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Hello, and welcome to Western CIV
Episode two hundred and eighty one the air.

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All right, well, if you're
tired of science, good news,

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we're heading back to political history.
If you're not, also good news.

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Scientific history becomes a larger portion of
our show from here on out. So

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if we go back about six months
now in time, prior to our episodes

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on the Scientific Revolution, you might
recall that we left Europe really after the

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death of four monarchs, four autocrats, Henry the Eighth, Francis the First,

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Charles the Fifth, and Suleyman the
Magnificent. These four men absolutely dominated

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Europe for the first half of the
sixteenth century. But now our story changes

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dramatically. Instead of long reigning powerful
monarchs, our story shifts to a series

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of weak and young rulers who,
with the exception of Philip the Second of

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Spain, tend to die quickly,
leaving repeated power vacuums. Often these vacuums

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come at difficult times, as Europe
now transitions from the early Reformation to the

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age of religious wars. France is
about to irrupt into sectarian violence. The

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Thirty Years' War is but moments away, and England, where we will begin

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today is about to experience some serious
religious whiplash. I'm going to do my

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best to tell the story of the
second half of the sixteenth century as coherently

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as possible while still keeping everything moving
forward. That will, however, require

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some back and forth occasionally as I
introduce new characters into our story. We're

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going to begin in England, where
Edward the sixth Regency follows Henry's long and

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at least at the end, often
troubled rain, as we will see beginning

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today. At the death of Henry
the Eighth, England's reformation remained very much

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an open question, but by the
close of Edward's brief rule there was no

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going back. When Edward was born
on October twelfth, fifteen thirty seven,

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Henry the eighths twenty seven year wait
for an heir had come to an end.

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The English writer Richard Morrison reflects as
follows, quote, we have a

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prince. Can any man that dare
to vouch himself to be a right Englishman

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hear this and not feel within himself
such a wonderful force, an inerirable strength

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of gladness? Can his body be
born in England and hear his heart not

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leap for joy. Can there lie
anyains so far so hid in a corner,

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But it shall hear and feel the
blood heated now much lighter to run,

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even as though it were a carrier
of this good news end quote.

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In the Royal Collection in England,
there's a painting called the Family of Henry

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the Eighth. It was painted around
fifteen forty five, so at the tail

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end of Henry's reign we don't know
by who. Henry is there sitting on

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his throne beneath the royal canopy and
the marble columns of Whitehall. To the

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left is his deceased wife, Jane
Seymour, who kneels, and to his

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right is the sole male heir and
child, Edward. Standing in the wings

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of the chamber. Noticeably detached from
the scene are Henry's two other daughters,

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Mary and Elizabeth. They're both been
proclaimed illegitimate in the complicated history of their

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father's reign. The message here is
clear. Nearing the end of his life,

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Henry saw the future of the Tudor
dynasty in the hands of his son,

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the soon to be proclaimed Edward,
the sixth. Catherine of Aragon and

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Anne Boleyn had been painted out of
history According to this painting, at least

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Henry's only rightful queen was Jane,
the matriarch of the dynasty. When he

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died two years later, it was
in his will we'll talk about that,

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that he be buried next to Jane, and a monument was to be erected

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above with carved effigies of them,
as if quote sweetly sleeping end quote,

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of all of his wives. Only
she had done her duty. Only she

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had provided him with the only thing
that mattered, a son, Edward.

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Henry joined her in the grave,
assured that he had secured his dynasty with

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the male heir he had craved so
long. Henry's death was supposed to be

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a sign that all was right with
the world. Thanks to Edward's birth,

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all was secure, England was stable
and prosperous. After all, no one

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wanted to return to the wars of
the Roses. Note some of this is

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about to be recapped from our Henry
the Eighth episodes, but let's go ahead

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and quickly get back up to speed. Henry the Eighth never underestimated the importance

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of a male heir. It was
a lesson that he learned at an early

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age. The turn of fortune's wheel
could be cruel, and it had been

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when he was only ten years old. Then the sudden death of his older

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brother Arthur back in April of fifteen
oh two propelled Henry into the limelight.

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Henry's life changed dramatically. He was
never man to be king, nor had

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he even been prepared for the sensitive
and mild mannered young child. A career

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in the church was probably what was
ahead of him now as a Prince of

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Wales and the sole male heir of
the Tudor dynasty. It was kept so

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closely guarded that a Spanish envoy remarked
how he might have been a girl locked

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away in his chamber and only allowed
to speak when answering his father. Arthur's

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death was a devastating blow for his
father, Henry the Seventh. His victory

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over Richard Third at the Battle of
bosworth Field back in fourteen eighty five had

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unequivocally seemingly ended half a century of
civil war, known as as I mentioned,

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the Wars of the Roses. Yet, if we'll remember, throughout Henry

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the Seventh reign, new claimants to
the throne kept springing up, challenging his

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legitimacy For fifteen years, Henry battled
for his new dynasty to be recognized by

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the ruling empires of Europe. He
married his oldest son, Arthur, to

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Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of
Ferdinand and Isabella, the rulers of powerful

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Spain. Nevertheless, Henry had always
struggled to fit in amongst his own subjects,

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and particularly his nobility, the ruling
families, around whom they were about

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fifty and upon whose support the monarch
was largely dependent. We have to remember

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that Henry the seventh wasn't raised in
England. He was raised in Brittany,

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part of France. He was an
outsider who brought with him new styles of

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government from overseas, and was considered
to be many a royal pain in the

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butt. He scrutinized every single payment
that went through his chamber with his own

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hand for what it was worth.
Henry's penny pinching earned him little respect in

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fewer friends. As I mentioned before, he is the only early mind or

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an English monarch not to get a
play from Shakespeare. With only one male

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heir to fall back on and a
child at that, Henry knew that the

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tutor name was seriously under threat.
Yet worse still was to come the following

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year, when his wife, Queen
Elizabeth, died in childbirth attempting to deliver

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another precious son. The Tudor dynasty
hung dangerously by the thread of his only

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son's life. With no other male
heirs, extinction of the royal line loomed

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close, and behind that a return
to civil war. The effects of all

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of this upon the young mind of
Henry the Eighth I don't think we can

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overstate, for when he came to
the throne six years later, about eighteen

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years old, he was determined never
to repeat his father's mistakes. Now,

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the only good news for Henry and
England was that Arthur's death meant Henry gained

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a wife, Catherine American, Arthur's
widow. Almost immediately, Catherine became pregnant

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with Henry's child and gave birth to
a boy named Henry on January the first,

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fifteen eleven, but the child lived
only seven weeks. The next time,

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it took a lot longer for Catherine
to become pregnant. Still, in

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fifteen sixteen, she gave birth to
a child who would finally live past infancy.

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The only problem was that this child
was a girl, whom the couple

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named Mary. It was not long
thereafter, however, that Henry initiated divorce

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proceedings with Katherine, broke with Rome
and married Anne Boleyn. Likewise, though,

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Anne gave birth to a healthy baby
girl named Elizabeth, but her failure

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to produce a male air doomed anne
fate as we know, and Ree quickly

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took up with another wife, this
one Jane Seymour. She became pregnant in

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fifteen thirty seven. When her pregnancy
reached its final stages in that year,

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in September, the plague was raging
in London, so Jane went into seclusion.

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On October the twelfth, she gave
birth finally to a healthy, relatively

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speaking baby boy, Edward. The
celebrations in London when the news hit the

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streets carried on well into the night, and you can imagine why no one

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wanted to go back to the wars
of the Roses. On Monday, October

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fifteenth, Edward was christened in the
Royal Chamber at Hampton Court. Suddenly all

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seemed right with the world. Celebrations
at court continued for a week. In

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his prolonged state of euphoria, and
recreated six new Knights and raised Jane's brother,

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Edward Seymour to the Earl of Ford. Yet, two days after the

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christening, Jane fell seriously ill.
Rejoicing now turned to prayer. On Friday,

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the nineteenth of October, there was
a general procession in Saint Paul's quote

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for the health of the Queen end
quote and re postponed a hunting trip that

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was kind of a big deal for
him. He had planned to mark the

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start of the season, but only
temporarily. Nevertheless, the doctors seemed hopeful

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for Jane's recovery. If she survived
the night, they believed she would be

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quote past danger end quote. But
this prognosis came too soon. On Wednesday,

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the twenty third of October, Jane
suffered what they called a quote natural

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lax end quote most likely heavy bleeding. Throughout the night and into Thursday morning,

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her condition worsened dramatically. She spent
the morning with her confessor, who

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now prepared to give her the last
rites. At eight o'clock that same evening,

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Henry rushed back to the chamber.
The Duke of Norfolk wrote hurriedly to

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Thomas Cromwell, demanding he get back
to Hampton Court as fast as possible.

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Quote to comfort our good master,
For as our mistress, there is no

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likelihood of her life. The more
pity, and I fear she shall not

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be alive at the time ye shall
read this end quote. He was right

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that night, and around midnight Jane
died. News of the Queen's death provoked

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a sense of national mourning on a
scale not previously witnessed in Tutor England.

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The aforementioned in the show, Richard
Morrison, a pamphleteer with responsibility for government

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propaganda, attempting to alleviate the sorrow
of his fellow Englishmen, composed a quote

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comfortable consolation wherein the people may see
how far greater causes they have to be

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glad for the birth of Prince Edward, then sorry for the death of Queen

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Jane end quote. This contained a
totally made up, fictitious seven page speech

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from the queen quote as if she
could speak to us end quote. This

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included Jane's supposedly dying wish to the
nation again. I'll read it to you,

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but it's totally fabricated. I have
left you me, babe, in

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this nunnage. I shall think your
love implied to the profit of mine heir

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if you give it all to his
father for Morris and even in death,

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there was an advantage to be had, and he took it. After Jane's

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body had been embalmed, she lay
in state, crowned and bejeweled for about

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three weeks, then finally, on
November eighth, her coffin was interred in

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Windsor. Of course, Edward was
an infant and could not understand the ramifications

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of any of us. He couldn't
understand anything. He would later write in

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his diary, however, that for
the first six years of his life he

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was raised quote among the women end
quote. There's nothing unusual at all about

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this during the early modern age,
but it's worth pointing out how secluded Henry

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kept his son, how little time
he spent with him during his formative years.

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Part of this is because of Jane's
death, was because Henry was absolutely

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terrified at the idea that something might
happen to his son. Henry was,

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of course a hypochondriac and certainly imprinted
this paranoia onto his son. Security around

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the Prince of Wales was the tightest
it could have betten. For the pre

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modern world, no one under the
rank of Night was allowed to be an

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Edward's presence. He could consume no
food unless large quantities of it were first

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eaten by several other people. His
clothing was washed and then worn by someone

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else before Edward could put it on. Despite Henry's concern, he was very

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much an absent parent during his son's
life. One record of a day visit

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between Henry and Edward in May of
fifteen thirty eight, but that's about it.

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Rather, it was Mary, Edward's
half sister, who took it upon

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herself to visit her royal brother.
Mary always showed genuine interest in Edward,

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paying him visits in November fifteen thirty
seven and then again in the spring,

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visiting in March April and then again
in May. Edward was now becoming a

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toddler, paying a visit to his
country nursery. The Lord Chancellor Thomas Audley

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reported back to Cromwell that the Hertfordshire
air was doing him good. It had

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grown losing his baby fat end quote, waxeth firm and stiff end quote.

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Edward could now stand unaided and would
probably be able to walk soon. Nevertheless,

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oddly approved of his care quote they
do yet best, considering his grace

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as yet tender, that he should
not strain himself, as his own urge

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would serve him till he come above
a year of age end quote. The

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prince was to be moved from his
current residence before the winter set in to

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which oddly fully agreed quote it would
be a cold house in the winter,

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though in summer it is good air
end quote. For the next few years,

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Edward's household led an itinerant journey through
some of the many small royal palaces

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and hunting lodges that Henry possessed on
the outskirts of London. It was a

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life devoted to leisure and enjoyment.
On his removal to Hudson around Easter fifteen

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forty, someone wrote to Cromwell informing
him that she was accustomed to Edward's good

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progress. She wrote, quote,
my Lord, Prince Grace is in good

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health. Mary. His grace danced
and played so wantonly that he could not

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stand still, and was as full
of pretty toys as I ever saw a

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child in my life end quote.
Lady Mary continued her visit, spoiling her

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brother with presence. Princess Elizabeth was
less generous, though her gifts were no

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less thoughtful. Edward's health continued to
be a subject of close scrutiny. Every

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waking hour of his life. He
was carefully monitored by doctors who swarmed around

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him, constantly checking his temperature and
fussing over what he might or might not

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eat. The Prince's health seemed good, with the French ambassador reporting in October

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fifteen forty one that Edward was quote
handsome, well fed, and remarkably tall

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for his age end quote. But
that very same month, Edward came down

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with what was called quarantine fever,
which was a form of malaria. Henry

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became so distraught over the incident that
even his appetite suffered. He was said

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to be quote sad and disinclined for
feasting end quote. In fear that he

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might lose his only sol on,
he anxiously summoned the best doctors from across

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the country to discover a cure.
For ten days, it was uncertain whether

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Edward would survive. His rich and
luxurious diet had not helped things. One

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of the doctors who had been summoned
to the royal court and had examined the

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prince for the first time, told
the French ambassador that Edward was quote so

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gross and unhealthy that he could not
believe, judging from what he could see

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now, that he would live long
and quote. Despite this rather gloomy prediction,

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however, Edward threw off the illness, even though in April fifteen forty

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two doctors continued to predict he would
live a short life. Now desperate to

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aid his son's recovery, King Henry
sent his own personal doctor, a guy

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by the name of William Butts,
to Edward's side. Butts visited frequently,

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and it was not long before his
manners began to annoy the prince, who

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was now confined to soups and broths
and had a craving for meat. Edward's

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spirits, however, quickly picked up
and improved. Butts finally allowed Edward to

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eat his coveted dish, which was
so rich and almost immediately induced him to

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vomit. But by now fed up
with Butts fussing around him, Edward had

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become impatient, telling the doctor to
go away. It was a clear and

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reassuring sign. But concluded that Edward's
strengths were fully recovered and that his work

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there was done Finally, in fifteen
forty three, Edward was given a chance

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to spend more time with his father. In the fall, his household was

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mood into a house neighboring that of
Henry's. That spring, Parliament passed another

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Act of Succession, this time confirming
the order of succession from Edward to Mary

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and then finally Elizabeth. Henry had
big plans for his son. The Scottish

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King, James the Fifth, died
in December fifteen forty two, three weeks

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after his crushing defeat at Soloway Moss. Henry hoped to marry his son to

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the infant Queen of Scotland Mary.
As we already know, that was not

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to be. As I mentioned more
on Mary, Queen of Scots later,

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in April fifteen forty four, however, the Scottish Parliament rejected union with England

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and instead renewed its old alliance with
France. Henry was enraged. He immediately

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ordered Edinburgh put to the sword,
and the rough wooing of Scotland had begun.

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By the summer of fifteen forty four, Edward finally moved into Hampton Court

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for the first time. An official
court would be established around him. Edward

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was now six years old, entering
his first state of manhood. This also

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marked the beginning of his formal education. Richard Cox was appointed his tutor,

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with John Checkie as his deputy.
Edward's tutors would be a major source of

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contention in the years to come.
Now, in Henry's eyes, his son

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was already the greatest king in Christendom. Parents, however, see what they

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want to see. Sometimes I can
certainly attest to that. It was also

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now that Edward started to make some
lifelong friends. Notable among them were Charles

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Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk,
and Barnaby Fitzpatrick. Both men would be

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major influences over the young prince throughout
much of his regency. We know Edward

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enjoyed music and singing. Katherine Parr, Henry's final wife, encouraged Edward's humanist

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education, and she's also going to
continue to be a key player in our

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00:22:55.480 --> 00:23:00.000
story moving forward. In fact,
you could make the argument that the most

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most important of Henry's wives was one
of those who did not give him a

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child, Catherine Parr. She would
outlive the old king and be one of

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those with an inordinate influence over Edward
going forward. By fifteen forty six,

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Edward had matured into a diligent student. He would remain so throughout his life,

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and I certainly wonder whether he would
have preferred the life of a scholar

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to that of a prince. Away
from his studies, Edward continued to enjoy

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a strong relationship with his sisters.
Elizabeth, in fact, may have joined

247
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him in some of his studies,
but according to all the records, Edward

248
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preferred the company of his older sister
Mary. Edward was always protective of his

249
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oldest sister, even when she vexed
him. Edward begged Mary to stop hearing

250
00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:59.599
Mass at one point, not that
it mattered. Edward's strong Protestant opinion still

251
00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:03.640
had yet to form. For the
moment, his beliefs still revolved around the

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Catholic faith. He attended Mass and
walked through rooms adorned with sacred images.

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Now, finally, in fifteen forty
six, Henry decided that Edward should perform

254
00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:22.240
his first official state duty. He
would receive a French ambassador. It was,

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00:24:22.279 --> 00:24:27.000
of course a good decision. Henry
had less than one year to live.

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The final year of Henry's life was
one of desperate uncertainty. The king

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in control to the last had become
incredibly unstable. His heightened by the continuous

258
00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:07.119
pain from vericos ulcers and his legs. Unable to walk, he was carried

259
00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:11.119
about by trams that shuttled him up
and down the corridors of Westminster Palace,

260
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and he suffered from frequent bouts of
fever. It was clear to everyone that

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Henry's reign was coming to an end. No one could be sure which direction

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events might take. As we know, the court began to fracture into a

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veritable kaleidoscope of alliances, broadly forming
into two separate factions. On the one

264
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hand, we have the Conservatives,
espoused the traditional values of the Catholic religion

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and were embodied in the Howards Thomas, Duke of Norfolk and his son Henry,

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the Earl of Surrey. Up against
them was I guess what we would

267
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call the Evangelical faction. These were
mostly new men who had risen up through

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the court as a result of Henry's
favor, men like Edward Seymour, Earl

269
00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:11.200
of Hereford, and the rising courtier
John Dudley, and of course the King's

270
00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:18.960
Royal secretary William Paget. These bonds
were by no means static, and alliances

271
00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:23.319
were subject to change, much on
the basis of personality as any sincerely held

272
00:26:23.319 --> 00:26:30.640
belief. There was, however,
one common aim in everyone's mind. Whoever

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00:26:30.759 --> 00:26:36.759
gained access to the dying Henry sought
not only to influence his judgment during this

274
00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:41.759
reign, but to control his son
in the next. Everything was to play

275
00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:47.039
for At the beginning of the year, it seemed like the Conservatives had the

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00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:52.799
upper hand, and there were rumors
all over the place that Henry might even

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00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:59.880
return to the papal obedience. There
was a plot engineered to bring down Catherine,

278
00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:04.119
thought to be an evangelical, attempting
to persuade Henry that she was a

279
00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:11.720
heretic, But this all fell on
deaf ears, and Henry suddenly made another

280
00:27:12.200 --> 00:27:18.519
of his spectacular about faces, telling
an astonished Cranmer that he wished to see

281
00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:25.960
the mass abolished within six months.
But what or who had made him change

282
00:27:25.960 --> 00:27:33.920
his mind? Henry's reluctant decision to
abandon his hopes of conquest and military glory

283
00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:37.680
in France almost certainly had something to
do with it. The end of the

284
00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:44.400
war brought with it the return of
two of Henry's favorite courtiers, and companions,

285
00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:51.680
the aforementioned Edward Seymour, Earl of
Hertford, and John Dudley. Edward

286
00:27:51.720 --> 00:27:56.839
Seymour's position amongst the nobility was unique. He was the older brother of the

287
00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:03.559
deceased Jane Seymour, and therefore the
Prince's uncle. The King held him in

288
00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:10.079
close regard, raising him to an
earldom in fifteen thirty seven. Seymour could

289
00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:15.359
be proud, tactless, and lacking
in popularity. Often he alienated his fellow

290
00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:22.200
courtiers, particularly members of the older
nobility, who regarded him as an upstart.

291
00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:27.079
But no one could deny that Seymour
was a brilliant soldier, renowned for

292
00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:34.920
excellent military leadership. Unlike Seymour,
Dudley could not count on family ties for

293
00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:41.000
influence. His father, Edmund Dudley, had been one of Henry the Seventh's

294
00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:48.880
deeply unpopular chief ministers, and was
executed for treason upon the ascension of Henry

295
00:28:48.920 --> 00:28:53.079
the eighth. At that time,
John Dudley was only six years old,

296
00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:00.720
adopted by Sir Edward Guilford, who
persuaded the king to reverse the act of

297
00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:06.279
attainter against the Dudley family and had
his property returned. Two years later,

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00:29:07.559 --> 00:29:11.799
Dudley then slowly found favor at court, and by fifteen forty two he had

299
00:29:11.799 --> 00:29:18.039
been elevated to the nobility. His
military reputation, both at land and sea,

300
00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:22.839
continued to excel, culminating in his
appointment as Lord Admiral in March of

301
00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:30.000
fifteen forty six. Edward Seymour wrote
admiringly of Dudley to the King quote I

302
00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:34.440
can do no less than to recommend
him unto your Highness, as one that

303
00:29:34.519 --> 00:29:40.839
has served you heartily, wisely,
diligently, painfully and obediently as any as

304
00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:47.519
I have seen end quote. Once
they returned from France, Seymour and Dudley

305
00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:52.599
immediately took their places as the King's
closest advisor, holding the King's ear as

306
00:29:52.640 --> 00:30:00.599
they whiled away hours playing cards.
Neither probably cared much either way about the

307
00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:04.839
direction that religion might take. They
were perfectly content to follow whatever course Henry

308
00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:11.400
chose, But it was the threat
of the Howards, their great political rivals,

309
00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:17.920
that ultimately drove them into the evangelical
camp. Both realized that if they

310
00:30:17.960 --> 00:30:22.079
were to secure their political survival into
Edward's reign, it would be impossible not

311
00:30:22.119 --> 00:30:29.319
to choose sides. Fortunately, both
men had a common ally, Sir William

312
00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:36.319
Paget, the King's secretary, whose
reputation for secrecy and political maneuver would later

313
00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:41.680
earn him the title the Master of
Practices, and it was to him they

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00:30:41.720 --> 00:30:47.920
turned for a solution. Naturally,
Paget already had a plan in mind to

315
00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:53.319
bring about the final downfall of the
Howards. While the elder Howard was powerful

316
00:30:53.319 --> 00:31:00.160
and probably untouchable, his son,
Henry Earl of Surrey, was a brash

317
00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:04.400
and volatile young man, confident that
he could always fall back on his exalted

318
00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:12.000
family background. But Surrey's foolhardiness on
the battlefield in France had cost him his

319
00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:18.480
position as a lieutenant of the King's
forces and probably more importantly, the King's

320
00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:25.160
favor. Bitter and resentful that his
inferiors, whom he deemed Seymour and Dudley,

321
00:31:25.640 --> 00:31:30.680
should be promoted above him, Surrey
grumbled to a friend, how quote

322
00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:34.640
these new erected men would, by
their wiles, leave no noblemen on life

323
00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:41.599
end quote. As the Evangelicals grew
ever more powerful at court, Surrey's behavior

324
00:31:42.119 --> 00:31:48.599
merely alienated him even further from his
enemies, fast becoming a scapegoat. He

325
00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:55.079
was unaware of the forces being ranged
against him. He even wrote to Paget

326
00:31:55.079 --> 00:32:00.400
addressing him as his friend, and
later attempted to win his support by offering

327
00:32:00.440 --> 00:32:04.960
him the position of Chancellor. Paget
had other ideas in mind, though,

328
00:32:05.799 --> 00:32:10.039
As early as fifteen forty five,
he had been sending Seymour letters urging him

329
00:32:10.279 --> 00:32:16.880
to befriend others at court, particularly
those who had valuable personal contact with Henry.

330
00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:22.440
Soon, with the Secretary's help,
Seymour presided at the head of a

331
00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:27.799
faction determined to imprint their dominance upon
the court in spite of any who opposed

332
00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:32.920
them. Despite the fact that all
signs pointed to the rise of the evangelical

333
00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:39.000
faction within Henry's court, nothing could
be taken for granted. Henry had seemed

334
00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:44.160
to favor the reform movement in the
past, only to backtrack at the last

335
00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:49.440
moment. But in October fifteen forty
six, the Conservatives, led by the

336
00:32:49.480 --> 00:32:55.480
Howard, finally lost control over the
Privy Chamber to the Evangelicals. This seemed

337
00:32:55.519 --> 00:33:00.119
like the turning point at last.
In December of that year, the Council

338
00:33:00.200 --> 00:33:07.240
began abandoning the ailing King altogether,
meeting in Seymour's House instead. Around that

339
00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:12.680
time there was already talk that quote
there will be a change of religion in

340
00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:20.079
England and the King will take up
the Gospel of christ end quote. While

341
00:33:20.119 --> 00:33:22.279
the chance was there, I mean, there was every opportunity for Henry to

342
00:33:22.359 --> 00:33:28.000
change his mind again. Paget,
Seymour and the other evangelicals decided to strike

343
00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:32.039
first and secure their dominance of court, finally bringing the end to the Conservative

344
00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:37.720
faction. They had good reason to
be optimistic, for they had been aided

345
00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:43.400
now to the defections of Chancellor Thomas
Risley and Richard Southwell to their cause.

346
00:33:44.119 --> 00:33:47.039
Both men were Catholics. However,
they realized which way the wind was blowing,

347
00:33:47.640 --> 00:33:51.480
and was often the case during the
twists and turns of the Reformation,

348
00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:58.519
religious allegiances just become subordinated to the
desire for power. Though they were Catholics,

349
00:33:58.680 --> 00:34:01.119
the two men were welcomed into the
fold, for between them they had

350
00:34:01.160 --> 00:34:06.400
what the evangelicals have been looking for, evidence that would destroy the Earl of

351
00:34:06.440 --> 00:34:10.880
Surrey and finally bring down the Howards. On December the second, Southwell told

352
00:34:10.920 --> 00:34:16.440
the Council he had information concerning the
Earl of Surrey quote that touched the fidelity

353
00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:22.840
to the king end quote. Surrey
was arrested and taken for examination at Riversley's

354
00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:28.239
house, while the Howard family home
at Kennington, Norfolk was raided at the

355
00:34:28.360 --> 00:34:32.039
King's agents in a quest for evidence. What they discovered there, they claimed,

356
00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:37.599
was undoubted proof that Southwell was correct, for its walls had been newly

357
00:34:37.639 --> 00:34:44.320
decorated with heraldic badges displaying the letters
H and R on either side of a

358
00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:49.679
broken pedestal with the royal arms in
the top. In an age when visual

359
00:34:49.719 --> 00:34:53.719
imagery was a vivid representation of meaning
an intent, this, the government claimed,

360
00:34:54.039 --> 00:35:00.400
could be taken as nothing less than
treason. HR stood for Henricus Rex,

361
00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:06.400
with the broken pillar a representative of
the ruined Commonwealth, vanished by the

362
00:35:06.440 --> 00:35:12.760
to Orders but restored under the Howards. Surrey later denied the charge, claiming

363
00:35:12.760 --> 00:35:16.000
that the pillar represented his own noble
house broken by the kings Might, with

364
00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:22.639
the HR standing for Hereditus Estadt,
but no one believed him. Besides,

365
00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:27.960
fresh investigations had discovered that Surrey had
taken to quartering his arms in his heraldic

366
00:35:28.039 --> 00:35:32.239
shield with those of Edward the Confessor. In effect, he was claiming that

367
00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:39.000
the Howards had as equal acclaimed the
throne as the tutors themselves, although told

368
00:35:39.079 --> 00:35:44.000
by the Herald Garter, King of
Arms that it was not his honor to

369
00:35:44.039 --> 00:35:49.960
do so, Surrey refused to listen. Surrey's sister recalled how the Earl had

370
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.199
worn quote a cap of maintenance purple
with a crown and underneath the arms of

371
00:35:54.239 --> 00:35:58.880
the cipher, which she took to
be the King's cipher. H R.

372
00:36:00.280 --> 00:36:05.440
Close friend further admitted that Surrey had
told him his father was quote most meet

373
00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:08.360
to rule the prince end quote.
But in the end, it was the

374
00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:15.000
testimony of Surrey's sister that her brother
had urged her quote to delight the king

375
00:36:15.320 --> 00:36:20.039
and quote with sexual favors in an
attempt to control him, that put the

376
00:36:20.159 --> 00:36:24.800
verdict beyond any reasonable doubt. By
the twelfth of December fifteen forty six,

377
00:36:25.239 --> 00:36:30.039
the coup was nearly complete. Surrey
and Norfolk were imprisoned in the Tower.

378
00:36:31.519 --> 00:36:37.480
Surrey was tried on the thirteenth of
January fifteen forty seven in the Great Hall.

379
00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:40.719
He spoke from nine in the morning
to five o'clock in the afternoon,

380
00:36:42.599 --> 00:36:46.880
remaining proud to the last. He
denied every charge, though a last minute

381
00:36:46.920 --> 00:36:53.400
confession from his father in the tower
sealed his fate. Found guilty, Surrey

382
00:36:53.480 --> 00:37:00.239
was led back to the tower,
ranting against the quote unquote conjured league had

383
00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:07.000
destroyed him. He was executed six
days later. King Henry had been horrified

384
00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:14.000
by Surrey's actions and was reported to
have been quote much perplexed end quote by

385
00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:19.400
the whole affair. His health was
declining. He now remained secluded in his

386
00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:24.800
bedchamber, surrounded by only a few
trusted courtiers. On the twenty fourth of

387
00:37:24.800 --> 00:37:31.039
December fifteen forty six, he had
spent three hours going through the accusations leveled

388
00:37:31.079 --> 00:37:37.119
against Surrey. Knowing the end of
his life was near, Henry must have

389
00:37:37.199 --> 00:37:40.320
realized exactly what was at stake,
for though he was not yet in the

390
00:37:40.360 --> 00:37:45.519
grave, already the fate of his
son was at risk. Too young to

391
00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:53.239
rule himself, Edward would be an
easy target for the unbridled ambitions of politicians

392
00:37:53.280 --> 00:38:00.000
and courtiers, and he would remain
so unless precise guidelines could be drawn up

393
00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:07.079
on how a regency council should rule
during this minority, And so Henry decided

394
00:38:07.400 --> 00:38:15.519
to act. He would make one
final last will and testament outlining his intentions

395
00:38:15.559 --> 00:38:21.719
in full. This was exactly what
Paget and the Evangelicals had been hoping for,

396
00:38:22.719 --> 00:38:29.559
the chance to permanently exclude the Conservatives
from government. For though Henry may

397
00:38:29.599 --> 00:38:34.800
have believed that his own supremacy left
him fully in control, the reality was

398
00:38:34.840 --> 00:38:40.159
far different. Henry had now become
a puppet in the hands of those closest

399
00:38:40.199 --> 00:38:47.000
to him, his very thoughts and
intentions manipulated with a subtlety that even the

400
00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:53.519
most astute struggled to realize. In
the event of the succession of a minor,

401
00:38:54.280 --> 00:39:00.039
the fifteen thirty six Act of Succession
had empowered Henry to name a council

402
00:39:00.159 --> 00:39:07.880
of guardians appointed by his last will
as his executors. The list had remained

403
00:39:07.079 --> 00:39:13.599
unaltered since Henry last drew up his
will upon his departure for France two years

404
00:39:13.599 --> 00:39:19.159
earlier in fifteen forty four. But
now all this was going to change.

405
00:39:19.320 --> 00:39:23.840
For Henry told his attendants that he
wanted to revise the list with certain names

406
00:39:24.039 --> 00:39:30.320
quote he meant to have in and
some he meant to have out end quote.

407
00:39:30.519 --> 00:39:35.920
Going through the checklist, Sir Anthony
Brown, the Master of the Horse

408
00:39:35.960 --> 00:39:40.880
and a renowned Conservative, was the
first to notice the change. Suddenly,

409
00:39:42.440 --> 00:39:47.880
the name of Stephen Gardner, the
Conservative Bishop of Winchester, had been removed.

410
00:39:49.960 --> 00:39:54.840
Had he been forgotten that Henry had
not forgotten Gardner, the bishop.

411
00:39:55.800 --> 00:40:00.960
He had left him out deliberately,
he told Brown, for he was so

412
00:40:00.039 --> 00:40:06.320
stubborn that he thought no man would
be able to control him. But Brown

413
00:40:06.360 --> 00:40:10.559
did not take the hint and continued
asking the King, quote have you not

414
00:40:10.760 --> 00:40:15.440
yet done to molest me in this
manner? And quote? Henry retorted,

415
00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:22.440
threatening to throw Brown out of his
bedchamber. Henry knew exactly what he was

416
00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:28.159
doing. He had also removed the
name of the Bishop of Westminster, since

417
00:40:28.199 --> 00:40:32.920
he had been taught by Gardner.
When the new list of executors was finally

418
00:40:32.920 --> 00:40:38.800
completed, the men who would hold
real power under the beginning of Edward's reign,

419
00:40:39.119 --> 00:40:45.360
it read like a roll call of
these, either supportive of or compliant

420
00:40:45.480 --> 00:40:52.719
to Seymour and Pageant's faction. The
new will, written out under Paget's dictation,

421
00:40:52.559 --> 00:40:54.440
was ready by the thirtieth of December