Edward VI: The Lost King of England [Paperback]

Edward VI seems to many just the boy king in between the great Henry VIII and is famous half isters "Bloody Mary" and legendary Queen Elizabeth I., the King who wanted to deprive us of Queen Elizabeth by passing his throne to the Lady Jane Grey. The main thing seems to be the story of his birth, him being a male and the quest by Henry VIII for a male heir.

What he really did and whether his rule of merely six years had any impact seems to have been overlooked or ignored. How could a king who died at the age of 15 have an impact at all? His regents - the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland - are of more importance.

Christopher Skidmore in his biography of Edward VI tries to establish for the first time his significant personal impact on the history of his country. He was the first real protestant king of England!! Edward VI is not the constant sick boy-king of no will of his own, but a healthy, vigorous, precocious, like all Tudor princes and princesses highly educated, and decisive. Here emerges a new perspective to his personality and his reign which did not lack drama.

I like the style and the new look on Edward and his reign. He has a point of not dismissing him as a mere tool in the hands of ambious politicians. However, I feel she pushes it maybe a bit too far. I see more potential, a boy-king who starts to exercise his powers before the final illness caught up with him. He has definitely the "power gene" of the Tudor kings and queens. Where one would have ended up with him, is mere speculation. The extremely protestant streak - like in Lady Jane Grey, his chosen successor - is more worrying than encouraging. I am not sure that he would have the genius of his half-sister Elizabeth. I could easily seem him going down the route of his catholic half-sister Mary. Whatever you personally think of him and his reign, this book is worthwhile a read as it encourage you to re-think this period of the English history.

Most books on the Tudors centre on Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. There are few dedicated solely to Edward VI and his short reign despite events in it being as important.

Christopher Skidmore writes informatively if sometimes a little coldly and perfunctorily about the key events of the reign; the real beginnings of Protestantism in England and the rise and fall of both Somerset and Northumberland.

However, the title of the book misleads the reader into thinking Edward will be central. Skidmore gives Edward equal weight with Somerset and Northumberland as he should do; it being impossible to do otherwise. He should have themed the book around his revisionist view that Somerset and Northumberland weren't as dominant as is traditionally thought. He believes Edward was central to the reign's religious changes and was instigator in naming Lady Jane Grey as his successor; the most interesting aspects of the book. He, however, misses the opportunity by not going further. Most disappointing is he fails to discuss what Edward's legacy would have been if he lived longer. Maybe Skidmore is frightened to come to the conclusion that a longer reign could have been as intolerant as Mary I's.

It's a good enough read for someone who has never read a book dedicated solely to Edward, but for those well read in Tudor history Skidmore offers nothing more than a new book of the reign and a wasted opportunity.

This is a well written biography by a brilliant young scholar (annoyingly, only 26 when this was published) and now Member of Parliament, about a brilliant young king caught up in the turbulent politics of Tudor England. Edward was the longed for son of Henry VIII, and only nine years old when his father died. Edward himself died at the age of 15, when he was on the cusp of taking the full reigns of power.

Death is a recurring theme of this biography, and for a modern reader it is a sobering reminder of how different our world is from that of previous generations. Edward's mother (Jane Seymour) died soon after he was born of blood poisoning caused by poor hygiene. Edward probably died of TB.

I am grateful for modern medicine.

Edward led a gilded yet very constrained childhood, with little contact with his father. Educated from birth to be king he was unusually gifted, showing an intellectual flair that was extraordinary. He was also committed to the Reformation cause, with a conviction that intensified as he grew older. Reading this biography, one of the most striking things is the role that religion played in public and private life in the Tudor age. Everyone was a believer - and what they believed really mattered. Faith was at the centre of all life and activity in a way that is almost incomprehensible now. Following Henry's partial Reformation, the extent to which England would become truly Reformed, or slip back into Catholicism was the most crucial issue of the day, and Edward held all the promise of being "a new Josiah" who would lead his nation into a glorious new age.

As religion was so central to every aspect of life, the change from Catholicism to Protestantism had an impact on day to day life that is very hard for the modern mind to grasp. Reformation really did make everything different - the whole cycle of life and established pattern of being was turned on its head. And not everyone was happy with this change. It was also a time of economic change and turmoil, as wealthy landowners enclosed common land to turn it over to sheep production, leading to popular uprisings and great discontent.

In this religious and economic maelstrom Edward's council sought to hold the nation together, and jockey for power. Much of this story is the rivalry between the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland. In the end, both were destroyed by their ambition, and lost their heads at the block.

The last Machiavellian twist of Edward's reign was a `devise' to disinherit his half sisters Mary and Elizabeth, and redirect the succession to the resolutely Protestant Lady Jane Grey. Jane was Queen for only nine days, before the council and the nation switched allegiance to Mary.

On Edwards death Calvin wrote that England had `been deprived of an incomparable treasure of which it was unworthy. By the death of one youth, the whole nation has been bereaved of the best of fathers.' Mary's rise to power meant the crushing of the Reformation, and the remorseless persecution of those who favoured it. What the course of history may have been had Edward enjoyed a long reign is a matter of fascinating conjecture.