Edward VI of England

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edward VI
King of England and Ireland (more...)
Edward as Prince of Wales, Flemish School[1]
Reign	28 January 1547 – 6 July 1553
Coronation	20 February 1547
Predecessor	Henry VIII
Successor	Jane briefly, then Mary I
Royal house	House of Tudor
Father	Henry VIII
Mother	Jane Seymour
Born	12 October 1537(1537-10-12) Hampton Court Palace, near London
Died	6 July 1553 (aged 15) Palace of Placentia, Greenwich, near London
Burial	9 August 1553 Henry VII Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey

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 nine years of age.^[2] Edward, the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first ruler to be born a Protestant. Edward's entire reign was mediated through a Regency Council, as he never reached maturity. The council was first led by his uncle, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1547–1549), and then by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1549–1553).

Edward's reign was marked by economic problems, military stalemate in Scotland, and a vigorous enforcement of Protestantism. A period of social unrest begun earlier intensified during his rule, and conflicts with the French ended with English withdrawal from Boulogne. Henry VIII had severed the link between the Church of England and Rome and during Edward's reign Protestantism was fully established for the first time in England, with Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, implementing the Book of Common Prayer.

When Edward fell terminally ill in 1553, the "Device for the Succession" was drafted. This made Lady Jane Grey, Edward's Protestant cousin, the first in line of succession to the throne by excluding his two half sisters, the Catholic Mary and Protestant Elizabeth. Edward's death at the age of 15 triggered a disputed succession. Jane was queen for only nine days, before Mary was proclaimed. Queen Mary proceeded to undo many of Edward's Protestant reforms.

[edit] Early life

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] Jane Seymour, however, suddenly fell ill on 23 October from presumed postnatal complications, and she died the following night.^[8] Edward himself was a healthy baby, who sucked strongly from the first. Henry was delighted with him, and in May 1538 was observed "dallying with him in his arms ... and so holding him in a window to the sight and great comfort of the people".^[9] That September, the Lord Chancellor, Thomas, Lord Audley, reported Edward's rapid growth and vigour.^[10]

Edward automatically became Duke of Cornwall upon his birth; a few days later he was created Prince of Wales. His early care was guided by his father, who specified nurses for him, foremost among them was the "Lady Mistress," Lady Bryan.

The tradition that Edward VI was an extremely sickly child has recently been challenged.^[11] His first illness, experienced at the age of four, was a "quartan fever"^[12] which lasted for months. His supposed frailty may have led Henry VIII to seek to remarry quickly; the King's last three marriages (to Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr), however, did not produce any children. Other than this, Edward appears to have recovered quickly from other diseases. Edward's own journals mention no illness at all apart from a bout of measles in 1552. The policies of the Duke of Northumberland also indicate that he was making a foundation on which Edward was expected to build when he reached his majority at 16, rather than expecting Edward to die young.

Portrait miniature of Edward by an unknown artist, c. 1543–46^[13]

Edward's supposed physical difficulties did not impede his education; on the contrary, the young prince was a very bright child, already able to read and speak Greek and Latin at the age of seven. His principal tutors were Bishop Richard Cox, Sir John Cheke and Jean Belmain. These were able teachers and great minds at the time, and imparted to Edward his knowledge of the Classics, seemingly based on the course of instruction described by Erasmus and Vives. Importantly, Henry VIII chose his tutors because they were humanists: he may also have considered their moderated Protestantism when making his choice,^[14] as Edward was not brought up in the Catholic religion. Edward's education was coloured by the Reformation that had swept through the Netherlands and Germany.^[15] He later learned to speak French and Greek, and, by the age of 13, he was writing essays in the latter language. He was quite fond of his stepmother Catherine Parr, and wrote three letters to her, one each in French, English and Latin. He also wrote letters in Latin to his older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth.^[16] Edward also had strong feelings for Mary, although these were tempered by their disagreements over religion.^[17] He founded many schools, some of which were named after him.^[18]

Christ's Hospital was the result of the vision of King Edward VI, assisted by Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, and Sir Richard Dobbs, Lord Mayor of London. Its genesis was the earlier dissolution of the monasteries and the resultant overflow onto the streets of the poor and destitute. Encouraged by a sermon from Ridley, exhorting mercy to the poor, the King wrote to the Lord Mayor encouraging him to action. This he did via a committee of 30 merchants. Henry VIII had already granted the use of Greyfriars to the City for the relief of the poor, and Edward granted The Palace of Bridewell, his lands of the Savoy and rents and other chattels to create three Royal Hospitals — Bridewell Hospital (now the King Edward's School, Witley, Surrey), St Thomas Hospital and Christ's Hospital, which was for the education of poor children.

The first boys and girls entered the school in Newgate in 1552. The royal charter was granted and signed by its founder, Edward VI, the following year, just a few days before his death.

[edit] Somerset's Protectorate

[edit] Council of Regency

Edward VI's uncle, Edward Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, ruled England in the name of his nephew as Lord Protector from 1547 to 1549.

Henry VIII died on 28 January 1547, when Edward was only nine. His will named sixteen executors, who were to act as a Council of Regency until Edward VI achieved majority at the age of 18 (although it was agreed by the Council in 1552 that Edward would reach his majority at 16). These executors were to be supplemented by twelve assistants, who would participate only when the others deemed it fit. The executors, initially, were arranged so both the reformists and conservatives were present. The most prominent opponents to the reformists, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Stephen Gardiner (the Bishop of Winchester) and Thomas Thirlby (the sole Bishop of Westminster), were pushed out but never officially replaced. The Council immediately appointed the king's maternal uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford to serve as Lord Protector of the Realm and Governor of the King's Person during Edward's minority.^[19] A few days after Henry VIII's death, Lord Hertford was created Duke of Somerset and appointed to the influential positions of Lord High Treasurer and Earl Marshal. Edward VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 20 February 1547.^[20]

To allay all doubts regarding the validity of Henry VIII's will, all the executors sought reappointment from Edward, however this was unnecessary due to the fact that both Catherine and Anne were dead. On 13 March 1547, Edward VI created a new Council of twenty-six members. The Council consisted of all the executors and assistants, except for Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton (who, whilst serving as Lord Chancellor, had illegally delegated some of his powers to other officials) and Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. Somerset, as Lord Protector, was supposed to act only on the advice of the other executors but was able to gain near complete control of government after obtaining the power to change the composition of the Council at his pleasure.^[21] Despite this apparent control, Somerset had to be ever mindful of the fact that in seven years Edward would fully inherit all his kingly power and therefore could punish those who had used his name for their own, sometimes illegal, ambitions. Somerset's administration of the country would prove to be more merciful than tactical and more idealistic than practical. Henry VIII's treason and heresy acts were repealed or changed, resulting in social and political unrest.^[22]

[edit] Ineffective rule

One of the Duke of Somerset's primary aims was to achieve a union between England and Scotland. In late 1547, an English army marched into Scotland and took control of the Lowlands in the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh. This action was the closing chapter in the War of the Rough Wooing and in the Anglo-Scottish Wars that had been simmering throughout the 16th century. In 1548, however, Mary, the young Scottish Queen, was betrothed to the Dauphin Francis, the heir-apparent to the French throne, thereby strengthening the traditional alliance between France and Scotland.

The Duke of Somerset was hardly in a position to oppose both France and Scotland, as his own position was insecure. His brother, and the widower of Catherine Parr, Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, the Lord High Admiral, took advantage of this weakness by hatching a plot to depose Somerset. Lord Seymour's conspiracy, however, was exposed in 1549. A bill of attainder was introduced in Parliament and passed almost unanimously. Somerset was hesitant to sign his brother's death warrant, so Edward very reluctantly gave his consent to the Council; Lord Seymour was executed by beheading on 20 March 1549.^[23]

Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, was a very important influence on Edward's Protestant views

Another powerful influence on Edward VI was Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Both Cranmer and the Duke of Somerset were committed to creating a Protestant England. Various Catholic rites were replaced with Protestant ones. One of the most notable was Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer, which was published solely in English in 1549 to replace the four old liturgical books in Latin. The political aim of the work was to unite moderate religious factions into a single Protestant fold by downplaying the role of the Mass and the status of saints. Its use was enforced by an Act of Uniformity 1549 but it served only to antagonise both Protestants and Catholics.^[24] Zealous reformers such as John Knox were appointed as court chaplains. The Duke of Somerset, however, did not encourage persecution; rather, he refrained from it, as he feared the wrath of Europe's powerful Catholic monarchs, especially Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

[edit] The Western or Prayer-Book Rebellion

The Western Rebellion was a movement opposing the Act of Uniformity. The ‘Book of Common Prayer’ was disapproved of by many in England, but it was especially opposed in Cornwall where the common tongue was not English but the native Cornish language. However, although protesters explained that they spoke no English, Somerset refused to alter the Act: English was to be the language of the true English Church.

Led by prominent Catholic landowners, the protesters responded by forming an army of up to 3,000 men and proceeding to the city of Exeter, which they had assumed would support them. At Exeter, however, the mayor refused to open the city gates and a five-week siege began, during which time London had time to formulate a plan of action.

Somerset sent Sir Peter Carew and his brother to keep the Cornish army occupied until John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford could gather an army to counter the rebellion. Eventually, and reinforced with troops from Italy and Germany, Russell was in a position to attack and most of the Cornish lost their lives when they were cut off and slaughtered by Gawen Carew. But the affair did little to aid Somerset’s popularity.

Edward VI, by William Scrots, c. 1550

[edit] Somerset's fall

The Prayer Book Rebellion, along with Kett's Rebellion, which took place the same year, caused the Duke of Somerset to lose a good deal of support, even among his own Council. Inflation and the cost of war combined to double prices from 1547 to 1549 and although the wool industry boomed during this period - through the ongoing fencing in or enclosure of the landscape to raise sheep for individual proprietors - the displacement of common land caused great social unrest known as the enclosure riots. On August 8, 1549, taking advantage of internal strife, the French, under Henry II, formally declared war on England. Somerset’s response to the now substantial opposition to his Protectorate was to take possession of the King's person and flee to Windsor. However, he was soon deposed and sent under arrest to the Tower of London by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick and although Somerset briefly regained his place on the Council in 1550, he was executed in 1552.

[edit] John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, Duke of Northumberland

Somerset was deposed, but John Dudley, Earl of Warwick made himself Lord President instead of Lord Protector, and even encouraged Edward VI into declaring his majority as soon as he was 16. In 1550, Northumberland conciliated the peasant rebels, signed a peace treaty with France that agreed to withdrawal from Boulogne, and gave up English garrisons in Scotland.^[25] Unlike Somerset, Warwick was a man of action who was full of ambition to officially install and enforce an inflexible form of Protestantism and enrich himself with land and power.

John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, led the Council of Regency after the downfall of Somerset

The rise of the Earl of Warwick (later Duke of Northumberland) was accompanied by the fall of Catholicism in England. Use of the Book of Common Prayer in all Church services was more strictly enforced and all official editions of the Bible were accompanied by anti-Catholic annotations. The Ordinal of 1550 replaced the divine ordination of priests with a government-run appointment system.^[26] Religious dissenters, moreover, were often persecuted and burnt at the stake. In 1550 and 1551, the most powerful Roman Catholic Bishops, Edmund Bonner (the Bishop of London), Stephen Gardiner (the Bishop of Winchester) and Nicholas Heath (the Bishop of Worcester) included, were deposed and their places taken by Protestant reformers such as Nicholas Ridley.

Meanwhile, the Duke of Somerset, who agreed to submit to Lord Warwick, was released from prison and readmitted to the Privy Council. Within a few months, he found himself powerful enough to demand the release of other political and religious prisoners. He opposed the Council's attempt to curtail the religious liberty of Edward's sister, Mary. The Duke of Somerset's opposition to the more radical form of religious Reformation irked Lord Warwick.

Warwick attempted to increase his own prestige; on his advice, Edward created him Duke of Northumberland and bestowed honours on his numerous supporters. The Duke of Northumberland began a campaign to discredit the Duke of Somerset. The people of London were informed that the Duke of Somerset would destroy their city; Edward was told that the Duke would depose and imprison him and seize his Crown. It was also suggested that the Duke of Somerset had plotted to murder the Duke of Northumberland. In December of 1551, the Duke of Somerset was tried for treason on the grounds that he had attempted to imprison a member of the King's Council. The treason charge, however, could not be proven; instead, Somerset was found guilty of participating in unlawful assemblies, but was still sentenced to death. The Duke of Somerset was subsequently executed in January 1552.

On the day after the Duke of Somerset's execution, a new session of Parliament began. It passed the Act of Uniformity 1552, under which a second Book of Common Prayer was required for church services. Unauthorised worship was punishable by up to life imprisonment.

[edit] The Devices and the plot to alter the succession

During his father's reign Edward had effectively been pampered and kept in seclusion. Edward desperately wanted his own freedom, and indulged in the early years of his reign with other children of his age. He became extremely fond of sports such as tennis. During the winter of 1552–53, Edward VI became ill, and by May it was obvious that his condition, which included chronic coughing and swollen legs and head, was serious.^[27] Edward was enough the master of his own destiny to have concerns about the succession addressed. Having been brought up a Protestant, he had no desire to be succeeded by his older half-sister and devout Catholic, Mary.

[edit] Traditional View

At the same time, the Duke of Northumberland was eager to retain his own power and contrived to alter the succession. He did not find the next two individuals in the line of succession, Mary and Elizabeth, conducive to his aims. The third individual in the line of succession under Henry VIII's will was Lady Frances Brandon (the daughter of Henry's younger sister Mary by Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk); she, too, was not to Northumberland's liking. Northumberland feared that Frances' husband, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, would claim the Crown as his own. The Duke of Northumberland then attempted to rule through the Duchess of Suffolk's daughter, the Lady Jane Grey. Jane was married off to the Duke of Northumberland's younger son, Guilford Dudley. The marriage between Lady Jane Grey and Guilford Dudley had been arranged for several months previous to Edward's sickness, and the Act to make Jane Grey heir to the throne and disclaim Mary and Elizabeth was written in Edward's own hand, showing that Edward at least consented to it. However, at the time that Guilford Dudley married Lady Jane Grey, it was not certain that she would be the mother of the next king, and she had not been named as heir to the throne. There is also debate over whether or not Edward was even thought to be dying at the time that the marriage was arranged.

The Devices altered the succession to put Lady Jane Grey next in line to succeed Edward

On 11 June 1553, the first draft of the will was written in Edward's own hand and the councillors of the privy council were forced to sign.

The first draft of the will excluded Mary, Elizabeth, the Duchess of Suffolk and the Lady Jane Grey from the line of succession. The Crown was to be left to the Lady Jane's heirs-male, as it was not apparent that Edward would die so soon. Once it was discovered that Edward was indeed dying, the Device had to be altered. Because Lady Jane had no male heirs at this time, having been married only a month or so before, the draft was changed to leave the Crown to Jane and her heirs-male. Mary and Elizabeth were excluded because they were officially illegitimate; the Duchess of Suffolk agreed to renounce her own claims. As Edward VI lay dying, the Duke of Northumberland (according to legend) symbolically stole the crown from him and gave it to his daughter-in-law, the Lady Jane.

[edit] Revisionist perspectives

In recent decades, revisionist historians such as Dale Hoak have speculated that Northumberland alone did not engineer the plot to subvert the succession and put Lady Jane Grey on the throne.^[28] suggests that "some others" shared Northumberland's responsibility for the scheme. Indeed, in his confession he did suggest that there were others involved but he would not name them.

[edit] Edward's death and aftermath

Edward died at the age of 15 at Greenwich Palace on 6 July 1553, after contracting a feverish cold in February that gradually worsened. The cause of his death is unclear; rumours of poisoning abounded at the time, and the Venetian ambassador reported that he had died of consumption, a diagnosis that has been accepted by many historians. Biographer Jennifer Loach suggests that his symptoms were typical of acute bronchopneumonia, leading to a "suppurating pulmonary infection", septicaemia, and kidney failure.^[27] His last words were said to have been: "Oh my Lord God, defend this realm from papistry and maintain Thy true religion."

He was buried in Henry VII Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey by Thomas Cranmer with Protestant rites on 9 August 1553, while Mary had Mass said for his soul in the Tower.

Edward's half sister, Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon.

Edward's death was kept secret for several days so that preparations could be made for Jane's accession. High civic authorities privately swore their allegiance to the new Queen, who was not publicly proclaimed until 10 July 1553. However, the people were much more supportive of Mary, the rightful heir under the Act of Succession. Mary, Edward's Catholic half sister, rode triumphantly into London on July 19 and Jane was forced to give up the Crown. Jane's proclamation was revoked as an act done under coercion; her succession was deemed unlawful.

The Duke of Northumberland was executed, but the Lady Jane and her father were originally spared. In 1554, when Mary faced Wyatt's Rebellion, the Duke of Suffolk once again attempted to put his daughter on the throne. For this crime, Jane, her husband and the Duke of Suffolk were all executed.

[edit] Ancestors

[edit] See also

• Cultural depictions of Edward VI of England

[edit] Notes

[edit] Bibliography

• Alford, Stephen (2002), Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521039711 .
• Davis, Catharine (2002), A Religion of the Word: The Defence of the Reformation in the Reign of Edward VI, Manchester: Manchester University Press, ISBN 9780719057304 .
• Erickson, Carolly (1978), Bloody Mary, New York: Doubleday, ISBN 0385116632 .
• Foister, Susan (2006), Holbein in England, London: Tate Publishing, ISBN 1854376454 .
• Guy, John (1988), Tudor England, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192852132 .
• Hearn, Karen (1995), Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530-1630, New York: Rizzoli, ISBN 084781940X .
• Hoak, Dale (1980), "Rehabilitating the Duke of Northumberland: Politics and Political Control, 1549–53", in Loach, Jennifer & Tittler, Robert, The Mid-Tudor Polity c. 1540–1560, London: Macmillan, pp. 29–51, ISBN 0333245288 .
• Jordan, W. K. (1968), Edward VI, the Young King: The Protectorship of the Duke of Somerset, London: George Allen & Unwin, OCLC 40403 .
• Loach, Jennifer (1999), Bernard, George & Williams, Penry, eds., Edward VI, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, ISBN 0300079923 .
• Lydon, James (1998), The Making of Ireland: A History, London: Routledge, ISBN 9780415013475 .
• MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2002), The Boy King: Edward VI and the Protestant Reformation, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0520234022 .
• MacCulloch, Diarmaid (1996), Thomas Cranmer, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, ISBN 0300074484 .
• Mackie, J. D. (1952), The Earlier Tudors, 1485–1558, Oxford: Clarendon Press, OCLC 186603282 .
• Rowlands, John (1985), Holbein: The Paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger, Boston: David R. Godine, ISBN 0879235780 .
• Scarisbrick, J. J. (1971), Henry VIII, London: Penguin, ISBN 014021318X .
• Skidmore, Chris (2007), Edward VI: The Lost King of England, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN 0297846493 .
• Somerset, Anne (1997), Elizabeth I, London: Phoenix, ISBN 1842126245 .
• Starkey, David (2004), Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII, London: Vintage, ISBN 0099437244 .
• Strong, Roy (1969), Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, London: HMSO, OCLC 71370718 .

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Edward VI of England

v • d • e English Monarchs Overlords (or Bretwaldas) of the English Aelle of Sussex · Ceawlin of Wessex · Æthelberht of Kent · Rædwald of East Anglia · Edwin of Deira · Oswald of Bernicia · Oswy of Northumbria · Wulfhere of Mercia · Æthelred of Mercia · Ethelbald of Mercia¶ · Offa of Mercia · Cœnwulf of Mercia · Egbert of Wessex Monarchs (pre-Conquest) of England Alfred the Great · Edward the Elder · Ælfweard · Athelstan¶ · Edmund the Magnificent¶ · Edred¶ · Edwy the Fair¶ · Edgar the Peaceable¶ · Edward the Martyr · Ethelred the Unready · Sweyn Forkbeard · Edmund Ironside · Canute¶ · Harold Harefoot · Harthacanute · Edward the Confessor · Harold Godwinson · Edgar the Atheling Monarchs (post-Conquest) of England William I the Conqueror · William II Rufus · Henry I · Stephen · Matilda · Henry II · Richard I the Lionheart · John† · Henry III† · Edward I† · Edward II† · Edward III† · Richard II† · Henry IV Bolingbroke† · Henry V† · Henry VI† · Edward IV† · Edward V† · Richard III† · Henry VII† · Henry VIII† · Edward VI† · Jane† · Mary I† · Elizabeth I† · James I‡ · Charles I‡ · Commonwealth · Charles II‡ · James II‡ · William III‡ with Mary II‡ · William III‡ · Anne‡ ¶ Also King/Overlord of Britain. † Also Lord/Monarch of Ireland. ‡ Also Monarch of Scotland and Ireland.

v • d • e Dukes of Cornwall HRH The Prince Charles, Duke of Cornwall Edward, the Black Prince (1337–1376) · Richard II (1376–1377) · Henry V (1399–1413) · Henry VI (1421–1422) · Edward of Westminster (1453–1471) · Edward V (1470–1483) · Edward of Middleham (1483–1484) · Arthur, Prince of Wales (1486–1502) · Henry VIII (1502–1509) · Henry Tudor (1511) · Henry Tudor (1514) · Edward VI (1537–1547) · Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (1603–1612) · Charles I (1612–1625) · Charles II (1630–1649) · The Old Pretender (1688–1689) · George II (1714–1727) · Prince Frederick (1727–1751) · George IV (1762–1820) · Edward VII (1841–1901) · George V (1901–1910)· Edward VIII (1910–1936)