The Boleyns: The Rise and Fall of a Tudor Family

by David Loades

First-ever history of the infamous Boleyn family.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Tudor Period, Historical, Biography, British Literature, 16th Century

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2012

About the author

David Michael Loades was a British historian who specialised in the Tudor era. After military service in the Royal Air Force from 1953 until 1955, Loades studied at the University of Cambridge. In the 1960s and 1970s he taught at the universities of St. Andrews and Durham. From 1980 until 1996 Loades was Professor of History at the University of Wales; after taking emeritus status, Loades served as Honorary Research Professor at the University of Sheffield from 1996 until 2008.

Reviews

[Hanna (lapetiteboleyn) · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the few irritating things to have come out of the increasing recent scholarship on the Tudors, and the Boleyns in particular, is quite how fast material becomes dated. Despite being less than ten years old, there were a great many moments in this family biography that raised a quizzical eyebrow. It also (and I say this with all possible kindness) was obviously written by a man. Even without looking at the authors name, enough focus is on the 'sexual appetites' of the Boleyn girls and the 'sexual awakening' of the young Elizabeth being molested by her stepfather to make anyone a bit queasy. There are better biographies out there, I promise you.

[Susan]

I enjoyed this, but at the same time I was disappointed. I had hoped for more information on Thomas and George Boleyn in particular, and more of an examination into their motives and personalities.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will look forward to rereading this in years to come. Loades is a great author.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books about the Boleyn family are always going to be interesting. What Loades does best here is separate out the fictional Boleyns from what we actually know about them. Something we will never know is why they acted in the ways they did: what was going on in their heads, what did they feel about certain events, why did the react in certain ways (such as, how could a father and daughter watch their son/brother and daughter/sister be executed, still pay homage to the sovereign who did that, and not contemplate revenge?). Loades doesn't go here; he's not writing historical fiction. Even a "just the facts, ma'm" book about the Boleyns is still juicy and captivating; they were fascinating people who lived in one of those "interesting" times.

All that said, Loades book is uneven. The chapters often circled back on themselves in ways that, while not confusing, seemed "unedited." They weren't knitted together very well.

[Clelixedda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is more aimed at people who like historical fiction about the Tudors and are interested in the actual historical roots of these stories, not so much at people who already have a bit of background knowledge. It is quite introductory and very shallow at times and does not always distinguish properly between sound facts and speculation. I found it very... ok.

[Dilly Dalley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book at Savers op-shop in Melbourne in January 2020. It looked unread. I have Wolf Hall as an explanation for why I picked it up. What would I know or care about Anne Boleyn if it was not for the great trilogy that is Wolf Hall, Bring up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light? Hillary Mantel visited the Tudor ages and blew it up. That was my experience and since then I have been curious about this period of history. Full disclosure, in my “day job” as an embroiderer I have an abiding interest in Stuart embroideries – Stumpwork, goldwork and embroidered caskets. I have done a fair bit of reading about the Stuart period, both from a textile point of view and from an historical and cultural point of view. The Stuarts are not so distant from the Tudors. After Henry VIII’s daughter Elizabeth dies without any children, the Stuart James, King of Scotland, comes to reign over England. A hundred years later, the last Stuart, Queen Anne, of the fabulous film The Favourite dies. But I digress. What about the Tudors?

This is a fine and quite readable little history of a Tudor family – the Boleyns – written by David Loades, who has an impressive list of Tudor history publications after his name. I would certainly consider reading more of his books, should my interest in Tudor history develop further than this chance encounter in an op shop. The author treats each important member of the Boleyn family to a chapter and describes that person, what we can know about them through the imperfect original sources, and what that person experienced in their relationship to power.

We have Thomas Boleyn the father, career diplomat and someone who protected his position of power and gathered no enemies, the two sisters Mary and Anne who would both sleep with King Henry with very different outcomes (one is discarded, survives in relative poverty until Cromwell provides some financial relief, eventually remarries, and dies a natural death; the other famously brings about a change in the course of religious history in England, bears the greatest female English monarch but cannot survive the political intrigue of court, her husband’s fickleness and her own mistakes), the brother George and his wife Jane (George and Anne are executed as they lose power and fall from King Henry’s favour and George’s wife Jane survives this period but later falls foul of King Henry and suffers the same fate at the executioner’s blade). And interestingly, David Loades also tells us of the next generation – Mary’s son Henry Carew gets a chapter (diligent and loyal to his cousin the Queen, he enjoys her favour and replenishes the coffers of the Boleyn family so badly destroyed by Anne and George), and Anne’s daughter Queen Elizabeth takes pride of place as the monarch who was cognizant of the lessons her mother’s life taught her and who made a great success of her power.

The final chapter of the book – Conclusion: A Political Family? I found to be the most engaging. It gave me an insightful assessment of the difference between power vs influence and I was quite taken with the author’s assessment of how female power and female sovereign power could work at this time in history.

I found a couple of things a bit tricky – there are lot of women named Mary in this period of history…hmmm…sometimes I got confused. Also, Loades will refer to a person by name and sometimes by their title so Thomas Boleyn once he is the Earl of Wiltshire he can then referred to as Wiltshire – again with the confusion. Finally, the non-explanation of terms relating to land ownership caused me to wish that I had a Tudor economics for dummies by my bed. But these were minor issues. Overall, I recommend the book if you are interested in this period of history. You will gain some good insights into Tudor power.

[Ruth Harwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't believe it's a criticism, but from the outset I'd like to point out that I never ever wish to read the phrase 'on the distaff side' (distaff being related to 'spinning/weaving' and as such 'female activities') ever again. It stinks of mysogyny, even talking about a family living in the past, whatever the era, it's not a phrase that should be uttered in an academic work, to my mind, written in the here and now. That's all relating to that, I just felt obliged, after the way it made me recoil from the page (if it had been at the beginning of the book I wouldn't have passed the first page!).
The rest of the book is eminently readable for the interested, student or not, and full of information, not only about this family whose fame lasted a mere flicker of the candle, but of the other families of the time, and the author does pass an informative point of view in which to frame the rise and fall.
I think in further editions, the female line should be the phrase used, or something akin, so that such awful connotations are never connected to the author. This phrase would have been picked out and altered by any self-respecting editor, meaning this is an issue with the author for unwise word choice and the editor for shoddy work...

[Bill38silver · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a relative novice to Tudor history I had high hopes for a clear lucid account but the overall impression was "disappointing". There was a sense of David Loades having spent a lifetime garnering so much information of the Boleyns /the Tudor period, now finding a place for some immaterial material that had not found a place in another of the author's books. This one did seem to have been thrown together in a bit of a rush.

I found the flow or structure of the book rather confusing and easily lost track of who was who. I was surprised a simple family tree was not provided. Reading the book over several days may have added to my confusion. Having spent 25 pages on a nephew, Henry Carey, Loades says "he was uninteresting" compared to Elizabeth 1st. Who wasn't, and if not interesting, why include him?

Perhaps a thinner book would have been better focussed entirely on the "other Boleyns" and leaving out most of the detail on Anne and Elizabeth( who are covered in numerous other books). But then would it be of as much interest?

[Kara · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a more nuanced and comprehensive book on the Boleyn family, see Elizabeth Norton's The Boleyn Women: The Tudor Femmes Fatales Who Changed English History.

Here, Loades presents what was mostly a biography on Anne Boleyn, with facts rearranged out of order to try and make it look like it was examining the whole family.

Also, Loades overlooks a lot of obvious instances of the persecution of women, instead putting the onus back on them, going on about Anne Boleyn playing "hard to get" with Henry rather than any suggestion she might not have wanted his attentions, and Elizabeth's sexual harassment from Thomas Seymour is dismissed as "horseplay." Worst of all, in his final analysis Loades dismisses the Boleyns as a political family because "their leaders were women".

Ugh.

[Joanne Tognarelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read and covers some of the other characters in the Boleyn saga

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent primer if you are just getting into the Tudors and are curious about the Boleyns. Not that in-depth.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

An interesting topic wasted on an overload of information.

[Trisha Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed

[Stephanie Miceli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as detailed or in depth as I would have preferred, but still an interesting read on the rise of Thomas Boleyn and his famous children and their dramatic fall from grace.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read numerous books on Tudor England and have always found them to be informative and enlightening. So, it was a surprise to find this offering on the Boleyn family disappointing. From the outset the book was written for a general readership. It is set up to provide an overview of the Boleyn family, and that is where the problems begin. The author takes an episodic approach to the family, tackling notable individuals in chronological order. The effect is that the early history of the family seems to be glossed over without much consideration. The approach also leads to confusion in the chapters on Mary, Anne and George, as the siblings shared much history which is repeated in each of their stories. Loades chooses to conclude the book with chapters on George Carey and if we are to believe the author, was a singularly boring fellow and Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's chapter focuses on her relationship with Robert Dudley and offers nothing new. I was disappointed that Catherine Carey and her family were almost totally ignored. The book would have benefited from more time and better editing. Tudor aficionados will find nothing new here, and general readers will get bogged down in the repeated stories.

[Julie Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a scholarly book, not fiction, that I found fascinating. Reason? Because I wanted to know the facts that are available from research, rather than re-reading fictionalized stories about the most well known Boleyns—Mary, Anne, and Elizabeth 1.

The Boleyns originated from humble stock and rose to power through the marriages of their women. The menfolk, at least the majority, were hardworking politicians or diplomats, who carefully did not put a foot wrong and did not shine brightly. Certainly they were at court, served on various councils,and were rewarded by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Some were less competent than others, and more than one was foolish.

Much remains unknown about all the Boleyns, except Anne and Elizabeth, and we only really know Anne from the time of Henry's infatuation with her. A lot of her early background is missing.

I much enjoyed the author's thoughts on how Elizabeth ruled, what motivated her, and how she used her feminine wiles to succeed. He also drew parallels with her character and her mother's.

So I recommend this book by David Loades based on recent scholarship to those who want the known truth about the Boleyn family.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As a big fan of history I had high expectations of this, and it didn't disappoint. My only issue is that, considering the author is a professor, he should have had someone edit his work for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. On the whole, though, it was well researched and told in a fascinating way that brought the past to life.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but several times I noticed what seemed to be blatant plagiarism of David Starkey's ideas. I did like the inclusion of Mary Boleyn's offspring in the coverage. Not that they were so exciting, but it was interesting to find out what happened to them.

[Olga Hughes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting a lot more from this, it's too brief, some of the dates are muddled and I found some of his theories implausible. It's a good quick read but don't expect anything earth-shattering, most of the Boleyn family members we know less about are typically glossed over.

[Lois · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished the book. Probably my last by David Loades