Portal:Biography/Selected article/June 4

Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) became King of England and Ireland, on 28 January 1547, and was crowned on 20 February, at nine years of age. He also carried the English claim to the French throne, but he did not rule France. Edward, the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first born Protestant ruler. Edward's entire rule was mediated through a council of regency, as he never reached maturity. The council was first led by his uncle, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1547–1549), and then, after the Prayer Book Rebellion and Kett's Rebellion of 1549, by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1549–1553).

Although Henry VIII had severed the link between the English church and Rome, it was during Edward's reign that Protestantism was fully established for the first time in England, with Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, implementing the Book of Common Prayer. Edward's reign was marked by increasingly harsh Protestant reforms, the loss of control of any part of Scotland, and an economic downturn. A period of social unrest begun earlier intensified during his rule, and conflicts with the French increased. (Read more...)