WEBVTT 1 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:26.440 Hello, and welcome to Western SIEV Episode two hundred and eighty six. The 2 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:33.119 Lord Admiral falls. Today we are back in England. King Edward is still 3 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:39.960 a child, Somerset is still Lord Protector, England still needs allies. The 4 00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:47.759 Reformation remains unfinished, and Somerset's brother, Thomas Seymour, the aforementioned Lord Admiral, 5 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:52.799 remains as big of a problem as he was when we last left off. 6 00:00:53.880 --> 00:01:00.000 Feel caught up great, Let's keep moving. With enough troubles at home 7 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:06.000 to fill as swimming pool, Somerset decided to invade Scotland. Whether this was 8 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:11.280 simply an effort to distract those at court from the chaos everyone now found themselves 9 00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:18.319 knee deep in, I'm not sure. Regardless, Somerset knew full well how 10 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:22.840 badly Henry the Eighths campaign into Scotland had gone back in fifteen forty four. 11 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:26.680 He, on the other hand, was determined not to repeat the mistakes of 12 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:33.640 the past. He would not underestimate his foe. After a busy summer of 13 00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:38.439 preparation, at the end of August fifteen forty seven, Somerset marched north at 14 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:46.159 the head of some sixteen thousand troops, accompanied by over eighty ships Somersets would 15 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:52.519 not repeat Henry's error. He was coming with overwhelming force. England made an 16 00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:57.159 offer of peace, conditional upon the acceptance of a treaty of marriage between Edward 17 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:00.760 and Mary, Queen of Scots. Once this had been rejected, the battle 18 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:06.000 lines were drawn up near Pinky, near Edinburgh. The Scots clearly had the 19 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:09.639 upper hand, both in terms of numbers of men and the impregnable location that 20 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:15.479 they had chosen, but rather than defend this awesome position, they chose to 21 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:23.800 sally forth, with fatal results. With the English broadside cannons pounding the advancing 22 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:29.680 Scottish army, it fell into disarray, the ranks broken, the Scots fled 23 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:34.599 in panic. Where their army had stood there was now quote a wood of 24 00:02:34.759 --> 00:02:39.319 staves strewed on the ground as rushes in a chamber end quote. The Scots 25 00:02:39.319 --> 00:02:45.080 split into three directions, one toward the beach at Leath, the other towards 26 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:47.479 the walls of Edinburgh, hoping to escape through the breaches into the city, 27 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:55.800 and most fled towards Dalkeith into a marsh where pursuit proved impossible. The English 28 00:02:55.919 --> 00:03:01.159 sensed a route following on their heels. The chase continued for five miles westward 29 00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:07.800 from Invernesque, through Edinburgh Park and on to Leith, lasting for five hours. 30 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:13.159 Between one and six o'clock in the afternoon, it turned into an orgy 31 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:16.960 of killing. Most Scots were hacked down by blows to the head or neck 32 00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:23.039 as they ran. Weapons were thrown aside in the hopes of gaining speed over 33 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:27.360 the enemy, though this too played into the English hand. The weapons of 34 00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:31.199 the dead lying scattered on the plane were now taken up by those still living, 35 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:37.680 whose own swords had been shattered through over use. A few Scots put 36 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:40.919 up a defiant stand, lashing at the legs of the English horse, splitting 37 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:46.719 open their bellies. Some lay in furrows and feigned death only to escape litter, 38 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:51.599 while others hid in the river quote with scant his nose above the water 39 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:57.520 for breath end quote. In desperation, men threw their shoes and doublets aside 40 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:03.000 and ran in their shirts, running until they were breathless and died from sheer 41 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:09.759 exhaustion. When this quote unquote battle had ended. Quote, the dead bodies 42 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:15.240 lay as thick as a man may note Cattle grazing in a fully replenished pasture 43 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:20.720 end quote. The nearby rivers ran red with blood, and some thirteen thousand 44 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:28.000 Scots had lost their lives. Edward was overjoyed at the news of the victory. 45 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:32.160 He was even happier when he found out that amongst the Scottish dead were 46 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:38.000 scores of Catholic priests and monks. This will not be the last time, 47 00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:41.560 by the way, that I say that someone was over the moon with news 48 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:47.040 that their religious rivals had been cut down. Somerset returned to London shortly thereafter. 49 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:51.279 He was suspicious of what his brother was up to and did not trust 50 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:58.000 him with his back turned. Unfortunately, because he did that, Somerset could 51 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:01.160 not follow up on his victory. This gave the Scots a chance to recover. 52 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:06.879 It was a critical mistake caused purely by his own sense of insecurity. 53 00:05:09.959 --> 00:05:15.720 Seymour had chosen to remain in London rather than traveling with the army. While 54 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:19.959 Somerset was gone. He tried his best to poison the boy King against the 55 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:28.319 Lord Protector, exactly what Somerset had feared. He told King Edward that Somerset's 56 00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:32.920 invasion was a waste of money. In addition, Seymour started bribing the king 57 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:40.160 with regular cash payments. That might sound absurd, but Somerset had a habit 58 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:46.439 of tightly controlling Edward's budget. Edward quickly became accustomed to these cash payments. 59 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:53.480 After Somerset's return, however, Seymour's unfettered access to the king came to an 60 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:58.199 abrupt end. Upon his return. Somerset discovered that his brother was not the 61 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:02.920 only problem he faced. When the commissioners enforcing the new religious injunctions had begun 62 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:09.680 their work in September, their enthusiasm got the better of them. On September 63 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:15.319 fifth, images were pulled down at Saint Paul's. Across the country, a 64 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:23.000 program of mass econoclasm had begun, with images and churches smashed and medieval wall 65 00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:30.199 paintings whitewashed over and replaced with the text of the Ten Commandments. At Shrewsbury 66 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:34.399 they made a bonfire of images in the marketplace, while in much Winnock, 67 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:41.720 Shropshire, they burnt the local saints bones. In Durham, the Royal Commissioner 68 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:46.920 went as far as to smash up images with his own hands, literally jumping 69 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:53.720 up and down on them. Resistance was hopeless. When the Conservative bishops Stephen 70 00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:59.879 Gardner and Edmund Bonner protested, they soon found themselves locked in jail. Others 71 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:04.399 made the most of their situation. Many Catholics fled abroad with their treasured relics, 72 00:07:04.759 --> 00:07:10.279 but others quickly had them melted down in anticipation of their destruction and confiscation. 73 00:07:11.160 --> 00:07:15.800 In Greyfire's Church near Saint Paul's, men quote pulled up all the tombs, 74 00:07:16.199 --> 00:07:20.319 great stones, all the altars, with the stalls and walls of the 75 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:27.480 choir and altars to be sold. When the Council were informed in October that 76 00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:32.759 christ Church, Canterbury intended to have their picks of gold and silver crucifix coined 77 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:38.800 in order to make repairs to the church, they ordered that the relics be 78 00:07:38.920 --> 00:07:45.480 kept entirely safe and whole end quote. In an attempt to avoid wholescale destruction 79 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:49.720 and anarchy, the council, the Privy Council that is, suggested that any 80 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:55.959 images not abuse might be retained, and that windows containing images of the Pope 81 00:07:56.279 --> 00:08:01.399 could be defaced or covered over rather than smashed. But it was all too 82 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:07.160 little, too late. Throughout the autumn, the assault on images continued, 83 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:11.680 and on the night of the sixteenth of November, the Rod loft in Saint 84 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:16.920 Paul's, along with the images of Mary and Saint John, were destroyed, 85 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:22.879 ultimately resulting in the death of two workmen. The government tried to clamp down, 86 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:28.160 but all these efforts were undercut by the reality that elements of the Catholic 87 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:35.159 Church, including the Mass, were no longer celebrated anywhere, including in Somerset's 88 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:41.759 own household. Somerset remained interested in real reform, though he thought that the 89 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:46.120 trees and laws passed in the waning days of Henry the eighth and which made 90 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:50.759 it a law to speak against the king at all, were just too far 91 00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:56.600 over the top. Somerset had this law repealed and replaced it with the traditional 92 00:08:56.600 --> 00:09:01.000 definition of treason, which is plotting the death of the king or his heirs, 93 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:05.440 waging war against the king, or serving his enemies. Ironically, by 94 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:11.679 the way, Henry the Eighth had also introduced such lenient legislation upon his own 95 00:09:11.720 --> 00:09:16.600 ascension, only to scale it back before his death. Then, as now, 96 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:22.039 it had been a political move intended to make the new monarch popular. 97 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:30.799 Somerset also looked to Parliament to enhance his already considerable powers. Alarmed by Seymour's 98 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:35.960 behavior and closeness to Edward, he realized the need to secure his position more 99 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.600 fully, and so he drafted a bill that would be ratified in Parliament which 100 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:45.639 would legally confirm and extend his authority, giving him special precedence in the House 101 00:09:45.639 --> 00:09:50.559 of Lords, a quasi regal status that would allow him to sit alone quote 102 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:54.120 upon the middle of the bench or stool standing next to on the right hand 103 00:09:54.159 --> 00:10:01.279 of our Sea d Royal end quote. Whereas earlier documents stated that Somerset would 104 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:05.960 have the protectorship of Edward until he reached the age of eighteen, now his 105 00:10:05.080 --> 00:10:11.159 powers would remain in force quote until such time as we declare to our set 106 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:16.320 uncle our pleasure, by writing with our hand and sealed with the Great Seal 107 00:10:16.360 --> 00:10:22.840 of England end quote. It seemed that Somerset's authority, now entirely in the 108 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:30.639 hands of the King, would become unfettered. Somerset's brother, Seymour, now 109 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:35.360 found himself in a considerably diminished position, yet he remained determined to supplant his 110 00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:41.759 brother. This was delusional, but Seymour remained committed to his hair brained scheme. 111 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:48.519 Trying to salvage his position, Seymour started befriending different members of the nobility 112 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:54.519 in an effort to win over their support. His most powerful ally was Henry 113 00:10:54.559 --> 00:11:00.480 Gray, the Marquess of Dorset, though it's doubtful he would have had anything 114 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:05.480 to do with Seymour had he known the full extent of his plans. Seymour 115 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:11.279 at this point was plotting nothing less than open rebellion. To ferment this, 116 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:18.200 Seymour needed men in sixteenth century England. That meant he needed land. Specifically, 117 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:22.480 he needed the support of the great landed magnates, who could provide him 118 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:28.879 with, in essence, private armies. He soon began to fashion these connections 119 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:35.320 through contacts. His strategy here was twofold. He wanted to counteract parts of 120 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:39.720 England where his brother's support was solid. Plus he wanted to pinpoint those members 121 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:45.559 of the Privy Council or in some cases members of the same, who were 122 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:52.679 disaffected with Somerset's regime. He approached Lord Withsly on his way to dinner in 123 00:11:52.759 --> 00:11:56.480 late fifteen forty seven, telling him quote, my Lord, you were well 124 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:03.360 handled touching your office. Would you not have it again? Soon Seymour was 125 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:09.039 confident he had the full support of at least five councilors to bolster his power, 126 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:16.919 Seymour quickly began buying and livying land on a huge scale. Land in 127 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:20.120 early modern Europe was power, and of course, as the Lord Admiral, 128 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:26.320 Seymour already had the power of the navy behind him. But even if Seymour 129 00:12:26.440 --> 00:12:33.159 raised all these private armies, how could he possibly afford them. If he 130 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:39.480 needed ten thousand men a month and each was paid only six pence per day, 131 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:46.919 that still yielded an astronomical total cost of around two point four million pounds. 132 00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:52.759 Seymour didn't have anything like that kind of money. His plan was that 133 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:58.000 he would simply make it. If he could flip the under Treasurer of the 134 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:03.440 Mint of Bristol to his side, a man he already knew, then he 135 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:09.039 could obtain a license to print money. But this was not the extent of 136 00:13:09.080 --> 00:13:16.639 the trouble he was making for his brother. As if marrying Catherine Parr wasn't 137 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:24.679 bad enough, Seymour now tried to seduce the fifteen year old Princess Elizabeth the 138 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:28.519 future Elizabeth the First. She wasn't having it, by the way, at 139 00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:33.320 least not at first. According to one report, If Elizabeth was still in 140 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:37.960 bed in the mid morning hours, Seymour would burst into the room, pull 141 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:43.240 open the bed curtains and jump in quote as though he would come at her 142 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:48.759 end quote, Elizabeth, terrified, retreated to the corner of the bed. 143 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:56.159 Catherine took this behavior to be nothing more than innocent playfulness. Things changed, 144 00:13:56.200 --> 00:14:01.840 however, when Elizabeth reportedly started taking an interest in him. Suddenly the princess 145 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:07.480 found herself packed off to live with a relative, though Seymour, according to 146 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:15.080 the reports, was chastised as well. Meanwhile, the religious situation in England 147 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:22.080 continued to deteriorate. Attacks on the mass despite a proclamation banning them, continued 148 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:28.000 unabated. Henry's prior order banning the reading of the Bible had been repealed, 149 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:35.480 and people were gasp learning the text for themselves. Something had to give, 150 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:41.600 so in February of fifteen forty eight, the government relented and ordered all images 151 00:14:41.080 --> 00:14:48.879 idolatrous or not removed from every church and every chapel in England. Across the 152 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:56.759 Kingdom. The vestiges of ancient religion were literally torn down. Edward understood all 153 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:01.360 this. He took a keen interest in religious issues, not that he had 154 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:05.639 a response to any of these problems. And yet there were more problems still. 155 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:11.679 Now this one I haven't talked about yet, but I need to introduce 156 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:15.759 it because it's going to be a major headache for England in the coming century. 157 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:22.799 I'm talking about enclosure. Enclosure, put simply, was the process by 158 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:31.360 which local landlords turned what had been communal lands so lands generally used by the 159 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:37.960 local villagers, into grazing lands for his own sheep, so privatizing what had 160 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:46.200 been community property. This process enraged the rural English community and it made it 161 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:50.720 so much harder for these families to survive. On May seventeen, fifteen forty 162 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:54.919 eight, for the first time a landowner who had enclosed a pot of land, 163 00:15:56.200 --> 00:16:00.799 in this case it was a rabbit Warren found his actions met with violence. 164 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:06.720 Enclosure, by the way, wasn't a new problem even then. Indeed, 165 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:11.200 going back to Sir Thomas Moore, he complained that the landladers were allowing 166 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:15.879 quote sheep to eat up men end quote. That's kind of the famous quotation 167 00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:22.720 for the start of this process. Yet, the increased demand for wool only 168 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:26.480 led to an increased demand for sheep. Hence, despite the complaints, the 169 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:33.000 enclosures kept coming. Sheep also took up public grazing lands that had been used 170 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:37.480 for communal cattle, removing milk and cheese from the diet of the poor, 171 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:45.360 and both had been dietary staples. The English government had not been innocent in 172 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:51.000 this. Henry the eighth had badly debased the coinage for his wars. In 173 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:56.720 France and Scotland, inflation in less than a decade had risen seventy seven percent. 174 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:04.720 Hence, landlords were to an extent trying to rebalance the scales through enclosure. 175 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:11.880 But in addition, the English population had increased dramatically, making an already 176 00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:18.839 bad land shortage even worse. In the counties around London, between fifteen twenty 177 00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:25.680 and sixteen oh three, the population had ballooned from sixty thousand to two hundred 178 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:30.599 thousand. Spoiler alert, by the way, really, the only pressure of 179 00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:34.400 a release valve which is going to work for England is going to be sending 180 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:41.799 people to the colonies. Still for the moment, Somerset ordered local commissioners to 181 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:48.000 investigate the problem and determine potential solutions. Somerset knew what he was doing. 182 00:17:48.279 --> 00:17:52.279 He understood the need for popularity. He after all, was not king, 183 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:59.200 and unsurprisingly, though his efforts met with extreme resistance from the landowners, but 184 00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:03.559 soon enough of in Scotland pushed all these concerns to the backburner. Somersets quote 185 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:10.039 unquote rough wooing of Scotland was proving expensive. Then, as we already know, 186 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:15.079 Mary, Queen of Scott's, successfully fled her kingdom to France. The 187 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:18.720 whole ostensible purpose of this had been a foresome marriage between her and Edward. 188 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:22.799 Now it was not to be, and many began asking what was the point 189 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:27.200 of spending all this money. Throughout the summer of fifteen forty eight, Seymour 190 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:33.359 stayed with Catherine, who was pregnant with this child. This irked Somerset because 191 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:38.559 in removing himself from London, Seymour was effectively shooking his duties as Lord Admiral. 192 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:44.559 But Seymour thought he was doing his duty to his wife, whose pregnancy 193 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:48.960 was proving difficult. On August the thirtieth, Catherine delivered a healthy baby girl 194 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:56.039 that the couple named Mary. But Catherine fell ill almost immediately after giving birth 195 00:18:56.079 --> 00:19:00.839 to the child, and two days later she died. Her death changed everything. 196 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:07.720 Seymour lost his major source of legitimacy for any proposed coup. Seymour also 197 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:14.680 lost his mind as a result. He would later admit that during the period 198 00:19:14.839 --> 00:19:21.759 following the death of his wife he had quote small regard either to myself or 199 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:27.640 my doings end quote. Without the backing of the Queen's court, Seymour lost 200 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:34.759 his status, but Catherine's death opened up other opportunities, Mostly because Seymour was 201 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:41.559 now able to marry again. He set his sights immediately on Catherine's lady in 202 00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:48.359 waiting, Jane Gray. The Gray family was one of the most powerful in 203 00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:56.000 England. Yet while rumors continued to circulate about Jane's potential match to Seymour, 204 00:19:56.119 --> 00:20:03.440 it now appeared that Seymour had other things mind. His intention was to marry 205 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:07.519 Jane, not to himself, but to King Edward. He felt if he 206 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:15.480 brokeered a successful union, he might parley the goodwill into a stronger position for 207 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:18.440 himself at court. I mean, it worked a lot in the past with 208 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:23.640 Edward's father, why not try it again. He might even hope to supplant 209 00:20:23.640 --> 00:20:30.160 his brother. While Seymour pressed King Edward to marry Jane, he turned his 210 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:36.799 eye to Edward's half sister Elizabeth. This union, however, for the moment 211 00:20:36.839 --> 00:20:41.880 he knew was not possible. So long as Somerset remained in control of Edward, 212 00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:45.519 he would never consent to a marriage between Elizabeth and his younger brother. 213 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:55.160 Seymour was rapidly alienating himself and was beginning to appear unstable. Soon his activities 214 00:20:55.440 --> 00:21:00.400 raised the suspicions of other members of the nobility. Risley wrote, Uote, 215 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:03.759 for God's sake, take heed what you need to do. You may say 216 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:07.200 what you will, that you mean well, and mind all for the King, 217 00:21:07.640 --> 00:21:12.200 but indeed you shall show yourself his greatest enemy. You may begin a 218 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:18.440 faction and trouble, but you cannot end it when you would end quote. 219 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:23.880 Seymour was reprimanded by several other influential members of court for his behavior, everyone 220 00:21:23.960 --> 00:21:27.359 telling him you ought to be content with the position of Lord Admiral and get 221 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:34.519 on with it. Seymour refused to listen. In desperation, Seymour pinned all 222 00:21:34.599 --> 00:21:38.720 of his hopes on Edward. He hoped to make Edward realize his point of 223 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:45.160 view. Visiting him at Hampton Court, he walked with Edward in the garden. 224 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:48.960 Seymour wrote, quote, since I saw you last, you are grown 225 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:53.200 to be a good gentleman. I trust that within three or four years you 226 00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:57.519 shall be the ruler of his own things. End quote. According to Seymour's 227 00:21:57.559 --> 00:22:03.319 diary, nay came the reply from the king. Seymour did not give up 228 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:08.799 that easily, Ostensibly counting out each year of Edward's age, he feigned surprise. 229 00:22:10.759 --> 00:22:14.279 He wrote in his diary, quote, within these three or four years, 230 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:17.960 your grace shall be sixteen years old. I trust by that time your 231 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:22.680 grace will help your men yourself with such things as fall and your grace's gift. 232 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:29.519 Yet Edward refused the answer, and the conversation soon turned to other matters. 233 00:22:30.359 --> 00:22:33.640 It was clear that Seymour would have to find another way to have his 234 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:40.200 nephew see his point of view. Seymour was clearly up to something, though. 235 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:45.240 He was actively stockpiling food and other resources at one of his castles, 236 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:53.839 while his closest ally, William Sherrington, coined seven five hundred illicit pounds for 237 00:22:53.920 --> 00:23:00.519 his use. These certainly looked like the sort of prepperrations one might make for 238 00:23:00.599 --> 00:23:07.599 a civil war. Seymour traveled from location to location in the dead of night 239 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:12.559 to avoid being seen. He worked meticulously to move all his pieces into place 240 00:23:12.839 --> 00:23:18.720 for what he assumed would be as successful coup al. This activity, of 241 00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:25.559 course, left his brother feeling extremely suspicious. He informed those at court that 242 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:30.559 he needed to speak to Seymour immediately. Hearing of this, Seymour decided the 243 00:23:30.599 --> 00:23:36.440 time had come to act. On the sixteenth of January fifteen forty nine, 244 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:41.920 he broke into the Privy Garden accompanied by two servants, histol in hand. 245 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:47.400 He made his way uninterrupted until he reached Edward's bedchamber, but fumbling with the 246 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:52.920 key to the door, he came against an unforeseen obstacle. Opening the outer 247 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:57.119 door, he was attacked by Edward's dog. Surprise overcame him, and in 248 00:23:57.160 --> 00:24:03.559 desperation, he actually shot the dog. Edward's bodyguard awoke, their cries of 249 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:10.759 help murder, rising the alarm as they rushed to Edward's defense. There they 250 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:15.880 found Seymour, who proclaimed his innocence, for he was only making sure that 251 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:19.759 the king was securely guarded. Edward, of course, was safe in his 252 00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:25.599 bed, no doubt terrified, it seems if Seymour was checking to see if 253 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:30.160 Edward was securely guarded. He had his answer on the floor. Lay quote 254 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:34.119 the lifeless corpse of the dog end quote. It had been, as one 255 00:24:34.119 --> 00:24:38.680 of Edward's bodyguard remarked, quote, the most faithful guardian of the King's Majesty 256 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:45.839 end quote. A man later wrote, unless the King's Majesty had accidentally left 257 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:49.720 his dog outside and bolted the inner door of his chamber, which is seldom 258 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:56.160 done, it certainly would have been all over for him, end quote. 259 00:24:56.359 --> 00:25:02.279 But was this really an accident? Was Seymour really checking on Edward's security? 260 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:07.920 If Edward knew something, if he suspected something, he didn't let on, 261 00:25:08.519 --> 00:25:14.480 at least for the moment he didn't show his cards. But what on earth 262 00:25:14.519 --> 00:25:18.519 would Seymour have been planning to do with Edward? Anyway? Had he gotten 263 00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:23.880 to him, he would have gained absolutely nothing from killing the boy, regardless 264 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:30.160 of his intentions. Though Seymour found himself arrested the very next day. When 265 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:34.599 he was finally examined on the twenty third of February fifteen forty nine, he 266 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:40.359 refused to make any answers unless his accusers were brought before him. The right 267 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:44.680 to confront witnesses, by the way, would later be something the American colonists 268 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:51.400 would enshrine in their constitution. At some stage. Edward himself gave evidence against 269 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:56.680 Seymour. His testimony sealed Seymour's fate. For Somerset, the King's words must 270 00:25:56.680 --> 00:26:02.559 have struck straight through him. Edward was on record as having wished him dead 271 00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:07.799 quote it were better for him to die before end quote. No longer could 272 00:26:07.799 --> 00:26:15.200 Somerset claim that he was Edward's trusted guardian and beloved uncle. As the evidence 273 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:21.720 unfolded, Seymour's affair with the Princess Elizabeth became open knowledge. She was interviewed 274 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:26.839 herself, as were Ashley, Elizabeth's bade and go between, and Thomas Perry. 275 00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:33.599 All three remained tight lipped, their confessions so similar that their interrogator grew 276 00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:40.359 suspicious. They all sing one song, he wrote to Somerset, continuing, 277 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:45.359 and so I think they would not do unless they had set the note before, 278 00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:51.119 for surely they would confess or else they could not go So well agree, 279 00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:56.319 I do believe that there hath been some secret promise never to confess to 280 00:26:56.400 --> 00:27:00.240 death, and if it be so, it will never be gotten of her. 281 00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:07.519 The Princess Elizabeth sought to limit the damage. She wrote to Somerset in 282 00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:12.319 late January fifteen forty nine, protesting her innocence, writing quote, there go 283 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:17.920 with rumors abroad which greatly both against my honor and honesty that I am in 284 00:27:18.039 --> 00:27:21.240 the tower, and with child by my lord, Admiral, My Lord, 285 00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:26.079 these are shameful slanders, for which I shall most hardly desire your Lordship, 286 00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:30.119 that I may come to court after your first determination, that I may show 287 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:34.359 myself as I am. And then she urged him to issue a proclamation repudiating 288 00:27:34.359 --> 00:27:40.480 the Slanders. But as the questioning intensified, the United Front began to crumble, 289 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:45.079 and with the evidences and testimonies gathered, Seymour's guilt was a formality. 290 00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:48.960 On the twenty fourth of February fifteen forty nine, the Privy Council reported their 291 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:53.400 findings to the King. In all, thirty three charges were laid against Seymour. 292 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:57.519 Somerset declared, quote, how sorrowful a case this was unto him end 293 00:27:57.559 --> 00:28:03.319 quote. He did quote rather regard my burden to the duty of the King's 294 00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:07.880 majesty and the Crown of England, that his own son or brother did way 295 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:12.160 more his allegiance than his blood end quote. In the end, he said 296 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:17.759 he would not resist, nor would he be against the Lord's request, if 297 00:28:17.960 --> 00:28:22.440 he had done the same. He would not think himself worthy of life. 298 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:26.400 Those gathered then waited for Edward to speak, to pronounce sentence. They knew 299 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:30.119 what he was going to say, because his words had already been written, 300 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:33.880 but appearances needed to be kept up, though the charges they brought against Seymour 301 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:37.799 showed all too clearly. Otherwise, they needed to believe that Edward bore the 302 00:28:37.799 --> 00:28:44.799 weight of his majesty himself. Formality and ceremony disguised the instability within the realm 303 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:51.960 carpeting over the underlying cracks which were beginning to form beneath Edward's bury feet. 304 00:28:52.279 --> 00:28:56.759 So Edward finally spoke, We have these words recorded. We do perceive that 305 00:28:57.119 --> 00:29:03.960 there is great things objected it and laid to Lord Admiral mine uncle, and 306 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:08.559 they tend to treason. And we perceive that you required but justice to be 307 00:29:08.680 --> 00:29:15.480 done. We think it reasonable, and we will well that we proceed according 308 00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:22.400 to your request. Those words are followed by something written in the council register 309 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:26.880 that reads as follows. With these words coming so suddenly from His Grace's mouth 310 00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:32.839 of his own motion, the lords and rest of the council were marvelously rejoiced 311 00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:37.359 and gave his Highness most hearty, praise and thanks end quote, and so 312 00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:44.440 the charade that this had all come from Edward's mouth would continue. On the 313 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:49.359 twenty fifth of February, a bill of attainder was introduced into Parliament, passing 314 00:29:49.480 --> 00:29:55.799 unopposed through the House of Lords. Out of pity, Somerset was allowed to 315 00:29:55.839 --> 00:30:00.680 take his leave, but by the time the bill reached Commons it was quote 316 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:04.039 very much debated and argued end quote, and lawyers were brought in to defend 317 00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:11.200 the charge that Seymour's doings had actually encompassed high treason. On March the fifth, 318 00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:17.519 the comments finally passed the bill with only twelve dissenters. Seymour was declared 319 00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:23.839 guilty of high treason and sentenced to death. Somerset himself signed his brother's death 320 00:30:23.880 --> 00:30:32.839 warrant, his signature so shaky that historians today consider it almost illegible. Edward 321 00:30:33.240 --> 00:30:37.000 only gave a sparse judgment, writing quote, I will and command you to 322 00:30:37.079 --> 00:30:42.119 proceed at you request without further molestation of myself or the Lord Protector. I 323 00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:48.559 pray you my lords do so end quote. On the nineteenth of March fifteen 324 00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:53.519 forty nine, Thomas Seymour, brother to Lord Somerset, was executed upon Tower 325 00:30:53.599 --> 00:31:00.319 Hill. He continued objecting until the very last. While imprisoned in the tower, 326 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:03.160 he had fashioned a pen on a piece of metal he had pulled off 327 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:07.960 his jacket and making his ink. Quote so craftily and with such workmanship as 328 00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:14.039 the life had not been seen. He wrote to Elizabeth and Mary, encouraging 329 00:31:14.079 --> 00:31:18.200 them both to conspire against Edward. He sewed the letters into the souls of 330 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:22.480 his velvet shoes and ordered his servants to retrieve them even after his death, 331 00:31:23.079 --> 00:31:27.079 leading with the council for his execution to be delayed so that they might be 332 00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:32.480 present at the scaffold. But in the end, even these secret letters were 333 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:38.079 discovered and his plans were thwarted. No crowds were there to witness Seymour's end. 334 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:42.240 He requested that his daughter be brought to him, but we have no 335 00:31:42.359 --> 00:31:48.400 idea if that happened. Reportedly, his final words were quote, I have 336 00:31:48.519 --> 00:31:52.960 been brought here to suffer death, for as I was lawfully born into this 337 00:31:53.079 --> 00:31:57.559 world, so I must lawfully leave it. Because there is some work to 338 00:31:57.599 --> 00:32:02.559 be accomplished. WI cannot be fulfilled unless I am put out of the way. 339 00:32:05.559 --> 00:32:09.039 Edward wrote nothing of his uncle's death and his diary, So we have 340 00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:14.839 no idea at all how the young king felt the time that he was executed. 341 00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:20.720 Elizabeth, for her part, never forgot the injustice of Seymour's death. 342 00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:25.640 Upon hearing the news, she was said to have remarked, quote, this 343 00:32:25.799 --> 00:32:30.480 day died a man of much wit and very little judgment end quote. Later, 344 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:36.319 Seymour's fall would become a familiar lesson to the ambitious reaching beyond their means, 345 00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:39.799 As another English historian would later remark, quote, his climbing high, 346 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:44.680 disdained by his peers, was thought the cause he lived, not out his 347 00:32:44.839 --> 00:32:51.240 years end quote. Work soon got under way to make Edward's privy chamber more 348 00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:57.440 secure, but in the end the damage to Somerset's reputation was irreparable. After 349 00:32:57.480 --> 00:33:02.000 all, it was his brother who had formant to treason. Indeed, after 350 00:33:02.039 --> 00:33:07.559 his brother's death, Somerset was really never the same person. Everyone wrote that, 351 00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:14.920 if anything, Somerset's authority had been seriously called into question. Not only 352 00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:17.319 had he failed in his duty to protect the King as the governor of his 353 00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:22.480 person, but he had heard for himself the King's testimony, suggesting that Edward 354 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:28.680 thought he might be better off dead. His grip upon power had begun to 355 00:33:28.720 --> 00:33:32.720 loosen, and the crisis had forced him to bring Risley back on board for 356 00:33:32.759 --> 00:33:39.440 a meeting of the entire Council and executors in mid January. Somerset's own behavior 357 00:33:39.799 --> 00:33:45.839 now also started to eat away at his reputation as the quote unquote good duke. 358 00:33:45.720 --> 00:33:52.119 His lifestyle was lavish and the accumulation of wealth massive. This did not 359 00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:58.079 match the constant preaching of fairness and equality of all. Nowhere was this more 360 00:33:58.119 --> 00:34:02.240 clear than when the construction of his new home, Somerset House. A nearby 361 00:34:02.359 --> 00:34:07.839 church had to be demolished to make room for this new palace, and no 362 00:34:07.839 --> 00:34:12.400 one really said much about that at the time. But when Somerset blew up 363 00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:17.159 the crypt for stone, now that was a step too far. Word that 364 00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:23.480 stone intermixed was scattered remains and bones was simply too much for the public to 365 00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:30.239 bear. But his personal problems were far outweighed by the escalating crises that were 366 00:34:30.280 --> 00:34:36.639 beginning to face the Kingdom of England. The now futile war against Scotland was 367 00:34:36.679 --> 00:34:44.159 proving increasingly expensive. Somerset would eventually spend five hundred and eighty thousand pounds that's 368 00:34:44.199 --> 00:34:50.639 about one and forty six million in today's money on the campaign. Three hundred 369 00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:55.239 and fifty one thousand of that was on troops alone. Since England was unable 370 00:34:55.280 --> 00:34:59.920 to recruit the numbers of men needed for garrisoning as well as regular Sir, 371 00:35:00.039 --> 00:35:05.599 he had to hire a total of almost seventy five hundred mercenaries. These from 372 00:35:05.599 --> 00:35:09.719 all nations. There were Italians, Germans, Spaniards, Albanians, Hungarians, 373 00:35:10.119 --> 00:35:15.960 even Irishmen. Compared to Henry's vast military expenditure in the last years of his 374 00:35:16.039 --> 00:35:23.320 life, Somerset had spent nearly double and in half the time. Moreover, 375 00:35:23.880 --> 00:35:30.320 the rush of religious change continued, culminating in the introduction of the Book of 376 00:35:30.320 --> 00:35:36.519 Common Prayer in Parliament during November and December fifteen forty eight. The book rendered 377 00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:40.599 the Latin Mass into English, though its message remained essentially one of compromise. 378 00:35:42.719 --> 00:35:49.000 The book was relatively conservative in content and form, but make no mistake about 379 00:35:49.039 --> 00:35:54.280 it, the Book of Common Prayer represented the true and final break in England 380 00:35:54.519 --> 00:36:00.639 with medieval Catholicism. The elevation of the host was gone, the doctrine of 381 00:36:00.679 --> 00:36:06.800 the sacrifice of the Mass was done. The traditional feast and fast cycle over 382 00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:14.679 more than the abolition of what had been the already dying monasteries. This moment 383 00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:21.360 was the moment that medieval religion died in England, and it took place in 384 00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:28.239 Edward's reign, not Henry's. But apart from religion, as I mentioned, 385 00:36:28.239 --> 00:36:31.800 Somerset had some real headaches. France was on the verge of declaring war. 386 00:36:32.719 --> 00:36:39.280 The treasury was nearly empty without an ally, many believed England would likely fall. 387 00:36:40.679 --> 00:36:46.360 Everyone was forecasting doom, none more so than Hugh Latimer, the reformist 388 00:36:46.400 --> 00:36:52.519 London minister. He warned the English people of quote the greed of you landlords, 389 00:36:52.960 --> 00:36:57.840 you rent raisers. I may say, you step lords, you natural 390 00:36:57.880 --> 00:37:05.119 lords. You have your possessions yearly too much end quote. They were wise 391 00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:12.320 words. Someone should have listened until next time. If you're interested in more 392 00:37:12.360 --> 00:37:15.719 content, please check out the links in the show notes out links to the 393 00:37:15.719 --> 00:37:17.719 website where you'll find everything that you need there, or if you'd like a 394 00:37:17.840 --> 00:37:22.960 free seven day trial of the Patreon feed for Western City of two point zero. 395 00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:29.559 We are back in ancient Rome now, and I know olks can't get 396 00:37:29.599 --> 00:37:31.840 enough of ancient Rome, So if you'd like a free listen of some of 397 00:37:31.840 --> 00:37:35.480 those episodes. Check it out link in the show notes.