[November 17] Mary I, queen of England

Sobriquet: "Bloody Mary"
Parents: Henry VIII, king of England, and Catherine of Aragón
Born: 18 February 1516
House: Tudor
Spouse(s): Felipé II, king of Spain, son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Maria Manuela of Portugal
Predecessor: Edward VI or Jane

Reign: 1553 – 1558
Brief: The only surviving child of Henry VIII and his first wife, Mary was raised as a Catholic in an increasingly Protestant England. At the age of two, she was promised to the French Dauphin, but that eventually lapsed, being replaced with a betrothal to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, which also later lapsed. Meanwhile, Henry VIII removed Mary from the line of succession to replace her with Elizabeth, his daughter from his second marriage. Mary was sickly and disappeared into obscurity for many years. Henry finally produced a son, Edward, in 1537 but it wasn't until 1543 that the family was reunited and Mary returned to the line of succession behind Edward and ahead of Elizabeth. Edward succeeded to the throne as a minor in 1547. His regents arranged to bypass Mary and Elizabeth in the succession, settling on a cousin, Jane, as the king's heir. When Edward died at the age of fifteen from an infected lung, Jane succeeded briefly to the throne, but Mary rallied a makeshift army in East Anglia and deposed the upstart queen nine days later.

As queen, Mary sought out a husband and found one in Charles V's son, Felipé of Spain, whom she married in 1554. There was little love between the couple and they never produced a child. Mary lashed out against Protestant leaders throughout her short reign. OVer a period of a week, she executed 283 people, mostly by burning, for heresy. She continued her persecutions until the end of her reign, though with declining frequency. In 1557, Felipé, now king of Spain, convinced Mary to go to war with France, which ended with the loss of Calais, the only remaining English possession on the continent. After 1557, Mary acknowledged Elizabeth as her successor. She died the next year of an influenza epidemic, though signs of other problems were also present. 

Date of Death: 17 November 1558
Successor: Elizabeth I

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Jin Kangdi, emperor of China (344)
• Valentinian I, emperor of Rome (375)
• Leo II, emperor of Constantinople (474)
• Jomei, emperor of Japan (641)
•  John III, king of Sweden (1592)
• Catherine II, empress of Russia (1796)
• Adolphe, grand duke of Luxembourg (1905)

To Have a Son (Henry VIII and the Tudors)

Today we discuss one of history's most tragic dynasties: the Tudors. Dying off after only three generations and barely a century of rule, indeed, hardly constitutes a dynasty at all. Had not Mary and Elizabeth ruled, I'd go so far to say that the Tudors were simply a ruling house—an interregnum between the successful Plantagenets and the somewhat successful Stuarts. In any case, no 118 period in English history was more turbulent than the Tudors, though the War of the Roses preceded it and the English Civil War came soon after.

The dynasty began with hope and ended with a long defeat. But the major error the the dynasty was the failure to arrange successful marriages. From Henry VIII's failed six marriages to Edward VI's and Elizabeth I's lack of marriages, the Tudors failed in the marriage game miserably. Their only success was in the marriages of those who never themselves became rulers. The failure of the Tudors to establish successful marriages doomed the dynasty within the first generation. Thus, despite Henry VII's triumphant victory over Richard III at Bosworth Field, which heralded the end of England's medieval experience, England did not enter the new area with a secure dynasty.

The Lancastrian Inheritance
Henry Tudor, 2nd earl of Richmond (later King Henry VII) was the son of Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort. Neither of these people had a claim to the English throne. The Tudors were an upstart Welsh family that only achieved fame through the affair and marriage of Owen Tudor to Catherine of Valois, the French widow of King Henry V. This placed their son, Edmund, in the curious position of having no claim to the English throne but being the legitimate half-brother of King Henry VI. His Lancastrian loyalty when the War of the Roses broke out was through this.

Henry VII Tudor, king of England

Meanwhile, the Beaufort family was equally from a strange background. The House of Lancaster descended from John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, the fourth son of King Edward III. His son, Henry IV, deposed King Richard II and claimed the throne for himself despite others having a stronger claim. The Beauforts were half-siblings of Henry IV through John of Gaunt's affair with Catherine Swynford, a Flemish Lady. Although the entire family was later declared legitimate, they were barred from inheriting the English throne due to their ancestry. Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII, was the daughter of John Beaufort, duke of Somerset, the son of John Beaufort, the earl of Somerset. She was the only child of the eldest line of the Beauforts and, therefore, the most senior member of the House of Lancaster, although that claim was through an illegitimate line of descent.

Thus Henry VII officially had no claim to the throne against Richard III, who he deposed, especially considering that Richard III descended from the senior-most line of Edward III. Sure there were people with a better claim than Richard (Edward, earl of Warwick, was his nephew through an elder brother. Edward had a sister, Margaret, as well.), but Richard was the eldest among them if nothing else.

Elizabeth of York, queen consort of England

The Reign of Henry VII
Henry VII negotiated his succession by marrying the Yorkist heiress Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of King Edward IV. Officially, this was his only legitimate claim to the throne, but he downplayed her status throughout his reign. The marriage was loveless at best. It was arranged between Henry, Margaret, and Elizabeth Woodville, the girl's mother. It was fruitful, though. Henry and Elizabeth produced four surviving children, two sons and two daughters. His eldest, Arthur, died at the age of fifteen only six months after marrying Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. After Arthur died, Catherine insisted that the marriage was never consummated, a statement that justified her marriage to Henry, Arthur's brother, eight years later.

Catherine of Aragon, queen consort of England and Ireland

The marriage of Arthur to Catherine was part of a strategy to ally with Spain against French aggression. Meanwhile, Henry VII attempted to pacify the Scottish by marrying his eldest daughter to King James IV in 1503. James was killed in battle ten years later, leaving Margaret in charge of the young James V. Margaret abandoned her position as regent when she married Archibald Douglas, earl of Angus, the next year. With Archibald, Margaret produced a daughter, Margaret Douglas, who will enter into this story later.

Henry VII attempted to marry his younger daughter, Mary, off to many different individuals but died before she was even betrothed. In 1514, the fifth year of Henry VIII's reign, Mary was wedded to Louis XII of France as part of a peace settlement. He was thirty years her senior and died three months after the wedding. Mary returned to England and resumed her courtship by Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk. They married in secret in March 1515 and publicly, after paying a hefty fine, in May. Their marriage was more fruitful. The couple had two surviving daughters, Frances and Eleanor. Frances was married to Henry Grey, later duke of Suffolk. This family, too, will reenter the story later.

Henry VIII and his Many Wives
In England, Henry VII passed leaving the throne to Henry VIII. The new Henry was young and rash. He married his brother's widow reluctantly and was haunted by fears that Catherine of Aragon had consummated her marriage to Arthur. Still, the couple produced one daughter, Mary, in 1516. Meanwhile, Henry began a long life of adultery and intrigue. Mary became little more than a political tool throughout his life, much to her and Catherine's dismay.

Henry VIII, king of England and Ireland

His first public affair was with Elizabeth Blount, the daughter of a knight. This affair proved fruitful in proving that Henry was, in fact, capable of producing a son. His illegitimate son, named Henry FitzRoy, was publicly recognized and created duke of Richmond and Somerset. He lived to the age of seventeen before dying of an unknown sickness.

Henry's affair with Mary Boleyn soon after received much more attention. Mary, too, was the daughter of a knight, though a more prestigious one. Henry and Mary's affair lasted for nearly a decade and may have produced up to two children, Catherine and Henry Carey, though both were never acknowledge and both accepted as children by William Carey, Mary's husband at the time. In any case, the most important aspect of Henry and Mary's affair was his introduction to Anne, Mary's sister, which singlehandedly destroyed the Tudor dynasty.

Anne Boleyn, queen consort of England and Ireland

Although a devout Catholic, Henry strongly sought an annulment from his wife, Catherine of Aragon, since she had failed to provide him with sons and he had ceased being attracted to her. The pope at the time, Clement VII, refused his requests leaving Henry with few options. Henry, therefore, broke ties with the Catholic Church, was excommunicated by the pope, divorced Catherine of Aragon, and married his long-time love interest. The couple married in January 1533 before receiving formal clearance of divorce from the new head of the Church of England, Thomas Cranmer. Anne was pregnant within days and when the baby was born in September of that year, it was a girl. For another two years the couple attempted to produce a son, but Henry had grown tired of Anne and her tricks and began an affair with another young courtier, Jane Seymour. Meanwhile, Catherine of Aragon died, leaving all taint of illegality behind him. Another stillbirth by Anne finalized Henry's plans to annul the marriage. He accused Anne of adultery and incest (with her brother) and treason. These charges required the death penalty. Anne was beheaded on 19 May 1536, leaving a daughter, Elizabeth.

Jane Seymour, queen consort of England and Ireland

Henry moved fast to marry Jane Seymour. Within months of their marriage, Jane conceived and nine months later a son was born and Jane was dead by childbed. The son, Edward, remained a sickly child his whole life and, although he outlived his father, he never got a chance to truly rule England.

Anne of Cleves, queen consort of England and Ireland

Henry was out another wife. He decided to arrange a marriage rather than pursue another courtier. He found himself attracted to a portrait of Anne of Cleves, a German princess, during his research. He had her sent to England and, when they met, he found her less-than-appealing. They were forced to wed but apparently Anne also lacked skills in the bedchamber as they never consummated their marriage. The marriage was annulled six months later with Anne being awarded a generous settlement.

Catherine Howard, queen consort of England and Ireland

Again he sought and found a wife in the beautiful Catherine Howard, an English noblewoman. Catherine came from a Catholic family and it is possible that her family manipulated her into catching the eye of Henry in order to restore a Catholic status to England. In any case, it failed. Catherine was pregnant by the time Henry's marriage to Anne was annulled. They were married within a week afterwards. Henry was no longer attractive, however, and the young Catherine became repulsed. She began an affair with another courtier. Through a two-year intrigue, it became known to Henry and he promptly brought charges of adultery and treason against his wife. He annulled his marriage with Catherine Howard in November 1541 and she was executed for a law passed ex post facto in February of the next year.

Catherine Parr, queen consort of England and Ireland

Henry waited a whole year before finding his final wife, Catherine Parr. Yet another noblewoman, he finally found someone with the ability to outlive him. Catherine never produced a child by the king but stayed with Henry to the end of his days and then silently passed into history, the last of Henry VIII's six wives.

Edward VI, king of England and Ireland

The Failure of the Tudor Dynasty
The last four monarchs of the Tudor dynasty all failed in their bid to continue the dynasty. Three were the surviving children of Henry VIII while the fourth was one of Henry VII's great-granddaughters. England fell to the regency of Edward VI which was headed first by his uncle, Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, but later by John Dudley, duke of Northumberland. During this time, the descendants of Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's younger sister, sought a dynastic union.  Mary's daughter, Frances, was too old to rule and already married, but her youngest daughter, Jane Grey, was just slightly older than Edward VI. The plan fell apart, however, when Edward Seymour was removed from the council and replaced with John Dudley. To make things worse, Edward VI was dying. John, seeing an opportunity, married his son, Guildford Dudley, to Jane, thereby placing his own son as, if nothing else, the head of a future English dynasty. Edward approved a writ disinheriting his sisters from the throne and soon after died in 1553. The stage was set for one of the shortest-lived royal coups in history.

Jane, queen of England and Ireland

Jane was proclaimed queen of England by the regency council but many quickly turned to Mary I, the eldest surviving daughter of Henry VIII. By the thirteenth day, Jane was arrested by Mary and placed in the Tower of London. She remained there for a year until her father with others staged the Wyatt Rebellion targeting Jane as their preferred royal candidate. With little other choice, Mary had her cousin beheaded, thereby stabilizing the English throne under her rule. The Suffolk claim to the English throne continued through first Jane's youngest sister and then through the line of her aunt, but never came to fruition. Fate had other plans for the English succession.

Mary I, queen of England and Ireland

Mary I ruled England for five years from 1553 until 1558. In that time Catholicism was resorted and Protestantism pushed out of the limelight. She was unwed and nearly 40-years-old at the time of her succession. She found a husband in her first cousin-once removed Prince Philip of Spain (king from 1556 to 1598). Philip, who was eleven years her junior, proved to be unloving, distant, and uninterested in his new wife. Philip, nonetheless, was crowned king of England & Ireland, the only king consort in the history of England. Even still, Philip returned to the continent and visited rarely. Her inability to conceive a child forced her to accept the inevitable and acknowledge Elizabeth as her heir. Mary died, Protestantism returned, and Philip found a "reasonable regret" that his wife had died.

Elizabeth I, queen of England and Ireland

Indeed, Philip actually saw opportunity. The younger and more attractive Elizabeth was approached soon after her coronation by a delegation from Spain seeking her hand for King Philip II. Elizabeth I rejected this request multiple times over the next few years and the relationship between England and Spain soured. Elizabeth eventually ceased seriously considering suitors entirely, leaving the entire Tudor succession in doubt.

The Solution
Legally, the line of Suffolk had the best claim to the throne after Elizabeth, but Elizabeth refused to validate that claim and even imprisoned the heiress when she wed another claimant from a parallel line without permission. The Catholic world supported Mary I, queen of Scots, the only child of James V, the son of Margaret Tudor. Mary solidified her claim by marrying Henry Stewart, the son of Margaret, the daughter of Margaret Tudor through her second marriage to Archibald Douglas. Thus Mary and Henry shared the first and second senior-most claim to the English throne. Scottish politics proved to be Mary's undoing when a Protestant consortium forced her to abdicate after she arranged the death of Henry Stewart. Her infant son, James VI, became king. Mary continued to pursue her claim to the English throne through intrigue while imprisoned in England. This frustrated Elizabeth I to the point that she had Mary executed. James VI, thereby, became the prime heir, a Protestant with a senior and double claim, and no ghosts in his past. Though the law of Henry VIII's denied his elder sister's line from inheriting the English throne, politics at the time of Elizabeth I's death in 1603 said otherwise. James's succession would bring about a new era in English politics, uniting England once and for all with its northern rival Scotland.

James VI & I, king of Scotland, England and Ireland

Conclusion
A long but interesting story of intrigue and plotting by the best known, but least dynastically important, English royal family. The Tudors act as a bridge between a two-hundred year span of dynasties that failed to leave a strong dynastic impact on English history. The Tudors passed their claims through an eldest daughter of the first monarch of the dynasty just as the Stuarts passed the claim through a younger daughter of the first monarch of the dynasty. It was not until the House of Hanover that things became straightforward again in English dynastic politics.

Tudoring Angevin Normans on Dynastology (England)

Today completes my series of fifty-one dynastology posts, begun long ago at the beginning of 2010. Through this series, I have presented dozens of different dynasties from around the world, terms that help describe dynastic politics, and theories that explain the importance of dynastology today. It has been fun, but the reason I am ending is because it has also become work. With me working nearly 35 hours a week, taking 6 units of classes, doing daily exercises, volunteering once a week at the SLV Museum, helping and going to church and youth group weekly, hosting a game night every Tuesday, and publishing a Zam Wesell comic each week, I just don't have the time any more to do these posts. They take up quite a bit of my time once a week and, while they are informative, I want to have a little bit of my free time back. I still will post a dynastology every once in a while when I'm in the mood, but the weekly posts cease after this.

Sorry for those of you who really enjoyed them. I still have plans for the posts. First and foremost, I want to go back and republish these posts on a Blogger blog I've set up. It still needs some work, but after doing this for a year, I feel I can probably go back and expand and edit the posts to be more consistent with my theories and terminology. Also, it will allow me to add more images to all the posts, which I don't think anyone will object to. Second, at some point I hope to publish a book on my theories. This is probably a very long-term goal but it's something I feel strongly about. If I ever go for a PhD, dynastology in some form or another will be my dissertation topic and the focus of my studies. Finally, if I ever get the opportunity to teach at a university, I want to teach a special interests class on this topic. I don't even need to be published to do it since there are already numerous books on the topic I could use. I've even done up a syllabus for a fictional class on dynastology (it is for my resume).

But, let's be honest, you are reading this post because you want to hear about dynastology, not my hopes and dreams for the future. Therefore, I am ending on the highest note I can think of: the triple dynasties of the Normans, Angevin-Plantagenets, and the Tudors. The three of them encompass over 500 years of English history, from the Norman Conquest to the personal union with Scotland. But the three also encompass a period of English history that, although separated into dynasties, is almost continuous with the same ruling styles and goals. I will explain more of this as we survey these three houses and their monarchs.

The House of Norman

The Normans were newcomers to Europe. They emerged as Christianized Vikings who settled down in northern France along the English Channel. The first such Norman dukes spread out from northern France and ended up conquering about a quarter of Gaul before settling down and plotting further expansions. England became their prime target, although Brittany, Aquitaine, and Gascony were all on their minds as well.

Harold II, last Anglo-Saxon king of EnglandThe political situation in England shattered following Cnut's Danish conquest of the early 1000s. While he reorganized the government and centralized it, he didn't live long enough to reestablish order. His son, Harald, took over England and ruled ruthlessly for a short time following Cnut's death. Harthacnut, Harald’s half-brother, followed after and restored some of the order. He also returned England to local rule after his death. Edward the Confessor, who lived at the Norman court for many years, became the first Anglo-Saxon king of England in two decades. His pacifist reign gave much power to the Anglo lords and decentralized the government once again. But England was united mostly and when Edward died in 1066, Harold II, his brother-in-law and former chief minister, came to rule the country. The problem: Edward had promised the throne to William the Bastard, duke of Normandy, during his stay at the Norman court, and Harold had promised to back that claim when he was shipwrecked and stranded in Normandy some years later. William was not happy when Harold took the English throne, and so came the Norman Conquest.

William the Conqueror, first Norman king of EnglandThe Norman Conquest was brief and decisive. Harold, weakened by a Norwegian invasion in the north, was unable to gather enough forces to defeat William in the south. He was killed at the Battle of Hastings. The Anglo Wittengot (an early parliament) elected the young Edgar to replace Harold, but William forced Edgar to step down almost immediately. William restructured the English state. He invited his conquering followers and their families to England, gave them large estates throughout the country, and slowly but surely pushed the Anglo-Saxons to the background. Within 50 years, there were almost no Anglo-Saxon lords left in England, although many of their titles had passed to Franco-Norman lords. The Doomsday Census recorded the entire population of England, including parts of southern Scotland and the Welsh marches. It changed the balance of the early House of Lords decisively in favor of the Normans. The House of Norman became firmly established as the ultimate rulers of England.

William II Rufus, king of EnglandWhen William died, a succession dispute arose over the next king. This would be the first of many that would infect the English monarchy over the next 500 years. William the Conqueror was succeeded by William Rufus ("the Red"), but his reign was in conflict constantly with his brother, Robert Curthose, who ruled in Normandy. When William was assassinated, his youngest brother, Henry I, became the next king. According to an agreement between Robert and William II, Robert should have inherited England following William's death.

Henry I, king of EnglandBut Henry was in England at the time and Robert was on crusade, so Henry seized the English crown and later invaded Normandy, taking it from his quarrelsome elder brother. In 1106, Henry defeated his brother and placed him in prison for the rest of his life. Henry annexed Normandy to the English crown in perpetuity. William Clito, Robert's son, never was able to reclaim either of his ancestral lands, but did receive the duchy of Flanders for year in return for services rendered to the French king. With Clito's death, the English monarchy was completely in Henry I's hands.

Stephen of Blois, king of EnglandSo, naturally, another problem had to develop. In 1120, the "White Ship" sank in the English Channel, killing Henry I's only legal son and two of his illegitimate sons. His daughter, Matilda, became his heir, but she would have become the first reigning queen of England. Instead, the English barons supported the cause of Stephen of Blois, a nephew of Henry I, son of Henry's sister Adele. Stephen was the count of Boulogne, the second son of Stephen, count of Blois. His elder brother, Theobald, had no desire to be the English king, so Stephen volunteered himself and usurped the throne from Matilda. His reign began peacefully enough, with only the typical Scottish and Welsh revolts to quell. By 1139, though, Matilda had landed in England and begun a period of English history known as The Anarchy. The clergy had deserted Stephen and the barons were split between him and Matilda.

Matilda, Lady of the EnglishStephen was imprisoned in 1141 and Matilda was the de facto Queen of England for a few brief months. But politics forced her to trade Stephen for her lieutenant, the Earl of Gloucester, and Stephen reclaimed the throne. Matilda was forced to escape England but a few years later, the two came to an agreement wherein Matilda's son, Henry, would inherit the throne following Stephen's death. Stephen's sons were passed over in the succession but one became the next count of Blois.

The House of Anjou, commonly known as the House of Plantagenet

Henry II, king of EnglandMatilda had married into the rival Angevin family, which fought constantly with the Normans during much of the 11th and 12th centuries. With the succession passing to Henry II, however, Anjou and Normandy were reconciled and placed under one ruler. The Angevin family was quite influential in French and Crusader politics. Henry II's grandfather, Fulk V, had fathered multiple lines of descent. His eldest, the counts of Anjou, became the kings of England. The next line became the counts of Maine. The younger two sons became kings of Jerusalem, with the youngest holding that line for a few generations. All-in-all, the House of Anjou was already prestigious before Henry II ever became the first Angevin king of England.

Richard the Lionheart, king of EnglandThe Angevins are probably the best-known kings of England. Henry's sons provide the background setting for the myths around Robin Hood, for example. Richard the Lionheart was Henry's immediate successor, although Henry had an elder son, also named Henry, who died just a month before the king's death. Richard was a rebellious prince and a greedy king, who sought harsh taxes on the English people to fight losing wars against Muslims in the Holy Land. He left the country under the authority of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, a woman famous for bringing concepts of French chivalry to England. Eleanor had also brought considerable lands to the English crown, with Aquitaine joining Anjou and Normandy.

John Lackland, king of EnglandWhen Richard died, John took the throne, being the elder and more experienced of the two possible heirs. But his young nephew, Arthur, who was the only son of his elder brother, Geoffrey, was proclaimed count of Anjou, Maine and Brittany. Philip II of France fought against John on behalf of Arthur but the young prince failed to gain any lands for long. But John failed to uphold his dues to his various French possessions and Philip declared all his French lands except Gascony forfeit. John immediately declared war on France and a long war ensued. Arthur was eventually captured and probably murdered by John in 1203. John also imprisoned his niece, Eleanor, sister of Arthur and heir to Brittany. After many years of high taxation and and conflict with France and the Catholic church, the barons rebelled against John. In 1215, English barons with their Welsh and Scottish allies surrounded John's forces and forced him to sign the Magna Carta (Great Charter) which established the modern House of Lords with 25 lords. John immediately contacted the pope and renounced the Magna Carta, claiming he signed it under duress. But the barons rebelled again and staged the First Barons' War, which saw Prince Louis of France (later Louis VIII) become King Louis of England in opposition to John. Two thirds of the barons, one third of the English countryside, and the king of Scotland all paid homage to Louis. John died soon after and the barons decided they'd rather have John's young son Henry III be king rather than the French heir.

Henry III, king of EnglandLouis renounced his claim the next year and is generally not regarded as king in English king lists. Henry III spent the first decade of his life under a regency that saw baronal power expand exponentially. He spent the remainder of his reign trying to figure out just how much power he had left. He failed completely to retake Normandy, Anjou and Aquitaine from France, and he was forced to call his first parliament in 1264 which saw almost the complete abolition of the English monarchy. The House of Commons was unofficially founded in this time when Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, expanded parliament to include local communities. Despite a rocky relationship with his son, Henry III was succeeded by Edward I without opposition, the first such transition of power since the Norman conquest.

Edward Longshanks, king of England and Lord Protector of ScotlandEdward Longshanks is yet another well-known English monarch thanks to his participation in the Scottish War of Independence. Edward spent the first decade of his reign ending independent Welsh rule and balancing the parliament-monarch relationship into something that would work for the next three hundred years. Next, he decided that the succession problem in Scotland provided a perfect opportunity to take over the northern kingdom. Scotland’s child queen, Margaret, had died on her voyage from Norway in 1285. That left the kingdom with plenty of claimants and no legal heirs. Edward was invited to help in the selection but instead claimed lordship over the kingdom. He supported the selection of John Balliol as king but the Scots rebelled and Edward deposed John in 1296. Scotland remained a rebellious province of England until 1308 when it finally asserted its full independence from England with the coronation of Robert the Bruce. Edward died a year earlier, however, leaving England in the hands of his incompetent son, Edward II.

Edward II, king of EnglandThe reign of Edward II was so disastrous that it hardly merits mention in this history. He began his reign losing all control of Scotland. He failed to subdue Welsh and Scottish revolts. His probable homosexuality forced his wife and children away from him, and when they returned, they deposed the king. Isabella, his wife, and her lover, Roger Mortimer, earl of March, returned to England in 1326 and forced Edward out of London. Edward was eventually captured, imprisoned, and forced to abdicate in 1327. His son, Edward III, replaced him on the throne with a regency established by Isabella and Mortimer. Edward II was secretly murdered a few months later, probably under the direction of the regents.

Edward III, king of England and pretender to FranceEdward III's regency lasted only as long as it had to. As soon as Edward was competent enough to manage the government himself, he tossed off his mom and her lover and had Mortimer thoroughly executed. Edward transformed the legislature into much the system we see today, although the House of Lords remained dominant. In 1338, Edward declared himself the true heir to the Kingdom of France due to conflicts he had with the country and his place in France's primogeniture line of succession (the French, meanwhile, decided to follow Salic Law). This claim prompted the 118-year Hundred Years War. Over the course of his reign, he reconquered much of Normandy, Aquitaine, Brittany, and the rest of France in a lightning campaign that returned England to the glories of William the Conqueror. His only major failure was dying before his grandson could reach maturity.

Richard II, king of EnglandRichard II was the son of Edward the Black Prince of Wales. Edward had predeceased his father while on campaign in France and Richard was too young to rule on his own. A council of regents was selected because otherwise, his uncle John of Gaunt would have been the only logical regent. Gaunt still controlled the government for much of Richard's early reign. Richard's personal rule was generally peaceful but the final two years undid everything. He took revenge on some of his former regents, having many executed, and his most disastrous action was disinheriting Gaunt's son, Henry, from the throne in 1399. Henry invaded England later that year and deposed Richard II, crowning himself Henry IV instead. Richard died in captivity the following year under suspicious circumstances.

Henry IV Bolingbroke, king of EnglandHenry IV was the first in a line of kings that would be known as theHouse of Lancaster. They were in reality just the line of Edward III's third son, John of Gaunt. His second son, Lionel of Antwerp, had died many years earlier but survived through a grandson, Edmund Mortimer, and his sister, Anne. This line stayed in the background for many years but would reemerge. Most of Henry's reign was spent quelling rebellions, including that of an upstart prince in Wales and a rebellion led by Henry's son. He also spent considerable time trying to continue the fight in France, where things had stalemated since Richard's reign. His son, Henry V, succeeded him.

Henry V, king of England and FranceHenry V was the only king of England that could actually claim to be king of France as well. His short ten-year reign saw almost all victories in the war against France. In 1417, the Treaty of Troyes saw Henry V become the heir and regent of France, with the king marrying Catherine of Valois, the daughter of the French king. Unfortunately, Henry V died two months before the French king, leaving the future of both England and France in the hands of an infant, Henry VI.

Henry VI, king of England and FranceHenry VI, despite his age, was crowned king of France at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 1431. This was done in opposition to Charles VII, who was crowned two years earlier at Rheims Cathedral. Joan of Arc had made significant military advances against France and, although Henry VI was the legal king of France, the French were beginning to rally around Charles VII. Internal intrigue began to infect the House of Lancaster during this time: fights between the earls of Somerset, illegitimate descendants of John of Gaunt, and the dukes of York, descendants of Edward III's fourth son, came to the forefront of politics. Henry's favoritism toward his Somerset cousins was a bad mistake that ultimately cost England France. Because of these politics, by 1453 the Hundred Years War was over and Calais remained the only French possession in English hands. Henry fell into insanity and York took over the government. Despite Henry's return to sanity, York had convinced many that his claim to the throne was stronger than Henry's. Richard of York, you see, was the son of Anne Mortimer, descended from the line of Edward III's second son Lionel of Antwerp. Richard was killed in 1460, but his son, Edward, took on the cause and deposed Henry VI in 1461.

Edward VI, king of EnglandEdward IV ruled an England in chaos for nine years. In 1470, the forces of Henry VI briefly kicked Edward IV off the throne and reclaimed the country for Lancaster, but it was short-lived. Henry VI was killed and Edward IV returned to power. When Edward reclaimed the throne in 1470, the House of York returned to business as usual. Things went smoothly until 1483 when Edward IV fell fatally ill and left the country in the hands of his ambitious brother, Richard III.

Richard III, king of EnglandTechnically, Edward V followed Edward IV to the throne. Edward V, though, was a minor and was sent to the Tower of London soon after he became king and was never seen again. His uncle, Richard III, took the government upon himself, but the people of England did not trust Richard and saw him as a murderer and liar. In 1485, a rebellion began led by Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond. At the Battle of Bosworth Field, Richard III died in open combat and Henry took the crown as Henry VII.

The House of Tudor

So, we come to the last dynasty of this trilogy. How exactly is the House of Tudor part of the overarching Norman-Angevin-Tudor dynasty? Quite simply, it is because Henry VII was more Angevin than Tudor. His wife, Elizabeth of York, was Angevin, and so all his children were 1/2 Angevin. His mother was a Beaufort, the daughter of John Beaufort, duke of Somerset, of the illegitimate line of John of Gaunt. Thus he was 1/2 Angevin. And what of his father, Edmund Tudor? Edmund was the result of a illegal liaison between Owen Tudor, a Welsh soldier, and Catherine of Valois, widow of Henry V of England and one-time regent of Henry VI. Thus, Henry VII was 1/2 Angevin and 1/4 French royalty. That makes Henry VIII 3/4 Angevin and 1/8 French royalty. So, you see, although the male-line of the Tudors descends from a Welsh soldier, all the female lines are royalty supreme. Did I forget to mention that Edmund Tudor's father may have actually been another duke of Somerset, thus making Edmund Tudor an Angevin, rather than Tudor, instead? Well, that is a strong possibility as well since Catherine of Valois had a number of possible lovers at that time. Not the best formula for a king, but it definitely worked for the Tudors.

Henry VII Tudor, king of EnglandAnd so Henry VII set off to establish his dynasty. He made sure that his mother's line was emphasized so that he would be seen as the legitimate English monarch in spite of his marriage to Elizabeth of York. And he had to use this twice because he had to fight in 1487 against armies supporting Lambert Simnel, a boy claiming to be a Yorkist heir. Simnel was pardoned and became a servant in the royal kitchens. Another upstart in 1490, though, was less lucky. Perkin Warbeck also claimed to be a Yorkist heir and persuaded people in France and Scotland to invade England for his cause. But Henry captured the upstart in 1497 and had the bloke executed. Two years later, Henry executed the last remaining true Yorkist heir, the Earl of Warwick, and the male line of the Angevin family ended at last. The remainder of Henry's reign went well, although he lost his heir, Arthur, in 1502. Henry died in 1509 and Henry VIII took over.

Henry VIII, king of EnglandHenry VIII is famous for many things, but his wives usually take the cake. Henry married his brother's widow Catherine of Aragon, sister of Queen Juana of Castile. Despite stereotypes, Henry was actually a very well-built and attractive king until his later years and he stayed loyal to Catherine for more than 20 years before temptation drove him away. He also remained a Catholic even after he broke away from the church, even persecuting Calvinists and Lutherans. Henry very hesitantly broke with the Catholic Church in 1532, using the break mostly to nationalize church property and make divorce a state issue. He divorced Catherine and married Anne Boleyn, the sister of his former mistress Mary Boleyn. When Anne proved incapable of producing a male heir (she birthed Elizabeth soon after their marriage), Henry waited until Catherine of Aragon had died and then had Anne executed as a traitor. The same year, Henry married Jane Seymour who died in childbirth giving Henry his only surviving son, Edward. At the same time, Henry annexed Wales to England permanently, a state in which Wales still exists today. Henry married Anne of Cleves by proxy soon after Jane's death, but when Anne arrived he had the marriage annulled since Anne didn't look much like her portrait. In 1540, Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, but Catherine soon after had an affair with another courtier and Henry had her executed two years later. His last wife, Catherine Parr, was a liberal church reformer who cheated death only by outliving her husband. Henry VIII died in 1547, having been reconciled to his two daughters not long before his departure.

Edward VI, king of EnglandEdward VI, Henry's son, never truly ruled England. He came to the throne as a child and died a teenager, still under a regency. The regency was first headed by his uncle, Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, but Seymour was eventually deposed and replaced by John Dudley, duke of Northumberland. England remained in turmoil over the reformation crisis Henry VIII had caused. The Church of England had yet to be standardized and organized and Edward's regents took it upon themselves to do so. Thomas Cramer published the Book of Common Prayer during Edward's reign, the only real lasting legacy of this short time period. Edward died in 1553, leaving the succession, under coercion, to his cousin Jane Grey, a Protestant descendant of his great aunt.

"Bloody" Mary I, queen regnant of EnglandJane Grey's reign lasted no more than thirteen days. She became queen upon Edward's death, but Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, stormed into London and imprisoned the teenage queenling. Mary's reign was marked with Catholic reprisals against England's move toward Protestantism. Anyone who was intelligent feigned Catholicism during her reign, but some, such as Cramer, still suffered execution under her orders. Mary had married the Catholic king of Spain, Philip II, who became England's only King Regent. Philip, however, was disinterested in English politics and thus rarely visited England. Mary's biggest failure, although rarely remembered, was losing Calais at last to the French, the last fragment of an empire that once claimed the throne of France. Mary died in 1558, only five years into her reign, leaving England in the hands of its last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I.

Elizabeth I "the Virgin Queen" of EnglandElizabeth I needs no introduction. She is as famous as any monarch in English history, and for good reason. Over the course of her forty-five year reign, she established the Church of England as the ultimate religious authority in England. She restored the order that had fallen apart under her father by rebuilding parliament into a system that could survive royal successions and decide matters of state. She also began the most famous period of the English Renaissance by supporting theatre, arts, and culture throughout her kingdom. By the 1580s, she was pursuing imperial expansion beyond the seas toward the New World, rather than focusing on France as her predecessors all had. Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe during her reign. Shakespeare wrote many of his plays for her court. Raleigh established the first short-lived colony in Virginia (named after Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen). Her death in 1603 ended an era established in 1066 by William the Conqueror. The throne passed to the Stuarts of the Kingdom of Scotland, and English history would never be the same again.

By the reign of Elizabeth I, England had come full circle. In 1066, William had conquered England for his native land of Normandy. By 1603, England was the powerbase with no lands left in France but sights set on another continent entirely. English was the language of the state, not French. The Catholic Church had left England while in 1066 England was Catholic to its core. The Norman-Angevin-Tudor progression is atypical of other European dynasties which saw consolidation during this time but not multiple generations of civil and succession strife. Yet somehow England survived it all and the chaos that began the era ended with a single unified state that encompassed not only England, but Wales and Ireland as well. This period of English history is a testament to the study of dynastology and everything dynasties can achieve over time.

Conclusion

With that I end my study of dynasties. Thank you for spending your time reading all of these posts. I know this last one was probably my longest, but I also enjoyed writing it a lot. Please check back for future posts as I may write some more when my mind wanders. Have a Happy New Year and God Bless!