Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Sudeley

Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, born c. 1508, executed, at the Tower, for treason, 20 March 1549.

Family

1. spouse Catherine Parr, Dowager Queen of England, Ireland and France daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal and Maud Green
   1. Mary Seymour

Thomas Seymour was the son of Sir John Seymour of Wolf Hall and Margery Wentworth

Biography

Thomas Seymour was an older brother of Jane Seymour, the third Queen consort of King Henry VIII of England and mother of Edward VI. After the death of King Henry VIII, Thomas Seymour married the late king's sixth wife and widow, Catherine Parr.

One view is that Thomas schemed to marry either Princess Mary or Princess Elizabeth, Henry VIII's daughters by his first two marriages, and there were rumours that he attempted to pursue a relationship with Elizabeth, still in her early teens. If he hoped for such a marriage as a route to power, he was unsuccessful, though his secret marriage to Catherine Parr, Elizabeth's guardian, in late April of 1547 was viewed by some as an attempt to become close to the young princess. Certainly, many regarded this marriage as having occurred too quickly after the King's death.

Thomas seems also to have hoped to finance a coup by bribing the vice-treasurer of the Bristol Mint, Sir William Sharington. Sharington was responsible for debasing the coinage in Bristol and he had been fiddling the account books and keeping the majority of the profit. When Thomas learned of the scheme, he blackmailed Sharington.

By the end of 1548, Thomas' plans had been reported to the Privy Council by an informant. The Bristol Mint was investigated and Sharington revealed all. Thomas' brother, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset attempted to protect his brother and called a council meeting that Thomas was supposed to attend in order to explain his actions. However, Thomas did not appear and developed a plan to kidnap King Edward.

On the night of the 16th of January, Thomas broke into the King's apartments at Hampton Court Palace. He entered the privy garden and awoke one of the King's pet spaniels. Alerted the dog tried to bite Thomas, who shot it. The guards arrested Thomas, and he was sent to the Tower of London. On 18 January, the council sent agents to question everyone associated with Thomas, including Princess Elizabeth.

On 22 February, the council officially accused him of thirty-three charges of treason. Somerset delayed signing the death warrant, so the council went to Edward VI for his signature. On 20 March, Seymour was executed at the Tower, dying 'dangerously, irksomely and horribly.' His daughter by Catherine Parr, Mary Seymour, was placed in the care of the Duchess of Suffolk, Catherine Brandon. Mary should have been left wealthy, but her mother, dying at her birth, had left her entire fortune to Thomas. When Thomas was executed, the crown confiscated everything he had, including Catherine's bequest. The child appears to have died around the age of two, when she disappears from the historical record. The title 'Baron of Sudeley' passed to Catherine Parr's brother, William, 1st Marquess of Northampton.

Links

Wiki - Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley

Art Exhibition at Sudeley Castle, home of Thomas Seymour and Katherine Parr

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Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, KG (c. 1508 – 20 March 1549) was the brother of the English queen Jane Seymour who was the third wife of King Henry VIII and mother of King Edward VI. He was also the fourth husband of Catherine Parr who was the sixth and last wife of Henry VIII. However, he is probably best known for his influence in the life of the future Queen Elizabeth I.

Thomas was the son of Sir John Seymour and Margaret Wentworth. He was the younger brother of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1500-1552). He grew up at Wulfhall, the Seymour family home, in Wiltshire, a county in southwest England. The Seymours were a family of country gentry, who, like most holders of manorial rights, traced their ancestry to a Norman origin. To his contemporaries, he was forceful and reckless, and also, very attractive to women. Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, a boyhood friend of King Edward, described Thomas Seymour as "hardy, wise and liberal ... fierce in courage, courtly in fashion, in personage stately, in voice magnificent, but somewhat empty of matter." And though ambitious, his brother, Edward Seymour, far surpassed and out-distanced him in their rivalry over control of their nephew, Edward Tudor, and for power. He was executed for treason.

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British Nobility. 1st Baron of Sudeley. Younger brother of Edward, Duke of Somerset and Jane Seymour. After the death of Henry VIII he married his widow, Katherine Parr, who died of fever following the birth of their daughter. According to King Henry's will he was to be made a peer of the realm and Lord High Admiral, and both orders were carried out by his nephew, Edward VI. An intriguer, he plotted against his brother, the protector, and was executed in 1549.