History UsefulNotes / TheHouseOfTudor

You have to pity Pope Clement. On one hand he couldn't annul the marriage, since the man holding him hostage would have killed him for the insult to his aunt and cousin. On the other hand he could hardly just say "no" to a powerful king like Henry. Thanks to siding with the losers in the Italian Wars (the reason Charles was holding him hostage), the rise of Protestantism in Germany, and the encroaching Ottoman Empire in the east Clement didn't have too many friends left other than England. So he temporized. He held hearings, he reserved judgments, he delayed things again and again, praying that one of them would just go off and die before things came to a head.

He's most famous for starting the Church of England even though he didn't actually start the Church of England (that honor goes to his daughter, Elizabeth). Make sense? Not really, but it's what Whig historians in Victorian times believed, and like so much in British history the popular belief is based on what the Victorians made up. What Henry really did was to separate the Catholic Church in England from the Roman Catholic Church, making himself Supreme Head in place of the Pope. Meanwhile the ceremonies, vestments, church hierarchy (with the obvious exception of the Pope), and liturgy remained essentially Catholic. He'd have cut off your head had you accused him of being Protestant. He ''loathed'' Protestantism. It's just that by creating a separate Church tied to the sovereign rather than to Rome, it didn't necessarily remain Catholic in future any more than the monarchs did. A couple of centuries down the track, the throne ended up permanently in the hands of Protestants after Parliament barred Catholics and spouses of Catholics from the succession, meaning the established Anglican church is essentially Protestant. This ban remains in effect (although it was loosened in 2013: spouses of Catholics are no longer barred, but Catholics still can't take the throne), it would be an even bigger headache to conceptualize than the business about the monarch being the Supreme Governor of the (Anglican) Church of England everywhere but Scotland, where he/she is an ordinary member of the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland. This was not nearly enough, however, for the Puritans who would ultimately settle the New England colonies. They emphasized the importance of individual interpretations of the Bible and personal experiences with the divine. To them, Henry VIII was a King in Pope's clothing. Or a Pope in King's clothing. Either way, it involved "popes" and was therefore bad.

Giving him the son he'd waited 27 years for meant he forgave Jane a lot, however, and Henry was fond of referring to her as his first true wife. While his marriage to Catherine of Aragon lasted much longer and his passion (or obsession) for Anne Boleyn was much more all-encompassing, Henry went out of his way later in life to honor Jane. When he commissioned a portrait of his dynasty, Jane appeared posthumously with him and their son, and he was later buried with her at his own direction.

Many historians have argued that Henry was a good king. He stood strong against the Pope, France, and Spain, maintaining the balance of power in the world, and he is credited with the establishment of a powerful English Navy (the conventional establishment of ''the'' [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships Royal Navy]] is 1546, the second-to-last year of Henry's reign). On the other hand, some detractors have asserted, the cost of his foreign wars impoverished England and brought about the debasement of the currency; the dissolution of the monasteries and hospitals, meanwhile, demolished the social safeguards from which the poor were accustomed to seek relief as well as the primary modes of social mobility at that time for commoners.

Many historians have argued that Henry was a good king. He stood strong against the Pope, France, and Spain, maintaining the balance of power in the world, and he is credited with the establishment of a powerful English Navy (the direct ancestor of ''the'' Royal Navy). On the other hand, some detractors have asserted, the cost of his foreign wars impoverished England and brought about the debasement of the currency; the dissolution of the monasteries and hospitals, meanwhile, demolished the social safeguards from which the poor were accustomed to seek relief as well as the primary modes of social mobility at that time for commoners.

Many historians have argued that Henry was a good king. He stood strong against the Pope, France, and Spain, maintaining the balance of power in the world, and he is credited with the establishment of a powerful British Navy. On the other hand, some detractors have asserted, the cost of his foreign wars impoverished England and brought about the debasement of the currency; the dissolution of the monasteries and hospitals, meanwhile, demolished the social safeguards from which the poor were accustomed to seek relief as well as the primary modes of social mobility at that time for commoners.

Edward's death occurred in July of 1553, and Jane (again, unwillingly) was crowned Queen four days later. Her reign lasted nine days before a justifiably annoyed Mary I showed up with an army. Unfortunately for Northumberland, he'd failed in his attempt to secure the princess in person before proclaiming Jane as queen instead (well used to watching her own back, Mary had sprung into action on the first news of Edward’s death, and was already on her way to seek support in East Anglia by the time Northumberland’s men arrived at her home), and he'd grossly underestimated Mary's popularity with the likes of conservatives, Catholics and those who were loyal to the memory of her mother and believed Catherine had been treated unfairly. It was a ''big'' army. Heads rolled, right into a basket.

Jane's life was spared for the present; Mary wasn't stupid or irrational enough to believe a fifteen-year-old bookworm engineered a coup all by herself, and understood that the plot was mainly carried out by Jane's father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland. Mary's original intent was to have Jane and her husband convicted of treason, imprisoned, and then quietly released once things had died down. Northumberland, however, was simply executed.

There seems to be a consideration that Jane was rather weak and easily coerced into the events of 1553. While it's true that she didn't have any part in the plans to install her on the throne, it is foolish to consider her weak. She was a Tudor, after all. Northumberland's plan had been to have Guildford Dudley rule as king, but Jane refused to grant him that title, instead assigning him a duke. When some of the council began changing sides and fleeing the Tower of London to go help Mary, Jane took control of the castle's keys ''personally''. She was also incredibly intelligent, with schooling better than her cousins Mary and Elizabeth. She spoke several languages, and was a skilled letter writer. Like Edward VI, the signs were there that she would have been a competent, if pious, monarch.

Elizabeth did not have a particularly nice pre-monarch life. She was declared illegitimate, almost executed by her own sister, and had a man 25 years her senior "engage in horseplay" with her when she was fourteen, although many modern historians prefer to call it "sexual abuse". That man being Thomas Seymour, brother to Jane Seymour, husband of Catherine Parr after Henry VIII died, also reputed to have had designs on Lady Jane Grey and Princess (later Queen) Mary. A certified charmer and distinguished ladies man, he was also ''very'' ambitious, having intended to use all of his connections to all the aforementioned to gain money and power. He was pretty transparent in his envy of his eldest brother, Edward Seymour, Lord Protector (acting regent for the boy-king Edward, effectively in charge of the country), and not at all discreet in his attempts to plot a coup against him, even trying to buy the king’s favour by slipping him extra pocket money (no, seriously). Eventually, his ambitions led him to break into Hampton Court in an attempt to kidnap the king (again, seriously). Arrested in the Privy Garden, having woken and then slaughtered one of the king’s pet spaniels, he was charged with 33 counts of high treason, and, unsurprisingly, ended up between a block and a sharp axe.

She then married an English nobleman, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Why? They were half-cousins; they were both grandchildren of Henry VIII's sister Margaret. This gave them each substantial claims to the English throne, if Good Queen Bess died childless. Marriage united and strengthened their claims; their son, James, did in fact succeed Elizabeth. But that was later; at the time, Elizabeth forbade the match. Or didn't - some historians believe that Elizabeth knew Darnley was such a prick that anyone who married him would tire of him and get rid of him and damn themselves and that she knew ''exactly what she was doing when she sent him to Scotland with Robert Dudley'' and that everything that happened with him and Mary was planned to bring Mary down!

Mary was forced to abdicate and went to England and threw herself on Elizabeth's "mercy".

In other matters, that whole "Virgin Queen" thing? Debatable. Good Queen Bess had at least two well-publicized affairs - the question is whether the hard-headed Elizabeth would have taken the risk of the damage an illegitimate royal pregnancy would have caused[[note]]One notable historian, Dr Paul Doherty, claims that ''Unkempt and exhausted, 800 miles from England the shipwrecked young man prepared to meet his interrogators in a Madrid courtroom one June day in 1587. Suspected of spying after his ship ran aground just days earlier in the Bay of Biscay, the unshaven sailor feared for his life. But it was not the threat of incarceration that troubled him, but the repercussions of the secret he was about to reveal. Asked to identify himself, he replied: "I am the bastard son of Queen Elizabeth of England and her lover Robert Dudley."'', though whether there is any truth to this is unknown.[[/note]]. The first, long-lasting one was with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, her [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend childhood companion]]. If she was in love with anyone, she was in love with him (but he was married, until his wife died under dubious circumstances that made their marriage impossible). Then Leicester dropped dead shortly after the defeat of the Armada. Elizabeth bawled for a few months, and then took up with the second Earl of Essex, also named Robert. He was, essentially, her boy-toy. She had reigned longer than he'd been alive. Incidentally, he was also Leicester's stepson. Unlike his stepfather, however, he didn't know how to keep his mouth shut and got a big head. Bess was mildly displeased by this, so she lopped it off. As for political matches it seems that she took her courtship with Francis (French: François), Duke of Anjou, at least somewhat seriously. Despite their age difference (Elizabeth was considerably older than her suitor) they seemed quite fond of one another. For a time Elizabeth even wore a frog shaped earring Francis sent her, a likely reference to her nickname for him ("my little frog").

Elizabeth's status as the Virgin Queen served to inspire a cult of loyalty in her subjects, who often portrayed and imagined her as a goddess or the Virgin Mary. Elizabeth, in turn, referred to her subjects as "all her husbands." The "marriage question" also served as a handy, quick-and-dirty foreign policy tool - so long as the question remained open, so to speak. But was she really a virgin? Modern sensibilities tend to assume that any romantic involvement involves sex, and as far back as the Victorian era historians laboured to find a reason why Elizabeth never married that went beyond "good politics". Some believed that Elizabeth's exposure to her father - and, more importantly, how her father [[OffWithHisHead treated his wives]] - might have scared her off marriage, while others suggested she had a reproductive defect of some kind. (The most fanciful even suggested that she was a ''man''; never mind the numerous gynecological examinations she endured during marriage negotiations, or the fact that if Henry had had a son, the course of English history would've been entirely different.) Some historians have [[NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat speculated]] on Elizabeth's sexual [[BiTheWay orientation]], despite her clear affection for and attraction to both Roberts Dudley and Devereux as well as the fact that many royals throughout history who are today recognized as gay have [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland done their royal duty]] and produced offspring for the good of the realm and the family.[[note]]See: in England: (Possibly) Elizabeth's own ancestor [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet Edward II]]; See also: in France: UsefulNotes/LouisXIV's younger brother [[AgentPeacock Philippe, Duc d'Orléans]].[[/note]] Modern historians who recognize Thomas Seymour's predations for what they were have posited that the abuse rendered her afraid of sex. All of that said, a case can easily be made that Elizabeth would have been a fool to engage in premarital sex if there was any chance of pregnancy, and would have been a fool to marry and give up all her power to a subject or a foreign prince.

Despite rumours of her being named after Anne's mother, Elizabeth Boleyn, this is most likely bollocks; the more probable suggestion is that Henry honoured his mother, Elizabeth of York, with the name of his daughter.

...''"that the said Bill, Act and Record, be annulled and utterly destroyed, and that it be ordained by the same Authority, that the same Act and Record be taken out of the Roll of Parliament, and be cancelled and brent ['burned'], and be put in perpetual oblivion.";; Henry's orders were carried out so well that only ''one'' copy has ever been found -- and it took '''''more than a century''''' for that copy to actually turn up! Talk about effective erasure!

->'''Nicknames''': ''Bluff Harry''; ''Old Coppernose'' [[note]]Cardinal Thomas Wolsey reduced the amount of gold and silver in coins to save money. Over time, the metal of the raised areas of a coin, including Henry’s nose, wore off exposing the copper colour beneath.[[/note]]

->'''Nicknames''': ''The Accountant'' [[note]]he was as much an astute businessman as he was a royal figurehead. Under his rule, the annual royal income almost tripled to an unprecedented £142,000 (equivalent to more than £90,000,000 or $150,000,000 today) due in part to his shrewd business sense, and in part to his Lord Chancellor John Morton’s increasingly uncompromising tax law.[[/note]]

->'''Consort''': ''Princess'' Elizabeth of York

->'''Nickname''': ''Bluff Harry''; ''Old Coppernose'' [[note]]Cardinal Thomas Wolsey reduced the amount of gold and silver in coins to save money. Over time, the metal of the raised areas of a coin, including Henry’s nose, wore off exposing the copper colour beneath.[[/note]]

->'''Nickname''': ''the Nine Days' Queen''

->'''Nickname''': ''Bluff Harry''

->'''Nickname''': ''The Nine Days' Queen''

->'''Nickname''': ''Bloody Mary''

->'''Consorts''': (1) ''Princess'' Catherine of Aragon (1509--1533); (2) Anne Boleyn (1533--1536); (3) Jane Seymour (1536--1537); (4) ''Lady'' Anne of Cleves (1540); (5) Catherine Howard (1540--1541); (6) Catherine Parr (1543--1547)

->'''Consort''': (1) ''Princess'' Catherine of Aragon (1509--1533) (2) Anne Boleyn (1533--1536) (3) Jane Seymour (1536--1537) (4) ''Lady'' Anne of Cleves (1540) (5) Catherine Howard (1540--1541) (6) Catherine Parr (1543--1547)

Elizabeth did not have a particularly nice pre-monarch life. She was declared illegitimate, almost executed by her own sister, and had a man 25 years her senior "engage in horseplay" with her when she was fourteen,[[note]]That man being Thomas Seymour, brother to Jane Seymour, husband of Catherine Parr after Henry VIII died, also reputed to have had designs on Lady Jane Grey and Princess (later Queen) Mary. A certified charmer and distinguished ladies man, he was also ''very'' ambitious, having intended to use all of his connections to all the aforementioned to gain money and power. He was pretty transparent in his envy of his eldest brother, Edward Seymour, Lord Protector (acting regent for the boy-king Edward, effectively in charge of the country), and not at all discreet in his attempts to plot a coup against him, even trying to buy the king’s favour by slipping him extra pocket money (no, seriously). Eventually, his ambitions led him to break into Hampton Court in an attempt to kidnap the king (again, seriously). Arrested in the Privy Garden, having woken and then slaughtered one of the king’s pet spaniels, he was charged with 33 counts of high treason, and, unsurprisingly, ended up between a block and a sharp axe.[[/note]] although many modern historians prefer to call it "sexual abuse".

She then married an English nobleman, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Why? They were half-cousins; they were both grandchildren of Henry VIII's sister Margaret. This gave them each substantial claims to the English throne, if Good Queen Bess died childless. Marriage united and strengthened their claims; their son, James, did in fact succeed Elizabeth. But that was later; at the time, Elizabeth forbade the match[[note]]Or didn't - some historians believe that Elizabeth knew Darnley was such a prick that anyone who married him would tire of him and get rid of him and damn themselves and that she knew ''exactly what she was doing when she sent him to Scotland with Robert Dudley'' and that everything that happened with him and Mary was planned to bring Mary down![[/note]].

Being a Catholic, she became a focus for Catholic opposition to Elizabeth (who had already been excommunicated by Pope Pius V). Eventually, Elizabeth had enough and after a trial on treason charges that may or may not have been true, Mary was beheaded. Because regicide looked rather bad back then (especially when it was your own cousin), Elizabeth allegedly arranged for the death warrant to be sent "accidentally". A softer view says that it was actually sent accidentally. Elizabeth blamed Sir William Cecil, who tended to say things that made Elizabeth unhappy, and a dimplot, William Davison[[note]]When the news of the execution reached Elizabeth she was extremely indignant, and her wrath was chiefly directed against Davison, who, she asserted, had disobeyed her instructions not to seal the warrant, but this instruction did not arrive until 2 February 1587, and Cecil had already taken the initiative. The secretary was arrested and thrown into the Tower, but although he defended himself vigorously, he did not say anything about the Queen's wish to get rid of Mary by assassination. Charged before the Star Chamber with misprision and contempt, he was acquitted of evil intention, but was sentenced to pay a fine of 10,000 marks and to imprisonment during the Queen's pleasure. Owing to the exertions of several influential men he was released in September 1588, after the invasion crisis had passed; the Queen, however, refused to employ him again in her service, but he kept his office, and probably never paid the fine.[[/note]]. Unfortunately for her, Cecil was usually right, and she knew it.

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/streathamladyjayne_crop.jpg]]

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mary_i_woman_227x300.jpg]]

->'''Consort''': n/a

Further back, we're into the [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet Plantagenet dynasty]].

----

!!'''King Henry VII of England'''

!!'''[[UsefulNotes/HenryVIII King Henry VIII of England]]'''

!!'''King Edward VI of England'''

!!'''Lady Jane Grey / Queen Jane of England'''

!!'''[[UsefulNotes/MaryTudor Queen Mary I of England]]'''

!!'''[[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI Queen Elizabeth I of England]]'''

!!'''Henry VII of England'''
[[quoteright:258:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/henryviiengland_1793.jpg]]
'''Lived''': 28 January 1457 –- 21 April 1509
'''Reigned''': 22 August 1485 –- 21 April 1509
'''Consort''': ''Princess'' Elizabeth of York

!!'''[[UsefulNotes/HenryVIII Henry VIII of England]]'''
[[quoteright:271:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/henryviiiengland_2932.jpg]]
'''Lived''': 28 June 1491 –- 28 January 1547
'''Reigned''': 21 April 1509 –- 28 January 1547
'''Consort''': (1) ''Princess'' Catherine of Aragon (1509--1533) (2) Anne Boleyn (1533--1536) (3) Jane Seymour (1536--1537) (4) ''Lady'' Anne of Cleves (1540) (5) Catherine Howard (1540--1541) (6) Catherine Parr (1543--1547)

!!'''Edward VI of England'''
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/edwardviengland_5717.jpg]]
'''Lived''': 12 October 1537 –- 6 July 1553
'''Reigned''': 28 January 1547 –- 6 July 1553

!!'''Lady Jane Grey / Jane of England'''
[[quoteright:197:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/janegrey_7810.jpg]]
'''Lived''': c. 1537 -– 12 February 1554
'''Reigned''': 10 July 1553 –- 19 July 1553 (disputed)

!!'''[[UsefulNotes/MaryTudor Mary I of England]]'''
[[quoteright:234:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maryiengland_1658.jpg]]
'''Lived''': 18 February 1516 -– 17 November 1558
'''Reigned''': 19 July 1553 -– 17 November 1558
'''Consort''': ''King'' Philip II of Spain

!!'''[[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI Elizabeth I of England]]'''
[[quoteright:241:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elizabethiengland_8949.jpg]]
'''Lived''': 7 September 1533 –- 24 March 1603
'''Reigned''': 17 November 1558 –- 24 March 1603

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Histeria}}'' sings of the Tudors [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAmRSHRwADE here]], to the tune of "Greensleeves".[[note]]Which music historians are now pretty certain was ''not'' written by Henry VIII. He did write a number of songs and tunes, some of which were well-regarded on their own merits; however, his historical prominence has caused a considerably larger body of works to be misattributed to him over the years[[/note]] Beware, this song will [[EarWorm stick with you]].

A bright kid and a staunch Protestant, he'd have become full monarch at 16 had he not died. Henry VIII hadn't appointed an individual Regent, but a Regency Council, which spent most of the time arguing with each other and plotting against each other. The nine-year-old king's realm was in fact largely ruled in this time by firstly his uncle Edward Seymour, Earl of Somerset, who set himself above the Council as 'Lord Protector'; then later, after Somerset's fall, by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick and later Duke of Northumberland.

Mary fancied herself in love with Darnley, but the honeymoon didn't last. After a while, he began to suspect that she was having an affair with her court musician and secretary, an Italian called Rizzio. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking So he had Rizzio murdered. Right in front of her. While she was pregnant with Darnley's son.]]

[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Later, Lord Darnley's bedroom was blown up. He was found in the garden, in his nightshirt -- strangled.]] The chief suspect was a roguish Scottish noble called Lord Bothwell. Then, he married widowed Mary.

* ''Literature/TheDoubledEdge'' series by Creator/MercedesLackey is a retelling of Queen Elizabeth I's life from her birth to her crowning, but with the Sidhe elves involved. The Seleighe (Bright Court) Elves are working for a future in which Elizabeth becomes queen, while the Unseleighe (Dark Court) elves want one in which Mary is queen. Having Edward VI as king is the compromise choice that both sides can live with.

In other matters, that whole "Virgin Queen" thing? Debatable. Good Queen Bess had at least two well-publicized affairs - the question is whether the hard-headed Elizabeth would have taken the risk of the damage an illegitimate royal pregnancy would have caused[[one notable historian, Dr Paul Doherty, claims that ''Unkempt and exhausted, 800 miles from England the shipwrecked young man prepared to meet his interrogators in a Madrid courtroom one June day in 1587. Suspected of spying after his ship ran aground just days earlier in the Bay of Biscay, the unshaven sailor feared for his life. But it was not the threat of incarceration that troubled him, but the repercussions of the secret he was about to reveal. Asked to identify himself, he replied: "I am the bastard son of Queen Elizabeth of England and her lover Robert Dudley."'', though whether there is any truth to this is unknown.[[/note]]. The first, long-lasting one was with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, her [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend childhood companion]]. If she was in love with anyone, she was in love with him (but he was married, until his wife died under dubious circumstances that made their marriage impossible). Then Leicester dropped dead shortly after the defeat of the Armada. Elizabeth bawled for a few months, and then took up with the second Earl of Essex, also named Robert. He was, essentially, her boy-toy. She had reigned longer than he'd been alive. Incidentally, he was also Leicester's stepson. Unlike his stepfather, however, he didn't know how to keep his mouth shut and got a big head. Bess was mildly displeased by this, so she lopped it off. As for political matches it seems that she took her courtship with Francis (French: François), Duke of Anjou, at least somewhat seriously. Despite their age difference (Elizabeth was considerably older than her suitor) they seemed quite fond of one another. For a time Elizabeth even wore a frog shaped earring Francis sent her, a likely reference to her nickname for him ("my little frog").