Jane Boleyn
Born as
Jane Parker in 1505 to an old and noble family, Jane would become Anne
Boleyn’s sister-in-law in 1524 when she married the Count of Rochford,
George Boleyn. However, the marriage was by no means a happy one and Jane
played a role in bringing about her husband’s execution (as well as Queen
Anne’s) by stating to the courts that she believed the two of them to have
been involved in an incestuous affair.
Jane returned to
court to serve under Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves and once again
was instrumental in bringing about the end of a royal marriage when she
testified that the Queen had confided in her that the marriage had never
been consummated. Henry and Anne divorced, and Jane became a lady-in-waiting
for his fifth Queen, Catherine Howard.
Queen Catherine and
the Viscountess of Rochford got along very well, which led them both to
disaster. To ease the young Queen’s boredom, Jane would arrange intimate
meetings between Catherine and the handsome courtier Thomas Culpepper. This
indecent and scandalous behavior was soon brought to light when a letter
from Catherine to Culpepper was discovered, and within its pages the
Countess was named.
Arrested and found guilty for treason
along with the Queen and Culpepper, Jane Boleyn was beheaded by the axe
immediately after Queen Catherine Howard was executed on February 13, 1542.
