Divorced, Beheaded, Died: The History of Britain's Kings and Queens in Bite-Sized Chunks by Flude Kevin

Author:Flude, Kevin [Flude, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Great Britain, Historical, History, Biography & Autobiography, Europe, Reference, Royalty, Queens
ISBN: 9781843173625
Publisher: Michael O'Mara
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

EDWARD VI

Reigned 1547–1553

Edward was born in 1537 at Hampton Court. He was a precocious and rather priggish child – serious, scholarly and dedicated to the Protestant religion.

He came to the throne aged ten, on the death of his father. The Council of Regency carefully put together by Henry VIII was overthrown by Edward’s uncle, Edward Seymour, who became Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector, supported by Archbishop Cranmer and John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, all of whom were committed to the Reformation.

Cranmer introduced the Book of Common Prayer, a Protestant prayer book written in English, in 1548. Changes were made to the sacraments, services had to be held in English and there was widespread destruction of Catholic icons and religious art. But this consolidation of the Protestant Church of England led to Catholic rebellions in the West Country and Norfolk, and in 1549 Somerset was overthrown, and Dudley, who was made Duke of Northumberland, took the lead in government. Somerset was eventually tried for treason and executed.

Dudley tried to involve Edward as much as possible in matters of government, and the young King does appear to have supported the Reformation. How much of this was due to Dudley’s influence, however, is not clear because Edward never reached adulthood.

When it became clear in his final year that he would not survive to have children, thoughts turned to the succession. According to Henry VIII’s will, next in line to the throne was Edward’s eldest sister Mary, then Elizabeth. Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, had remained steadfast in her Catholicism, despite pressure from Edward. Edward wanted to save the Protestant religion and Dudley wanted to save himself, so Mary and Elizabeth were excluded and Edward’s cousin Lady Jane Grey was made heir to the throne and quickly married to Dudley’s son, Guilford.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.