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Edward VI and Mary Tudor: Protestant king and Catholic sister: Judith Richards helps us appreciate a Marian perspective on the reign of the boy-king.

Article Excerpt
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The contest between a young Tudor king and his older sister discussed here was part of wider struggles between Christians across most of Europe. At issue was true Christian belief, at a time when difference of worship was often seen as heresy, deserving death. This particular struggle began after the death in January 1547 of Henry VIII. His heir was his son, Edward aged nine, and therefore too young to rule in person. The next heir was Mary, then 31 and Henry's daughter by his first wife Katherine of Aragon. Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn and now the best known of Henry's children, was 14 when the struggle began, and not really involved.

Successor Regime

When Henry died, there were already many different opinions about 'right religion' in England; his death soon made clear how important he had been to maintaining his preferred religious settlement. The old king's death was kept secret for several days while a few of his closest associates rearranged his will for their benefit. The Council Henry had nominated to govern for his son was originally made up of men of diverse political and religious interests. Although some had done so with considerable reservations, all of them had accepted Henry's religious settlement. That had meant keeping most of the Lutheran changes at bay and retaining most Catholic beliefs, above all about the nature of the mass. Henry had, however, completely repudiated the authority of the pope.

The secret negotiations meant power shifted significantly to Edward's uncle Edward Seymour, who acquired two new titles, Lord Protector (to the king) and Duke of Somerset. Like his most important supporters, he gathered new wealth to match the new titles. Those excluded from the original Council for resisting the changes to its structure and composition included religious conservatives, but some original Council members like John Dudley, and new members, like another of the new king's uncles, Thomas Seymour, endorsed further moves away from Catholic doctrine.

Among the innovations, they supported the acceptance of married clergy and widespread attacks on religious images and symbols. Most significantly, many were uneasy about the Catholic mass, which taught that the sanctified bread and the wine became the body and blood of Christ, the Real Presence. They supported the more evangelically minded of Henry's leading clergy, including Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, although there was as yet no clearly agreed set of doctrines to the changing religion.

Mary's Situation

Despite her age and status, Princess Mary had been kept ignorant of the changes made to Henry's arrangements. She was, however, someone whom the new regime had cause to fear, since she had been constantly at Henry's court in recent years and probably knew how much the details of Henry's will had been changed. That would explain why her bequests in her father's will were...

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