The History of the Title, Duke of Northumberland. Part I.

Tags

1st Duke of Northumberland., 1st Duke of Somerset, Edward Seymour, House of Tudor, John Dudley, King Edward VI of England and Ireland, King Henry VIII of England and Ireland, Lord Protector of England

From The Emperor’s Desk: In this first entry I will go into some detail concerning the first Duke of Northumberland. However, in subsequent entries I may not cover each Duke of Northumberland with such detail. John Dudley is a fascinating subject as the first Duke, during the most interesting period in English history, namely, the Tudor period.

The title Dukedom of Northumberland, is not to be confused with the title Earl of Northumberland which deserves its own blog entry.

~~~~~~~~~~

Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland.

Coat of Arms of the Dukedom of Northumberland

1551 Creation

John Dudley was the eldest of three sons of Edmund Dudley, a councillor of King Henry VII, and his second wife Elizabeth Grey, daughter of Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Lisle. His father was attainted and executed for high treason in 1510, having been arrested immediately after Henry VIII’s accession because the new king needed scapegoats for his predecessor’s (Henry VII) unpopular financial policies.

In January 1537, Dudley was made Vice-Admiral and began to apply himself to naval matters. He was Master of the Horse to Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard, and in 1542 returned to the House of Commons as MP for Staffordshire but was soon promoted to the House of Lords following 12 March 1542, when he became Viscount Lisle after the death of his stepfather Arthur Plantagenet and “by the right of his mother”. Being now a peer, Dudley became Lord Admiral and a Knight of the Garter in 1543; he was also admitted to the Privy Council.

John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG (died March 3, 1542) was an illegitimate son of King Edward IV of England, half-brother-in-law of Henry VII, and an uncle of Henry VIII, at whose court he was a prominent figure and by whom he was appointed Lord Deputy of Calais (1533–40). The survival of a large collection of his correspondence in the Lisle Letters makes his life one of the best documented of his era.

John Dudley, popularly fêted and highly regarded by King Henry as a general, became a royal intimate who played cards with the ailing monarch. Next to Edward Seymour, Prince Edward’s maternal uncle, Dudley was one of the leaders of the Reformed party at court, and both their wives were among the friends of Anne Askew, the Protestant martyr destroyed by Bishop Stephen Gardiner in July 1546.

Upon the death of King Henry VIII in January 1547 the 16 executors of Henry VIII’s will also embodied the Regency Council that had been appointed to rule collectively during King Edward VI’s minority. The new Council agreed on making Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford Lord Protector with full powers, which in effect were those of a prince.

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1500 – January 22, 1552) (also 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp), was the eldest surviving brother of Queen Jane Seymour (d. 1537), the third wife of King Henry VIII. He was Lord Protector of England from 1547 to 1549 during the minority of his nephew King Edward VI (1547–1553). Despite his popularity with the common people, his policies often angered the gentry.

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of England

At the same time the Council awarded themselves a round of promotions based on Henry VIII’s wishes; the Earl of Hertford became the Duke of Somerset and John Dudley was created Earl of Warwick. The new Earl had to pass on his post of Lord Admiral to Somerset’s brother, Thomas Seymour, but advanced to Lord Great Chamberlain.

The new Earl of Warwick was perceived as the most important man next the Lord Protector, he was on friendly terms with Somerset, who soon reopened the war with Scotland. Dudley accompanied him as second-in-command with a taste for personal combat.

Dudley consolidated his power through institutional manoeuvres and by January 1550 was in effect the new regent. On February 2, 1550 he became Lord President of the Council, with the capacity to debar councillors from the body and appoint new ones.

Dudley excluded the Duke of Southampton and other conservatives, but arranged Somerset’s release and his return to the Privy Council and Privy Chamber. In June 1550 Dudley’s heir John married Somerset’s daughter Anne as a mark of reconciliation.

Yet Somerset soon attracted political sympathizers and hoped to re-establish his power by removing Dudley from the scene, “contemplating”, as he later admitted, the Lord President’s arrest and execution. Relying on his popularity with the masses, he campaigned against and tried to obstruct Dudley’s policies.

Dudley’s elevation as Duke of Northumberland came on October 11, 1551 with the Duke of Somerset participating in the ceremony. Five days later Somerset was arrested, while rumours about supposed plots of his circulated. He was accused of having planned a “banquet massacre”, in which the council were to be assaulted and Dudley killed.

Somerset was acquitted of treason, but convicted of felony for raising a contingent of armed men without a licence. He was executed on January 22, 1552. While technically lawful, these events contributed much to Northumberland’s growing unpopularity.

King Edward VI of England and Ireland

Dudley himself, according to a French eyewitness, confessed before his own end that “nothing had pressed so injuriously upon his conscience as the fraudulent scheme against the Duke of Somerset”.

The 15-year-old King Edward VI fell ill in early 1553 and excluded his half-sisters, Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth, whom he regarded as illegitimate, from the succession, designating non-existent, hypothetical male heirs. As his death approached, King Edward VI changed his will so that his Protestant cousin Lady Jane Grey, Northumberland’s daughter-in-law, could inherit the Crown.

To what extent the Duke influenced this scheme is uncertain. The traditional view is that it was Northumberland’s plot to maintain his power by placing his family on the throne.

Many historians see the project as genuinely Edward VI’s, enforced by Dudley after the King’s death. The Duke did not prepare well for this occasion. Having marched to East Anglia to capture Mary, he surrendered on hearing that the Privy Council had changed sides and proclaimed Lady Mary as queen.

Convicted of high treason, Northumberland returned to Catholicism and abjured the Protestant faith before his execution. Having secured the contempt of both religious camps, popularly hated, and a natural scapegoat, he became the “wicked Duke” — in contrast to his predecessor Somerset, the “good Duke”.

Over a century later, An illegitimate son of one of his younger sons, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, Sir Robert Dudley, claimed the dukedom when in exile in Italy. On March 9, 1620 the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II officially recognised the title, an act which infuriated James I-VI of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Only since the 1970s has John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, has also been seen as a Tudor Crown servant: self-serving, inherently loyal to the incumbent monarch, and an able statesman in difficult times.

October 12, 1537: Birth of Edward VI, King of England and Ireland

Tags

1st Earl of Warwick, Duke of Northumberland, House of Tudor, Jayne Seymour, John Dudley, King Edward VI, King Henry VIII of England, King of England, King of Ireland, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Queen Mary I of England, the Succession to the Crown of 1543

Edward VI (October 12, 1537 – July 6, 1553) was King of England and Ireland from January 28, 1547 until his death on July 6, 1553.

Edward was born on October 12, 1537 in his mother’s room inside Hampton Court Palace, in Middlesex. He was the son of King Henry VIII by his third wife, Jane Seymour. Throughout the realm, the people greeted the birth of a male heir, “whom we hungered for so long”, with joy and relief. Te Deums were sung in churches, bonfires lit, and “their was shott at the Tower that night above two thousand gonnes”.

Queen Jane, appearing to recover quickly from the birth, sent out personally signed letters announcing the birth of “a Prince, conceived in most lawful matrimony between my Lord the King’s Majesty and us”.

Edward was christened on October 15, with his half-sisters, the 21-year-old Lady Mary as godmother and the 4-year-old Lady Elizabeth carrying the chrisom; and the Garter King of Arms proclaimed him as Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester. The queen, however, fell ill on 23 October from presumed postnatal complications, and died the following night. Henry VIII wrote to François I of France that “Divine Providence … hath mingled my joy with bitterness of the death of her who brought me this happiness”.

Both Edward’s sisters were attentive to their brother and often visited him—on one occasion, Elizabeth gave him a shirt “of her own working”. Edward “took special content” in Mary’s company, though he disapproved of her taste for foreign dances; “I love you most”, he wrote to her in 1546. In 1543, Henry invited his children to spend Christmas with him, signalling his reconciliation with his daughters, whom he had previously illegitimised and disinherited. The following spring, he restored them to their place in the succession with a Third Succession Act, which also provided for a regency council during Edward’s minority.

The Act did not have a title in the modern sense. It is formally cited as 35 Hen. 8 c.1 (meaning the first Act passed in the 35th year of Henry VIII’s reign), and referred to by historians as the Succession to the Crown Act 1543 or the Act of Succession 1543. The royal assent was given to this bill in the spring of 1544 at the conclusion of the 1543/1544 Parliament, but until 1793 acts were usually backdated to the beginning of the session of Parliament in which they were passed; as such the Act is also often dated 1544.

This unaccustomed family harmony may have owed much to the influence of Henry’s new wife, Catherine Parr, of whom Edward soon became fond. He called her his “most dear mother” and in September 1546 wrote to her: “I received so many benefits from you that my mind can hardly grasp them.”

On January 10, 1547 from Hertford, nine-year-old Edward wrote to his father and stepmother thanking them for his new year’s gift of their portraits from life. On January 28, King Henry VIII died.

Those close to the throne, led by Edward Seymour and William Paget, agreed to delay the announcement of the king’s death until arrangements had been made for a smooth succession. Seymour and Sir Anthony Browne, the Master of the Horse, rode to collect Edward from Hertford and brought him to Enfield, where Lady Elizabeth was living. He and Elizabeth were then told of their father’s death and heard a reading of his will.

Lord Chancellor Thomas Wriothesley announced Henry’s death to Parliament on January 31, and general proclamations of Edward VI’s succession were ordered. The new king was taken to the Tower of London, where he was welcomed with “great shot of ordnance in all places there about, as well out of the Tower as out of the ships”.

The following day, the nobles of the realm made their obeisance to Edward at the Tower, and Seymour was announced as Protector. Henry VIII was buried at Windsor on February 16, in the same tomb as Jane Seymour, as he had wished.

Edward VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey on Sunday February 20, 1547.

Edward VI was the first English monarch to be raised as a Protestant. During his reign, the realm was governed by a regency council because he never reached maturity. The council was first led by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1547–1549), and then by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick (1550–1553), who from 1551 was Duke of Northumberland.

Edward’s reign was marked by economic problems and social unrest that in 1549 erupted into riot and rebellion. An expensive war with Scotland, at first successful, ended with military withdrawal from Scotland and Boulogne-sur-Mer in exchange for peace.

The transformation of the Church of England into a recognisably Protestant body also occurred under Edward VI, who took great interest in religious matters. His father, Henry VIII, had severed the link between the Church and Rome, but continued to uphold most Catholic doctrine and ceremony. It was during Edward’s reign that Protestantism was established for the first time in England with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the Mass, and the imposition of compulsory services in English.

In February 1553, at age 15, Edward fell ill. When his sickness was discovered to be terminal, he and his council drew up a “Devise for the Succession” to prevent the country’s return to Catholicism. Edward named his first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir, excluding his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth.

Although it was the will of the King that his cousin Lady Jane Grey succeed him on the throne, the Devise for the Succession was never introduced into Parliament and made into law, thus the the Succession to the Crown Act 1543 was still legally in effect making Jane’s attempt at taking the throne an illegal usurpation that lasted for nine days.

Edward VI was succeeded by his half-sister Mary, a Catholic, who reversed Edward’s Protestant reforms during her reign, but his other half-sister, Elizabeth, restored them in 1559 after she succeeded Queen Mary I in 1558.

July 19, 1553: Lady Mary Tudor is declared Queen ending Lady Jane Grey’s brief tenure on the throne.

Tags

Duke of Northumberland, John Dudley, King Edward VI, King Henry VIII, Lady Jane Grey, Lord Guildford Dudley, Philip II of Spain, Privy Council, Wyatt’s Rebellion

Lady Jane Grey (1536 or 1537 – February 12, 1554), later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as the “Nine Days’ Queen”, was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from July 10 until July 19, 1553.

Jane was the great granddaughter of Henry VII through his younger daughter Mary, and was a first cousin once removed of Edward VI. She had an excellent humanist education and a reputation as one of the most learned young women of her day. In May 1553, she married Lord Guildford Dudley, a younger son of Edward’s chief minister John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.

In June 1553, Edward VI wrote his will, nominating Jane and her male heirs as successors to the Crown, in part because his half-sister Mary was Catholic, while Jane was a committed Protestant and would support the reformed Church of England, whose foundation Edward laid. Edward VI personally supervised the copying of his will which was finally issued as letters patent on June 21 and signed by 102 notables, among them the whole Privy Council, peers, bishops, judges, and London aldermen. The will removed his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, from the line of succession on account of their illegitimacy, subverting their claims under the Third Succession Act.

The Third Succession Act of 1544 restored Henry VIII’s daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, to the line of succession, although they were still regarded as illegitimate. Furthermore, this Act authorised Henry VIII to alter the succession by his will. Henry’s will reinforced the succession of his three children, and then declared that, should none of them leave descendants, the throne would pass to heirs of his younger sister, Mary, which included Jane. For unknown reasons, Henry excluded Jane’s mother, Frances Grey, from the succession, and also bypassed the claims of the descendants of his elder sister, Margaret, who had married into the Scottish Royal House and Nobility.

Edward also announced to have his “declaration” passed in Parliament in September, and the necessary writs were prepared. The King died on July 6, 1553, but his death was not announced until four days later.

On July 9, Jane was informed that she was now queen, and according to her own later claims, accepted the crown only with reluctance. On July 10, she was officially proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland after she had taken up secure residence in the Tower of London, where English monarchs customarily resided from the time of accession until coronation. Jane refused to name her husband Dudley as king, because that would require an Act of Parliament. She would agree only to make him Duke of Clarence.

Parliament never gathered to make into Law Edward’s Will altering the succession. Though the Tudor Kings had considerable power they were not absolute monarchs and Parlimentary approval was still needed to create new laws.

Support for Mary grew very quickly, and most of Jane’s supporters abandoned her. The Privy Council of England suddenly changed sides and proclaimed Mary as queen on July 19, 1553, ending her brief attempt at usurping the Crown. I should accurately say the usurping attempt was orchestrated buy her father-in-law the Duke of Northumberland and Jane was a rather reluctant pawn. For his leadership in the attempt to place Lady Jane on the throne the Duke of Northumberland was accused of treason and executed less than a month later.

Jane was held prisoner in the Tower and was convicted of high treason in November 1553, which carried a sentence of death — though Queen Mary initially spared her life. However, Jane soon became viewed as a threat to the Crown when her father, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, became involved with Wyatt’s Rebellion against Queen Mary’s intention to marry Felipe II of Spain. Both Jane and her husband were executed on February 12, 1554.

July 19, 1553 – Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England. Part II.

Tags

1st Duke of Northumberland., 1st Duke of Suffolk, Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry Grey, High Treason, John Dudley, Lady Jane Grey, Lord Gilford Dudley, Philip II of Spain, Privy Council, Queen Mary I of England, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Wyatt Rebellion

The Duke of Northumberland faced a number of key tasks to consolidate his power after Edward VI’s death. Most importantly, he had to isolate and, ideally, capture Mary Tudor to prevent her from gathering support. As soon as Mary was sure of King Edward’s demise, she left her residence at Hunsdon and set out to East Anglia, where she began to rally her supporters. Northumberland set out from London with troops on 14 July to capture Mary.

The Privy Council switched their allegiance and proclaimed Mary queen in London, on July 19. The historical consensus assumes that this was in recognition of overwhelming support of the population for Mary. However, there is no clear evidence for that outside Norfolk and Suffolk, where Northumberland had put down Kett’s Rebellion; hence, where Princess Mary sought refuge.

John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

Rather, it seems that Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel—whom Northumberland had arrested and detained twice as an ally of Somerset, before rehabilitating—engineered a coup d’état in the Privy Council in Northumberland’s absence.

Jane is often called the Nine-Day Queen, although if her reign is dated from the moment of Edward’s death on July 6, 1553, her reign could have been a few days longer. On July 19, 1553, Jane was imprisoned in the Tower’s Gentleman Gaoler’s (Jailer’s) apartments, her husband in the Beauchamp Tower. The Duke of Northumberland was executed on August 22, 1553. In September, Parliament declared Mary the rightful successor and denounced and revoked Jane’s proclamation as that of a usurper.

Trial and execution

Referred to by the court as Jane Dudley, wife of Guildford, Jane was charged with high treason, as were her husband, two of his brothers, and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. Their trial, by a special commission, took place on November 13, 1553, at Guildhall in the City of London.

Lady Janes Grey

The commission was chaired by Sir Thomas White, Lord Mayor of London, and Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Other members included Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby and John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath. As was to be expected, all defendants were found guilty and sentenced to death.

Jane’s guilt, of having treacherously assumed the title and the power of the monarch, was evidenced by a number of documents she had signed as “Jane the Quene”. Her sentence was to “be burned alive on Tower Hill or beheaded as the Queen pleases” (burning was the traditional English punishment for treason committed by women). The imperial ambassador reported to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, that her life was to be spared.

The rebellion of Thomas Wyatt the Younger in January 1554 against Queen Mary’s marriage plans with Felipe II of Spain sealed Jane’s fate. Her father, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and his two brothers joined the rebellion, and so the government decided to go through with the verdict against Jane and Guildford.

Their execution was first scheduled for February 9, 1554, but was then postponed for three days to give Jane a chance to convert to the Catholic faith. Mary sent her chaplain John Feckenham to Jane, who was initially not pleased about this. Though she would not give in to his efforts “to save her soul”, she became friends with him and allowed him to accompany her to the scaffold.

On the morning of February 12, 1554, the authorities took Guildford from his rooms at the Tower of London to the public execution place at Tower Hill, where he was beheaded. A horse and cart brought his remains back to the Tower, past the rooms where Jane was staying. Seeing her husband’s corpse return, Jane is reported to have exclaimed: “Oh, Guildford, Guildford.” She was then taken out to Tower Green, inside the Tower, to be beheaded.

While admitting to action considered unlawful, she declared that “I do wash my hands thereof in innocence”. Jane then recited Psalm 51 (Have mercy upon me, O God) in English, and handed her gloves and handkerchief to her maid. The executioner asked her forgiveness, which she granted him, pleading: “I pray you dispatch me quickly.”

Referring to her head, she asked, “Will you take it off before I lay me down?”, and the axeman answered: “No, madam.” She then blindfolded herself. Jane then failed to find the block with her hands, and cried, “What shall I do? Where is it?” Probably Sir Thomas Brydges, the Deputy Lieutenant of the Tower, helped her find her way. With her head on the block, Jane spoke the last words of Jesus as recounted by Luke: “Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!”

Jane and Guildford are buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula on the north side of Tower Green. No memorial stone was erected at their grave. Jane’s father, the Duke of Suffolk, was executed 11 days after Jane, on February 23, 1554. Her mother, the Duchess of Suffolk, married her Master of the Horse and chamberlain, Adrian Stokes, in March 1555. She was fully pardoned by Mary and allowed to live at Court with her two surviving daughters. She died in 1559.

Tags

1st Duke of Northumberland., Edward VI, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, James IV King of Scots, John Dudley, Kings and Queens of England, Lady Jane Grey, Lady Mary Tudor, Queen of England

On this day in history: February 12, 1554. Execution of Lady Jane Grey, pretender to the throne of England.

Lady Jane Grey (c. 1537-February 12, 1554), known also as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as “the Nine Days’ Queen”, was an English noblewoman and de facto Queen of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553.

The great-granddaughter of Henry VII through his younger daughter, Mary Tudor, Jane was a first cousin, once removed, of Edward VI, King of England and Ireland from 1547. In May 1553, she was married to Lord Guildford Dudley, a younger son of Edward’s chief minister, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.

The Third Succession Act of 1544 restored Henry VIII’s daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, to the line of succession, although they were still regarded as illegitimate. Furthermore, this Act authorised Henry VIII to alter the succession by his will. Henry’s will reinforced the succession of his three children, and then declared that, should none of them leave descendants, the throne would pass to heirs of his younger sister, Mary, which included Jane. For unknown reasons, Henry excluded Jane’s mother, Frances Grey, from the succession, and also bypassed the claims of the descendants of his elder sister, Margaret, who had married James IV of Scotland, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus and Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven.

When the 15-year-old Edward VI lay dying in the early summer of 1553, his Catholic half-sister Mary was still his heir presumptive. However, Edward, in a draft will (“My devise for the Succession”) composed earlier in 1553, had first restricted the succession to (non-existent) male descendants of Frances Brandon and her daughters, before he named his Protestant cousin “Lady Jane and her heirs male” as his successors, probably in June 1553; the intent was to ensure his Protestant legacy, thereby bypassing Mary who was a Roman Catholic. Edward’s decision to name Jane Grey herself was possibly instigated by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland.

Edward VI personally supervised the copying of his will which was finally issued as letters patent on 21 June and signed by 102 notables, among them the whole Privy Council, peers, bishops, judges, and London aldermen. Edward also announced to have his “declaration” passed in parliament in September, and the necessary writs were prepared. However, this act the will of the king, never received Parliamentary approval for the young king died before his Will altering the succession could be voted on.

The King died on July 6, 1553, but his death was not announced until four days later. On July 9, Jane was informed that she was now queen, and according to her own later claims, accepted the crown only with reluctance. On July 10, she was officially proclaimed Queen of England, France and Ireland after she had taken up secure residence in the Tower of London, where English monarchs customarily resided from the time of accession until coronation. Jane refused to name her husband Dudley as king, because that would require an Act of Parliament. She would agree only to make him Duke of Clarence.

Northumberland faced a number of key tasks to consolidate his power after Edward’s death. Most importantly, he had to isolate and, ideally, capture Lady Mary to prevent her from gathering support. As soon as Mary was sure of King Edward’s demise, she left her residence at Hunsdon and set out to East Anglia, where she began to rally her supporters. Northumberland set out from London with troops on July 14, to capture Mary. After his departure, recognizing the overwhelming support of the population for Mary, the Privy Council switched their allegiance and proclaimed Lady Mary, Queen of England, London on July 19. Jane had only been de facto queen since the moment of Edward’s death on July 6, 1553 according to several prominent historians, so in fact, she had not been a Nine-Day Queen.

On July 16, 1553, Jane was imprisoned in the Tower’s Gentleman Gaoler’s apartments, her husband in the Beauchamp Tower. The Duke of Northumberland was executed on August 22, 1553. In September, Parliament declared Mary the rightful successor and denounced and revoked Jane’s proclamation as that of a usurper.

Trial and execution

Referred to by the court as Jane Dudley, wife of Guildford, Jane was charged with high treason, as were her husband, two of his brothers, and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. Their trial, by a special commission, took place on November 13, 1553, at Guildhall in the City of London. The commission was chaired by Sir Thomas White, Lord Mayor of London, and Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Other members included Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby and John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath. As was to be expected, all defendants were found guilty and sentenced to death. Jane’s guilt, of having treacherously assumed the title and the power of the monarch, was evidenced by a number of documents she had signed as “Jane the Quene”. Her sentence was to “be burned alive on Tower Hill or beheaded as the Queen pleases” (burning was the traditional English punishment for treason committed by women). The imperial ambassador reported to Karl V, Holy Roman Emperor, that her life was to be spared.

The rebellion of Thomas Wyatt the Younger in January 1554 against Queen Mary’s marriage plans with Felipe of Spain sealed Jane’s fate. Her father, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and his two brothers joined the rebellion, and so the government decided to go through with the verdict against Jane and Guildford. Their execution was first scheduled for February 9, 1554, but was then postponed for three days so that Jane should get a chance to be converted to the Catholic faith. Mary sent her chaplain John Feckenham to Jane, who was initially not pleased about this. Though she would not give in to his efforts “to save her soul”, she became friends with him and allowed him to accompany her to the scaffold.

On the morning of 12 February 1554, the authorities took Guildford from his rooms at the Tower of London to the public execution place at Tower Hill, where he was beheaded. A horse and cart brought his remains back to the Tower, past the rooms where Jane was staying. Seeing her husband’s corpse return, Jane is reported to have exclaimed: “Oh, Guildford, Guildford.” She was then taken out to Tower Green, inside the Tower, to be beheaded.

According to the account of her execution given in the anonymous Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary, written in 1850, which formed the basis for Raphael Holinshed’s depiction, Jane gave a speech upon ascending the scaffold:

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.

While admitting to action considered unlawful, she declared that “I do wash my hands thereof in innocence”. Jane then recited Psalm 51 (Have mercy upon me, O God) in English, and handed her gloves and handkerchief to her maid. The executioner asked her forgiveness, which she granted him, pleading: “I pray you dispatch me quickly.” Referring to her head, she asked, “Will you take it off before I lay me down?”, and the axeman answered: “No, madam.” She then blindfolded herself. Jane then failed to find the block with her hands, and cried, “What shall I do? Where is it?” Probably Sir Thomas Brydges, the Deputy Lieutenant of the Tower, helped her find her way. With her head on the block, Jane spoke the last words of Jesus as recounted by Luke: “Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!”

There is no contemporaneous evidence that this occurred, however, and there was no reference to this description of her execution prior to 1850. Eyewitness accounts indicate that the scaffold for Jane’s execution was built against the wall of the central White Tower, at its northwest corner (the corner closest to the Chapel of St Peter-ad-Vincula). Jane was accompanied to the scaffold by two gentlewomen, identified by the Tower chronicler as Mistress Elizabeth Tylney and “Mistress Eleyn,” and by John de Feckenham.

Jane and Guildford are buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula on the north side of Tower Green. No memorial stone was erected at their grave. Jane’s father, Duke of Suffolk, was executed 11 days after Jane, on February 23, 1554. Her mother, the Duchess of Suffolk, married her Master of the Horse and chamberlain, Adrian Stokes, in March 1555 (not, as often said, three weeks after the execution of the Duke of Suffolk). She was fully pardoned by Mary and allowed to live at Court with her two surviving daughters. She died in 1559.

Was Jane Queen of England, thus making her the first Queen Regnant of England? Sadly, though she was an innocent pawn of those around her she was, by definition, a usurper. Edward VI’s failure to have his letters altering the succession passed by an Act of Parliament still mean that not only was the Third Act of Succession still the law of the land, so was the 1547 Act of Treason. The Treason Act made it high treason to change the line of succession to the throne that had been established by Third Act of Succession. Of course as king, Edward VI could have had both the Third Act of Succession and the Treason Act replaced with new laws, but since he died prior to accomplishing that requirement that his sister Mary was the legal Queen per the terms of the Third Succession.

Legal Succession: Mary & Jane Part II

Tags

Duke of Northumberland, Henry VIII, James IV, John Dudley, King Edward VI, King of Scots, Roman Catholic Church, Third Succession Act

In the summer of 1553 the 15-year-old King Edward VI was dying. His Catholic half-sister Mary was still the heiress presumptive to the throne. However, Edward VI, under the pressure from the Duke of Northumberland, bypassed his cousin, Frances Brandon, and named her eldest daughter, the Protestant Lady Jane Grey, as his successor. All of this information was placed in his will, which he passed via letters patent on June 21. These changes to the succession were co-signed by 102 notables, among them the entire Privy Council, peers, bishops, judges, and London aldermen. Edward desired that these changes be passed in Parliament in September. However, prior to the final legal steps, Edward VI died on July 10, 1553.

The privy Council proclaimed Lady Jane Grey as the first Queen Regnant of England. Jane, who just happened to be married to Lord Gilford Dudley, the youngest son of the Duke of Northumberland, was transferred to the Tower of London to await her coronation, per tradition.

One of the grave mistakes Northumberland made at this point was that he forgot to take hold of Mary herself prior to the death of the King. With Mary still free, she was able to easily claim her throne from Jane. The defacto reign of Queen Jane lasted 9 days.

Edward’s failure to have his letters passed by an Act of Parliament still mean that not only was the Third Act of Succession still the law of the land, so was the 1547 Act of Treason. The Treason Act made it high treason to change the line of succession to the throne that had been established by Third Act of Succession. Of course as king, Edward VI could have had both the Third Act of Succession and the Treason Act replaced with new laws, but since he died prior to accomplishing that requirement that his sister Mary was the legal Queen per the terms of the Third Succession Act.

Queen Mary entered London in a triumphal procession on August 3rd, and the Duke of Northumberland was executed on August 22, 1553. In September, Parliament declared that Mary was the rightful queen and denounced and revoked Jane’s proclamation and labeled her a usurper. Jane and Lord Guildford Dudley were both charged with high treason, together with two of Dudley’s brothers and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. Their trial, by a special commission, took place on November 13, 1553.

All defendants charged were found guilty and sentenced to death. Jane was to “be burned alive on Tower Hill or beheaded as the Queen pleases.” However, Mary planned on pardoning her cousin and this was reported to the imperial ambassador to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. Mary was planning on marrying her cousin, Prince Felipe of Austria, future King of Spain, son of Charles V.

Sadly, Jane’s fate took a turn for the worst with the Protestant rebellion of Thomas Wyatt the younger in January of 1554. Jane had nothing to do with this rebellion which was triggered by the prospective marriage of Mary and Felipe. What sealed her fate was the fact that Jane’s father, the Duke of Suffolk, and his two brothers joined the rebellion, which caused the government to go through with the verdict against Jane and Guildford. Their execution was first scheduled for February 9, 1554 , but was then postponed for three days so that Jane should get a chance to be converted to the Catholic faith. This attempt at conversion failed and both Lady Jane and her husband, Lord Guilford, were beheaded on the morning of February 12, 1554.

The tale of Lady Jane is tragic. She was only 17 and many historians believe she was and unwilling pawn of those around her. Steadfast in her Protestant faith she became a martyr for the Protestant cause.

Legal Succession: Mary & Jane: Part I

Tags

Duke of Northumberland, Henry VIII, James IV, John Dudley, King Edward VI, King of Scots, Roman Catholic Church, Third Succession Act

Although Henry VIII caused the upheaval of many lives in trying to secure a male heir, he ended up leaving a sickly male child on the throne. King Edward VI was only 9 years old when he mounted the throne. Because of his age he ruled under a Regency Council.  The Council was first led by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, (1547–1549), and then by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick, from 1551 Duke of Northumberland.

Edward did not live long and died at the age of 15 from consumption (Tuberculosis). His death saw another struggle for the crown. A new element was introduced for the struggle for the crown that had not been an issue in other battles for the throne. The issue was religion. In trying to secure a male heir and a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII broke from the Roman Catholic Church and created the Protestant Church of England with himself as its head. This move would cause great strife and pain and have historical repercussion that would stretch into today.

During the reign of Henry VIII and his struggle for an heir, his children were on a roller coaster of being accepted and rejected. Edward’s sisters, Mary & Elizabeth, were at times removed from the succession and batserdized, only to be returned to the succession and legitimized later. Their final acceptance came in Henry VIII’s last Will which restored both Mary & Elizabeth to their rights to the throne and were once and for all declared legitimate.

In 1543 Henry enacted the Third Succession Act. This Act gave the children of Henry VIII the succession. The Act gave the descendents of Henry’s sister Mary rights to the throne and barred the right of succession to the Scottish descendants of his sister Margaret who married James IV, King of Scots. According to the Act if Edward VI had no issue the throne would go to his elder sister, Mary, a devout Catholic. John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, was regent at the time and a Protestant. He and others in power did not want the crown to go to the Catholic Mary.

Part II will examine, in-depth, who had the legal right to be England’s first Queen regnant, Jane or Mary?