Edward VI: The Lost King of England

The birth of Edward on October 12, 1537, ended his father's twenty-seven-year wait for an heir. Nine years later, Edward was on the throne, a boy-king in a court where manipulation, treachery, and plotting were rife.

Henry VIII's death in January 1547 marked the end of a political giant whose reign had dominated his kingdom with an iron grip for thirty-eight years. Few could remember an England without him—-certainly little had remained untouched: the monasteries and friaries had been ripped down, the Pope's authority discarded, and new authoritarian laws had been introduced that placed his subjects under constant fear of death.

Edward came to the throne promising a new start; the harsh legislation of his father's was repealed and the country's social and economic problems approached with greater sensitivity. Yet the early...