ABSTRACT
The short reign of King Edward VI (1547-53) has long beenneglected. It has been treated either as a disreputably unEnglish interlude, or as a period of chaotic near-collapse, best hurried through en route to the sunlit uplands of Elizabeth I’s reign. Yet recent research makes the reign appear one of the most dramatic episodes in English history, when a series of profound changes were thrust on an unsuspecting country. It is the hinge on which the sixteenth century turned – for the whole of the British Isles, not merely for England. It was at least as startlingly novel and as momentous as the better-known ‘English Revolution’ of the mid-seventeenth century, and probably more enduring in its consequences. Like all revolutions, this one failed. Like all revolutions, it changed everything that happened afterwards.
