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Home / Periods / Tudor & Stuart Britain / Tudor Period

Period

Tudor Period

1485–1603 CE

The Tudor Period began after the Battle of Bosworth and ended with the death of Elizabeth I. It saw the consolidation of royal authority after the Wars of the Roses, the English Reformation, the dissolution of the monasteries, succession crises, religious reversals and growing maritime rivalry with Spain. England also became more visibly connected to Ireland, Scotland, Europe and the Atlantic world.

The period matters because it reshaped the English crown and the religious life of the kingdom. Royal marriages, heirs, executions, rebellions and foreign alliances had national consequences. By 1603 England was Protestant, more centralised and more outward-looking, but still politically fragile.

Tudor fiction is strongly associated with Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy, C. J. Sansom’s Shardlake series, Philippa Gregory’s Tudor and Plantagenet novels, and Alison Weir’s novels on Tudor queens. These books use the period for stories of court survival, legal investigation, dynastic rivalry, secret religion and the danger of standing too close to power.

Related people for Tudor Period

Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoudb. 1558 Agnes Howard, Duchess of Norfolk1477–1545 Ahmad al-Mansur1549–1603 Amy Robsart1532–1560 Anne Askew1521–1546 Anne Basset1521–1557 Anne Boleyn1501–1536 Anne of Cleves1515–1557 Anthony Babington1561–1586 Arabella Stuart1575–1615 Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus1489–1557 Arthur, Prince of Wales1486–1502 Bess of Hardwick1527–1608 Bess Throckmorton1565–c. 1647 Boris Godunov1552–1605 Catherine Carey1523–1569 Catherine de’ Medici1519–1589 Catherine Howard1523–1542 Catherine of Aragon1485–1536 Catherine of Valois1401–1437 Catherine Parr1512–1548 Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolkc. 1484–1545 Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham1536–1624 Charles II of England1630–1685 Charles I of England1600–1649 Charles V1500–1558 Christopher Columbus1451–1506 Claude of France1499–1524 Desiderius Erasmus1466–1536 Diane de Poitiers1499–1566 Edmund Dudleyc. 1462–1510 Edmund Spenserc. 1552–1599 Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmondc. 1430–1456 Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devonc. 1527–1556 Edward IV1442–1483 Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick1475–1499 Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset1506–1552 Edward V1470–1483 Edward VI1537–1553 Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire1480–1538 Elizabeth I1533–1603 Elizabeth of York1466–1503 Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwellc. 1518–1568 Elizabeth Woodville1437–1492 Elizabeth Wyckesd. 1529 Ferdinand II of Aragon1452–1516 Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk1517–1559 Frances Walsinghamc. 1567–1633 Francis, Duke of Guise1519–1563 Francis Derehamc. 1500s–1541 Francis Drake1540–1596 Francis II of France1544–1560 Francis I of France1494–1547 Francis Knollys1514–1596 Francis Walsingham1532–1590 George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford1504–1536 George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury1528–1590 Giordano Bruno1548–1600 Grace Plantagenetfl. 1492 Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwellc. 1520–1551 Hans Holbein the Younger1497–1543 Helena Snakenborg1548/1549–1635 Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk1517–1554 Henry II of France1519–1559 Henry Norris1482–1536 Henry VI1421–1471 Henry VII1457–1509 Henry VIII1491–1547 Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone1540–1616 Isabella I of Castile1451–1504 Isabella Launderfl. 1521–1538 Ivan the Terrible1530–1584 James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault1516–1575 James IV1473–1513 James V1512–1542 James VI and I1566–1625 Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford1505–1542 Jane Seymour1508–1537 Jasper Tudorc. 1431–1495 Jeanne d’Albret1528–1572 Joan Larke1490–c. 1530s John Dee1527–1609 John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland1504–1553 John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumleyc. 1533–1609 Kat Ashley1502–1565 Katherine Grey1540–1568 Katherine Willoughby1519–1580 Lady Catherine Gordon1474–1537 Lady Jane Grey1537–1554 Lambert Simnelc. 1477–after 1534 Lettice Knollys1543–1634 Lord Guildford Dudley1535–1554 Lord Thomas Howard1511–1537 Louise of Savoy1476–1531 Louis XII of France1462–1515 Margaret Beaufort1443–1509 Margaret Butler, Countess of Ormondc. 15th century–1542 Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox1515–1578 Margaret of Anjou1430–1482 Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy1480–1530 Margaret of York1446–1503 Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury1473–1541 Margaret Tudor1489–1541 Marguerite de Navarre1492–1549 Martin Frobisher1535–1594 Mary, Queen of Scots1542–1587 Mary Boleyn1499–1543 Mary Grey1545–1578 Mary I1516–1558 Mary of Guise1515–1560 Mary Setonc. 1542–1615 Mary Seymourborn 1548 Mary Tudor, Queen of France1496–1533 Muhammad XII of Granada1459–1533 Oliver Cromwell1599–1658 Owen Tudor1400–1461 Penelope Rich, Lady Rich1563–1607 Perkin Warbeck1474–1499 Philip II of Spain1527–1598 Philip Sidney1554–1586 Pope Pius V1504–1572 Reginald Pole1500–1558 Richard Bancroft1544–1610 Richard Empsonc. 1450–1510 Richard III1452–1485 Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick1428–1471 Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York1473–disappeared 1483 Robert Askec. 1500–1537 Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury1563–1612 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex1565–1601 Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester1532–1588 Robert Kett1492–1549 Roderigo Lópezc. 1525–1594 Stephen Gardiner1483–1555 Susannah Hornebolt1503–1545 Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire1457–1539 Thomas Cranmer1489–1556 Thomas Cromwell1485–1540 Thomas Culpeper1514–1541 Thomas Giffardc. 1490–1560 Thomas Gorges1536–1610 Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk1473–1554 Thomas Kyd1558–1594 Thomas More1478–1535 Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley1508–1549 Thomas Winterc. 1510–c. 1546 Thomas Wolsey1473–1530 Thomas Wyatt the Younger1521–1554 Walter Raleigh1552–1618 William Careyc. 1490s–1528 William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley1520–1598 William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton1513–1571 William Shakespeare1564–1616 William Stafford1508–1556 William Tyndalec. 1494–1536 Will Somersdied 1560

Series

Series about Tudor Period (3 series)

The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles in Order

by C. W. Gortner 3 books 4.3(3,289)

The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles follow the fictional Brendan Prescott from the last months of Edward VI through Mary I’s reign and the accession of Elizabeth I. Raised in the Dudley household, Brendan becomes an intelligence agent whose divided loyalties draw him into succession plots, religious conflict and…

Tudor Rose Trilogy in Order

by Alison Weir 5 books 4.2(18,357)

The Tudor Rose Trilogy follows three generations of the dynasty through novels centred on Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII and Mary I. Beginning in the final decades of the Wars of the Roses and ending with Mary’s death in 1558, it traces how family memory, contested legitimacy and…

Tudor Saga in Order

by Jean Plaidy 11 books 4.0(23,392)

The Tudor Saga follows the dynasty from Henry VII’s insecure victory through the marriages of Henry VIII and the reigns of his children. The novels place queens, courtiers and claimants at the centre of religious change, diplomatic marriage and the succession crises that transformed sixteenth-century England.

Books

30 Best Novels About the Tudor Period

Non-Fiction

30 Best Non-Fiction Books About the Tudor Period

Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.