Edward VI (1537-1553)

King Edward VI's coronation medal. The boy-king was a brilliant scholar, deeply interested in theological speculation, and during his short reign the Protestant Reformation in England advanced significantly.

King of England from 1547, only son of Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour. The government was entrusted to his uncle, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (who fell from power in 1549), and then to the Earl of Warwick, John Dudley, later created Duke of Northumberland. He was succeeded by his half-sister Mary I.

Edward became a staunch Protestant, and during his reign the Reformation progressed in England under Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (see Reformation, England). Edward died of tuberculosis, and his will, probably prepared by Northumberland, set aside that of his father so as to exclude his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, from the succession. He nominated Lady Jane Grey, a granddaughter of Henry VII, who had recently married Northumberland's son. Technically Jane reigned for nine days, and was deposed by Mary I.