Public School History of England and Canada/England/Chapter 13
CHAPTER XIII.
RELIGIOUS STRUGGLES.
1. Edward VI.—Edward was a delicate boy of ten years of age when his father left him the crown. He was unusually bright and clever, and had been carefully educated. His mother and his mother’s family were Protestants, and Edward himself had been trained under Protestant tutors; so it is not surprising that he was a very strong believer in the Protestant religion. He is said to have been self-willed, like his father, although he seems to have been also very conscientious.
Henry had left a Council of Regency to assist Edward in governing, the chief members of which were the king’s uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, and Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. Somerset soon persuaded Edward to make him Protector, and this gave him great power. Somerset was a well-meaning man, who pitied the sad condition of the people; but at the same time was too anxious to force the Protestant religion on the nation, and too much in haste to grow rich at the public expense.
Almost the first thing done in this reign was to make changes in the form of worship, and as far as possible in the belief of the people. Images were removed from the churches, mass was abolished, and the Church Service read in English, instead of in Latin. The fierce laws of Henry IV. and V. against the Lollards were repealed, so also were the laws of Henry VIII. against Protestants. Priests were allowed to marry, churches were despoiled of their lands to satisfy the greed of the nobles, and Acts of Uniformity were passed to force everybody to accept the new form of worship. Most important of all was the drawing up of a “Book of Common Prayer,” which stated what the people were to believe, and how they were to worship. With a few slight changes the doctrines and ritual of the English Church of to-day are the same as those prescribed in the days of Cranmer and Edward VI.
2. Popular Discontent.—These changes were made before the people were prepared to receive them. In London and some of the large towns there were many Protestants; but, in the country districts, while many did not wish to have the Pope interfere in the affairs of England, the people wished the old Church services and the old religion to remain unchanged. So Somerset and Cranmer in their zeal made the people dissatisfied, and this discontent was increased by the laws allowing landowners to take the common lands from the poor, and by the want of employment due to changes (already explained) in the method of farming, To these causes must be added the greed for plunder and for Church lands of Somerset and his friends. Somerset began to build a great palace in London, and to make room for it had to pull down churches and houses. The money for this mansion was really taken from the people. Then, we find that in Henry VIII.’s reign the practice was.begun of debasing the public coin, that is, more base metal was put into the silver coin than should be there. By this means the poor were cheated out of their earnings, and the public treasury was filled at their expense. All these evils led to risings in different parts of the country, the most serious of which was one under Ket, a tanner, in Norfolk. With 20,000 men, Ket defeated the King’s troops, and asked for a removal of the evils from which the people suffered. Somerset felt for the oppressed and did not like to use harsh means against the rebels; and so it fell to Lord Warwick to crush the rebellion by hired troops from Germany. Somerset’s weakness and his love of power led to his downfall. Warwick was ambitious, and he induced the Council to force Somerset to resign the Protectorship. But Warwick was afraid that Somerset might recover his lost anthority, and three years later had him charged with treason and executed. The throng that looked on at his death showed their sympathy with the fallen and well meaning Protector by dipping their handkerchiefs in his blood, as that of a martyr.
Warwick now became Protector, and like Somerset he favoured the Protestants. Gardiner and Bonner, two Roman Catholic bishops, were imprisoned, and Ponet and Ridley, two Protestants, were appointed in their places. Roman Catholics were persecuted because they would not attend the new form of public worship, although we do not hear of any being put to death.
3. Last Days of Edward VI.—There is, however, one bright spot in the dark picture of this time. A great interest was beginning to be felt in education. In this reign eighteen grammar schools were founded, and the Blue Coat School was started by Edward himself in 1553, for orphans and foundlings.
Edward’s reign lasted only six years. Always a delicate lad, his friends saw that as the years passed consumption had seized him, and that his reign would soon be over. Warwick, (now Duke of Northumberland), and Cranmer, dreaded the successsion of Mary, Edward’s sister. Mary was so strict a Roman Catholic that she had been kept under watch for some time in Hertfordshire. With Mary on the throne, the Roman Catholic religion would be restored, and Northumberland’s power would be gone. To prevent this, Northumberland persuaded Edward to leave the crown to Lady Jane Grey, the granddaughter of Mary, Henry VIII.’s sister. Lady Jane, although only a girl of sixteen, had been married to Guildford Dudley, Northumberland’s son, a short time before, and as she was a strong Protestant, Northumberland hoped through her to continue to rule. In July of 1553 Edward died.
4, Mary.—Immediately on Edward’s death Northumberland and his friends offered the crown to Lady Jane Grey, who accepted it very reluctantly. Steps were taken to seize Mary, but, warned by secret friends, she escaped to the Duke of Norfolk. The people were much displeased at the plot to put Mary aside, and joined her in great numbers. Soon she was strong enough to move on to London, where she received a hearty welcome. So strong was the feeling in her favour, that Northumberland, who had gone to Cambridge, thought it prudent to throw up his cap for her. This pretence of loyalty deceived no one, and Northumberland was arrested and put to death for treason. Lady Jane Grey and her husband were thrown into prison, there to await Mary’s decision. Cranmer who had consented to the plot against Mary was also imprisoned.
Mary was now Queen, with the consent of nearly all her subjects. For many years her life had been a bitter one. Her mother had been divorced and she herself disgraced by Act of Parliament. She had been kept under constant watch during Edward’s reign, because it was known that she loved her mother’s people, the Spaniards, and her mother’s religion. She thus, true to her Spanish nature, came to hate her mother’s enemies, and the enemies of her mother’s faith. The bitterness due to ill-treatment was aggravated by ill-health, neglect, and a temper naturally harsh. At her accession she was thirty-seven years of age, small of feature and stature, with dark eyes full of fire, and a harsh man-like voice. Like all the Tudors, she was brave and self-willed to a fault.
5. Wyat’s Rebellion.—Her first acts were to restore the Roman Catholic religion and form of worship, and throw into prison the Protestant bishops. She released Gardiner and Bonner, and made the first her Chancellor, and the second, Bishop of London. Most of the people were pleased to have the old form of worship restored, but not so anxious to have the Pope’s authority over England brought back. However, she induced Parliament to allow Cardinal Pole, her cousin, to go to Westminster where, in the name of the Pope, he pardoned the nation through its representatives in Parliament, for its heresies in the two previous reigns. Parliament was willing to accept the Pope’s pardon; but, when a demand was made for a restoration of Church property, the members, many of whom had been enriched out of its spoils, promptly declared they would not give up the Church lands held by them. Mary herself did what she could to restore the property taken from the Church by the Crown.
Mary was anxious to strengthen the Roman Catholic cause in England by the aid of Spain. Partly because she had this end in view, and partly because she loved her cousin Philip, son of Charles V., and now king of Spain, she listened eagerly to a proposal to marry him. When it was rumoured that Mary was going to marry the king of Spain, great alarm was felt by the people. Some were afraid of the Spanish Inquisition, which under Philip was doing terrible work in Flanders, while others were afraid that England, thus brought so close to Spain, would lose her independence, Spain being at that time the greatest nation in the world. Risings took place in. many counties, and the men of Kent, under the brave soldier and accomplished scholar, Sir Thomas Wyat, marched down to seize London, and to put Elizabeth, Mary’s sister, on the throne. So strong was the feeling in favour of Wyat, that Mary was urged to escape. Instead of that, however, she rode forth and called upon the people of London to rally round their queen, promising not to marry without her Parliament’s consent. Her courage aroused her subjects, and when Wyat, worn out with travel and fatigue, reached Temple Bar, London’s gate, he found it -closed and London guarded by a large force. His followers were scattered, and with many others he was taken prisoner and executed.
Mary now thought it unsafe to allow Lady Jane Grey to live. On the 12th Feb., 1554, Lady Jane sat at her window and saw the bleeding body of her husband brought back from the scaffold, and then calmly went forth to the executioner’s block. Elizabeth, it is said, had a narrow escape, her life being spared through the Influence of Gardiner and Philip of Spain. She was, however, closely watched all through Mary’s reign.
The rebellion being ended and the rebels punished, Mary married Philip. The marriage was nota happy one. Philip remained in England a year hoping to have a son, but was disappointed. He was also annoyed because Parliament under Gardiner’s guidance would not allow him to take the title of king, nor would it allow England to take any part in Spanish wars. So Philip left England and did not return till 1557. His coldness grieved Mary and made her still more bitter towards her enemies.
6. Persecution of the Protestants.—Mary, in her mistaken zeal for her religion, now began to put to death those who did not believe as she did. Rowland Taylor, an aged and much loved vicar, was sent to the stake amid the tears of his parishioners. Then came in rapid succession, Rogers, a canon; Hooper, a bishop; Latimer, the bold, outspoken preacher of righteousness; and Ridley, a gentle and devout man. Latimer and Ridley were burned at Oxford, tied back to back to the same stake. “Play the man, Master Ridley,” said Latimer, “we shall this day light such a candle in England as by the grace of God shall never be put out.” Then came the most noted of all the victims, Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Cranmer had taken a leading part in all the changes in religion made in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., and he had also been party to the plan to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne. He was now called to answer for his deeds, and to save his life, recanted. Then finding his life was not to be given him, he recanted back again. Taken to the stake at Oxford, he thrust his right hand first into the flames, because that hand had basely signed his recantation. Nearly three hundred people it is said perished in three years for religion’s sake, most of the burnings taking place at Smithfield, near London. Bishop Bonner of London got most of the blame; but Mary and Gardiner, Mary most of all, deserve the odium attached to these cruelties. The Pope, Philip of Spain, and Cardinal Pole, all tried to lessen her zeal, but to no purpose.
7. Loss of Calais.—The people were becoming horror-stricken at these burnings, and many fled to Geneva for safety. Mary’s health was rapidly failing, and as her disease grew, so did her wrath and bitterness. Her husband visited her in 1557, to get her aid in a war against France, and Mary foolishly consented to join him. England was in no condition to go to war, her treasury was empty, her people discontented, and her army and navy a wreck. What was looked upon then as a great national disaster and disgrace befell the country. Calais, the last possession of England in France, was surrounded by French troops, and Mary, too intent on punishing heretics, failed to send it relief. In 1558 it surrendered, and England lost the last remnant of her conquests in France. Mary, like a true Englishwoman, felt the loss keenly, and in the same year died, worn out by sorrow and disease.