John Seymour (died 1491)

Arms of Seymour: Gules, two wings conjoined in lure or

John Seymour (c. 1450 - 26 October 1491) of Wulfhall, of Stalbridge, of Stinchcombe and of Huish, all in Wiltshire, was warden of Savernake Forest and a prominent member of the landed gentry in the counties of Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset. He was the grandfather of Queen Jane Seymour (c. 1508 – 1537), the third wife of King Henry VIII, and was thus great-grandfather of King Edward VI.

Origins

Seymour was the eldest of the three sons of John Seymour (c. 1425–1463), Knight of the Shire for Wiltshire and High Sheriff of Wiltshire, by his wife Elizabeth Coker (born circa 1436), daughter of Sir Robert Coker of Lydeard St Lawrence, Somerset.

Inheritance

Seymour's father predeceased his own father John Seymour (d.1464), and thus in 1464 Seymour succeeded to his grandfather's estates.

Career

As warden of Savernake Forest, Seymour tried to restore the ancient boundaries of his bailiwick. At the forest eyre at Marlborough in 1464, and at the following eyre in 1477, he made wild claims. In June 1485 he was able to obtain letters patent to establish "the bounds of the Forest of Savernake before the perambulation of Henry III", and at the eyre of 1491 he used this to claim that the Farm and West bailiwicks of the forest extended from the Ridgeway and Pewsey in the west to the edge of Hungerford in the east.

In 1489, on the death of his cousin Margaret Coker, the wife of Sir Reynold Stourton, Seymour inherited the Somerset manors of West Bower in Bridgwater, Moorland in North Petherton, and Cokers in Wembdon.

Marriage and issue

Seymour married twice:

First marriage

Firstly he married Elizabeth Darrell (born c. 1451), daughter of Sir George Darrell (died c. 1474) of Littlecote, Wiltshire, by his wife Margaret Stourton (born c. 1433), a daughter of John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton, and of Margery or Marjory Wadham. By Elizabeth Darrell he had progeny four sons and four daughters:

Sons

• Sir John Seymour (1474–1536), knighted in 1497 after the Battle of Deptford Bridge, the father of Queen Jane Seymour (1508–1537).
• Sir George Seymour, Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1498
• Robert Seymour
• Sir William Seymour KB (born c. 1478, died c. 1503), married Margaret Byconnyll

Daughters

• Margaret Seymour (born c. 1468), married (as his second wife) Sir Nicholas I Wadham (d.1542) of Merryfield in the parish of Ilton in Somerset and Edge in the parish of Branscombe, Devon, MP for Somerset in 1529, and Captain of the Isle of Wight 1509-1520. She probably died at Carisbrooke Castle, her husband's seat as Captain of the Isle of Wight. Margaret Seymour's monument and tomb, dated circa 1520, survives in St Mary the Virgin Church, Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight, and is decorated with an effigy of herself and of six infirm persons, in memory of her having founded a hospital for the infirm. Her monument in Carisbrooke Church was described thus by Rogers (1888):

"It is a canopied monument, with high tomb, in the north wall of the nave, of large size, and late Perpendicular character, with embattled cornice and string-course of vine tracery, having in the centre an angel holding a shield with the sacred monogram. The canopy is cusped and pierced, groined within, and a large double rose in the centre, the ends buttressed, panelled, and embattled. In the centre of the Purbeck marble table is a lady kneeling on a cushion, with pedimental head-dress, embroidered loose sleeves and cuffs, waist-band with long ends fringed, her hands raised in prayer. But the most interesting feature is the reredos at the back of the tomb under the canopy. On each side of the lady are three panels containing figures in alto-relievo, representing cripples and impotent folk, toward whom tradition assigns her to have been most charitable and beneficent. On her right is a man with his feet turned awry, leaning on a crutch, a woman and a man, apparently an imbecile. On the left, a woman with one hand holding, probably, a medicament, and the other hanging helplessly; and two men, one with his legs twisted, and the other on a crutch, and his legs bandaged. Over the lady is a shield, Wadham quartering Chiselden (sic) (for Margaret Chiseldon of Holcombe Rogus, Devon, Nicholas I Wadham's great-grandmother), Popham, and Reade (of Pole-Antony, Tiverton, an heiress of Popham), impaling Seymour, two wings in lure dependant. The ledger line inscription has disappeared. There are roses in the spandrels; below the table are apparently enriched panels, but they are hidden by the seats".

Margaret Seymour bore Sir Nicholas Wadham three children:

• • Nicholas Wadham (1508-1508), who died an infant and whose chrysom small monumental brass survives in Ilton Church, together with a brass heraldic escutcheon showing the arms of Wadham impaling Seymour.
  • Two daughters who were nuns at Romsey Abbey.
• Jane Seymour (born c. 1469), married John Huddlestone of Cumberland
• Elizabeth Seymour (born c. 1471), married John Crofts, Esquire
• Catherine Seymour, who died unmarried.

Second marriage

Seymour married secondly a daughter of Robert Hardon by whom he had one son:

• Roger Seymour (born c. 1480, died before 1509), of Andover, Hampshire.