1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:17,439 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Listener discretion advised. There is 3 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: a boy in bed so sick he can barely lift 4 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: his head without coughing and sputtering. His skin is covered 5 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: in ulcers. His feet and head are both swollen. There 6 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:35,640 Speaker 1: are whispers from his doctors murmuring that he has a 7 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:40,519 Speaker 1: month to live, maybe two, no more. The boy is 8 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 1: not yet sixteen years old. From certain angles, he looks 9 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: like his sweet mother. The boy is so thin from 10 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,879 Speaker 1: illness that you would have to squint for him to 11 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 1: look anything like his famously large, hearty father. Still, the 12 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: boy has enough energy to call his counsel to him, 13 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: telling them that there's something that he has to do. 14 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: After all, he's not dead yet. The counselors exchange glances. 15 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: What the sick boy is asking them to do might 16 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 1: be treasonous, But then again, maybe that's not possible, because 17 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: this is not just any mortally ill boy. The boy 18 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: is the King of England. The judges and council must 19 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: obey his commands and sign the order of succession. This 20 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: boy demands that cuts out the boy's two sisters, upending 21 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 1: the explicit desires of his father, Henry the Eighth, who 22 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:50,120 Speaker 1: looms large in the room. Despite his death six years prior, 23 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: Henry the Eighth had been able to declare his plan 24 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: for the line of succession back when he was alive. 25 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: He wanted his son and then his daughter his first wife, 26 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: Catherine of Aragon, and then his daughter by Anne Boleyn. 27 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: But if Henry the Eighth had been allowed to make 28 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: the line of succession back when he was king, well, 29 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 1: now that Edward the sixth was king, he could decide 30 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: the line of succession for himself. He could amend his 31 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:26,360 Speaker 1: late father's plans. The councilman nod grimacing slightly. If this 32 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: plan should go awry, well, this ill boy would soon 33 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,639 Speaker 1: be dead, and they, the signers, would be the ones 34 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: considered treasonous and left to face the consequences. Still, at 35 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: this moment, he is their king. The boy holds his 36 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: handkerchief to his mouth and takes it away, revealing blood. 37 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: If this was a movie, the meaning in that imagery 38 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:59,919 Speaker 1: would be very clear. It's June fifteen fifty three in Greenwich, England, 39 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: on the banks of the Thames River. In one month, 40 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,360 Speaker 1: King Edward the sixth will be dead. He will be 41 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: remembered only as the short lived, barely reigning boy King 42 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: of England, the much desired male heir that Henry the 43 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 1: Eighth killed and divorced all those wives. For the story 44 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: of Edward's father, King Henry the Eighth is well known 45 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: in the popular imagination. This podcast did a series on 46 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: his six wives, according to the British nursery rhyme, now 47 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: set to music in the Broadway musical six Divorced, Beheaded, died, divorced, Beheaded, 48 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: survived the story of his sisters who came to the 49 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: throne after him. Mary and Elizabeth are also famous. Mary 50 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: would be known sometimes in history as Bloody Mary, champion 51 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: of Catholicism. Elizabeth would, of course ring in the long 52 00:03:55,440 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: Golden Elizabethan age as the Virgin Queen. They Mary and 53 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: Elizabeth were the first accepted women to rule England as 54 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: Queen's But comparatively forgotten as he might be, there was 55 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: actually one man in the middle of those famous figures, 56 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,960 Speaker 1: while not even a man really a boy, a son 57 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:22,279 Speaker 1: born to the beautiful Jane Seymour, wife of Henry the Eighth, 58 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: and the one that he loved best, the only wife 59 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: who died a natural death while still married to him. 60 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:33,039 Speaker 1: That little boy, their son, never got to grow up. 61 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: He is England's lost king, dead before his sixteenth birthday, 62 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: barely a blip in English histories between the enormous stories 63 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: of his father and his two sisters. But he had 64 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: a story too. It was a story that ended fast 65 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:55,920 Speaker 1: and short, but a story that echoed and inverted his 66 00:04:56,040 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: father's because Edward too was a man surrounded by women 67 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 1: in a time when every dynasty needed a man. He 68 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:09,039 Speaker 1: loved his sisters, and yet he tried with everything he 69 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:13,720 Speaker 1: had to leave a legacy that did not include them. 70 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: I'm Danish Schwartz and this is noble blood. The story 71 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: of Edward the sixth started on October twelfth, fifteen thirty seven, 72 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 1: with England's King Henry the Eighth, a nervous wreck. Henry 73 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: was a man of action who lived to jump onto 74 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 1: his horses and ride out into a hunt. But for 75 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:45,800 Speaker 1: now all he could do was pace and wait. His 76 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: third wife, Jane Seymour, was in her thirtieth hour of 77 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: labor in Hampton Court Palace. King Henry had already divorced 78 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: one wife who had failed him, and beheaded another. Both 79 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: had Lain in labor two and both had given him 80 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: only daughters. He had whispered to this third wife's growing belly, 81 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:11,920 Speaker 1: Edward Edward. He had ensured no women or midwives would 82 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 1: be present at the birth, only the best doctors, men, 83 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 1: and sweet Jane Seymour, formerly Lady in waiting to his 84 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: earlier queen, gave birth to a son, at last, the 85 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: only thing Henry had wanted. She Jane would be the 86 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:36,840 Speaker 1: best of all of his wives. Immediately, church bells clanged 87 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:41,479 Speaker 1: throughout London, two thousand rounds of ammunition shot from the 88 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:46,160 Speaker 1: tower guards, free wine and beer poured into the streets. 89 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:50,359 Speaker 1: A circular went out announcing the birth of a quote 90 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: prince conceived in most lawful matrimony. Supposedly, the announcement was 91 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: sent by Queen Jane, but the labor had been difficult 92 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:04,919 Speaker 1: and it's unlikely she'd have delivered the address. Still, the 93 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: language in the announcement was notable. The king had deemed 94 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: his daughters Mary and Elizabeth illegitimate. They were both born 95 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: while he had been married to their mothers, Yes Mary 96 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:23,679 Speaker 1: from Catherine of Aragon, Elizabeth from the Traitoress and Bolin. 97 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: But in the end Henry had to deem each marriage 98 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: illegitimate in order to continue on to the next marriage. 99 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: With this child his son, there would be no question 100 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 1: Edward was the most lawful. He was the heir. After 101 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: baby Edward's birth, two royal gatherings took place in quick succession. 102 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:53,960 Speaker 1: First Edward's christening, a most happy occasion. On October fifteenth, 103 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: fifteen thirty seven, the King and Queen received guests in 104 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: their bedchamber. Jane, dressed in velvet and fur, sitting on 105 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 1: a pallette beside her husband. Edward's sister, Mary, aged twenty 106 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:12,400 Speaker 1: one at this point, was godmother. Edward's sister Elizabeth, only 107 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: four years old, came in carrying the baptismal chrism the 108 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 1: anointments for her brother. She was carried by Jane's brother, 109 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: Edward Seymour, remember that name. It was a joyous family 110 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: scene for both little Edward and all of England. But 111 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 1: nine days later, Jane Seymour died, and so began the 112 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: second gathering in Edward's short life, the funeral ceremonies for 113 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: his mother. His sister Mary was chief mourner. Edward and 114 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:51,679 Speaker 1: his mother had only shared the earth for twelve short days, 115 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: but despite this early tragedy. Edward's childhood was mostly happy. 116 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: He seemed to love his sister's man and Elizabeth, who 117 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 1: seemed to love him too, particularly the much older Mary. 118 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:09,719 Speaker 1: Both sisters were more welcomed into the fold by their 119 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,559 Speaker 1: father now that the male line of succession was assured. 120 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:17,240 Speaker 1: In Edward's diary, he wrote that he was brought up 121 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: quote among the women until the age of six. He 122 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: knew his wet nurse, dry nurse under nurse cradle Rockers, 123 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: and his father was extremely protective. As a baby, Edward's 124 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: room was scrubbed daily, dirty utensils and food were not 125 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 1: allowed near him, and his clothes tested for poison. You 126 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,320 Speaker 1: can understand why Henry was so careful, given all that 127 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: he had to go through to get his precious son. 128 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:53,319 Speaker 1: Still little, Edward's childhood was far from sterile. Acrobats and 129 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: tumblers performed for his entertainment. He watched bear's fight in 130 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:02,400 Speaker 1: his menagerie. His Mary would watch the minstrels with him, 131 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:06,040 Speaker 1: and she gave them rewards for delighting her younger brother. 132 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:10,440 Speaker 1: Edward didn't see his father often, but Henry doated on 133 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: him when they did see each other. In fifteen forty three, 134 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:18,880 Speaker 1: Henry married his sixth and final wife. I mean he 135 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 1: wasn't so happy with a single male heir that he 136 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: didn't divorce and behead two other wives during young Edward's childhood, 137 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:30,239 Speaker 1: and Edward had a good relationship with his final stepmother, 138 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:35,840 Speaker 1: Catherine Parr, whom he called his most dear mother. Edward 139 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,720 Speaker 1: also had an excellent and robust education in what was 140 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:45,040 Speaker 1: then deemed the humanist tradition. He was very intelligent. He 141 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: knew Latin and French, memorized and recited Aesop's fables, and 142 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:55,800 Speaker 1: Cato strengthened his skill at rhetorical argumentation by arguing both 143 00:10:55,880 --> 00:11:01,199 Speaker 1: for and against war. He learned cartography, geography, and astronomy, 144 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:06,120 Speaker 1: and directed and acted in masks. Some claim that he 145 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 1: had a photographic or at least idetic memory. This humanist 146 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:15,440 Speaker 1: education also meant he grew up Protestant, unlike his very 147 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 1: Catholic older sister Mary. Nevertheless, he wrote affectionate letters to 148 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:24,880 Speaker 1: both of his sisters. He and his sister Elizabeth, only 149 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 1: four years older than him, had a playful rivalry that 150 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:33,439 Speaker 1: would be familiar to those of us who have siblings today. Academically, 151 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: Edward promised quote to my utmost power, if not to 152 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: surpass at least to equal you in zeal And. As 153 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:45,000 Speaker 1: with much older siblings today whose texts we might not 154 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 1: respond to quickly enough, Edward was warmer in his letters 155 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: to his sister Mary, writing quote, although I do not 156 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 1: frequently write to you, my dearest sister, I love you 157 00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:58,840 Speaker 1: quite as well as if I had sent letters to 158 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 1: you more frequently. I write to you rarely, yet I 159 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:06,680 Speaker 1: love you most. Most of this good relationship with his 160 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:10,400 Speaker 1: sisters came about as a result of their father, Henry's 161 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: Third Succession Act, passed in fifteen forty three, when Edward 162 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:20,479 Speaker 1: was five years old. The first Succession Act had removed 163 00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: Mary from the line of succession. The second had removed Elizabeth, 164 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: but that had been before the male heir had existed. 165 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:33,920 Speaker 1: This third Act restored the girls to the line of succession, 166 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,880 Speaker 1: behind Edward and any other children Henry might have. The 167 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:42,840 Speaker 1: order was Edward and his line of dissent any other 168 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:48,560 Speaker 1: children Henry might have, then Mary, then Elizabeth, and all 169 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 1: that came to really matter. On January twenty eighth, in 170 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:58,199 Speaker 1: fifteen forty seven, nine year old Edward and thirteen year 171 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:03,120 Speaker 1: old Elizabeth were together in Hertfordshire when a messenger arrived 172 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 1: with grim news their father was dead. Brother and sister 173 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:13,959 Speaker 1: might have wept together, but the time for grief was short. 174 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:19,000 Speaker 1: They both knew what this meant. Edward, not yet ten 175 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 1: years old, was going to be crowned king, and he 176 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: needed to be ready to rule. Of course, Edward was 177 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: still too young to rule on his own. His stepmother, 178 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 1: Henry's final wife, Catherine Parr, had already started signing her 179 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 1: letters as Queen Regent when she found out that she 180 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:45,439 Speaker 1: would not actually be regent at all, despite her wishes, 181 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:50,600 Speaker 1: and despite Henry's dying wishes, it would be Edward's uncle, 182 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 1: Jane Seymour's brother also named Edward, who would be in 183 00:13:55,120 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: charge until the young Edward's eighteenth birthday. He had wanted 184 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:05,720 Speaker 1: a sixteen man regency council to rule equally until his 185 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: son turned eighteen. Instead, Edward Seymour was named Lord Protector 186 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: of the realm Duke of Somerset. For a while, this 187 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: suited the young King. Edward just find his humanist schooling 188 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: and his Protestant beliefs deepened apace. His sister Mary loved 189 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:30,600 Speaker 1: to give her little brother presents, and at new year's 190 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:33,520 Speaker 1: he could count on receiving a shirt that his sister 191 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:38,400 Speaker 1: Elizabeth had made for him herself. He was content enjoying 192 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 1: his family's doting and being king in name only, But 193 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 1: as Edward grew older and closer to ruling fully on 194 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:52,239 Speaker 1: his own, tensions and threats were growing from three sources 195 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:56,440 Speaker 1: around him, from the natural world, from his own family, 196 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 1: and from the Lord protector for the natural world, plague abounded. 197 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: Two of his closest friends his own age died of 198 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: the sweating sickness. But it was the second problem his 199 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:15,520 Speaker 1: family where the rifts were really starting to show, specifically 200 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: with Edward's older sister Mary, who'd showered him with gifts 201 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: and whom he declared he loved most. The problem was 202 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: she was incorrigibly Catholic. Edward, educated as a Protestant, was 203 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: becoming more and more anti Catholic. At eleven years old, 204 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:40,360 Speaker 1: he spent eight months writing a treatise about Papal's supremacy, 205 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:43,720 Speaker 1: which makes him sound like he was a really fun kid. 206 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 1: Ever practicing his rhetoric, he argued both for and against 207 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 1: the Pope until reaching his conclusion the Pope was quote 208 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: the true son of the devil a bad man, an antichrist, 209 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,880 Speaker 1: not exactly the king inclusion a deeply Catholic sister would 210 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: want her little brother to have. He told Mary several 211 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 1: times over the years to knock it off with the 212 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:13,880 Speaker 1: Catholic Mass, sometimes criticizing her in front of his council, 213 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:17,880 Speaker 1: an occasion that would sometimes end with both of them crying. 214 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:24,240 Speaker 1: But Mary wouldn't stop. In a diary entry marked March eighteenth, 215 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:30,080 Speaker 1: fifteen fifty one, Edward described a confrontation at Westminster when 216 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: he that thirteen year old king called his thirty five 217 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 1: year old sister to a meeting in front of his council. There, 218 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:41,240 Speaker 1: he declared that he'd suffered her mass for long enough 219 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,520 Speaker 1: and simply could not bear it anymore. This entry, by 220 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:50,000 Speaker 1: the way, makes a plus use of the passive voice. 221 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: Edward writes, quote, it was said that I asked her 222 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:59,320 Speaker 1: to obey she was called into a meeting. The little 223 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 1: king wrote actively about himself plenty, but he didn't need 224 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:07,000 Speaker 1: a twenty first century English teacher to tell him that 225 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,720 Speaker 1: the passive voice is perfect when you don't quite want 226 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: to take responsibility for the way you're humiliating your adult sister. 227 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:20,520 Speaker 1: Edward's growing frustrations with Mary did get superseded for a 228 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:25,359 Speaker 1: time by that pesky little third problem, his uncle, the 229 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: Duke of Somerset. His uncle was planning a coup. A 230 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:34,440 Speaker 1: lot went on here, but long story short, his uncle failed, 231 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:40,120 Speaker 1: and Edward's entire diary entry for January twenty second, fifteen 232 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:45,440 Speaker 1: fifty two is a kind of darkly hilarious one liner. 233 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:50,359 Speaker 1: The Duke of Somerset had his head cut off upon 234 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:54,400 Speaker 1: the Tower Hill between eight and nine o'clock in the morning. 235 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:59,640 Speaker 1: That's it with the problem of his former lord protector 236 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,439 Speaker 1: take care of. Edward may have thought his main concern 237 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: would be Catholic Mary, but nature tends to rear its 238 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:13,320 Speaker 1: cruel head, and it was problem number one that ultimately 239 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:18,320 Speaker 1: showed up in another one line diary entry, which isn't 240 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:23,119 Speaker 1: funny at all. On April second, fifteen fifty two, Edward wrote, 241 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:28,879 Speaker 1: I fell sick with the measles and the smallpox. It 242 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,479 Speaker 1: was a relatively minor about of sickness at the start, 243 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:38,600 Speaker 1: but history hindsight is twenty twenty and so we looking 244 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:44,920 Speaker 1: back know that's where Edward's real problems would begin. Where 245 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:49,439 Speaker 1: his father had been surrounded by wives and daughters, Edward 246 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: had no wife and would never have one, nor would 247 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:56,879 Speaker 1: he have children. Edward was instead surrounded by his sisters 248 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 1: Mary and Elizabeth, and his cousins. Yes, even his cousins 249 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,679 Speaker 1: were all women, and they were all through the female line. 250 00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:11,840 Speaker 1: His cousin, Jane Gray, was his father's sister's granddaughter. Edward 251 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:14,960 Speaker 1: had grown up among the women in his infancy and 252 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:18,359 Speaker 1: early years, and he was among them again at the 253 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:21,639 Speaker 1: end of his life, at least as far as succession 254 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:26,640 Speaker 1: was concerned. Edward was well educated and knew his history. 255 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,040 Speaker 1: He knew that the crown of England had never successfully 256 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: passed to a woman, and the closest it came was 257 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:37,719 Speaker 1: the incredibly disputed claim by the Empress Matilda four hundred 258 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:42,880 Speaker 1: years before. Edward looked at his options. His sister Mary first, 259 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: as his father had commanded in his third succession act. 260 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 1: As a little brother. He had loved his big sister, 261 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:53,760 Speaker 1: but as king of England he had to contend with 262 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:58,399 Speaker 1: her Catholicism. Despite all of his warnings to her, she 263 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:02,560 Speaker 1: had stayed Catholic. And Edward was the boy who had 264 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: called the Pope the Antichrist. He could not in good 265 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:12,920 Speaker 1: conscience leave England in her Catholic hands. Elizabeth was second 266 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:16,520 Speaker 1: in his father's line of succession. There was nothing wrong 267 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: with his second sister, per se. But Edward was also 268 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:25,119 Speaker 1: the boy who'd grown up learning rhetoric, arguing both sides 269 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:29,879 Speaker 1: of every issue. He was logical. How could he exclude 270 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,760 Speaker 1: Mary on the ground that she was illegitimate without claiming 271 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 1: that Elizabeth was illegitimate too. After all, their father had 272 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:43,040 Speaker 1: only divorced Mary's mother, he had outright killed Elizabeth's mother 273 00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:48,439 Speaker 1: and boln for treason. Edward couldn't logically allow Elizabeth to 274 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 1: reign either. So, ailing and aching, the little brother set 275 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:59,080 Speaker 1: about writing the final literary task of his short life. 276 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:02,159 Speaker 1: He called the docor he meant his device for the succession. 277 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:06,120 Speaker 1: Edward wrote about the lack of issue of his body. 278 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:11,280 Speaker 1: He wrote the term heirs male twelve times, as obsessed 279 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:14,280 Speaker 1: with the idea as his father had been before him. 280 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,600 Speaker 1: But no matter how many times he wrote what he desired, 281 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:21,679 Speaker 1: he had no heirs at all, male or not. So 282 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:26,119 Speaker 1: he named his cousin, Lady Jane Gray, his heir to 283 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:30,400 Speaker 1: the throne. The judges of the King's Bench warned him 284 00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: it could be treason. He was directly contradicting his father's will, 285 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:42,639 Speaker 1: potentially directly contradicting a future queen. Edward, sick as he was, 286 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:46,320 Speaker 1: drew himself up to as imposing a height as he 287 00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:51,679 Speaker 1: could manage, and reminded them who was currently King Mary, 288 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: he said, could not be queen, she would destroy the 289 00:21:55,680 --> 00:22:00,159 Speaker 1: Protestant religion in England. He had to quote disown and 290 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:04,600 Speaker 1: disinherit her together with her sister Elizabeth, as though she 291 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:08,800 Speaker 1: were a bastard and had sprung from an illegitimate bed end. 292 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:16,000 Speaker 1: The judges relented, Edward was appeased. In portraits of Edward 293 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 1: from babyhood to young adulthood, he is painted in the 294 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 1: same red orange tunic as his father. His father was 295 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:28,280 Speaker 1: known to be a huge man, married six times in 296 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:33,119 Speaker 1: his fifty five years. Edward would die small and weakened, 297 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:38,440 Speaker 1: never married forever a boy. Yet in the end, maybe 298 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,440 Speaker 1: there was a bit of his father in him. After all, 299 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,720 Speaker 1: Edward exerted his iron will over the women that he'd loved, 300 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: women who'd loved him. He'd used his power to get 301 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: rid of them at will. He'd spent his dying days 302 00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 1: ensuring that his sisters, at least in his mind, would 303 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:06,200 Speaker 1: never see the throne of England. Well spoiler alert, he failed. 304 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:11,320 Speaker 1: Edward's cousin, Lady Jane Gray, manipulated by the men around her, 305 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:15,359 Speaker 1: claimed the crown for a disputed nine days in July 306 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:19,360 Speaker 1: of fifteen fifty three, and then lost her head. It 307 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:23,840 Speaker 1: was Edward's oldest sister, Mary who became the first accepted 308 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: female queen of England, who reigned for five years, re 309 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:33,040 Speaker 1: establishing Catholicism with a violence that earned her the historical 310 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 1: nickname but not altogether entirely accurate, Bloody Mary. After she 311 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:44,000 Speaker 1: died childless in fifteen fifty eight, Edward's other sister, Elizabeth, 312 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:49,200 Speaker 1: reigned for nearly fifty years, bringing England into the seventeenth 313 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:54,400 Speaker 1: century as a Protestant nation. But in the early morning 314 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:58,800 Speaker 1: of July sixth, fifteen fifty three, all of that was 315 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:03,119 Speaker 1: so far ahead. Edward was born into the hands of 316 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 1: male doctors, and he died in their hands too. Just 317 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:11,360 Speaker 1: as they couldn't help his mother, they couldn't help him. 318 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 1: Edward's final days were painful. His fingers and toenails came loose, 319 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:21,359 Speaker 1: his skin turned purplish. He looked so bad that in 320 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:25,199 Speaker 1: his final appearance to the public in a window. Some 321 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:29,440 Speaker 1: onlookers thought that he was already dead by the time 322 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:33,200 Speaker 1: he drew his last breath. Those around him could barely 323 00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:36,320 Speaker 1: stand the stench of what came out of his lungs. 324 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:41,440 Speaker 1: An autopsy revealed that his lungs had two enormous ulcers. 325 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:45,199 Speaker 1: Many historians suspect he may have died of what we 326 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: now know as tuberculosis, and that his measles of April 327 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 1: fifteen fifty two, that had been jotted as just a 328 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: note in his diary, was probably the cause. Measles can't 329 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:04,199 Speaker 1: suppress immunity to tuberculosis. Mary had already fled by the 330 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,439 Speaker 1: time her little brother died, knowing full well that as 331 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:10,680 Speaker 1: soon as he died, she would be vulnerable to being captured. 332 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:15,600 Speaker 1: For the tumultuous month that followed Edward's death, when the 333 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:19,760 Speaker 1: line of succession was confused because of Edward's own machinations, 334 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:24,399 Speaker 1: his body laid unburied, waiting for the question of the 335 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: crown to be settled among the women who outlived him. Finally, 336 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:33,040 Speaker 1: on August eighth, fifteen fifty three, he was laid to 337 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: rest in Westminster Abbey in a vault that was two 338 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 1: and a half feet wide by seven and a half 339 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:44,800 Speaker 1: feet long in unusually small vault by Kingley standards to 340 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,840 Speaker 1: this day in Westminster Abbey. He has only a small 341 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:53,359 Speaker 1: plaque on the ground marking his resting place. His sisters 342 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: both loom much larger. They are buried in a tomb 343 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:02,680 Speaker 1: together with each other. Edward's father, Henry the eighth, has 344 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:07,359 Speaker 1: company in death, sharing a vault with Edward's mother, Jane Seymour, 345 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:12,400 Speaker 1: the King's favorite. Also in the vault is King Charles 346 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 1: the First and an infant child of Queen Anne. But 347 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:21,919 Speaker 1: the lost often forgotten boy, King Edward the sixth, the 348 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: boy who never grew up, is not buried among the women. 349 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:38,639 Speaker 1: He is buried alone. That's the story of the lost 350 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,520 Speaker 1: boy King of England who gave way to Bloody Mary. 351 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:45,520 Speaker 1: But stick around after a brief sponsor break to hear 352 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,480 Speaker 1: a little bit more about the diary that we quoted 353 00:26:48,520 --> 00:27:04,000 Speaker 1: in this episode. I mentioned Edward's diary a few times 354 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:08,640 Speaker 1: in this story. That's because it's actually a really special 355 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:13,280 Speaker 1: historical document, the first private diary of a king in 356 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:17,679 Speaker 1: all of English and European history. But if you're expecting 357 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:22,639 Speaker 1: some really good, juicy details, you'll be disappointed. When I 358 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:26,280 Speaker 1: was nine years old, My diary chronicled my interactions with 359 00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:30,840 Speaker 1: my fourth grade crush Todd. But Edward's diary has almost 360 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,400 Speaker 1: no hint of an inner life at all. He started 361 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:38,240 Speaker 1: keeping it in fifteen forty seven, the year he became 362 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: a king at age nine or ten years old, and 363 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,919 Speaker 1: it's clear he was aware he was chronicling history. He 364 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: even called it his chronicle, meticulously writing sixty eight pages 365 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:54,479 Speaker 1: of text on eighty four leaves of paper in his 366 00:27:54,680 --> 00:28:00,840 Speaker 1: neat italic handwriting. The diary is generally consider uttered boring, 367 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:05,840 Speaker 1: like the driest daily calendar you've ever read. Lots of 368 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:11,399 Speaker 1: one line entries describing Flemish ships, the trade of tallow candles, 369 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:17,040 Speaker 1: detail less dinners with ambassadors, an entire entry that kind 370 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:23,960 Speaker 1: of hilariously reads the aforementioned proclamation was proclaimed. He even 371 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 1: records his own mother's death in a tone that is 372 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: flat and refers to himself in the third person. The 373 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 1: first sentence of his diary reads, in the year of 374 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 1: our Lord fifteen thirty seven, a prince was born to 375 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:44,320 Speaker 1: King Henry the Eighth by Jane Seymour, then Queen, who 376 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: within a few days after the birth of her son, 377 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,600 Speaker 1: died and was buried at Windsor Castle. The words have 378 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:55,959 Speaker 1: no emotion, and so there's something kind of sad about 379 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: this little boy, nine or ten and newly orphaned at 380 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:03,840 Speaker 1: the point his father recently dead, aware that he is 381 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: the King of England, beginning a diary and starting with 382 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:11,840 Speaker 1: those words, he's recording the death of the mother. He 383 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 1: never knew with an awareness that history would be reading 384 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: his words, that you or I would be reading or 385 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 1: listening to those words someday, and that he, as King 386 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: of England, should strip all emotion from his careful, doomed 387 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: little boy hand. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio 388 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:52,880 Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Noble Blood is 389 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:57,480 Speaker 1: created and hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing 390 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:03,320 Speaker 1: and researching by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, 391 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:07,520 Speaker 1: and Lori Goodman. The show is edited and produced by 392 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:13,000 Speaker 1: Noemi Griffin and rima Il Kahali, with supervising producer Josh 393 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:18,520 Speaker 1: Thain and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. 394 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:24,080 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app Apple 395 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 1: Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,