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Lady Jane Grey


Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537–12 February 1554), also referred to as Queen Jane, a greatniece of Henry VIII of England, was a claimant to the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Ireland. Her claimed rule of nine days in July 1553 is the shortest rule of England in its history.

Background as Queen

Jane's accession, pursuant to the will of Edward VI, breached the laws of England as under the Third Succession Act: Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's eldest daughter, was the legitimate and rightful heir to the Crown. However, Mary had been declared illegitimate by her father, and the same ruling had been applied to her younger half-sister, Elizabeth, later Elizabeth I. (This declaration of illegitimacy was made to keep Mary, a Catholic, from receiving the crown, which Henry VIII had for a time wished to keep in Protestant hands.) Their positions in the line of succession had, however, been restored by the Third Act of Succession.

Nevertheless, many high-ranking nobles proved themselves pliable to having Jane as Queen of England. Acting largely out of financial self-interest, they supported her even if only as part of a power struggle to keep Henry's first-born, the staunchly Catholic Mary, from ascending the throne. Jane's rule ended quickly when the nobles abandoned their support once they realised Mary had won the day. Mary pardoned Jane; however after a subsequent attempt by her supporters to seize the crown, Mary had her executed for high treason.

Popular history sometimes refers to Lady Jane as "The Nine Days' Queen" or, less commonly, as "The Thirteen Days' Queen" owing to disagreements about the beginning of her claimed rule. Historians have taken either the day of her official proclamation as Queen (10 July) or that of her predecessor's death (6 July) as the beginning.


Early life and education




In 1546, at less than 10 years old, Jane was sent to live as the ward of 35-year old Katherine Parr, who had married King Henry VIII in 1543. Queen Katherine was a warm and loving woman who took the young Jane under her wing. Having never experienced any demonstration of love from her own mother, Jane basked in the warm affection she received from her Aunt Katherine and blossomed into a fine young woman. She also became acquainted with her royal cousins, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth. Jane's spirits rose and she learned to assert herself.

Contracts for marriage

After King Henry VIII died, Catherine Parr married Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley. Unfortunately, Catherine died shortly after the birth of her only child, Mary Seymour, leaving the young Jane once again bereft of a maternal figure. Jane acted as chief mourner at Catherine's funeral.



Jane was next contracted in marriage to Lord Hertford, the eldest son of the late Duke of Somerset). However, ongoing negotiations between her mother, Frances Brandon, and Northumberland led to a proposed marriage to Lord Guilford Dudley, son of the newly powerful Duke. The couple were married, at Durham House, in a double wedding with Jane's sister Catherine and Lord Herbert, son of Lord Pembroke, on May 21 1553.

Claim to the throne and accession








Within only nine days, Mary had managed to find sufficient support to ride into London in a triumphal procession on 19 July. Parliament had no choice but to declare Mary the rightful Queen and denounced and revoked Jane's proclamation as having been coerced. Mary imprisoned Jane and her husband in the Gentleman Gaoler's apartments at the Tower of London, although their lives were initially spared. The Duke of Northumberland was executed on 21 August 1553.

Trial and execution



On the morning of 12 February 1554, the authorities took Dudley from his rooms at the Tower of London to the public execution place at Tower Hill and there had him beheaded. A horse and cart brought his remains back to the Tower of London, past the rooms where Jane remained as a prisoner. Jane was then taken out to Tower Green, inside the Tower of London, and beheaded in private. With few exceptions, only royalty were afforded the privilege of a private execution; Jane's execution was conducted in private on the orders of Queen Mary, as a gesture of respect for her cousin.



She then recited Psalm 51 (Have mercy upon me, O God) in English, and handed her gloves and handkerchief to her maid. John Feckenham, a Roman Catholic chaplain sent by Mary who had failed to convert Jane, stayed with her during the execution. The executioner asked her forgiveness, and she gave it. She pleaded the axeman, "I pray you dispatch me quickly". Referring to her blindfold, she asked, "Will you take it off before I lay me down?" and the axeman answered, "No, madam". She then blindfolded herself. Jane had resolved to go to her death with dignity, but once blindfolded, failing to find the block with her hands, began to panic and cried, "What shall I do? Where is it?" An unknown hand, possibly Feckenham's, then helped her find her way and retain her dignity at the end. With her head on the block, Jane spoke the last words of Christ as recounted by Luke: "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!" She was then beheaded.



Cultural depictions




The Tower by William Ainsworth

External links


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