George BOLEYN Viscount Rochford 1643
- Born: 4 April 1504, Blickling, Broadland, Norfolk, England 1643
- Died: 17 May 1536, , London, City of London, England at age 32 1643
- Buried: 1536, Wapping, Tower Hamlets, Greater London, England 1643
FamilySearch ID: G53W-ZMT
Find A Grave ID: 12380850
General Notes:
George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (c. 1504[2] \endash 17 May 1536) was an English courtier and nobleman who played a prominent role in the politics of the early 1530s as the brother of Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII. George was the maternal uncle of Queen Elizabeth I, although he died long before his niece ascended the throne. Following his father's promotion in the peerage in 1529 to Earl of Wiltshire and Earl of Ormond, he adopted his father's junior title Viscount Rochford (created in 1525) as a courtesy title. He was accused of incest with his sister Anne during the period of her trial for high treason, as a result of which both were executed.
Anne and George were arrested on 2 May 1536, the day after the May Day joust at which George was one of the principal jousters.
The four others implicated in the plot, Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, Sir William Brereton, and Mark Smeaton were tried on Friday 12 May. Only Smeaton confessed, probably after torture, but certainly emotional pressure. Despite lack of evidence all four men were found guilty. Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Anne and George's maternal uncle, presided over the court that tried and sentenced the Boleyn siblings to death.
George Boleyn and the other four men were beheaded on Tower Hill on the morning of 17 May 1536. George's scaffold speech was extremely long and exemplified the orator's linguistic skills. For it to have been recorded in as much detail as it was, the vast crowd who witnessed the executions must have been virtually silent, and there could have been little booing or jeering as with normal state executions.
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