The T udors

The Tudors

Tudor dynasty:

The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a royal house of Welsh origin, descended from Rhys ap Tewdwr, the last "king of the Britons," which ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including their ancestral Wales and the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry VII, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised branch of the English royal House of Lancaster. The Tudor family rose to power in the wake of the Wars of the Roses, which left the House of Lancaster, to which the Tudors were aligned, extinct.

Henry VII

By 1485 the Wars of the Roses had been raging in England for many years between the Houses of York and Lancaster. The Lancastrian Henry later took for his bride Elizabeth of York thereby uniting the houses.

The real matter was decided on the battlefield, at the Battle of Bosworth Field. It was here that Henry and his forces met with Richard III and Henry won the crown. It was truly through the defeat of Richard and the 'right of conquest' that Henry claimed the throne. It was solidified however, by his marriage to Elizabeth of York, the eldest child of the late king, Edward IV.

The main problem facing Henry was restoring faith and strength in the monarchy. Henry also had to deal with a treasury that was nearly bankrupt. The English monarchy had never been one of the wealthiest of Europe and even more so after the War of the Roses. Through his monetary strategy, Henry managed to steadily accumulate wealth during his reign, so that by the time he died, he left a considerable fortune to his son, Henry VIII.

Henry VIII

  Henry VIII was born at Greenwich on 28 June 1491, the second son of Henry VII and

Elizabeth of York. He became heir to the throne on the death of his elder brother, Prince Arthur, in 1502 and succeeded in 1509. Henry's interest in foreign policy was focused on Western Europe, which was a shifting pattern of alliances centred round the kings of Spain and France, and the Holy Roman Emperor. Henry also invested in the navy, and increased its size from 5 to 53 ships. The second half of Henry's reign was dominated by two issues very important for the later history of England and the monarchy: the succession and the Protestant Reformation, which led to the formation of the Church of England.

Henry had married his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon, in 1509. Catherine had produced only one surviving child - a girl, Princess Mary, born in 1516. England had not so far had a ruling queen, and the dynasty was not secure enough to run the risk of handing of handing the Crown on to a woman. Henry had anyway fallen in love with Anne Boleyn, the sister of one of his many mistresses, and tried to persuade the Pope to grant him an annulment of his marriage on the grounds that it had never been legal.

Protestantism

The result was a series of Acts cutting back papal power and influence in England and bringing about the English Reformation.

The Pope responded with excommunication, and Parliamentary legislation enacting Henry's decision to break with the Roman Catholic Church soon followed. An Act in restraint of appeals forbade appeals to Rome, stating that England was an empire, governed by one supreme head and king who possessed 'whole and entire' authority within the realm, and that no judgements or excommunications from Rome were valid. Henry's second marriage had raised hopes for a male heir. Anne Boleyn, however, produced another daughter, Princess Elizabeth, and failed to produce a male child. Henry made two more marriages, none produced any children. Henry made sure that his male heir, Edward, was educated by people who believed in Protestantism rather than Catholicism because he wanted the anti-papal nature of his reformation and his dynasty to become more firmly established.

Edward VI

Henry VIII died in 1547, secure in the knowledge that he had left behind the male heir to the throne that he had longed for. Unfortunately, the boy was young, not even 10 years old, when he became king. His uncle, Edward Seymour became Lord Protector, and through Edward, sought to control England.

Protestants in England were happy for the young king's ascension to the throne, but feared what might happen if the boy died. It was common knowledge that Mary, Henry's eldest daughter and heir after Edward (according to Henry VIII's will), would return the country to Roman Catholicism. To prevent this from happening, several of the nobles plotted to bring another woman to the throne in her place. Some rallied behind the other heir of Henry VIII: Elizabeth. Others looked to the descendants of of Henry VIII's sister Mary. The oldest of these descendants was the Lady Jane Grey.

Mary I

Mary Tudor was the only child born to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon to survive childhood On the morning of October 1, Mary made the short walk from Westminster Palace to Westminster Abbey across the street for her coronation. It was nearly 5 o'clock before the ceremony was finished and the court made it's way back to Westminster Palace for the banquet in the Great Hall. Mary got married Prince Philip of Spain but they had no child.

Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called "The Virgin Queen", Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty

In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father .In religion she was relatively tolerant, avoiding systematic persecution. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, moving between the major powers of France and Spain. She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, and Ireland. In the mid-1580s, war with Spain could no longer be avoided, and when Spain finally decided to attempt to conquer England in 1588, the failure of the Spanish Armada associated her with one of the greatest military victories in English history.

Elizabethan era

Elizabeth's reign is known as the Elizabethan era, famous above all for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Francis Drake.