John Seymour of ‘Wolf Hall’ 1475-1536
My 13th great-grandfather
Earl of Bedford; Knight Banneret, father of Queen Jane Seymour and grandfather of King Edward VI.
Sir John Seymour – Knight Banneret was my 13th great-grandfather. A courtier to kings, in service to Henry VII and Henry VIII. Seymour was the father of Queen Jane Seymour, 3rd wife of Henry VIII. And therefore, was the grandfather of King Henry’s and Queen Jane’s son who one day would become England’s King Edward VI.
History is not clear. John Seymour built or, at the very least refurbished Wulf Hall aka Wolf Hall. Seymour did so with the financial assistance of King Henry VIII and with the machinations of Thomas Cromwell. King Henry, Thomas Cromwell and John Seymour were extremely close. They collaborated fashioning an arrangement in which Henry would generate the substantial capital Seymour needed to finance the rehabilitation and improvement of Wulf Hall.
Sir John Seymour 1474-1536
In return John Seymour would be the driving force assuring completion of construction and readiness by date-certain so that Wulf Hall would definitely be available for the king’s planned rendezvous with Queen Anne Boleyn.
No telling the King’s intentions, perhaps only a benign version of a royal getaway retreat. I imagine Henry wanted a fabulous venue for sake of a successful romantic rendezvous with Queen Anne. He was obsessed with his fathering an heir to the throne.
Regardless of the king’s intentions, benign or betrayal, this event was pivotal and hugely consequential as the turning point for those involved and indeed for historic England.
One could argue this crossing of paths of Henry and Jane Seymour may well have been where and when Henry VIII took note of Seymour’s daughter Jane. Henry desperately and urgently wanted to sire a son who one day could inherit England’s throne. Date night or what have you, this circumstance turned horribly wrong for Queen Anne Boleyn.
Henry was at one time in his life considered to be an astute Catholic, faithful to the Catholic papacy even to the degree of having been so recognized by Pope Leo X.
Henry’s long history of failures in gaining Rome’s blessings for annulments speaks to his parliamentary contrivances regarding The Church of England in having England’s King legislatively declared the Church’s ultimate supreme authority. By this he could bypass Rome in that England’s church could legitimize his annulment followed by marriage to his intended.
So, it remains a historic mystery whether the king was privy to the potential of a meeting and in taking up with Seymour’s daughter, Jane.
Having been enamored with Jane Seymour, this may very well have been the moment Henry VIII formulated a plan and resolved in having Queen Anne Boleyn dispatched. Trumped up charges, conviction and execution of Anne would allow for a timely resolution, clearing the way for marriage to Jane Seymour. The King’s obsession for a male heir to the throne was his driving force.
Henry soon married Jane who did bare his heir to the throne. Jane died two weeks post-natal due to uncertain circumstances, possibly due to infection from a retained placenta or perhaps due to puerperal fever. No one knows for sure.
I suppose it could be said I personally am a stake-holder in how history treats these individuals. So, it’s worth repeating that Anne Boleyn was my 1st cousin 15 X removed. Further, it should be noted Anne Boleyn was related to Seymour’s wife Margery Wentworth-Seymour. Boleyn was the daughter of Margery Wentworth’s 1/2 1st cousins Edmund and Elizabeth Howard. Consanguineous marriages in those days were quite common and still are in some societies. As well, as mentioned, Jane Seymour was my 12th great-grandaunt.
#johnseymour #Janeseymour #anneboleyn #wolfhall #wulfhall #HenryVIII #ThomasCromwell
