Adultery, incest, treason: there were several great families at the courts of the Tudors who excelled in these practices. The Boleyns and the Howards may spring to mind, but, as Alexandra Walsh explains, the scandalous Seymours were ahead of all the others.
In a court bursting with intrigue, skulduggery and scandal, where friends could become enemies and cousins betrayed cousins, there was one Tudor family who excelled in such misdemeanours.
This family was connected to one of Henry’s queens; their many crimes included adultery, felony, kidnap. You might be mistaken in thinking I refer to the Boleyns; however, the family who shone when it came to scandals were the Seymours. The relatives of sweet Queen Jane, the mother of Edward VI, the woman buried beside Henry VIII, the perfect, demure, Tudor wife, were the most dastardly of them all.
Jane’s father: Sir John Seymour
Jane’s parents were Sir John Seymour and Lady Margery Wentworth. Margery was the daughter of Anne Say and Sir Henry Wentworth, making Jane Anne Boleyn’s second cousin.
Sir John was from a prominent gentry family, the son of Sir John Seymour and Elizabeth Darrell. He was a soldier and a courtier, serving both Henry VII and Henry VIII.
His courage fighting the Cornish rebels at Blackheath resulted in him being knighted in the field by Henry VII. This was followed by an ever increasing number of offices including warden of Savernake Forest in Wiltshire and Groom of the Bedchamber to Henry VIII.
However, one issue not always mentioned in his biographies is the alleged affair he had with his daughter-in-law, Catherine Filliol, the wife of his eldest son, Edward.
Edward Seymour married Catherine, the daughter and heir of Sir William Filliol of Woodlands in Horton, Dorset in 1519. Politically and financially it was a good match but the young couple were mismatched and it was an unhappy marriage.
During the 1520s, young Edward Seymour was trying to make his way in the world. Following in his father’s footsteps, he became a soldier and was often away from Wulfhall on campaign. Meanwhile, the lonely Catherine became rather too close to her father-in-law.
A 17th-century marginal note in a copy of Vincent’s Baronage at the College of Heralds alleged that she had an affair with Sir John Seymour. There are no other official contemporary documents corroborating this but there are hints in the family paperwork.
At the time of her wedding, Catherine was her father’s heir, followed by her son if she should predecease them. However, the birth of Catherine’s eldest son, John, changed things. His paternity was in such doubt that her husband refused to acknowledge Young John as his own.
The paternity of her second child suggests it was Edward’s but, in a rather startling move, he disowned and disinherited both sons, while Catherine was banished from Wulfhall and sent to live in a convent.
Upon Sir William Filliol’s death in 1528, his will had been changed to disinherit his daughter Catherine and her husband, Sir Edward Seymour, as well as their children, an act which suggests there was some truth in the rumours. This was corroborated by the bequest to Catherine, who was given £40 a year as long as she remained in the convent.
The Tudor double standard is very much in evidence here: a man with a mistress is tolerated, but if a woman takes a lover she must be punished.
Catherine died in the convent in 1535, which seemed a sad end for a woman who had reached out for love. Even if it was with her father-in-law.
Jane’s eldest brother: Sir Edward Seymour
Best known for acting as Lord Protector when his nephew, Edward VI, became king, Seymour was eventually beheaded for felony (attempting to change the government).
Edward Seymour was always ambitious. In 1514, he was ‘child of honour’ in the entourage accompanying Mary Tudor to France for her marriage to Louis XII. Although it was a lowly position, he was noticed by the French king and remained at court, even when the widowed Mary returned to England. Here he began to build his reputation as a soldier.
By 1519, he was in England and married his first wife Catherine Filliol, which was an unhappy relationship (see above). Edward continued to follow campaigns, gaining a reputation as a soldier.
On 5 September, 1523, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, led an army of 20,000 men to France, charged with holding the coast, though he only got as far as Paris. By 19 September Edward Seymour had joined him and was knighted in the field for his valour.
Returning to England, a string of increasingly prestigious appointments followed. In August 1523, Edward was made Master of Horse to Henry Fitzroy, Henry VIII’s only acknowledged illegitimate son, when Fitzroy was sent to head up the Council of the North. Other positions he added included being steward of Fitzroy’s manor of Canford in Dorset and an Esquire to the Body of the King.
Edward Seymour was a rising star and, after the annulment of his first marriage and death of his first wife, he married Anne Stanhope, with whom he had ten children.
It was when his sister Jane caught the eye of the king that Edward was able to rise further than he could ever have imagined.
In June 1536 Henry created Edward Viscount Beauchamp and, when Jane dutifully provided Henry with his male heir, Edward VI, Seymour moved a step closer to the throne.
To make Jane happy, Henry created their son, Edward, Prince of Wales and Jane’s brother became the Earl of Hertford. At Henry VIII’s death, Edward VI was nine years old and needed a strong council around him to rule.
Seymour emerged as Lord Protector with the new title Duke of Somerset. He was king in all but name and, while his policies were popular with the common folk, they angered many of the nobles. There were two rebellions during Edward Seymour’s rule – the Prayer Book Rebellion and Kett’s Rebellion – as well as war with Scotland, which caused further unrest.
No one in such a powerful position is ever safe; and in February 1550, Seymour was replaced by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, the father of Elizabeth I’s favourite, Robert Dudley. Seymour was beheaded two years later in January 1552 for felony after trying to overthrow Dudley’s rule.
An unfortunate ending for a man who would be king.
Sir Thomas Seymour, younger brother of Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour’s dashing younger brother, best known for marrying Katheryn Parr, Henry VIII’s widow. Grooming Princess Elizabeth and trying to marry her. Attempting to kidnap his nephew, Edward VI, and in the process shooting one of Edward’s beloved dogs.
Charismatic and devil-may-care, Thomas Seymour (pictured at the top of this feature) cut a swathe through the Tudor court. Brother of Henry’s favourite queen, uncle of King Edward VI and married to his long-term love, Katheryn Parr, who happened to be one of the wealthiest women in England.
While Katheryn Parr was pregnant, Thomas Seymour began flirting with the teenage Princess Elizabeth, the future Elizabeth I, in what would now probably he described as grooming. His intentions appeared to be wooing Elizabeth and marrying her if the opportunity arose.
However, it was the seething jealousy he felt towards his elder brother, Edward, which was his undoing. Thomas wanted more power within the regency government around the king. To appease him, Edward Seymour granted Thomas the title of 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley and created him Lord High Admiral.
However, this was not enough. Thomas began visiting the young king, giving him pocket money, promising him more freedoms if he were in power.
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What Thomas intended was never fully established on the night he was discovered trying to break in the king’s apartments at Hampton Court Palace. Scholars have suggested it was an attempted kidnap or it might have another attempt to win the king over to his side.
The fact was, Thomas Seymour had been caught near the king’s apartments, at night, with a loaded pistol which he used to shoot one of Edward VI’s beloved pet spaniels when it barked at this unexpected intruder.
Thomas Seymour was arrested the next day and taken to the Tower of London where he was executed under an Act of Attainder on 20 March 1549.
There were many more Seymours but I’ve dwelled on the scandals of the most well-known.
The Jane Seymour Conspiracy by Alexandra Walsh is published on 20 July, 2022. It’s the latest book in her Marquess House Saga.
Read more about The Jane Seymour Conspiracy.
She has also written about the background to another of her books, The Wind Chime, in The uncanny story behind my novel.
Read our interview with Alexandra, in which she talks about the inspiration for her novels and about her family link to two of Henry VIII’s wives.
You may also like these related Historia features:
Henry VIII, impotence and the thorny question of male heirs by Carol McGrath
Queen Katharine’s restless bones by Alison Weir, in which Alison reveals the shocking story of what happened to Katharine (or Katheryn) Parr’s body after she was buried
Did Henry VIII really want Katheryn Howard to be executed? by Alison Weir
Thomas Howard, the man behind the Tudors by Kirsten Claiden-Yardley
Joan Vaux – child prodigy and lady-in-waiting to four queens by Joanna Hickson
Images:
- Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley by Nicolas Denisot, 1547–49: © National Maritime Museum via Wikimedia
- Tomb of Sir John Seymour in St Mary’s Church, Great Bedwyn, by alexander williams: Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford and 1st Duke of Somerset, 1540s: Wikimedia (public domain)
- Edward Seymour while Earl of Hertford: Wikimedia (public domain)
- Jane Seymour by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1536–37: Kunsthistorisches Museum via Wikimedia
- Princess Elizabeth, attributed to William Scrots, 1546–47: Royal Collection Trust via Wikimedia
- Edward VI, attributed to William Scrots, c1550: Royal Collection Trust via Wikimedia
