

She rose to power after Mary named her as heir, and her reign came to symbolize a golden age that was so distinct from its predecessor, it’s remembered as an era in its own right.Įlizabeth was a complex character, both determined, astute, and politically shrewd, and yet wracked by doubt, procrastination, and paranoia. Her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed when she was just a child Elizabeth was then declared the illegitimate daughter of a traitor, though Henry VIII still recognized her as his own. She was later briefly embroiled in-and imprisoned for-a plot to put her on the throne instead of her half-sister, Mary I. Culture Club/GettyImagesĮlizabeth Tudor’s route to the English throne was not easy. The Elizabethan Era (1558–1603): The Age of Discovery

There was also a growth in music, and the shift away from medieval iconography saw the rise in realistic portraiture, now available to anyone from the king to the burgeoning middle-class.

#Medieval last names for royals plus
It became common for books to be printed in the English vernacular, especially the bible, plus there was an upsurge in political pamphlets and theological treatises as more people sought to understand their changing society. She died five years after ascending the throne, unpopular and disillusioned, and has been remembered ever since (somewhat unfairly) as Bloody Mary.ĭespite so much religious strife, the Tudor era saw the birth of the English Renaissance. Mary I (reigned1553–1558), England’s first Queen Regnant, set about undoing her brother’s work with the counter-reformation. Mary had Jane executed in February 1554 she was only 16 years old. She was imprisoned in the Tower of London-and might have survived had her father not supported Thomas Wyatt’s rebellion (an attempt to stop Mary’s Spanish marriage, overthrow the government, and set Henry VIII's daughter Elizabeth on the throne instead). But England rose up in support of Mary Tudor, and Jane’s reign ended after only nine days. His Protestant advisors tried to hold onto power by conspiring to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne after his early death.

Henry never fully embraced Protestantism in its entirety, unlike his son Edward VI (reigned 1547-1553) whose short reign saw a push for more radical reforms. It allowed him to marry Anne Boleyn (and, as a bonus, dissolve the monasteries and seize their assets), but it also opened the door to the Protestant religion in England. When the Pope refused to annul the marriage between Henry VIII (reigned 1509–1547) and Catherine of Aragon, the king took matters into his own hands and made himself head of the Church in England. Much of the Tudor era was dominated by the religious upheaval caused by the English reformation. Henry VII’s (reigned 1485-1509) victory at the Battle of Bosworth marked the end of the medieval Plantagenet age and raised an obscure Welsh nobleman to the crown of England.
