Hello paid subscibers, and welcome to The Door Key Podcast Substack Burn Book!
Yes, that name is quite a mouthful, but I think that this is going to be SO MUCH FUN!
I typically only talk about people that I admire or am inspired by on Door Key. But I won’t be doing that here in The Burn Book! This is where I’m going to talk about people who I consider the ‘villains’ from history. I’ll be adding entries to the Burn Book on the first of each month.
Enjoy!
xoxo, April
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, KG (that stands for Knight of the Garter), PC (that stands for Privy Council) was born in 1508.
Thomas had several siblings, but for the purposes of this story, I’m only going to be talking about two of them: His brother Edward, and his sister Jane (both older).
A bit of scene setting
The Seymours were country gentry, and Thomas’ dad was Sir John Seymour, who was a courtier to both Henry VII and Henry VIII. Thomas grew up in Wulfhall, which was the family home in Wiltshire.
Thomas’ sister Jane was maid-of-honour to Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and then she served Henry’s second wife Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII definitely deserves his own page in the Door Key Podcast Burn Book, but that’s a story for another time. Today I’m going to just breeze over all of the drama of Henry and his six wives, and simply say that Henry had Anne beheaded, and married Jane like 11 days later. In the episode of Door Key about Jane Seymour, I mention that there were rumors that Jane had sort of been ‘coached’ to steal Henry VIII’s affection from Anne Boleyn. I also do a bit of speculation in that episode that if this were true, it was possibly her brothers Edward and Thomas who coached her I even singled Thomas out as my prime suspect. But that’s all speculation, so I’m going to move on … Henry VIII married Jane Seymour. During this time, her brother Thomas became a gentleman of the privy chamber. Then Jane gave Henry a son!
This son was named Edward, and Henry was overjoyed to finally have a son who could be his heir. However, this happiness was soon overshadowed by Jane’s death. Jane would sadly die of what was known as child-bed fever about twelve days after Edward’s birth.
Although Jane was gone, her son Edward was still alive, and was heir to the throne of England. Jane’s brothers Edward and Thomas were the Prince’s uncles, which gave them status.
Thomas began a relationship with a woman named Catherine Parr. Catherine was a member of Henry VIII's daughter Princess Mary’s household. Henry VIII asked Catherine Parr to marry him, and she agreed, even though she was in a relationship with Thomas. I watched a documentary about Henry VIII years ago, and the host said something to the effect of ‘What could she do? When the King of England proposes, especially when that king is King Henry VIII … you accept!’. That phrase has always stuck in my mind, so I’m repeating it here.
I think it speaks to the kind of person that Thomas was that he was such a thorn in Henry VIII’s side that in 1543, Henry gave him a job as ambassador in Brussels specifically to remove him from court (and to separate him from Catherine Parr!).
Thomas did make his mark in the military: war broke out between England and France (Surprise!), and he was made marshal of the English army in the Netherlands in June of 1543. The next month, he captured some castles in Boulogne. Thomas was made Master-General of the Ordnance in 1544 and then Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1545. (These are both senior military positions.)
Up until this point, Thomas’ behavior honestly doesn’t really seem too bad … a bit eye-roll worthy, sure … but nothing that would really qualify him for the Burn Book. But that all changed once Henry VIII died.
Thomas’ heel turn
Henry VIII died in 1547. Thomas returned to England as quickly as he could. Henry and Jane’s son Edward was the heir to the throne, but he was only 9 years old, so wasn’t old enough to rule. Henry had it set up in his will that a regency council would rule for Edward until he came of age. His uncles Edward and Thomas were on this council. Edward was made 1st Duke of Somerset. (To avoid any confusion with all these Edwards, I’m going to be referring to this Edward - uncle Edward - as Somerset from here on.) Thomas was made 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley. Somerset became head of Edward’s regency council, and was named Lord Protector. This effectively made Somerset leader of England while Edward was a minor.
Thomas was given the title of Lord High Admiral, but he began to resent his brother Somerset and his position. The relationship between the two brothers began to sour. Thomas did what he could to unseat and replace Somerset as Lord Protector.
But Thomas wasn’t just jealous, he was power-hungry too. He suggested he get married to one of Henry’s daughters - Mary … Elizabeth … it didn’t matter to him which one, he just wanted to be married to one of the princesses. When the idea of Thomas marrying one of the Princesses of England was squashed, he then turned to Henry VIII’s widow, Catherine Parr. Within weeks of Henry’s death, Thomas rekindled his romance with Catherine.
Thomas and Catherine Parr were secretly married in April or May 1547, which was considered way too soon after Henry's death to be appropriate. Also, Catherine and Somerset’s wife Anne quickly started arguing over things like the royal jewelry.
But Thomas wasn’t just busy getting into petty family fights. He was also busy trying to ingratiate himself with Edward, who was, let’s remember, just a child. Here’s an example of this: he wanted the 9-year-old to write a letter on his behalf in support of his marriage to Catherine Parr, and even wrote out a letter saying as such for Edward to sign.
Thomas would also visit his young nephew Edward frequently, and would secretly give him large amounts of money, so that Edward would feel grown-up and king-like, and could give gifts to people. (No provisions had been made in Henry’s will for Edward to have any pocket money, so Edward didn’t have any.) Edward would get used to these regular gifts of money from Thomas, and began to ask him for his allowance.
Thomas tried to manipulate Edward in other ways as well: he tried to get a bill passed in Parliament that would put him in charge of Edward. Thomas asked Edward to sign this bill, but Edward wasn’t comfortable with this, and wouldn’t sign it. Thomas kept pressuring Edward about this, to the point where Edward felt threatened.
But Thomas wasn’t just bothering Edward. He was also bothering Princess Elizabeth too. This next part is gross and murky, but here goes: after Thomas and Catherine Parr got married, they moved into Catherine’s house in London. Elizabeth was Catherine’s step-daughter, and lived with them in this house. She was 14 years old at this time. There was some very inappropriate behavior reported to have happened at this house: Thomas is said to have begun to show … affection … toward Elizabeth. He would tickle her, and slap her on her behind, or come into her room in his nightclothes. This is wrong on so many levels: Elizabeth was Thomas’ step-daughter, she was only 14 years old, and she was a Princess! As for Catherine, this behavior was reported to her, but she is said to have dismissed it as innocent fun, and to even have joined in on the behavior on a few occasions! None of this behavior with Elizabeth is confirmed, it’s all rumor, which is the only reason I’m not making a bigger deal out of it than I am already. But I will say this: things were weird enough that when Catherine became pregnant in 1548, Elizabeth was sent away to live in Hertfordshire.
In September of 1548, Catherine Parr gave birth to a daughter they named Mary. Catherine soon died of complications of childbirth. She left all of her possessions to Thomas, which made him one of the wealthiest men in England. Thomas reacted to Catherine’s death by quickly trying to get with Elizabeth. (Ugh, gross!) Elizabeth avoided Thomas, returning with her governess to her childhood home in Hertfordshire.
This is all terrible, and would qualify Thomas for the Burn Book, but it just keeps getting worse!
For one, Thomas Seymour began to think about open rebellion.
In the summer of 1547, Thomas’ brother Somerset left England to invade Scotland. Thomas took advantage of Somerset’s absence from court, and tried to stir up opposition to Somerset. Thomas would openly speak of his disapproval of Somerset. It got to the point that several members of the nobility warned Thomas to calm down, but Thomas wouldn’t listen.
Thomas was Lord High Admiral, and controlled the English navy. He openly asked for support if there was a rebellion. Thomas even made friends with pirates on the western coasts, hoping to get their support. Thomas wasn’t even being subtle anymore!
By 1548, the regency council was aware of Thomas's bid for power. (I mean, better late than never?) Somerset tried to save his brother from ruin, and called a council meeting so that Thomas might explain himself. But Thomas didn’t bother to show up to this meeting.
On the night of January 16, 1549, Thomas was caught trying to break into Edward's apartments at Hampton Court Palace. He entered the privy garden, which woke up one of the King's pet spaniels. In response to the dog's barking, Thomas shot and killed it. (FYI: I have looked and looked for the name of this poor dog, but have been unable to find it, only that it was a spaniel. If you know this dog’s name, please let me know!)
The next day, Thomas was finally arrested and sent to the Tower of London, which honestly, as far as I’m concerned, is the only place for him.
On January 18, the council sent out agents to question everyone associated with Thomas, and the next month they officially accused him of thirty-three charges of treason. He was found guilty, condemned to death, and executed on March 20, 1549.
And thus ends the story of Thomas Seymour. I think his life really illustrates the intrigue and danger of Tudor-era life and politics. I can’t help but think he was a terrible person, but I think he makes a fantastic first entry to the Door Key Podcast Substack Burn Book!
There are a lot of people mentioned in this post that have their own episode of Door Key - here are links to all those episodes:
Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Catherine Parr, Mary I, Elizabeth I
Be sure to share The Door Key Podcast Substack with history fans in your life!
Let me know what you think of Thomas Seymour’s behavior! And let me know if you have any suggestions for someone from history that you believe deserves to be in the Door Key Podcast Substack Burn Book!