SOMERSET 1547-1550
Religion
➢ He had personal sympathy with Protestant ideas and recognised the sensitivity in
making religious changes and tried to adopt a moderate and cautious approach
➢ Exiled Protestants who fled persecution returned from Europe after Henry VIII’s
death but their radical demands in towns they settled in, caused clashes within the
local community
➢ The reform faction controlled the government and wanted to see reform but English
bishops were split on whether to support more changes
➢ The relaxation of press censorship caused a large increase in the number of
pamphlets and writings against Catholicism and the circulation of Martin Luther
writings
➢ Measures were introduced which undid the Six Articles Act and rules that supported
English Bibles and services.
➢ November 1547, Parliament met to enact religious change but legislation (law) didn’t
actually change
➢ The Treason Act repealed the Six Articles Act and the heresy, treason and
censorship laws which ruined religious debate
➢ The Chantries Act abolished the Chantries as the main function of a chantry was to
pray for the dead which was a Catholic practice. It was done more to raise money for
the Scottish war than for religious reasons, and until the war was over the
government felt secure to take action to sort out the religious policy by passing the
Act of Uniformity
➢ 1549 Act of Uniformity - imposed a single standard of worship across England to end
religious discord. It required English to be used as the language of worship and
congregations should be offered bread and wine during communion.
➢ Alongside this, Archbishop Cranmer introduced a new Prayer Book which informed
how services should be. It was a neutral book which didn’t deny the central Catholic
idea that the priest transformed the bread and wine but also gave the impression that
the priest was commemorating the event, reassuring Protestants (they didn’t believe
the bread and wine became the body and blood).
➢ Somerset dismantled obstacles to religious change that the conservative faction
imposed, whilst avoiding religious chaos.
Foreign Policy
● Somerset was bound by Henry’s will to arrange the marriage between Edward and
Mary Queen of Scots but the Scottish didn’t want this.
● Somerset hoped to isolate Scotland by agreeing an alliance with France but the new
king wanted to assert himself, so sent a fleet of warships with 4,000 troops to
Scotland.
● Somerset then had to intervene in Scotland with a joint land and naval invasion. The
Scottish army was large but poorly equipped compared to the English and were
defeated at the Battle of Pinkie, giving the English control of the border region but
success was limited as the army wasn’t strong enough to occupy Scotland
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