Editing Edward VI (section)

== Somerset protectorate ==
=== Council of regency ===
[[File:Ed and pope.png|thumb|upright=1.3|right|''Edward VI and the Pope: An Allegory of the Reformation''. This [[Elizabethan]] work of propaganda depicts the handing over of power from Henry VIII, who lies dying in bed, to Edward VI, seated beneath a cloth of state with a slumping pope at his feet. In the top right of the picture is an image of men [[Iconoclasm|pulling down and smashing idols]]. At Edward's side are his uncle the Lord Protector [[Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset|Edward Seymour]] and members of the Privy Council.{{Sfnm|1a1=Aston|1y=1993|2a1=Loach|2y=1999|2p=187|3a1=Hearn|3y=1995|3p=75–76}} [[National Portrait Gallery, London]]]]
[[File:Edward VI sign his First death warrant by John Pettie R.A.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|''Edward VI signing his first death warrant'', by [[John Pettie]] R. A.]]

Henry VIII's will named sixteen [[executor]]s, who were to act as Edward's council until he reached age 18. The executors were supplemented by twelve men "of counsail" who would assist them when called on.<ref>{{Harvnb|Loach|1999|pp=17–18}}; {{Harvnb|Jordan|1968|p=56}}.</ref> The final state of Henry VIII's will has been the subject of controversy. Some historians suggest that those close to the king manipulated either him or the will itself to ensure a share-out of power to their benefit, both material and religious. In this reading, the composition of the [[Privy Chamber]] shifted towards the end of 1546 in favour of the reforming [[political faction|faction]].{{Sfn|Starkey|2002|pp=130–145}} In addition, two leading conservative Privy Councillors were removed from the centre of power.

[[Stephen Gardiner]] was refused access to Henry during his last months. [[Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk]], found himself accused of treason; the day before the king's death his vast estates were seized, making them available for redistribution, and he spent the whole of Edward's reign in the Tower of London.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey|2002|pp=130–145}}; {{Harvnb|Elton|1977|pp=330–331}}.</ref> Other historians have argued that Gardiner's exclusion was based on non-religious matters, that Norfolk was not noticeably conservative in religion, that conservatives remained on the council, and that the radicalism of such men as [[Anthony Denny]], who controlled the dry stamp that replicated the king's signature, is debatable.<ref>{{Harvnb|Loach|1999|pp=19–25}}. In addressing these views, Loach cites, among others: {{Cite book |first=Glyn |last=Redworth |title=In Defence of the Church Catholic: the Life of Stephen Gardiner |publisher=Oxford |date=1990 |pages=231–237}}; {{Cite journal |first=Susan |last=Brigden |author-link=Susan Brigden |title=Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and the Conjoured League |journal=Historical Journal |volume=xxxvii |date=1994 |issue=3 |pages=507–537 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00014862 |s2cid=159477777}}; and {{Cite journal |first=Eric |last=Ives |author-link=Eric Ives |title=Henry VIII's Will: A Forensic Conundrum |journal=Historical Journal |date=1992 |pages=792–799}}.</ref>

Whatever the case, Henry's death was followed by a lavish handout of lands and honours to the new power group.{{Sfn|Loach|1999|pp=19–25}} The will contained an "unfulfilled gifts" clause, added at the last minute, which allowed the executors to freely distribute lands and honours to themselves and the court,<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey|2002|p=142|loc=describing this distribution of benefits as typical of "the shameless back-scratching of the alliance"}}; {{Harvnb|Elton|1977|p=332|loc=calling the changes to the will "convenient"}}.</ref> particularly to [[Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset|Edward Seymour]], the new king's uncle who became [[Lord Protector of the Realm]], Governor of the King's Person and [[Duke of Somerset]].{{Sfn|Loach|1999|pp=19–25}}

Henry VIII's will did not provide for the appointment of a Protector. It entrusted the government of the realm during his son's minority to a regency council that would rule collectively, by majority decision, with "like and equal charge".{{Efn|The existence of a council of executors alongside the Privy Council was rationalised in March when the two became one, incorporating the executors and most of their appointed assistants and adding the now [[Duke of Somerset|Duke of Somerset's brother]] [[Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley|Thomas Seymour]], who had protested at his exclusion from power.}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey|2002|pp=138–139}}; {{Harvnb|Alford|2002|p=69}}.</ref> Nevertheless, a few days after Henry's death, on 4 February, the executors chose to invest almost regal power in the Duke of Somerset.<ref>{{Harvnb|MacCulloch|2002|p=7}}; {{Harvnb|Alford|2002|p=65}}.</ref> Thirteen of the sixteen (the others being absent) agreed to his appointment as Protector, which they justified as their joint decision "by virtue of the authority" of Henry's will.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey|2002|pp=138–139}}; {{Harvnb|Alford|2002|p=67}}.</ref> Somerset may have done a deal with some of the executors, who almost all received hand-outs.<ref>{{Harvnb|Loach|1999|pp=26–27}}; {{Harvnb|Elton|1962|p=203}}.</ref> He is known to have done so with William Paget, private secretary to Henry VIII,{{Efn|In 1549, Paget was to remind Seymour: "Remember what you promised me in the gallery at Westminster before the breath was out of the body of the king that dead is. Remember what you promised immediately after, devising with me concerning the place which you now occupy ... and that was to follow mine advice in all your proceedings more than any other man's".<ref>Quoted in {{Harvnb|Guy|1988|p=211}}.</ref>}} and to have secured the support of Sir Anthony Browne of the Privy Chamber.{{Sfn|Alford|2002|pp=67–68}}

Somerset's appointment was in keeping with historical precedent,{{Efn|Uncles of the king had been made Protector in 1422 and 1483 during the minorities of Henry VI and [[Edward V]] (though not also Governor of the King's Person, as noted by the Duke's brother Thomas, who coveted the role for himself).}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Alford|2002|pp=49–50, 91–92}}; {{Harvnb|Elton|1977|p=333}}.</ref> and his eligibility for the role was reinforced by his military successes in Scotland and France. In March 1547, he secured [[letters patent]] from Edward granting him the almost monarchical right to appoint members to the Privy Council himself and to consult them only when he wished.{{Efn|In 1549, William Paget described him as king in all but name.}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Alford|2002|p=70}}; {{Harvnb|Jordan|1968|pp=73–75}}.</ref> In the words of historian Geoffrey Elton, "from that moment his autocratic system was complete".{{Sfn|Elton|1977|pp=334, 338}} He proceeded to rule largely by [[proclamation]], calling on the Privy Council to do little more than rubber-stamp his decisions.{{Sfn|Alford|2002|p=66}}

Somerset's takeover of power was smooth and efficient. The [[Holy Roman Empire|imperial ambassador]], [[François van der Delft]], reported that he "governs everything absolutely", with Paget operating as his secretary, though he predicted trouble from John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, who had recently been raised to [[Earl of Warwick]] in the share-out of honours.<ref>{{Harvnb|Jordan|1968|pp=69, 76–77}}; {{Harvnb|Skidmore|2007|pp=63–65}}</ref> In fact, in the early weeks of his Protectorate, Somerset was challenged only by the Chancellor, [[Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton|Thomas Wriothesley]], whom the [[Earldom of Southampton]] had evidently failed to buy off, and by his own brother.{{Sfn|Elton|1977|p=333}} Wriothesley, a religious conservative, objected to Somerset's assumption of monarchical power over the council. He then found himself abruptly dismissed from the chancellorship on charges of selling off some of his offices to delegates.<ref>{{Harvnb|Loades|2004|pp=33–34}}; {{Harvnb|Elton|1977|p=333}}.</ref>

=== Thomas Seymour ===
[[File:Thomas Seymour Denizot.jpg|thumb|[[Thomas Seymour, Baron Seymour of Sudeley]]]]

Somerset faced less manageable opposition from his younger brother Thomas, who has been described as a "worm in the bud".{{Sfn|Loades|2004|p=34}} As the king's uncle, Thomas Seymour demanded the governorship of the king's person and a greater share of power.{{Sfn|Elton|1977|pp=333, 346}} Somerset tried to buy his brother off with a [[baron]]y, an appointment to the [[Admiralty (United Kingdom)|Lord Admiralship]], and a seat on the Privy Council, but Thomas was bent on scheming for power. He began smuggling pocket money to Edward, telling him that Somerset held the purse strings too tight, making him a "beggarly king".{{Sfn|Loades|2004|p=36}} He also urged the king to throw off the Protector within two years and "bear rule as other kings do"; but Edward, schooled to defer to the council, failed to cooperate.<ref>{{Harvnb|Loades|2004|pp=36–37}}; {{Harvnb|Brigden|2000|p=182}}.</ref> In the spring of 1547, using Edward's support to circumvent Somerset's opposition, Thomas Seymour secretly married Henry VIII's widow Catherine Parr, whose Protestant household included the 11-year-old [[Lady Jane Grey]] and the 13-year-old Lady Elizabeth.{{Sfn|Erickson|1978|p=234}}

In summer 1548, a pregnant Catherine Parr discovered Thomas Seymour embracing Lady Elizabeth.{{Sfn|Somerset|1997|p=23}} As a result, Elizabeth was removed from Parr's household and transferred to Sir Anthony Denny's. That September, Parr died shortly after childbirth, and Seymour promptly resumed his attentions to Elizabeth by letter, planning to marry her. Elizabeth was receptive, but, like Edward, unready to agree to anything the council had not permitted.{{Sfn|Loades|2004|pp=37–38}} In January 1549, the council had Thomas Seymour arrested on various charges, including [[embezzlement]] at the Bristol [[Mint (facility)|mint]]. Edward, whom Seymour was accused of planning to marry to Lady Jane Grey, himself testified about the pocket money. Lack of clear evidence for treason ruled out a trial, so Seymour was condemned instead by an [[act of attainder]] and beheaded on 20 March 1549.{{Sfn|Alford|2002|pp=91–97}}

=== War ===
Somerset's only undoubted skill was as a soldier, which he had proven on expeditions to [[Scotland]] and in the defence of [[Boulogne-sur-Mer]] in 1546. From the first, his main interest as Protector was the war against Scotland.<ref>{{Harvnb|Brigden|2000|p=183}}; {{Harvnb|MacCulloch|2002|p=42}}.</ref> After a crushing victory at the [[Battle of Pinkie]] in September 1547, he set up a network of garrisons in Scotland, stretching as far north as [[Dundee]].{{Sfn|Mackie|1952|p=484}} But his initial successes were followed by a loss of direction, as his aim of uniting the realms through conquest became increasingly unrealistic. The Scots allied with France, who sent reinforcements for the defence of Edinburgh in 1548.{{Sfn|Mackie|1952|p=485}} The Queen of Scots was moved to France, where she was betrothed to the [[Francis II of France|Dauphin]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Wormald|2001|p=62}}; {{Harvnb|Loach|1999|pp=52–53}}.</ref> The cost of maintaining the Protector's massive armies and his permanent garrisons in Scotland also placed an unsustainable burden on the royal finances.<ref name =Bwar>{{Harvnb|Brigden|2000|p=183}}.</ref> A French attack on Boulogne in August 1549 at last forced Somerset to begin a withdrawal from Scotland.{{Sfn|Elton|1977|pp=340–41}}

=== Rebellion ===
[[File:Edward Seymour.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Formal portrait of the Duke of Somerset. He has a long thin face with a goatee beard and moustache of long fine straight reddish hair. His expression is wary. He wears his collar of the Order of the Garter.|Edward VI's uncle, [[Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset]], ruled England in the name of his nephew as [[Lord Protector]] from 1547 to 1549.]]

During 1548, England was subject to social unrest. After April 1549, a series of armed revolts broke out, fuelled by various religious and agrarian grievances. The two most serious rebellions, which required major military intervention to put down, were in [[Devon]] and [[Cornwall]] and in [[Norfolk]]. The first, sometimes called the [[Prayer Book Rebellion]], arose from the imposition of [[Protestantism]], and [[Kett's Rebellion|the second]], led by a tradesman called [[Robert Kett]], mainly from the encroachment of landlords on common grazing ground.{{Sfn|Loach|1999|pp=70–83}} A complex aspect of the social unrest was that the protesters believed they were acting legitimately against [[enclosing]] landlords with the Protector's support, convinced that the landlords were the lawbreakers.{{efn|For example, in Hereford, a man was recorded as saying that "by the king's proclamation all enclosures were to be broken up."}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Elton|1977|pp=347–350}}; {{Harvnb|Loach|1999|pp=66–67, 86}}.</ref>

The same justification for outbreaks of unrest was voiced throughout the country, not only in Norfolk and the west. The origin of the popular view of Somerset as sympathetic to the rebel cause lies partly in his series of sometimes liberal, often contradictory, proclamations,{{Efn|Some proclamations expressed sympathy for the victims of enclosure and announced action; some condemned the destruction of enclosures and associated riots; another announced pardons for those who had destroyed enclosures by mistake ("of folly and of mistaking") after misunderstanding the meaning of proclamations, so long as they were sorry.}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Loach|1999|pp=60–61, 66–68, 89}}; {{Harvnb|Elton|1962|p=207}}.</ref> and partly in the uncoordinated activities of the commissions he sent out in 1548 and 1549 to investigate grievances about loss of tillage, encroachment of large sheep flocks on [[common land]], and similar issues.{{Sfn|Loach|1999|pp=61–66}} Somerset's commissions were led by the evangelical MP [[John Hales (died 1572)|John Hales]], whose socially liberal rhetoric linked the issue of enclosure with Reformation theology and the notion of a godly [[commonwealth]].<ref>{{Harvnb|MacCulloch|2002|pp=49–51}}; {{Harvnb|Dickens|1967|p=310}}.</ref> Local groups often assumed that these commissions' findings entitled them to act against offending landlords themselves.<ref>"Their aim was not to bring down government, but to help it correct the faults of local magistrates and identify the ways in which England could be reformed." {{Harvnb|MacCulloch|2002|p=126}}.</ref> Edward wrote in his ''Chronicle'' that the 1549 risings began "because certain commissions were sent down to pluck down enclosures".{{Sfn|Loach|1999|p=85}}

Whatever the popular view of Somerset, the disastrous events of 1549 were taken as evidence of a colossal failure of government, and the council laid the responsibility at the Protector's door.<ref name =E350>{{Harvnb|Elton|1977|p=350}}.</ref> In July 1549, Paget wrote to Somerset: "Every man of the council have misliked your proceedings ... would to God, that, at the first stir you had followed the matter hotly, and caused justice to be ministered in solemn fashion to the terror of others".{{Sfn|Loach|1999|p=87}}

===Fall of Somerset===
The sequence of events that led to Somerset's removal from power has often been called a ''[[coup d'état]]''.<ref name="E350"/> By 1 October 1549, Somerset had been alerted that his rule faced a serious threat. He issued a proclamation calling for assistance, took possession of the king's person, and withdrew for safety to the fortified [[Windsor Castle]], where Edward wrote, "Me thinks I am in prison".{{Sfn|Brigden|2000|p=192}} Meanwhile, a united council published details of Somerset's government mismanagement. They made clear that the Protector's power came from them, not from Henry VIII's will. On 11 October, the council had Somerset arrested and brought the king to [[Richmond Palace]].<ref name="E350"/> Edward summarised the charges against Somerset in his ''Chronicle'': "ambition, vainglory, entering into rash wars in mine youth, negligent looking on Newhaven, enriching himself of my treasure, following his own opinion, and doing all by his own authority, etc."<ref>Quoted in {{Harvnb|Loach|1999|p=91}}. By "Newhaven" is meant [[Ambleteuse]], near Boulogne.</ref> In February 1550, [[John Dudley, Earl of Warwick]], emerged as the leader of the council and, in effect, as Somerset's successor. Somerset was released from the Tower and restored to the council, but he was executed for [[felony]] in January 1552 after scheming to overthrow Dudley's regime.<ref>{{Harvnb|Guy|1988|pp=212–215}}; {{Harvnb|Loach|1999|pp=101–102}}.</ref> Edward noted his uncle's death in his ''Chronicle'': "the duke of Somerset had his head cut off upon Tower Hill between eight and nine o'clock in the morning".{{Sfn|Loach|1999|p=102}}

Historians contrast the efficiency of Somerset's takeover of power, in which they detect the organising skills of allies such as Paget, the "master of practices", with the subsequent ineptitude of his rule.<ref>{{Harvnb|MacCulloch|2002|p=104}}; {{Harvnb|Dickens|1967|p=279}}.</ref> By autumn 1549, his costly wars had lost momentum, the crown faced financial ruin, and riots and rebellions had broken out around the country. Until recent decades, Somerset's reputation with historians was high, in view of his many proclamations that appeared to back the common people against a rapacious landowning class.<ref>{{Harvnb|Elton|1977|p=333''n''}}; {{Harvnb|Alford|2002|p=65}}. [[A. F. Pollard]] had taken this line in the early 20th century, echoed later by Edward VI's 1960s biographer [[W. K. Jordan]]. A more critical approach was initiated by M. L. Bush and Dale Hoak in the 1970s.</ref> More recently, he has often been portrayed as an arrogant and aloof ruler, lacking in political and administrative skills.{{Sfn|Elton|1977|pp=334–350}}