Tudor dynasty
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| Tudor England |
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| Country: | Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Ireland, Kingdom of France | ||
| Parent house: | Lancaster and York | ||
| Titles: | Duke of Richmond, Honour of Richmond | ||
| Founder: | Henry Tudor and Elizabeth Plantagenet | ||
| Final ruler: | Queen Elizabeth I of England | ||
| Current head: | House Extinct | ||
| Founding year: | 1485 | ||
| Dissolution: | 1603 | ||
| Ethnicity: | Welsh, English | ||
| Cadet branches: | N/A | ||
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor (Welsh: Tewdwr) was an English royal dynasty that lasted 118 years, beginning in 1485. It was founded by Henry Tudor, who, of his patrilineage, was a grandson of the mere Welsh courtier Owen Tudor—but who, after years of engaging and surviving the horrific political battles of England's civil Wars of the Roses, triumphed, and acceded to the English throne as Henry VII.
Of his matrilineage, Henry descended (via an illegitimate son) from John of Gaunt, first Duke of Lancaster and a son of King Edward III of England—through his mother Lady Margaret Beaufort; and he descended on a separate line from Edward I through his great-grandmother, Margaret Holland—who married John Beaufort, that illegitimate son of John of Gaunt.
Himself of the house of Lancaster, Henry allied himself early on with the Lancastrian King Henry VI; later, after the Yorkist Edward IV's return to the throne in 1471—and through the political influence of his remarried mother, Lady Margaret—he was permitted to pledge allegiance to Edward. Finally, emerging victorious over Yorkist Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, Henry gained the throne himself in 1485 and moved to end the Wars of the Roses.
He united the two fractious royal houses by marrying Elizabeth of York; and thereafter he implemented critical reforms that consolidated and modernised the national government.
Henry Tudor was succeeded by his second son, who became Henry VIII, the famous king who married six wives, and who established the Church of England, then broke off its fealty to the Roman Catholic Church.
Henry VIII was succeeded by his devoutly Protestant son, Edward VI, who attempted to cement the establishment of Protestantism by introducing and requiring the Book of Common Prayer. His half-sister and successor, the equally devout Catholic Mary I, attempted to reverse Edward's reforms, and burned hundreds of Protestants at the stake for heresy. Mary's efforts, however, were overtaken in turn by her half-sister Elizabeth I, who 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.
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[edit] Break with Roman Catholicism
01.jpg/200px-Cromwell,Thomas(1EEssex)01.jpg)
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 annulled. This allowed Henry to marry the lady 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.
[edit] 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 a 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, were 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 Catholic Church, 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.
[edit] 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 widower 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 descendant 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 heir if they were disheartened with Elizabeth's rule.
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 over the decision to execute an anointed queen. Finally, she was persuaded of Mary's (treasonous) complicity in the plotting against her, and she signed the death warrant in 1586. Mary was executed at Fotheringay Castle on February 8, 1587, to the outrage of Catholic Europe.
[edit] Last hopes of a Tudor heir
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 second Baron Howard of Effingham (later first 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.
[edit] Tudor monarchs of England
The six Tudor monarchs were:
| Image | Name | Claim to the throne | Birth date | Accession date | Death date | Spouse(s) |
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Henry VII | Right of conquest | January 28, 1457 | August 22, 1485 (crowned October 30, 1485) | April 21, 1509 | Elizabeth of York |
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Henry VIII | Son of Henry VII | June 28, 1491 | April 21, 1509 (crowned June 24, 1509) | January 28, 1547 | (I) Catherine of Aragon, (II) Anne Boleyn, (III) Jane Seymour, (IV) Anne of Cleves, (V) Catherine Howard, (VI) Catherine Parr |
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Edward VI | Son of Henry VIII by Jane Seymour | October 12, 1537 | January 28, 1547 (crowned February 20, 1547) | July 6, 1553 | — |
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Jane | Granddaughter of Henry VII's daughter Mary Brandon (née Tudor), Duchess of Suffolk | 1537 | July 10, 1553 | February 12, 1554 | Lord Guildford Dudley |
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Mary I | Daughter of Henry VIII by Catherine of Aragon | February 18, 1516 | July 19, 1553 (crowned October 1, 1553) | November 18, 1558 | Philip II of Spain |
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Elizabeth I | Daughter of Henry VIII by Anne Boleyn | September 7, 1533 | November 17, 1558 (crowned January 15, 1559) | March 24, 1603 | — |
To the Tudor period belongs the elevation of the English-ruled state in Ireland from a Lordship to a Kingdom (1541).
[edit] Tudor Family Tree
[edit] Patrilineal descent
Patrilineal descent, descent from father to son, is the principle behind membership in royal houses, as it can be traced back through the generations—which means that the historically accurate royal house of the Tudor monarchs was the House of Tudor. [2]
The dates are of birth and death, not of ruling years.
- Marchudd ap Cynan, c. 846
- Kerwit, Lord of Brnffenigl
- Senylt, Lord of Brnffenigl
- Nathen of Brnffenigl
- Edryt ap Nathen, Prince in Wales
- Idnerth ap Edryd
- Gwgon of Brnffenigl
- Iorwerth of Brnffenigl
- Kendrig of Brnffenigl
- Ednyfed Fychan, d. 1246
- Goronwy, Lord of Tres-gastell, d. 1268
- Tudur Hen, Lord of Pemmynydd, d. 1311
- Goronwy ap Tudur, d. 1331
- Tudur Fychan, Lord of Pemmynydd, d. 1367
- Maredudd ap Tudur, d. 1406
- Owen Tudor, 1400–1461
- Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, 1430–1456
- Henry VII of England, 1457–1509
- Henry VIII of England, 1491–1547
- Edward VI of England, 1537–1553; Mary I of England, 1516–1558 and Elizabeth I of England, 1533–1603
[edit] 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
[edit] Notes
- ^ Jones and Underwood Margaret Beaufort accessed 27 Aug 2007
- ^ Descent from before Ednyfed is from [1] and may be really unreliable.
[edit] References
- Guy, John (ed). The Tudor Monarchy. St Martin’s Press, 1997.
- Jones, Michael K. and Malcolm G. Underwood, "Beaufort, Margaret , countess of Richmond and Derby (1443–1509)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed 27 August 2007.
- Thomas, R. S. "Tudor, Edmund, first earl of Richmond (c.1430–1456)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed 27 August 2007.
- Turton, Godfrey. The Dragon’s Breed: The Story of the Tudors from Earliest Times to 1603. Peter Davies, 1970.
[edit] External links
- Tudor Place
- Tudor History
- House of Tudor Chronology
- Official British Royal Site Discussion on the Tudors
- Tudor and Stuart Family Tree from Official British Royal SitePDF (13.4 KiB)
- Tudor History
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House of Tudor
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| Preceded by House of York |
Ruling House of the Kingdom of England 1485–1603 |
Succeeded by House of Stuart |
