Henry VII to Mary I

A quick overview of the Kings and Queens of England from Henry VII in 1485 to Mary I in 1553.

King Henry VII 1485-1509 to Mary I 1553-1558

Introduction

This post is number 7 in the series Kings and Queens of England

Below is a brief overview of the Kings of England from Henry VII, the last English monarch to win the crown by right of battle, to his grand-daughter Mary I, the country’s first undisputed Queen regnant.

by Clay Lane

HENRY VII tactfully married Elizabeth of York, shoring up his claim to the throne and announcing peace in the Wars of the Roses. Their daughter Margaret married James IV of Scotland, and their son Henry, who married his older brother Arthur’s widow, Catherine of Aragon, came to the throne in 1509 as Henry VIII.

Henry VIII’s reign was overshadowed by his obsessive quest for a male heir, something Catherine could not provide. He triggered the English Reformation, violently breaking the English Church from religious and legal ties to Rome (England’s ruined abbeys are testimony to the violence) so he could annul their marriage by English law, but six wives, two of whom he executed, brought him only three adult children.

Jane Seymour’s nine-year-old son succeeded Henry as Edward VI in 1547. Prior to his untimely death in 1553, Edward nominated his cousin Lady Jane Grey as successor, but after nine days she was disqualified in favour of Catherine’s daughter, England’s first Queen Regnant, Mary I.

by Clay Lane

Next in series: Mary I to James I

Précis

Henry VII’s son Henry married Catherine of Aragon, and then five more wives in pursuit of dynastic security, an obsession which excused the religious, political and cultural misery of the English Reformation and the dissolution of the Monasteries. However, his only male heir, Edward VI, died young, and Catherine’s daughter Mary I came to the throne in 1553.

Henry VII to Mary I

Introduction

Précis

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