00:39This Tudor saga is one of the most familiar tales in English history.
00:47But to really understand Anne's rise and fall, we need to know more about those
00:53who helped shape her. Her tight-knit, cunning and power-hungry family.
01:03The Boleyns are one of the great stories in British history. It is an extraordinary epic of hubris and pain, the good and the bad kind of ambition.
01:14Every member of the family had a part to play.
01:21Thomas Boleyn, the ambitious patriarch. George, the fearless son. His sisters, Mary, the reluctant mistress. Anne, the calculating courtier. And their brutal uncle, Thomas Howard.
01:39The Tudor public had always been used to stories of tragic falls, the stories of falls of kings and princes. But even they might not have imagined a fall as graphic as the fall of the Boleyn family.
01:54Based on rare original letters and documents, the Boleyns will tell this story from their own perspectives.
02:01The court could produce no proof of my incestuous guilt. Other than that I had spent hours in the presence of my own sister.
02:14I will not say your sentence is unjust. My savior has taught me how to die. And he will strengthen my resolve.
02:22The family played a dangerous game and paid the ultimate price. But they left a remarkable legacy. Changing the course of British history. And taking their name from obscurity to the apex of power.
02:43In 1508, the first Tudor king, Henry VII, died.
03:10In 1508, the first Tudor king, Henry VII, is on the throne.
03:19Anne Boleyn and her siblings, George and Mary, are growing up in wealth and privilege.
03:27Watched over by their mother, Elizabeth.
03:31Anne and George are thick as thieves. They have the same temperament. They have the same personality. They are vibrant children. They're precocious. They really do take after their father.
03:46Thomas Boleyn is a career man who has high hopes for his children.
03:53Thomas Boleyn is highly educated. He speaks French fluently. He is also someone who reads and understands Latin. And he is interested in intellectual matters.
04:09Thomas Boleyn is a third generation gentleman. His grandfather really came from nothing. Very much, if you like, nouveau in that respect.
04:25Thomas Boleyn's grandfather, Geoffrey had climbed the greasy pole of 15th century society, all the way from a lowly apprentice hatter to Lord Mayor of London.
04:40His son, William, made a good marriage and acquired further wealth and lands.
04:45But Thomas wanted more. He wanted to become a powerful player at the King's Court.
04:54Thomas Boleyn inherits this Boleyn legacy. He is determined to improve as well upon his own generation and passed down to his children.
05:03He's ambitious for his family. What's the point of life if not to rise above your standing?
05:08But when he started his political career in the 1490s, he had a problem.
05:19Clearly mapped out in one of the most influential books of the day.
05:22The go-to handbook, if you were a young hopeful who wanted to become a courtier, was Baldassare Castiglione's The Courtier, El Cotegiano.
05:39This is a book that had been printed and translated across Europe. It's hugely popular and it sets out rules and expectations of what a courtier should be like.
05:52The perfect courtier should be nobly born. For nobleness of birth is like a clear lamp that shows forth and brings into light, makes visible good and bad, and inflames and provokes virtue.
06:06Thomas understood that success at the royal court was much easier for those of noble birth.
06:20Yet the Boleyn family at this time belonged to the lower rank of gentry.
06:28And class was everything in Tudor society.
06:31Numerous gentry families vied with the Boleyns for positions of influence, such as the Herberts, the Dudleys and the Parrs.
06:44But noble dynasties of dukes and earls were firmly above them in the picking order.
06:48The answer for Thomas Boleyn was to align his family with someone of noble birth who could vastly increase his chances of career success.
07:03And that's why, in around 1495, he made the smart, strategic decision to marry Elizabeth Howard.
07:15Marriage is super important to any Tudor family throughout the entirety of history, almost.
07:31It's an economic contract, primarily. People are, generally speaking, not marrying for love.
07:34You might be exchanging more money for more status or vice versa, and the financial arrangements will often reflect that.
07:42Thomas Boleyn is now going to marry Elizabeth Howard, who is the daughter and the granddaughter of the great Howard family who were dukes of Norfolk.
07:54So what did they bring each other in this marriage? Well, for the Boleyns, it really did establish the gentry status.
08:07What about the Howards? After all, they came from this prestigious ancient lineage. What were they getting out of it?
08:14Well, the most important thing they were getting out of it was wealth. The Boleyns were very wealthy.
08:20So it was really a match that was very advantageous to both of them.
08:32But it was not a match Thomas' new wife had much say in.
08:35Like all Tudor women, she was simply a pawn traded by the men around her.
08:46Marriage was a contract, and to seal the deal, Elizabeth's wedding night had to be played out in public, surrounded by members of both families.
08:57For us, looking back, there is a potentially quite grotesque element to the consummation ceremony.
09:03These consummation ceremonies are alien to us because they are a public celebration around an inherently intimate act between two people.
09:14And these ceremonies can be very awkward.
09:19Get on with it. Come on, lad.
09:22This was a connection which was going to benefit Thomas greatly.
09:27The Howards are such a powerful and influential family.
09:30They would provide those all-important connections.
09:36From that point, Thomas Boleyn knew his future would be entwined with that of his new brother-in-law, Thomas Howard.
09:42He is one of the highest ranking peers in England. He comes from a lot of money. He is related to anybody who matters and quite a few who don't. He has been described as one of the most unpleasant men in the 16th century, which is quite the horse race to win.
10:00Thomas Boleyn, of course, knew that by marrying a Howard, he could expect preferment at court.
10:10He could expect Elizabeth's brother maybe to speak up for him, to have a word in the king's ear to maybe help get that role at court that he wanted.
10:18By the early 1500s, as the marriage progresses and three children are born, Thomas Boleyn is happy to ride on the Howard family's coattails, waiting for an opportunity.
10:32And he gets one in around 1501, when he begins to appear on the fringes of Henry VII's court.
10:47It's probably easiest to think about the court like a concentric kind of spiral of circles of influence.
10:54And at the middle of it is, of course, the king, like the spider at the centre of its net.
11:05Thomas Boleyn is now in competition with over a thousand fellow courtiers.
11:13Those with titles and status are able to jump ahead.
11:16The rest are involved in a scramble for the top, using every ounce of ingenuity and cunning to advance.
11:27Thomas will need to get past powerful and dangerous men like the Earl of Oxford and Earl of Shrewsbury, who surround the king.
11:36There's a very, very strong sense that if you want to climb to that centre, you have to climb over other bodies.
11:44Almost certainly, because of the influence of the Howards, Thomas Boleyn becomes an esquire of the body.
11:54One of the six esquires that attended on the king for personal service.
12:02Exactly what Thomas' new job entails is set out in an extraordinary document that dates from the time of Henry VII's father-in-law, Edward IV.
12:11These records are the earliest attempt to set out how the royal court functions, and they describe hundreds of jobs, including Thomas'.
12:24The duties of an esquire of the body involve many secrets.
12:31We must watch over the king and his chamber, day or night.
12:35Bring soup or porridge for his sustenance.
12:38Dress and undress him, and ensure no other man touches the king's person.
12:41Don't let the king's soup get cold. That's most important.
12:48He would make sure Henry VII's bed was ready at night.
12:53He would be expected to be lying on pallets outside the king's bedroom in order to ensure that nobody would come in.
13:00Thomas Boleyn's position was one that usually was the starting point for young courtiers, and for some of them it could be the end point too.
13:12It's not a fantastic position. It's merely a stepping stone.
13:15The important thing is, he's got his foot in the door. Now all he needs to do is make it through.
13:21Once inside the court, with so many people jockeying for favour, making the right alliances is critical.
13:30Thomas Boleyn is very dependent on the extraordinarily volatile personality of Thomas Howard.
13:39Thomas Howard is still technically senior to Thomas Boleyn.
13:43They're both climbing, they're both ambitious, they're both trying to build their own reputations.
13:48Thomas Howard is building his as a soldier, he's a good military commander.
13:52He's not well liked at court. All that matters to Thomas Howard is, are you noble or not?
13:57What's your blood? What's your lineage? He's also about as diplomatic as a bag of bricks.
14:04If Howard is doing well, Boleyn does well, but the moment Howard gets into trouble, his whole hierarchy of patronage is vulnerable as well.
14:12So Thomas Boleyn, at this period, has to have a second option.
14:14That second option is the king's chaplain.
14:30Thomas Wolsey, possibly is the son of a butcher, a man who really has unrivalled abilities.
14:36He's far more intelligent than the other two Thomases.
14:43Wolsey is already beginning what's going to be a meteoric rise to power and influence.
14:51Thomas Boleyn is watching both Thomas Wolsey and Thomas Howard from the very earliest point, seeing who is going to be best for him.
15:04When, if ever, does he have to jump ship and start being Wolsey's man rather than a Howard's man?
15:09The ideal is to keep them both going, but in a volatile world where politics is never stable, it's almost impossible to keep every horse running.
15:22Thomas Boleyn is keeping a close watch on Howard and Wolsey.
15:25But he's also making clever connections of his own.
15:34He started to build up a relationship with Prince Henry, who is going to become Henry VIII.
15:42He sees in Thomas Boleyn a man who is charming, a man who is athletic.
15:48They certainly shared a love of tournaments and also intellectual interests.
15:53Henry thought this was a man that I can, you know, I can have around me as a companion that I might enjoy his company.
16:04This burgeoning friendship happens at the perfect time.
16:11In April 1509, King Henry VII dies, leaving the court in disarray.
16:17Henry VII has become famous for penny pinching, for money grabbing, for controlling behaviour.
16:28But nonetheless, he was a known quantity.
16:31The people living within his court, like Thomas Boleyn, knew how to deal with King Henry VII.
16:36Now, suddenly, they face the prospect of having to completely adjust their behaviour and their expectations as a new king comes to the throne.
16:46As 17-year-old Henry VIII takes the throne, many courtiers lose their positions.
16:51But Thomas' friendship with the young king pays off.
17:01He not only survives, but is promoted to become one of the 26 knights of the Bath.
17:07This is an age-old ceremony. It's already an old custom by this point.
17:16When the big day comes for Boleyn and the others, they would have bathed and come into the White Hall of the Tower.
17:23The king then comes in, dips his fingers into the water, makes the sign of the cross on them and presents them with the oath of allegiance that they have taken.
17:42I shall honour God above all things. I shall love and protect your majesty, my sovereign Lord.
17:52I shall defend the rights of maidens, widows and orphans.
17:57I shall never abuse or neglect the honour of this order as any other member before or after me.
18:04So this is both a religious event for him and a political event and all the courtiers knew it.
18:16They know that these people have been chosen by the king and that's really special.
18:22This is clearly an honour for Thomas and it brings him another notch up the courtly and aristocratic ladder.
18:29But we shouldn't go overboard in thinking that he's suddenly become a major political player.
18:35Thomas Boleyn is made a knight of the Bath in these coronation festivities, which is very nice.
18:41But it's not anywhere near as nice as Thomas Howard getting inducted into the most noble order of the garter,
18:48which is the highest chivalric order in England at the time.
18:51He's the Premier League knight and Thomas is down there in the Championship waiting for promotion.
18:57But neither Thomas Boleyn nor Thomas Howard can match the meteoric rise of the third Thomas,
19:05Thomas Woolsey, who has won himself a seat in one of the highest circles of court, the Royal Council.
19:14What Henry needs, of course, is people who will get things done for him.
19:19Kings need fixers in this period because they don't have a massive bureaucracy to go and do their bidding.
19:25They just need a few people who are bloody good at their job.
19:29And Woolsey was that kind of person.
19:31The young Henry VIII is hungry for glory.
19:36And he hopes that Woolsey is the man to help him achieve it.
19:40His new queen, Catherine of Aragon, has already secured him a valuable alliance with the Spanish Empire.
19:46But true glory means triumph in war.
19:51And for that, Henry needs an enemy.
19:55What that usually means is war with France.
19:58I mean, there aren't that many options.
19:59You can fight the Scots or you can fight the French.
20:02You can't really fight the Spaniards because they're too far away and too powerful.
20:04So if you want an aggressive policy, the obvious thing to do is invade France.
20:09So Woolsey is prepared to back him and to make that war possible.
20:14So he becomes this rather paradoxical figure of the warlike priest.
20:20To win a war with France, the English need to forge an alliance with another European court.
20:26The best option is the powerful Holy Roman Empire,
20:30ruled by the famously difficult emperor Maximilian I.
20:38Woolsey needs an envoy with charm and charisma to take part in the negotiations.
20:44And there is someone waiting in the wings to grab his chance.
20:48He's about 35 at the time.
21:00He has no diplomatic experience.
21:03He is clearly gifted in French and I think that's what makes him very important.
21:07But I get the sense that Woolsey is taking a chance on this young man.
21:11Thomas Boleyn's task is to win Margaret of Austria's support for the war with France,
21:17in the hope that she can persuade her father, Emperor Maximilian.
21:22What they didn't really count on was the fact that Maximilian was going to stall his way through negotiations for months on end.
21:29During this time, Thomas writes many frustrated letters back to England.
21:38When we arrived at the court of Lady Margaret, we could not meet with the Emperor Maximilian as promised,
21:45for he had departed to meet with the French.
21:48He would return within two days.
21:49We have still not managed to obtain the Emperor's assurance of support.
21:53He was about to agree, my lady said, and then he departed once again.
21:57For the past 18 days, I've begun to lose hope.
22:01And then he communicated with her, asking if our ships had left England yet.
22:04Our intelligence was the ships weren't ready.
22:06He's in Cologne now, I hear, and didn't require to have his memory refreshed about our mission.
22:11We're back to the start.
22:13Now, for any other ambassador, this could be a disastrous mission.
22:16But Thomas Boleyn, this is really the making of him.
22:21We see this incredible relationship begin to flourish between Margaret and Thomas Boleyn.
22:26He has endeared himself to her, and she clearly adores him on a personal level as well.
22:33It takes almost a year.
22:36But eventually, Margaret is persuaded to convince her father to support Henry.
22:41Since my last dispatch, we received news that our agreement was soon to be finalized.
22:48Lady Margaret sent a commission to her father, and estimated it would take 20 days to conclude.
22:54She asked me if I would care to lay a wager on it.
22:57I said it would take only 10.
22:59She promised me her Spanish Corsa for her part of the wager, and my horse should be hers if she won.
23:04Wish her hands on it.
23:07And today, I am the victor.
23:11Our mission is complete.
23:14My lady can keep her horse.
23:17I have another request of her.
23:21With his mission finally over, Thomas makes a move designed to benefit not the king, but his own family.
23:28He recognizes that this court is far more magnificent than anything that he had experienced in England.
23:38And so, he asks Margaret whether his daughter can come to her court as a fi d'honneur, as a maid of honour.
23:48And Margaret, rather surprisingly, agreed.
23:51Agreed.
24:02I think it's very likely that Thomas chooses the younger sister, Anne, over Mary, because of the close relationship he obviously has with her.
24:12She is naturally inquisitive.
24:15She is incredibly good at acquiring knowledge.
24:18And these are qualities that Thomas shares.
24:22So, I think she is the natural candidate.
24:25For Anne Boleyn, a 12-year-old girl, being sent to serve Margaret of Austria, it's a huge honour.
24:33But she must have been nervous.
24:36She's still a young girl in a foreign court.
24:39We know that she doesn't fully speak French at this point.
24:42She's far from fluent.
24:43And we know this because we have a letter that Anne wrote to her father from Margaret's court.
24:51Sir, I understand by your letter that you desire that I shall be a worthy woman in this court.
24:57And you inform me that Her Majesty, Lady Margaret, will take the trouble to converse with me.
25:03Which rejoices me greatly to think of talking with a person so wise and worthy.
25:08This is a very touching letter.
25:12It has very distinctive crease lines in it.
25:15I think this was a letter that was read many times over.
25:19This must have been a very dear letter to her father Thomas indeed.
25:24Anne is very much wanting to impress her father.
25:27And I thought that.
25:28It will give me a big deal, like my French, and in a different way.
25:36Because you have given me it.
25:39I will hear your demands better.
25:42Je vous prie de m'en pardon si ma lettre est malécrite.
25:44Malécrite, I beg you to excuse me if my letter is badly written, but I promise you that my
25:52love is based on such great strength that it will never grow less.
25:57And I'll make an end to my letter after having humbly commended myself to your good grace,
26:02written by your humble and obedient daughter, Anna Devoulin.
26:09Votre fille, humble et dévouée.
26:14The survival of that letter is quite astonishing.
26:19Very few documents like it survive.
26:32This is a really good opportunity for Anne to experience an incredibly cultured court
26:40that Margaret of Austria has engendered.
26:44She welcomes incredibly progressive thinkers.
26:51Margaret of Austria is so pleased with this amazing young girl.
26:56The fact that Anne is so thirsty for knowledge, so thirsty to have a good education.
27:02There is so much to learn for a young girl there about the rules of power, the games of power.
27:11You were expected to emerge from that experience as a woman who could hold her own in a dangerous environment.
27:18With Anne impressing at Margaret's court, and Thomas' new success as a diplomat, the Berlin family's prospects are looking bright.
27:30But in the Tudor world of foreign policy and fragile alliances, you can take nothing for granted.
27:38In 1514, Maximilian pulls his support for Henry, and instead strikes a deal with the French king.
27:50Thomas' hard work seems to have been for nothing, and Henry doesn't get the glorious war he wanted.
27:57But Wolsey has a plan to turn this failure to Henry's advantage.
28:04The argument seems to have been, well, if you can't make magnificent war as you want to do, then why not make peace magnificently?
28:13Make it almost as spectacular as warfare.
28:16How do you make peace in the 16th century?
28:20Well, you try to find a way to create a dynastic alliance, and usually it's through marriage.
28:26So Thomas Bolin and Wolsey were suggesting to King Henry VIII, Mary Tudor, his younger sister, and this old king of France of a way to make sure that the peace is going to last.
28:44This new alliance gives Henry VIII a foothold in France, even though it means offering up his 18-year-old sister Mary to the 52-year-old King Louis.
28:56And Thomas recognises that the marriage could benefit his family, too.
29:03He wants his daughters, Mary and Anne, to get the best education, but he also wants them to forge networks, political networks, political alliances.
29:15Thomas is something of an opportunist.
29:18He knows which way the wind is blowing, and Anne is best placed in France.
29:23Thomas secures his 13-year-old daughter a position at the French court as an attendant to the new Queen Mary.
29:34The court in France set the tone in terms of courtly culture, how a monarch and his retinue behave, this display of magnificence, essentially.
29:50And no one does it better than those courts in France as far as the English are concerned.
29:55Thomas is riding pretty high.
29:58You know, his daughter will be able to build up a place for herself at the French court, learn the wonderful skills of being a woman of the court.
30:07As Anne settles into her new life in France, back in England, the man who suggested the French alliance is riding high.
30:28Thomas Woolsey, by 1514, he's Archbishop of York.
30:36By 1515, he's made a cardinal at Henry VIII's insistence.
30:42So he's a very high-ranking person, the highest-ranking person in Henry's administration, effectively, after the king, and he wants everybody to know that.
30:51People think he's an overreacher.
30:56He's the classic example of someone who's risen too fast and too far, which is why quite often there's murmurs and name-calling of Woolsey as the butcher's dog.
31:09He's the greasy cur, some of them whisper, who has followed his master and now wants the bone all to himself.
31:18Basically, what Woolsey is doing is rubbing their face in it, and the courtiers don't like it.
31:27Particularly, Thomas Boleyn's hot-headed brother-in-law.
31:34The first reported moment of decided tension between Thomas Howard and Woolsey is when Thomas Howard allegedly pulls a knife on him.
31:41According to Polydor Virgil, Thomas Howard took a dagger and tried to stab Woolsey in the middle of a heated argument.
31:48We're not sure if this is true or not.
31:50Virgil is the only source for it.
31:52If true, this is an extraordinary event.
31:58You know, Thomas Woolsey being stabbed by an aristocrat does not happen every day.
32:02Much of many of them might have liked to try to stab him.
32:06Few of them got the chance.
32:07It demonstrates that there's no love lost between them.
32:12Whatever happened between Thomas Howard and Thomas Woolsey at this time marks a tumble for Howard's career.
32:19He seems arrogant.
32:21He seems aggressive.
32:23And he's increasingly being outshone by the more talented and the more level-headed Woolsey.
32:29Thomas Boleyn needs to be extremely careful about who he's seen to support.
32:41Thomas Boleyn, he's aware that Howard and Thomas Woolsey are almost sworn enemies.
32:47And Thomas Boleyn quite cleverly distanced himself from his Howard brother-in-law.
32:52He aligns himself with Woolsey.
32:56Woolsey is his road to power and to patronage and to favour.
33:09Being a diplomat, away for long periods in Europe, might sound impressive.
33:14But not if your aim is to get closer to the king.
33:19Thomas Boleyn's angling for a position at court.
33:22He's angling for a position within the king's household.
33:25And he sets his sight on the treasuryship.
33:28The position he covers is to become treasurer of the household.
33:34It would be a major promotion, putting him in charge of the court's purse strings
33:38and bringing him one step closer to the centre of power.
33:43It would give him a secure place in the royal household.
33:48But perhaps much more important, it would give him a place on the royal council.
33:52And that's the place where political decisions are made.
34:00Unfortunately, Thomas Boleyn discovers that Woolsey has blocked the appointment.
34:05That somebody else is going to get the office instead of him.
34:07And I think he feels humiliated.
34:10This is unfair.
34:12And he writes a letter towards him that expresses this disappointment.
34:19For some time, I have hoped to serve the king at court rather than from overseas.
34:24I did entreat him to appoint me as treasurer of his household.
34:28And he did faithfully promise me the position when it became vacant.
34:32I hear now the king will appoint someone else.
34:35If you would show me favour in this matter, I assure you will not regret it.
34:43In this letter to Cardinal Woolsey, suddenly we see an insecurity in Thomas Boleyn that we've never really had before.
34:50He trusts that Woolsey has his back.
34:53Woolsey's really one of the few people now at court that can speak for Thomas Boleyn.
34:57So he feels betrayed.
35:02But just as it looks as though Thomas may never reach the king's inner circle, fate intervenes.
35:08An Irish relative on his mother's side has died.
35:18And Thomas is one of several claimants to his title, the Earl of Ormond.
35:22All he has to do now is win the prize.
35:30At the moment, he's merely a knight.
35:33It's much higher up the social hierarchy to become an earl.
35:37The Earl of Ormond, of course, really would make Thomas stand out in a way that none of his previous Boleyn ancestors had been able to do.
35:47It really would help him up that ladder to greatness.
35:52But before he can grab this chance, a cousin lays claim to the title.
35:59Thomas Boleyn does not like to be thwarted in this matter.
36:03He brings Henry VIII into the dispute.
36:06Unfortunately for Thomas Boleyn, Henry VIII cannot afford to alienate his Irish nobles.
36:11And so the earldom goes to neither Thomas Boleyn nor the butler cousin.
36:15But Thomas Boleyn covets that title.
36:17He sees it as rightfully his, and he's not going to let it go.
36:22Meanwhile, the court in France where Thomas' daughter Anne is still living has been thrown into chaos.
36:40The old French king has died.
36:43Henry's sister Mary has been displaced.
36:47Francis I and his wife Queen Claude are now on the throne,
36:50bringing with them their own retinue of courtiers.
36:54Thomas Boleyn is thinking, oh gosh, what's going to happen for my daughter?
37:00Anne was going to be laid in waiting at the French court.
37:03She was going to secure important political network for me.
37:08So he's thinking, I need to request for Anne to stay.
37:15Thomas Boleyn manages to persuade the new queen to keep Anne on as one of her attendants.
37:23It's a pivotal intervention.
37:26This is where she stays for the formative years of her life.
37:29During seven years of the French court, Anne Boleyn learned about the customs of the country,
37:37the language, obviously.
37:38She became French in her attitude.
37:41She became French in her manners.
37:42One source we have is Lancelot de Carle, who wrote a poem about Anne,
37:49and he was present at the French embassy.
37:51He says that she actively studied the women around her at court
37:56so that she herself could appear as French.
37:59And very soon, nobody would know that she was English.
38:02She grew in wisdom, knew how to banish sad thoughts,
38:09enlarging her talents and many exquisite graces.
38:14She was beautiful and had the most attractive eyes,
38:18which she knew well how to use.
38:22She's flirtatious.
38:24She's beautiful.
38:25She knows how to handle men.
38:27She is seen as a woman who has made a big impression.
38:30We can imagine that, obviously, for her to stay seven years
38:34in service of the Queen,
38:37that Francis I himself must have liked this girl.
38:47Francis I, he's dashing.
38:50He loves pretty women.
38:51He loves having mistresses.
38:53And he loves, loves being the center of attention.
38:57Does that remind you of someone else?
38:58Henry VIII, baby.
39:04Henry and Francis decide to meet to form a new alliance
39:07and underscore the peace between their nations.
39:12And Thomas Boleyn is given the daunting task
39:15of brokering the meeting.
39:18He's stuck in a position of trying to bring
39:22those two powerful and dashing young prince together.
39:28Having a daughter who is in the good books of everyone,
39:32it's exactly what Thomas Boleyn wanted.
39:35So when Thomas is there,
39:37he's obviously using his daughter in a way.
39:38When I say using, it's not in a bad way.
39:41It's just, yes, I'm Anne's father.
39:44Nice to meet you.
39:45Anne is remarkable.
39:47Yes, I know.
39:48Francis and Henry both wanted to be the ideal Renaissance prince.
39:56It was an absolute clash of egos.
39:58And it must be a nightmare for Thomas Boleyn
40:00to be running back and forth between both monarchs,
40:03especially as tensions were always just about to boil over.
40:07You can't be a king in the early 16th century
40:12without having an ego the size of a planet.
40:14And now you have two young men, rival monarchs,
40:17who are brothers in arms,
40:19although they really hate each other.
40:21And there's a kind of constant friction.
40:24I mean, these are not intellectual giants
40:26in terms of their kind of maturity.
40:28So there's a bit of nudging and shuffling
40:31going on between them.
40:33And there's a famous story of Henry showing an ambassador his calf
40:37and saying, ha, Francis I hasn't got a leg like that, has he?
40:42It's not just Europe's peace hanging in the balance.
40:46It's Thomas' reputation at the English court.
40:50In a letter to Wolsey, Thomas reports the petty rivalry
40:54between the two kings that he is struggling to mediate.
40:57The friendship between my master and the French king Francis
41:01has taken a rivalrous turn.
41:05They agreed to grow their beards
41:07in competition for their planned meeting.
41:11Then I was told recently that Henry had put off his beard.
41:15It's not an easy task to relate this to the French king.
41:19I told him, as I supposed,
41:22it must have been Queen Catherine's doing.
41:24For whenever his majesty has worn his beard long,
41:27she has scolded him to put it off.
41:30The French king was well appeased by this
41:33and did say to me,
41:35our love is not in our beards,
41:38but in our hearts.
41:45Thomas' clever intervention
41:46saves the two kings from a serious disagreement.
41:49And on the 7th of June, 1520,
41:52Henry and Francis rendezvous
41:54at a spectacular 17-day festival,
41:57the Field of Cloth of Gold.
42:01It was the big event of the year,
42:05of the decade,
42:07in both England and in France.
42:10Instead of going to war,
42:12Henry VIII and Francis
42:13decided to show off
42:16how peaceful they could be.
42:18Somewhat, I suspect,
42:20at Thomas Boleyn's chagrin,
42:21he was withdrawn
42:22before the final details
42:24were organised for this great meeting.
42:27And he wasn't French ambassador
42:29when the Field of Cloth of Gold took place.
42:32And Henry wrote rather pointedly to Francis,
42:34saying,
42:35Thomas Boleyn has been great so far,
42:36but I'm now going to send you
42:38someone who can convey from my very heart
42:41my feelings towards you.
42:42So poor old Thomas trumps back home
42:45and gets ready to go as an English guest
42:47rather than the resident French ambassador.
42:51It's a sign that he hadn't quite made it.
42:54He may have married into the aristocracy,
42:56but he's still not an aristocrat.
42:58He's not the man that brings the king over
43:01and presents him to Francis.
43:02He's there,
43:03but he's there as one of the king's attendants
43:05and nothing more.
43:05Despite Thomas' personal disappointment,
43:11the meeting is hailed
43:12as an international triumph.
43:16But in Tudor politics,
43:19nothing is as it seems.
43:24Even as Henry and Francis celebrate peace,
43:27Thomas Wolsey is secretly negotiating
43:29a more powerful alliance
43:31with the new leader of the Holy Roman Empire,
43:34Charles V.
43:35Knowing relations with France
43:39are soon to sour,
43:41Thomas removes Anne
43:42from her position at the French court
43:44and brings her home.
43:47There must have been some concern
43:49on Thomas' part
43:50for Anne's safety
43:52and for her future
43:53because the tide is turning away
43:55from a French alliance.
43:58And it's something of a warning shot
44:01for Francis.
44:02He notices Anne's absence
44:04and discerns from this
44:06that something is not right.
44:11And he thinks,
44:12wait,
44:13why would you remove
44:15a ladies-in-waiting
44:16to Queen Claude
44:18if we are at peace,
44:20if we are good friends?
44:21What are you plotting
44:23against me?
44:24It puts Wolsey in a very difficult position.
44:34It's virtually inconceivable
44:35that it wouldn't be seen
44:36as a sort of diplomatic incident.
44:39To put Francis off the scent,
44:41Wolsey actually suggests
44:42that Anne is being recalled
44:44for a marriage proposal.
44:45And there is a grain of truth
44:47in Wolsey's response
44:49because a match
44:50is being proposed
44:52for Anne,
44:54not by her father,
44:56but by her uncle.
45:01Thomas Howard
45:02has been sent to Ireland
45:03to quell unrest
45:05among the Irish nobility.
45:06One of those nobles
45:09is Thomas Boleyn's cousin,
45:11Piers Butler,
45:12who has laid claim
45:13to the title
45:14Earl of Ormond.
45:20In a flurry of letters
45:21to Wolsey and the King,
45:23Howard lays bare a scheme
45:24to take advantage
45:25of the situation.
45:28Piers Butler
45:29desires to claim
45:30the most profitable
45:31earldom of Ormond.
45:32The title is also claimed
45:34by my kinsman,
45:35Thomas Boleyn.
45:35To that end,
45:37I have devised
45:38a marriage plan
45:39between my niece,
45:40Anne Boleyn,
45:41and Butler's son, James.
45:43This union will give
45:44Butler the earldom
45:45and his help
45:46in bringing Ireland
45:47under our control.
45:49This arrangement
45:50will require my presence,
45:53naturally,
45:53and I do so long
45:55to return to England.
46:00Thomas Howard shows
46:02that when he is
46:03in a difficult position,
46:04family loyalty
46:05to the Boleyns
46:06counts for absolutely
46:07nothing to him.
46:12Thomas Boleyn
46:13has coveted
46:14the prestigious
46:15Irish earldom
46:16of Ormond,
46:17and it irks him
46:18to no end
46:19that of all people,
46:21his brother-in-law,
46:22Thomas Howard,
46:22who has nothing
46:23to do with the situation,
46:25tries to actually
46:25broker a match
46:26between Anne Boleyn
46:28and a Butler cousin.
46:34This is my Christmas party.
46:37She was quite horrified
46:39when she was told
46:40about the match.
46:42Ireland in that time
46:43was generally seen
46:44by the English
46:44as a wild,
46:46fairly inhospitable place,
46:48and the idea
46:48that the courtier,
46:50Anne Boleyn,
46:51would go and live there
46:51must have been
46:52horrifying for her.
46:53This puts Thomas Boleyn
46:55in a very difficult position
46:57because Thomas Howard
46:58seems to get
46:58Cardinal Wolsey's support
47:00for the plan.
47:01Anne Boleyn
47:02is her father's legal property.
47:04She can't be married
47:05without her father's permission.
47:08So Thomas is under pressure
47:10to give his blessing
47:11to a marriage
47:12that will effectively
47:13disinherit him.
47:16Around this time,
47:18Wolsey finally offers
47:19Thomas Boleyn
47:20the job he so desperately wants,
47:22and perhaps the timing
47:24is no coincidence.
47:26We know that Thomas
47:28is promoted
47:29to the treasurership
47:30at this point.
47:31I think what actually
47:33is happening here
47:34is he is being placated
47:36with this coveted position.
47:44I am made treasurer
47:45of the household,
47:47second in charge
47:48of running this honourable court.
47:50The treasurer must set
47:52an example to all others
47:53of good governance
47:55and modest expenditure.
47:57He is granted
47:58to take supper daily
47:59in the King's Hall
48:00or anywhere else he pleases.
48:02This was an absolute
48:04vital stepping stone
48:05in his career.
48:06It paved the way
48:07for much more lucrative
48:09and important positions
48:10at court.
48:13Thomas Boleyn,
48:14who began as a wealthy
48:15Norfolk gentleman
48:16beyond the fringes
48:17of the Tudor court,
48:19has finally gained a seat
48:20on the Royal Council.
48:21slowly but surely,
48:26he is advancing
48:28towards the King's
48:29inner circle.
48:32For Thomas Boleyn
48:33to achieve this
48:34in 1522
48:35is such a mark
48:37of where he had come,
48:38but it also is
48:40important for his family.
48:42George Boleyn
48:43was finally given
48:44a court position,
48:46which means he has
48:48day-to-day access
48:49to Henry VIII.
48:56Not only is George
48:57doing well,
48:58but Thomas' elder daughter,
49:00Mary,
49:00is now married
49:01to a senior courtier,
49:03William Carey.
49:06But the ace
49:07in Thomas' hand
49:08is Anne.
49:10With the prospect
49:25of an Irish marriage
49:26still hanging over her,
49:28Anne takes center stage
49:29with her sister Mary
49:30at a lavish court pageant
49:32hosted by Thomas Wolsey,
49:34known as the Chateau Vert.
49:36This pageant
49:40is going to change
49:41the fortunes
49:42of the Boleyn family
49:44for better
49:44and also for worse.
49:48All the young women
49:49on show
49:50take the parts
49:51of feminine virtues,
49:53Mary's kindness
49:54and perseverance.
49:57It's the kind of pageant
50:03to which the Tudor court
50:05is by then
50:05well-accustomed
50:06with women,
50:08married, single,
50:09all playing their part
50:11to big up
50:12the king.
50:14Wolsey is the host.
50:16He wants it to go well.
50:17He's a man
50:18who enjoys
50:19spectacle,
50:20entertainment,
50:21who knows
50:21that you've got
50:22to put on a show.
50:23It was a lavish entertainment.
50:30It involved
50:31a mock castle
50:33being built
50:34in the hall.
50:36Ladies
50:36defended this castle
50:38from a group of knights
50:40who attempted
50:40to attack it.
50:42Essentially,
50:42this battle
50:43between the men
50:44outside the castle
50:45and the women
50:45inside the castle
50:46is about culture.
50:48It's about wooing.
50:49Women fall
50:50into two categories.
50:51They have to resist men
50:53and be virtuous
50:54and chaste,
50:56but ultimately
50:57they have to give in
50:58when they find
50:58the right man
50:59who's usually the king.
51:03Thomas Boleyn
51:04is really walking
51:05a tightrope here.
51:06On the one hand,
51:07he wants his daughters
51:08to be prominent
51:10at the court,
51:11but on the other,
51:12he wants to ensure
51:14that they keep
51:15their chastity,
51:17and it's very hard
51:19for this to be achieved
51:20because the atmosphere
51:22of the court
51:23is erotic.
51:29Because of her seven years
51:31in France,
51:33Anne Boleyn
51:33is seen as being
51:34a bit different
51:35and exotic.
51:37She's stylish,
51:38fashionable,
51:39graceful,
51:40and she really
51:41causes a stir.
51:42She's like no-one else
51:44at Henry VIII's court.
51:47This is really
51:48the first time
51:48that we know
51:49with absolute certainty
51:50that Henry VIII
51:51and Anne Boleyn
51:52are in the same room together.
51:54But Anne isn't
51:56interested in the king.
51:58Her sights are set
51:59on a young nobleman,
52:01Henry Percy.
52:03Although there was
52:04still talk of her
52:05marrying her Irish cousin
52:06and one day becoming
52:07Countess of Ormond,
52:10Henry Percy
52:10was heir to one
52:12one of the oldest
52:13earldoms in the country.
52:15Hugely wealthy,
52:16very, very high status
52:18and a match
52:19that was far
52:20outside anything
52:21that Anne Boleyn
52:22could hope for.
52:24It's clear that
52:25she encouraged
52:26Henry Percy.
52:30Thomas Boleyn
52:31would certainly
52:32approve.
52:33It's a far
52:34better prospect
52:35for his daughter
52:36than the Ormond marriage.
52:38Partly because,
52:39of course,
52:39Thomas Boleyn
52:40has designs
52:41on the earldom himself.
52:43But Henry Percy,
52:45it was a stellar match.
52:52The king,
52:53of course,
52:53has the pick
52:54of the women
52:54at court
52:55and he has his eye
52:57on one in particular,
52:59the wife
53:00of one of his
53:00inner circle.
53:01People tend to look
53:04at the Chateau Vert
53:05as the first time
53:06Henry would have seen Anne,
53:08who's playing Perseverance.
53:10But what's more interesting
53:11is who plays kindness
53:13and that's Mary Boleyn.
53:16And so when Henry
53:17is besieging the castle,
53:19it's Mary he's besieging.
53:22Now, why is she kindness?
53:25It's not a role
53:25she would have chosen herself.
53:27It would have been
53:27chosen for her.
53:29Walsy had already
53:31been called
53:32the king's board,
53:34that is his pimp,
53:36a man
53:36who finds
53:37the most wholesome women
53:39and those
53:40of the best complexion
53:42for Henry.
53:45Henry had
53:47usually a single mistress
53:49alongside the queen
53:51at any one point.
53:53Mary Boleyn
53:54was definitely
53:55the royal mistress
53:56and it's not in her power
53:57to resist the king.
54:06Unlike Mary,
54:08a decade in Europe
54:09has taught Anne
54:10how to fend for herself.
54:15Now in her early 20s,
54:17she knows her own mind.
54:19Anne does not want
54:24to marry James Butler.
54:26Her sights are
54:27on a romantic marriage,
54:29marriage to Henry Percy
54:31whom she sees,
54:33loves,
54:33and he seems to feel
54:35exactly the same
54:36about her.
54:37It may be that Anne
54:39is manoeuvring
54:40for herself,
54:42doing something
54:43that her family,
54:44again,
54:44is famed for doing,
54:46choosing to marry
54:47for their own advantage.
54:49Maybe this is Anne's way
54:51of carving out
54:53her own future.
54:54Henry VIII
54:55heard about
54:56the relationship
54:56and was shocked by it
54:58because, of course,
54:59it was not
54:59a suitable marriage
55:00for Henry Percy
55:01at all.
55:03He instructs
55:05Cardinal Wolsey
55:05to bring the relationship
55:07to an end.
55:08She doesn't necessarily
55:11know of the king's
55:12involvement,
55:13but she knows
55:14that Cardinal Wolsey
55:15has played a major role
55:17in dashing her hopes.
55:20The cardinal called
55:21my lord Percy
55:22into his presence
55:23and reviled him
55:24for tangling himself
55:25with a foolish girl
55:26at court.
55:29Wolsey has since
55:30set about dissolving
55:31our match,
55:32saying it is disagreeable
55:33and determining
55:34another woman
55:35as a more appropriate
55:36marriage prospect.
55:37if it ever lies
55:39in my power,
55:40I will work
55:41as much displeasure
55:42for Wolsey
55:43as he has shown me.
55:49And as Anne laments
55:50the frustration
55:51of her ambitions,
55:54her sister Mary
55:55must endure
55:56emotional turmoil
55:57of her own.
56:05Around the same time,
56:07Mary's husband
56:08starts getting
56:09all these rather generous
56:10royal grants,
56:13as if to make up
56:14for the fact
56:15the king
56:15is sleeping
56:16with his wife.
56:18I think for Mary
56:25it must have all
56:27been incredibly
56:28difficult
56:29and painful.
56:32Oh, Lord,
56:33let me not have
56:34a proud look
56:35but turn away
56:37all voluptuousness
56:37from me.
56:39Take me from
56:40the loss of the body.
56:42Let not the desire
56:43for uncleanliness
56:44take hold upon me.
56:45of him.
56:51Thomas Boleyn's feelings
56:53are likely mixed
56:54about Mary Boleyn's
56:55relationship
56:56with Henry VIII.
56:58On the one hand,
57:00it's shameful
57:01in that
57:02his daughter,
57:03a married woman,
57:04is sleeping
57:05with another man,
57:06a married man,
57:07at that.
57:07but her lover
57:09is the king
57:10and generally
57:11the benefits
57:12outweigh
57:13the disadvantage.
57:16I do think
57:17getting your daughters
57:18into the king's bed
57:19is probably
57:19a good idea
57:20if you want
57:22political influence.
57:27Mary Boleyn's affair
57:29might be what yields
57:30the biggest reward yet
57:31for her father,
57:32Thomas.
57:34Henry makes him
57:35Viscount Rochford.
57:36his rise
57:42through the Tudor court
57:44has been remarkable.
57:47But in his daughter Anne,
57:49he has raised a woman
57:51whose ambitions
57:51will soon outstrip
57:53even her father's.
57:54next time.
58:03Henry discards Mary
58:04and falls for her sister Anne.
58:08From this point on,
58:09my heart will be dedicated
58:10to you alone.
58:12Her own ambitions
58:13begin to take shape.
58:14She could see
58:16a very bright future
58:17ahead of her
58:18if she became
58:19Queen of England
58:20and the mother
58:21of the next king.
58:24And the family
58:25take on
58:25the second most
58:26powerful man
58:27in England.
58:29Now the cardinal
58:30is trying to secure lodgings
58:31for me miles away.
58:33Let him try.
58:34All of a sudden,
58:35the Boleyn ambition
58:36has been revealed
58:38and exposed.
58:40They were in
58:40completely uncharted waters.
58:42The power you crave
58:43makes you the cause
58:45of the trouble
58:45in this realm.
58:47Anne Boleyn
58:47becoming Queen
58:48might be
58:49a silver noose
58:51around the family's neck.
58:52All episodes in the series
58:57streaming now
58:58on BBC iPlayer
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59:07from the past.
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