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1509
Marriage with Catherine of Aragon
Daughter of the Catholic Monarchs (the spanish Queen & King Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon), she was described as very devout by her contemporaries. This first wedding would only last 18 years, after what Henry would break it because of his love for a court lady-in-waiting: the seductive Anne Boleyn. -
Period: 1509 to 1547
Henry VIII - The Whim King
Son of Henry VII (the first of the Tudors), born in 1491, and came to power in 1509, Henry VIII checked all the boxes to match with the perfect archetype of the capricious (and half insane) king : marrying 6 wives in total, he divorced twice and ordered the beheading of two of them, even going as far as breaking with Rome papacy, and creating a new religion : the Anglicanism ("Catholicism without the Pope"), just to be able to dissolve his wedding with Catherine of Aragon, his first wife ! -
1529
Pope Rejection of Henry's Divorce Petition (picture: Portrait of the Pope Clement VII by Sebastiano del Piombo, c. 1531)
In addition to his doctrinal objections, the Pope was at this time more or less submitted to the authority of Charles Quint (Catherine of Aragon's nephew and a catholic king at the head of a gigantic empire). -
1533
Marriage with Ann Boleyn
Among the reasons for this divorce, was that Catherine of Aragon hadn't given him a son, but mostly his love for Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting. One of the official reasons given by the King was the fact that, according to him, his marriage was doomed due to the first wedding of Catherine with his brother, which was forbidden by the Book of Leviticus (a famous religious text that dictated the life of the believers at the time). As a consequence, Henry was excommunicated by the Pope. -
1534
The Act of Supremacy
Schism with the Roman Catholic Church making the king the "Supreme Head of the Church of England", and transferring him the clerical & papal powers and authority. From 1537, the Bible is translated in English. -
Period: 1536 to 1541
The dissolution of the monasteries
Considered as bastions of "popery", all english monasteries were disbanded, "nationalized", and their relics & precious goods were confiscated and melted down, mostly to supply in gold the royal coffers. Multiple insurrections broke out in reaction in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (called "Pilgrimage of Grace" [1536-37]), composed of people from the three orders (peasantry, clergy & gentry), and violently repressed by public hangings. -
Period: 1547 to 1553
Edward VI - As Young As Pious
Son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, his reign was the shortest of the Tudors Dynasty : becoming King at the age of nine, he died from tuberculosis at fifteen, leaving behind him a country in crisis (on the edge of bankruptcy). During his reign, his uncle Edward Seymour became Lord Protector, and developped Protestantism within the kingdom; for example, he revised the mass-book, getting published the Book of Common Prayer in English in 1549. Its imposition led to rebellions in Cornwall and Devon. -
1549
Publication of the Book of Common Prayer
Eradicating Roman Catholic practices and allowing weddings for the members of the clergy, the imposition of these writings led to uprisings in Cornwall and Devon. -
Period: 1553 to 1558
Mary I - The Bloody Queen
Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, she became the first Queen regnant at the age of 37. As a very catholic queen, she reestablished the old cult, married Philip II of Spain (a catholic king) - making her an ally of Spain in the Italian Wars against France - and, ordering the death on stake for almost 300 protestants, while more than 800 fled to Europe to practice their religion freely, she came to be known as "Bloody Mary", and wasn't regretted by anyone when she died from the flu. -
Oct 16, 1555
The Burning of bishops Latimer and Ridley
Known as the "Oxford Martyrs", the two bishops as well as the Canterbury's Archbishop Cranmer were Protestants tried for heresy who ended burnt alive at the stake in the city of Oxford. -
Period: 1558 to
Elizabeth I - The Queen Who Never Married
During her reign, Elizabeth reformed Anglicanism, the British Kingdom defeated the Spanish Armada, art prospered in multiple domains (for example in the field of theatre with Shakespeare), Poor Laws were passed which established the idea that government had a responsibility for helping poor people, and the power of her kingdom in the world was affirmed, by explorations and expansions. Furthermore, a lot of portraits of the Queen were painted in order to build the Elizabethan Myth. -
Period: 1563 to 1571
The 39 Articles of Faith
Part of the new religious legislation (with the Act of Supremacy of 1559 and the Act of Uniformity implemented the same year), and stating the doctrine of the Church, the Thirty-nine Articles marked 3 main changes : a new ecclesiology, a new doctrine of Salvation, and a new definition of sacraments & of the mass. As for the Anglican Church, it was a compromise between Catholicism and Protestantism which took features from both religion and was rejected by extremists from both group. -
1570
Excommunication of Elizabeth by the Pope Pius V
Issuing the papal bull "Regnans in Excelsis", the Pope called Elizabeth "The so-called queen" and “a
heretic favouring heretics”, excommuncating her.
It almost gave Catholics licence to kill her. In response, the 1571 Treasons Act made it
treason for anyone to say that Elizabeth was not
the true Queen of England. -
1581
The 1581 Act
Providing for the death penalty for any person converting, or already converted to Catholicism, this repressive law led to the death of almost 200 Catholics between 1577 and 1603. It followed numerous plots against Elizabeth by Catholic noblemen, and the Northern Rebellion of 1569, which was an attempt to replace the Queen in power by her catholic cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, and mobilized 6000 insurgents. -
The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
Imprisoned in England for 19 years by Elizabeth (after fleeing from Scotland, then in the grip of civil war, to England and suspected in reason of her Catholic beliefs as well as the potential threat to the Queen power she represented), she was involved in many plots to replace the Queen by her. -
The Defeat of the Spanish Armada
The battle of Gravelines was the result of the willing of the King of Spain to invade the British Kingdom because of its support to the Dutch Revolt against his kingdom. The reasons for England victory are multiple: among them, we can mention the sleek shape of the new british warships, "race built" and inspired from the form of a fish, and the large number of ships present in the british side during the confrontation. It was a complete humiliation for Spain, and an unifying victory for England. -
Period: to
The Poor Laws
In 1597 and 1601, two laws were passed which established the idea that government had a responsibility for helping poor people, but it also established a distinction between "deserving" and “undeserving" poor, being particularlly harsh against beggars for example. This system remained in place until the 19th century, constituting one of the most famous legacy of the Virgin Queen’s reign.