Lady Jane Grey—Privy Council | document signed during her brief reign, 17 July 1553

Lady Jane Grey—Privy Council.

Document signed by 12 Privy Councillors, a warrant addressed to Armigall Waad, clerk of the Council,

authorising payments from “sych money of the Queenes Highneses as remayneth in your custody” as fees to specified messengers who have carried letters of state, presumably announcing the accession of Queen Jane, with the signatures of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (“T. Cant.”); Thomas Goodrich, Bishop of Ely and Lord Chancellor (“T. Ely Canc”); William, Marquess of Winchester; the Earls of Bedford and Shrewsbury; Lords Vaux and Cobham; Sir Thomas Cheyne; Richard Cotton; Sir John Cheke; Sir John Mason; and Robert Bowes; 1 page, folio, integral address leaf, Tower of London, 17 July 1553, edge-mounted on board, neat repair to internal tear not affecting text

AN EXCEPTIONAL RARITY: A LETTER OF GOVERNMENT BUSINESS SIGNED BY COUNCILLORS DURING THE REIGN OF LADY JANE GREY “THE NINE DAY QUEEN”.

Jane Grey (1537-54) was the grand-daughter of Henry VIII’s younger sister Mary. When her cousin, the young Edward VI, died on 6 July 1553, the next in line to the throne was his sister Mary. However, members of the government led by the Duke of Northumberland were desperate to maintain their own power and prevent a Catholic from acceding to the throne. Northumberland conspired with Lady Jane’s parents (the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk) to marry the girl with Tudor blood to Northumberland’s own son, and then to proclaim Jane as Queen in place of Mary. Jane was proclaimed Queen on 10 July. Two days later came news that Mary and her allies in East Anglia were preparing to fight for her rights. Northumberland rode out against Mary on 14 July and soon discovered that There was little support for his flagrant disregard for the succession. Northumberland’s army soon melted away, and his support within government began to dissipate as soon as he left the capital. The Privy Council shifted allegiance and on 19 July proclaimed Mary as Queen. Jane was swiftly arrested, Northumberland soon surrendered, and on 3 August Mary rode in triumph into London. 

There were just a few days when government business was conducted in the name of Queen Jane. Documents signed by Privy Councillors during this period are correspondingly rare (there are no auction records for any document signed by Jane as Queen). The Privy Council shifted allegiance with sufficient speed to ensure that its members suffered no immediate repercussion, but in the months that followed Archbishop Cranmer, whose signature is prominent in this document, was to fall victim to Mary’s bloody re-establishment of Catholicism.