Editing Edward VI (section)

==Reformation==
{{see|Edwardian Reformation}}
[[File:Thomas Cranmer by Gerlach Flicke.jpg|thumb|alt=Portrait of Archbishop Cranmer as an elderly man. He has a long face with a large nose, dark eyes and rosy cheeks. He wears clerical robes with a black mantle and brown vestments over full white sleeves and has a doctoral cap on his head. He holds a liturgical book in his hands.|[[Thomas Cranmer]], Archbishop of Canterbury, exerted a powerful influence on Edward's Protestantism.]]
In the matter of religion, the regime of Northumberland followed the same policy as that of Somerset, supporting an increasingly vigorous programme of reform.{{Sfn|MacCulloch|2002|p=56}} Edward VI's practical influence on government was limited, but his intense Protestantism made a reforming administration obligatory; his succession was managed by the reforming faction, who continued in power throughout his reign. The man Edward trusted most, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, introduced a series of religious reforms that revolutionised the English church from one that—while rejecting papal supremacy—remained essentially Catholic to one that was institutionally Protestant. The confiscation of church property that had begun under Henry VIII resumed under Edward—notably with the dissolution of the [[chantries]]—to the great monetary advantage of the crown and the new owners of the seized property.{{Sfn|Dickens|1967|pp=287–293}} Church reform was therefore as much a political as a religious policy under Edward VI.<ref>{{Harvnb|Elton|1962|pp=204–205}}; {{Harvnb|MacCulloch|2002|p=8}}.</ref> By the end of his reign, the church had been financially ruined, with much of the bishops' property transferred into lay hands.{{Sfn|Elton|1962|p=210}}

The religious convictions of both Somerset and Northumberland have proved elusive for historians, who are divided on the sincerity of their Protestantism.<ref>{{Harvnb|Haigh|1993|pp=169–171}}; {{Harvnb|Elton|1962|p=210}}; {{Harvnb|Guy|1988|p=219}}; {{Harvnb|Loades|2004|p=135}}; {{Harvnb|Skidmore|2007|pp=286–287}}.</ref> There is less doubt about the religious fervour<ref>{{Harvnb|Mackie|1952|p=524}}; {{Harvnb|Elton|1977|p=354}}.</ref> of Edward, who was said to have read 12 chapters of scripture daily and enjoyed sermons, and was commemorated by [[John Foxe]] as a "godly imp".<ref>{{Harvnb|Brigden|2000|p=180}}; {{Harvnb|Skidmore|2007|p=6}}.</ref> Edward was depicted during his life and afterwards as a new [[Josiah#Biblical narrative|Josiah, the biblical king]] who destroyed the [[Idolatry|idols]] of [[Baal]].{{Sfn|MacCulloch|2002|p=14}} He could be priggish in his anti-Catholicism and once asked Catherine Parr to persuade Lady Mary "to attend no longer to foreign dances and merriments which do not become a most Christian princess".<ref name="Skidmore 2007 p=38"/> But Edward's biographer Jennifer Loach cautions against accepting too readily the pious image of Edward handed down by the reformers, as in Foxe's influential ''[[Acts and Monuments]]'', where a woodcut depicts the young king listening to a sermon by [[Hugh Latimer]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Loach|1999|pp=180–181}}, pointing out, following Jordan, that Edward's ''Chronicle'' records nothing of his religious views and mentions no sermons; {{Harvnb|MacCulloch|2002|pp=21–29}}, countering that Edward's notebook of sermons, which was once archived and documented, has since been lost.</ref> In the early part of his life, Edward conformed to the prevailing Catholic practices, including attendance at mass, but he became convinced, under the influence of Cranmer and the reformers among his tutors and courtiers, that "true" religion should be imposed in England.{{Sfn|Brigden|2000|pp=180–181}}

The [[English Reformation]] advanced under pressure from two directions: from the traditionalists on the one hand and the [[zealots]] on the other, who led incidents of [[iconoclasm]] (image-smashing) and complained that reform did not go far enough. Cranmer set himself the task of writing a uniform liturgy in English, detailing all weekly and daily services and religious festivals, to be made compulsory in the first [[Act of Uniformity 1549|Act of Uniformity of 1549]].<ref name="E345">{{Harvnb|Elton|1977|p=345}}.</ref> The [[Book of Common Prayer (1549)|''Book of Common Prayer'' of 1549]], intended as a compromise, was attacked by traditionalists for dispensing with many cherished rituals of the liturgy, such as the [[elevation (liturgy)|elevation]] of the bread and wine,<ref>{{Harvnb|Brigden|2000|p=190}}; {{Harvnb|Haigh|1993|p=174}}; {{Harvnb|Dickens|1967|p=305}}.</ref>{{Efn|One of the grievances of the western [[Prayer Book Rebellion|prayer-book rebels]] in 1549 was that the new service seemed "like a Christmas game".}} while some reformers complained about the retention of too many "popish" elements, including vestiges of sacrificial rites at communion.<ref name="E345"/> Many senior Catholic clerics, including Bishops Stephen Gardiner of Winchester and [[Edmund Bonner]] of London, also opposed the prayer book. Both were imprisoned in the Tower and, along with others, deprived of their sees.<ref name="Brigden 2000 p=193"/> In 1549, over 5,500 people died in the [[Prayer Book Rebellion]] in Devon and Cornwall.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Solly, Meilon. "The Myth of 'Bloody Mary", ''Smithsonian Magazine'' |url=https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-myth-of-bloody-mary |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506233946/https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-myth-of-bloody-mary |archive-date=6 May 2022 |access-date=12 May 2021}}</ref>

[[Calvinism|Reformed]] doctrines were made official, such as [[justification by faith alone]] and [[Eucharist|communion]] for [[laity]] as well as clergy in [[Communion under both kinds|both kinds]], of bread and wine.{{Sfn|Brigden|2000|pp=188–189}} The Ordinal of 1550 replaced the divine ordination of priests with a government-run appointment system, authorising [[Minister (Christianity)|ministers]] to preach the gospel and administer the [[sacraments]] rather than, as before, "to offer sacrifice and celebrate mass both for the living and the dead".<ref>{{Harvnb|Mackie|1952|p=517}}; {{Harvnb|Elton|1977|p=360}}; {{Harvnb|Haigh|1993|p=168}}.</ref>

After 1551, the Reformation advanced further, with the approval and encouragement of Edward, who began to exert more personal influence in his role as [[Supreme Head]] of the church.{{Sfn|Brigden|2000|p=195}} The new changes were also a response to criticism from such reformers as [[John Hooper (bishop)|John Hooper]], Bishop of Gloucester, and the Scot John Knox, who was employed as a minister in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] under the Duke of Northumberland and whose preaching at court prompted the king to oppose kneeling at communion.{{Sfn|Elton|1977|pp=361, 365}} Cranmer was also influenced by the views of the continental reformer [[Martin Bucer]], who died in England in 1551; by [[Pietro Martire Vermigli|Peter Martyr]], who was teaching at Oxford; and by other foreign theologians.<ref>{{Harvnb|Elton|1977|pp=361–362}}; {{Harvnb|Haigh|1993|pp=179–180}}; {{Harvnb|Dickens|1967|pp=318–325, 40–42}}.</ref> The Reformation's progress was further speeded by the consecration of more reformers as bishops.{{Sfn|Haigh|1993|p=178}}{{Efn|Notable among the new bishops were [[John Ponet]], who succeeded Gardiner at Winchester, [[Myles Coverdale]] at Exeter, and John Hooper at Gloucester.}} In the winter of 1551–52, Cranmer rewrote the ''Book of Common Prayer'' in less ambiguous reformist terms, revised [[canon law]] and prepared a doctrinal statement, the [[Forty-two Articles]], to clarify the practice of the reformed religion, particularly in the divisive matter of the communion service.{{Sfn|Dickens|1967|pp=340–349}} Cranmer's formulation of the reformed religion, finally divesting the communion service of any notion of the [[real presence]] of God in the bread and the wine, effectively abolished the mass.<ref>{{Harvnb|Brigden|2000|pp=196–197}}; {{Harvnb|Elton|1962|p=212}}.</ref> According to Elton, the publication of Cranmer's revised prayer book in 1552, supported by a second [[Act of Uniformity 1552|Act of Uniformity]], "marked the arrival of the English Church at Protestantism".{{Efn|"The [[Prayer Book of 1552]], the Ordinal of 1550, which it took over, the act of uniformity which made the Prayer Book the only legal form of worship, and the Forty-two Articles binding upon all Englishmen, clerical and lay—these between them comprehended the protestant Reformation in England."{{Sfn|Elton|1962|p=212}}}} The [[Book of Common Prayer (1552)|prayer book of 1552]] remains the foundation of the Church of England's services.{{Sfn|Elton|1977|p=365}} But Cranmer was unable to implement all these reforms once it became clear in spring 1553 that Edward, upon whom the whole Reformation in England depended, was dying.{{Sfn|Elton|1977|p=366}}{{Efn|Edward approved the Forty-two Articles in June 1553, too late for them to be introduced—they later became the basis of [[Elizabeth I]]'s [[Thirty-nine Articles]] of 1563. Cranmer's revision of canon law, ''Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum'', was never authorised by king or parliament.}}