The first Tudor monarch was King Henry VII (r.1485–1509) who claimed the throne when his forces defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 ended the turbulent Wars of the Roses.
He shored up his position by curtailing aristocratic power. Cautious and calculating, he kept the peace and built up a firm financial base – often at the expense of his subjects. He ruled until his death in 1509. Tudor England saw two of the most famous monarchs ever to sit on the English throne: King Henry VIII and his daughter Queen Elizabeth I.
The Tudor dynasty was marked by Henry VIII’s break with the papacy in Rome (1534) and the beginning of the English Reformation. When Henry declared himself Supreme Head of the Church in England in 1533, following the Pope’s refusal to sanction his divorce from Katherine of Aragon, his decision initiated the Reformation of English religion. The Reformation eventually transformed an entirely Catholic nation into a predominantly Protestant one.
Henry VIII also orders the creation of the first national postal service for royal mail. Called 'The King’s Posts', it was devised by Sir Brian Tuke and commanded all towns to have a fresh horse available for anyone carrying mail from the Tudor Court.
During Tudor period, England developed into one of the leading European colonial powers, with men such as Sir Walter Raleigh taking part in the conquest of the New World. Nearer to home, campaigns in Ireland brought the country under strict English control.
Henry VIII’s aggressive foreign policy took locally raised militia abroad to fight alongside specialist mercenaries. In 1544 at least 38,000 men went to France, then the largest ever English expeditionary force.
In the same period Henry deployed 5,500 men along the borders and in southern Scotland during the wars of the ‘Rough Wooing’. A great victory over Scotland early in his reign (1513) was most notable; the attendant confusion of its northern neighbour was beneficial for England.
Tudor regime
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| Queen Elizabeth I |
