The Wives of Henry VIII: Jane Seymour
It is said that Jane did once take it upon herself to remonstrate with him about the dissolution of the monasteries and the despoiling of religious icons. This imprudence on her part was triggered by the "Pilgrimage of Grace," which lasted from September, 1536 to March, 1537. In this uprising, devout Catholics who resented Henry's schism from the Pope and deplored his spoliation of the monasteries and churches, banded together and marched through Lincolnshire and Norfolk and seized the town of York, begging the king to cease his "reforms" which Cromwell, with his own Protestant bent, was assiduously pursuing. Jane dared to raise the issue with the king and to beg his clemency for the rioters, pointing out that he had, perhaps, gone a little bit too far in his "reform" of the church - but Henry, outraged, ordered Jane to attend to her own business and reminded her unkindly of her predecessor's fate. Jane, no fool, never again tried to stick her oar into Henry's public affairs.
It would be a simplification to say that Jane and Henry were blissfully happy, although they seemed to get along well enough, but he certainly never exhibited the delirious rapture over her which had once characterized his feelings for Anne Boleyn. Henry was now forty-five years old, well on in years for that time period, and he was slowing down a bit, although still in relatively good physical condition - he still enjoyed dancing and hunting. But he no longer rode in the tournaments nor played tennis for hours on end. His pursuits had become more sedentary, and he desired to be entertained. It is a matter of anyone's guess whether or not Jane possessed the wit and the mental agility to carry out this office to Henry's satisfaction.
Whether or not Jane could have held his attention for very long is a question which will never be answered. It was Jane's good fortune to be the queen who supplied Henry with his long-desired heir, and thus figured forever in his fond memory as the only queen he had ever truly loved. Prince Edward was born on 12 October, 1537, and the entire nation succumbed to an orgy of rejoicing. The prayer of the last 28 years had at last been answered - there was a male heir to carry on the Tudor name on the throne of England. The baby was brought to his
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