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Note: the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first Protestant ruler. During Edward�s reign, the realm was governed by a Regency Council, because he never reached maturity. The Council was led from 1547 to 1549 by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, and from 1550 to 1553 by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick, who in 1551 became 1st Duke of Northumberland. Edward's reign was marked by economic problems, military withdrawal from Scotland and Boulogne-sur-Mer, and social unrest that in 1549 erupted into riot and rebellion. It also saw the transformation of the Anglican Church into a recognisably Protestant body.[2] Henry VIII had severed the link between the Church of England and Rome, and during Edward's reign, Protestantism was established for the first time in England, with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the mass, and the imposition of compulsory services in English. The architect of these reforms was Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, whose Book of Common Prayer has proved lasting.
When Edward fell terminally ill in 1553, he and his Council drew up a "Devise for the Succession" in an attempt to prevent a Catholic backlash against the Protestant Reformation. Edward named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his heir and excluded his two half sisters, the Catholic Mary and Protestant Elizabeth. On Edward's death at the age of 15, the succession was disputed. Jane survived as queen for only nine days before the Privy Council proclaimed Mary, for whom the people had risen in support in the counties. As queen, Mary proceeded to undo many of Edward's Protestant reforms, but Elizabeth's religious settlement of 1559 was to secure his Protestant legacy.
Early life
Birth
Prince Edward in 1539, by Hans Holbein the Younger. He holds a golden rattle that resembles a sceptre; and the Latin inscription urges him to equal or surpass his father.[3]Prince Edward was born on 12 October 1537 at Hampton Court Palace, to the west of London.[4] He was the son of King Henry VIII by his third wife, Jane Seymour. Throughout the realm, the people greeted the birth of a male heir, "whom we hungered for so long",[5] with joy and relief. Te Deums were sung in churches, bonfires lit, and "their was shott at the Tower that night above two thousand gonnes".[6] Jane, who appeared to recover quickly from a prolonged labour, sent out pre-signed letters announcing the birth of "a Prince, conceived in most lawful matrimony between my Lord the King's Majesty and us".[7] Edward was christened on 15 October, with Princess Mary as godmother and Princess Elizabeth carrying the chrism, or baptismal cloth;[6] and the Garter King of Arms proclaimed him as Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester.[8] Jane Seymour, however, suddenly fell ill on 23 October from presumed postnatal complications, and she died the following night.[9] Henry VIII wrote to Francis I of France that "Divine Providence ... hath mingled my joy with bitterness of the death of her who brought me this happiness".[10]
Upbringing and education
Edward was a healthy baby who suckled strongly from the outset. His father was delighted with him; in May 1538, Henry was observed "dallying with him in his arms ... and so holding him in a window to the sight and great comfort of the people".[11] That September, the Lord Chancellor, Thomas, Lord Audley, reported Edward's rapid growth and vigour;[11] and other accounts describe him as a tall and merry child. The tradition that Edward VI was a sickly boy has been challenged by some historians.[12] At the age of four, he fell ill with a life-threatening "quartan fever",[13] but, despite occasional illnesses and poor eyesight, he enjoyed generally good health until the last six months of his life.[14]
Edward as Prince of Wales, 1546[15]Edward was initially placed in the care of Margaret Bryan, "lady mistress" of the prince's household. She was succeeded by Blanche Herbert, Lady Troy.[16] Until the age of six, Edward was brought up, as he put it later in his Chronicle, "among the women".[17] The formal royal household established around Edward was at first under Sir William Sidney, and later under Sir Richard Page, the stepfather of Edward Seymour's wife, Anne Stanhope.[18] Henry demanded exacting standards of security and cleanliness in his son's household, stressing that Edward was "this whole realm's most precious jewel".[19] Visitors described the prince, who was lavishly provided with toys and comforts, including his own troupe of minstrels, as a contented child.[20]
From the age of six, Edward began his formal education under Richard Cox and John Cheke, concentrating, as he recalled himself, on "learning of tongues, of the scripture, of philosophy, and all liberal sciences";[21] he later also received tuition from Elizabeth's tutor, Roger Ascham, among others, and in French from Jean Belmain.[22] In addition, he is known to have studied geometry and learned to play musical instruments, including the lute and the virginals. He collected globes and maps and, according to coinage historian C. E. Challis, developed a grasp of monetary affairs that indicates a high intelligence. Edward's religious education is assumed to have favoured the reforming agenda.[23] His religious establishment was probably chosen by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, a leading reformer; and both Cox and Cheke were "reformed" Catholics or Erasmians and later became Marian exiles.[24] By 1549, Edward had written a treatise on the pope as Antichrist and was making informed notes on theological controversies.[25] Many aspects of Edward's religion were still essentially Catholic in his early years, including celebration of the mass and reverence for images and relics of the saints.[26]
Both Edward's sisters were attentive to their brother and often visited him�on one occasion, Elizabeth gave him a shirt "of her own working".[27] Edward "took special content" in Mary's company, though he disapproved of her taste for foreign dances; "I love you most", he wrote to her in 1546.[28] In 1543, Henry invited his three children to spend Christmas with him, signalling his reconciliation with his daughters, whom he had previously illegitimised and disinherited. The following spring, he restored them to their place in the succession with a Third Succession Act, which also provided for a regency council during Edward's minority.[29] This unaccustomed family harmony may have owed much to the influence of Henry's new wife Catherine Parr,[30] of whom Edward soon became fond. He called her his "most dear mother" and in September 1546 wrote to her: "I received so many benefits from you that my mind can hardly grasp them".[31]
Portrait miniature of Edward by an unknown artist, c. 1543�46[32]Other children were brought to play with Edward, including the granddaughter of Edward's chamberlain Sir William Sidney, who in adulthood recalled the prince as "a marvellous sweet child, of very mild and generous condition".[33] Edward shared his formal education with sons of nobles, "appointed to attend upon him" in what was a form of miniature court.[34] Among these, Barnaby Fitzpatrick, the son of an Irish peer, became a close and lasting friend.[35] Edward was more devoted to his schoolwork than were his classmates and seems to have outshone them, motivated to do his "duty" and compete with his sister Elizabeth's academic prowess, though Cox felt it necessary to beat him on at least one occasion.[36] Edward�s surroundings and possessions were regally splendid: his rooms were hung with costly Flemish tapestries, and his clothes, books, and cutlery were encrusted with precious jewels and gold.[37] Like his father, Edward was fascinated by military arts, and many of his portraits show him wearing a gold dagger with a jewelled hilt, in imitation of Henry.[38] Edward's Chronicle enthusiastically details English military campaigns against Scotland and France, and adventures such as John Dudley's near capture at Musselburgh in 1547.[39]
Rough wooing
On 1 July 1543, Henry VIII had signed the Treaty of Greenwich with the Scots, sealing the peace with Edward's betrothal to the seven-month-old Mary, Queen of Scots. The Scots were in a weak bargaining position after their defeat at Solway Moss the previous November, and Henry, seeking to unite the two realms, stipulated that Mary be handed over to him to be brought up in England.[40] When the Scots repudiated the treaty in December 1543 and renewed their alliance with France, Henry was enraged. In April 1544, he ordered Edward's uncle, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, to invade Scotland and "put all to fire and sword, burn Edinburgh town, so razed and defaced when you have sacked and gotten what ye can of it, as there may remain forever a perpetual memory of the vengeance of God lightened upon [them] for their falsehood and disloyalty".[41] Seymour responded with the most savage campaign ever launched by the English against the Scots.[42] The war, which continued into Edward's reign, has become known as "The Rough Wooing".
Accession
'Edward VI and the Pope: An Allegory of the Reformation. This anonymous work of propaganda depicts the handing over of power from Henry VIII, who lies dying in bed, to Edward VI, seated beneath a cloth of state with a slumping pope at his feet. In the top right of the picture is an image of men pulling down and smashing idols. At Edward's side are his uncle the Lord Protector Edward Seymour, and members of the Privy Council.[43]Henry VIII died on 28 January 1547, when Edward was only nine. Those close to the throne, led by Edward Seymour and William Paget, agreed to delay the announcement of the king's death until arrangements had been made for a smooth succession. Seymour and Sir Anthony Browne, the Master of the Horse, rode to collect Edward from Hertford and brought him to Enfield, where Princess Elizabeth was living. He and Elizabeth were then told of the death of their father and heard a reading of the will.[44] The Lord Chancellor, Thomas Wriothesley, announced Henry's death to parliament on 31 January, and general proclamations of Edward's succession were ordered.[45] The new king was taken to the Tower of London, where he was welcomed with "great shot of ordnance in all places there about, as well out of the Tower as out of the ships".[46] The following day, the nobles of the realm made their obeisance to Edward at the Tower, and Seymour was announced as Protector.[45] Henry VIII was buried at Windsor on 16 February, in the same tomb as Jane Seymour, as he had wished.
Edward VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey four days later on Sunday 20 February, the first coronation in England for almost 40 years.[47] The ceremonies were shortened, because of the "tedious length of the same which should weary and be hurtsome peradventure to the King's majesty, being yet of tender age", and also because the Reformation had rendered some of them inappropriate.[48] On the eve of the coronation, Edward progressed on horseback from the Tower to the Palace of Westminster through thronging crowds and pageants, many based on the pageants for a previous boy king, Henry VI.[49] He laughed at a Spanish tightrope walker who "tumbled and played many pretty toys" outside St Paul's Cathedral.[50] At the coronation service, Cranmer affirmed the royal supremacy and called Edward a second Josiah,[51] urging him to continue the reformation of the Church of England, "the tyranny of the Bishops of Rome banished from your subjects, and images removed".[52] After the service, Edward presided at a banquet in Westminster Hall, where, he recalled in his Chronicle, he dined with his crown on his head.[53]
Somerset's Protectorate
Council of Regency
Henry VIII's will named sixteen executors, who were to act as Edward's Council until he reached the age of 18. These executors were supplemented by twelve men "of counsail" who would assist the executors when called on.[54] The final state of Henry VIII's will has been the subject of controversy. Some historians suggest that those close to the king manipulated either him or the will itself to ensure a shareout of power to their benefit, both material and religious. In this reading, the composition of the Privy Chamber shifted towards the end of 1546 in favour of the reforming faction.[55] In addition, two leading conservative Privy Councillors were removed from the centre of power. Stephen Gardiner was refused access to Henry during his last months. Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, found himself accused of treason; the day before the king's death his vast estates were seized, making them available for redistribution, and he spent the whole of Edward's reign in the Tower of London.[56] Other historians have argued that Gardiner's exclusion was based on non-religious matters, that Norfolk was not noticeably conservative in religion, that conservatives remained on the Council, and that the radicalism of men such as Sir Anthony Denny, who controlled the dry stamp that replicated the king's signature, is debatable.[57] Whatever the case, Henry's death was followed by a lavish hand-out of lands and honours to the new power group.[58] The will contained an "unfulfilled gifts" clause, added at the last minute, which allowed Henry's executors to freely distribute lands and honours to themselves and the court,[59] particularly to Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, who became the Lord Protector of the Realm, Governor of the King's Person, and the Duke of Somerset.[58]
Edward VI's uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, ruled England in the name of his nephew as Lord Protector from 1547 to 1549.In fact, Henry VIII's will did not provide for the appointment of a Protector. It entrusted the government of the realm during his son's minority to a Regency Council that would rule collectively, by majority decision, with "like and equal charge".[60] Nevertheless, a few days after Henry's death, on 4 February, the executors chose to invest almost regal power in Edward Seymour.[61] Thirteen out of the sixteen (the others being absent) agreed to his appointment as Protector, which they justified as their joint decision "by virtue of the authority" of Henry's will.[62] Seymour may have done a deal with some of the executors, who almost all received hand-outs.[63] He is known to have done so with William Paget, private secretary to Henry VIII,[64] and to have secured the support of Sir Anthony Browne of the Privy Chamber.[65]
Seymour's appointment was in keeping with historical precedent, [66] and his eligibility for the role was reinforced by his military successes in Scotland and France. In March 1547, he secured letters patent from King Edward granting him the almost monarchical right to appoint members to the Privy Council himself and to consult them only when he wished.[67] In the words of historian G. R. Elton, "from that moment his autocratic system was complete".[68] He proceeded to rule largely by proclamation, calling on the Privy Council to do little more than rubber-stamp his decisions.[69]
Somerset's takeover of power was smooth and efficient. The imperial ambassador, Van der Delft, reported that he "governs everything absolutely", with Paget operating as his secretary, though he predicted trouble from John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, who had recently been raised to Earl of Warwick in the share-out of honours.[70] In fact, in the early weeks of his Protectorate, Somerset was challenged only by the Chancellor, Thomas Wriothesley, whom the Earldom of Southampton had evidently failed to buy off, and by his own brother.[71] Wriothesley, a religious conservative, objected to Somerset�s assumption of monarchical power over the Council. He then found himself abruptly dismissed from the chancellorship on charges of selling off some of his offices to delegates.[72] His removal forestalled the forming of factions within the Council.
Thomas Seymour
Somerset faced less manageable opposition from his younger brother Thomas Seymour, who has been described as a "worm in the bud".[73] As King Edward's uncle, Thomas Seymour demanded the governorship of the king�s person and a greater share of power.[74] Somerset tried to buy his brother off with a barony, an appointment to the Lord Admiralship, and a seat on the Privy Council�but Thomas was bent on scheming for power. He began smuggling pocket money to King Edward, telling him that Somerset held the purse strings too tight, making him a "beggarly king".[75] He also urged him to throw off the Protector within two years and "bear rule as other kings do"; but Edward, schooled to defer to the Council, failed to co-operate.[76] In April, using Edward�s support to circumvent Somerset�s opposition, Thomas Seymour secretly married Henry VIII's widow Catherine Parr, whose Protestant household included the 11-year-old Lady Jane Grey and the 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth.[77]
In summer 1548, a pregnant Catherine Parr discovered Thomas Seymour embracing Princess Elizabeth.[78] As a result, Elizabeth was removed from Catherine Parr's household and transferred to Sir Anthony Denny's. That September, Catherine Parr died in childbirth, and Thomas Seymour promptly resumed his attentions to Elizabeth by letter, planning to marry her. Elizabeth was receptive, but, like Edward, unready to agree to anything unless permitted by the Council.[79] In January 1549, the Council had Thomas Seymour arrested on various charges, including embezzlement at the Bristol mint. King Edward, whom Seymour was accused of planning to marry to Lady Jane Grey, himself testified about the pocket money.[80] Lack of clear evidence for treason ruled out a trial, so Seymour was condemned instead by an Act of Attainder and beheaded on 20 March 1549.[81] The execution of his own brother was the latest of a series of disasters that had marked the Protector's rule. From this time, Somerset's own position was increasingly under threat.[82]
War
Somerset�s only undoubted skill was as a soldier, which he had proven on expeditions to Scotland and in the defence of Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1546. From the first, his main interest as Protector was the war against Scotland.[83] After a crushing victory at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in September 1547, he set up a network of garrisons in Scotland, stretching as far north as Dundee.[84] His initial successes, however, were followed by a loss of direction, as his aim of uniting the realms through conquest became increasingly unrealistic. The Scots allied with France, who sent reinforcements for the defence of Edinburgh in 1548,[85] while Mary, Queen of Scots, was removed to France, where she was betrothed to the dauphin.[86] The cost of maintaining the Protector's massive armies and his permanent garrisons in Scotland also placed an unsustainable burden on the royal finances.[87] A French attack on Boulogne in August 1549 at last forced Somerset to begin a withdrawal from Scotland.[88]
Rebellion
During 1548, England was subject to social unrest. After April 1549, a series of armed revolts broke out, fuelled by various religious and agrarian grievances. The two most serious rebellions, which required major military intervention to put down, were in Devon and Cornwall and in Norfolk. The first, sometimes called the Prayer Book Rebellion, arose mainly from the imposition of church services in English, and the second, led by a tradesman called Robert Kett, mainly from the encroachment of landlords on common grazing ground.[89] A complex aspect of the social unrest was that the protestors believed they were acting legitimately against enclosing landlords with the Protector's support, convinced that the landlords were the lawbreakers.[90]
The same justification for outbreaks of unrest was voiced throughout the country, not only in Norfolk and the west. The origin of the popular view of Somerset as sympathetic to the rebel cause lies partly in his series of sometimes liberal, often contradictory, proclamations,[91] and partly in the uncoordinated activities of the commissions he sent out in 1548 and 1549 to investigate grievances about loss of tillage, encroachment of large sheep flocks on common land, and similar issues.[92] Somerset's commissions were led by an evangelical M.P. called John Hales, whose socially liberal rhetoric linked the issue of enclosure with Reformation theology and the notion of a godly commonwealth.[93] Local groups often assumed that the findings of these commissions entitled them to act against offending landlords themselves.[94] King Edward wrote in his Chronicle that the 1549 risings began "because certain commissions were sent down to pluck down enclosures".[95]
Whatever the popular view of Somerset, the disastrous events of 1549 were taken as evidence of a colossal failure of government, and the Council laid the responsibility at the Protector's door.[96] In July 1549, Paget wrote to Somerset: "Every man of the council have misliked your proceedings ... would to God, that, at the first stir you had followed the matter hotly, and caused justice to be ministered in solemn fashion to the terror of others ...".[97] By that autumn, plans were afoot to eject Somerset as Protector.
Fall of Somerset
The sequence of events that led to Somerset's removal from power has often been called a coup d'�tat.[96] By 1 October 1549, Somerset had been alerted that his rule faced a serious threat. He issued a proclamation calling for assistance, took possession of the king's person, and withdrew for safety to the fortified Windsor Castle, where Edward wrote, "Me thinks I am in prison".[98] Meanwhile, a united Council published details of Somerset's government mismanagement. They made clear that the Protector's power came from them, not from Henry VIII's will. On 11 October, the Council had Somerset arrested and brought the king to Richmond.[96] Edward summarised the charges against Somerset in his Chronicle: "ambition, vainglory, entering into rash wars in mine youth, negligent looking on Newhaven, enriching himself of my treasure, following his own opinion, and doing all by his own authority, etc."[99] In February 1550, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, emerged as the leader of the Council and, in effect, as Somerset's successor. Although Somerset was released from the Tower and restored to the Council, he was executed for felony in January 1552 after scheming to overthrow Dudley's regime.[100] Edward noted his uncle's death in his Chronicle: "the duke of Somerset had his head cut off upon Tower Hill between eight and nine o'clock in the morning".[101]
Historians contrast the efficiency of Somerset's takeover of power, in which they detect the organising skills of allies such as Paget, the "master of practices", with the subsequent ineptitude of his rule.[102] By autumn 1549, his costly wars had lost momentum, the crown faced financial ruin, and riots and rebellions had broken out around the country. Until recent decades, Somerset's reputation with historians was high, in view of his many proclamations that appeared to back the common people against a rapacious landowning class.[103] More recently, however, he has often been portrayed as an arrogant and aloof ruler, lacking in political and administrative skills.[104]
Northumberland's regime
In contrast, Somerset's successor John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, made Duke of Northumberland in 1550, was once regarded by historians merely as a grasping schemer who cynically elevated and enriched himself at the expense of the crown.[105] Since the 1970s, the administrative and economic achievements of his regime have been recognised, and he has been credited with restoring the authority of the royal Council and returning the government to an even keel after the disasters of Somerset's protectorate.[106]
John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, later 1st Duke of Northumberland, led the Privy Council after the downfall of Somerset.The Earl of Warwick's rival for leadership of the new regime was Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, whose conservative supporters had allied with Dudley's followers to create a unanimous Council which they, and observers such as the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V's ambassador, expected to reverse Somerset's policy of religious reform.[107] Southampton's faction intended to appoint the Catholic Princess Mary as regent for King Edward.[108] Warwick, on the other hand pinned his hopes on the king's strong Protestantism and, claiming that Edward was old enough to rule in person, moved himself and his people closer to the king, taking control of the Privy Chamber.[109] Paget, accepting a barony, joined Warwick when he realised that a conservative policy would not bring the Emperor onto the English side over Boulogne.[110] Southampton prepared a case for executing Somerset, aiming to discredit Warwick through Somerset's statements that he had done all with Warwick's cooperation. As a counter-move, Warwick convinced parliament to free Somerset, which it did on 14 January 1550. Warwick then had Southampton and his followers purged from the Council after winning the support of Council members in return for titles, and was made Lord President of the Council and great master of the king's household.[111] Although not called a Protector, he was now clearly the head of the government.[112]
In accordance with his use of the king's personal authority as the source of his own, Warwick encouraged the king to come to Council meetings, which enabled him to cite the king's authority for his decisions.[113] Although Edward was precocious and able to understand much government business, his contributions during Warwick's presidency probably amounted to no more than assent to decisions already taken. In Dale Hoak's view, "Edward VI's speeches and papers really present the somewhat pathetic figure of an articulate puppet far removed from the realities of government".[114] His greatest influence was in matters of religion, where the Council followed the strongly Protestant policy that Edward favoured.[115]
The Duke of Northumberland's mode of operation was very different from Somerset's. Careful to make sure he always commanded a majority of councillors, he encouraged a working council and used it to legitimate his authority. Lacking Somerset's blood relationship with the king, he added members to the Council from his own faction in order to control it. He also added members of his family to the royal household.[116] He saw that to achieve personal dominance, he needed total procedural control of the Council.[117] In the words of historian John Guy, "Like Somerset, he became quasi-king; the difference was that he managed the bureaucracy on the pretence that Edward had assumed full sovereignty, whereas Somerset had asserted the right to near-sovereignty as Protector".[118]
Warwick's war policies were more pragmatic than Somerset's, and they have earned him criticism for weakness. In 1550, he signed a peace treaty with France that agreed to withdrawal from Boulogne, recalled all English garrisons from Scotland, and cancelled Edward's betrothal to Mary, Queen of Scots, in favour of one with Henry II's daughter Elisabeth.[119] In practice, he realised that England could no longer support the cost of wars.[120] At home, he took measures to police local unrest. In order to forestall future rebellions, he kept permanent representatives of the crown in the localities, including lords lieutenant, who commanded military forces and reported back to central government.[121]
Warwick also tackled the disastrous state of the kingdom's finances, drawing on the talents of Thomas Smith, William Cecil, and William Paulet, and on the financial advice of men such as Walter Mildmay and Thomas Gresham.[122] However, his regime did not take action until after it had succumbed to the temptations of a quick profit by further debasing the coinage.[123] The economic disaster that resulted handed the initiative to the experts, and the debasement was reversed. By 1552, confidence in the coinage was restored, prices fell, and trade at last improved. Though a full economic recovery was not achieved until Elizabeth's reign, its origins lay in the Duke of Northumberland's policies.[124] The regime also cracked down on the widespread embezzlement of government finances and carried out a thorough review of revenue collection practices which has been called "one of the more remarkable achievements of Tudor administration".[125]
Reformation
In the matter of religion, the regime of Northumberland followed the same policy as that of Somerset, supporting an increasingly vigorous programme of reform.[126] Although Edward VI's practical influence on government was limited, his intense Protestantism made a reforming administration obligatory; his succession was managed by the reforming faction, who continued in power throughout his reign. The man Edward trusted most, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, introduced a series of religious reforms which revolutionised the English church from one that, while rejecting papal supremacy, remained essentially Catholic, to one that was institutionally Protestant. The confiscation of church property that had begun under Henry VIII resumed under Edward�notably with the dissolution of the chantries�to the great monetary advantage of the crown and the new owners of the seized property.[127] Church reform was therefore as much a political as a religious policy under Edward VI.[128] By the end of his reign, the church had been financially ruined, with much of the property of the bishops transferred into lay hands.[129]
Note: Edward VI (12 October 1537 � 6 July 1553) became King of England and Ireland on 28 January 1547 and was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine.[1] The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was
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