Edward VI, Part Two

Edward was nine years old when he took the throne. He was taken to the Tower of London, where he was welcomed with ‘great shot of ordnance in all places there about, as well [as] out of the Tower [and] out of the ships.’ The next day, England’s nobles pledged their loyalty to the boy king at the Tower, and Edward’s uncle, Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset, was named Protector. On the eve of his coronation, he rode on horseback from the Tower to the Palace of Westminster through huge crowds and pageants, many patterned after the last boy king, Henry VI. Edward laughed at a Spanish tightrope walker who ‘tumbled and played many pretty toys’ outside St. Paul’s Cathedral. At the coronation service, Thomas Cranmer affirmed the royal supremacy and called Edward a second Josiah, urging him to continue on the path his father had blazed in reforming the Church of England, ‘the tyranny of the Bishops of Rome banished from your subjects, and images removed.’ Edward presided at a banquet in Westminster Hall, where, he recalled in his Chronicle, he dined with his crown on his head.

Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset

The crown was on his head, but the running of the government wasn’t in his hands. He was too young to rule as is proper for a king, so the machinery of government fell to others. Henry VIII’s will named sixteen executors tasked with acting as Edward’s Council until he reached the age of eighteen; supplementing these executors were twelve ‘men of counsel’ who would assist the executors when summoned. Though Henry’s will didn’t call nor name a Protector, it entrusted the government during his minority to a Regency Council that was to rule collectively, by majority decision, with ‘like and equal charge.’ This wasn’t what Edward’s uncle, the Duke of Somerset, wanted, and he schemed among the named Council for honors and powers, bribing them to bend to his will. On 4 February, just days after Henry VIII’s death, the executors chose to invest quasi-regal power in Somerset. Thirteen of the sixteen executors (the others being absent) agreed to his appointment as Protector and justified it as their joint decision ‘by virtue of the authority’ of Henry’s will. In March 1547 Somerset secured letter patent from King Edward granting him almost monarchial rights to appoint members to the Privy Council and to consult them only when he wished. From that point on Somerset was England’s de facto (albeit not de jure) ruler. He would rule largely by proclamation, using the Privy Council as little more than a rubber-stamp for his decisions. The imperial ambassador in England reported that Somerset ‘governs everything absolutely,’ with William Paget (prior private secretary to Henry VIII) operating as his secretary. In a curious foreshadowing, the ambassador predicted trouble from John Dudley, Viscout Lisle, who’d recently been raised to Earl of Warwick. Somerset’s first troubles, however, would come from much closer to home: his brother Thomas.

Thomas Seymour, brother to Somerset and uncle to
Edward VI

Thomas Seymour felt that he, being Edward’s uncle as well, deserved power in the government. Somerset sought to appease his brother with a flurry of concessions: a barony, a seat on the Privy Council, and an appointment to the Lord Admiralship – but none of these moves quieted Thomas’ ambitions. Thomas hoped to win power by currying the young king’s favor, and he began smuggling pocket money to Edward and trying to convince him that Somerset was a miserly financier who made the boy look like a ‘beggarly king.’ Edward wouldn’t take the reins of government until he turned eighteen, and as this was too long a wait for Thomas, he urged him to throw off Somerset’s bridle and ‘bear rule as other kings do.’ Edward took these matters before his council and was advised to resist Thomas’ schemes. In 1547 Thomas won Edward’s support to marry the widowed Catherine Parr, former wife to Henry VIII. This marriage brought two young women into his household: the eleven-year-old Lady Jane Grey and the thirteen-year-old Lady Elizabeth. Thomas impregnated his wife, and the next summer a heavily pregnant Catherine discovered her husband embracing the much younger Lady Elizabeth. A smoldering Catherine promptly removed Elizabeth from her household, but that September she died after childbirth. Thomas didn’t miss a beat in pursuing Lady Elizabeth by letter, promising to marry her. Lady Elizabeth liked the idea, but she didn’t want to make any hasty decisions, especially without the consent of the royal council. Thomas would never take Elizabeth as his wife: in January 1549 the council, goaded by a Somerset who was tired of his brother’s shenanigans, arrested Thomas on a number of charges. The charge of embezzlement was upheld when Edward testified about how Thomas fed him ‘pocket money.’ Because there wasn’t enough evidence to try Thomas for treason, he was condemned instead by an Act of Attainder. He was beheaded on 20 March 1549.