Kings and Queens: The Tudors Essay

In the January of 1547, King Henry passed away leaving Elizabeth 3rd in line to the throne. The true successor to throne was Edward VI but he was far too young to govern, when

On the 28th day of June 1491 at Greenwich Palace, Elizabeth of York gave birth to her third child Henry Tudor. Henry was named after his father Henry VII and he was the couple’s second son, which meant that there was no chance for him to reign as King since he had an

Henry VII took the throne after a battle against the former king Richard III whose forces outnumbered Henrys by two to one. Henry VII had a couple of big problems, one of them was that there were people that had a stronger claim to the throne than he did, his only claim was that god let him win the battle, therefore the nobility didn’t respect him at the beginning of his reign. Another of the problems he faced was the fact that he feared a lot

King Henry VIII, the second son of King Henry VII, was born at Greenwich, England in 1491. He succeeded the throne upon the death of his brother King Arthur in 1509. He married six wives in the hopes of getting a son as he could be the heir to the throne and become the next king of England. His first two wives failed to do so, but his third wife Jane Seymour, had given birth to a son and he was later named Edward VI. He then married three more wives, and his last wife Catherine of Parr, outlived King Henry who died in 1548. King Henry VIII was an tremendously important leader as he had greatly impacted the Renaissance by starting the English Reformation, the union between England and Wales, and he patronized the arts and literature.

Still young, Margaret moved to England with her family. Her father died, therefore her brother was considered as a possible successor to the English throne. But it was some time until her brother was finally proclaimed as king. He was considered too young when his father died, so Harold Godwinson was elected king. After his defeat at the battle of Hastings, Edgar was finally given the title as king.

The split from Rome had made England vulnerable and Thomas Cromwell had suggested his next wife to be of a political match, much like the first. Anne of Clebes was the chosen match. The marriage took place on January 6, 1540, and by then Henry was already looking for ways to get out of the marriage. The King did not find his new bride attractive and had found an attraction to a young Kathryn Howard. Anne gave the King no problems with his annulment proceedings.

King Henry VIII was an important figure in helping to kick start the Reformation in England, even though it was not his intent. His break with the Papacy and his constantly changing ideas on how the new Church of England should be run gave the Protestants the foothold they needed to gain popularity in Europe. Although his intentions were purely politically motivated, he started a change in the way the layman viewed the church and how it should be run.

Henry VIII was a king of England from 1509 to 1547. He kept his power because he was able to reciprocate some of the suggestions that Niccoló Machiavelli expressed in his book, “The Prince.” Although there were many similarities in how Henry VIII ruled England and what Machiavelli explains in “The Prince,” Henry VIII did deviate from Machiavelli’s tips.

Catharine of Aragon was Arthur’s widow, and seven years after his death Henry VIII married her on June 11, 1509 when he was seventeen years old . The new prince, Henry VIII, did not waste any time in experimenting with his new found power. He quickly found two ministers his father greatly disliked when he was alive, and he had them arrested and then executed. Execution soon became Henry VIII’s standard way of punishing anyone who crossed his path.

In 1405, King Henry IV got sick and Prince Hall took over most of his duties until his death in 1413. Prince Hal became King, took on the name of King Henry V. King Henry V fell into his role as king quickly, and got involved in other battles prior to the Battle of Agincourt that prepared him for that battle (Middle-Ages.org).

King Henry died in 1547. Edward became the king at the young age of ten. Elizabeth and Edward remained very close throughout his reign, and, because they were not allowed to live in the same residence, many fond letters were exchanged between them. Soon, though, Edward became ill. He, knowing he probably would not live much longer, made a quick revision to Henry VIII’s will. Mary Tudor (a catholic) was supposed to become queen at his death, but he replaced her with his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, a protestant. After Edward’s death, Jane Grey was queen for ten days before the public rallied and gave their support to Mary. Jane Grey was executed and Mary was declared queen. The nation was restored to Catholicism.

Even if his Beaufort line could be considered for the throne, Henry's mother would be in line to succeed before him. It was in fact remarkable that Henry VII ever succeeded to the throne and England accepted him as king for Henry VII was a former attainted exile who did not have a strong hereditary claim to the throne. But it was his victory at Bosworth field that brought him the throne, not his descent; his weak hereditary claim gave his accession some semblance of legitimacy. Bosworth helped him consolidate his dynasty for it not only eliminated some of the other principle claimants to the English throne, it was regarded by contemporaries as an expression of divine will, as Henry would tell parliament "the true judgement of God in granting him victory over his enemy in the field." In order to further consolidate his claim Henry married Elizabeth of York. He did so partially at the request of Parliament, partly because he could not afford the political price of going back on his pre-Bosworth promise and most importantly to prevent anyone with ambitions for the throne from marrying Elizabeth, who had the stronger claim. However the succession was by no means secure in Henry VII's reign. When Henry VII's heir Prince Arthur died prematurely on April 2, 1502 Prince Henry was only ten, and if he were not to survive there remained only his sisters Margaret and Mary. Henry VII fell ill

Elizabeth’s older half-sister, Mary Tudor came to the throne. Mary, who was Catholic, earned the nickname "Bloody Mary". During the time that Bloody Mary was at the throne she married Philip of Spain, soon to be Philip the second. However Parliament blocked his accession to the English throne. She burned many Protestants at the stake. When rebels wanted to place Elizabeth on the throne Queen Mary had her arrested and sent to the Tower of London and later on to Woodstock. She remained imprisoned for five years until Mary, near death, named Elizabeth her successor. On March 17, 1558, the last Tudor monarch of England ascended the throne.

Little is known about Henry’s childhood because as the second born he was never intended to become King. When his elder brother Arthur died months after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon Henry became the heir to the throne of England. Catherine stayed in the English court after the death of her husband and was betrothed to Henry . It was many years before the two finally married. Catherine did give birth to a male heir but unfortunately the child did not survive . There were many more attempts for a male heir but in the end the only surviving child of Henry and Catherine was Mary Tudor who would later ascend to the throne in July 1553 . Because Catherine was unable to produce a surviving male heir Henry sought to get an annulment of their marriage. The pope would not grant this and so Henry created the Act of Supremacy declaring himself the ‘supreme head of the Church of England ’ in 1534. By naming himself as the supreme head of the Church, Henry no longer needed to answer to the Pope or the Roman

The Norman invasion of England in 1066 stands out in British history as the last time the isle was successfully invaded (Kramer.34). The invasion followed as a result of the death of the English king, Edward the Confessor, as he died childless on January the 4. 1066 (Barlett). The throne was left vacant and consequently three most mighty men disputed the line of succession: Harland Goodwinson, the head of one of the most notable and powerful noble families in the whole of England, Harald Hardrada, king of Norway, and William, Duke of Normandy (Wold.5).