Can the reign of Edward VI and Mary I fairly be described as a Mid-Tudor crisis?

The Mid- Tudor crisis is the political and social upheaval in England during 1547-1558, this crisis occurs during the reign of, firstly, Edward VI and then Mary 1, historians like Whitney Jones believe that the whole period was purely chaos and just one big crisis. On the other hand you have revisionist view, were historians like David Loades who state that this period did have some down moments, however there were successes which does not make it a period that was one big crisis. I agree with the revisionist views as both Edward and Mary had successes, which lead to non-chaotic periods during their reigns. In this essay, I will discuss both of these monarchs successes, the way this lead to non- crisis periods. Never the less the failures of both monarchs are too significant to the Mid- Tudor crisis and have greatly impacted the way England is now. In Edward VI case you have several failures that lead to traditional views of a Mid-Tudor crisis, however the revisionist view shows Edwards successes, even if they are minimal it has caused historians to change their idea of the Mid-Tudor crisis. Edwardss achievements lay predominantly with religion, the successful establishment of reforms that paved the change from Catholicism to Protestantism. These changes were effective in creating the First common book of prayers, which allowed common people, for the first time, to be able to read the bible in English, the bible was no longer just for the people that were literate in Latin. Also changes in the church like iconoclasm, the destruction of images in church, and the religious orthodoxy was enforced by a new and more stringent Act of Uniformity. These religious changed show that Edward did have some successes during his reign and that his reign was not just one big crisis. While Mary I was on the throne, she did have failures that have both given her a bad name and have dictated traditional historian views of her reign being part of one crisis. However under Marys reign there were some successes in the Economic, Enforcement law and the Army division of her control. The successes in the economic aspect of Mary reign, were that she introduced the Book of rates in 1558, which increased the revenue coming in to government. Alongside this during her reign the amount of debt had decreased which shows significantly that her successes were beneficial to the country. Furthermore Mary had greatly helped the Army by increasing the Standing infantry, which was particularly weak and then adding 6 new ships to the navy, both of these helped Elizabeth I, her sister, greatly against the Spanish armada this shows that Marys reign was too short for her to reap the benefits of her accomplishments. Marys enforcement laws against grain holders were also successful in reducing the impact of the natural disasters of harvest failures, as this allowed the continuous sale of grain, which was good in an economic aspect but also it helped reduce the amount of death caused by lack of food. David Loades has stated in his book The reign of Mary Tudor: Historiography and Research, Mary failures were not the result of her mistakes, however it was because of the natural disasters of harvest failures and epidemic disease and above all of her own premature death. This shows that despite her attainments, her failures were too overwhelming because of the natural disasters and her untimely death. Nevertheless this goes against the ideology of traditional historians that Mary reign was part of one big crisis. On the other hand you have the failures of both monarchies that display a constant trend of a crisis, both monarchs were constantly at battle with rebellions who either opposed who was at power and their reforms or had problems with the religious reforms. Also Edwards constant change of who was the protector from Somerset to Northumberland, was a sign of weakness in the monarchy, this was also presented in Marys reign with her miscarriages that were described as a punishment from god for having tolerated heretics in her realm. Mary I marriage to Prince Phillip of Spain was unpopular as her people did not want to be ruled by a Foreigner, however no major protest was made against the Prince specifically, never the less Marys marriage to the Prince was the reason why England

went to war with France in 1557, this war led to loss of Calais after 211 years since the Hundred Year war. This was one of the main factors to which historian labelled Mary an incompetent queen, thus being part of the era known as the Mid-Tudor crisis. In conclusion as you can see, even though there were major crisis throughout both Edwards and Marys reign and they were big failures that were big factors in the ideology of traditional historian, thus leading to the idea of Mid-Tudor crisis. However I have presented facts that show both monarchs had successes that would support ideas of revisionist historians that believe through both reigns, there were success that did not confer with the theology of the Mid-Tudor crisis, Marys Economic successes greatly benefited the government and made it more stable for her Elizabeth I, also her additions to the Army greatly benefited England on the long term against the Spanish armada. Likewise you have Edward who had great success in creating the first reforms towards Protestantism, which was a land mark feat seeing as he was a child and never before had England seen changed in religious reform steering towards the Protestant belief. This demonstrates clearly why it would be not fair to describe Edwards and Marys reign as a Mid-Tudor crisis.