Seymour, Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron

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Seymour, Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron (1508–49). Seymour played for high stakes and lost. He was the brother of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife, and the younger brother of Somerset, protector to the young Edward VI. His spectacular rise began with his sister's marriage in May 1536. He was made a gentleman of the bedchamber and employed on important diplomatic and military missions. In 1544 he was appointed master-general of ordnance for life and lord admiral. As soon as his nephew became king in 1547 he was created a peer and given the Garter. Within months of Henry VIII's death he had married his widow Catherine Parr, to his brother's indignation. On her death in childbirth, he seems to have aimed at marriage with Princess Elizabeth, whom he had certainly treated with familiarity. But in January 1549 he was accused of conspiring against his brother, of whom he was envious. He was said to have tried to suborn the young king with lavish presents and urged him to exert his authority. Condemned by attainder, he was executed on Tower Hill. Edward noted his uncle's death in his diary without undue grief and Elizabeth is reported to have dismissed him as ‘of great wit but very little judgement’.

J. A. Cannon

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Thomas Seymour Baron Seymour of Sudeley

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