Green Textbook - Invasion, Plague and Murder

• Henry VII was the King of England and Wales.

  In 1485, when he was simply Henry Tudor, he had beaten King Richard III in the Battle of Bosworth Field, near Leicester. Richard was killed and Henry Tudor became the new king - Henry VII
• Canons first appeared in Britain in the 1300s
• Henry was a member of the Lancaster family. The Lancaster's bitter rivals were the members of the York family, who were also keen to rule the country. In 1486, Henry married a member of the rival family - Elizabeth of York.
• Henry VII did lots of things:

  • He married a rival
  • He made sure he had the best weapons
  • He banned private armies
  • He forced people to give him money
  • He made deals with other countries
  • He made sure everyone knew he was king
• When Henry VII died in 1509, His son Henry VIII became king.
• Henry VIII's father, Henry VII, was unpopular towards the end of his reign because he taxed people heavily.

  When he died, and Henry VIII became in 1509, there were wild celebrations.
• Henry VIII wanted to become known as a 'super king'.

  However he didn't achieve this aim. Instead he was best known for the number of wives he had and the significant religious changes he made.
• Henry VIII followed the Roman Catholic religion. He visited church at least three times a day and even wrote a book supporting the Pope. Henry was such a good Catholic that in 1521, the Pope rewarded him with the title Fidei Defender, which means Defender of the Faith.
• By 1533, Henry VIII had fallen out with the Pope, who excommunicated him, meaning he was expelled from the Catholic Church.
• The marriage between King Henry VIII's brother, Arthur, and Princess Catherine meant friendship between England and Spain. However Arthur died only a year after the marriage. Henry VII then arranged for his second son, Henry VIII, to marry her. This meant that the friendship between England and Spain was kept. The wedding took place in 1509, the same year Henry VII died. Seventeen year old Henry became King Henry VIII, and Catherine of Aragon was his first queen.
• Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon were happily married for nearly 20 years.
• Henry VIII desperately wanted a son. Catherine gave birth to six children, but only one girl called Mary (born in 1516), survived.
• By 1527, Henry VIII thought Catherine was too old to have any more children. Henry wanted to divorce her.

  He'd fallen in love with another woman too - Anne Boleyn.
• The Pope was the only man who could give Henry VII the divorce he wanted, but he refused.

  Henry ignored the Pope and gave himself a new title: Head of Church in England. The Pope was no longer in charge of the Church.

  In April 1533, Henry gave himself the divorce he desired. Henry had already married Anne Boleyn in secret in January that year.

  Anne Boleyn was already pregnant with a girl when Henry VIII married her. Henry VIII was very disappointed.
• Some of the monks in England didn't support Henry's new Church of England. They supported the Pope. So, Henry closed down all the monasteries and their land was sold. The monasteries' treasures were seized and sold, and Henry VII made a good profit.

  In 1538, Henry VIII was officially excommunicated by the Catholic Church.
• The Pope no longer controlled the English Church - Henry did all its wealth too. To this day, the Head of Church of England is the king or queen.

  Despite this change of Church leader and the closing of monasteries, Henry VIII only really made one other major religious change. From 1538, he ordered that every church must have an English copy of the Bible.
• Henry VIII's changes to the Church are known as the English Reformation because Henry VIII was reforming (another word for changing.

  When he closed down monasteries, it was known as the Dissolution of the monasteries. Dissolution is another word for breaking up.
• Henry VIII had more wives than any other British king.
• Henry VIII had six wives.

  • Wife no. 1:

  Catherine of Aragon she had one daughter named Mary. Henry VIII divorced her.

  • Wife no. 2:

  Anne Boleyn She miscarried a baby boy in 1536.

  Henry VIII had her beheaded in 1536.

  • Wife no. 3:

  Jane Seymour She had a son, Edward. Jane died of infection a few days after the birth

  • Wife no. 4:

  Anne of Cleves

  Henry VIII divorced her.

  • Wife no. 5:

  Catherine Howard

  Henry VIII found out she had several boyfriends before him .

  She was executed

  • Wife no. 6:

  Katherine Parr

  They were married till Henry VIII's death in 1547
• Despite Henry VIII's six marriages he was only left with three children when he died on 28 January 1547.

  His only son Edward became king when he died, he was only nine years old.
• Henry VIII believed in Catholic Faith. But his son Edward believed deeply in Protestant faith, and ordered people to worship as Protestants.
• What was Edward VI like?


  • sickly child
  • small for his age, short sighted
  • lively and polite
  • light red hair and grey eyes
  • loved sports and hunting
  • by the age of 15 he was dying of a lung disease called tuberculosis
• Edward died on 6 July 1553. He had no children, so he named his Protestant cousin Lady Jane Grey as the new queen. She only ruled for nine days, then Edward's older half-sister Mary became the new queen. Mary was a deeply religious Catholic.
• Mary was Henry VIII's eldest child. When she became queen in 1553, Mary was unmarried, 37 years old and a strict Catholic.
• Soon after becoming queen, Mary married the Catholic King Philip of Spain. People thought this might mean that England could come under Spanish control if Philip began interfering in the running of the country.

  In 1554, a group of rich nobles led by Thomas Wyatt organised a rebellion. Their plan was to make Elizabeth, Mary's younger sister the queen. However, the Wyatt Rebellion failed and Wyatt (and other leaders) were executed.
• As soon as Mary was crowned she started to undo all the changes her father and brother made:

  • England was made a Catholic country
  • The Pope controlled religion again
  • Churches were redecorated
  • Married priests were made to leave their wives
  • Church services and prayer books were in Latin once more
• During Mary's reign, people who wouldn't declare they were Catholic or accept the Pope as God's leader on earth were sent to prison and often tortured. If they still refused, they might be burned alive.
• Heresy is a belief that is against the official religious belief in the country at the time.
• Queen Mary died in November 1558, aged 42, possibly of cancer. She didn't have any children. with no child to inherit her throne, she was succeeded by her half-sister, Elizabeth.