Assess the view that the mid Tudor crisis was caused by religious change made by Henry VIII

Mid Tudor Crisis contains of the religious changes, war, succession, economic problems, political changes and problems and finally rebellions. The factor that progressed the Mid Tudor crisis was the economic failure of Somerset and his polices which lead to famine and uprising, with civil war becoming imminent to England.
The monarchy was in serious turmoil due to religious changes made through the successors. Edward was raised a protestant so his religious goal was to continue the change made previous by his father, however Mary had a catholic upbringing, due to her influence of Charles so she would want to turn the country catholic again. Hutton refers to Edward as being a personal problem to the protestant reform of religion as he puts it, “Edward was simply not up to managing the inheritance of Henry VIII.” Henry had started the change and therefore influenced his son Edward as he was going to be Henry’s first heir to the throne due to him being male. However when Mary gets to the throne she will want to turn the whole country (that are now supporting Protestantism) back to Catholicism. This would send the population into confusion and turmoil as the people were being forced to think and do one thing and then drastically change it the next, not knowing which way of Christianity to follow. In support of this statement the mid Tudor crisis was caused by the succession of the royal family due to each one having their own religious thoughts on how the country should be run.
The royal finances were already difficult by the end of Henry’s reign and Somerset as Lord Protector ruined the currency leading to possibly one of the bloodiest rebellions in history, over 8500 men killed. With Somerset’s battles and experiences with Scotland, the public had to deal with crushing taxes to fund them, which eventually lead to England being in debt. “Somerset continued his policies… might well have pushed the crown into bankruptcy had he not been removed.” Somerset therefore disrupts society, which now it is up to Northumberland to get the taxes down and find the right solution to get England out of debt and back into its full Glory. This therefore shows that religion had not part in the mid Tudor crisis it down to the economical flaws of Somerset’s policies and battles with Scotland that lead to the debt and almost bankruptcy of this great nation.
Rebellions played a big role in the Mid Tudor Crisis as the economic problems lead to these rebellions and great famine throughout this time period. For example the Wyatt’s rebellion, he managed to raise 3000 men against the government shows the capability and willingness of the public. Furthermore the Kett’s rebellion managed to defeat Northumberland army in the first main attack, again showing how motivated the public are, however on the second attack all of the opposing army were slayed. John Guy said this “The 1549 rebellion was the closest this Tudor England saw to a civil war.” This happened during the crisis showing how unstable the country was. No one case was responsible for the Crisis as the economics, social problems and rebellions fuelled into one. Also in the summer crops had failed to produce food and Somerset added to the problem by rising taxes even further to counter act this. In relation to the crisis, rebellions were the cause of this due to the economy failing and the social unrest leading to eventual rebellions of the country.
Although Edward, Somerset and Northumberland carried on the reformation, Marys Counter Reformation led to less unrest because the public were happy with Mary changes. This is because there were large scale absences in Edwardian churches and Mar’s churches and religion were the most popular choice of the public. Mary made the choice to go back to Catholicism so she had to buy back altars, saints, and pughes and other Catholic ways of worship that were previously taken away by the Edwardian reign. This had to be done by raising taxes which led to unrest of the public as more money had to be giving to the government to fund the new reformation.
Using all the evidence provided, it is clear to see that the driving force behind the mid Tudor crisis was the economic unrest and failure of the Government and the Monarchy. This is because these economic problems that Somerset made lead the country to almost bankruptcy requiring enormous amount of effort to get the country back up again. Furthermore the reason the rebellions, which almost bought the country to civil war , occurred was because economic and social unrest caused famine and increased taxes leaving people no choice but to stand up for their own lives and take action.