ABSTRACT
Edward VI was nine years old at his father’s death, and government was carried out by others throughout his reign. Since he died at 15, it is often assumed that he was sickly and politically a cipher, but the late Jennifer Loach has convincingly demonstrated that he was robust enough until he contracted his fatal illness1 and, given his precocious intellect, excellent education, devotion to the new Protestantism and early signs of his father’s self-will, he was already developing a degree of authority over those who governed in his name before his death.
