Civilization Module

Second year/ LMD

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The Tudors

1. The Creation of the Dynasty by Henry VII

The Tudors family is a Welsh family that took the right in reigning England, Wales and
Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. After the Wars of the Roses1, Henry VII seized the throne to
the benefit of the Red Rose of Lancaster, being descendent through his mother from the
royal family of Lancaster which was extinct of male heirs. The Tudors era was the age of
gradual prosperity for the English; the main five monarchs in that period were: Henry VII,
Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

Henry VII was strong in asserting himself as an heir among the Lancastrian supporters
and York House competitors after the Battle of Bosworth by August 22nd, 1485; then
marrying princess of York: Elizabeth of York the next year in order to unite the two enemies
under the new dynasty and to prevent future wars. His main strategy was to secure the throne
against any potential heir and made alliances through marriages with Scotland, France and
Spain. He also restored the wealth of England in Europe.

Name Accession date Marriages Claim

Henry VII 22 August 1485 Elizabeth of York Descent

(crowned from Edward III
at Westminster of
Abbey on 30 England through
October 1485) his mother Lady
Margaret
Beaufort.

1
An English civil wars for control of the throne of England fought between supporters of two
rival cadet branches of the royal Red Rose of Lancaster, and the White House of York,.
Eventually, the wars eliminated the male lines of both families.

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Henry VIII 21 April 1509 (1) Catherine of Son of Henry VII

(first King of (crowned at Aragon and Elizabeth of
Ireland) Westminster Abbey (2) Anne Boleyn York
on 24 June 1509) (3) Jane Seymour
(4) Anne of Cleves
(5) Catherine
Howard
(6) Catherine Parr

Edward VI 28 January 1547 — Son of Henry VIII

(crowned at and Jane Seymour
Westminster Abbey
on 20 February
1547)

Mary I 19 July 1553 Philip II of Spain Daughter of

(crowned at Henry VIII and
Westminster Abbey Catherine of
on 1 October 1553) Aragon; known as
"Bloody Mary"
for burning
Protestants during
her reign.

Elizabeth I 17 November 1558 — Daughter of

(crowned at Henry VIII and
Westminster Abbey Anne Boleyn;
on 15 January 1559) known as "The
Virgin Queen" or
"Gloriana" during
her reign.

2. Henry VIII

Henry is the most influential king in the history of England; he was the first King of
Ireland, thus achieving the full union of England via laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542
and Crown of England Act, 1542. Also, He constantly fought against France to claim its
throne with no success. Henry was controversial in marriages; his first was his brother’s
widow: Katherine of Aragon on June 11th, 150924th with Papal Consent, both were

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crowned in June. Unlike his fathers, he took little part in ruling and securing the country or
to run foreign affairs with Europe; instead, he took opted for luxurious life of sports and
balls. After two years, he engaged in the military strategy and court.

His queen could not produce a male heir after his first son died after only 52 days, than the
Tudor line became at risk when his daughter Mary I was born, because it became clear that
Katherine of Aragon can no longer conceive children due to age factor. His chief minister
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey sought the consent of the Roman Pope to annul Henry’s marriage
with Catherine, but such decision was far from being executed because her nephew Charles
V was the holy Roman Emperor, who was supporting of his aunt, Catherine also led a fierce
legal battle to preserve her marriage.

The resulting event was that Henry VIII appointed Thomas Cromwell to place Wolsey
because he failed at the marriage annulment. Additionally, the turn of events got heavier when
the Henry VIII made it decisive to marry Anne Boleyn to secure his throne. Yet, in order to
achieve such purpose, the parliament initiated laws to break ties with Rome and the Pope to
declare that the king is the Supreme Head of the Church of England via the Act of
Supremacy (1534), the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer officially declared
divorce with Catherine as planned in order to marry Anne Boleyn who gave birth to the last
monarch of the Tudors: Elizabeth I with other stillborns, Boleyn was beheaded for high
treason by 1536.

Next year, he married Jane Seymour who finally produced a son: King Edward VI but
she died, so he remarried for the fourth time to the Anne of Cleves, a daughter of Protestant
Duke consequently forming an alliance with the Protestants despite the fact that Henry was
unfunded of such alliance but he was convinced to marry her for the beauty historians
claimed she possessed. For unknown reasons, the marriage failed and amicable divorce was
settled in receipt of castles and estates for Anne’s favor. Later, Henry VIII blamed
Cromwell for the marriage failure and beheaded him.

Henry’s fifth marriage was with Catherine Howard, a noble Catholic lady from
Norfolk. The marriage diplomatically had the hopes of restoring the ties with Catholic
Church, but it had the same fate as preceding marriages for that Catherine as a young vivid
woman grew tired of Henry and wished to marry a man of her age. She admitted in a

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questioning held in court that she carried an infidelity with the King’s favorite: Thomas
Culpeper; she was executed for treason, destroying all hopes of reconciliation between the
Catholics and the court by 1542. Next year, Henry VIII had his last Protestant marriage
with Catherine Parr who managed to make peace between Henry and his two daughters
before his death.

3. Edward VI

Upon his death, Henry assigned a group of regents to manage things during Edward’s
reign, yet the young king’s uncle: Edward Seymour soon took control of everything and
appointed himself as a Duke of Somerset. He wished to unite England and Scotland through
a marriage between Edward VI and Mary, Queen of Scots, but she married Francis II of
France which was a disappointment. Religiously speaking, Edward was affirmed to carry a
reform so he ordered the publication of Book of Common Prayer which was a set of
prayers and worship verses for daily and weekly services. The book was not praised by the
Catholic conservatives for the its content and language as well, this caused a rebellion
known as Prayer Book Rebellion, which encouraged a hardship in Court against Catholics,
especially Mary I (daughter of Catherine of Aragon) who refused to denounce her beliefs.

Edward Seymour lost the favor of people, especially after keeping Edward VI forcibly
in Windsor Castle; he was soon removed by members of the council and placed by John
Dudley, who also exerted power by securing the Protestantism by ordering all churches to
dispose the Catholic symbols and a revision of Book of Prayer in 1552. Edward VI got ill
and only lived into his teens, causing a problematic succession in the House of Tudor since the
male line became extinct. Many believed Lady Jane Grey, the granddaughter of Henry’s sister
Mary Tudor, to be the rightful heir in order to prevent Catholic faith from taking place in court,
but Henry’s eldest daughter Mary had this claim declared illegitimate and had Jane beheaded at
the age of 16 or 17, after she had been on the throne for only nine days. The public support was in
favor of Mary I despite that she was Catholic.

4. Mary I

Mary was the first female queen of England. As soon as she was crowned a queen, she
married Philip II, Prince of Spain to form an alliance in 1554, despite the public disapproval and

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the rebellion formed by Thomas Wyatt the younger to replace Mary I with Elizabeth I (the
scheme was revealed and he was beheaded). Mary never produced a Catholic heir to England
because her husband Philip was rarely with her in court and in order to protect her throne from the
protestant threats, she conducted Marian Persecutions between 1555 and 1558 which burnt 200-
300 Protestants alive, the reason she was called ‘Bloody Marry’. Her popularity continued to
downgrade specifically after the loss of Calais, an English area on the French soil in 1558.

Despite Mary’s cruelty, she managed to serve England to a certain extent such as coinage
system, new trade roots, new trade relations, lowering poverty levels and solving budget
issues; she also managed to declare her parents’ marriage legal and abolished King Edward’s
VI religious laws and repealed Henry’s religious laws to return to Roman church. Yet, what
was unpopular is the fact that England could never benefit from Spain to fix the English economy
rather damaging it since the former engaged the latter in unnecessary wars.

5. Elizabeth I

Elizabeth was a moderate Protestant who chose Sir William Cecil as her chief minister.
Following her coronation, the parliament passed Elizabethan Religious Settlement, referring to
Act of Uniformity and Act of Supremacy, which reestablished the realms of her father’s church,
means announcing an independent English church with Elizabeth as the supreme governor. She
made clergymen and statesmen oath these laws or losing their official titles. The virgin queen was
constantly under pressure for being unmarried and risking the Tudor line because it would lead to
civil war, yet she has chosen to remain unmarried accepting her Parliament’s and public opinion to
not be associated with the French crown, though the closest she came to marriage was between
1579 and 1581 with Francis.

For many times, the virgin queen was challenged and threatened to be replaced by Mary,
Queen of Scots with the help of group of earls whom she beheaded after signing the Death
Warrant in 1586, even the Pope excommunicated her. The most threatening confrontation was
with the Spanish in 1588 under the rule of the old suitor: Philip II. The Spanish were superior in
number and ammunition, but the Spanish were defeated for the bad weather in the English
Channel, disorganization and loss of control over logistics.

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After winning a grand battle, Elizabeth continued to prove her leadership without the need of a
male assistance. England had known the Golden Age representing the English Renaissance;
during poor harvest year, she introduced the Poor Law, allowing poor peasants a certain amount of
money she borrowed from the Parliament and paid it back in due time. Also, she was engaged not
only in politics to discover conspiracies, but also economy in which a strong and innovative navy
system was built which sailed faster and allowed constant treasury raiding from the Spanish ships
which were full silver and gold from the new world. Her chief minister, upon her death, has
corresponded with the first Stuart successor, Mary’s son: James VI, who was the king of Scotland,
as a legitimate successor since he was a Tudor descendent.