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    Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford
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    Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford
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    Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford
    Audiobook12 hours

    Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford

    Written by Julia Fox

    Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In a life of extraordinary drama, Jane Boleyn was catapulted from relative obscurity to the inner circle of King Henry VIII. As powerful men and women around her became victims of Henry's ruthless and absolute power, including her own husband and sister-in-law, Queen Anne Boleyn, Jane's allegiance to the volatile monarchy was sustained and rewarded. But the price for her loyalty would eventually be her undoing and the ruination of her name. For centuries, little beyond rumor and scandal has been associated with "the infamous Lady Rochford." But now historian Julia Fox sets the record straight and restores dignity to this much-maligned figure whose life and reputation were taken from her.

    Drawing upon her own deep knowledge and years of original research, Julia Fox brings us into the inner sanctum of court life, laced with intrigue and encumbered by disgrace. Through the eyes and ears of Jane Boleyn, we witness the myriad players of the stormy Tudor period. Jane emerges as a courageous spirit, a modern woman forced by circumstances to fend for herself in a privileged but vicious world.


    From the Compact Disc edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateDec 26, 2007
    ISBN9781415946510
    Unavailable
    Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford
    Author

    Julia Fox

    Julia Fox taught history in state and private schools and is the author of Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford and Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile.

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    Reviews for Jane Boleyn

    3.5/5

    133 ratings20 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I kind of consider this "suspense" because....it's like "what's gonna happen next?"

      Now then (in my opinion), this book isn't really about Jane herself, it's about Henry VIII (bloody sod that he was), Anne Boleyn (her rise & fall), the Boleyn Family, Jane Seymour, Katherine Howard, Cromwell, how Jane may or may not have fit into their lives and the Cromwell pawn that she eventually became . Back then, no one really paid that much attention to the Ladies in-waiting, unless they were playing around with Hank....and no one knows for sure exactly what Jane's role was in most of it. She just wasn't an important enough player at Court until Hank & Cromwell needed her to present witness against the Queens they wanted to get rid of.

      This book reads like a story, not a non-fiction piece of work. We never get to know Jane as a person....but I use to think she was a conspiring, jealous "wannabe", which she wasn't. She happened to be an unsuspecting pawn swept up in the intrigues of a very nasty game of power & politics.

      Updated Review: Who knew that I had read this before? Obviously it wasn't very memorable: This book is not so much the story of Jane Boleyn, as it is about Henry VIII, the Boleyns themselves, & the subsequent three wives of Henry VIII. As Jane Boleyn was on the sidelines there was not much known or written about her, so this book is mostly supposition about what would have been Jane's part in the Tudor Dynasty as a member of the court.

      It is known that Jane was interrogated regarding the relationship of her husband, George Boleyn, with his infamous sister Anne... but there are no remaining records of what she actually said. Most other books make her out to be a jealous shrew.... This book explains what her role would have been as being one of the Queen's women, but not who she was as a person or her actual interactions with Anne.

      There are no diaries, no letters, nothing much to support who she really was as a person..... If I had wanted to read in minute detail about the Boleyns, their rise & fall from power then I'd have rated this book much higher than I did. But as I wanted to know more about Jane herself.... This book fell very short and I was very disappointed.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this work, the first in-depth study of Jane Boleyn, sister-in-law to the infamous Anne. Like so many women of this time, her actions and thoughts weren't recorded or kept, but we do know a lot about her whereabouts. Julia Fox builds up Jane's story as a woman between the lines of history, a sort of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead for the court of Henry VIII. I especially appreciated the author's explanation of why and how Jane became known as "The Infamous Lady Rochford," known to have betrayed her husband and sister-in-law... when she basically, probably, did not. The chapters about her role in the downfall of Catherine Howard (and her own downfall) were gut-wrenching. An interesting book to view some well-known events from a new perspective. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      This is a 3.5 star book rounded to 4 because of an excellent narrator. This story does not live up to its title because the author has no more proof than any other author that her version is the true version. She states this in her epilogue. I was not as bothered by this as some people were because I wasn't looking for the "ultimate source" on Jane Boleyn. Fox wrote a story that read more like historical fiction in narrative style. The story was pretty much life in the court of Henry VIII through the eyes of Jane Boleyn. This was good enough for me and I enjoyed it. If you're writing a research paper, this might not be the best book for you though."
    • 4/5
      There may come a time – not in my life certainly, when those clever people at Microsoft or Google, will build a time machine. Then, with a few deft keystrokes, anyone with sufficient funds to stump up the registration, will be able to travel back in time and confirm or otherwise the popular conceptions of history. Until then, we must rely on Julia Fox and her ilk to wade through the sources and present us with their opinion of what happened where and when. She does so with admirable perspicacityJulia Fox has been very courageous in choosing a subject that has been written to death (3 million internet hits), in both fact and fiction. However, as everyone has access to the same primary sources, it is not everyone that can tease out the plausibility from the preconceived notions as well as Ms Fox does.This is Fox’s first book and it is beautifully written. From the first chapter it is apparent that she is an experienced researcher and teacher. She also has an eye for beauty. Her descriptions of the Tudor ladies wardrobes, betray an author with an eye for style.This is the story of the trials and tribulations and ultimate undoing of Jane Boleyn (née Parker), Lady Rochford, wife of George Boleyn who was Anne Boleyn’s brother. Fox attempts to buck the trend and redeem the oft disparaged viscountess. She elevates her from the ‘Great Whore’ and ‘Wicked Wife’ of other publications, to innocent victim in her own. Opinions vary whether the lady brought wretchedness upon herself through treachery, or was just a victim of circumstance. Fox suggests the latter, and I am persuaded. In the life and death lottery that was King Henry VIII’s court, you win some and you lose some. Losing was rather final as in Jane’s, her husband and sister-in-law’s case, not to mention a few hundred more, but Fox punctuates these personal dilemmas with beautifully drawn descriptions of the pomp and ceremony that occupied the space between the misery. It would be easy to conclude that when questioned about her Queen’s and husband’s alleged offenses, she betrayed them. That would have been dumb; then and now. And Lady Rochford was anything but dumb. She was a lady-in-waiting to five of Henry’s wives before she lost her head. That would have required some nifty footwork. There can be little doubt that she was implicated in the machinations of Catherin Howard, but is anyone seriously suggesting that she should have popped along to Henry, and whispered in his ear (perhaps shouting would have been more effective), that his Queen was dallying with half his court?It must be said however that a majority of the evidence for or against comes from loquacious foreign diplomats. They may or may not have been sympathetic to the English court, and perhaps sprayed their odium where it was most likely to stick. Julia Fox’s book is a riveting read. Her points are well made and convincing. Her tone is ‘matter-of-fact ‘and never drifts from know intelligence. I strongly recommend this book for a first and second reading, and wait with enthusiasm for her next work.
    • 5/5
      Well read, easy to follow, a factual account of Lady Jane Rockford which makes perfect sense. Very enjoyable
    • 2/5
      I was hoping to discover something-anything-about this woman, and why she behaved as she did. Unfortunately after reading this book she is still a mystery to me. There just isn't a lot of information about Lady Rochford.
      The book is well written and easy to read, but for me, short on detail.
    • 2/5
      To relate the story of Jane Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's sister-in-law, Fox did a great deal of research. Unfortunately, there was apparently little to unearth. In over 300 pages, Jane is quoted exactly twice: in a letter to Cromwell and a few sentences from her testimony regarding Katherine Howard. That's it. We don't know when she was born, where she was raised, how she was educated or even what she looked like. Even her last words from the scaffold (she was executed for her part in Katherine Howard's treachery) were not recorded.

      Jane may or may not have been "elegant, poised, and animated," as Fox insists she was. But the fact is, we have no way of knowing. All but a few hours of her life are a complete mystery to us. The best Fox can do is guess--and guess she does, throughout the entire book. And for a history that encompasses the love affairs and executions of two fascinating queens, particularly one riddled with conjecture, the book is surprisingly dry. I used it as a sleep aid.
    • 2/5
      Having been long interested in the British monarchy, and having been engrossed in the Tudor dynasty for over a decade, I was fairly excited about this biography. Much has been written about Henry's wives, and much speculation placed on Jane Rochford's character: was she really awful? Had she ever had any semblance of a normal relationship with her husband and his sisters, Anne or Mary? Was she truly driven by jealousy when she gave evidence against Anne and her brother, claiming they'd been lovers? Was she just the scorned wife of another playboy, or was her husband's sexual orientation the cause of her bitterness? Did she really think Anne and George were too close for siblings? Had she maliciously encouraged the foolish and gullible Kitty Howard into an affair of her own volition?These were all things I, and I'm certain many others, have wondered about the "infamous" Lady Rochford. If you are hoping for some straight answers, I'm afraid you won't find them here.But if, like me, you are intrigued by the volatile marriages that occurred around her, and have finally grown somewhat tired of religiously reading each new adaptation or revised biography & novel about the usual suspects, you might want to pick up the book. It's one best suited for people who collect or devour the period and it's people, and while it might not be mind-blowing, I still wanted a copy of it for my own shelves. This particular era had very little use for women~ and even less for those not playing a starring role in the court. Little is known about most of Henry's queen's own lives, prior to their marriages or preceding entrance into court life; so its not all that surprising that almost nothing is known about Jane Rochford before she entered court at a Lady in Waiting. In fact, we cannot even be certain at which juncture of her life that began~ it's been surmised she was present for Catherine of Aragon's reign, and certainly we know she was present for Anne Boleyn's and Anne of Cleves, and Kitty Howards, but some speculate she might have been there even during Jane Seymour's, which would really break the outline of Julia Fox's theory that by the time the Duke of Norfolk found her pitiably living in destitution, she was so desperate to return to the good life that she eagerly signed on for another round of conniving, Boleyn style, against Kitty Howard.What Fox does do is draw from quite a few reliable records and sources; giving us an adequate and conceivable rendering of who and what Jane might have been, and what eventually drove her to first send her own husband and sister in law to the tower, as well as why she would be willing to help Kitty commit adultery.The real question i suppose, is not whether Jane really did it or not, but rather, why~ was she just that angry & spiteful, or was she just another pawn in the Duke of Norfolk's minions that had no choice but to go along with the tide, whichever way it rolled, lest she be pulled under.The book is certainly not a thinker~ but I commend J Fox for what was probably an immense amount of dreadfully dull research into records of purchases, travels, events, and the like. I suspect some of the other reviewers were disappointed because they were expecting a biography with Eric Ives capabilities; with so little information known though, that wait will likely be eternal. Bearing that in mind, this was a valiant effort on Fox's part, just to confirm and deduct what she did from those limited sources. Without anything to really focus on directly about Lady Rochford, Fox digs deep into the lives of those around her, and cross references these records in order to capitalize on what meager information there is to help give us a better idea of Jane's life. Though at times it can get redundant (what jewels and what fabrics were purchased on what dates gets a little dull), she does give us an interesting theory on what Jane's life was like after the death of George, her husband, as the widow of a traitor, a member of a scandalized family, and one of the Judases who tried to distance themselves from them to save themself. Realizing she likely had a difficult few years between Anne's demise and her return to court for Anne of Cleves, one can at least develop some semblance of sympathy and understanding as to why she'd have obeyed the Duke of Norfolk's command to facilitate an affair between Kitty and another. Henry's prowess was in question long before his marriage to kitty, and by the time he married her, his own health combined with his age and weight were working together to make it even less probable he'd impregnate Kitty~ and so the theory goes that the Duke of Norfolk; realizing Henry's son was often sickly, decided that the best way to usurp the Seymours was to help kitty conceive~ by whomever~ before Henry's abilities completely were negated, so they could pass off the child as his.I'm not entirely certain how I feel about this strange woman who seemed to bring nothing but misfortune to those around her~ but this book at least forced me to regard her with a new perspective, somewhat more forgiving than my prior one.The book also has some photographs and sketches; a few that are debated to be of her; regardless, there were some less common ones in there I found well worth the cost of the book.I feel a little ambivalent about the book, overall. There is a part of me that is hungry for more about this woman, and under that hat, I am dissapointed with this book- but the other hat tells me that the odds a better, or more informative one will ever be written is highly unlikely. So it goes with women who didn't warrant chronicling for anything other than scandal- which is why I'll still take the book, even with it's faults.
    • 2/5
      I had high expectations of this book but I was really disappointed. After first 2 pages I was wondering if this is fiction or non-fiction. It portrayed Jane's and George's marriage as happy and that Jane and Anne were close friends. And that Boleyn family loved Jane more than Mary.
      And according to the book, Katherine Howard's motto was "No Other Wish Than His" than "No Other Will Than His"
    • 4/5
      Even though I have read many books about Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and her mother, I did not read much that focused solely on the "infamous" Jane Boleyn. This book does just that and for that, I think this is worth the read. It gives a completely different view of Jane. I fell into the trap of disliking her, seeing her as a traitor. This book makes her more human, sheds a more sympathetic light on her. She was just trying to survive and maintain a lifestyle she had become accustom to. Her problem was she kept being dragged into the drama that was the Tudor court. I definitely enjoyed this book and it provided a new angle on Henry VIII and Jane Boleyn.
    • 4/5
      This attractively written book tells the story of Jane Boleyn, the wife of Queen Anne Boleyn's brother George. Not a great deal is known about her life other than her involvement in the fall of her brother and sister in law, and her own demise together with that of Queen Catherine Howard six years later, but a fair amount can be divined from property transactions and other documentation. The thrust of the author's argument is that Jane cannot have betrayed her husband and Anne as is traditionally thought as this would have been economic suicide for a woman in her position (she did suffer comparative poverty after their executions until she was able to persuade her father in law Thomas Boleyn to provide for her more liberally). I can see the author's point, but am not sure that I am really persuaded that she has been quite as grossly maligned as the author believes; I suspect that Jane was caught up in events that spiralled beyond the control of a woman who seems to have been seduced by the glitz and glamour of court life and unwilling to relinquish being at the centre of events - so naive rather than malign perhaps, though having been at the heart of events for some years, she arguably should have known better. She was fortunate to have restored her position as a lady of the bedchamber to Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves and finally, fatally, to Catherine Howard. Again, she got caught up in the latter's affair with Thomas Culpepper, and this time there was no escape; by the standards of the time, she was justly condemned for abetting the Queen's treasonous affair. A Tudor tragedy, to be sure, but not, in my view, on a par with that of Anne and George and many others wrongly brought down by King Henry VIII.
    • 3/5
      The only difference between this book and a book about Henry VIII's wives is that Julia Fox adds that "Jane might have been there" or "Jane was almost certainly there." And her argument that Jane Boleyn was a "courageous spirit" was not convincing to me. I gave it 2 1/2 stars because it was did use contemporary sources (primarily Ambassador Chapuys) and did seem pretty well researched, despite a few mistakes. But if you've read on the Tudors before, you probably wont learn anything new.
    • 3/5
      This is an entertaining read and an interesting perspective on the life of Lady Rochford, sister-in -law to Queen Anne Boleyn. Lady Rochford was widely believed at the time and through the centuries as having betrayed her husband to the authorities resulting in his death for incest and treason. Historical novels have typically portrayed her as spiteful and an enemy of both her husband and his sister. And yet there is little solid evidence either way. She could not have betrayed her husband since none of the charges against Anne Boleyn and her various alleged lovers were true. The Tudors were masters of propaganda and shifting the blame to someone else for a coldblooded murder was convenient.The difficulty with writing a book about Jane Boleyn is that there is so little information about her. There are few records of her childhood and her early life at court. For at least the first half of the book Ms Fox is merely following historical events and speculating about whether Jane was there and then if so, how she might have felt. Nevertheless, there is clear evidence that she and Anne Boleyn were initially quite close and other than the absence of children, little to prove that Jane and her husband despised each other. So we have to think about whether Lady Rochford truly was the malicious and heartless woman described by conventional history and contemporary historical novels.
    • 4/5
      This is t he story of Jane Boleyn, the wife of George Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's brother. Jane managed to survive the scandal that brought down Anne Boleyn (and Jane's husband), but she was not so lucky the second time around when she was caught enabling the infidelities of Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard. A truly fascinating story of someone who was intimately connected to the royal family by ties of service and marriage, this was a well researched and well written book. Recommended.
    • 3/5
      You've heard of Anne Boleyn, you've heard of Mary Boleyn The Other Boleyn Girl, but have you heard of Jane Boleyn? (Maybe--if you're a fan of 'The Tudors.') Jane Parker was the wife and widow of George Boleyn, who was beheaded for treason, accused of having slept with his sister Anne. Part of her "infamy" is that she gave evidence that helped to convict her husband and four other men, saying that he had told her that the king was unable to perform sexually. But the greater part comes later. With Cromwell's help, Jane was able to spring back from financial ruin and public shame. She retained a portion of her jointure lands and remained a member of the ladies-in-waiting for the next three queens (Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, and Katherine Howard). But as lady of the bedchamber to Katherine, she obviously knew of the young queen's adultery and was even perhaps an accomplice. Like her husband, the "infamous Lady Rocheford" ended up with her head on the block.This biography is relatively sympathetic to Jane, who seems to have been caught in a double bind in the case of Katherine Howard. She could say nothing or deny everything, but if she confessed what she knew, she would be guilty of not revealing the information sooner. While not the exciting read that it promised to be (or maybe I've just read too much about the Tudors), Fox does create a sense of what the court must have been like for noblewomen trying to please fathers, uncles, husbands, counselors, kings, and queens. I have to agree, however, with other LT readers who complain about Fox's admittedly unfounded speculations and that much of the filler is rehashed material.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was a very interesting addition to writings about Henry VIII's reign. It probably wouldn't interest too many other people, but I recommend it to students of the Tudor era.The great thing about biographies of minor characters with little documentation is that it often allows the author to talk more about the era and the typical life of a person of that station. It can make a wonderful supplement to the more focussed biographies of major actors. I learned more about the extended Boleyn family, and of course, Jane's birth family, the Parkers, than I have from any biography about Anne Boleyn.Fox seems to have done a lot of research, and has extensive notes, but the lack of information available about Jane necessarily results in a lot of speculation. One may feel that it was unnecessary to speculate on whether or not Jane sympathized with Margaret More Roper's grief at her father's death, but I think this is largely a matter of taste. It seems to me that Fox has made it fairly clear when she is speculating.Fox argues in her epilog that Jane was innocent of plotting against her husband and sister-in-law, George and Anne Boleyn, but guilty in the follies of Catherine Howard. She argues in the latter case that Jane may have gotten caught up - first carrying out fairly innocuous tasks for Catherine which escalated. She may have felt that it was too risky to either defy Catherine or accuse her to her doting husband. Further, she was a professional courtier and unwilling to give up her place.In the case of Anne and George, there are several threads that get confused. Fox argues that there is no evidence, prior to the fall of the Boleyns, that Jane was on bad terms with her husband or her in-laws. Financially, she was better off as a wife and sister-in-law of the Queen than a widow. These cases are fairly well made, although I'm open to arguments to the contrary. Fox argues that her involvement in their downfall was exaggerated to shift some of the blame from Henry VIII. One can see why blaming Henry for his wife's death was a delicate subject, especially in the reign of Elizabeth I, but I'm not convinced that anyone really saw Jane as Iago to Henry's Othello, even in earlier centuries. Jane's testimony would not have been relevant in the deaths of the other four men who were executed.Further, in the text, but not so much in the epilog, Fox seems to be suggesting that under questioning, Jane would have said anything she could to help build the case against Anne and George. She was only concerned with her own survival. Fox seems to be assuming that what Jane said, or was alleged to have said, was the truth, a somewhat dubious assumption given that some of the other testimony was definitely false. That is certainly not a vile as plotting to destroy them, but not precisely admirable either. Of course it also leaves the possibility, which Fox does not address, that the reason that few witnesses were asked to testify is because either the prosecution was afraid that they would be unable to lie when face to face with Anne and George, or that they did not actually say the things that they were alleged to have said.So I have some cavils, but a very interesting addition to literature about this period and these people.
    • 4/5
      An interesting history of Jane Boleyn, and among the better histories I've read. The author does a great job of imagining how daily life would have felt and Boleyn's motivations behind her actions. Often, this reads like a novel.
    • 3/5
      I'm probably the ideal reader for this book. I know something about Henry VIII and his doings, but not too much, nearly all my knowledge coming from movies, the stage and TV. So much of the detail concerning his marriages to the wives of his middle period, especially, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, is comparatively fresh to my eyes. Someone with more background would be, I'm guessing, pretty bored. Anyone with less would have to be asking themselves: "Why am I reading a book about a supernumerary, when there's more than enough material out there on the principals?" Jane Boleyn was the sister-in-law of Anne Boleyn and lady-in-waiting to that queen and her three successors. Her own personal contribution to British history came primarily through her contributions to the downfalls of Anne and Catherine Howard. So the great majority of these 400 pages is actually about Henry, his wives, and such face men as Thomas Boleyn, Cromwell, Wolsey, Norfolk and Suffolk. The best part of the book, to my mind, is the epilogue, where Fox details the process by which Lady Rochfort acquired the minor notoriety that has, up until now, been her legacy.
    • 4/5
      The title is misleading since the book is more about Henry VIII's court than it is specifically about Jane. In fact, you can count the number of pages devoted to Jane's life. However, if you don't know much about the court - as I did not - then you will learn about it through this book. It's well-written and entertaining.
    • 3/5
      This one might beget a new sub-genre: historical extrapolation. Fox starts with the (somewhat scant) factual historical record mentioning Jane directly, and proceeds to fill out the narrative with Tudor doings of which Jane was "likely" to have been a part. This is a case where listening to the audio may have been a different experience - Fox goes "into Jane's head" (to use a writing term) often enough that the book straddles a gray area between well-researched non-fiction, and outright "historical fiction" genres. Landor's breathy, suspenseful tone edges the listener even more towards the latter I'd say.Frankly, I'm surprised that Jane was able to "come back" from being the wife of a traitor, but it's not inconceivable that Henry gave her a "second chance", realizing (at least sub-consciously) that she took a fall for him to be able to get another chance with a more docile wife.Fox is a tremendous researcher; her extrapolations are probably valid assumptions in most cases.P. S . I had never previously heard the term "cloth of gold", and by the time the book was halfway through, I'd heard it uttered enough to last a lifetime!