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When we think of the Seymour family, we think of Henry VIII.

We think of Queen Jane Seymour. We think of a family

that went from relative obscurity to the very peak of power in the blink of an eye. But to understand

the dizzying height of their ambition and the tragic depths of their fall, we have to go back to

the beginning. We have to go back to their humble roots. And that is what

we are going to talk about today. We are going to trace the Seymores from their beginnings, through to

their fall, and even where they are today, and what happened to them after the Tudor period. So let's get

started and discuss all things Seymour.

Hello, friend, welcome back to the Renaissance English History podcast, the original Tudor

History podcast telling stories of Tudor England since 2009. I am your host, Heather. I am, as

always, just delighted that you are here with me today. We are going to talk about all things

related to the Seymour family. Let's get started. For generations, the Seymours were,

for all intents and purposes, a family of solid gentry. The name itself Seymour is an

English variation of the French name St. Moore, hinting at their Norman origins. They were well-established landowners in Wiltshire,

with their primary seat at Wolf Hall. They were knights, they were sheriffs, a respectable

class of people who had no reason to believe that one of their own would one day be a queen

of England, let alone the mother of a king. Their place in the world was

solid, predictable, and frankly, a little bit boring. The real shift began a generation before Jane

with her father, Sir John Seymour. Sir John was a career courtier and a soldier. He was knighted by Henry the 7th for his service and

later fought alongside Henry VIII in the English campaigns in France. He was a man with a foot in the

old world of military prowess and the new world of court influence. But his true political master

...