Lady Mary Seymour, Daughter of Katherine Parr
On 30th August 1548, Lady Mary Seymour was born.
Mary was the only daughter of Dowager Queen Katherine Parr and her fourth husband, Thomas Seymour.
The healthy baby girl was baptised ‘Mary’ after Katherine Parr’s stepdaughter the Lady Mary, eldest daughter of King Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon.
By all accounts both parents were overjoyed with the birth of a healthy daughter, but their joy was short-lived.
Katherine died shortly after on 5th September 1548, from what is thought to have been “childbed fever”.
Katherine’s wealth was left entirely to Thomas Seymour, on her death.
It was later confiscated by the Crown, after his eXecution for treason.
This left little Mary a destitute orphan, in the care of Katherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, who was a close friend of Katherine Parr.
It was reported that Duchess Katherine Brandon was not totally agreeable to this situation.
As the daughter of a dowager queen, Lady Mary’s upbringing was going to be expensive.
Mary had a Governess, a nurse, two maids and other servants.
All of the staff needed to be paid for their care of the child, yet Duchess Katherine Brandon had not received any money for the care of little Mary.
On 24th July 1549, Katherine Brandon sent a bill to William Cecil, asking for payment for the servants, and of the following-
* 2 pots of silver, all white.
* 3 goblets, silver, all white.
* One salt, silver, parcel gilt.
* A mser (wooden cup) with a band of silver, parcel
gilt.
*11 spoons, silver, all white.
* A quilt for the cradle.
* 3 pillows, and 1 pair of fustians.
* 3 feather beds, 3 quilts, 3 pair fustians.
* A tester of scarlet, embroidered with a counterpoint
of silk serge, belonging to the same, and curtains of
crimson taffeta.
* 2 counterpoints of imagery for the nurse’s bed.
* 6 pairs of sheets of little worth.
* 6 fair pieces of hangings of the twelve months within
the outer chamber.
* 4 carpets for windows.
* 10 pieces of hangings of the twelve months within
the outer chamber.
* 2 cushions cloth of gold, and a chair of cloth of gold.
* 2 wrought stools, and a bedstead gilt, with a tester
and counterpoint, with curtains belonging to the same.
It is not known if the bill was paid, or no longer needed, as little Mary may have already died while Duchess Katherine Brandon was waiting for payment.
A year after her father’s eXecution, on 22nd January 1550, an application was made for the restoration of Lady Mary Seymour.
Much of what Thomas Seymour had inherited from Katherine Parr, had been sold or reverted back to the Crown.
So, we know for certain, that little Lady Mary Seymour was alive on 22nd January 1550.
That is the last record of her existence……
After 1550 Mary disappears from historical record completely.
No further claim was made on what remained of her father’s estate, leading to the conclusion that she did not live past the age of two.
So what did happen to Lady Mary Seymour?
One suggestion says –
Mary Seymour survived to adulthood, and married Sir Edward Bushel, a member of the household of Anne of Denmark, wife of King James I.
The problem with this theory, is that Mary would have only been aged six at the time!
Another theory states that Mary was removed, to live with The Harts in Wexford in Ireland, and raised under their care.
The Harts, had been engaged in piracy off the Irish coast, under the protection of a profit sharing arrangement with Mary’s father, Thomas Seymour.
A lozenge-shaped ring inscribed “What I have, I hold” was reputed to have been an early gift to Thomas by his brother Edward Seymour.
This was passed down through generations of the Seymour-Harts until 1927.
A more modern theory, and likely scenario, suggests that a 1573 Latin book of poems and epitaphs written by John Parkhurst, contains the following reference to Mary Seymour~
“I, whom at the cost
Of her own life
My queenly mother
Bore with the pangs of labour,
Sleep under this marble
An unfit traveller.
If Death had given me to live longer
That virtue, that modesty,
That obedience of my excellent Mother
That Heavenly courageous nature
Would have lived again in me.
Now, whoever you are,
fare thee well
Because I cannot speak any more,
This stone is a memorial to my brief life”
John Parkhurst was Katherine Parr’s chaplain.
Its been suggested that this was the epitaph written by Parkhurst, on the occasion of little Mary’s death, around the age of two.
This further speculates that Mary is buried in Lincolnshire, near Grimsthorpe, the estate owned by Duchess Katherine Brandon, where Mary had lived as an unwelcome burden for most of her short, sad life.
Katherine Brandon lost both of her sons to the Sweating Sickness in 1551, is it possible that little Mary Seymour also contracted and died from the same disease?
Sadly we will never know – and the little daughter of the last Tudor queen consort of England, is lost to history…….
🌷 Katherine Parr & Thomas Seymour
