Monday, August 06, 2007

Lady Jane Grey, 1537-1554

"Many Englishmen also expressed concern that Mary favoured for herself a Spanish marriage which might bring in Spanish nobles to rule England in place of Northumberland and his colleagues. Northumberland arranged for his son Lord Guilford Dudley to marry the Protestant (and anti-Catholic) Jane, hoping through him to gain control over his new daughter-in-law and the reins of England."

"At the time of Edward's death, without Edward's will (which had dubious legal standing, since it ran contrary to the Third Succession Act), the crown would have passed, under the terms of the Third Succession Act and of Henry VIII's will, to Mary and her male (not female) heirs [...]Jane thus did not feature in the line of succession prior to the last draft of Edward's will of June 1553. Only in the last draft did Edward finally include Jane Grey as his heir presumptive, knowing the line of succession included no Protestant-born male children."

"There is little recorded of the doings of Jane as Queen from the 11th through the 13th, most likely a result of illness. Jane herself thought she was being poisoned by the Duchess of Northumberland (her husband's mother), but there was no evidence this really occurred."

"On the 14th, Dudley led a troop of 600 with him, carrying an odd assortment of weapons that had been acquired at the day before. Crowds pressed to watch the men leave, but none bid them God Speed."

"The people started to revolt, crying for Mary to be made Queen. Jane ordered the gates to the tower locked and the keys brought to her."

"Gratefully Jane rose and stepped down, embracing her father as she wept. After a time she finally asked, "Can I go home?" This poor innocent girl actually thought it might be that simple. But alas it was not to be."

"Within only nine days, the people of England had overwhelmingly declared their support for Mary, [...] Mary had Jane and her husband imprisoned in the Gentleman Gaoler's apartments at the Tower of London for high treason, although their lives were initially spared."

"The Protestant rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt in late January 1554, [plus] Jane's father (the Duke of Suffolk) and other nobles joined the rebellion, calling for Jane's restoration as Queen." This lead to the pressure that Mary should execute Jane in order to stamp out any other revolters' dreams of restoring a Protestant ruler.

"Jane was then taken out to Tower Green, inside the Tower of London, for a private execution. With few exceptions, private executions applied to royalty alone; Jane's private execution occurred on the orders of Queen Mary, as a gesture of respect for her cousin."

At her death, she read the psalm "Miserere mei deus," pardoned the executioner, and tied the handkerchief around her eyes. Unable to see where the block was, she reached out for it and felt nothing, then started to panic, saying "What shall I do? Where is it?" Someone close by guided her hands to the block, and when she lay herself upon it, she said her last words: "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!" Then she was executed.



Sources:
EnglishHistory.net
LadyJaneGrey.org
Lady Jane Grey @ Wikipedia

1 comment:

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