Elizabeth Norton - Jane Seymour: Henry VIIIs True Love

AMBERLEY

This edition first published in Great Britain 2011

Copyright Elizabeth Norton 2009, 2010, 2011

This electronic edition published 2011 by Amberley Publishing

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eISBN 978-1-4456-0678-1

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To my grandparents, Beryl and Tony Young

1. The Seymours of Wolfhall: c.1508 c.1527

2. Carried up to Court: c.1527 1529

3. A Time of Solitude: 1529 1533

4. Mistress Seymour: August 1533 January 1535

5. Stealing the Kings Affection: January 1535 January 1536

6. The Kings Love and Desire: January 1536 April 1536

7. Queen Anne Lack-Head: 1 May 1536 19 May 1536

8. Bound to Obey and Serve: Summer 1536

9. Full of Motherly Joy: Summer Autumn 1536

10. An Enemy of the Gospel: Autumn 1536

11. A Pilgrimage of Grace: October 1536 December 1536

12. Jane the Queen: December 1536 Spring 1537

13. Delivered of a Son: February 1537 15 October 1537

14. The Death of Queen Jane: 16 October 1537 13 November 1537

15. Continued a Widower

Picture Section

Notes

Bibliography

List of Illustrations

Jane Seymour is often considered to have been the most successful of Henry VIIIs six queens and, for the king, his marriage to her was his most satisfactory. In spite of this, Jane came from the most humble background of any queen of England before her and, at the time of her birth, no one would have predicted just how far she would rise. She began her life as simple mistress Jane Seymour of Wolfhall in Wiltshire but she ended her days as a queen, bringing her family with her in her dramatic rise to power and status.

Jane Seymour was born into the rural gentry of Wiltshire. The Seymour family originally spelled their surname St Maur and apparently arrived in England with William the Conqueror. The family remained in obscurity for several centuries before a Roger Seymour married Maud, the daughter and co-heiress of Sir William Esturmy of Wolfhall in Wiltshire. This was a profitable marriage for Roger and moved the Seymours firmly into the ranks of the country gentry. Rogers heir, John, who was born in 1402 succeeded to the Esturmy lands and offices, including the important hereditary position of warden of Savernake Forest. This John Seymour, the greatgrandfather of Jane Seymour, further increased his local prominence by serving as sheriff of Southampton in 1431 and Sheriff of Wiltshire the following year. In 1451 he also took a seat in parliament.

The Seymours had established themselves as an important local family in Wiltshire by the late fifteenth century and, by the time of the birth of the elder John Seymours grandson, also called John, in around 1474, the family were one of the more prominent local families. This John Seymour, who later became the father of Jane, succeeded to his inheritance in 1492 and quickly set about trying to establish a career. Little is known of the character of John Seymour, but he seems to have been a solid, if relatively unambitious man. More of a soldier than a courtier, he first came to royal notice in 1497 when he served Henry VII at the Battle of Blackheath in Kent against a rebel army. John obviously performed well and received a knighthood from the king in the field. His military expertise was also held in high regard by Henry VIII and, in 1513, John was present during the young kings campaign in France and served during the two key sieges of the war at Terounne and Tournay.

As well as his military prowess, John Seymour also sought to extend his local prestige and, in 1508, he was appointed sheriff of Wiltshire. During his lifetime he also served as sheriff of Dorset and Somerset and spent time as a knight of the body to Henry VIII. These were all sound appointments and John was well known to the king, being present at the meeting of the English and French kings known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1522. He took with him his own chaplain and eleven servants, a sure sign of prosperity. He also attended the king during the visit of the Emperor Charles V at Canterbury later in the year. Ultimately, the extent of John Seymours ambition remained firmly centred on Wolfhall and Wiltshire, but throughout his lifetime he extended his prominence on both a local and national level, helped in no small part by his marriage to Margery Wentworth.

Whilst the Seymours were of local gentry stock, Janes mother, Margery Wentworth, could lay claim to a much more prestigious ancestry. Margery was the daughter of Sir Henry Wentworth of Nettlestead in Suffolk. Sir Henry, whilst of the same rank as John Seymour, came from a much more prominent family. His grandfather, Sir Philip Wentworth had married Mary, the daughter of John, Lord Clifford. Lord Cliffords mother was Elizabeth Percy, the daughter of the famous Henry Hotspur and a great-granddaughter of Edward III. It was through her mother that Jane Seymour was able to claim a drop of royal blood. Margery Wentworth also provided her daughter with more immediate connections and, in spite of the obscurity of the Seymour family, Jane was able to claim kinship to many of the grand families of England.

One fact in particular about Janes family background which is often overlooked is the position of her maternal grandmother, Anne Say. Anne Says mother was married twice and the daughter of her first marriage was Elizabeth Tylney, the daughter and heiress of Sir Frederick Tylney. Elizabeth Tylney was the wife of the Earl of Surrey who became the second Duke of Norfolk. Amongst Elizabeth Tylneys many children, who were, of course, Margery Wentworths first cousins, were Thomas Howard, third Duke of Norfolk, and Elizabeth Howard, the wife of Sir Thomas Boleyn. Jane Seymour was therefore the second cousin of Anne Boleyn, the woman she would later supplant as Henrys wife and, also, through Elizabeth Tylneys younger son, Edmund Howard, the second cousin of Henry VIIIs fifth wife, Catherine Howard. Whilst the Seymours were very much the poor relations of the Boleyns and the Howards, the connection must have helped Jane and her siblings in their attempts to establish careers for themselves and it is certainly interesting to note that, of Henry VIIIs six wives and three named mistresses, four were the great-granddaughters of Elizabeth Cheney, the mother of Elizabeth Tylney and Anne Say.