The History of England Volume III

XXXIV Edward VI

HistEng3_301-350.indd 33 5/31/11 8:44 AM XXXIV EDWARD VI State of the regency - Innovations in the regency - Hertford protector Reformation completed - Gardiner's opposition - Foreign affairs - Progress of the reformation in Scotland - Assassination of cardinal Beaton - Conduct of the war with Scotland - Battle of Pinkey A parliament- Farther progress of the reformation - Affairs of Scotland Young queen of Scots sent into France Cabals of lord Seymour- Dudley earl of Warwic - A parliament - Attainder of lord Seymour- His execution·_ Ecclesiastical affairs ~~~ T HE LATE KING, by the regulations, which he imposed on the government of his infant son, as well as by the limitations of the succession, had projected to reign even after his decease; and he imagined, that his ministers, who had always been so obsequious to him during his life-time, would never afterwards depart from the plan, which he had traced out to them. He fixed the majority of the prince at the completion of his eighteenth year; and as Edward was then only a few months past nine, he appointed sixteen executors; to whom, during the minority, he entrusted 333 1547· State of the regency . HistEng3_301-350.indd 34 5/31/11 8:44 AM Innovations in the regency. 334 HISTORY OF ENGLAND the government of the king and kingdom. Their names were, Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury; lord Wriothesely, chancellor ; lord St. John, great master; lord Russel, privy seal; the earl of Hertford, chamberlain; viscount Lisle, admiral; Tonstal, bishop of Durham; Sir Anthony Brown, master of horse; Sir William Paget, secretary of state; Sir Edward North, chancellor of the court of augmentations; Sir Edward Montague, chief justice of the common pleas; judge Bromley, Sir Anthony Denny, and Sir William Herbert, chief gentlemen of the privy chamber; Sir Edward Wotton , treasurer of Calais; Dr. Wotton, dean of Canterbury. To these executors, with whom was entrusted the whole regal authority, were appointed twelve counsellors, who possessed no immediate power, and could only assist with their advice, when any affair was laid before them. The council was composed of the earls of Arundel and Essex; Sir Thomas Cheyney, treasurer of the household ; Sir John Gage, comptroller; Sir Anthony Wingfield, vicechamberlain ; Sir William Petre, secretary of state; Sir Richard Rich, Sir John Baker, Sir Ralph Sadler, Sir Thomas Seymour, Sir Richard Southwel, and Sir Edmund Peckham.' The usual caprice of Henry appears somewhat in this nomination; while he appointed several persons of inferior station among his executors, and gave only the place of counsellor to a person of such high rank as the earl of Arundel, and to Sir Thomas Seymour the king's uncle. But the first act of the executors and counsellors was to depart from the destination of the late king in a material article. No sooner were they met, than it was suggested, that the government would lose its dignity, for want of some head, who might represent the royal majesty, who might receive addresses from foreign ambassadors , to whom dispatches from English ministers abroad might be carried, and whose name might be employed in all orders and proclamations: And as the king's will seemed to labour under a defect in this particular, it was deemed necessary to supply it, by chusing a protector; who, though he should possess all the exterior symbols of royal dignity, should yet be bound, in every act of power, to follow the opinion of the executors.k This proposal was very disagreeable to chancellor Wriothesely. That magistrate, a i Strype's Memor. vol. ii. p. 457· k Burnet, vol. ii. p. 5· HistEng3_301-350.indd 35 5/31/11 8:44 AM 335 CHAPTER XXXIV man of an active spirit and high ambition, found himself, by his office, entitled to the first rank in the regency after the primate; and as he knew, that this prelate had no talent or inclination for state affairs, he hoped, that the direction of public business would of course devolve in a great measure upon himself. He opposed, therefore, the proposal of chusing a protector; and represented that innovation as an infringement of the late king's will, which, being corroborated by act of parliament, ought in every thing to be a law to them, and could not be altered but by the same authority, which had established it. But he seems to have stood alone in the opposition. The executors and counsellors were mostly courtiers, who...