Mary Seymour
Mary Seymour | |
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Born | 30 August 1548 Seymour |
Father | Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley |
Mother | Catherine Parr |
Mary Seymour (30 August 1548 – c. 1550[citation needed]), born at her father’s country seat, Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, was the only daughter of Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley (brother of Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII), and the dowager queen, Catherine Parr, widow of Henry VIII. Although Catherine was married four times, Mary was her only child. Complications from Mary's birth would claim the life of her mother on 5 September 1548, and her father was executed less than a year later for treason against her cousin Edward VI.
Restitution of Mary Seymour Act 1549 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Repealed | 16 June 1977 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1977 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
In 1549, the
As her mother's wealth was left entirely to her father and later confiscated by the Crown, Mary was left a destitute orphan in the care of
Survival speculations
A more modern theory, from Linda Porter, author of a 2010 biography on Katherine Parr, suggests that a 1573 Latin book of poems and epitaphs written by John Parkhurst, Katherine Parr’s chaplain, contains the following reference to Mary:
- I whom at the cost
- Of her own life
- My queenly mother
- Bore with the pangs of labour
- Sleep under this marble
- An unfit traveller.
- I whom at the cost
-
- If Death had given me to live longer
- That virtue, that modesty, That obedience of my excellent Mother
- That Heavenly courageous nature
- Would have lived again in me.
- If Death had given me to live longer
-
- Now, whoever
- You are, fare thee well
- Because I cannot speak any more, this stone
- Is a memorial to my brief life.
- Now, whoever
Porter suggested that this was an epitaph written by Parkhurst, on the occasion of Mary's death around the age of two. Porter further speculates that Mary is buried in Lincolnshire, near Grimsthorpe, the estate owned by the Duchess of Suffolk, "where she had lived as an unwelcome burden for most of her short, sad life."[4]
Portrayals in fiction
The 2007 novel The Red Queen's Daughter by
The 2022 drama series Becoming Elizabeth portrays Mary’s birth.
References
- ^ Linda Porter (2010) Katherine the Queen
- PBS. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
- ^ Strickland, Agnes; Strickland, Elizabeth (21 February 2020) [1842]. "Catherine Parr, sixth queen of Henry VIII". Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest (image of print text). Vol. III (1885, photo scan F ed.). London, UK: George Bell & sons. p. 296 (of 175–300). Retrieved 20 July 2021 – via Hati Trust Digital Library (babelHathiTrust.org).
- ^ Porter, Linda (2011). "Lady Mary Seymour: An unfit traveller". History Today Magazine. Vol. 61, no. 7.
- ISBN 9781474050692.
External links
- History Today: Lady Mary Seymour, an Unfit Traveller by Linda Porter.