The Tudors (1485-1603)
• The century of Tudor rule (1485-1603) is often thought of as a most glorious period in English history. • Henry Vll built the foundations of a wealthy nation state and a powerful monarchy.
• His son, Henry VIII kept a magnificent court, and made the Church in England truly English by breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church.
• his daughter Elizabeth brought glory to the new state by defeating the powerful navy of Spain, the greatest European power of the time.
• 1. The Built of a Nation a. Henry VII and the New Monarch (1485-1509)
• Henry VII is less well known than either Henry VIII or Elizabeth I. But he was far more important in establishing the new monarchy than either of them.
• During the Wars of the Roses, England's trading position had been badly damaged.
• In 1485, Henry VIII made an important trade agreement with the Netherlands which allowed English trade to grow again. • Henry used the "Court of Star Chamber", traditionally the king's council chamber, to deal with lawless nobles. • Local justice that had broken down during the wars slowly began to operate again. • Henry also raised taxes for wars which he then did not fight. He never spent money unless he had to. • He was careful to keep the friendship of the merchant and lesser gentry classes. • He built ships for a merchant fleet that enforced the international trade. • When Henry died in 1509 he left behind the huge total of £2 million, about fifteen years' worth of income. b. Henry VIII and the Reformation • Henry VIII was quite unlike his father. • He was cruel, wasteful with money, and interested in pleasing himself. • Henry disliked the power of the Church in England because, since it was an international organisation, he could not completely control it. • In 1510 Henry had married Catherine of Aragon, the widow of his elder brother Arthur. • But by 1526 she had still not had a son who survived infancy • Henry asked for the divorce.
• But the pope was controlled by Charles V, who was Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain, and also Catherine's nephew. • The pope refused the divorce, this led Henry to break with the catholic church building a new church “Protestantism’ • Protestantism was introduced by martin Luther in Germany and john Calvin in Geneva. • Through several Acts of Parliament between 1532 and 1536, England became politically a Protestant country, even though the popular religion was still Catholic • Henry died in 1547, leaving behind his sixth wife, Catherine Parr, and his three children. • Mary, the eldest, was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon. • Elizabeth was the daughter of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, whom he had executed because she was unfaithful. • Nine-year-old Edward was the son of Jane Seymour 3. The Protestants-Catholic Struggle • Under Edward VI, the young son of Henry VIII, England became more protestant, • A lot of nobles profited from the church lands and property after the break with the Roman Catholic Church.
• Mary , the Catholic daughter of Catherine of Aragon, became queen when her brother Edward, aged sixteen, died in 1553. • She was supported by the ordinary people, who were angered by the greed of the Protestant nobles. • Mary decided to marry the King Philip of Spain that made him king of England for Mary's lifetime. • A rebellion in Kent actually reached London • ‘Bloody Mary’ then began burning Protestants. 300 people died in this way during her five-year reign • Elizabeth I, Mary's half sister, was lucky to become queen when Mary died in 1558. • Her period of sovereignty was kind of prosperous. • In some ways the kind of Protestantism finally agreed in 1559 remained closer to the Catholic religion than to other Protestant groups • She made the Church part of the state machine. 3) Family Life, Language and Culture a. Domestic Life • In the 16th Century, the population increased.
• The unused land was cleared for sheep, and large areas of forest were cut down to provide wood for the growing shipbuilding industry. • The price of food and other goods rose steeply during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. • England was beginning to experience greater social and economic problems than ever before. • The rise of unemployment and robbery. As one foreign visitor reported, “There are incredible numbers of robbers here, they go about in bands of twenty…” • Women in England had greater freedom than anywhere else in Europe. • There was a dark side to married life. • Most women bore between eight and fifteen children, and many women died in childbirth. • Marriage was often an economic arrangement, deep emotional ties often seem to have been absent. • Between 1530 and 1600 almost everyone doubled their living space.
• After 1570 the wealthy yeoman's family had eight or more rooms and workers' families had three rooms instead of one, and more furniture was used than ever before. b. Language and Culture • London English, itself a mixture of south midland and southeastern English, had become accepted as Standard English. • For the first time, people started to think of London pronunciation as "correct" pronunciation. • The Renaissance influenced Britain with some works like Thomas More, wrote a study of the ideal nation, called Utopia, which became extremely popular throughout Europe. • In music, painting and art, England enjoyed its most fruitful period ever and saw its heydays. • At the period of Elizabeth’s reign, literature was England's greatest art form. • Playwrights like Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare filled the theatres with their exciting new plays.
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