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The rule of Somerset
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Edward Seymour (c.1506-1552) had been created Earl of Hertford after
the marriage of his sister,
Jane, to Henry VIII in 1536.He had been appointed Lord High
Admiral in 1543 and Lord Great Chamberlain in 1543. He became Duke of
Somerset and Lord Protector in February 1547. |
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Edward Seymour's first problem was the war with Scotland, begun during
Henry VIII's reign. The French sent an army to Scotland in July 1547,
which defeated the rebels at
St Andrews
(sentencing the Reformer, John Knox to be a French galley-slave). |
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Somerset responded by organizing an army of 18,000 men and a fleet of
sixty ships under Edward Lord Clinton, and marching across the border
(4 September 1547).
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The Battle of Pinkie
(Musselburgh),
10 September 1647 |
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of Arran raised a large but poorly equipped army and posted it
in a strong tactical position - his left flank defended by the
Firth of Forth and the Esk river to the front. The English
initially occupied Falside Hill (Brae) but then moved forward to
bring their artillery into range. For reasons not entirely
clear, Arran decided to bring his forces across the Esk and
deployed them near Pinkie House. The English mounted a cavalry
charge against the Scottish flank but it was easily beaten off.
Warwick's force pressed forward and forced Angus to withdraw
this isolated Arran's men some of whom panicked and fled. The
Highlanders under Huntly on the left, came under fire from the
guns of the English fleet and they too broke.
Somerset pushed his whole force forward and the retreat
turned into a rout. Fifteen hundred Scots were captured and
still more killed - many drowning in the Esk as they tried to
flee the slaughter. |
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Somerset's victory seems to have given him the idea that he could
conquer all Scotland. He garrisoned a number of Scottish castles and
made claims to sovereignty. |
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However, in May 1548 a new French army arrived, and the English were
forced onto the defensive. Mary, Queen of Scots left in July to marry
the French Dauphin (later Francis II) and English control of Boulogne
grew untenable.
| In January 1550, Somerset was forced to agree to a peace that
surrendered Boulogne and left France in a dominating position in
Scotland. The war cost £300,000, and the debasement of the coinage
continued. |
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In 1549, Acts were passed allowing priests to marry and
ordering that the laity should receive both bread and wine at
communion. These were two key planks in the Protestant platform.
However, Somerset moved more slowly over ceremonial changes, but
did introduce a new English Prayer Book.
Occasional outbursts of violent iconoclasm by a few and demonstrations
of popular conservatism by others gave reasons for caution about
abrupt changes.
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Society and economy
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During the 1540s the price of food increased steeply, while wages
barely increased - indeed, in real terms they declined by about half.
Increasing population and the great debasement were the two main
causes of price inflation.
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The value of English currency abroad fell, but cloth exports remained
stagnant.
A few large farmers benefited from the price increases, but the mass
of wage earners and all those on fixed incomes suffered severely. |
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Hunger and poverty led to social unrest, and many blamed enclosure of
land for inflation.
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"The
residue of our years oppressed with much greater rents than
hath of ancient times been paid for the same grounds; for then
a man might within few years be able to recover his fine and
afterwards live honestly by his travail. But now these
extortioners have so improved their lands that they make of
forty shillings' fine, forty pounds, and of five nobles' rent,
five pounds. Yea, not sufficed with this oppression within
their own inheritance, they buy at your highness hand such
abbey lands as you appoint to be sold."
(Henry Brinkelow, A Supplication of the
poore commons, 1546) |
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Somerset tried without success to persuade Parliament to take steps
against enclosure. The failure of these policies, poor harvests, and
the spread of plague combined to produce serious popular unrest from
Spring of 1549 onwards. |
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The oak tree under which Kett rallied his
rebellious followers
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Rebellion broke out in
Devon and Cornwall in 1549. The
Cornish-speaking populace resented the English liturgy that the new
Prayer Book put in place of the familiar Latin service. They were
joined by conservative clerics and some local gentlemen.
The rebels laid siege to Exeter (10 June) until dispersed by an army
of Italian and German mercenary troops in August. A wave of savage
repression followed, and many rebels were summarily hanged. |
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A minor rebellion in Oxfordshire was suppressed by hanging the
offending priests from the steeples of their own churches.
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The Market Cross at Wymondham in Norfolk |
In July 1549, a far more serious rebellion
erupted in Norfolk. The Norfolk rebels were Protestants and
their main grievances were economic. Robert Ket (Kett) a local
landowner became the rebels' leader when he cooperated in the
tearing down of his own fences as well as others that had
enclosed common land. From his starting point in Wymondham, he
was able to rally 12,000 men. |
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Ket's forces camped on Mousehold Heath outside Norwich, captured the
city and repulsed the initial attacks of government forces. But in
August, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick forced the rebels out of Norwich
and routed the rebels nearby at Dussindale. Almost 3,000 rebel
soldiers were killed and fifty more were executed afterwards. |
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