Tudor period
In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era. The Tudor period coincides with the reign of the House of Tudor, which began with the accession of Henry VII and ended with the death of Elizabeth I. Under the Tudor dynasty, art, architecture, trade, exploration, and commerce flourished. Historian John Guy argued that "England was economically healthier, more expensive, and more optimistic under the Tudors" than at any time since the ancient Roman occupation.
Population and economy
Following the Black Death and the agricultural depression of the late 15th century, the population of England began to increase. In 1520, it was around 2.3 million. By 1600, it had almost doubled to 4 million. Prior to the Black Death the population had been much larger with numbers estimated at 4 to 6 million people The growing population stimulated economic growth, accelerated the commercialization of agriculture, increased the production and export of wool, encouraged trade, and promoted the growth of London.The high wages and abundance of available land seen in the late 15th and early 16th centuries were replaced with low wages and a land shortage. Various inflationary pressures, perhaps due to an influx of New World gold and a rising population, set the stage for social upheaval, with the gap between the rich and poor widening. This was a period of significant change for the majority of the rural population, with manorial lords beginning the process of enclosure of village lands that previously had been open to everyone.
English Reformation
The Reformation transformed English religion during the Tudor period. The five sovereigns, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, had entirely different approaches, with Henry VIII replacing the pope as the head of the Church of England but maintaining Catholic doctrines, Edward imposing a very strict Protestantism, Mary attempting to reinstate Catholicism, and Elizabeth arriving at a compromise position that defined the not-quite-Protestant Church of England. It began with the insistent demands of Henry VIII for an annulment of his marriage that Pope Clement VII refused to grant.Historians agree that the great theme of Tudor history was the Reformation, the transformation of England from Catholicism to Protestantism. The main events, constitutional changes, and players at the national level have long been known, and the major controversies about them largely resolved. Historians until the late 20th century thought that the causes were a widespread dissatisfaction or even disgust with the evils, corruptions, failures, and contradictions of the established religion, setting up an undertone of anti-clericalism that indicated a rightness for reform. A secondary influence was the intellectual impact of certain English reformers, such as the long-term impact of John Wycliffe and his "Lollardy" reform movement, together with a stream of Reformation treatises and pamphlets from Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other reformers on the continent. The interpretation by Geoffrey Elton in 1960 is representative of the orthodox interpretation. He argued that:
Social historians after 1960 investigated English religion at the local level, and discovered the dissatisfaction had not been so widespread. The Lollardy movement had largely expired, and the pamphleteering of continental reformers hardly reached beyond a few scholars at the University of Cambridge—King Henry VIII had vigorously and publicly denounced Luther's heresies. More important, the Catholic Church was in a strong condition in 1500. England was devoutly Catholic, it was loyal to the pope, local parishes attracted strong local financial support, religious services were quite popular both at Sunday Mass and at family devotions. Complaints about the monasteries and the bishops were uncommon. The kings backed the popes and by the time Luther appeared on the scene, England was among the strongest supporters of orthodox Catholicism, and seemed a most unlikely place for a religious revolution.
Tudor government
Henry VII: 1485–1509
, founder of the House of Tudor, became King of England by defeating King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. Henry engaged in a number of administrative, economic and diplomatic initiatives. He spent a significant part of his reign dedicated to stabilizing the economy of England. He created a new system of royal finance that served as the foundation of the modern English revenue system. Henry's fiscal policies were viewed as oppressive by the wealthy and focused on the enforcement of the existing laws against noblemen and religious leaders, not the poor. The wealthy were forced to abide by decisions of his special royal council, the Court of Star Chamber. Through the Court of Star Chamber, English laws could be manipulated to the king's advantage as a way to avoid feudal anarchy. He returned lands that had been distributed to the nobility during the prior reigns and brought the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster under royal control. Such actions generated significant funds for the crown. Under the reign of Henry VII, the crown's income tripled and a balanced budget was achieved, paving the way for an emerging middle class in England. He paid very close attention to detail and, instead of spending lavishly, concentrated on raising new revenues. His new taxes were unpopular, and when Henry VIII succeeded him, he executed Henry VII's two most hated tax collectors Edmund Dudley and Richard Empson.Henry VII engaged in a number of administrative and diplomatic initiatives. He transitioned from the Plantagenets policy of acquiring and holding French territories to a more strategic, defensive anglocentric approach. He established an alliance with Spain through the marriage of his son Arthur to Catherine of Aragon. This marriage propelled England to the forefront of European politics and played a role in the success of the Protestant Reformation.
Henry VIII: 1509–1547
Henry VIII, energetic, militaristic and headstrong, remains one of the most visible kings of England, primarily because of his six marriages, all of which were designed to produce a male heir, and his heavy retribution in executing many top officials and aristocrats. In foreign-policy, he focused on fighting France—with minimal success—and had to deal with Scotland, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire, often with military mobilisation or actual highly expensive warfare that led to high taxes. The chief military success came over Scotland.The main policy development was Henry's taking full control of the Church of England. This followed from his break from Rome, which was caused by the refusal of the Pope to annul his original marriage. Henry thereby introduced a very mild variation of the Protestant Reformation. There were two main aspects. First Henry rejected the Pope as the head of the Church in England, insisting that national sovereignty required the Absolute supremacy of the king. Henry worked closely with Parliament in passing a series of laws that implemented the break. Englishmen could no longer appeal to Rome. All the decisions were to be made in England, ultimately by the King himself, and in practice by top aides such as Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell. Parliament proved highly supportive, with little dissent. The decisive moves came with the Act of Supremacy in 1534 that made the king the protector and only supreme head of the church and clergy of England. After Henry imposed a heavy fine on the bishops, they nearly all complied. The laws of treason were greatly strengthened so that verbal dissent alone was treasonous. There were some short-lived popular rebellions that were quickly suppressed. The league level in terms of the aristocracy and the Church was supportive. The highly visible main refusals came from Bishop Fisher and Chancellor Thomas More; they were both executed. Among the senior aristocrats, trouble came from the Pole family, which supported Reginald Pole who was in exile in continental Europe. Henry destroyed the rest of the family, executing its leaders, and seizing all its property. The second stage involved the seizure of the monasteries. The monasteries operating religious and charitable institutions were closed, the monks and nuns were pensioned off, and the valuable lands were sold to friends of the King, thereby producing a large, wealthy, gentry class that supported Henry. In terms of theology and ritual there was little change, as Henry wanted to keep most elements of Catholicism and detested the "heresies" of Martin Luther and the other reformers.
Father of the Royal Navy
Biographer J.J. Scarisbrick says that Henry deserved his traditional title of "Father of the English navy." It became his personal weapon. He inherited seven small warships from his father, and added two dozen more by 1514. In addition to those built in England, he bought up Italian and Hanseatic warships. By March 1513, he proudly watched his fleet sail down the Thames under command of Sir Edmund Howard. It was the most powerful naval force to date in English history: 24 ships led by the 1600 ton "Henry Imperial"; the fleet carried 5000 combat marines and 3000 sailors. It forced the outnumbered French fleet back to its ports, took control of the English Channel, and blockaded Brest.Henry was the first king to organise the navy as a permanent force, with a permanent administrative and logistical structure, funded by tax revenue. His personal attention was concentrated on land, where he founded the royal dockyards, planted trees for shipbuilding, enacted laws for in land navigation, guarded the coastline with fortifications, set up a school for navigation and designated the roles of officers and sailors. He closely supervised the construction of all his warships and their guns, knowing their designs, speed, tonnage, armaments and battle tactics. He encouraged his naval architects, who perfected the Italian technique of mounting guns in the waist of the ship, thus lowering the centre of gravity and making it a better platform. He supervised the smallest details and enjoyed nothing more than presiding over the launching of a new ship. He drained his treasury on military and naval affairs, diverting the revenues from new taxes and the sales of monastery lands.
File:AnthonyRoll-1_Great_Harry.jpg|thumb|The Tudor navy carrack Henry Grace à Dieu. In her day she was the largest warship in the world.
Elton argues that Henry indeed built up the organisation and infrastructure of the Navy, but it was not a useful weapon for his style of warfare. It lacked a useful strategy. It did serve for defence against invasion, and for enhancing England's international prestige.