The Early Bullens

<body bgcolor="black" text="#ffffff" link="CRIMSON" alink="CRIMSON" vlink="CRIMSON"> <basefont size="2"> <FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Magik,Mistral,Comic Sans MS,Arial" SIZE="7">The Early Bullens</FONT> <P> <IMG SRC="/boleynfamily2/heraldry/bullen.gif" ALIGN=LEFT>Part of the myth of <B><A HREF="/boleynfamily/anne/" target="_parent">Anne Boleyn</A></B> is that she came from a family of merchants. It is certainly true that the early Bullens were undistinguished. The name "Bullen" derives, it is believed, from the French town of Boulogne; originally it would have signified those origins.<SUP>1</SUP> They can be traced back to Salle, in Norfolk, now a tiny hamlet; at the time, though, it was a thriving community whose prosperity derived from the wool trade. Its church, strikingly large for so small a place, bears witness to this former prosperity, and several early Bullens are buried there. The earliest references to the family seem to date from around the thirteenth century, and we know of a Ralph Bullen who was alive around 1402.<SUP>2</SUP> It was his great-great-grandson, Geoffrey Bullen, who started the family's social climb. <P> <TABLE WIDTH=299 ALIGN=RIGHT><TR><TD><IMG SRC="butlerdescent.gif"></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="1"><CENTER>The Boleyns' descent from Edward I through the Butlers.</CENTER></FONT></TD></TR></TABLE>Geoffrey, a successful merchant, became an alderman of the City of London in 1452; he bought the manor of Blickling in Norfolk, where <B><A HREF="/boleynfamily/anne/" target="_parent">Anne Boleyn</A></B> was probably born, in the same year. He was made Lord Mayor in 1457 and in 1462 he bought Hever Castle. Like his son and grandson, he married well; his wife was Anne Hoo, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Thomas, Lord Hoo and Hastings. This linked him to gentry and some nobility - and even the Howard family, who probably helped to secure Geoffrey a knighthood from Henry VI.<SUP>3</SUP> <P> After Sir Geoffrey Bullen's death, his son William inherited Hever and Blickling, as well as manors in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire from his mother's side. He was made a Knight of the Bath in 1483, at the coronation of Richard III and became a Baron of the Exchequer under Henry VII. His marriage, though, was very impressive indeed - to Margaret Butler, co-heiress of Thomas Butler: the seventh Earl of Ormonde. By this stage, the Bullens had long since left their mercantile origins behind! The Butlers were directly descended from Edward I, and the Earl of Ormonde was one of the wealthiest men in the Tudor kings' dominions. He left 36 manors (originally from the Hankfords) to each of his two daughters, but ultimately the Irish estates and the earldom itself to a male cousin in Ireland.<SUP>4</SUP> This was the origin of <B><A HREF="/boleynfamily/thomas/" target="_parent">Sir Thomas Boleyn</A></B>'s claim to the Earldom of Ormonde, the title which was ultimately bestowed on him in 1529. <P> <B><A HREF="/boleynfamily/thomas/" target="_parent">Sir Thomas Boleyn</A></B>, born in about 1477, and rapidly entered into the service of the king: in 1497 he, with his father, fought against the Cornish rebels, in 1501 he was present at Katherine of Aragon's marriage to Prince Arthur and in 1503 he helped escort Princess Margaret north to Scotland. He probably married Elizabeth Howard in about 1498 or 1499, and this was another very good match for the Bullens; Elizabeth was the daughter of the second Duke of Norfolk, sister of the Earl of Surrey (who would in due course become the third Duke) and another direct descendant of Edward I. <B><A HREF="/boleynfamily/thomas/" target="_parent">Thomas</A></B> was probably lucky that the Howards were under a cloud, having been on the wrong side of the Battle of Bosworth between Richard III and Henry VII; otherwise the match would have been very much above him.<SUP>5</SUP> <P> This meant, however, that <B><A HREF="/boleynfamily/anne/" target="_parent">Anne Boleyn</A></B> could, overall, claim that she was "descent of right noble and high thorough regal blood" with perfect justice. Aside from Geoffrey Bullen, her great-grandparents were the first Duke of Norfolk, the seventh Earl of Ormonde, the granddaughter of the Earl of Salisbury, the daughter of Baron Hoo and Hastings, the daughter of Baron Moleyns, Sir Frederick Tylney and an esquire's daughter.<SUP>6</SUP> Ironically enough, it is her rise to queenship which provoked the malicious commentary about her ancestry. <P> <FONT FACE="Magik,Mistral,Comic Sans MS,Arial" SIZE="6">Notes</FONT> <P> <SUP>1</SUP> Denny, p. 26 <P> <SUP>2</SUP> Weir, p. 145 <P> <SUP>3</SUP> Weir, p. 145 <P> <SUP>4</SUP> Warnicke, p. 8 <P> <SUP>5</SUP> Weir, pp. 145-6; Denny, p. 26 <P> <SUP>6</SUP> Ives, p. 4 <P> <FONT FACE="Magik,Mistral,Comic Sans MS,Arial" SIZE="6">Works Cited</FONT> <P> Denny, Joanna. <i>Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen. </i>London: Portrait, 2004. <P> Ives, Eric W. <i>Anne Boleyn. </i>Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986. <P> Warnicke, Retha M. <i>The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII. </i>Cambridge: Canto, 1991. <P> Weir, Alison. <i>The Six Wives of Henry VIII. </i>New York: Ballantine Books, 1993. <P> <HR> <P> <B><A HREF="/boleynfamily/" target="_parent">Home</A></B> <P> <FONT SIZE=1>Image of original Bullen arms from John Speed's <I>The Counties of Britain</I>.<BR>Scanned by Douglas Dowell.</FONT> </FONT> </BODY>