Thirteenth Episode of Siggie, presenting her take on the history of the monarchs of England in the context of her favorite topic….herself. Here she begins to move forward out of the Middle Ages and towards the Renaissance period. The Wars of the Roses are over and the Henry Tudor (Henry VII) has taken the throne. The episode discusses how he did this, with the help of his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. Siggie then covers the first part of the reign of Tudor’s son, Henry VIII. Henry VIII’s obsessive desire for a male heir, his 6 wives (the first 3 discussed here), and his battle with the Catholic Church made him one of the most famous monarchs in history.

King Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch. We’re now in the House of Tudor.

He reigned from 1485 to 1509 and was the final winner in the Wars of the Roses

and the last king to be crowned after battle.

He was known as the Winter King, right? Kind of frosty demeanor?

Henry VII overthrew King Richard III at the famous Battle of Bosworth field.

As a reminder, Richard III was the unloving uncle to Edward V. He declared

Edward V and his prince brother illegitimate and imprisoned them and

possibly murdered them because they disappeared off the face of the earth.

Back to King Henry VII. His mother was Lady Margaret Beaufort… pronunciation to

be determined… Lady Margaret Beaufort was a major figure in the Wars of the

Roses. She was a descendant of King Edward III and thus based on this made a

claim to the English throne for her son Henry Tudor. Henry VII married

Elizabeth of York after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth field, which

marked the very end of the Wars of the Roses. As I just told you, I don’t mean to

be redundant but there’s a lot of facts to keep track of here. Elizabeth of York was

the daughter of Edward IV from the House of York. Makes sense. They had seven

children, one of whom was a famous Future King Henry the VIII. Henry VII’s

oldest son and heir, Arthur, died from sweating sickness. That sounds like a lot

of fun. It was like some kind of virus, but it did wipe a certain percentage of

the population out. He died from sweating sickness not long after

marrying Catherine of Aragon. As a result of this Catherine of Aragon was married

off to Arthur’s brother, Henry, and Henry not only inherited Catherine, but he also

inherited the throne. 

King Henry VIII of the House of Tudor. He reigned from 1509

to 1547. Henry was most famous for his relentless pursuit of a male heir, which

led him to marriage to six wives. His first wife was Catherine of Aragon, who was

the daughter of Isabella the First of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon.

Catherine and Henry’s daughter was Mary, also known as a Bloody Mary and yes

we’ll get to the eventual Queen Mary later on. Henry fell in love with

Catherine of Aragon’s lady in waiting Ann Boleyn. He formed the Church of England

so that he could secure an annulment from Catherine and he did

this so they could marry Anne Boleyn. The future Queen Elizabeth the First was

the product of this ill-fated union between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

We’ll discuss Elizabeth the First later as well.

Henry ended up losing interest in Anne namely because she, like Catherine of

Aragon, couldn’t bear him a son. Henry accused Ann of adultery, even relations

with her own brother. On May 19^th, Anne was beheaded at the Tower of London. The

first English queen to be publicly executed. Anyway, moving right along to

wife number three for Henry. Jane Seymour. She gave Henry a son who became King

Edward VI. Edward VI’s reign didn’t last too long because at the age of 15 he

became ill and died. Edward VI was the first English Monarch to be raised as a

Protestant and he made things particularly tough just like his daddy

did for his devout Catholic sister Mary, but that’s another story for another

time. Edward’s mother, Jane Seymour also died in untimely death shortly after

giving birth to Edward.

(Stay tuned for Episodes 14: as we move onto wives 4-6 of Henry VIII)