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Timeline of Edward VI

12 October 1537 - Edward was born at Greenwich Palace in London

1547 - King Henry VIII dies at 28 January and Edward became King

1549 - Thomas Seymour plotted against Edward and was executed on 20 March 1549

1552 - Edward Seymour was deposed by John Dudley, who was the 1st Earl of Warwick, and was executed in January

1553 - John Dudley arranged for the marriage of his son to Guildford Dudley to Lady Jane Grey. He was persuading the sickly Edward to name Lady Jane Grey as his heir.

May 1553 - Lady Jane Grey was betrothed to Guildford Dudley

25 May 1553 - Jane was married to Guildford

1553 - The young King Edward became more ill and it's rumoured that John Dudley didn't do much to make him recover from his disease.

1553 - Edward Vi died of tuberculosis leaving the throne to Lady Jane Grey. She was Queen for only 9 days and then was replaced by the rightful heir, Queen Mary I.


Portrait of Edward VI

This is a portrait of the young King Edward VI. He is dressed in very fancy clothes, wearing fancy accessories and is holding a long stick. He wore quite a lot of red and gold, which shows himself as a young and powerful king.

He is positioned with his hands in front and looks bold and powerful despite his age. His expression looks strict and makes him look serious. These points altogether, show him as a very powerful and wealthy looking king.

He also wore a hat, like his father, which was very fashionable at that time because kings normally wore crowns on their head.

If you compare this portrait with the portrait of Henry VIII, their expression, posture, clothing are all very similar.


Another picture of Edward VI

This is a picture showing the moment when Edward VI becomes King. Henry VIII is on his death bed and is pointing toward Edward (who is the boy in the centre of the picture), which is showing that he is announcing Edward VI as the King after he dies.

At the bottom, the pope is sitting down with his head cocked to the side and there's a bible on top. This meant that the pope is no longer powerful anymore, the bible has taken over instead. This shows a little of how Protestantism started. Next to the pope, there are two nuns who are running away. They were captured after the monasteries were taken down and are running away in the picture.


Perspectives of Edward VI

Edward VI took the place of his father, Henry VIII, as king from 1547 to 1553. A rather short time, only 6 years. Many people think that he did not do much to control his country at that time.

At that time, Thomas Seymour was taking control of the kingdom instead of him. He was arranging for Lady Jane Grey to be the next person in line for the throne when Edward dies.

And during that time, Protestantism was spreading all around Europe taking over the churches and Edward wasn't doing much to prevent it from happening.  Then later on when Edward died, Lady Jane Grey easily took his place and became Queen. But fortunately she was only Queen for nine days until the rightful heir, Queen Mary I took the throne.

So altogether, Edward VI wasn't a really good king. He let things happen that were not supposed to at his time and couldn't really control his kingdom well and prevent the events that were happening. And Thomas Seymour took advantage of that and started deciding for him and took over the kingdom.

Edward's Contribution to the Reformation

Edward did contribute to the English Reformation a lot, though he didn't seem to be meaning to. During the time when he ruled his kingdom, Protestantism was spreading all around Europe and was taking over Catholicism. But Edward didn't start this nor ended it. He only watched it as it happened and didn't do anything about it. But if Edward did do anything, then maybe Protestantism wouldn't be what it is like now.