Edward VI, Henry VIII’s only son, was a boy of ten when his father died in 1547. His reign of six years was controlled by two uncles, first the duke of Somerset and then the duke of Northumberland. Both of these men were ardent Protestants, and as a result a number of bishoprics were turned over to clergymen who favoured the Reformation. Tyndale’s Bible and many Protestant books were printed during this period, and it was also during this time that churches in many cases were stripped of images, stained glass was destroyed, pictures were plastered or whitewashed over and clergymen abandoned the use of coloured robes. Priests were also allowed to marry. The Book of Common Prayer brought simpler services with the use of Scripture in English.
The duke of Somerset, the young king’s uncle, who took the title of Protector, realized enormous personal gain from his position and built a magnificent palace on the riverbank, midway along the Strand, which came to be known as Somerset House. An eighteenth-century building still called by this name occupies the site today. Somerset made himself unpopular by insisting on conformity to Reformation doctrine and practices by both clergy and laity. Many longstanding practices such as chantries—endowments for the saying of prayers for dead benefactors— were abolished, creating widespread unemployment. Somerset fell from power in 1549, was imprisoned in the Tower and eventually beheaded for treason.
Another of Edward VI’s uncles, John Dudley, the Earl of Warwick who was also the duke of Northumberland and Somerset’s successor, was equally ambitious and a convinced Protestant. During this period young Edward showed himself to be precocious, but his sickly nature gave way to consumption and he died in 1553 at the age of sixteen. Northumberland, realizing that if Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, came to the throne it would mean the end of a Protestant monarchy and of his power, made a bold but tragic move.
He arranged a marriage between his son and Lady Jane, the daughter of one of Henry VIII’s sisters, and got the dying king to set aside Henry VIII’s will and appoint Jane to the throne. Tile plan failed and Lady Jane Grey, a sweet affectionate girl of seventeen and innocent of any political ambition, eventually paid with her life, as did her husband and Northumberland himself.