Lady Jane Grey

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"Jane Grey" redirects here. For other uses, see Jane Grey (disambiguation).

Lady Jane Grey
Mary I
Born1536 or 1537
Possibly London or Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, England
Died12 February 1554 (aged 16 or 17)[2][3][4][5]
Tower of London, London, England
Burial
Church of St Peter ad Vincula
, Tower of London
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1553; died 1554)​
Lady Frances Brandon
ReligionProtestantism
SignatureLady Jane Grey's signature

Lady Jane Grey (c. 1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage[3] and as the "Nine Days' Queen",[6] was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from 10 to 19 July 1553.

Jane was the great-granddaughter of King

John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. In June 1553, the dying Edward VI wrote his will, nominating Jane and her male heirs as successors to the Crown, in part because his half-sister Mary was Catholic, while Jane was a committed Protestant and would support the reformed Church of England, whose foundation Edward laid. The will removed his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, from the line of succession on account of their illegitimacy, subverting their claims under the Third Succession Act
.

After Edward's death, Jane was proclaimed queen on 10 July 1553, and awaited coronation in the Tower of London. Support for Mary grew quickly, and most of Jane's supporters abandoned her. The Privy Council of England suddenly changed sides, and proclaimed Mary as queen on 19 July 1553, deposing Jane. Her primary supporter, her father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland, was accused of treason, and executed less than a month later. Jane was held prisoner in the Tower, and in November 1553 was also convicted of treason, which carried a sentence of death.

Mary initially spared her life; however, Jane soon became viewed as a threat to the Crown when her father, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, became involved with Wyatt's rebellion against Queen Mary's intention to marry Philip of Spain. Jane and her husband were executed on 12 February 1554. At the time of her execution, Jane was either 16 or 17 years old.

Early life and education

Lady Jane Grey was the eldest daughter of

Mary I and Elizabeth I
.

Jane received a humanist education from John Aylmer, speaking Latin and Greek from an early age, also studying Hebrew with Aylmer, and Italian with Michelangelo Florio.[12] She was particularly fond, throughout her life, of writing letters in Latin and Greek.[13] Through the influence of her father and her tutors, she became a committed Protestant and also corresponded with the Zürich reformer Heinrich Bullinger.[14]

She preferred academic studies rather than activities such as hunting parties[15] and allegedly regarded her strict upbringing, which was typical of the time,[16] as harsh. To the visiting scholar Roger Ascham, who found her reading Plato, she is said to have complained:

For when I am in the presence either of father or mother, whether I speak, keep silence, sit, stand or go, eat, drink, be merry or sad, be sewing, playing, dancing, or doing anything else, I must do it as it were in such weight, measure and number, even so perfectly as God made the world; or else I am so sharply taunted, so cruelly threatened, yea presently sometimes with pinches, nips and bobs and other ways (which I will not name for the honour I bear them) ... that I think myself in hell.[17]

Around February 1547, Jane was sent to live in the household of Edward VI's uncle, Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, who soon married Henry VIII's widow, Katherine Parr. After moving there, Jane was able to receive educational opportunities available in court circles.[3] Jane lived with the couple at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire as an attendant to Katherine, until Katherine died in childbirth in September 1548.[18][19] About eleven years old at the time, Jane was chief mourner at Katherine's funeral.[3] After Thomas Seymour's arrest for treason, Jane returned to Bradgate and continued her studies.[3]

Contracts for marriage

16th century portrait of a lady in the collection of Audley End House, labelled as Jane Grey, copy of the original at Syon House. Based on a portrait type identified as Lady Katherine Grey or Elizabeth I, it is believed that the Syon Portrait was created by William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, with the help of his grandfather, Lady Katherine Grey's widower, who had also known Lady Jane Grey, tweaking the portrait type into a genuine resemblance of her.[20][21][22][23]

Lady Jane acted as chief mourner at Katherine Parr's funeral; Thomas Seymour showed continued interest to keep her in his household, and she returned there for about two months before he was arrested at the end of 1548.[24] Seymour's brother, the Lord Protector, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, felt threatened by Thomas' popularity with the young King Edward. Among other things, Thomas Seymour was charged with proposing Jane as a bride for the king.[25]

In the course of Thomas Seymour's following

Earl of Pembroke, Lord Herbert, and another Katherine, Lord Guildford's sister, with Henry Hastings, the Earl of Huntingdon's heir.[29]

Claim to the throne and accession

See also: Third Succession Act
"My devise for the Succession" by Edward VI. The draft will was the basis for the letters patent, which declared Lady Jane Grey successor to the Crown.[30] Edward's autograph shows his alteration of his text, from "L Janes heires masles" to "L Jane and her heires masles".[31] Inner Temple Library, London.

The Third Succession Act of 1544 restored Henry VIII's daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, to the line of succession, although they were still regarded as illegitimate. Furthermore, this Act authorised Henry VIII to alter the succession by his will. Henry's will reinforced the succession of his three children, and then declared that, should none of them leave descendants, the throne would pass to heirs of his younger sister, Mary, which included Jane. For reasons unknown, Henry excluded Jane's mother, Frances Grey, from the succession,[32] and also bypassed the claims of the descendants of his elder sister, Margaret, who had married into the Scottish royal house and nobility.

Both Mary and Elizabeth had been named illegitimate by statute during the reign of Henry VIII after his marriages to Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn had been declared void.[33] When the 15-year-old Edward VI lay dying in early summer 1553, his Catholic half-sister Mary was still his heir presumptive. Edward, in a draft will ("My devise for the Succession") composed earlier in 1553, had first restricted the succession to (non-existent) male descendants of Frances Brandon and her daughters, before he named his Protestant cousin "Lady Jane and her heirs male" as his successors, probably in June 1553; the intent was to ensure his Protestant legacy, thereby bypassing Mary, a Roman Catholic.[31][34][35] Edward's decision to name Jane Grey herself was possibly instigated by Northumberland.[36][37]

Edward VI personally supervised the copying of his will which was finally issued as letters patent on 21 June and signed by 102 notables, among them the whole

writs were prepared.[37]
The King died on 6 July 1553, but his death was not announced until four days later.
Act of Parliament.[39]

Northumberland faced a number of key tasks to consolidate his

Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel—whom Northumberland had arrested and detained twice as an ally of Somerset, before rehabilitating him—engineered a coup d'état in the Privy Council in Northumberland's absence.[40]

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, by the French painter Paul Delaroche, 1833. National Gallery

Jane is often called the Nine-Day Queen, although if her reign is dated from the moment of Edward's death on 6 July 1553, her reign could have been a few days longer.[41] On 19 July 1553, Jane was imprisoned in the Tower's Gentleman Gaoler's apartments, her husband in the Beauchamp Tower. The Duke of Northumberland was executed on 22 August 1553. In September, Parliament declared Mary the rightful successor and denounced and revoked Jane's proclamation as that of a usurper.[42]

Trial and execution

Referred to by the court as Jane Dudley, wife of Guildford, Jane was charged with

burning was the traditional English punishment for treason committed by women).[44] The imperial ambassador reported to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, that her life was to be spared.[3]

Official letter of Lady Jane Grey signing herself as "Jane the Quene". Inner Temple Library, London

Wyatt's rebellion in January 1554 against Queen Mary's marriage plans with Philip of Spain sealed Jane's fate. Her father, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and his two brothers joined the rebellion, and so the government decided to go through with the verdict against Jane and Guildford. Their execution was first scheduled for 9 February 1554, but was then postponed for three days to give Jane a chance to convert to the Catholic faith. Mary sent her chaplain John Feckenham to Jane, who was initially not pleased about this.[45] Though she would not give in to his efforts "to save her soul", she became friends with him and allowed him to accompany her to the scaffold.[46]

On the morning of 12 February 1554, the authorities took Guildford from his rooms at the Tower of London to the public

execution place at Tower Hill, where he was beheaded. A horse and cart brought his remains back to the Tower, past the rooms where Jane was staying. Seeing her husband's corpse return, Jane is reported to have exclaimed: "Oh, Guildford, Guildford."[47] She was then taken out to Tower Green, inside the Tower, to be beheaded.[48] According to the account of her execution given in the anonymous Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary, which formed the basis for Raphael Holinshed
's depiction, Jane gave a speech upon ascending the scaffold:

Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same. The fact, indeed, against the Queen's highness was unlawful, and the consenting thereunto by me: but touching the procurement and desire thereof by me or on my behalf, I do wash my hands thereof in innocency, before God, and the face of you, good Christian people, this day.[49]

While admitting to action considered unlawful, she declared that "I do wash my hands thereof in innocence".[50][51] Jane then recited Psalm 51 (Have mercy upon me, O God) in English, and handed her gloves and handkerchief to her maid. The executioner asked her for forgiveness, which she granted him, pleading: "I pray you dispatch me quickly." Referring to her head, she asked, "Will you take it off before I lay me down?", and the axeman answered, "No, madam." She then blindfolded herself. Jane then failed to find the block with her hands, and cried, "What shall I do? Where is it?" Probably Sir Thomas Brydges, the Deputy Lieutenant of the Tower, helped her find her way. With her head on the block, Jane spoke the last words of Jesus as recounted in the Gospel of Luke: "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!"[49] The axe then fell and Jane was beheaded in one clean stroke.

Grave of Lady Jane Grey, St Peter ad Vincula

Jane and Guildford are buried in the Chapel of

Adrian Stokes, in March 1555.[54]
She was fully pardoned by Mary and allowed to live at Court with her two surviving daughters. She died in 1559.

Legacy

Main article: Cultural depictions of Lady Jane Grey

In 1911, the British historian Albert Pollard called Jane "the traitor-heroine of the Reformation".[55] During the Marian persecutions and its aftermath, Jane became viewed as a Protestant martyr,[56] featuring prominently in the several editions of Foxe's Book of Martyrs (Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Dayes) by John Foxe. The story of Jane's life grew to legendary proportions in popular culture, producing romantic biographies, novels, plays, operas, paintings, and films, such as Lady Jane in 1986.[57]

Family tree

Jane's relationship to the House of Tudor and other claimants to the English throne

Italics indicate people who predeceased Edward VI;
Arabic numerals (1–5) indicate Edward VI's line of succession at his death according to Henry VIII's will; and
Roman numerals (I–III) indicate Edward VI's line of succession at his death according to Edward's will.[58]

Henry VIIElizabeth of York
Henry VIIIMargaret TudorMary TudorCharles Brandon
Mary I
(1)
Elizabeth I
(2)		James V of ScotlandFrances BrandonHenry Grey
Mary, Queen of ScotsJane Grey
(3, I)		Katherine Grey
(4, II)		Mary Grey
(5, III)

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-85514-432-3
  2. ^ Ives 2009, p. 36; Florio 1607, p. 68
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-19-861362-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  4. ^ "Lady Jane Grey | Biography, Facts, & Execution". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  5. ^
    ISBN 9780786491032
    .
  6. ^ Ives 2009, p. 2
  7. ^ Ascham 1863, p. 213
  8. ^ de Lisle 2008, pp. 5–8
  9. ^ a b Ives 2009, pp. 36, 299
  10. ^ Edwards, J. Stephan. "On the Date of Birth of Lady Jane Grey Dudley". Some Grey Matter. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  11. ^ Florio 1607, p. 68
  12. ^ Ives 2009, pp. 51, 65, Morrill 2021
  13. ^ "Page: A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/369" – via Wikisource, the free online library.
  14. ^ Ives 2009, pp. 63–67
  15. ^ Ives 2009, p. 51
  16. ^ Ives 2009, p. 53
  17. ^ Ives 2009, p. 52
  18. ^ Ives 2009, pp. 42–45
  19. ^ Dent, Emma (1877). Annals of Winchcombe and Sudeley. Sudeley Castle: J Murray. p. 186.
  20. ^ "Early Portrait Of Elizabeth I Sells For $158,661 At Butterscotch". Antiques and the Arts Weekly. November 2021.
  21. ^ "Children of England: The Heirs of King Henry VIII/The Children of Henry VIII (1996)". Alison Weir. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  22. ^ "Lady Jane Grey Revealed - The Syon Portrait". J. Stephan Edwards. 30 September 2010. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  23. ISBN 978-0-9863873-0-2
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  24. ^ Ives 2009, pp. 45–47
  25. ^ Ives 2009, pp. 47–49
  26. ^ Ives 2009, p. 47
  27. ^ Loades 1996, pp. 238–239
  28. ^ Loades 1996, p. 179
  29. ^ de Lisle 2008, pp. 93, 304; Ives 2009, p. 321.
  30. ^ Ives 2009, p. 137
  31. ^ a b Alford 2002, pp. 171–172
  32. ^ Ives 2009, p. 35
  33. ISBN 9781455602889
    .
  34. ^ Lindsay, Thomas Martin (1882). The Reformation. T. & T. Clark. p. 149.
  35. ISBN 9781681772875
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  36. ^ Loades 1996, p. 240; Alford 2014, pp. 75–56; Loach 2002, pp. 163–164
  37. ^
    Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    , Oxford University Press, 2004, online edn. January 2008, Retrieved 4 April 2010 (subscription required)
  38. ^ Ives 2009, pp. 145, 165–166
  39. ^ Ives 2009, p. 189
  40. ^ Ives 2009, pp. 222–223, 233–236
  41. ^ Ives 2009, p. 1
  42. ISBN 9780786491032
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  43. ^
    ISBN 9781681772875
    – via Google Books.
  44. ^ Ives 2009, pp. 251–252, 334; Bellamy 1979, p. 54
  45. ^ Ives 2009, pp. 267, 268
  46. ^ Ives 2009, pp. 268–270
  47. ^ Ives 2009, pp. 274–275
  48. ISBN 9781444354263
    – via Google Books.
  49. ^
    The Camden Society
    ; Marilee Hanson.
  50. ^ de Lisle 2008, p. 138
  51. ISBN 9781444354263
    – via Google Books.
  52. ISBN 9781681772875
    – via Google Books.
  53. ISBN 0904387828
    .
  54. ^ Ives 2009, p. 38
  55. ^ Pollard, Albert J. (1911). The History of England. London: Longmans, Green. p. 111. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  56. JSTOR 1556177
    .
  57. ^ "Lady Jane". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  58. ^ Ives 2009, Figures 1–5

Bibliography

External links

Wikisource has original works on the topic: House of Tudor
Lady Jane Grey
House of Grey
Born: 1537 Died: 12 February 1554
Regnal titles
Preceded byas undisputed king — DISPUTED —
Mary I
 Succeeded by
Mary I
as undisputed queen
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