Edward VI Biography

Parliament declares Mary and Elizabeth illegitimate and gives Henry VIII wider authority over the succession; Edward is born the following year.

Edward, the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, is born at Hampton Court Palace as the king's legitimate male heir.

Prince Edward is christened in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court, with his half-sister Mary serving as godmother.

Jane Seymour dies at Hampton Court twelve days after giving birth to Edward.

The proposed marriage between Edward and Mary, Queen of Scots, becomes central to the conflict later known as the Rough Wooing.

England and Scotland sign treaties providing for peace and the future marriage of Prince Edward to Mary, Queen of Scots.

Edward receives an intensive humanist education centred on Latin, Greek, scripture, rhetoric and classical authors.

John Cheke is summoned from Cambridge to help educate Prince Edward in languages, scripture, philosophy and the liberal sciences.

Edward's tutors report strong progress in Latin composition, scripture and classical texts before his accession.

Henry VIII's final will confirms Edward first in the succession, followed by Mary and Elizabeth if Edward dies without heirs.

A council of executors assumes responsibility for government because the new king is only nine years old.

Royal visitors begin enforcing Edwardian religious injunctions and encouraging scripture reading, preaching and removal of traditional practices.

Edward succeeds Henry VIII as King of England at the age of nine.

Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, becomes Lord Protector and takes the leading role in government during Edward's minority.

Edward takes part in the traditional procession through London on the eve of his coronation.

Edward VI is crowned at Westminster Abbey while still a minor.

Archbishop Thomas Cranmer preaches at Edward's coronation and presents the young king's rule in strongly reforming religious terms.

The first Book of Homilies is published by royal authority for clergy to read in churches.

The first Parliament of Edward VI opens and begins legislating on religion, government and social policy.

Convocation approves receiving communion in both bread and wine, a major departure from late medieval English practice.

The Chantries Act transfers chantries, colleges and free chapels to the Crown and accelerates religious and financial change.

Parliament changes the legal form of episcopal appointments, strengthening the Crown's authority over the English Church.

The Sacrament Act receives royal assent and provides for communion to be administered in both kinds.

Parliament repeals several Henrician treason provisions and restores a narrower statutory definition of treason.

A severe law against vagrancy receives royal assent during the first parliamentary session of Edward's reign.

The new Order of Communion begins introducing English prayers and communion in both kinds before the first Prayer Book appears.

A new English Order of Communion is published for use alongside the existing Latin Mass.

French troops arrive at Leith to support Scotland against English occupation during the Rough Wooing.

Mary, Queen of Scots, leaves for France, frustrating the English policy of securing her marriage to Edward.

Parliament approves uniform English worship and authorises the first Book of Common Prayer.

The first Book of Common Prayer of Edward VI is published in English.

Legislation removing legal prohibitions on clerical marriage receives royal assent under Edward VI.

Resistance to the new English liturgy develops into the Prayer Book Rebellion in Devon and Cornwall.

The first Book of Common Prayer comes into compulsory general use on Whitsunday.

Rebels besiege Exeter while demanding restoration of traditional religious practices and rejection of the new prayer book.

Unrest over enclosure begins at Wymondham and develops into Kett's Rebellion against local abuses and land enclosure.

Robert Kett's rebels take control of Norwich after weeks of mobilisation on Mousehold Heath.

Henry II of France declares war on England and renews pressure against English-held Boulogne.

Royal forces defeat the remaining Prayer Book rebels at Sampford Courtenay, ending the main western rising.

An army commanded by the Earl of Warwick defeats Kett's rebels at Dussindale and restores royal control.

English forces abandon Haddington as the costly Scottish campaign becomes increasingly difficult to sustain.

Government shifts from Somerset's personal protectorate toward collective council rule dominated increasingly by John Dudley.

Protector Somerset takes Edward to Windsor Castle as political opponents organise against his government.

The Privy Council arrests Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, ending his dominance of the minority government.

An English Ordinal for the making of bishops, priests and deacons is introduced during Edward's reign.

John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, emerges as the dominant figure in Edward VI's Privy Council.

England and France conclude peace, with England agreeing to return Boulogne and withdraw from Scotland.

Peace with France is publicly proclaimed in England following the Treaty of Boulogne.

English forces evacuate Boulogne under the terms of the peace settlement with France.

Bishop Nicholas Ridley orders stone altars in his London diocese to be replaced by wooden communion tables.

Mary of Guise ratifies Scotland's inclusion in the Anglo-French peace settlement, helping end the Rough Wooing.

The Privy Council orders the removal of remaining stone altars and their replacement with communion tables across England.

John Dudley is created Duke of Northumberland while continuing to dominate Edward VI's government.

The former Lord Protector, Edward Seymour, is arrested again after allegations of plotting against Northumberland and other councillors.

Somerset is acquitted of high treason but convicted of felony after a trial at Westminster Hall.

Edward's uncle and former Lord Protector is executed on Tower Hill after his conviction.

Edward suffers serious infectious illness during the year; later accounts connect this period with measles and smallpox.

Parliament authorises the revised prayer book and strengthens legal requirements for uniform Protestant worship.

Edward VI's first Parliament, which originally opened in November 1547, reaches its final dissolution.

A declaration later known as the Black Rubric is added to clarify that kneeling at communion does not imply adoration of the elements.

The revised and more explicitly Protestant Book of Common Prayer comes into general use.

Edward develops a persistent fever and cough early in the year, beginning the illness that eventually proves fatal.

Edward VI's second Parliament opens in London.

Parliament grants Edward VI two fifteenths and tenths during the final parliamentary session of his reign.

Edward VI's second Parliament closes after a short final session of the reign.

As his health worsens, Edward develops a succession plan intended to prevent Mary from inheriting the Crown.

Judges are shown Edward's devise for the succession and asked to put his proposed settlement into legal form.

Edward summons senior judges to his sickbed and presses them to prepare his succession devise as letters patent.

The Forty-Two Articles are promulgated as a Protestant doctrinal statement shortly before Edward's death.

Letters patent embody Edward's succession settlement and place Lady Jane Grey ahead of Mary and Elizabeth.

Edward VI dies at Greenwich Palace aged fifteen after a prolonged pulmonary illness.

Edward VI is buried in Henry VII's Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey using the reformed English service.