The Achievements and/or Failures of

the British Kings and/or Queens of the

Sixteenth Century

THE TUDORS
The end of the ‘Wars of the Roses’ represented the beginning of the Tudor Dynasty which
went on to rule over England for 118 years. This time was marked by several major events, such
as Henry VIII’s break with the papacy of Rome (1534). However, it is important to know what
led to the creation of the Tudor Rose, one of the most distinctive and unmistakable flowers in
England, the symbol of the House of Tudor. None of Henry VIII’s children had any lasting
offspring of their own, and when Elizabeth I died, she was the last of the Tudor monarchs; she
was followed by James Stuart from Scotland, the first of the Stuart dynasty and a descendant of
Henry VIII’s eldest sister, Margaret. The Tudors passed into history. And yet they have enjoyed
a considerable afterlife, and remain among the most famous monarchs in the world.

Henry VIII

The life of Henry VIII has long been the topic of intrigue and debate. Henry VIII is one of
England’s most well-known monarchs who broke with the Catholic Church, created the Church
of England, and married six women, two of whom he notoriously executed.
Henry did many good and bad things during his reign. He was very ruthless – he
executed many people without proper reason. He spent all of his money on wars. He lied and
was arrogant and greedy. He also protected England from attacking countries. He changed the
church and destroyed the monasteries. Henry VIII was a dictator and a failure, but his motives
were not all bad and he, although using ruthless measures did succeed in his main aim to secure
the throne of England with a male heir.
Born Henry Tudor in 1491 at Greenwich Palace, he was the youngest son of Henry VII
and Elizabeth of York. Henry Tudor was the king of England from 1509 until his death in 1547.
In 1534, Henry VIII declared himself supreme head of the Church of England. After
Henry declared his supremacy, the Christian church separated, forming the Church of England.
On January 28, 1547, at the age of 55, King Henry VIII of England died. Henry's only
surviving son, Edward, inherited the throne, becoming Edward VI. Princesses Elizabeth and
Mary waited in succession.

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Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28
January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. Edward's reign
was marked by economic problems and social unrest that in 1549 erupted into riot and rebellion.

In Edward VI case you have several failures that lead to traditional views of a Mid-Tudor
crisis (The Mid- Tudor crisis is the political and social upheaval in England during 1547-1558,
this crisis occurs during the reign of, firstly, Edward VI and then Mary 1), however the
revisionist view shows Edwards successes, even if they are minimal it has caused historians to
change their idea of the Mid-Tudor crisis. Edwards’s achievements lay predominantly with
religion, the successful establishment of reforms that paved the change from Catholicism to
Protestantism. These changes were effective in creating the ‘First common book of prayers’,
which allowed common people, for the first time, to be able to read the bible in English, the bible
was no longer just for the people that were literate in Latin. Also changes in the church like
iconoclasm, the destruction of images in church, and the religious orthodoxy was enforced by a
new and more stringent Act of Uniformity. These religious changed show that Edward did have
some successes during his reign and that his reign was not just one big crisis.

Mary I

Mary Tudor was the first queen regnant of England, reigning from 1553 until her death in
1558. Mary was the only child of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon to survive into
adulthood. Seeking to return England to the Catholic Church, she persecuted hundreds of
Protestants and earned the moniker ‘Bloody Mary’.

While Mary I was on the throne, she did have failures that have both given her a bad
name and have dictated traditional historian views of her reign being part of one crisis. However
under Mary’s reign there were some successes in the Economic, Enforcement law and the Army
division of her control. The successes in the economic aspect of Mary reign, were that she
introduced the ‘Book of rates’ in 1558, which increased the revenue coming in to government.
Furthermore Mary had greatly helped the Army by increasing the Standing infantry, which was
particularly weak and then adding 6 new ships to the navy. Mary’s enforcement laws against
grain holders were also successful in reducing the impact of the natural disasters of harvest
failures, as this allowed the continuous sale of grain, which was good in an economic aspect but
also it helped reduce the amount of death caused by lack of food Mary failures were not the
result of her mistakes, however it was because of the natural disasters of harvest failures and
epidemic disease and above all of her own premature death.

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Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death on
24 March 1603. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth
was the last monarch of the House of Tudor. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne
Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two-and-a-half years after Elizabeth's birth.
Elizabeth I never married, that’s why she became the symbol of purity and grace.

In November 1558, after the death of Mary I, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne. Some see
Elizabeth’s 45 year reign as a golden age of English history. She was a shrewd and intelligent
woman who was fluent in six languages. To keep the Protestants and Catholics relatively happy,
she adopted very moderate religious policies.( ‘The Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity’ (1559),
the introduction of the ‘Prayer Book’ of 1559, and the ‘Thirty-Nine Articles’ (1563) were all
Protestant in doctrine.

When Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed Philip was shocked. He didn't like that a
Catholic Queen had died and decided it was time to invade England. In 1588 the Spanish set on
about 130 ships from Spain. This massive fleet was known as the Armada, or The Spanish Upset.
Meanwhile, in England, Elizabeth was preparing for war. She gathered an army and sent out
about 150 ships. Then the English waited for Spain to arrive. Battered by storms and suffering
from a dire lack of supplies, the Armada sailed on a hard journey back to Spain around Scotland
and Ireland. Queen Elizabeth’s decisive defeat of the Invincible Armada made England a world-
class power and introduced effective long-range weapons into naval warfare for the first time,
ending the era of boarding and close-quarter fighting.

In February of 1603 Elizabeth caught a fever and a few weeks later she died. In the end,
Queen Elizabeth I did prove that she, Elizabeth, at a young age could rule England alone. Queen
Elizabeth I was the greatest queen ever to rule England

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 List of References

BBC History ( n.d. ) Elizabeth I [online] available from

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/elizabeth_i> [ 27 December 2017 ]

Betteridge, Thomas (2005). ‘The Henrician Reformation and Mid-Tudor Culture’. Journal of
Medieval and Early Modern Studies. 35: 91–109

Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd. Retrieved 17 August 2008.

English Monarchs (2016) Edward VI [online] available from

<http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/tudor_6.htm> [ 29 December 2017 ]

Howard, Maurice. ‘Elizabeth I: A Sense Of Place In Stone, Print And Paint’ Transactions of the
Royal Historical Society, Dec 2004, Vol. 14 Issue 1, pp 261–268

Tittler, Robert (1991). The Reign of Mary I. Second edition. London & New York: Longman

Tytler, Patrick Fraser (1837). Life of King Henry the Eighth

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 Contents

THE TUDORS .............................................................................................................................................. 1

Henry VIII ...................................................................................................................................................... 1
Edward VI...................................................................................................................................................... 2
Mary I ............................................................................................................................................................ 2
Elizabeth I ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
List of References ........................................................................................................................................ 4