John Seymour (1474–1536)

Sir John Seymour Knight banneret
Arms of Seymour: Gules, two wings conjoined in lure or
Born	John Seymour c. 1474
Died	21 December 1536(1536-12-21) (aged 61–62)
Resting place	Church of St Mary, Great Bedwyn
Occupation	English courtier
Known for	Father of Jane Seymour, Queen consort of Henry VIII of England
Spouse(s)	Margery Wentworth
Children	Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell, Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, Henry Seymour.
Parent(s)	John Seymour Elizabeth Darrell

Sir John Seymour of Wulfhall in Savernake Forest, Wiltshire, Knight banneret (c. 1474^[1]^[2] – 21 December 1536.^[3]) 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 the Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour.^[4]

Family 1
Career 2
- Offices held 2.1
Marriage and Issue 3
- Notable children 3.1
Death 4
Notes 5
References 6
External links 7

Family

The Seymours were descendants of a companion of William the Conqueror, who took his name from St. Maur-sur-Loire in Touraine, and was an ancestor of William de St. Maur, who 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 Wiltshire.^[5] Sir John Seymour, was a great-great-grandson of this Roger Seymour.^[4]

Sir John Seymour, was born around 1474,^[1]^[2] the eldest son of John Seymour (c. 1450 – 26 October 1491) of Wulfhall, Wiltshire, 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.^[4] Anne was the daughter of Sir John Say and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Lawrence Cheney (or Cheyne) (c.1396–1461) and Elizabeth Cokayne.^[4] 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.^[6] 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.^[7]

Career

He succeeded his father in 1492, was knighted in the field by Henry VII for his services against the Cornish rebels at Blackheath in 1497.^[8] 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. He was knighted 17 June 1497 and made Knight banneret in 1513.^[4]^[9]

Offices held

His offices included:^[9]

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, Wiltsshire 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

Wolfhall Farm, all that remains of Wulfhall, home of the Seymours.

Sir John Seymour (1474–21 December 1536),^[3]^[2] of Wulfhall, Savernake, Wiltshire, married Margery Wentworth (c.1478–18 October 1550) on 22 October 1494.^[10] The couple had ten children: ^[10]^[11]

John Seymour (died 15 July 1510)^[12]^[13]
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of Edward VI (c. 1500^[14]/1506^[4] – 22 Jan 1552)^[15] married firstly Catherine, daughter of Sir William Filliol^[4] and secondly Anne, daughter of Sir Edward Stanhope.^[4]
[16]
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley (c. 1508 – 20 March 1549) married Catherine Parr, widow of Henry VIII^[17]^[18]
John Seymour (died young)^[19]
Anthony Seymour (died c. 1528)^[12]
Jane Seymour, queen Consort of Henry VIII (c. 1509 – 24 October 1537)^[20]^[10]
Elizabeth Seymour (c. 1518^[21] – 19 Mar 1568^[22])
Margery Seymour (died c. 1528)^[12]
Dorothy Seymour^[19] married firstly, Sir Clement Smith (c. 1507 – 26 August 1552) of [23] and secondly, Thomas Leventhorpe of Shingle Hall,^[24] Hertfordshire.^[19]^[25]

Of the ten children born at Wulfhall, six survived:– three sons: Edward, Henry and Thomas, and three daughters: Jane, Dorothy and Elizabeth. 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.^[16]

He also had an illegitimate son:^[26]^[27]^[28]

Sir John Seymour (c. 1530 – before August 1599^[26]), married in March 1568 Jane or Joan Poyntz, daughter of Sir [26]^[29]

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 of Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and then later of Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII stayed at Wulfhall with Queen Anne in the summer of 1535 for a few days.^[30] 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 officially 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 men were beheaded for treason, only 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 & Lord Protector
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley
Jane Seymour, Queen of England, Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of a Lady, possibly Elizabeth Seymour^[1]

Death

Church Of St Mary The Virgin, Great Bedwyn

Seymour died on 21 December 1536.^[9] By royal custom, his daughter Queen Jane did not attend the funeral.^[3] He was first buried at [31]^[32] His eldest son and heir, Edward Seymour, inherited lands to the annual value of £275.^[9]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Norton 2009, p. 7.
^ ^a ^b ^c Aubrey 1862, p. 375–376:John Seymour's monument gives his age as 60 which points to a birth year of 1476. "This Knight departed this Lyfe at LX years of age, the XXI day of December, Anno 1536 ..."
^ ^a ^b ^c Norton 2009, p. 125–126.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Pollard 1897, pp. 299–310.
^ Roskell & Knightly 1993.
^ Seymour 1972, p. 18.
^ Norton 2009, pp. 9–10.
^ Loades 2013, p. 20.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Davids 1982.
^ ^a ^b ^c Norton 2009, p. 11.
^ Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry III 2011, p. 111.
^ ^a ^b ^c Norton 2009, p. 13.
^ ^a ^b Aubrey 1862, p. 377.
^ Beer 2009.
^ Pole 2008, p. 481.
^ ^a ^b Hawkyard 1982b.
^ Hawkyard 1982c.
^ Seymour 1972, p. 65.
^ ^a ^b ^c Burke III 1836, p. 201.
^ Wagner & Schmid 2012, p. 1000.
^ ^a ^b Strong 1967, pp. 278–281: "The portrait should by rights depict a lady of the Cromwell family aged 21 c.1535–40..."
^ College of Arms 2012, p. 63.
^ Machyn 1848, p. 24, 326.
^ Shingle Hall is also listed as Shingey, Shingley and Shinglehall in various sources.
^ Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry III 2011, p. 82.
^ ^a ^b ^c MacLean 1887, p. 152, Will proved 4 August 1599
^ Seymour 1972, p. 26.
^ Chitty 1885, p. 129.
^ Burke 1965, p. 581.
^ Lauder 2002, p. 138.
^ Aubrey 1862, p. 374–375.
^ Sherlock 2008, p. 34, 36.

Attribution

References

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Beer, Barrett L. (January 2009) [First published 2004]. "Seymour, Edward, duke of Somerset (c.1500–1552)". (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Bernard, G. W. (May 2011) [First published 2004]. "Seymour, Thomas, Baron Seymour of Sudeley (b. in or before 1509, d. 1549)". (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Bindoff, S. T. (1982). "Cromwell, Thomas (by 1485–1540), of London". In Bindoff, S. T. Members. The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1509–1558. 1: Appendices, constituencies, members A–C. London: Published for the
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External links

Seymour, Sir John (1473/74-1536), of Wolf Hall, Wilts. A biography
Sir John Seymour, Knight Family tree
Seymour Family A pedigree of the Seymour family
John Seymour at Find a Grave
Church of St Mary the Virgin, Great Bedwyn British Listed Buildings

John Seymour (1474–1536)