Edward VI, Protectors, FP and Succession - 2022 exams version Flashcards
What was the balance of the Regency Council like?
Who were the protestants and who were the conservatives?
Balanced between:
Protestants like Hereford, Cranmer and Sir Anthony Denny…
…and religious conservatives like Thomas Wriothesley (Earl of Southampton) and Lord St John
Who were key religious reformers?
Edward Seymour (Earl of Hertford from 1537 and Duke of Somerset from 1547)
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer
Sir Anthony Denny (MP for Hertfordshire)
Somerset rapidly promoted his own supporters and who did he initially rely on and how did he reward himself/his supporters?
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and
Sir William Paget (who had been one of Henry VIII’s private secretaries)
John Dudley (the son of Henry VII’s executed minister, Edmund Dudley; Dudley was created Earl of Warwick in 1547 (and Duke of Northumberland in 1551)
Rewarded himself and his supporters with promotions within the peerage e.g. he became Duke of Somerset and with substantial grants of crown lands
Who did Somerset appoint to control the Privy Chamber?
What titles did he have?
By appointing his brother in-law, Sir Michael Stanhope
=Groom of the Stool and Chief Gentleman of the Privy Chamber.
Effectively making him the king’s keeper, as well as other supporters
What were two main problems Somerset faced about his ascendency to power?
Public acceptance of Somerset’s was uncertain - creating widespread fears about the breakdown of law and order.
He had created enemies among his former supporters.
What happened to Somerset in October 1549?
He was arrested on the orders of the Regency Council and surrendered, having be promised (in a deal brokered by Cranmer) that no treason charges would be brought against him. He was promptly committed to the tower
After Somerset’s downfall what did Cranmer and Dudley persuade Edward to do?
To appoint some new religious reformers to the Regency Council and Privy Chamber
What were two strengths and two weaknesses of Northumberland?
He was more pragmatic and more capable than Somerset (for example he crushed the 1549 rebellions and brought some stability to the country).
He educated the young king in government and like Edward, supported Protestant reform and the work of Cranmer.
However he was not universally popular and his power rested entirely on Edward’s survival
Why did Edward have a difficult inheritance?
The country was divided on religious grounds
Crown finances had been ruined by expensive wars against France and Scotland
To pay for the wars, the coinage had been debased, leading to considerable rise in the rate of inflation and a decline in real incomes for man
The crown had compromised long-term security by selling monastic-lands (often at a considerable discount) to raise money quickly
What happened to Cecil under Northumberland?
Cecil - who had originally prospered under Somerset, was able to transform himself, after a brief period of imprisonment, into Northumberland’s key administrator
What happened to Gardiner and Norfolk?
Accused of treason and put in the tower until Edwards death in 1553
