Archaeologia Volume 3 Section V. 31 Jul 1515. I, [her father] Thomas Butler (age 89) knt. erle of Ormond^a, do make this my last will and testament, &c.

Item I give and devise to my da^r dame [her sister] Anne St. Leger (age 60) — to my da^r dame Marg’t. Bolin (age 61), late the wife of Sir [her former husband] Wm. Bolin knt. my manor of Newhall in Essex

Item when my lorde my father, whose soul God affoile [?], left and delivered unto me a lytle whyte horne of ivory , garnished at both thendes with gold, and corse thereunto of whyte sylke , barred with barres of gold, and a tyret of golde thereupon, which was myn auncetours at fyrst time they were called to honour^b, and hath sythen contynually remained in the same blode, for wych cause my seid lord and father commanded me upon his blessing, that I shuld doo my devoir to cause it to contynue still in my blode as far furth as that myght lye in me soo to be doone to the honor of the same blode. Therefore for the accomplishiment of my seid father’s will, as farr as it is in me to execute the same, I will that my executors delyver unto Sir Tho. Boleyn (age 38) knt. son and heir apparent of my said da^r Margaret (age 61), the said lytle white horn and corse, he to keep the same to the use of the issuee male of his body lawfully begotten. And for lack of such issue the said horne to remayne and be delyvered to Sir George Seyntleger (age 31) knt. son of my said da^r Anne, and to the issue male which successively shall come of the body of the said George. And so to contynue in the issue male of the bodies of the same dame Margaret and dame Anne, as long as shall fortune any such issue male of their bodies to be. And alls for default of issue male of the body of any of my said daughters, the said horn to remaine, and to be delivered to the next issue male of my said auncetors, so that it may contynew styl in my blode hereafter as long as it shall please God, lyke as it hath doone hytherto to the honor of the same blode.

Note a. He was the 7th Ead of Ormond, and 3d son of James the 4th Earl. He was attainted by E. IV, but restored by H. VII. sworn of the privy-counci, and summoned as a baron to the English parliament by the title of Thomas Ormond de Rochford. He died 1515, and was buried in the church of Sir Thomas D'Acres, now Mercers Chapel, London. His two daughters married as above, Sir James St. Leger, ancestor to the family of Eggesford, in Devonshire, and Sir William Bullen, Knight of the Bath, and father of Tho. Viscount Rochford (age 38), [who was the father of] Queen Anne (age 14), and Mary (age 16) wife of Wm. Carey (age 15), ancestor to the Lord Hunsdon.

Note b. Q. Whether, on Henry II's appointing Theobald, the first of this family, butler of Ireland, 1177, or on the creation of the first Earl of Ormond, by E. I, when the county of Tipperary was made palatine.

Life of Cardinal Wolsey. In so much [as] my Lord Percy (age 21), the son and heir of the Earl of Northumberland (age 44), then attended upon the Lord Cardinal, and was also his servitor; and when it chanced the Lord Cardinal at any time to repair to the court, the Lord Percy (age 21) would then resort for his pastime unto the queen's chamber, and there would fall in dalliance among the queen's maidens, being at the last more conversant with Mistress Anne Boleyn (age 22) than with any other; so that there grew such a secret love between them that, at length, they were insured together⁸, intending to marry. The which thing came to the king's knowledge, who was then much offended. Wherefore he could hide no longer his secret affection, but revealed his secret intendment unto my Lord Cardinal in that behalf; and consulted with him to infringe the precontract between them: insomuch, that after my Lord Cardinal was departed from the court, and returned home to his place at Westminster, not forgetting the king's request and counsel, being in his gallery, called there before him the said Lord Percy unto his presence, and before us his servants of his chamber, saying thus unto him." I marvel not a little," quoth he, "of thy peevish folly, that thou wouldest tangle and ensure thyself with a foolish girl yonder in the court, I mean Anne Boleyn (age 22). Dost thou not consider the estate that God hath called thee unto in this world? For after the death of thy noble father, thou art most like to inherit and possess one of the most worthiest earldoms of this realm. Therefore it had been most meet, and convenient for thee, to have sued for the consent of thy father in that behalf, and to have also made the king's highness privy thereto; requiring therein his princely favour, submitting all thy whole proceeding in all such matters unto his highness, who would not only accept thankfully your sub mission, but would, I assure thee, provide so for your purpose therein, that he would advance you much more nobly, and have matched you according to your estate and honour, whereby ye might have grown so by your wisdom and honourable behaviour into the king's high estimation, that it should have been much to your increase of honour. But now behold what ye have done through your wilfulness. Ye have not only offended your natural father, but also your most gracious sovereign lord, and matched yourself with one, such as neither the king, ne yet your father will be agreeable with the matter. And hereof I put you out of doubt, that I will send for your father, and at his coming, he shall either break this unadvised contract, or else disinherit thee for ever. The king's majesty himself will complain to thy father on thee, and require no less at his hand than I have said; whose highness intended to have preferred [Anne Boleyn (age 22)] unto another person, with whom the king hath travelled already, and being almost at a point with the same person, although she knoweth it not, yet hath the king, most like a politic and prudent prince, conveyed the matter in such sort, that she, upon the king's motion, will be (I doubt not) right glad and agreeable to the same." "Sir," (quoth the Lord Percy, all weeping), "I knew nothing of the king's pleasure therein, for whose displeasure I am very sorry. I considered that I was of good years, and thought myself sufficient to provide me of a convenient wife, whereas my fancy served me best, not doubting but that my lord my father would have been right well persuaded. And though she be a simple maid, and having but a knight to her father, yet is she descended of right noble parentage. As by her mother she is nigh of the Norfolk blood: and of her father's side lineally descended of the Earl of Ormond, he being one of the earl's heirs general⁹. Why should I then, sir, be any thing scrupulous to match with her, whose estate of descent is equivalent with mine when I shall be in most dignity? Therefore I most humbly require your grace of your especial favour herein; and also to entreat the king's most royal majesty most lowly on my behalf for his princely benevolence in this matter, the which I cannot deny or for sake." "Lo, sirs," quoth the cardinal, "ye may see what conformity and wisdom is in this wilful boy's head. I thought that when thou heardest me declare the king's intended pleasure and travail herein, thou wouldest have relented and wholly submitted thyself, and all thy wilful and unadvised fact, to the king's royal will and prudent pleasure, to be fully disposed and ordered by his grace's disposition, as his highness should seem good." "Sir, so I would," quoth the Lord Percy, "but in this matter I have gone so far, before many so worthy witnesses, that I know not how to avoid my self nor to discharge my conscience." Why, thinkest thou, "quoth the cardinal," that the king and I know not what we have to do in as weighty a matter as this? Yes (quoth he), I warrant thee. Howbeit I can see in thee no submission to the purpose." "For sooth, my Lord," quoth the Lord Percy, "if it please your grace, I will submit myself wholly unto the king's majesty and [your] grace in this matter, my conscience being discharged of the weighty burthen of my precontract." "Well then," quoth the cardinal, "I will send for your father out of the north parts, and he and we shall take such order for the avoiding of this thy hasty folly as shall be by the king thought most expedient. And in the mean season I charge thee, and in the king's name command thee, that thou presume not once to resort into her company, as thou intendest to avoid the king's high indignation." And this said he rose up and went into his chamber.

Note 8. This expression, unless the author himself were misinformed, must not be extended to imply an absolute precontract. Lord Herbert, in his Life of Henry VIII. p. 448, has published an original letter from this nobleman, then Earl of Northumberland, written in the year 1536, a short time before Q. Anne's suffering, in which he denies any such contract, in the most solemn terms. This letter will be found in the Appendix. W.

I have placed this letter in the Appendix (Letter VII) for the convenience of the reader.

Note 9. Geffrey Bollen, a gentlemen of Norfolk, Mayor of London 1457, marryed one [Ann Hoo] of the daughters and heyres of Thomas Lord Hoo and Hastings, by whome he had William Bolleyn (knight of the Bath at Richard 3ds coronation) who marryed the Earl of Ormond's daughter (age 69) (he though of Ireland, sate in the English parliament above English Barons), by her he had Thomas Bollen (age 46), whome the Erle of Surrey after Duke of Norfolk (age 80) chose for his son-in-law; of which marriage this Anne was born, 1507.

Note from Sir R. Twysden's MS. Frag.