Laura Nigten, Meritxell Ortiz, Cristina Bas, Paula Espinal and Laia Gimeno

The Tudors

The Tudor period was between 1486 (when Henry VII won the war of the roses and he became monarch of England and Wales) and 1603 (When Elizabeth I of England died, after that the house of the Stuarts was the regent in England). In the Tudor’s dynasty there were only 5 monarchs two of them were women.

Henry VIIHenry VII of England (22 August 1485 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 22nd of August of 1485 until his death on 21st of April of 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry was married with Elizabeth of York,. He founded the Tudor dynasty and, after a reign of nearly 24 years, was succeeded by his son, Henry VIII. Henry's principal problem was to restore royal authority after the War of the Roses. In 1502, Henry VII's first son and heir-apparent, Arthur Tudor, died very likely from a viral respiratory illness. The King, was a reserved man. Henry VII wanted to maintain the Spanish alliance. He therefore arranged a papal dispensation from Pope Julius II for Prince Henry to marry his brother's widow Catherine. In 1503, Queen Elizabeth died in childbirth. Henry VII died at Richmond Palace on 21 April 1509 of tuberculosis and was buried at Westminster Abbey. He was succeeded by his second son, Henry VIII.

Henry VIII

Henry VIII was born on the 28th of June of 1491; he was crowned king of England the 22th of April of 1509 till his death on the 28th January of 1547. Henry was the second king of the Tudor’s dynasty and the most famous. He had 6 wives, and he created his own church after the separation of England and the Roman Catholic Church, his church is called the Anglican Church. He had a brother Arthur and a sister Mary. His brother Arthur was the king till his death in 1502 after that he became the king.

• His first wife was Catherine of Aragon, they got married in 1509, they had more than 5 sons but the only one who survived was Mary.

• His second wife was Anne Boleyn, they got married in 1533. They had 3 sons but the only one who survived was Elizabeth.

• His third wife was Jane Seymour, they got married in 1537 and they had one son, Edward, she died in the childbirth.

• His fourth wife was Anne of Cleves she was German, they got married in 1540 but he decided to divorce the same year because he thought she was ugly.

• His fifth wife was Catherine Howard they got married in 1540.

• His sixth and last wife was Katherine Parr, they got married in 1543 and they were married until his death in 1547.

• Henry was a really smart man he used to compose music and poetry

Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon was born in Spain on 16th of December of 1485. She was the youngest son of the 'Catholic Kings' of Spain and her parents were King Fernando of Aragon and Queen Isabel of Castille.At the age of three, she was engaged to Prince Arthur. But she was married with him only for 6 month because Arthur died.Then Catherine of Aragon was engaged to Prince Henry. When Henry became king in 1509 they got married and they lived together for more than 20 years. Catherine was Henry’s first wife. They had only one son, a girl called Mary, Henry was desperate for a male son. Henry divorced Catherine in 1533Katharine was exiled from court. She died on 7th of January of 1536.

Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn was born in 1501/1507, she had two brothers George and Mary, Mary had a son with Henry VIII before Anne married him. Anne lived in France till 1522 then she moved to England.Anne and Henry met in 1522, in 1532 Anna became maid of honour of queen Catherine, he wanted Anne to be his lover, but she didn’t so Henry divorced of Catherine of Aragon and then married with Anne. She succeeded Catherine as queen. In 1533 they had their first daughter Elizabeth. Anne was protestant; this was one of the reasons why Henry created his own church.In 1536 Henry decided to behead Anne because he thought she was adultery.

Jane Seymour

Jane Seymour was the third wife of the king of England Henry VIII. She was queen of England from 1536 to 1537. She succeed Anne Boleyn, she was also her half-second cousin. She became maid-of-honor in 1532 to queen Catherine, she also went to serve the queen Anne. She got married with Henry VIII in 1536, 1 day after Anne’s execution. They had a son Edward VI, but she died of postnatal complications. It’s said that she was the wife that Henry loved the most.

Anne of Cleves

Anne of Cleves was the 4th wife of Henry VIII. She was born on 22th September of 1515 in Düsseldorf but she also lived in England. She got married on 6th of January of 1540 but her marriage with Henry VIII was dissolved on July of 1540. After her marriage with Henry she didn’t get married again. She died on 16th of July 1557 the cause of her death was most likely to have been cancer. Anne didn’t speak too much English.

Catherine HowardCatherine Howard (1523 – 13 February 1542) was Queen of England from 1540 until 1541, as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. Catherine married Henry VIII on 28th of July of 1540. Almost immediately after the annulment of his marriage to Anne of Cleves was arranged. Catherine Howard was beheaded after less than two years of marriage with Henry on the grounds of treason for committing adultery while she was married to the King. Catherine was daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper. She was a niece of Elizabeth Howard, who was the mother of Queen Anne Boleyn. Therefore Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn were first cousins. Catherine's uncle, The Duke of Norfolk, found her a place at Court in the household of the King's fourth wife, the German Anne of Cleves. Catherine was stripped of her title as queen on 23 November because she committed adultery. She died with relative composure, but looked pale and terrified. Catherine's body was not one of those identified during restorations of the chapel during Queen Victoria's reign.

Katherine Parr

Catherine Parr was queen of England from 1543 to 1547, as the last of the six wives of Henry VIII. She was the first queen consort of Ireland. She was also the most-married English queen, she had four husbands. She used to take care of Henry’s children Elizabeth, Edward and Mary. She was protestant. She got married with Henry VIII on 12th July of 1543. Six months after Henry’s dead she got married with her last Husband Thomas Seymour, Thomas was the brother of Jane Seymour. The marriage was short-lived , as she died in September of 1548, of complications of childbirth.

Edward VI

Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland. Edward VI was born at Greenwich on the 12th of October of 1537; he was the only son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour. Edward VI became king at the age of nine when his father died in January of 1547. Edward had been brought up as a Protestant and he kept in England the Protestants church. Protestants in England were happy for the young king's ascension to the throne, but the boy died in 1553 at the age of 15. He only reigned six years and when he died, he was succeeded by his oldest sister Mary I.

Mary IMary I was king’s Henry VIII daughter. She was born on 18th November of 1516 in Greenwich, London. She was Queen of England and Ireland after Eduard’s VI dead, since 1554 to 1558. Her father wanted to cancel the marriage with Catherine, because she didn’t give him a male son. But Pope Clement VII refused his request.Mary was often sick, but it didn’t know exactly the causes. Her father married Anne Boleyn in 1533 and then Mary was deemed illegitimate. However, Mary in 1553 with the popular support became the queen of England.The first action as queen was to order the release of the Roman Catholic Duke of Norfolk and Stephen Gardiner from imprisonment in the Tower of London. Mary did burn over 300 people, this is the reason why people used to call her “Bloody Mary”.

Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England was the daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. She was born on 7th of September of 1533. She became queen in 1558 after her sister Mary died. Elizabeth was the 5th and the last queen of the Tudors dynasty. She was queen till her death on the 24th of March of 1603. Elizabeth nickname was The Virgin Queen because she never got married. Elizabeth was protestant. Elizabeth is one of the most famous queens of England for the story of her family and the wars with Spain and other countries.

There were lots of rebellions in the north of England, the nobility there was catholic and they didn’t want to change their religion for the new queen because they thought Elizabeth wasn’t the daughter of Henry VIII. Lots of people tried to kill Elizabeth during her reign but they had no success.Elizabeth’s reign is known as the “Golden Age”.

Conclusion

The Tudors dynasty has been one of the most important dynasties of England; the most important member of the dynasty was the king Henry VIII, it also includes his six wives, he divorced two of them and also executed two, the other two wives Jane and Katherine weren’t killed or executed. Jane died for birth complications just like Katherine Parr. They left the Catholic Church and created their own church, the Anglican Church. Henry VIII and Mary his older daughter executed lots of people because of religion causes. After Henry VIII dead, the most important member of the dynasty was Elizabeth his younger daughter she became queen of England after Mary’s dead. She was protestant, and made lots of changes in England.