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| Oct 22 2009, 8:26 PM EDT (current) | MsSquirrly | 2 words added |
| Oct 22 2009, 8:24 PM EDT | MsSquirrly | 3 words added, 1 widget added |
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Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford (formerly Jane Parker) as played by Joanne King
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| born c. 1505 - executed February 13, 1542 by order of King Henry VIII Character's backstory: She came from a wealthy, politically active, upper class family and probably was in court before her 15th birthday in the household of Queen Katherine of Aragon. She is recorded as taking part in the Masquerade in 1522 when the King first "noticed" Anne Boleyn. She married George Boleyn circa 1524/5 just before the King started to actively court his sister Anne. As the Boleyn family's influence increased, the couple were given Grimston (in Norfolk) and Beaulieu Palace as their chief residence, which George and Jane decorated with a lavish chapel, a tennis court, a bathroom with hot-and-cold running water, imported carpets, mahogany furniture and their own large collection of silverware. Their marital bed was draped in cloth of gold with a white satin canopy, linen quilts and a yellow counterpane. [source: Marie Bruce]. Jane plotted with her sister-in-law Anne Boleyn to banish one of the King's young unnamed mistresses from Court in 1534. When the King discovered her involvement, Lady Rochford was herself exiled for a few months. After her husband's death which she was heavily implicated in, she was away from court for a time but thanks to Thomas Cromwell, she was awarded an annual pension and allowed to return to court as lady in waiting to Jane Seymour. After Jane's death she was sent to Anne of Cleves household & finally to the scandalous teenaged Katherine Howard's privy chamber. Under interrogation for her role in aiding and abetting Katherine Howard's affairs, she had a nervous breakdown and was pronounced insane. As it was illegal to execute the insane, King Henry changed the law and she was beheaded directly after the Queen was executed and buried alongside her ill fated husband & sister-in-law. Gentility: daughter of Baron Lord Morley, Viscountess of Rochford by marriage Position: Viscountess Rochford (wife of George Boleyn), Lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, and Katherine Howard Personality type: an ambitious social climber, disatisified & resentful of her sister in law. Signature look: Endearing trait(s): Jane was very supportive of Anne during her reign, even helping Anne to do away with one of Henry's mistresses. Jane also wrote and begged for her husband during his imprisonment. Annoying trait(s): Jane is infamously remembered in history as the lying wife who brought about the downfall of Anne Boleyn and her brother George, and for contributing to that of Katherine Howard. She has been described as a lying, jealous, conniving, self-preserving woman. Scandals: Although Jane did not give testimony against her husband and sister-in-law during their trials, she did give statements to Thomas Cromwell which he used to accuse them of both adultery and incest. Her reasons for doing this will never be known but it has been suggested it was either because of jealousy of her husband’s extramarital affairs, self-promotion, religious grievances or animosity to Anne due to something which broke up their friendship. Additionally, Jane also aided Katherine Howard in secretly meeting Thomas Culpepper. For her participation in the treasonous act, she was beheaded. | 
 Jane Boleyn's signature, signed 'Jane Rochford'
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CHARACTER CONNECTIONSFamily members: Father: Henry Parker, 10th Baron Morley Mother: Alice St. John (Eldest daughter of Sir John st. John) Husband: George Boleyn, Lord Rochford Sisters-in-law: Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn Father-in-law: Thomas Boleyn Marriage: George Boleyn | Children: Rumours that George Boleyn, Dean of Lichfield in Elizabethan times may have been their son but it is thought he was perhaps a cousin. Friends: Anne Boleyn and Jane were friends until something happened in 1535 The Catholic Faction Enemies: The Reformer Faction & Thomas Cranmer |
UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTER QUOTES
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DEFINING EPISODES | MEMORABLE SCENES
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PHOTOS
| To add pics to this slideshow, go to "photos" & "albums" & "Jane Boleyn" |
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 Jane as a Lady-in-waiting to Queen Jane Seymour | |
Season 2 Source: Youtube JuzTudor70AD | |
 There is no known contemporary portrait of Jane Boleyn. This drawing was once incorrectly identified as Jane Boleyn. It is now believed to depict Grace (c.1515–c.1549), the daughter of Sir John Newport. She married Henry Parker in 1523 when aged eight. |
| Controversies about Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford: |
| Why did Jane give the damning testimony about her husband George Boleyn & his sister Anne Boleyn? No one will ever know definitively but there are several theories including jealousy over her husband's infidelities, his attention to his sister whom she had fallen out with, religious differences, self promotion & court faction in-fighting. - she did participate in a demonstration against Anne Boleyn in the streets of London in 1535 which was certainly a hostile move against the whole Boleyn family. - perhaps her husband's extra-marital affairs had caused them to fall out & being estranged from him was seeking revenge? - she did however plead for her husband's life while he was in the Tower but was this an act? - George Boleyn did state that on the remarks of one woman others think so badly of him (deeply implying that he viewed the stories regarding his alleged conversations with Anne regarding the King’s impotency to have been raised by a certain individual. Perhaps Jane revealed or made up these conversations to Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex?). [Source: According to De Carles, regarding his wife Jane, he said that "On the basis of only one woman you are willing to believe this great evil of me, and on the basis of her allegations you are deciding my judgment."] - did she do it for personal gain since Cromwell did see that she was taken care of despite her husband's disgraced demise and she did return to court to serve both Jane Seymour & Katherine Howard. - regarding the religious differences, Jane Boleyn nee Parker did come from a strong conservative catholic family while George was actively promoting reformist ideas which would have been in direct opposition to her own beliefs. Plus the demonstration against Anne Boleyn was in support of Queen Katherine of Aragon & Princess Mary Tudor who were the figureheads for the catholic faction. - perhaps something happened in court, (maybe between Anne and Jane) that promoted the animosity? At one time Jane was supposedly aiding Anne in removing a lady the king was quite interested in. But roughly a year later she was protesting against Anne. Had the two clashed; was Jane dissatisfied with her marriage and just grew distant from Anne and the other Boleyns? - did she break under Cromwell's questioning or did he twist some innocent remarks to make them more than they were? - or maybe in May 1536 when she saw that her husband and sister-in-law were likely to die and she wanted to be on the winning side? Unfortunately since we have very little historical evidence - we will never know. |
