EDWARD VI (i), 1547-49--THE PROTECTOR SOMERSET
[Sidenote: 1547 Jan.-Feb. The New Government]
In accordance with the extraordinary powers granted to him, Henry VIII.
laid down in his will both the order of succession to the throne and the
method of government to be followed during his son's minority. Under this
instrument he nominated sixteen "executors," forming virtually a Council of
Regency, giving precedence to none. Superficially, the list represented
both the progressive and the reactionary parties. Cranmer was balanced by
Tunstal of Durham; Wriothesly the Lord Chancellor was a strong
Catholic. But as a matter of fact, the influential men belonged for the
most part to the advanced section. Edward Seymour, Lord Hertford, was their
leader: but Paget, Dudley (Lord Lisle), Russell, and Herbert, were all of
the same way of thinking. None of the rest were of the same weight as
these; while Norfolk, the natural head of the conservative nobility was a
prisoner in the Tower, and Gardiner, the ablest of the ecclesiastics, was
omitted from the list.
Henry died in the early morning on January 28th; the fact was not made
public till the 31st; and in the meantime, Hertford had carried the
Council, which forthwith nominated him Lord Protector. The next step was a
distribution of honours: Hertford was made Duke of Somerset; his brother,
the Lord Admiral, (not an executor), Lord Seymour of Sudeley; Dudley became
Earl of Warwick, Wriothesly Earl of Southampton, and Parr, brother of the
late King's widow, Earl of Northampton. A couple of months later, that
lady--who had succeeded in surviving two husbands including Henry--herself
wedded Seymour of Sudeley,
Southampton was the one man whose opposition on the Council was to be
feared; and he gave himself into his enemies' hands by an act of
indiscretion. He issued a commission appointing four judges to act in the
Court of Chancery, under the Great Seal, on his own responsibility: and was
promptly declared to have forfeited his office which was bestowed upon
Rich. This was immediately followed by the granting of new powers to the
Protector, enabling him to act virtually without consulting the Executors:
while he was already guardian of the King's person. In effect, Somerset
meant himself, as representing Edward, to exercise all those powers which
had been surrendered to the formidable Henry. In the meantime, the trend of
the ecclesiastical policy to be anticipated was shown by the treatment of
the bishops; who--with the approval of Cranmer--were required to receive
their commissions anew from the new King as though they had been Civil
servants. Cranmer, in the Coronation sermon, made pointed references to
Josiah, which could only be regarded as precursors of a war against
"images," and the more advanced among the clergy began to express
themselves with a freedom which would have been very promptly and
unpleasantly dealt with by the late King. Ecclesiastical conventions
received a startling shock when it was made known that the Primate himself
was openly eating meat in Lent.
To carry the Reformation beyond the stage at which it had been left by
Henry in a tolerably peaceful manner was a sufficient task in itself; but
the situation which the new Government found that it had to face, by the
time Somerset had secured his position, towards the end of March, was
complicated by many additional problems--not least among these being the
lack of funds.
[Sidenote: Relations with France]
The recent peace with France had given the English Boulogne for eight years
as security for the payment of a substantial annual sum. But while this
might be looked upon as a valuable diplomatic asset--a means to graceful
concession in return for adequate benefits--it remained an incitement to
French hostility; the more so when Francis I. followed his great
contemporary to the grave after less than two months, and was succeeded by
Henry II.; with whom the retention of Boulogne was a particularly sore
point, as he had failed in an attempt to recapture it. If England found
herself in difficulties it was tolerably certain that France would try to
recover Boulogne without waiting the eight years for its restitution.
[Sidenote: with Scotland]
France was not unlikely to find her opportunity in Scotland. There the
group who had murdered Cardinal Beton in the previous summer retained the
castle of St. Andrews in defiance of the weak government, at whose head
were the regent Arran and the queen-mother Mary of Guise, whose family was
now the most influential in France. The one means by which an English party
could be maintained in Scotland was the giving active support to the
"Castilians" as the St. Andrews faction was called; whereas French
interference on behalf of the Government would immensely strengthen the
anti-English party.
[Sidenote: with Charles V.]
The German situation was more complicated. The Emperor, supported by
Maurice of Saxony, was at war with the Lutheran League. As yet the issue of
that contest was doubtful; the League had at least a chance of success, but
had appealed to England for aid. Charles on the other hand, not wishing for
war with England, had declined the Pope's suggestion that he should enforce
the substitution of Mary for Edward on the English throne: the Pope was
annoyed, because the Schmalkaldic war was being fought on a political and
not a theological issue; and he was alienating Charles by withdrawing the
Council of Trent from that city, which was within Imperial territory, to
Bologna where Italian influences would be predominant. If then England
intervened on behalf of the League, she would reconcile the Pope and the
Emperor, and possibly unite them with France against herself. If she stood
aside, she would lose the chance of creating a powerful Protestant League,
while experience had shown that any gratitude Charles might feel would
count for less than nothing in determining his future policy. The
Government hesitated; and while they temporised, the Emperor by a sudden
blow became master of the situation. At the end of April, crossing a river
by night, he fell upon the unexpectant army of the League at Mühlberg,
crushed it, and secured its chiefs. The League of Schmalkald was
irrevocably shattered. No effective counterpoise to his power was apparent
within the Empire. Now however the task before Charles was to organise the
supremacy which had at last become convincingly actual. This, and his
quarrel with the Pope over Trent and Bologna, was likely to keep his hands
full for some time. Thus the important thing for the Protector was more
emphatically than before to conciliate France and gain over a strong party
in Scotland to support the policy of friendly relations with England;
whereof the chief corner stone was still the marriage of Edward who was
about ten years old to the four-year-old Queen of Scots.
[Sidenote: Somerset's Scottish policy]
But Somerset did not conciliate France, which had recently been further
irritated by the construction of so-called harbour works at Boulogne which
were evidently intended to be fortified, contrary to the treaty; while in
Scotland he was meditating a step which could only drive that country into
the arms of France.
Somerset in fact was one of those visionaries who are the despair of more
clear-sighted persons who are in sympathy with their objects. He suffered
from a permanent incapacity for realising the immense difficulties in his
way, and the infinite tact necessary to the accomplishment of his
aims. Hence the methods he adopted were invariably calculated to bring into
full play every conceivable force that could act in opposition. Sincerely
anxious to alleviate the lot of the rural population, he went out of his
way to irritate the landlord class into more effective combination. Almost
alone in a desire for the widest religious toleration, the moderation of
his ecclesiastical laws was discounted by the licence of speech and action
allowed to the progressives. In like manner, his theory of Scottish policy
was admirable, his practice absurd. The Union of England and Scotland was
his ideal, as it was to be the ideal in later years of that most acute of
Scottish politicians, Lethington. But he could not appreciate the absolute
necessity that the Union should be by consent; and even while endeavouring
to procure it by consent, for which he appealed in noble language whereof
the sincerity is apparent, he adopted methods which aroused the hostility
even of those Scots who were most favourably disposed to Union in the
abstract. By making common cause with the Reformers, he might have
check-mated France; yet he neglected his opportunity. His own solution of
the problem was the marriage of Edward and Mary, which he might have
brought about by diplomatic persuasion, or by carrying the Reformers with
him. Yet he could see nothing for it but to dictate his terms at the
sword's point, the one quite certain way of making sure that they would be
rejected, by setting even the Reformers against him. To make matters worse,
it was in his mind to re-assert the English sovereignty; to which Henry
had indeed audaciously affirmed his claim, though only as a right held in
reserve. This intention he had already conveyed not to the Scots but to the
French who warned him that they would stand by their old allies: while the
mere suspicion of such an insult in Scotland was enough to rouse the
fiercest hostility of the whole nation.
[Sidenote: Pinkie (Sept.)]
The natural result was that while Somerset was contenting himself with
border raids, instead of espousing the cause of the Castilians, Prance was
acting. About the beginning of July a French fleet appeared off St.
Andrews; at the end of the month the castle surrendered. English ships
might have prevented this, but the Protector elected instead to prepare a
great invasion. In September he was over the border, in command of a
considerable army, supported by a large fleet. The Scots of all parties
mustered in force and were lying between the advancing English and
Edinburgh in a strong defensive position not far from the spot made
memorable two hundred years later by the rout of Prestonpans. The English
ships were in the Forth hard by. The Scots in essence repeated the blunder
of Flodden before and of Dunbar later. A successful attack by Somerset, who
had the smaller army, was almost impossible; they thought that he was
delivered into their hand, and mistook a tactical movement for a retreat to
the ships. Abandoning their position and racing to cut him off, their
leading troops received and broke a charge of horse; but the mass of the
English, who were greatly superior in cavalry and artillery, and whose
advance had been concealed by the formation of the ground, were already at
hand and fell upon them. The Scottish army was completely shattered; ten
thousand dead or dying men were left on the field of Pinkie Cleugh. The
English loss was small.
[Sidenote: Effect of Pinkie]
Somerset however merely did very much what he had done before when he
sacked Edinburgh in the last reign, ravaging and retiring. Pillage and
destruction were arguments which invariably stiffened Scottish defiance,
and it was now absolutely certain that the Scots would not consent on any
terms to the English marriage. Dictation from England by force of arms was
the one method of minimising the internal warring of factions in the
Northern Country. Had Somerset been prepared to follow up his campaign by
an effective military occupation, his plans might have been dignified with
the name of a policy. In practice, they amounted almost to a negation of
policy. A month after the battle the only effective result for Scotland was
a renewed and intensified bitterness of hatred to England, and a
corresponding inclination to amity with France. The practical reply to the
invasion was the proposal to France of a marriage between the Queen of
Scots and the Dauphin.
For the Protector himself however, the victory of Pinkie was a personal
triumph. He returned to England in a halo of military glory and popularity,
to receive new compliments and honours, and to assume the rôle of
beneficent dictator with self-complacent confidence when Parliament met for
the first time in the beginning of November.
[Sidenote: The Progressive Reformers]
In the meantime the progressive Reformers, increasingly guided by Swiss
rather than Lutheran ideas, were already hurrying forward with their
schemes, acting upon Royal proclamations under the authority of the
Council. Injunctions were issued for the destruction of "abused" images
which term was liberally interpreted so as to cover stained glass,
paintings, and carvings which might conceivably be regarded as objects of
idolatry--that is to say, become in themselves objects of worship instead
of being recognised as mere symbols: a process which unless conducted with
the most studied moderation and caution was absolutely certain to give the
rein not only to passionate zealotry but to wanton irreverence. Cranmer
obtained an order for the reading in churches of the "Book of Homilies,"
for the most part in lieu of all other preaching. The _Paraphrase_ of
Erasmus, done into English, was ordered to be set up in the churches. A
commission was issued for a Royal Visitation, superseding the authority of
the bishops, though some months elapsed before this was fairly at
work. Paget, having the instincts of statesmanship, endeavoured to warn
Somerset against keeping too many irons in the fire; but Paget was guided
solely by political expediency, not by principle. The one man who did
boldly take up his stand on principle was Gardiner. His remonstrances were
open. He urged that the intentions of the dead King should be carried out;
that no revolutionary changes should be introduced during Edward's
minority; that arbitrary proclamations by the Council had no sanction of
law; that the personal powers bestowed upon Henry remained in abeyance
until the young King should be of age; that aggressive measures in Scotland
ought to be similarly deferred. The introduction of the Homilies, he
argued, to which authorisation had been refused in the last reign, was in
itself unjustifiable in the circumstances; the more so as--mainly by their
omissions--they were inconsistent with the doctrinal attitude affirmed by
Henry's legislation. Gardiner's remonstrances, supported by Bonner, bishop
of London, were of no effect. Matters came to a head when the two bishops
refused to submit without qualification to the injunctions. Both were
imprisoned in the Fleet, while Somerset was in Scotland.
[Sidenote: Nov. Repeal of more stringent laws; Social legislation]
In November, Parliament met, and began its career of benign legislation.
Since Cromwell's day, the land had lain under the grip of ruthless laws.
Of these the sternest were repealed as no longer necessary. The Treasons
Act disappeared; so did the old Acts against the Lollards; so did the Act
of the Six Articles. A curious attempt was made to deal with the problem of
vagrancy, the outcome of prevalent economic conditions, which the penalties
of flogging and hanging had failed to repress. The vagrant was to be
brought before the magistrates, branded, and handed over to some honest
person as a "slave" for two years. If he attempted to escape from
servitude, he was to be branded again and made a slave for life; if still
refractory he could be sentenced as a felon. The intention of the Act was
merciful, its effect probably more degrading than that of the superseded
statutes. At any rate, it failed entirely of its purpose and was repealed
after two years.
[Sidenote: Ecclesiastical legislation]
In matters ecclesiastical, Parliament on its own account abolished the form
of the _congé d'élire_, giving the appointments directly into the
King's hands. Also the chantries and other foundations which had been
conferred on Henry, but had not been suppressed by him, were now--despite
the strong opposition of Cranmer, Tunstal, and a few of the bishops--
formally subjected to the Council and for the most part abolished. It is to
be noted however that of the Church property acquired by the crown in this
reign a comparatively respectable though still niggardly proportion was
re-appropriated to educational purposes. [Footnote: In most cases, only in
the way of restoring pre-existing endowments.]
[Sidenote: 1548]
Convocation, sitting concurrently with Parliament, presented petitions for
representation of the clergy in parliament, for the administration of the
Communion in both kinds to the laity, for the suppression of irreverent
language about the Sacrament, and for sanctioning the marriage of the
clergy. The first was ignored; the two next were embodied in Acts of
Parliament; the last was deferred for a year. The session was rounded off
in January by a general pardon, except for the graver offences; with the
result that the imprisoned bishops were for a time released.
[Sidenote: Progress of Reformation]
Between this and the next session of Parliament, in November, the arbitrary
method of proceeding by proclamations was in full force. The Reformers did
not as yet press advanced doctrinal views. There was a proclamation for the
observance of the Lenten Fast--expressly for the sake of the
fisheries. Another enforced a new Communion Office, pending the completion
of a new Prayer-book; but in this the service of the Mass remained
unaltered and in Latin: no doctrinal change was implied, though the
Communion in both kinds was ordered to be administered to the laity, in
accordance with the recent Act and the recommendation of Convocation. More
significant was a further proclamation for the destruction of "images," in
which the distinction between "abused" images and others, previously laid
down, was cancelled. In the meantime no unauthorised innovations were to be
permitted. Cranmer was still striving vainly after his ideal of a
conference between leading continental and English reformers, who should
come to an agreement upon a common body of doctrine. It was _prima
facie_ reasonable that while awaiting the new authoritative formularies,
now avowedly in course of preparation by a commission on which the Catholic
party was not unrepresented, partisan preaching should be discouraged, and
all but licensed preachers be confined to the Homilies; it was however
unfortunate that the licences for preaching should have been systematically
granted both by Somerset and Cranmer--to whom the power was
restricted--only to keen and sometimes extravagant partisans of the "New
Learning"; a term at that time appropriated to the advocates of
Protestantism at large. It is not surprising that Gardiner so far placed
himself in opposition as to be called upon to express publicly his approval
of these proceedings, nor that he should have found himself unable to do so
in terms satisfactory to the Council. Before the summer was over the Bishop
of Winchester was relegated to the Tower. More unfortunate still was the
encouragement to sacrilegious irreverence given by the personal conduct of
the Protector, who pulled down one chapel and began to lay hands on another
in order to build himself a new palace.
[Sidenote: Somerset's ideas]
Nor were Somerset's activities confined to the campaign against "idolatry,"
a term conveniently used to include any observances which, in the eyes of
the Swiss school, savoured of superstition. With no sense of the
limitations of his own intelligence, no suspicion of the subtle skill in
adjustment needed at all times to impose ideals on a materially minded
community, unable to realise that though his object might be excellent the
methods adopted in achieving it might be fruitful of unexpected evils, he
conceived in his arrogant self-confidence that he had but to say the word
and difficulties would vanish. He resolved to appear as the Poor Man's
Friend, establishing a Court of Requests in his own house so that appeal
might be made personally to him from the normal processes of the Law; also,
he appointed a commission to investigate and deal with that evasion of the
agricultural statutes which he imagined to be the actual cause of the
prevailing distress. The end in view was admirable, the method high-handed
and unconstitutional: the policy won him popularity for the time among the
depressed classes, but roused the enmity of nobility and gentry without
achieving useful results.
[Sidenote: The French in Scotland]
Meanwhile, affairs in Scotland were aggravating the tension with France,
where the proposal to marry the Scots Queen to the French Dauphin was
approved. English troops harried the borders, and in the course of the
spring captured and garrisoned Haddington. French troops were landed in
Scotland, and the marriage proposal was formally ratified; in spite of a
belated offer from the Protector to leave Scotland alone and postpone his
own marriage scheme till Edward and Mary were old enough to have views of
their own, provided that Scotland would hold aloof from France. French
ships, evading the English by sailing round the Orkneys, took Mary on board
on the west coast and carried her off in safety to France. A diplomatist
would have seized the chance of reviving an English party, when it was
found that a violent animosity was growing up between the Scots and the
French troops; but the opportunity was allowed to pass, and the animosities
were reconciled by some minor successes of Scots and French together
against the English: while privateering operations--in other words,
authorised piracy--were going on in and near the Channel, which amounted to
something not far removed from a state of war between France and England.
[Sidenote: The Augsburg Interim]
It was fortunate that affairs in Germany continued to preclude that union
of the Catholic Powers against England which the Pope desired; since
neither Charles nor Paul would bend to the other. Charles, with no one to
fear since Mühlberg had witnessed the destruction of the League of
Schmalkald, was preparing future disaster by his high-handed attitude
within the Empire. Deeming his position absolutely secure, his tone to the
Pope was peremptory and dictatorial. The French King encouraged Paul to be
equally peremptory. In May 1548, Charles, repudiating the authority of the
Council, or section of the Council, sitting at Bologna, took the law in his
own hands and imposed the "Interim of Augsburg" on the Germans. It was one
of those compromises which satisfies no one; schismatical in the eyes of
the Catholics, in the eyes of the Protestants an insignificant
concession. Many of the latter, including the moderate and conciliatory
Bucer, withdrew to England rather than accept it. The Protector however was
secured against any present danger of a coalition between Henry II. and
Charles; while the incursion of foreign Protestants of extreme views,
especially those of the Swiss school, had a marked influence on the
ecclesiastical movement in England.
[Sidenote: Nov. Parliament]
At the end of November, Parliament again met--to reject a first, a second,
and a third Enclosures Bill, based on the report of the Agricultural
Commission; for the labouring classes were unrepresented in the
House. Making the rough places smooth proved not so simple a process as the
Protector had imagined. The petition of the clergy for the legalisation of
their marriages, deferred from the last session, was given effect, and
fasting was again enjoined on economic grounds. The real business of the
session, however, was the discussion of the new Prayer-book and the first
Act of Uniformity.
[Sidenote: 1549 A New Liturgy]
Hitherto, there had been no uniform Order of Service: a variety of "Uses"
being sanctioned. The idea however was by no means new, and had in fact
long been theoretically approved, though never pressed with sufficient
fervour to pass the stage of theoretical approbation. Cranmer had expended
an infinity of learning and labour on the work now to be issued, and to him
we owe chiefly the solemn harmonies, the gracious tenderness, of its
language. To him too in chief, but partly also to the composite character
of the "Windsor Commission" under whose auspices [Footnote: _Cf._
Moore, 183.] it was prepared, is due that conscious ambiguity of
phraseology which enables persons of opinions so diverse on points so
numerous to find in it a sufficiently satisfactory expression or
recognition of their own views. It was possible alike for Day and for
Ridley, even for Tunstal and for Hooper, to conform to it. Whether it was
actually submitted to Convocation is a moot question, [Footnote: Moore,
186,187.] as to which the evidence is inconclusive, but informally, if not
formally, it is clear that it received the _imprimatur_ of general
clerical opinion. In the discussions, the Archbishop--generally regarded by
the Swiss school as sadly backward--won from that section unexpected
approval; but his other utterances continued to be so difficult to
reconcile with their attitude that it is at least doubtful whether he went
so far with them as they supposed. At any rate the book known as the
Prayer-book of 1549 was accepted, and in January the Act of Uniformity was
passed, compelling the clergy throughout the kingdom to adopt it uniformly
under severe pains and penalties for recalcitrance. The Act was to come
into force at Whitsuntide. Eight of the bishops however opposed the Bill,
including some who had been on the Commission. It may be inferred that
while they gave the book itself their sanction, they resisted its
imposition on the clergy by lay authority.
[Sidenote 1: 1547-49 The treason of the Lord Admiral]
[Sidenote 2: 1549 Fall of the Lord Admiral]
One other matter was to occupy the attention of Parliament before the close
of the session, namely the treason of the Protector's brother, the Admiral,
Lord Seymour of Sudeley. He was the King's uncle; he had taken to wife the
late King's widow on being refused the hand of the Princess Elizabeth; he
was violently jealous of his brother and angry at not having the
guardianship of the King entrusted to him--an office which in his opinion
ought to be separated from that of Protector of the realm. After marrying
Katharine Parr he did obtain from the Council the guardianship of
Elizabeth, and from Lord Dorset that of his daughter Lady Jane Grey, who,
under Henry's will, stood next in succession to the throne after his own
offspring. As Admiral, he had refused to take command of the fleet which
accompanied the march to Pinkie; and had entered into secret relations with
the pirates who infested the Channel. It had long been palpable that he was
intriguing for power, but no one was disposed to take part with him, and
Somerset was lenient to him. His principal ally was one Sharington, master
of the mint at Bristol, who abused his office by debasing the coinage and
pocketing or sharing his nefarious profits: Dorset and probably his
brother-in-law Northampton (Parr) favoured him. Thus supported, he had
money enough in hand to maintain a considerable armed following should
occasion arise, and had established a private cannon foundry. When his wife
died, he renewed his pretensions to the hand of Elizabeth, and was not
unnaturally suspected of having hastened Katharine's end with that
intention. Trusting to the soreness of Southampton (Wriothesly) at his
deprivation of the Chancellorship, he tried to win him over, and also
Rutland. The attempt failed, and was reported to the Protector; who
summoned him to give an account of himself before the Council. Seymour
refused to attend, using defiant language; and on January 17th he was
arrested. Practically there is no doubt of his treason, and had he then
been fairly brought to trial, Somerset would have been free from reproach.
But the question was debated in parliament whether the Admiral should be so
tried, or attainted, and attainder was decided on after he had refused to
answer to the Council; as he was entitled to do. He was allowed to plead
before a committee of both Houses in his own defence, but did not take
advantage of the permission: virtually he was denied the right of an open
trial, and was condemned without such defence as he had to make being
heard. Cranmer signed the death-sentence: Latimer defended it. The fact is
significant of the chaos into which English ideas of justice and fair play
had fallen. The Protector's brother was executed at the end of March.
[Sidenote: Troubles in the Provinces]
From April to September, Somerset's troubles thickened. Formidable
insurrections took place both in the western and eastern counties, and the
hostilities with France, not yet openly at war, were assuming an aggravated
form. The one piece of good fortune for England was that the antagonism
between Charles and the French King in other fields still prevented any
rapprochement between them.
[Sidenote: The Western Rising]
In the country districts there were two exciting causes of disturbance
--one, the general agricultural distress due to the selfish policy of the
landowners, the extension of sheep-farming and consequent displacement of
labour, the enclosure of common lands and evictions from small holdings;
the other, the innovations in religion and interference with immemorial
practices to which the people were attached with the persistent
conservatism of rural folk. The two types of grievance were associated by
the recent abolition of the monasteries, and the transfer of their lands to
the most obnoxious class of landlord--a class in the nature of the
circumstances popularly identified with the enemies of the old
ecclesiastical system, since it was they who conspicuously profited by the
change. The North and the West, then and for more than a century to come,
were the strongholds of traditional faiths and traditional ideals, as
Yorkshire had shown by the Pilgrimage of Grace. Now the main trouble arose
in the West. The introduction of the new Service Book at Whitsuntide was
met with violent opposition; the men of Cornwall and Devon rose, and
demanded the redress of grievances. They would have the religious houses
reinstated, and at least half their lands restored. They would have the old
services, not the new one which was "like a Christmas play". They would not
have it in English which the Cornishmen "did not understand". Elsewhere
there had already been disturbances, the peasants anticipating Somerset's
efforts to remedy the agricultural grievances by a commission to enforce
what was actually the law, and assembling in mobs to level fences and
enclosures; whereat the Council was wrath, but the Protector as Friend of
the People was disposed to applaud them. A religious revolt however was an
attack on the Protector's own policy, and must be put down. Foreign
mercenaries were called in, to embitter the quarrel. The insurgents
besieged Exeter, and had been for some months in arms before they were at
last crushed by the Government forces, in August, after desperate fighting.
[Sidenote: Ket's insurrection]
In the meantime a separate rising came to a head in the Eastern counties,
where however the religious question was not involved. In that part of the
country, destined to be the head-quarters of puritanism, the new ideas had
made early way with the population; and Ket, the leader of the rising,
conducted it on the hypothesis that his followers were merely enforcing
legal rights because the agents of the Government neglected to do so. A
great camp was formed at Mousehold Hill near Norwich; order was strictly
maintained; morning and evening the new services were read. There was so
much to be said in favour of the insurgents that they were offered a free
pardon if they would disperse; but unfortunately Ket cavilled at the word
"Pardon" on the ground that no offence had been committed, whereupon the
herald called him a traitor. The indignant insurgents, ready enough to
disperse before, thereupon changed their tone, assaulted and captured
Norwich, and carried off the guns and ammunition. Northampton was sent down
in command of the Government forces, but the rebels attacked him with such
determination that he had to fly--the insurgents maintaining their policy
of abstaining from robbery and violence generally. At last however, at the
end of August, Warwick, who replaced Northampton, succeeded by the aid of
German and Italian mercenaries in inflicting a crushing defeat on them; Ket
himself being taken and hanged soon after.
[Sidenote: Somerset's attitude]
Another rising was also attempted in Yorkshire, but this was easily quelled
by the local authorities. It is however of interest to note that the
nobility regarded Somerset as the real cause of these troubles, on account
of the open sympathy he expressed for the grievances of the rural
population, and his public admonitions to the landowners urging them to
amend their ways. He was driving the country faster than it was prepared to
go in the direction of religious innovations; he was attacking the
privileges which the new landowners had usurped; his Scottish policy had
been upset, in spite of Pinkie, by the young Queen's escape to France; he
was further alienating all but a few of the nobility by his increasing
arrogance of demeanour and disregard of advice, as well as by an assumption
of powers which had no precedent; he was giving a handle to his enemies by
the profusion of his own household, his appropriations of clerical lands
and even of the fabric of consecrated buildings to his own use; and finally
his conduct of foreign affairs had been so incompetent that while the
Emperor declined an English alliance, the position of Boulogne--which
remained quite inefficiently garrisoned--was becoming critical, and a
French squadron, ostensibly in pursuit of English pirates, attacked the
island of Jersey. By the end of September war was declared with France.
[Sidenote 1: The Council attacks the Protector]
[Sidenote 2: Fall of Somerset (Sept.)]
The lords of the Council, headed by Warwick, made up their minds that it
was time the protectorate should end, and that one vain-glorious nobleman
should not absorb so undue a share of power and profit. Somerset,
discovering that there was a cabal on foot, attempted to stir up popular
feeling against the Council, and retired hurriedly to Windsor with the
King, accompanied by Cranmer and Paget; a journey which is said to have
materially shaken the health of Edward, who was in a very delicate
condition. But the people did not rise in Somerset's favour; the Council
had so far taken no improper action, whereas the Protector had evidently
incited to violence by the steps into which panic had led him; Herbert and
Russell, returning from the West with the troops employed there to put down
the insurrection, declared in favour of the Council; who were of course
forced--very much to their own satisfaction--to stand on their right to
control the Government, and call the Protector to account, at the same time
promising him life and declaring that they had never sought his personal
injury. By mid-October, Somerset had fully realised that he was without
effective support; he surrendered to the Council, and was sent to the
Tower. His deposition from the Protectorate was confirmed by Parliament
three months later, and a substantial portion of his estates was forfeited,
after which he was again set at liberty. But his control in politics was at
an end.
[Sidenote 1: Ireland, 1547-49]
[Sidenote 2: Bellingham Deputy]
Before proceeding to the second division of Edward's reign, it remains to
deal with affairs in Ireland, where Sir Anthony St. Leger held sway, with
general approval, during the closing years of Henry's life. St. Leger
embodied the policy of conciliation by the method of converting Irish
chiefs into responsible supporters of the government in return for honours
gilded with spoils of the Church. The method worked well, but the
condoning--almost, it might be said, the rewarding--of treason, initiated
by Henry VII., carried risks which are obvious. Whether it was that the
extension to Ireland of the energetic iconoclasm of the English Reformation
in 1547 excited new hostility; or that a repressive policy was anticipated
from the new Government; or that death withdrew the loyal influence of the
old Earl of Ormonde, whose young heir was in England; or that the chiefs
were tired of behaving peaceably after six years; or that all these causes
combined: signs of disturbance and rumours of French intrigues
arose. St. Leger was recalled, and replaced by Sir Edward Bellingham, a
stern and rigorous soldier, who ruled autocratically with a strong
hand. Fortresses and garrisons were established up and down the country
outside the Pale, among the tribes which had been in the habit of raiding
or levying blackmail--very much after the fashion of various Highland
clansmen in Scotland; while O'Connor and O'More, two chiefs whose lands lay
between the English Pale and the Shannon, were attached for treason. In
short, Bellingham asserted the authority of the English government, not, it
would seem, unjustly, but certainly with severity, and in a dictatorial
fashion which thoroughly re-awakened the normal rebellious instincts of a
population never really subjugated. While he was present, his power was
feared and respected; but if St. Leger's policy had been taking real
effect, that effect was thoroughly cancelled. Bellingham died in 1549, and
Desmond told Allen the Chancellor, that the Deputy's methods had reduced
all Ireland to despair. [Footnote: A phrase expanded by Mr. Froude, v.,
421 (Ed. 1864)--perhaps legitimately--into "despair of being able to
continue their old habits".] In any case, no long time elapsed after
Bellingham's death before the country was again in a ferment. The fall of
Somerset left the new Government, controlled by Warwick, with a normally
distracted Ireland on its hands as well as an abnormally distracted
England. So long, however, as ferment did not mean active rebellion, the
English rulers were not greatly troubled.