Edward VI - The Boy King Documentary

england 1549 the protestant regime in london introduces the book of common prayer in protest throughout the summer revolts erupt from the english west country and east anglia then in the autumn the lord protector of the realm the duke of somerset edward seymour is removed as head of the government in london and replaced by john dudley duke of northumberland with the establishment of protestantism as the state religion of england as well as a coup d'etat at the heart of the government the kingdom is plunged into new depths of religious turmoil all in the name of an 11 year old boy edward vi king of england and ireland [Music] the man known to history as edward tudor was born at hampton court palace in london on the 12th of october 1537 he was baptized by archbishop thomas cranmer in the chapel of the palace on the 15th of october and was proclaimed duke of cornwall his father was an immense figure henry viii who ruled england for the better part of 40 years from his accession in 1509 he was the second tudor monarch the first to succeed to the throne after henry's father henry vii largely usurped the crown from the yorkist monarchs in 1485 the tudors being a relatively obscure family of welsh origin with a tenuous claim to the throne of england the frail basis for the tudor rule haunted henry viii he needed to secure the line by siren a legitimate male heir and his efforts to do so would have enormous consequences unleashing a torrent of political religious social and economic change across england in the process edward's mother was jane seymour in 1536 at about 28 years of age she was married to henry she was his third wife in an increasingly speedy succession of them throughout the 1530s but unlike many of henry's other wives jane was not murdered or simply discarded by the king but rather she died on the 24th of october 1537 less than two weeks after giving birth to edward her first son the birth was difficult the labor lasting nearly three days and nights and jane never recovered dying from complications 12 days later the world which edward was born into was experiencing momentous change and although the infant edward would have been entirely unaware of the fact much of the change was the direct result of his father's effort to produce edward a legitimate male heir henry had first married in 1509 his first wife catherine of aragon was born in spain she produced just one child during their long marriage which lasted until 1533 a daughter mary who was born in 1516. despite mary's birth what henry really needed was a legitimate male heir born in wedlock and a clear successor to the throne of england who could cement the tudor dynasty's grip on the country his desire to do so partially explains henry's increasing infatuation from the mid-1520s with ann berlin a daughter of thomas berlin an english diplomat a knight of the garter henry's obsession with marion anne in the late 1520s and early 1530s led him to seek to divorce catherine by securing a dispensation from the pope in rome and then splitting with rome altogether declaring himself supreme head of the church of england and in doing so he began flirting with the new protestant faith which had emanated out of germany in recent years but henry was no doctrinal protestant a traditional catholic he split with rome in order to further his marital desires and to acquire the riches of the church in england wales and ireland and so having successfully split with the papacy henry quickly divorced catherine in may 1533 and married anne lynn five days later anne's reign as queen of england lasted almost exactly three years her crime in the end was similar to catherine's a male heir did not result from the marriage when a child came in september 1533 it was another girl elizabeth when a son did not arrive henry had his second marriage annulled on trumped up charges of adultery and other crimes and anne was beheaded on the 19th of may 1536. yet again henry did not wait long to acquire a new wife he married edward's mother jane seymour 11 days later and thus jane was henry's third wife in three years and the quest for a legitimate male heir had seen england split with rome as well as the first tenuous moves towards the adoption of protestantism in england as an infant edward would have been surrounded by women his wetness and dry nurse his rockers and various other ladies would have taken care of his every need all over seen by lady margaret bryan the mistress of not only edward but of his half-sisters mary and elizabeth also and in late 1538 his portrait was painted by hans holbein the younger who presented it to the king as a new year's gift in january 1539 being given a gold cup in return from the painting we see the prince had blue gray eyes and fine blonde hair edward's early years were spent at various royal palaces in and around london such as hampton court his chamberlain was sir william sydney and his steward was sir john cornwallis sydney's task was to quote have the keeping oversight care and cure of his majesties and the whole realm's most precious jewel the prince's grace and to foresee all dangers and adversaries of malicious persons and casual harms to edward access to the young edward was highly restricted with no strangers ever allowed to see him and access being granted according to social rank and no rank less than a night was permitted in his presence as well as this visitors would be expected to kiss the young boy's hand as his safety was paramount to protect the young edward further his servants were banned from visiting london in case they would bring back the plague but overall from lady brian's writings it seems that edward was a happy healthy and very lively toddler new apartments were built at hampton court palace for the young edward complete with several different chambers and a dedicated kitchen and bathroom however as was the custom of the time edward lived apart from his father and visits would have been seen as special occasions the court would travel around different houses according to which was seen as best for the time of year or occasion but hunsden in hertfordshire would have been one such house that would have been familiar to edward as he spent much time there with lady brian as he was growing up his education was entrusted into the hands of two men richard cox and john cheek cox was his senior tutor the headmaster of eaton and a tough taskmaster whose stern discipline to educate his charges the more significant however of edward's tutors was cheek appointed as the first regius professor of greek at cambridge university cheek was the greatest classical scholar of his day in england who did much of the work of reviving the interest and scholarship of greek classical writers in tudor england under his tutelage edward began his education in greek latin grammar and philosophy this was the standard curriculum of the new renaissance humanist education which had been developed in italy in the 14th and 15th centuries on which it spread to northern europe in the early 16th century some of this involved reading works which would be familiar to any school child today such as the fables of the ancient greek writer esop but also works by other more obscure classical writers such as the roman poet dionysus and cato but most significantly edward would have been made familiar with the philosophical and political writings of the two foremost thinkers of ancient greece plato and aristotle as well as learning the art of rhetoric which all children and royal a noble birth learned through the writings of the roman authors cicero and quintillion this was an education for a royal prince given to prepare him to rule england for many years we also know about edward's friendship circle growing up his closest friends were henry and charles brandon the sons of the first duke of suffolk and it was charles brandon who was also henry viii's closest friend throughout his lifetime two fur the childhood companions of edward curiously hailed from ireland these were thomas butler the future 10th earl of ormond a great lordship in the south of the country and barnaby fitzpatrick the son of an irish lord who had recently accepted a title of english lordship from henry viii in an effort which was being undertaken to anglicize the irish lords by having them accept english titles of nobility butler and fitzpatrick were in england to be raised as english gentlemen who would return to ireland as adults and anglicize their lordships in the years ahead while edward was growing up the world he inhabited continued to be destabilized by his father's actions despite having many of the trappings of a renaissance prince henry viii was a product of the middle ages and viewed his most important role as being at war with england's ancient enemies france and scotland after yet another bout of conflict with scotland in the early 1540s henry agreed to the treaty of greenwich with england's northern neighbour on the 1st of july 1543 this sought to facilitate a sustained peace between the two countries by arranging a marriage between edward the heir presumptive to the throne of england and mary stewart popularly remembered as mary queen of scots and the new queen of scotland since the death of her father james v on the 14th of december 1542 at the time the treaty was signed however mary was less than one year old and the marriage to edward five years her senior would not be put into practice for many years to come henry's desire was to see scotland united with england through the union thus making edward the future king of england and scotland however the scots who had agreed to the terms of the treaty of greenwich during a period when their military fortunes were particularly precarious quickly reneged on the terms of the treaty as a result henry commanded edward's uncle edward seymour the earl of hartford to campaign north into scotland in 1544 with the goal of making the scots abide by the terms of the treaty of greenwich including edward's marriage to mary the result was a lengthy war with scotland and their perennial ally the french which dragged on for many years into edward's reign this conflict known as the rough wooing not only had a bearing on edward's future marriage prospects but would shape england's foreign policy throughout edward's reign edward's father's long and tumultuous reign came to an end on the 28th of january 1547 henry had suffered a serious injury from a jousting accident in 1536 and experienced many ailments in his later years brought on by a chronic leg ulcer from his earlier accident and aggravated by clinical obesity he was probably also suffering from gout as such his death at the age of 55 was ultimately due to many health complications henry left his nine-year-old son as king of england an island despite marrying three further times following the premature death of edward's mother henry had never been able to produce another legitimate child consequently the security of the tudor regime now rested to a great extent on edward's shoulders henry would have been distraught to have learned that his son's reign would prove short although in many ways it was just as eventful and turbulent as henry's own owing to his youth at the time of his accession edward's reign was dominated by senior political figures who ruled in his stead between 1547 and 1549 one man above all others was the young king's most powerful subject at a meeting of the most senior political figures and nobles in england held in the tower of london on the 31st of january 1547 just days after the death of henry viii it was decided that the new king's uncle edward seymour would be given this position of seniority within the government during his nephew's youth he was to be appointed as both governor of the king and protector of the realm [Music] seymour was created first duke of somerset on the 17th of february 1547 to mark his position of preeminence within the realm the extent of his power in the early years of edward's reign can be glimpsed from his array of titles by the late spring of 1547 seymour was duke of somerset earl of hartford vi count beechum lord seymour governor of the king protector of his people realms and dominions lieutenant general of his majesty's lands and sea armies treasurer and high marshal of england and a knight of the garter yet despite his titles and power somerset's authority was still derived from the privy council the governing body of over a dozen senior ministers who ran the government and whom henry viii had appointed as the executives of his will these ministers had granted somerset his authority in january 1547 and as seymour would learn in time these same men could take it away a number of serious issues confronted england at the outset of edward's reign foremost amongst these was the ongoing war with france and scotland which had commenced in 1544 with the rough wooing somerset had led the invasion of southern scotland early in the conflict and in the summer of 1544 had attacked and burned much of edinburgh however thereafter the conflict had stagnated into an occupation of parts of the border regions of scotland in france the english had in 1544 taken control of the coastal city of bologna to add to the english possession of calais however these english outposts in northern france have been under nearly continuous siege from the french in the years that followed a period of renewed military activity commenced in the summer of 1547 shortly after edward succession again overseen by somerset who led an army of nearly 20 000 men north a significant victory was won over the scots at the battle of pinky nine kilometers east of edinburgh itself on the 10th of september 1547 with thousands of scots killed or captured in contrast to just a few hundred of somerset's men however the effect of the battle of pinky was to encourage the french to commit to significant military aid to be given directly to scotland resulting in a further stalemate in the years ahead when peace was finally concluded in 1550 with france with the treaty of bologna and with scotland in 1551 through the treaty of norham both sides effectively returned to their pre-war borders and the proposed marriage of edward and mary stewart which had first provoked the war back in 1544 was abandoned and even belong on which enormous amounts of money had been spent building elaborate fortifications between 1544 and 1550 was relinquished back to the french equally edwards government had inherited a rapidly shifting situation in the second tudor kingdom across the irish sea in ireland after years of neglect henry viii had begun to pay much greater attention to his irish possessions than many of the english kings had in the 15th century and owing to that earlier neglect the crown's position there was quite weak its authority extending little beyond the city of dublin on the east coast and its hinterland beyond this pale or march region ireland was largely governed by several dozen independent irish and anglo-irish lords who paid little heed to the english crown's authority and often conducted raids against english possessions near dublin in an effort to reverse this situation henry had made himself king of ireland in 1541 and sought to reform the country through a cheap policy of voluntary anglicization but this proved ineffective and by 1546 the administration in dublin was embarking on a costly policy of regional military conquest in the irish midlands where england was soon establishing its first major colonies of the early modern period somerset's regime was hugely supportive of this strategy and as with the wars against scotland and france he pumped money into the erection of military outposts in ireland in the late 1540s however the results were mixed and the government in dublin was soon overseeing a number of costly military conflicts which were proving impossible to win against an enemy that engaged in guerrilla-style warfare nevertheless edward's reign is notable for seeing the introduction of increasingly aggressive strategies of conquest and colonization in ireland which would see the country fully reduced to english rule over the course of the 16th century this aggressive foreign policy during somerset's protectorate had major implications at home henry viii's wars had ensured that edward inherited a very poor financial situation in england and wales the cost of maintaining large armies on the scottish border and particularly in france had led the regime to begin debasing the english coinage by reducing the silver purity in english coins this did not go unnoticed either at home or abroad and by edward's reign it was well known that english coins were no longer worth their face value consequently by the late 1540s inflation was rising at home and internationally the value of english sterling against other major currencies such as the venetian decade were declining considerably somerset's regime made some effort to address this problem but the continuation of the wars until 1550 meant that there was little that could be achieved by somerset in this respect and the economic reform would have to wait until the early 1550s more pressing was the issue of the agrarian reform the early 16th century witnessed the expansion of the enclosure movement where landlords and major land holders were enclosing the common lands which had been available to peasants and farmers in every hamlet of england and wales during the late middle ages however by the 1540s this process had accelerated to a point where it was creating considerable tension between the landlord class and the commons while illegal enclosures were now being created throughout england turning his attentions to this matter on the 1st of june 1548 somerset issued a proclamation prohibiting illegal enclosures however this and the first attack with a problem through parliamentary legislation did little to solve the issue and agrarian unrest continued to grow the most striking aspect of england's domestic policy during somerset's tenure as lord protector though was unquestionably the religious policy introduced in edward's name henry viii's quest for a divorce from catherine of aragon and subsequent marital difficulties in the 1530s had driven him into associations with a number of english protestant theologians at this time who had exploited henry's desire to split with the papacy to introduce a number of church reforms in line with the teachings of martin luther and other continental reformers an english translation of the bible produced by william tyndale became the first bible printed in english in 1535 removing the need for reliance on the latin bible a core tenet of the european protestant reformers in 1533 thomas cranmer a prelit who had been to the fore in establishing the doctrinal and legal basis for henry's divorce from catherine of aragon was appointed as archbishop of canterbury as the years passed cranmer already a reformer gradually shifted further towards a position of evangelical or radical protestantism under cranmer's oversight of the church of england and the influence of henry's chief minister in the 1530s thomas cromwell liturgical and doctrinal changes were introduced such as the 10 articles of 1536 and the bishops book of 1537 which established many changes in how the people of england were to practice their faith in line with protestant thinking for instance the ten articles established that images and iconography could continue to be used in english churches but worship of images was now forbidden while it was decreed that the concept of purgatory was biblically uncertain and the notion of papal indulgences being able to rescue individuals from purgatory was dismissed as doctrinally unsound thus protestant reforms were being introduced in the 1530s and yet henry himself was no protestant and the 1540s had actually seen some rolling back of these earlier reforms the beginning of edward's reign now offered an opportunity for advanced protestants such as cranmer to introduce a much more wide-ranging set of religious reforms and fully established the protestant reformation in england during the late 1540s under cranmer's oversight and with somerset's patronage english became the official language of religious services in england wales and ireland new liturgies were introduced which moved the church closer to standard practice in the reformed churches of germany switzerland and elsewhere where protestantism had taken hold an act of 1549 removed the prohibition on marriage for priests most significantly the manner of worship and the physical appearance of churches throughout england were altered dramatically in a wave of state-sponsored iconoclasm religious images were stripped from church walls and altars and the interior walls of churches were whitewashed to remove the trappings of wealth and ostentation which had come to characterize the mass under the influence of rome the vestments of priests and ministers were also reformed plain clothing rather than the ornate robes of the priests of the catholic church was now to be worn by the anglican clergy finally and most significantly early in 1549 grandma oversaw the introduction of the book of common prayer a collection of prayer books for use in the new anglican church this contained clear instructions for how the mass was to be performed and how prayers should be offered throughout edward's domain further orders were given within it for the enactment of baptisms confirmation and marriage all of the rights and orders outlined lean heavily towards evangelical or radical protestantism as it was being practiced amongst the second generation of protestant reformers in germany switzerland and the low countries by the 1540s taken together all of these measures are mounted to a complete introduction of the protestant reformation throughout edwards kingdoms between 1547 and 1549 this was unquestionably the most noteworthy development of edward's entire reign cranmer had hailed edward as a second josiah and had hoped that the new king would see idolatry destroyed and images removed upon his accession in 1547 such assertions do raise the question of where edward's own religious inclinations lay was the protestant reformation which occurred in england in the late 1540s and continued into the 1550s driven entirely by figures like cranmer and somerset or was edward a factor surprisingly there is evidence that by the age of 11 edward was showing clear signs of adherence to radical evangelical protestantism his writings from late 1548 exhibit personal denunciations of the pope in rome and belief in tenets such as justification through faith the protestant maxim which held that individuals would attain salvation through god's grace alone and that no measures such as a prayer or purchasing of indulgences could be used to attain salvation in the years ahead edward's household also became a regular resort for advanced evangelical protestant ministers who preached before the young king had he lived into adulthood edward would unquestionably have been an advanced protestant monarch viewed from the vantage point of the evangelicals within edward's government and the growing number of protestants in and around the court the religious reforms which have been undertaken during the first two years of edward's reign were a resounding act of progress but the wider country was not so happy england was still an overwhelmingly catholic country at the end of the 1540s and beyond london and its surrounding regions as well as some of the other major towns where protestantism had taken hold amongst the gentry and merchant and professional classes the reforms introduced by edward's government and overseen by cranmer met with fierce opposition in the summer of 1549 this discontent found tangible expression as rebellion shook england around the time of his succession edward had begun keeping a chronicle of his life effectively a diary though a highly enlightening one concerning how this child perceived events around him in a kingdom of which he was king but over which he did not yet exercise his own control this chronicle covers the years from 1547 to 1552 and provides a striking entry relating to the unrest which erupted throughout england in the summer of 1549 the people began to rise in wiltshire then they rose in sussex hampshire kent gloucestershire suffolk warwickshire essex hertfordshire a piece of leicestershire worcestershire and rutlandshere after that they rose in oxfordshire devonshire norfolk and yorkshire this was how the insurrections registered in the imagination of a child king and it gives a succinct view of how extensive the unrest was on the ground it was even more tumultuous the two most prominent regional revolts were in norfolk and in the english west country but there had been some unrest in cornwall as early as the spring of 1548 in opposition to the enclosures movement and the stripping of religious images from parish churches this expanded the following summer into a general rebellion throughout devon and cornwall in response to the publication of the book of common prayer and the liturgical and doctrinal changes it involved combined with discontent about the declining economic situation throughout edwards kingdoms as inflation skyrocketed and the purchasing power of english coins declined dramatically eventually after the rebels seized the town of exeter the prayer book rebellion as the revolt in the west country has become known was suppressed when somerset sent a large military force into the southwest in july of 1549. by the time it was fully suppressed in august over 5000 rebels had lost their lives the revolt in the west country mirrored others elsewhere in england in the summer of 1549 in being a popular revolt fueled by economic considerations and sparked by new measures to introduce protestantism across the country however the rebellion was exceeded for significance by a revolt in east anglia near london in july 1549 rebels formed camps in norfolk in opposition to landlords who defied somerset's efforts to limit the spread of enclosures the insurrection was led by robert kent a tanner from wyndham and has consequently become known as cat's rebellion it happened on the 22nd of july when ket and his followers occupied norwich at the time the second largest city in england at first somerset attempted to placate the rebels however when his approach to the problem engendered severe opposition within the privy council the law protect us in the earl of warwick john dudley north from london with an army of 14 000 men including regiments of experienced german mercenaries to suppress the revolt the rebellion was finally crushed on the 27th of august at the battle of dustindale near norwich with the loss of the lives of about 3 000 rebels thus the local revolts of the summer of 1549 have been suppressed by the early autumn but the unrest was the most severe bout of civil disobedience england experienced during the 16th century and the insurrections had seriously undermined somerset's authority as head of edwards government the revolts added to a growing list of problems confronting the law protector another complication facing somerset have been created by a close family member the protector's younger brother thomas seymour have been seeking a greater role in the running of the kingdom from early in his nephew's reign somerset had tried to placate his ambitions with offices and appointments to the privy council but thomas aimed higher incredibly his methods included bribing the impressionable young king to gain his adherence to thomas's demands in the spring of 1547 seymour then married henry viii's widow and edward's stepmother catherine parr this alone would have been enough of a controversy but the situation escalated further still in the summer of 1548 when catherine who had fallen pregnant by that time discovered seymour embracing the princess elizabeth edward's half-sister and the daughter of ann berlin the princess was only 14 at the time subsequently when catherine died in september 1548 after complications from childbirth seymour seems to have developed intentions to then marry the king's half-sister thus potentially placing him in line to become consort to a possible future queen however before his plan could fully materialize seymour's activities became public knowledge outraged the privy council had thomas arrested in january 1549 he was tried on various charges of misconduct including manipulation of the king and was eventually sentenced to death and beheaded on the 20th of march 1549 although somerset had not been involved in his brother's machinations and had tried to prevent his worst conduct the whole affair had further damaged somerset's authority as head of the minority government the combination of all these scandals and unrest was ebbing support for somerset compounding by reversals in fortunes in the wars with france and scotland as the french commenced a further attack on england's outposts in france at calais and beloin in 1549 moreover the near-continuous wars in the north on the continent and in ireland had stretched the finances of the edwardian government to breaking point consequently in the course of 1549 support for somerset's leadership simply began to melt away as the country lurched from one crisis to another this culminated in early october 1549 as the privy councillors many of whom were the executors of henry viii's will and the guardians of the kingdom during edward's minority made it clear that seymour no longer had their support in response somerset absconded with the king to windsor castle on the 6th of october trusting in the belief that if he had custody of edward he might retain his position of preeminence within the government edward himself recounted the events in his chronicle the council about 19 of them were gathered in london thinking to meet with the law protector and to make him amend some of his disorders he fearing his state caused the secretary sir william paget in my name to be sent to the lords to know for what cause they gathered their powers together and if they meant to talk with him that they should come in a peaceable manner a five-day standoff followed but somerset had miscalculated by leaving london for windsor the duke retained custody of edward but he had effectively left the privy council with control over the army and the crown ordnance in the tower of london eventually realizing his cause was lost somerset surrendered on the 11th of october somerset was confined to the tower in the aftermath of the events of october 1549 he was formally removed from his position as lord protector of the realm by an act of parliament in january 1550 and stripped of his other offices however despite some calls for him to be tried and executed for his actions he was given his freedom indeed in the course of 1550 and 1551 the duke was partially rehabilitated and restored to some of his lands and offices including membership of the privy council nevertheless doubts about his intentions were never fully delayed and in october 1551 he was arrested on suspicion of plotting a new rebellion against the council these later accusations were almost certainly fictitious but they were enough to do away with somerset permanently in december he was tried and found guilty of felony and he was executed on tower hill on the 22nd of january 1552 in the immediate aftermath of somerset's attempts to retain control of the government in the autumn of 1549 power had once again devolved to the collective authority of the privy council a power struggle amongst the varying factions within that body played out over the winter of 1549. largely between a religious conservative grouping and a group of reformed protestant councillors the latter would eventually win out and in the process one of their members emerged as the new head of the government during edward's minority this was the earl of warwick john dudley a privy councillor and the lord great chamberlain of england who had risen to become one of the foremost political figures in england on the back of his military service as governor of berlin in france in the mid-1540s in february 1550 dudley's role as a successor to somerset as head of the government was affirmed when he was granted the title of president of the privy council his pre-eminent status among the english nobility was subsequently affirmed on the 11th of october 1551 when he was created first duke of northumberland despite his rise to this office northumberland would never hold as much authority as somerset had between 1547 and 1549 this was partly the result of the council being unwilling to place as much trust in one individual as somerset had been granted in 1547 but also a change in the king himself there are signs that by 1551 as edward moved into his teenage years and developed his own awareness and determination to rule he increasingly began imposing his own stamp on the government there is for instance evidence of his disagreement with members of the privy council from this point onwards and letters in which he forthrightly rebuked senior officials and councillors for their conduct a demonstration of his increasing awareness of his own royal authority for instance when john hooper was being confirmed as bishop of gloucester in july 1550 edward personally crossed out all reference to the saints in the version of the oath of supremacy appended to the documentation as one of the foremost historians of tudor england dharma mcculloch has noted this was a henry viii in the making this new-found independence was mirrored in the images of edward at the time in 1551 he sat for a portrait painted by gwillum skrotz which is found in the louvre museum in paris today here edward's gaze is becoming more mature than in portraits of him from the late 1540s he stands confidently his hand resting on the pommel of his rapier his confidence in his monarchical authority beginning to show northumberland would have had a much more difficult time simply trying to act as though he could ignore edward in the early 1550s as somerset had been able to do just a few years earlier this increasingly personal rule was not as eventful as had been the years of somerset's protectorate with the end of the war with france and scotland and peace under the treaty of bologn in 1550 the wars which had lasted virtually without interruption through the 1540s came to an end the major concern in their aftermath was to get the government's finances back in order and to attempt to remedy the many economic and social problems which had caused the revolts in the summer of 1549 by the time northumberland took control of the government the crown had debts of 300 000 pounds an enormous sum for the time inflation had risen by about 75 percent since the start of edward's reign and the exchange rate of sterling had virtually collapsed to combat these problems northumberland with edward's backing took a multi-pronged approach firstly the treaty of berlin contained a clause that in return for relinquishing the town of bologna back to the french henry ii government in paris would pay 180 000 pounds to england this made substantial inroads into paying for the wars which had ended in complete stalemate by 1550 and significantly reduced the national debt secondly efforts were made to reform the coinage and improve the currency valuation for this northumberland acquired the services of a brilliant young london financier thomas gresham who reformed the mint and thereafter coins were issued which were not seriously debased as they had become in the 1540s gresham also oversaw the implementation of various measures to improve the value of the pound sterling on the antwerp boss the main stock exchange of northern europe in the mid 16th century by employing these measures gresham the man who would go on to establish the royal exchange in london some years later did much to put the finances of edward's government back on track attempts to allay the social tensions which have partly caused the revolts of 1549 met with more mixed success while some efforts were made to reform county administration through measures such as regularization of the appointments of lord lieutenants it is hard to assess how effective these measures were it may simply have been the case that the worst of the unrest had already spent itself in 1549 and that the outbreak of severe bouts of the sweating sickness across england in 1551 and 1552 simply limited the capacity for the kind of social congress which was needed to produce further regional unrest and revolts closer to home for the king the outbreak of this sweating sickness most likely a hantavirus of some kind robbed edward of two of his closest childhood friends in 1551 as henry and charles brandon both succumbed to this disease on the 14th of july 1551 finally northumberland's tenure as head of the government was marked by a steady continuation of the protestant religious settlement arrived at during the summerset years as edward matured into adolescence it was increasingly clear that the radical protestantism which had characterized the early part of his reign was not something which had been foisted on an impressionable king by his elder advisers by the early 1550s it was evident that the young king was a committed protestant with perhaps puritan leanings and that england under his rule would follow the course cranmer and his associates had set it on in the late 1540s northumberland was no radical evangelical protestant but he was acutely aware that edward would attain his majority in october 1555 when he turned 18. if dudley wished to occupy a major place in the adult king's government he would need to further edward's aims of radical church reform accordingly in an effort to appeal to edward's religious sensibilities northumberland became a backer of evangelical protestants dudley promoted religious radicals such as john hooper and john ponte to the bishoprics of gloucester and rochester in 1552 a new version of the book of common prayer was issued this one rejecting the doctrine of transubstantiation in line with the most current continental protestant beliefs fresh doctrinal articles were issued in 1553 which denied the existence of purgatory in line with the thinking of jean calvin in his institutes of the christian religion and the writings of other reformers perhaps most eye-catchingly in the summer of 1553 an offer had been extended to appoint philip melanthon as regis professor of divinity at cambridge university melanthon was one of the four most protestant reformer leaders of his day and was second only to martin luther in the hierarchy of early german reformers in the end he never took up the post at cambridge but the fact that his appointment was nearly made is a striking statement concerning the drift of religious policy in england towards advanced evangelical protestantism during the years of northumberland's primacy within the government edwards court was also becoming a hub for renaissance learning during the years of northumberland's ascendancy continuing the tradition established by edward's father this would also flourish during the long reign of his sister elizabeth and one individual who's prominent in this regard was william thomas a welshman who had spent several years in italy had returned to england to take up a position of clerk of the privy council and during edward's reign he introduced second hand the writings of the florentine political writer nicolo machiavelli into england including his infamous work the prince william scrott was the established court painter under edward and his portraits of the king and other senior nobles there exemplify the latest mannerist style of european painters perhaps most striking was the patronage afforded to robert record a welsh mathematician and proto-scientist who would some years later invent the equal sign while his invention of mathematical and navigational devices made significant contributions to early english colonial activity in allowing for more sophisticated maritime navigation and map making such innovations in instrumentation map making and scientific inquiry were particularly timely the final years of edward's reign saw some of the first drives to expand england's overseas activity as the first colonies established by the tudors in ireland were established under somerset's regime but more elaborate initiatives were beginning to be conceived and executed in 1551 1552 and 1553 with the encouragement of edwards government thomas windham made three voyages to africa twice to morocco and finally to the gold coast of africa in what might well have been the first english voyage ever to the gulf of guinea in 1553 stephen burra also became the first english navigator to reach the white sea north of russia borough was backed by a group of london merchants whose goal was to find a northeast passage to china through the arctic they would fail in this endeavor but they did establish trade and political ties with the nascent russian state and set up the muscovy company which would operate until 1917 a major legacy of the overseas exploration and trade initiatives which edwards government was sponsoring in the early 1550s back at home though edward was coming ever closer to attaining his majority in advance of this one of the singularly most important decisions for the king had been reached in 1551 following the establishment of peace with france in 1550 negotiations opened to establish a marriage alliance between the newly at peace nations specifically for edward to marry elizabeth the six-year-old daughter of king henry ii of france in the early summer of 1551 the bishop of ely and the marquis of northampton have been dispatched to france to begin negotiations the french king was presented with the order of the garter the highest chivalric order awarded in england and the terms of a marriage agreement were worked out then a month later jacques del bon marquis de francais arrived in england where edward was made a member of the french order of saint michael and the terms of the marriage were finalized elizabeth would bring with her a dowry of 200 000 crowns a significant sum and the marriage agreement would only be finalized when elizabeth turned 12 years of age thus edward would not marry until 1557 at the earliest but in the summer of 1551 it had been agreed that it would be to the daughter of the french king perhaps allaying somewhat the chance of further conflict between england and france but edward was not to marry the french king's daughter nor anyone for that matter in 1553 his reign was cut short in his youth following the end of the christmas celebrations at court in january edward had fallen ill with flu-like symptoms his condition deteriorated over the coming weeks but by early march his health seemed to be improving and he resumed some work in the spring although not fully recovered this period of relative stability persisted until early may 1553 then however things deteriorated quickly by late may the king's hands and feet were swelling and he was coughing up large amounts of black bile historians have only been able to speculate as to the cause of edward's illness and eventual death some have argued that he had contracted tuberculosis in late 1552 and this began to manifest itself the following spring while others have suggested that he developed a chronic lung infection associated with the flu he developed in early 1553 and that he was also suffering from septicemia with kidney failure whatever the cause of edward's illness he was clearly dying by may 1553 and the rumors were rife not just in england but throughout europe to this effect the protestant king's death was imminent and the next in line to succeed him was his half-sister catherine of aragon's daughter mary a pious catholic yet mary's succession was not assured as sometime in the early spring of 1553 as his illness took hold edward had begun work on a short document with a major significance this was titled my device for the succession in it edward had outlined his desire that should he die his half-sisters mary and elizabeth would be passed over and the succession would descend on francis grey and her daughters francis was the daughter of charles brandon henry viii's lifelong friend and mary tudor the late king's sister and edward's aunt thus francis gray and her daughters had a strong claim to the throne yet there was a lot of politics to this beyond mere blood claims edward's government was clearly trying to prevent mary tudor from ascending to the throne if she did the protestant religious settlement which had been fought so hard for during edward's reign would be overturned and england's church plunged back under the control of the papacy in rome accordingly the grey family were identified as a means of blocking mary's route to the throne the situation evolved further in the early summer of 1553 as edward's illness became fatal on the 21st of may 1553 francis gray's eldest daughter the 12 year old jane gray was married to gilford dudley one of northumberland's sons just days later edward's device for succession was amended to now acknowledge jane specifically as his heir as a result the protestant regime would be secured and overseen by jane grey as queen of england and with northumberland leading the government despite northumberland's shadow hanging heavily over these developments edward's role in devising this succession arrangement cannot be overlooked the device is written and corrected in the king's own handwriting and by 1553 he was a 15 year old with his own thoughts and initiatives rather than the impressionable child of the late 1540s and so there is every reason to believe that it was edward's wish for jane grey to succeed him the device would quickly have to be consulted in june 1553 the king's health deteriorated rapidly on the 10th of june 1553 his doctors gave him three days to live he survived for four more weeks enduring a horrific final illness during the last two weeks of a witch's hair and nails were falling out and he had difficulty breathing when he finally died on the 6th of july 1553 it must have been a relief to the king himself and those who had watched him for weeks on his deathbed at greenwich palace in the aftermath of his death england was plunged into a succession crisis northumberland and his supporters now move to install jane grey's queen on the 9th of july she was proclaimed as edward successor but dudley and his confederates had badly misjudged mary tudor's determination to claim the throne marching south from hertfordshire towards london mary gathered supporters for her proclaimed catholic cause it was successful on the 19th of july a faction within the privy council in london led by henry fitz allen 19th earl of arundel switched their support from jane to mary on the basis that edward's device had not been fully established in law jane was imprisoned and northumberland was executed for treason in august jane suffered a similar fate the following year just as catholicism was being restored across england under mary's rule consequently the succession of mary which edward had strived to prevent ultimately resulted from edward's death in 1553 edward vi lived a short and somewhat tragic life he was the legitimate male heir which his father henry viii had torn england apart trying to produce he never knew his mother who died owing to complications associated with his birth consequently when his father also died in early 1547 edward became king of england and ireland at just nine years of age his youth ensured that his short reign was dominated by caretaker governments led first by his uncle the duke of somerset until late 1549 and then the duke of northumberland from early 1550 until edward's premature and ghastly death in the summer of 1553 while his short reign did not allow for edward to rule the tudor dominions in his own right it was nevertheless a highly significant kingship during edward's tenure england moved fully from a country which had flirted with protestantism under henry viii to a country which adopted radical evangelical protestantism fully the altars of churches throughout england and wales were stripped the walls were reduced to bare limestone and the mass was practiced in english according to doctrinal and liturgical practices advocated for by luther calvin melanthon and other continental reformers peace was also brought about with the french in 1550 and a marriage alliance between england and france had been negotiated finally in ireland a programme of conquest and colonization have been initiated in the late 1540s which would eventually see that country conquered and fully incorporated into the english state by the early 17th century while a number of overseas exploration initiatives to russia and africa in the early 1550s show that the state was taking a much greater interest in overseas exploration during the last years of edward's brief rule the boy king's reign was full of significance and yet ultimately edward the six years as king of england and ireland leaves more questions than answers what kind of ruler would edward have become had he lived to become an adult would he have lived up to the many expectations had of him and governed england as it began its long journey towards empire or would he have become a despotic tyrant like his father turned into later in life these are questions which no assessment of edward's actual reign can answer what do you think of edward vi was he merely a pawn of figures like somerset in northumberland who ruled england in his place or was he a strong figure who shaped the enormous changes which occurred across the tudor realms during his short reign please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching hello guys thank you so much for watching this video if you enjoy our work and would like to support the channel please visit our revamped patreon and buy me a coffee membership pages which contain rewards such as early access to our content merchandise discounts and audio versions of our videos along with much more than we give to our valued supporters if you have not yet signed up to help our cause we'd like to ask you to please consider doing so as we need to secure the channel by safeguarding it from possible demonetization and also invest in better equipment software and more people to help us improve our videos going forward in short without your contributions these videos would not be possible so if you would like to ensure this channel never has to shut down due to d monetization please spare whatever you can per month and become people profiles patrons thanks for listening you

Channel: The People Profiles

Views: 37,732

Keywords: Biography, History, Historical, Educational, The People Profiles, Biography channel, the biography channel, Tudor, the tudors, tudor

Id: A2YnL5VY5Cg

Length: 54min 46sec (3286 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 09 2021