Tudor Times is the online repository for all things Tudor and Stewart (1485–1625)

On 24th October 1537, Jane Seymour died at Hampton Court, twelve days after an excruciating labour had brought forth Henry VIII’s heir. The exact cause of her death is uncertain – she did not (despite rumours) have a caesarean section. If she had, she certainly would not have made the immediate progress she did after the birth, being able to sit up in bed and receive visitors after the christening of the baby Edward.

Henry mourned his wife sincerely, as did the whole court. The King organised a splendid funeral for her. It was not customary for kings to attend funerals (other than their own!) so he withdrew to mourn in private. The role of Chief Mourner was taken by Jane’s step-daughter Mary, who was originally so upset that the Marchioness of Exeter had to undertake the initial duties. Mary and the other ladies, including Lady Frances Brandon, Marchioness of Dorset, rode slowly behind Jane’s coffin to its burial place at Windsor, where she still lies, Henry by her side.

Picture is of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, where Jane is buried

On 23rd October 1597, Charles Howard, Baron Howard of Effingham, was created Earl of Nottingham. Nottingham, although three years younger than Elizabeth, was half-cousin to her mother, Anne Boleyn, and this family connection stood him in good stead. He probably first went to sea under the command of his father, Lord William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham, who was Lord Admiral in the reign of Mary I. Charles held various positions of responsibility throughout Elizabeth’s reign, beginning with leading an embassy to France on the accession of François II in 1560.

In 1563, he married Katherine Carey, daughter of Lord Hunsdon. Katherine, the granddaughter of Mary Boleyn, was his first cousin twice removed, and cousin to the Queen. They had five children before her death in 1603. Nottingham was involved in the suppression of the Rising of the Northern Earls in 1569, but his most notable achievement was the victory over the Spanish Armada. Appointed Lord High Admiral in 1585, in 1587, he was ordered to prepare the navy to confront the Spanish. A combination of seamanship, luck and the weather ensured a victory for England, and further victories over the Spanish in the 1590s led to the granting of the Earldom. In his naval seniority, he clashed with the Earl of Essex, and Essex’ jealousy of other nobles, including Nottingham, lead to the Essex Rebellion, which destroyed him.

Nottingham continued to serve under James VI & I, remarrying in 1603 and siring a further two children before his death in 1624.

On 22nd October 1548, Jean Calvin, leader of the growing ‘Calvinist’ branch of the Protestant Reformation, based in Geneva, wrote to Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset exhorting him to ‘steadfastly to prosecute the Reformation of Religion begun in England, and to promote the diffusion of the true doctrine of the Gospel’. Somerset was Lord Protector of England for his nephew, Edward VI. Although he had been a religious reformer for some years, Somerset either wasn’t convinced about Calvin’s theology himself, or thought it a step too far for England at that point. The first reform in the liturgy of the English Church, the Book of Common Prayer of 1549, was still essentially Catholic in tone. Somerset continued in his post of Lord Protector until he was removed in a coup orchestrated by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick (later Duke of Northumberland). Somerset tried to regain his position, but was executed on 22nd January 1552.

Picture of Jean Calvin