Mid-Tudor Crisis

3 Key excerpts on "Mid-Tudor Crisis"

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  eBook - ePub

  The Mid Tudors

  Edward VI and Mary, 1547–1558

  • Stephen J. Lee(Author)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  7 A Mid-Tudor Crisis?

  BACKGROUND

  The term ‘crisis’ has been devalued through over-liberal use. The most common understanding of ‘crisis’ is a low point in a period of development, marked by serious problems which might possibly lead to revolution or to some other form of political or social disintegration. But there is another element that also needs to be kept in mind. More specifically, a ‘crisis’ is an identifiable point within a sequence of events where the outcome hangs in the balance – and could go one way or the other. It can be compared with the crisis stage within a fever, which is followed by either recovery or death. For ‘crisis’ to be used properly, the first definition should really be associated with the second. If ‘crisis’ is to be applied to the whole period between 1547 and 1558, the reigns of Edward VI and Mary would need to be seen as more or less constantly on a knife-edge, with the whole structure of government, economy and society threatened with collapse or some drastic change. Only then could we accept the feasibility of an overall ‘crisis’.

  Analysis 1 argues that the reigns of Edward VI and Mary saw a number of individual crises – specific developments where the outcome was, or could have been, dangerous. Analysis 2 examines the historiography of the debate on whether or not there was a more general – or ‘mid-Tudor’ – crisis threatening the collapse of the Tudor system altogether.

  ANALYSIS 1: HOW SERIOUS WERE THE CRISES OCCURRING IN ENGLAND BETWEEN 1547 AND 1558?

  Any period of 11 years encompassing two whole reigns, plus the end and beginning of two others, will be bound to experience turbulent events, and with them a strong element of unpredictability. The reigns of Edward VI and Mary had more than their fair share of these – political, religious, economic and social. But how serious were they within the broader perspective of Tudor history?

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  England Under the Tudors

  • G.R. Elton(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  VIII

  The Crisis Of the Tudors, 1540–58

  1. The Last Years of Henry VIII

  Thomas Cromwell’s fall marked something of a period in Tudor history. By depriving himself of his outstanding servant, Henry VIII destroyed the efficiency and the purpose of his government. For eighteen years—first under an ailing old man, then under a child, and finally under a woman—Tudor rule was tested to the utmost. That it survived at all was a tribute to the work of Henry VII, to the depth of king-worship and obedience to established authority which Henry VIII’s terrifying personality had riveted upon an England anxious to avoid disorder, and also to the administrative reforms of Thomas Cromwell which up to a point made continued government possible even when the crown failed to play its part. But while Tudor rule survived, to be resuscitated by Elizabeth and her more than competent ministers, it underwent such vicissitudes in those years—was so rarely animated by a steady or intelligent purpose—that the total achievement would fill barely a page. The years served a purpose: passions played themselves out in the clashing of extremes which, having had their turn, retained the less strength to trouble the government of Elizabeth; but such an argument savours of the ancient heresy that all things work to the best of all possible ends and that success crowns the work. It also under-estimates the degree to which the free play of passions, mostly religious, under Edward VI and Mary encouraged the growth of divisions which beset England in the second half of the century. It is impossible to say what would have happened but for the relaxation of good government between 1540 and 1558. The keynote of those eighteen years of somewhat purposeless turmoil is found in the development of the doctrinal changes which Henry VIII’s constitutional revolution had set in motion despite his will. It is a story of the conflict of two extremes in religion alternately getting the upper hand, with a complicating admixture of international troubles and diversified by a gigantic economic crisis. This last deserves, and shall have, a chapter to itself.

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  The Making of the Modern English State, 1460-1660

  • Philip Edwards(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Red Globe Press

    (Publisher)

  5 Mid-Tudor Turbulence, 1547±58: Edward VI and Mary I The Duke of Somerset and the protectorate When Henry VIII died during the night of 28 January 1547 in the arms of Archbishop Cranmer, he was succeeded by his nine-year-old son Edward VI, whose reign of six years would be one filled with crisis and drama because he would remain a puppet-king with real power being wielded by ambitious nobles, whose designs threatened the stability of the state. Such a minority would be an interruption to over half a century of strong Tudor rule and an invitation to reopen the wounds of civil war. Yet despite a great deal of tension at the top, England would not descend into domestic strife, owing to the effectiveness of Tudor propaganda warning of the evils of chaos, to the demilitarising process within the nobility, and to the material self-interest of the ruling class. Mid-Tudor Turbulence, 1547±58 After Henry VIII's death, the changeover in power was effected smoothly and effectively, thanks to the length of time taken by the factional plotters to plan their moves under the expert management of William Paget. The conspirators kept news of Henry's death a secret for three days before being announced in Parliament. In the meantime Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford had taken possession of young Edward and brought him to the Tower, where at a council meeting on 31 January, Seymour was made protector of the realm and governor of the king's person by a majority of the council. Only a small number opposed it, grouped around Wriothesley. But the gen-eral consensus seems to have been voiced by the conservative Sir Anthony Browne that a protectorate was `the surest kind of government and most fit for this commonwealth'. This majority decision could be seen as being in conformity with Henry's will. However, the will would be overthrown on 12 March 1547 when, 171 with new letters patent from Edward VI, Seymour as lord pro-tector was given full powers to appoint his own council.

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