by Sandra Petersen

Created on: August 09, 2011

King Henry VIII of England had six wives but only one gave him one of the key things he desired from a spouse: a male heir to the throne. That wife, Jane Seymour, was the third woman during Henry's reign to be his queen.

Birth and Childhood

Jane Seymour was born into a family with a long and honorable background. Her father was Sir John Seymour, a nobleman who had served both King Henry VII and King Henry VIII on the battlefield. He was knighted and granted the distinction of being a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, the title given to courtiers in the royal household. Her mother, Margery Wentworth could claim Edward III as one of her forebears.

Jane was born sometime in 1508 or 1509. She had four older brothers, three younger sisters and two younger brothers. Three of her brothers died in the years before she came to reside as a lady-in-waiting in the king's court.

At Court

Agnes Strickland in “Lives of the Queens of England” states that Jane Seymour may have received early training in becoming a lady-in-waiting when she resided in the French court of Mary Tudor in 1514. Antonia Fraser, in her book “The Wives of Henry VIII”, indicates that Jane Seymour was in King Henry VIII's court in 1529 while Catherine of Aragon, Henry's first wife, was queen. She served Catherine as a lady-in-waiting and was still at court when Henry and Anne Boleyn were married in January 1533.

Catherine's twenty year marriage to Henry was proclaimed invalid in May 1533. While Catherine was forced to live the span of her years in Kimbolton Castle about sixty miles north of London, Jane Seymour became a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn, King Henry's second wife. In January 1536, Catherine of Aragon died, possibly of melanotic sarcoma. Three weeks later Anne Boleyn miscarried after four months of a pregnancy. King Henry was already wooing Jane Seymour. Anne's miscarriage, after the birth of a daughter and then a stillborn son, gave credence to the King's thoughts that Anne Boleyn would never bear him a male heir.

In February 1536, the first rumors began to be spread among the foreign ambassadors that King Henry and Jane Seymour would be married. On May 19, Anne Boleyn was beheaded for the crimes of adultery, treason and incest.

As Queen

On 30 May 1536, King Henry VIII and Jane Seymour were married.

Untimely Death

In October 1537, Jane Seymour gave birth to the male heir Henry had wanted. He was given the name of Edward. During the tweve days following his birth, his mother developed septicemia, then known as childbirth fever, and died. Jane Seymour was 28 years old and had been married for only eighteen months. For three years after her death, King Henry wore black mourning clothes and did not marry. He did not do this for any of his other wives.

Her Manner

Jane Seymour was not known for her ravishing beauty. She was noted to have eyes too small and a nose too big for her face. What attracted the king's attention were the manners she had which contrasted with those of the woman to which Henry was married. Where Anne spoke her mind, Jane was gentle and submissive. She was considered to be a virtuous woman who refused the king's gifts and advances until Henry was free of his marriage to Anne Boleyn.

Sources:

Fraser, Antonia. The Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.

Hume, Martin. The Wives of Henry the Eighth and the Parts They Played in History. London: Eveleigh Nash, 1907.

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