Sir JOHN Seymour, before mentioned, the eldest son, succeeded his father in 7 Henry VII. and was one of the Commanders of those forces that vanquished the Lord Audley, and the Cornish rebels at Blackheath in Kent, in 12 Henry VII. 1497, where, * for his valiant deportment, he was knighted by the King in the field of battle; and in 23 Henry VII. he was sheriff of Wiltshire. Also serving King Henry VIII. in his wars in France and Flanders, had the honour of knight-bannerett conferred on him in 1513, for his gallant behaviour in the sieges of Theroūne and Tournay, and the action at Guinegaste, on August 16th, called by our historians the battle of Spurs, on account of the very precipitate retreat of the French after their defeat. In 7 Henry VIII. he was u sheriff of Dorset and Somersetshire, as also in 18 Henry VIII. and was twice sheriff for Wiltshire, in 10 and 16 Henry VIII. In 9 Henry VIII. being then one of the knights of the body of that King, he obtained a grant of the constablewic of Bristol-castle, to himself and Edward his son, in as ample a manner as Giles Lord D'Aubeny held the same. In 1518, hey was charged with providing ten men for the King's service in his wars, for lands he held in Wiltshire. In the year 1520, he attended on Henry VIII. at the great interview with Francis the French King, between Guisnes and Ardres, having in his retinue one chaplain, eleven servants, and eight led horses. Also when the Emperor Charles V. came into England 1522, he was appointed to attend the King at Canterbury, May 27th, in order to his reception. In 22 Henry VIII. he was one of the five of the county of Wilts who were appointed to enquire into the possessions of Cardinal Wolsey; and at the second interview with Francis the French King at Boulogne, in the year 1532, was one of the grooms of the chamber, and waited on his Sovereign. He departed this life on December 21st, 1536, aged sixty, and was buried in the church of Easton priory, but that fabric becoming ruinous, his corpse was removed thence, A. D. 1590, to the church of Great Bedwin, Wilts, where a monument stands erected to his memory by his grandson, Edward Earl of Hertford, His wife was Margery, second daughter of Sir Henry Wentworth, of Nettlested in Suffolk, Knight of the Bath. They had C Nom. equit. in Bibl. Cott. Claud. C. III. t Ibid. * Pat. 9. Hen. VIII. p. 2. y MS sub effig Oth Edw II. in Bibl. Cotton. 2 MS. ut antea penes Joh. Anstis. b Ibid. tom. xiv. p. 404. a a Rymer's Foed. tom xiii. p. 768. MS. in Bibl. Joh. Anstis. issue six sons, and four daughters, viz. John, who died July 15th, 1520, unmarried; Edward, created Duke of Somerset ; Sir Henry; Thomas Lord Sudley (of which three more fully hereafter); John and Anthony, who died young; Jane, third wife of King Henry VIII. by whom she was mother of King Edward VI. two days after whose birth she died, on October 14th, 1537; "whose loss," says Herbert, "much afflicted the King, as having found her always discreet, humble, and loyal." Elizabeth, successively wedded to Sir Anthony Oughtred, Knight, and, Gregory Lord Cromwell; Margery, who died in her infancy; and Dorothy, married to Sir Clement Smith, Knight, of Little Baddow in Essex, and after his death to Thomas Leventhorpe of Shingey-hall, Hertfordshire, Esq. His lady survived him, and died in the year 1550, as her last testament, and the probate thereof, shew: wherein she bequeaths her body to be buried as her executors think fit; leaves divers legacies of plate, jewels, &c. to her relations, and mentions Edward Seymour, and Henry Seymour, sons of the Duke of Somerset, as her godsons, and constitutes her second surviving son, Sir Henry Seymour, executor. g The before-mentioned Sir Henry Seymour, third son (brother of Queen Jane Seymour, and Edward Duke of Somerset) was made one of the Knights of the Bath at the coronation of Ed. ward VI. In 1551, being in the King's service, he had a grant of lands of the yearly value of 186l. and 4d; among which were the manors of Marvel, and Twyford, in com. Southampton, with the parks and house of Marvel, being a parcel of the lands belonging to the bishopric of Winchester. The year after, 7 Edward VI. heh had a grant for life of the manors of Sommerford, and Hurn, in the county of Southampton; and divers other lands, to the yearly value of 2021. 6s. 9d. He deceased in 1578, having married Barbara, daughter of Thomas Morgan, Esq. by whom he had issue Sir John Seymour, Knight, who had three sons, but from them there is no issue remaining, and several daughters, of whom Jane was wedded to Sir John Rodney, of Stoke-Rodney, and Pilton in Somersetshire, the heiress of which family married Sir Thomas Bridges of Keinsham. Lord Rodney is also supposed to be derived from this family. d Lord Herbert's Life of King Henry VIII. p. 429, 430. e Ex Regist. Coode, qu 29. i Heylin's History of the Reformation, p. 5. Sir Thomas, the fourth son, was, by Henry VIII. nominated one of the twelve assistants to the executors of is will during the minority of Edward VI. in the first of whose reign he was, on February 16th, created Baron Seymour of Sudley, and soon after constituted Admiral of England. Being of an aspiring disposition, he courted the Princess Elizabeth; but finding no prospect of success, he made his addresses to Queen Catherine, daughter of Thomas Parr of Kendal, Henry VIII's widow, and got the King's consent to their marriage. She was first married to Lord Latymer, and lastly to Edward eldest son of Thomas Lord Bray. Dissatisfied that his elder brother should enjoy a greater share in the administration than himself, he caballed among such of the nobility as envied the Duke's power, in order to get himself admitted to the chief management of affairs. To facilitate the execution of his purpose, he bribed the attendants next the King's person;, and by an affable and obsequious behaviour, and supplying his Majesty privately with money, insinuated himself into his good graces, and gained a considerable ascendancy in his esteem. When the protector represented to the admiral the dangerous tendency of his underhand practices, his Lordship's answer convinced his; Grace, that he was not to rely upon any friendship from their fraternal connexion. The animosity was fomented by Anne Dutchess of Somerset's being obliged to yield precedence to the wife of her husband's younger brother. Lord Sudley took the opportunity, during the Duke's absence in Scotland, to prosecute his schemes with redoubled vigour; and was so successful as to obtain a new patent as admiral, with an additional salary, besides the grant of a large estate. The protector, apprised of his brother's proceedings, hastened his return from Scotland: but before his arrival, the admiral had formed a considerable party among the peers and commoners, and even prevailed on the King to write to both houses, desiring his Lordship might be appointed his governor. The council, being informed of that step, let the Admiral know, by a deputation of their own number, that if he did not desist, he should be prosecuted, on the late statute, for hightreason, in attempting to disturb the order of government. Thus intimidated, he made his submission, and was seemingly recon * In Gloucestershire, of which castle he had a grant; but on his attainder it was granted to Sir John Bridges, who was created by Queen Mary, in 1554, Baron Chandos of Sudeley. In the chapel here Queen Katherine Parr was buried; and discovered a few years ago in a state of high preservation. See Archæologia, vol. ix. p 2. ciled to his brother; who, to divert him from his turbulent projects, sent him with a fleet, and 1200 land troops on board, to intercept Mary, the infant Queen of Scotland, in her passage to France but that Princess being conveyed north about round the Orkneys, his Lordship was disappointed of his expected prize, and making some descents upon the coast of Fife, was repulsed, and returned in discredit, having lost half of his land forces. "The Queen Dowager," says Burnet,1 1" that had married him, died in September last, not without suspicion of poison." She was a good and virtuous lady, and in her whole life had done nothing unseemly but the marrying him so indecently, and so soon after the King's death. There was found among her papers, a discourse written by her, concerning herself; entituled, The lamentation of a Sinner, which was published by Cecil, who writ a preface to it, m She being thus dead, the admiral renewed his addresses to the Lady Elizabeth; but in vain; for her right of succession to the throne depended, according to her father's will, on her marrying with the consent of his executors. Lord Sudley therefore proposed to accomplish his aim by seizing the King's person, and taking the reins of government into his own hands; and for that purpose retained a great number of men in different parts of the kingdom. His design being intimated to the council, he was, on January 19th, 1548-9, committed to the Tower, and commissioners were named to take the depositions of his accusers. The Duke advised him to resign his office, and retire from court: but perceiving his exhortations ineffectual, he acquiesced in his prosecution. Upon the report of the commissioners appointed to hear what he had to say in his defence, both houses, with little opposition, passed a bill of attainder, which receiving the royal assent, he was condemned unheard, without an opportunity of examining the evidence against him, and without being allowed the perusal of his charge, the substance of which was, first, attempting to seize the person of the King, and the government of the realm; second, fortifying his castle of Holt in Denbighshire, and enlisting a great number of men into his service; third, confederating with Sharrington, by whose means he became master n 1 Hist. Ref. vol. ii p. 97. m See Park's R. and N. A. vol. i. p. 48. "A copy of the articles of charge, amounting to thirty-three, is in Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. ii. p. 158. 0.66 Only the Protector, for natural pity's sake, desired leave to withdraw." of the mint at Bristol: fourth, endeavouring to espouse the Princess Elizabeth (with whom he had carried on an intrigue too far to be exposed in a public court of justice); fifth, persuading the King in his nonage to take upon himself the administration of affairs sixth, conniving with pirates, and making himself master of the Scilly islands. He was beheaded P on March 10th, on Tower-hill; leaving an only child, Mary, who died in her infancy, after being restored in blood. "Thus fell," says Burnet, "Thomas Lord Seymour, Lord High Admiral of England, a man of high thoughts, of great violence of temper, and ambitious out of measure. The Protector was much censured for giving way to his execution, by those who looked only at that relation between them, which they thought should have made him still preserve him. But others, who knew the whole series of the affair, saw it was scarce possible for him to do more for the gaining his brother, than he had done. Yet the other being a popular notion, that it was against nature for one brother to destroy another, was more easily entertained by the multitude, who could not penetrate into the mysteries of state. But the way of proceeding was much condemned; since to attaint a man without bringing him to make his own defence, or to object what he could say to the witnesses that were brought against him, was so illegal and unjust, that it could not be defended. Only this was to be said for it, that it was a little more regular than parliamentary attainders had been formerly; for here the evidence on which it was founded was given before both houses."q I now return to EDWARD Seymour, eldest son of Sir John Seymour. He was educated first at Oxford, and after some stay there removed to Cambridge; from whence returning to his father at court, when martial achievements were encouraged by Henry VIII. he took early to arms; and landing at Calais with the Duke of Suffolk on August 24th, 1523, was present at the taking of Bray, Roye, and Montdidier, in France; where, for his conduct and bravery, he had the honour of knighthood conferred on him by the Duke of Suffolk at Roye, on Allhallows-day, the same year. In 16 Henry VIII. being one of the esquires of the King's household, he was one of the challengers before the See the warrant for his execution. Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. ii. p. 158. 9 Ibid. p. 100. r Wood's Athenæ Oxon. vol. i. p. 711. • Nom. Equit præd. |