Meet the Boleyns

The cultured charmer, the moneybags lord mayor, the powerful heiress, the scheming uncle. Anne's colourful family shaped the mind and character of the future queen of England, as Tracy Borman reveals

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Anne Boleyn is one of the most famous women in history. Her story has been told countless times since her tragic demise almost 500 years ago. So determined was Henry VIII to make her his queen that he wrenched England away from Roman Catholic Europe and set in train a sweeping reformation that shaped the course of British history. But when Anne failed to give him a son, he had her executed on trumped-up charges of adultery and treason in 1536.

So far, so familiar. But though Anne's turbulent relationship with England's most-married monarch has been pored over for centuries, her backstory is relatively unknown. What - or, more precisely, who -made her into a woman so extraordinarily captivating that she held a king in thrall for seven long years and turned his entire kingdom upside down?

Humble roots

Though they rose to become one of the most powerful families in Tudor England, the Boleyns could boast neither royal blood nor aristocratic pedigree. They were likely of northern French descent, among numerous Norman families to settle in England after the conquest of 1066. The first known reference to the family is found in the deed for a small plot of land close to Norwich in 1188. The Boleyns remained in Norfolk for the next three centuries, where they made their living from the wool trade.

It was Geoffrey Boleyn (1406-63), Anne's great-grandfather, who put the family on the map. He made a small fortune from his work as a hatter, and was appointed Master of the Worshipful Company of Mercers.

By 1451, he was so wealthy that he loaned Henry VI money for an expedition to France. Six years later, he was elected Lord Mayor of London. To signal his prestige, Geoffrey purchased several properties, including the manors of Blickling in north Norfolk and Hever in Kent.