- Argument‹2 of 2
Edward VI introduced serious Protestant reforms
Henry VIII had broken with Rome but had not instituted many reforms. Edward VI was a sincere Protestant who introduced many important ideas that would shape England forever.
The argument
Edward VI was raised by Protestant tutors and had sincere beliefs unlike his father Henry, and that difference in conviction is what changed the character of the Reformation in England. He was surrounded by important protestant ministers, including Edward Seymour, who was Lord Protector when the nine-year-old King came to the throne. A child monarch meant that the men governing in his name set the direction of policy, and those men were reformers: the Seymour family pushed for wider more serious reforms, and Lord Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who replaced him, was also an important reformer. The contrast with the previous reign shows what that produced. Henry VIII had changed very little apart from ending papal supremacy — a change of jurisdiction rather than of religion, which left worship largely as it had been. Under Edward VI, churches were stripped of their decorations, altars removed, and priests were banned from wearing vestments. In addition, priests could now marry and church services were in English, and a new English prayer book was introduced, written by Archbishop Cranmer. These were not administrative adjustments but alterations to what ordinary people saw, heard, and did in church every week. That is why the reign proved so difficult to reverse. Although he was not always popular, his influence was impossible for his catholic successor to undo, because a congregation that had worshipped in its own language from a printed book had acquired a habit that had to be broken rather than a policy that could simply be repealed. Under Edward VI, England's protestant future became an inevitability. Mary's reign would be unpopular and was not able to reverse the vision of a protestant England Edward had created.
Premises
Counter-arguments
Edward’s reign was wracked by religious turmoil including the Kett Rebellion in Norfolk and rebellions in Cornwall. Many people were not happy with the new English church service. Upon his death, his chosen protestant successor, Lady Jane Grey, was swiftly deposed and executed. In spite of being catholic Mary had little trouble attaining the throne. The conflict between new religious ideas and Catholicism would continue long after Edward's reign. Elizabeth did a better job of proposing a more reasonable and widely accepted version of Protestantism. Edward’s reforms by contrast had not been very popular. Edward VI’s reforms were still extremely controversial, and his short reign did not make much difference to England’s beliefs overall.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] Sincerity of belief is a claim about a king and his ministers rather than about what caused the Reformation — and Edward came to the throne at nine, which makes the influence run from the council to the crown rather than the reverse. [Rejecting P2] Doctrinal reform under Edward was real but contested and brief. The counter-argument points to the Western and Kett risings against the new order, to Mary's untroubled accession over Edward's chosen Protestant successor, and to Elizabeth's settlement as the version that actually held. That tells against both the claim that a Protestant England had become inevitable and the treatment of a six-year reign as the point at which the Reformation began rather than one stage within it.