Geoffrey Boleyn

Sir Geoffrey Boleyn (1406–1463; also Jeffray Bulleyn, Bullen, etc.) was an English merchant and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London from 1457 to 1458. He purchased the manor of Blickling, near Aylsham, in Norfolk from Sir John Fastolf in 1452, and Hever Castle in Kent in 1462. He was the great-grandfather of Queen Anne Boleyn, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. Sir Geoffrey built the domestic, mercantile and civic fortunes of the Boleyn family, and raised its status from the provincial gentry, as his brother Thomas Boleyn made a career of distinction in church and university, together building the family's wealth, influence and reputation. Family Geoffrey Boleyn's father was an elder Geoffrey Boleyn (died 1440), yeoman of Salle in Norfolk, son of Thomas Boleyn (died 1411) of Salle and his wife Agnes. His mother Alice, née Bracton, whose arms he quartered with those of Boleyn, was daughter and heiress of Sir John Bracton of Norfolk. Geoffrey and Alice Boleyn of Salle are commemorated by a monumental brass in Salle Church, which shows the two figures frontally, standing, set side by side, with a memorial inscription beneath (referring also to their children) and a scroll flying between them with a Latin prayer, "God be merciful to us sinners". Around 1730, Thomas Martin of Palgrave saw two subsidiary brass groups in the slab showing their five sons and their four daughters: these have long been missing. Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, the son of Geoffrey and Alice, therefore had four brothers and four sisters, some of whom may not have reached majority. The following, at least some of whom were buried elsewhere, are known from other sources: William Boleyn (died 1427), who settled in Lincolnshire where he is said to have founded the Lincolnshire branch of the family. John Boleyn Thomas Boleyn (died 1472), Prebendary of St. Stephen's, Westminster, Precentor and Sub-Dean of Wells Cathedral, Master of Gonville Hall, Cambridge (1454-1472), and Master of the College of All Saints, Maidstone, Kent. This Thomas, a notable figure, was executor to his brother Geoffrey's will.