In November, at the behest of Jane’s step-grandmother Katherine Willoughby, Dowager Duchess of Suffolk, Katherine published her second book, The Lamentations of a Sinner, in which she communicated some of the religious views she had been forced to suppress in the last few months of her late husband’s life.18 To the young and impressionable Jane, who must have been as dazzled by Katherine’s charms as she was by her learning, this was an incredible achievement. Here was a woman who was not afraid to voice her religious views – to commit them to paper. Would it be possible for Jane to aspire to something similar? She had also been raised in the reformed faith, and witnessing Katherine’s devoted passion for her beliefs probably heavily influenced her. Moreover, the fact that Jane’s cousin, King Edward, was also an enthusiast of reform gave Jane and Katherine a free rein to talk openly about their religious interests and the religious reforms that the King was keen to promote. While Jane’s guardian the Admiral appears to have had little time to dabble in such chat, or interest in doing so, at eleven years old Jane was at a highly impressionable age, and it seems likely that it was at this time that many of her religious beliefs took greater shape under Katherine’s influence.
Elizabeth too, though three years older than Jane and at that awkward time of transition from child to adolescent, had much in common with her cousin. Like Jane, Elizabeth was remarkably intelligent, and revelled in her educational pursuits and the praise which she received as a result. A contemporary remarked that ‘her intellect and understanding are wonderful’, and that she excelled as a linguist.19 Elizabeth also shared similar religious views to Jane, and Jane would later praise her cousin for her devotion to God. But that was probably where the similarities between the two girls ended. No correspondence between the cousins survives, but Elizabeth’s later treatment of Jane’s sisters suggests that the relationship between them was never a close one. There may even have been some jealousy on the part of both girls over the other’s academic abilities and relationship with the Queen Dowager. However, if this was the case then for the most part it almost certainly stemmed primarily from the ‘proud and haughty’ Elizabeth’s side.20 Jane’s later comments about her cousin indicate not only an element of praise and respect, but perhaps also admiration and awe for a cousin who was slightly older than her. Elizabeth’s tutor, Roger Ascham, who may have met Jane before, but certainly became more familiarly acquainted with Jane while at Chelsea, later claimed that Jane’s abilities were superior to those of his own pupil. If Elizabeth became aware of this then it understandably probably led to some resentment.
As they had done with Elizabeth, Katherine and Seymour may have indulged Jane, perhaps even spoilt her a little. The letters her parents wrote to Seymour the following year certainly indicate that this may have been the case – much to their dissatisfaction, for it had led to Jane demonstrating some of the rebellious and undesirable behaviour so common in teenagers.
Jane, however, was not a witness to the shocking events that occurred in Katherine’s household in the spring of 1548. She appears to have spent much of the first half of the year at Seymour Place, and therefore avoided the troubled situation that saw the Lady Elizabeth banished from Katherine’s household in the spring, after a shameful flirtation with the Admiral. Elizabeth’s governess, Kate Ashley, later confessed that the Admiral would visit Elizabeth’s chamber some mornings, and if the girl were still in bed, he would ‘strike her familiarly on the back or on the buttocks’.21 His inappropriate behaviour towards his wife’s stepdaughter continued, and on some occasions Katherine also joined in, passing it off as innocent fun.22 Before long, though, Katherine became suspicious of her husband and her stepdaughter, and matters came to a head one day when she sought them out and, to her great distress, ‘found him holding the Lady Elizabeth in his arms, upon which she fell out with them both’.23 Things appear to have gone no further, but though Elizabeth later wrote to Katherine that she ‘was replete with sorrow to depart from your highness’, there was no question of her remaining with Katherine any longer, and perhaps this too exacerbated her coolness towards Jane.24 By the beginning of the year, Katherine would have known that she was pregnant with her first child. This made the betrayal of her husband and her stepdaughter all the more bitter, and permanently damaged her relationship with both Seymour and Elizabeth, though she chose to stand by her husband. The events were scandalous, and whispers continued some time afterwards about the Admiral’s early morning romps with Elizabeth, whispers that it is likely Jane heard.
Jane’s parents should have been warned by Seymour’s misconduct and removed Jane from his care, but they did no such thing, and Jane remained at Seymour Place. They were still driven by their hopes and ambitions that Seymour would arrange Jane’s marriage to the King, and this overrode any other considerations. There is no suggestion, however, that Seymour ever showed any sexual inclination towards Jane, and by all accounts he was a considerate guardian to his young charge. Jane’s father later acknowledged that Seymour’s ‘fatherly affection which you bear her’, and ‘good mind, concerning her honestly and godly education, is so great, that mine can be no more’.25
Despite the disruption caused by Elizabeth’s unexpected departure, Jane continued to flourish in the Admiral’s household with Katherine for company, remaining blissfully ignorant of the fact that her presence was part of a much bigger plan. She was there for a reason: a pawn in Seymour’s dangerous play for power.
CHAPTER 6
A Second Court of Right
AS MAY TURNED to June and the seasonal heat began to intensify, Jane prepared to leave London. It was the summer of 1548, and Jane had been the ward of Sir Thomas Seymour for over a year. She had spent many happy times in company with Seymour’s wife, Katherine, and she was eagerly anticipating their upcoming sojourn in the country. At thirty-six, Katherine was heavily pregnant with her first child, and she and her husband had opted to retire from the capital before the summer heat and the diseases that came with it had an opportunity to infiltrate the Seymour household. Taking Jane with them, the couple also left the scandal of the affair with the Lady Elizabeth behind them, travelling to Sudeley Castle, Seymour’s idyllic Gloucestershire residence.1
Any tensions between the couple were brushed over as they looked forward to the future, which Jane had good reason to feel she was a part of. The peaceful countryside that surrounded Sudeley may have come as a welcome change to Jane, who had been enclosed in the bustle of London for some time. On top of that, Sudeley was a little over seventy miles from Bradgate Park, and the two were certainly on an equal footing in terms of beauty. Sudeley had enjoyed a long and turbulent history before it was granted to Seymour by his nephew King Edward in 1547, and was by that time in a state of disrepair.2 Once it had been chosen as the location for Katherine’s confinement, Seymour had been forced to undertake some hasty building work to make Sudeley fit for occupation, and suitable to accommodate Katherine and her large retinue in the style to which she had become accustomed.3 For the Admiral this was no trouble, as he ‘spared no cost his lady to delight, or to maintain her princely royalty’.4 The results were luxurious: Katherine had a whole new suite of magnificent rooms, which overlooked beautiful knot gardens arranged in fashionable parterres and the charming fifteenth-century church of St Mary’s which lay in the grounds. Coupled with Sudeley’s location in the heart of the countryside, this made it an ideal place for Katherine to spend the final months of her pregnancy.
Jane quickly settled into life as Katherine’s companion at Sudeley, and her presence was a source of great delight to the Queen Dowager. Given Katherine’s love of children and the close relationships she had shared with her stepchildren, it seems probable that she provided Jane with all of the love and encouragement that Jane could have hoped for. In turn, Jane almost certainly reciprocated. By this time, Jane had probably not seen her parents since Christmas, possibly longer, and it may therefore have come as a pleasant surprise to her when towards the end of the summer, her father
arrived from Bradgate Park to visit his daughter. In reality, however, it was the Admiral that Henry had come to see. According to Henry’s later recollection of the encounter, the visit was part of the Admiral’s attempt to obtain Henry’s support for his bid for power over the government of the realm. By this time Seymour was completely disenchanted with his brother the Lord Protector and King Edward’s Council, and was determined to try to stake his own claim to be the main power behind the throne. Sir John Harington later testified that he had heard the Admiral declare that ‘when there hath been two brothers, it hath never been seen that one brother should have all the rule and the other none’.5 All of the honours he had already been granted were not enough to satisfy him and he wanted more. This was hardly surprising, for soon after the death of Henry VIII the Imperial ambassador had remarked that he thought it ‘quite likely that some jealousy or rivalry may arise’ between the two brothers.6 Katherine, too, was on bad terms with the Protector, and particularly disliked his wife, due to the couple’s refusal to return her collection of royal jewels that had remained in storage at the Tower since the death of her late husband.7 Therefore, she added further fuel to the Admiral’s quarrel by actively encouraging him in his struggles with his brother. Henry later recalled that during a visit he had made to Seymour Place in December, the Admiral had told him that ‘he in no way liked the doings of the lord protector and council’.8 Seymour’s custody of Jane and his promise of her marriage to the King gave him the perfect bargaining tool with the naïve Henry, who he advised to rally as many men as he could in order to support his attempt to free the King from the Protector’s control – and into his own. Already the Protector was becoming unpopular, not least with his royal nephew, whom he kept ‘very straight’.9 The Admiral had realized, however, that his brother was unlikely to surrender his power without force, and as Henry later testified, ‘he advised me rather to make much of the head yeoman and franklins, especially the ringleaders, for they are best able to persuade the multitude and bring the numbers’.10
As Jane’s father and her guardian quietly discussed tactics, Jane remained unaware of their dealings and continued to enjoy the company of Katherine and her retinue. Katherine’s ‘house was termed “a second court” of right, Because there flocked still, nobility’, which included a vast company of ladies and gentlemen, many of whom had served her since the days of her queenship.11 Her physician, Robert Huicke, her chaplain, John Parkhurst, and her almoner, Miles Coverdale, also attended her. The latter two were of particular interest to Jane, for both were well favoured by Katherine for their devotion to religious reform. Parkhurst was also a friend of Jane’s tutor Master Aylmer, and Coverdale had been responsible for the first translation of the Bible into English.12 Katherine also received news and letters from her friends – perhaps her fondness for Jane was heightened by the close friendship she shared with Jane’s step-grandmother, Katherine Willoughby – and Jane’s cousin, the Lady Mary, also wrote to Katherine with good wishes for her pregnancy: ‘I trust to hear good success of your grace’s great belly.’13
Meanwhile, for the moment, the Admiral’s plots behind Sudeley’s walls went no further than words. Accompanied by Jane, Seymour bade Henry, her father, farewell as he left Sudeley for home. Seeing his daughter’s contentment in the company of the Admiral and Katherine as he waved Jane goodbye, Henry had no idea that he was leaving her in an incredibly vulnerable situation, for circumstances were about to take a drastic turn.
At the end of August Katherine’s labour pains began. Perhaps she made use of the cramp rings, thought to aid pregnant women, which were later found among her possessions as she drew on every ounce of her strength to deliver her child safely.14 On 30 August, within the confines of the magnificent apartments that her husband had recently beautified for her, Katherine gave birth to a healthy child. It was not ‘the little knave’ that she and her husband had been hoping for, but a little girl, named Mary in honour of Katherine’s eldest stepdaughter and Jane’s cousin, the Lady Mary.15 Katherine and the Admiral were thrilled with their daughter, and initially all seemed well. The Lord Protector was among those who wrote to congratulate his brother, for he had heard that Katherine ‘hath had an happy hour and, escaping all danger, hath made you father of so pretty a daughter’.16 But the joyous mood did not last. Shortly after the birth, puerperal fever set in, the same deadly illness that had killed Jane Seymour, King Edward’s mother and Jane’s godmother. As with her queenly predecessor, Katherine’s health deteriorated as she descended into delirium. Though Jane is unlikely to have seen her beloved Katherine in this state, she would have seen Katherine’s doctor and her ladies as they hurried in and out of her apartments, desperately trying to save their mistress, while the distress of the Admiral was evident. With no one to comfort or reassure her in the unfamiliar surroundings, it must have been a truly frightening experience for the young Jane. The tension as she waited to hear whether Katherine would recover must have been unbearable, and all that she could do was pray that God would be merciful and spare her life.
The news was not good: Katherine’s condition worsened, and between two and three o’clock on the morning of 5 September, the serenity of Sudeley vanished when Katherine slipped away and died. The ‘Flower, honor, and ornament of the female sex’ was no more.17 The Admiral, now a widower, was in a torment of affliction and shock, and was unable to see past his own grief to consider Jane’s interests. Thus, in the blink of an eye, Jane was deprived of the two people with whom she had spent most of the past eighteen months and who had fulfilled the role of parents; she was in an especially lonely position. She was miles from home, and faced with the task of coming to terms with the loss of the woman to whom she had been devoted, and whose corpse now lay close by. In an epitaph dedicated to his late mistress, Katherine’s chaplain John Parkhurst summarized the sombre atmosphere at Sudeley following her death – the atmosphere in which Jane was unhappily enveloped: ‘For the departed, we her household flow with watery eyes.’18 Whatever personal feelings of grief Jane had to contend with, she had been raised as a lady of the royal blood. Though only twelve years old, she now chose to adopt an outward display of admirable dignity that Katherine would have been proud of.
As Katherine’s body lay in state in her Privy Chamber, ‘cered and chested in lead accordingly’, and watched over by the members of her household, preparations for her funeral were underway. According to customary practice, etiquette dictated that Seymour could not attend his wife’s funeral, and he remained closeted in the castle to come to terms with his sorrow.19 The same rules did not apply to Jane.
On the morning of 7 September, two days after Katherine’s death, Jane prepared to carry out one final duty for her. The picturesque St Mary’s Church in the grounds of Sudeley had been chosen as Katherine’s final resting place, and on that morning Jane assumed the role of Chief Mourner, ‘her train borne up by a young lady’.20 Perhaps the Admiral watched from a window as the vast funeral procession left the castle, the deceased Queen’s corpse being ‘borne by six gentlemen in black gowns, with their hoods on their heads’, and Jane following behind.21 When Jane and her fellow mourners arrived at the church they saw that the small, fifteenth-century chapel was hung with ‘black cloth’, which was decorated with escutcheons (a shield or emblem bearing a coat of arms) depicting the late Queen’s marriages: ‘King Henry VIII and her in pale, under the crown; her own in lozenge, under the crown; also the arms of the Lord Admiral and hers in pale, without crown.’22 The rails were ‘covered with black cloth for the mourners to sit in, with stools and cushions accordingly’, and two tapers were placed upon the coffin during the service.23
Once the great number of people who made up the mourners and the procession had gathered, the service was able to begin.24 Much to Jane’s approval and in accordance with Katherine’s wishes, it was performed in English and according to evangelical rites, the first of its kind to be seen in England. To begin with, ‘the whole choir began, and sung certain Psa
lms in English, and read three lessons. And after the third lesson the mourners, according to their degrees and as it is accustomed, offered into the alms-box.’25 Leading the service, Miles Coverdale then began his sermon, ‘which was very good and godly’.26 He finished with ‘a godly prayer’, which ‘the whole church answered, and prayed the same with him’.27 When this was done, ‘the corpse was buried, during which time the choir sung Te Deum in English’.28
The service having been completed, Jane returned to the castle with her fellow mourners where dinner was served amid an atmosphere of sorrow. Soon after, ‘the mourners and the rest that would, returned homeward again. All which aforesaid was done in a morning.’29 As the mourners departed, Jane was alone. She had performed her duty admirably – her final tribute and farewell to the woman who had, for a short time, fulfilled the role of a mother to her. There was now nothing for her to do but to wait and see where her parents would decide that her future lay. Only one thing was certain: with Katherine gone and the Admiral in a torment of anguish, it seemed that there was nothing left for her at Sudeley.
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