During the Tudor period, there were a number of very powerful and famous families.
Many of them would fight for supremacy over the King and Queens’ courts, and one of
these families was the Seymours.
Jane Seymour would go on to marry King Henry VIII, and became the King’s third of six
wives, but Jane sadly died following childbirth.
She had given Henry VIII the son he greatly wanted in Edward VI his successor, but after
the notorious Tudor king’s death, things changed greatly.
Two of Jane’s brother’s would vye for power over the young King Edward, and ultimately
Edward Seymour the uncle of the king would become the Lord Protector.
But he had a brother, another one of the King’s uncles who was intensely Jealous, and had
a rather dark side.
But Thomas Seymour the uncle of Edward VI would be executed in brutal fashion.
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Thomas Seymour was the young brother of Edward who became the Lord Protector, but he was
linked to the crown through his sister’s marriage to Henry VIII.
This made Thomas also a King’s uncle, and Thomas Seymour during the reign of Henry was
an ambassador.
In 1538 he was sent to become an ambassador at the French court, and he was also responsible
for meeting Anne of Cleaves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII and preparing her for marriage
with the King.
Seymour met with her in Calais on the 13th December 1539, and after this he was dispatched
to meet with King Ferdinand I of Hungary on another diplomatic mission, to try and secure
his support for conflicts against the Scots and French that Henry would start.
Whilst here, Thomas was comfortable and he remained in Vienna in Austria for some years,
and he then became an ambassador inside the court of the Habsburg rulers.
He was then appointed as a marshal of the English Army inside of the Netherlands as
war was close, and he was seen as a skilled leader on the army.
He had helped in summer 1543 to capture and destroy a number of castles, and despite Jane
Seymour’s death, Thomas Seymour was still favoured by the King and he did get a boost
at court and also some reward and land from Henry VIII.
But it would be his brother Edward who would become the more significant Seymour sibling
following Henry VIII’s death in January 1547.
When the King died, his sixth wife Katherine Parr was left as the most well off woman in
England, and she also was seen as a eligible woman by Thomas Seymour.
The pair before had been linked romantically before she married Henry VIII, and the two
did have a past.
As the successor Edward VI was just a boy a regency council was established with Edward
Seymour being at the top of this as the Lord Protector, and he was the key advisor to the
young boy King.
Thomas Seymour was also then known as the 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, but this was
nowhere near as powerful as his brother.
Edward Seymour was practically running the country, being able to govern whilst the King
was so young.
But this made Thomas incredibly jealous and he began to hate his own brother and become
very spiteful towards him.
But Thomas did have a dark side before this.
He was linked to the grooming of Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth I who
whilst under the care of Katherine Parr was subject to a number of Seymour’s inappropriate
advances.
He acted inappropriately towards the young teenage girl in a way that Elizabeth’s governess
saw as unacceptable, and disgusting.
He was reported to have been in the young girls bed chamber in just a nightshirt, and
that he tickled the Princess inappropriately at times.
Catherine Parr also joined in at one point holding Elizabeth whilst Seymour hugged her,
but Catherine just played this off as horse play and innocent fun.
Elizabeth was later sent away to another house, and Catherine Parr did die from childbirth
shortly after this.
Seymour then dreamed of having another high profile marriage, this time to the much younger
and important Princess Elizabeth, but this never occurred.
Thomas was obsessed with his brother’s power over Edward VI and he tried to oust his brother
from the position of Lord Protector, and it was clear to everyone at court that Thomas
began to hate his brother, and at meetings despite being involved in them, Thomas tried
to one up his brother and constantly sought to out do him.
He thought that a marriage to Elizabeth could usurp his brother’s position, making him
more powerful and more favourable, but this did not happen.
Following the death of Catherine Parr, Seymour went further off the rails and he tried to
convince the boy King that he did not need someone to protect his throne, and that he
should just rule himself being capable of doing so.
Thomas then planned a rebellion, and at the time his brother was in Scotland fighting
against the Scots, and Edward Seymour the protector did invade in Summer 1547, and left
the court whilst this was happening.
Whilst he was away, Thomas began to speak negatively about his brother and his behaviour
became even more irate and suspicious, and he had been advised to watch his tone a number
of times.
Thomas had become the Lord High Admiral meaning he was in control of the English Navy, and
he asked their support if a rebellion did break out.
Thomas consulted some pirates based on the west coast, even though it was his job to
defeat pirates and make sure they did not cause chaos.
So Thomas was working with his enemies to bring down his brother, and at court this
did not remain a secret.
In 1548, Thomas was summoned to court to explain himself and his actions, and his brother was
even willing to vouch for him and to help him escape possible imprisonment, but Thomas
Seymour did not show up to answer.
However ultimately his plan was carried out on the evening of the 16th January 1549.
Thomas Seymour was found trying to break into King Edward VI’s apartments during the middle
of the night, and it’s believed that he was trying to seize control of the boy king,
and take custody of him, in a move similarly to how Richard III imprisoned the Princes
in the Tower.
Thomas entered through the privy garden and disturbed one of the King’s dogs, and because
the spaniel kept barking, Seymour killed it shooting it.
After he was arrested and seized, the following day he was sent to the Tower of London and
was accused of treason.
He had ultimately been caught outside the King’s bedroom with a loaded pistol, and
some put two and two together and believed the he was going to assassinate the young
King Edward.
A huge number of 33 counts of treason were brought in front of Thomas, and some of the
charges included, ‘being charged with endeavouring to get his own hands on the government of
the King, plotting to take the King into custody, having 10,000 men available for rebellion,
having married the Queen scandalously soon after the Kings death, and even bribing members
of the Privy Council.’
Just one of these changes carried the death penalty, and it was obvious what would happen
to Thomas Seymour.
He was sentenced to death, and it would be his own brother Edward who’s signature was
on the death warrant.
There was not much opposition to this, as Edward Seymour’s wife even said she would
leave him if he did condemn his brother for his actions.
A Bill of Attainder was brought against Thomas and it said, ‘ ‘considering that he is
a member so unnatural, unkind and corrupt and such a heinous offender of your majesty
and your laws as he cannot be suffered to remain in body of your graces’ commonwealth,
but to the extreme danger of your highness and it is too dangerous an example that such
a person, so much bound and so forgetful of it, should remain among us.
He was to adjudged and attained of high treason and shall suffer such pains of death as in
cases of high treason have been accustomed.’
Thomas Seymour even whilst held inside of the Tower of London tried to reach out to
Princess Elizabeth to save him, and he sent her a message sewn into a pair of velvet shoes.
But she did not do anything, and Seymour had come to terms with the fact he was going to
die, and he prayed regularly to god.
He arranged his affairs saying that his daughter would live with the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk
at Grimsthorpe Castle, and his wealth would be given to the crown as was common with traitors
who were executed.
On the 20th March 1549, he was taken out of the Tower of London and was led on the short
walk towards Tower Hill the public beheading spot where figures such as Thomas Cromwell
and Sir Thomas More were executed.
He walked flanked by guards, and as he was led up to the scaffold, he refused to confess
to his crimes to the crowd.
It was normal for the condemned to apologise to god and to admit their crimes, but Seymour
refused to do this.
It was said that, ‘‘Whether he be saved or not, I leave it to God, but surely he was
a wicked man, and the realm is rid of him.’
The crowd there was huge to see his execution, and it did not go as straightforwardly as
it could.
Seymour laid his head upon the block, and the executioner then stood over him with his
axe.
It did not take one swing.
The first only slightly severed his neck from his body, before a second stroke was needed
to take his head clean off.
His head was then shown to the crowd, before his body was taken back into the Tower of
London where it was buried inside the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula.
But Thomas Seymour is considered today as one of the most villainous figures to the
Tudor period being a man who tried to kidnap a king, and also was involved in grooming
a future Queen.
He was a man who married for power, and his actions were criticised greatly.
Despite being very jealous of his brother, his brother Edward Seymour would later also
make the journey to Tower Hill where he was also executed by axe.
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