Edward VI vs. The Dragon: A Protestant Boy King Who Tried to Rewrite England's Most Elite Knighthood
About this episode
This episode explores the actions of Edward VI as he attempted to rewrite the statutes of the Order of the Garter, reflecting on his impact as a Protestant boy king.
In 1552, England's teenage Protestant king decided that St. George, patron saint of England, had to go. Not from one town, or one church. From the statutes of the Order of the Garter itself, the most prestigious knighthood in the country, the one his grandfather had endowed with a jewel-encrusted gold statue and his father had basically built his entire personal brand around. The manuscript still exists. Edward VI's own handwriting is in the margins, correcting his chief minister's draft. He was fifteen. This is the story of a boy king who believed he was saving souls by rewriting a 200-year-old institution, the nine days that upended everything after his death, and a queen who found the evidence and ordered it sponged from the historical record so thoroughly that "no memorial might be transmitted to posterity." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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