Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley

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Thomas Seymour
Baron Seymour of Sudeley
Seymour
Spouse(s)
(m. 1547; died 1548)
IssueMary Seymour
FatherSir John Seymour
MotherMargery Wentworth

Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley,

Queen Elizabeth I
(then 14 years old), who resided in his household, in flirtatious and possibly sexual behaviour.

Family and royal connections

Thomas Seymour was the son of

Norman origin.[3]

ladies-in-waiting. Henry married Jane eleven days after Anne's execution in May 1536, and the Seymour brothers saw their fortunes rise: in that year, Thomas became a gentleman of the privy chamber.[2]

In October of the following year, Queen Jane gave birth to a son, Edward Tudor, who would become

King Edward VI. Her two brothers, Edward and Thomas, were, therefore, uncles to the baby Edward, heir to the throne.[4][5]
Less than two weeks later, Jane died from complications related to childbirth.

Thomas Seymour's other royal connection was with Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth wife, whom Seymour would later marry, after Henry's death. In 1543, Parr established herself as part of Princess Mary's household, where she caught the attention of the King. Although she had already begun a romantic relationship with Seymour, she saw it as her duty to accept Henry's proposal.[6]

Foreign affairs

In 1538, Seymour was sent to the embassy at the French court. He was one of those appointed to meet

Emperor Charles V, to enlist support for Henry against France and Scotland. In May 1543, he was appointed ambassador to the Habsburg court in Brussels.[8] He was given this posting to remove him from King Henry's court, in view of the King's marriage to Catherine Parr.[9]

War breaking out between England and France, Seymour was made marshal of the English army in the Netherlands on 26 June 1543, being second in command to Sir John Wallop. On 24 July, with a strong detachment, he captured and destroyed the castles of Rinquecen and Arbrittayne near the French port of Boulogne.[10] For a short time, he held the chief command during Wallop's illness.[11] Due to his position of privilege as a royal uncle and as a reward for his services, Seymour was made Master-General of the Ordnance in 1544 and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1545, both senior military positions.[12]

Regency Council and marriage to Catherine Parr

The Melton Constable or Hastings portrait of Queen Catherine Parr

Seymour returned to court just before Henry VIII died in January 1547, leaving Catherine one of the wealthiest women in England. According to the King's will, a

Lord High Admiral as a concession, he was consumed by jealousy of his brother's power and influence and worked to unseat and replace his brother as Lord Protector.[14]

Thomas Seymour sought to overturn his brother's position on the regency council by his personal influence over the young king, and also possibly by making a royal marriage.

Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond, he was still unmarried at the time of Henry VIII's death. He had previously shown some interest in marrying either of Henry's daughters, Elizabeth or Mary; however, within weeks of Henry's death, Thomas Seymour had rekindled the affair with Catherine Parr, and they were secretly married in April or May 1547, too soon after the king's death to suit many.[6] Anne Stanhope
, Somerset's proud wife, disliked Catherine and Thomas and began to turn many people in court against them.

Relationship with Elizabeth

Princess Elizabeth
in about 1546, by an unknown artist

Upon their marriage, Seymour moved into his wife's house, at

Kat Ashley, thought this scandalous, and reported it to Catherine.[17] Indignant, Seymour retorted, "By God's precious soul, I mean no evil, and I will not leave it!"[14] At first, Catherine dismissed the behaviour as innocent fun, and even joined in the behaviour on a few occasions.[17] Elizabeth's feelings regarding this behaviour are unknown, but it was said that she bore Thomas some degree of affection;[18] and though her governess "bade him go away in shame," she found him more amusing than dangerous. Given Elizabeth's relatively young age, the fact she was Catherine's step-daughter and also second in the line of succession of the English throne plus Seymour was married to the dowager queen, his behaviour was considered to be highly inappropriate, shocking, and immoral. When Catherine was pregnant in the spring of 1548, she had become concerned enough about her husband's flirtatious relationship with Elizabeth that she sent Elizabeth away to live with Anthony Denny and his wife, Joan Champernowne
(Kat Ashley's sister), in Hertfordshire.

Sudeley Castle
An image of Hatfield House (a large, brick, castle-like building with multiple stories)
Hatfield House

In June 1548, Catherine and Thomas Seymour moved their household from London to Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, the property granted to Seymour when he became Baron Seymour of Sudeley. In September 1548, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Mary Seymour. In the following days, she became uncharacteristically hostile and delusional. Thomas lay in bed with her to quiet her, but she did not get better, and died of childbirth complications, just before Elizabeth's 15th birthday.[6] Upon her death, Catherine bequeathed all of her possessions to Thomas, making him one of the wealthiest men in England. He said he was "amazed" at her death; yet it opened up new opportunities for him, as his eye returned to Elizabeth.[19] She avoided him, returning with her governess to her childhood home, Hatfield House in Hertfordshire.[20]

Relationship with Edward VI

Edward VI

Despite his great wealth and high position, Thomas Seymour could not come to terms with his brother's appointment as protector; and in his struggle with Somerset, he tried to ingratiate himself with the king, who was merely a child. He sought the 9-year-old Edward to write a letter on his behalf in support of his marriage to the dowager queen, Catherine Parr. The letter was obviously dictated by Thomas for Edward's signature and only enraged Somerset. He began to visit Edward frequently, secretly giving him an extravagant allowance of coins, so that Edward might be satisfied in feeling more grown-up and more king-like, giving gifts to his servants, teachers, and friends. Even though he lived in sumptuous splendour and wanting for nothing, no provisions had been made for Edward's pocket money; he became accustomed to these regular payments and began to ask Seymour freely for his allowance.

Thomas continued his manipulation of the king. In trying to get a bill through Parliament making him Edward's personal governor, Seymour requested Edward's royal signature on the bill. But Edward was uncertain and reluctant to go behind the back of the protector, Somerset, and of the regency council, and he would not sign it. Seymour persistently pressured Edward, until Edward felt threatened. But Seymour did not give up. He tried to persuade Edward that he did not need a protector, getting Edward to admit that it might be better for Somerset to die. It is not known what the king meant by this, but it was probably uttered innocently. Seymour intended that the king's royal signature and personal support would destabilize Somerset's position as protector, and as a member of the regency council. In his frustration and inability to gain any significant influence over the king, Thomas Seymour began to think in terms of open rebellion.[14]

Downfall

In the summer of 1547, Somerset invaded Scotland. During his absence from the court, his brother, Thomas, fomented opposition to his authority, voicing open disapproval of his brother's administrative skills. Because his activities seemed suspicious, several members of the nobility advised him to be content with his position, but he would not listen.[21] As Lord High Admiral, he was able to control the English navy, and he openly asked for support in case of a rebellion. Although it was his duty to suppress piracy, he entered into relations with pirates on the western coasts, with a view to securing their support.[22] Thomas seems also to have hoped to finance a rebellion through crooked dealings with the vice-treasurer of the Bristol Mint, Sir William Sharington.[14]

By 1548, the regency council was becoming aware of Thomas's bid for power. Somerset tried to save his brother from ruin, calling a council meeting so that Thomas might explain himself. However, Thomas did not appear. On the night of 16 January 1549, for reasons that are not clear (perhaps to take the young king away in his own custody), Seymour was caught trying to break into the King's apartments at

William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, inherited Sudeley Castle.[25]

Sir Rowland Hill attended closely on Seymour

Seymour was a "trusty friend" of Sir Rowland Hill, who would publish the Geneva Bible, and was given land at Hoxten for life under his will.[26] It was said that Hill "knew much of the intent and purpose" of Sir Thomas Seymour.[27]

Aftermath

When he was arrested for treason, Seymour's associates were also cast under suspicion, including 15-year-old Elizabeth. She did not realize her own danger until her servants, including her governess Kat Ashley, were also arrested.[21] Upon realizing that Thomas would probably be executed, she was noticeably disconsolate, trying to free herself and her servants from suspicion. The regency council was sure of her complicity with Thomas and she was interrogated for weeks.[28] But the council found itself in a sharply defined game of wits with Elizabeth, who proved to be a master of logic, defiance, and shrewdness. The embarrassing details of Seymour's improper behaviour towards her came to light but there was no evidence that Elizabeth had conspired with him.[21]

After his execution, all of Seymour's property was seized by the Crown. His attainder was reversed by Parliament in 1550, although the property was not returned to Mary Seymour, his only child; she is believed to have died at about the age of two, possibly whilst in the care of Katherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk.

To his contemporaries, he appeared forceful and reckless, and also attractive to women. Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, a boyhood friend of King Edward, described Thomas Seymour as "hardy, wise and liberal ... fierce in courage, courtly in fashion, in personage stately, in voice magnificent, but somewhat empty of matter".[29]

In popular culture

In the 1953 film Young Bess (based on the novel of the same title by Margaret Irwin), Stewart Granger was cast as Seymour. The plot, largely a romance between him and Princess Elizabeth (played by 24-year-old Jean Simmons), had little historical accuracy.

In the 2007 television show The Tudors, Andrew McNair portrays Seymour. He appears in series three and four.

He is a character in the

Matthew Shardlake. He is portrayed as a hot-headed military man, with designs on Catherine Parr, in the months before the latter's marriage to Henry VIII. He reappears as a secondary character in the next two novels in the series, Heartstone and Lamentation
.

Norah Lofts, in her biography of Walter Raleigh Here Was a Man, suggests that Elizabeth was attracted to Raleigh because he reminded her of Seymour.

In the 2022 series Becoming Elizabeth, Tom Cullen plays Seymour.

Notes

  1. .
  2. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25181. Retrieved 1 March 2023. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  3. ^ Strickland 1868, p. 273.
  4. ^ Skidmore 2007, pp. 12–19.
  5. ^ Erickson 1983, pp. 53–54.
  6. ^ a b c d Erickson 1983, pp. 65–79.
  7. ^ Pollard 1897, p. 330 cites Chron. of Calais, pp. 168, 173.
  8. ^ Pollard 1897, p. 330 cites State Papers, Henry VIII, vol. ix. passim.
  9. ^ James 2009, pp. 61–73.
  10. ^ Pollard 1897, p. 330 cites State Papers, Henry VIII, vol. ix. 452.
  11. ^ Pollard 1897, p. 330 cites State Papers, Henry VIII, vol. ix. 460–2 et seq.
  12. ^ Pollard 1897, p. 330.
  13. ^ Skidmore 2007, pp. 45–50.
  14. ^ a b c d Skidmore 2007, pp. 71–87.
  15. ^ Erickson 2007, p. 232.
  16. . Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  17. ^ a b Weir 1998, pp. 14–15.
  18. ^ Hibbert 1992, p. 29.
  19. ^ Skidmore 2007, pp. 98–99.
  20. ^ Erickson 1983, p. 83.
  21. ^ a b c d Skidmore 2007, p. 102–104.
  22. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 755.
  23. ^ Skidmore 2007, p. 103.
  24. ^ Erickson 1983, p. 84.
  25. ^ "Royal relatives no support when Thomas Seymour lost his head in his quest for power". Daily Telegraph. 20 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2021. his brother had ordered the execution and his nephew had signed the death warrant.
  26. .
  27. ^ "SEYMOUR, Sir Thomas I (by 1476-1535/36), of London, Saffron Walden, Essex and Hoxton, Mdx. | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  28. ^ Erickson 1983, pp. 89–90.
  29. ^ Jenkins 1959.

References

Further reading

External links

Military offices
Preceded by Master-General of the Ordnance
1544–1547
Succeeded by
Sir Philip Hoby
Political offices
Preceded by
Sir Thomas Cheney
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Lord High Admiral

1547–1549
Succeeded by
Peerage of England
New creation Baron Seymour of Sudeley
1547–1549
Forfeit