This queen of England, who is not even mentioned in most history books, was one of the most educated women of her time. Executed at the age of 17.
England at the time
England. XVI century. Time of the Tudors. On the one hand, this period is considered the brightest in the history of the country, the era of prosperity and splendor. As a result of the Reformation, the state eventually acquired free land and funds from the number confiscated from the Catholic Church. This made it possible to equip the fleet, which was able to defeat the Spanish "invincible armada". England became the master of the seas and the master of trade.
However, behind the luxury and wealth, blocks and executions were visible. However, these were times of strife, religious self-determination and political instability. England did not know such a number of prisons in any other period. And in the midst of all this chaos and prosperity, like a mirage, there are nine days of Queen Jane's reign in English history.
Lady Jane's childhood and adolescence
Jane Gray was the daughter of Henry Gray, Marquess of Dorset (he later received the title of Duke of Suffolk), and Lady Frances Brandon. She shouldn't have been queen. The girl did not prepare herself for this, and no one prepared her for this. Henry VIII provided himself with a sufficient number of heirs so that Jane, albeit the maternal great-granddaughter of Henry VII, did not think about it.
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From early childhood, she was more than anything else concerned only with her own development and improvement. After the Reformation carried out by Henry VIII, the church ceased to be a monopoly in education and women were given the opportunity to engage not only in childbirth, household and home, but also in self-education. Of course, only aristocrats could afford this.
Not everyone was striving for this, but among the Englishwomen of the 16th century, researchers count a dozen highly educated women (including the daughter of Thomas More, the English Chancellor). They not only sang and danced, played musical instruments, but were also able to read Latin and Greek fluently, and spoke Italian and French.
Jane Gray stood out even against their background. She studied Latin, Greek, French and Italian as a child, later adding Spanish to this list. This seemed to her not enough, and subsequently she mastered the ancient Babylonian, Hebrew and Arabic languages. Reading was one of Jane's few amusements. Brought up in the strict morals of Puritanism, she practically did not participate in social life.
After the death of Henry VIII, the throne was inherited by his son, Edward VI, Jane's age. They were very friendly, and, apparently, also because the thought of the crown did not visit her genius head. True, the girl's guardian, Lord Seymour Sadley, evaluating her brilliant data, thought about marrying Jane for a young king. But disgrace and execution ruined his far-reaching plans.
Death of King Edward VI
On a summer night in 1553, Edward VI died at the age of 16. By that time, Jane Gray had already become Jane Dudley, having married Guildford Dudley, the fourth son of the Duke of Northumberland. The duke, being regent to the young king, decided to play his political card. There is a version that he forced Jane to marry his son, knowing about the failing health of the young king. Then, perhaps, it is also true that the Duke of Northumberland was directly related to the fatal illness of Edward VI.
The Regent made sure that the dying king struck out his half-sisters from the succession to the throne. Mary and Elizabeth were indicated in the will of Henry VIII as the direct heirs of Edward, but then by the decision of parliament they were declared illegitimate.
Mary Stuart, who was the king's cousin niece, could not claim the throne, being a foreigner (Queen of Scots). The cunning duke played on all this, as well as on the fact that Jane was a supporter of the Anglican Church. The young king, whose reign was marked by the beginning of the Reformation, was pleased to know that he was transferring the crown into the hands of a man of the same views on faith.
When Lady Jane was announced that she was henceforth queen, the girl fainted. It took a while to convince her to accept the crown, which she did not aspire to. When she was persuaded, she stood up and declared to the assembled lords that "if she is destined to reign, then she asks for God's blessing to govern the country for the glory of God and for the benefit of her people."
Jane Gray - Queen of England
On July 10, 4 days after the death of Edward VI, Jane Gray Dudley was proclaimed Queen of England. For her further prosperous reign, it remained only to arrest and imprison Mary and Elizabeth in the Tower, whom they could not capture in time. Elizabeth was warned by the secretary of the Royal Council, William Cecil, and she managed to take refuge in her residence in Hatfield. (Cecil will be loyal to Elizabeth for the rest of her life and will eventually become her first minister.)
Mary was helped by the Earl of Arundel (Jane's defected supporter). She took refuge in Kening Castle on the Waven River, where she proclaimed herself Queen Mary. From here she began to call on supporters for help, sending letters to all counties and cities.
A lot of allies responded to Mary's calls. She was an ardent Catholic, one of the most zealous in world history. Mary saw Protestantism as the source of her misfortune, because it was as a result of the Reformation that she became illegitimate. The reason for the church reform in England was the refusal of the Pope to legalize the divorce of King Henry VIII from his first wife Catherine of Aragon, mother of Mary. The answer to this was the decision to free the English Church from submission to Rome, adopted by Parliament in 1534.
The gap was not so much religious as it was political. They announced the preservation of all Catholic dogmas and rituals. But under Edward VI, some elements of Protestantism were already introduced: in 1549 the Book of Common Prayer was approved, the main liturgical books were translated and adapted. Even under Henry VIII, the lands of the church were distributed to secular owners, and the Anglican Church itself was subject to secular authority. That is why the aristocracy, which had grown stronger as a result of the Reformation, sided with Jane. There were squires and common people for Maria. The conflict was not only and not so much between the queens, but between the nobles and commoners.
Betrayed by all
The Royal Council appointed Lord Dudley as commander of the army, sending him against Queen Mary. Again warned in good time, she fled, covering 40 miles in a day. Now Famlingham Castle became her shelter. From that moment, the troops began to go over to the side of the Catholic queen en masse. Even the crews of the ships that were sent to arrest Maria chose to defend her.
There was no agreement in the Royal Council. The lords fled from Jane. In the end, only her father and Kramner remained with her, and the Council backed down. On the ninth day of her reign, Queen Jane was left alone. When the soldiers, in the name of Queen Mary, demanding to let them in, came to the Tower of London, Lord Gray gave them the keys. He himself went to his daughter to utter the historic phrase: “Come down, my child. You don't belong here. Jane, who sat on the throne all alone, immediately obeyed as an obedient daughter.
Mary Tudor, who ascended the throne under the name of Mary I, ignoring her cousin's nine-day reign. Although she was proclaimed queen on July 19, 1553, she always considered the beginning of her reign on the day of Edward's death.
Arrests
Jane, and her two ladies-in-waiting, were immediately taken into custody. Her husband, father and, of course, the Duke of Northumberland were also arrested. The duke was executed on August 22, 1553. His son, sitting in the cell next to his wife, spent days carving her name on the wall. Before the wedding, they had known each other for only a few days, and had been married for only a couple of months. He could not become king without the approval of parliament, but he could go with her to the block.
After 7 months, the queen finally decided to hand her rival into the hands of the executioner. Before that, she wanted to convert her to Catholicism, like almost all of her relatives during this time. Maria was even ready to postpone the execution. It was for this reason that Father Fekkengem was entrusted with announcing the death sentence to Jane. But all his attempts to save her immortal soul were unsuccessful.
Lady Dudley was probably better at theological matters than the priest himself, and only wanted to be free from interruption in her prayers. Wanting to bring Jane as much suffering as possible, Maria ordered to build a block under the windows of her dungeon so that she could admire the place of her future execution. In addition, she ordered the execution of Guildford Dudley and ordered his corpse to be transported past the prison of his wife.
Execution of Jane Gray
When Jane Gray was led to her execution, both of her maids of honor wept bitterly, their legs refused to walk. She, all in black, was surprisingly calm. She easily climbed the scaffold and quietly addressed the crowd, holding the prayer book in her hands: “Good people, I came here to die. The conspiracy against Her Majesty the Queen was a lawless deed, but it was not for my sake, I did not want it. I solemnly testify that I am not guilty before God. And now, good people, in the last minutes of my life, do not leave me with your prayers."
Kneeling down, she read the psalm, took off her veil, unbuttoned her dress and blindfolded herself with a white handkerchief. The executioner, seeing this, fell at her feet, begging her to forgive him for what he was obliged to do. She consoled him as best she could and then loudly said: "Please, finish soon!" She lowered her head on the block and turned to heaven: "Lord, into Thy hands I transfer my spirit." Thus ended the life of the "nine-day queen".
Maria I was in power for only 5 years, but during this time she managed to earn the nickname Bloody. Throughout the years of her reign, London prisons were so overcrowded that all the churches in the city had to be turned into prison. But Bloody Mary's efforts to fight the new faith were wasted. The queen was childless, and was succeeded by her sister, the same Elizabeth I Tudor, who was a Protestant.
I. Romanenko