1500-Born
1536-Edward's sister Jane Seymour married Henry VIII . After the marriage Edward rose rapidly in Royal favour.
1537-Became Earl of Hertford.
1542-Appointed Lord High Admiral (a post he soon relinquished ).
1544-Edward commanded the English forces that invaded Scotland and sacked Edinburgh.
1545-Won a brilliant victory over the French at Boulogne.
1547-After the death of Henry VIII in January named protector by the regency council that Henry had nominated to run the government for the nine year old King Edward. he soon became Duke of Somerset and for two and a half years acted as king in all but name. His chief rival for power was John Dudley, earl of Warwick.
He was quite incapable of appreciating the complexities that faced him and delicacy with which he would have to tread in pursuit of his aims. His inheritance was a formidable one. The treasury was empty; prices were soaring owing to Henry's debasement of the currency; trade was in confusion, and the acquisition of monastic lands by the gentry had intensified the enclosure movement and consequent unemployment and distress of the peasants.
He tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade the Scots to join a voluntary union with England , but , was rejected.
September 10th destroyed the chances of a reconciliation by invading Scotland and defeating the Scots at the Battle of Pinkie.
In domestic affairs, the protector proceeded with moderation in consolidating the Protestant Reformation in England. He repealed Henry VIII's heresy laws, which had made it treason to attack the kings leadership of the church.
1549-January Parliament endorsed by Edward Seymore passed the Act of Uniformity enforcing the use of the Book of Common Prayer, a simplified form of service in English instead of the old Latin Mass to which the people had been accustomed for centuries.
It was Edwards attempts to aid the rural poor by forbidding enclosures-the taking of the propertied classes for pasturage of arable common land -that led to Somerset's downfall. The landowners foiled his efforts, the desperate peasants revolted.
October-Edward was swept from power and imprisoned by a coalition of Warwick and the propertied classes.
1550-When the relationship bettwen the landed classes and Warwick broke down Somerset was released and reconciled with his rival.
1551-Warwick now bearing the title Duke of Northumberland had Somerset imprisoned on a trumped up charge of treason.
1552-Executed January 22nd London.