George Boleyn, at the request of his sister Anne Boleyn, translated two religious books for her, ‘The Pistellis and Gospelles’ and ‘The Ecclesiaste’.
For over a century it was thought that George’s father-in-law, Henry Parker, Lord Morley, had translated the texts but in 1998, as Eric Ives points out, James Carley read a damaged inscription and determined that the person responsible for the translation of ‘The Pistellis and Gospelles’ was in fact George Boleyn (pg. 271).
The inscription read, ‘Her moost lovyng and fryndely brother sendeth gretyng’ (Ives pg. 426).
This is followed by George’s dedication to Anne that ‘under the guise of courtly gallantry’ demonstrates the close relationship that Anne and George shared (Ives, pg. 271).
These are George’s own words although the spelling has been modernised:
To the right honourable lady, the Lady Marchioness of Pembroke, her most loving and friendly brother sends greetings.
Our friendly dealings, with so divers and sundry benefits, besides the perpetual bond of blood, have so often bound me, Madam, inwardly to love you, daily to praise you, and continually to serve you, that in every of them I must perforce become your debtor for want of power, but nothing of my good will. And were it not that by your experience your gentleness is daily proved, your meek fashion often times put in use, I might well despair in myself, studying to acquit your deserts towards me, or embolden myself with so poor a thing to present to you. But, knowing these perfectly to reign in you with more, I have been so bold to send unto you, not jewels or gold, whereof you have plenty, not pearl or rich stones, whereof you have enough, but a rude translation of a well-willer, a good matter meanly handled, most humbly desiring you with favour to weigh the weakness of my dull wit, and patiently to pardon where any fault is, always considering that by your commandment I have adventured to do this, without the which it had not been in me to have performed it. But that hath had power to make me pass at all times I shall be ready to obey, praying him on whom the book treats to grant you many good years to his pleasure and shortly to increase in heart’s ease with honour.
I think this letter clearly shows the affection George had for Anne and the great esteem in which he held her. What did stand out for me though was George’s reference to Anne’s ‘meek fashion’, as I have never read anything to suggest that this was the case.
The fact that George successfully undertook such a laborious task is a testament to his intelligence and commitment to his religious beliefs. It also authenticates a passage in George’s scaffold speech recorded by a Calais soldier, Ellis Gruffudd and likely passed on to the executioner:
Truly so that the Word should be among the people of the realm I took upon myself great labour to urge the king to permit the printing of the Scriptures to go unimpeded among the commons of the realm in their own language. And truly to God I was one of those who did most to procure the matter to place the Word of God among the people because of the love and affection which I bear for the Gospel and the truth of Christ’s words. (Ives, pg. 272)
Illuminating the Book
As Eric Ives states, George’s dedication to Anne and the fact that Anne requested that her brother translate these texts, show that ‘promoting the vernacular Bible was clearly a Boleyn family enterprise’ (Pg. 272).
Although no dedication precedes The Ecclesiaste, Ives states that the affinity between these two works ‘effectively makes it certain that George was also responsible for the latter.’
For those of you who are interested, James Carley’s work can be found in Illuminating the Book: Makers and Interpreters, ed. M.P Brown and S. Mckendrick (1998).
References
Ives, E. The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 2004.
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