It was about that time that the English Reformation began, and the
free circulation of the Bible was permitted. The Latin Mass was
abolished, and the English Liturgy substituted, and 42 Articles of
Faith were adopted by the English Protestants. Protector Somerset was
a Protestant, and always took advice of Archbishop Cranmer, and care
was taken that the young King was instructed in the Reformed
Religion. King Henry VIII had arranged in his lifetime that Edward VI
should marry Mary, the young Queen of Scotland, and Somerset raised
an army and went to Scotland to secure her person: but after fighting
a battle he only just managed to win, he found that the proposed
union was not looked upon favourably in Scotland, and that the young
Queen had been sent away to France for greater safety.
Meantime Somerset's brother Thomas Seymour, High Admiral of England,
had married Catherine Parr, widow of Henry VIII, without the
knowledge of the Protector; and this, with the fierce opposition of
the Roman Catholics, and of the Barons, whose taking possession of
the common lands he had opposed, and the offence given to the
population of London through demolishing an ancient parish church in
the Strand there, so that he could build a fine mansion for himself,
which still bears the name of Somerset House, led to the rapid
decline of his influence, and after causing his brother to be
beheaded he himself shared a similar fate.
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