Tudor. The name conjures images of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, titans of the British royal family. But how did this famous family seize the crown, what were its rulers like, and why did the dynasty end? Discover the answers to all these questions in more in All About History Book of Tudors.
Welcome to ALL ABOUT HISTORY Book of the TUDORS
All About History: Book of Tudors
Origins of a dynasty • Trace back the lineage that sparked the Wars of the Roses
Battle for the throne • The Tudor reign began with blood, as two houses struggled for power
Henry VI and the Wars of the Roses • In war, blood is power, blood is family, blood is everything. England’s Wars of the Roses split a country in two and saw the rise and fall of no fewer than four monarchs
Battle for the throne • The key players in the bloody quest for ultimate power
The many Wars of the Roses • 30 years of conflict mapped out on a bloody land
Wars of the Roses in Shakespeare and beyond • How has literature and film portrayed the events?
The ultimate guide to England’s Game of Thrones • Follow our comprehensive timeline of the key events that decided the outcome in the Wars of the Roses
Battle of Towton • How one of the bloodiest battles in English history was fought amidst the gruesome conflict we know as the Wars of the Roses
Battle of Tewkesbury • The bloody showdown between the House of York and House of Lancaster is seen as one of the decisive battles of the Wars of the Roses
Lancastrian army
Yorkist army
Dawn of the Tudors • During the Wars of the Roses, many vied to wear the crown of England, but an unlikely claimant silenced the battle drums to become king
The Wars of the Roses • The corrupt court of weak Henry VI, dominated by his favourite the Duke of Somerset and the queen, led disaffected nobles to fight for change
A medieval knight • With battles decided by fierce close-quarters fighting, it was important for a knight to have protection from head to toe
Who was the better king? • They shared a battlefield at Bosworth and the crown of England, and despite long and short reigns, they can be compared
Richard’s wounds • Researchers identified at least 11 injuries on the recently discovered king’s skeleton. Some may have been inflicted after death to abuse the body
The truth behind the roses
The key figures • Meet the extraordinary people who hold the key to our fascination with the Tudor period
Henry VII • The king who won his crown through battle and had to fight throughout his reign to keep it, and in doing so established the mighty Tudor dynasty
Landmarks of Henry’s lifetime
The Tudor spy network
Timeline
Prince Arthur • The tragic story of Henry Tudor’s first‑born son, the boy who would have been king
The nearly-monarchs
Tudor rebellions
Timeline
Henry VIII • In pursuing dreams of victory in France, Henry threw England into decades of war and the chaos of a Europe in conflict
Debacle at Gascony
Victory at Flodden Field
Father of the Royal Navy
Battle of the Spurs
The Siege of Boulogne
The Rough Wooing
Thomas Cromwell • How a member of the poor working class became one of England’s most important and ruthlessly political statesmen
Five more controversial advisors
Sweating sickness kills his family
Timeline
The six wives of Henry VIII • The tales of love, ambition and tragedy of the women whose lives changed forever when they became the subjects of Henry VIII’s affections
The unconfirmed mistresses
Divorced: Catherine of Aragon • The eternal queen who was stripped of...
