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The Wives of Henry VIII: Jane Seymour

© Ellen McDaniel-Weissler

Jane Seymour, it seems, was almost the antithesis of Anne Boleyn. Of a pale, milky complexion, she was described as "sprightly", intelligent without being brilliant, educated in the courtly arts, quiet and sometimes aloof - and in all probability, she was every bit as ambitious as her predecessor. She had, indeed, been doing her bit to undermine Anne in the months before Anne's arrest and execution, and the speed with which she married Henry after her late mistress's death does not argue one unduly attached to that unfortunate lady. She had been a supporter of the late Queen Catherine and was sincerely attached to the Princess Mary, whose estate had decreased so much in worldly terms that she had been reduced to acting as a companion to her little half-sister Elizabeth, now ahead of her in precedence. Now that Elizabeth had also been declared a bastard with her mother's death, there were two unwanted offspring in the royal nursery.

Those who supported Mary hoped that Jane would continue in her fondness for the poor young woman, now a bitter and bewildered 20-year-old, and Jane did indeed live up to their hopes, having Mary brought back to court and doing her best to reconcile Henry to his recalcitrant daughter. Under persuasion from Jane and her other supporters, Mary at long last gave in, supplied her father with the required admission that his marriage to Catherine had been no marriage, and that she herself was, in fact a bastard - and with this admission wrung from her she was again allowed to bask in the sunshine of her royal father's good will. This betrayal of her mother, however, probably did more to harden and embitter Mary than any other event in her life, and she never forgave herself for caving in in this manner. It almost assuredly added to the ill health with would plague her all her life.

The Boleyn faction at court were of course now in eclipse, which tended to have an effect not only on the balance of power around the king, but also on the international stage. Anne had been in favor, naturally, with the French, whereas Catherine had brought the good offices of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Now that the slightly heretical Anne with her Frenchified fashions had been eliminated, the good Catholic Jane brought back a certain warming of relations between Henry and the Empire, although he had no intention of relinquishing his grip on the English church.

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