king's uncle, who had already been appointed protector, was created Duke of Somerset, and his brother, Sir Thomas Seymour, Catherine's former lover, was created Baron Seymour of Sudeley.
One historian, Gregorio Leti, tells us that thirty-four days after Henry's death Lord Seymour and Catherine had plighted their troth to each other by a written contract, signed by each, and by an exchange of rings. The fact and even the date (which would be 3 March) are perfectly possible, indeed one may say probable; but as Leti lived long afterwards, and adds circumstances clearly erroneous, supported by spurious documents, he is not to be relied on. The engagement, however, is certain. On Tuesday, 17 May, Lord Seymour writes to Catherine from St. James's about her sister (whom he calls ‘my sister’), Lady Herbert, having wormed out his secret in spite of his efforts to cloak the stolen visits he had paid to Catherine at Chelsea, where it is clear he had already several times passed the night with her, though the marriage was not yet acknowledged. The couple had fully committed themselves to a step which, if known, might have been impugned as a very grave misdemeanor, and they were seeking to make friends and obtain formal leave to do what they had already done. The first thing was to apply to the young king himself, and Catherine did so, apparently in a very cautious letter, without stating her real object. She was rewarded by a cold epistle in reply, written certainly by Edward, but doubtless dictated by Somerset, and dated 30 May, formally thanking her and commending her good sentiments. The next process was to see if the Princess Mary would befriend them, and Lord Seymour wrote to her, asking if she would favour the suit he was making to the queen for marriage. She very wisely refused ‘to be a meddler in the matter, considering whose wife her grace was of late.’ Her letter to that effect is dated on Saturday, 4 June. Repulsed in two quarters the couple were, however, more successful in the way of personal intercourse with the sovereign, from which apparently the protector had done his utmost to debar them. Seymour at first found a medium to suggest to Edward in conversation the desirability of finding a wife for him, and the young boy himself thought of the Princess Mary (whom it would be a great object to convert), or perhaps Anne of Cleves, until his ideas were directed into the desired channel (Biographical Memoir prefixed to Literary Remains of Edward VI, p. cxv). Afterwards Seymour was encouraged to push the matter himself. Edward readily entered into the project, and wrote a letter to the queen, advising her to take Seymour for a husband. Of course she replied to him, expressing her utmost willingness to gratify his majesty in the matter, and we have his answer dated 25 June, thanking her for her compliance, and promising to smooth matters with the protector.
Nevertheless the entry that young Edward wrote in his journal upon the subject was as follows: ‘The Lord Seymour of Sudeley married the queen, whose name was Catherine; with which marriage the lord protector was much offended.’ The step was clearly indefensible from a political point of view; for the royal authority during the minority was properly vested in the council. Lord Seymour was a dangerous man, and seemed not unlikely now to supplant his elder brother the protector. The latter, however, seeing the thing beyond recall, became, after a while, reconciled, and even cordial. The ill-feeling between the wives of the two brothers is said to have been more serious, the Duchess of Somerset refusing any longer to yield precedence to the queen dowager. But Lord Seymour had now gained such a footing that he was likely to make more powerful friends than his brother. He allured the Marquis of Dorset to his side by proposing to marry his daughter, the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, to the young king, whom Somerset proposed to match with his own daughter. Dorset, after the fashion of the times, sold the young lady's wardship to Lord Seymour; and Seymour advised him to make himself strong in the country that they might have matters all their own way. But before either the king or Lady Jane had come to marriageable age Seymour had paid the penalty of ambition, and Lady Jane fell into the clutches of a still more unscrupulous intriguer.
‘The Lord Sudeley,’ says Hayward, ‘was fierce in courage, courtly in fashion, in personage stately, in voice magnificent, but somewhat empty in matter.’ His discretion certainly was not equal to his ambition. He had married Catherine, as was afterwards alleged, so soon after the death of Henry VIII that if she had borne a child within the next nine months there might have been a question as to its paternity, and the future succession to the crown. Another matter in which he showed even a greater want of decency was his conduct towards the Princess Elizabeth, who was under the care of the queen dowager his wife. He used many familiarities towards her even in his wife's presence at Chelsea, and declared he cared not if everybody saw it (Cal. State Papers, Foreign, 1558–9, pref. p. xxxi). The same
