5. The century of the Tudors (1485-1625).

The Middle Ages was a period of slow change and development in Britain. When the first king of the Tudor dynasty, Henry VII, came to the throne in 1485, he found himself at the head of a stable country that was about to embark on a social and cultural renaissance.

The kings and queens of England in the sixteenth century all descended from a Welsh squire, Owen Tudor. This dynasty produced three leaders who left an indelible mark on the country. Henry VII (1485-1509) restored people’s faith in the monarchy. Henry VIII (1509-1547) established the Church of England. Elizabeth I (1558-1603) encouraged exploration of and trade with other continents which would lead later to the creation of the British Empire.

Over the previous century the institution of the monarchy had been greatly weakened by bitter feuds

which meant that one king followed another in quick succession. Henry VII’s main achievement was to stay in power for over twenty years and prove that the monarchy could play a stabilizing role in the country.

Henry VIII (1491-1547) is famous for his six wives and his ambitions. He turned out to be a monarch of personal and political strength, full of energy, vitality and determination. He married Catherine of Aragon, niece of Emperor Charles V, ruler of most of Europe and the Americas. They h ad one daughter, but not the son and heir Henry wanted. When his mistress, Anne Boleyn, became pregnant, Henry asked the Pope for a divorce. When the Pope refused, Henry decided that the English Church would break away from Rome. Henry then made the Church in England independent of Rome.

The power of the Catholic Church in England worked against Henry’s authority, and the taxes paid to the Church reduced his own income. Parliament’s Act of Supremacy in 1534 made the king Head of the Church of England, which became Protestant. Henry’s break with Rome was purely political but it was greeted favourably by most English people, who were glad to see the end of interference by the Pope in national affairs. Henry consolidated the new Church by closing all the monasteries between 1536 and 1539, and gradually the Anglican Church took on its role as the official state Church. The publication of the first Bible in the English language (1539) and the Book of Common Prayer (1584) helped a great deal to bring the new religion closer to the people.

Henry VIII’s first marriage was annulled by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1533 he married Anne Boleyn, the mother of Princess Elizabeth, and had her beheaded for incest and adultery in 1536. His third wife, Jane Seymour, mother of Prince Edward, died in childbirth. The fourth marriage, to Anne of Cleve, was purely diplomatic and arranged without seeing the bride. Deceived by her portrait and disappointed when meeting her, Henry annulled the marriage on grounds of nonconsummation. Anne was assured that she would be treated as a sister, was given a generous settlement and remained in England until her death in 1557. A month later Henry married Catherine Howard, an attractive and vivacious 17-year-old girl, who had already formed previous attachments. After little more than a year she was accused of adultery and beheaded, dying in the Tower with composure and dignity. Henry’s sixth wife was Catherine Parr, twice widowed and aged 32. Older and more mature than her predecessors, Catherine got on well with Henry’s children, created something of a home, survived him and married the fourth time a few months after his death.

Not everybody agreed with the Reformation and religious disputes were to breed intolerance and violence for many years to come. Under the reign of Mary, Henry VIII’s daughter by his first wife and a Catholic, Protestant leaders were executed, while Elizabeth I, although by no means a religious fanatic, prohibited the celebration of the Catholic mass.

It was Henry’s second daughter, Elizabeth I (1558-1603), who became one of England’s greatest monarchs. She was capable of cool judgement, she knew when to give in and how to do it gracefully. Very wisely she picked a careful path between the extremes of Catholicism and Protestantism.

From 1584 almost to the end of Elizabeth’s reign, England and Spain fought a war for the control of the seas. One of the main protagonists in the war was Sir Francis Drake, who led the first expedition to circumnavigate the world between 1577 and 1580. England’s sailors captured many Spanish ships bringing treasure from the Americas. King Philip of Spain, encouraged by the Pope, who wanted to restore Catholicism to England, sent the Spanish Armada, a fleet of 130 ships, to invade England in 1588. It was defeated. A direct consequence of the war between England and Spain was the colonization of Ireland. Elizabeth I encouraged English traders to settle abroad and to create colonies. Sir Walter Raleigh was one of those intrepid pioneers. He helped establish a colony in Virginia in North America and brought back potatoes and tobacco to Europe. On the other side of the world the East India Company, which was set up in 1600 started to do business with countries in Asia and laid the foundations for the colonisation of India.

Tudor England was basically self-sufficient. Food was in adequate supply and the population grew steadily. Many people were involved in the wool and cloth industry. The need to produce more and more wool meant that life in the countryside began to change. It was more profitable to keep sheep than grow crops, so there was a move away from arable farming and crop-growing to pasture. Most towns were not much bigger than villages with the exception of London, which continued to grow rapidly as eighty percent of the nation’s trade was carried out there. The towns were populated by merchants and craftsmen, but living conditions were very poor and the lack of public sanitation was a constant cause of disease.

Elizabeth’s reign was a time of confident English nationalism and of great achievements in literature and other arts. It is known as the Golden Age of Britain. The Queen reigned almost 45 years and turned the poor and weak country into a great world power expanding its influence overseas.