13. Instability and consolidation: 'the mid-Tudor Crisis'. 1547-63

Somerset and the problems of government

• ·         Short term – continuation of the war against Scotland and France. Seen as a matter of pride.
• ·         The idea was to force the marriage between Mary Queen of Scots and Edward VI.
• ·         In 1539, Henry VIII had passed the Act of Six Articles which restricted the growth of Protestantism.
• ·         Pressure was now growing to repeal this act and allow a more Protestant form of worship.
• ·         This was led by the Bishops Latimer and Ridley.
• ·         Somerset did not want to risk losing Parliament support as he feared this would result in his administration losing powers.

Revenue

• ·         In 1547 the government was bankrupt.
• ·         By 1546 Henry had spent £2,100,000 on the war and borrowed another £152,000 from continental bankers.
• ·         To pay for that he sold off monastic land seized between 1538 and 1540 as well as some Crown Lands.
• ·         As a result, by 1547 Crown income was only £200,000.
• ·         This was not enough to run the country let alone fight a war.
• ·         However, instead of reforming taxation and custom duties which would have alienated his supporters, Somerset fell back on seizing more Church property (like Chantries) and debasing the coinage.

Laws and Proclamation 1547-8

• ·         New Treason Act passed in 1547 repealed the old heresy, treason and censorship laws, and the Act of Six Articles.
• ·         Removal of heresy laws allowed Lutheran and Calvinist literature to proliferate and have been taken as evidence of Somerset’s tolerant attitude.
• ·         However, a more cynical approach may argue that Somerset was simply clearing the way for religious reform.
• ·         The removal of The Treason Act led to widespread iconoclasm.
• ·         At the same time the authorities now had little authority to deal with the breakdown of law and order.
• ·         The new Treason Act also repealed the Proclamation Act of 1539 that stated Proclamation should be treated as Acts of Parliament provided they did not infringe existing laws.
• ·         It appeared that Somerset was trying to rule by Proclamation.
• ·         However, the evidence does not bear this out as although 77 proclamations were issued by Somerset, more than half of those issued under Edward VI, it would appear this was simply a means to react quickly to changing circumstances and saw no protest from Parliament.