Lady Jane Seymour (c.1541 – 19 March 1561) was an influential writer during the sixteenth century in England, along with her sisters, Lady Margaret Seymour and Anne Seymour, Countess of Warwick.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ''Seymour, Lady Jane (1541–1561), writer'', by Jane Stevenson They were the children of

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (150022 January 1552) (also 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp), also known as Edward Semel, was the eldest surviving brother of Queen Jane Seymour (d. 1537), the third wife of King Henry VI ...

, who from 1547 was the Lord Protector of England after the death of King Henry VIII and during the minority of Jane's first cousin,

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

. She was baptised 22 February 1541, her godmothers were Lady Mary (the King's daughter, at the time declared illegitimate but later to become queen) and

Katherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the ...

, the fifth wife of Henry VIII, and queen at the time. Some sources say that Thomas Cromwell was her godfather, but this cannot be correct as he had been executed the year before. Jane was thus the niece of Henry VIII's third wife, Queen Jane, whom she was probably named after. She was the sole witness to the

secret marriage Clandestinity is a diriment impediment in the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. It invalidates a marriage performed without the presence of three witnesses, one of whom must be a priest or a deacon. History It was promulgated in the 16th ...

of her brother Edward to

Lady Katherine Grey Katherine Seymour, Countess of Hertford (formerly Katherine Herbert, Lady Herbert, born Lady Katherine Grey; 25 August 1540 – 27 January 1568), was a younger sister of Lady Jane Grey. A granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary, she emerged ...

(a potential heir to Queen Elizabeth I) in 1560. She died a year later, aged 20, probably of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. The Seymour sisters tended to work together, with their most famous work being a collection of 103 Latin distichs, '' Hecatodistichon'', for the tomb of

Margaret of Valois Margaret of Valois (french: Marguerite, 14 May 1553 – 27 March 1615), popularly known as La Reine Margot, was a French princess of the Valois dynasty who became Queen of Navarre by marriage to Henry III of Navarre and then also Queen of France ...

, queen of Navarre and also an author, which was published in 1550.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seymour, Jane 1540s births 1561 deaths 16th-century deaths from tuberculosis Daughters of English dukes 16th-century English women writers 16th-century English writers

Jane Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name * Jane (surname), related to the given name Film and television * ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd * ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...

Tuberculosis deaths in England 16th-century Latin-language writers New Latin-language poets