Lady Jane Grey, a Queen of the Tudor Dynasty of England, but she reigned for only a few days, known as the "Queen of the Nine Days" (also said to be the Thirteenth), before being bombed and beheaded and executed in the famous Tower of London at the age of 16. Why was Jane Gray, a 16-year-old royal maiden, hastily pushed to the throne and beheaded? This is a very tragic story, and it also shows the cruelty of the political struggle in the court, and a weak woman cannot decide her own destiny.
Oil painting "The Death Penalty of Lady Jane Gray" reflecting Jane Gray's beheading
Part of "The Death Penalty of Lady Jane Gray"
Jane Gray lived in the Tudor period of England, she was the eldest daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, her mother was the daughter of henry VIII's sister, Jane Gray was very well educated, fluent in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, influenced by her father and teachers, she was a staunch Protestant (relative to the then incomparably strong Catholic Church), she was very fond of reading, she was also very good-looking, and by the age of fourteen or fifteen years her knowledge was already well known in the European court.
During the reign of the frail Edward VI, Jane was the fourth in line to the throne, and the throne was not related to her for half a cent, but she became a pawn of the ambitious Duke of Northumberland. The Duke of Northumberland persuaded Jane's parents to marry Jane to his son, and then the Duke tried to get Jane to succeed to the throne, and when Jane succeeded to the throne, his son would also be able to get the title of King of England. On 5 July 1553, Edward VI died, and the Duke of Northumberland used his power to successfully elevate Jane to the throne of England, but another heir, Mary (the famous Bloody Mary in history), quickly counterattacked with the support of the Privy Council. Jane was reluctantly deposed after a few days as queen and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Her parents left her and ran away, the Duke of Northumberland was still beheaded for begging Mary for mercy in order to survive, and Mary, who ascended the throne, knew very well that Jane was just a pawn at the mercy of others, so Mary could let jane go as long as she announced that she had renounced her Protestant faith, but Jane refused, and coupled with the fact that her parents who abandoned her were supporting activities against Mary, Mary believed that Jane's life was a threat after all. Soon Jane and her husband were sentenced to death, and her husband was beheaded outside the Tower of London, and then Jane was secretly executed inside the tower, and it is said that her last words before being beheaded were: "Lord, I have put my soul in your hands." ”
Exterior view of the church in the Tower of London
Interior view of the church in the Tower of London
The floor includes a stone plaque of Jane Gray's name, and under the church floor are buried a number of headless ladies
Physical beheading instruments in the Tower of London
After Jane's death, mary was buried under the classroom floor in the Tower of London, with the wives who had been beheaded by Henry VIII, and she had no funeral, and the flower withered at the age of 16, simply because she was forced to sit for a few days in the seat of the King of England, which she did not like at all. In fact, she only liked to sit quietly by the window and read Plato's works, but she could not decide her own destiny.
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