Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Jane Boleyn, née Parker, Viscountess Rochford (~1505 - February 13 1542) was the sister-in-law of Anne Boleyn and lady-in-waiting to Catherine Howard, along with whom she was executed.She was the daughter of Lord Morley and Alice St. John, both from old English families with Roman Catholic tendencies. She was born in Norfolk, England. She was married to George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, brother of Anne Boleyn, later the second queen of King Henry VIII.
Jane's relationship with her Boleyn-in-laws was not easy. She plotted with her sister-in-law, Queen Anne, to banish one of Henry's mistresses from court in 1535. When Henry discovered her involvement, Jane was exiled for a few months instead.
Jane's marriage was particularly unhappy, but there is no apparent truth in the theory that George was a homosexual. In fact, he had a reputation as a noted womaniser - which might explain the marriage's miserable status. However, there was no justification for the savage act of betrayal Jane perfromed in 1536.
When George was arrested as one of Anne Boleyn's supposed lovers, it was Jane's sworn affidavit which helped convict him of incest and treason. There was no truth in these rumours, but they provided the mirage of legality which the Boleyns' enemies needed to send George to the block on May 17th. Anne followed two days later, accused of witchcraft as well. What makes Jane's act of betrayal even more shocking is that she and George are said to have had a son together, a son who later became Dean of Lichfield under Elizabeth I.
Following his execution, Lady Rochford was later given a placement in the household of another of Henry's queens, Anne of Cleves, and it was she who questioned the queen about the consummation, and therefore the validity, of her marriage to the king. She would later tesify in July 1540 to further the King's divorce from his fourth wife.
Following this divorce, she became a lady of the privy chamber to yet another of Henry's wives, Catherine Howard. When the teenage queen grew bored with her ill-tempered, moody and repulsive husband, it was Jane Rochford who helped organised secret meetings between Catherine and the handsome courtier, Thomas Culpeper. It is not certain whether or not Catherine's relationship with Culpeper ever became a fully sexual affair.
When the king began his progress to the north of England in June 1541, Queen Catherine and Lady Rochford's indiscretions could no longer be hidden from the rest of the court. Protestant courtiers unearthed enough evidence to prove that the Queen had not been a virgin when she married the King in 1540, and they later discovered a love letter she had written Culpeper which mentioned Lady Rochford as their go-between.
Jane was arrested and taken to the Tower of London where she was interrogated for many months, but as an aristocrat she was not tortured. Under the psychological pressure, Jane lost her sanity. The King had to order a new law which allowed the execution of the insane in order to have her condemned to death.
Jane Rochford was executed immediately after Catherine Howard on 13th February 1542, by a skilled axe-man. According to reliable sources Jane confessed before her death, God has permitted me to suffer this shameful doom as punishment for having contributed to my husband's death. I falsely accused him of loving in an incestuous manner, his sister, Queen Anne Boleyn. For this I deserve to die. She was buried in the Tower of London along with Catherine Howard, and very close to the bodies of Anne and George Boleyn.
Understandably, historians have not been kind to Jane Rochford. She is generally condemned for her role in assisting the attack on the Boleyns in 1536. The only historian to deny her role in this is Retha M. Warnicke, author of The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn. However, much of what Warnicke has said over the events of 1536 is either disputed or disproved. There is simply too much evidence to suggest that Jane was actively involved in her husband's downfall to argue otherwise. Jane's treachery is explored in Eric Ives's biographies of Anne, published in 1986 and 2004; Joanna Denny's 2004 biography of Anne and many older historical texts on the queen's life.
In fiction, Jane has appeared in numerous novels, especially on Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. She features in Robin Maxwell's The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, Suzannah Dunn's The Queen of Subtleties and briefly in Margaret George's The Autobiography of Henry VIII. Jane's character is mentioned in Wendy J. Dunn's Dear Heart, How Like You This? which is based on the life of the poet, Sir Thomas Wyatt, in which Wyatt and George Boleyn discuss what it is to be unhappily married.
A larger role is given to Jane in Jean Plaidy's novel on Catherine Howard's story, Rose Without a Thorn. Jane also appears in the historical romance The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory which tells the story of Anne and George's sister, Mary. The novel is not historically accurate, since it suggests that the two Boleyns were guilty of committing incest - but, even so, Jane's character is not a pleasant one.
Jane's character did not appear in the opulent 1969 Oscar-winner Anne of the Thousand Days, where Genevieve Bujold played Anne Boleyn and Richard Burton played Henry VIII. Neither did her character appear in the 1973 movie, Henry VIII and his Six Wives.
She did appear, briefly, in the 1933 film The Private Life of Henry VIII, where she was played by Judy Kelly. The character was not historically accurate and she had no more than a few lines. Merle Oberon played Anne Boleyn and Binnie Barnes was Catherine Howard.
In the 1971 BBC series The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Jane was played by Sheila Burrell. She appeared in four episodes - those of Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard. The queens mentioned were played by Dorothy Tutin, Anne Stallybrass, Elvi Hale and Angela Pleasance. George Boleyn was played by Jonathan Newth.
In the British 2-part television drama Henry VIII in 2003, Jane was played by British actress, Kelly Hunter. She appeared opposite Helena Bonham Carter as Anne Boleyn, Emily Blunt as Catherine Howard and Dominic Maffian as George Boleyn.
She did not appear in the BBC's adaptation of The Other Boleyn Girl in 2003. This is an Article on Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford IN FICTION AND HISTORY