Edward Seymour

How Somerset took power

• he was the uncle of Edward VI

• reputation as a successful soldier during Scotland wars in 1540s

• HVIII’s death was kept secret until Somerset had possession of EVI

• Henry ordered that he should be buried next to the tomb of Jane - Edward Seymour was Jane Seymour’s brother

Characteristics of Somerset

• spent lavishly - built Somerset House at the cost of £10,000, significantly more than any subject had ever paid for a house

• an autocratic ruler - arrogant, rude, difficult to work with

• a midly radical protestant

Foreign problems for Seymour

• £1.5 million spent on wars with Scotland and France - capture of Boulogne alone cost £1m but was virtually indefensible in the long term - given back after 8 years in Treaty of Camps

• HVIII hoped to secure a marriage between the Houses of Tudor and Stuart

Religious problems for Seymour

• atmosphere of unease and uncertainty

• trouble with settling with tensions, especially since heresy was now treasonable - overlap between religion and politics confuses the issue

• Somerset was a moderate reformer, however EVI favoured more radical changes

Economic problems faced by Seymour

• wars had been costly, which forced HVIII to sell off a lot of monastic lands + raise taxes/forced loans

• HVIII also debased coinage which led to massive inflation - good harvests masked the effects of this, but poverty and vagrancy were already a problem

• sale of monastic lands reduced the independence of the crown in the long term and made them more dependent on Parliament

Political issues faced by Seymour

• HVIII’s presence and ego had led to factions emerging

• HVIII’s death left a power vacuum which many were eager to fill

Somerset’s policy in Scotland

• aimed to enforce the 1543 Treaty of Greenwich (Prince Edward to marry Princess Mary)

• 1547 - Somerset won Battle of Pinkie + set up garrisosn to maintain English presence but could not prevent French fleet landing in Leith in 1548

• 1548 - QoS betrothed to Dauphin and was shipped to Frane - entire purpose of enforcing Greenwich now futile + Scotland left with a pro-French regency under Mary Guise (QoS’ mother) protected by a French army

• Somerset persisted in Scottish campaign even during riots and rebellions of 1549 when he was urged by Councillors such as Paget to end the war

• Somerset spent £580,000 on Scotland, nearly double HVIII’s expenditure in the 1540s in half the time

Somerset’s policy in France

• Boulogne, captured by H8 in 1544 due to be returned in 1554 (Treaty of Camps) and expensive to garrison

• H2 becomes king of France in 1547 - rescued QoS from Scotland in 1548 + exploited riots and rebellions of 1549 to declare war on England and besiege Boulogne

Social and economic policy

• Landlords raised rents to cope with 77% inflation in 1540s caused by debasements and population growth especially in South West - gentry greed causing poverty + hardship

• 1547 - Somerset establishes Hales Enclosure Commission (led by John Hales) - investigated and prosecuted landowners in Oxon, Berks, Warwickshire

• Commission resisted by landowners and enraged nobles

• Thomas Smith offered alternative - end debasement, recall coinage, and start process of re-basement to stabilise currency - more effective

• Somerset ignored Smith in favour of Hales - Smith’s solution meant funding for war would be impossible

• failed: didn’t see benefits of enclosure in some areas + prosecutions thwarted by landowners on local juries + alienateed landowning gentry + raised hopes of peasants leading to rebellion.

• 1549 - position very confusing, as pardoned rebels while threatening force to restore order.

• spent £580,000 in 1549 alone, £250,000 borrowed, half of which was abroad

• Somerset raised £537,000 from debasement 1547-51

• sold vast tracts of crown lands, reducing long term Royal income.

Somerset on Politics

• kept Norfolk in tower + imprisoned Wriothesley and Gardiner

• repealed 1539 Proclamations Act which required him to have consent of 12 Privy Councillors before he could issue proclamations

• hardly consulted privy council, instead relied on close circle of friends known as the ‘commonwealth men’ (Edward Wolf, Sir Thomas Smith)

• reserved himself the right to retain troops

• Somerset House - £10,000

• executed brother Thomas Seymour in 1549 - Thomas broke into EVI’s bedchamber to try take control of EVI, however Thomas had married Catherine Parr so could be motivated by fear.

Somerset and rebellions

• imprisonment of figures such as Norfolk removed usual figures of authority from localities

• riots began in 1548 as peasants’ expectations raised by Hales Enclosure Commission

• June 1549 - Western/Prayer Book Rebellion - Devon and Cornwall riots over 1549 Prater Book - had rebels not halted own siege at Exeter, might have reached London

• July 1549 - Norfolk’s / Ket’s Rebellion - led by Robert Ket, army of 16,000 rebels occupied Norwich, Somerset failed to disperse rebels by issuing pardons - not motivated by sympathy but stretched resources (Scotland and France) - left to Lord Russel and John Dudley to supress rebels brutally and restore order

• led to arrest in October 1549

Somerset and religion

• repealed 1539 Act of Six Articles and 1534 Treason Act (disavow supremacy is treason) modified and censorship lifted - attracted exiled preachers back to England

• 1547: Bishops authority dissolved and re-established by Edward

• 1547: Chantries Act - drawn up at end of H8’s reign, activated by Somerset - passed all Chantry assets to the Crown

• 1547: Royal Injuctions - required weekly sermons and removal of church images

• 1548: first services in English

• 1549: New act of uniformity and Book of Common Prayer - ambiguous over Eucharist, traditional vestments and alters remained + attempt to not upset Charles V at a time of war with France/Scotland + executed nobody for heresy.

• at time of downfall committed reformers were still minority - 20% of Londoners, with others mainly concentrated in the South (Kent, Essex, Sussex)

Impact of 1549 Act and Prayer Book

• reformers: happy to see England defined for the first time as a reforming state - radicals upset about ambiguity over Eucharist after raising of expectations

• conservatives: to some was an acceptable compromise (Gardiner conformed to it in his prison cell) + however, led to prayer book rebellion, rebels demanded return of 6 articles and old latin services

Somerset’s downfall

• anti-Somerset faction, including Dudley, Earl fo Warwick (motivated by political ambition), Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton (dislike of religious changes)

• Sst lost authority due to rebellions (Dudley and Russel put down Ket’s) and retreated to Hampton Court

• moved to Windsor Castle taking EVI with him - EVI abandoned him = loses legitimacy from the king, as that’s where power ultimately comes from.