THE ONLY SURVIVING SON OF KING HENRY THE EIGHTH, Before His Coming To The Crown: With The Condition Of Affairs, Both In Church And State, At His First Coming To The Same.
1. PRINCE Edward, the only surviving son of King Henry the Eighth, was born at the royal palace of Hampton Court, on the twelfth day of October, anno 1537. Descended, by his father, from FB39 the united families of York and Lancaster; by his grandfather, King Henry the Seventh, from the old royal line of the kings of Wales; by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of King Edward the Fourth, from a long continued race of kings, descending from the loins of the Norman Conqueror; and finally, by Maud, the wife of King Henry the First, from Edmond, surnamed Ironside, the last unquestionable king, (as to the right of his succession), of the Saxon race. So that all titles seemed to be concentred in the person of this infant prince, which might assure the subjects of a peaceable and
untroubled reign; so much the more, because his mother’s marriage was not subject unto any dispute, (as were those of the two former Queens), whereby the legitimation of her issue might be called in question—an happiness which recompensed all defects that might be otherwise pretended against her birth, not answerable unto that of so great a monarch, and short in some respects of that of her predecessor in the King’s affections; though of a family truly noble, and of great antiquity.
Concerning which it will be necessary to premise somewhat in this place, not only for the setting forth of this Queen’s progenitors, but that we may the better understand the state of that family which was to act so great a part on the stage of England.
2. Know then, that Queen Jane Seimour was daughter of Sir John Seimour, of Wolf Hall, in the county of Wilts. Descended from that William de S.
Mauro (contractedly FB40 afterwards called Seimour), who by the aid of Gilbert Lord Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, recovered Wendy FB41 and Penhow, (now parts of Monmouthshire), from the hands of the Welsh, anno 1240, being the two and twentieth year of King Henry the Third’s reign; which William, as he descended lineally from the d’ Sancto Mauro, whose name we find in the Roll of Battle Abbey amongst those noble families which came in with the Conqueror, so was he one of the
progenitors of that Sir Roger S. Maur, or Seimour, Knight, who married one of the daughters and heirs of John Beauchamp, of Hath, a right noble Baron, who brought his pedigree from Sybil, one of the five daughters and heirs of William Marshal, the famous and most puissant Earl of Pembroke, married to William de Ferrars, FB42 Earl of Ferrars and Derby, as also from Hugh d’Vivon and William Mallet, men in times past most renowned for estate and chivalry. Which goodly patrimony was afterwards very much augmented, by the marriage of one of this noble family with the daughter and heir of the Esturmies, Lords of Wolf Hall, not far from Marleborough, in the county of Wilts, whe bare for arms, Argent, 3 Demy Lions, Gules, and from the time of King Henry the Second were by right of inheritance the bailiffs and guardians of the forest of Savernak, FB43 lying hard by;
which is of great note for plenty of good game, and for a kind of fern there, that yieldeth a most pleasant savor. In remembrance whereof, their hunter’s horn, of a mighty bigness, and tipt with silver, is kept by the Earls of
Hartford unto this day, as a monument of their descent from such noble ancestors. FB44 Out of which house came Sir John Seimour, of Wolf Hall, the father of this excellent Queen, as also of the three sons, Edward, Henry, and Thomas, of which we shall speak somewhat severally in the way of preamble, the first and last being principal actors on the public theater of King Edward’s reign.
3. And first, Sir Edward Seimour, the eldest son, received the order of knighthood at the hands of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and brother- in-law to King Henry the Eighth; in the fifteenth year of whose reign he
FB45 commanded a right puissant army in a war with France, where he took the town of Mont Dedier, and other pieces of importance. On this
foundation he began the rise of his following fortunes, exceedingly
improved by the marriage of the King with his only sister; from whom, on Tuesday in Whitsun-week, anno 1536, he received the title of Viscount
Beauchamp, with reference to his descent from the Lord John Beauchamp above mentioned, and on the 18th of October, in the year next following, he was created Earl of Hartford. A man observed by Sir John Hayward,
FB46 in his History of King Edward the Sixth, to be “of little esteem for wisdom, personage, or courage in arms;” FB47 but found withal not only to be very faithful but exceeding fortunate, as long as he served under the more powerful planet of King Henry the Eighth. About five years before the end of whose reign (he being then Warden of the Marches against Scotland), the invasion of King James the Fifth was by his direction
encountered and broken at Solome Moss, FB48 where divers of the Scottish nobility were taken prisoners. In the next year after, accompanied with Sir John Dudley, Viscount Lisle FB49 (created afterwards Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland by King Edward the Sixth), with a handful of men he fired Lieth and Edinborough, and returned by a leisurely march forty-four miles through the body of Scotland. And in the year following he invaded the Scottish borders, wasted Tivedale and the marches, FB50
defacing all those parts with spoil and ruin. As fortunate in his undertakings against the French as against the Scots; for, being appointed by the King to view the fortifications upon the marches of Callice, he did not only perform that service to the King’s contentment, but with the hardy approach of 7,000 Englishmen, raised an army of 21,000 French, encamped over the river before Bulloign, won their ordnance, carriage, treasure, and tents, with the loss only of one man; winning in his return from thence the castle of Ouling, FB51 commonly called the Red Pile, within shot and rescue of the town of Ardes. And finally, in the year ensuing, (being the last of that King’s reign), he began the fortresses of Newhaven, Blackness, and Bullingberg; in which he plied his work so well, that before his departure from those places he had made them tenable. Such were his actings in the time of King Henry the Eighth, against whose powerful genius there was no withstanding. In all whose time he never rose to any haughtiness in himself or contempt of others, but still remained courteous and affable towards all; choosing a course, (least subject to envy), between stiff stubbornness and servile flattery, without aspiring any further than to hold a second place in the King’s good grace. FB52 But being left unto himself, and either overwhelmed by the greatness of that authority which was cast upon him in the minority of King Edward, or undermined by the practices of his cunning and malicious enemies, he suddenly became, (according to the usual disports of fortune), a calamitous ruin; as being in himself of an
easy nature, apt to be wrought upon by more subtle heads, and wholly governed by his last wife; of which more hereafter.
4. In the mean time we are to know, that, having married one of the daughters and co-heirs of William Filol, FB53 of Woodlands, in the county of Dorset, he had by her, amongst other children, a son called Edward, from whom descends Sir Edward Seimour of Berry Pomery, in the county of Devon, Knight, and Baronet. FB54 After whose death he married Ann, the daughter of Sir Edward Stanhop, by whom he had a son, called Edward also, on whom he was prevailed with to entail both his lands and honors;
the children of the former bed being prefermitred. FB55 Concerning which there goes a story, that the Earl, having been formerly employed in France, did there acquaint himself with a learned man, supposed to have great skill in magic: of whom he obtained, by great rewards and importunities, to let him see, by the help of some magical perspective, in what estate all his relations stood at home. In which impertinent curiosity he was so far satisfied, as to behold a gentleman of his acquaintance in a more familiar posture with his wife than was agreeable to the honor of either party. To which diabolical illusion he is said to have given so much credit, that he did not only estrange himself from her society at his coming home, but
furnished his next wife with an excellent opportunity for pressing him to the disinheriting of his former children. But whether this were so or not, certain it is that his last wife, being a proud imperious woman, and one that was resolved to gain her own ends upon him, never left plying him with one suspicion after another, till in the end she had prevailed to have the greatest part of his lands, and all his honorable titles, settled on her eldest son. And, that she might make sure work of it, she caused him to obtain a private act of parliament, in the thirty-second year of Henry the Eighth, anno 1540, for entailing the same on this last Edward, and the heirs-male of his body. So easy was he to be wrought on, by those that knew on which side he did lie most open to assaults and batteries.
5. Of a far different temper was his brother Thomas, the youngest son of Sir John Seimour; of a daring and enterprising nature, arrogant in himself, a despiser of others, and a contemner of all counsels which were not first forged in his own brain. Following his sister to the court, he received the order of knighthood from the hands of the King, at such time as his brother was made Earl of Hartford; and on May-day in the thirtieth year of the King’s reign, he was one of the challengers at the magnificent justs maintained by him and others against all comers in the palace of
Westminster; in which, together with the rest, he behaved himself so highly to the King’s contentment and their own great honor, that they were all severally rewarded with the grant of 100 marks of yearly rent, and a convenient house for habitation thereunto belonging, out of the late dissolved order of St John of Jerusalem. FB56 Which, being the first
foundation of his following greatness, proved not sufficient to support the building which was raised upon it; the gentleman, and almost all the rest of the challengers, coming within few years after to unfortunate ends. For being made Lord Seimour of Sudley, and Lord High Admiral of England, by King Edward the Sixth, he would not satisfy his ambition with a lower marriage than the widow of his deceased Sovereign,—aspiring after her death to the bed of the Princess Elizabeth, the second daughter of the King.
Which wrought such jealousies and distrusts in the head of his brother, then being Lord Protector of the King and kingdom, that he was thereupon arraigned, condemned, and executed, (of which more anon), to the great joy of such as practiced to subvert them both. FB57 As for the Barony of Sudley, denominated from a goodly manor, in the county of Gloucester, it was anciently the patrimony of Harold, the eldest son of Ralph d’Mont, the son of Walter Medantinus or d’Mont, and of Goda his wife, one of the daughters of Ethelred, and sister of Edmond, surnamed Ironside, kings of England: FB58 whose posterity, taking to themselves the name of Sudley, continued in possession of it till the time of John, the last baron of this name and family, whose daughter Joane conveyed the whole estate in marriage to Sir William Botteler, of the family of Wemm, in Shropshire.
From whom descended Ralph, Lord Botteler, of Sudley Castle,
Chamberlain of the Household to King Henry the Sixth, by whom he was created Knight of the Garter, and Lord High Treasurer of England. And though the greatest part of this inheritance, being divided between the sisters and co-heirs, came to other families, yet the castle and barony of Sudley remained unto a male of this house until the latter end of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, to whom it was escheated by the attainder of the last Lord Botteler, FB59 whose greatest crime was thought to be this goodly manor, which some greedy courtiers had an eye on. And being fallen unto the crown, it was no hard matter for the Lord Protector to estate the same upon his brother; who was scarce warmed in his new honor, when it fell in to the crown again. Where it continued all the rest of King Edward’s reign, and by Queen Mary was conferred on Sir John Bruges, (who derived his pedigree from one of the said sisters and co-heirs of Ralph, Lord Botteler) whom she ennobled, by the title of Lord Chaundos of Sudley. FB60
6. As for Sir Henry Seimour, the second son of Sir John Seimour, he was not found to be of so fine a metal as to make a courtier, and was therefore left unto the life of a country gentleman; advanced by the power and favor of his elder brother to the order of knighthood; and afterwards estated in the manors of Marvell and Twyford, in the county of Southampton, FB61 dismembered in those broken times from the see of Winchester. To each of these belonged a park,—that of the first containing no less than four miles, that of the last but two in compass; the first being also honored with a goodly mansion-house, belonging anciently to those bishops, and little inferior to the best of the wealthy bishoprics. There goes a story, that the priest officiating at the altar, in the church of Ouslebury, (of which parish Maryell was a part), after the mass had been abolished by the King’s authority, was violently dragged thence by this Sir Henry, beaten, and most reproachfully handled by him, his servants universally refusing to serve him as the instruments of his rage and fury; and that the poor priest, having after an opportunity to get into the church, did openly curse the said Sir Henry and his posterity with bell, book, and candle, according to the use observed in the Church of Rome. Which, whether it were so or not, or that the main foundation of this estate, being laid on sacrilege, could promise no long blessing to it—certain it is, that his posterity are brought beneath the degree of poverty. For, having three nephews, by Sir John Seimour, his only son—that is to say, Edward, the eldest, Henry and Thomas, younger sons, besides several daughters,—there remains not to any of them one foot of land, or so much as a penny of money to supply their necessities, but what they have from the munificence of the Marquis of Hartford, FB62 or the charity of other well-disposed people which have affection or relation for them.
7. But the great ornament of this house was their sister Jane, the only daughter of her father, by whose care she was preferred to the court, and service of Queen Ann Bollen, where she outshined all the other ladies, and in short time had gained exceeding much on the King, a great admirer of fresh beauties, and such as could pretend unto no command on his own affections, Some ladies who had seen the pictures of both queens at White Hall gallery, have entertained no small dispute, to which of the two they were to give pre-eminence in point of beauty; each of them having such a plentiful measure of perfections as to entitle either of them to a superiority.
If Queen Ann seemed to have the more lively countenance, Queen Jane was thought to carry it in the exact symmetry which shewed itself in all her
features; and what she carried on that side, by that advantage, was overbalanced on the other by a pleasing sprightfulness, which gained as much upon the hearts of all beholders. It was conceived by those great critics in the schools of beauty, that love, which seemed to threaten in the eyes of Queen Jane, did only seem to sport itself in the eyes of Queen Ann;
that there was more majesty in the garb of Queen Jane Seimour, and more loveliness in that of Queen Ann Bollen; yet so that the majesty of the one did excel in loveliness, and that the loveliness of the other did exceed in majesty. Sir John Russell, afterwards Earl of Bedford, who had beheld both queens in their greatest glories, did use to say, that “the richer Queen Jane was in clothes, the fairer she appeared; but that the other, the richer she was apparelled, the worse she looked:” FB63 which shews that Queen Ann only trusted to the beauties of nature, and that Queen Jane did sometimes help herself by external ornaments. In a word, she had in her all the graces of Queen Ann, but governed, (if my conjecture doth not fail me), with an evener and more constant temper; or, if you will, she may be said to be equally made up of the two last queens, as having in her all the attractions of Queen Ann, but regulated by the reservedness of Queen Katherine also.
8. It is not to be thought that so many rare perfections should be long concealed from the eye of the King; or that love should not work in him its accustomed effects of desire and hope. In the prosecution whereof he lay so open to discovery, that the Queen could not choose but take notice of it, and intimated her suspicions to him, as appears by a letter of hers in the Scrinia Sacra. FB64 In which she signifies unto him, that by hastening her intended death he would be “left at liberty, both before God and man, to follow his affection, already settled on the party for whose sake she was reduced unto that condition, and whose name she could some while since have pointed to, his grace not being ignorant of her suspicions.” FB65 And it appeared by the event that she was not much mistaken in the mark she aimed at; for scarce had her lamentable death, which happened on the 19th of May, prepared the way for the legitimating of this new affection, but on the morrow after the King was secretly married to Mistress Seimour, and openly shewed her as his Queen in the Whitsun-tide following. FB66 A marriage which made some alteration in the face of the court, in the advancing of her kindred, and discountenancing the dependants of the former Queen; but otherwise produced no change in the affairs of state.
The King proceeded, as before, in suppressing monasteries, extinguishing the Pope’s authority, and altering divers things in the face of the Church;