The Tudor name grew from the Welsh patronymic of Owen ap Maredudd ap Tudur, flattened by English ears into Tudor, and the family itself rarely used it. Owen, a minor courtier and bodyguard, secretly married Catherine of Valois, widow of Henry V, in the 1420s, and the family’s royal blood came through the Beauforts, descendants of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford, who were legitimized but legally barred from the throne. Henry Tudor took the crown by conquest at Bosworth Field in 1485, married Elizabeth of York, created the Tudor Rose, and used bonds and recognizances to keep nobles too indebted to raise armies.
Henry VIII, athletic and handsome in youth, had only one surviving child, Mary, with Catherine of Aragon, and with no precedent since Empress Matilda’s war called the Anarchy, he sought an annulment. The pope, under pressure from Charles V, whose armies had sacked Rome, refused, Cardinal Wolsey fell, and Thomas Cromwell steered the break with Rome so Henry could marry Anne Boleyn. Edward VI’s regents imposed the English Book of Common Prayer, Edward named Lady Jane Grey his heir, and Mary I restored Catholicism and married Philip of Spain. Elizabeth I, once imprisoned in the Tower, settled religion as supreme governor, refused to marry, and let the line end with James VI of Scotland in 1603.
- Cornish speakers who understood no English rose in the 1549 Prayer Book Rebellion and were crushed by royal mercenaries.
- Lady Jane Grey, 17, was deposed in little over a week and later executed.
- Mary I burned more than 280 Protestants, lost Calais in a war fought for Spain, and suffered phantom pregnancies.
- Elizabeth held Mary, Queen of Scots for nearly two decades before signing her death warrant in 1587, provoking the Armada of 1588.
- Elizabeth’s Poor Laws created state relief for the destitute, and she died in 1603 leaving the country debt-free.
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