[18] The Duke, Lord President of the King's Council from late 1549, was then the most powerful man in the country. [24] When the 15-year-old Edward VI lay dying in the early summer of 1553, his Catholic half-sister Mary was still his heir presumptive. Northumberland, his wife, and Jane's own husband, were furious at her refusal, but she would not unbend from what she considered the only right and lawful course. In his absence, the Council acted quickly and declared its support for Mary. "A rare portrait of Lady Jane Grey? "The traitor-heroine of the Reformation", as historian Albert Pollard called her,[49] was only 16 or 17 years old at the time of her execution. The Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger dedicated a book to him in 1551 and frequently corresponded with the family. The archaeologists recovered the head from the vault and it was buried in the churchyard by the parish. As was to be expected, all defendants were found guilty and sentenced to death. [31] Edward also announced to have his "declaration" passed in parliament in September, and the necessary writs were prepared. Jane's guilt, of having treacherously assumed the title and the power of the monarch, was evidenced by a number of documents she had signed as "Jane the Quene".
After Henry VIII's death in 1547, Grey fell out of favour with the leader of King Edward VI's government, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England. To the visiting scholar Roger Ascham, who found her reading Plato, she is said to have complained: For when I am in the presence either of father or mother, whether I speak, keep silence, sit, stand or go, eat, drink, be merry or sad, be sewing, playing, dancing, or doing anything else, I must do it as it were in such weight, measure and number, even so perfectly as God made the world; or else I am so sharply taunted, so cruelly threatened, yea presently sometimes with pinches, nips and bobs and other ways (which I will not name for the honour I bear them) ... that I think myself in hell. Twice he bore the Cap of Maintenance in parliament. Women didn't have much power once their hubbies died, but instead of suffering through it, Lady Grey decides she wants to get her lands back and goes to the king for help. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Previous King Lewis of France Next Lady Bona. More importantly, he aroused Parliament to an equal fury by his measures against land enclosure. Henry VI Part 3 - Play. In 1549, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, overthrew the Protectorship and secured power by appointing loyal friends to the Privy Council. Instead, she proposed he be created Duke of Clarence. On November 13 they were brought to trial for treason at the Guildhall and speedily found guilty. She had spent but nine short days as queen of the realm. Seeing her husband's corpse return, Jane is reported to have exclaimed: "Oh, Guildford, Guildford. [44][45] Jane then recited Psalm 51 (Have mercy upon me, O God) in English, and handed her gloves and handkerchief to her maid.