The Reign Of Edward VI

The Reign of Edward VI

The reign of Edward VI saw great religious upheaval from a Protestant
religion that was Catholic in nature to a more clearly defined and radical
quasi-Calvinism. In that sense religious policy hardened. But the policies and
ideal never became deeply entrenched and accepted throughout the country and
often only existed to serve the interests of those who enacted them, and not the
future stance of the church. Under Somerset the changes involved merely creating
a Protestant facelift, and only under Northumberland did sweeping radical
changes emerge. However, policy never hardened enough, or became accepted enough,
to prevent it being disintegrated when Mary came to power in 1553.
The religious situation was highly unstable at the time of Edward's
ascendance. Although Henry had allowed Protestant leaning clerics to predominate
in the later year of his reign, most religious statutes remained orthodox, and
conservative. But under Somerset Protestants who had previously fled to Europe
after the six articles, such as Hooper, Becon, and Turner, all returned. Many
were writers banned under Henry VIII, along with Luther and other European
Protestants. Guy points out that 159 out of 394 new books printed during the
Protectorate were written by Protestant reformers.
Reformers predominated the Privy council under Somerset, and reform was
popular amongst the gentry of the time. But outside London and East Anglia
Protestantism was not a major force. In ter...

The Reign Of Edward VI

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