The Tudors

10 The birth of the nation state

The new monarch y' The Reformation' The Protestant- Catholic
struggle

Th e century of Tudor rule (1485 -1603) is often th em. He had th e same ideas and opin ions as the
thought of as a most glorious period in English growing classes of merch ants and gen tleman
history. Henr y Vll built the foundations of a farmers, and he based royal power on good business
wealth y nati on state and a powerful mon archy. His sense .
son , Henry Vlil, kept a magn ificent co urt, and
Henry VII firmly believed that war and glory were
made the C hurch in England tru ly English by
bad for business, and that business was good for th e
breakin g away from th e Roman C atho lic C h urch.
state. He th erefore avoided quarrels eithe r with
Finally, his daughter Elizabeth brought glory to th e
Sco tland in the north, or Fran ce in the south .
new state by defeating the powerful navy of Spain ,
the greatest European power of th e tim e. Durin g
the Tudor age England experienced one of th e
greatest art ist ic periods in its h istory.
The re is, however, a less glor ious view of th e Tudor
century. Henry Vlil wasted th e wealth saved by his
fathe r. Elizabeth weakened the qua lity of
govern ment by selling official posts. She did thi s to
avoid asking Parliamen t for mon ey. And although
her gove rn ment tried to deal with th e prob lem of
poor and home less peop le at a time when prices
rose much faster tha n wages, its laws and acti on s
were often cruel in effect.

The new monarchy

Henry Vll is less well known than eithe r Henry
Vlil or Elizabeth I. But he was far more important
in estab lishing the new monarchy than eithe r of
Left: The defeat of [he Spanish Arnuu1a in /588 Wl15 the mOSI glorious even t
ofElizabeth 1'5 reign. It marked the arrival of England as a great
European sea power, leading [he way to the development of theempireover
!he next two centuries. Ir also marked the limit of Spain 's ability to recapture
Protestant countriesfor the Catholic Church.

Right: Henry Vll was clever with people and careful with money. He holds
a red Lancastrian rose in his hand, bur he broughtunit)· to the Houses of
York and Lancaster. His successors symbolised this unity by use of a red rose
I.Jo'ilh white outet petaL>. the "T udor" rose.

67
A n Illustrated History of Britain
During the fifteen th cen tury, bu t parti cu larl y during
th e W ars of the Roses, Eng l-and's trad ing positi on
h ad bee n badly damaged. T he stro ng Germa n
Hanseati c League, a closed trad ing soc iety, h ad
destroyed Eng lish tra de with the Balt ic and
northern Europe. T rade with Italy and France had
also been red uce d after Eng land's defeat in Fran ce
in the mid-fifteenth century. T he Low Countries
(t he Nethe rlands and Belgium) alone offered a way
in for trade in Europe. O n ly a year after hi s victory
at Boswort h in 1485, Henry V U made an impor tan t
trade agree ment with the Nethe rlands wh ich
allowed Eng lish trade to grow again .
Henry was fortuna te . Ma ny of th e o ld nobility had
d ied or bee n defea ted in the recen t wars, and the ir
Henry VlIl, by the greatcourt painter Ham Holbein. Henry was hard,
cruel, ambitious and calculating. Few survived hisanger. He executed [WO of
his waes. Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, and several of his ministers
and leading churchmen. Best knownamong these were his Lord Chancellor,
ThoT1U1S More, and his assistant in carrying Old the Reformation, Thomas
Cromwell.
68
lan ds h ad gone to the king. T his mea nt th at Henry
had more power and more money than earlier
k ings . In order to establish hi s authority beyond
quest ion, h e forba de anyone , except himself, to
keep armed men .
T he authority of t he law h ad bee n almost
co mp letely destroyed by the lawless behaviour of
nobl es an d the ir armed men. Henry used the
"C ourt of Star C ha mber", traditiona lly the kin g's
co unc il chambe r, to deal wit h lawless nobles, Local
justice that h ad broken dow n during the wars slowly
began to operate agai n . H enry encouraged th e use
of h eavy fines as punis hme nt beca use th is gave the
C rown mon ey.
Henry's aim was to make the Crown financ ially
independent, and th e lan ds and th e fines h e too k
from th e old no bilit y h elped h im do th is. Henry
also raised taxes for wars wh ich he the n d id not
figh t . He never spent money unl ess h e h ad to. O ne
migh t expect Henry to h ave bee n un pop ular, but
he was ca reful to keep the friendship of the
merch an t and lesser gentry cl asses. Like him th ey
wanted peace and prospe ritv, He created a ne w
nobility from among the m, and men unknow n
before now became Henry's statesmen . But th ey all
kn ew th at th eir rise to importa nce was completely
dependent on the Crown.
W hen He nry d ied in 1509 he left beh ind the huge
to ta l of £2 milli on , abo ut fiftee n years' wort h of
income. T he on ly th ing on wh ich he was h ap py to
spend money free ly was the bu ilding of sh ips for a
merch an t fleet. Henr y un derstood earl ier th an most
people that Eng lan d's fut ure wea lth would de pend
on internation al tra de . A nd in order to trade,
Hen ry realised that Eng land must h ave its own fleet
of merch ant sh ipso
Henry V Ill was q uite unli ke h is fat he r. H e was
cruel, wasteful with mon ey. and interested in
pleasing himself. H e wanted to becom e an
important influence in European po litics . But much
had h appen ed in Europe since England h ad given
up its efforts to defeat France in the Hundred Years
War. France was no w mor e powerful tha n England,
and Spain was even more powe rful, because it was
united with the H oly Rom an Emp ire (whic h

included much of central Europe). Hen ry VIII
wanted England to hold the balance of power
between th ese two giants. He fi rst unsuccessfully
allied him self with Spai n, and when he was not
rewarded he cha nged sides. When friendship with
France did not bring him anyth ing, Henry started
talking again to C ha rles V of Spa in.
Henry's failure to gain an important position in
European poli tics was a bitt er disappointment . He
spent so much on main tain ing a magnificen t co urt,
and on wars from which England had littl e to gain,
that his fat he r's carefully saved mon ey was soon
gone. Gold and silver from newly discovered
America added to eco no mic inflation . In th is
serious finan cial crisis, Henry needed mon ey. O ne
way of doing th is was by reducing th e amount of
silver used in co ins . But although th is gave Henry
immed iate profits, it rapid ly led to a rise in prices.
It was the refore a damaging policy, and th e English
coinage was reduced to a seventh of its value within
twen t y-five years.
The Reformation
Henry VIII was always look ing for new sources of
money. H is fathe r had beco me powerful by takin g
over the nob les' lan d. hut th e lan ds owned by th e
Church and the monasteries had not been touch ed.
The C hurch was a huge lan downer, and the
monasteries were no longer important to econo mic
and social growth in th e way th ey had bee n two
hundred years ea rlier. In fact the y were unpop ular
because many mon ks no longer led a good religious
life but lived in wealth and co mfort.
Hen ry disliked the power of the C hurch in England
because, since it was an intern ational organisation ,
he could no t complete ly co ntrol it. If Hen ry had
been powerful eno ugh in Europe to influen ce the
pope it might have been different. But the re were
two far more powerful states, France, and Spain .
with the Holy Rom an Empire , lying between h im
and Rom e. T he power of the C atho lic C hurch in
England cou ld th erefore work against his own
author ity, and th e taxes paid to th e C hurch
10 The birth of the nation state
reduced his own income. Hen ry was not the on ly
European king with a wish to "centralise" state
autho rity. Man y o thers were doing the same thing.
But Henry had anot he r reason for standing up to
the autho rity of the C hurch .
In 1510 Hen ry had married Catherine of Aragon,
the widow of h is elder brot he r Arthur. But by 1526
she had still not had a son who survived infancy
and was now un likely to do so. Henry tr ied to
persuade the pope to allow h im to divorce
Ca rhe rine . Nor mally, Hen ry need not have
expected any difficulty. His ~ h i ef min ister, Ca rdinal
Wolsey, had already been skilful in advising on
Hen ry's foreign and home policy. Wolsey hoped
th at his skills, and hi; important position in th e
C hurch, would be successful in persuading the
pope. But the pope was controlled by C ha rles V,
who was Holy Roman Empero r and kin g of Spain ,
and also Carherine's nephew. For bo th political and
family reason s he wanted Henry to stay married to
C arhe rinc. The pope did not wish to anger eithe r
C harles or Henry, but eventually he was forced to
do as C harles V wanted. He forbade Henry's
divorce .
Henry was extremely angry and the fi rst person to
feel his anger was his own ministe r, Ca rdina l
Wolsey. Wolsey only escaped execu tion by dying of
natural causes on his way to the king's court, and
after Wolsey no priest ever again became an
important mini ster of th e kin g. In 1531 Hen ry
persuaded the bishop s to make h im head of the
C hurch in England , and this became law after
Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534. It
was a pop ular deci sion . Henry was now free to
di vorce C arhe rine and marry his new love, Anne
Boleyn. He hoped A nne would give him a son to
follow h im on the throne .
Henry's break with Rome was purely political. He
had simply wanted to control th e C hurch and to
keep its wealth in his own kingdom . He did not
approve of the new ideas of Reformation
Prot estanti sm introduced by Ma rt in Luther in
G erm any and John Calvin in Geneva. He st ill
believed in the Catholic faith . Indeed , Hen ry had
earlier written a book crit icising Luth er's teach ing
69
A n Illustrated History of Britai n
and the pope had rewarded him with the titl e Fidei
Defensor, Defender of the Faith . The pope must
have regretted his act ion . The letters ''F.D." are
st ill to be found on every British coin.
Like h is father, Henry VIll govern ed England
th rough his close ad visers, men who were
co mplete ly dependent on him for their position .
But when he broke with Rome, he used Parliamen t
to make the break legal. Through several Acts of
Parli ament between 1532 and 1536, England
became politically a Protestant count ry, eve n
tho ugh the popular religion was st ill Ca tho lic.
O nce England had accep ted th e separation from
Rome Henry too k th e English Reform ation a step
furt he r. Wolsey's place as th e kin g's ch ief mini ster
was taken by one of h is assistants, Thom as
Cromwell. Henry and C rornwell made a careful
survey of C hurch propert y, the first properly
organ ised tax survey since th e Domesday Book 450
years earlier. Between 1536 and 1539 th ey closed
560 monasteries and ot her religious houses. Henry
did th is in order to make money, but he also
wanted to be popu lar with th e rising classes of
landowners and merchants. He th erefore gave or
sold much of the mon aste ries' lands to the m. Man y
sma ller land own ers made th eir fortunes. Most
knock ed down the old monastery build ings and
70
used the stone to create magnificent new houses for
th emselves. Othe r buildings were just left ro fall
down .
Meanwhil e the monk s and nun s were thrown OUL
So me were give n small sums of mone y, but many
were un able to find work and becam e wand erin g
beggars. The dissoluti on of the monasteries was
proba bly the greate st act of official destruct ion in
the history of Brita in.
Henry proved th at h is break with Rome was neith er
a religious nor a diplomati c disaster. He remained
loyal to Catho lic religious teaching, and exec uted
Protestants who refused to acce pt it. He even made
an alliance with C ha rles V of Spa in against Fran ce.
For poli tical reason s both of them were willin g to
forget the quarre l ove r Cathe rine of A ragon, and
also England's break with Rom e.
Hen ry died in 1547, leaving beh ind his sixth wife,
Carhe rine Parr , and h is three children. Mary, the
eldest, was the daught er of Ca rher ine of Aragon .
Elizabeth was the daughter of his second wife,
A nne Boleyn , whom he had executed because she
was unfaith ful. Nine-year-old Edward was the son
of [ an e Seymour, th e on ly wife whom Henry had
really loved, but who had died giving birth to his
only son .
The ruins of Fountairn Abbey in
YorkJhire, one of ,hegreatest and
weal'hies, English monasteries.
It finally surrendered la Henry's
reformarion in 1539. The scained
glass and lead u,i ndow frames
and roofing uere retnOt-'ed
immediately. But it «us nol until
161 1 that .some of the stone «us
raken CO build Founcains Hall.
nearby . Eoen so, Ute abbe, u.w
so huge chat most of Ute srcne
was never raken and Ute abbey
survived as a ruin.
 10 Th e birth of the nation stare

The Protestant-Catholic struggle [ an e G rey, a Protestant, on th e th ron e. But Mary

Edward VL, Henry VIII's son, was on ly a ch ild
when he became kin g, so the co untry was ruled by
a counc il. A ll the mem bers of thi s cou nc il were
from the new nob ility create d by the Tudors. They
were keen Protestant reform ers because th ey had
benefited from the sale of monastery land s. Indeed,
all the new landowners knew that th ey co uld on ly
be sure of keeping the ir new lan ds if th ey made
England truly Protestant .
Most English peop le st ill believed in rh e old
Catho lic religion . Less tha n half the English were
Protesta nt by belief, but th ese peop le were allowed
to take a lead in religious matters. In 1552 a new
prayer boo k was introduced to make sure th at all
churches followed th e new Prote stant religion .
Most people were not very happ y with the new
religion. They had been glad to see the end of some
of the C hurch's bad practi ces like the selling of
"pardon s" for th e forgiven ess of sins . But they did
not like th e cha nges in belief, and in some places
there was troub le.
Marv, the Catholic daughter of C atherine of
Aragon, became queen when Edward, aged sixteen ,
died in 1553. A group of nobles tried to put Lady
succeeded in entering Lon don and too k contro l of
th e kingdom . She was supported by the ordina ry
peop le, who were angered by th e greed of the
Protestant nobles,
However, Mary was unwise and unbend ing in her
policy and her beliefs. She was th e first quee n of
Englan d since Marild a, 400 years ea rlier. A t th at
time women were considered to be inferior [ 0 men .
The marriage of a queen was th erefore a difficult
matter. If Mary married an Eng lishman she would
be und er th e co ntrol of a man of lesser importan ce.
If she married a foreigner it might place England
und er foreign control.
Mary, for political , religious and family reasons,
chose to marry King Phil ip of Spa in. It was an
un fortunat e cho ice. T he ord ina ry people disliked
th e marriage, as Phi lip's Span ish friend s in England
were qu ick to notice. Popul ar feeling was so stro ng
that a rebe llion in Kent actua lly reached London
before ending in failure. Ma ry dealt cruelly wit h the
rebel leader , Wyatt, but she took the unusual step
of asking Parli ament for its op in ion abo ut her
marriage plan . Parli ament unwi llingly agreed to
Marv's marriage , and it on ly accepted Phi lip as king
of England for Marv's lifetime .

A ProteSfant propaganda picrurt of Edu!ard VI

bring told by his dying father. Henry Vlll . re
uphold the true Prolw ant rtligion. At
EdUJard's fter the pope collapses deftated.
Under EdUlard England became far more
ProteSfant rhan befare. and mort Prcrestenr.
probabb, than his farher intt nded. The young
kiJJg wasassisted b). men who had profited from
Church lands and properryafra the break with
Rome.

71
A n Illustrated History of Britain
Mary's marriage to Phili p was the first mistake of
her unfortunate reign. She then began burning
Protestant s. Three hund red peop le died in th is way
dur ing her fi ve-year reign , and the burn ings began
to sicken people. A t the same time, the th ought of
becoming a junior ally of Spain was very unpopular.
O n ly th e know ledge th at Mary her self was dying
prevented a popul ar rebelli on.
Elizabeth, Mary's half sister, was luck y to becom e
queen when Mary died in 1558. Mary had
co nsidered killing her , because she was an obvious
leader for Prote stant revolt. Elizabeth had been wise
eno ugh to say not hing, do nothing , and to exp ress
neither Catho lic nor Protestant views whi le Ma ry
lived. And Phi lip persuaded Mary to leave
Elizabeth unharmed .
W hen she became quee n in 1558, Elizabeth I
wanted to find a peaceful answer to the prob lems of
the English Reformat ion. She wanted to bring
toget he r again those parts of English society wh ich
were in religio us disagreement. And she wan ted to
make England prosperous. In some ways th e kind of
Prot estantism fi na lly agreed in 1559 rem ain ed closer
to th e Catho lic religion th an to o the r Prot estan t
groups. But Elizabeth made sure that th e C hurch
was st ill unde r her author ity, unlik e po lit ically
dange rous forms of Pro testantism in Europe. In a
way, she made the C hurch part of the state
mach ine.
The "p arish" , the area served by one church,
usually the same size as a village, became the unit
of state administration . People had to go to church
on Sundays by law and they were fined if they
stayed away. This meant that the parish priest, th e
"parson" or "vicar", became almost as powerful as
th e village squire . Elizabeth also arranged for a book
of sermons to be used in church. A lthough most of
the sermons co nsisted of Bible teach ing, thi s book
also taught the peop le that rebellion again st the
Crown was a sin against God .
T he struggle between Catho lics and Protestants
co nt inued to end anger Elizabeth's position for the
next thi rty years. Both France an d Spa in were
Catholic. Elizabeth and her adv isers wanted to
avoid open qua rrels wit h bot h of the m. T his was
72
not easy, becau se both the French and Span ish
kings wanted to marry Elizabeth and so join
England to their own country. Elizabeth and her
ad visers knew how much damage Mary had done
and th at it was important th at she sho uld avoid
such a marriage . At the same time , howev er, there
was a danger th at the pope would persuade Catho lic
co unt ries to attack England . Finally, the re was a
danger from th ose Catho lic nobles st ill in England
who wished to remove Elizabeth and replace her
with the queen of Sco tla nd , who was a Catho lic.
Mary, th e Scott ish queen , usually called "Qu een of
Sco ts" , was th e heir to th e English th ron e because
she was Elizabeth's closest living relative, and
because Elizabet h had not married. Mary's mother
had been Fren ch , and Mary had spen t her
ch ildhood in France, and was a strong Catho lic.
W hen she returned to rule Sco tla nd as queen , Mary
soon made enemies of some of he r nob les, and to
avoid the m she finally escaped to the safety of
England . Elizabet h, however , kept Mary as a
prisoner for almost twen ty years. During that time
Elizabet h discovered seve ral secret C atholic plots,
some of wh ich clear ly aimed at making Mary queen
of England .
It was difficult for Elizabeth to decide what to do
with Mary. She knew that Fran ce was unlikely to
attack England in suppor t of Mary. But she was
afraid that Spain might do so. Marv's close
connection with France. howe ver, was Cl
discouragement to Ph ilip. He wou ld nor wish to
defeat Elizabeth only to put Mar y on the throne. It
would be giving England to th e Fren ch . So for a
long time Elizabeth just kept Mary as a prisone r.
When Elizabeth finally agreed to Marv's execution
in 1587, it was partly because Mary had named
Philip as her heir to the th rone of England , and
because with thi s claim Philip of Spain had decided
to invade England . Elizabeth no lon ger had a
reason to keep Mary alive. In England Mary's
execution was popular. The Catho lic plot s and the
dan gers of a foreign Catholic inv asion had cha nged
people's feelings. By 1585 most English people
believed that to be a Catholic was to be an enemy
of England. T his hatred of everyth ing C at ho lic
became an important po litical force.