page_title: Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell
section_title: Second marriage
hierarchical_section_title: Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell / Second marriage
caption_attribution_description: English: A portrait miniature of Thomas Cromwell wearing the Garter collar, c. 1537, studio of Hans Holbein the Younger.
context_page_description: Elizabeth Seymour was a younger daughter of Sir John Seymour of Wulfhall, Wiltshire and Margery Wentworth. Elizabeth and her sister Jane served in the household of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII. In his quest for a male heir, the king had divorced his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, whose only surviving child was a daughter, Mary. His marriage to Anne Boleyn had also resulted in a single daughter, Elizabeth. The queen's miscarriage of a son in January 1536 sealed her fate. The king, convinced that Anne could never give him male children, increasingly infatuated with Jane Seymour, and encouraged by the queen's enemies, was determined to replace her. The Seymours rose to prominence after the king's attention turned to Jane.
  In May 1536, Anne Boleyn was accused of treason and adultery with Mark Smeaton, a court musician, the courtiers Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, William Brereton and her brother, George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford.
  The trials and executions of the queen and her co-accused followed swiftly, and on 30 May 1536, eleven days after Anne's execution, Henry VIII and Jane were married.
context_section_description: which doth comfort me most in the world, that I find your lordship is contented with me, and that you will be my good lord and father the which, I trust, never to deserve other, but rather to give cause for the continuance of the same.
  — Elizabeth Cromwell, letter to her father-in-law, Thomas Cromwell, 1537 
  On 3 August 1537, Elizabeth married Gregory Cromwell at Mortlake. Edward Seymour, then Viscount Beauchamp wrote to Cromwell on 2 September 1537, to know how he has fared since the writer's departure. Wishes Cromwell were with him, when he should have had the best sport with bow, hounds, and hawks and sends commendations to his brother-in-law and sister, adding: "and I pray God to send me by them shortly a nephew."
  The couple had five children:
  Henry Cromwell, 2nd Baron Cromwell, (before 1 March 1538 – 16 December 1592), married Mary, (died  1592), the daughter of  John Paulet, Lord St. John and his first wife Elizabeth Willoughby.
  Edward Cromwell, (1539 – ?) died young
  Thomas Cromwell, (c. 1540 – died between February and April 1611), married 18 August 1580, Katherine (died before 1 August 1616), daughter of Thomas Gardner of Coxford.
  Katherine Cromwell, (c. 1541 – ?), probably named after Queen Catherine Howard, married John Strode of Parnham, Dorset
  Frances Cromwell, (c. 1544 – 7 February 1562), married Richard Strode of Newnham, Devon.
  On 12 November, three months after their wedding, Elizabeth and Gregory took part in the queen's funeral procession. Jane's death on 24 October, after being delivered of the king's longed-for son, naturally came as a blow to the Seymour family. It proved to be a setback to Edward Seymour's influence. He was described in the following year as "young and wise,"  but "of small power". The death of the queen would have disastrous consequences for Thomas Cromwell.
  The couple's first child, Henry was born in 1538, shortly before their arrival at Lewes Priory in Sussex, recently acquired by Thomas Cromwell, where they resided until early 1539. Another son, Edward, followed in 1539, who may have been born, at Leeds Castle in Kent.
  Gregory Cromwell appears to have been devoted to his wife and children. In December 1539, while in Calais waiting to welcome Henry VIII's new bride, Anne of Cleves, he wrote to his wife at Leeds Castle, addressing her as his "loving bedfellow", describing the arrival of Anne of Cleves, and requesting news "as well of yourself as also my little boys, of whose increase and towardness be you assured I am not a little desirous to be advertised".
  In January 1540, Elizabeth was appointed to the household of the new Queen, Anne of Cleves.
  Thomas Cromwell was created Earl of Essex on 17 April, and his son, Gregory assumed the courtesy title of Lord Cromwell In May, Lady Cromwell watched her husband compete in the May Day jousts at the Palace of Westminster and afterwards feasted with the queen and her ladies. Anne of Cleves would not remain as queen for long, however, as the mercurial Henry VIII wanted a divorce.
  Thomas Cromwell was at the height of his ascendancy, however his political enemies were gaining ground and his time in power would soon come to an end. He was arrested at a council meeting at 3.00 p.m. on the afternoon of 10 June 1540, accused of treason and heresy, taken to the Tower and his possessions seized. He was condemned without a trial and his sentence was later confirmed by an act of attainder. There are no surviving records of Gregory and Elizabeth's whereabouts at this time.
  
  Thomas Cromwell wrote a desperate letter from the tower to the king to plead his innocence and appealed to him to be merciful to his son and the rest of his family. 
  Sir, upon [my kne]es I most humbly beseech your most gracious Majesty [to be goo]d and gracious lord to my poor son, the good and virtu[ous lady his] wife, and their poor children 
  
  In July, Elizabeth also wrote to Henry VIII, to assure him of her loyalty and that of her husband:
  After the bounden duty of my most humble submission unto your excellent majesty, whereas it hath pleased the same, of your mere mercy and i
caption: Portrait of Thomas Cromwell, wearing the Garter collar (c. 1485-1540)
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