The Tudor Rose, incorporating the Lancastrian (Tudor) red rose and the Yorkist white rose. Henry VII's marriage to Elizabeth of York united the two warring houses
The 'Tudor dynasty' or 'House of Tudor' () was an English royal dynasty that lasted 118 years, beginning in
1485. The founder was
Henry Tudor, a descendent of an illegitimate son of
John of Gaunt, the first
Duke of Lancaster.
Henry allied himself with the
Lancastrian King
Henry VI of England, though later pledged allegiance to the
Yorkist Edward IV of England after his return to the throne in
1471. After Edward IV died in
1483, he was succeeded by his brother, Richard,
Duke of Gloucester, who became
Richard III of England. Henry Tudor fought Richard for the throne, and defeated and killed him at the
Battle of Bosworth Field in
1485. Henry was declared King
Henry VII of England by
right of conquest–to ensure a hold on his extremely weak claim to the throne–and united the royal houses of
Lancaster and
York by marrying
Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of his old enemy King
Edward IV.
The Tudor dynasty marked many significant changes in religion and politics, the most notable of which is the
English Reformation in the
1530s, ordered by King
Henry VIII and masterminded by
Thomas Cromwell, the first
Earl of Essex. Cromwell, who dominated the English political scene during the 1530s, was responsible for modernising national government.
Despite failed attempts during his reign to re-introduce
Roman Catholicism, Henry VIII was succeeded by his devoutly Protestant son,
Edward VI, who attempted to cement the Protestant religion by introducing the
Book of Common Prayer. His successor, the devoutly Catholic
Mary I, overturned these attempts, and burned hundreds of Protestants at the stake for
heresy. Her attempts, however, were also overturned when
Elizabeth I re-introduced Protestantism during her long forty-five-year reign between
1558 and
1603.
None of Henry VIII's children had any children of their own. After Elizabeth I's death in
1603, the crown passed to Henry VII's great-grandson,
James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England. The Tudor dynasty was succeeded by the
House of Stuart.
Cementing a royal dynasty
The Tudor dynasty was descended from the powerful and successful
Welsh prince Rhys ap Gruffydd, through his daughter Gwenllian Rhys, who married Ednyfed Fychan, seneschal of
Gwynedd under
Llewelyn the Great. The family first gained recognition in
1428-9, when
Owen Tudor contracted a secret and illegal marriage to
Catherine of Valois, the widow of
Henry V.
[1] The couple had three sons, two of whom,
Jasper and
Edmund, became prominent. Owen Tudor was punished for marrying the
queen dowager, but his children by Catherine were recognised by
Henry VI. Jasper Tudor was created
Earl of Pembroke, and Edmund was created
Earl of Richmond. Henry VI arranged Edmund's marriage to
Margaret Beaufort, a wealthy heiress and a direct descendent of
John of Gaunt, the first
Duke of Lancaster, through an illegitimate son by
Katherine Swynford. Henry Tudor, the future
Henry VII of England, was the issue of this marriage.
Edmund remained firmly loyal to the
Lancastrian Henry VI during the
Wars of the Roses, and died, imprisoned by Edward IV at
Camarthen Castle, on
November 1 1456. His son, Henry, was born two months later in
1457; and when
Edward IV became king in
1461, he granted the infant's wardship to William, Lord Herbert, one of his major Welsh supporters. Henry lived under
Edward IV until
1470, when
Henry VI was restored. Henry Tudor was granted an audience with the restored king, and spent time with his Lancastrian uncle
Jasper Tudor. Edward IV was once again restored in
1471, and Henry Tudor went into exile. However,
Margaret Beaufort's marriage to a prominent Yorkist,
Thomas Stanley, the first
Earl of Derby, brought the Tudors influence at Court. Edward IV allowed Henry to inherit Margaret's estates when she died.
Edward IV died in
1483. His son
Edward became King Edward V, but both he and his brother
Richard, Duke of York were presumably murdered and disposed of in the
Tower of London. Their uncle, Edward IV's brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, seized power and declared himself
Richard III of England. Henry Tudor, the last senior-surviving dynastic Lancastrian, fought Richard for the throne at the
Battle of Bosworth Field in
1485. Henry won, and Richard was killed; Henry was declared
Henry VII of England and claimed the throne by
right of conquest (his claim through an illegitimate son of John of Gaunt was, at best, extremely weak). He also married Edward's eldest daughter,
Elizabeth of York, thus uniting the warring royal houses of
Lancaster and
York (also, any issue would be descended from a legitimate royal house through his wife). They were married on
January 18 1486.
The Henrys: Six wives and international diplomacy
Marriage diplomacy
Henry VII and
Queen Elizabeth bore several children. They had two sons that survived childhood,
Arthur, Prince of Wales and
Henry. Their daughters included
Margaret, who married
James IV of Scotland; and
Mary, who married
Louis XII of France. Henry VII married his eldest son Arthur to
Catherine of Aragon, cementing an alliance with the
Spanish monarchs,
Ferdinand II of
Aragon and
Isabella I of
Castile, and the two spent their honeymoon at
Ludlow Castle, the traditional seat of the
Prince of Wales. However, six months after the marriage, Arthur died, leaving his younger brother
Henry as heir apparent. Henry VII acquired a
Papal dispensation to allow Henry to marry his brother's widow; although it was granted, Henry VII delayed, and never allowed the marriage to occur in his lifetime.
Meanwhile, King Henry VII designed to change the way the country was governed. He consolidated the power of the monarch by disbanding the private armies of his nobles (which could have been used to launch rebellions). He also created
Justices of the Peace to maintain law and order in every English county; and set up the
Star Chamber, a group of Privy Councillors and lawyers–the king's most trusted men–to hear both criminal and civil court cases. As well as legal efficiency, Henry avoided expensive building projects and avoided unnecessary wars. By the time of his death in
1509, the treasury was full and the monarch was the undisputed head of the government.
Henry VII was succeeded by
Henry VIII, his second son, a keen sportsman, devoted follower of the church, and a lover of art and music. After his father's death, Henry VIII was free to marry his fiancée
Catherine of Aragon, and the two wed on
June 11 1509, and crowned at
Westminster Abbey on
June 24 the same year. However, Catherine did not bear Henry the sons he was desparate for; Catherine's first child, a daughter, was stillborn, and her second child, a son named
Henry, Duke of Cornwall, died fifty-two days after the birth. A further set of stillborn children were conceived, until a daughter
Mary was born in
1516. When it became clear to Henry that the Tudor dynasty was at risk, he consulted his chief minister
Thomas Cardinal Wolsey about the possibility of divorcing Catherine. Wolsey visited Rome, where he hoped to get the Pope's consent for a divorce. However, the Pope, who was under the influence of Catherine's nephew,
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, refused. Wolsey fell from favour as a result of his failure to procure a divorce, and Henry appointed
Thomas Cromwell to procure a divorce.
Break with Roman Catholicism
Cromwell's actions changed the course of English history, and ensured the Tudor dynasty's mark on the national religion. In order to allow Henry to divorce his wife, he broke from the
Roman Catholic church, and declared the king
Supreme Head of the Church of England. Therefore, the
Church of England had been established, with Henry VIII at its head, and his newly appointed
Archbishop of Canterbury,
Thomas Cranmer, declared Henry's marriage to Catherine
annuled. This allowed Henry to marry his mistress
Anne Boleyn, the daughter of a minor diplomat
Sir Thomas Boleyn. Anne was expected to produce a son–at the time, knowledge of genetics was largely unknown, and women were blamed if they did not produce a son. Despite this, Anne was confident; she became pregnant in
1533, but the child, born in September that year, was a girl, whom Anne named
Elizabeth. Henry was disappointed, but was confident that Anne could still produce a son; Anne became pregnant again, but the child,
Henry, died a few hours after birth in
1534. A further miscarriage in
1535 was too much for Henry to bear, and
Thomas Cromwell stepped in again, claiming that Anne had taken lovers during her marriage to Henry, and she was tried for
high treason,
witchcraft and
incest; these charges were most likely fabricated, but she was found guilty, and executed in
1536.
Protestant alliance
Henry married again, for a third time, to
Jane Seymour, the daughter of a Wiltshire knight. Jane, pious, submissive and well-tempered, was the opposite of Anne, who was dominating and argumentative. Jane became pregnant, and produced a son,
Edward in
1537. Jane died of
puerperal fever only a few days after the birth, and Henry was devastated. Meanwhile,
Thomas Cromwell was overseeing the
Dissolution of the Monasteries, the sale of monastic land to court favourites, and the removal of valuable gold and silver from the monastries to the
Treasury. Cromwell continued to gain the king's favour when he designed and pushed through the
Laws in Wales Acts, uniting
England and
Wales, and continued to hold favour even when Henry faced the biggest threat to his rule. The
Pilgrimage of Grace of
1536, led by
Robert Aske, was a Catholic rising that began in
York, in response to the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The rebellion ended when Henry invited Aske to a private audience at the royal court, where he was pardoned. However, when fighting broke out again in the north, Henry changed his mind and had Aske executed at
Clifford's Tower in
York.
Meanwhile, Cromwell's influence was such that he persuaded Henry to marry for a fourth time, to the daughter of a Protestant German duke
Anne of Cleves, thus forming an alliance with the Germans and dividing
France and
Spain; Henry was reluctant to marry again, especially to a Protestant, but he was persuaded when the court painter
Hans Holbein the Younger showed him a flattering portrait of her. She arrived in England in December
1539, and Henry rode to
Rochester to meet her on
January 1 1540. Although the historian
Gilbert Burnet claimed that Henry called her a ''Flanders Mare'', there is no evidence that he said this; court ambassadors negotiating the marriage praised her beauty. It is more likely that Anne found Henry unattractive. Whatever the circumstances were, the marriage failed, and Anne agreed to a peaceful annulment, was called the king's sister, and received a massive divorce settlement, which included
Richmond Palace,
Hever Castle, and numerous other estates across the country. Henry took the opportunity to blame Cromwell for the failed marriage, and he was beheaded on
28 July 1540. Henry later regretted allowing his execution, realising how crucial his expertise had been in the past, and how useful he would have been in the time following his execution. The idea of an anti-Catholic Protestant alliance which Cromwell instigated echoed itself during the
Glorious Revolution in
1688, when
James II was deposed and replaced by the Protestants
William III and
Mary II.
The fifth marriage was to the Catholic
Catherine Howard, a cousin of
Thomas Howard, the third
Duke of Norfolk, who was promoted by Norfolk in the hope that she would persuade Henry to restore Roman Catholicism in England. At fifteen years old, she was considered young even for the standards of the day. Henry called her his “rose without a thorn”, but the marriage ended in failure. Catherine, forced into a marriage to an unattractive, obese man over thirty years her senior, had never wanted to marry Henry, and conducted an affair with the King's favourite,
Thomas Culpeper, while Henry and she were married. She was accused of treason and was
executed on
February 13 1542, destroying the Roman Catholic hopes of a reconciliation with the Roman church.
While Henry conducted another Protestant marriage with his final wife
Catherine Parr in
1543, the old Roman Catholic advisers, including the powerful
third Duke of Norfolk had lost all their power and influence. Henry himself was still a committed Catholic, and he was nearly persuaded to arrest Catherine for preaching Lutheran doctrines to Henry while she attended his ill health. However, his son
Edward was brought up a strict and devout Protestant by numerous tutors, including
Bishop Richard Cox,
John Belmain, and
Sir John Cheke.
Edward VI: Protestant extremity
After Henry led troops during the
Siege of Boulogne in
1544–an attempt to take French territory for England–he died on
January 28 1547. His
will had re-instated his daughters by his annulled marriages to
Catherine of Aragon and
Anne Boleyn to the
line of succession, but did not legitimise them. (Because his marriages had been annulled, they legally never occurred, so his children by those marriages were illegitimate.) Edward, his nine-year old son by
Jane Seymour, was declared
Edward VI of England.
Duke of Somerset's England
Although Henry had specified a group of men to act as
regents during Edward's minority,
Edward Seymour, Edward's uncle, quickly seized complete control, and created himself
Duke of Somerset on
February 15 1547. His domination of the
Privy Council, the king's most senior body of advisers, was unchallenged. Somerset aimed to unite
England and
Scotland by marrying Edward to the young Scottish queen
Mary, and aimed to forcibly impose the
English Reformation on the
Church of Scotland. Somerset led an large and well equipped army to
Scotland, where he and the Scottish regent
James Hamilton, the second
Earl of Arran commanded their armies at the
Battle of Pinkie Cleugh on
September 10 1547. Somerset's army eventually defeated the Scots, but the young Queen Mary was smuggled to
France, where she was betrothed to the
Dauphin, the future
Francis II of France. Despite Somerset's disappointment that no Scottish marriage would take place, his victory at Pinkie Cleugh made his position appear unassailable.
Meanwhile, Edward VI, despite the fact that he was only a child of nine, had his mind set on religious reform. In
1549, Edward ordered the publication of the
Book of Common Prayer, containing the forms of worship for daily and Sunday church services. The controversial new book was not welcomed by either reformers of Catholic conservatives; and it was especially condemned in
Devon and
Cornwall, where traditional Catholic loyalty was at its strongest. In Cornwall at the time, many of the
people could only speak the
Cornish language, so the uniform
English bibles and church services were not understood by many. This caused the
Prayer Book Rebellion, in which groups of Cornish non-conformists gathered round the mayor. The rebellion worried Somerset, now
Lord Protector, and he sent an army to impose military solution to the rebellion. One in ten of the indigenous Cornish population was slaughtered. The rebellion did not persuade Edward to tread carefully, and only hardened his attitude towards Catholic non-conformists. This extended to Edward's elder sister, the daughter of
Catherine of Aragon,
Mary Tudor, who was a pious and devout Catholic. Although called before the Privy Council several times to renounce her faith and stop hearing the Catholic
Mass, she refused. He had a good relationship with his sister
Elizabeth, who was a Protestant, albeit a moderate one, but this was strained when Elizabeth was accused of having an affair with the Duke of Somerset's brother,
Thomas Seymour, the first
Baron Seymour of Sudeley, the widow of Henry's last wife
Catherine Parr. Elizabeth was interviewed by one of Edward's advisers, and she was eventually found not to be guilty, despite forced confessions from her servants
Catherine Ashley and
Thomas Parry. Thomas Seymour was arrested and beheaded on
March 20 1549.
Problematic succession
A small boy with a big mind:
Edward VI, desparate for a Protestant succession, changed his father's will to allow
Lady Jane Grey to become queen
was also losing favour. After forcibly removing Edward VI to
Windsor Castle, with the intention of keeping him hostage, Somerset was removed from power by Edward's rival on the council,
John Dudley, the first
Earl of Warwick, who created himself
Duke of Northumberland shortly after his rise. Northumberland effectively became Lord Protector, but he did not use this title, learning from the mistakes his predecessor made. Northumberland was furiously ambitious, who aimed to secure Protestant uniformity while making himself land and money rich in the process; he ordered churches to be stripped of all traditional Catholic symbolism, resulting in the plain traditional churches often seen in
Church of England churches seen today. A revision of the
Book of Common Prayer was published in
1552. When Edward VI became ill in
1553, his advisers feared he would die, and looked to the future imminent accession of the Catholic Lady Mary, who would overturn all the reforms made during Edward's reign. Perhaps surprisingly, it was the dying Edward himself who feared a return to Catholicism, and wrote a new
will repudiating the
1544 will of Henry VIII, which gave the succession to his cousin
Lady Jane Grey, the granddaughter of Henry VII's daughter
Mary Tudor, who, after the death of
Louis XII of France in
1515 had married Henry VIII's favourite
Charles Brandon, the first
Duke of Suffolk. Lady Jane's mother was
Lady Frances Brandon, the daughter of Suffolk and Princess Mary. Northumberland married Jane to his youngest son
Guildford Dudley, allowing himself to get the most out of a necessary Protestant succession. Most of Edward's council signed the ''Devise for the Succession'', and when Edward VI died on
July 6 1553, Lady Jane was proclaimed queen. However, the popular support for the proper Tudor dynasty–even a Catholic member–overruled Northumberland's plans, and Jane, who had never wanted to accept the crown, was deposed after just nine days. Mary's supporters joined her in a triumphal procession to London, accompanied by her younger sister
Elizabeth.
Mary I: A troubled queen's reign
The early reign of
Queen Mary I was successful. The politicians formerly loyal to
Lady Jane Grey flocked to support Mary, and she pardoned most of those who would have kept her off the throne. Lady Jane herself was locked in the
Tower of London in relative comfort, and allowed to walk outside (within the Tower walls) with relative freedom. However, when Jane's father
Henry Grey, the first
Duke of Suffolk, attempted to depose Mary and put Jane back on the throne, Mary executed both the Dukes of Suffolk and
Northumberland. After some hesitation, she sent Lady Jane to the scaffold on
February 12 1554, to avoid any further attempts to re-instate her to the throne. The Tudor dynasty's hold on the throne of England was once again secure.
However, Mary soon announced that she was intending to marry the Spanish prince
Philip, son of her mother's nephew
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The prospect of a marriage alliance with
Spain proved unpopular with the English people, who were worried that Spain would use England as a satellite, involving England in wars without the popular support of the people. Popular discontent grew; a Protestant courtier,
Thomas Wyatt the younger led a
rebellion against Mary, with the aim of deposing and replacing her with her half-sister
Elizabeth. The plot was discovered, and Wyatt's supporters were hunted down and killed. Wyatt himself was tortured, in the hope that he would give evidence that Elizabeth was involved so that Mary could have her executed for treason. Wyatt never implicated Elizabeth, and he was
beheaded. Elizabeth spent her time between different prisons, including the
Tower of London.
Mary married Philip at
Winchester Cathedral, on
July 25 1554. Philip found her unattractive, and only spent the minimal amount of time with her. Despite Mary believing she was pregnant numerous times during her five-year reign, she never reproduced. Devastated that she rarely saw her husband, and anxious that she was not bearing an heir to Catholic England, Mary took her revenge on Protestants by burning many of them at the stake between
1555 and
1558. Mary aimed to eradicate Protestant
heresy, but her actions, even for Catholic conservatives, was seen as brutal and extreme; she became deeply unpopular with her people, and they hoped for her death so that Elizabeth could succeed her. Mary's dream of a resurrected Catholic Tudor dynasty was finished, and her popularity further declined when she lost the last English area on French soil,
Calais, to
Francis, Duke of Guise on
January 7 1558. Mary died, bitter and lonely, on
November 17 1558. Elizabeth Tudor was now
Elizabeth I of England.
The Age of Intrigues and Plots: Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I, who was staying at
Hatfield House at the time of her accession, rode to
London to the cheers of both the ruling class and the common people. She chose as her chief minister
Sir William Cecil, a Protestant, and former secretary to Lord Protector the
Duke of Somerset and then to the
Duke of Northumberland. Under Mary, he had been spared, and often visited Elizabeth, ostensibly to review her accounts and expenditure. Elizabeth also appointed her personal favourite, the son of the Duke of Northumberland
Lord Robert Dudley, her
Master of the Horse, giving him constant personal access to the queen.
Imposing the Church of England
Elizabeth was a moderate
Protestant; she was the daughter of
Anne Boleyn, who played a key role in the
English Reformation in the 1520s. At her
coronation in January
1559, many of the bishops–Catholic, appointed by Mary, who had expelled many of the Protestant clergymen when she became queen in
1553–refused to perform the service in English. Eventually, the relatively minor
Bishop of Carlisle,
Owen Oglethorpe, performed the ceremony; but when Oglethorpe attempted to perform traditional Catholic parts of the Coronation, Elizabeth got up and left. Following the Coronation, two important Acts were passed through parliament: the
Act of Uniformity and the
Act of Supremacy, establishing the Protestant
Church of England and creating Elizabeth
Supreme Governor of the Church of England (''Supreme Head'', the title used by her father and brother, was seen as inappropriate for a woman ruler). These acts, known collectively as the
Elizabethan Religious Settlement, made it compulsory to attend church services every
Sunday; and imposed an oath on clergymen and statesmen to recognise the
Church of England, the independence of the Church of England from the
Vatican, and the authority of Elizabeth as Supreme Governor. Elizabeth made it clear that if they refused the oath the first time, they would have a second opportunity, after which, if the oath was not sworn, the offender would be deprived of their offices and estates.
Pressure to marry
The popularity of Elizabeth was extremely high, but her
Privy Council, her
Parliament and her subjects thought that the unmarried queen should take a husband; it was generally accepted that, once a
queen regnant was married, the husband would relieve the woman of the burdens of
head of state. Also, without an heir, the Tudor dynasty would end; the risk of
civil war between rival claimants was a possibility if Elizabeth died childless. The first and most ardent suitor was Mary I's widow
Philip II of Spain. However, numerous other suitors from nearly all European nations sent ambassadors to the English court to put forward their suit. Risk of death came dangerously close in
1564 when Elizabeth caught
smallpox; when she was most at risk, she named
Robert Dudley as Lord Protector in the event of her death. After her recovery, she appointed Dudley to the
Privy Council and created him
Earl of Leicester, in the hope that he would marry
Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary rejected him, and instead married
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, a descendent of
Henry VII, giving Mary a stronger claim to the English throne. Although many Catholics were loyal to Elizabeth, many also believed that, because Elizabeth was declared illegitimate after her parents marriage was
annulled, Mary was the strongest legitimate claimant. Despite this, Elizabeth would not name Mary her heir; as she had experienced during the reign of her predecessor Mary I, the opposition could flock around the opposition if they were disheartened with Elizabeth's rule.
Pope Pius V, who issued the
Papal bull excommunicating Elizabeth and relieving her subjects of their allegiance to her
Numerous threats to the Tudor dynasty occurred during Elizabeth's reign. In
1569, a group of Earls led by
Charles Neville, the sixth
Earl of Westmorland, and
Thomas Percy, the seventh
Earl of Northumberland attempted to depose Elizabeth and replace her with
Mary, Queen of Scots. In
1571, the Protestant-turned-Catholic
Thomas Howard, the fourth
Duke of Norfolk, had plans to marry Mary, Queen of Scots and then replace Elizabeth with Mary.
The plot, masterminded by
Roberto di Ridolfi, was discovered and Norfolk was
beheaded. The next major uprising was in
1601, when
Robert Devereux, the second
Earl of Essex, attempted to raise the city of London against Elizabeth's government. The city of London proved unwilling to rebel; Essex and most of his co-rebels were executed. Threats also came from abroad. In
1570,
Pope Pius V issued a
Papal bull, ''
Regnans in Excelsis'', excommunicating Elizabeth, and releasing her subjects from their
allegiance to her. Elizabeth came under pressure from
Parliament to execute Mary, Queen of Scots to prevent any further attempts to replace her; though faced with several official requests, she vacillated between the decision to agree to the murder of an anointing queen, until she finally signed the
death warrant in
1586. Mary was executed at
Fotheringay Castle on
February 8 1587, to the outrage of Catholic Europe.
Last hopes of a Tudor heir
The Spanish Armada: Catholic Spain's attempt to depose Elizabeth and take control of England
Despite the uncertainty of Elizabeth's–and therefore the Tudor dynasty's–hold on England, Elizabeth never married. The closest she came to marriage was between
1579 and
1581, when she was courted by
Francis, Duke of Anjou, the son of
Henry II of France and
Catherine de' Medici. Despite Elizabeth's government constantly begging her to marry in the early years of her reign, it now was persuading Elizabeth not to marry the French prince; his mother,
Catherine de' Medici, was suspected of ordering the
St Bartholomew's Day massacre of six thousand French Protestant
Hugenots in
1572. Elizabeth bowed to public discontent against the marriage, learning from the mistake her sister made when she married
Philip II of Spain, and sent the Duke of Anjou away. Elizabeth knew that the continuation of the Tudor dynasty was now impossible; she was forty-eight in
1581, and too old to bear children.
By far the most dangerous threat to the Tudor dynasty during Elizabeth's reign was the
Spanish Armada of
1588. Launched by Elizabeth's old suitor
Philip II of Spain, and commanded by
Alonso de Guzmán El Bueno, the seventh
Duke of Medina Sidonia, the Spanish had 22 galleons and 108 armed merchant ships; however, the English and the
Dutch Republic outnumbered them. The Spanish lost as a result of bad weather on the
English Channel and poor planning and supplies, and the skills of
Sir Francis Drake and
Charles Howard, the first
Baron Howard of Effingham (later
Earl of Nottingham).
While Elizabeth declined physically with age, her running of the country continued to benefit her people. In response to famine across England due to bad harvests in the 1590s, Elizabeth introduced the
poor law, allowing peasants that were too ill to work a certain amount of money from the state. All the money Elizabeth had borrowed from Parliament in twelve of the thirteen parliamentary sessions was paid back; by the time of her death, Elizabeth not only had no debts, but was in credit. Elizabeth died childless at
Richmond Palace on
March 24 1603. She never named a successor. However, her chief minister
Sir Robert Cecil had corresponded with the Protestant
Stuart son of Mary, Queen of Scots,
James VI of Scotland, and James's succession to the English throne was unopposed. The Tudor dynasty had ended and the Stuart House became the English royal house.
Tudor monarchs of England
The six Tudor monarchs were:
Henry VII's great-granddaughter,
Lady Jane Grey also served as Queen for nine days before being deposed by Mary I. Jane was later executed along with her husband
Guildford Dudley, son of
John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland.
To the Tudor period belongs the elevation of the English-ruled state in
Ireland from a
Lordship to a
Kingdom (
1541).
==
Tudor Family Tree==
Margaret Beaufort was born in 1443, not 1433 as shown in the table.
[2]
Notes
1. R. S. Thomas, ODNB
2. Jones and Underwood ''Margaret Beaufort'' accessed 27 Aug 2007
References
★ Guy, John (ed). ''The Tudor Monarchy''. St Martin’s Press, 1997.
★ Turton, Godfrey. ''The Dragon’s Breed: The Story of the Tudors from Earliest Times to 1603''. Peter Davies, 1970.
★ Michael K. Jones and Malcolm G. Underwood, ‘Beaufort, Margaret , countess of Richmond and Derby (1443–1509)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
accessed 27 Aug 2007
★ R. S. Thomas, ‘Tudor, Edmund , first earl of Richmond (c.1430–1456)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
accessed 27 Aug 2007
External links
★
Tudor Place
★
Tudor History
★
House of Tudor Chronology
★
Official British Royal Site Discussion on the Tudors
★
★
Tudor History
See also
★
England and Wales
★
Wars of the Roses
★
Tudor style
★
Tudor rose
★
Richmond Castle
★
Richmond Palace
★
Tudor re-conquest of Ireland
★
The Tudors and the Royal Navy
01.jpg)
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
