Oakie doakie then. I think that Jane Boleyn is possibly a much-maligned woman.
Here is a bit of background; The patroness of Jane's family was none other than Lady Margaret Beaufort. Indeed it was she who brokered the marriage between Jane's parents and helped pay the christening expenses for Jane and her siblings.Jane was brought to court and was one of the maidens who performed in the "Chateau Vert" masque, (possibly the entertainment at which Henry first noticed Anne Boleyn). Jane had the world before her when she left home for the Tudor court-marrying a young man (George Boleyn) of her own age and from an up and coming family. She was destined to be the mistress of Hever and Blickling. Was it a "bad" marriage? well, she repeated Anne's secret (about Henry's sexual failure) to George, which in itself implies a relaxed rather than a failed union.She confessed the same to Cromwell- perhaps buckling under the pressure of relentless questioning. However, she said no more than that.
Jane didnot appear in person at the trial of Anne or George. In fact,the weight of opinion at the time was in favour of George's acquittal until he read aloud from the paper he was handed, referring to Henry's lack of potency. This was the only time Jane's name cropped up at the Boleyn trials.
Sir John Spelman, who sat on the bench throughout, didnot touch on Jane at all. Instead, he wrote that the incriminating evidence against Anne came from LADY WINGFIELD.
Cromwell,(who had all the "information" he needed to condemn Anne directly from Smeaton's confession), simply made general remarks on the disgust at Anne's conduct felt by the Ladies of the Bedchamber. Jane had no need to slander her husband- the financial implications alone wuld have been ruinous.
She carved a career for herself after George's death but threw it all away when faced with the demands of Catherine Howard. To put it simply,she was addicted to the "celebrity" of the court and supporting Catherine's "naughtiness" cost Jane her reputation and her head.
So what was she guilty of...Anne's death ? Surely the blame for that lies squarely at Henry's feet. Anne would not or couldnot change her role from Mistress to suppliant wife and that was not what Henry wanted. She didnot inform against Catherine Howard when she had good reason to do so. She didnot bring down the Boleyns but she was guilty of of helping Catherine conduct an illicit affair. It was for this and no other reason that Jane died.
As for the chalk drawing of "Lady Parker"by Holbein (its around here somewhere), Jane was never "Lady Parker". When Holbein arrived in England she had been married to George for two years and was Lady Rochford by the time the artist returned to England.
