PAST LIVES - TUDOR WIVES - JANE SEYMOUR - PAGE 3

Morning glory

Hans Holbein, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Jane Seymour - 1536

John Seymour as Elon Musk

John Seymour 1474-1536 ?     12/21  Courtier who served both Henry VII and Henry VIII	Elon Reeve Musk 1971  6/28 Satan from Alpha Centauri
KBE Knight

- Sir John Seymour, Knight banneret (c.1474-1536) was an English soldier and a courtier who served both Henry VII and Henry VIII.
- Born into a prominent gentry family, he is best known as the father of Henry VIII's 3rd wife, Jane Seymour, and hence the maternal grandfather of king Edward VI of England.
- Four of the Seymour children achieved prominence at the royal court: Edward, Thomas, Jane and Elizabeth.
- Her mother was Marjorie Wentworth and her father was Sir John Seymour were not part of the nobility but were still part of England's well-to-do Gentry.

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Seymour Coat of Arms

- Additionally, Jane was a descendant of King Edward III through his son, Lionel of Antwerp who was the 1st Duke of Clarence.
- Sir John Seymour had done well under Henry VII being knighted in return for his efforts against a Cornish rebellion and he was also sheriff and Justice of the Peace for Wiltshire.
- Jane was also part of a large family, she was one of 10 siblings, 4 of whom would not survive to adulthood.
- Two of her brothers, Edward and Thomas Seymour would go on to have prominent roles but her brother Henry led a quiet life as a country gentleman.
- Her 2 sisters, Elizabeth and Dorothy went on to have good marriages into the Gentry and nobility.

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Family Portrait

- You might say that nothing about Jane was very exciting or enticing.
- She was medium height, with a whitish complexion so she was overly pale, and she wasn't very smart and was called a woman of little wit and she was not highly educated.
- Her parents had given her a very traditional education for a young woman only expected to marry well and produce heirs while helping manage an estate. 
- As an adult, Jane could read but she could not write anything more than her own name.
- She would have learned about household management, cooking, riding and needle work and this is the skill in which Jane excelled and examples of her tapestries survived until 1652.

Seymour daughters

- When she was just a teenager she was sent to court as a maid of honor to Queen Catherine of Aragon who she idolized and modeled her own court after in later years.
- When Henry VIII put Catherine aside for Anne Boleyn she was always a firm supporter of Catherine although her sisters supported Anne.
- At the time she was a maid of honor Anne Boleyn was a lady in waiting so it's likely they knew each other.
- Although many confirmed that her personality was 'diametrically opposed' to Anne Boleyn's.
- By Christmas 1533, Jane was working in Anne Boleyn's household as one of her ladies in waiting because she knew staying with Catherine of Aragon wasn't the way forward.
- Henry VIII presented gifts to all of Anne's ladies, who there were many of, at Christmas therefore at the least, he may have known about her.

Henry and Queen

- On top of that Jane Seymour was already 27 years old when Henry VIII married her which is considered a bit old for a bride in Tudor England.
- Put it this way, she didn't look or act anything like Jane Seymour the current day actress, although many equate the two to each other and romanticize Henry's wife.
- In fact, she wasn't known to be pretty and was a plain Jane, but Henry appreciated her because she was willing to take a back seat, unlike Anne Boleyn.

Courtly

- Some of Henry VIIIs courtiers have spoken about her in a very unglamorous way.
- She cultivated an image of innocent, virtuous, virginal, pious and submissive, but to what extent was this true?
- Jane wasn't very worldly either, the complete opposite of Anne Boleyn who had traveled all over Europe with the French royals.
- She could speak French so that makes her sound more internationally 'educated' but you have to remember that parts of France were controlled by England back then so undoubtedly she had friends and close relatives who spoke French and she picked up the language that way.
- Although more than likely, she could speak enough French to carry on a simple conversation but that was about it.
- Jane might have been ambitious but she hid it under a veil of demure innocence with a quiet, easy to please demeanor, which was something Henry idolized in his mother, and Jane seemed to be held to this standard.

Seymour with Tudor family

- But on the other hand, 27 is a much better age to birth a child and everyone knows that was Henry's main goal and speculate that's the reason he chose her.
- Also, he knew that she had small traces (essence) of the Sophia, the Queen of Heaven built in, although less of Sophia than any other of Henry's wives.
- Because she was still young, she was very healthy, had a nice shape and was a more perfect age to mother a child than a younger woman would have been.
- Most women in her class were at least engaged by their mid-teens.

Jane's childhood home at Wolf Hall

- It was in September 1535, that Henry really began to take notice of Jane and his relationship with Anne Boleyn had been stormy for a long time after marrying her in January 1533 and the two regularly argued.
- Added to that, Anne still hadn't given him the much longed for son he desired and he only needed the right pretty face to drive a wedge between them.
- In September Henry decided to visit Wolf Hall and as Jane's family were only Gentry, a royal visit was a very big deal.
- It was also an extremely expensive undertaking as the royal family and their retainers had to be taken care of and usually a somewhat nebulous amount of time, but the King was known to be pleasant and not demanding of his host.
- Jane was a stark contrast to Anne Boleyn who was vivacious and exotic in her French dress and fiery in her opinions.
- Many have called her flirtatious but she was never a flirt and she remained loyal to Henry even though he trapped her in that marriage.

Henry VIII as Donald Trump

Henry Tudor 1491-1547 6/28   1/28 King of England	Donald John Trump 1946 6/14 Lucifer's clone from Omega Centauri
Orange man Age 44

- But another thing about Jane was that Henry wasn't really that thrilled when he had to take her out in public and she was hanging off his arm.
- Although they were only married for about 17 months and half that time she was pregnant which gave him an excuse not to take her out at all.
- So really, he only had to worry about her hanging off his arm for about 8 months and then she was mysteriously dead.

Spying

- As to how virtuous Jane Seymour really was, in the 1580s, Catholic writer Nicholas Sanders wrote that while she was still pregnant, Anne Boleyn had walked in and found Jane sitting on the king's knee.
- This led to a huge row between the royal couple and to Anne blaming a miscarriage on the actions of Henry and Jane, who she called an 'abandoned woman.'
- However, this story is not true and Sanders is the same author who wrote that Anne had 6 fingers on her hand which was also not true.

Eustace Chapuys  as Elon Musk

Eustace Chapuys 1489-1556 ?    1/21 Ambassador and gossip	Elon Reeve Musk 1971  6/28 Satan from Alpha Centauri
Gossip Girl of the 16th-Century

- There were other authors who wrote that Anne and Jane came to blows and that Anne had ripped a pendant off Jane's neck with Henry's portrait.
- But this was also a lie, Jane didn't have a portrait of Henry she wore around her neck and Anne never ripped any such thing off her.
- Additionally, Eustace Chapuys started many of the rumors going around but he was a well-known gossip and critic of Anne Boleyn's and he started most of the lies about her.
- He was one of the courtiers who saw a way to use Jane to be rid of Anne Boleyn, encouraged Henry in his efforts to have an affair with her.
- The males in Anne's own family were part of those who despised Anne no doubt also encouraged Jane to show the king some affection to give him hope.

Charles V of Spain as Elon Musk

Charles V 1500-1558 2/23   9/21 King of Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily Holy Roman Emperor	Elon Reeve Musk 1971  6/28 Satan from Alpha Centauri
Conquistador

- Charles V (1500-1558 was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, King of Sicily and Naples from 1516 to 1554, and also Lord of the Netherlands and titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) from 1506 to 1555.
- He was heir to and then head of the rising House of Habsburg. His dominions in Europe included the Holy Roman Empire, extending from Germany to northern Italy with rule over the Austrian hereditary lands and Burgundian Low Countries, and Spain with its possessions of the southern Italian kingdoms of Sicily, Naples, and Sardinia.
- In the Americas, he oversaw the continuation of Spanish colonization and a short-lived German colonization.
- The personal union of the European and American territories he ruled was the first collection of realms labeled 'the empire on which the sun never sets.'

Holy Roman Emperor

- When the two were back in court their affair seemed to intensify and many gossips reported that the king seemed to be in love again.
- Obviously, Jane was little more than a tool used by ruthless and ambitious family, but this really sells her very short.
- Jane was also being courted at this time by those who wanted an alliance once more between the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, and Henry VIII.

Petty old rag

- The unknown question is about Jane's personality, whether she was encouraging or simply enduring Henry's attentions.
- As time went on though, some believed that Jane was very much aiming to displace Anne although this is not true, she deflected him much the same way as Anne had.
- In March 1536, the same month as Anne's miscarriage, Chapuys remarked that the King had been in London and the young Miss Seymour, to whom he was paying court at Greenwich Palace was also there.

Nicholas Carew as Elon Musk

Nicholas Carew c. 1496-1539 ?   3/3 English royal courtier	Elon Reeve Musk 1971  6/28 Satan from Alpha Centauri
Purse strings

- Sir Nicholas Carew (c. 1496-1539), of Beddington in Surrey, was an English courtier and diplomat during the reign of King Henry VIII.
- He was executed for his alleged part in the Exeter Conspiracy.
- Henry VIII sent Nicholas Carew to Jane in 1536 with a purse full of sovereigns, together with a love letter for Jane.
- The young damsel, kissed the letter but without opening it, returned it to the messenger then fell to her knees and told him she was from good parents and without blame or reproach.
- And that there was no treasure she valued more than her honor and in no account would she lose it and she asked him to only send a gift of money at the time she was lucky enough to encounter an 'advantageous' marriage when God might send her a husband to marry.
- Supposedly Jane had accepted all gifts to this point, except this was all a lie, because Henry sent Carew there with a letter thanking Jane for being so supportive of Anne Boleyn during her pregnancy.
- Where all these current day 'historians' get their vicious stories is unknown.

Henry VIII propositions Anne Boleyn

- It's said that Jane was attempting to disentangle herself from Henry, and this was the same way that Anne had dealt with him a decade earlier refusing to become his mistress and holding out for marriage.
- So once again, the tactic appeared to work for Henry.
- But Henry the snake didn't start chasing Jane around after Anne Boleyn miscarried, not before.
- Chapuys source also told him that, 'In consequence of this refusal of the King's love for the said damsel had marvelously increased, and that he had said to her that not only did he praise and commend her virtuous behavior on the occasion, but that in order to prove the sincerity of his love, and the honesty of his views towards her, he had resolved not to converse with her in the future, except in the presence of one of her relatives.'

Henry VIII propositions Anne Boleyn

- For this reason, the King had taken away a room from Cromwell's apartments, to which he could, when he liked, have access through certain galleries without being seen.
- A room which the young lady's elder brother and his wife had already taken possession 'for the express purpose of her repairing thither.'
- Unlike Anne, who seems to have taken the lead in her management of Henry back in the day, because no, her family wasn't pimping her out, Jane was getting help from her family and she was to some extent a pawn of those around her who were Anne's enemies.
- But you also have to take into consideration that her brother was the power grubbing Edward Seymour who was really Musk (Satan).
- Many have claimed that it was also arranged that Jane would share this suite with her brother and sister-in-law but none of this is true.
- Jane had her own place, why would she stay with her brother, and she was very independent.

Edward Seymour as Elon Musk

Edward Seymour 1500-1552 ?     1/22 Lord Protector of England	Elon Reeve Musk 1971  6/28 Satan from Alpha Centauri
Summer setting

- The courtiers warned Jane that unlike the concubine (Anne) she should not give in to the King's fancy unless he made her Queen.
- Jane also was obliged to tell Henry how much they all hated the 'concubine,' and that not one considered the marriage legitimate.
- Edward Seymour was always lurking around in the background trying to suck up royal power and favors.
- You can't blame either Jane or Anne Boleyn for all these treacherous males that hung around the Tudor court lying and snivelling.
- Plus, now you know the manner of the creep (Musk) who played all their parts, Satan himself.
- Edward Seymour had already been elevated to the King's Privy Chamber as reward.

Mystery ballad written by Henry of course Click on image to read in full

- News of the relationship had already circulated and Henry VIII had to tell Jane to pay no mind to a pamphlet making the rounds about them.
- He wrote a letter to Jane Seymour around May 20, 1536, warning her about a mocking ballad circulating against them while Anne Boleyn was awaiting execution.
- But hidden in the letter is the news that Henry would abduct Jane and keep her locked up until Anne's passing while he pretended he was 'protecting' her from the ballad writer (who undoubtedly never existed).
- Because the part that everyone misses about this letter was that Jane never received it until Henry had stashed her away (under the pretense of protection) and she was in the room that he had set up for her 'wait.'
- It was very obvious to Jane at this point that Henry had set the whole thing up and she was trapped.
- She was more than a concubine, she was a prisoner.

Whitehall in London

- By the start of May 1536, Anne's fate was all but sealed and she was arrested on the 2nd and along with her brother and several other friends was charged with treason and adultery and incest.
- All while Henry VIII frolicked around!
- While Anne Boleyn's show trial (she had already been convicted before the trial) was going on, Jane was housed in Croydon, then at Chelsea near Whitehall from May 14th onwards.
- At both places she was 'splendidly served' by the King's servants and fabulously dressed as befitted her station as the Queen in waiting but she was imprisoned there and couldn't leave.

Chapuys window

- As soon as Anne was dead, Henry went to visit Jane and now the way was clear for him to marry again, he wasted no time
- He and Jane were officially betrothed at either Chelsea or Whitehall the very next day.
- Having been issued with a dispensation from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, on account of them being 5th cousins and apparently because one of Henry's mistresses at some point much have been 2nd cousin.
- A dispensation was official permission from a religious authority to bypass standard church rule and it gave an exemption from church law.

Jane was trapped

- The speed with which this had all happened did not go unnoticed nor was it universally well thought.
- Although the part of the story that no one writes about was that Jane was locked in her room and had been sequestered by Henry's court.
- She was trapped there and was not free to come or go and then she found herself in a chapel and married to him.
- But none of this was Jane's doing, he trapped her the same way he trapped Anne Boleyn, only worse.
- On the day of the engagement, snake Eustace Chapuys was already writing, 'everybody begins already to murmur by suspicion, and several affirm that long before the death of the other there was some arrangement which sounds ill in the ears of the people.'
- Even the unpopular Anne could garner some sympathy when her treatment was this bad.

 

Sir John Russell as Elon Musk

John Russell c.1485-1555 ?     3/14  English royal minister	Elon Reeve Musk 1971  6/28 Satan from Alpha Centauri
One Eye

- John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, KG, PC, JP (c.1485-1555) was an English royal minister in the Tudor era.
- He served variously as Lord High Admiral and Lord Privy Seal.
- Among the lands and property he was given by Henry VIII after the dissolution of the monasteries, were the Abbey and town of Tavistock, and the area that is now Covent Garden.
- Russell is the ancestor of all subsequent Earls and Dukes of Bedford and Earls Russell, including John Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1865–6), and Bertrand Russell, the philosopher (1872–1970).
- Nevertheless, the wedding of Henry and Jane went ahead at Whitehall Palace on May 30, 1536.
- Sir John Russell wrote that 'Henry had come out of hell into heaven, for Jane and not Anne was now the Queen of England' although he forgot to mention that Jane was now in hell.

Hans Holbein, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Jane was trapped

- The marriage had been quiet and private as most of Henry's weddings were, but Jane was introduced at court during the Whitsuntide festivities.
- Londoners got their first look at the new Queen in June when she began accompanying Henry to official engagements.
- She chose as her motto the words, 'Bound to obey and serve' how amazing.
- This was a stark contrast to one of Anne Boleyn's mottos, 'This is how it's going to be, let them grumble.'
- This indicates the two women's two very different attitudes to Queenship, marriage to Henry, and how they wanted to present themselves.
- It appears that neither of them liked Henry VIII very much.

Whitsuntide is the Christian holiday period and week that begins on Whitsunday (Pentecost), commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. (Wikipedia)

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Phoenix and Castle Heraldic badge

- Anne's falcon badges were also quickly replaced with Jane Seymours.
- As queen, politics almost immediately made an entrance into her life.
- Eustace Chapuys, the Catholic gossip, told her that he hoped she would deserve the title of pacifier by bringing by bringing Princess Mary back into the fold.
- Mary was indeed reconciled to her father very soon after his 3rd marriage to Jane, but only after she had capitulated to his wishes, meaning that she had to admit that his marriage to her mother, Catherine of Aragon, was unlawful, she was illegitimate and that Henry was the head of the Church in England.
- Jane knew Princess Mary in Catherine of Aragon's court because Mary was just a few years younger than herself so when Jane became queen, she did her best to repair the damage that had been done to Mary by her parents separation.

Mary I

- Jane's influence in this rapprochement is unclear but there is a story that she petitioned for Mary before the marriage only to have Henry snap at her that she should mind the exaltation of her own children if she had any by him, instead of looking out for the good of others.
- But Jane responded that she was looking out for the good of the kingdom in general.
- She was clearly able enough to handle Henry but supposedly came across as less abrasive than Anne and she got along with Mary far better too.
- Jane then gave Mary a gift of a diamond ring on their next visit and she did not forget about Elizabeth either, though she was now considered illegitimate as well.
- Elizabeth had even run out of clothes at one time now that her mother, Anne Boleyn, was no longer sending them.

Dover Castle

- There early marriage was taken up with visits to places like Dover Castle.
- Additionally, there were plans to have Jane crowned, as Henry's first 2 wives had been.
- An outbreak of plague put the brakes on this event though, and in the end, Anne would never have a coronation, nor would her 3 successors.
- It appeared that Henry VIII was waiting for them all to 'deliver' but poor Jane died after doing so.
- There were other problems in the country too, most notably, the Pilgrimage of Grace, which began that October 1536.
- This was an uprising sparked by Henry's dissolution of the monasteries, his promotion of the English Bible, and eradication of things like feast days and the loss of Mary as his heir.
- Those in rebellion also demanded that Henry VIII have new counselors to advise him and a trip to the chopping block for some of the old ones.

Robert Aske as Elon Musk

Robert Aske c.1500-1537 ?     7/12  English lawyer	Elon Reeve Musk 1971  6/28 Satan from Alpha Centauri
They play both sides

- Robert Aske (c. 1500-1537) was an English lawyer who became a leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace uprising against the Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535 in 1536.
- He was executed for treason against King Henry VIII on July 12, 1537.
- During the Pilgrimage of Grace, Aske led a procession of 40,000 people into the city of York.
- Some aristocrats joined in the uprising, though many would later claim they had been forced to do so, including Catherine Parr's 2nd husband, Lord Latimer.
- Henry did not take well to his authority being challenged, but he was persuaded to issue a general pardon to all involved in December.

Pilgrimage of Grace

- Though when a 2nd round of rebellion broke out in February, he initiated a brutal policy of regression which led to hundreds, if not thousands of executions across the north, including Robert Aske.
- On top of that, Aske had only recently been forgiven at court for the Christmas celebrations.
- But where was Jane in all of this, remember, she was a Catholic, not a Lutheran like Anne Boleyn, and she had begged Henry from her knees to restore the abbeys.
- He gave her a chilling rebuke for her trouble, telling her not to meddle in his affairs and reminding her what had happened to the last Queen who had done so.
- Jane wisely backed off, knowing that such a threat from Henry needed to be taken seriously.

Pregnancy

- She was unlike Anne in other ways too, even courting the friendship of Eustace Chapuys and telling him that she encouraged Henry to maintain an alliance with Spain, rather than France.
- Even her ladies were not to wear French clothing associated with Anne, for Jane was a fairly strict mistress when it came to her household and she told them to embrace the more modest English apparel.
- The most important way in which she was to differ from her predecessor though, was in her childbirth record.
- In the midst of all the drama stemming from the Pilgrimage, Jane suffered both a great loss and made a great gain.
- Her father died on December 21, 1536, though she does not appear to have left court to attend the funeral, and then, just a matter of weeks later, she conceived.

Quail eggs

- It was 7 months into the marriage and it must have been a relief to all, given the rumors already in circulation since at least the trial of Anne Boleyn and her co-accused, about Henry's performance in the bedroom.
- The pregnancy proceeded well with a craving for quail eggs and by May 23 the happy news was well known in court.
- On September 16, Jane took to her chamber in Hampton Court to await the birth and  she went into labor on October 10 and it was long and drawn out.
- Finally, on October 12, 1537, at 2am she delivered and the baby was a healthy boy.
- Henry finally had his heir and he was ecstatic and the child was named Edward, there were celebrations all over the city and bonfires.
- On the 15th, little Edward was christened in the chapel at Hampton Court with his 2 sisters present, however, his mother continued to recuperate in her bed chamber.

King Edward VI of England 1547 - 1553 House of Tudor
Edward VI as Donald Trump

Edward Tudor 1537-1553 10/12  7/6 King of England	Donald John Trump 1946 6/14 Lucifer's clone from Omega Centauri
AI baby

- Then came the disaster.
- The labor had been long and hard but Jane seemed to slowly recover and even wrote a letter to Thomas Cromwell announcing the birth.
- After 28 years of yearning for a male heir, Henry VIII finally had what he desired with the birth of Edward VI.
- A child who was described by a chronicler as 'the most beautiful boy ever seen, and a symbol of hope for the Tudor dynasty.'

Jane Seymour upright

- But after a few days, Jane was obviously sick.
- There are several theories on the exact cause of her death but it was clearly complications from childbirth, or was it?
- By October 19, there were prayers and processions at St. Paul's for her health and on the 23rd she suffered what was called a 'lax' or hemorrhage. 
- At first this seemed to help but then it became clear there was no helping Jane, she deteriorated during the night.

St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle

- The following day at about midnight, Jane succumbed on October 24, still aged only about 28 or 29.
- After lying in state and a grand funeral, she was buried in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on November 13 with her stepdaughter Mary as chief mourner.
- When Henry died in 1547, Henry was buried with her making her the only one of his wives with whom he was laid.

 

Hampton Court

- Edward VI took the throne at age 9, a child king, surrounded by political factions tearing at each other for influence.
- Devoutly Protestant without knowing what it really was, that all religion is fake and made up by the fallen angels.
- Intelligent, but also ignorant and fragile, Edward died in 1553 at age 15, after having reigned for 6 years and leaving nothing of lasting significance behind.

Puritan religion

- Jane Seymour died on October 24, 1537, and was the only wife of Henry VIII to receive a queen's funeral, and Henry was later buried alongside her remains in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
- Henry never got around to erecting a great tomb and neither did his children, centuries later William IV placed a marker on the floor.
- Jane was unique because she was the only wife who died on the job and had not been abandoned by him first and the only one to give him a surviving son.

Past Lives - Tudor - Anne of Cleves - Page 4