Reader Questions

"Though God cannot alter the past, Historians can"  -Samuel Butler

First of all I want to thank you all for the incredible questions I received from you this week via our new Contact Form. After reading your questions I was reminded of the Samuel Butler quote above. Most of the questions sent were about confusion and mistruths regarding the historical period, I hope I can answer them all sufficiently here:

Q: I [the sender] read that Jane Seymour was called the Protestant Queen, why? I was under the impression she was Catholic.

A: During the Edwardian period Jane Seymour was called the Protestant Queen because she was the mother of the King, who was pushing reform, and much movement towards Evangelism was made during the time she was Queen Consort. However, to assume that she herself was Protestant is wrong. She often met with the imperial ambassador and pushed Henry to renew his friendship with the Emperor. She also tried dutifully to preserve many of the religious houses that were being suppressed. There were also rumors abroad that she "favoured the old faith" We may never know the exact details of Jane's religious life but it is safe to say that she leaned towards traditional Catholicism.

Q: What happened to Mary Seymour, daughter of Queen Catherine Parr and Thomas Seymour?

A: Sadly, we do not know. Following the deaths of Kateryn and Thomas, she was left in the safe keeping of Katherine, duchess of Suffolk who found the monetary burden of caring for her an inconvenience. We know that she lived as of January 21, 1550 when Parliament removed that act of attainder from her name allowing her to inherit any surviving wealth of her parents but after that there is no record of the child. It is commonly believed that she died of some unknown childhood disease, although that lack of notation regarding the death of the "Queen's daughter" is interesting as noble, and most certainly quasi-royal, deaths were always recorded.

Q: Did the Pope really try to have Anne Boleyn murdered?

A: Interesting question, as far as we know, no. That does not mean there might not have been a secret plot though as the Papacy wielded great power and influence during this period. I believe what you are referencing are the scenes in The Tudors where William Brereton is commissioned directly by the Holy Father to assassinate Anne, this is a creative liberty taken by the screenwriters. William Brereton was never part of the clergy, in fact he was accused and convicted of having a sexual relationship with Anne and was beheaded with the other men (For more information see my post on Anne's Lovers here)

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