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In 1553 after just six years as King and still not 16 and having no real power, Edward became seriously ill. His advisors
persuaded him to leave a will in which he passed the throne to his cousin Lady Jane Grey, who just happened to be married to one of the sons of John Dudley,
now the Duke of Northumberland and maybe still the Earl of Warwick.
Edward appears to have been quite alert at this time as he
wrote his will and called judges, lawyers and councillors to his bed chamber and made them swear they would implement his will, which Edward called “his
devise.”
On 1 July Edward appeared at his window in Greenwich Palace and many people who saw him were horrified as to how ill and thin he looked. Edward died
at the age of 15 at Greenwich Palace on 6 July.
Northumberland kept secret Edward’s death for 4 days while he gathered his forces because he knew that many people wanted Mary to be Queen. She had
gone to Norfolk where she owned land. Lady Jane Grey and her husband were taken to the Tower of London and she was proclaimed Queen on 10 July 1553. Mary wrote
to the council and said she was Queen but they replied that Edward had ordered that Jane Grey was to be his successor.
It didn’t take long for Northumberland to realise he had made a big mistake. Many people did want Mary to become Queen. There were Catholics who knew
she would restore their religion; there were people who believed that Mary had a lawful claim to the throne and there were an awful lot of people who didn’t like
Northumberland.
Northumberland marched out of London on July 14 with an army of 3,000 men and headed into East Anglia. Mary, meanwhile, had gathered nearly 20,000
supporters in Suffolk. Once Northumberland had left, the rest of the council changed their minds and, on July 19, proclaimed Mary was Queen. Lady Jane Grey had
been Queen for 9 days. Northumberland, knowing which side his bread was buttered, then also proclaimed Mary as Queen. It didn’t do him any good as he was
arrested and then beheaded on 22 August.
Once Mary had been declared Queen, the trial of Lady Jane Grey, and others, followed. She was found guilty of treason and condemned to death by being
burned alive or beheaded; the choice was to be Mary’s. Initially, however, Mary decided to spare her but the following year, Jane’s father, the Duke of Suffolk
joined a rebellion against Mary. Although Jane had no part in it, Mary and her government decided that Jane and her head should also have no more time together
and she was beheaded on 12 February 1554.
Forward to 1554AD
