Book
Mary Boleyn
First published 2011
This biography investigates the poorly documented life of Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne and mistress of Henry VIII. It examines her service in France, marriages to William Carey and William Stafford, possible relationship with Francis I, and the disputed paternity of her children. Weir challenges accumulated scandal and later fiction by distinguishing what the sources support from what has been repeatedly assumed.
Because Mary left far fewer records than her sister, the biography repeatedly distinguishes probability from certainty. Her relative obscurity becomes part of the subject: a woman close to two royal courts could still leave only fragmentary evidence once she withdrew from the centre of politics. The result is a study of both Mary herself and the limits of Tudor biographical reconstruction.
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