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Chronicle IV of VI

Early Modern Britain

Tudor & Stuart

Tudors and Stuarts, the Armada and the Civil Wars, up to the Union of 1707.

Span
1485 – 1714 AD
Entries
19

  1. Tudor DynastyPolitical

    Henry VII founds the Tudor dynasty

    Two months after Bosworth, Henry Tudor is crowned at Westminster as Henry VII. In January 1486 he marries Elizabeth of York, uniting the warring houses; their badge — the Tudor rose, red over white — becomes the symbol of a new England.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3

  2. Henry VIIIPolitical

    Accession of Henry VIII

    The eighteen-year-old Henry VIII inherits his father's full treasury and marries Catherine of Aragon, widow of his elder brother Arthur. The Renaissance prince — handsome, athletic, learned, devout — is hailed across Europe as a new Achilles.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3

  3. English ReformationReligious

    Act of Supremacy and the break with Rome

    Refused his annulment by Pope Clement VII, Henry pushes through Parliament the Act of Supremacy, declaring himself 'the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England'. Thomas More and John Fisher are executed for refusing the oath.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3

  4. English ReformationReligious

    Dissolution of the Monasteries

    Beginning with smaller houses in 1536 and finishing with the great abbeys in 1540, Cromwell dissolves the religious houses of England and Wales, transferring their lands — perhaps a quarter of the wealth of the kingdom — to the crown and through it to a new gentry.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3

  5. Elizabethan AgePolitical

    Accession of Elizabeth I

    On the death of her Catholic half-sister Mary I, the twenty-five-year-old Elizabeth Tudor inherits a divided kingdom. Her Religious Settlement of 1559 establishes a moderate Protestant Church of England that will hold for centuries.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3

  6. Elizabethan AgePolitical

    Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

    After nineteen years of English captivity and a string of plots in her name, Mary Stuart — Catholic, deposed queen of Scots, granddaughter of Henry VII — is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle on 8 February. Elizabeth signed the warrant; she would later claim she had not meant it to be acted on.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3

  7. Elizabethan AgeMilitary

    Defeat of the Spanish Armada

    In July and August an Armada of 130 ships and 30,000 men, sent by Philip II to invade England, is harried up the Channel by Howard, Drake, and Hawkins, scattered by fireships at Calais, mauled at Gravelines, and finally destroyed by Atlantic storms off Ireland.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3

  8. Union of the CrownsPolitical

    Union of the Crowns under James I

    Childless and dying, Elizabeth I names James VI of Scotland as her heir. He rides south to be crowned James I of England, uniting the crowns of the two ancient enemies — though not yet their parliaments — in his own person.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3

  9. 11 more entries, to 1714