Curriculum Portal

neurologyYou need to know

• dward VI and royal authority
• Edward's age, character, education and Protestant beliefs.
• The problems created by a child monarch and the arrangements made in Henry VIII's will.
• The establishment of the Regency Council and the rise of Edward Seymour.
• Seymour's assumption of the titles of Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector.
• The strengths and limitations of royal authority during Edward's minority.
• Edward's growing involvement in government and religion.
• The extent to which Edward was controlled by his leading ministers.
• Somerset's government, 1547–1549
• Somerset's character, aims and style of government.
• His reliance on his household and proclamations rather than the Privy Council.
• Relations between Somerset, the Council and the nobility.
• His social and economic policies, including enclosure commissions.
• The causes and effects of inflation, debasement, taxation, unemployment and poverty.
• Somerset's response to social and economic problems.
• The causes and consequences of the Western Rebellion, 1549.
• The causes and consequences of Kett's Rebellion, 1549.
• Somerset's response to unrest and the reasons for his fall in 1549.
• The extent to which Somerset weakened royal government.
• Northumberland's government, 1549–1553
• John Dudley's rise to power and his assumption of the title Duke of Northumberland.
• Northumberland's character, aims and more conciliar style of government.
• Reforms to the Privy Council and financial administration.
• Attempts to restore order, reduce expenditure and stabilise the currency.
• Changes to enclosure and social policy.
• Relations between Northumberland, Edward and the political elite.
• The extent to which royal government and finances had recovered by 1553.
• Northumberland's fall and execution following the succession crisis.
• Foreign policy
• The aims and costs of war against Scotland.
• Somerset's attempt to enforce the marriage of Edward VI and Mary, Queen of Scots—the "Rough Wooing".
• The Battle of Pinkie, 1547, and occupation of Scottish strongholds.
• French intervention in Scotland and Mary's removal to France.
• War with France and the strategic and financial pressures it created.
• Northumberland's withdrawal from Scotland and the Treaty of Boulogne, 1550.
• The return of Boulogne to France and its political and financial significance.
• The extent to which foreign policy strengthened or weakened the regime.
• Religion and intellectual developments
• Edward's Protestant beliefs and the influence of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.
• The religious aims and policies of Somerset and Northumberland.
• The abolition of chantries, removal of images and attacks on traditional practices.
• The First Book of Common Prayer and Act of Uniformity, 1549.
• The more radical Second Book of Common Prayer and Act of Uniformity, 1552.
• The Forty-Two Articles, 1553, and development of Protestant doctrine.
• Changes to church services, decoration and clerical practices.
• The influence of European reformers and Protestant refugees.
• The continued importance of humanism, education, printing and religious debate.
• Regional and popular reactions to religious change.
• The extent to which England was Protestant by 1553.
• Social and economic change
• Population growth, harvest failures, inflation and declining real wages.
• Enclosure, unemployment, vagrancy and rural social tensions.
• The effects of taxation, warfare and continued debasement.
• The social consequences of dissolving chantries and religious guilds.
• The redistribution and sale of former Church property.
• The impact of religious change on parish communities and traditional charity.
• The effectiveness of government responses, including poor-relief legislation.
• The extent to which economic and religious grievances were linked.
• Rebellion and disorder
• The scale and geographical distribution of unrest in 1549.
• Religious grievances behind the Western Rebellion.
• Economic, social and political grievances behind Kett's Rebellion.
• The rebels' demands, organisation and methods.
• The roles of local communities, landowners and government forces.
• The similarities and differences between the two rebellions.
• What the rebellions reveal about royal authority, religious change and social tension.
• The succession crisis of 1553
• Henry VIII's succession settlement and the positions of Mary and Elizabeth.
• Edward's opposition to the accession of his Catholic half-sister Mary.
• Edward's Devise for the Succession and the nomination of Lady Jane Grey.
• Northumberland's dynastic and religious interests.
• The accession and brief rule of Lady Jane Grey in July 1553.
• Reasons for Mary Tudor's rapid success and Jane's failure.
• The significance of the crisis for royal authority and the Tudor succession.

• Assess the problems created by Edward VI's minority.
• Evaluate Edward's personal contribution to government and religious policy.
• Compare the character, aims and leadership of Somerset and Northumberland.
• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of Somerset's protectorate.
• Explain why Somerset fell from power in 1549.
• Evaluate Northumberland's success in restoring political and financial stability.
• Judge whether Northumberland governed primarily in his own interests or the Crown's.
• Analyse the strengths and limitations of royal authority between 1547 and 1553.
• Explain the aims, outcomes and costs of foreign policy.
• Compare Somerset's and Northumberland's approaches to Scotland and France.
• Assess the causes and consequences of economic and social problems.
• Explain how religious and economic changes affected different social groups and regions.
• Compare the causes, aims, events and consequences of the Western and Kett's rebellions.
• Judge how seriously the rebellions threatened the Tudor state.
• Explain how and why religious policy became increasingly Protestant.
• Assess the roles of Edward, Cranmer, Somerset and Northumberland in religious change.
• Evaluate the influence of humanism and European religious thought.
• Judge the extent to which England had become Protestant by 1553.
• Explain the causes and events of the succession crisis.
• Assess responsibility for the attempt to exclude Mary from the throne.
• Explain why Lady Jane Grey failed and Mary secured the Crown.
• Reach supported judgements about the stability and effectiveness of Edwardian government.
• Identify patterns of change and continuity from Henry VIII's reign.
• Analyse primary sources using content, provenance, tone, purpose and historical context.
• Evaluate historical interpretations and support conclusions with precise evidence.