• [23] By the time 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.

• Problematic succession[edit] A small boy with a big mind: Edward VI, desperate for a Protestant succession, changed his father’s will to allow Lady Jane Grey to become queen
  Lord Protector Somerset was also losing favour.

• Protestant alliance[edit] Henry VIII of England: Henry’s quarrels with the Pope led to the creation of the Church of England Henry married again, for the third time, to Jane
  Seymour, the daughter of a Wiltshire knight, and with whom he had become enamoured while she was still a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne.

• On 18 January 1486 at Westminster, he honoured a pledge made three years earlier and married Elizabeth of York[11] (daughter of King Edward IV).

• When Elizabeth came to the throne, there was much apprehension among members of the council appointed by Mary, because many of them (as noted by the Spanish ambassador) had
  participated in several plots against Elizabeth, such as her imprisonment in the Tower, trying to force her to marry a foreign prince and thereby sending her out of the realm, and even pushing for her death.

• As she had no surviving brothers, Elizabeth had the strongest claim to the crown, but while she became queen consort, she did not rule as queen regnant; for the last attempt
  a female made at ruling in her own right had resulted in disaster when Henry II’s mother, Empress Matilda, and Henry II’s uncle, Stephen, King of England, fought bitterly for the throne in the 12th century.

• When Edward VI became ill in 1553, his advisers looked to the possible imminent accession of the Catholic Lady Mary, and feared that she would overturn all the reforms made
  during Edward’s reign.

• Catherine had been the wife of Henry’s older brother Arthur (died 1502); this fact made the course of their marriage a rocky one from the start.

• [18] Break with Rome[edit] Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, Henry VIII’s chief minister responsible for the Dissolution of the Monasteries In order to allow Henry to divorce
  his wife and marry Anne Boleyn, the English parliament enacted laws breaking ties with Rome, and declaring the king Supreme Head of the Church of England (from Elizabeth I the monarch is known as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England),
  thus severing the ecclesiastical structure of England from the Catholic Church and the Pope.

• Jane: The nine days’ queen The dying Edward VI, under the pressure of John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, named his cousin Lady Jane Grey his successor due to her fervent
  Protestant beliefs.

• Catherine, forced into a marriage to an unattractive, obese man over 30 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.

• Following his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field (22 August 1485), he reinforced his position in 1486 by fulfilling his 1483 vow to marry Elizabeth of York, daughter
  of Edward IV, thus symbolically uniting the former warring factions of Lancaster and York under the new dynasty (represented by the Tudor rose).

• [12] However, four months after the marriage, Arthur died, leaving his younger brother Henry as heir apparent.

• [21] Henry kept his word and took care of Anne in his last years alive; however, after his death Anne suffered from extreme financial hardship because Edward VI’s councillors
  refused to give her any funds and confiscated the homes she had been given.

• No proof could be found that Elizabeth was involved and she was released and retired to the countryside until the death of her sister, Mary I of England.

• Edward’s reluctance to follow the line of succession, which named his half-sister Mary as next in line, stemmed from his knowledge that Mary, firmly Catholic, would restore
  England to a Catholic nation.

• Mary I: A troubled queen’s reign[edit] Mary I of England, who tried to return England to the Roman Catholic Church Protestants Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley being burned
  at the stake during Mary’s reign Mary soon announced her intention to marry the Spanish prince Philip, son of her mother’s nephew Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

• Whatever the circumstances were, the marriage failed, and Anne agreed to a peaceful annulment, assumed the title My Lady, the King’s Sister, and received a massive divorce
  settlement, which included Richmond Palace, Hever Castle, and numerous other estates across the country.

• Henry VII and Elizabeth of York had several children, four of whom survived infancy: • Arthur, Prince of Wales (born 1486, died 1502) • Henry, Duke of York (born 1491, died
  1547) • Margaret (born 1489, died 1541), who married James IV of Scotland • Mary (born 1496, died 1533), who married Louis XII of France Henry VII’s foreign policy had an objective of dynastic security: witness the alliance forged with the
  marriage in 1503 of his daughter Margaret to James IV of Scotland and through the marriage of his eldest son.

• Anne had become pregnant by the end of 1532 and gave birth on 7 September 1533 to Elizabeth, named in honour of Henry’s mother.

• [28] Mary’s dream of a new, Catholic Habsburg line was finished, and her popularity further declined when she lost Calais — the last English area on French soil — to Francis,
  Duke of Guise, on 7 January 1558.

• With the death of Edward VI, the direct male line of the House of Tudor ended.

• However, despite the efforts of the Duke of Northumberland and Jane’s father, the Duke of Suffolk, the public’s support was with Princess Mary, the rightful heir according
  to Henry VIII’s will.

• Henry’s fancy with Catherine started before the end of his marriage with Anne when she was still a member of Anne’s court.

• Along with Henry’s concern that he would not have an heir, it was also obvious to his court that he was becoming tired of his aging wife, who was six years older than he was.

• 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.

• [30] Elizabeth I: Age of intrigues and plots 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.

• A subsequent proclamation by John of Gaunt’s son by his earlier wife Blanche of Lancaster, King Henry IV, also recognised the Beauforts’ legitimacy but declared the line ineligible
  for the throne.

• However, Wolsey never planned that Henry would marry Anne Boleyn, with whom the king had become enamoured while she served as a lady-in-waiting in Queen Catherine’s household.

• [15] The Henry that many people picture when they hear his name is the Henry of his later years, when he became obese, volatile, and was known for his great cruelty.

• After forcibly removing Edward VI to Windsor Castle, with the intention of keeping him hostage, Somerset was removed from power by members of the council, led by his chief
  rival, John Dudley, the first Earl of Warwick, who created himself Duke of Northumberland shortly after his rise.

• The two sons born of the marriage, Edmund and Jasper, were among the most loyal supporters of the House of Lancaster in its struggle against the House of York.

• [24] Duke of Somerset’s England[edit] 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 15 February 1547.

• Following the murder of Henry VI and death of his son, Edward, in 1471, Henry became the person upon whom the Lancastrian cause rested.

• Jane became pregnant, and in 1537 produced a son, who became King Edward VI following Henry’s death in 1547.

• Devastated that she rarely saw her husband, and anxious that she was not bearing an heir to Catholic England, Mary became bitter.

• Despite the fact that Henry’s father died before he was married to Catherine, he was determined to marry her anyway and to make sure that everyone knew he intended on being
  his own master.

• However the descent from the Beauforts, did not necessarily render Henry Tudor (Henry VII) heir to the throne, nor did the fact that his father’s mother, Catherine of Valois,
  had been a Queen of England (although, this did make Henry VII the son of King Henry VI’s half-brother).

• Popular discontent grew; a Protestant courtier, Thomas Wyatt the younger, led a rebellion against Mary aiming to depose and replace her with her half-sister Elizabeth.

• The descendants of an illegitimate child of English royalty would normally have no claim on the throne, although Gaunt and Swynford eventually married in 1396, when John Beaufort
  was 25.

• The marriage unified the warring houses of Lancaster and York and gave the couple’s children a strong claim to the throne.

• Henry VII came to peace with James IV in 1502, paving the way for the marriage of his daughter Margaret.

• In 1540, Henry married for the fourth time to the daughter of a Protestant German duke, Anne of Cleves, thus forming an alliance with the Protestant German states.

• 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.

• The first Stuart to become King of England (r. 1603–1625), James VI and I, descended from Henry VII’s daughter Margaret Tudor, who in 1503 had married King James IV of Scotland
  in accordance with the 1502 Treaty of Perpetual Peace.

• Henry’s concern about having an heir to secure his family line and to increase his security while alive would have prompted him to ask for a divorce sooner or later, whether
  Anne had precipitated it or not.

• Although it is debated whether Henry VII was a great king, he certainly was a successful one if only because he restored the nation’s finances, strengthened the judicial system
  and successfully denied all other claimants to the throne, thus further securing it for his heir.

• Catherine was promoted by Norfolk in the hope that she would persuade Henry to restore the Catholic religion in England.

• [22] Thomas Cranmer, Henry’s first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, responsible for the Book of Common Prayer during Edward VI’s reign The fifth marriage was to the Catholic
  Catherine Howard, the niece of Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk.

• When Elizabeth I died childless, the Scottish House of Stuart succeeded as England’s royal family through the Union of the Crowns of 24 March 1603.

• They also maintained the nominal English claim to the Kingdom of France; although none of them made substance of it, Henry VIII fought wars with France trying to reclaim that
  title.

• Catherine was removed from Court, and she spent the last three years of her life in various English houses under “protectorship”, similar to house arrest.

• 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.

• Lady Jane Grey was consistently at court after her father was made Duke of Suffolk in October 1551.

• Mary’s reign, however, introduced a new coining system that would be used until the 18th century, and her marriage to Philip II created new trade routes for England.

• Her peacemaking also helped reconcile Henry with his daughters Mary and Elizabeth and fostered a good relationship between her and the crown prince.

• [16] Catherine did not bear Henry the sons he was desperate for; her first child, a daughter, was stillborn, and her second child, a son named Henry, Duke of Cornwall, died
  52 days after birth.

• He let others control the kingdom for the first two years of his reign, and then when he became more interested in military strategy, he took more interest in ruling his own
  realm.

• However, the Holy See was reluctant to rescind the earlier papal dispensation and felt heavy pressure from Catherine’s nephew, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in support of
  his aunt.

• Concerned for his young nephew’s life, Jasper Tudor took Henry to Brittany for safety.

• [14] In his younger years, Henry was described[by whom?]

• Despite Mary believing she was pregnant numerous times during her five-year reign, she never bore children.

• Edward 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, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, the husband of Henry’s last wife Catherine Parr.

• Edward, his nine-year-old son by Jane Seymour, succeeded as Edward VI of England.

• Edward died on 6 July 1553 and fifteen-year-old Jane, who fainted when she heard the news, was made queen on 10 July.

• On 19 July Suffolk persuaded his daughter to relinquish the throne, which she had never wanted, to Mary.

• When Anne was beheaded, Henry declared Elizabeth an illegitimate child and she would, therefore, not be able to inherit the throne.

• When it became clear to Henry that the Tudor line was at risk, he consulted his chief minister Cardinal Thomas Wolsey about the possibility of annulling his marriage to Catherine.

• Henry VII Upon becoming king in 1485, Henry VII moved rapidly to secure his hold on the throne.

• Although the historian Gilbert Burnet claimed that Henry called her a Flanders Mare, there is no evidence that he said this; in truth, court ambassadors negotiating the marriage
  praised her beauty.

• Henry called her his “rose without a thorn”, but the marriage ended in failure.

• • Parent house: Tudors of Penmynydd; Country: Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Ireland, Principality of Wales; Founded: 1485; 538 years ago; Founder: Henry VII; Final ruler:
  Elizabeth I; Titles: King of England, King of Ireland, King of France (claim), Lord of Ireland, Prince of Wales, Duke of Bedford, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of York, Duke of Somerset, Duke of Richmond, Earl of Pembroke, Earl of Richmond, Earl
  of Surrey, Earl of Nottingham, Earl of Lincoln; Dissolution: 24 March 1603 Ascent to the throne The Tudors descended from King Edward III on Henry VII’s mother’s side from John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, one of the children of the 14th
  century English prince John of Gaunt, the third surviving son of Edward III.

• Henry chose to blame Cromwell for the failed marriage, and ordered him beheaded on 28 July 1540.

• Jane was only sixteen years old, and the cruel way in which her life had been lost for a throne she never desired aroused much sympathy among the public.

• Henry Tudor, as Henry VII, and his son by Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII, eliminated other claimants to the throne, including his first cousin once removed, Margaret Pole,
  Countess of Salisbury,[7] and her family.

 

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Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/65424487@N00/8454719295/’]