Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire

Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire, née Lady Elizabeth Howard (c. 1480 - 1538) was one of the many daughters of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk by his first wife Elizabeth Tilney, daughter of Frederick Tilney and Elizabeth Cheney. She was also a direct descendant of the Edward I of England. Little is known of her but we can piece together a rough chronology of her life through the comments and mythologies of her contemporaries.

Elizabeth was wed to Thomas Boleyn, an ambitious young courtier, sometime about 1499/1500. According to Thomas, Elizabeth was pregnant many times in the next few years but only five children are thought to have survived birth. It is known than only three of the Boleyn children survived to adulthood:

• Mary Boleyn (c. 1501 - July 19, 1543).
• George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (c. 1503 - May 17, 1536).
• Anne Boleyn (c. 1507 - May 19, 1536).
• Thomas Boleyn - thought to have died young.
• Henry Boleyn - thought to have died young.

Throughout this time, Elizabeth was lady-in-waiting at the royal court; firstly to Elizabeth of York and then to Katherine of Aragon. To judge from later gossip, Elizabeth Boleyn must have been a highly attractive woman. Rumours circulated that she was the mistress of young Henry VIII, but despite recent attempts by one or two historians to rehabilitate this myth, it was denied by Henry and never mentioned in the stream of dispensations he sought in order to make his union with Anne lawful. It is likely that this rumour began from a misunderstanding between Henry's more famous mistress Elizabeth Blount or from the growing unpopularity of the Boleyn family after 1527.

In 1519, Elizabeth's elder daughter, Mary, currently living in the French royal court was brought home in disgrace once her reputation was left in tatters due to a series of sexual escapades. Elizabeth never really forgave Mary for this slur on the family's reputation and in the words of historian M.L. Bruce both Thomas and Elizabeth "developed feelings of dislike" for their daughter. In later years, Mary's romantic mistakes would only further strain this brittle relationship.

Anne, Elizabeth's other daughter, avoided taking sides in the argument but she "showed a protective attitude" toward her elder sister despite the family's criticisms. It was left to Anne to lighten Mary's financial difficulties in 1528/1529, and she had to pressure the king and the rest of the Boleyns into helping the warm-hearted, impulsive young woman who had become their 'black sheep'. Despite this, Anne also had a seemingly close relationship with her mother. When Henry VIII fell in love with Anne either in 1523 or 1524, Elizabeth was Anne's protective chaperone. She accompanied Anne to court whenever Anne was attempting to avoid a sexual phase to her relationship with the king and it was Elizabeth who travelled with Anne to view York Place after the fall of the Boleyn family's great political opponent, Thomas Cardinal Wolsey.

Elizabeth remained in her daughter's household throughout her time as Queen consort. Tradition has it that Anne's only daughter, Elizabeth I was named after her maternal grandmother. However, it is more likely that she was named after Henry's mother, Elizabeth of York - although we cannot rule out the possibility that she was named after both grandmothers.

Elizabeth Boleyn sided with the rest of the family when Mary was banished in 1535 for eloping with a commoner. Only a year later, she was forced to watch as her youngest daughter and her only living son were executed on false charges of treason, adultery and incest - victims of a cruel court plot and the king's desire to marry the doe-eyed Jane Seymour.

Following the annihilation of the family's ambitions, Elizabeth retired to the countryside. The fall of the Boleyns has been likened to "a Greek tragedy", and yet there is something tragically pathetic and anti-climatic about Elizabeth Boleyn's quiet, uneventful death only two years after she had witnessed the cruel machinations of the Tudor court which had devoured her two brilliant and glamorous younger children.