The destination for history
The Tudors
Tudor kings and queens ruled England from 1485, when Henry Tudor claimed the throne, up until the year of Queen Elizabeth I’s death in 1603.
With origins in Wales, the Tudors were descended in the male line from the Tudors of Penmynydd, with Henry VII himself being descended through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, from a branch of the English royal House of Lancaster. The Tudor familyrose to power in the wake of the Wars of the Roses, which left the House of Lancaster, to which the Tudors were aligned, extinct.
Henry VII (also known as Henry Tudor as he was the founding monarch) defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field – the last king of England to win his throne on the battlefield. His victory was reinforced by his marriage to Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, symbolically uniting the former warring factions under a new dynasty and joining the houses of York and Lancaster.
Henry Tudor’s son and successor, Henry VIII, is possibly the most written about king of England after Richard III. His many wives, and political and religious upheaval of the country make him one of the most influential monarchs in English history. His break with Rome founded the Church of England and shook the country to its core.
On Henry’s death, his much longed-for son and heir, Edward VI, only lived into his teens, causing a problematic succession in the House of Tudor. Many believed Lady Jane Grey, the granddaughter of Henry’s sister Mary Tudor, to be the rightful heir, but Henry’s eldest daughter Mary had this claim declared illegitimate and had Jane beheaded at the age of 16 or 17, after she had been on the throne for only nine days. Mary’s subsequent crowing meant she became the first queen regnant of England, and once again aligned the monarchy with the Catholic faith. Mary’s failure to produce an heir meant that her sister Elizabeth ascended to the throne on her death, switching the alliance of the Crown to the Protestant faith once again.
This fascinating period of history never ceases to enthral us with its twists and turns, and it remains one of the most written about periods of English history.
Read more about the Tudors
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The forgotten Boleyn
Cecily and a medieval life less ordinary
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Five things you may not know about Lady Katherine Grey
Facts about the tragic Lady Katherine Grey, sister of the ill-fated Jane and forgotten Tudor heir
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Portrait of a queen: Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour
Art historian Linda Collins on portraits of two Tudor queens
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Six things you (probably) didn’t know about Edward VI
How well do you know Henry VIII’s short-lived son?
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Henry VII in seven facts
An introduction to the first Tudor monarch, Henry VII
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What if the Princes in the Tower survived into Tudor England?
Looking at the evidence surrounding England’s most notorious cold case
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Do we know the real Henry VIII?
What made this tyrant tick?
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The final days of Henry VIII
The end of thirty-eight years on the throne
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Henry VIII: Avaricious, suspicious, inconstant
Discussing the myth and reality behind the Tudor crown
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Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell and the Pilgrimage of Grace
The rebellion of 30,000 who revolted against the King’s policies
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The royal bed of Henry VII & Elizabeth of York
One of the most significant early Tudor discoveries of all time
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The diabolical death of Henry, Lord Darnley
February 2017 marks 450 years since Lord Darnley, Mary Queen of Scots’ husband, was murdered
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Catherine Parr: Henry VIII’s last love
Romantic, chaotic and terrifying, Catherine Parr’s life unfolds like a romance novel
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12 little-known facts about Catherine of Aragon
Fascinating facts about King Henry VIII’s first wife
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Catherine of Aragon’s arrival in England
In 1501 the fifteen-year-old bid farewell to her beloved Spain
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The execution of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset
Tudor ambition, power & the ultimate price of failure
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Why is Shakespeare’s real life (and his death) so undebatable?
Researcher Simon Andrew Stirling delves into the Bard’s biography
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Katherine Howard: Vixen or victim?
Compared to her cousin and predecessor, Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard has been neglected by history. Should we re-evaluate how we remember her?
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Thomas Cromwell and the ‘ungoodly’ executioner
There is speculation that Cromwell’s execution on 28 July 1540 was horribly botched
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Margaret Douglas: The other Tudor princess
Henry VIII’s niece is a somewhat shadowy and mysterious character in Tudor history
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It Could Be Ye: England’s first lottery
The first recorded lottery in England took place in 1569 by St Paul’s Cathedral
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Teenagers in Tudor times
The perceived problem of ‘idle young’ and ‘masterless youth’
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A guide to historic Tudor sites
There are over 180 sites which are connected to Henry VIII and his wives
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Memento mori: Reminding the Tudors of their mortality
John Matusiak explores why death figured prominently in the Tudor psyche
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Evil May Day: When Tudor London rioted against foreigners
In 1517 tensions were running high in London
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Margaret Tudor: English princess, Scottish queen
Margaret Tudor’s taste in men was almost as poor as her granddaughter’s, Mary, Queen of Scots
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Five little-known facts about Queen Mary I
Things you (probably) didn’t already know about ‘Bloody Mary’
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Mary I: Tyrant or trailblazer?
500 years since her birth, Mary I is a monarch who continues to divide opinion
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Queen Elizabeth I: A brief history
From ‘illegitimate’ child to beloved Gloriana
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Ask the author: Conor Byrne on Katherine Howard
Historian Conor Byrne reveals what drew him to Henry VIII’s fifth queen, Katherine Howard
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Lady Jane Grey in six places
The Nine Days Queen
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Thomas Cromwell and the fall of Anne Boleyn
Does a ‘fictional’ novel give the most historically sound account?
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Attitudes towards women in the Tudor period
Lives of Tudor women from the popular literature of the time
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Dogs in Shakespeare
How the Bard used dogs as a metaphor
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When Henry VIII met the Holy Maid of Kent
The story of how Elizabeth Barton met her tragic end
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Thomas Cromwell and the ‘Catholic faith’
Thomas Cromwell’s last words and moments on 28 July 1540 continue to cause quite a lot of discussion
