The Tudors and the Reformation

Henry VII secures the crown

Henry Tudor became king after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, the battle that ended the Wars of the Roses. The war ended with the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, when King Richard III of the House of York was killed in the battle and Henry Tudor, the leader of the House of Lancaster, became King Henry VII. Henry then married King Richard's niece, Elizabeth of York, and united the two families, becoming the first king of the House of Tudor. The symbol of this new dynasty made the union visible at a glance: the symbol of the House of Tudor was a red rose with a white rose inside it as a sign that the Houses of York and Lancaster were now allies.

Having won the throne by force, Henry VII spent his reign making sure he kept it. After his victory in the Wars of the Roses, Henry VII wanted to make sure that England remained peaceful and that his position as king was secure, so he deliberately strengthened the central administration of England, reduced the power of the nobles, and was thrifty, building up the monarchy's financial reserves. This caution paid off: when he died, the crown passed smoothly to his son. When he died, his son Henry VIII continued the policy of centralising power. The victory at Bosworth is generally treated as the point at which the medieval period gives way to the Tudor age, and Henry's careful, unspectacular kingship gave the new dynasty a firm foundation.

The beginning of Tudor rule

The Tudor dynasty began with a marriage as much as a battle. Henry VII's union with Elizabeth of York, the niece of the defeated Richard III, was a deliberate act of reconciliation, binding the rival houses of Lancaster and York together after thirty years of intermittent civil war. The new Tudor rose, combining both colours, became the enduring emblem of this settlement and still appears on coins, buildings and regalia today.

Tudor rule also began to reshape the constitutional relationship between England and its neighbours. During the reign of Henry VIII, Wales became formally united with England by the Act for the Government of Wales, and the Welsh sent representatives to the House of Commons while the Welsh legal system was reformed. This built on earlier medieval measures: Wales had already been annexed to the English crown under Edward I in 1284, but the Tudor legislation went further, incorporating Wales into the English legal and administrative system and giving it parliamentary representation for the first time. The main statute was passed in 1536, during the same years that Henry VIII was breaking with Rome, and it replaced the old patchwork of marcher lordships with English-style counties and courts, a change that had lasting consequences for how England and Wales were governed together.

Henry VIII and the break with Rome

Henry VIII is remembered above all for two things. Henry VIII was most famous for breaking away from the Church of Rome and marrying six times. His six wives, in order, were Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr. Catherine of Aragon was a Spanish princess who gave Henry several children but only one, Mary, survived, and when Catherine was too old to give him another child, Henry decided to divorce her, hoping a new wife would give him a son and heir. Anne Boleyn, an Englishwoman, gave Henry a daughter, Elizabeth, but was unpopular, was accused of taking lovers, and was executed at the Tower of London. Jane Seymour, married after Anne's execution, gave Henry the son he wanted, Edward, but died shortly after the birth. Anne of Cleves was a German princess whom Henry married for political reasons but divorced soon after. Catherine Howard, a cousin of Anne Boleyn, was also accused of taking lovers and executed. Catherine Parr, a widow who married Henry late in his life, survived him and remarried but died soon after.

The drive to divorce Catherine of Aragon produced a permanent change in English religious life. To divorce his first wife, Henry needed the approval of the Pope, and when the Pope refused, Henry established the Church of England, in which the king, not the Pope, would have the power to appoint bishops and order how people should worship. This break coincided with the wider European Reformation. The Reformation was a movement across Europe against the authority of the Pope and the practices of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Protestants who formed their own churches read the Bible in their own languages, did not pray to saints or at shrines, and believed a person's own relationship with God mattered more than obedience to Church authority. Protestant ideas gradually gained strength in England, Wales and Scotland during the 16th century. Henry VIII was succeeded by his son Edward VI, who was strongly Protestant and during whose reign the Book of Common Prayer was written for the Church of England, though Edward died at 15 after ruling just over six years, after which his half-sister Mary became queen.

Henry VIII and his six wives

Henry VIII succeeded his father Henry VII, who had spent his reign strengthening royal finances and reducing the power of the nobles after winning the Wars of the Roses. Henry VIII continued this policy of centralising power, but he is remembered above all for marrying six times and for breaking away from the Church of Rome. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, a Spanish princess, gave him one surviving child, Mary. When Catherine grew too old to bear another child, Henry sought a divorce, hoping a new wife would provide him with a son and heir. His second wife, Anne Boleyn, was English and bore him a daughter, Elizabeth, but she fell out of favour, was accused of taking lovers and was executed at the Tower of London.

Jane Seymour, his third wife, finally gave Henry the son he wanted, Edward, but died shortly after the birth. His fourth marriage, to the German princess Anne of Cleves, was made for political reasons and ended in divorce soon afterwards. Catherine Howard, a cousin of Anne Boleyn, was his fifth wife; like Anne Boleyn she was accused of taking lovers and was executed. His sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, was a widow who married Henry late in his life, survived him and remarried, though she died soon after. The need to end his first marriage without the Pope's consent set in motion the religious changes covered in the next section.

The succession after Henry VIII

Henry VIII's determination to secure a male heir shaped the whole of his reign, yet the throne passed through three of his children in quick and turbulent succession. His son Edward VI, strongly Protestant, came to the throne as a boy. During his reign the Book of Common Prayer was introduced for use in the Church of England, a version of which is still used in some churches today. Edward died aged fifteen after ruling for just over six years, and the throne passed to his half-sister Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon.

Mary was a devout Catholic who persecuted Protestants, earning her the name 'Bloody Mary', and she too died after a short reign. She was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth I was a Protestant who re-established the Church of England and worked to balance the views of Catholics and more extreme Protestants, avoiding serious religious conflict within England during her long reign. Because Elizabeth never married and had no children, her death in 1603 brought the Tudor line to an end, and the crown passed to her cousin James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England, Wales and Ireland while Scotland remained a separate kingdom.

The English Reformation

To divorce Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII needed the Pope's approval, and when the Pope refused, Henry established the Church of England, giving the king rather than the Pope the power to appoint bishops and to order how people should worship. This break coincided with the wider European Reformation, a movement against the authority of the Pope and the practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Protestants formed their own churches, read the Bible in their own languages rather than in Latin, rejected prayers to saints or shrines, and held that a person's own relationship with God mattered more than obedience to the Church. Protestant ideas gained strength across England, Wales and Scotland during the sixteenth century, though in Ireland English attempts to impose Protestantism led to rebellion and prolonged conflict.

During the reign of Henry VIII, Wales was formally united with England through the Act for the Government of Wales, with Welsh representatives sent to the House of Commons and the Welsh legal system reformed. Scotland underwent its own Reformation: in 1560 the predominantly Protestant Scottish Parliament abolished papal authority in Scotland and made Roman Catholic services illegal, establishing a Protestant Church of Scotland that, unlike the Church of England, was never a state church. These religious divisions did not end with the Tudors. They continued to shape politics well into the following century, contributing to the tensions between king and Parliament that eventually led to civil war under the Stuarts.

Henry VIII breaks with Rome

Henry VIII inherited a strong, financially secure throne from his father, Henry VII, and continued the Tudor project of centralising royal power. He is best remembered, though, for breaking away from the Church of Rome and marrying six times. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, a Spanish princess, bore him a daughter, Mary, but no surviving son. When Catherine grew too old to have another child, Henry wanted to divorce her in the hope that a new wife would give him a male heir. Divorce required the Pope's approval, and when the Pope refused, Henry took matters into his own hands.

Unable to secure an annulment through Rome, Henry declared that he, not the Pope, held authority over the English Church. Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534, which defined the right of Henry VIII to be supreme head on earth of the Church of England, thereby severing ecclesiastical links with Rome. This was steered through Parliament by Henry's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, as part of a series of Acts passed between 1533 and 1536. The break was driven chiefly by Henry's need for a legitimate male heir and his frustration with papal authority, rather than by any personal attraction to Protestant theology, though it opened the door to religious change across England, Wales and, more violently, Ireland.

The birth of the Church of England

The new Church of England gave the monarch, rather than the Pope, the power to appoint bishops and to determine how people should worship. Henry VIII was succeeded by his young son Edward VI, who was strongly Protestant; during his short reign the Book of Common Prayer was introduced for use in the Church of England, a version of which is still used in some churches today. Edward died at just 15, and his half-sister Mary, a devout Catholic, tried to reverse the Reformation and restore ties with Rome, persecuting Protestants so severely that she became known as 'Bloody Mary'.

When Mary died, her half-sister Elizabeth I, a Protestant, became queen and re-established the Church of England as the country's official Church. Elizabeth deliberately avoided asking too closely about people's private beliefs, which helped her strike a balance between Catholics and more extreme Protestants and avoid serious religious conflict within England. Meanwhile Scotland underwent its own Reformation: in 1560 the predominantly Protestant Scottish Parliament abolished papal authority there and made Roman Catholic services illegal, but the resulting Church of Scotland, unlike the Church of England, was never a state Church tied to the Crown.

The dissolution of the monasteries

Having declared himself Supreme Head of the Church, Henry VIII turned his attention to England's monasteries, priories and convents, which held enormous wealth and land. Between 1536 and 1541, acting through Thomas Cromwell, Henry closed every monastery and nunnery in England and Wales, seizing their assets for the Crown. The process was carried out under two Acts of Parliament: a first Act in 1536 authorised the closure of smaller monasteries with modest incomes, while a second Act in 1539 sanctioned the dissolution of the larger and wealthier houses. By 1540, virtually all monastic institutions had been suppressed, their buildings stripped, their libraries dispersed and much of their land sold off to Henry's supporters.

The dissolution served both religious and financial purposes: monasteries represented a visible reminder of the old Catholic order and Henry's authority over it, while their considerable wealth offered a valuable source of income for a Crown whose finances had been strained by war. The closures did not pass without resistance, most notably in the Pilgrimage of Grace, a large-scale rebellion in the north of England in 1536, though this was ultimately suppressed. Today, the ruined abbeys and priories scattered across the English and Welsh countryside stand as visible traces of this sweeping change, one of the most significant transformations in property and religious life that England had seen since the Norman Conquest.

Henry VIII's break with Rome and the Protestant and Catholic struggle

Henry VIII is remembered above all for breaking away from the Church of Rome and for marrying six times. When the Pope would not grant him an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry had Parliament declare him Supreme Head of the Church of England, cutting the English Church's ties with Rome. This was the start of the English Reformation, the process by which England moved from being a Catholic country to a mainly Protestant one.

The religious argument did not end with Henry. His son Edward VI pushed the Church of England further towards Protestantism, but Edward's Catholic half-sister Mary reversed this when she succeeded him. Mary was a devout Catholic and persecuted Protestants, which earned her the name 'Bloody Mary'. When Mary died, her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth I became queen and re-established the Church of England as the official Church.

This back-and-forth between Catholic and Protestant monarchs shaped much of Tudor politics and continued to cause tension well into the Stuart period. Whether a monarch was Catholic or Protestant determined the religious policy of the whole country, since England had no separation between the Crown and the established Church.

Wales and English law

During the reign of Henry VIII, Wales became formally united with England. This was achieved through what are commonly called the Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542, sometimes known as the Acts of Union. The legislation brought Wales fully within the Kingdom of England and applied the English legal system to Wales, including the use of English as the official language of the law.

As a result, Welsh representatives were sent to sit in the House of Commons at Westminster, and the Welsh legal system was reformed to align with English law. Wales had already come under English control after Edward I's conquest in the thirteenth century, but Henry VIII's legislation went further, creating a single legal jurisdiction that is still referred to today as England and Wales.

Edward VI, the boy king

Henry VIII was succeeded by his son Edward VI, who became king as a child and was strongly Protestant. During his short reign, the Book of Common Prayer was written for use in the Church of England, setting out the order of service in English rather than Latin. A version of this book is still used in some churches today.

Edward died at the age of fifteen, having ruled for just over six years. His death brought his Catholic half-sister Mary to the throne, reversing his Protestant reforms.

Mary I and the return of Rome

Mary was the daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. After the short reign of her Protestant half-brother Edward VI, Mary became queen in 1553. She was a devout Catholic and set about reversing her father's break with Rome, restoring papal authority over the English Church and reintroducing Catholic worship. Her marriage to Philip II of Spain in 1554 proved deeply unpopular, since many English people feared it would draw the country under Spanish influence.

Mary's determination to restore Catholicism led her to persecute Protestants who refused to conform. Under the heresy laws, several hundred Protestants, including bishops such as Thomas Cranmer, were burned at the stake, most prominently at Smithfield in London. This earned her the lasting nickname of 'Bloody Mary'. Mary died in 1558 after a short reign without producing an heir, and the throne passed to her Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

Elizabeth I and a golden age

Elizabeth I became queen in 1558 and ruled for 45 years, until her death in 1603. She never married and had no children, which meant that speculation about the succession ran throughout her reign. As a Protestant monarch following two changes of religion within a single generation, she faced the difficult task of stabilising the country after the turmoil of her father's, brother's and sister's reigns. She proved a skilled political operator, managing Parliament with care and balancing the competing demands of Catholics and more extreme Protestants.

Elizabeth's reign is remembered as a period of growing national pride and confidence. English sailors such as Sir Francis Drake explored and raided Spanish colonies in the Americas, and Drake's ship the Golden Hind became one of the first vessels to sail around the world. The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, when Spain attempted to invade England and restore Catholicism by force, made Elizabeth one of the most popular monarchs in English history. Her reign was also a golden age for English poetry and drama, above all through the plays and poems of William Shakespeare. Because she had no direct heir, the throne passed on her death to her cousin James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England.

The Elizabethan religious settlement

England had swung between Protestantism under Edward VI and Catholicism under Mary I, leaving deep religious division. Elizabeth re-established the Church of England as the country's official Church, but she deliberately sought a middle way rather than pursuing the more extreme measures used by her predecessors. Everyone was required to attend their local church and specific rules governed the form of services and permitted prayers, yet Elizabeth famously avoided probing too deeply into people's private beliefs, which helped her avoid serious religious conflict within England for most of her reign.

This search for balance is sometimes called the Elizabethan religious settlement. It retained much of the outward structure and ceremony that Catholics valued while confirming Protestant doctrine and rejecting papal authority. By steering between the views of Catholics and more zealous Protestants, Elizabeth secured a broadly stable religious order that lasted well beyond her own reign, even though tensions with committed Catholics, particularly following the Spanish Armada, never fully disappeared.

Mary, Queen of Scots: a Catholic queen in a Protestant age

Mary Stuart became queen of Scotland when she was only a week old, after her father's death. She spent much of her childhood in France and grew up a devout Catholic, in a Scotland that was turning increasingly Protestant. When she returned to Scotland as an adult, she found herself at the centre of a power struggle between rival factions, and her position was never secure. Her personal life added to the turmoil: after her husband was murdered, suspicion fell on Mary herself, and she fled south into England, having already given up her throne to her infant son, James VI, who was raised a Protestant.

Mary hoped that her cousin, Elizabeth I of England, would help her regain influence. Instead, Elizabeth feared that Mary, as a Catholic with a claim to the English throne, posed a direct threat to her own rule. Elizabeth kept Mary confined as a prisoner for nearly twenty years. Eventually Mary was tried and executed after being accused of plotting against Elizabeth's life. Her son, James, later inherited the English throne as well as the Scottish one, uniting the two crowns in 1603, though England and Scotland remained separate kingdoms with separate parliaments for another century.

Exploration and the growth of English trade

The reign of Elizabeth I saw a surge of national pride and confidence, often called the Elizabethan period. English sailors and merchants pushed outward in search of new trade routes, hoping to break into the wealth that Spain had built from its colonies in the Americas. This was as much a commercial and political rivalry as an adventure: English ships challenged Spanish dominance of the Atlantic while looking for fresh markets and sources of goods. Elizabeth's reign also saw the first English attempts to settle the eastern coast of America, a project that would expand considerably in the following century, particularly among people who disagreed with the religious policies of the Stuart kings who succeeded Elizabeth.

This era of exploration fed directly into England's growing sense of itself as a seafaring nation. Naval skill and daring became a source of national celebration, especially after England's fleet helped defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588, an event that boosted confidence in English seamanship considerably. The voyages of this period laid foundations that would later support the growth of overseas trade and colonisation on a much larger scale, though the full expansion of England's colonial reach lay in the centuries ahead.

Sir Francis Drake and the defeat of the Armada

Sir Francis Drake was one of the most celebrated English sailors of the Elizabethan age and is remembered as one of the founders of England's naval tradition. He commanded one of the English ships involved in defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588, when Spain sent a large fleet to try to conquer England and restore Catholic rule. The English victory was a turning point for Elizabeth's popularity and for national morale, and it confirmed England's growing reputation as a serious naval power.

Drake is equally well known for a remarkable feat of navigation: his ship, the Golden Hind, was one of the first vessels to sail all the way around the world, a voyage known as circumnavigation. This combination of naval command and long-distance seamanship made Drake a symbol of the exploring, trading spirit of the age. His career reflects the wider pattern of the period, in which individual captains combined exploration, trade and military service, often in direct competition with Spain, as England sought to expand its influence overseas.

The Spanish Armada

By the 1580s, England and Spain were rivals in religion and in trade. England was Protestant under Elizabeth I, while Spain, under King Philip II, was the leading Catholic power in Europe. English sailors, including Sir Francis Drake, had spent years raiding Spanish ships and settlements in the Americas, and in 1585 Elizabeth sent an English force to the Netherlands to support Protestant rebels against Spanish rule. Philip decided to invade England, remove Elizabeth and restore Catholic rule.

In 1588, Philip sent a huge fleet, the Armada, to invade England. The plan was for the fleet to sail up the English Channel and link with a Spanish army waiting in the Netherlands before crossing to England. The Armada was sighted off the English coast in July 1588 and the English navy shadowed it up the Channel. When the Spanish ships anchored off Calais, the English sent burning fireships in among them, forcing them to scatter and break formation. The main battle, off Gravelines, went badly for the Spanish, whose damaged fleet was then driven north into the North Sea, and the surviving ships had to sail home the long way round Scotland and Ireland, losing many more vessels to storms in the process.

The Armada's defeat was a famous victory for England and did lasting damage to Spain's naval strength and prestige. It has become one of the best-remembered events of Elizabeth's reign and is closely linked in popular memory with Elizabeth's rousing speech to her troops gathered at Tilbury and with Sir Francis Drake, who served as vice admiral in the campaign.

Elizabethan culture

Elizabeth I reigned from 1558 to 1603, a period often remembered as a golden age for England. Her long, stable reign encouraged confidence at home and ambition abroad, and it coincided with a remarkable flourishing of English poetry and drama.

Public theatres opened in London for the first time during Elizabeth's reign, drawing audiences from across society and giving playwrights a permanent stage for their work. This theatrical culture produced the greatest English writer of the age, William Shakespeare, alongside other notable poets and dramatists. Elizabethan England also saw an increase in overseas exploration and trade, with sailors such as Sir Francis Drake venturing further across the globe, which fed into a growing sense of national pride and confidence that runs through the literature, music and architecture of the period.

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564 to 1616) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. <cite index="1-2,1-3">He was a playwright and actor and wrote many poems and plays. His most famous plays include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet.</cite>

<cite index="1-4,1-5">He also dramatised significant events from the past, but he did not focus solely on kings and queens. He was one of the first to portray ordinary Englishmen and women.</cite> <cite index="1-6">Shakespeare had a great influence on the English language and invented many words that are still common today.</cite>

Several lines from his plays and poems remain widely quoted, including 'Once more unto the breach' from Henry V, 'To be or not to be' from Hamlet, 'A rose by any other name' from Romeo and Juliet, 'All the world's a stage' from As You Like It, and 'The darling buds of May' from Sonnet 18.

<cite index="1-8,1-9">Many people regard Shakespeare as the greatest playwright of all time. His plays and poems are still performed and studied in Britain and other countries today.</cite> <cite index="1-10">The Globe Theatre in London is a modern copy of the theatres in which his plays were first performed.</cite>