John Seymour (1474–1536)

Sir John Seymour Knight banneret
Portrait of John Seymour
Born	John Seymour c. 1474
Died	21 December 1536(1536-12-21) (aged 61–62)
Resting place	Church of St Mary, Great Bedwyn 51.3769°N 1.6026°W / 51.3769; -1.6026
Occupation	English courtier
Known for	Father of Jane Seymour, queen consort of Henry VIII of England
Spouse	Margery Wentworth ​ (m. 1494)​
Children	John Seymour Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset Sir Henry Seymour Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley John Seymour Anthony Seymour Jane, Queen of England Margery Seymour Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell Dorothy Seymour
Parents	John Seymour Elizabeth Darrell

Sir John Seymour, Knight banneret (c.  1474 – 21 December 1536) was an English soldier and a courtier who served both Henry VII and Henry VIII. Born into a prominent gentry family, he is best known as the father of Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour, and hence grandfather of king Edward VI of England.

Family

The Seymours were descendants of an Anglo-Norman family that took its name from St. Maur-sur-Loire in Touraine. William de St. Maur in 1240 held the manors of Penhow and Woundy (now called Undy) in Monmouthshire. William's great-grandson, Sir Roger de St. Maur, had two sons: John, whose granddaughter conveyed these manors by marriage into the family of Bowlay of Penhow, who bore the Seymour arms; and Sir Roger (c. 1308 – before 1366), who married Cicely, eldest sister and heir of John de Beauchamp, 3rd Baron Beauchamp. Cicely brought to the Seymours the manor of Hache, Somerset, and her grandson, Roger Seymour, by his marriage with Maud, daughter and heir of Sir William Esturmy, acquired Wulfhall (or Wolf Hall) in the parish of Great Bedwyn in the Savernake Forest, Wiltshire. Sir John Seymour was a great-great-grandson of this Roger Seymour.

Wolfhall Farm, all that remains of Wulfhall

Sir John Seymour was born around 1474, the eldest son of John Seymour (c. 1450 – 26 October 1491) of Wulfhall, by his marriage to Elizabeth Darell (or Darrell) (born c. 1451). He married Margery, the daughter of Sir Henry Wentworth of Nettlestead, Suffolk, and his wife Anne Say. Anne was the daughter of Sir John Say and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Lawrence Cheney (or Cheyne) (c.1396–1461) and Elizabeth Cokayne. Margery Wentworth's grandfather, Sir Philip Wentworth, had married Mary, daughter of John Clifford, 7th Baron de Clifford, whose mother Elizabeth was daughter of Henry Percy (Hotspur) and great-great-granddaughter of Edward III. Margery was renowned for her beauty as well as her quiet and gentle demeanour, and she came to the attention of the poet John Skelton.

Career

Seymour succeeded his father in 1492 and was knighted in the field by Henry VII for his services against the Cornish rebels at Blackheath on 17 June 1497. He was made Knight banneret in 1513. He was present at the sieges of Thérouanne and Tournay in 1513 as well as the two meetings between Henry VIII and Francis I: the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, and again in 1532.

Offices held

His offices included:

• Warden, Savernake Forest, Wiltshire October 1491
• Sheriff, Wiltshire 1498–1499, 1507–1508, 1518–19, 1524 – January 1526
• Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset 1515–1516, 1526–1527
• Justice of the peace Wiltshire 1499–1536
• Steward, Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham's lands, Wiltshire by 1503
• Knight of the body by 1509
• Constable and door-ward, Bristol Castle, Gloucestershire August 1509, jointly. (with son Edward) July 1517
• Under captain, Dragon of Greenwich 1512
• Commissioner subsidy, Wiltshire 1512, 1514, 1515, Wiltshire and Salisbury 1523
• Commissioner musters, Wiltshire 1513
• Commissioner loan 1524
• Steward, manor of Kingston Lisle, Berkshire before 1513
• Forester, Grovely, Wiltshire February 1526
• Groom of the Bedchamber 1532

Marriage and issue

Monumental brass of John Seymour (died 15 July 1510), Seymour's eldest son

Sir John Seymour married Margery Wentworth (c.1478–18 October 1550) on 22 October 1494. The couple had ten children:

• John Seymour (died 15 July 1510), eldest son and heir apparent who predeceased his father without progeny. His monumental brass survives set into the floor of Great Bedwyn church, inscribed as follows:

"Here lyeth the body of John Seymour sonne and here of Sr John Seymour, Knight, & of Margery oon of the daughters of Sr Henry Wentworth, Knight, which decessed ye xv day of July the yer of or Lord MV^CX on whos soule Jh(es)u have m(er)cy & of yor charitie say a Pater Nost(er) & a Ave (Maria)"

• Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of Edward VI (c. 1500 – 22 January 1552) married firstly Catherine, daughter of Sir William Filliol and secondly Anne, daughter of Sir Edward Stanhope
• Sir Henry Seymour (1503–1578) married Barbara, daughter of Morgan Wolfe
• Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley (c. 1508 – 20 March 1549) married Catherine Parr, widow of Henry VIII
• John Seymour (died young)
• Anthony Seymour (died c. 1528)
• Jane Seymour, queen Consort of Henry VIII (c. 1509 – 24 October 1537)
• Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell (c. 1518 – 19 March 1568) through whom Sir John Seymour is an ancestor of actor Danny Dyer
• Margery Seymour (died c. 1528)
• Dorothy Seymour, Lady Smith (c. 1520–1574) married firstly, Sir Clement Smith (c. 1515 – 26 August 1552), MP, of Little Baddow, Essex and secondly, Thomas Leventhorpe of Shingle Hall, Hertfordshire

Of the ten children born at Wulfhall, six survived – three sons: Edward, Henry and Thomas, and three daughters: Jane, Elizabeth and Dorothy. Edward, Thomas, Jane and Elizabeth were courtiers. Edward and Thomas would both be executed during the reign of Edward VI. Henry Seymour, who lacked his brothers' ambition, lived away from court in relative obscurity.

Seymour also had an illegitimate son:

• Sir John Seymour (c. 1530 – before August 1599), married in March 1568 Jane or Joan Poyntz, daughter of Sir Nicholas Poyntz and Joan Berkeley.

Notable children

Four of the Seymour children achieved prominence at the royal court: Edward, Thomas, Jane and Elizabeth.

Jane Seymour, the eldest surviving daughter, was a maid of honour to Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and later to Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII stayed at Wulfhall with Queen Anne in the summer of 1535 for a few days. In early 1536, Henry declared his love for Jane and began spending increasing amounts of time with her, chaperoned by her brother, Edward. Henry and Jane were formally betrothed the day after Anne Boleyn was arrested and executed on charges of treason, adultery and incest. After Jane became queen on 30 May 1536, her family scaled the social ranks, as was befitting the family of a royal consort.

Her eldest brother, Edward, was made an earl and eventually a duke and briefly ruled England on behalf of his nephew, King Edward VI. Her second brother, Thomas, was made a baron and Lord High Admiral, and in 1547 eloped with Henry VIII's widow, Queen Catherine Parr. Both Edward and Thomas were beheaded for treason, a few years apart.

Seymour's second daughter, Elizabeth, was first married to Sir Anthony Ughtred (c.1478 – 1534), secondly to Gregory Cromwell (c.1520 – 1551), son of Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, and for a third time to John Paulet, Baron St John (c.1510 – 1576), who succeeded his father as Marquess of Winchester in 1572.

• 
  Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, later 1st Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector
• 
  Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley
• 
  Jane Seymour, Queen of England, Hans Holbein the Younger
• 
  Portrait of a Lady, perhaps Elizabeth Seymour, Hans Holbein the Younger

Death and burial

St Mary's, Great Bedwyn

Seymour died on 21 December 1536. By royal custom, his daughter Queen Jane did not attend the funeral. He was first buried in the church of Easton Priory, but following the collapse of that building was reburied in 1590 by his grandson, Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, in St Mary's Church, Great Bedwyn, the parish church of Wulfhall, where his monument survives. The monument gives his age at death as sixty:

"This Knight departed this Lyfe at LX years of age, the XXI day of December, Anno 1536 and was firste buryed at Eston Priorie Churche amongst divers of his auncestors, bothe Seymours and Sturmyes..."

His eldest son and heir, Edward Seymour, inherited lands producing an income of £275 a year, equivalent to £203,362 in 2023.

Monument, Great Bedwyn

Tablet above Sir John Seymour's memorial

His monument in Great Bedwyn church consists of a chest tomb displaying heraldic escutcheons, surmounted by his recumbent effigy, fully dressed in armour with hands in prayer, his head resting on his helm from which projects the sculpted Seymour crest of a pair of wings. His feet rest on a lion, and a sword lies by his side. On the wall above is a tablet inscribed as follows:
"Here lyeth intombed the worthie Sr John Seymour of Wolfhall, Knight, who by Margerie his wyfe, daughter of Sr Henry Wentworthe, Knight, from whome the nowe Lorde Wentworthe is discended, had sixe sonnes and fower daughters, to wete, John who dyed unmaryed; Edwarde, Duke of Somerset, Earl of Hertforde, Vicount Beauchampe and Baron Seymour, uncle to Kinge Edwarde the Sixt, Governor of his Royall Person, Protector of all his Dominions and Subjects, Lorde Treasorer and Earle Marshall of Englande; w[i]ch Duke maryed Anne, daughter of Sr Edwarde Stanhope, Knight, by Elizabeth his wyfe, daughter of Sr Foulke Burgchier, Lorde Filzwaryn [sic], from whome the moderne Earles of Bathe are discended; Sr Henry Seymour, Knight, who maried Barbara daughter of Thomas Morgan, Esquier; Thomas Lorde Seymour of Sudeley, Highe Admirall of Englande, who maryed Katherine, Queene of Englande, and wydow to Kinge Henry the Eight. One other Jhon, and Anthony, who dyed in theire infancy. Jane Qveene of Englande, wyfe to Kynge Henry the Eight, and mother to Kynge Edwarde the Sixt; Elizabeth, firste maryed to Sr Henry Ughtred [sic], Knight, after to Gregorie, Lorde Cromwell, and last to Jhon Lorde Sainct John of Basinge [sic], after Marquesse of Winchester; Margery, who dyed in her infancy, and Dorothe, maryed to Sr Clement Smythe, Knight. This Knight departed this lyfe at LX yeares of age, the XXI day of December, Anno 1536, and was firste buryed at Eston Priorie Churche amongst divers of his auncestors, bothe Seymours and Sturmyes. Howbeit that Churche beinge ruyned, and thereby all theire monumentes either whollie spoyled, or verie much defased duringe the mynoritie of Edwarde, Earle of Hertforde, sonne to the said Duke, the said Earle after, as well for the dutyfull love he beareth to his said grandefather, as for the better contynuans of his memory, did cause his bodie to be removed, and here to be intombed at his own coste and chardge, the laste daye of September, Anno 1590, in the XXXII yeare of the moste happye raigne of our gratious Soveraigne Ladie Queene Elizabeth."

A transcript was made of the inscriptions of the Seymour monuments by the topographer John Aubrey on his visit to the church in 1672. He also recorded the heraldry on the monument at that date, much of which has been lost.

Arms

Arms of Seymour

The arms of Seymour are blazoned Gules, two wings conjoined in lure or.

References

• Andrews, William Frampton (1886). Memorial Brasses in Hertfordshire Churches. Hertford: Stephen Austin and Sons.
• Aubrey, John; Jackson, John Edward (1862). Wiltshire: The Topographical Collections of John Aubrey, F. R. S., A. D. 1659–70, With Illustrations. London: Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society.
• Beer, Barrett L. (2004). "Jane [née Jane Seymour]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14647. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Beer, Barrett L. (January 2009) [First published 2004]. "Seymour, Edward, duke of Somerset [known as Protector Somerset]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25159. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Bernard, G. W. (May 2011) [First published 2004]. "Seymour, Thomas, Baron Seymour of Sudeley". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25181. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Bindoff, S. T. (1982). "Cromwell, Thomas (by 1485–1540), of London". In Bindoff, S. T. (ed.). Members. The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1509–1558. Vol. 1: Appendices, constituencies, members A–C. London: Published for the History of Parliament Trust by Secker & Warburg. ISBN 978-0-436-04282-9.
• Burke, Bernard (1965). Townend, Peter (ed.). Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry (18th ed.). London: Burke's Peerage. ASIN B0006BNKM8.
• Burke, John (1836). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank; But Invested With Heritable Honours. Vol. III. London: Published for Henry Colburn by R. Bentley.
• Carthew, G. A. (1878). The Hundred of Launditch and Deanery of Brisley; in the County of Norfolk; Evidences and Topographical Notes from public records, Heralds' Visitations, Wills, Court Rolls, Old Charters, Parish Registers, Town books, and Other Private Sources; Digested and Arranged as Materials for Parochial, Manorial, and Family History. Vol. II. Norwich: Printed by Miller and Leavins.
• Chitty, Henry; Phillipot, John (1885). MacLean, John; Heane, W. C. (eds.). The Visitation of the County of Gloucester, Taken in 1623, by Henry Chitty and John Phillipot as Deputies to William Camden, Clarenceux King of Arms, With Pedigrees from the Heralds' Visitations of 1569 and 1582–3, and Sundry Miscellaneous Pedigrees. Publications of the Harleian Society. Vol. XXI. London: Harleian Society.
• Cokayne, G. E. (1913). Gibbs, Vicary; Doubleday, H. Arthur (eds.). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant. Vol. III. London: St. Catherine Press.
• Cokayne, G. E. (2000). Gibbs, Vicary; Doubleday, H. A.; White, Geoffrey H.; Warrand, Duncan; Lord Howard de Walden (eds.). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant. Vol. III (new ed.). Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing. pp. 555, 557–558.
• Cokayne, G. E. (1916). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant. Vol. IV. London: St. Catherine Press.
• Cokayne, G. E. (1898). Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant. Vol. VIII. Exeter: William Pollard.
• Colby, Frederic Thomas, ed. (1872). The Visitation of the County of Devon in the Year 1620. Publications of the Harleian Society. Vol. VI. London: Printed by Taylor and Co.
• Catalogue of the Arundel Manuscripts in the Library of the College of Arms. London: S. and R. Bentley. 1829.
• Dasent, John Roche, ed. (1892) [First published HMSO:1892]. Acts of the Privy Council of England. New Series. Vol. IV: 1552–1554. British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
• Davids, R. L. (1982). "Seymour, Sir John (1473/74–1536), of Wolf Hall, Wilts.". In Bindoff, S. T. (ed.). Members. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558. Historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
• Faris, David (1999). Plantagenet Ancestry of Seventeenth-Century Colonists: The Descent from the Later Plantagenet Kings of England, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III, of Emigrants from England and Wales to the North American Colonies Before 1701 (2nd ed.). Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society. ISBN 978-0-88082-107-0.
• Fitzgerald, Teri (18 August 2019). "All That Glitters: Hans Holbein's Lady of the Cromwell Family". queenanneboleyn.com. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
• Flower, William (1881). Norcliffe, Charles Best (ed.). The Visitation of Yorkshire in the Years 1563 and 1564, Made by William Flower, Esquire, Norroy king of Arms. Publications of the Harleian Society. Vol. XVI. London: Mitchell and Hughes, Printers.
• Fuidge, N. M. (1981). "Ughtred, Henry (by 1534–aft. Oct. 1598), of Southampton and Ireland". In Hasler, P. W. (ed.). Members. The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1558–1603. Historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
• Hawkyard, A. D. K. (1982). "Cromwell, Gregory (by 1516–51), of Lewes, Suss.; Leeds Castle, Kent and Launde, Leics.". In Bindoff, S. T. (ed.). Members. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558. Historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
• Hawkyard, A. D. K. (1982). "Seymour, Sir Henry (by 1503–78), of Marwell, Hants.". In Bindoff, S. T. (ed.). Members. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558. Historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
• Hawkyard, A. D. K. (1982). "Seymour, Sir Thomas II (by 1509–49), of Bromham, Wilts., Seymour Place, London and Sudeley Castle, Glos.". In Bindoff, S. T. (ed.). Members. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558. Historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
• "Journal of the House of Lords". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
• Lauder, Rosemary (2002). Devon Families. Tiverton: Halsgrove. ISBN 978-1-84114-140-4.
• Leithead, Howard (2008) [First published 2004]. "Cromwell, Thomas, Earl of Essex (b. in or before 1485, d. 1540)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6769. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
• Loades, David (2013). Jane Seymour: Henry VIII's Favourite Wife (hardback). Stroud: Amberley. ISBN 978-1-4456-1157-0.
• Machyn, Henry (1848). Nichols, John Gough (ed.). The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant–Taylor of London, from A. D. 1550 to A. D. 1563. [Camden Society. Publications]. Vol. XLII. London: Printed for the Camden Society by J. B. Nichols and Son.
• MacLean, John (1887). "Manor of Tockington and the Roman Villa". In Maclean, John (ed.). Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, For 1887–88. Vol. XII. Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. pp. 123–169.
• MacMahon, Luke (2004). "Ughtred, Sir Anthony". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27979. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• N. M. S. (1981). "Cromwell, Thomas (c.1540–c.1611), of king's Lynn, Norf.". In Hasler, P. W. (ed.). Members. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558. Historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
• Noble, Mark (1784). Memoirs of Several Persons and Families Who, by Females are Allied to, or Descended from the Protectorate–House of Cromwell. Birmingham: Pearson and Rollason. p. 8.
• Norris, Herbert (1998). Tudor Costume and Fashion (new ed.). New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-29845-0.
• Norton, Elizabeth (2009). Jane Seymour: Henry VIII's True Love (hardback). Chalford: Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84868-102-6.
• Pole, Reginald; Mayer, Thomas F.; Walters, Courtney B. (2008). Thomas F. Mayer; Courtney B. Walters (eds.). The Correspondence of Reginald Pole. Vol. 4: A Biographical Companion: The British Isles. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-0329-0.
• Pollard, Albert Frederick (1897). "Seymour, Edward". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 51. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 299–310.
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. III (2nd ed.). ISBN 978-1-4610-4520-5.
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. III (2nd ed.). CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1-4610-4513-7.
• Roskell, J. S.; Knightly, Charles (1993). "Sturmy (Esturmy), Sir William (c.1356–1427), of Wolf Hall in Great Bedwyn, Wilts. and Elvetham, Hants.". In Roskell, J. S.; Clark, C. Rawcliffe (eds.). Members. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386–1421. Historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
• Russell, Gareth (14 May 2010). "May 14th, 1536: Mistress Seymour's New Lodgings". Confessions of a Ci-Devant. Garethrussellcidevant.blogspot.com.au. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
• Schofield, John (2011). The Rise & Fall of Thomas Cromwell: Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant. The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-5866-3.
• Seymour, William (1972). Ordeal by Ambition: An English Family in the Shadow of the Tudors. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 978-0-283-97866-1.
• Sherlock, Peter (2008). Monuments and Memory in Early Modern England. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-6093-4.
• Starkey, David (2004). Six Wives: The queens of Henry VIII. London: Vintage. ISBN 978-0-09-943724-6.
• Strong, Roy (May 1967). "Holbein in England – I and II". The Burlington Magazine. 109 (770): 276–281. JSTOR 875299.
• Strype, John (1822). Ecclesiastical Memorials. Vol. II. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Syvret, George S.; Carteret, Samuel de (1832). Chroniques des Iles de Jersey, Guernesey, Auregny et Serk (in French). Guernesey: de l'imprimerie de Thomas James Mauger.
• Thornton, Tim (2012). The Channel Islands, 1370–1640: Between England and Normandy. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-711-4.
• Wagner, John A.; Schmid, Susan Walters (2012). Encyclopedia of Tudor England (hardback). Vol. 3. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-298-2.
• Wilson, Derek (2006). Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man (revised ed.). London: Pimlico. ISBN 978-1-84413-918-7.

Attribution

• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain:  Pollard, Albert Frederick (1897). "Seymour, Edward". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 51. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 299–310.

External links

• Seymour, Sir John (1473/74-1536), of Wolf Hall, Wilts. Biography at History of Parliament Online
• Seymour Family Pedigree of the Seymour family at tudorplace.com