The Ancestry of the Boleyn and Parker Family
Anne Boleyn was once described by a contemporary as more French than English. The main reason behind this has been attributed to the time she had spent in France in her youth. However, it’s also possible that an event that took place five centuries earlier may have also contributed to this.
Last month on Christmas Day marked the 950th anniversary of the coronation of William the Conqueror, following his victory at the Battle of Hastings. This was one of the most important chapters in English history and it is also as a result of this that many people in the British Isles, including myself, can trace back their ancestry to France. It is possible that it was the same for the Boleyn and Parker family and particularly in Anne Boleyn’s case, she did appear to be very much in touch with her French ancestry.
There were three key periods in history which resulted in the arrival of French migrants to the British Isles:
The Battle of Hastings in 1066: William the Conqueror arrived with his Norman followers.
The French Huguenots in the latter half of the 16th century: These were Protestants that had been driven out of France due to refusing to convert to Roman Catholicism.
The “Reign of Terror” in the late 18th century: In this period, this was mainly members of the French aristocracy fleeing from France during the French Revolution.
Any possible link with France that the Boleyn and Parker family of the early 16th century would have had would, therefore, have been linked to 1066.
Another clue in finding out a person’s past is their surname. Surnames provide clues to things such as the part of a country their ancestors lived, if their ancestors originated from another country, or the job that their ancestors did.
If a surname originated from another country, it’s possible that the spelling of the surname would have changed much over the centuries due to making the surname sound, for example, more “English” , or due to lack of literacy skills, resulting in spelling errors. This is why surnames tend to be variants of another main surname that their ancestors had.
Even though Anne’s surname is spelt as “Boleyn”, it was also in her lifetime spelt as “Bullen”. According to ancestry experts, both surnames do come from the same group and “Bullen” is actually an anglicized version of “Boleyn”. The origins of “Bullen” date back to 1121 and it is described as the name of a person who came from Boulogne, France. Therefore, those with the “Bullen” surname do have French ancestry.
This may help to explain how after Anne had spent much of her early life in France, she then spelt her surname as “Boleyn”, as opposed to “Bullen”. In 1513, Anne went to Margaret of Austria’s court in Mechelen (in what is now known as Belgium) and then, two years later, attended the court of Queen Claud in France. In this period, the art, culture and fashion that Anne was exposed to would prove to have a lasting effect on her for the rest of her life. As mentioned earlier, a contemporary once described Anne as more of a “French woman” than English, so spending some time in France may have made Anne feel more in touch with her French roots.
We don’t really know if Anne Boleyn’s sister-in-law, Jane Boleyn – née Parker – was also more “French” than English. We do know that she got on very well with Anne and that she would have been expected to know the French language. However, the origins of the Parker surname appear to point more in the direction of the North East of England, in Derbyshire. The actual meaning of the name is of a person that is in charge of a Park, or a “Park-Keeper”. The name does come from a group of variations, however, which have been described as linking to the old French language, such as Parquier and Parchier. Therefore, it is possible that the name Parker is an anglicized version of a French surname.
Maybe Jane may have felt some connection with the “French Anne”. However, most of what we know about Jane tends to indicate that she was more “English” than French. Therefore, it does seem that Anne was far more in touch with her French ancestry than Jane.
Therefore, even though William the Conqueror and his Norman following invaded in the 11th century, as seen in Anne Boleyn’s case, their influence was definitely still strong and reached far into the 16th century.
Sources – Kathy Chater (2010), Basil Cottle (1978), Reaney and Wilson (1997) and Eric Ives (2005).
Image – Anne and Jane Boleyn, as portrayed in “Wolf Hall”, alongside Mary Boleyn, Jane Seymour and Mary Shelton.
