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Jane Seymour as played by Anita Briem Motto: "Bound to Obey and Serve"
Born C. 1509 - died 1537 Character's backstory: As historian David Starkey wrote, Jane had just as much religious fervor as Anne Boleyn but it was the opposite sentiment: while Anne was a "radical reformer", Jane was a supporter of the institution of the Catholic Church. Jane did not have the stellar education of Queen Katherine or Queen Anne, in fact she could only read and write her name, which was typical for women of her station at the time. Her skills included needlework and household management.
Gentility: daughter of a knighted courtier, is King Henry's fifth cousin three times removed
Signature look: Pale, doe eyed. A member of the king's privy council Sir John Russell said: "that the richer queen Jane was dressed the fairer she appeared; on the contrary, the better Anne Boleyn was apparelled the worse she looked: but that queen Jane was the fairest of all Henry's wives," However Chapuys said :"She is of middle height and nobody thinks that she has much beauty. Her complexion is so whitish that she may be called rather pale........she is not very intelligent and is said to be rather haughty"
Endearing trait(s): sincerity, honesty, genuine personality, wanted to be queen as much as Anne Boleyn did, helped Mary Tudor regain her father's affection was kind to her and did not mistreat her like the last Queen, it is probably her that made Mary see that it was better to be submissive than feisty, a place at court, and appointed her step-daughter as godmother to her son Edward
Annoying trait(s): is often criticized for being too docile, submissive, and a bit of a doormat, flirted with the married King. Historians debate on whether she actively played a crucial and conscious role in the cold-blooded plot to bring Anne Boleyn to the scaffold.
Scandals: Her father John Seymour's affair with his son Edward's first wife also caused a great scandal, and seriously damaged the reputation of the Seymour family. It may have been for this reason that the proposed marriage between Jane and William Dormer was rejected by the Dormers.
In 1536, was when she asked for pardons for participants in the Rebelion of the Pilgrimage of Grace. Henry is said to have rejected this, reminding her of the fate the other queens met with when they "meddled in his affairs".
From Agnes Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England (1850)
"JANE SEYMOUR was the fairest, the discreetest, and the most meritorious of all Henry VIII.'s wives." This assertion has been generally repeated by all historians to the present hour, yet, doubtless, the question has frequently occurred to their readers, in what did her merit consist?
Customs may alter at various eras, but the laws of moral justice are unalterable: difficult would it be to reconcile them with the first actions known of this discreet lady, for discretion is the attribute peculiarly challenged as her own. Yet Jane Seymour's shameless conduct in receiving the courtship of Henry VIII. was the commencement of the severe calamities that befell her mistress, Anne Boleyn. Scripture points out as an especial odium the circumstance of a handmaid taking the place of her mistress. Odious enough was the case when Anne Boleyn supplanted the right royal Katharine of Arragon, but the discreet Jane Seymour received the addresses of her mistress's husband, and passively beheld the mortal anguish of Anne Boleyn when that unhappy queen was in a state which peculiarly demanded feminine sympathy; she knew that the discovery of Henry's inconstancy had nearly destroyed her, whilst the shock actually destroyed her infant.
Jane saw murderous accusations got up against the queen, which finally brought her to the scaffold, yet she gave her hand to the regal ruffian before his wife's corpse was cold. Yes; four-and-twenty hours had not elapsed since the sword was reddened with the blood of her mistress, when Jane Seymour became the bride of Henry VIII. And let it be remembered that a royal marriage could not have been celebrated without previous preparation, which must have proceeded simultaneously with the heart-rending events of Anne Boleyn's last agonized hours.
Jane Seymour's epitaph:
Here lies Jane,
a phoenix Who died in giving
another phoenix birth. Let her be mourned,
for birds like these Are rare indeed.
Contd. The wedding-cakes must have been baking, the wedding-dinner providing, the wedding-clothes preparing, while the life-blood was yet running warm in the veins of the victim, whose place was to be rendered vacant by violent death. The picture is repulsive enough, but it becomes tenfold more abhorrent when the woman who caused the whole tragedy is loaded with panegyric.
On the morning of the 19th of May, Henry VIII., attired for the chase, with his huntsmen and hounds around him, was standing under the spreading oak, breathlessly awaiting the signal-gun from the Tower which was to announce that the sword had fallen on the neck of his once "entirely beloved Anne Boleyn." At last, when the bright summer sun rode high towards its meridian, the sullen sound of the death-gun boomed along the windings of the Thames. Henry started with ferocious joy. "Ha, ha " he cried with satisfaction, "the deed is done. Uncouple the hounds and away!" The chase that day bent towards the west, whether the stag led it in that direction or not. The tradition of Richmond adds, that the king was likewise advised of the execution by a signal from a flag hoisted on the spire of old St. Paul's, which was seen through a glade of the park to the east.
At night the king was at Wolf-hall, in Wilts, telling the news to his elected bride; the next morning he married her, May 20, 1536. "
CHARACTER CONNECTIONS
Family members:
Jane came from a large family of eight siblings, which gave King Henry encouragement of her potential to bear viable offspring, her brothers Edward and Thomas would continue to influence the Tudor monarchy until they were executed as traitors.
Father: Sir John Seymour Mother: Margaret Wentworth Brother: John Seymour Brother: Edward Seymour Brother: Thomas Seymour Brother: Sir Henry Seymour Brother: Anthony Seymour Sister: Elizabeth Seymour (married to Sir Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex son Gregory) Sister: Dorothy Seymour Sister: Margery Seymour Son:Prince Edward Tudor, King Edward VI (1547-1553)
Friends: Anne Stanhope (her brother's wife) Elizabeth Seymour (sister) Lady Mary Tudor Catholic faction led by Nicolas Carew and the Seymour family
The First Protestant King who made the majority of political leader and important people as well as laymen, law men, commoner of the Protestant faction, by the time Elizabeth I came to the throne she was most favored by this faction because of where she stood. It is interesting to note that Edward's signature is similar to that of Elizabeth and it was his last stepmother and not his mother's religion that really influenced into most of the "new" and "true" "justice" faith that led him to his acts of Kingship.
"Here a Phoenix lieth, whose death
To another Phoenix gave breath
It is to be lamented much,
The world at once ne'er knew two such."
Epitaph of Jane Seymour, who's symbol was the phoenix.
Littlecote Manor House in Wiltshire,
where Henry courted Jane in 1536
Detail of a portrait of Henry VIII's family, which is located in Hampton Court. Jane is seated next to Henry, despite having been dead for several years and Henry married to Catherine Parr at the time the portrait was commissioned in 1545.
Jane's siblings, (left to right)
Elizabeth Seymour (portrait was previously believed to be of Catherine Howard but is identified by others as Elizabeth),
Edward Seymour (Lord Protector of England),
and Thomas Seymour (Lord High Admiral of England), all benefited greatly from their sister's raise to the thrown and her son, Edward VI as well.
