[1] Latimer’s first sermon before King Edward VI, 8th of March, 1549.

362.  Edward establishes Protestantism, 1549.

Henry VIII had made the Church of England independent of the Pope (S349).  His son took the next great step, and made it practically Protestant in doctrine.  At his desire, Archbishop Cranmer compiled a book of Common Prayer in English.  It was taken largely from the Roman Catholic Prayer Book, which was in Latin (1549).  The first Act of Uniformity, 1549 (reenacted 1552), obliged all churches to use the new English Prayer Book, thereby, (for the time) establishing a modified form of Protestantism throughout England (S405).[2]

[2] On the Church of England, see Macaulay’s “England,” I, 40-42.

Edward’s sister, the Princess Mary, was a most devout Catholic.  She refused to adopt the new service, saying to Bishop Ridley, who urged her to accept it as God’s word, “I cannot tell what you call God’s word, for that is not God’s word now which was God’s word in my father’s time.”  It was at this period (1552) that the Articles of Religion of the Church of England were first drawn up; but they did not take their final form until the reign of Elizabeth (S383).

363.  King Edward and Mary Stuart.

Henry VIII had attempted to marry his son Edward to young Queen Mary Stuart, a daughter of the King of Scotland, but the match had been broken off.  Edward’s guardian now insisted that it should be carried out.  He invaded Scotland with an army, and attempted to effect the marriage by force of arms, at the battle of Pinkie (1547).

The English gained a decided victory, but the youthful Queen, instead of giving her hand to young King Edward, left the country and married the son of the King of France.  She will appear with melancholy prominence in the reign of Elizabeth.  Had Mary Queen of Scots married Edward, we should perhaps have been spared that tragedy in which she was called to play both the leading and the losing part (SS394-397).

364.  Renewed Confiscation of Church Property; Schools founded.

The confiscation of such Roman Catholic church property as had been spared was now renewed (S352).  The result of this confiscation and of the abandonment of Catholicism as the established form of worship was in certain respects disastrous to the country.  In the general break-up, many who had been held in restraint by the old form of faith now went to the other extreme, and rejected all religion.

Part of the money obtained from the sale of church property was devoted, mainly through Edward’s influence, to the endowment of upwards of forty grammar schools, besides a number of hospitals, in different sections of the country.  But for a long time the destruction of the monastic schools (SS45, 60), poor as many of them had become, was a serious blow to the education of the common people.

365.  Edward’s London Charities; Christ’s Hospital.