{ "item_title" : "Jane Seymour", "item_author" : [" Shane Larson "], "item_description" : "Henry VIII married six women and chose to be buried beside one of them. It was not the wife of twenty-four years, or the one he broke with Rome to marry. It was the one who was his queen for seventeen months and was never crowned.Jane Seymour is the wife the group biographies give a short section and one word: quiet. She left a handful of formal letters, a Holbein portrait, a motto chosen for her (Bound to obey and serve), and a few remarks reported at second hand by an ambassador who wanted her to win. On that evidence she is the dull one. This book argues that she is the consequential one.Count what happened between 30 May 1536 and 24 October 1537. Mary, three years in open defiance of her father, was brought back to court. A new Act of Succession bastardised both of Henry's daughters and settled the crown on children Jane did not yet have. The North rose under the banner of the Five Wounds in the Pilgrimage of Grace, the most dangerous rebellion any Tudor faced, and was talked down, pardoned, and then hanged. And on 12 October 1537, at Hampton Court, Jane gave birth to Edward, the only legitimate son Henry ever had. Twelve days later she was dead.Then the family she had raised took over. Her brother Edward became Lord Protector of England for her nine-year-old son, and Duke of Somerset. Her brother Thomas married the king's widow, tried one night to reach the boy king's bedchamber, and went to the block on 20 March 1549 on a warrant that carried his brother's name. Somerset followed him on 22 January 1552. Edward VI recorded his uncle's death in his journal in a single line, and died himself on 6 July 1553, at fifteen. That was the end of Jane's line.This is the third volume of a series on the six queens of Henry VIII, and it holds to one rule: Jane is never given thoughts, feelings or motives the sources do not record. Where the record falls silent the book says so, and follows the people who did leave one: the ambassador, Cromwell's office, the letters from Calais, the pilgrims, her brothers, and her son. Nothing from the novels is treated as evidence.What you'll learn: How a Wiltshire forest warden's family came within reach of the crown, and who at court was managing itWhether Jane was a willing player, a coached one, or simply in the right place, and how thin the evidence is for eachWhat the Pilgrimage of Grace demanded, how the king broke it, and what the queen is reported to have asked himWhat the sources say about Jane's death, what they do not, and where the caesarean story came fromWhy both Seymour brothers went to the block within three years of each other, one on the other's warrantWhy Henry's will named Jane, and what the choice says about him rather than herThis book is for you if: You have read the first two volumes and want the hinge of the setYou have met the Seymours in the dramas and the novels and want the family the sixteenth-century record supportsYou want the Pilgrimage of Grace told in full rather than in a paragraphYou want a biography honest enough to say the sources do not say instead of guessingShe was queen for seventeen months. The crown of England ran through her for the next sixteen years.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers4.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/9/79/890/714/9798907140851_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "18.99", "online_price" : "18.99", "our_price" : "18.99", "club_price" : "18.99", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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