Throughout history, a focal point of how societies are built and kept often fall back to the leader of a certain group or region. European royals have fascinated historians for years, with their complexities involving marriage, religion and social change.
In Europe, monarchs were a part of houses. A royal house or royal dynasty is a family that holds the position of monarch or reigns over a country. (Notable houses are the House of Plantagenet, House of York, and House of Lancaster).
Arguably, one of the most influential dynasties in history was the English House of Tudor.
The first Tudor Monarch was Henry VII, who reigned over England from 1485-1509. He secured his position during the Wars of the Roses, which were a series of civil wars between the rival houses of York and Lancaster, which were both branches of the House of Plantagenet. Henry VII was a nephew of the last Lancastarian king, and slayed Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, the last major battle of the Wars of the Roses. He then promptly declared himself king of England and established the Tudor dynasty. Robert III’s death marked him the last king of the House of York, as well as the last Plantagenet king.
In order to unite the warring houses of Lancaster and York, Henry VII married who was considered by many to be the rightful heir to the throne: Elizabeth of York, also referred to as the “White Queen,” with whom he had four children that survived to adulthood. His son, Henry VIII, inherited the throne in 1509 after Henry VII succumbed to tuberculosis.
Henry VIII was most known for having six wives and a large appetite, weighing 400 pounds when he died. He had his second and fifth wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, were beheaded for adultery. Anne Boleyn was also executed for allegedly conspiring against Henry VIII’s life. Her decapitated head reportedly tried to speak after it had been severed. His third wife, Jane Seymour perished after giving birth to Henry’s only legitimate son, Edward VI. His marriages to his first and fourth wives Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves were annulled due to Catherine’s inability to produce a male heir, and he was dissatisfied with Anne’s appearance and claimed that the marriage had not been consummated. His sixth wife, Catherine Parr, outlived him after his death due to poor health in 1547, and remarried to Thomas Seymore, Jane Seymore’s (Henry’s third wife) brother. She was the last queen consort to the Tudor house.
Henry VIII was also responsible for the English Reformation, reshaping England’s religious landscape. He broke away from the Roman Catholic church and established the Church of England.
“Religion, when we talk about culture, tends to be like an element of culture, even though there are other elements that would technically cover laws or beliefs,” Human Geography and US History teacher Nicholas Jones said.. The reason why we put religion separate is that it’s seen as a higher calling, so people buy in even though there’s nothing holding them to that standard. It’s just that principle. [In] society, it does create laws, it does create norms and it pretty much regulates people’s lives.”,” Human Geography and US History teacher Nicholas Jones said.
Henry VIII’s son, Edward VI, took the throne at nine years old in 1547 and reigned until his death in 1553, aged 15, from tuberculosis. He was responsible for instituting Protestant reforms in England. Edward named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his successor, and she ascended the throne for just nine days before being deposed due to the legal heir to the throne being Mary I.
Mary I ascended the throne in 1553, marking her the first female monarch to reside over England. During this time, there was a major divide in the country between Catholics and Protestants. Mary attempted to reverse the English Reformation that her father initiated and restore Catholicism back to the country, persecuting Protestants as a result. She ordered the execution of hundreds of Protestants who refused to convert, earning her the name “Bloody Mary.”
“Religions usually bring a lot of the same things to the table. Social norms; they usually have respect for society, they normally have respect for personal values and a lot of things that religions would all agree on, but because of these fundamental differences like how we see God, these go beyond our basic beliefs, and so people are willing to fight. People are willing to die,” Jones said.. “Then there’s the human element of emotion tied to it. When your life is encompassed with a belief that’s beyond this world, you’re gonna go to some lengths to protect that belief and that leads to political views and geopolitical views that are going to cause people to have conflict. You have moderates and extremists. In religions, you have extremists that are willing to do things that most people would classify as bad even within their own group, but they act on those bad habits or bad instincts.”,” Jones said.
When Mary died of illness, the crown was passed to her half-sister Elizabeth I, a Protestant. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor, ruling from 1558-1603. The two possible successors to the crown after Mary I’s death were Elizabeth I and Queen Mary of Scots, Elizabeth’s cousin who was a direct heir to the English throne.
England experienced more social divide as some favored Catholic Mary and others favored Protestant Elizabeth. As she was a threat to Elizabeth’s potential to seize the crown, Elizabeth imprisoned and executed Mary for treason, allegedly plotting to assassinate Elizabeth.
“[Catholicism is] a structured religion or sect of Christianity that follows specific ritualistic ideas,” Jones said. “ (when to do stuff, how to do stuff, what this does). The Protestant idea that came from the Catholic Church is this belief that you didn’t have to follow these very, very strict interpretations or these very strict rules in order to be a believer in Jesus or a believer in God.”,” Jones said.
Elizabeth’s first act after becoming queen was to create a new Church of England, the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, which was Protestant, but blended elements of both Catholic and Protestant beliefs in an attempt to unite England and avoid religious conflict.
Elizabeth was well known for shaping social trends in England. She was an avid patron of the arts, and was a known fan of William Shakespear. Her death marked the end of the Tudor Dynasty, as the crown was then passed on to James VI of Scotland, which became known as the Union of Crowns. The event united England and Scotland under the same monarch for the first time in history.
The reign of the Tudors severely influenced and impacted the religious landscape in England, which shaped how the government was set up depending on what beliefs each monarch had. Effects of the Tudors today include England’s distinct culture, national bureaucracy, and the establishment of the Royal Navy.
