Edward VI: The Last Boy King

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2022

⏱️ 48 minutes

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Summary

Edward VI, son of Henry VIII, became King of England at the age of nine. All around him loomed powerful men who hoped to use him to further their own ends. Edward was the only Tudor monarch who was groomed to reign, and it was assumed he would become as commanding a figure as his father had been.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Stephen Alford, to discover the story of a boy learning to rule and emerge from the shadows of the great aristocrats around him - only to die unexpectedly at the age of 15.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The Year of our Lord, 1537, was a Prince born to King Harry VIII by Joan Seymour
0:22.9	and Queen. On the 28th January, 475 years ago this year, Edward, son of Henry VIII, then
0:34.9	James Seymour became King of England, though he only found out a few days later. He was
0:41.3	a boy of nine years old. His youth was something of a problem for the governance structure
0:47.6	of a personal monarchy which relied on having a strong adult male at its heart. It created
0:54.2	something of a limbo state, as the country waited for the monarch to reach 18, the age of
0:59.8	majority specified in Henry VIII's will. There were two ways of seeing rule by a minor,
1:04.9	either as an inflection, was a royal minority occur on England, they wondered, or what
1:11.0	as an opportunity, those around the King could use the occasion to feather their own nests
1:16.0	and establish their own power, which certainly happened. Now English history had examples of both,
1:21.8	the long minority of Henry VI had seemed like an occasion of divine punishment after the glorious
1:26.8	rule of his father Henry V, while Richard III had taken, arguably usurped, the throne during the
1:32.9	minority of his nephew Edward V. Henry VIII had been desperate in the circumstances to pass his throne
1:39.9	to a fully grown adult male heir, but it was not to be. So a month before his death he had reaffirmed
1:45.9	his plan that during Edward's minority England should be governed by a Regency Council of 16
1:51.5	Councillors working in concert, but that was not to be either. The new boyking, who would rule for
1:58.6	only six years, is something of a mystery. To explore what we know about him and how much of that
2:04.7	confounds traditional stereotypes, I'm joined by Professor Stephen Orford. Stephen Orford has been
2:11.6	Professor of Early Modern British History at the University of Leeds since 2012 and has written
2:17.2	six books about the 16th century, including the acclaimed Burley William Sissor at the Court of
2:22.5	Elizabeth I and the Watchers, a secret history of the reign of Elizabeth I, which is all about
2:28.4	the Elizabeth and spy service. He's also examined the lives of Tudor merchant adventurers, but today
	...

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