Chapter summaries Boleyn Traitor Philippa Gregory

Boleyn Traitor Chapter 12: Greenwich Palace, May Day 1536 Summary

Spoiler alert: This summary and analysis covers Chapter 12 of Boleyn Traitor in detail. It reveals critical plot points and the unfolding downfall of the Boleyn family. Do not read ahead if you want to avoid spoilers.

Summary

The chapter opens on May Day morning at Greenwich Palace. The court wakes to carols and gifts, and the ladies carry willow wands like country girls. Only Anne Boleyn is tense, desperate that the king enjoy the day and not recall his near-fatal jousting accident. Henry VIII sits not as a combatant but as a spectator in the octagonal tower, surrounded by the Spanish party: Henry Courtenay, Nicholas Carew, and the Seymour brothers. Opposite, in the queen’s tower, Anne places Jane Seymour prominently, hoping to lure the king.

The jousting proceeds, but when Henry Norris’s horse refuses to charge, the day shifts. Jane Seymour remarks that the horse knows something is wrong. Anne laughs dismissively, but the king offers Norris his own charger. George Boleyn wins the tournament, but before Anne can present the prize, the king has vanished, leaving only his Spanish-allied companions. He rode off with Norris, bound for Whitehall.

That evening, Mark Smeaton is missing. Anne jokes about love and death, but by the next morning, the queen herself is gone. The Duke of Norfolk, John de Vere, and William Sandys arrive, speak with Anne behind closed doors, and escort her to a barge without her ladies. Jane Rochford, the narrator, is left bewildered. She sends a covert note to George, who has gone to Whitehall chasing the king and Norris.

Jane discovers that George never received her letter. A groom reports that George and Norris were taken in an unmarked barge to the Tower. Jane Seymour has vanished from court, taken by Nicholas Carew to his house at Beddington. Other ladies are summoned by the privy council. Jane corners Thomas Cromwell in the gallery, desperate for answers.

Cromwell explains that the king, convinced his marriage is invalid because of his prior affair with Mary Boleyn, has set up an inquiry to annul it. The pope’s dispensation has no authority in England. But then, to Cromwell’s surprise, new evidence emerged: accusations of adultery, incest, witchcraft, and treason. He confesses that the Spanish party has “whipped my little inquiry into a panic.” His plan is to let them overreach so dramatically that their case collapses, destroying them and leaving Anne merely retired, while the king can marry Jane Seymour.

Jane initially clings to this logic, but her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, shatters her hope. He reveals that the accusations now include incest between Anne and George, plotting the king’s death, and witchcraft. If Jane claims to have been present at every meeting, she will be implicated. He orders her to follow his lead: condemn them to save herself.

The chapter deepens the spiral. Anne’s books, clothes, and jewels are confiscated. Elizabeth Somerset whispers her own damaging testimony. The four commoners accused of adultery with Anne—Norris, Francis Weston, William Brereton, and Mark Smeaton—are tried at Westminster. Only Smeaton confesses, bruised by torture. Against all expectation, the lords find all four guilty. Jane learns that Jane Seymour has moved to Sir Francis Bryan’s house on the Strand, where the king dines nightly.

Alone in her marital chambers, Jane writes another terse note to George, receives a blank reply, and realizes that silence is her only hope. Elizabeth Somerset, leaving court in disgrace, makes the sign against witchcraft as she departs, sealing the Boleyn fortunes.

Key Events

  • May Day jousting: Henry Norris’s horse refuses to charge; king leaves abruptly without awarding prizes.
  • Anne is questioned by the council and taken by barge without explanation.
  • George Boleyn and Henry Norris are arrested and sent to the Tower.
  • Jane Rochford learns from Cromwell the dual plot: annulment inquiry vs. adultery/incest/witchcraft accusations.
  • Norfolk warns Jane that the charges now include incest between Anne and George, and he urges her to condemn them.
  • The trial of the four commoners ends in guilty verdicts; the king openly courts Jane Seymour.
  • Anne’s rooms are stripped, and the court turns against the Boleyns.

Character Development

  • Jane Boleyn transforms from a loyal chief lady-in-waiting and wife to a terrified survivor. Her attempts to reach George and understand the charges show her resourcefulness, but her final acceptance of silence marks a turning point toward self-preservation.
  • Anne Boleyn is notably brittle but regal. Her defiant laugh at the horse, her empty gaze as she’s taken away, and her absence throughout the later stages highlight her loss of agency.
  • Henry VIII is shown as a manipulative figure. He orchestrates the annulment plot but then willingly embraces the wilder accusations, dining nightly with Jane Seymour while his wife is imprisoned.
  • Thomas Cromwell operates as a cold strategist, revealing the plot’s logic while maintaining deniability. His amusement at the “superstitio” of the king’s divine revelations underscores the political machinery crushing the Boleyns.
  • The Spanish party—Carew, the Seymours, Norfolk—emerge as the victorious faction, but the chapter suggests their overreach may eventually backfire.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • The unwilling horse: Norris’s horse that refuses to charge symbolizes the stalled momentum of the Boleyns and the impending catastrophe. Later, the horse backs away from Jane, as if sensing her ill fortune.
  • Emptiness and absence: The king’s empty throne after the joust, the unmarked barge taking Anne, the locked doors of the queen’s rooms, and George’s empty bed all reinforce the hollowing out of the Boleyn presence.
  • Secrecy and partial knowledge: Jane’s constant inability to get straight answers mirrors the court’s function of rumor and manipulation. Her letter that says nothing and George’s careful reply reflect a world where every word can be used as evidence.
  • The overreach trap: Cromwell’s logic that the wild accusations will hang the accusers is a motif for political brinkmanship, though the chapter ends with the trap still unsprung.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 12 is the hinge of the novel. Until now, the Boleyns have been declining but still powerful. Here, the arrest of Anne and George, combined with Jane’s education in the plot, turns political tension into personal catastrophe. It marks the moment when the reader fully grasps the dual nature of the king’s strategy—annulment as original plan, monstrous accusations as opportunistic amplification—and watches the narrator choose survival over solidarity. The chapter sets up the trial sequences and deepens Jane’s moral isolation.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. How does the May Day jousting symbolize the impending downfall of the Boleyn family?
    The jousting is a staged display of harmony that immediately cracks. Norris’s horse refuses to charge, an omen of something fundamentally wrong. The king’s sudden departure without awarding the prize shows his withdrawal of favor, and the empty throne surrounded only by the Spanish party signals a transfer of power. The entire pageant becomes a theatrical prelude to arrest.

  2. What does Thomas Cromwell’s conversation with Jane reveal about the politics behind the accusations?
    Cromwell lays bare the two-tiered scheme: first, an annulment inquiry based on the king’s prior relationship with Mary Boleyn, designed to quietly retire Anne. Second, the Spanish party’s introduction of adultery, incest, and witchcraft charges, which Cromwell views as self-defeating overreach. The conversation shows Jane—and the reader—how personal vendettas and theological arguments are wielded as weapons, and it underscores the king’s willingness to adapt any narrative that frees him.

  3. In what ways does Jane’s loyalty shift during this chapter?
    At the start, Jane is fully aligned with Anne, worrying about her mood and the king’s pleasure. After the arrests, she actively tries to reach George and gather information. The turning point comes when Norfolk threatens her own life and forces her to choose: she will condemn George and Anne to survive. Her final letters and her silence at the end of the chapter show her retreat into self-protective calculation, marking the birth of the more cynical, survival-driven character that defines the rest of the novel.

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