Personal Religious Beliefs of Edward Vi, Mary I and Elizabeth

2024 Words9 Pages
‘The personal religious beliefs of Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I explain the religious changes of the years 1547-66’ How far do you agree with this opinion? The personal religious beliefs of Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I had most definitely impacted upon the religious reform of 1547-66. This essay intends to assess to what extent of individual personal religious beliefs shaped the spiral of religious change. When Edward VI acceded the throne at the age of nine, the upsurge of the Protestant faction had overshadowing the new king with their influence. Edward was raised as a Protestant by those closest to him, including his step-mother Catherine Parr and his tutor Sir Richard Coxe, whom he was delighted in surrounding himself with those whose views, he shared. Edward’s devotion to Protestantism can be seen through his efforts to force his sister Mary to submit to the new religion, but was greatly frustrated when she wished to maintain her Catholic practices. Thus it is safe to argue that Edward’s ‘personal’ religious beliefs contributed to the full-scale introduction of Protestantism that followed his reign. However, aside from Edward’s personal religious beliefs, he was dominated by his father’s radical Protestant ministers who used the Regency to strengthen their own position. With the king still a minor- and with the authority of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset as Lord Protector, the control of religious affairs had passed to Parliament. In being so religious change under Somerset from 1547-49 followed a more radical but moderate path of Protestantism. Guiding or can been seen as dominating Edwards reign for the first two and a half years, Somerset alongside Cranmer were intent on making England a truly Protestant state. The road to Protestantism had begun with the abolishment of the Act of Six Articles and the heresy laws, while the
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