Jane Gray

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Possibly Lady Jane Gray Dudley (artist unknown)

Lady Jane Gray (* 1536 / 1537 in Bradgate in Leicestershire (Midlands); † 12. February 1554 in the Tower in London ) claimed as official heir of King Edward VI. from July 10 to 19, 1553 the title of Queen of England. Since then, it has been dubbed Nine days queen or thirteen days Queen (depending on the succession date; engl. The Nine Days 'Queen or The Thirteen Days' Queen ). However, she succumbed to Maria I Tudor - who was her father King Henry VIII's will in the will as heir to Edward VI. was intended - and was beheaded. Her parents were Henry Gray, 1st Duke of Suffolk , and his wife Frances Brandon , daughter of Mary Tudor and niece of King Henry VIII .

Life

childhood

Jane was born in what is now Bradgate Park near Newtown Linford . Her exact date of birth is unknown, only the year is known. Recent research limits the period of her birth to the second half of 1536 to July 1537. She was the eldest surviving daughter of Henry Gray, Marquess of Dorset , and his wife Frances Brandon, and had two younger sisters, Catherine and Mary . Her maternal grandmother was Mary Tudor , the younger sister of Henry VIII , whose descendants were directly behind the king's legitimate children in the line of succession.

At ten years old, Jane was accepted into the household of former Queen Catherine Parr . A major reason for this was the promise made by Catherine Parr's new husband, Thomas Seymour , the Lord High Admiral , Jane with his nephew, the young King Edward VI. to get married. Her father Henry Gray later testified that Thomas Seymour had sent him a messenger telling him, “If I agree, he will assure me that the admiral will find ways to marry her I think I will like When Grey's question about which candidate Seymour Jane wanted to marry, the messenger replied, "With the king." At that time it was not uncommon for children of noble descent to be brought up in noble households, and such a promise of marriage with the prospect of that In the end, Krone also convinced Frances Brandon and Henry Gray.

Catherine Parr, attributed to Master John.jpg
Thomas Seymour Denizot.jpg


Catherine Parr and Thomas Seymour , Jane Grey's guardians

Jane now lived with her cousin Elisabeth Tudor in Catherine Parr's household, where she received an excellent education for a woman of her time, which was later continued with her parents. The former queen's home was a meeting place for the Protestant nobility, and she was close friends with Katherine Willoughby , the widowed last wife of Jane's grandfather Charles Brandon and patroness of the Reformation. Not much is known about Jane's relationship with her cousin Elizabeth, who is three years her senior, but both John Foxe and Roger Ascham believed Jane to be the more intelligent of the two.

When Catherine Parr died of puerperal fever just a year later , Jane's time in her household ended. At the funeral ceremony she played the main role, that of chief mourner . It was the first royal funeral according to the Protestant rite. Thomas Seymour, whose star was already declining, tried to convince Frances Brandon and Henry Gray to leave him their daughter to raise. The two refused on the grounds that there was no way a young girl could stay in a household that was not run by a woman. Thomas Seymour's bad reputation may also play a role. Just a few months earlier, he had been stalking Jane's cousin Elisabeth so obviously that Catherine Parr had been forced to remove the young girl from her household. Frances Brandon and Henry Gray therefore had every reason, apart from all political imponderables, to bring their daughter back home instead of leaving her in the care of such a scandalous man. For a short while, Seymour got his way and again secured Jane's guardianship, but he was executed a little later for treason. Jane returned to her parents' house.

Relationship with their parents

The romanticization of Jane in the Victorian era as an innocent child bride and an unwilling queen brought with it the demonization of her parents as a side effect. Frances in particular was portrayed as a cruel wicked mother who abused Jane and forced her into a hated marriage in order to put her on the throne. As evidence of the wickedness of Jane's parents, the conversation between the humanist Roger Ascham and Jane Gray, in which Jane tells him:

“In the presence of my father or my mother [...] whether I speak or remain silent, sit, stand or walk, eat, drink, be sad or happy, sew, play, dance or do anything else, I always have to do it appropriately and do perfectly as God created the world, because otherwise I will be scolded so severely, so cruelly threatened, sometimes pinched, pushed or pounded [...] that I think I am in Hell. "

However, raising children at that time was much different than it is today. Beatings were a completely socially acceptable means of punishment, as long as it did not exceed a certain level. In this regard, Tudor parents used the Bible quote: "If you save with the rod, you spoil your child." Jane was raised or chastened no differently from other children of her generation. Even tutor John Aylmer, highly praised by her for his friendliness, agreed with her parents that Jane had to learn discipline in order to control her temper.

Henry Gray.jpg
Portrait of a Woman, once identified as Frances Brandon - Royal Collection.jpg


Henry Gray and Frances Brandon , parents of Jane Gray

Jane might refuse to have to show perfect manners in public, but her parents had already recognized that Jane would be part of the elite of the new educated Protestant generation and did their best to prepare their daughter for the role. This conversation was also recorded years later, when Ascham's primary concern was to explain that the kindness of the teacher was critical to the student's performance. A letter from Asham shortly after visiting Jane Gray is full of praise for her and for her parents.

In addition, Jane was anything but a docile child. She had enjoyed greater freedom in the Catherine Parr house than in her parents' household, and had been admired for her docility and comprehension. It had given her a new sense of self-worth and it was difficult for her to find herself back into the role of the obedient daughter. Obedience and discipline, however, were virtues that were considered absolutely necessary for a young girl in Tudor times, especially for a member of the royal family. Thus, battles between parents and daughter were predictable, especially as Jane neared her rebellious age.

Both parents were delighted with the progress their daughter was making, which had already drawn the attention of foreign scholars. The family chaplain , James Haddon, told Italian Michelangelo Florio that Jane had inherited her religious faith from her parents and was very close to her mother. Even later, when Jane was already living with her husband's parents Guildford Dudley, she stole out of the house to seek solace from her mother, despite her dominant mother-in-law's ban.

Jane's teachers and role models

From his visit to Jane's parents' house in 1550, Roger Ascham reported that he found her reading Plato in the original Greek. Ascham praised her command of the Greek language in his letters; In addition, she is said to have mastered French, Italian, Latin and Hebrew. When Roger Ascham found her reading while her family was hunting in the park, he asked her, "How, madam, do you prefer such pastime to going to the park?" Jane replied, "I think all of your pleasure is just one Shadows to the pleasure I find in Plato. Oh, dear people, you have never felt what pleasure actually is. ”However, this assessment of her parents was not justified. Her father in particular was known for his thirst for knowledge and his interest in literature and languages. Just like Jane, he was interested in education and the Protestant religion, and according to contemporary reports, Jane was his favorite daughter. He had decisively promoted the education of John Aylmer, who later became Bishop of London , and hired him to teach his daughter.

Heinrich Bullinger , Jane Grays correspondent

At the age of fifteen, Jane corresponded with the reformer Heinrich Bullinger in Zurich . His pupil Johannes von Ulm visited Jane and then wrote letters to his Swiss friends full of admiration about their high level of education. Through contact with Bullinger, Jane's behavior seemed much more modest over time, as her father wrote to him in 1551, just a year after Jane's devastating verdict:

“I admit that on behalf of my daughter I am extremely united to you for always inspiring her in your good letters to a true faith in Christ, the study of the scriptures, the purity of her conduct and innocence in relation to life. I urge you to continue these suggestions as often as possible. "

Haddon, the chaplain of the family, underlined this statement in his own letter to Bullinger just days later: "Your suggestions are encouraging and at the same time they are weighted appropriately, either because they come from a stranger or from such a distinguished personality."

Jane and Catholicism

One subject where Jane's temper came to the fore was religion. Her parents were Protestants and friends with Protestant pioneers like Katherine Willoughby, Frances' young stepmother. In the Catherine Parr household, Jane had been heavily influenced by Protestants and her schoolmaster, John Aylmer, never missed an opportunity to castigate the corruption and vanity of the Catholic faith. In addition, an Elizabethan Jesuit alleged that Anne Askew , a Protestant convicted of heresy, had contact with Frances and the Grays, possibly through Katherine Willoughby.

In this Protestant environment, Jane developed a very strong faith and unwavering religious conviction. After the deaths of her young uncles Henry and Charles , about her own age, Jane was the great hope for Protestants of her generation. Her young step-grandmother, Katherine Willoughby, had long retired from public life following the death of her sons, and Jane was gradually becoming regarded as one of the leading Protestant women in England. Michelangelo Florio, pastor of a church for religious exiles in London, regarded Jane Gray as the patroness of the new religion and she was in lively correspondence with leading Protestants in Europe.

Maria Tudor , Catholic cousin of Jane's mother

Her sharp tongue, coupled with a strong self-confidence, quickly brought Jane into conflict with her Catholic cousin, Princess Maria Tudor . Since Jane's mother was still close friends with Maria despite different religious beliefs, she and her daughters often spent a few days with the heiress. One day when Jane was visiting Mary's house in Beaulieu , she saw Lady Anne Wharton squat in front of a consecrated host - for Catholics the body of Christ - in the princess' chapel . For Jane, on the other hand, it was the idolatry of an ordinary piece of bread that prompted her to point out whether Princess Maria was present or what the curtsey meant . When Lady Wharton replied that she had given up "to Him who made us all," Jane commented mockingly that the bread could hardly be God, "since the baker himself made it." For Mary, who is equally passionate Catholic was Protestant like Jane, these words were an affront .

Another time, Jane was haughty when Princess Maria sent her a Christmas present. It consisted of a splendid dress made of velvet and gold brocade, which Maria sent to her young relatives through a servant. But when Jane saw the dress, she asked the servant abruptly: "What should I do with it?" Confused, the other person replied that she should of course wear it. “No,” Jane said firmly, “it would be a shame to follow Lady Maria against God's Word and leave Lady Elisabeth , who follows God's Word.” When it comes to clothing, Jane had taken an example from the very simple style of her cousin Elisabeth and despised Mary's fondness for beautiful clothes, which for her were inextricably linked with the Catholic faith. Similar to her cousin Eduard, the fronts were clearly defined for Jane - corrupt Catholicism had to be fought in all forms. Later, contrary to her better judgment, she had this glowing conviction accept Mary's crown in order, as she was firmly convinced, to save her country from a relapse to Rome.

She was all the more indignant when she learned during her detention in the Tower that a former teacher, Dr. Thomas Harding, had returned to Catholicism. For Jane, the Catholic mass, in which the bread became the body of Christ, was a barbaric act of cannibalism. In an angry letter to Harding, she wrote:

“I can only marvel at you and complain about your case. Once you were a lively companion of Christ, but now the deformed servant of the devil , once the beautiful temple of God, but now the stinking and filthy hut of Satan; once the pure spouse of Christ, but now the shameless wooer of the Antichrist ; once my faithful brother, but now a stranger and apostate; once a brave Christian fighter, but now a cowardly runaway. How could you reject the true God and worship the invention of man, the golden calf, the whore of Babylon, the Roman religion, the despicable idol, the wicked mass? Will you now again torment, rent and tear the precious body of our Savior Jesus Christ with your physical and fleshly teeth? "

She also had no sympathy for conformism, for in her eyes it was “the unity of Satan and his companions. Thieves, murderers and conspirators are united. Christ came to stir one against the other. Return, return to the war of Christ! "

Marries Guildford Dudley

A questionable offer

For a while, Frances Brandon and Henry Gray considered marrying their daughter to their son Edward Seymours . Thomas Seymour's older brother was lord protector of the young King Edward VI. and a connection between the two families would have been beneficial. However, the marriage between Jane Gray and young Edward did not materialize. Instead, Jane's younger sister Catherine Gray would later secretly marry him. A new game for Jane emerged when John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland , overthrew Edward Seymour and took over the reign for the king.

Guildford Dudley , copy based on a falsely identified portrait

According to William Cecil , the idea of ​​a marriage between Jane Gray and John Dudley's son Guildford came from Elizabeth Brooke, William Parr's second wife, who, under Catholic law, lived in bigamy with her husband since his first wife was still alive. The first marriage of Catherine Gray, Jane's younger sister, to Henry Pembroke allegedly arose from these considerations. With the appropriate marriage of the royal Grey's sisters, the Protestant nobility could forge an alliance against Mary.

Although Northumberland was one of the most powerful men in England, its offer was viewed with skepticism by many. Frances had no interest in marrying her daughter off too young, and she was to declare for the rest of her life that she had opposed her daughter's association with Guildford. Henry Gray also did not like the idea of ​​passing the crown to the Dudleys through his daughter, especially not when it became apparent that Frances would be excluded from the line of succession. There was also a strong sense of class. Jane was the eldest daughter and therefore, as the main heir to her parents of royal blood, a good match on the marriage market. Guildford, on the other hand, was the fourth son, basically a nobody, especially since Jane had long been traded as a potential wife for the king.

On top of that, what made Northumberland's offer suspicious was the fact that the year before he had tried to marry Guildford to Jane's cousin Margaret Clifford , the only daughter and heiress of Frances' sister Eleanor Brandon . Here, too, Northumberland had played off its relationship with the King to persuade Margaret Clifford's reluctant father. This royal bride, however, had escaped marriage to Guildford. Instead, Northumberland did everything possible to marry her off to his brother. His renewed attempt to marry the royal family through Guildford created suspicion, especially among the population, which later turned into open hatred.

Lady Jane Dudley

Like Margaret Clifford's father before, Frances and Henry Gray were persuaded and threatened by Northumberland to consent to the marriage for an extended period of time. After all, he was still lord protector and, as he claimed, had the king on his side. After long enough pressure on the Grays, they finally gave in. Jane was probably not very happy with this development. Commendone writes: "The firstborn daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, called Jane, who greatly displeased the marriage, eventually submitted to her mother's persistence and her father's threats."

However, there is no historical evidence to support the claim that Jane was ill-treated by her parents in order to force her into marriage. It is said to come from a treatise by the Venetian Badoaro, quoted by Jane's Victorian biographer Agnes Strickland . Here Jane submitted not "to the persistence of her mother and the threats of her father", but to the "curses of her mother and the beatings of her father". However, modern research indicates that Strickland's quote does not come from Badoaro's work, but from an anonymous, mutilated black copy of the work Historia delle cose occorse nel regno d'Inghilterra by Raviglio Rosso. Jane's alleged abuse to force her into an unwanted marriage therefore cannot be treated as a historical fact. All that can be concluded from historical sources is that her parents passed the pressure that Northumberland exerted on her on to her daughter. On May 21, 1553 the wedding of the two took place in Durham House.

From the start there was tension between Jane and her new mother-in-law, the Duchess of Northumberland. Around May 28, Jane learned, according to the Papal envoy Giovanni Francesco Commendone of Northumberland, that her mother was excluded from the line of succession and that she, Jane, was now Edward's heir. Startled by this change in line of succession, Jane asked permission to see her mother. When the Duchess forbade her, Jane sneaked out of the house and visited her parents. An angry message from the Duchess made it clear to the Grays that Jane could not stay with them without causing a scandal. To live officially separated from her husband would have been a shame for both families according to the strict moral standards of the time.

Eventually Jane and Guildford were taken to Chelsea, in the former home of Catherine Parrs. Shortly afterwards, Jane and her young husband suffered severe food poisoning. Although the cook had officially made a mistake, Jane suspected her mother-in-law for the rest of her life, who was very keen to keep her spirited daughter-in-law in the house during this time. This was the only way to ensure that she would be there when she was proclaimed Queen as Edward's heir. Whether the duchess actually poisoned her cannot be clearly established.

Queen Jane

The changed line of succession

The rulers of
the House of Tudor 1485–1603
1485–1509 Henry VII.
1509–1547 Henry VIII.
1547–1553 Edward VI.
1553-1553 Lady Jane Gray
1553–1558 Maria I.
1558–1603 Elizabeth I

Under the influence of his advisors, Edward VI tried . to exclude his eldest sister Maria from the line of succession, although Henry VIII had designated her to do so in his will. On the one hand, he cited the fact that his father had declared his marriage to Maria's mother Katharina von Aragón to be invalid, which is why Maria was considered illegitimate in England for a long time and therefore not entitled to inheritance. On the other hand, Mary, like her mother, belonged to the Catholic Church - Edward VI. and his advisors, on the other hand, wanted to keep the Reformation in England and therefore preferred a Protestant line of succession. On the death bed, he therefore appointed his 16-year-old cousin Jane Gray to be his heir. This was in clear contradiction to the act of succession of 1543, in which his father had determined the succession to the throne. Eduard's last will, however, could be challenged because he was still a minor at the time and, strictly speaking, should not have changed the line of succession.

John Dudley , Duke of Northumberland and Jane Grey's father-in-law

When Edward VI. died on July 6, 1553, Dudley took over the affairs of state as lord protector and initially kept the king's death a secret. He had tried to arrest Maria Tudor the day before. This was warned by Henry FitzAlan, the Earl of Arundel , and was therefore able to flee in time to Norfolk to the Catholic Howards . Her sister Elisabeth, however, claimed to be ill and stayed away from London. On July 8th, Jane was visited by the nobles of the realm to swear allegiance to her as queen. Jane, stunned that she was Edward's heir, was assured by her mother that the king's will identified her as the rightful heir. She now had some time to prepare for her official proclamation to the queen. On July 9th, Northumberland Jane officially announced the death of the king and read Edward's will, who made Jane his rightful successor. When the nobles knelt before her and swore allegiance to her, Jane sank to the floor and burst into tears.

In the romantic tradition, this scene is always interpreted to mean that Jane in her innocence rejected the crown sobbing. The fact that Jane had known about the changed line of succession for a few days speaks against this. Eduard's own tutor called her the more intelligent of the two youngsters. Some historians therefore assume that it was by no means a spontaneous act, but an official demonstration. Jane hadn't looked for the crown, it had been offered to her. She had clearly made that point now. Agnes Strickland saw Jane's breakdown as an aftereffect of her food poisoning. Jane's own words proved that she was prepared to take the burden as long as her claim to the throne was actually justified:

“I was stunned by these words, and as the gentlemen present can testify, I fell to the ground, weeping for the death of the noble prince, and protested my incompetence and dismay, asking God if it was actually right that He give me grace and strength that I may rule for His glory and serve the Kingdom. "

After the banquet that followed, the proclamation proclaiming Jane queen was read. Again the illegitimacy of Mary and Elizabeth was highlighted as well as the danger that they would bring England back under Roman rule or marry foreigners. Also in the church of Paul's Cross, Mary and Elizabeth were officially declared as bastards and Jane as the rightful heir to the throne for the first time in the morning service. But here the indignation of the population became apparent, whose reaction was described as "deeply angry". On July 10, 1553, Jane Gray moved into the Tower of London , as befitted the English monarch.

The “eyewitness report” by Baptista Spinola is often quoted in this context, which, however, according to the author Leanda de Lisle, was piquely only revealed in 1909. All authors who cite it only cite Richard Davey, who himself does not give a source for this information. Therefore, in de Lisle's opinion, his descriptions should be treated with caution. Jane's Victorian biographer Agnes Strickland also mentions neither Spinola's name nor his account in her book Lives of the Tudor princesses including Lady Jane Gray and her sisters (published 1868), but merely reports that Guildford Dudley was walking next to his royal wife, hat in his Hand, as per the protocol, and that he "bowed to the floor whenever she spoke." Frances Brandon was carrying her daughter's train. A coronation did not take place, on the one hand because it required some preparation and on the other hand because Mary proclaimed herself Queen at the same time. Within hours of her appointment as queen, Jane Gray faced an opposing queen.

Battle for the throne

Maria's situation, as even the well-meaning Spanish ambassador found, was downright hopeless. All the trumps seemed to be in Jane's hands. She had the Tower of London under her control, Parliament was on her side, and she had an army under her. But unlike Jane, Maria was popular and well-known among the people. As the proclamation was read, a sixteen year old boy, Gilbert Potter, shouted that Mary was the rightful queen. Jane's followers immediately cracked down on him, had him arrested and nailed to the pillory in Cheapside before they cut them off. It wasn't a good start to Jane's reign. Another great disadvantage for Jane was the general hatred that Northumberland felt. Mary gathered her following and was proclaimed Queen on July 10, 1553 in Norfolk. A letter from her proclaiming her queen caused such consternation in the Tower that the young couple's mothers burst into tears.

Jane's signature "Jane the Quene" - Jane the Queen

In the face of Mary's proclamation, Jane raised an army determined to face the danger of Catholicism that Mary posed to her. The letters Northumberland wrote for them commanded the armed forces “not only to defend our rightful title, but also to assist us in disturbing, repulsing, and resisting the hypocritical and illegitimate claims of Lady Mary, bastard daughter of our great-uncle Henry VIII. “The fact that Jane signed the documents with“ Jane the Quene ”(Eng. Jane the Queen ) stamped her in the eyes of Maria's followers as a usurper and high traitor.

In addition to the public displeasure and the support Maria received, disputes between the Dudleys and the Grays were added. The Marquess of Winchester, who later turned out to be a faithful follower of Mary, fueled the controversy by showing Jane a selection of the crown jewels and telling her to try on the crown for her coronation in two weeks. A crown would also be made for her husband so that he could be crowned with her. Jane, however, refused to give her husband the rank of king, which caused a heated argument between her, her husband, and her mother-in-law. However, she offered him the title of duke. During this time, she also had health problems, which she again attributed to poisoning by the Dudleys. “I was poisoned twice,” she later wrote to Queen Maria, “once in my mother-in-law's house and afterwards in the Tower. The poison was so strong that the whole skin came off my back. "

In addition, the Spanish ambassador Renard fueled suspicion of Northumberland by silently telling two of Jane's supporters, Lord Cobham and Sir John Mason, that Mary's cousin, Emperor Charles V , had received spicy information. Allegedly Northumberland secretly allied itself with the French King Henry II in order to put his daughter-in-law Maria Stuart on the English throne. The game of intrigue, along with Maria's ever-growing crowd, was shared by Jane's followers, several of whom soon made attempts to defeat Maria.

Jane's army was now ready to take action against Maria. Originally Henry Gray should have led the army as the Queen's father, but since he was now sick, the council sent Northumberland instead, wondering whether his absence would result in his overthrow. Guildford's brothers also joined the army, including Queen Elizabeth's later favorite, Robert Dudley .

Northumberland moved with his army to Norfolk. But the army disbanded. Many soldiers deserted and ran over to Maria. The people were unwilling to question Mary's legitimacy . Mutinies broke out on the coasts when the ship's crews forced their officers to join Maria.

Maria I and Princess Elisabeth ride into London

Jane continued to write letters trying to keep her subjects under her banner. “Remain steadfast in your obedience and duty to the imperial crown of this realm which We rightfully possess,” she wrote, adding that each one owed his loyalty to her, “to your highest lady, who is determined, to this crown of England To protect strangers and papists ”. When Buckinghamshire also defected to the rebels, Jane angrily declared that the rebels would either soon fail because of their "malevolent machinations" or would receive "such punishment and execution" as traitors were entitled to.

Nevertheless, it quickly became apparent that the fight with Maria was lost. The Regency Council used Dudley's absence to overthrow him. On July 18, 1553, Dudley was arrested in Cambridge. On the morning of July 19, Jane experienced a brief moment of normalcy when she was godmother to the son of a radical Protestant named Edward Underhill. As a godmother, she had the right to choose the child's name, and she named it after her husband, Guildford. The Regency Council now began negotiating the transfer of power with Maria, and the Earl of Pembroke, father-in-law of Jane's younger sister Catherine, proclaimed Maria Queen at Cheapside.

Only a little later, mounted troops appeared at the Tower, forcing Henry Gray to read Mary's proclamation to be Queen on Tower Hill. A little later he told his daughter that her reign was over. Jane's response was calm and collected. "Many people would be considered wise if their cunning could not be measured by the result."

Fall and execution

Prisoners in the Tower

The Tower of London , Jane Grey's prison

Jane and her husband were immediately arrested in the Tower of London. Henry Gray was also arrested on July 28th. Frances Brandon, desperate to help her family, rode through the night to Beaulieu to ask Mary for mercy. She told her cousin that Northumberland poisoned her husband, who was currently seriously ill, to put pressure on the family. Jane's food poisoning and her suspicion of the Dudleys underscored that story. Maria forgave Jane's father and released him on July 31st. Jane stayed in the tower, however. Unlike her father, she had assumed the title of monarch and, during her brief reign, signed letters with “Jane the Quene” declaring Maria a bastard and calling for resistance against her. With that she had committed high treason in black and white. Nevertheless, Maria wanted to pardon her after her trial.

Shortly after her imprisonment, Jane wrote her a letter stating that she had reluctantly and in good faith accepted the crown. Jane was hoping for a pardon Maria was prepared to grant. "My conscience does not allow me to condemn her to death," she told the Spanish ambassadors Renard and Scheyfve, who urged her to have Jane executed as a traitor. Maria did her best to appease her. For example, she told them that Jane was not a threat to them. Her marriage to Guildford Dudley was invalid because she was previously engaged to a low-ranking member of Bishop Gardiner's household. However, the ambassadors were still not convinced. On August 21, Northumberland was executed as a traitor. Before his death, he converted to Catholicism, which Jane could hardly believe at first.

Jane's name in Beauchamp Tower, probably carved by the Dudley brothers

Over dinner with Mr. Partridge and Mr. Rowland Lee in the Tower, Jane asked questions about what was happening in the outside world. The question of current religion was particularly important to her. "Are you reading Mass in London now?" She asked, to which Lee answered in the affirmative. Jane was stunned when she heard about her father-in-law's conversion. Your hosts countered that he might have been hoping for a pardon, which caused a storm of indignation among Jane.

"Pardon? Woe to him! He has thrown me and my family into great difficulty and misfortune through his excessive ambition! But what do you expect? As his life was bad and full of hypocrisy, so was his end. I pray to God that neither I nor any of my friends die like this. Should I, being young, renounce my faith out of love for life? Never, God forbid! The less he should do it. But life was sweet; you might say he could have lived, but he didn't care how. "

On November 14, 1553, Thomas Cranmer , Jane, and Guildford were taken to Guildhall to be tried. Jane was dressed all in black, a sign of repentance. Interestingly enough, she carried two English prayer books with her, one in her hands, one on her dress. She went to her hearing remorseful, but as an avowed Protestant. Both she and her husband were convicted of high treason. The highest judge on the jury was Sir Richard Morgan, who had served as an avowed Catholic under Edward in prison. There are no surviving documents describing the trial, only Michelangelo Florio later reported that Jane received the verdict of being burned or beheaded as a traitor. However, her death sentence was not carried out because Maria still wanted to pardon her young relative.

The last days

Thomas Wyatt the Younger

Sir Thomas Wyatt's Protestant rebellion in January 1554 sealed Jane's fate, although she had no part in it. Wyatt's rebellion began as a rebellion against Mary's marriage to the Catholic Prince of Spain Philip . The plan was to overthrow Mary, put Elizabeth on the throne and free Jane. Jane's father joined the rebellion. Although this act has often been interpreted as hard-hearted and indifferent to his daughter, it is very likely that he was religiously motivated. A few weeks earlier he had tried to prevent the reintroduction of the mass. The uprising failed, however, and Henry Gray was arrested again. Now Bishop Gardiner and the Spanish ambassadors joined forces to convince Mary of the danger Jane posed to her.

Jane had now indeed become a power-political risk for Maria. Despite all the doubts about her claim to the throne, she was at least a Protestant princess of royal descent and through the early deceased King Edward VI. and legitimize its parliament. Like Maria's half-sister Elisabeth, she had become a figurehead of the Protestant resistance movement. With a heavy heart, the Queen signed the death warrant, which was to be carried out on February 9th. In order to heal her young relatives of their "heretical" faith at least before her death, Maria sent her chaplain John Feckenham to Jane in the Tower.

However, the young woman showed little interest in converting to Catholicism, as her father-in-law had done. Nevertheless, Feckenham asked Maria to postpone the death sentence in the hope that she could still make a difference. As a result, the execution was postponed until February 12, and Feckenham visited Jane again. Although she and Feckenham philosophized for several hours and began to respect one another, they could not agree on religious matters. Jane's parting words to him were: "I pray that God in His grace will send you His Holy Spirit, for He gave you His great gift of eloquence, may He open your eyes to your hearts too."

The night before her death, Jane wrote her last letters to her family. After her father was arrested, she and Guildford had sent him farewell messages in a prayer book. Guildford had affirmed his constant affection for him in loving words describing himself as Grey's son, and Jane had written:

“May God comfort your grace in his own word, in which all creatures find comfort. And although God pleased you to take two of your children, I humbly beg Your Grace not to believe that you have lost them, but that by losing our mortal life we ​​have gained an immortal one. "

Jane also sent her sister Catherine Gray a message in a Greek version of the New Testament:

Catherine Gray

“I have sent you, dear Sister Catherine, a book that, although not adorned with gold on the outside, is more precious than precious stones on the inside. It will teach you to live, it will teach you to die. Do not trust that your tender age will extend your life, because once it pleases God, the young go like the old. Always strive and learn to die. Renounce the world, defy the devil and despise the flesh. As for my death, rejoice as I do, for I believe that for the loss of a mortal life, I will attain immortal bliss. Farewell, dear sister, trust only God, who alone has to keep you upright. Your loving sister Jane Dudley. "

According to the papal envoy, Commendone, Guildford asked Jane for one last meeting so that he could "hug and kiss her again." Jane's answer was friendly but negative. She let him know that she would like to see him if it would be any comfort to both of them. However, since this meeting would only make them both unhappy, she would rather wait until they met again in Heaven, where they would be "bound by indivisible bonds."

death

Jane Gray on the Way to the Scaffold, from Foxe's Book of Martyrs 1563

On February 12, 1554, Jane was beheaded in the Tower . As a royal princess, unlike her husband, she received a private execution within the prison walls, on the Tower Green area . According to eyewitnesses, Jane went to the scaffold very calmly , although she had previously encountered the cart with the body of her husband Guildford. John de Feckenham, who could not get Jane to convert to the Catholic faith, is said to have accompanied her to her execution. On the scaffolding of the scaffold, Jane made one final speech. At that time it was customary as a convict to admit one's own guilt, to obey the law and to present one's own fate as a warning example. It was utterly impossible to assert one's innocence on the scaffold and to declare that one had been wrongly convicted. Jane Gray, however, added a few sentences to her speech that differed significantly from the normal farewell speech:

“Dear Christians, I came here to die and I am condemned to die by law. My actions against Her Highness the Queen were wrong, and I also agreed with him. But as far as the attainment and desire of their power is concerned, I wash my hands in innocence before God and also before you good Christians. I ask you all, good Christians, to be my witnesses that I die a faithful Christian woman and that I hope for no salvation other than by the grace of God in the merits of his only Son, Jesus Christ. And I confess, even though I knew the word of God, I neglected it, instead loving myself and the world, which is why this visitation and punishment of my sin serves right. Still, I thank God for the kindness that He has given me the time and opportunity to repent in this way. As long as I am alive, I ask you to support me with your prayers. "

Jane then knelt and prayed Psalm 51 Miserere mei Deus . She then gave her gloves and handkerchief to her maid and her prayer book to Thomas Bridges, the prison guard's brother. Her maids helped her take off her dress and bonnet. As was customary, the executioner knelt in front of her and asked her for forgiveness, which she "very gladly" granted him. In return, she asked him: "Put a quick end to me." While kneeling down, she asked him fearfully if he would cut off her head before laying it on the pad, which he denied. Jane blindfolded her eyes with her handkerchief, but then couldn't find the pad. "What should I do? Where is he? ”She asked disturbed, until a spectator took her hand and led her to the block. When she laid her head down, she said her last words: "Lord, in your hands I put my spirit" ( Psalm 31: 5). Her head was separated from her body with a single blow.

Survival

Jane and Guildford were buried in the church of St. Peter ad Vincula on the north side of the tower. Her own father was already awaiting his own execution. Her younger sisters, Catherine and Mary Gray, were called to court with Frances Brandon, both to serve the Queen and to keep an eye on her. Only a little later, however, the first voices rose that made Jane a Protestant martyr. John Day was already printing her letters in Lincolnshire. Oddly enough, the printing press was hidden in a piece of property by William Cecil , a good friend of Frances Brandon. Jane's letters and her scaffold speech thus became the strongest contemporary literary attack on Queen Mary's government. Even in death, Jane was still a leader and icon of the Protestant movement.

The Execution of Lady Jane Gray by Paul Delaroche , 1833, National Gallery, London

John Foxe's Book of Martyrs was published under Queen Elizabeth, which also describes Jane Grey's death. A ballad was written about her in 1560, a Latin elegy in 1563, which attributed her death to Mary's cruelty and Henry Grey's lust for power. It was in this elegy that the claim that Jane was pregnant at the time of her execution also first appeared, most likely to discredit Maria. The English playwright Nicholas Rowe published the tragedy Jane Gray in 1715 .

In the 17th century, Jane's innocence was increasingly equated with passivity. Jane's rebellious side and courage were replaced by humility and naivete. Theodor Fontane wrote the poem Johanna Gray in 1852 . In the 19th century the myth was also born of her cruel mother, who abused and tortured her. Stories of Guildford's rudeness towards her also emerged for the first time, which sometimes resulted in horror stories of domestic violence. At the end of the 19th century, the reinterpretation of Jane as a helpless nanny and Frances Brandon as a heartless wicked mother had become firmly established.

Jane's portrait and the Spinola legend

Queen Catherine Parr.jpg
Lady Jane Gray van de Passe.jpg


Two portraits of Catherine Parr , formerly mistaken for Jane Gray

Jane Gray is one of the most popular figures of the Tudor period, but also one of the most elusive. One reason for this is that there are no contemporary, clearly identified portraits of her. There are also no contemporary descriptions of Jane. Baptista Spinola, an alleged eyewitness of Jane's procession to the tower, is often used as a basis for identifying her portraits:

“Freckles […] a small face and a well-designed nose, the mouth flexible, the lips red. The eyebrows are arched and darker than her hair, which is almost red [...] Her eyes sparkle and are reddish-brown in color. "

Although countless historians rely on this statement to identify Jane's portrait, according to Leanda de Lisle, Spinola and his description only existed since 1909 and came from the pen of an author of historical novels named Richard Davey, who, after his literary activity, focused on writing Turned to biographies. Numerous images that have been mistaken for Jane for centuries have now been identified elsewhere, including a. as Catherine Parr.

In 2007, historian David Starkey attracted some attention when he identified a 16th-century miniature as Jane Gray, which was likely created by painter Levina Teerlinc . As evidence serve him according to his own specifications a brooch on her dress the woman and the symbol of the country Elke (English: gillyflower ), which pointed to her husband Guildford. He estimated the woman's age to be sixteen to eighteen. “It's so exciting because it's so difficult to grasp. I think we finally have a full collection of monarchs. I have to narrow it down by saying that I'm 90 percent sure, but not 100 percent. I am delighted, but it is a modified delight. "

The controversial Yale miniature, possibly Jane Gray

However, there are also votes against his thesis. For one thing, Spinola is still popularly quoted, and for another because, as noted by J. Stephen Edwards, for example, the description of the jewels on which Starkey relies are very vague. In addition, the plants that Starkey interprets as a reference to Guildford are not exclusively carnations, but also acorns and oak leaves, which Starkey associates with Guildford's brother Robert Dudley . Why, according to Edwards, should Jane wear her husband's and his brother's coat of arms ? Also, according to Edwards, the branches and the flower are arranged so that the branches spear the flower. It could be a symbolic reference to a marriage “between a man whose coat of arms was an oak and a woman whose coat of arms was a flower. This interpretation rules out a marriage between Guildford and Jane. "

De Lisle's interpretation of the Yale miniature takes a different approach. In their opinion, the picture, if it is Jane Gray, could have been made during the time when Jane's sister Catherine Gray was imprisoned in the Tower for her secret marriage to Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford . At that time the Protestant nobility tried, u. a. William Cecil to change Elisabeth's mind to release Catherine and recognize her as her heiress. They hoped for support from Robert Dudley, the Queen's favorite and older brother of Guildford Dudley. During this period, a remarkable number of parallels were drawn between Catherine and her sister Jane, and the relationship between the Grays and Dudleys was highlighted in ballads. Since a miniature of Catherine Gray was being created with her newborn son at the same time, de Lisle believes it possible that the use of Robert's oak leaves and Guildford's carnations on the Yale miniature was yet another attempt to get Robert Dudley on Catherine Gray's side. However, there is no conclusive evidence for any of the theories presented here. Jane's true appearance is therefore still unclear.

Rightful Queen or Usurper?

To this day, researchers have divided whether Jane's enthronement was a coup or her right. In his book Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Mystery , historian Eric Ives calls Jane the rightful queen and her rival Maria Tudor a traitorous rebel. On the other hand, the English of the Tudor period saw Maria as the rightful heir to the throne and Jane as a usurper. Several facts can explain these controversial attitudes.

  1. Maria's father and Jane's great-uncle Henry VIII had ordered in his will that after his son Edward VI. and whose heirs his daughters Maria and Elisabeth should inherit the crown. The problem with this disposition was the fact that he had accepted his daughters into the line of succession, but had not legitimized them. Bastards were excluded from any succession under current law, which made the claim of his daughters to the throne more difficult and gave their rivals Jane Gray and Maria Stuart a powerful argument.
  2. That a king chose his successor was a novelty. Originally, after the death of a king, the crown passed to his relatives, traditionally first in the male, then in the female line. In principle, the older siblings inherited before the younger ones. If one proceeds from the thesis that Maria and Elisabeth were illegitimate and thus not entitled to inheritance, the descendants of Heinrich's older sister Margaret Tudor , the Scottish Stuarts , would have legitimately inherited the English throne after Edward's death . Only after them did the descendants of his younger sister Mary Tudor , u. a. the Grays, claimed the throne. Maria's advocates could thus argue that Jane had usurped the throne in any case under current law. Margaret's descendants, u. a. Maria Stuart, however, were born outside of England, which made their claim difficult under English law. In addition, when Margaret Tudor married the Scottish King James IV, all descendants of this connection were excluded from the English throne by marriage contract. Thus Margaret Tudor's only potential heiress was her English-born daughter Margaret Douglas from a second marriage, which, however, was suspected of illegitimacy from childhood due to the divorce of her parents. For her advocates, Jane was the logical alternative to two illegitimate royal daughters, a foreign cousin and an illegitimate royal niece.
  3. If one proceeds from the thesis that Heinrich's will was final and that he was legitimately entitled to choose his heir himself, it is only logical to grant his son Eduard the same rights. On his deathbed, the young king named Jane Gray as his successor. The first problem arises here, however. If Heinrich's will was final, then Maria was undoubtedly the rightful heiress. It can be argued that in his royal office Eduard had the right to disregard his father's will and to name his own preferred candidate. What makes the last will of the young king contestable, however, was the fact that he was not yet of legal age and thus could not draw up a legally binding will. According to the law of the time, Heinrich's testament was valid as long as Edward was a minor, an argument that was also used by Maria herself when the Protestant nobles wanted to forbid her from performing mass under Edward's rule. Edward's minority is thus the strongest argument of Mary's advocates.

It can be assumed that all these special cases and exceptional situations have caused confusion regarding the succession to the throne, and not just in today's world.

Representation in books and films (selection)

Novels

  • Karleen Bradford: The Nine Days Queen , Scholastic Canada Ltd., 1986, ISBN 0-590-71617-4
  • Ann Rinaldi: Nine Days a Queen - The short Life and Reign of Lady Jane Gray , Harper Trophy NY, 2005, ISBN 0-06-054925-4
  • Rebecca Michele: Queen for Nine Days , Ullstein, 2006, ISBN 978-3-548-26341-0
  • Alison Weir: Innocent Traitor - Lady Jane Gray , Random House UK, 2007, ISBN 978-0-09-949379-2
  • Pauline Francis: Rabenlady , Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart, 2009, ISBN 978-3-440-11898-6
  • Philippa Gregory: Um Reich und Krone - Das Erbe der Tudors 2 (Original title: The last Tudor), published on September 25, 2018 in Rowohlt Taschenbuchverlag, ISBN 978-3-499-27460-2

Plays

  • 16.-17. Century: Lady Jane by John Webster and Thomas Dekker
  • 17th century: Innocent Usurper Or: The Death of Lady Jane Gray by John Banks
  • 1715: Lady Jane Gray: A Tragedy in Five Acts by Nicholas Rowe
  • 1758: Lady Johanna Gray or The Triumph of Religion by Christoph Martin Wieland
  • 2011: Jane The Quene by Heiko Dietz with Nina Steils
  • 2017: Queen Jane Gray by Nico Schauffert

Film adaptations

literature

Web links

Commons : Lady Jane Gray  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b A Further Note on the Date of Birth of Lady Jane Gray , accessed April 18, 2011, 10:20 pm
  2. ↑ a b On the Date of Birth of Lady Jane Gray , accessed April 18, 2011, 10:07 pm
  3. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke , European Family Tables , New Series, Volume II, Plate 87; Verlag JA Stargardt, Marburg, 1984
  4. ^ Dulcie M. Ashdown: Tudor Cousins. Rivals for the Throne . 2000 Sutton Publishing, p. 65 "... if I would agree, he durst assure me that the Admiral would find the means she would be placed in marriage much to my comfort [...] with the king"
  5. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 41
  6. ^ Dulcie M. Ashdown: Tudor Cousins. Rivals for the Throne . 2000 Sutton Publishing, p. 66
  7. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 68
  8. ↑ a b Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 70
  9. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 46
  10. ↑ a b Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 159
  11. ^ Dulcie M. Ashdown: Tudor Cousins. Rivals for the Throne . 2000 Sutton Publishing, p. 72: “ Why, madam, do you relinquish such pastime as going into the park? "[...]" I know all their sport is but a shadow to that pleasure I find in Plato. Alas, good folk, they never felt what pleasure means. ”
  12. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 14
  13. ↑ a b cf. also Marita A. Panzer, Queen of England
  14. ↑ a b Dulcie M. Ashdown: Tudor Cousins. Rivals for the Throne . 2000 Sutton Publishing, p. 73: “ I acknowledge myself to be much indebted to you on my daughter's account for having exhorted her always in your godly letters to a true faith in Christ, the study of the scripture, purity of manners, and innocence of life; and I earnestly require you to continue these exhortations as frequently as possible. "[...]" Your exhortations afford her encouragement, and at the same time have their due weight with her, either as proceeding from a stranger or from so eminent a person. ”
  15. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 19
  16. ^ Dulcie M. Ashdown: Tudor Cousins. Rivals for the Throne . 2000 Sutton Publishing, p. 71
  17. ↑ Eric Ives: Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Mystery . Malden MA; Oxford UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009 ISBN 978-1-4051-9413-6 , p. 55
  18. ↑ Eric Ives: Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Mystery . Malden MA; Oxford UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009 ISBN 978-1-4051-9413-6 , pp. 22-23: “ I cannot but marvel at thee, and lament thy case […] Thou sometime wast the lively member of Christ but now the deformed imp of the Devil; sometime the beautiful temple of God but now the stinking and filthy kennel of Satan; sometime the unspotted spouse of Christ but now the unashamed paramour of Antichrist; sometime my faithful brother but now a stranger and an apostate; sometime a stout Christian soldier but now a cowardly runaway ”
  19. ↑ a b Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, pp. 138-139: “ How could you refuse the true God, and worship the invention of man, the golden calf, the whore of Babylon, the Romish religion, the abominable idol, the most wicked Mass, wilt thou torment again, rent and tear the most precious body of our Savior Jesus Christ, with thy bodily and fleshly teeth? "[...]" the unity of Satan and his members ... thieves, murderers, conspirators, have their unity. Christ came ... to set one against another. Return, return again unto Christ's was. ”
  20. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 98
  21. ↑ a b Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 104
  22. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 92
  23. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 329: "the first-born daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, Jane by name, who although strongly depreciating the marriage, was compelled to submit by the insistence of her mother and the threats of her father"
  24. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 330
  25. ↑ Eric Ives: Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Mystery . Malden MA; Oxford UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009 ISBN 978-1-4051-9413-6 , p. 183
  26. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 105
  27. ↑ a b c Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 110
  28. ↑ Agnes Strickland: Lives of the Tudor princesses including Lady Jane Gray and her sisters . 1868: Longmans, Green and Co., p. 151
  29. ^ Dulcie M. Ashdown: Tudor Cousins. Rivals for the Throne . 2000 Sutton Publishing, pp. 89–90: “ I was stunned by those words and, as the lords who were present there can testify, I fell to the ground, crying at the news of that noble prince's death and protesting my inadequacy and dismay , begging God that, if this must be, I might be sure that it was my right and that He would give me the grace and strength that would enable me to rule to His glory and to serve the kingdom. ”
  30. ↑ a b c Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 113
  31. ↑ Agnes Strickland: Lives of the Tudor princesses including Lady Jane Gray and her sisters . 1868: Longmans, Green and Co., p. 148
  32. ^ Anna Whitelock: Mary Tudor. England's first queen. Bloomsbury 2010, p. 167
  33. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 112
  34. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 114: “ not only to defend our just title, but also assist us… to disturb, repel and resist the feigned and untrue claim of the Lady Mary, bastard daughter to our great uncle Henry VIII ”
  35. ^ Dulcie M. Ashdown: Tudor Cousins. Rivals for the Throne . 2000 Sutton Publishing, p. 92
  36. ↑ a b Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 116
  37. ↑ Agnes Strickland: Lives of the Tudor princesses including Lady Jane Gray and her sisters . 1868: Longmans, Green and Co., p. 152
  38. ↑ a b Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 120
  39. ↑ a b Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 121
  40. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 123
  41. ^ Dulcie M. Ashdown: Tudor Cousins. Rivals for the Throne . 2000 Sutton Publishing, p. 96
  42. ^ Anna Whitelock: Mary Tudor. England's first queen. Bloomsbury 2010, p. 186: “ My conscience will not permit me to have her put to death. ”
  43. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 133
  44. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 134: “ Pardon? Woe worth him! He hath brought me and our stock in most miserable calamity and misery by his exceeding ambition! But what will ye more? Like as his life was wicked and full of dissimulation, so was his end thereafter. I pray God, I, nor no friend of mine, die so. Should I who am young forsake my faith for the love of life? Nay, God forbid! Much more he should not. But life was sweet, it appeared; so he might have lived, you will say, he did [not] care how. ”
  45. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 135
  46. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 147: “ I pray God in the bowls of His mercy, to send you His holy spirit; for He hath given you His great gift of utterance, if it pleased Him also to open the eyes of your heart. ”
  47. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 144: “ The Lord comfort your grace, and that in His word wherein all creatures only are to be comforted. And though it has pleased God to take away two of your children, yet think not, I most humbly beseech your grace, that you have lost them, but ... that we, by losing a mortal life, have won an immortal life. ”
  48. ↑ a b Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 149: “ I have sent you, good sister Katherine, a book, which though it be not outwardly trimmed with gold, yet inwardly it is of more worth than precious stones. It will teach you to live, it will learn you to die ... Trust not that the tenderness of your age shall lengthen your life ... for as soon as God will, goeth the young as the old. Labor always and learn to die. Deny the world, defy the devil and despise the flesh. As touching my death, rejoice as I do, for I am assured that I shall for losing a mortal life find an immortal felicity. Farewell dear sister; put your only trust in God, who only must uphold you, your loving sister Jane Dudley. ”
  49. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 151: “ Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, and by law I am condemned to do the same. The fact, indeed, against the Queen's Highness was unlawful and the consenting thereunto by me: but touching the procurement and desire thereof by me or on my behalf, I do wash my hands thereof in innocence, before God, and in the face of you , good Christian people. I pray you all, good Christian people, to bear me witness, that I die a true Christian woman, and that I look to be saved by none other means, but only by the mercy of God, in the merits of his only son Jesus Christ: and I confess, when I did know the word of God I neglected the same, loved myself and the world, and therefore this plague or punishment is happily and worthily happened unto my sins; and yet I thank God of his goodness that he has thus given me time and respect to repent. While I am alive, I pray you assist me with your prayers. ”
  50. ↑ a b Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 152
  51. ↑ See Fontane, Complete Romane, Erzählungen und Gedichte , Vol. 6, Munich ³1995, p. 93 ff.
  52. ↑ Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 310
  53. ↑ The Melton Constable Portrait of Catherine Parr ( Memento of the original from September 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / somegreymatter.com
  54. ↑ The van de Passe Engraved Portrait ( Memento of the original from October 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / somegreymatter.com
  55. ↑ The Yale Miniature “ It's terribly exciting because she has been so elusive. I think that we've now got a full hand of monarchs. I have to qualify this by saying that I am 90 per cent certain, but not 100 per cent. I'm delighted, but I'm in modified rapture. ”
  56. ↑ The Yale Miniature ( Memento of the original from July 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. “ Between a man whose badge was oak and a woman whose badge was a flower. This latter interpretation excludes a marriage between Guildford and Jane. ”  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / somegreymatter.com
  57. ↑ a b Leanda de Lisle: The Sisters who would be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Gray: A Tudor Tragedy . Ballantine Books 2009, p. 225
predecessor Office successor
Edward VI. Queen of England
Queen of Ireland
1553 		Maria I.
personal data
SURNAME Gray, Jane
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gray, Lady Jane; Joan of England
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Queen of England
DATE OF BIRTH 1536 or 1537
PLACE OF BIRTH Bradgate , Leicestershire, Central England
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 1554
Place of death London