Thomas Seymour

Jane Seymour's brother

Thomas Seymour (1508 – ) is Jane Seymour’s brother.

The story so far…

Week 11: 'Alas, What Shall I Do For Love?' (Part 2) / Early Mass

In Calais, when Edward is playing chess with Cromwell, Thomas Seymour is heading out to find the women. Edward tells him that Cromwell advises against it. “Same as Englishwomen but dirtier.”

Week 18: Falcons

Tom Seymour, Edward’s younger brother, is noisy and boisterous and more of interest to women; when he comes into the room, virgins giggle, and young matrons dip their heads and examine him from under their lashes.

Tom’s interventions always come with a nod or a wink: “Who are your suitors, Jane?”

‘Call him rather a churl than an earl,’ Tom Seymour says.
His brother sighs, as if distancing himself from the remark.

Week 19: Crows (Part 1)

Thomas Seymour tries to imagine his sister in bed.

    'A brother cannot picture his sister in a man's embrace,' Edward Seymour says, 'At least, no brother can who calls himself a Christian. Though they do say at court George Boleyn –' He breaks off, frowning. 'And of course the king knows how to propose himself. How to offer himself. He knows how to do it, as a gallant gentleman. As you. brother, do not.'
    It's hard to put down Tom Seymour. He just grins.

Week 20: Crows (Part 2)

‘This is Jane’s chance. now.’ With Anne pregnant, he wants his sister to become the king’s mistress.

Week 23: The Black Book (Part 2)

Tom calls Anne ‘a tough old hen’ and his sister ‘a plump little chick.’ He is already thinking about ‘some great match’ for their other sister Bess.

When Jane kisses the king’s letter, he says: ‘What genius possessed her? First his seal. Next, his sceptre!’

Tom is close, that’s what he thinks; close and cunning, brain busily working beneath that show of bonhomie. But it’s perhaps not the best brain. Tom Seymour will give me no trouble, he thinks.

Week 27: The Book of Phantoms (Part 3/5)

‘The two brothers, prudent Edward and hasty Tom,’ with their sister as Carew’s house, teaching her how to enter a room. Tom struggles to compliment his ‘meek sister’. It does not come naturally to him.

Week 31: Salvage (Part 1/3)

At court: ‘Tom Seymour looks rumbustious, and is dressed with a lavishness that even George Boleyn might have thought de trop.’ He looks wild as Jane leaves them guessing over what the king has required of her.

Week 36: Augmentation

The Seymours are augmented. ‘Tom Seymour sails among the ladies, scattering smiles like posies; he wears a doublet of hyacinth, a curtmantel of violent velvet.’

Week 42: The Image of the King (Part 2/2) / Broken on the Body

After the birth of Henry’s son, Tom Seymour is knighted and promoted to the king’s privy chamber.