Lady Jane Grey Flashcards
The birth of Lady Jane Grey…
Lady Jane Grey was born sometime in the autumn of 1537, the eldest daughter of Lady Frances and Henry Grey, 3rd Marquess of Dorset.
Hers was a high-status family – both her parents were frequently at court. Jane’s mother, Lady Frances was the daughter of Mary Tudor, Henry VIII’s youngest sister. Through her grandmother, Lady Jane Grey was directly linked to the King, Henry VIII.
Lady Frances and Henry Grey, 3rd Marquess of Dorset, had three daughters: Lady Jane, Lady Katherine and Lady Mary. The family lived at Bradgate House in Leicester.
Early life and education…
Like other girls in her position, Jane received a strict but good education at home.
She learnt classical languages such as Greek, Latin and Hebrew as well as French and Italian, and through her father and tutors, was exposed to Protestantism.
Jane was a dedicated student and preferred reading Plato over sports and hunting.
When asked why she was not outside, she replied: ‘I wist all their sport in the park is but a shadow to that pleasure that I find in Plato. Alas, good folk, they never felt what true pleasure meant.’
Move to the Seymour household…
In the spring of 1547, when she was 10, Jane was sent to the household of Thomas Seymour, brother of Jane Seymour and Edward Seymour.
It was common in the Tudor period for aristocratic children to be brought up in other households, especially if the ‘foster family’ was of a higher status. The children learnt etiquette and were in an advantageous position to find a suitable patron or to make a good marriage.
The ambition of Thomas Seymour…
Thomas Seymour (1508-1549) was a close family friend, but most importantly, he was the uncle of the new king, Edward VI (his late sister was Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife).
The ambitious Thomas realised that having Jane under his influence could be extremely profitable. Both Jane and Edward were still children, but when they reached maturity Thomas planned to marry Jane to the King.
Catherine Parr’s influence on Jane…
Around the same time in 1547, Thomas Seymour married Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s widow. Katherine was close to Henry’s children, and personally oversaw their education.
She was a keen Protestant and an educated woman, a patron of the arts and music.
She made sure to share these interests with her stepchildren and Lady Jane Grey, who blossomed into an intelligent, cultured and pious young woman.
Sadly, Katherine died in childbirth in September 1548, and Jane was sent home. However, it wasn’t long before she returned to Thomas Seymour’s household.
As third in line to the throne, Jane was a valuable asset, especially if she married the King, Edward VI. Thomas Seymour wanted to keep her close.
The rise and fall of the Seymour brothers…
Meanwhile, a new reign had started. Edward VI was nine years old and too young to rule by himself, so a Council of Regency was formed, led by Edward VI’s uncle, (and Thomas Seymour’s elder brother) Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset.
As the young King’s Protector, Edward Seymour exploited his powerful position, much to the annoyance of the Council and especially his younger brother, Thomas Seymour, who wanted the role for himself.
Driven to desperate action to get close to the boy King, Thomas tried to break into Edward VI’s private apartments on the night of 16 January 1549.
This moment of idiocy proved disastrous for the impulsive Thomas Seymour.
Thomas was arrested, sent to the Tower of London and executed on Tower Hill on 20 March 1549.
Lady Jane Grey was sent home, with no prospects of marrying the King.
Lord Protector under threat?…
Meanwhile, Edward Seymour’s rule of England on behalf of King Edward VI was a disaster. By 1549 the country was nearly bankrupt.
The other members of the Council united against him, under their emerging leader John Dudley, who became Earl of Northumberland.
The execution of Edward Seymour…
Edward Seymour held the King at Hampton Court Palace ‘for his protection’ then spirited him away to fortified Windsor. However, lack of provisions meant they nearly starved. He capitulated, was arrested and charged. Edward Seymour was eventually executed at the Tower of London in January 1552.
By this time, a collective governorship was in place, led by John Dudley, which was more successful at running the country. The King, growing in confidence and becoming more assertive, hastened the pace of religious reform and started to think about a Protestant successor.
The king’s plans for succession…
In January 1553, the 15-year-old Edward VI fell ill with a fever and a cough. From then on, his health remained volatile. It would take turns, sometimes seeming to improve, only to worsen again.
Worried about the fate of the Crown, he wrote his ‘Devise for the Succession.’ Inspired by his father’s own will, it took Edward several drafts to complete. The first version was written before he realised his illness was terminal, and it did not single out Jane as his heir.
Edward wanted above all to ensure that his successor was a male Protestant, so he disinherited his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth in favour of the male heirs of his cousin, Lady Frances Grey or of her children, Jane, Catherine and Mary.
By June 1553 it became clear that the King was fatally ill. Since none of his cousins had yet produced a male heir, he changed his ‘devise’ in favour of Lady Jane Grey.
Although Jane would reign as queen, the crown could only follow a male heir. If Jane died without sons, then it would go to the son of one of her sisters.
Edward’s second version was signed by the Privy Council and at least ten of the country’s senior lawyers.
Lady Jane marries Lord Guildford…
This new version of Edward’s ‘devise’ was highly advantageous to the King’s Protector, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.
It may have been all part of his master plan, as earlier that year he had married off Jane to his son, Lord Guildford Dudley, so that when Edward VI died the couple would become king and queen. Jane was 16 when she married, and Guildford aged about 18.
In any event, the marriage of Jane and Guildford on 25 May 1553 was beneficial to both families. After the King, the Duke of Northumberland was the most powerful man in England.
‘A wife who loves her husband’…
Lady Jane got married alongside her sister Catherine Grey and her sister-in-law Catherine Dudley in a triple ceremony at Durham House.
We don’t know much about their married life. Jane described herself as ‘a wife who loves her husband’ and she admitted that she resented her mother-in-law, the Duchess of Northumberland’s, control over her husband, Guildford.
The death of Edward VI…
Edward VI’s brief but eventful reign came to a premature end on 6 July 1553, when he was only 15 years old.
On Sunday 9 July, Jane was summoned to Syon House, her father-in-law’s London residence, to be told that according to Edward’s instructions, she was now to be crowned queen.
This appeared to come as a huge surprise to Lady Jane, who became very distressed, which confused and embarrassed the Privy Councillors who knelt before her to swear allegiance.
Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen…
Lady Jane would not be calmed until her parents and husband arrived. Jane later described that event:
‘Declaring to them my insufficiency, I greatly bewailed myself for the death of so noble a prince, and at the same time, turned myself to God, humbly praying and beseeching him, that if what was given to me was rightly and lawfully mine, his divine Majesty would grant me such grace and spirit that I might govern it to his glory and service and to the advantage of this realm.’
Procession to the Tower…
The following day, Jane, Guildford, her parents, mother-in-law and other court ladies entered the Tower of London by the Lion Gate, on a procession of barges to prepare for her coronation. It was customary for new English monarchs to reside in the Tower from the time of accession to their coronation.
The group must have looked splendid. Jane was wearing a green velvet dress embroidered in gold, with a long train carried by her mother.
Her headdress was white, heavily decorated with jewels, and on her neck a chinclout (a type of scarf) ‘of black velvet, striped with small chains of gold, garnished with small pearls, small rubies and small diamonds … furred with sables and having thereat a chain of gold enamelled green, garnished with certain pearls.’
As she walked, a canopy was carried over her head. Guildford, tall and blond, was next to her, wearing white and gold.
A reluctant queen…
Everything seemed to go smoothly until the time Jane was asked to wear the crown. She refused and recalled being told she ‘could take it without fear and that another also should be made, to crown my husband. Which thing I, for my part, heard truly with a troubled mind, and with ill will, even with infinite grief and displeasure of heart.’
Guildford wanted to be proclaimed king, but Jane would not do so without an Act of Parliament. Instead, she made him Duke of Clarence, to her mother-in-law’s fury.
