Tudor Dynasty

Henry VII (1485-1509) his son, Henry VIII (1509-1547) the other successors are:
Edward VI (1547-1553)
Mary I (1553-1558)
Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

Henry VII
He obtained the English throne when the War of the Roses ended. He banned nobles from raising
their own armies and he dealt with frequent Yorkist plots. He had his son Arthur marry the Spanish
princess Catherin of Aragon. During his reign:
-he sponsored Jhon Cabot to explore eastern America.
-Erasmus of Rotterdam brought the humanist.
-Sir Thomas More moved England closer to North-Europe origins of Protestantism.

Henry VIII
Henry VIII was Henry VII’s second son. He was a natural sportsman, popular with the English elite,
he was called the Golden Prince, both because of his good looks and his chivalry an education. He
got from pope the title of “defender of the faith”. He married Catherin of Aragon who gave him a
daughter, Mary. After that, he asked the pope for a divorce to marry Anna Boleyn. In 1534 he
declared himself the “Supreme head of the church of England” with the Act of Supremacy. Anna
Boleyn give him a daughter Elizabeth and in 1536 she was executed for treason. Henry went on to
have four more wives, and finally one son Edward from Jane Seymour.
-Because he did not have a male hire, he also thought to marry his children to one another, so he wanted
that his illegitimate son, son of his mistress Elizabeth Bessie Blount, with the boy’s half-sister Mary.

-He had a mental illness, which probably caused his bloody nature. Some theory suggested it was the
combination of syphilis and brain injuries, or it could have been inherited from his family.

-He brought dressage, the ancient sport of horse training, to England. He excelled at this sport, specializing
in capriole, or giant leaps, making his horses jump so high that they appeared to be flying.

-Henry helped the health revolution. He was the founder of the Royal College of Physicians, and he passed
seven different laws to regulate the practice of medicine and licensing of physicians.

-He was the first English king to use the title of “majesty”, because he thought that the traditional title of
grace or highness weren’t enough for him, because he was the king who reigned by the grace of God.
Edward VI
He is the son of Jane Seymour and Henry VIII, he made protestant doctrine more accepted,
religious service were held in English instead of Latin, and he wrote the book of Common Prayer.

Mary I
She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Chaterin of Aragon, she refused to abandon the catholic
faith, so she tried to restore in England the papal obedience. She married Philip II of Spain. Her
nickname was Bloody Mary because she killed 300 (three hundred) protestants, and then she
finally died without an heir.

Elizabeth I
She was Henry VIII and Anna Boleyn’s daughter, she became a queen of divided nation, she was 25
and had a strong personality. She had received an excellent education so she could speak French,
Latin and Italian. She consolidated the reforming by reintroducing the Act of Supremacy and
Uniformity. She allowed tolerance in church, and she was also unmarried, so she became the
virgin queen. She went on royal progress to be seen and to get to know her people, she inspired
literature, music, drama and poetry. Several portraits of the queen were painted as a part of a
royal propaganda, showing here as a symbol of unity and peace. During his reign, Mary, queen of
Scotland, was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII and had a claim to the English throne. She was
arrested and imprisoned, then she started to conspire against queen Elizabeth, and she was
executed for treason in 1587. She encouraged sea-captains Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh in
their piracy against ships of Spain and took a share of their profits, defeating the Spanish armada
in 1588, she had been the defender of nations and the preserver of peace. After Mary’s execution,
King Philip II of Spain launched an invasion to England, to remove Elizabeth and restore the Catholicism, but
Elizabeth managed to stop the invasion. In 1603 Elizabeth died, and the Tudor dynasty ended, the next King
was James VI of Scotland, the son of her cousin Mary of scots.
The chain of being
The Tudors inherited a general concept of order from the middle ages, they represented the
universal order as a chain of being. There are three parts:
Macrocosm, which is the whole universe
Microcosmos, which is the human body
The body politic, which is the kingdom
The universe was governed by divine will, and the kingdom, ruled by the king and the queen,
became the symbol of unity and stability. The chain of begin represents the social order of the
time. Anything that is outside the chain was considered to be chaos/madness/evil. If the chain is
broken the order in the world is broken and it can descend into chaos. Chaos, madness and evil
are not considered to be made by god. Humans are just below the angels, so they can aspire the
greater perfection, and they have spirit in common with angels. It aims the rebirth of intellectual
and artistic energies. The English literature of the period lacked the pagan serenity of the Italian
renaissance and was less committed to the visual arts.