was the son of Edmund Dudley, Henry VIII's minister who was executed
John went to court when young and became an able military commander and
Unlike Somerset, whom he maneuvered out of power, he did not take the title of Lord Protector:
in fact, he encouraged Edward VI to proclaim his majority and formally
Nonetheless, Northumberland was effectively in power
between 1550 and 1553.
Northumberland used the Privy Council to govern and
expanded its membership to thirty-three (of whom about twenty attended
He even invited Somerset back onto the Council, but then grew
suspicious that Somerset and Sir William Paget were plotting against
him. Northumberland trumped up charges against Somerset, who was executed in
January 1552. Paget had to retire.
January, soon after 8 o'clock in the morning, the duke of Somerset
was beheaded on Tower Hill. ... And there was a sudden rumbling a
little before he died, as if it had been guns shooting and great
horses coming, so that a thousand fell to the ground for fear, for
they who were at one side thought no other but that one was
killing another, so that they fell down to the ground, one upon
another with their halberds, some fell into the ditch of the Tower
and other places, and a hundred into the Tower ditch, and some ran
away for fear. "
Administration and finance were entrusted to an able group of
bureaucrats, including William Cecil, William Paulet (marquess of
Winchester), Sir Walter Mildmay, and
Sir Thomas Gresham
team began to restore confidence in the coinage and to reform
financial institutions. The elaborate system of courts created by
Thomas Cromwell to
administer monastic land had become unnecessary, since most of it had been sold off.
(Somerset and Northumberland both helped themselves liberally to
Sir Walter Mildmay began plans to streamline
these courts, and to simplify Exchequer procedures.
1551 saw one issue of fine silver coinage, but Northumberland also
minted one issue of debased coins, and did not recall the many debased
coins already in circulation.
The large issue of fine coins did help
to slow inflation.
ingratiated himself with the enthusiastically Protestant Edward VI by
adopting similar views. His hostility to Mary Tudor (who resented his relationship with her half-brother) aligned him firmly
against the religious conservatives.
Northumberland supported John Hooper and
Hooper was strongly influenced by the Reformers, Ulrich Zwingli
(1484-1531) and Heinrich Bullinger (1504-75). Too radical for Henry's
church, Hooper had
resided in Switzerland for a number of years before 1549. In July
1550, Northumberland nominated Hooper to be Bishop of Gloucester
and Edward VI approved the choice.
But Hooper refused to wear the
prescribed (traditionally Catholic) vestments for the ceremony of
consecration ("the livery of the harlot of Babylon"). Cranmer refused
to consecrate Hooper unless he did wear them.
After much bickering, Hooper ended up in the Fleet prison (January
Hooper's stand was
the first battle in a war over ceremonies and vestments that was to
dog the Anglican church for centuries.
opposed the Catholic interest in Scotland, was captured and
spent nineteen months as a French galley slave. The English
government intervened to obtain his release in February 1549.
the 42 Articles attacked radical Anabaptist beliefs.
The English Protestant authorities were particularly eager to
renounce these beliefs because of the "kingdom"
the Anabaptist, Jan van Leiden in Münster
in the years 1534-5. He believed himself to be a new David, preparing for
the Second Coming of Christ as King David had prepared for the
first. He instituted the communal ownership of property, made
marriage compulsory for women, and permitted polygamy for men.
Van Leiden's reign was ended only by military force. The
socially-radical, millenarian version of Protestantism it
embodied haunted the nightmares of the moderate Protestant
establishment long after.
rule saw the drawing up (by a commission led by Cranmer) of the Reformatio legum
- a reformed version of canon law. However, neither King nor
Parliament instituted these revised laws, with the result that the state of ecclesiastical
law remained obscure.
Society and economy
One effect of the
reform of the coinage was the rise in price of English woolen cloth
on the Antwerp market - this partly explained the
collapse of exports
Other problems were
caused by a renewed outbreak of "sweating sickness".
[This disease has not been exactly identified, but a virus may have
been responsible. The symptoms included headaches, muscular pain, fever and labored
breathing - it was fatal in many cases.]
The French Ambassador to the English court, Du Bellai, wrote
"One of the filles de chambre of
Madamoiselle Boleyn was attacked on Tuesday by the sweating
sickness. The King left in great haste, and went a dozen miles
off ... This disease is the easiest in the world to die of. You
have a slight pain in the head and at the heart; all at once you
begin to sweat. There is no need for a physician: for if you
uncover yourself the least in the world, or cover yourself a
little too much, you are taken off without languishing. It is
true that if you merely put your hand out of bed during the
first 24 hours...you become stiff as a poker."
Economic legislation was (as usual) ineffective in curing England's
financial problems, but the slowing of inflation did help to improve
One of Northumberland's first
actions was to end the wars with France and Scotland initiated by
Somerset. He surrendered the besieged town of
and withdrew the English garrisons from Scotland.
Edward VI surrendered all claim to marriage with Mary, Queen of Scots.
Northumberland's foreign policy was craven but practical - he kept
England out of further disastrous military adventures.
that Henry VIII's will and the normal laws of inheritance provided
that Mary should succeed to the throne if Edward VI died childless.
Edward had been healthy as a child, but his teenage years saw
problems. By early 1553, it was clear that Edward had tuberculosis - a disease that was
almost always rapidly fatal in the sixteenth century.
Northumberland began to scheme to oust Mary from the succession.
On 21 May 1553, he married his son
to Lady Jane Grey. Then he
persuaded Edward VI to draw up a document (in his own hand) declaring
that Mary and Elizabeth were illegitimate, and excluding them from the
succession. Edward disliked Mary and her Roman Catholic beliefs and
probably needed little persuasion.
Edward VI died 6 July, but Northumberland kept this secret for three
days while he prepared to proclaim Jane Grey queen. He did not prepare
The fall of Northumberland
Northumberland mismanaged the whole
He failed to seize Mary before she got wind of the coup attempt. She
fled to East Anglia and proclaimed herself queen and Lady Jane Grey an
Many Protestants supported Mary - regarding her legitimate claim to
the throne as more important than religious opinion.
Northumberland soon realized that he was receiving little support.
Deserted by army and navy alike, he tried to save his skin by
proclaiming Mary queen (20 July), but was imprisoned along with Jane
He also tried to save his life by recanting Protestant beliefs
("better a live dog than a dead lion"), but he was executed 22 August
The sixteen-year-old Lady Jane and her husband were beheaded on Tower
Hill, 12 February