EDWARD VI, king of England: b. Hamp ton Court, England, 12 Oct. 1537; d. Greenwich, 6 July 1553. He was the son of Henry VIII by Jane Seymour. At his father's death he was only 10 years of age, and as he did not live to attain majority, the public acts of his reign are to be deemed those of his counsellors. His education was entrusted to men of the first character for learning, among whom was Sir John Cheke. He was studious, somewhat re tiring, devout, and showed a decided prefer ence for the reformed doctrines, and antipathy to those of the Roman Catholic Church. Prot estantism made rapid advances in the kingdom. The churches were divested of images, Henry's 'Bloody Statute' was repealed; Crammer and Ridley were ordered to prepare a new service book which was authorized for use in the kingdom. After his father's death his mater nal uncle, the Duke of Somerset, became pro tector. He sent forces against Scotland under
Seymour to punish that government for its re fusal to consent to the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to Edward. The Scots were defeated at Pinkie, 1547. Somerset's administration raised up suchpowerful enemies, among them John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, that he was brought to the scaffold with the king's consent (1552). After his death, Dudley, who had been created Duke of Northumberland, became all-powerful, and through his influence Ed ward, in a declining state of health, was in duced to set aside the succession of both his sisters, and to settle the crown upon Lady Jane Grey, claiming through his father'syoungest sister, the Duchess of Suffolk. Edward's principal benefit to the kingdom was in the res toration of the grammar schools. Consult Innes, 'England under the Tudors' (London 1905).