The Trial of Lady Jane Grey, Nine Days’ Queen
On November 13, 1553, a tiny sixteen-year-old girl walked into the Guildhall. Tudor-era women were smaller than women of today, for various reasons of nutrition and modern immunity to childhood ailments that plagued the people of the era, but Jane Grey was noted in the contemporary documents for her diminutive size. It’s said she wore lifts in her shoes to try to make herself appear taller. She had inherited the red hair of the Tudors, and her pale face was specked with freckles.
This young girl was a descendant of King Henry VII. Jane’s mother and father had conspired with the Duke of Northumberland to take the throne when Henry’s son Edward VI began to fail in health. The Duke convinced Edward to leave the throne to his cousin, Jane, because both of Edward’s sisters had been deemed illegitimate when Henry VIII annulled his marriages to their mothers.
Edward couldn’t legally do this with a simple will. Henry VIII had the succession to the throne enshrined in an act of Parliament, and Edward’s last will and testament couldn’t overturn it. Edward may have been intending to pass his own act to overturn his father’s, but he died before he was able to get it done.
As part of this plot, Jane had been married to Northumberland’s son, Guildford Dudley. Northumberland would not support the plot unless his own son was on the throne with Jane. Apparently, Frances was a bit unhappy about this, because she would have to surrender her claim to her daughter, but the whole family would benefit hugely from Jane’s rise to the throne.
What did Jane herself feel about this? According to her own testimony, she never wanted the crown and did not feel it was her right. She fainted upon being told she was now the queen, but was convinced once she revived that she should accept it.
The alternative heir, Edward VI’s sister Mary Tudor, was a Catholic. Jane was a fervent Protestant. She could keep the Protestant policies of Edward’s reign moving forward. Mary taking the throne would mean the country being taken back into the arms of the Catholic Church.
As soon as she claimed the title of queen, however, she began making moves toward independence from her family, refusing to declare her husband as king. This sent Guildford crying to his mother, who installed Guildford in her home and said he wouldn’t live with Jane as her husband again until she gave him his coveted title. Jane would have none of this and ordered her husband, her subject, to return to her side, lest it show weakness in their united front.
Jane’s reign lasted only nine days. She did not have popular support and the people of England felt that Mary was the rightful heir, regardless of her faith. After a bloodless coup, Mary took back the throne. It’s said that a relieved Jane asked if she might go home now after she learned she’d been deposed.
That was not to be. Mary apparently wanted to extend mercy to her young cousin, believing that Jane was telling the truth about the plot not being of her own making, but Jane had nonetheless committed treason and had to be tried for it. She would decide their sentence later, but it appears she initially planned on simply imprisoning Jane in relative comfort in the Tower until she could be safely released at a later date.
She and her husband Guildford, along with two of his brothers, were escorted the mile distance from the Tower to the Guildhall. Four hundred soldiers accompanied them – not because anyone feared the prisoners would escape or be freed by a mob, but to show the strength and power of the rightful queen. Archbishop Cranmer accompanied them, also charged with treason, but his particular case was quite a bit different.
A partial contemporary description of that day survives:
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Jane was charged with having taken possession of the Tower and declaring herself the queen, and “signing various writings” to that effect. She had usurped the royal authority that rightfully belonged to Queen Mary. She and the Dudleys pleaded “not guilty.” Cranmer, after the evidence was presented, changed his own plea to guilty.
The trial itself is not described. It was brief and perfunctory. Jane and the others were found guilty. The men were sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered (though for those of gentle blood, this was customarily commuted to simple beheading) and Jane was sentenced to be burned or beheaded at her majesty’s pleasure.
Jane is described as having received this calmly. Not only did she have her intense faith to sustain her, she also likely believed Mary didn’t have the intention of executing her. No one did. Ambassador Reynard wrote to the Emperor:
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But dark clouds were gathering. Jane was still a figurehead around which Protestant rebels could rally.