Jane Grey, eldest daughter of Henry Grey, Marques of Dorset and later Duke of Suffolk and his wife Frances Brandon (eldest daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor, Dowager Queen of France), became a 'Dudley Woman' on her marriage to Guildford Dudley, on 25 May 1553. Despite only living for 17 years, Jane found herself at the centre, as well as on the peripheries, of many historical events during her short life. These ranged from the time of her wardship under Thomas Seymour in 1547-48, which included the 'scandal' involving Seymour and Lady Elizabeth, the death of Dowager Queen Katherine Parr and the subsequent downfall, arrest and execution of Seymour, to events of the summer of 1553, with Jane being nominated by the dying King Edward VI as his heir and successor, the following unsuccessful coup led by father-in-law John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland in attempting to place her on the English throne, her subsequent deposition and imprisonment in the Tower of London, to her eventual execution in Feb 1554.
Below are some of recommended books which cover various periods of Jane's life, often in the context of events involving other infamous Tudor figures and monarchs.
She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth
Author: Helen Castor
Year: 2010
Publisher: Faber and Faber Limited
Place of Publication: London
Formats Available:
Hardcover (used)
Paperback [Bookshop.org]
Kindle [link]
When Edward VI died in 1553, the extraordinary fact was that there was no one left to claim the title of king of England. For the first time, England would have a reigning queen - but the question was which one: Katherine of Aragon's daughter Mary, Anne Boleyn's daughter Elizabeth, or one of their cousins, Lady Jane Grey or Mary, Queen of Scots.
But female rule in England also had a past. Four hundred years before Edward's death, Matilda, daughter of Henry I and grandaughter of Willuam the Conqueror, came tantalisingly close to securing the crown for herself. And between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries three more exeptional women, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou, discovered how much was possible if presumptions of male rule were not confronted so explicitly - and just how quickly they might be vilified as 'she-wolves' for their pains.
The stories of these women, told her in all their vivid humanity, expose the paradox which the female heirs to the Tudor throne had no choice but to negoitate. Man was the head of woman, and the king was the head of all. How, then, could royal power lie in female hands?
John Dudley: The life of Lady Jane Grey's Father-in-Law Author: Christine Hartweg Year: 2016 Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform Website Link:
https://allthingsrobertdudley.wordpress.com
Formats Available:
Paperback [Amazon]
Kindle [Link]
John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland (1504-1553), one of the most notorious figures of Tudor England, is best known as the father-in-law of Lady Jane Grey, whom he helped to place on the English throne for nine days. However, he was also a courtier and diplomat, a general and de facto regent, as well as a patron of art and exploration and a devoted family man; and in the past decades his image has undergone significant changes from villain to talented statesman. The father of Queen Elizabeth's friend Robert Dudley and grandfather of the port Philip Sidney led a colourful life at the courts of Henry VIII and Edward VI which is vividly retold in this fully documented biography.
Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery Author: Eric Ives Year: 2011 Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Place of Publication: London Formats Available: Hardcover (used) Paperback [Bookshop.org] Kindle [Link] Lady Jane Grey, is one of the most elusive and tragic characters in English history.
In July 1553 the death of the childless Edward VI threw the Tudor dynasty into crisis. On Edward's instructions his cousin Jane Grey was proclaimed queen, only to be ousted 13 days later by his illegitimate half sister Mary and later beheaded. In this radical reassessment, Eric Ives rejects traditional portraits of Jane both as hapless victim of political intrigue or Protestant martyr. Instead he presents her as an accomplished young woman with a fierce personal integrity. The result is a compelling dissection by a master historian and storyteller of one of history’s most shocking injustices.
The Sisters who would be Queen: The Tragedy of Mary, Katherine & Lady Jane Grey
Author: Leanda de Lisle
Year: 2008
Publisher: Harper Press
Place of Publication: London
Website Link: https://www.leandadelisle.com/sisters-who-would-be-queen/
Formats Available:
Hardcover (used)
Paperback [Bookshop.org]
Kindle [link]
Remembered as the 'Nine Days Queen', Lady Jane Grey has become the stuff of legend and an icon of innocence abused. But in reality she was a strong-willed teenager and a devout protestant, determined to fight for her crown and her faith.
Growing up in Jane's shadow, the other Grey sisters, Katherine and Mary, would have to tread carefully to survive. Potential rivals to the Tudor monarchs, they both fell passionately in love, married in secret - and incurred the fury and punishment of Elizabeth I.
Exploding the myths of their lives and telling their story as never before, Leanda de Lisle brings the Grey sisters' tumultuous world vividly to life: a time when a royal marriage could gain you a kingdom, or cost your everything.
The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor Author: Elizabeth Norton Year: 2015 Publisher: Head of Zeus Place of Publication: London Website Link:
http://www.elizabethnorton.co.uk/page2.htm Formats Available: Hardcover (used) Paperback [Bookshop.org] Kindle [Link] England, Late 1547. Henry VIII is dead. His fourteen-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, is living with the old king's widow Catherine Parr and her new husband Thomas Seymour. Ambitious, charming and dangerous, Seymour begins to flirt with Elizabeth in an openly sexual manner. Her step-mother, concerned at Seymour's behaviour, sends Elizabeth away. When Catherine dies in autumn 1548 and Seymour is arrested for treason soon after, the scandal explodes into the open. Alone and in dreadful danger, Elizabeth is closely questioned by the king's regency council: Was she still a virgin? Was there a child? Had she promised to marry Seymour? In her replies, she shows the shrewdness and spirit she will later be famous for. She survives the scandal. Thomas Seymour is not so lucky.
On hearing of Seymour's beheading, Elizabeth observed: 'This day died a man of much wit, and very little judgement'. His fate remained with her. The Virgin Queen was born out of the ashes of Seymour's fall.
The House of Dudley: A New History of Tudor England
Author: Joanne Paul
Year: 2022
Publisher: Penguin Michael Joseph
Place of Publication: London
Formats Available:
Hardcover [Amazon]
Paperback [Bookshop.org]
Kindle [Link]
Audiobook - Narrator: Kristin Atherton [Audible]
Was the house of Dudley out to steal the throne?
This was the question on the mind of Elizabeth I's courtiers when a forbidden book accused generations of the Dudley family of poisonings, plottings, murders, treason, incitement and other 'evil stratagems'. For decades, the Dudleys had been close to the throne, rising from nobodies to the land's highest offices. Under Henrys VII and VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and, finally, Elizabeth, they risked execution and imprisonment as they audaciously stole, murdered and swindled in the name of the monarch. But were they loyally protecting the crown, or did they secretly covet it for themselves?
Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr
Author: Linda Porter
Year: 2023 (Original 2010)
Publisher: Lume Books (Original Macmillan)
Place of Publication: London
Website Link: https://lindaporter.net/KatherineParrUK.htm
Formats Available:
Hardcover (used)
Paperback [Amazon]
Kindle [link]
All that most people know about Katherine Parr Henry VIII's sixth wife, is that she 'survived'. She has often been dismissed as a matronly figure who nursed Henry as his health declined and made little impact in the drama-ridden Tudor court. The truth, however, is much more interesting.
Katherine was already thirty, and already twice widowed, when she married the king. Beautiful, passionate, radical and highly intelligent, she almost became the third of Henry's wives to lose her head. She was saved only by her quick wits and the old king's affection. After Henry's death she hastily and secretly married her old flame, the rakish Sir Thomas Seymour - believing she had at last found true love. But her happiness was brief. Rumours spread throughout the court about Seymour's open flirtations with Katherine's own step-daughter, the young Princess Elizabeth. Tragically, with the scandal still at its height, she died giving birth to her only child.
In the first full-scale biography of this fascinating woman, Linda Porter paints a vivid portrait of a woman who until now has been unaccountably neglected and misunderstood, despite being one of the most intriguing and influential queen consorts in all English history.
Crown of Blood: Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey
Author: Nicola Tallis Year: 2016 Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books Limited Place of Publication: London
Website Link: https://nicolatallis.com/crown-of-blood/
Formats Available: Hardcover (used) [World of Books] Paperback [Amazon] [Bookshop.org] Kindle [link] Audiobook - Narrator: Charlotte Strevens [Audible]
'Good people, I am come hither to die, and by law I am condemned to the same'.
These were the words uttered by Lady Jane Grey as she stood on the saffold awaiting death on a cold February morning in 1554. At just seventeen years old she was the youngest woman of the Tudor age to be condemned for high treason and would be hailed as one of its most tragic victims. Her short and dramatic life played out as the ambitions of her family and the great power players at court dictated, her royal blood proving irresistable to those who sought to control the throne. Queen Jane reigned for just thirteen days before being imprisoned in the Tower, sentenced to death and executed. It was during this drawn-out and sorrowing ordeal that her remarkable courage and independent spirit shone through; refusing to betray her faith, Jane finally became mistress of her life, just as it was being taken away.
Since her death, Jane's story has captured the hearts and imaginations of historians and the public alike, leading to many myths and misconceptions, and obscuring the experiences and personality of a girl whose extraordinary intelligence, charisma and wit had earned herthe admiration and affection of those who knew her, including some of the great intellectuals of the day. In this significant retelling of an often-misread tale, Nicola Tallis explores a range of evidence that has never before been used in a biography, unravelling the grim tapestry of Lady Jane Grey's life and revealing a young woman and religious radical who ultimately became a martyr for her faith.
Children of England: The Heirs of King Henry VIII
1547-1558
Author: Alison Weir
Year: 2008 (Original 1996)
Publisher: Vintage (Original Jonathan Cape)
Place of Publication: London
Website Link: http://alisonweir.org.uk/books/bookpages/more-children-of-england.php
Formats Available:
Hardcover (used)
Paperback [Bookshop.org]
Kindle [link]
When Henry VIII died in 1547 he left three highly intelligent children to succeed him in turn, to be followed, if their lines failed, by the descendants of his sister Mary Tudor.
'Children of England' begins at the point where Alison Weir's bestseller 'The Six Wives of Henry VIII' came to an end, and covers the period until Elizabeth succeeded to the throne in 1558. Her interest is in the characters and relationships of Henry's four heirs. Making use of a huge variety of contemporary sources, she brings to vivid life one of the most extraordinary periods of English history, when each of Henry's heirs was potentially the tool of powerful political or religious figures, and when the realm was seething with intrigue and turbulent change.
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