Catherine of Aragon was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until its annulment on 23 May 1533. Born in Spain, she was Princess of Wales while married to Henry's elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales, for a short period before his death.
Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last monarch of the House of Tudor.
Henry VIII was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage annulled. His disagreement with Pope Clement VII about such an annulment led Henry to initiate the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority. He appointed himself Supreme Head of the Church of England and dissolved convents and monasteries, for which he was excommunicated by the pope.
Mary I, also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain and the Habsburg dominions as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She is best known for her vigorous attempt to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, King Henry VIII. Her attempt to restore to the Church the property confiscated in the previous two reigns was largely thwarted by Parliament, but during her five-year reign, Mary had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian persecutions.
Thomas Wolsey was an English statesman and Catholic cardinal. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figure in virtually all matters of state. He also held important ecclesiastical appointments. These included the Archbishop of York—the second most important role in the English church—and that of papal legate. His appointment as a cardinal by Pope Leo X in 1515 gave him precedence over all other English clergy.
The House of Tudor was an English and Welsh dynasty that held the throne of England from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd, a Welsh noble family, and Catherine of Valois. The Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of England and the Lordship of Ireland for 118 years with five monarchs: Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. The Tudors succeeded the House of Plantagenet as rulers of the Kingdom of England, and were succeeded by the House of Stuart. The first Tudor monarch, Henry VII, descended through his mother from the House of Beaufort, a legitimised branch of the English royal House of Lancaster, a cadet house of the Plantagenets. The Tudor family rose to power and started the Tudor period in the wake of the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), which left the main House of Lancaster extinct in the male line.
Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution by beheading for treason, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation.
Mary Tudor was an English princess who was briefly Queen of France as the third wife of King Louis XII. Louis was more than 30 years her senior. Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the youngest to survive infancy.
Margaret Tudor was Queen of Scotland from 1503 until 1513 by marriage to King James IV. She then served as regent of Scotland during her son's minority, and fought to extend her regency. Margaret was the eldest daughter and second child of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of King Henry VIII of England. By her line, the House of Stuart eventually acceded to the throne of England, in addition to Scotland.
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1485 and again from 1489 to 1514, was an English nobleman, soldier and statesman who served four monarchs. He was the eldest son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, by his first wife, Catharina de Moleyns. The Duke was the grandfather of both Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Katherine Howard and the great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1513, he led the English to victory over the Scots at the decisive Battle of Flodden, for which he was richly rewarded by King Henry VIII, then away in France.
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk was an English military leader and courtier. Through his third wife, Mary Tudor, he was brother-in-law to King Henry VIII.
In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with the reign of Henry VII. Under the Tudor dynasty, art, architecture trade, exploration and commerce flourished. Historian John Guy (1988) argued that "England was economically healthier, more expansive, and more optimistic under the Tudors" than at any time since the Roman occupation.
The Tudors is a historical fiction television series set primarily in 16th-century England, created and written by Michael Hirst and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime. The series was a collaboration among American, British, and Canadian producers, and was filmed mostly in Ireland. While named after the Tudor dynasty as a whole, it is based specifically upon the reign of King Henry VIII.
The Treaty of Greenwich contained two agreements both signed on 1 July 1543 in Greenwich between representatives of England and Scotland. The accord, overall, entailed a plan developed by Henry VIII of England to unite both kingdoms. The first sub-treaty helped to establish peace between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. The second sub-treaty was a marriage proposal between Edward VI of England and Mary, Queen of Scots. In this part of the treaty, it was agreed that Mary would be accompanied by an English nobleman/gentleman until she was ten years old. Afterwards, Mary would reside in England until the time of her marriage. Also, the Treaty of Greenwich permitted the Kingdom of Scotland to maintain its laws. Even though the Earl of Arran signed the accord on 1 July and ratified it on 25 August 1543, the Treaty of Greenwich was ultimately rejected by the Parliament of Scotland on 11 December 1543, leading to eight years of Anglo-Scottish conflict known as the Rough Wooing.
Events from the 1500s in England.
Events from the 1510s in England.
Events from the 1520s in England.
Mary Boleyn, also known as Lady Mary, was the elder sister of English queen consort Anne Boleyn, whose family enjoyed considerable influence during the reign of King Henry VIII.
David Michael Loades was a British historian specialising in the Tudor era. He was Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Wales, where he taught from 1980 until 1996, and was Honorary Research Professor at the University of Sheffield from 1996 until 2008. In the 1960s and 1970s he taught at the universities of St. Andrews and Durham. From 1993 until 2004 he acted as Literary Director of the John Foxe Project at the British Academy; he subsequently became an Honorary Member of the History Faculty at the University of Oxford. After military service in the Royal Air Force 1953–1955, Loades studied at the University of Cambridge. He wrote many books on the Tudor period, including biographies. He was President of the Ecclesiastical History Society (1992–93).
The treaty of Bruges was a secret treaty of alliance between England and Spain signed late in the year 1521 during the 1521-1526 Italian war. The treaty sought to establish a date for war with France waged by an Anglo-Habsburg alliance. The treaty was between the English King Henry VIII and Spanish King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and signed by representatives of the interested parties and subject to papal agreement. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was the chief representative for the Kingdom of England and Margaret of Savoy represented the Habsburg interests.
