Thomas Boleyn, Scheming Father - Fact or Fiction?

Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire was an English diplomat and politician who is of course most famous for being the father of Anne Boleyn. Much of this latter preferment coming by virtue of his ever expanding presence at court thanks to the rise of his younger daughter. Ever since, Thomas has been portrayed as a scheming power player who effectively pimped out his daughters, but is this true? What was Thomas’s early story, how did he become such a prominent courtier and how did the fall of his family in 1536 alter the rest of his life?