Anne was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, later Earl of Wiltshire and Earl
of Ormond, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of Thomas
Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. Thomas Boleyn was a well-respected
diplomat with a gift for languages; he was also a favourite of Henry VII of
England, who sent him on many diplomatic missions abroad. Anne and her
siblings grew up at Hever Castle in Kent. They were born in Norfolk at the
Boleyn home at Blickling. A lack of parish records has made it impossible to
establish Anne's date of birth. Contemporary evidence is contradictory, with
several dates having been put forward by various historians. An Italian,
writing in 1600, suggested that she had been born in 1499, while Sir
Thomas More's son-in-law William Roper gave a date of 1512. Her birth is
widely accepted by scholars and historians as most likely between 1501
and 1507.
As with Anne, it is uncertain when her two siblings were born, but it seems
clear that her sister Mary was older than Anne. Mary's children clearly
believed their mother was the elder sister.[10] Mary's grandson claimed the
Ormonde title in 1596 on the basis that she was the elder daughter, which
Elizabeth I accepted.[11][12] Their brother George was born around 1504.[13][14]
Anne's sister Mary Boleyn
The academic debate about Anne's birth date focuses on two key dates:
1501 and 1507. Eric Ives, a British historian and legal expert, advocates
1501, while Retha Warnicke, an American scholar who has also written a
biography of Anne, prefers 1507. The key piece of surviving written
evidence is a letter Anne wrote sometime in 1514.[15] She wrote it in French
to her father, who was still living in England while Anne was completing her
education at Mechelen, in the Burgundian Netherlands, now Belgium. Ives
argues that the style of the letter and its mature handwriting prove that
Anne must have been about 13 at the time of its composition, while
Warnicke argues that the numerous misspellings and grammar errors show
that the letter was written by a child. In Ives's view, this would also be
around the minimum age that a girl could be a maid of honour, as Anne
was to the regent,[citation needed] Margaret of Austria. This is supported by claims
of a chronicler from the late 16th century, who wrote that Anne was 20
when she returned from France.[16] These findings are contested by
Warnicke in several books and articles, and the evidence does not
conclusively support either date.[17]
Two independent contemporary sources support the 1507 date.
Author Gareth Russell wrote a summary of the evidence and relates
that Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria, wrote her memoirs shortly before her
death in 1612. The former lady-in-waiting and confidante to Queen Mary
I wrote of Anne Boleyn: "She was convicted and condemned and was not
yet twenty-nine years of age." William Camden wrote a history of the reign
of Queen Elizabeth I and was granted access to the private papers of Lord
Burghley and to the state archives. In that history, in the chapter dealing
with Elizabeth's early life, he records in the margin that Anne was born in
MDVII (1507).[18]
Anne's great-great-great-grandparents included a Lord Mayor of London,
a duke, an earl, two aristocratic ladies, and a knight. One of them, Geoffrey
Boleyn, had been a mercer and wool merchant before becoming Lord
Mayor.[19][20] The Boleyn family originally came from Blickling in Norfolk, 15
miles (24 km) north of Norwich.[19]
At the time of Anne's birth, the Boleyn family was one of the most
respected in the English aristocracy. Among her relatives, she numbered
the Howards, one of the preeminent families in the land; and one of her
ancestors included King Edward I of England. According to Eric Ives, she
was certainly of more noble birth than were Jane Seymour, Catherine
Howard, and Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's three other English wives.[21] The
spelling of the Boleyn name was variable, as common at the time.
Sometimes it was written as Bullen, hence the bull heads which formed
part of her family arms.[22] At the court of Margaret of Austria in the
Netherlands, Anne is listed as Boullan.[12] From there she signed the letter
to her father as Anna de Boullan.[23] She was also called "Anna Bolina"; this
Latinised form is used in most portraits of her.[23]
Anne's early education was typical for women of her class. In 1513, she
was invited to join the schoolroom of Margaret of Austria and her four
wards. Her academic education was limited to arithmetic, her family
genealogy, grammar, history, reading, spelling, and writing. She also
developed domestic skills such as dancing, embroidery, good manners,
household management, music, needlework, and singing. Anne learned to
play games, such as cards, chess, and dice. She was also taught archery,
falconry, horseback riding, and hunting.[24]
