On my Facebook page, I have a large number of pages dedicated to historical times or figures. I woke this morning and started my day normally, checking email, Facebook and a few news sites to make sure nothing important happened overnight. On a few of these sites, I got reminders that today was the day in 1553, that Lady Jane Grey was crowned as Queen of England. Now, for some people this would not be that interesting, but for a self admitted historical nerd as myself, I was all over this. I knew the general story of Lady Jane Grey and how she ascended the throne and her ultimate fate but knew very little about her life, who she was and who she wanted to be. So that is how I have spent my morning, researching a young girl who died tragically over four hundred years ago.
Jane Grey was born into a noble family about 1537. She was the daughter of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Lady Frances Brandon. Jane’s claim to the British throne came through Frances’ mother, Mary Tudor. Mary was the sister of King Henry VIII and after the death of her first husband, Louis XII, King of France, married Charles Brandon. Jane was well educated and had been given all the training to run a proper household and uphold the standards of a proper Tudor woman. She lived a relatively normal life for a girl of her station until she was about the age fifteen.
In the year 1553, Edward VI was King but was in questionable health. As Edward was only nine years old when he ascended the throne, his kingdom was ruled by a group of advisors who frankly had only their interests at heart. When it became apparent that Edward would probably not survive, everyone panicked. According to the terms of King Henry VIII’s will, if his son Edward were to die without an heir, the throne would pass to his daughter, Mary. Here lies the problem.
At this time in England, there were major struggles between members of the Catholic faith and the Protestant faith. Edward, as well as his advisors were Protestant, Mary was Catholic…very Catholic. Mary also blamed many of the people in power at the time for the poor treatment of her mother, Katherine of Aragon. The last thing anyone wanted was for Mary to become Queen, go back to the Catholic faith and punish them for their misdeeds. Enter Jane.
Like I said earlier, Jane had a claim to the throne although it was not a strong claim. There are two schools of thought as to who was the driving force behind the whole Jane/Queen debacle. Once states that her mother was power hungry and was willing to sacrifice everything she had, including her daughter, to get what she wanted. The other says that it was her father, who was in cahoots with John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland and wanted to keep what power he had been given and again was willing to sacrifice his daughter. I don’t know which is true, I think that probably both have a little truth but which was the more prominent driving force we will never know.
What we do know is that around May, 1553, John Dudley and Henry Grey, along with Frances, decided that Jane would marry John’s son, Guilford Dudley. I believe the plan was that once Jane was Queen she would name Guildford King and sit back and be the dutiful wife but I’m not sure anyone filled Jane in on this plan. It has been reported that she stated she would name her husband as a Duke and that she would rule herself. It has also been reported that Jane did not want the throne, but only took what was offered to her. Offered is a relative term however since the predominant theory is that Jane was forced to accept the throne, with some reports that she was beaten until she agreed.
On the 6th of July, 1553, King Edward VI of England died. John Dudley and the other advisors decided to keep his death a secret until they could place Jane on the throne so as to keep interference from Mary to a minimum. Mary of course found out about her brother’s death and began to make arrangements to go to London and claim what she thought rightfully belonged to her. She assembled supporters, advisors and her court and made her way to London. John Dudley set out with an army of troops to stop her but very quickly saw his plan fall apart. Members of court, members of Parliament, as well as other royal factions, changed sides and proclaimed Mary to be their Queen of choice. Jane was told she would have to relinquish her crown which she willingly did, only nine days after accepting the throne.
Mary became Queen and members of the Dudley and Grey families went on trial for treason. Jane and her husband Guilford were tried and convicted but their death sentence was not carried out right away. However Jane’s father was not done with his conniving. He joined with Sir Thomas Wyatt and others to try and have Mary removed from her throne. This of course failed. Jane was now seen as a liability and as long as she was alive, she would always be a threat to Mary and unfortunately must be executed. Jane and Guilford were both executed on the 12th of February, 1554. Jane was just sixteen years old.
Of course I do not know all of the details of Jane’s life nor do I truly know Jane’s part in all of this but I feel sorry for her. I feel that she was in way over her head in matters she truly knew very little about and was manipulated by power hungry parents who put their own needs over the needs of their daughter. I think that she was a pawn for the most powerful position in England and for that she paid with her life.
The Casco Voice 