The House of Tudors

The Tudors

BY DIYA SHANKER

My dear friends, may I see a show of hand on who have heard or even read about the House Of Tudor? Well, then, lend me your ears, my pals, for I am going to tell you a story on how the Tudor dynasty began and came to an end. The Tudor dynasty last for one hundred and eighteen years.

The Tudor dynasty began with the reign of King Henry VII, the father of later King Henry VIII. Henry VII won the throne when his army defeated the forces of King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. Henry was the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle. He cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and niece of Richard III. Henry was successful in restoring the power and stability of the English monarchy after the civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses. He founded the Tudor dynasty and, after a reign of nearly 24 years, was peacefully succeeded by his son, Henry VIII.

Now, let’s move on to the big and strong King Henry VIII. The young king, at the age of seventeen succeeded his father as king on the 21^st of April 1509. Henry married Catherine of Argon as to fulfil his father’s last wishes. Soon after, Catherine conceived, but the child, a girl, was stillborn. About four months later, Catherine again became pregnant. The couple were pleased to have a boy but, the child died seven weeks later. Catherine had two stillborn sons in 1514 and 1515, but finally gave birth in February 1516 to a girl, Mary Tudor later known as Bloody Mary. The relation between Henry and Catherine had been strained, but they eased slightly after Mary's birth. Although a baby girl was born, Henry was still in grief that a male heir to the throne was not born. Despite the fact that Catherine was unable to conceive, Henry intended to divorce her and remarry Anne Boleyn in order to produce a male heir to succeed him. Problems arose as Henry broke from the Catholic Church of Rome and became Supreme Head of the Church of England. There rose the rebels between the Catholics and Protestants.

Later on, Henry remarried Anne Boleyn on the year 1533. Anne Boleyn filed to conceive as she had two miscarriages which was to be two baby boys. Finally, Anne Boleyn gave birth to a baby girl named Elizabeth Tudor, later to be known as Queen Elizabeth on 7^th September 1533.  Tragically, Anne Boleyn was executed at 8 am on 19 May 1536, age 36, on Tower Green at the Tower of London. After the death of Anne Boleyn, Henry married, for the third time, Jane Seymore. On 12 October 1537, Jane gave birth to a son, Prince Edward, the future Edward VI. The birth was difficult and the queen died on 24 October 1537 from an infection and was buried in Windsor. Henry, again married Anne of Cleves just to protect England from being attacked by Roman Catholic. Henry divorced Anne after three years and the couple did not have any issue. On 28 July 1540, Henry married the young Catherine Howard. He was absolutely delighted with his new queen, and awarded her the lands of Cromwell and a vast array of jewellery but Catherine was beheaded as she was accused to be in an affair with the King’s courtier. On July 1543, Henry married his last wife, the sixth, the wealthy widow Catherine Parr. She helped reconcile Henry with his daughters Mary and Elizabeth.

The king enjoys sport especially, jousting. Later in life, Henry was succumbed by many medical issue after the jousting accident in 1536. The theory that Henry suffered from syphilis has been dismissed by most historians. A more recent theory suggests that Henry's medical symptoms are characteristic of untreated type 2 diabetes. Alternatively, his wives' pattern of pregnancies and his mental deterioration have led some to suggest that the king may have been Kell positive and suffered from McLeod syndrome. According to another study, Henry VIII's history and body morphology may have been the result of traumatic brain injury after his 1536 jousting accident, which in turn led to a neuroendocrine cause of his obesity. Henry's obesity hastened his death at the age of 55, which occurred on 28 January 1547 in the Palace of Whitehall, on what would have been his father's 90th birthday. King Henry VIII was buried at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, next to Jane Seymour. Over a hundred years later, King Charles I was buried in the same vault.

After his death, Henry's only legitimate son, Edward, inherited the throne, becoming Edward VI. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch raised as a Protestant. Since Edward was then only nine years old, he could not exercise actual power so he hired Jane Seymour's elder brother, Thomas Seymore to be Lord Protector of the Realm. In February 1553, at age 15, Edward fell ill. When his sickness was discovered to be terminal, he and his Council drew up a "Devise for the Succession", attempting to prevent the country's return to Catholicism. Edward named his first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir and excluded his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. Lady Jane Grey became Queen for nine days as she was beheaded by Mary Tudor in order for her to succeed the throne. Edward died on the 8 August 1553 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, England.

Mary I was the Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death. Her executions of Protestants led to the renowned named "Bloody Mary". When Edward became mortally ill in 1553, he attempted to remove Mary from the line of succession because of religious differences. On his death their first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey, was proclaimed Queen. Mary assembled a force in East Anglia and deposed Jane, who was ultimately beheaded. Mary married Philip of Spain, becoming queen consort of Habsburg Spain on his accession in 1556. As the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, Mary is remembered for her restoration of Roman Catholicism. During her five-year reign, she had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian persecutions.

Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558, the day of her coronation. Sometimes called and known as the Virgin Queen, the childless Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. In 1558, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne and one of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. As she grew older, Elizabeth became famous for her virginity. England's defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military victories in English history. Elizabeth's reign is known as the Elizabethan era. The period is famous for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. The Queen's health remained fair until the autumn of 1602, when a series of deaths among her friends plunged her into a severe depression. In March, Elizabeth fell sick and she was bedridden. She died on 24 March 1603 at Richmond Palace, between two and three in the morning. Queen Elizabeth will always be remembered as she was one of the most famous Tudor monarch. Her reign last for forty-five years.

My dear teacher and friends, I hope you have enjoyed my speech on the house of Tudor.

 Moreover, you too could watch videos such as What is inside the body of King Henry VIII, on Youtube. Till, we met again with another story, I bid you all a fair goodbye. Thank you.