In regards to the Western Rebellion the blame of this too could quite easily be placed on Somerset’s shoulders due to his radical religious reformations in such a short space of time. Changing the Mass to English, dissolving chantries and scrapping religious days such as Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday were a devastating blow to Catholics. Their religion was effectively one of the largest parts of their life and Somerset was ruining this for them. Churches were slowly stripped and superstitious church items were now banned such as holy water or ashes. (However this rebellion was not solely based on religious grievances, the tax on sheep had also come as a huge blow to the people of Devon and Cornwall.) The murder of William Body showed the discontent in the west and it was not long before the rebellion started up. Somerset again vacillated and ended up trying to negotiate with the rebels in an attempt to find a way of appeasing them. He was seen as lenient once more and a procrastinator which didn’t bode well with the people and especially not with the council. Warwick showed himself as a revolutionary man in the Kett’s rebellion whilst Somerset was still labelled as a ‘poor man’s sympathiser’. Both rebellions made Somerset look very weak and Warwick began to plan a coup.
The role of his enemies could also be seen as a reason for Somerset fall from power. The Earl of Southampton was seen as Somerset’s main opposition. Warwick was a power hungry Machiavellian. As soon as he saw Somerset begins to stutter and buckle under pressure he got in contact with Southampton on how to bring him down. With people such as Cranmer on their side alongside Arundel, Somerset had no chance. He was cornered into surrender. Therefore it can be believed that Somerset only lost power due to his opposition forcing him into a position where had no choice but to give that power up.
I believe that Somerset’s foreign policy was a huge factor in his downfall especially with regard to the War in Scotland. Somerset had already been proven as quite the warmonger from the years of Henry; however the war in Scotland was seen as an obsession. In reality Somerset lacked huge perspective in this war; he was fighting a losing battle the whole time. With the French allying with the Scots and England not having the finances for this war it was just a recipe for disaster. The war itself cost an astonishing £580,593 leaving Somerset following Henry’s policy of debasement and causing further problems for the people back in England. Inflation occurred and people still saw no gain. Somerset had spent thousands of pounds on creating garrisons within Scotland but this effectively left the English soldiers isolated. He also failed to blockade the Firth of Forth which would have prevented French soldiers from sending reinforcements. Despite the English victory in the battle of Pinkie the war had to be branded as a total failure, this was because the one reason why England initially went to war with Scotland was to get Mary Queen of Scots to marry Edward. With this the two could form Scotland and England into one big country making them a much more powerful force (this was known as the Tudor dream). However with all this fighting going on Mary was shipped off to France and there she married the Dauphin leaving Somerset with nothing but an unwinnable war on his hands. Not to mention he couldn’t stop the rebellions due to his soldiers being stuck in Scotland. The French also declared war on England and began attacking Boulogne, which was Henry’s pride and joy and basically all he achieved with the lengthy and expensive war against the French. People turned against Somerset for this shambles and for that this can be seen as his downfall.
Somerset’s economic policy also angered the people and may have been the cause of his downfall. Firstly despite being advised by the Secretary of State Thomas Smith that debasement was their biggest issue, he continued debasement to help him fund the War in Scotland; this resulted in further deflation and a decline in confidence for the pound. Somerset was effectively crippling the English economy. Enclosures were another problem which not only led to the rebellion but caused huge economic upset. These enclosures became homes to sheep to graze and reduced the land available to grow crops and foot shortages began to occur. Somerset did put a tax on sheep but this backfired and ended up angering both the rich and poor.
Somerset’s fall could even be put to him following Henry’s legacy. When Somerset came to power he followed a lot of the policies that were being used before Henry had passed away. The religious reformation was already beginning after the break with Rome and Henry’s constant flirting with Protestant ideas. The debasement of the coin was a policy introduced by Henry to help fund the Scottish War and because the people desperately wanted to win the war Somerset continued both. However, the key issue was that Somerset wasn’t Henry, he lacked the powerful personality and more importantly Edward was king not Somerset so his fall seemed inevitable.
The final factor which I myself believe was the cause of Somerset’s downfall was his style of government. Somerset led an autocratic government and he ignored the regency council. He foolishly ignored the advice of William Paget who told him that he had “too many irons in the fire” basically telling him to focus on one thing at a time. Due to Somerset not delegating with anyone he was left liable for anything which went wrong. He made enemies on the council such as Southampton who were powerful men who would eventually be part in the coup that overthrew Somerset. Somerset also ruled from Somerset house and used his servants as the council. This left many people angered as he wasn’t the king and he was acting as if he was. Paget had even said to Somerset that if he ruled under his advice he wouldn’t lose power.
In conclusion I think all of these factors led to the fall of Somerset, it must be stressed that the role Somerset took on put him in a position where it seemed destined to fail. Henry had left the country in economic crisis and the War in Scotland didn’t just disappear. However I believe Somerset made matters harder on himself by refusing to delegate with the rest of the council. Personally I believe his style of rule was the cause of his fall. His style of rule not only caused a lot of these problems but also left him solely accountable for the blame as important as the rebellions were I believe that they were just the final nail in the coffin.