King Edward VI of England

Edward VI
Portrait by circle of William Scrots, c. 1550
King of England and Ireland (more ...)
Reign	28 January 1547 – 6 July 1553
Coronation	20 February 1547
Predecessor	Henry VIII
Successor	Jane (disputed) or Mary I
Regents	See The Duke of Somerset (1547–1549) The Duke of Northumberland (1549–1553)
Born	(1537-10-12)12 October 1537 Hampton Court Palace, Middlesex, England
Died	6 July 1553(1553-07-06) (aged 15) Greenwich Palace, England
Burial	8 August 1553 Henry VII Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey, England
House	Tudor
Father	Henry VIII of England
Mother	Jane Seymour
Religion	Church of England
Signature

Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was England's first monarch to be raised as a Protestant. During his reign, the realm was governed by a Regency Council because he never reached his majority. The Council was first led by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1547–1549), and then by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick, from 1551 Duke of Northumberland.

Edward's reign was marked by economic problems and social unrest that, in 1549, erupted into riot and rebellion. An expensive war with Scotland, at first successful, ended with military withdrawal from Scotland as well as Boulogne-sur-Mer in exchange for peace. The transformation of the Church of England into a recognisably Protestant body also occurred under Edward, who took great interest in religious matters. Although his father, Henry VIII, had severed the link between the Church and Rome, Henry VIII had never permitted the renunciation of Catholic doctrine or ceremony. It was during Edward's reign that Protestantism was established for the first time in England with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the Mass and the imposition of compulsory services in English.

In February 1553, at age 15, Edward fell ill. When his sickness was discovered to be terminal, he and his Council drew up a "Devise for the Succession", attempting to prevent the country's return to Catholicism. Edward named his first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir and excluded his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. This decision was disputed following Edward's death, and Jane was deposed by Mary nine days after becoming queen. During her reign, Mary reversed Edward's Protestant reforms, which nonetheless became the basis of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement of 1559.