October 12, 1537: Birth of Edward VI, King of England and Ireland

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1st Earl of Warwick, Duke of Northumberland, House of Tudor, Jayne Seymour, John Dudley, King Edward VI, King Henry VIII of England, King of England, King of Ireland, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Queen Mary I of England, the Succession to the Crown of 1543

Edward VI (October 12, 1537 – July 6, 1553) was King of England and Ireland from January 28, 1547 until his death on July 6, 1553.

Edward was born on October 12, 1537 in his mother’s room inside Hampton Court Palace, in Middlesex. He was the son of King Henry VIII by his third wife, Jane Seymour. Throughout the realm, the people greeted the birth of a male heir, “whom we hungered for so long”, with joy and relief. Te Deums were sung in churches, bonfires lit, and “their was shott at the Tower that night above two thousand gonnes”.

Queen Jane, appearing to recover quickly from the birth, sent out personally signed letters announcing the birth of “a Prince, conceived in most lawful matrimony between my Lord the King’s Majesty and us”.

Edward was christened on October 15, with his half-sisters, the 21-year-old Lady Mary as godmother and the 4-year-old Lady Elizabeth carrying the chrisom; and the Garter King of Arms proclaimed him as Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester. The queen, however, fell ill on 23 October from presumed postnatal complications, and died the following night. Henry VIII wrote to François I of France that “Divine Providence … hath mingled my joy with bitterness of the death of her who brought me this happiness”.

Both Edward’s sisters were attentive to their brother and often visited him—on one occasion, Elizabeth gave him a shirt “of her own working”. Edward “took special content” in Mary’s company, though he disapproved of her taste for foreign dances; “I love you most”, he wrote to her in 1546. In 1543, Henry invited his children to spend Christmas with him, signalling his reconciliation with his daughters, whom he had previously illegitimised and disinherited. The following spring, he restored them to their place in the succession with a Third Succession Act, which also provided for a regency council during Edward’s minority.

The Act did not have a title in the modern sense. It is formally cited as 35 Hen. 8 c.1 (meaning the first Act passed in the 35th year of Henry VIII’s reign), and referred to by historians as the Succession to the Crown Act 1543 or the Act of Succession 1543. The royal assent was given to this bill in the spring of 1544 at the conclusion of the 1543/1544 Parliament, but until 1793 acts were usually backdated to the beginning of the session of Parliament in which they were passed; as such the Act is also often dated 1544.

This unaccustomed family harmony may have owed much to the influence of Henry’s new wife, Catherine Parr, of whom Edward soon became fond. He called her his “most dear mother” and in September 1546 wrote to her: “I received so many benefits from you that my mind can hardly grasp them.”

On January 10, 1547 from Hertford, nine-year-old Edward wrote to his father and stepmother thanking them for his new year’s gift of their portraits from life. On January 28, King Henry VIII died.

Those close to the throne, led by Edward Seymour and William Paget, agreed to delay the announcement of the king’s death until arrangements had been made for a smooth succession. Seymour and Sir Anthony Browne, the Master of the Horse, rode to collect Edward from Hertford and brought him to Enfield, where Lady Elizabeth was living. He and Elizabeth were then told of their father’s death and heard a reading of his will.

Lord Chancellor Thomas Wriothesley announced Henry’s death to Parliament on January 31, and general proclamations of Edward VI’s succession were ordered. The new king was taken to the Tower of London, where he was welcomed with “great shot of ordnance in all places there about, as well out of the Tower as out of the ships”.

The following day, the nobles of the realm made their obeisance to Edward at the Tower, and Seymour was announced as Protector. Henry VIII was buried at Windsor on February 16, in the same tomb as Jane Seymour, as he had wished.

Edward VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey on Sunday February 20, 1547.

Edward VI was the first English monarch to be raised as a Protestant. During his reign, the realm was governed by a regency council because he never reached maturity. The council was first led by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1547–1549), and then by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick (1550–1553), who from 1551 was Duke of Northumberland.

Edward’s reign was marked by economic problems and social unrest that in 1549 erupted into riot and rebellion. An expensive war with Scotland, at first successful, ended with military withdrawal from Scotland and Boulogne-sur-Mer in exchange for peace.

The transformation of the Church of England into a recognisably Protestant body also occurred under Edward VI, who took great interest in religious matters. His father, Henry VIII, had severed the link between the Church and Rome, but continued to uphold most Catholic doctrine and ceremony. It was during Edward’s reign that Protestantism was established for the first time in England with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the Mass, and the imposition of compulsory services in English.

In February 1553, at age 15, Edward fell ill. When his sickness was discovered to be terminal, he and his council drew up a “Devise for the Succession” to prevent the country’s return to Catholicism. Edward named his first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir, excluding his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth.

Although it was the will of the King that his cousin Lady Jane Grey succeed him on the throne, the Devise for the Succession was never introduced into Parliament and made into law, thus the the Succession to the Crown Act 1543 was still legally in effect making Jane’s attempt at taking the throne an illegal usurpation that lasted for nine days.

Edward VI was succeeded by his half-sister Mary, a Catholic, who reversed Edward’s Protestant reforms during her reign, but his other half-sister, Elizabeth, restored them in 1559 after she succeeded Queen Mary I in 1558.

July 19, 1553: Lady Mary Tudor is declared Queen ending Lady Jane Grey’s brief tenure on the throne.

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Duke of Northumberland, John Dudley, King Edward VI, King Henry VIII, Lady Jane Grey, Lord Guildford Dudley, Philip II of Spain, Privy Council, Wyatt’s Rebellion

Lady Jane Grey (1536 or 1537 – February 12, 1554), later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as the “Nine Days’ Queen”, was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from July 10 until July 19, 1553.

Jane was the great granddaughter of Henry VII through his younger daughter Mary, and was a first cousin once removed of Edward VI. She had an excellent humanist education and a reputation as one of the most learned young women of her day. In May 1553, she married Lord Guildford Dudley, a younger son of Edward’s chief minister John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.

In June 1553, Edward VI wrote his will, nominating Jane and her male heirs as successors to the Crown, in part because his half-sister Mary was Catholic, while Jane was a committed Protestant and would support the reformed Church of England, whose foundation Edward laid. Edward VI personally supervised the copying of his will which was finally issued as letters patent on June 21 and signed by 102 notables, among them the whole Privy Council, peers, bishops, judges, and London aldermen. The will removed his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, from the line of succession on account of their illegitimacy, subverting their claims under the Third Succession Act.

The Third Succession Act of 1544 restored Henry VIII’s daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, to the line of succession, although they were still regarded as illegitimate. Furthermore, this Act authorised Henry VIII to alter the succession by his will. Henry’s will reinforced the succession of his three children, and then declared that, should none of them leave descendants, the throne would pass to heirs of his younger sister, Mary, which included Jane. For unknown reasons, Henry excluded Jane’s mother, Frances Grey, from the succession, and also bypassed the claims of the descendants of his elder sister, Margaret, who had married into the Scottish Royal House and Nobility.

Edward also announced to have his “declaration” passed in Parliament in September, and the necessary writs were prepared. The King died on July 6, 1553, but his death was not announced until four days later.

On July 9, Jane was informed that she was now queen, and according to her own later claims, accepted the crown only with reluctance. On July 10, she was officially proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland after she had taken up secure residence in the Tower of London, where English monarchs customarily resided from the time of accession until coronation. Jane refused to name her husband Dudley as king, because that would require an Act of Parliament. She would agree only to make him Duke of Clarence.

Parliament never gathered to make into Law Edward’s Will altering the succession. Though the Tudor Kings had considerable power they were not absolute monarchs and Parlimentary approval was still needed to create new laws.

Support for Mary grew very quickly, and most of Jane’s supporters abandoned her. The Privy Council of England suddenly changed sides and proclaimed Mary as queen on July 19, 1553, ending her brief attempt at usurping the Crown. I should accurately say the usurping attempt was orchestrated buy her father-in-law the Duke of Northumberland and Jane was a rather reluctant pawn. For his leadership in the attempt to place Lady Jane on the throne the Duke of Northumberland was accused of treason and executed less than a month later.

Jane was held prisoner in the Tower and was convicted of high treason in November 1553, which carried a sentence of death — though Queen Mary initially spared her life. However, Jane soon became viewed as a threat to the Crown when her father, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, became involved with Wyatt’s Rebellion against Queen Mary’s intention to marry Felipe II of Spain. Both Jane and her husband were executed on February 12, 1554.

Legal Succession: Mary & Jane Part II

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Duke of Northumberland, Henry VIII, James IV, John Dudley, King Edward VI, King of Scots, Roman Catholic Church, Third Succession Act

In the summer of 1553 the 15-year-old King Edward VI was dying. His Catholic half-sister Mary was still the heiress presumptive to the throne. However, Edward VI, under the pressure from the Duke of Northumberland, bypassed his cousin, Frances Brandon, and named her eldest daughter, the Protestant Lady Jane Grey, as his successor. All of this information was placed in his will, which he passed via letters patent on June 21. These changes to the succession were co-signed by 102 notables, among them the entire Privy Council, peers, bishops, judges, and London aldermen. Edward desired that these changes be passed in Parliament in September. However, prior to the final legal steps, Edward VI died on July 10, 1553.

The privy Council proclaimed Lady Jane Grey as the first Queen Regnant of England. Jane, who just happened to be married to Lord Gilford Dudley, the youngest son of the Duke of Northumberland, was transferred to the Tower of London to await her coronation, per tradition.

One of the grave mistakes Northumberland made at this point was that he forgot to take hold of Mary herself prior to the death of the King. With Mary still free, she was able to easily claim her throne from Jane. The defacto reign of Queen Jane lasted 9 days.

Edward’s failure to have his letters passed by an Act of Parliament still mean that not only was the Third Act of Succession still the law of the land, so was the 1547 Act of Treason. The Treason Act made it high treason to change the line of succession to the throne that had been established by Third Act of Succession. Of course as king, Edward VI could have had both the Third Act of Succession and the Treason Act replaced with new laws, but since he died prior to accomplishing that requirement that his sister Mary was the legal Queen per the terms of the Third Succession Act.

Queen Mary entered London in a triumphal procession on August 3rd, and the Duke of Northumberland was executed on August 22, 1553. In September, Parliament declared that Mary was the rightful queen and denounced and revoked Jane’s proclamation and labeled her a usurper. Jane and Lord Guildford Dudley were both charged with high treason, together with two of Dudley’s brothers and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. Their trial, by a special commission, took place on November 13, 1553.

All defendants charged were found guilty and sentenced to death. Jane was to “be burned alive on Tower Hill or beheaded as the Queen pleases.” However, Mary planned on pardoning her cousin and this was reported to the imperial ambassador to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. Mary was planning on marrying her cousin, Prince Felipe of Austria, future King of Spain, son of Charles V.

Sadly, Jane’s fate took a turn for the worst with the Protestant rebellion of Thomas Wyatt the younger in January of 1554. Jane had nothing to do with this rebellion which was triggered by the prospective marriage of Mary and Felipe. What sealed her fate was the fact that Jane’s father, the Duke of Suffolk, and his two brothers joined the rebellion, which caused the government to go through with the verdict against Jane and Guildford. Their execution was first scheduled for February 9, 1554 , but was then postponed for three days so that Jane should get a chance to be converted to the Catholic faith. This attempt at conversion failed and both Lady Jane and her husband, Lord Guilford, were beheaded on the morning of February 12, 1554.

The tale of Lady Jane is tragic. She was only 17 and many historians believe she was and unwilling pawn of those around her. Steadfast in her Protestant faith she became a martyr for the Protestant cause.

Legal Succession: Mary & Jane: Part I

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Duke of Northumberland, Henry VIII, James IV, John Dudley, King Edward VI, King of Scots, Roman Catholic Church, Third Succession Act

Although Henry VIII caused the upheaval of many lives in trying to secure a male heir, he ended up leaving a sickly male child on the throne. King Edward VI was only 9 years old when he mounted the throne. Because of his age he ruled under a Regency Council.  The Council was first led by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, (1547–1549), and then by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick, from 1551 Duke of Northumberland.

Edward did not live long and died at the age of 15 from consumption (Tuberculosis). His death saw another struggle for the crown. A new element was introduced for the struggle for the crown that had not been an issue in other battles for the throne. The issue was religion. In trying to secure a male heir and a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII broke from the Roman Catholic Church and created the Protestant Church of England with himself as its head. This move would cause great strife and pain and have historical repercussion that would stretch into today.

During the reign of Henry VIII and his struggle for an heir, his children were on a roller coaster of being accepted and rejected. Edward’s sisters, Mary & Elizabeth, were at times removed from the succession and batserdized, only to be returned to the succession and legitimized later. Their final acceptance came in Henry VIII’s last Will which restored both Mary & Elizabeth to their rights to the throne and were once and for all declared legitimate.

In 1543 Henry enacted the Third Succession Act. This Act gave the children of Henry VIII the succession. The Act gave the descendents of Henry’s sister Mary rights to the throne and barred the right of succession to the Scottish descendants of his sister Margaret who married James IV, King of Scots. According to the Act if Edward VI had no issue the throne would go to his elder sister, Mary, a devout Catholic. John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, was regent at the time and a Protestant. He and others in power did not want the crown to go to the Catholic Mary.

Part II will examine, in-depth, who had the legal right to be England’s first Queen regnant, Jane or Mary?