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Edward VI 6d
28 January 1547 – 6 July 1553

EDWARD VI D G AGL FRA Z HIB REX
Edward VI by the Grace of God King of England, France and Ireland
POSVI DEUM ADIVTOREM MEUM
I have made God my helper

      

The "BOY KING"
Seldom is there a portrait that is so magnificent that one would show the beauty by enlargement on the front page. The delicate portrait of Henry VIII son who died at the age of 15. The detail, the shirt collar, hair, details that give the coin of the royal mint worker striking a coin that would be available 450 years later

Edward VI ruled from 1547 to 1553. Died aged fifteen. His father was Henry VIII  and his mother was Jane Seymour. After the Reformation Edward had been brought up as a Protestant

Edward at the age of 9 became king. He had two advisors. First was his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, who became Lord Protector, and for the first two and a half years of Edward’s reign, Somerset advised and guided the young king. Somerset was replaced by the Duke of Northumberland. Both men wanted major changes made to England’s religion.

As a result of their advice and Edward’s beliefs, Edward’s reign is mainly remembered for the changes made to religion while he was king. Though his father, Henry VIII, had removed the pope as head of the church in England, he had not changed a great deal. During Edward’s reign, major changes did occur.

Laws were passed to make churches more plain. Catholic churches were rich in decorations and colour. Now under Edward, stained glass windows and pictures were removed from churches; the furniture within churches became very basic and plain. 

The actual services became more plain and the common person could now understand what was being said as services - now called Holy Communion - were in English. Archbishop Cranmer wrote a prayer book also in English. Priests did not have to dress in the bright clothing associated with the Catholic Church and under Edward, they were allowed to marry. The king remained as head of the church.

All of these changes were a major break from what the Catholic Church had been like. In parts of Germany and Switzerland, religious groups had also broken away in protest against the wealth and corruption of the Catholic Church. They became known as Protestant, and England under Edward, became a Protestant country with a Church of England.

Edward had never been a healthy boy and his health failed in 1553. After the nine day interruption of the ‘queen-who-never-was’, Lady Jane Grey [9 das], his half-sister Mary became queen of England and the country went through another spell of religious changes.

 

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