The Tudors Why were they important? Who were they? Henry VIII William Shakespeare Who were they? Elizabeth I The Tudors Anne Boleyn What did they do? When were they around?

1570-77 Drake discovers the West Indies and then sails right around the globe Tudor timeline 1591 William Shakespeare’s first play was performed 1547 Edward VI becomes king at the age of 9, but dies suddenly at 16 1509 Henry VII dies, Henry VIII becomes the new King 1485 Battle of Bosworth Henry VII becomes King of England 1553 Mary I becomes Queen and is quickly known as ‘Bloody Mary’ 1485 1560 1525 1585 1600 1492-98 The ‘Age of Discovery’ begins: John Cabot leads the way 1553 Lady Jane Grey was Queen for only 9 days – the shortest reign ever If the words are red, click on the picture to find out more 1588 The Spanish Armada are defeated by Drake 1603 Elizabeth I, the last of the Tudors, dies. King James of Scotland takes over England 1534 Henry creates the Church of England so he can get divorced. He ended up marrying 6 times 1558 Elizabeth I becomes Queen. Under her reign England becomes very powerful

The Battle of Bosworth Henry VII becomes King The battle was fought between the armies of Richard III and Henry VII, who were distant relatives It was called the ‘War of the Roses’ because each side of the family was represented by a different coloured rose Richard’s army was larger but was nonetheless beaten Henry was crowned King after winning the battle His name was Henry Tudor and thus he was the first ‘Tudor’ King He bought peace to England after 85 years of civil war Back to timeline Find out more

Henry VIII creates the Church of England Henry’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, did not bear him a son After 20 years, he wanted to get a divorce, which was not permitted by the Catholic Church He told Cardinal Wolsey to ask the Pope for special permission, but he was refused Henry used this as a reason to create the ‘Church of England’, with himself as the ‘Supreme Head’ His first act was to divorce Catherine of Aragon Find out more Back to timeline

Henry and his six wives Having divorced Catherine of Aragon, Henry quickly married Anne Boleyn, but had her beheaded at the Tower of London His third wife, Jane Seymour, finally bore him a son, but died a few days later. Henry was heartbroken Katherine Howard was accused of adultery and beheaded When he died at the age of 55 in 1547 he was married to Katherine Parr Find out more Back to timeline

‘Bloody Mary’ Mary became Queen having overseen the execution of Lady Jane Grey She was a staunch Catholic and set about making England Catholic once again She is called ‘Bloody Mary’ because of how she dealt with those who would not return to the Catholic Church She made examples of many people by burning them in public Find out more Back to timeline

The Virgin Queen Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn and was only 25 when she came to the throne She immediately reinstalled the Church of England to power She was determined to increase England’s power and strongly supported explorers like Drake and Raleigh in their efforts to increase England’s wealth She was successful and England became the most powerful nation in the world She swore never to marry and was hence known as the Virgin Queen Find out more Back to timeline

Defeating the Spanish Armada Phillip II, King of Spain, wanted England to be a Catholic country again so decided to invade He sent 131 ships with 33,000 soldiers, to attack England’s shores Sir Francis Drake was made the head of the Navy and told by Elizabeth I, despite having only half their strength, to keep the Armada at bay He was successful for two reasons: He was a great tactician and out-thought his enemy The Northerly winds did not help the Spanish and pushed them into the English ships Find out more Back to timeline