Tudor dynasty facts for kids

Quick facts for kids House of Tudor
Tudor rose
Parent house	Tudors of Penmynydd
Country	Kingdom of England Kingdom of Ireland Principality of Wales
Founded	1485; 539 years ago (1485)
Founder	Henry VII (first Tudor king)
Final ruler	Elizabeth I
Titles	King of England King of Ireland King of France (claim) Lord of Ireland Queen of Scotland Queen of France Prince of Wales Duke of Bedford Duke of Cornwall Duke of York Duke of Somerset Duke of Richmond Earl of Pembroke Earl of Richmond Earl of Surrey Earl of Nottingham Earl of Lincoln
Dissolution	24 March 1603

The Tudor dynasty was a series of kings and queens of England. This line of rulers started in 1485 and lasted until 1603.

History

The dynasty started when Henry VII defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. This was the final stage of the Wars of the Roses. Henry Tudor then became the king of England. Arthur, Prince of Wales, was the oldest son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. He married Catherine of Argon. She was the daughter of Ferdinand II of Argon and Isabella I of Castle). Arthur died in 1502 and did not become King. When Henry VII died in 1509, Arthur's brother, Henry VIII married Catherine and became king.

During her marriage to Henry VIII, Catherine had six children. Only one of these children, Mary, survived. When Catherine became too old to have any more children, Henry divorced her. He then married a new wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry and Boleyn also had a daughter, Elizabeth. Anne Boleyn was executed in 1536. Shortly after, Henry VIII married Jane Seymour of England. She had one son, Edward VI of England, who would later become king himself at the age of 9. Jane died in 1537. Her death was caused by medical problems caused by Edward's birth

Henry married three other wives before his death in 1547. Edward, his only living son, became King after Henry died.

In 1553, Edward became ill. He created the "Devise for Succession.". He said that his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, would be Queen after he died. Lady Jane was queen for only nine days.

Henry's daughter, Mary I of England, was the next ruler of the Tudor dynasty. Mary was a strong believer in Catholicism. As Queen, Mary did many things against hundreds of Protestants. Because of all the executions while she was Queen, she was given the nickname "Bloody Mary"

After Mary's death in 1558, her half-sister Elizabeth I of England became queen. Unlike Mary, Elizabeth was a Protestant. Elizabeth never married or had children. Because she never married, Elizabeth is often called the "Virgin Queen". She was well liked by most of the people of England.

The dynasty ended when Elizabeth died. She had not named a person to be ruler after her death. When she died, James I became King of England. He was the son of Elizabeth's cousin, Mary Stuart. This started the Stuart dynasty.

Religion in England

During the Tudor period, there were many changes in religion. Henry VIII was a Catholic. When the Pope said he could not divorce Catherine, Henry left Catholicism and named himself as head of the Church. The Church was now Protestant. Edward VI was raised a Protestant. He closed all Catholic churches. Mary I was a strong Catholic. She had been raised in Spain because of her Spanish mother, Catherine of Argon. She shut down the Protestant churches and burnt about 300 people for being Protestant. Those people were later called martyrs. Elizabeth was Protestant. When she became queen, the Anglican Church was started. Since then, religion in England has been much calmer.

Tudor monarchs of England and Ireland

The six Tudor monarchs were:

Portrait	Name	Birth	Accession date	Marriages	Death	Claim
	Henry VII	28 January 1457 Pembroke Castle	22 August 1485 (crowned at Westminster Abbey on 30 October 1485)	Elizabeth of York	21 April 1509 Richmond Palace aged 52	Right of Conquest. Descent from Edward III of England through his mother Lady Margaret Beaufort.
	Henry VIII (first King of Ireland)	28 June 1491 Greenwich Palace	21 April 1509 (crowned at Westminster Abbey on 24 June 1509)	(1) Catherine of Aragon (2) Anne Boleyn (3) Jane Seymour (4) Anne of Cleves (5) Catherine Howard (6) Catherine Parr	28 January 1547 Palace of Whitehall aged 55	Son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York
	Edward VI	12 October 1537 Hampton Court Palace	28 January 1547 (crowned at Westminster Abbey on 20 February 1547)	—	6 July 1553 Greenwich Palace aged 15	Son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour
	Jane (disputed)	1537 Bradgate Park	10 July 1553 (never crowned)	Lord Guildford Dudley	12 February 1554 executed at the Tower of London aged 16–17	Granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister, Mary Brandon (née Tudor), Duchess of Suffolk; succeeded on the claim that Mary and Elizabeth were illegitimate, per Edward VI's will.
	Mary I	18 February 1516 Palace of Placentia	19 July 1553 (crowned at Westminster Abbey on 1 October 1553)	Philip II of Spain	17 November 1558 St James's Palace aged 42	Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon
	Elizabeth I	7 September 1533 Greenwich Palace	17 November 1558 (crowned at Westminster Abbey on 15 January 1559)	—	24 March 1603 Richmond Palace aged 69	Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

Armorial

Before the succession

Earlier arms of the Tudors as Welsh noble house.	Coat of arms of Edmund Tudor, first Earl of Richmond. As he was the son of a princess of France and a minor Welsh Squire, the grant of these arms to him by his half-brother Henry VI recognises his status as part of the Lancastrian Royal Family.	Coat of arms of Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford, and Earl of Pembroke, brother of Edmund Tudor

Coat of arms as sovereigns

Coat of arms of Henry VII of England (1485–1509) & Henry VIII of England (1509–1547) in the first part of his reign	Coat of arms of Henry VIII (1509–1547) in the later part of his reign & Edward VI (1547–1553)	Coat of arms of Mary I (1554–1558) impaled with those of her husband, Philip II of Spain	Coat of arms Elizabeth I (1558–1603) with her personal motto: "Semper eadem" or "always the same"

As Prince of Wales, Arthur, Henry, and Edward all bore these arms,

Coat of arms of the Tudor Princes of Wales (1489–1547)

Tudor badges

The Welsh Dragon supporter honoured the Tudors' Welsh origins. The most popular symbol of the house of Tudor was the Tudor rose (see top of page). When Henry Tudor took the crown of England from Richard III in battle, he brought about the end of the Wars of the Roses between the House of Lancaster (whose badge was a red rose) and the House of York (whose badge was a white rose). He married Elizabeth of York to bring all factions together.

On his marriage, Henry adopted the Tudor Rose badge conjoining the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster. It symbolised the Tudor's right to rule as well the uniting of the kingdom after the Wars of the Roses. It has been used by every English, then British, monarch since Henry VII as a royal badge.

Royal roses, badges of England showing the red rose of Lancaster, the white rose of York, and the combined Tudor rose.	Tudor rose, royal badge of England combining the red rose of Lancaster and white rose of York.	Tudor rose uncrowned.

Tudor dragon badge symbolizing the Tudor's Welsh heritage and the Welsh union with England.	Tudor portcullis badge taken from their Beaufort ancestors.	Crowned Fleur de lys (Tudor crown) showing the claim to crown of France.	Crowned harp of Ireland (Tudor crown) showing the Tudors as Kings of Ireland. The harp was later quartered into the royal arms.

Tudor monograms

The Tudors also used monograms to denote themselves:

Royal monogram of King Henry VIII of England.	Royal monogram of Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Lineage and the Tudor name

The Tudor name

As noted above Tewdur or Tudor is derived from the words tud "territory" and rhi "king". Owen Tudor took it as a surname on being knighted. It is doubtful whether the Tudor kings used the name on the throne. Kings and princes were not seen as needing a name, and a "Tudor" name for the royal family was hardly known in the sixteenth century. The royal surname was never used in official publications, and hardly in 'histories' of various sorts before 1584. ... Monarchs were not anxious to publicise their descent in the paternal line from a Welsh adventurer, stressing instead continuity with the historic English and French royal families. Their subjects did not think of them as 'Tudors', or of themselves as 'Tudor people'". Princes and Princesses would have been known as "of England". The medieval practice of colloquially calling princes after their place birth (e.g. Henry of Bolingbroke for Henry IV or Henry of Monmouth for Henry V) was not followed. Henry VII was likely known as "Henry of Richmond" before his taking of the throne. When Richard III called him "Henry Tudor" it was to stress his Welshness and his unfitness for the throne as opposed to himself, "Richard Plantagenet", a "true" descendant of the royal line.

Patrilineal descent

Royal lineage

The Tudors' claim to the throne combined the Lancastrian claim in their descent from the Beauforts and the Yorkist claim by the marriage of Henry VII to the heiress of Edward IV.

Royal Lineage (Simplified)

– King of England – Scottish Royal Family – House of Lancaster – House of York – House of Tudor – Tudor king or queen of England Edward III 1327–1377 (1st son) Edward the Black Prince Prince of Wales Blanche of Lancaster (3rd son) John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Katherine Swynford (2nd son) Lionel of Antwerp Duke of Clarence (4th son) Edmund of Langley 1st Duke of York 5th son Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Gloucester Richard II of England 1377–1399 Henry IV of England 1399–1413 Charles VI of France Maredudd ap Tudur John Beaufort 1st Earl of Somerset Philippa 5th Countess of Ulster Henry V of England 1413–1422 Catherine of Valois Owen Tudor John Beaufort 1st Duke of Somerset Roger Mortimer 4th Earl of March Edmund Mortimer 5th Earl of March Henry VI of England 1422–1461 1470–1471 Edmund Tudor 1st Earl of Richmond Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby Anne de Mortimer Richard 3rd Earl of Cambridge (2nd son) Edward 2nd Duke of York (1st son) Edward of Westminster Prince of Wales Richard 3rd Duke of York Edward IV of England 1461–1470 & 1471–1483 Richard III of England 1483–1485 George 1st Duke of Clarence Isabella I of Castile Ferdinand II of Aragon Henry VII of England 1485–1509 Elizabeth of York Edward V of England 1483 Richard of Shrewsbury Duke of York Edward of Middleham Prince of Wales Margaret Pole Countess of Salisbury Joanna of Castile Maria of Aragon Catherine of Aragon Henry VIII of England 1509–1547 (2nd son) Arthur Prince of Wales (1st son) Margaret Tudor Mary Tudor Reginald Pole Charles V Holy Roman Emperor Isabella of Portugal Mary I of England 1553–1558 Elizabeth I of England 1558–1603 Edward VI of England 1547–1553 James V of Scotland Lady Frances Brandon Philip II of Spain (King of England jure uxoris 1554–1558) Mary Queen of Scots Lady Jane Grey James VI of Scotland and I of England 1603–1625

Images for kids

• 

  Family tree of the Tudor Dynasty in England

• 

  Catherine of Aragon: marriage was annulled - by the Church of England - for not producing a male heir to the Tudor dynasty

• 

  Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, Henry VIII's chief minister responsible for the Dissolution of the Monasteries

• 

  Henry VIII of England: Henry's quarrels with the Pope led to the creation of the Church of England

• 

  Thomas Cranmer, Henry's first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, responsible for the Book of Common Prayer during Edward VI's reign

• 

  The title page of Archbishop Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer, 1549

• 

  A small boy with a big mind: Edward VI, desperate for a Protestant succession, changed his father's will to allow Lady Jane Grey to become queen

• 

  Mary I of England, who tried to return England to the Roman Catholic Church

• 

  Protestants Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley being burned at the stake during Mary's reign

• 

  Elizabeth I at her coronation on 15 January 1559

• 

  Mary, Queen of Scots, who conspired with English nobles to take the English throne for herself

• 

  Pope St. Pius V, who issued the Papal bull excommunicating Elizabeth and relieving her subjects of their allegiance to her

• 

  The Spanish Armada: Catholic Spain's attempt to depose Elizabeth and take control of England

See also

In Spanish: Casa de Tudor para niños