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The Tudors

conflict, to unite, throne, reign, reformation, to

survive, succession, heir, harshly, unjustly, to
persecute, to execute, to imprison, to involve

Pre-reading
• Have you ever heard about Tudors? What do you
know about this dynasty?
• “The Wars of the Roses” What do you remember
about this historical event?
Have you heard about Mary and Virgin Queen?

The first king of Tudor dynasty Henry

VII (1457-1509) lived in France until 1485.
It was a long lasted conflict between two
noble Houses of Lancaster and York for the
throne of England. Henry was a distant
relative of Lancaster and wanted to dispose
Richard III (House of York). In summer of
1485, Henry sailed from France with 2,000
men and landed in Wales. There he Henry VII
managed to gather an army of 5,000 men
and met Richard III and his troops at Bosworth, Leicestershire,
and defeated him in a memorable battle in August 22nd, 1485.
Later in 1486, in order to make a peace between two Houses, he
married Elizabeth of York and united the families.
During the reign, Henry VII reached three achievements: he
made the monarchy strong; he brought stability to England; and
he earned the respect, if not affection of his subjects. First of all,
in order to make the throne secure, he rooted out all rivals and
confiscated their property. He managed to keep peace and order
in England and with England’s old enemy, France. Besides, in
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order to make alliance with Spain and Scotland, in 1501 he

married his first son, Arthur, to Catherine of Aragon1. Soon after
Arthur died, and a marriage was concluded between Catherine
and Henry, Prince of Wales, King’s second son. In 1502 the
King’s daughter, Margaret, married James IV, King of Scotland.
Finally, Henry took an active role in government, personally
supervising the administration and reasserting monarchial
control over the nobility. He understood that the recovery of
royal authority was essential for the re-creation of political
stability.

Absolute Monarchy in the Period of Tudors

Henry VIII and Reformation in Church
Henry VIII’s reign was to be the most
notable for the “break from Rome”, the
nationalization of the English Church and
the beginning of the English Reformation.
The new king was handsome and
well-educated. He spent his early years
devoting most of his energies to the
international relations of that period,
Henry VIII especially war with France. Later he
became bored with the routine of
government and was quite willing to leave the affairs of the state
to his Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, who was a remarkable man
(the archbishop of York and the permanent representative of the
Pope in England, the position which gave him complete control
of the English Church).
At that time in Germany, Martin Luther 2 quarreled
bitterly with the Pope. He left the Roman Church and many
people – known as Protestant – followed his example. Henry
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1
Catherine of Aragon - the aunt of the Emperor Charles V ( King of Spain)
2
Martin Luther – the founder of Lutheranism in Germany, one of the most
essential branches of Protestantism
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VIII sided with the Pope and even wrote the book against
Luther. For this service, he received the title of “Defender of the
Faith” from the Pope. Later, however, he himself quarreled with
the Pope in order to carry out the first steps towards the
“reforming” of the Church of England.
The real causes of the Reformation were many, but the
immediate cause of Henry’s break with the Pope was, however,
his marriage with Catherine of Aragon. Henry’s failure to a
legitimate son was a question-mark against the achievements of
Tudor stability. Despite of the fact that his wife had born him
five children, only a daughter, Princess Mary had survived.
Henry decided to divorce his queen, because he considered it
essential to have a son to succeed him, fearing that a female
succession would bring the return of Civil War. Besides, he got
tired of his queen because he had fallen in love with Anne
Boleyn 1 , a lady of the Court. But the Pope (Clement VII)
refused Henry VIII to divorce the queen and marry Anne.
In 1529, Henry's foreign and domestic policy got a new
turn — the struggle for the Reformation of the Church began.
The common assumption is that the main cause of the
Reformation was Henry's wish to get divorce with his wife, but
the whole process was much deeper — Henry, advised by
Cardinal Wolsey2, wanted to make the Royal Power absolute, so
he used the Reformation Parliament to accomplish this.
The Reformation Parliament (1529—1536) stayed in
session for seven years until the separation from Rome was
almost completed. The Act of Supremacy in 1534 recognized
the Anglican Church as the official church in the country with

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1
Anne Boleyn [‘bulin] – second wife of Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth’s
mother
2
Wolsey Thomas – a powerful statesmen, Lord Chancellor and from1511 to
1529 practically ruled England. In 1529 was accused in treason as had failed
to get a permission of the Pope for the divorce of Henry VIII and Catherine
of Aragon, died in prison while waiting for the execution.
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Henry VIII as its head. Archbishop Cranmer 1 pronounced

Henry's marriage with Catherine invalid2 and Henry married
Anne Boleyn. The Pope replied by excommunicating Henry, but
Henry had already got great power in the state. The
Reformation Parliament also forbade any appeals to the Pope.
Henry as Head of the Church could now appoint church leading
officials and determine its doctrine. The English Church was no
longer a part of international organization, so its fortune and
power now became a part of the state. In 1536 a second Act of
Succession3 allowed Henry an extraordinary freedom to name
his heir. As a result of the royal supremacy, all religious
questions became political. Opponents were treated harshly and
sometimes unjustly. Sir Thomas More, who had persecuted
Protestants, resigned as Lord Chancellor in protest at Henry’s
divorce. As a result, he was imprisoned and executed for treason
in 1535.
Between 1536 – 1539 the Crown began to attack the
monasteries, as they owned vast wealth and a bigger part of
which was dissolved. The squires, merchants and lawyers who
had supported the King in the Parliament received most of the
lands. In the churches the service was to be in English instead of
Latin, and every parish church was to have an English Bible.
The English translation of the Bible appeared in 1539 and
encouraged a freedom of thought and eased the next stage of the
Reformation.
In 1533, Princess Elizabeth was born. Henry, dissatisfied
by not having a son, soon fell out of love with Anne and fell in
love with a lady Jane Seymour. Anne Boleyn was accused of
unfaithfulness to the King and executed. The King married Jane
Seymour the very next day.
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1
Cranmer Thomas – Archbishop of Canterbury
2
invalid [ın`vəlıd]– out of law
3
Act of Succession – a law which gave the right to name the next heir to the
throne
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Jane gave birth to a son, who was christened Edward, soon

after this she died. Two years later Henry married Anne of
Cleves, a Protestant Princess from Germany. Though this
marriage was of political importance, very soon Anne of Cleves
was divorced. After the divorce Henry married Catherine
Howard, then Catherine Parr. Two of the six wives of Henry
VIII were beheaded (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard), the
last of the wives, Catherine Parr, survived him.
Edward VI. Henry VIII died in 1547,
after the stormy years of the Reformation,
marriages, divorces and fighting with the
Pope. He was succeeded by Edward, who
was the only male heir for throne. As Edward
was only ten years of age on his father's
death, his uncle, the Earl of Hertford was
appointed Protector under the title of the
Duke of Somerset. Somerset became the
effective head of government, but when the Edward
economy led to a serious peasants’ rebellion VI
in 1549, the Duke of Northumberland took
advantage of the situation and seized the power. Somerset was
an idealist who became a martyr in the eyes of the ordinary
people after the execution in 1552. Northumberland had a
complete confidence of the young king, but, unfortunately for
him, Edward was a sickly boy, and in 1552 it was clear that he
would not live much longer. The duke was afraid of the
succession of Edward’s half-sister, Mary, the daughter of
Catherine of Aragon. Northumberland had forced through the
change to extreme Protestantism, while Mary remained an
ardent Catholic. In order to keep control of government,
Northumberland persuaded the king to name Lady Jane Grey
heir to the throne. She was great grand-daughter of Henry VII
and also the wife of Northumberland’s son. She ruled country
only nine days. As soon as Mary Tudor restored her succession,
Jane, as well as her husband and father, was executed.
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Mary I. Mary devoted herself to the

restoration of the Catholic religion in England.
A number of Protestants refused to change their
religion were executed. Among them were the
bishop of London and Oxford, and the most
important, the archbishop of Canterbury,
Thomas Cranmer. Generally, more than 300
Mary I Protestants were executed in the worst tradition
of Inquisition – burned alive. That’s why the Queen was given
the nickname “Bloody Mary”. The next unpopular step was her
marriage with Philip II of Spain that actually made England the
province of Spain and involved the country in war with France1.
Both Mary and Philip wanted a son, and when, 14 months
after their marriage, it was clear that Mary was not going to have
any children Philip went back to Spain, never to return to
England nor to see Mary again. When she died in 1558, hated by
many, people in the streets of London danced and drank to the
health of the new queen, Elizabeth I.

Post reading
1. Say how Henry VII became king of England.
2. What issue led to the separation of the English Church
from the Church of Rome?
3. What do you know about the Reformation?
4. What do you know about Luther?
5. What policy did Mary I pursue?

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1
In 1557 England lost its last possession in France, Calais
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