![\"Sudeley](\"https:\/\/ladyjanegrey.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/20160417_112043.jpg\")
<\/a>Sudeley Castle<\/p><\/div>\n
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Elizabeth Norton writes that, \u2018The castle was visible for miles from the high London road, lying in a wooded valley close to the town of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire.\u2019 (1) <\/p>\n
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<\/a>Sudeley Castle<\/p><\/div>\n
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History<\/b><\/p>\n
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When Edward IV became King in 1461, the castle was owned by Ralph Boteler. As a Lancastrian supporter, he was forced to sell to Edward IV, who then granted the castle to his brother, Richard Duke of Gloucester. After nine years of ownership, Richard swapped it for another castle. With his succession to the throne, Richard became owner again and \u2018set about transforming it into a home fit for a king,\u2019 including \u2018a magnificent banqueting hall.\u2019 (2) After Richard III\u2019s defeat at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485, the castle became the property of Henry VII, who granted it to his uncle, Jasper Tudor. After Jasper\u2019s death it reverted to the crown and was owned by Henry VII and Henry VIII. King Henry and Queen Anne Boleyn spent a week at Sudeley in July 1535.<\/p>\n
On the succession of Edward VI, his uncle Thomas Seymour was given Sudeley Castle and the title of \u2018Baron of Sudeley).(3) Seymour married Henry VIII\u2019s widow, Queen Katherine Parr in 1547. Katherine and Thomas moved to the castle in June 1548 to await the birth of their child. With them, also went Lady Jane Grey (who was Seymour\u2019s ward). Katherine died at the castle, several days after giving birth to a daughter. After Thomas Seymour\u2019s execution in March 1549, the property was given to Katherine Parr\u2019s brother but on Mary I\u2019s succession to the throne, it again reverted to the crown.<\/p>\n
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Lady Jane<\/b><\/p>\n
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Lady Jane accompanied Katherine Parr and Thomas Seymour to Sudeley Castle in June 1548. Elizabeth Norton writes, ‘the castle that greeted Thomas and Catherine was…a Cotswold stone building, set amid pretty parkland and ornate gardens.'(4) While they waited for the birth of Katherine\u2019s first child, Jane and the Queen dowager, attended daily services at the church situated in the grounds of the castle. Katherine gave birth to a baby girl, whom she named Mary (in honour of her step-daughter, Mary Tudor) but \u2018a few days later Katherine became suddenly feverish with what may have been puerperal fever.\u2019 (5) <\/p>\n
Leanda de Lisle writes \u2018as it became clear she (Katherine) was dying, Jane and the other women read the Scriptures with her.’ (6) Katherine died on 5th September and 2 days later was buried in St Mary\u2019s Church, where she had worshipped with Lady Jane. Jane acted as chief mourner and de Lisle describes how \u2018the eleven-year-old Jane performed her first public role with great dignity. She walked behind the Queen\u2019s coffin in the procession from the house to the chapel at Sudeley, her small figure erect in a black gown, the long train \u2018borne up by a young lady.\u2019 (7) <\/p>\n
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<\/a>(c) Jennie Rainsford
Lady Jane Grey mourns Katherine Parr
Re-enactment of Katherine Parr’s funeral at Sudeley Castle 2010<\/center><\/I><\/p><\/div>\n
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The Castle<\/b><\/p>\n
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The castle has a number of displays including Katherine Parr, Roman, Richard III and World War One exhibitions. In Room 18 there is a display about Henry VIII and his six wives, including costumes from the David Starkey tv series. The Textile Room [Room 19] includes the \u2018Anne Boleyn lace canopy\u2019 which is said to have been worked on by Anne Boleyn and her ladies for the christening of Princess Elizabeth.<\/p>\n
In Rooms 21 (Tudor Room) and 23 (Tudor Document Room) there are the following:<\/p>\n
Figures of Katherine Parr, Thomas Seymour and Lady Jane Grey.
\nTooth and locks of hair belonging to Katherine Parr.
\nKatherine Parr\u2019s \u2018Prayers or Meditations\u2019
\nKatherine Parr\u2019s \u2018Lamentations of a Sinner\u2019
\nKatherine Parr\u2019s personal copy of the \u20181542 English translation of \u2018A Sermon of St Chrysostome\u2019 by the Oxford scholar John Lupset\u2026bearing her signature, \u2018Kateryn the Quene, KP\u2019 on the title page.\u2019 (8)
\nLove letter accepting Thomas Seymour\u2019s proposal
\nVerses written by Thomas Seymour
\n14th\/15th century Bohun Book of Hours<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Lady Jane Grey<\/p><\/div>\n
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In Screening Room 2 [Room 28] you can watch a film about Lady Jane.<\/p>\n
Two rooms that were used by Katherine Parr [37] \u2018Katherine Parr\u2019s Ante-Room and [38] Katherine Parr\u2019s Privy\u2019 are also open to the public. <\/p>\n
In the South Hall [29], there are:<\/p>\n
A copy of the NPG Master John portrait of Katherine Parr
\nPortrait of Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk by Joannes Corvus
\nAt the top of the stairs is the Queen Elizabeth window<\/p>\n
You leave the South Hall via a door that was closed off for centuries and was opened for the 2012 Katherine Parr festival. \u2018This hidden, secret door led from Katherine Parr\u2019s private apartments to the covered walkway along which she and Lady Jane walked daily to their prayers in the Church.\u2019 (9) <\/p>\n
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So, as I left the Castle, I was literally following in the footsteps of Lady Jane. So I walked through the door a couple of times!<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The Queens’ Walk<\/p><\/div>\n
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The covered walkway that Katherine and Jane used to reach the church, no longer exists. Instead the path through the \u2018White Garden\u2019 is marked by a series of arches and Katherine and Jane \u2018are represented by two topiary figures.\u2019 (10)<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Topiary figures representing Katherine and Jane on their way to church<\/p><\/div>\n
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<\/a>Katherine Parr<\/p><\/div>\n
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<\/a>Lady Jane Grey<\/p><\/div>\n
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St Mary’s Church<\/b><\/p>\n
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<\/a>St Mary’s Church<\/p><\/div>\n
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St Mary\u2019s Church in the grounds of the castle, was built in the 15th century. It was here that the first Protestant funeral service was held, for the burial of Katherine Parr on 7th September 1548.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>St Mary’s Church<\/p><\/div>
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<\/a>Entrance to the church<\/p><\/div>\n
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<\/a>St Mary’s Church<\/p><\/div>\n
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Linda Porter writes \u2018two hundred years rolled over England. Through civil war, changing dynasties and the beginnings of empire, Katherine Parr rested in her tomb at Sudeley. The castle eventually passed into the hands of the Chandos family, staunch royalists, and suffered accordingly when the civil war ended. Left unfortifiable, it was abandoned and fell into ruin. The chapel was also neglected and the burial place of Katherine Parr forgotten\u2026\u2019 (11)<\/p>\n
Porter describes how, after the publication of a guide to the history of Gloucestershire in 1792, a group of visitors discovered Katherine\u2019s tomb and viewed her remains. Today Katherine lies in a Victorian marble tomb.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Katherine Parr’s tomb<\/p><\/div>
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<\/a>Katherine Parr’s tomb<\/p><\/div>
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<\/a>Rear view of Katherine Parr’s tomb<\/p><\/div>
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The inscription of Katherine\u2019s original coffin:<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Inscription on Katherine’s original coffin<\/p><\/div>\n
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‘Here lyeth Queen Katheryne Wife to Kinge
\nHenry the VIII and
\nThe wife of Thomas
\nLord of Sudeley high
\nAdmy\u2026of England
\nAnd ynkle to Kyng
\nEdward the VI’ (12)<\/p>\n
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Katherine is also commemorated in a stained glass window, which also shows two of her husbands, Henry VIII and Thomas Seymour.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Stained glass window of Thomas Seymour, Katherine Parr and Henry VIII<\/p><\/div>\n
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Lady Jane is also represented in a stained glass window.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Figure in the middle of the window is Lady Jane Grey<\/p><\/div>\n
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Banqueting Hall and Queens’ Garden<\/b><\/p>\n
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<\/a>Ruins of the Banqueting Hall<\/p><\/div>\n
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<\/a>Queens’ Garden<\/p><\/div>\n
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<\/a>Queens’ Garden<\/p><\/div>\n
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Sources<\/u><\/p>\n
1. Norton, E. (2015) The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor, Head of Zeus, p.152.
\n2. A Story of Kings and Queens & A Guide to Sudeley Castle and Gardens, Sudeley Castle, p.13
\n3. Ibid, p.15
\n4. Norton, E. (2015) The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor, Head of Zeus, p.154.
\n5. Borman, T. (2016) The Private Lives of the Tudors: Uncovering the Secrets of Britain\u2019s Greatest Dynasty, Hodder & Stoughton, p.232.
\n6. De Lisle, L. (2010) The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: The Tragedy of Mary, Katherine and Lady Jane Grey, HarperPress, p.43.
\n7. Ibid.
\n8. Porter, L. (2011) Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, Macmillan, p.157.
\n9. Queen of England Katherine Parr: Mistress of Sudeley, Sudeley Castle, p.27.
\n10. A Story of Kings and Queens & A Guide to Sudeley Castle and Gardens, Sudeley Castle, p.73
\n11. Porter, L. (2011) Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, Macmillan, p.343.
\n12. Queen of England Katherine Parr: Mistress of Sudeley, Sudeley Castle, p.41.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In April I visited Sudeley Castle. Lady Jane lived here for several months in the summer\/autumn of 1548 and the church in the castle grounds, was the location of her first public role. Elizabeth Norton writes that, \u2018The castle was … Continue reading