16th Century England

HENRY VII

The ongoing civil wars between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists came to an end only in 1485, after Henry Tudor’s victory in the battle of Bosworth. Crowned Henry VII in 1485, Henry Tudor further united the two warring dynasties when he married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, who was a Yorkist.

Abiding by a treaty signed in November 1492 wherein the French agreed to pay royalty to the English, Henry VII followed a policy of peace with France.

When Henry VII’s oldest son Arthur died in 1502, his younger son Henry married his brothers’ widow, Catherine of Aragon after special dispensation from the Pope.

Initiating the dockyard in Portsmouth was just one of Henry VII’s many achievements. He also bankrolled an expedition to the New World by Cabot who stunned everybody with his discovery of rich fishing grounds off Newfoundland were

Henry VII was succeeded by his son Henry VIII after his death in 1509.

Henry VIII

Smart and talented, Henry VIII spoke French and Latin fluently, composed and performed music and was good at several activities including wrestling, hunting, hawking, tennis, jousting, bowling and archery.

Following two invasions into France in 1512 and 1513, Henry finally made peace with the French after his sister Mary married the King of France.

Believing that his wife’s inability to produce a male heir was God’s way of punishing him for marrying his brother’s widow, Henry VIII sought the Pope’s permission to annul the marriage. When this avenue proved unsuccessful he created an ecclesiastical court in 1529 and asked them to look into the matter, but this too proved to be a dead end.

Meanwhile Henry began a relationship with Anne Boleyn in 1527 and tried all means to annul his first marriage and marry Anne. Facing stiff resistance from the Pope, Henry finally rejected his authority and in 1533, he obtained a decree of nullity from then Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. By then he was already secretly married to Anne.

Two miscarriages later, Henry tired of Anne and in April 1536 she was accused of committing adultery with 5 men, one of whom was her brother. All six of them were executed in May 1536.

Immediately afterwards Henry married Jane Seymour, who finally succeeded in giving him a much-longed for heir, Edward. Jane’s death on 23rd October left Henry devastated. The Henrician Reformation

The Act of Supremacy and the subsequent Act of Succession, both of which were passed in 1534 ensured that Henry would become the head of the Church of England and that his child with Anne Boleyn would be heir to the throne.

Refusing to swear an oath accepting the acts of supremacy and succession, the Bishop of Rochester John Fisher and former Chancellor Thomas Moore were both beheaded in 1535.

Despite breaking off with Rome, Henry had no intention of replacing the English religion to Lutheranism and so kept the Catholic religion fundamentally intact. In 1521 the Pope bestowed on him the title Defender of the Faith or Fidei Defensor after he authored a book called The Defense of the Seven Sacraments or Assertio Septem Sacramentorum.

In 1539 Henry passed the Act of Six Articles, which officially laid down the tenets of the Church of England. The Act did not deviate too far from the old religion. In 1545 English replaced Latin as the official language of church services.

In January 1540 Henry married Anne of Cleves but the marriage was not consummated and Henry divorced her six months later. Chancellor Cromwell, who had initiated the first meeting was accused of treason and executed in July 1540.

Later the same year Henry married Catherine Howard but had her beheaded in February 1542 after he was given irrefutable proof that Catherine was unfaithful.

Henry went on to marry Catherine Parr in 1543.

Despite a painful and incurable ulcer following an accident whilst jousting, Henry went to war again. After crushing the Scots at Solway Moss in 1542 he went to war with the French in 1543 and captured Boulogne.

Henry VII died at the age of 55 on 28th January 1547. His son Edward was just 9 years old at the time.

Edward VI

Since Edward was too young to rule when his father died, his uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset was declared protector and ruled in his stead.

A devout Protestant, Somerset repealed the Act of Six Articles and began transforming England into a truly Protestant country. In 1549 the first Anglican prayer book, which was the very first Book of Common Prayer was issued.

Somerset was replaced by the brutal John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, who later became Duke of Northumberland. It soon became increasingly evident that a sickly Edward did not have much longer to live. Alarmed at the prospect of Henry’s daughter, Mary, a Catholic, ascending the throne, the Duke of Northumberland hurriedly got his son married to a Lady Jane Grey, a descendant of Henry VIII’s sister Mary and had her crowned after Edward died in 1553. She was later imprisoned when the people rose in favor of Mary.

Mary I

Mary, a devout Catholic, detested the religious changes brought about by Henry VIII and Edward VI and continued to attend Catholic mass in her own private chapel even after Edward became king. Determined to undo the religious changes of the previous two reigns, Mary first restored Catholic mass in December 1553 and then repealed the Act of Supremacy in 1554. She soon earned the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’ when she began burning Protestants in 1553. About 300 Protestants were martyred over the next 3 years and many Protestants fled abroad. Instead of promoting Catholicism, this massacre only served to alienate the ordinary people and drive everyone away from Roman Catholicism.

Mary died on 17th November 1558 at the age of 42.

ELIZABETH I

The Religious Settlement

Crowned Queen in January 1559, Elizabeth I restored Protestantism in England. She also restored The Act of Supremacy in April 1559 and fined those who did not attend church. Elizabeth’s attitude towards the Catholics hardened after a papal document issued in 1570 decreed her excommunicated and deposed. In 1585 all Catholic priests were ordered to leave England within 40 days, failing which they would face charges of treason. Elizabeth's Foreign Policy

Despite her initial reluctance, Elizabeth was forced to send an army to the Netherlands when it became increasingly apparent that the Dutch, who were predominantly Protestant were losing the rebellion against the Catholic Spaniards.

Elizabeth I died on 24 March 1603.