Some photographs from real life of Lady Jane
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little_miss_sunnydale — 18 years ago(April 14, 2007 03:49 PM)
Do you know if Jane and Edward were really thrown together for marriage before he died or was that made up for the film?
Jane and Edward VI were never engaged to be married. However it appears that Jane's parents, Henry and Frances Grey had for some years, great ambitions to marry Jane to the King. This is probably the reason as to why they sent Jane to live with Katherine Parr and her husband Thomas Seymour. Seymour, Edward's maternal uncle, had promised Frances and Henry that he would arrange a marriage between Jane and Edward if they agreed to place Jane under his custody. However Seymour's intentions were not the best; at the same time he was actually planning to gain power for himself and even overthrow the council. Seymour was eventually arrested in 1549 after trying to kidnap Edward. Before he was arrested the Greys had become suspicious of Seymour's intentions, and when Katherine Parr died in late 1548, they removed Jane from his custody. It was then that they probably gave up on the idea of marrying Jane to the King.
So far as we know, Edward never intended to marry Jane. In fact he was more concerned with marrying Mary Queen of Scots who he was permitted to marry under the Treaty of Greenwich. If he was to marry anyone it would have been a foreign princess for political reasons. He would have got very little out of marrying Jane.
Jane eventually was forced to marry Guildford due to an alliance between her parents and John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Although the film suggests that they eventually fall in love, this was never the case. Apparently Guildford was a selfish youth spoilt by his mother and Jane, when made queen for a few days, attempted to prevent Guildford from becoming King. They of course both died after her father made the foolish decision of participating in Wyatts rebellion.
We are born princes and the civilizing process makes us frogs - Syrus -
little_miss_sunnydale — 18 years ago(April 15, 2007 11:35 AM)
I knew about her living with Seymour and Parr, but I din't know about about Edward and Mary of Scots. Thanks
Yep, the treaty of Greenwich was a result of the battle of Solway Moss (1542) in which the English defeated the Scots. The Scottish king, James V, died shortly after the battle leaving the infant Mary as queen.
Henry wished to resolve the problem of poor English-Scottish affairs by enforcing a treaty onto the Scots that was very much in the English favour. The treaty stipulated that Edward was to marry Mary and the English also wanted Mary to be raised in England.
However both the regent of Scotland (Mary's mother, Marie of Guise) and the Scottish nobility disliked this situation. They viewed Henry as 'roughly wooing' Mary for his son. They did not want their queen raised in what was perceived to be a heretical country and by their traditional enemies. After Henry died Edward was keen on maintaining the agreement and was disappointed when Mary was sent to France to marry the Dauphin.
Apparently after Mary was sent to France, Thomas Seymour suggested to Edward that he should think about Jane as a possible bride. Jane and Edward were quite similar; they shared similar religious ideas and were both quite reserved children. Even bishop John Bale who was close to Edward suggested Jane. However when Seymour approached him about it, Edward was said to be not interested and instead looked forward to marriage with a foreign princess.
Later when England and France achieved peace in July 1551, Edward signed a treaty which renounced his claim to marry Mary Queen of Scots and instead he was contracted to marry Elizabeth Valois, daughter of Henry II. This of course never happened as Edward died young and Elizabeth went on to marry Philip II of Spain.
We are born princes and the civilizing process makes us frogs - Syrus -
maxvaughn — 18 years ago(April 16, 2007 12:32 AM)
Thanks again. I have degree in that England at that time period, but every professor just skimmed over Jane Grey. "It's just too sad" they'd always say.
The penguins are calling and I can't find my way out of the labyrinth. -
sueveh — 17 years ago(November 06, 2008 05:55 PM)
I perceived Dr. F's comment "you are right m'lady, the Queen is wrong" to mean that Jane was immovable in her faith. Queen Mary mistakenly thought that Jane would fold and convert. Wrong - she was steadfast in her faith and truly died a martyr for it (ironic, with the lack of iconoclasts in the Protestant faith)
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herefordg1 — 16 years ago(September 07, 2009 06:38 AM)
Thaks for sharing the pictures. Whenever I see one of those wonderful English houses or castles, I wonder how in the world they kept warm inside them. Still I marvel at their size and beauty. I will never get to visit England due to dreadful fear of flying, but I have many picture books and watch English movies to see the various places that are shown.
I live in the USA in Alabama