Henry VIII, Mary Tudor & Elizabeth I biographies

1. BLOODY TUDORS

2. Henry VIII
• Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January
1547) was King of England from 21 April
1509 until his death. Besides his six
marriages, Henry VIII is known for his role
in the separation of the Church of England
from the Roman Catholic Church. Henry's
struggles with Rome led to the separation
of the Church of England from papal
authority,and his own establishment as the
Supreme Head of the Church of England.

3. • His desire to provide England with a male
heir led to the two things for which Henry
is most remembered: his six marriages
and the English Reformation. Henry
became morbidly obese and his health
suffered, contributing to his death in 1547.
He is frequently characterised in his later
life as a lustful, egotistical, harsh, and
insecure king.

4. Mary Tudor
• Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November
1558) was Queen of England and Ireland
from July 1553 until her death. Her
executions of Protestants caused her
opponents to give her the sobriquet
"Bloody Mary".
• She was the only child born of the ill-fated
marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife
Catherine of Aragon who survived to
adulthood.

5. • Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded
Henry in 1547. When Edward became mortally ill
in 1553, he attempted to remove Mary from the
line of succession because of religious
differences. On his death, their cousin
Lady Jane Grey was at first proclaimed queen.
Mary assembled a force in East Anglia and
successfully deposed Jane, who was ultimately
beheaded. In 1554, Mary married Philip of
Spain, becoming queen consort of Habsburg
Spain on his accession in 1556.

6. • As the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor
dynasty, Mary is remembered for her restoration
of Roman Catholicism after the short-lived
Protestant reign of her half-brother. During her
five-year reign, she had over 280 religious
dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian
persecutions. Her re-establishment of Roman
Catholicism was reversed after her death in
1558 by her younger half-sister and successor,
Elizabeth I.

7. Elizabeth I
• Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March
1603) was queen regnant of England and
Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death.
Sometimes called "The Virgin Queen",
"Gloriana" or "Good Queen Bess", Elizabeth
was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor
dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was
born into the royal succession, but her mother,
Anne Boleyn, was executed two and a half years
after her birth, with Anne's marriage to Henry VIII
being annulled, and Elizabeth hence declared
illegitimate..

8. • In 1558, Elizabeth succeeded her halfsister, during whose reign she had been
imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion
of supporting Protestant rebels
• In the mid-1580s, when Spain finally
decided to attempt to conquer England in
1588, the failure of the Spanish Armada
associated her with one of the greatest
military victories in English history.

9. • Elizabeth's reign is known as the Elizabethan
era, famous above all for the flourishing of
English drama, led by playwrights such as
William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe,
and for the seafaring prowess of English
adventurers such as Francis Drake.
• Elizabeth's rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, was
imprisoned in 1568 and eventually executed in
1587.
• Her 44 years on the throne provided welcome
stability for the kingdom and helped forge a
sense of national identity.

10. • Elizabeth's reign is known as the Elizabethan
era, famous above all for the flourishing of
English drama, led by playwrights such as
William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe,
and for the seafaring prowess of English
adventurers such as Francis Drake.
• Elizabeth's rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, was
imprisoned in 1568 and eventually executed in
1587.
• Her 44 years on the throne provided welcome
stability for the kingdom and helped forge a
sense of national identity.