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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Edward VI
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(1537–1553) King of England and Ireland from 1547; the only son of Henry VIII; his mother, *Jane Seymour, died 12 days after he was born. The policy of the reign was at first dictated by the young king's uncle, Edward Seymour (c.1500–52), who became protector and duke of Somerset in 1547. Somerset was moderate in his religious policy; Cranmer's first *Book of Common Prayer, for example, imposed on the country in 1549, was not extreme in its Protestantism. But Somerset was ousted in that year by John Dudley, duke of Northumberland (1502–53), who had him imprisoned and later executed.
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Northumberland was unscrupulous and his policies were more aggressively anti-Catholic. Enriching himself with Roman Catholic properties, he married his son to Lady Jane *Grey (a great-granddaughter of Henry VII) and then persuaded the dying 16-year-old king to write a will bequeathing her the crown. The plot failed, and Edward was succeeded by his sister, *Mary I, who executed Northumberland for treason.
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