The Tudors for Dummies (AvaxHome Download) (17 page)

Remembering the

Forgotten Tudors: Edward VI and Mary In this part . . . O kay, so everybody's heard of Henry VIII and his

daughter Elizabeth, but he had two other children and they ruled England too. Father's many marriages caused chaos � not just a break with the pope and 1,400 years of history, but also a lot of confusion over who should sit on the throne after Henry.

Edward should've been king, and he was, but the poor boy was a sickly child and died at 15. He was replaced by his big sister, Mary, and when she died at 42 the last of the Tudors, Elizabeth, got the top job.

But it was hardly happy families. Henry had been a Catholic who'd quarrelled with the pope. Edward was brought up a Protestant (they hated the pope). Mary was a Catholic (but she didn't like the pope either!). So for 11 impossible years, the religion of England was like a yo-yo. And if you were on your way down when everyone else was going up, there was a chance you'd be burned alive at Smithfield in London.

Ruling from the Nursery: Edward

VI and His Protectors In This Chapter

Carrying out Henry VIII's will

Protecting the boy king

Sorting the Scots, fighting the French and dealing with English revolts

Changing protectors

W hen Henry VIII died in January 1547, growing unrest in England and

Scotland meant the country needed a strong leader. But Henry's suc-

cessor, his son Edward � born at Hampton Court on 12 October 1537 � was

only a boy. So the new king would need a regent in place to act as his protec-

tor, particularly in maintaining the Royal Supremacy his father had instigated

(see Chapter 6). As we outline in this chapter, the young king's uncle, Edward

Seymour, was first in line for the job of lord protector; and hot on his heels

was John Dudley, earl of Warwick.

Setting Up a Protectorate

Princes were allowed to rule by themselves from the age of 18, but Edward

was only 9. Queen Catherine (Parr) was sidelined, and the executors of

Henry's will, who shared the former king's views on Church and state,

worked to quickly establish a protectorate to act for the boy king.

Crossing over from Henry

Henry's death on 28 January 1547 was kept secret while the executors

decided exactly what to do. They decided: 118 Part III: Remembering the Forgotten Tudors: Edward VI and Mary

The protectorate's council must choose a leader, and that leader was

Edward Seymour � the earl of Hertford and Edward's uncle � who was to

be called protector of the realm and governor of the king's person.

The council would be called the Privy Council and would comprise the

closest advisers to the king.

Edward, who was living at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, north of London,

agreed with the Council's decisions. On 31 January, Edward Seymour took

him into the City of London where he was proclaimed king.

Burying Henry

The old king was buried at Windsor (a place that Edward came to hate) on 16

February 1547, but anybody who was anybody on the Council was too busy

to go (which didn't say much for their loyalty). By tradition, Edward didn't

go either and Henry's widow Catherine and daughter Mary watched from the

gallery in the Chapel Royal. The chief mourner was the marquis of Dorset,

who would later sit on the Council.

The boy king

Because Edward didn't live to rule his king- Edward was very attached, as an infant, to his

dom in his own right we tend to lose sight of nurse, Sybil Penn, and when he became king

him a little in these chapters on his reign. He Edward gave her an apartment in Hampton

had large grey eyes and reddish gold hair like Court next to Will Somers, his father's favourite

his father, and was a precocious child, rather jester (see Chapter 3). His nurse was one of

solemn and serious. many staff who kept the child wrapped in cotton

wool, because a boy for the Tudors was such

Edward was also very intelligent. Although his

a rare commodity. He was kept in virtual quar-

father had remained a good Catholic until the

antine, his rooms were scrubbed twice a day,

day he died, Henry had known that the world

everything he handled was carefully washed

had to move on, so Edward's tutors, John Cheke

and all dogs were kept out.

and Richard Cox, were reformers. Edward kept

a diary that included his religious thoughts from Even so, at Christmas 1541, the 4-year-old fell

an early age, which shows that his tutors had ill with what was probably a tuberculous infec-

a big influence on him. He also recorded in his tion, which would eventually kill him. Had he

writings that what he liked most about his coro- lived, he might have made a great king.

nation was the acrobat performing on a rope

over St Paul's churchyard. Chapter 7: Ruling from the Nursery: Edward VI and His Protectors 119 Crowning Edward The coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on 19 February. The service was shortened because the new king was so young (and quite small for his age according to many eyewitnesses). Archbishop Cranmer (see Chapter 6 for more on him) pushed Royal Supremacy ideas in his sermon and, as usual, several new titles were given out:

Edward Seymour, the lord protector, became duke of Somerset.

Thomas Seymour, already an admiral, became Lord Seymour of Sudeley.

John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, became earl of Warwick.

William Parr, earl of Essex, became marquis of Northampton.

Thomas Wriothesley (pronounced Risley) became earl of Southampton.

Taking control: The duke of Somerset Everything should now have been plain sailing, but it soon became clear that Thomas Seymour was more than a bit annoyed at all this power going to his big brother � after all, he was Edward's uncle too. Thomas didn't help family relationships when he renewed his romance with the widow, Queen Dowager Catherine (see Chapter 5 for details of their earlier affair).

Catherine and Thomas had fancied each other for years and now that Henry was dead Thomas could move in on the rich widow. Catherine, however, as ex-queen, needed the Council's permission to marry, and Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, got difficult. So going over his brother's head, Thomas, the well-known smooth operator, charmed the king (he got on well with kids!) and got his way. Not even Somerset dared oppose the king, especially because the decision had nothing to do with government policy.

In December 1547, for reasons that aren't quite clear, Somerset's job descrip- tion changed. Rather than being protector until the king reached 18, he now only had the job `on the king's pleasure'; so if Edward liked, he could fire him. On the other hand, Somerset didn't technically need the Council's backing for his actions while he was in post and he began to operate without the Council, telling the members about decisions afterwards. In other words, Somerset was beginning to forget he wasn't king.

Battling brothers

When Catherine Seymour (previously Parr) died in childbirth in September

1548, Thomas Seymour made his moves on 14-year-old Princess Elizabeth.

By the way, check out Young Bess. Seymour may have been as handsome as

Stewart Grainger, but I'm afraid the real Elizabeth couldn't hold a candle to

Jean Simmons in the title role.

Thomas Seymour wanted to marry Elizabeth � after all, when the paper work

was done, she'd be pretty rich with her own lands � but for that he needed

the Council's permission and he knew he wouldn't get it. Seymour was also

broke (Catherine's money went with her) so he hit upon a cunning plan. He

plotted with Sir William Sharington to steal from the Bristol Mint with an

armed gang, but he made so much noise about it that it looked as if he was

planning a revolt. So in January 1549 Seymour was charged with treason. At

the trial:

Seymour refused to answer most questions.

Elizabeth was questioned but the Council seemed to be more interested

in her sex life (see Chapter 12).

Catherine Ashley, Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting, was too terrified to say

much at all.

Thomas Seymour was found guilty and executed in March. There were rum-

blings of discontent. In trying to bind the Council together against the dodgy

dealings of his brother, Somerset had driven them further apart.

Returning to the Auld Alliance:

Scotland and France

Problems have a habit of hanging over from previous reigns, and France and

Scotland were no exception at the start of Edward's reign.

Invading Scotland

Henry had come up with an interesting idea to bring together England and

Scotland in 1543: the Treaty of Greenwich said that Mary Queen of Scots,

then an infant, would marry Edward VI of England when she was 10. The

problem was, the Scottish Parliament rejected the treaty. Chapter 7: Ruling from the Nursery: Edward VI and His Protectors 121 In the last hours of his life, Henry had told the future protector Somerset to sort the Scots out, which Somerset always intended to do, given the chance. French-backed Scottish raids on the borders had been going on for some months.

So in April 1547 Somerset got an army together, claiming (untruthfully) that the Scots were squaring up to fight. In July the Scots gave Somerset his excuse for war when the earl of Arran, backed by French warships, bom- barded the pro-English castle of St Andrews into submission.

Somerset invaded Scotland in September, crossing the river Tweed with an army of 15,000 men backed by 65 warships and supplies. On the 10th of that month, at the Battle of Pinkie, near Musselburgh, the Scottish schiltrons (infantry spear formations) were smashed and Somerset's cavalry drove Arran's larger force from the field.

Following up with forts Winning a victory like Pinkie is one thing, but to hold a shaky country you have to keep men on the spot and remind people who's boss. Somerset set up garrisons at Haddington and Broughty Crag, and still more were built by English lords keen to look after their own interests.

The Scottish lords couldn't decide what to do. Most of them looked to France for support, especially to the formidably tough Mary of Guise, mother of Mary Queen of Scots and little Mary's regent in Scotland. Others leaned towards England and the Mary�Edward marriage proposed under the Treaty of Greenwich.

For the next few months a stand-off existed. The Scots had neither the men nor the equipment to attack the English forts directly, but they could make a nuisance of themselves by cutting off supplies and carrying out what today we call guerrilla warfare.

The English navy was vital. Operating from their base at Holy Island, supply ships brought essentials to the garrisons and warships patrolled the North Sea to watch out for French reinforcements.

Allying against England In theory, England and France were at peace because in the Treaty of Camp of 1546 Henry VIII had agreed not to fight the French unless provoked. But when Francis I died in April 1547, his son Henri II made no bones about 122 Part III: Remembering the Forgotten Tudors: Edward VI and Mary

the fact that he'd tear up the Treaty of Camp, help Scotland and smash the

English garrison at Boulogne at the earliest opportunity.

Between 1546 and 1548 French privateers (pirates unofficially employed by

the government) operated in the English Channel. The piracy didn't actually

add up to outright war because if the English complained, the French would

just deny all knowledge and mutter something about the state of the world

today! (See Chapter 12 for more on privateers under Elizabeth I.)

Then, on 12 June 1548, a French fleet with 140 assorted ships was sighted off

Dunbar. The commander of the English patrol, Vice Admiral Lord Clinton,

either missed the fleet completely or thought it best not to tackle a superior

force, and so 6,000 French troops landed at Leith near Edinburgh. Their

attempt to hit the garrison at Broughty Crag failed, but this was potentially

only the beginning.

So the Scots Government made a deal with French commander, Andre de

Montalambert, whereby the 6-year-old Mary Queen of Scots would go to

France to be educated and would marry the dauphin (heir to the French

throne) Francis, son of Henri II. The score was France and Scotland, one;

England, nil. The Treaty of Greenwich was dead in the water and Somerset's

Scottish policy was in ruins.

Early in September, little Mary was smuggled out of Scotland to begin her

new French life. Chapters 14 and 15 explain what became of Mary.

Pressing on in the north

Even though there wasn't much point in carrying on in Scotland, Protector

Somerset was too pig-headed to back down, or he felt he was too committed.

He sent a two-pronged attack over the border.

The earl of Shrewsbury lead 10,000 men to rescue the garrison under

siege at Haddington.

Admiral Clinton sailed into the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh to destroy

the French fleet.

Shrewsbury forced Montalambert to retreat without a fight, but the fleet had

long gone. In a silly cat and mouse game, after Shrewsbury's army had left

Scotland the French attacked Haddington once more, only to find the garri-

son stronger and with plenty of supplies. Chapter 7: Ruling from the Nursery: Edward VI and His Protectors 123

Upping the tempo with France

For all his loud noises, Henri II wasn't keen on mixing with England outside

Scotland. In what was still a cold war the English built up the fortifications at

Boulogne, which Henri said was against the spirit of the Treaty of Camp. Both

local commanders squared up to each other and fired a few shots � all pretty

much handbag stuff, really.

In Chapter 3 we look at how, in the days of Henry VIII, England played France

off against the holy Roman empire. That was still an option for Somerset.

The problem at first was that the emperor, Charles V, didn't rate Somerset's

government or Edward's kingship. He was, after all, the cousin of Mary Tudor,

Edward's big sister, and he thought that Mary, as the only legitimate child of

Henry VIII, should have been queen.

When it was obvious that Mary wasn't making a fuss, Charles, always practi-

cal, set his feelings aside and did business with Somerset and his Council. He

agreed to back England if Calais was attacked, but, cunning old ruler that he

was, he didn't include Boulogne.

When Somerset got into difficulties with rebellion at home in 1549 (see

the later section `Facing the Many-headed Monster: Social Unrest') Henri II

took advantage of the situation and declared war. But it all went pear-

shaped. Henri's attack on Jersey in the English-held Channel Islands was

beaten back and he couldn't crack Boulogne either. His army was hit by

plague and desertion.

The overthrowing of the protector in October 1549 (see `Ousting Somerset')

led to another change of direction. His replacement John Dudley, earl of

Warwick, decided to cut his losses and in March 1550 he sold Boulogne back

to Henri (which, as you see in Chapter 3, was the original deal).

Commanding the seas The English navy really took off under Henry hand to hand as if they were on land. English VIII, reaching its high water mark under gunnery, however, was quickly improving and Elizabeth (see Chapter 15). In the 1540s naval becoming feared. As long as the English fleet battles were rare and ships were really just could supply places like Boulogne, the French wooden platforms from which men fought could do little about it.