Edward VI, Somerset and Northumberland Flashcards
Edward VI’s education
Edward VI was very intelligent and received an excellent education. Alongside this education, Edward VI was a keen sportsman. He particularly enjoyed horse riding.
Edward VI’s role in government
It is difficult to tell how much influence Edward VI had in governing the kingdom. Although Edward VI was young, some historians have argued that he began to have considerable influence in the later years of his reign. Edward VI appeared to take a keen interest in the shape of England’s religious settlement.
Sickly and weak?
Edward VI has often been remembered as a weak and sickly young boy. But this image is not altogether true. Edward VI was healthy for the majority of his childhood. He died of a serious chest affliction in 1553.
Somerset’s relationship with Edward VI
The Duke of Somerset was strict with Edward VI. The boy had no direct involvement in government and limited pocket money but a thorough education.
The Lord Protector
The reformist faction was in the strongest position when Henry VIII died. Somerset was popular in 1547 after his victories against Scotland. Soon after Henry’s death, the Regency Council gave its power to Somerset. Somerset rapidly took control of Edward and made himself Lord Protector.
The Regency Council
Somerset rapidly promoted his own supporters to the Regency Council. Somerset’s supporters included: Thomas Seymour; John Dudley, Earl of Warwick; Archbishop of Canterbury Cranmer; Sir William Paget; Sir Thomas Wriothesley; and the Earl of Arundel. The Regency Council met in Somerset’s home, Somerset House. So he was able to control who had contact with his government. His retainers guarded him.
How Somerset ruled
Somerset ruled England using the dry stamp and royal proclamations. In Henry VIII’s last years, the dry stamp had been used a great deal, so this was not a sudden change. The 1539 Proclamations Act said proclamations had equal force as statute law.
Somerset’s religious policy
Somerset had a tricky balancing act to please reformists and traditionalists, Protestants and Catholics. The Book of Common Prayer and the Act of Uniformity of 1549 were vague in the hope of being all things to all worshippers. Some key Protestant steps were taken:
> Dissolving chantries (financial need).
Acting against ornaments and images (Protestant pressure in London).
Clergy were again allowed to marry (enabling more Protestant clergy).
Somerset’s downfall
Somerset’s downfall was largely due to his failure to deal with the 1549 rebellion (Kett’s Rebellion). Somerset had also alienated many in the Regency Council. Somerset’s foreign policy was costly and ineffective. Somerset’s power declined following 1549, with the duke of Northumberland gaining power and influence in his place. By 1552, Somerset was arrested, tried for treason and executed.
Northumberland’s religious policies
Northumberland took religion in a much more Protestant direction.
January 1552: Treason Act - Questioning either the Royal Supremacy and the beliefs of the English Church became an offence.
January 1552: Second Act of Uniformity - Attendance at Church of England services became compulsory.
1552 Prayer Book - All traces of Catholicism and the Catholic mass removed, including transubstantiation (a core Catholic belief about Holy Communion.
Was Northumberland a hypocrite?
Northumberland used Catholic / conservative support to become Lord President of the Privy Council. Those men then lost their positions. Northumberland oversaw Protestant changes though confessing himself to be Catholic on the scaffold. Northumberland was governing in the name of Edward VI, who was a strong Protestant. Northumberland was being a good servant.
Financial policies
Arguably, Northumberland’s most important priority was to stabilise England after the turmoil of Somerset’s rule. Northumberland tried to pay off England’s debts. This was through selling off chantry lands (owned by priests before the Henrician Reformation). Ending debasement. Increasing Crown revenue through trade expansion and raising customs duties.
