Lady Jane Grey
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Lady Jane Grey, formally Jane of England (1537 — 12 February 1554), a grand-niece of Henry VIII of England, reigned as uncrowned Queen regnant of the Kingdom of England for nine days in July 1553.
Though Jane's accession, pursuant to the Will of King Edward VI, may have breached the laws of England, many powers of the land proved willing to accept her as Queen of England, even if only as part of a power-struggle to stop Henry's elder daughter, Princess Mary, a Roman Catholic, from acceding to the throne. Jane's brief rule ended, however, when the authorities revoked her proclamation as Queen. Mary's subsequent régime eventually had her executed for treason.
Popular history sometimes refers to Lady Jane as "The Nine Days' Queen" (10 July — 19 July 1553) or, less commonly, as "The Thirteen Days' Queen" (6 July — 19 July 1553) — owing to uncertainties as to when she succeeded to the throne. Historians have taken either the day of her predecessor's death (July 6) or that of her official proclamation as Queen (10 July), as the beginning of her short reign.
Lady Jane had a reputation as one of the most learned women of her day, and the historical writer Alison Weir describes her as one of "the finest female minds of the century".
Early life and education
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Jane was born at Bradgate Park near Leicester on an unknown date in 1537, the eldest daughter of Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset and his wife Lady Frances Brandon. She had two younger sisters, Lady Catherine Grey and Lady Mary Grey; through their mother, the three sisters were great-granddaughters of Henry VII and members of the House of Tudor. Jane was well educated, having studied Latin, Greek and Hebrew as well as modern languages. Through the teachings of her tutors, she became a devout Protestant.
Jane had a difficult childhood. Frances Brandon was an abusive, cruel, and domineering woman who felt that Jane was "too weak and too gentle". [citation needed] Her daughter's meekness and quiet, unassuming manner irritated the bold Frances who sought to 'harden' the child with regular beatings. Devoid of a mother's love and craving affection and understanding, Jane turned to books as solace and quickly mastered the arts and the languages. In 1546, she was sent to live as the ward of the 35-year old Catherine Parr, who had married King Henry VIII of England in 1543. Queen Catherine was a warm and loving woman who took the young Jane under her wing. Having never experienced any demonstration of love from her own mother, Jane basked in the warm affection she received from her Aunt Catherine and blossomed into a fine young woman. Her spirits rose and she learned to assert herself. After King Henry VIII died Catherine married Sir Thomas Seymour. Unfortunately, Catherine died shortly after the birth of her only child, leaving the young Jane once again bereft of a maternal figure. Jane acted as chief mourner at Catherine's funeral.
Thomas Seymour attempted to marry Jane off to his own nephew, Edward VI, but it was difficult as in reality it was his brother, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset who held the power. A match with Princess Elisabeth of France (Henry II of France's daughter) was already being arranged and with two conflicting goals, the Seymour brothers engaged in a power struggle. The marriage never took place between the King and Jane. The Seymour brothers were eventually both tried for treason and executed after a coup by the ambitious John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland.
Jane, left without hope of marriage, became the center of negotiations between Frances Brandon and John Dudley. Her mother wished to marry her to Lord Guilford Dudley, son of the Duke, now the new power. Jane was alarmed at the prospect of marrying into the Dudley family, a traitorous lot who she had come to fear and hate. But like most women of the sixteenth century she had no choice but to accede to her parents' will.
Claim to the throne
Jane's claim to the throne came through her mother, Lady Frances Brandon, the daughter of Mary Tudor of France (daughter of King Henry VII of England) and of her second husband, Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. The will of Edward VI excluded Frances and willed the Crown directly to Jane.
According to male primogeniture, the Suffolks — Brandons and later Greys — comprised the junior branch of the heirs of Henry VII. The Third Succession Act restored both Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession, although the law continued to regard both of them as illegitimate. Furthermore, this Act authorised Henry VIII to alter the succession by his will. His last will reinforced the succession of his three surviving children, then declared that, should none of his three children leave heirs, the throne would pass to heirs of his younger sister, Mary. Henry's will excluded the descendants of his elder sister Margaret Tudor, owing in part to Henry's desire to keep the English throne out of the hands of the Scots monarchs, and in part to a previous Act of Parliament of 1431 barring foreign-born persons, including royalty, from inheriting property in England.
Several Protestant nobles had become wealthy when Henry VIII closed the Catholic monasteries and divided the Church's assets among his supporters. John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, figured prominently among the Protestant nobility, and in the last years of Edward's reign had acted as Edward's principal advisor and chief minister. When it became clear that Edward VI would not survive long, Northumberland led the faction that feared accession by Mary Tudor. This fear stemmed from the knowledge that Mary would certainly revoke the religious changes made during Edward's reign, and that she might reclaim from the nobility all former church and monastic properties in order to restore them to the Roman Catholic Church. Many Englishmen also expressed concern that Mary favoured for herself a Spanish marriage which might bring in Spanish nobles to rule England in place of Northumberland and his colleagues. Northumberland arranged for his son Lord Guilford Dudley to marry the Protestant (and anti-Catholic) Jane, hoping through him to gain control over his new daughter-in-law and the reins of England. When informed by her parents of her betrothal, Jane refused to obey: she regarded Guilford as ugly and stupid. Historians do not know what made this seemingly quiet and obedient girl turn against precedent to refuse her parents' marriage arrangements. Jane's refusal notwithstanding, her parents forced her into submission.
The question of the succession had arisen as a result of the religious unrest that had occurred during the reign (1509–1547) of Henry VIII. When Henry's Protestant son and successor Edward VI lay dying (1553) at the age of 15, his Roman Catholic half-sister Mary held the position of Heir Presumptive to the throne. However, Edward VI named the (Protestant) heirs of his father's sister Mary Tudor (not his own half-sister Mary) as his successors in a will composed on his deathbed, perhaps under the persuasion of Northumberland. He knew that this effectively left the throne to his cousin Jane Grey, who (like him) staunchly supported Protestantism and had a very high level of education.
At the time of Edward's death, without Edward's will (which had dubious legal standing, since it ran contrary to the Third Succession Act), the crown would have passed, under the terms of the Third Succession Act and of Henry VIII's will, to Mary and her male (not female) heirs. Should Mary die without male issue, the crown would pass to Elizabeth and her male heirs. And should Elizabeth die without male issue, the crown would pass not to Frances Brandon but rather to any male children the latter might have produced by that time. In the absence of male children born to Frances, the crown would pass to any male children Jane might have. Jane thus did not feature in the line of succession prior to the last draft of Edward's will of June 1553. Only in the last draft did Edward finally include Jane Grey as his heir presumptive, knowing the line of succession included no Protestant-born male children. This may have contravened customary testatory law because Edward, then just 15 years old, had not legally reached the legal testatory age of 21. But more importantly, many contemporary legal theorists believed the monarch could not contravene an Act of Parliament, even in matters of the succession; Jane's claim to the throne therefore remained obviously weak.
Ancestors
| Lady Jane Grey,
Queen of England and Ireland |
Father: | Paternal Grandfather: | Paternal Great-grandfather: |
| Paternal Great-grandmother:
Cecily Bonville, Baroness Harington and Bonville | |||
| Paternal Grandmother:
Margaret Wotton |
Paternal Great-grandfather:
Robert Wotton | ||
| Paternal Great-grandmother:
Anne Bellknap | |||
| Mother: | Maternal Grandfather: | Maternal Great-grandfather: | |
| Maternal Great-grandmother:
Elizabeth Bruyn | |||
| Maternal Grandmother: | Maternal Great-grandfather: | ||
| Maternal Great-grandmother: |
Titles
- 1537-1553: Lady Jane Grey
- 1553-1553: Lady Jane Dudley
- 1553-1553: Her Royal Majesty the Queen of England
- 1553-1554: Lady Jane Dudley
Accession
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Edward VI died on July 6 1553. Northumberland had Lady Jane Grey proclaimed Queen of England on July 10 1553, just four days later — once she had taken up a secure residence in the Tower of London (English monarchs customarily resided in the Tower from the time of accession until their coronation). Jane refused to name her husband Guilford as king by letters patent and deferred to Parliament. She offered to make him Duke of Clarence instead.
Northumberland faced a number of key tasks in order to consolidate his power. Most importantly, he had to isolate and, ideally, capture Princess Mary in order to prevent her from gathering support around her. Mary, however, advised of his intentions, took flight, sequestering herself in Framlingham Castle in Suffolk.
Within only nine days, the people of England had overwhelmingly declared their support for Mary, who swept into London in a triumphant procession on July 19. Parliament declared Mary the rightful Queen and denounced and revoked Jane's proclamation as having been coerced. Mary had Jane and her husband imprisoned in the Gentleman Gaoler's apartments at the Tower of London for high treason, although their lives were initially spared — the Duke of Northumberland was executed on August 22, 1553.
Execution
The Protestant rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt in late January 1554 sealed Jane's fate, although she had nothing to do with it directly. Wyatt's rebellion started as a popular revolt, precipitated by the imminent marriage of Mary to the Catholic Prince Philip (later King of Spain, 1556–1598). But Jane's father (the Duke of Suffolk) and other nobles joined the rebellion, calling for Jane's restoration as Queen. Philip and his councillors pressed Mary to execute Jane to put an end to any future focus for unrest. Five days after Wyatt's arrest the execution of Jane and Guilford took place.
On the morning of February 12 1554, the authorities took Lord Guilford Dudley from his rooms at the Tower of London to the public execution place at Tower Hill and had him beheaded. A horse cart carried his remains back to the Tower of London, past the rooms where Jane remained as a prisoner. Jane was then taken out to Tower Green, inside the Tower of London, for a private execution. With few exceptions, private executions applied to royalty alone; Jane's private execution occurred on the orders of Queen Mary, as a gesture of respect for her cousin.
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,[1] Guilford faced the block first, and from her lodgings at Partidge's house, Jane viewed his body being removed from the Tower Green. Upon ascending the scaffold, she gave a speech to the assembled crowd:[2]
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
She then recited the psalm Miserere mei Deus (Have mercy upon me, O God} in English,[2] and handed her book and neckerchief to her attendants. John de Feckenham, a Catholic chaplain sent by Mary who had failed to convert Jane, stayed with her during the execution. The executioner asked her forgiveness, and she gave it.[2] She pleaded the axeman, "I pray you dispatch me quickly". Referring to her blindfold, she asked, "Will you take it off before I lay me down?" and the axeman answered, "No, madam". She then blindfolded herself. Jane had resolved to go to her death with dignity, but once blindfolded, failing to find the block with her hands, began to panic and cried, "What shall I do? Where is it?"[2] An unknown hand, possibly de Feckenham's, then helped her find her way and retain her dignity at the end. With her head on the block, Jane spoke the last words of Christ as recounted by Luke: "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!"[2] She was then beheaded.
"The traitor-heroine of the Reformation", as historian AF Pollard called her,[3] was merely 16 years old at the time of her execution. Apparently, Frances Brandon made no attempt, pleading or otherwise, to save her daughter's life; Jane's father already awaited execution for his part in the Wyatt rebellion. Jane and Guilford are buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula on the north side of Tower Green. Queen Mary lived for only four years after she ordered the death of her cousin.
Henry, Duke of Suffolk was executed a week after Jane, on 19 February 1554. Merely three weeks after her husband's death and not even a month since her daughter's, Frances Brandon shocked the English court by marrying her chamberlain, Adrian Stokes. She was also fully pardoned and allowed to live at Court with her two surviving daughters. She is not known to have mentioned Jane ever again and was as indifferent to her child in death as she was in life.
Lady Jane Grey in culture
- Fiction:
- Lady Jane became the subject of the 1715 she-tragedy entitled Lady Jane Grey: A Tragedy in Five Acts, by Nicholas Rowe, which emphasizes the pathos of Jane's fate.
- Lady Jane Grey was a supporting character in Mark Twain's 1882 novel The Prince and the Pauper. Her role is small, but she does have one crucial scene, in which Tom Canty, the poor-boy lookalike of Edward VI (who is mistaken for the prince by everyone at court), bows to Jane in a panic. The fact that the king would bow to an inferior such as Lady Jane is taken as a sign of Edward's supposed insanity.
- She served as the main character in Nine Days a Queen- The Short Life and Reign of Lady Jane Grey (2005), by Ann Rinaldi.
- Karleen Bradford's historical fiction novel, The Nine Days Queen, tells the story from Jane's perspective.
- Historian and novelist Alison Weir published a historical fiction novel based on Lady Jane Grey's life, Innocent Traitor, in February 2007. Some reviewers have praised the novel for its seeming historical accuracy.
- Jane Grey appeared as a character in a Doctor Who short story entitled "Nine Days Queen," written by Matthew Jones for Dr Who: Decalog 2 (1995).
- Raven Queen by Pauline Francis, in which she is the central character. This novel, aimed at readers aged 12+ was published by Usborne Books on 12 February 2007, the 453rd anniversary of her execution.
- Jane appears as a character in at least three historical novels for young women: Mary, Bloody Mary and Beware, Princess Elizabeth, both by Carolyn Meyer, and Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor by Kathryn Lasky, part of the Royal Diaries literature series.
- Jane Grey is noted to be a relative of the famous heroine, Jean Grey of the X-Men [1]
- Films:
- Lady Jane Grey; Or, The Court of Intrigue (1923)
- Tudor Rose (1935), with Nova Pilbeam playing Lady Jane
- Lady Jane (1986), with Helena Bonham Carter in the title-role
- Art: frequent depictions include:
- Bob Dylan's song Queen Jane Approximately may refer to Lady Jane
- The Rolling Stones' song "Lady Jane" took its inspiration from Lady Jane Grey
External links
- Lady Jane Grey: The Nine Days Queen Good site centred on the life of Lady Jane Grey.
- Mary Tudor takes the Crown — Tudor History
- Jane the Quene: The Life and Times of Lady Jane Grey A very good site offering biography, portraits, primary sources and much more.
- Tudor history teaching-tool for students aged 12 to 18
- Site of author C.W. Gortner - Gortner's novel The Secret Lion about the final days of Edward VI's reign features Jane Grey
- EnglishHistory.net's section on Lady Jane A complete account of Lady Jane's life from birth to death
- The Lady Jane Grey Internet Museum Large collection of images of Jane and her career
- "Is this the true face of Lady Jane?" - article from The Guardian, 16 January 2006, describing a portrait (found in a South London home) that purportedly depicts Lady Jane Grey.
- SomeGreyMatter Contains an extensive bibliography with reviews of each work, as well as discussion of two portraits identified in 2005 as depicting Lady Jane Grey.
- The true beauty of Lady Jane Grey - article in The Telegraph, 7 March 2007, describing a painted miniature from the collection of the Yale University Center for British Art (New Haven, Connecticut, USA) that Oxford University professor of Tudor history Dr. David Starkey argues is likely a life portrait of Lady Jane Grey from the mid-sixteenth century.
Bibliography
- ^ "Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary". tudorhistory.org. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
- ^ a b c d e "1554, the executions of Lady Jane Grey and Lord Guildford Dudley". englishhistory.net. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
- ^ A.F. Pollard (1905), The Political History of England, vol. 6, London: Longmans, Green and Company, p. 111
- anon. Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary.
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- Weir, Alison. Children of England: The Heirs of King Henry VIII.
- Cook, Faith. Nine Days Queen of England.
- Plowden, Alison (1985). Lady Jane Grey: Nine Days Queen.
See also
- English monarchs
- Pretenders to the throne of the kingdom of France (Plantagenet)
- House of Tudor
- Queens regnant
- Women of the Tudor period
- Daughters of dukes
- People from Leicester
- Executed royalty
- Executions at the Tower of London
- English executions
- People executed by decapitation
- People executed under the Tudors
- 1537 births
- 1554 deaths