Edward Seymour, the Earl of Hartford, and Duke of Somerset was given the title Lord Protector and was given the task of ruling England while Edward VI was too young to rule unaided.

Jealous of his elder brother's power Thomas Seymour married Catherine Parr to enter the household of the young King Edward and the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. ¹

A condition of King Henry VIII's will was the marriage of his son Edward to Mary, Queen of Scots. It was his hope to unite the two nations. But the Scottish refused to comply. So Somerset, the Protector of England took an army in Scotland. These events were part of a series known as the 'Rough Wooing'.

Thousands of Scots gathered near the town of Musselburgh, just to the east of Edinburgh. They faced an English army led by the Duke of Somerset. The Scots had a good position on the battle field but wasted it when they attacked. The Scots were heavily defeated. The defeat at Pinkie Cleugh was a threat to Mary, Queen of Scots, and so she was secretly moved from Stirling Castle to the Augustinian Inchmahome Priory located on an island on lake Menteith. ¹

To comply with the agreement to marry Mary Stuart to the French Dauphin, the young queen was moved from Inchmahome Priory to Dumbarton Castle on the banks of the River Clyde on the west of Scotland. It was here that she waited before sailing to France. ¹

The request of the Scottish Regent, Mary of Guise, for help to fight the English was answered by the arrival of an army of several thousand French. The assistance came on condition that her daughter Mary Stuart should marry the French Dauphin, Francis and is known as the Treaty of Haddington. ¹

Queen Mary was placed aboard the French ship at Dumbarton with a large number of her attendants. Along with her went the four Marys. Although the English fleet were directed to stop her they did not manage to find the French ship. A stormy crossing to France left many of the travellers sick. ¹

Thomas Seymour, the Protector's brother, had married the late king's widow Catherine Parr. Suspicion fell on Thomas after the untimely death of Catherine in late 1548 and it was suspected that he wanted to marry Elizabeth, King Henry VIII's daughter. He may have also tried to bribe the young king Edward VI into giving him more power. Thomas was arrested, charged with treason and sent to the Tower of London. Without much of a trial he was exectuted.

The war between England and Scotland and France was ended with the signing of the Treaty of Boulogne. The English withdrew from Scotland. This allowed the French king, Henry II to concentrate on his enemy, Charles V, The Holy Roman Emporer. ¹

Even after after Somerset's fall from grace he was still a threat and was hated by John Dudley, the Earl of Warwick. On an exaggerated charge of treason Somerset was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. Whether he was guitly of what he was accused of or not, Somerset was executed.