John Cheke was the tutor of Edward VI.This surname is pronounced ”cheek”. John Cheke was born in 1514. Sir John Cheke, as he became, was famous for being a most eminent scholar of Greek.
John Cheke’s father Peter Cheke was an esquire which meant he was part of the gentry. That is to say they were minor landowners but did not had an aristocratic title or a knighthood. An esquire was a man who could employ the personal services of a manservant. A manservant was not a man working on the esquire’s farm or in his business. A manservant was to serve the esquire food, fetch his shoes and so on. An esquire would have other men in his employ for more impersonal tasks. Peter Cheke had an administrative position at the University of Cambridge. John Cheke later wrote he was brought up by the Bishop of Chichester. It is unclear what he meant by this. It is possible that the man who later became bishop had taught him.
John Cheke went to St John’s College, Cambridge. John Cheke was immediately recognisable due to his red hair. While he was up at Cambridge he came into contact with the teachings of the Dutch scholar Erasmus. Erasmus never visited Cambridge but his beliefs were well known among educated men. Erasmus strongly criticised corruption and unbiblical practices within the Catholic Church without actually advocating breaking away from the Church. Simony and the selling of indulgences were particular bugbears of Erasmus. He sought internal reform of the Catholic Church and not the Protestant Reformation i.e. setting up a separate church. Cheke found himself in agreement with the Dutchman’s critique of the Catholic establishment. Cheke was made fellow of the college at the incredibly young age of 15. These days someone would be lucky to be made a fellow at the age of 40. A fellow is a member of the governing body of the college. The fellows chose the head of the college. The fellows are most lecturers but they can also be other employees o the college of eminent graduates of the college.
Cheke was ordained a Catholic priests. All education in the country was provided by the Roman Catholic Church. Fellows of Cambridge and Oxford colleges had to be priests.
In the 1530s England was in religious ferment. The country had been staunchly Roman Catholic. In 1533 the king took the country out of the orbit of Rome. The Church of England was created. The Catholic Church was outlawed in England. Cheke happily went along with the Reformation. It was risky not to do so. From being a Catholic priest he became an Anglican priest. Anglican is the adjective of the Church of England.
Cheke’s fame as a lecturer and scholar grew. He was an authority on the Greek orator Demosthenes. He was renowned for his translations of Greek texts including the Gospel according to St Matthew. The king awarded him an exhibition for his studies. This was an honour but also money to live off. To give himself more gravitas John Cheke grew a beard.
There was a tendency among academics to use Latin and Greek terms in English sentences even when this was unnecessary. Cheke warned against this pretentiousness and wrote, “I am of this opinion that our own tung should be written cleane and pure, unmixt and unmangeled with borowing of other tunges; wherein if we take not heed by tiim, ever borowing and never paying, she shall be fain to keep her house as bankrupt”. At that time it was commonplace for people to write even personal letters to each other in Latin. Cheke wrote to his friends in Latin even when these were English friends.
Roger Ascham was one of Cheke’s undergraduates at Cambridge. Ascham later wrote The Scholemaster which was a book on pedagogues. In it he lauded Cheke. Ascham had been ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire and a weekly correspondent with Cheke.
John Cheke was known to have Protestant beliefs. Henry VIII endowed some professorships in 1540. Cheke was made the first ever Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge. A regius professorship is one set up by the monarch. Richard Cox was the tutor of Henry VIII’s only son Edward VI. Henry VIII asked the Archbishop of Canterbury (Thomas Cranmer) to recommend another tutor for the prince. This was because Cox was increasingly busy with ecclesiastical work. Archbishop Cranmer recommended John Cheke.
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CHEKE BECOMES PRAECEPTOR
In 1544 Cheke was appointed tutor to Edward VI. A 19th century biography of Cheke by John Strype tells the tale: ”Henry VIII calling him thence July 10 1544 as judging him a fit person to be a schoolmaster to his son Edward.”
John Cheke was at first deputy to Richard Cox. As the state papers say he was given this post, ”for the better instruction of the prince and diligent teaching of such children as may be appointed to him. ” His official title was the Latin word ‘praeceptor’ which means tutor. They even used the word praceptor when speaking English.
Cheke was only 30 when he was given this most demanding of positions. He had already held the chair of Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge. A regius professorship is a chair endowed by the Crown. There are very few regius professors indeed.
Cambridge was regretful at having to part with so distinguished as scholar as John Cheke.
Edward VI was the only son of Henry VIII. Therefore the boy’s education was prospectant to him being king. Edward VI was then 7 years old. Cheke was to teach the prince Religious Studies, languages and a little Science. At that stage Edward VI spent much of his time at a royal residence in Hertford. That house is no longer in the possession of the royal family.
Edward VI could be seen as an emotionally damaged child. His mother had died soon after Edward VI was born. He was brought up until the age of 6 as effectively an only child which was highly unusual at the time. Two stepmothers appeared on the scene and were then got rid of: once by execution. When the boy was born his father was 46 which was a very old father for the time. His father was distant and irascible. Worse was to come with Edward VI seeing his father, two uncles and his beloved stepmother all die before he was 13. This may explain why he was inured to death: even his own.
Henry VIII called his only surviving son ”the greatest person in Christendom.” Henry VIII was egregiously vain even for a 16th century monarch. The scale of his boast gives some idea of the expectations placed on Cheke’s shoulders. If Edward VIII failed to shine then Cheke may well pay a very heavy price.
Katherine Parr was Henry VIII’s last wife. She wed him in 1543 when he was 52 years old. The king mellowed in his dotage. Henry VIII was not particularly old by modern standards – he died at the age of 55 – but he was by 16th century standards. Furthermore, his infirmity left him mentally obtunded. His much younger wife Katherine Parr persuaded him to allow his daughters Mary and Elizabeth to return to court whence they had been banished years before. Henry VIII had declared that both of his daughters were illegitimate and had no right of succession but they were still notable persons in the pecking order. Katherine Parr took especial interest in the education of hertwo younger step children. Katherine Parr did not concern herself overmuch with Mary Tudor because Mary Tudor was 27 when Katherine Parr married Henry VIII. Mary Tudor was almost as old as Katherine Parr.
Edward VI grew very fond of his stepmother Katherine Parr. He addressed her as ”most dear mother” and he was appreciative of what his stepmother had done to advance his education. In 1546 at the age of 9 he wrote to her: ”I received so many benefits from you that my mind can hardly grasp them” and his mind could grasp a lot!
Katherine Parr had a very high opinion of John Cheke and Richard Cox whom she described as ”God’s special advocates.”
John Cheke was given the task of reforming the pronunciation of Greek letters. He said he would be ”merry on the bank’s side without dangering himself at sea.” This metaphor was because others were engaged in tendentious doctrinal work. The monarch was fickle and had a violent temper. People who were found to have altered relgious doctrines in a way the monarch found displeasing could be executed.
Cheke worked alongside Richard Cox. Cox was willing to birch his royal pupil. Dr Cox spent less and less time with the prince because Cox was called away to his church duties. Cheke’s title as tutor was ”First Instructor”. Dr Cox was known to be conceited and distant. The prince found Cheke to be kinder.
Edward VI had glasses: one of the first people in the British Isles to do so. The prince also had plenty of toys. He also had various relics of his late mother who died 12 days after giving birth to him. The prince also learnt musical instruments.
Edward VI learn to be write fluent Latin. The prince also had Jean Belmain as his French tutor. Edward VI even wrote an essay entitled ”Against the Papal supremacy” in French. The theological content was much to the liking of his English tutors. There were other specialist tutors too. Edward VI was taught Spanish and Italian but not by John Cheke. Cheke did not speak those languages. The prince also learnt to play the lute and another musical instrument called the virginal. Although Cheke did not teach Edward VI those subjects Cheke was still responsible for superintending the other tutors.
Cheke though taught the boy Geometry. Edward VI was bought a globe. He showed a lively interest in Geography. He was given coins from many different realms to examine. This use of realia in the classroom was ahead of its time. The prince began to grasp fiscal matters. The prince began to keep a diary under Cheke’s supervision which he called hisChronicle. One annalist wrote of the education that Cheke provided to Edward VI; ” Qua neque Cyrus nec Achilles neque Alexander neque ullus unquam Regum politoremque sanctioremque accepit.” (”Not even Cyrus, not Achilles, nor Alexander nor any other king had a more polite or holier education.”)
Since John Cheke was devoting most of his time to his young pupil he could only visited Cambridge occasionally. His university teaching necessarily played second fiddle to his royal duties. Besides teaching Edward VI he also taught Elizabeth. At this time there was some uncertainty as to whether Elizabeth should be regarded as illegitimate or not. At this time Elizabeth was coming back into her father’s good graces. Edward VI was becoming fond of his half-sister Elizabeth. They began to write to each other regularly as well as occasionally visiting each other.
Edward VI had some classmates. These were Charles Brandon and Henry Brandon. Charles Brandon, the elder brother, later inherited the title the Duke of Suffolk. These boys were also second cousins of Edward VI. The purpose of them studying with him was manifold. It allowed him to have playmates. These boys were not princes but they were close to it. They would also be some of the mightiest magnates in the kingdom. It would do well for him to build a rapport with them from an impressionable age. Furthermore, if Edward VI died young as often happend (and indeed transpired) there was some chance that one of these lads who inherit the English Crown. They were not far down the line of succession.
Barnaby FitzPatrick was also Edward VI’s classmate. FitzPatrick’s father was a peer of the realm. One historian claimed that Barnaby FitzPatrick was the prince’s whipping boy. That is if Edward VI did not behave then Baranaby would be caned instead because the prince could not be caned. The teacher hoped that Edward VI would be so upset by the sight of another child being beaten that he would behaved himself in order to save the other boy being beaten. This story is probably specious
It would appear that Edward VI found John Cheke’s lessons to be more enthralling than those of Richard Cox. Cheke invited notable academicians to visit the prince and discuss the latest learning with him. Walter Haddon, the poet, came to court to give a recitation to Edward VI. This was quite something for a child who was not yet 7 years of age. The boy was made to feel that nothing was intellectually beyond him. John Leland, the geographer, came and discussed his famous book ”Itinerary” with the prince.
There was an extensive royal library for Edward’s use. At that stage most of the books were beyond the grasp of even the brainiest child. There was also a huge colourful globe for his edificaiton. There were curiosities from various parts of the world including an elephant’s tooth by which the records possible mean a tusk. There was also the egg of a giant bird – possibly an ostrich. This all helped serve to expand his horizons. Curiosity was implanted in his young mind.
Edward VI had his own study and custom made desk. There was an invetory of his classroom paraphernalia. He had geometric instruments. There were also astronomical instruments.
In 1547 Cox married Mary Hill. His wife was the daughter of the sergeant of the king’s wine cellar. John Cox and his wife had several children. His three sons all had distinguished careers. They started to spell their surname ‘Cheek’.
Henry VIII had not announced that priests were allowed to marry. Some Anglican priests had began to marry. Whereas the Catholic Church forbade clerical marriage the Church o England was agnostic on the issue. The Church of England was outside the control of the pope. However, it was not fully Protestant either. It retained some Catholic doctrines and practices. This pleased traditionalists. Some radicals were dissatisfied and wanted the Anglican Church to be explicitly Protestant.
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THE PUPIL BECOMES MONARCH
In 1547 Henry VIII died and his son Edward VI became king.
In January 1547 Edward VI received the dreaded news that his father was dead. A courtier named Hayward recalled the moment when the news of their father’s death was broken to Edward VI and his elder sister Elizabeth, ”Never was sorrow more sweetly set forth, their faces seeming rather to beautify their sorrow than sorrow cloud the beauty of their faces. ”
The death of Henry VIII was kept secret for three days. Edward VI was brought from his house at Hertford to the Tower of London. The Tower did not have a reputation as a prison in those days. It was a royal residence. Edward VI was proclaimed king three days after the decease of his father. The heralds proclaimed ”The High and Mighty Prince Edward by the Grace of God is solely and rightfully succeeded to the throne by decease of his late father Henry of happy and glorious memory. Whereof with one assent of tongue and heart we proclaim to be your undoubted sovereign.”
This high and mighty prince was the but 9 years of age.
The proclamation was read at St James’ Palace – then as now this little known building is the official residence of the royal family: not Buckingham Palace. The proclamation was read aloud at the Royal Exchange in London and in market squares across England, Wales and Ireland.
The nobility, the episcopate and the principal gentlemen of quality gathered at the Tower of London to do obeisance to the new sovereign. Among those doing homage to the boy king was John Cheke.
Edward VI’s maternal uncle Edward Seymour became Lord Protector of the Realm and Governor Edward VI. Lord Protector of the Realm was to rule on behalf of the monarch during the monarch’s minority. Edward Seymour raised himself to the noble title Duke of Somerset. This was because he own large estates in the county of Somerset.
Edward VI’s other uncle Thomas Seymour – Edward Seymour’s younger brother – was made Lord Admiral. Thomas Seymour also had himself granted a hereditary title Lord Sudeley. Lord Admiral meant he was not an ordinary admiral. He was in overall charge of the Royal Navy.
A council existed to help the king govern. Edward Seymour was not to rule alone. It was a time of intra elite warfare. Members of the council jockeyed for position. They tried to manoeuvre each other off the council. There was much intrigue and espionage. Edward Seymour engaged in pecculation from his nephew’s treasury.
At Edward’s coronation the Archbishop of Canterbury stressed that this king was to further the work of the Reformation. The king was, he said, a new Josiah: the boy king in the Bible who stood up for righteousness and put iniquity to flight.
As the king was so young a lord protector ruled for him. This office went to his maternal uncle Edward Seymour. Edward Seymour had his nephew award him the title Duke of Somerset. Somerset was the county in which Edward Seymour had most of his estates. There was a twelve member regency council of laity and churchman to help the lord protector.
The 9 year old monarch still had lessons. Cheke wrote poems for his pupil. These were for the little monarch’s entertainment and edification. In 1547 Cheke fell ill and believed he was dying so he wrote a poem to Edward VI. Here is one verse : ‘For us a guardian tow’r remain/ Through ages long and jolly/ Nor give our house a moment’s pain/ Through thought’s intrusive folly.’
Under Edward VI the Church of England became avowedly Protestant. The Reformation demanded iconoclasm. The Church of England moved against mariolatry and the veneration of saints. The tomb of St Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral was smashed. The church service was no longer called mass. The Bible was to be in English. The Henrician Reformation had had Bible in English. Henry VIII had later changed his mind and ordered that the Bible should only be available in Latin.
Edward VI wrote about the anti-Catholic campaign in his Chronicle, ” The Bishop of London’s injunctions touch plucking down altars. An order was sent to every bishop to pluck down altars and to forbide mass and suchlike ceremonies and abuses.” The religious dogmas also changed under the Edwardian Reformation. The laity were given communion in both kinds i.e. both bread and wine. Until that time the laity had not been given wine. The doctrine of justification through faith alone was proclaimed.
The moot point is to what extent Edward VI was driving these reforms? A child cannot be wholly responsible for his own beliefs. To a large extent his opinions were shaped by his tutors. Chief among them was John Cheke. The Roman Catholic Church existed as an underground movement. Catholic aristocrats hid priests in secret basements and chambers in their houses. These were called priest holes.
Edward VI seems to have been very Godly even for the 16th century. He read 12 chapters of the Bible every day. This was under the supervision of Cheke.
Cheke entered Parliament as MP for Bletchingley. At this time the University of Cambridge wrote an official letter to Cheke expressing its highest laud for him: ”Of all that number of very eminent men. most eminent Cheke, that ever went forth from the university into the commonwealth [kingdom] you alone are the man, above all others, loved being present and admired being absent.”
He was later Provost of King’s College, Cambridge. This is perhaps the grandest college in the university. He was made a commissioner of Oxford University. He was made a fellow of Eton because it was connected to King’s College, Cambridge. Cox served on many church committees. He also served on the Privy Council. Privy means ”private”. Privy councillors met the monarch about once a week. They were like a cabinet. They offered the monarch advice on various matters. Their deliberations are kept secret. A privy councillor has the title ”the right honourable” before his name.
Not everyone was happy with the way Lord Protector Seymour was ruling on behalf of his nephew. There were some peasant rebellions over tax and religious issues. One of these was called Kett’s Rebellion as it was led by a tanner named Robert Kett. Kett and his acolytes were mainly rebelling over the enclosure of common land. This meant that public grazing land was given over to aristocrats for their exclusive use. This impoverished the peasantry. Edward VI recorded the rebellions in his Chronicle or diary, ” People began to rise where Sir William Herbert put them down, overran and enslaved them. Then they rose in Hampshire, Essex, Suffolk, Hertfordshire. ”
Cheke was keeping his pupil advised of these worrying events. The boy was given to believe that the rebels were utterly wicked. Some of the elite disliked Edward Seymour too. The main rival to Edward Seymour was John Dudley. People began to say that Edward Seymour was exploiting the tenderness of the king’s years. He was wielding all regal power himself. He denied the king even pocket money. Edward Seymour found out his younger brother, Lord Sudeley (Thomas Seymour) was secretly handing coins to Edward VI.
In fact Edward Seymour gradually reduced the council’s control. He took more and more decisions on his own. Edward Seymour bamboozled his little nephew into signing over more authority to him. Eventually he had the Great Seal in his own residence. It was a huge pile in London which he arrogantly named Somerset House. John Cheke tried to help Edward VI to resist Edward Seymour’s attempt to become overmighty. Edward Seymour attempted to bribe Cheke into becoming and accomplice in persuading the child king in establishing Seymour was dictator in all but name. Cheke refused such doceurs. John Cheke was alienated by Edward Seymour’s blatant attempts to exploit the child’s youth and inexperience. This was dangerous for Cheke. Edward Seymour was the mightiest man in the kingdom. He could and did execute those who stood in his way.
Lord Sudeley (Thomas Seymour) had molested Elizabeth.
Thomas Seymour (Edward VI’s uncle) was arrested in 1549. He had entered Edward VI’s chamber in the middle of the night with a loaded gun. Thomas Seymour was sentenced to death. It was up to the king to sign the death warrant. The 12 year old’s hand did not tremble as he signed. Some have commented that Edward VI was distinctly lacking in one Christian virtue: mercy. On the other hand the firmness and even cold bloodedness that any leader needs was present in him. Perhaps this is praiseworthy. His tutors needed to school him in when to be compassionate but also not to be soo clement as to be remiss.
Edward Seymour tried to cajole his nephew into signing a new Treason Act. The child asked the advice of his tutor John Cheke about this. Cheke urged his pupil not to sign. Edward Seymour was suspected of trying to invest himself with dictatorial powers. It was very difficult for even a consummate political operator to know what to do. It was impossible for a 9 year old orphan to know what to do. He had to rely on the guidance of his tutor. Cheke was an academic who was minded to steer clear of politics. He also had to think about the welfare of his pupil. This necessitated Cheke sometimes giving his pupil advice. John Cheke had to induce his charge not to sign state papers that the boy did not fully understand. Edward Seymour tried to take advantage of his nephew being so young. Even the wisest statesman can be outfoxed. A child of tender years had little chance against a crafty and ruthless politician like Edward Seymour.
Edward Seymour grew increasingly unpopular. There were revolts. He fluctated between resolution and panic. The economy was in freefall. Taxation was on the rise. Religious controversy raged. Edward Seymour tried to kidnap his nephew. His maladministration led to his overthrow in a bloodless coup. Edward Seymour was detained in the Tower of London. He was stripped of his position as Lord Protector. John Dudley became the new Lord Protector.
Edward Seymour still had plenty of cronies on the outside. He had been charged with various crimes. He managed to have his allies help him. Some charges were dropped and he was acquitted of the others. Edward Seymour was released after 6 months. He was again on the council but was not Lord Protector. He still plotted to regain power. In the meantime he embezzled from the royal treasury. Edward Seymour was again arrested and charged with his treason. This time he could not pull strings effectively. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. Edward Seymour was executed.
Edward VI’s education continued. Cheke taught him from Isocrates, Cicero and Pliny. He also had to attend to his kingly duties.
Edward VI attended divine worship almost daily. He listened to sermons with rapt attention. The priests often made explicit comparisons between the most distinguished member of their congregation and Josiah. Edward VI knew full well who Josiah was. This boy king in the Bible reformed religion and is held up as a paragon of monarchical virtue. Over and again he was likened to Josiah.
Edward Seymour had his brother executed for this. Edward VI recorded this in his journal or Chronicle as he called it: ” There was a disputation of the sacraments in the Parliament House. Also the Lord Sudeley was condemned to death and died the March ensuing. ” This was very advanced and lucid writing for a 10 year old. Cheke had taught him well. It also suggests a shocking indifference to one uncle killing another uncle.
The whole of the Chronicle is unsentimental. Perhaps this was Edward VI’s nature or maybe he was taught to be this way by Cheke. A king could not afford to be too emotional.
Cheke wrote a tract denouncing all rebellions entitled Hurt of Sedition how greneous it is to a Communeweith. John Cheke also wrote a letter to the rebels telling them how wrong they were. He emphasised that it was their duty to obey laws made by the King and Parliament.
In 1549 there was a large scale insurrection in eastern England. It was led by a minor landowner named Robert Kett. John Cheke wrote a book entitled ”The Hurt of Sedition” explaining why this attempt to subvert the government was wrong. He inveighed against the rebels:
”And yet ye pretend that for God’s cause and partly for the commonwealth’s sake ye do rise when as yourselves cannot deny ye seek in word God’s cause, do indeed break God’s commandments and that ye seek the commonwealth have destroyed the commonwealth”
Edward VI’s Chronicle seemed to foreshadow the ouster of his uncle, ”In the meantime in England arose great stirs likely to achieve much if it had not been well foreseen.” The king then described the events: ” Somerset commanded the armour to be brought out of the armoury at Hampton Court and people to be raised. That night with all the people I went to Windsor at nine or ten o clock at night and there was watch and ward kept every night. ” All this was written under the instruction of Cheke. This was seen as an attempt to bring the king under the sole control of Edward Seymour (the Duke of Somerset).
The king turned against his uncle. In 1549 Edward Seymour was overthrown as lord protector by John Dudley. Seymour was sent to the Tower of London. He was eventually released but later released. Then Edward Seymour was indicted for sundry offences and convicted of all. He was awarded the supreme sanction and later executed. ”Somerset [Edward Seymour] had his head cut off at the Tower of London at eight or nine o’clock in the morning.” The king listed the charges of which his uncle had been convicted, ” False ambition, vainglory, entering into rash wars, enriching himself of my treasure, following his own opinion and doing all by his own authority. ”
John Dudley took over as lord protector. Cheke was an ally of Dudley so it was excellent for him that the palace coup succeeded. John Dudley had the little king raise him to the title of Duke of Northumberland. Northumberland, in the north-east corner of England, was the county in which John Dudley owned extensive estates.
Edward VI at this time was working on a text wherein he denounced the doctrine of papal supremacy. He was conditioned to be anti-Catholic. His forthright opposition to Roman Catholicism met with the fulsome approval of his tutors. Edward VI was then 12 years old so it is doubtful that he had much of a mind of his own. Nevertheless his composition of such a booklet shows remarkable intellectual maturity and articulacy.
Edward VI’s elder half-sister was Mary Tudor. She was a passionate believer in Catholicism. Catholic priests were being burnt in public. The queen’s sister was not harmed despite her Catholicism being known. At first Edward VI turned a blind eye to the fact that she was sheltering Catholic clergy in her house. Eventually the king ordered her priests to be taken away by force and locked up in the Tower of London. Mary Tudor was from the Holy Roman Empire on her mother’s side. The child king wrote in his Chronicle about this request, ” April 1550. The Emperor’s ambassador requested by letter’s patents that my lady Mary might have leave to say mass. It was denied him. ”
King Edward VI in his Chronicle how he summoned his grown up sister to be rebuked for not conforming to Anglicanism.”There was declared how long I had suffered her mass in hope of her reconciliation and how now I could not bear it. She answered that her soul was God’s and her faith she would not change nor she would not dissemble her opinions with contrary doings. It was said I constrained not her faith and I willed her not as a king to rule but as a subject to obey and that her example might breed too much inconvenience.” This shows a sophisticated grasp of Theology for a 12 year old. Cheke had worked well.
Edward VI became increasingly independent minded as he entered his teens. The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire insisted that Mary Tudor be allowed to hear mass: the Roman Catholic church service. Edward VI refused despite the Holy Roman Empire threatening war if he did not make this concession. The king’s ministers implored him to relent. The monarch was unwavering. There is no doubt as to his sincerity. His self-assurance and principle are products of his education. Perhaps his lack of pragmatism is to be regretted.
In 1550 Edward VI began to study”Rhetoric”, ”Ethic” and ”Dialectic” by Aristotle. He started to translate Cicero’s Philosophia from Latin into Ancient Greek.
Sir John Cheke said that his pupil could comprehend Latin ”with accuracy, speaks with propriety and writes with facility.”
Cheke wrote ”my endeavour is to give him no precept unaccompanied by some remarkable example.”
Martin Bucer said that the king was ”learned to a miracle”. The monarch was also learning Italian. Bucer continued in his description of Edward VI’s erudition:”No study delights him more than the scriptures of which he daily reads ten chapters with the greatest attention.”
The king was hellbent on advancing the Reformation. Many images had been smashed and paintings whited over. The adoration of artwork was considered idolatry by him. He loathed the veneration of saints which he regarded as Roman Catholic superstitition. His zeal for Protestantism was down to his schooling at the hands of Cheke. Not everyone considers iconoclasm to be laudable. But there is no doubt that tutors have enormous influence with their pupils as evidenced by the king’s passion for Protestantism.
Edward VI welcome foreign Protestants who sought asylum in England. He was very happy to grant them permission to establish their churches in England.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, was very pleased with the king’s scholarship and his religious fervour. Cranmer commented to Cheke ” Master Cheke you may be glad all the days of your life that we have such a scholar for he has more divinity in his little finger than we have in all our bodies.”
By 1551 Edward VI was writing a thousand word essay in Latin and in Greek every fortnight. The subject matter demonstrated yet again that he was mad keen on Christianity. He mused as to whether adulterers should suffer death by stoning. He did not reflect whether his late father deserved such a fate! He also wrote about whether peace was entirely beneficial. He always examined both sides of the argument before arriving at his conclusion.
At the age of 13 Edward VI was studying the Ethics of Aristotle. It is notable that 1800 years after Aristotle this king was learning from the works of the first recorded private tutor. Cheke was also teaching his royal charge from the Ancient Greek writer Xenophon. The oeuvre of the philosopher Tully was also used to teach His Majesty. In 1551 he was knighted for his services. Edward VI began to write an autobiography presumably under the direction of John Cheke.
Cheke encouraged his pupil in astronomy. Edward VI wrote ” Who hold that it is not useful to the body, nor the mind, nor the State, a view which not undeservedly ought to be the subject of much cursing. What is more natural than understanding the principles of the sky and of the planets, the constellations through the courses of which bodies ….the grasses and the flowers are ruled? ”
The scholar king was an ornament to his tutors.
A tutor called William Thomas was brought in to teach the king Politics. Edward VI also learnt about Economics from Thomas. One of the hot potatoes of the day was whether or not to debase coinage. Henry VIII had melted down silver coins and reissued coins with a reduced silver content. This had temporarily solved the government’s cash flow crisis but in the long run greatly undermined confidence in the currency. Edward VI’s ministers were proposing to use the same gambit. It appeared to be the only way to balance the books in the immediate term. Yet in the long term it would lead to hyperinflation.
The king began to be given more authority. Cheke had to help ease him into maturity. The boy was wise beyond his years. He was also notable for his indifference to the deaths of others. This ruthlessness was a virtue in a 16th century king.
Edward VI was well apprised of what was going on in his realm. In 1551 he wrote gloomily of the state of his nation, ” Slack execution of laws has been the chiefest sore of all. The laws have been manifestly broken and offenders punished, and either by bribery or foolish pity escaped punishment. The disention [sic] and disagreement both in private matters and in matters of religion has been no little cause but the principal has been contentioustalking of foolish and fond people which for lack of teaching have wandered and broken, wilfully and disobediently the laws of this realm. ” It is noticeable in this excerpt that he did not think that religion was a private matter. This gobbet shows his eloquence and sophistication. He also insisted on being informed about what was occuring. He was sagacious enough to demand to hear bad news as well as good.
King Edward VI was a workaholic when it came to affairs of state. He was forever receiving delegations and ambassadors. He spent much time agonising over the minutiae of government policy. Despite his punishing workload the king still maintained his curriculum Sir John Cheke became concerned that his pupil was exhausting himself.
Edward VI met Jean Calvin the Swiss-French Protestant leader. His Majesty was graciously pleased to receive a copy of Calvin’s French translation of Isocrates.
In 1552 another Prayer Book was published. It was a bold statement of Protestantism. The Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation was explicitly disowned. Cranmer wrote this book and Edward VI gave it his seal of approval.
In the summer of 1552 Edward VI went on a ‘royal progress’ for the first time. This meant travelling around the country with a retinue of up to 4 000 courtiers, retainers and soldiers. The king and his entourage would stay at the houses of noble families. It was a chance for the king to show himself and to go on a tour of inspection. The Privy Council, including Cheke, traveled with the monarch.
The king passed comment on some fortifications that he visited. Cheke impressed on the boy king that peace was wise and moral. Henry VIII had fought wars for most of his reign. He had achieved little and almost bankrupt the country. Edward VI took this lesson to heart and strove to remain at peace with other realms. The king wanted to built more military defences and establish a large standing army. His purpose was solely defensive. There is no reason to suppose the monarch was seeking to mislead his tutor.
In late 1552 Edward VI fell ill. It did not seem serious at first but his condition gradually deteriorated. It would appear that his immune system had been fatally undermined. He had fever and great difficulty breathing. He was so debiitated that people began to fear for his life. John Cheke had the unenviable task of telling the 15 year old that is might be wise to make his last will and testament. The king did so.
In February 1553 Edward VI became ill with a severe cold. His health deteriorated rapidly. Dudley saw what was happening. The king was coughing up blood. It was a suppurating pulmonary infection.
Through 1553 the king’s condition worsened. He was bed bound. His fingernails and toenails came loose and he coughed up blood. It is likely that he had tuberculosis. Medical historians have surmised this based on the symptoms described. Such a diagnosis can only be an educated guess. Any physician will tell you that one cannot make a diagnosis confidently without seeing the patient. Tuberculosis may seem a strange illness for a king to catch. It is a poor person’s disease. Those who contract it are usuually malnourished, already ill and living in cold, damp and insanitary conditions. The king lived in the best of conditions. It was an illness that compromised his immune system that made him suscepticble to even a passing acquaintance with tuberculosis. The king insisted on continuing lessons.
Cheke gave his terminally ill student some books. Cheke commented, ”How kindly and courteously he received them and how greatly he esteems them. ”
Yet still Sir John Cheke had not abandoned hope that the king might pull through. Cheke wrote, ”should a longer life be allowed him I prophesy that with the Lord’s blessing he will prove such a king as neither to yield to Josiah in the maintenance of true religion or Solomon in the management of the state or to David in godliness. ”
John Dudley had his son Guildford Dudley marry the 15 year old Lady Jane Grey who was the king’s second cousin. The king’s will was altered to leave the Crown to his cousin Lady Jane Grey. As Dudley was the father-in -law of Jane Grey he believed that he would still be effectively in control. The Privy Council, including Cheke, endorsed the king’s will.
By the summer of 1553 the king’s legs were distended. He could not digest and so kept vomiting. He whispered to Cheke ”I am glad to die.”
Edward VI’s half sister Mary Tudor was the other claimant to the Crown. She was an ardent Catholic. Dudley and Cheke did not want her gaining the throne. In July 1553 Edward VI died uttering a prayer in English not Latin.
The king’s last words were ”I am faint Lord have mercy upon me and take my spirit.”
His death was kept secret for 4 days.
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AFTER EDWARD.
Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen. Lady Jane Grey became queen. Edward VI had changed his will weeks before to alter the line of succession. Lady Jane Grey was his cousin. Edward VI had disinherited his half sister Mary Tudor. The Church of England viewed Mary Tudor as illegitimate. The Catholic Church held that she was legitimate. Mary Tudor was an ardent Catholic. Cheke swore allegiance to her. He was appointed Secretary of State by the 16 year old queen. Mary Tudor gathered her supporters and marched on London.
Cheke wrote to Mary Tudor on behalf of the council. He scorned the ” suppose title which you judge yourself to have ”and reiterated that Jane Grey was the true queen as provided for ”by sundry acts of parliament remaining yet in force.”
John Dudley, still Lord Protector, gathered troops and set out to arrest Mary Tudor. John Dudley stressed that Mary Tudor was ”a bastard” and had no claim to the Crown. She had left home two days before Edward VI died. Clearly her agents had kept her well informed of her half-brother’s closeness to death. Mary Tudor moved to Framlingham Castle and gathered supporters. Soon thousands of men had rallied to her banner.
Mary Tudor insisted that she was the rightful queen. Sir John Cheke wrote a repudiation of Mary Tudor’s claim to the Throne.
Some towns proclaimed Mary Tudor queen and only a few declared for Lady Jane Grey. Some members of the elite deserted Lady Jane. Within 9 days Lady Jane’s supporters had mostly turned their coats. Mary Tudor was so confident of her position that she took a further two weeks to enter London.
Mary Tudor rode into London to general acclamation. Some worthies who had previously declared for Lady Jane were minded to skip the country. John Cheke chose to remain. Cheke like most others recanted their ‘misguided’ support for Lady Jane. Lady Jane and her husband (John Dudley’s son) were locked up in the Tower of London. The members of the elite who had supported Lady Jane all claimed that John Dudley had forced them to do it. John Dudley was Lady Jane’s main backer and indeed saw her as a means of continuing his rule. He was also a handy scapegoat. He was promptly executed.
Lady Jane Grey’s supporters deserted her. Mary Tudor then had her and Cheke arrested. John Cheke was held under house arrest. He was required to live at the house of Peter Osborne.
Dudley ran away. Lady Jane Grey and her husband were thrown into a dungeon. Cheke had been a very wealthy man but all his property was declared forfeit to the crown. Cheke was in danger of being executed. His Protestant reforms had outraged Mary Tudor.
John Dudley was caught in Cambridge and put to death. The next year Lady Jane Grey and her husband were executed.
John Cheke was desperate to save his skin. Cheke did a lot of back pedalling. He vowed fealty to Mary Tudor. He recanted his fatal Protestant errors. Cheke wrote to the queen begging her to show mercy. He pleaded for absolution and announced that he was a fervent Catholic. It worked.
John Cheke was forgiven for his error in supporting Lady Jane Grey. He was set free. He wrote to Mary Tudor thanking her for her compassion. ‘Whereas it hath pleased Your Highness to extend your gracious mercy towards me and something to mitigate the severity wherewith justice of law might grievously have burdened me…’ He went on to say he had not offended as gravely as others. He then pleaded with her to give him his property back. Cheke noted that he had been given property by Henry VIII. John Cheke was pushing his luck!
Cheke left the country because there was always the chance that he could fall under suspicion again. He worked as a lecturer in various continental universities. One of these was Padua in Italy. In the home of Catholicism he found it prudent to pretend to conform to the Catholic Church. He also dwelt in Antwerp and Strasbourg.
Cheke’s fears had been well founded. His former patron Thomas Cranmer was burnt at the stake for his heretical beliefs. Cranmer’s recantation of Anglicanism had not been enough to save him from this punishment. John Cheke was in the Netherlands when he was seized by English agents.
Mary Tudor’s husband King Philip II of Spain wanted Cheke brought to England. Cheke was returned to London and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He repeated his conversion to the Catholic Church. He pleaded with Reginald Cardinal Pole to forgive him. Cardinal Pole, the queen’s cousin, was unmoved by this blatant insincerity. In prison Cheke wrote ‘A Royal Elegie’ dedicated to the late Edward VI.
Sir John Cheke died in prison in 1557. He was 43 years old He is buried in St Albans Wood. Peter Osborne then brought up Cheke’s children. Despite Cheke’s pleading poverty. Cheke’s estate was worth over 1 500 pounds when he died. Cheke’s widow married within a year and had three more children.
His sister married Lord William Burghley who was Elizabeth I’s right hand man. From Cheke’s sister the noble Cecil family is descended.
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POSTHUMOUS REPUTATION.
Ascham, his contemporary, described him as ‘the cunningest master and one of the worthiest gentleman that England ever bred.’ Cunning did not then mean crafty.
Cheke taught almost everyone who was at Cambridge during his time. This was because Greek was compulsory at the time. He was known to be the foremost Greek scholar of his generation. He was fondly remembered by many of his former pupils in their memoirs.Olynthiacs of Demosthenes mentions Cheke. Thomas Nash in To the Gentlemen Students praises Cheke to the moon as, “the Exchequer of eloquence, Sir John Cheke, a man of men, supernaturally traded in all tongues.”
Cheke has been the subject of a number of admiring biographies. Among them is The Life of the Learned Sir John Cheke KT First Instructor after Secretary of State to Edward VI, one of the great Restorers of the True Religion and Good Learning in this Kingdom written by John Strype in 1821.
Shakespeare and John Milton both doffed the cap to John Cheke.
Cheke was a superb tutor. This is because of his own scholastic brilliance and his ability to engage the mind of his pupil. He was firm with the boy king. What he taught Edward VI was not just academic. Cheke taught the sovereign certain precepts as well as life skills. Cheke had a profound influence on English History. He shaped the mind of the monarch. Under Mary Tudor many of the changes effected under Edward VI were reversed. However, the Counter-Reformation did not survive Mary Tudor. After her five year reign England returned to Anglicanism.