EDWARD VI. AND MARY.
[Sidenote: War with Scotland.]
Henry VIII. was succeeded by his son, Edward VI., a boy of nine years
of age, learned, pious, and precocious. Still he was a boy; and, as
such, was a king but in name. The history of his reign is the history
of the acts of his ministers.
The late king left a will, appointing sixteen persons, mostly members
of his council, to be guardians of his son, and rulers of the nation
during his minority. The Earl of Hertford, being uncle of the king,
was unanimously named protector.
The first thing the council did was to look after themselves, that is,
to give themselves titles and revenues. Hertford became Duke of
Somerset; Essex, Marquis of Northampton; Lisle, Earl of Warwick; the
Chancellor Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. At the head of these
nobles was Somerset. He was a Protestant, and therefore prosecuted
those reforms which Cranmer had before projected. Cranmer, as member
of the council, archbishop of Canterbury, and friend of Somerset, had
ample scope to prosecute his measures.
The history of this reign is not important in a political point of
view, and relates chiefly to the completion of the reformation, and to
the squabbles and jealousies of the great lords who formed the council
of regency.
The most important event, of a political character, was a war with
Scotland, growing out of the attempts of the late king to unite both
nations under one government. In consequence, Scotland was invaded by
the Duke of Somerset, at the head of eighteen thousand men. A great
battle was fought, in which ten thousand of the Scots were slain. But
the protector was compelled to return to England, without following up
the fruits of victory, in consequence of cabals at court. His brother,
Lord Seymour, a man of reckless ambition, had married the queen
dowager, and openly aspired to the government of the kingdom. He
endeavored to seduce the youthful king, and he had provided arms for
ten thousand men.
The protector sought to win his brother from his treasonable designs
by kindness and favors; but, all his measures proving ineffectual, he
was arrested, tried, and executed, for high treason.
[Sidenote: Rebellions and Discontents.]
But Somerset had a more dangerous enemy than his brother; and this was
the Earl of Warwick, who obtained great popularity by his suppression
of a dangerous insurrection, the greatest the country had witnessed
since Jack Cade's rebellion, one hundred years before. The discontent
of the people appears to have arisen from their actual suffering. Coin
had depreciated, without a corresponding rise of wages, and labor was
cheap, because tillage lands were converted to pasturage. The popular
discontent was aggravated by the changes which the reformers
introduced, and which the peasantry were the last to appreciate. The
priests and ejected monks increased the discontent, until it broke out
into a flame.
The protector made himself unpopular with the council by a law which
he caused to be passed against enclosures; and, as he lost influence,
his great rival, Warwick, gained power. Somerset, at last, was obliged
to resign his protectorship; and Warwick, who had suppressed the
rebellion, formed the chief of a new council of regency. He was a man
of greater talents than Somerset, and equal ambition, and more fitted
for stormy times.
As soon as his power was established, and the country was at peace,
and he had gained friends, he began to execute those projects of
ambition which he had long formed. The earldom of Northumberland
having reverted to the crown, Warwick aspired to the extinct title and
the estates, and procured for himself a grant of the same, with the
title of duke. But there still remained a bar to his elevation; and
this was the opposition of the Duke of Somerset, who, though disgraced
and unpopular, was still powerful. It is unfortunate to be in the way
of a great man's career, and Somerset paid the penalty of his
opposition--the common fate of unsuccessful rivals in unsettled times.
He was accused of treason, condemned, and executed, (1552.)
[Sidenote: Rivalry of the Great Nobles.]
Northumberland, as the new dictator, seemed to have attained the
highest elevation to which a subject could aspire. In rank, power, and
property, he was second only to the royal family, but his ambition
knew no bounds, and he began his intrigues to induce the young king,
whose health was rapidly failing, and who was zealously attached to
Protestantism, to set aside the succession of his sister Mary to the
throne, really in view of the danger to which the reformers would be
subjected, but under pretence of her declared illegitimacy, which
would also set aside the claims of the Princess Elizabeth. Mary, Queen
of Scots, was to be set aside on the ground of the will of the late
king, and the succession would therefore devolve on the Lady Jane
Grey, granddaughter of the Duke of Suffolk and of the French queen,
whom he hoped to unite in marriage with his son. This was a
deeply-laid scheme, and came near being successful, since Edward
listened to it with pleasure. Northumberland then sought to gain over
the judges and other persons of distinction, and succeeded by bribery
and intimidation. At this juncture, the young king died, possessed of
all the accomplishments which could grace a youth of sixteen, but
still a tool in the hands of his ministers.
[Sidenote: Religious Reforms.]
Such were the political movements of this reign--memorable for the
rivalries of the great nobles. But it is chiefly distinguished for the
changes which were made in the church establishment, and the
introduction of the principles of the continental reformers. No
changes of importance were ever made beyond what Cranmer and his
associates effected. Indeed, all that an absolute monarch could do,
was done, and done with prudence, sagacity, and moderation. The people
quietly--except in some rural districts--acquiesced in the change.
Most of the clergy took the new oath of allegiance to Edward VI., as
supreme head of the church; and very few suffered from religious
persecution. There is no period in English history when such important
changes were made, with so little bloodshed. Cranmer always watched
the temper of the nation, and did nothing without great caution. Still
a great change was effected--no less than a complete change from
Romanism to Protestantism. But it was not so radical a reform as the
Puritans subsequently desired, since the hierarchy and a liturgy, and
clerical badges and dresses, were retained. It was the fortune of
Cranmer, during the six years of Edward's reign, to effect the two
great objects of which the English church has ever since been
proud--the removal of Roman abuses, and the establishment of the creed
of Luther and Calvin; and this without sweeping away the union of
church and state, which, indeed, was more intimate than before the
reformation. The papal power was completely subverted. Nothing more
remained to be done by Cranmer. He had compiled the Book of Common
Prayer, abolished the old Latin service, the worship of images, the
ceremony of the mass, and auricular confessions. He turned the altars
into communion tables, set up the singing of psalms in the service,
caused the communion to be administered in both kinds to the laity,
added the litany to the ritual, prepared a book of homilies for the
clergy, invited learned men to settle in England, and magnificently
endowed schools and universities.
The Reformation is divested of much interest, since it was the work of
_authority_, rather than the result of _popular convictions_. But
Cranmer won immortal honor for his skilful management, and for making
no more changes than he could sustain. A large part of the English
nation still regard his works as perfect, and are sincerely and
enthusiastically attached to the form which he gave to his church.
The hopes of his party were suddenly dispelled by the death of the
amiable prince whom he controlled, 6th of July, 1553. The succession
to the throne fell to the Princess Mary, or, as princesses were then
called, the _Lady_ Mary; nor could all the arts of Northumberland
exclude her from the enjoyment of her rights. This ambitious nobleman
contrived to keep the death of Edward VI. a secret two days, and
secure from the Mayor and Alderman of London a promise to respect the
will of the late king. In consequence, the Lady Jane Grey was
proclaimed Queen of England. "So far was she from any desire of this
advancement, that she began to act her part of royalty with many
tears, thus plainly showing to those who had access to her, that she
was forced by her relations and friends to this high, but dangerous
post." She was accomplished, beautiful, and amiable, devoted to her
young husband, and very fond of Plato, whom she read in the original.
[Sidenote: Execution of Northumberland.]
But Mary's friends exerted themselves, and her cause--the cause of
legitimacy, rather than that of Catholicism--gained ground.
Northumberland was unequal to this crisis, and he was very feebly
sustained. His forces were suppressed, his schemes failed, and his
hopes fled. From rebellion, to the scaffold, there is but a step; and
this great nobleman suffered the fate of Somerset, his former rival.
His execution confirms one of the most striking facts in the history
of absolute monarchies, when the idea of legitimacy is firmly
impressed on the national mind; and that is, that no subject, or
confederacy of subjects, however powerful, stand much chance in
resisting the claims or the will of a legitimate prince. A nod or a
word, from such a king, can consign the greatest noble to hopeless
impotence. And he can do this from the mighty and mysterious force of
ideas alone. Neither king nor parliament can ever resist the
omnipotence of popular ideas. When ideas establish despots on their
thrones, they are safe. When ideas demand their dethronement, no
forces can long sustain them. The age of Queen Mary was the period of
the most unchecked absolutism in England. Mary was apparently a
powerless woman when Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen by the party
of Northumberland, and still she had but to signify her intentions to
claim her rights, and the nation was prostrate at her feet. The
Protestant party dreaded her accession; but loyalty was a stronger
principle than even Protestantism, and she was soon firmly established
in the absolute throne of Henry VIII.
Then almost immediately followed a total change in the administration,
which affected both the political and religious state of the country.
Those who had languished in confinement, on account of their religion,
obtained their liberty, and were elevated to power. Gardiner, Bonner,
and other Catholic bishops, were restored to their sees, while
Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Hooper Coverdale, and other eminent
Protestants, were imprisoned. All the statutes of Edward VI.
pertaining to religion were repealed, and the queen sent assurances to
the pope of her allegiance to his see. Cardinal Pole, descended from
the royal family of England, and a man of great probity, moderation,
and worth, was sent as legate of the pope. Gardiner, Bishop of
Winchester, was made lord chancellor, and became the prime minister.
He and his associates recommended violent councils; and a reign,
unparalleled in England for religious persecution, commenced.
[Sidenote: Marriage of the Queen.]
Soon after the queen's accession, she married Philip, son of the
Emperor Charles, and heir of the Spanish monarchy. This marriage,
brought about by the intrigues of the emperor, and favored by the
Catholic party, was quite acceptable to Mary, whose issue would
inherit the thrones of Spain and England. But ambitious matches are
seldom happy, especially when the wife is much older than the husband,
as was the fact in this instance. Mary, however, was attached to
Philip, although he treated her with great indifference.
This Spanish match, the most brilliant of that age, failed, however,
to satisfy the English, who had no notion of becoming the subjects of
the King of Spain. In consequence of this disaffection, a rebellion
broke out, in which Sir Thomas Wyatt was the most conspicuous, and in
which the Duke of Suffolk, and even the Lady Jane and her husband,
were implicated, though unjustly. The rebellion was easily suppressed,
and the leaders sent to the Tower. Then followed one of the most
melancholy executions of this reign--that of the Lady Jane Grey, who
had been reprieved three months before. The queen urged the plea of
self-defence, and the safety of the realm--the same that Queen
Elizabeth, in after times, made in reference to the Queen of the
Scots. Her unfortunate fate excited great popular compassion, and she
suffered with a martyr's constancy, and also her husband--two
illustrious victims, sacrificed in consequence of the ambition of
their relatives, and the jealousy of the queen. The Duke of Suffolk,
the father of Lady Jane, was also executed, and deserved his fate,
according to the ideas of his age. The Princess Elizabeth expected
also to be sacrificed, both because she was a Protestant and the next
heiress to the throne. But she carefully avoided giving any offence,
and managed with such consummate prudence, that she was preserved for
the future glory and welfare of the realm.
[Sidenote: Religious Persecution.]
The year 1555 opened gloomily for the Protestants. The prisons were
all crowded with the victims of religious persecution, and bigoted
inquisitors had only to prepare their fagots and stakes. Over a
thousand ministers were ejected from their livings, and such as
escaped further persecution fled to the continent. No fewer than two
hundred and eighty-eight persons, among whom were five bishops,
twenty-one clergymen, fifty-five women, and four children, were burned
for religious opinions, besides many thousands who suffered various
other forms of persecution. The constancy of Ridley, Latimer, and
Hooper has immortalized their names on the list of illustrious
martyrs: but the greatest of all the victims was Cranmer, Archbishop
of Canterbury. The most artful and insinuating promises were held out
to him, to induce him to retract. Life and dignities were promised
him, if he would consent to betray his cause. In an evil hour, he
yielded to the temptation, and consented to sell his soul. Timid,
heartbroken, and old, the love of life and the fear of death were
stronger than the voice of conscience and his duty to his God. But,
when he found he was mocked, he came to himself, and suffered
patiently and heroically. His death was glorious, as his life was
useful; and the sincerity of his repentance redeemed his memory from
shame. Cranmer may be considered as the great author of the English
Reformation, and one of the most worthy and enlightened men of his
age; but he was timid, politic, and time-serving. The Reformation
produced no perfect characters in any country. Some great defect
blemished the lives of all the illustrious men who have justly earned
imperishable glory. But the character of such men as Cranmer, and
Ridley, and Latimer, present an interesting contrast to those of
Gardiner and Bonner. The former did show, however, some lenity in the
latter years of this reign of Mary; but the latter, the Bishop of
London, gloated to the last in the blood which he caused to be shed.
He even whipped the Protestant prisoners with his own hands, and once
pulled out the beard of an heretical weaver, and held his finger in
the flame of a candle, till the veins shrunk and burnt, that he might
realize what the pain of burning was. So blind and cruel is religious
intolerance.
But Providence ordered that the religious persecution, which is
attributed to Mary, but which, in strict justice, should be ascribed
to her counsellors and ministers, should prepare the way for a popular
and a spiritual movement in the subsequent reign. The fires of
Smithfield, and the cruelties of the pillory and the prison, opened
the eyes of the nation to the spirit of the old religion, and also
caused the flight of many distinguished men to Frankfort and Geneva,
where they learned the principles of both religious and civil liberty.
"The blood of martyrs proved the seed of the church"--a sublime truth,
revealed to Cranmer and Ridley amid the fires which consumed their
venerable bodies; and not to them merely, but to all who witnessed
their serenity, and heard their shouts of triumph when this mortal
passed to immortality. Heretics increased with the progress of
persecution, and firm conviction took the place of a blind confession
of dogmas. "It was not," says Milman, "until Christ was lain in his
rock-hewn sepulchre, that the history of Christianity commenced." We
might add, it was not until the fires of Smithfield were lighted, that
great spiritual ideas took hold of the popular mind, and the intense
religious earnestness appeared which has so often characterized the
English nation. The progress which man makes is generally seen through
disaster, suffering, and sorrow. This is one of the fundamental truths
which history teaches.
[Sidenote: Character of Mary.]
The last years of the reign of Mary were miserable to herself, and
disastrous to the nation. Her royal husband did not return her warm
affections, and left England forever. She embarked in a ruinous war
with France, and gained nothing but disgrace. Her health failed, and
her disposition became gloomy. She continued, to the last, most
intolerant in her religious opinions, and thought more of restoring
Romanism, than of promoting the interests of her kingdom. Her heart
was bruised and broken, and her life was a succession of sorrows. It
is fashionable to call this unfortunate queen the "bloody Mary," and
not allow her a single virtue; but she was affectionate, sincere,
high-minded, and shrunk from the dissimulation and intrigue which
characterized "the virgin queen"--the name given to her masculine but
energetic successor. Mary was capable of the warmest friendship; was
attentive and considerate to her servants, charitable to the poor, and
sympathetic with the unfortunate, when not blinded by her religious
prejudices. She had many accomplishments, and a very severe taste, and
was not addicted to oaths, as was Queen Elizabeth and her royal
father. She was, however, a bigoted Catholic; and how could partisan
historians see or acknowledge her merits?
[Sidenote: Accession of Elizabeth.]
But her reign was disastrous, and the nation hailed with enthusiasm
the accession of Elizabeth, on the 17th of November, 1558. With her
reign commences a new epoch, even in the history of Europe. Who does
not talk of the Elizabethan era, when Protestantism was established in
England, when illustrious poets and philosophers adorned the
literature of the country, when commerce and arts received a great
impulse, when the colonies in North America were settled, and when a
constellation of great statesmen raised England to a pitch of glory
not before attained?
* * * * *
REFERENCES.--See Hume's, and Lingard's, and other standard
Histories of England; Miss Strickland's Lives of the Queens
of England; Burnet's History of the Reformation; Life of
Cranmer; Fox's Book of Martyrs. These works contain all the
easily-accessible information respecting the reigns of
Edward and Mary, which is important.