swuklink.com: Edward VI of England

Somerset
The marriage of Edward and Mary Stuart had been arranged to secure relations with Scotland but Somerset failed to prevent the spread of French influence in Scotland despite the opportunity which was afforded by the murder of Beaton in 1545.

Somerset routed the Scots at Pinkie in 1547 but Mary Stuart was sent to France where she soon married the Dauphin (Francis II).

Northumberland
secured peace with the Scotch by removing the English garrisons.

Bibliography

Elizabeth was born on September 7th, 1533, at the royal Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London, the second daughter of Henry VIII (1509-1547) and only surviving child of his second wife, Anne Boleyn.

Elizabeth was recognised as the heir to the throne at the time of her birth although, because the circumstances of her parents' marriage (chiefly the divorce of Henry VIII from the Catholic Catherine of Aragon), Elizabeth was considered by Roman Catholics to be illegitimate. Her older half-sister, Mary Tudor (b.1515, later Queen Mary I, 1553-1558), the only surviving child of the king's marriage to Catherine of Aragon was passed over and made to serve in Elizabeth's household.

Elizabeth's childhood, unlike that of her half-sister Mary's, was comparatively happy and she recieved an extremely thorough education in literature, languages and music. Her life before her accession to the throne was not without its dangers and, at the time of Wyat's rebellion, Queen Mary had her imprisoned in the Tower of London for a time.

The fortunes of the two-year-old princess and heir to the throne changed suddenly on the execution of her mother for treason in May 1536 and the birth of a male heir, Edward (later Edward VI), to Henry by his third wife, Lady Jane Seymour, in October 1537. Elizabeth was now placed in the same position as Mary had been at her own birth. To legitimise the new-born prince as Henry's heir, both his royal half-sisters were declared illigitimate.

All of King Henry's later wives treated Elizabeth and Mary kindly and Elizabeth was devoted to her father. Following Henry's death in 1547, he was succeeded to the throne by the young Edward VI and Elizabeth was placed in the care of her father's last wife, Catherine Parr, and her new husband, Thomas Seymour (c.1508-1549), Lord High Admiral, brother of Jane Seymour and uncle to the new king.

Seymour was attracted to the young Elizabeth who may have responded in kind. He hoped to marry her after Catherine's untimely death shortly after the birth of their child, but was executed (as was his brother Edward, the Lord Protector, later) in a series of power struggles during the minority of Edward VI.

Under the aegis of Catherine Parr, Roger Ascham, and their associates, the princess Elizabeth was raised as a Protestant. She also received a fine education, an exceptional eduction for a woman of the time, under the tutelage of various scholars, including Ascham, renowned as author of "The Schoolmaster". She learnt the classics, history, mathematics, poetry, and languages and could speak and/or write capably in six languages during her reign: her native English, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, and Greek.

Yea, I believe, that beside her perfect readiness in Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish, she readeth here now at Windsor more Greek every day than some prebendary of this church doth read Latin in a whole week.

- Roger Ascham, Elizabeth's tutor from 1548 to 1550

Elizabeth's position was secure during the lifetime of her half-brother, the king, but the young Edward VI died in 1553 of either tuberculosis or poisoning by arsenic. Following the brief and abortive attempt to place Lady Jane Grey, her staunchly Catholic half-sister Mary came to the throne as Queen Mary I.

Edward VI had been a sickly child since birth and is thought to have contracted congenital syphylis while still in the womb from his father. He died on July 6th, 1553, aged only fifteen of either tuberculosis or poisoning by arsenic and was interred in Westinster Abbey.

By the time of his death, the Protestant Edward was sufficiently master of his own destiny to have concerns about the succession. Having no wish for England to revert to Catholicism under his staunchly Catholic half-sister Mary Tudor, he was persuaded to support the claim to the throne of Northumberland's daughter-in-law and puppet, Lady Jane Grey (1537-1554).

Arthur Tudor (1486-1502)

The ill-health of the two Tudor princes from birth and their death in their mid-teens has caused historians to speculate about the nature of their illness and whether it might have been a genetic condition.

This time-line has been generated for this page from our general time-line
which you can view by clicking here or on the dates in the left-hand column.

To view links to related pages, click here

1537.Oct.12		Birth of Prince Edward to King Henry VIII and Jane Seymour Jane Seymour died a few days after the birth
	BAAAGBXA BAAAGDGG BAAAGDGI
1537.Oct.15		Christening of Edward VI
	BAAAGDGG
1537.Oct.24		Death of Jane Seymour
	BAAAGBXA BAAAGDGG BAAAGDGI
1543.Jul		Treaties of Greenwich: 6-month-old Mary, Queen of Scots, promised in marriage to Prince Edward, the son of Henry VIII in 1552 and for their heirs to inherit the kingdoms of Scotland and England
	BAAAGEKT BAAAGBXA BAAAGCLM BAAAGCLJ
1544		*Act of Succession*: provides that Princess Mary might succeed to the throne if Edward dies without issue The last of 3 Acts of Succession passed in the reign of Henry VIII
	BAAAGCAB BAAAGBXA
1544.May		Henry VIII begins his rough wooing, a series of raids on Scottish territory, etc. (-June 1551), attempting impose the marriage to his son Edward VI on Mary, Queen of Scots
	BAAAGBXA BAAAGEKC BAAAGEKT
1547.Feb.20		Coronation of Edward VI

by 1547		City of London levies taxes for poor relief Such tax levied nationally in 1572 with compulsion imposed on local authorities by 1576
	BAAAGBWS BAAAGBTY BAAAGDKN BAAAGBXA
1548		Mary, Queen of Scots, formally promised in marriage to the French dauphin - a French fleet rescues 5-year-old Mary from Dumbarton, taking her to France
	BAAAGEKT BAAAGBKY
1548.Sep.05		Death of Katherine Parr

1549		First Act of Uniformity The Roman Catholic mass proclaimed illegal; Church interiors are whitewashed and religious images are removed from view; Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, compiles the First Book of Common Prayer; church services are conducted in English instead of Latin for the first time
	BAAAGCBT
1549		Cornish uprising in protest against Edward VI\'s English Book of Common Prayer The Book of Common Prayer was never translated into Cornish and spelt its demise as a living language
	BAAAGCEK BAAAGBBL BAAAGBBF BAAAGBCV
1549		War with France
	BAAAGBKY
1549		Ketts rebellion

1549.Mar.20		Execution of Sir Thomas Seymour at the Tower of London for treason His execution brings disgrace upon Edward Seymour who was replaced as Lord Protector by John Dudley
	BAAAGDGD BAAAGEED BAAAGBZE BAAAGDKN BAAAGDGQ BAAAGDGI
1549.Jun.09		First English Book of Common Prayer Causing the Prayerbook Rebellion
	BAAAGBAV
1549.Sep.12		The Council issue special orders for Devon and Cornwall; where the rebels have used the bells in every Parish as an instrument to stir the multitude and call them together that all bells in the two counties should be taken down leaving in every church one Bell the least of the Ring that is now in the same, which may serve to call the Parishioners to the Sermon and Divine Service.
	BAAAGEFZ BAAAGCAQ BAAAGCEK BAAAGCEI paris
1549.Oct		John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick, becomes Lord President of the Council (Lord Protector, effective ruler of the realm)
	BAAAGDGQ BAAAGDGI
1551.Jun		End of raids on Scottish territory, etc., started as Henry VIII\'s rough wooing in 1544 The campaign is reckoned to have cost �500,000 apart from its cost in human life
	BAAAGBXA BAAAGEKC BAAAGEKT
1552.Aug.22		Edward VI makes royal progress to Christchurch, Hampshire
	BAAAGCGU
1553.Jul.06		Death of King Edward VI, aged only 15; Northumberland proclaims Lady Jane Grey as queen
	BAAAGCLM BAAAGCAB BAAAGDGQ BAAAGCBT BAAAGEKN
1553.Jul.19		Mary I, the ardent Catholic daughter of Henry VIII by Katherine of Aragon proclaimed Queen of England in London, she undisputedly succeeds to the throne of England - Lady Jane Grey is deposed and imprisoned The proclamation made at Cheapside Cross and other accustomed places
	BAAAGEFL BAAAGCLM BAAAGCBT BAAAGEKN BAAAGCAB BAAAGDKN BAAAGDGQ
1554.Feb.12		Execution of Lady Jane Grey, who had been proclaimed Queen of England by Northumberland on the death of Edward VI, and her husband Guildford Dudley at the Tower of London
	BAAAGEKN BAAAGCAB BAAAGCLM BAAAGCGR BAAAGDGQ

Links to Other Pages on this Site

Links to Other Sites
. . . . . the inclusion of these links to other sites is for the interest and convenience of visitors to this site only and does not imply any endorsement of the products or services offered by the individuals or organisations involved nor the accuracy of the information contained therein . . . . .

Tudor Royal Proclamations
, ed. Paul L Hughes + James F Larkin, publisher Yale University Press, 1964-1969
3 volumes

Recommend a Book for this Page

Hits on this page since December 6th

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

current year: previous year:

Links
Locally
Bibliography

ALPHABETICAL
SITE INDEX
Select ;-
Aa-Az Ba-Bz Ca-Cz Da-Dz Ea-Ez Fa-Fz Ga-Gz Ha-Hz Ia-Iz Ja-Jz Ka-Kz La-Lz Ma-Mz Na-Nz Oa-Oz Pa-Pz Qa-Qz Ra-Rz Sa-Sz Ta-Tz Ua-Uz Va-Vz Wa-Wz Ya-Yz
SW COUNTIES

No messages posted on this page

Only Members of the Site can post messages in this section. Signing in is easy from our Home Page.

DISCLAIMER: Whilst we endeavour to ensure the content of this site is correct, we cannot undertake that information you find here, is, or will remain accurate and complete. We do not warrant that any information contained on this site is fit for any purpose. If you wish to place reliance on any such information you must check its accuracy by some other means before doing so.

MEMBERS get aditional features on our pages and will soon be able to interact with the site and add their views and informastion. Sign up, from the Home-Page, is simple and involves typing in your email address and a password of your choice.

If you are in any way connected with any location or interested in the subject mentioned on this page and have an hour or two a month to spare, we would welcome you as a local moderator - please email the webmaster by CLICKING HERE.