Dr Kat and Lady/Queen Jane Grey

hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you're very welcome this is reading the past and I'm dr. Kat a couple of weeks ago I talked about King Henry the seven and the question of his right to rule and since then I have been preoccupied with that topic to a larger degree what constitutes mineral rights to rule is it your bloodline your military might or even the will of your predecessor and all this led me to today's topic to look at the life reign and fall of Jane Grey [Music] Lady Jane Grey is the name that she is known by to history but why don't we remember her as Queen Jane I think that's a question for us to keep in mind as we move through this topic Jane was the eldest of three surviving daughters born to Henry grey Marcus of Dorset later the Duke of Suffolk and his wife Frances formerly Frances Brandon Frances Brandon was the daughter of Henry the eighth's best friend at least for certain periods of time Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and Henry the eighth's youngest surviving sister Mary Tudor the Dowager Queen of France James mother Francis was there for Edward the sixth first cousin however it was Edward and Jane that were the same age Jane Grey had two younger sisters Catherine who we think was born in 1540 who would eventually earn the displeasure of Queen Elizabeth the first and find herself arrested because of her secret marriage to an incredibly powerful and wealthy magnate Edward Seymour Earl of Hartford it would seem or was the nephew of Henry the eighth's Queen Jane perhaps I could make a video on Katherine gray if you would be interested do let me know in the comment section jane Gray's youngest sister was Mary and she was born we think in around 1545 and like her elder sister Catherine she also earned Elizabeth displeasure through her own secret marriage in this case it was to a man many years her senior who was also her social inferior unlike Catherine's marriage this was not viewed as a plot for the throne because Mary's husband was simply too far down the social order but the secrecy were still a cause for the couple to be separated permanently and imprisoned temporarily Allison Plowden author of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry for Jane provides the following caveat for those attempting to explore her biography quote the circumstances surrounding Jane's life and death inevitably made her an icon as a Protestant martyr and consequently have so colored posterity's view of her that it is difficult now to see beyond the religious bias of such contemporary sources as Holland heads chronicles and Fox's acts and monuments all the uncritical later biographies of Agnes Strickland and Richard Davy probably the only completely reliable and dispassionate contemporary account of her last days however is to be found in the so called chronicle of Queen Jane written by an anonymous eyewitness early in 1547 when Jane was nine years old she joined her first cousin once removed the future Elizabeth the first in the household of the Dowager Queen Catherine Parr now I have made a video on Catherine Parr focusing on a full-length portrait she had made of her which I will leave link in a cart this happy trio would soon be joined by Catherine Parrs new husband Edward the six own uncle Thomas Seymour 1st Baron soothly it is reported that Elizabeth and Jane were both exceptionally bright young women who had benefited from and would continue to receive an enviable education it is said however that Jane's time with her biological family was not a happy or emotionally secure one but with Catherine Parr she was treated with kindness despite being four years older than Jane Elizabeth own childhood was as we all know awash with instability and danger so perhaps we might imagine that these two found some solace in one another and also in the kind support of Catherine Parr in the Protestant household of Catherine Parr who I like to think of as a proto bluestocking of sorts their evident innate abilities and foundations of education would only be furthered Thomas Seymour was arguably the greatest blocked on this Idul in his pursuit of power and the satisfaction of his baser desires he both sexualized and preyed upon Lizabeth while also attempting to maneuver Jane as a pawn Seymour jealous of his elder brothers power as Lord Protector for their young nephew and King convinced Jane's father to allow him to take custody of her it seems he promised him Mary Jane to Edward the six and make her his Queen that promised union however would be a thing for future hope no doubt when the pair were finally old enough to create an heir for England out of it early in 1548 Catherine Parr realized that she was pregnant for the first time and it would not be long after this that her husband's attentions towards Elizabeth caused her concern ultimately it results in her sending her stepdaughter away Jane however was allowed to remain and she accompanied Catherine Parr to Sudeley castle in the summer of 1548 for her to prepare for the birth of her child a baby girl Mary was born in the September of that year sadly the process would prove fatal for Catherine and it is believed that she died from what was known as child bed fever the ten-year-old Jane would fill the role of chief mourner at her funeral Jane was still in the custody of Thomas Seema and this was despite the concerns that were being voiced by her father he called for her to be returned to him apparently because he was worried about her moral character and how it would develop without a suitable female role model to guide and advise her but it's possibly more realistic than what he wanted was to bring her back so that he could try and marry her to the son of Thomas Seymour's brother and rival Edward Lord Protector Somerset as far as I'm concerned this display of concern over Jane's well-being by her father probably has far more to do with considerations about where she could be most profitably placed rather than where she'd be physically and spiritually safest by the end of 1549 disaster had struck both Seymour Brothers Thomas was executed for treason on Tower Hill on the 20th of March 1549 his brother Edward would fall from power and find himself under arrest in October of that same year he would be executed on Tower Hill on the 22nd of January 1550 - Jane found herself back at the family home of Bradgate in Leicestershire where her studies would prove a respite from family tensions it seems that Jane didn't fit him well with the rest of the Grays when the famous scholar and tutor of Elizabeth Roger Ascham met with Jane at her home in 1550 he reported that he found her in her chamber reading Plato's Phaedo in Greek quote with as much delight as some gentlemen would read a marry tail in Boccaccio he went on to ask why she was not with the rest of her family who were hunting in the park and she replied alas good folk they never felt what true pleasure meant she proceeded to complain of the way her parents treated her for when I am in presence either of father or mother whether I speak keep silence sit stand or go eat drink be merry or sad be sewing playing dancing or doing anything else I must do it as it were even so perfectly as God made the world or else I am so sharply taunted so cruelly threatened yay presently some time with pinches nips and bobs that I think myself in hell she went on to report that her own tutor on the other hand taught her so gently and pleasantly and with such fair allurement sir learning that she derived more pleasure from her books with every day that passed so in effect she'd rather be at her books than out hunting and playing with her family is this evidence of parental cruelty and unwillingness to tolerate or accommodate the different interests of a bookish elder daughter or does this make Jane sound like hard work perhaps a bit of a fun sponge to you Jane was dedicated to her studies particularly in matters of the reformed religion by around 1551 she was attempting to master Hebrew in order for her to be able to read the Old Testament without having to rely on a translation while Jane may have been resolute in the folk she put into her studies and in her devotion to her faith the country was in flux with the fall of Edward Seymour it would be necessary to find a new figurehead a new leader to help see out the minority rule of King Edward the 6th to wait until the boy became a man the new figure around which power would come to orbit was dawn Dudley he would come to be styled as 1st Duke of Northumberland from the 11th October 1551 Jane's parents Val aged his banner and fell into lockstep with the new regime despite seemingly enduring historical narrative that Edward the 6th was a weak and sickly boy from infancy always destined to die young there is not actually much evidentiary support for this nevertheless in the early months of 15:53 Edwards did fall ill with a fever and a cough as time went on it became clear that this illness would likely prove fatal a lot of information and instructions were placed in the will of Henry the eighth's made on the 30th of December 1546 so less than a month before his eventual death including the detail of the line of succession that he wanted to see enacted after he was gone first the crown would passed his son Edward unsurprisingly in default of issue from Edward it should then passed to any heirs from his entirely beloved wife catherine parr then to any heirs from any other lawful wife we shall hereafter marry then to his daughter Mary and the heirs of her body then to his daughter Elizabeth and the heirs of her body then to the heirs of Lady Frances his niece that is the gray sisters though clearly not Frances herself then to the heirs of the Lady Eleanor his second niece by his sister Mary and finally to the next rightful heirs so no explicit mention here is made of his other sister Margaret or her children this therefore complicates ignores and potentially rules out the later claim of James the sixth Scotland and also his cousin our Bella Stewart who both descend from Margaret it would appear that Henry was not willing to countenance a Scottish monarch sitting on the English throne the first part of Henry's willed succession had been observed Edward had become king after him however as it was now clear Edward would die without an heir of his own body according to his father's will the next available person in line was his half-sister Mary but Mary was a staunch Roman Catholic Edward and his government whether it was being controlled by Seymour or Dudley was devoted to the Protestant faith Mary was a threat to Edward settlements in massive religion and also his royal legacy but her rule would also challenge the power and place of the overtly post and court faction that was currently in power and headed at this point by John Dudley John Dudley it seems was unwilling to take a step back either from his post and faith or from his power he would not recede into obscurity so he started making moves to shore up his control over that power on the 21st of May 15:53 Jane Grey was married to John Dudley son Guildford we are told that she questions the legality of the match as she believed herself to have been pre contracted to Edward Seymour son apparently she was convinced to submit perhaps due to threats of or actual violence from her parents also in the same year of 15:53 Edward the sixth produced and edited his own device for the succession Edwards device for the succession reads as follows he asserts that quote for lack of issue mail of my body to the issue mail coming of the issue female as I have after declared at first the crown should pass to the Lady Frances heirs male so any sons of his cousin Francis of course she only has three daughters for Lakoff if she have any such issue before my death which she doesn't the crown should next pass to the Lady Jane's as males an amendment is made to this by Edward so it then reads to the Lady Jane and her heirs male after her it is to go to the Lady Catherine's heirs male then to the Lady Mary's as May and that's not Mary Tudor that's Mary gray then on to the heirs males of the daughter which she shall have hereafter then to the Lady Margaret's heirs male for lack of issue to the heirs male of the Lady Jane's daughters then to the heirs males and Lady Catherine's daughters and so forth till you come to the Lady Margaret's daughters heirs males it seems to be Edward the six will that in the tragic circumstance is that a woman must at an English throne that woman should be one of the daughters of Francis Gray hopefully they would have sons very rapidly certainly the people who weren't gonna sit on the throne were either of Edwards half sisters women who he shared a father with Mary and Elizabeth was this document legal was it Edwards idea was he tricked cajoled or threatened into first making this document then it changes and then signing his name to it I'd love to know your thoughts in the comment section beneath the video this was unprecedented so many potential claimants for the English throne and every single one of them female and that is either by Henry or Edwards design the next ruler would be a queen it was only their faith that would separate them it seems Edwards device was however the more recent one and that made Jane Grey Queen of England Edward the sick died on the 6th of July 1553 he was 15 Edward's death was kept secret three days later Jane Grey was brought to Sion House where the news was broken to her that she was to be queen of England the delay in announcing the death of the King points to a desperate behind-the-scenes struggle to stabilize and manage this situation it would become clear with devastating speed that they had not done enough Jane would claim that she had never wanted the crown but perhaps that makes some sense because she was saying so in a report that she was making to her cousin and new Queen Mary the first nevertheless she also asserted that she had prayed that if the crown were rightfully hers she would be able to serve God's purpose and her nation in the role quote declaring to them my insufficiency I greatly bewailed myself the death are so noble a prince and at the same time turns myself to God humbly praying and beseeching him but if what was given to me was rightly and lawfully mine his divine Majesty would grant me such grace and spirit that I might govern it to his glory and service and to the advantage of this realm on the 10th of July 1553 Jane Grey as was customary traveled in state to the Tower of London where she would reside while she awaited her coronation and from where she could begin to govern her land it seems that one of the very first thing she did was deny a crown to her husband Guildford she would rule if she must but the power would not be shared I do wonder what John and the rest the Dudley's thought about this were they surprised by her assertiveness if they were it seems to have been a miscalculation and a misunderstanding of her character certainly a similar miscalculation and misunderstanding of another woman would prove to be all of their undoing very soon while at the tower Jane was given a crown and she was proclaimed as Queen just how far she was recognized and acclaimed as such within the rest of England is debatable she also never made it to being anointed with the holy oil of the coronation is this why she is not known as Queen Jane in history do we want to recognize only the monarchs that have been proclaimed acclaimed and anointed it is my belief that the seeds of destruction for the rule of Jane Grey were planted in the failure of John Dudley and his supporters to contain Mary Tudor after her half-brother Edward's death that is the miscalculation and misunderstanding which I spoke of a moment ago catastrophic Lee Mary had been allowed to remain free and her correspondence was going unchecked clearly she received warnings that her half-brother Edward's death was imminent she had time to prepare for the Dudley gray plot by the 12th of July 1553 word arrived that Mary had managed to gather support at her castle of Framlingham and together she and her armed supporters were ready to put up a fight to assert her own right to the throne terrifyingly with lightning speed support for Queen Jane evaporated she was deposed and now she would not be allowed to leave the tower the place which she had entered awaiting her coronation would now hold her as a prisoner Mary Tudor was proclaimed Queen in London on the 19th of July 1553 days later on the 3rd of August 1553 she entered her capital city in triumph with her half-sister Elizabeth by her side as was traditional as Jane had done previously Mary entered the tower it was now a symbol of Mary's success and a prison for all those who had challenged her Jane her husband and their respective families were all in danger of execution for treason first however Mary seemed inclined to be merciful she was determined at first to keep Jane in comfort of the tower yes she would be a prisoner and a traitor but Mary it seems to me was looking for any reason and excuse to spare her life alas February 1554 brought with it the rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt Wyatt was rising up against Mary's Catholic rule and her proposed marriage to a foreigner Philip of Spain the alleged plan was to replace Mary with her half-sister Elizabeth as a result Elizabeth was imprisoned in the tower as she was suspected of being complicit in Wyatt's plot but despite the best efforts of Mary and her interrogators no one could provide sufficient to convict or condemn Elizabeth you may wonder why I'm bringing up the Wyatt rebellion in the story of Jane Grey's fall because she is not the person who is being named as a potential candidate to replace Mary well what is most astounding to me is what happens during this rebellion Jane Gray's own father a man who had previously been pardoned by Mary the first for his part in supporting his daughter's reign displays the spectacular foolishness of joining himself to Thomas White's course in doing this I think he gave Mary no other option at this point she is incredibly keen to prove the security of her rule and her stability as Queen she wants to show herself as an ideal potential wife fulfilling the potential threat posed by Jane Grey was pushed into the foreground by the white rebellion and in particular I think by Henry Grey's part in it Jane would have to die Jane Grey and her husband Guilford Dudley were executed as traitors on the 12th of February 1554 Guilford would meet the headsman on Tower Hill while Jane scaffold was erected within the tower itself husband and wife would be buried in the chocolates of Peter at vinculum this famous 19th century imagining of the execution of Jane Grey shows her I think anachronistically being executed inside Jane is dressed in pure white she is reaching blindfolded for the block in an account of the execution which is reproduced in JG Nicholls chronicle of Queen Jane from 1850 the reader is told that quote her women helped her off with her gown and gave her a fair handkerchief to knit about her eyes groping in the dark she cried out where is it what shall I do someone came forward to guide her and she laid her head down upon the block and stretched forth her body and said Lord into thy hands I commend my spirit and so she ended Lady Jane Grey sometime Queen Jane of England was 16 years old at her death but what do you think as always I'm really looking forward to reading your discussions of this topic in the comment section beneath the video or you can come and find me over on my social media I'll be leaving links to my Instagram and Twitter in the description box so you can follow me there and we can continue this conversation I do hope you've enjoyed this video and found it useful if you did then please let me know by hitting the thumbs up please also subscribe to the channel and while you're there hit the notification bell next describe button so that YouTube tells you but I've next uploaded I hope you're gonna have a great day whatever you're doing and I look forward to speaking to all in my next video take care of yourselves bye bye for now [Music]

Channel: Reading the Past

Views: 44,127

Rating: 4.9626942 out of 5

Keywords: Lady Jane Grey, Nine days Queen, Mary I, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, Right to Rule, Dudley, Seymour, Education, Literature, Culture, History, Early Modern, Renaissance

Id: 5pT6hHLqdWA

Length: 24min 50sec (1490 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 17 2020