Jane Seymour © Hans Holbein the Younger – The National Portrait Gallery
Vast swathes of literature have been produced concerning the life Jane Seymour, in particular, about her tenure as queen of England. However, there remains much inconclusively about her early years, and minimal information about the people who raised her. The Seymour family posed a noteworthy and illustrious history long before Jane ascended to the throne, spanning centuries earlier. With that saying, let us explore the lives of the parents whose daughter would one day become royalty, Margery Wentworth and John Seymour.
Born in 1478 to Sir Henry Wentworth and Anne Say, Margery Wentworth descended from a prestigious line of English nobility. Her mother was the daughter of Elizabeth Cheney, whose sister was Elizabeth Tilney. In 1472, Tilney married Thomas Howard, the future Earl of Surrey, with whom she had eleven children, including Elizabeth Howard, the mother of Anne Boleyn. Additionally, through Margery’s paternal line, she was a descendant of King Edward III. Henry Wentworth was a notable figure in local politics during and shortly after the Wars of the Roses, acting as the Sheriff of Yorkshire. According to the poet John Skelton, during her youth Margery was reputed to be a great beauty. Whilst she was in attendance of her aunt, the Countess of Surrey, she posed as a muse for Skelton in his work Garland of Laurel. Here, she was described as both shy and kind, comparing her to primrose. Combined with her illustrious heritage and reputable beauty, this likely facilitated her marriage to Sir John Seymour in 1494.
Sir John Seymour was born in 1476 into a well-established gentry family that claimed descent from the Anglo-Norman times, taking their name from St. Maur-sur-Loire, in Touraine. From 1240, one William de St. Maur held lands in Monmouthshire, and through a successful swathe of marriages throughout the following century, the Seymour family came to be as it was known in Jane’s lifetime, with the acquirement of Wulfhall through the match between Roger Seymour and Maud Esturmy. By 1491, Seymour was the warden of Savernake Forest, and was then later knighted by Henry VII. In 1497, he was rewarded for his service to the crown in fighting at the Battle of Blackheath against Cornish rebels. In the years following, Sir John seems to have remained in royal service, being present at the sieges of Therouanne and Tournay in 1513. Similarly, he was one of many Tudor courtiers present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.
Margery and Sir John would go on to have ten children, an astounding success for a Tudor couple. Their eldest, John Seymour, died in 1510. Out of their nine remaining children, six survived to adulthood: three sons and three daughters, Edward, Henry, Thomas, Jane, Elizabeth, and Dorothy. A number of their children would make notable careers and marriages for themselves within the Tudor court, including Elizabeth Seymour, who would go on to marry the son of Thomas Cromwell, Gregory. Whilst Henry Seymour rarely ventured into the court sphere, Thomas and Edward remained there, leading to their respective executions in 1549 and 1552. It is likely that Margery had a degree of influence over the education of her daughters, teaching them the typical practices expected of a Tudor wife, including religion, embroidery, and music. From what little evidence survives concerning the precise nature of Margery and John’s thirty-two-year marriage, one can infer that they must have enjoyed a positive relationship.
Much like any other noble Tudor family, the Seymour’s were not free from taints of scandal. One particular disgrace bestowed upon the Tudor family has been mentioned in a number of fiction and non-fiction works concerned with the Seymour’s, that being the alleged affair between John Seymour and his daughter-in-law, Catherine Filliol. Marrying in Dorset in 1519, Catherine Filliol was the sole daughter and heir to Sir William Filliol of Woodlands. At this point Edward was beginning to make his way into the English political sphere like his father. Thus, this marriage was politically and financially calculated. Despite providing Edward with two healthy sons, by all means a successful marriage by Tudor standards, it would prove to be an unhappy one. Records of a supposed affair between Catherine and John Seymour appear during the seventeenth century, though contemporary events seem to hint at its factuality. In 1528, upon Sir William Fillilol’s death, Catherine was disinherited along with her children and subsequently banished from Wulfhall and sent to live in a convent. Catherine seems to have yielded precedence to the dictating of her in-laws, with the agreement that she would receive forty pounds per annum. Thus, although no contemporary records make any note of an extramarital affair between father and daughter-in-law, alternate evidence seems to point to its truth.
Regardless of the scandal that may have tainted John Seymour’s name, he continued to receive a selection of titles and offices, including Groom of the Bedchamber in 1532. Additionally, the Seymour’s acted as royal hosts when King Henry VIII visited Wulfhall in 1535, during which some historians have suggested Jane Seymour court his eye. After becoming queen in May 1536, Seymour would unfortunately not live long enough to revel in his family’s glory, dying in the December of that year at the age of sixty (according to his monument). Initially, he was buried at Easton Priory, but was later moved in 1590 by his grandson to St. Mary’s Church in Great Bedwyn. Following the year after her son Thomas’ execution, Margery Wentworth passed away surrounded by her family in October 1550, fourteen years after her husband.
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