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- [00:01]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Want to walk the halls of Anne Boleyn's childhood home or explore the castles that made up Henry VIII's English stronghold? With a subscription to History Hit, you can dive into our Tudor past alongside the world's leading historians and archaeologists. You'll also unlock hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a brand new release every single week covering everything from the ancient world to to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com subscribe
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Knox
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Jamie
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- [02:37]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Hello, I'm Professor Susannah Lipscomb and welcome to not just the Tudors from History hit the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs, from Holbein to the Huguenots to from Shakespeare to samurais, relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft. Not in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors.
- [03:14]
I want you to imagine a 16 year old girl. She loves books, she loves Greek philosophy and Latin poetry. She has spent her short life trying to please her parents, who seem impossible to satisfy, finding her only comfort in scholarship and prayer. And then one summer afternoon, the most powerful men in the land are kneeling before her telling her that she is their queen. She didn't ask for it, she didn't want it. She protested and she wept, but they insisted. And so she accepted the throne of England, a throne in which she would sit for less than a fortnight and that would cost her her life before her 17th birthday. This is the heartbreaking fate of Lady Jane Grey, whose story I tell in a new two part documentary series. The History Hit is the story of a girl caught in a hurricane of ambition, religious conflict and dynastic scheming. Today I thought I'd share with you a taste of some of the insights into Lady Jane's life from just three of the experts who joined me on location for that series and who are no strangers to not just the Tudors, Professor Anna Whitelock and Dr. Joanne Poole and art historian Verity Babs. There'll also be contributions from Dr. Nicola Tallis, who came onto the podcast to talk to me about Lady Jane in October 2021. I'm Professor Suzanne Lipscomb. Welcome to Not Just the Cheaters from History. To understand how Lady Jane Grey found herself on the throne of England, we first need to understand where she came from. And it starts, as so many Tudor stories do, with Henry VIII. Jane was born in either 1536 or 1537, most likely at Bradgate House in Leicestershire, a grand estate set amid rolling parkland. Her father was Henry Grey, later the Duke of Suffolk. Her mother was Lady Frances Brandon, and it through her that the royal blood flowed. Lady Frances was the daughter of Henry VIII's younger sister, Mary Tudor, and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. That made Jane the great granddaughter of Henry vii, the great niece of Henry viii, and the first cousin once removed of the King's children, Edward, Mary and Elizabeth. Despite her royal blood, Jane was a long way from the throne, but she received one of the finest educations of any woman of her era. And it was at Bradgate that the seeds of her passionate Protestantism were Sown.
- [06:10]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
And we know that Jane really relished her education.
- [06:14]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Dr. Nicola Tallis.
- [06:16]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
She took great pleasure in the pages of books. We know that she read Plato. A contemporary, Sir Thomas Chaloner, who may have known Jane but certainly knew members of her family, later remarked that she was supposed to have been able to speak eight languages, which is exceptional. And we know that she later began learning Hebrew at her own request, which was again, really extraordinary. So she was a young woman who was extremely precocious, extremely intelligent, and who really took advantage of the academic opportunities that were presented to her and was certainly showing great promise in terms of her intellectual abilities.
- [07:03]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Jane was tutored by the brilliant John Almer, later Bishop of London, and by the time she was 14, her reputation as a formidable scholar had spread across Europe. Even Roger Asham, who taught the future Elizabeth I, acknowledged Jane's extraordinary intellect.
- [07:22]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
I think she knew that she was intelligent. And certainly. What always strikes me as being quite extraordinary is the fact that in an age in which women aren't always predominant in the sources, as we know, people were taking the time to write about Jane and her extraordinary academic ability. And I just think that this is extraordinary, given that she wasn't one of Henry VIII's daughters, and so it wasn't as present in the same manner as Mary and Elizabeth. She was a young girl living in distant Leicestershire, far away from the court, and yet people were writing about how intelligent she was.
- [08:03]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
But Lady Jane was deeply unhappy at home. When Roger Ascham visited Bradgate around 1550, he found the entire household out hunting in the park. Everyone except Jane. He discovered her alone, reading Plato in the original Greek. When Ashram asked Jane why she wasn't outside enjoying the hunt, she replied, I wist all their sport in the park is but a shadow to that pleasure that I find in Plato. Alas, good folk, they never felt what true pleasure meant. So this is a girl who took absolute delight in intellectual pleasure and pitied those who didn't get the same satisfaction from it. Jane revealed to Ashem that her parents were harsh and impossible to please. When I'm in the presence either of father or mother, she said, whether I speak, keep silent, sit, stand or go, eat, drink, be merry or sad, be sewing, playing, dancing or doing anything else, I must do it as it were, in such weight, measure and number, even so perfectly, as God made the world. Or else I am so sharply taunted, so cruelly threatened, yea, presently, sometimes with pinches, nips and bobs and other ways which I will not name for the honour I bear them that I think myself in hell. This is a story of abuse, and Jane's only escape from this hell was learning. Her schoolmaster, she said, was as gentle as her parents were cruel. When I am called from him, she confessed, I begin weeping, because whatever else I do but learning is full of grief, trouble, fear, and is wholly misliking unto me. Some have suggested that Jane may have been exaggerating, as teenagers sometimes do, and the strictness of her upbringing was not unusual for an aristocratic household. But whether her suffering was unique or commonplace, it shaped her. It turned her into a young woman who found solace in books and prayer rather than in the glittering world of the court. And it certainly did not prepare her for the trouble that was brewing in that Tudor court. By the terms of Henry VIII's will, he was to be succeeded by his son, Edward. If Edward were to die childless, and if Catherine Parr had not given him any other male heirs by the point he died, the will said that Edward should be succeeded first by Henry VIII's eldest daughter, Mary, and if she were to have no children, then by his younger daughter, Elizabeth. But crucially, Henry had declared both of his daughters illegitimate and neither had been legitimated at the time of his death, although they had been restored to their place in the succession. When Henry viii died on 28 January 1547, his nine year old son Edward became King Edward VI. He was a devout Protestant who had not only inherited his father's throne, but his ruthless certainty about England's religious direction. But six years into the reign, King Edward VI, now age 15, fell dangerously ill. Who would succeed him? Dr. Nicola Tallis.
- [11:08]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
Again, if none of Henry VIII's children were to produce children of their own, then Henry decreed that the line of his elder sister, Margaret, Queen of Scots, was to be struck out. And instead, instead, the next heirs should be the children of his younger sister, Mary. So if this was to happen, then technically the next in line should have been Francis, Jane's mother. But Henry overlooked her and there have been lots of debates as to why this may have been. My own feeling is that Henry didn't have a particularly high opinion of Henry Grey. But in any case, Henry had then ordered that the next in line should be the heirs of Francis, in which case Jane was the first of these. So that's where her claim to the throne comes in. It's been set up by her great uncle, Henry vii, but nobody really expects Jane to come to prominence in that way.
- [12:07]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Yet Edward's heir under the law, specifically the Third Succession act of 1544 was his elder half sister, Mary, and she was a deeply, fiercely committed Catholic. She had defied Edward's Protestant reforms, continuing to have the traditional Latin mass celebrated in her private chapels, despite it being illegal. Professor Anna Whitelock.
- [12:32]
Professor Anna Whitelock
Mary was Henry VIII's daughter, and by the 1544 act of Succession, she was next in line to the throne. Now, it's absolutely right that she was still illegitimate. Henry's act of Settlement and will hadn't made her legitimate, but by act of Parliament, and that was crucial. She was Henry's heir and in the days that followed, legitimacy was her trump card. That's the card that she repeatedly played.
- [13:03]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
For Edward, the thought of Mary undoing everything he had built was unbearable. And for the man who effectively ran the country, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, it was existential. He knew that if Mary took the throne, he and his family would almost certainly be destroyed. Dr. Joanne Paul he's known as the
- [13:25]
Dr. Joanne Poole
evil Duke of Northumberland. He's seen as a tyrant, as an ambitious manipulator. He is really the leading counselor at the death of Edward vi. He has control of everything. He's the one you're going to have to look at to determine what's going to happen when Edward dies. And he's also Jane's father in law, and so he has that role in her life as well as a father figure, someone who is in control of the choices that she is going to make.
- [13:55]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
And so a scheme was hatched. Edward drafted a document called My Device for the Succession, a plan that bypassed both mary and Elizabeth. Dr. Nicola Tallis.
- [14:09]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
So it's a really, really extraordinary document, all drawn up in Edward's own hand. There's been a lot of debate over how much of this was done under Edward's own auspices and how much he was influenced by Northumberland. My own feeling is that Edward had more of a hand in it than he has perhaps been given credit for, if that's the right terminology. But in this device, Edward cuts out both of his half sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, basically because he had spent the entirety of his reign campaigning really to stamp Protestantism firmly into his reign and onto his subjects. And he didn't want to give his Catholic half sister, Mary, the chance to, to undo what he saw as all of his good work in the cause of religion. But he recognized that he couldn't exclude one half sister without also excluding the other. So both Mary and Elizabeth are excluded on the grounds of their previous illegitimacy. And instead, to begin with, he orders that the throne should pass to the heirs male of his cousin, Lady Jane Grey. But it very soon becomes clear that actually Edward isn't going to live long enough for Jane to produce any heirs male or any heirs at all. And so, with the stroke of his pen, he inserts two words so that his will reads that the throne will pass to Lady Jane and her heirs male. And this is how Jane goes from being third to first in line to the throne.
- [15:49]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
One question has been how much this was Edward's own doing. Dr. Joanne Paul, we know it's the
- [15:56]
Dr. Joanne Poole
will of the King. Edward VI writes out what he wants the succession to be. He has motivations for that. I think he's hoping that Jane is carrying a male heir. He's looking desperately down the family tree for a male heir, and Jane might produce that very soon. And John Dudley knows that this is what Edward wants. Edward is someone who knows his own mind, and I think John sees himself as executing that will to the point of strong arming those who oppose it.
- [16:27]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
On 21 June 1553, Edward's letters patent was signed by 102 notables, the entire Privy Council, peers, bishops, judges and London aldermen. But there was a crucial problem, and it would prove fatal. Edward's device for the succession was never ratified by Parliament. The Third Succession act, which placed Mary next in line, was the law of the land. One could argue that Edward's letters patent held no legal authority, because under English constitutional law, the succession was a matter for Parliament, not the Crown alone. And yet acts of succession had also dictated that the king, the monarch Henry VIII at the time the laws were created, could determine the succession by letters patent. Edward had in fact, planned to have Parliament debate and approve his plans. But Parliament wasn't scheduled to meet until September, and Edward did not live that long. Meanwhile, and possibly before Edward drew up his device for the succession, there was the matter of getting Jane married to the right person. On 25 May 1553, a few weeks before all of this, Jane had been married to Lord Guildford Dudley, the fourth surviving son of the Duke of Northumberland, in a lavish ceremony at Durham House. Now, by most accounts, Jane was not particularly happy about the match. Dr. Nicola Tallis.
- [17:59]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
The marriage of Jane came about through the auspices of Edward's chief advisor, the Duke of Northumberland, who proposed that she should marry his fourth son, Guildford Dudley. And at that time, the suggestion of the marriage was very much with what may come in the future in mind, and it was an attempt to secure the bonds of allegiance for what lay ahead. But there are many suggestions in the sources that not only Jane hated the idea of this marriage, but also her mother, Frances. One chronicler reports that she was vigorously opposed to it. And I think it's very easy to understand why, because Jane did come from a family with close links to the royal family and the throne, and she had been raised with possible expectations that she may be married to King Edward and thus become his consort, but certainly that she could expect a very advantageous match. And so I think the realisation that she wasn't going to be able to marry Edward because he was in poor health must have come as a blow, certainly to Jane's parents, that the idea that she would be married to the son of a duke, I mean, not even the eldest son of a duke, but the fourth son of a duke. I mean, I think that must have been a really bitter pill for the Greys to see swallow. And you can understand, I think, why Francis Brandon may not have been too keen on that. But the sources say that Henry Gray was convinced by Northumberland that this marriage was a good idea. And so it duly took place on the 25th May at Durham Place, which was Northumberland's townhouse on the Strand. And it was a very grand and a very lavish occasion. Occasion. So the wedding clothes had all been paid for by Edward vi, who was unfortunately too poorly to attend by this point. But he'd also sent gifts of jewels as well to the young couple. We've got a warrant which shows that there were two masks that were performed. The French ambassadors were invited. It was a really, really lavish occasion, only marred, I suppose, exposed in some ways by, first of all, Jane's reluctance. She wasn't happy about this marriage at all, but recognised that it was her duty to be obedient to her parents. And also by the fact that several of the guests, including Guildford Dudley, managed to contract food poisoning as a result of apparently a poorly prepared salad by one of the chefs. So I think, for more reasons than one, the observation of a contemporary that this marriage was judged to be the first act of a tragedy is very accurate.
- [20:55]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Within just two months of Jane's marriage to Guildford Dudley, on the evening of the 6th of July, 1553, King Edward VI died. The conspirators sprang into action. Within three days, Jane was summoned to Sion House, the Duke of Northumberland's residence west of London, and arrived to find an assembly of the most powerful people in England. Dr. Nicola Tallis.
- [21:20]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
Tradition says that she was taken to the Long Gallery, and she was informed then that the King had died and that he had named her as his heir. And all of the sources agree that she was utterly distraught at this news. She completely broke down and she was overcome by grief at the death of her cousin, but also with the enormity of what had been inflicted on her, I suppose, or imposed on her.
- [21:50]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
I met Dr. Joanne Poole at Sion House.
- [21:54]
Dr. Joanne Poole
We only have her account, or what we think is her account of those events that take place here at Sion House in July of 1553, when she's let in before these men who are really controlling everything after the death of Edward vi, according to her, she comes in, they bow very deeply to her in a way that makes her feel very embarrassed. And then eventually she's told that her cousin is dead and she is the new queen, and she says that she falls to the floor weeping desperately. We have this account from her when she's in the Tower. She would at that point say that she didn't want it. And that's indeed what she says, that these men were bestowing gifts on her that weren't theirs by right at the time, though it's hard to know how she really did feel about it. She was a smart girl and we say girl. She was 17, she was a young woman. She may have been interested in the crown, she may have not wanted it at all. She may have been excited by this. She may have seen it as a death sentence. We only know from hindsight that it was the latter.
- [23:08]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
While Jane said that she was initially reluctant, against her better judgment, she accepted Dr. Nicola Tallis.
- [23:17]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
But eventually she does manage to calm herself down. And although she didn't want to be Queen, she accepted what had been thrust upon her. And I think she was determined to make the best of the situation. She recognized that the King had named her as his heir. This had been done for a reason. And from this moment she was going to continue with Edward's good work and she was Queen of England.
- [23:48]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
The next day, 10 July 1553, Lady Jane Grey was formally proclaimed Queen of England, France and Ireland and entered the Tower of London to prepare for her coronation. But it was already too late.
- [24:11]
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- [26:40]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Mary, in the meantime, had not been idle in the days around her half brother's Death, she had fled from her home at Hunsdon in Hertfordshire to Framingham Castle in Suffolk, where she set about building support for her claim. I met Professor Anna Whitelock at Framlingham.
- [26:58]
Professor Anna Whitelock
Up until 1547, Framingham had been the stronghold of the Duke of Norfolk, premier English nobleman and hugely important East Anglian magnate. And, interestingly, she'd only acquired Framlingham in the few months before Edward's death. At that point, while she'd previously held Kenninghall, she'd also owned some manors in Essex. And the government, Northumberland and so on, decided to swap some of those Essex manors for this place, which feels a bit bonkers, but because this became so important for her ultimate victory. And it's thought that, in a way, they underestimated Mary. They thought that she would capitulate and accept Lady Jane's accession, and also that she had no hope. So give her Framingham as a sop, will take the manors back near Essex that are closest to London that perhaps were more significant for the government. So it was ultimately quite ironic that it was here that Mary was able to consolidate an East Anglian base that she had been growing since 1547. Kenninghall, various cottages, manors and so on that were part of her remit as this East Anglian figure. And then, of course, here. So she was the preeminent East Anglian magnate, so a really important figure. And it was from that affinity group that she managed to mobilise core support in those early days.
- [28:20]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
So she had been building up support in East Anglia over a period of time. And you're suggesting that actually it's her relationship to other lords and to tenants in this area that's crucial.
- [28:35]
Professor Anna Whitelock
Absolutely. And that's what Northumberland had massively underestimated. Yes, Mary was an East Anglian magnate and that power base had built up since 1547. But essentially she had a household of maybe a hundred. They were people from the Home Counties in East Anglia. They weren't people who had huge experience in government and they thought she was a bit of a country bumpkin. But actually, her household officers proved, in the moment of crisis to be both really brave, but also really strategic, advising her when to play the card of religion, when to play the card of legitimacy, when to go and draw on some of those really important figures to kind of secure their defections. And she had their loyalty. They would absolutely have sort of laid down and died for her, because over time, she had been the sort of person that they wanted to pledge their loyalty to. She had cultivated these relationships. And Lady Jane didn't have a household following and didn't have a regional power base in the way that Mary did. And that was ultimately crucial in those early days. And so we have a situation where Mary was this complete outlier figure. Power was centered in London. I mean, here we are at Framingham. It feels miles away from London, miles away from the Tower, miles away from the treasury, miles away from the munitions. But here, just from her power base, she's able to get to a point where the Privy Councillors are looking and thinking, goodness me, that power is really starting to mount and the tide is beginning to turn. And that's really from a position of such weakness, a really remarkable turnaround.
- [30:13]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Mary's genius was to play down her Catholicism and play up her legitimacy. This was not about religion, it was about blood. She was Henry VIII's daughter. The people had loved her mother, Catherine of Aragon. They had watched Mary suffer through decades of mistreatment, and they'd never heard of Lady Jane Grey. Queen Jane, meanwhile, was determined to assert her authority. Nicola Tallis.
- [30:38]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
And we see this in several instances. So after Jane's arrival at the Tower of London on 10 July, a letter arrives that evening from her cousin Mary, who is determined not to submit neatly to Jane's queenship and is determined to fight for what she believes to be her birthright. The contemporary reports say that Jane's mother and her mother in law break down in tears lamenting this. But it's at this point that Jane really shows her authority and she begins issuing a number of proclamations which are sent out across the realm, ordering her subjects to rally to her banner and to support her claim to be queen. And I think also Northumberland had expected her to be very pliable. And again, there are reports which suggest that she refused, refused to bow to Northumberland's demands that she make her husband Guildford king, and instead said that she'd concede that she'd make him a duke, but that she would only make him king if that was what was decided by Parliament. So I think that there are instances where she really does show that she's not prepared to be bullied and that she's going to have her own voice.
- [31:57]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
From her stronghold at Framingham, Mary was having none of it. She sent messengers out with a proclamation audaciously signed, Mary the Queen, Professor Anna Whitelock.
- [32:08]
Professor Anna Whitelock
And they're prepared to risk their lives by disseminating that proclamation, which, of course was treason, because they were declaring for her. Mary was proclaiming herself as queen. Lady Jane Gray was in The Tower being proud, proclaimed as Queen, so totally audacious.
- [32:24]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Within days, Mary had assembled a formidable force at Framingham Castle, one that would swell to many thousands of men.
- [32:32]
Professor Anna Whitelock
And then, if we believe the account of Robert Wingfield, she's here riding out, looking at her forces, mobilizing them. I mean, when we think about that, when we think about a female military figure, we think. Think about Elizabeth, we think about the Armada, but this is Mary with a real force before her, standing here and at that point ready to fight. So, I think totally courageous, audacious, brave and bold. And we later see that in Mary's reign, during the midst of Wyatt's rebellion, where, again, she doesn't leave London when her advisors are asking her to, and she instead rides to the Guild hall and, you know, mobilises London. And at that point, so, yeah, Mary, total chutzpah and with some of the plaudits that were associated with Elizabeth in a potentially fabricated way at the time of the Spanish Armada, can absolutely be directed towards Mary here at Framingham.
- [33:27]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
In support of Queen Jane, her father in law, the Duke of Northumberland, marched out of London on 14 July, a small force to confront Mary, totally underestimating her and the level of her support.
- [33:39]
Professor Anna Whitelock
I think they thought that she was simply a figure they could dismiss because she was away from London. Her power base was in East Anglia, it wasn't immediately near London, and of course, they had all the levers of power, the armory, the treasury, the navy and so on, and therefore what kind of hope that she had. I also think, you know, she didn't have strong male figures around her. I mean, that's what's also quite remarkable, that here Mary rallied her forces. She was a woman rallying her forces. Women were not supposed to lead armies. You know, female monarchs couldn't lead armies. So she was taking on the role that really was not typical of the age. And I think they absolutely underestimated her as a woman, her as a regional power figure, and also the fact that there was a sense of her as legitimate Tudor heir and the fact that she wasn't just going to be bleating on about Catholicism, that she really played that really carefully and it was ultimately on the basis of legitimacy that she won out.
- [34:39]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Did Mary only have support in East Anglia at the time?
- [34:42]
Professor Anna Whitelock
This was certainly a key power base for her, but she did have support, particularly in the Home Counties, where she'd had residences and manors too. And so two of her supporters, Sir Edward Hastings and Edmund Peckham, they mobilised a rising in Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. And the idea there was to basically split the focus for Northumberland as he prepared to leave London. So he had to think about a rising there as well as a rising here. But I think what's remarkable when we think about it is this was successful rebellion against central London from East Anglia that hadn't happened. I mean that wasn't the norm. And that's what's really quite incredible. And of course spearheaded by a woman.
- [35:24]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
One of the questions that students get asked is about the success of Tudor rebellions. Were any success and this one was? Yeah, I mean it's quite extraordinary. You don't call it a rebellion if it succeeds, but that's what this is.
- [35:38]
Professor Anna Whitelock
Yeah, it's that age old a level question about Tudor rebellions that everybody kind of hates because they have to remember the Western Rising and the Kett's rebellion and all of that. But yes, this was also a rebellion. And when we think about it as a succession crisis, which in itself is also quite interesting because it was also a huge, unprecedented, unheralded in many ways, remarkable victory. You know, Mary winning the throne, of course prepared to fight for it. I mean, the men came here prepared and ready to fight. In the end, they didn't have to. And the ultimate question is, well, would they have won? Would they have triumphed if they had to fight? And probably the answer is at that point, yes, because London had defected or was defecting and so support then really did swing across the country for Mary. But it was a successful rebellion that ultimately installed Mary as the rightful Tudor queen.
- [36:30]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Northumberland's forces began melting away almost immediately. Soldiers deserted, noblemen switched sides. The Privy Council left behind in London sensed which way the wind was blowing. On 19 July, just nine days after Jane had been proclaimed Queen, the Privy Council met at Baynard's Castle and did the unthinkable. They switched sides. They proclaimed Mary Queen. Jane's own father walked out onto Tower Hill and declared for Mary and her father in law, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, was blamed as the man who had pulled or the strings. Dr. Joanne Pool.
- [37:11]
Dr. Joanne Poole
John Dudley becomes a scapegoat. He is the one that the Marian regime decides is responsible for everything that happens. Now he's very important in all of this. He's Lord President of the Council, he's Jane's father in law, but he is working with the Council. We know that the council agrees to the succession. 101 witnesses all agree to to it. Londoners come out and see Jane paraded through to the Tower. They might have even celebrated Jane's new reign. So there were lots of people involved, but it's John Dudley who is held up as the prime mover of it all. He's also an easy mark. He is the son of a traitor. There's this assumption that, of course, he will also be a traitor, and that's what they accuse him of.
- [38:01]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, surrendered at Cambridge. He was executed on 22 August 1553. Jane was no longer queen, but a prisoner. The Tower of London, which she had entered as a monarch, now became her jail. Jane and her husband, Guildford, were tried for high treason at the Guildhall on 13th November 1553. Dr. Nicola Tallis.
- [38:29]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
She was tried alongside her husband and several others, including Thomas Cranmer. And the transcript of the trial still survives in the National Archives. It's in Latin, but it's a really extraordinary document. And again, when I was studying that, you do just get this real, tangible sense of Jane and how she must have felt at that time. I mean, let's not forget she was a teenage girl, so standing trial for treason for her life. And the contemporary reports talk about how she'd walked the mile from the Tower to Guildhall, her head down in her prayer book. So, again, I think her faith was of the utmost importance to her at this point, and she pleaded guilty, as did her husband, and so that meant that the sentence was inevitable. Jane became the youngest royal woman to be condemned for treason, and this meant that she was condemned to a traitor's death, which in her case was to be burned or beheaded at the Queen's pleasure. So I think, even though in many respects she believed that the trial was a formality because Mary had made it clear that she intended to show mercy and show clemency to Jane and. And her husband. I still think that the enormity of this must have really struck doom into Jane's heart and must have been difficult to comprehend.
- [40:02]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Mary hesitated. She knew her young cousin had been a pawn. She understood that Jane had not sought the crown, that she had been pushed into it by ambitious men. Mary initially decided to spare her life. And Jane might have survived if it hadn't been for her father. In January 1554, a rebellion broke out against Mary's plan to marry Philip of Spain. It was called Wyatt's Rebellion. And Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, joined wasn't intended to put Jane back on the throne. But that didn't matter. Jane had become a symbol, a rallying point for Protestant discontent. As long as she lived, she was a threat. Mary signed Jane's death warrant on the 19th of January, 1554. Dr. Nicola Tallis.
- [40:51]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
Again, we don't know exactly when or how Jane found out that she was going to die, but again, I think that this must have come as a great shock to her because even though she had been condemned, Mary had made it very clear that she intended to spare her life and perhaps even eventually liberate her. So I think that this must have been quite difficult for her to come to terms with. But it's at this point that she recognizes that she is going to die. And I think at this point that she decides that she's going to die a martyr to the Protestant faith in which she's always been so fervent. And there is one final test left for her to endure. Because although Mary had realized that she couldn't save Jane's life, she was determined that she could at least save her soul, which unless Jane converted to Catholicism, in Mary's eyes, Jane was doomed to burn in the fires of hell.
- [41:53]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Mary postponed Jane's execution for three days to give her one last chance to convert to Catholicism. Mary sent her chaplain, Dr. John Feckenham, to try to convince her.
- [42:06]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
And again, it's really at this point that Jane shows her true strength of character, because rather than agreeing to convert or meekly submitting to Fekenham's arguments, she engages in this series of debates with him in which she really shows just how steadfast her faith is and affecting him. Even though he fails in converting Jane, he's really, really impressed by her determined spirit and agrees actually to accompany her when she meets her fate. Just a couple of days later,
- [42:40]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
12 February 1554, around 10:00', clock, Jane's husband, Guilford Dudley, was led out to Tower Hill. He made a short speech, he put. He asked the crowd to pray for him. He was executed with one stroke of the axe.
- [42:59]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
Just minutes later, she sees the cart that brings Guildford's butchered remains back into the Tower for burial within the chapel and realizes that it's her turn next. And I think it's just commendable, really, how she manages to retain her compassion, composure.
- [43:21]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Jane was led out next to Tower Green, not the public scaffold on Tower Hill, but the private execution ground inside the Tower walls. She climbed the scaffold and calmly addressed the small crowd of witnesses.
- [43:35]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
And again we know that as she walked towards the scaffold which had been erected in front of the White Tower, so within the confines of the Tower, she had her head in her prayer book, she was reading from that deriving words of comfort. She mounted the scaffold and she made a short speech to the crowds that had assembled to watch her die. She says, good people, I am come hither to die, and by law I am condemned to the same. She's very calm and composed up until the moment when she is blindfolded, and it's then that she realized that the block wasn't within her reach, and she cries out in panic and desperation, where is it? What shall I do? And you can't help but feel just the utmost sympathy for this young girl who until this point has been so dignified, but just momentarily descends into panic. And we know then that her hands were guided onto the block. She knelt her head down, and moments later her head was severed with a single blow of the axe.
- [44:53]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Jane was buried alongside Guildford in the Chapel of St Peter at Vincula on the north side of Tower Green. No memorial stone was erected at their grave. Her father met the same fate 11 days later.
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Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Perhaps the most enduring image of Lady Jane Grey is the one depicted in the 1833 painting by Paul Delaroche at the National Gallery in London. Blindfolded and dressed in a glowing white gown, Jane reaches across the dark scaffold, fumbling helplessly for the executioner's block. Her pale face and fragile posture make her look almost childlike, while the men around her watch in silence, some grieving, some grimly resigned. The stark light falling on her dress makes her innocence painfully visible, turning the scene into something deeply tragic. It's an image that has coloured our perception of Lady Jane Grey ever since, and one that may have even fixed a particular account of her execution in the popular imagination. I met art historian Verity Babs at the National Gallery.
- [47:54]
Verity Babs
So this detail, that ledger, Jane Grey, in a slight panic, asks, what shall I do? Where is the block? Was added in several years after execution in a Protestant book of martyrs, which is ideal to have a martyr who is frightened, and she's so young, and she's really framed as this victim of a whole plot. It's popularized by J.G. nichols in 1850, but he has seen this painting. So actually, this painting is how we will remember Lady Jane Grey, based off a detail that may or may not have happened. I mean, eyewitness accounts of her execution suggest that actually she was remarkably put together in her Bible, in her book of prayers. She also writes messages to her father asking him to not be afraid. And her faith has meant that she is completely convinced that she is now going into everlasting life. So she's actually much better put together than we give her credit for. I think that Lady Jane Grey ends up being framed as a bit of a wet flannel in history, but actually there are lots of parts of her rule that demonstrate a real strength, you know, denying Guildford the title of king. There's actually such a strength in her that it's unfortunate she has been framed as this weak young martyr, when actually, I think she has a lot more chutzpah than we give her credit for.
- [49:13]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
So here's the question that has haunted historians for nearly 500 years. Was Lady Jane Grey or Lady Jane Dudley the rightful Queen of England? For a start, let's set aside the question of her lack of a coronation. We count Edward V and Edward VIII as kings, even though neither of them were crowned. The answer depends on how you define rightful, and it can be argued both ways. One has to remember that the concept of primogeniture was still in its infancy as the principle of royal succession. There are many instances throughout the medieval period in which that was not how the crown was transferred. In the Acts of Succession passed in Henry VIII's reign in 1536 and 1544, it had been stated, stated that a monarch could designate his successor by letters patent or by his last will and testament. And that is precisely what Henry VIII had done in his last will and testament. Those acts then on the statute book, presumably applied also to his son, Edward vi, when, by a letters patent, he attempted to designate Jane as his successor. The letters patent were not ratified by Parliament. That would have been the belt and braces approach. And the reason it didn't happen was merely a matter of timing. It's because of the agricultural year over the summer, Parliament didn't meet because that's the time everyone was needed in the fields. They only met again after the harvest, that is September. And of course, by then, it was far too late for Edward's intentions to have passed through. Jane was proclaimed Queen. She was recognized by the Privy Council, the bishops, the judges, courts of law convened in her name. Government operated under her authority for nine days. The National Archives of the United Kingdom maintains a separate section labelled Queen Jane for official records from that period, and the official website of the royal family includes Jane among the predecessors of the current king. If Jane's forces had beaten Mary's on the battlefield, then the Letters patent from Edward VI would have been sufficient, indeed, perhaps are sufficient to argue that Jane was the lawful Queen of England. But the counter argument is that Henry VIII's last will and testament and the line laid out in those Acts of succession, trumped that. The Succession act of 1544, the law of the land, placed Mary next in line after Edward, and that was the case Mary made for her rightful queenship as Queen. That did mean that Mary had to ignore the first fact, that the very same act of Succession did not deem her to be legitimate. The 1536 act of Succession had made her explicitly illegitimate, which, of course, implicitly denied her a right to the throne. Legally, then one can argue it either way. And in the end, the legality of the thing was moot, because Mary, whether she was queen by right or not, became queen by might. In the end, that is how decisions about who was the rightful king or queen were often actually practically made. We could say that Richard III was the rightful king, or, if that's too uncomfortable, Edward V, with Henry VII having a very tenuous claim to the throne. But it didn't matter, because Henry VII won at Bosworth and became the rightful king. When his granddaughter Mary gathered troops at Framlingham, she did the very same thing without even taking to the field. Those armed men proved an almighty threat to Jane's meager resources. Under the unpopular Duke of Northumberland, Mary had overwhelming popular support and that support manifested itself in force of arms. So was Jane a queen, a young woman who sat on the throne of England, however briefly, and who exercised royal Authority? Yes. From 6 July 1553, the day of Edward's death, until Mary's proclamation as Queen on 19 July, for 13 extraordinary, terrifying, impossible days, she was, of course, it hadn't been her choice. Dr. Nicola Tallis.
- [53:12]
Dr. Nicola Tallis
This has all been part of the myth, really, that Jane has been caught up in, and I find it quite sad in many ways that she's remembered in this way, because her real achievements lie elsewhere. And I feel that she's worthy of being remembered and recognised for her ability and her academic achievements. And unfortunately, I think it's a real shame that she is remembered as being one of history's most tragic victims and for the fact that she lost her life at a young age. And yes, that is a huge tragedy, but I think we shouldn't allow it to overshadow what was, in effect, although a short life, one that accomplished a great deal and one that shows great intellectual spirit and ability, really.
- [54:09]
Professor Susannah Lipscomb
Lady Jane Grey was a scholarly, devout teenager, used as a political tool by men who created, craved power and then discarded when the game was lost. In her short life, she had mastered eight languages, debated theology with the finest minds of the age, sat on the throne of England and faced the executioner's acts with a courage that moved even her enemies to tears. But for me, the other fascinating thing that has come out of making the documentary for history hit is although Jane never wished to be queen, although this was a circumstance into which she was forced, when the time came, she rose to the challenge. All that education paid off in wisdom and strategic planning. She did everything she could to hold onto her throne once she had accepted it. But Mary was a mighty rival, equally strategic and brilliant. And her popularity and might of men meant that, in the end, Mary stole the show. Nearly five centuries later, Jane remains one of the most compelling and heartbreaking figures in English history, a reminder that in the brutal Game of Thrones, it wasn't always the ambitious who fell. If you'd like to delve deeper into Lady Jane Grey's story and see all the places that shaped her life, do please tune in to my new two part documentary series on Jane, available now on historyhit. I worked with a brilliant team on it. It's beautifully shot and we go to some incredible sites. Subscribe to History Hit to view it and you'll also get to enjoy hundreds of other documentaries as well as this podcast ad free. Just go to historyhit.com subscribe thank you for listening to Not Just the Tudors. And thank you also to my excellent producer Rob Rob Weinberg. Remember to follow us wherever you get your podcasts so that each new episode drops straight into your feed. I look forward to welcoming you back next time for another episode of Not Just the Tudors from History Hit.
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