Episode 276: Edward Seymour the Protector
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Hey friend, welcome back to the Renaissance English History Podcast, a part of the Agora Podcast Network and the original Tudor History Podcast telling stories of Tudor England since 2009. I am your host, Heather, and today we are going to talk about Edward Seymour and the Protectorate.

So Edward Seymour is a fascinating character who was, of course, the protector when Edward VI was king in his minority and orchestrated so much of the Protestant reforms under Edward, making England into such a Protestant country that then there was such a backlash with Mary. So we are going to talk a little bit about him today.

as well as his downfall because of course like many people who rose very high there was a downfall so we are going to chat about all of that today thank you and hello to the newest members on the youtube channel hello and welcome to edith barbara pascaline and emily so glad to have you here thank you so much for being here and thank you for your support

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Edward Seymour was the first Duke of Somerset and is one of the most intriguing figures in Tudor history. A man who, like so many other men before him, rose to unprecedented heights during one of England's most tumultuous periods. Following the death of Henry VIII in 1547, Seymour became the Lord Protector for his young nephew, Edward VI. He was, of course, Jane Seymour's brother, so her son made him his nephew.

and Edward had inherited the throne at just nine years old. This left the country under the guidance of a minority government, where Seymour's ambitions and policies would shape the early years of the Reformation and set the tone for Edward's reign.

As England grappled with the lingering effects of Henry's religious and political upheavals, Seymour's position was an opportunity as well as, of course, a bit of a minefield. Balancing Protestant reform, noble rivalries, and foreign threats, his tenure would be filled with ambition, but then controversy and a dramatic fall from grace.

How did this soldier and courtier rise to such prominence in the first place? Let's discuss. Edward Seymour was born around 1500. He was the oldest son of Sir John Seymour and Marjorie Wentworth. The Seymours were a well-connected family from Wolf Hall in Wiltshire with ties to the nobility, but they were not among the most powerful houses of the realm.

Edward's first notable achievements came during Henry VIII's campaigns in France. In the 1520s, he served with distinction. He earned a knighthood for his bravery, and these military successes bolstered his reputation. He was later appointed to oversee the household of Henry Fitzroy, the king's illegitimate son, further cementing his connections to the royal family.

The turning point for Seymour came in 1536 when his sister Jane married Henry VIII. Her elevation to queen transformed the Seymour family's fortunes overnight. Edward was elevated to the Privy Council, granted lands and titles, and entrusted with key military and diplomatic responsibilities. By the time of Jane's death in 1537, Edward had firmly established himself as one of the most trusted and influential men at court.

I will say before we move on and talk about how Edward became the protector, we also need to discuss his personal life because it was not without its share of drama. So he was married to a woman called Catherine Fillil. And at the time that Henry VIII first had some interest in Jane Seymour, the Seymour family was actually reeling from a scandal which involved Catherine and an alleged affair with Edward's own father, her father-in-law.

This was a shocking accusation. It led to her repudiation and exclusion of her sons from Edward's inheritance. The truth of the matter is unclear, and historical fiction writers have delved into this looking at, you know, what was she abused? Was she being blackmailed? Was she fully with this? Who knows? Is it even true?

But there was a scandal, so there was a lot happening with the Seymour family and with Edward personally right around the time when Henry was taking an interest in his sister.

Then he got married again to Anne Stanhope, who was equally colorful and would play a significant role in the family's political and social life. She had a really forceful personality. And in fact, we should do an episode just on her. She had frequent clashes at court, most notably after Henry VIII died with Catherine Parr, who was Henry's widow. There was a major feud over jewels and

which Anne believed should rightfully belong to her as the wife of the Lord Protector, which shows these petty rivalries of Tudor court life. Her ambition and her assertiveness was both an asset and a liability for Edward. They helped to raise him up and help his ambition, everything like that. But certainly there was some unpopularity there among his rivals.

So let's talk about his rise to becoming Lord Protector. We kind of understand who he is now, where he is in the chessboard of people. So when Henry VIII died in January 1547, his will laid out a regency council of 16 men to govern collectively when his son, Edward VI, was a minor.

But Edward Seymour, leveraging his position as the young king's uncle and his already pretty significant influence, quickly outmaneuvered the council to secure sole control. Within weeks, he was appointed Lord Protector of England and effectively became the de facto ruler of the kingdom.

Seymour's assent was not without opposition. Henry's will had explicitly intended for a balanced council to prevent any one man from seizing too much power. But Seymour skillfully appealed to the council members' self-interest. He offered them promotions and land grants. He kind of bribed them lucrative positions in exchange for their support.

He had charisma. He had a reputation as a capable soldier and a statesman, and certainly this helped to persuade the council to grant him this pretty unprecedented authority. So he becomes Lord Protector, and then a month later, he also cements his dominance by being elevated to the title of Duke of Somerset. This obviously enhanced his status and also gave him the kind of gravitas needed to lead the country during this very precarious time.

As protector, Somerset styled himself as a reformer and a champion of Protestantism, pushing forward the religious changes that Henry VIII had cautiously begun.

He introduced measures to advance the English Reformation, including new liturgies, the abolition of the Catholic practices like the veneration of the saints. This is when we start to see, they call it the stripping of the altars, when they got rid of any kind of potpourri, whitewashing walls, painting over these amazing frescoes, getting rid of old choral music. It actually kind of breaks my heart a little bit.

But there you go, he thought he was doing good. His governing style was a blend of pragmatism and idealism, but it often alienated those around him. He had a tendency to bypass the regency council and just make unilateral decisions, and that made a lot of nobles quite resentful.

While his reforms earned him favor among the reformist clergy and some of the common people, his centralized approach to power sowed the seeds of discord that would later contribute to his dramatic fall. So let's talk about some of these religious reforms. He, of course, wielded significant authority over religious matters in the kingdom that was still undergoing these seismic shifts in faith.

There was a deliberate transition from Catholicism to Protestantism, spearheaded by his close alliance with Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Cranmer had been a driving force behind Henry VIII's earlier reforms and now worked to shape a distinctly Protestant Church of England, free from many of the lingering Catholic traditions. You might remember that towards the end of Henry's reign,

He was kind of going back to becoming more conservative. And that's where Catherine Parr is almost wrapped up in being called a heretic and being arrested for heresy. So Henry was kind of he always sort of went back and forth between how much he listened to the liberal or the Protestant faction, how much he listened to the conservative and the Catholic faction. And at the time of his death, he was kind of headed back towards the Catholics.

But then he died. Edward had been raised a Protestant, Edward his son. And then there's Edward Seymour stepping in, who was a Protestant. So they just barged forward with the Reformation just full speed ahead. One of the most important steps was the Book of Common Prayer in 1549. This was a product of Cranmer's theological vision.

It was written in English and it was designed to unify worship practices and it aimed to replace the Latin mass with a service that's accessible to the lay population. This new liturgy also reflected Protestant ideals, emphasizing the supremacy of scripture over church ritual. Though revolutionary, the Book of Common Prayer was moderate compared to more radical Protestant demand, indicating Somerset's desire for cautious but firm progress.

Somerset's government also encouraged iconoclasm, or the destruction of Catholic imagery, relics, and altars, as visible signs of rejecting superstitious practices.

Across the kingdom, stained glass windows were smashed, sculptures defaced, shrines dismantled. For many devout Catholics, these changes were incredibly upsetting and resistance was inevitable. Traditionalists in regions like Devon and Cornwall bristled at the reforms imposed by distant authorities, leading to open rebellion in some areas like the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549.

But Somerset's approach still had supporters. Protestant reformers and intellectuals applauded his policies and said we were moving forward on a purer path. Among the urban middle classes and influential Protestant circles in London, Somerset's reforms gained traction, laying the groundwork for England's eventual Protestant identity. However, the religious upheaval also sowed discord, contributing to tensions that would ultimately destabilize his government.

His tenure as Lord Protector was marked by his ambitious but controversial domestic policies, particularly his attempts to address England's deep-rooted social inequalities. So he actually, in a lot of ways, was quite a progressive. At the heart of these efforts was the enclosure crisis. This was the practice where landowners were fencing off common lands to convert them into profitable pastures for sheep farming.

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That's 1-800-Flowers.com slash ACAST. Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently, I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous two-year contracts, they said, what the f*** are you talking about, you insane Hollywood a**hole?

So to recap, we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. $45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details.

This was driven by the wool trade, which had become much more lucrative. But the poorer rural tenants suddenly had nowhere to graze their sheep or graze their animals. This had always been common land that was used for everybody. So there was a lot of widespread unrest among the poor.

Somerset positioned himself as a reformer, earning the nickname the Good Duke among commoners. In 1548, he issued commissions of inquiry into illegal enclosures, seeking to curb abuses by wealthy landowners. These commissions, though, produced little tangible change and inadvertently heightened the tensions. While peasants interpreted the investigations as tacit support for their grievances, landowners resented the interference.

accusing Somerset of undermining their economic interests. By failing to satisfy either side, Somerset alienated both the ruling elite and the common people. Social unrest boiled over in 1549 with two major uprisings. There was the Prayer Book Rebellion in the West Country and then Kett's Rebellion in Norfolk. The Prayer Book Rebellion erupted in Devon and Cornwall, where Catholic populations resisted the introduction of the Protestant Book of Common Prayer.

Their demands were framed as a defense of traditional religion and included restoring Latin mass and halting further reforms. Somerset's initial response was hesitant, and it took weeks of military action to suppress the rebellion, culminating in a bloody confrontation at Clistheath.

Meanwhile, in Norfolk, Kett's rebellion, led by Robert Kett, was fueled by grievances over enclosures and social injustice. Tens of thousands of rebels gathered at Mousehold Heath, establishing a self-governing camp and demanding fair rents and end to enclosures and greater protections for the poor.

Somerset's initial leniency emboldened the rebels, but when negotiations failed, he resorted to force. Troops under John Dudley crushed the rebellion at the Battle of Duscendale, leaving thousands dead. There's actually one of the Matthew Shardlake mysteries by C.J. Samson is interesting.

set around Cat's Rebellion. It's really good, I have to say. It's one of my favorites. So if you want to dig into Cat's Rebellion and see what people thought about Somerset during that time, I highly recommend that book.

Somerset's handling of these crises revealed his wavering leadership. While his rhetoric championed reform, his inability to enact meaningful change or effectively quell the uprisings eroded his authority. His balancing act, trying to appease both the commoners and the gentry, ultimately satisfied neither, leaving his position increasingly precarious.

Edward Seymour's ambition to secure a union between England and Scotland dominated much of his foreign policy as Lord Protector. His strategy revolved around the marriage of Edward VI to Mary, Queen of Scots, this union that he hoped would solidify England's northern border and extend Tudor influence. This policy, though, was met with staunch resistance from Scotland, backed by its longstanding alliance with France.

Somerset had pursued this goal through military means, continuing the war that Henry had started, the War of Rough Wooing that Henry VIII had initiated.

In 1547, Somerset launched an invasion of Scotland, commanding an army of around 16,000 men, supported by artillery and a fleet of warships. The campaign culminated in the Battle of Pinky Clues, which was a decisive English victory. The Scottish forces were poorly coordinated and outmatched, and they suffered devastating losses, with thousands killed or captured.

The triumph showed the strength of the English military under Somerset's leadership and temporarily secured dominance over southern Scotland. Despite this initial success, the campaign's long-term goals proved quite elusive. The English occupation alienated Scottish people, which made them, of course, more resolved against union.

Then the Scots also sought assistance from France, and France sent troops and resources to bolster their resistance. Mary, Queen of Scots, was spirited away to France in 1548, where she was betrothed to the French Dauphin, effectively nullifying Somerset's marriage proposal and dashing hopes for a peaceful union. The cost of the campaign, both in financial terms and in lives, further strained Somerset's position at home.

His failure to capitalize on the victory at Pinky Clues and prevent French intervention showed the limits of his leadership. He had a vision for a united British Isles, which was a bold vision, but he was unable to manage the diplomacy and he left England overextended and isolated, which also led to a lot of discontent that would ultimately lead to his downfall.

So let's talk about the factionalism at court and who was against him, all of that. There were growing tensions at the court driven by his relationships with the nobility, his brother's schemes, and the ambitions of rivals like John Dudley.

He had this autocratic approach to governance, which alienated members of the council. Though initially granted near-dictatorial powers as protector, his disregard for the collective decision-making of the council led to a lot of resentment. He often bypassed established protocols, making unilateral decisions that angered his peers. His favoritism toward certain allies further fractured relationships with influential nobles

who saw his concentration of power as a threat to their own influence. Adding to this instability was the downfall of Thomas Seymour, Edward's younger brother. Thomas's relentless ambition clashed with Somerset's authority. Married to the widowed Queen Catherine Parr, Thomas used his position to ingratiate himself with the young King Edward VI, allegedly offering him gifts and spreading rumors that Somerset was unfit to rule.

After Catherine Parr died, Thomas seemed to go off the deep end and had even more audacious schemes. He was supposedly arranging clandestine marriage negotiations with both the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth to try to raise his position. These actions came to light, and Somerset had little choice but to act decisively to protect his own standing. Thomas Seymour was arrested, charged with treason, and executed in 1549.

While the move eliminated a direct rival, it cast a shadow over Somerset. I mean, the man executed his own brother, right? Had his nephew execute his uncle. So there were a lot of whispers of instability and betrayal within his own family. There was also John Dudley, the Earl of Warwick, who would later become the Duke of Northumberland. Dudley skillfully positioned himself as an alternative leader, cultivating support among the disillusioned nobles.

His military success in quelling Kett's rebellion in 1549 also enhanced his reputation, while Somerset was falling because of his mishandling of the domestic and foreign crises. By 1549, Dudley began orchestrating efforts to undermine Somerset, aligning with influential figures to chip away, little bit by little bit, at the protector's authority.

Somerset's growing isolation at court culminated in a retreat, a desperate retreat to Windsor Castle. He took Edward VI with him to Windsor in late 1549, which was viewed very negatively. If you take the king with you to Windsor Castle, it kind of almost looks like a hostage situation. So the council turned against him, forcing his surrender and his removal as protector.

Though his life was initially spared, this was the beginning of the end for Somerset, and his enemies consolidated power and prepared for his ultimate downfall.

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The council saw this as a desperate and overreaching move, leading to accusations that Somerset was holding the king hostage. With the support of Dudley and other prominent figures, the council seized control, forcing Somerset to surrender and arresting him. He was stripped of his protectorship and charged with treason. Though spared execution, he was imprisoned in the tower.

Remarkably, he managed a brief return to favor in 1550. He publicly submitted to the council and acknowledged his missteps. He regained his freedom and even resumed his position on the Privy Council. For a time, he appeared to be rehabilitated, participating in court affairs under Dudley's leadership.

However, this return was short-lived. Somerset's continuing popularity among the people, particularly among his reform-minded Protestants, unnerved his enemies. Rumors of his plotting against Dudley circulated, whether based on fact or manipulated by his rivals.

In October 1551, Somerset was arrested again, this time on charges of conspiracy and treason. He was accused of plotting to overthrow Dudley and incite a rebellion. The charges included allegations that he planned to murder Dudley and seize control of the government. Despite his protests of innocence, Somerset's previous missteps and the political machinations of his enemies sealed his fate. He was convicted of felony treason and sentenced to death.

On January 22, 1552, Edward Seymour, once the most powerful man in England, was executed on Tower Hill. His fall marked the definitive end of the Seymour ascendancy, leaving his rival John Dudley to dominate the court. Somerset's execution showed the brutal reality of Tudor politics, where power could be quite fleeting and alliances were not something you could count on.

Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, has earned the nickname the Good Duke, a title that reflects the progressive and reformist ideals that he championed during his time as Lord Protector. His policies on the enclosures and social reform, though ultimately ineffective and politically damaging, showed a genuine concern for the plight of England's lower classes, an unusual perspective among Tudor nobility.

Also, his religious reforms, including the promotion of the Book of Common Prayer, left a lasting mark on England's Protestant identity.

But his legacy is far from unblemished. Critics point to his inability to navigate the balance of power within the Privy Council and his tendency to make unilateral decisions which alienated key allies. His poor handling of domestic uprisings and the factional disputes diminished his authority and destabilized the kingdom during Edward VI's minority. These shortcomings undermined the positive intentions behind his reforms and led to his ultimate downfall.

His influence on the young Edward VI is another significant aspect of his legacy. As the king's uncle and primary guardian, Somerset shaped Edward's early years and his Protestant education, fostering a vision of religious reform that would define the young monarch's reign. But his failure to secure Edward's support during his later political struggles shows the limitations of his approach.

So ultimately, the Duke of Somerset is a complex figure in Tudor history, simultaneously idealistic and flawed, progressive, yet politically inept. His tenure as Lord Protector set the stage for both Edward VI's reign and the rivalries that defined mid-Tudor England. So there we go, a little bit about Edward Seymour. If you want to dig into him even more, there's also some good historical fiction.

by Janet Wertman called The Path to Somerset. That's part of that Seymour saga trilogy that she has out. And I highly recommend her. I think I've done some interviews with her on Edward Seymour. So I will find those and link to those in the show notes as well.

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