Interpreting the Death of Edward VI by Kyra Krammer

Author:Kyra Krammer
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Biography & Autobiography/Royalty
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2022-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Edward is Becoming a King in Truth

King Edward likewise rode into London on 17 October ‘accompanied by the Councillors and all the nobles of the realm’1 in order to reassure the people he was alive and well. Wearing a coat of ‘cloth of tissue’ and bedecked in jewels, he led a magnificent parade of over a thousand horsemen through the streets of the city while the crowds cheered. Reminiscent of his coronation, the route from London Bridge to Temple Bar along which he rode was lined with ‘minstrels and singing men’ and ‘garnished with arras and other decent hangings’.2

The city was jubilant. There had been no bloody coup or usurpation of the king’s throne. The government had remained essentially stable, and there was no current threat of another civil war. All that the populace had to worry about now were the rising food prices, devalued currency, enclosures, continual plagues of incurable diseases, religious upheaval, and potential rebellions.

The king trusted his councillors once more, but he retained enough good feeling towards his uncle that he demanded assurances of Somerset’s safety and treatment. The duke was being treated well, and in spite of many historians assertions to the contrary, there is scant evidence that the Earl of Warwick was plotting to execute the former Lord Protector. It was Thomas Wriothelsey who was inveigling to take over the top spot in the council. It was Wriothesley who set out ‘with conservative support to recover the precedence he had lost in 1547 when the protector had sacked him as lord chancellor’, and only when John Dudley was threatened ‘to be dragged down as an erstwhile supporter of Somerset did he act in self-defence’ by seeking leadership.3 Warwick secured the appointment of Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset, and Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely, to the council and with the addition of these two new allies he was able to cut off Wriothesley and the conservatives from governance. Once Dudley had control of the council, he could have begun to pressure them to prove Somerset’s ‘treason’ and execute him, king’s kinsman or not. Instead, Warwick worked with the crown to save the duke’s hide. The former Protector was able to pay a fine and be released from the Tower with the king’s pardon on 6 February 1550.

If Dudley had ever planned on becoming the de facto monarch the way Somerset had, now was his chance, but he did not make the slightest attempt to give himself a similar protectorate. He behaved in the opposite manner, working to gain a consensus with his fellow councillors before implementing policy. Instead of personally holding on to the dry stamp of the king’s signature, as Somerset had done, he put Sir John Gage in charge of it. Gage was not only a lawyer, he had been one of Henry VIII’s trusted courtiers. He was made the chief gentleman of King Edward’s privy chamber, so that he would know if the monarch was aware that the dry stamp would be used.

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.