The
Tudor dynasty
was a series of
kings and queens of England
. Their ancestors were from
Wales
. This line of rulers started in 1485 and lasted until 1603.
The
dynasty
started when Henry Tudor defeated
Richard III
at the
Battle of Bosworth Field
. This was the final stage of the
Wars of the Roses
and made him King
Henry VII of England
.
Arthur
,
Prince of Wales
, was the oldest son of Henry VII and
Elizabeth of York
. He
married
Catherine of Aragon
. She was the daughter of
Ferdinand II of Aragon
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 "Device for Succession.". He said that his cousin,
Lady Jane Grey
, would be Queen after he died. Lady Jane was only queen for 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", which is a name for a modern cocktail today.
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".
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
.
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 of England
was now Protestant. Edward VI was raised a Protestant. He closed all Catholic churches. Mary I was a strong Catholic and heavily influenced by her Spanish mother Catherine of Aragon. She closed 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.
This is a list of the rulers of the Tudor dynasty: