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The Tudors. The birth of the Nation State

The 15
th
century was a time of trouble and change. The country was ravaged by war and plague, and the
population did not begin to increase until near the end of the century. The weakness of the royal feudal
government allowed a breakdown of law and order, barons became powerful onto themselves , a
condition called bastard feudalism.
The great export of wool declined sharply, but was gradually replaced by woolen cloth, the product of a
new industry. Landlords exploited the demand for wool by enclosing land, and raising more sheep,
disrupting the age old economy of the countryside. All that England needed was a king who could
restore efficiently to the royal government and bring law and order to the countryside. Henry 7
th

appointed himself to do just that in 1485.
The century of Tudor rule (1485-1603) is often thought of as the most glorious period in English history.
Henry 7
th
built the foundations of a wealthy nation state and a powerful monarchy. His son, Henry 8
th
,
made the church in England truly English, by breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church. His
daughter, Elisabeth, brought glory to the new state by defeating the powerful navy of Spain, the
greatest European power at that time. During the Tudor Age, England experienced one of the greatest
artistic periods in history. There is, however, a less glorious view of the Tudor century. Henry 8
th
wasted
the wealth saved by his father, Elisabeth weakened the quality of the government by selling official
posts, and although her government tried to deal with the problem of poor and homeless people, its
laws and actions were often cruel in effect.
Henry 7
th
is less well known than either Henry 8
th
or Elisabeth 1
st
, but he was far more important in
establishing the new monarchy than either of them. He firmly believed that war and glory were bad for
business and that business was good for the state. He therefore avoided quarrels either with Scotland in
the North or the French in the South. Henry 7
th
was fortunate, many of the old nobility had died or being
defeated in the recent wars and their lands had gone to the king. This meant that Henry 7
th
had more
power that earlier kings. In ordered to establish his authority beyond question, he forbade anyone,
except himself , to keep armed men.
Henrys aim was to make the crown functionally independent and the lands, the fines he took from the
old nobility helped him do this. Henry also increased taxes for wars, so that they will not fight. One
might expect Henry to have been unpopular, but he was careful to keep the friendship of the merchant
and the lesser gentry classes. Like him they wanted peace and prosperity. He created a new nobility
from among them and men unknown before became Henrys statesmen.
The only thing on which he was happy to spend money was the building of ships for a merchant fleet. He
understood earlier than most people that Englands future wealth would depend on international trade,
and in ordered to trade Henry realized that England must have its own fleet of merchant ships.
Henry 8
th
was quite unlike his father. He was cruel, wasteful with money and interested in pleasing
himself. He disliked the power of the church in England because since it was an international
organization, he couldnt completely control it. In 1510 Henry 8
th
married Catherine of Aragon. But in
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1526 she had still not had a son. Henry tried to persuade people to allow him to divorce her, but the
Pope forbade him to do so. Henry was extremely angry and he broke with Rome and made himself the
head of the church in England.
He was now free to divorce Catherine and marry his new love Anne Bouline. He hoped Anne would give
him a son to follow him on the throne. He died in 1547 leaving behind his 6
th
wife Catherine Parr and his
3 children Mary the eldest, was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, Elisabeth, the daughter of his
second wife Anne Bouline, whom he had executed because she was unfaithful, and the third Edward,
the son of Jane Seymour.
Under Edward 6
th
the English church became Protestant. When Edward died, at the age of 16, the
Northumberland tried, but failed to save Protestantism by preventing the succession of the kings half
sister Mary. Mary was catholic and became queen in 1553. She was unwise and unbending (rigida) in her
policy and her believes. Her burning of almost 300 Protestants made the people hate her. When Bloody
Mary, as she was known, died in November 1558, England rejoiced under the rule of her half-sister,
Elisabeth.
When she became queen, Elisabeth 1
st
wanted to find a peaceful answer to the problems of England and
make it prosperous. She neutralized the Scottish threat by helping the protestant and pro-English
faction to win dominants there. She correctly recognized Spain as her main trade rival and enemy. Fillip,
King of Spain, decided to conquer England in 1587, and built a great fleet of ships named Invincible
Armada to move his army across the English Channel. But Elisabeth defeated the Spanish army, for
England it was a glorious moment, but it did not lead to an end of the war with Spain. Peace was only
made once Elisabeth was dead.