Centralised monarchy

The first Tudor king Henry VII starts turning the feudal state into a centralised monarchy. He promotes trade and the wool industry. To secure international alliances and peace, he marries his son and daughter to members of the royal houses of Spain and Scotland.

Henry VIII

His son Henry VIII reigns autocratically for 48 years.

Thomas More

Henry VIII’s Chancellor, Archbishop Wolsey, is dismissed because he fails to persuade the Pope to annul Henry’s marriage to Katharine of Aragon. The new Chancellor is Sir Thomas More.

Supreme Head of the English

Henry proclaims himself Supreme Head of the English (Anglican) Church (the “break from Rome”).

Archbishop Cranmer decrees his divorce and marries him to Anne Boleyn. The Reformation Parliament sits for seven years, abolishes monasteries, confiscates their property and confirms Henry’s title in the Act of Supremacy. Sir Thomas More, Bishop John Fisher and several monks are executed for refusing to accept the Act of Supremacy.

Act of Uniformity

The Act of Uniformity makes the Book of Common Prayer compulsory throughout England.

Bloody Mary

Henry VIII’s Catholic daughter Mary (Bloody Mary) succeeds Edward.

She re-establishes Catholicism in England, persecutes and executes Protestants and marries the Catholic king of Spain Philip II. She loses Calais in a disastrous war with France.

Elizabeth I

Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, becomes queen as Elizabeth I.

the Golden Age

The forty-five year reign of Queen Elizabeth is termed “the Golden Age”.

In religion, the Queen restores Anglicanism and enforces the 39 Articles of Faith and the Act of Uniformity.

Catholicism is tolerated until Catholics start to plot in support of Mary Stuart, the Catholic queen of Scotland who left her country and put herself under Elizabeth’s protection in England.

Puritans criticise the Queen’s bland policies in matters of religion.

Sir John Hawkins

The English “seadog” Sir John Hawkins starts the slave trade. Carrying slaves to the New World, he earns huge profits and starts the ‘triangular trade’.

Sir Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake, also a daring “seadog”, circumnavigates the globe.

Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh makes three expeditions to the New World and names a large region “Virginia” in honour of his “Virgin Queen”.

Mary Stuart to the scaffold

Mary Stuart is found to be involved in a Catholic plot and is sent to the scaffold.

Attempts to invade England

Resenting British rivalry at sea, Philip II of Spain attempts to invade England; however, his huge fleet (the Invincible Armada) is dispersed by storms. England is safe.

Catholic riots

Catholic riots in Ireland are repressed with widespread slaughter. The lands of the insurgents are given to English and Scottish veterans and to the Queen’s favourites.

New Poor Law Act

The New Poor Law Act provides various kinds of relief for the poor. Necessary funds are raised by levying a tax on the inhabitants of the parishes administering such aid.