Tudor dynasty
The
Tudor dynasty or
House of Tudor (
Welsh:
Tudur) is a series of five monarchs of
Welsh origin who ruled
England and
Ireland from
1485 until
1603. The three main monarchs (
Henry VII,
Henry VIII and
Elizabeth I) each played an important part in turning
England from a European backwater still immersed in the
Middle Ages into a powerful
Renaissance state that in the coming centuries would dominate much of the world.
The Tudor dynasty began with the secret marriage between
Owen Tudor (an anglicisation of Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur), a descendant of
Ednyfed Fychan,
seneschal of
Gwynedd in the time of
Llywelyn the Great, and
Catherine of Valois; it gained strength in the only
Earl of Richmond to become King of England and ended when Elizabeth died childless. Her successor was
James VI of Scotland, a descendant of Henry VII through his daughter
Margaret Tudor. He became the first of the
Stuart Kings of England.
Despite the fact that the Tudors made much of their
Richmond roots, not many in
Richmondshire (except
Catherine Parr of
Snape Castle) really supported the Tudors. When it came to partisanry, Richmonders had staunchly
Neville alliances and their chief examples were found among
Bedale natives like
Francis Lovell, Viscount Lovell and
Simon Digby. (See
Pilgrimage of Grace,
Rising of the North)
The
Tudor historical period usually refers to the period 1485 –
1558, especially in relation to the
History of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in
England, with the exception of Elizabeth I. Occasionally the term is used more broadly to capture Elizabeth's reign as well, though in general 1558 – 1603 is treated separately as the
Elizabethan era.
The five Tudor monarchs were:
*
King Henry VII (
1485-
1509)
*
King Henry VIII (
1509-
1547); son of Henry VII
*
King Edward VI (
1547-
1553); son of Henry VIII
*
Queen Mary I (
1553-
1558); eldest daughter of Henry VIII
*
Queen Elizabeth I (
1558-
1603); second daughter of Henry VIII
Henry VII's great-granddaughter,
Lady Jane Grey also served as Queen for nine days before being deposed by Mary I. Jane was later executed along with her husband
Guildford Dudley, son of
John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. This was a prelude to the
Puritan usurpations of the Stuart era, as the Dudleys were invested in the
Pilgrims' American colonisation.
[[Image:tudors.JPG|thumb|right|200px|
Allegory of the Tudor dynasty, (detail), attributed to Lucas de Heere,
ca 1572: left to right, {{Philip II of Spain}}, {{Mary I of England|Mary}}, {{Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII}}, {{Edward VI of England|Edward VI}},{{Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth}}]]
To the Tudor period belongs the elevation of the English-ruled state in
Ireland from a
Lordship to a
Kingdom (
1541).
*Guy, John (ed).
The Tudor Monarchy. St Martin's Press, 1997.
*Turton, Godfrey.
The Dragon's Breed: The Story of the Tudors from Earliest Times to 1603. Peter Davies, 1970.
* http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/index.html Tudor Place
* http://tudorhistory.org/ Tudor History
*
House of Tudor Chronology* http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page11.asp Official British Royal Site Discussion on the Tudors
* http://www.royal.gov.uk/files/pdf/stuarts.pdf Tudor and Stuart Family Tree from Official British Royal Site
*
England and Wales*
Wars of the Roses*
Tudor style*
Tudor rose*
Richmond Castle*
Richmond Palace*
Tudor re-conquest of Ireland*
The Tudors and the Royal Navy
