The Tudors traces the English dynasty from Henry VII’s victory at Bosworth in 1485 to the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. It follows Henry VIII’s break with Rome, the religious upheavals under Edward VI and Mary I, and the political and international pressures of Elizabeth’s reign. The book examines succession, court faction, Reformation and foreign war while showing how five Tudor monarchs reshaped the English monarchy and state.
The dynasty’s central problem is succession. Each reign inherits questions created by the previous monarch, from Henry VII’s relatively new claim to Elizabeth’s refusal to name an heir. Religious policy, marriage and foreign alliances repeatedly become ways of securing the crown, making the Tudor century a continuous negotiation between personal monarchy and institutions growing more complex around it.
Saul David
3 books
Adrian Goldsworthy
12 books
Alison Weir
35 books
Peter Ackroyd
1 book