John Seymour (Tudor)
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Sir John Seymour, KB (c. 1474 - December 21, 1536), a member of the English gentry and a servant to Henry VIII is best known for being the father of the king's third wife, Jane Seymour.
He was also descended from William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
[edit] Family
He was born to John Seymour (c. 1450 - 1491) and Elizabeth Darrell. His paternal grandparents were John Seymour, Sheriff of Wiltshire (born c. 1425) and Elizabeth Coker (born c. 1436). His maternal grandparents were Sir George Darrell (born c. 1451) and Margaret Stourton, daughter of John (born 1433), Baron Stourton of Stourton, Wiltshire, and Margery Wadham.
John was married to the famous beauty, Margaret Wentworth, and by her had nine children:
- John Seymour (d. July 15, 1510).
- Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. 1506 - 1552).
- Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley (c. 1508 - 1549).
- Jane Seymour (c. 1509 - 1537).
- Elizabeth Seymour (c. 1513 - 1563).
- Sir Henry Seymour ( c. 1514 - after 1568).
- Dorothy Seymour.
- Anthony Seymour.
- Margery Seymour.
[edit] Family activities and reputation
They lived in Wulfhall, outside Savernake Forest, in Wiltshire. Four of the Seymour children achieved prominence at the royal court— Edward, Thomas, Jane and Elizabeth.
Edward Seymour was briefly married to Catharine Fillol, but John embarked on a love affair with his new daughter-in-law. When it was discovered, the marriage was annulled, their children declared bastards (since their legal grandfather might be their biological father!) and Catharine was imprisoned in a local convent. The scandal damaged the Seymour family's reputation for many years afterward. A proposed marriage between Jane Seymour and William Dormer was rejected by the Dormers partially due to the scandal and because of the family's less-than-noble pedigree: the Seymour family was of the gentry.
Jane Seymour, the eldest daughter, was a maid in the household of Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and then later to his second queen, the brilliant and imperious Anne Boleyn.
Henry VIII stayed at Wulfhall with Queen Anne in the summer of 1535 for a few days. Later, he embarked upon an affair with Jane as his marriage to Anne fell apart in early 1536. The entire Seymour family were party to the plot, which brought Anne to the scaffold, and left her daughter Elizabeth disinherited.
After Jane became queen on 30 May 1536, her family scaled the social ranks. Her brother, Edward Seymour, was later made an earl and briefly ruled England for his nephew Edward VI of England after 1547. John's other son, Thomas Seymour, was made a baron and Lord High Admiral; he eloped with Henry VIII's widow Catherine Parr in 1547. Both the Seymour sons were beheaded for treason, only a few years apart. John's other daughter, Elizabeth Seymour, was married to Gregory Cromwell, son of Henry's new chief minister, Thomas Cromwell.
John died on December 21, 1536, but his royal daughter did not attend the funeral, nor did she (or any of the rest of his children) seem to have been greatly affected by his death.
