“The fall of Somerset was principally due to the 1549 rebellions.” Assess the validity of this view.
During the final years of Henry VIII life he claimed that effective government should be carried out by council of 16 members. However, the last period of Henry VIII reign the reform faction were dominating and Edward Seymour managed to overthrow the regency council to become the ‘Protector’. Initially the rise of Somerset was a planned coup. But Somerset was arrogant and haughty which resulted in his fall from power in October 1549 after the rebellion against him throughout England. In this essay I am going to explore reasons behind Somerset’s fall, was it the rebellion or was there other factor that contributed to the fall.
It can be said that the rebellion played a considerable part in Somerset’s downfall because the two main rebellions were due to his social and religious policies. The Western Rebellion ‘the prayer book rebellion’ was sparked by the reformation of religion. This was because the reformations of religions were radical and completely changed people’s experience of religion. Especially, as the prayer book was translated from Latin to English and the western rebellions often referred to the new prayer book as a ‘Christmas game’. The most radical change in religion came when the Elevation of host got abolished and the attack of images of saints sparked off the acts of iconoclasm. Not only were the Western rebellions angry about the religious reformations but there were class tension between the peasants and rural labourers. Incidentally, to deal with the economical problems that were caused by enclosures Somerset placed taxes on sheep’s. Instantly this sparked the rebellion among the farmers who had few sheep’s and this proved that Somerset’s policies on economy was flawed. Also Somerset was instrumental in causing the Kett’s rebellion as a