Part IV Ríghts or Royals? The Tudors and Stuarts The 5^^ y^if^^y, iji^iiíiiiMlg""""' IN THE Coufn- oç HENRY'Mn 'Successíul rogai seefe long term caring Yelationskip v^Hk íertUe In this part... Lidor England had two of the strongest rnonarchs ever Tto sit on the English throne: Henry VIU and his daugh- ter Elizal.>eth i. Their portraits si)e;l! power and coiitrol, and so did liíeir governnieíits, yet neither i-oukl crack the niost basic probiein oí ali: Wlio was to succeed ihem? Henry VIIls desperate search for a niale heir led hini into liis íamons six marriages, vvhiic Elizabeth sougiú refugo in her image as the Virgin Queen, But as long as tl-se succes- sion vvas unclear. evei! tJiese great monarciis couid not iie easy. IJnderlying ali this was the terribie destructive power of rcligious conflict. As new religious learning found its vvay into Britain. the Britisli peojjie were divided Isetween those vvho enibraced change. and tlK)se wtio upheld tiíeir o!d faitJi. Through ali of tliis. ttie English parliament wa.s speak- ing with increasing confidence: There were arguments about religion and about the crown. but parliament became a central part of the politicai scene. It led to civil war, which heralded ashort-lived republic. And Tfien Ahnq Carne Hemif (the l/lU, that is) Henry Vli didn't just spend his time fighting off pretenders. He married his children into the leading rullng houses in Europe and he negotiated good trading agreements with the Netherlands. So there was a lot of money in the treasury that he handed over to his handsome and gifted son, who in 1509 .wo became King Henry VIII. Bad Ideas of the Sixteenth Centuri^ - No 1: Marri^inç Hemi^ VIU Henry VIII was a good example of the ideal Renaissance Prince (see Chapter 14 for a bit more on what the Renaissance was ali about) - he was handsome, strong, good at jousting and wrestling but also highiy educated, good at . ^ music, interested in theology, and a good mover on the dance floor. He seemed to have everything he could possibly want - except a son. If you didn't want lots of squabbiing over the succession in the sixteenth cen- tury you needed a good supply of sons. (Daughters could succeed, but the last time a daughter assumed the throne, England had fallen into a civil war, explained in Chapter 7. As a result, folks weren't too keen on trying that again). That's why you get ali those paintings of large Tudor families through the gen- erations - nothin' wrong with our virility, theyVe saying - and why Tudor men wore those enormous codpieces to show off their manhood. Henry VII had managed two boys. Henry VIU and his older brother Prince Arthur, who died ' young, and two girls, Margaret and Mary (see Figure 1 l-I for details here). • :>l f Henry VIII wanted to do even better, and that meant finding the right wife. Wife No. 7: Katharine of Aragon When he came to the throne, Henry was married to Katharine of Aragon. Katharine's family were the up-and-coming Kings of Spain, so marrying her was a major diplomatic coup. She had been married to Henrys brother Arthur, but Arthur died, and in any case, according to Katharine. she and Chapter 11: Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown Part IV: Ríghts or Royals? The Tudors and Stuarts Henry was furious. First, he sacked Wolsey. Then he simply closed down the Arthur never consummated the marriage (and she ought to l<now), Now, Pope's Church and opened his own: the Church of England. And this Church strictiy speal<ing, the BIble said you couldn't marry your deceased brother's gave him his divorce. Some people objected, like the statesman and writer wlfe, but Aragon was too good a prize to miss, so Henry had a word with the Sir Thomas More and the Bishop of Rochester, John Fisher, but they got their Pope and the Pope gave him a special dispensation so that Henry and heads cut off, so there weren't many others. Katharine could get married. At (irst, the marriage went well. Katharine trashed the Scots at the Battle of Wife No.2: Anne Boleyn Flodden while Henry was away losing to the French (see the section "The Henry was crazy about Anne. Couldn't resist her. He had spotted her when Stewarts in a Stew" later in this chapter for info on that event). But then she she was lady-in-waiting to Katharine of Aragon and he couldn't take his eyes gave birth to a daughter, Mary. That was no good. Henry wanted a son! Even off her As soon as he got his divorce from Katharine he married Anne in worse, when she got pregnant again, with boys as it turned out, the children secret, and nine months later, he got his reward: a healthy baby. Another girl. always died. Henry wasn't just angry, he was worried: Was God trying to tell This one named Elizabeth. He was not pleased. him something? From then on things went downhill for Anne. She had enemies at court, and Henry got his Bible out. There it was, in blacic and white: Thou shalt not try as she might she didn't produce a boy. Three years after her glittering uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife - Leviticus. Henry reckoned the coronation Anne's enemies struck. They had her arrested and charged with dead babies were God's way of punishing him for living in sin. But the Pope adultery - with her own brother, Lord Rochford, if you please. Henry sent for had given Henry a dispensation. He had specially put the rule aside. Could a special executioner ali the way from France, who could cut Anne's head off the Pope possibly put the rule back again? in one go with his sword, instead of hacking at it the way those axemen used to do it. Wasn't that a kind thought? Henrif qets a diiJorce - and a neu/ Church Henry sent his chief minister, Cardinal Wolsey, to Rome to have a word íC/Vcs Nos 3-6: A Jane, an Anne, and tWo more Catherínes with the Pope, but when Wolsey got there, he found the Pope had been taken Jane Seymour was a lady-in-waiting to both Katharine of Aragon and Anne prisoner by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, who just happened to be Boleyn. They were both dead by the time Henry married her so there was no Katharine of Aragon's nephew. Charles wasn't going to let anyone insult - or problem about whether or not the marriage was valid. It was Jane who finally divorce - his auntie. Wolsey went home to tell Henry the bad news. gave Henry the son he had been hoping for for so long, Edward. Edward was a sickiy child (he'd probably inherited Henry's syphilis), but he lived. Jane didn't. She died giving birth. Anne of Cleves was a German princess. You can blame Henry's marriage to her on Henry's chief minister and staunch Protestant, Thomas Cromwell. At the time it looked like war with the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, so scheming Thomas suggested to Henry that they should link up with the German Protestants. The best way, he said, was for Henry to marry a German princess, Anne of Cleves. To judge by Holbein's portrait, Anne was a bit shy, but not bad lookíng. Henry, however, found her completely unattractive. "Good God, she's like a Flanders mare", he said, but he went through with the wedding anyway, ali the time thinking, "This had better be worth it". Then the Emperor changed his mind about attacking England. Henry had got married for nothingi He was the perfect gentleman. He divorced Anne and gave her a nice house and an income. Then he cut Cromweirs head off. Chapter 11: Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown The First Elizabeth Elizabeth I was Anne Boleyn's daughter and nobody's fool. Her sister, Queen Mary, had put her in the Tower because she thought Elizabeth was plotting against her. Elizabeth, therefore, Icnew ali about how dangerous sixteenth century politics could be. When she became Queen, she needed to see to three things straight away: Religion, security, and getting married. Religion was urgent, and Elizabeth and Parliament set up a not-too- Protestant Church of England which, she hoped (wrongly) both Catholics and Protestants could go to (head to Chapter 12 for more on the religion issue). Security was always a problem - the Tudors knew ali about people trying to seize the throne. The best way to guard against danger was to have an heir, and that meant that Elizabeth needed to find a husband. Here were her options: )^ King Piíilip of Spain: No kidding: he did offer. The English couldn't stand him, and - more importantly - if Elizabeth married him, England would become some sort of Spanish province. No thank you. 1^ A Frencli prince: This made politicai sense. It would mess up France's alliance with Scotiand and set the King of Spain's nose out of joint. The French king sent his son the Duke of Anjou over, and Elizabeth seemed very interested. Danced with him, called him her "frog", and kept him hanging on. And on. Until in the end, he gave up and went home. 1^ Robert Dudiey, Earl of Leicester: Ah, Elizabeth liked him! He was her "Robin".