Edward VI: quick facts<\/h4>\n
When was he born?<\/strong><\/p>\n 12 October 1537<\/p>\n Who were his parents?<\/strong><\/p>\n Henry VIII and Jane Seymour<\/p>\n When did he die?<\/strong><\/p>\n 6 July 1553 (aged 15)<\/p>\n Who succeeded him?<\/strong><\/p>\n Lady Jane Grey, the \u2018nine days queen\u2019, ruled briefly following the death of Edward VI until she was usurped by the former king\u2019s sister, Mary I<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> It is one of the great ironies in history that the boy upon whom Henry lavished so much care and attention, and in whom all his hopes were vested, would reign for just six and a half years. It would be the younger of Edward\u2019s half-sisters, Elizabeth<\/a>, largely disregarded by their father, who would rescue the fortunes of the Tudor dynasty<\/a> and become its greatest monarch.<\/p>\n But if Edward\u2019s reign was short, it was far from insignificant, heralding some of the most significant religious reforms that England has ever seen. Edward and his advisers, notably Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, would lay the foundations for the modern Church of England. Neither was Edward the fragile boy that he has so often been portrayed as. He enjoyed robust health for most of his young life, and had a will of steel to match. Far from being dominated by ambitious councillors such as the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland, he had strong opinions, ideas of his own and all the makings of a tyrant. In short, he was a chip off the old block.<\/p>\n Edward spent most of his early years at Hampton Court and a series of other palaces outside London, where the air was cleaner and the risk of plague much lower. He was widely reported to be a happy, healthy child. His lady governess, Margaret Bryan, who had also cared for Mary and Elizabeth, wrote an enthusiastic report of the Prince\u2019s progress to Thomas Cromwell<\/a> in March 1539: \u201cMy lord Prince is in good health and merry. Would to God the King and your Lordship had seen him last night. The minstrels played, and his Grace danced and played so wantonly that he could not stand still.\u201d<\/p>\n As was common practice for royal children, Edward was raised among women for the first few years of his life. But upon reaching his sixth birthday, his life underwent a dramatic transformation. The Tudors considered this the age at which a child became an adult. As a result, Henry VIII ordered that his son\u2019s apartments be remodelled so that they exactly mirrored his own, including Flemish tapestries showing the same classical and Biblical scenes that the King favoured. The Prince was also given a new wardrobe of clothes so that he could dress like his father.<\/p>\n The other significant change in Edward\u2019s upbringing was that his female attendants were dismissed, replaced by the care of a predominantly male household. The respected scholars Richard Cox and John Cheke were appointed as his tutors. The latter was greatly impressed with his new charge and claimed that he \u201chas accomplished at this early period of his life more numerous and important objects, than others have been able to do when their age was more settled and matured\u201d. This was no flattery. Edward was a precocious student who applied himself with a discipline beyond his years.<\/p>\n Henry took a close interest in his son\u2019s education, and although he accepted that it should follow humanist lines, with an emphasis on Latin, Greek, grammar and rhetoric, he insisted that Edward should also be taught fencing, horseback riding, music and other courtly pursuits. The King also ensured that Edward received a religious education that was at least broadly evangelical: after all, it was crucial that his heir should respect and promote the royal supremacy over the Church. Religious conservatives had no place in his schoolroom.<\/p>\n Edward soon grew close to Cranmer who, with an eye to the future, was determined to inspire in the young prince a passion for the reformed faith. In 1544, Edward wrote to thank Cranmer for his \u201cvery kind letter\u201d, and assured him: \u201cI am not unmindful either of your attention to me or your kindness which you study every day to show me.\u201d<\/p>\n The archbishop was so successful in cultivating the Tudor heir that Edward soon came to look upon him as a fatherly figure. His letters to Cranmer reveal how close they had become. \u201cI affectionately receive and honour that truly paternal affection which you have expressed,\u201d he told Cranmer on one occasion, \u201cand I hope that you may live many years, and continue to be my honoured father by your godly and wholesome advice.\u201d The archbishop called the Prince, \u201cMy dearest son in Christ,\u201d and assured him, \u201cMy life is not to be called living unless you are in health and strength.\u201d<\/p>\n Edward became king in January 1547, at the age of nine. By that time, he was fired with an evangelising zeal. \u201cIn the court there is no bishop, and no man of learning so ready to argue in support of the new doctrine as the King,\u201d reported the Imperial ambassador. Edward spent several hours a day in private devotion and, determined that his subjects should conform to his faith, he spent much of his short reign implementing a series of radical reforms that would establish a strong Protestant doctrine in England.<\/p>\n Did you know?<\/strong><\/p>\n Young though he was, Edward attracted several potential brides, including Mary, Queen of Scots, and Lady Jane Grey. None of the proposed marriages came to anything.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> In January 1549, the first Book of Common Prayer<\/em> was published. Its aim was to establish uniformity of worship for all, and it was followed by an even more extreme version three years later. This, the second Book of Common Prayer<\/em> provided a model for worship within the Church of England for the next four centuries. At the same time, Edward\u2019s council banned a number of old Catholic rituals, such as the use of rosaries, the casting of holy water and the undertaking of pilgrimage.<\/p>\n This had a profound impact upon the lives of Edward\u2019s subjects \u2013 including those closest to the King. An entry in Edward\u2019s journal for January 1552 records: \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s ambassador moved me severally that my sister Mary might have mass, which, with no little reasoning with him, was denied him.\u201d If he had lived to maturity, there is little doubt that Edward would have persecuted any nonconformists with increasing severity \u2013 even more so, perhaps, than his elder half-sister later did.<\/p>\n Though young, Edward had a maturity beyond his years. The Italian physician and astrologer Hieronymus Cardano described how Edward \u201ccarried himself like an old man; and yet he was always affable and gentle, as became his age\u201d. He also wrote that Edward was \u201cof stature somewhat below the middle height, pale-faced with grey eyes, a grave aspect, decorous and handsome\u201d. But for all his accomplishments, the inescapable fact was that Edward remained a minor.<\/p>\n While he was able to put his stamp on religious policies, thanks to his close relationship with Cranmer, his political authority was limited by the men his father had appointed to form a regency council. Foremost among them was the young monarch\u2019s uncle, Edward Seymour<\/a>, the Duke of Somerset. Since his nephew\u2019s birth, Seymour had lusted for power and he was quick to seize the advantage when Henry VIII breathed his last<\/a>. His close kinship to Edward made him the natural choice to take charge of the regency council as Lord Protector and Governor of the King\u2019s Person.<\/p>\n Although Seymour\u2019s position seemed assured until his nephew reached maturity, it would soon become obvious that vesting so much power in one man was ill advised. The fatal flaw in the arrangement was that, although the council had decreed that the Lord Protector \u201cshall not do any act but with the advice and consent of the rest of the co-executors\u201d of Henry VIII\u2019s will, Seymour was determined to exercise the full power of a regent. As one contemporary observed, he sought to make himself \u201cthe King of the King\u201d.<\/p>\n Seymour was ruthless in his quest for absolute authority, not flinching even to have his own brother, Thomas, put to death in March 1549 on charges of plotting to kidnap Edward<\/a>, marry Elizabeth and make himself Lord Protector. His arrogance soon made an enemy of his erstwhile ally John Dudley, another member of Edward\u2019s council. In October 1549, Dudley led a coup to oust his rival from office, and Edward was persuaded to order his uncle\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n Edward was raised in an environment that was as cossetted as it was sumptuous. His household was a palace in miniature, with every conceivable luxury. He was regularly spoilt with gifts and allowed to indulge in a diet of rich foods. A troupe of minstrels was appointed to entertain the Prince by his indulgent father, who was determined that he should have everything that his young heart might desire. Lessons were made more palatable by school books with covers of enamelled gold set with rubies, sapphires and diamonds. His cutlery was studded with precious stones and his napkins sparkled with gold and silver thread.<\/p>\n The result of all this was that the Prince grew up to be rather spoilt and, if crossed, his temper could be vicious. A contemporary claimed that in a fit of rage, Edward once tore a living falcon into four pieces in front of his tutors.<\/p>\n When he became king, Edward started to keep a diary. A rather staid account of the key events of his reign, it also portrays him as cold, unfeeling and uncompromising \u2013 a dangerous blend of traits that might have hardened into tyranny if he had lived. Although he had been close to his uncle and Lord Protector, the Duke of Somerset, Edward afforded his demise no more than the following cursory mention in his journal: \u201cThe Duke of Somerset had his head cut off upon Tower Hill between eight and nine o\u2019clock in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Although Seymour was subsequently released and readmitted to the Privy Council<\/a>, he was deprived of any real power from that day forward. Dudley was now the dominant force behind Edward\u2019s reign \u2013 but he soon became as blinded by ambition as his predecessor.<\/p>\n Having secured himself the dukedom of Northumberland in October 1551, Dudley had Seymour arrested a few days later on trumped up charges of treason. The former Lord Protector was executed in January 1552<\/a>. This served to increase the ranks of Dudley\u2019s enemies, but he ruled undeterred, with ever greater tyranny.<\/p>\nEdward VI\u2019s early life<\/h2>\n
Far from being dominated by ambitious councillors, Edward had all the makings of a tyrant <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Was Edward VI a zealot?<\/h2>\n
Seymour was quick to seize the advantage when Henry VIII breathed his last <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Edward\u2019s private diary<\/h2>\n