Chantries Act
The Chantries Act transfers chantries, colleges and free chapels to the Crown and accelerates religious and financial change.
Role range: 1547-1553
Historical biography archive · Updated 2026-11-03
Edward VI Biography and Timeline — Page 2
Follow Edward VI through 115 dated historical records for England.
Edward VI, historical timeline
A chronological timeline drawn from matching World History Database records.
115Distinct records
2 of 3Page
1547–1550Years on this page
1547
Sacrament Act
The Sacrament Act receives royal assent and provides for communion to be administered in both kinds.
Role range: 1547-1553
Chantries Dissolution Act Enacted
A new Chantries Act transfers chantry foundations and much of their property to the Crown, weakening institutions devoted to intercessory masses.
Role range: 1547-1553
Communion in Both Kinds Required
Parliament permits and requires lay communicants to receive both bread and wine, marking a major liturgical change from late medieval practice.
Role range: 1547-1553
Minority Government
A council of executors assumes responsibility for government because the new king is only nine years old.
Role range: 1547-1553
Edwardian Chantries Act Passed
Parliament dissolves chantries, religious guilds and related foundations, transferring substantial property to the Crown.
Role range: 1547-1553
Edwardian Treason Act Passed
Parliament repeals several expansive Henrician treason provisions and requires stronger evidential safeguards in many treason prosecutions.
Role range: 1547-1553
Edwardian Vagrancy Act Passed
Parliament imposes exceptionally severe penalties on persistent vagrancy while attempting to regulate labour and poverty.
Role range: 1547-1553
St Stephen's Chapel Assigned to Commons
Edward VI grants St Stephen's Chapel for regular Commons use, giving the lower House a permanent chamber within the Palace of Westminster.
Role range: 1547-1553
Royal Visitation
Royal visitors begin enforcing Edwardian religious injunctions and encouraging scripture reading, preaching and removal of traditional practices.
Role range: 1547-1553
1548
Removal of Images Accelerated
Government orders encourage removal of images considered objects of superstition, transforming the visual environment of many parish churches.
Role range: 1547-1553
Order of Communion
A new English Order of Communion is published for use alongside the existing Latin Mass.
Role range: 1547-1553
French Intervention in Scotland
French troops arrive at Leith to support Scotland against English occupation during the Rough Wooing.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
Mary Queen of Scots Leaves Scotland
Mary, Queen of Scots, leaves for France, frustrating the English policy of securing her marriage to Edward.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
Clerical Marriage Restrictions Relaxed
Edwardian reformers move toward recognising clerical marriage, challenging the compulsory celibacy associated with the pre-Reformation priesthood.
Role range: 1547-1553
English Communion Service
The new Order of Communion begins introducing English prayers and communion in both kinds before the first Prayer Book appears.
Role range: 1547-1553
1549
First Act of Uniformity Passed
Parliament requires a single authorised English liturgy, establishing nationwide use of the first Book of Common Prayer.
Role range: 1547-1553
First Act of Uniformity
Parliament approves uniform English worship and authorises the first Book of Common Prayer.
Role range: 1547-1553
Book of Common Prayer
The first Book of Common Prayer of Edward VI is published in English.
Role range: 1547-1553
Clergy Marriage Act
Legislation removing legal prohibitions on clerical marriage receives royal assent under Edward VI.
Role range: 1547-1553
Prayer Book Rebellion
Resistance to the new English liturgy develops into the Prayer Book Rebellion in Devon and Cornwall.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
Prayer Book Use Becomes Compulsory
Parishes are required to use the new Book of Common Prayer, replacing diverse Latin rites with a national English service.
Role range: 1547-1553
Reform of Church Worship
The first Book of Common Prayer comes into compulsory general use on Whitsunday.
Role range: 1547-1553
Western Rebel Articles Issued
The western rebels formulate articles demanding restoration of older religious practices, including traditional forms of worship and clerical customs.
Role range: 1549 – 1547-1553
Kett's Rebellion
Unrest over enclosure begins at Wymondham and develops into Kett's Rebellion against local abuses and land enclosure.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
Capture of Norwich
Robert Kett's rebels take control of Norwich after weeks of mobilisation on Mousehold Heath.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
Prayer Book Rebellion
Rebels besiege Exeter while demanding restoration of traditional religious practices and rejection of the new prayer book.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
French Declaration of War
Henry II of France declares war on England and renews pressure against English-held Boulogne.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
Battle of Sampford Courtenay
Royal forces defeat the remaining Prayer Book rebels at Sampford Courtenay, ending the main western rising.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
Battle of Dussindale
An army commanded by the Earl of Warwick defeats Kett's rebels at Dussindale and restores royal control.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
Evacuation of Haddington
English forces abandon Haddington as the costly Scottish campaign becomes increasingly difficult to sustain.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
Arrest of Duke of Somerset
The Privy Council arrests Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, ending his dominance of the minority government.
Role range: 1547-1553
Somerset Government Crisis
Protector Somerset takes Edward to Windsor Castle as political opponents organise against his government.
Role range: 1547-1553
Clerical Marriage Legalised
Parliament removes statutory prohibitions that had prevented priests from marrying, marking a major break with traditional clerical discipline.
Role range: 1547-1553
Unlawful Assemblies Act Passed after Rebellions
Parliament strengthens penalties for riotous assemblies after the major social and religious rebellions of 1549.
Role range: 1547-1553
1550
Rise of Earl of Warwick
John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, emerges as the dominant figure in Edward VI's Privy Council.
Role range: 1547-1553
Peace of Boulogne Concluded
Makes peace with France and Scotland, ending the Rough Wooing and preparing the evacuation of expensive English positions.
Role range: 1547-1553
Treaty of Boulogne
England and France conclude peace, with England agreeing to return Boulogne and withdraw from Scotland.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
Peace Proclaimed
Peace with France is publicly proclaimed in England following the Treaty of Boulogne.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
Evacuation of Boulogne
English forces evacuate Boulogne under the terms of the peace settlement with France.
Role range: 1543-1551 – 1547-1553
Records, sources and methodology
These dates and descriptions come from the historical_events database. Exact duplicate records have been collapsed. Names are grouped by the country, Name 2 and Name 1 fields; records with missing Name 2 cannot be reliably assigned to an individual biography. Check the underlying sources before formal citation.