The Tudor Dynasty - written by Iren Plastinina

Introduction

In this essay I will write about the Tudor Dynasty, with the emphasis on the monarchs, but will also include important members of the family and other persons of significance, hereunder people close to the Tudors, individuals that had a central place in history within the reign of this family. Included in the paper will also be contemporary musicians, painters, writers, poets and the Tudor architecture that is still popular today. A natural part of the essay will also be an overview of achievements in the society that are important events even today. However, I will introduce the topic with a short historic view of the English Renaissance, what it was, and how it differed from the Italian Renaissance.

The English Renaissance

The word Renaissance means “rebirth”  and the English period  existed from the early 16^th century to the early 17^th century and was a cultural and artistic development. It has been associated with the Pan-English Renaissance, and most historians believe that it initiated in Tuscany, Italy. This era is also called “the age of Shakespeare” and/or ”The Elizabethan era”.  The Renaissance entered England just after the War of the Roses had ended, which made it possible for the English to think of art and extravagance instead of a bloody war. However, the English version of the Renaissance differed from the Italian in several ways. The principal art forms of the English Renaissance were literature and music. The visual arts, like painting, were less important, whereas in Italy the visual art forms had a principal role. The English period was initiated in the 1520s and lasted until around 1620, but in Italy, the Renaissance supposedly began with Dante, Petrarch, and Giotto in the early 14^th century. Nevertheless, England and Italy also had similar aspects, like a specific musical aesthetic. To explain this a little further, Italy was the musical centre of Europe in the late 16^th century and one of the principal structures which materialized itself from the musical inventiveness was the madrigal. An English publisher, Nicholas Younge (1560-1619), published a collection of Italian madrigals that had been “Angliesized” in England in 1588, the “Musica transalpina”. The madrigals were immediately adapted to the local aesthetics. It has been claimed that English poetry was precisely in the right phase of development for this transplantation to take place[1].

Henry VII

Henry VII was the first of the Tudor dynasty and won England’s throne in the battle at Bosworth, which was the last great battle in The War of the Roses. He defeated and killed Richard III, the last of the Plantagenet kings. Henry, born 28 January 1457, was the son of Edmund Tudor and Lady Margaret Beaufort. His father Edmund, was the half-brother of Henry VI and born of an illicit union between Queen Katherine of Valois (widow after Henry V) and Owen Tudor  (her Welch clerk of the Wardrobe). Here the historians do not agree. Some say she was secretly married to Owen Tudor, others say she was his mistress and that her children with Tudor were illegitimate. Nevertheless, they had four children and the two oldest was given Earldoms by Henry VI. Edmund, Henry VII’s father, got the Earldom of Richmond and Jasper, his brother, the Earldom of Pembroke. They, in return, became supporters of the House of Lancaster. Henry VI was the last king of the Lancastrian dynasty.

Henry VII’s mother, Lady Margaret, from whom he copied his doubtful claim to the English throne, was intelligent and learned. She was probably the heir of John of Gaunt, after the extinction of Henry V’s line. The coronation of Henry VII was held in Westminster Abbey 30^th October 1485 and in 1487 he married Elizabeth of York, whom he had been wowing for some time. This marriage was also an attempt to settle the disputes between the two Houses. He also changed the Tudor rose, which was red, to a white and red rose, to signal that the two Houses now was one through his marriage to Elizabeth, who also was the daughter of Edward IV.  They had seven children, but only four survived childhood, Arthur, Margaret, Henry, and Mary.

Henry succeeded in crushing the independence of the nobility with a policy of forced loans and fines. To secure his dynasty he married his eldest son Arthur to Catharine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand II and Isabella of Spain, his daughter Margaret to James IV of Scotland, his youngest daughter, Mary, to Louis XII of France. After Arthur’s death in 1502, an agreement was made in which Catharine married Arthur’s brother Henry. Henry VII policy was to maintain peace and create economic prosperity and he succeeded in many ways.

Under his reign, in 1492, Columbus discovers The Americas, John Cabot sails west from Bristol and finds New-found-land, and claimed it for England. In addition, many English claims were made in the Americas in his time. In 1503, his wife Elizabeth dies, only a year after their son Arthur died, and Henry follow them in 1509 at the age of 52. Henry restored England’s trading position in the world, which was badly damaged after The War of the Roses. He secured the dynasty by for example forbidding anyone, except himself, to keep armed men. The king’s council “The Court of Chamber”, he used for dealing with the lawless nobles who roamed the country robbing and stealing, as local justice had broken down under the war. Here fines were given as punishment, after Henrys orders, because this would benefit the Crown since he aimed for a financially independent one.

He created new nobility among the merchants and gentlemen farmers, who knew that their continued prosperity depended on the Crown. The only matter he gladly spent money on was the building of new ships for the merchant fleet. He early understood that England’s future wealth would be in international trading. When he died, he left his son, Henry VIII with a fortune of about £ 2 million, which was enormous in those days. His relation to today’s royalty in England is being the 13^th great grandfather to Elizabeth [2].                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Henry VIII

Henry VIII, born 28^th June 1491, became the heir to England’s throne when his older brother Arthur died. At seventeen he was crowned as the regent of England and the lord of Ireland, when his father, Henry VII died in 1509. He was intelligent and confident, like most Tudors, and he was well educated in theology, but he could also be cruel and extremely self-willed. In his youth he was an excellent sportsman and also an accomplished musician. However, he is mostly known for his six marriages and the English Reformation. Henry’s obsession in getting male heirs lead to the six marriages and the English Reformation. Thomas Cromwell, his Lord Chancellor, helped, argued and persuaded him into taking the choices he did. This was especially so in the case of Anne Boleyn, who made Cromwell her enemy, and when he understood the King was growing tired of her, he collected “evidence” and “witnesses” saying that she had committed adultery and incest with her own brother. When Catherine of Aragon failed to give him a male heir, he wanted a divorce or better yet an annulment of the marriage. The Pope denied him this, and in anger, because he did not get his way, he made a clean break with the Catholic Church and the Pope, forming his own Church of England with himself as the Supreme Head.

He annulled the marriage with Catherine and declared, officially, that Mary, their child, was a bastard. Mary was deprived of everything and expelled from court, and she was not allowed to see her mother. His second marriage to Anne Boleyn also gave him a female heir, Elizabeth. When Anne had a miscarriage of a male child, her faith was set. She was beheaded as an adulteress. A short while after, he married Jane Seymour, who actually gave him a son, Edward VI, but unfortunately Jane died. Edward was a fragile child. Once again Henry, this time with the help of Cromwell, found himself a new wife, Anne of Cleves, but divorced her within a year. The marriage was disastrous, and Henry, who had only seen a painted picture of Anne, could not bring himself to like her, when she came to England. The next wife, Catherine Howard, had good looks, but not a good behaviour, she was caught in the arms of her lover. Henry was devastated, and he sent her to the Tower and had her executed, like her first cousin, Anne Boleyn. The last wife, Catherine Parr, brought peace to Henry’s mind, and she also survived him.

Even though he was mainly motivated by dynastic and personal concerns, and despite never really abandoning the Roman Catholic Church, Henry ensured that the greatest act of his reign would be the most radical of any English monarch. His break with Rome in the early 1530s had enormous importance for the course of English history beyond the Tudor dynasty. He made possible the change of England into a powerful nation, through his confiscation of economic and political power from the church, mainly through the capture of monastic property and possessions. He also promoted humanist learning even though he was responsible for the deaths of several outstanding English humanists, among them was Thomas Moore. 

In the late 1530s he also had Cromwell executed. Henry’s most central aim, in his reign, was to have influence in international politics. To reach his goal he first allied himself with Spain, when this was unsuccessful, he changed sides, and became a friend to the French, however this also did not give Henry what he wanted, so he changed back to Spain. He was bitterly disappointed of this. He also spent much money maintaining a glorious court, and on wars where England had nothing or little to gain, so his father’s money was soon gone. Gold and silver from England’s new colonies in America added to the economic inflation, and Henry found himself in the midst of a serious financial crisis, he needed money. He found a solution by reducing the amount of silver used in coins, and this gave immediate profits, but rapidly led to a rise in prices. English coinage was reduced to a seventh of its value within 25 years. Henry VIII died in 1547[3] [4].

Edward VI

Edward VI was a highly intelligent child and a quick learner. Latin, Greek, and French he soon spoke fluently. He loved music, like his forefathers, and played the lute. He was, as mentioned before, Henry VIII only legitimate son with his wife, Jane Seymour, and when Henry died he was his heir, but he was only nine years old so his father , in his will, arranged for a Council of Regency to reign until he was grown. However, his maternal uncle, a very ambitious man, the Duke of Somerset, took control. Edward’s uncle was a devoted Protestant. The use of English was obligatory in church services by the introduction of the Book of Common Prayer. Henry VIII laws were revoked and this caused a rebellion in Cornwall that soon was crushed. Somerset also tried to get hold of the 6 year old Mary, Queen of Scots, that Edward had been betrothed to in his infancy, but the Scots smuggled her to France where she was married to the Dauphin Francis, son of King Henry II of France. Earlier, Mary’s mother was forced to agree to the engagement of the two children, by Henry VIII.

The young King seemed to have been a dedicated Protestant and was intensely interested in theology.

However, when the young King felt he was getting too little money to spend from his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, he complained to his other uncle, the Lord Admiral, Thomas Seymour, the brother of The Duke of Somerset. Thomas Seymour was also a very ambitious man and had married Catherine Parr very shortly after King Henry VIII death, and he and his nephew conspired against the Duke of Somerset, who was

forced to let his own brother be executed for high treason. However, the Duke was thrown out of office in 1549 by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick. He became the Duke of Northumberland later in 1551. The Duke of Somerset was executed like his brother before him, for high treason. The young King was now at the mercy of yet another ruthless man, who ingratiated himself with the vulnerable King and obtained a dominating authority over him.

Edward disapproved of his sister Mary’s almost fanatically Catholic belief and at the age of ten he tried to stop her from practising, but her powerful cousin, the King of Spain, Charles V, and the Holy Emperor threatened England with war, in support of Mary. For a short while Mary was victorious, but it did not last long. Not long after this incident, she was deprived of the mass, but continued practising in secret.                                                                                                          

In 1952, under his reign, a new Book of Prayer was introduced to make sure that all churches followed the new Protestant religion This was unpopular with the people, and it caused trouble. In April 1552, Edward fell ill with a combination of measles and smallpox, and later in the spring he showed signs of  tuberculosis. By June, it became obvious that he  would not survive. Northumberland, fearing for his position and political life under Edward’s heir the fanatically Catholic Mary, persuaded the King to disinherit his sisters in favour of his cousin, Lady Jane Grey. Edward VI  died in severe pain on January 6^th 1553, but this was kept a secret until 10^th June, to give Northumberland time to bring his plans to  completion  and establish his daughter-in-law on the English throne. The sixteen year old Edward was not buried until August 8^th[5].

Jane I

She was the daughter of Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset and Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk. Jane’s claim to the throne was through her grandmother, Mary Tudor, the younger sister of Henry VIII. After the death of her first husband, the King of France, Mary fell in love with, and married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, ennobled by Henry VIII. Jane, at the age of fifteen was married off to  Northumberland’s son,

Guilford Dudley, a boy at eighteen and very immature. Jane, however, very reluctantly excepted the throne of England July 9^th 1553. She proved to be as wilful as any Tudor before her, and denied to make her husband King.

Rebellion broke loose in favour of Mary, Henry VIII’s eldest child. Queen Jane’s army was defeated and Northumberland, Jane, and her husband Guilford were taken to the Tower. At first Mary wan inclined to be merciful to the young couple, but a rebellion lead by Thomas Wyatt and Jane’s father, Suffolk, sealed their destiny and they were executed. Queen Jane I was only queen for 9 days and for that she paid with her life. She was buried next to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, Henry VIII’s two wives that were executed in the Tower of London[6].

Mary I

Queen Mary I, born 18^th February 1516, was the only surviving child of Catherine of Aragon and the eldest child of Henry VIII. After the cruel way she was treated by her father, first being his pride and joy, then being declared a bastard in public, in addition being denied seeing her mother, not even attending her funeral, she was determined to revenge her mother. Her nick name became “Bloody Mary”. As a fanatic Catholic, probably caused by the attempts to deprive her of it, she was resolute to restore England to its “old religion”. She also married the heir to the Spanish throne, Prince Philip, in 1554. Her husband was one reason to the beheading of Jane and her husband. The Spanish were reluctant about sending their Prince and heir to England as long they were alive, because the Spanish knew this marriage was very unpopular among the English. Rebellion rose lead by Thomas Wyatt, but this was quickly put down.

Mary was deeply in love with her husband, but he only married her for political reasons. She was also much older than him. After some time Mary believed she was pregnant, but it turned out to be a phantom pregnancy , and she was humiliated. Philip left shortly after to lead his army in France, leaving Mary depressed, yearning for his return. In 1555, Mary re-enacted the statute of the heretico comburendo, allowing her to burn heretics, since Catholics believe that burning cleanses the soul. The prosecution and burning of Protestants made her hated in England. One of her first victim was the man who annulled her parent’s marriage, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmere. Her half-sister Elizabeth, was put under house-arrest in the Tower of London. Trying to survive, Elizabeth pretended to be interested in Catholicism, but her sister did not believe her to be sincere. Philip, however, probably saved Elizabeth’s life, when he persuaded his wife in naming Elizabeth as her successor and marry her off to a Spanish aristocrat Elizabeth refused the whole idea of marriage, and Mary could not force her to do so with good conscience.

Again Mary thought she was pregnant, but it turned out to be a tumour, and again Philip left the country, leaving his seriously ill wife alone. Mary died on 17^th November 1558, possibly 

of cancer. Her dying wish was to be buried next to her mother, Catherine of Aragon, but Elizabeth, the new Queen, instead had she buried  in Henry VII’s chapel at Westminster Abbey[7].                                                   

Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth was born 7^th September 1933, and was Anne Boleyn’s only surviving child. Her childhood was much like her sister Mary’s, but being only three years old, she possibly understood less of what was going on and therefore suffered less. In addition, she was a Protestant, which made it easier for her. Nevertheless, she was also proclaimed a bastard by her father. Her childhood must have been hard. however, instead of doing like Mary who turned angry, bitter, and revengeful, she used it to “educate” herself. This was especially noticeable in her political skills, being shrewd and cautious. She grew close to her father’s last wife, Catherine Parr, and stayed with her after the death of Henry VIII, even when Catherine married Thomas Seymour, the Lord Admiral. Seymour abused his position as step-father to Elizabeth terribly, being much too familiar.

When Catherine Parr died in childbirth, he made plans to marry Elizabeth, but as mentioned earlier, he was also involved in other attempts to gain more power, and was executed.  Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower, by her sister Mary, after Thomas Wyatt’s rebellion. Mary suspected that Elizabeth knew of this in forehand. She was released from prison after 2 months when no evidence was found. In addition, Philip, Mary’s husband, persuaded his wife to let Elizabeth go free and make her the heir to the English throne. This probably saved Elizabeth’s life. Philip did not do this out of his goodness, but he knew that the alternative would possibly be Mary, Queen of Scots, who had close relations to France, and that would put Spain in a difficult situation. Nonetheless, Elizabeth, through the rest of Mary’s reign, as a precaution to secure her own life, attended Catholic mass, pretending to be interested in Catholicism. When Mary died in November 1558 Elizabeth ascended the throne. She had, through her sister’s reign, learned much from her mistakes, and the new Queen had no intention of repeating them.

When she became Queen, England, through Philip, was at war with France, the exchequer was bankrupt, the currency debased, and inflation was very high, the country also had religious problems. She appointed Sir William Cecil as her Secretary of State, and he proved to be a wise choice, and was a brilliant minister for the next forty years. Cautious as ever, Elizabeth also made a wise choice when she settled the religious problems. The Church of England was restored and her brother Edward VI’s  second Prayer Book established. She was no fanatic, like Mary, and she only desired that despite of any man’s religious belief, he should obey her ruling.

Elizabeth’s brother-in-law, Philip of Spain, proposed to her, but was diplomatically turned down. The Queen had already decided never to marry, both for political and private reasons., but cunningly, she did not make this public knowledge. In fact, she wished to keep this a secret because the possibility of marrying the English Queen was a powerful political bargaining counter which could be used to England’s advantage.

Mary, Queen of Scots, Elizabeth’s cousin, and next in line to the English throne, had married the French Dauphin, but in Catholic view, Elizabeth was a bastard and could therefore not inherit the English throne, and that Mary was the legitimate heir to the English throne. Mary was advised by her father-in-law to challenge Elizabeth by this claim. The Protestant Lords of Scotland was already at war with the Catholic regent, Mary’s mother, Marie of Guise. Elizabeth offered to help the Protestant and sent troops. They defeated the Catholics and through a treaty in 1560 the Lords of Scotland and Elizabeth were now allies, and together they drove the French out of Scotland. Mary hasty married her cousin, James Stuart, and they had a son. After the birth Mary regretted marrying him. He was murdered, and she married his murderer. The Protestant Lords rebelled, took her captive and forced her to abdicate in favour of her son. She escaped to England and gave Elizabeth no choice but to imprison her.

From her prison she was involved in several plots against her cousin, and Elizabeth was left with no other alternative than having her executed. However, she did this reluctantly.  Philip of Spain saw this as an opportunity  and became a growing threat to the kingdom, therefore Elizabeth negotiated with the French  about marriage in 1572. She was prepared to marry to balance the power in Europe, because Philip was now the largest power.  The Protestants of the Netherlands then rebelled against Spain, Elizabeth supported the Dutch to weaken Philip, also knowing that the Dutch rebellion would be crushed, and so it did.

Philip launched his armada against England in 1588. The English fleet was commanded by Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, and Howard of Effingham. With the help of a violent storm the English fleet won the battle.

Before the Spanish-English War, Sir Francis Drake, a pirate, naval hero, navigator, and discoverer, sailed around the world claiming land for his Queen and England. He also made new maps of unknown areas. He actively fought the Spanish until his death in 1598, when he died of fever, outside Costa Rica, where he tried to deprive the Spanish ships, who had taken refuge there, of their treasures from the Spanish colonies in The Americas.

During her reign Queen Elizabeth also encouraged the English people to settle abroad and in this way create colonies for England. Since England was overpopulated, many English did go. Most left to create a better life for themselves and their families, but also younger sons of the aristocracy left hoping to gain fame and fortune. One can say that the Elizabethan era was the early start of  the vast empire England was to become in the future[8].

Elizabeth addressed Parliament for the last time in 1601, and she, the Greatest of the Tudors, died March 24^th 1603. Elizabeth was buried with her sister Mary at Westminster Abbey. She arranged for James VI, King of Scotland, Mary, Queen of Scot’s son, to be the next regent of England. He took the name, James I[9].                                                                                                                                                                           

Contemporary parliament, society and culture

None of he Tudor regents liked governing  through Parliament, and Henry VII used Parliament only for law making. Henry VIII, however, used it to raise money for his military adventures, and for his struggle with Rome, making sure the powerful members from the shires and towns supported him, because they had control over popular feelings of the English people. He also used Parliament to scare the priests and bishops into obeying him, and to frighten the Pope into giving in to his demands. By using Parliament as he did, he unknowingly gave the more power than ever before.

The Tudors were not more democratic than the regents before them, but they used Parliament to secure their policy, and by that also increased the authority of Parliament. During this century, the power in Parliament moved from the House of Lords to the House of Commons, because the Tudors saw that this House represented richer and more influential classes than the Lords. Today, in the news, we often hear the question to whether getting rid of the House of Lords or not. This was first suggested in the 16^th century. The number of representatives almost doubled in the same century. However, they did not represent the people. Under the Tudors Parliament was only supposed to do three things: agree to taxes needed, make the laws the Crown suggested, and advise the Crown, but only when asked to do so. Nevertheless, in the 16^th century Parliament began thinking that it had the right to question and discuss matters concerning the Crown and by the end of the century it was beginning to show more confidence[10].

Rich – poor in England

From the beginning of the 1500s to the beginning of the 1600s, the population doubled from two million till about four. The prices of food and other goods rose to a very high level, and the inflation was not equalled until the 20^th century. Most people thought this was caused by the silver and gold that came from the new colonies in the Americas, but much more serious was the sudden increase in population. Living conditions worsened and there was not enough food. It was difficult to find work, or to produce enough food for the family. As life grew harder, so did the laws. Workers were not allowed to move from where they were born without permission. There were over ten thousand homeless people on the road, and  in 1601, Parliament passed the first Poor Law, which made local people responsible for the poor in their district. The lives of rich and poor were very different. The rich ate good quality bread made from wheat, while the poor ate rough bread made from rye and barley. When there was a shortage of food, the poor made their bread from beans, peas, and oats.

The women of England had more freedom than anywhere else in the world, but they had to obey their husband. However, most women bore between eight and 15 children, and many died in childbirth. Those who survived often had to watch half of the children die at a young age. Most marriages was arranged, and often there were no deep emotional ties, so when a wife died, the husband looked for a new one. Over half the population was under twenty-five years old. Both girls and boys were put in to service at other people’s houses when they were 7-8 years old. In spite of the hard life, most people, at the end of the Tudor period, had a larger and better home to live in than ever before. One group, however, suffered more than others, the unmarried women. Before the Reformation, many became nuns, but the dissolution of the monasteries resulted in thousands becoming beggars[11].

The English Renaissance Artists

Within the Renaissance period there were a large number of poets and writers, but in this paper only the most significant ones will be mentioned. As for the musicians and painters from this period, they were much fewer and did not have the same central place in English Renaissance, as poetry, plays, and novels, but a few will be mentioned.

In 1476, William Caxton introduced England to printing, and in 1485, he published Sir Thomas Malory’s (1416 or 17 – 1471) “Le Morte Darthur” (Arthur’s death), which Malory probably started writing when he was in prison in 1450s. Henry Tudor seized the throne the same year, taking the name Henry VII. This was also the start of what later has been referred to as transition from medieval to Renaissance. The British Isles were late “bloomers”, possibly caused by the fact that it was isolated from the rest of Europe, being an island. The real Renaissance period in England started around 1550 and lasted till 1660. The Renaissance in Italy was initiated about a hundred years earlier, and somewhat later in most of Europe. Themes like good government and education dominated in the new humanist writing of the 1500s. Sir Thomas More published his “Utopia” in 1516, but in Latin. This was later, in 1551, translated and published in English. This was his most significant work. He was later executed by Henry VIII. However, in this early stage of the Renaissance, the most distinctive work of poetry was written by John Skelton (1460-1529). He was writing political and religious satire, and he was also the tutor of Henry VII’s sons. He wrote long plays, like “Magnificence” (1516), “Bowge of Court” (1498), an allegorical satire on court intrigue and several other major works. He wrote in his own verse form with short rhyming verses, and natural speech rhythms, and had irregular metre. This was called skeletonics.

The first part of the 1500s was also a period of courtly lyric verse, which were poems with musical settings. This was literary locations for who was called the “courtly makers”, Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547). A large part of their work had the distinct medieval character, but their most important writings were looking to the future. Wyatt’s “They flee from me” and “Whoso list to hunt” contain much personal feeling that is the opposite of medieval standard of anonymity. Surrey’s translation of the “Aeneid” by Vergil, introduced unrhymed iambic pentameter to the English, and by this providing Shakespeare and Milton with the essential “tools” for their achievements.

The reign of Elizabeth I from 1558 till 1603 was an especially rich literary period. In this time one finds Edmund Spencer (1552 or 53-1599), who wrote “The Faerie Queene”, a very long allegorical poem, in Spenserian stanzas that consisted of 8 iambic pentameter lines, followed by a 9^th with 6  iambic feet (ababbcbcc), also called an alexandrine. Another poet from this time was Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), a poet, courter, statesman, soldier, and a patron of scholars and poets. He was considered to be an ideal gentleman of his day. His poem “Astrophel and Stella” is by many thought to be the finest of the Elizabethan sonnet cycle, after Shakespeare’s poetry.

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) established dramatic iambic pentameter in England. His greatest works were “Tamburlaine the Great” (1590), “Edward II” (1594), and last but also his greatest work “The Tragicall History of Dr. Faust” (1604).The highest ranking of all the poets from the Renaissance was, as mentioned, William Shakespeare (1564-1616). He wrote his poems in iambic pentameter verse; all 154 sonnets were published in 1609, but probably written in the 1590s. His work express strong feeling within a delicately controlled form. Some of his poetry will be “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Othello”, “Richard III”, and “Hamlet”.

                                                                                                              

In England, in the Renaissance, there was naturally painters too like everywhere else, but not so many. English painters did, however, invent the miniature portrait, which became very popular in Tudor-England. The painter Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619), who used a lyrical form in his paintings, was an eminent miniature painter and raised this art to its highest level.

His son, Laurence Hilliard (1582-1640), followed in his father’s footsteps, but did not reach the same level as the senior Hilliard. England also had several prominent composers, like William Byrd, (1543-1623), who was an organist and composer and best known for his development of the English madrigal. He also wrote virginal and organ music that elevated the English keyboard style (the same instrument Henry VIII played very well). Thomas Weelkes, (1576-1623) was one of the most important composer of madrigals, but John Wilbye, (1574-1638) was regarded as the finest madrigalists of his time.

Renaissance architecture reflects the rebirth of a Classical culture. Here ancient Roman forms, with columns, round arches, tunnel vault, and of course, the dome is present. One can say that Renaissance architects

 found harmony between human proportion and buildings. In England this architecture also made a late arrival, and from about 1550 it became more and more popular, then with a mixture of local qualities like the Tudor Gothic. However, the Gothic style was kept in many parts of the country throughout the 1500s. Some of the most known English Renaissance architect would be Sir John Thynne, Robert Smythson, Thomas Thorpe, and John Caius, who all lived and worked in the 1500s into the 1600s. The most important of the architects from this time was Inigo Jones (1573-1652). He was an architect, painter and designer. His most famous buildings are the Banqueting House,The Queens House, and the Queens Chapel.[12] [13].

As a response to the Tudor time, I must say that it is possibly the most eventful and exiting time in English history, with the intrigues at court, the constant fight for power, the change of religion, the early beginning of the British Empire, the poetry and plays that mirrored contemporary society so well, and, of course, the Tudors themselves, being intelligent and well educated, with a love for music, where several of them were talented musicians, but also their darker side, where cruelty and  ruthlessness was a part of  everyday life for the people in their day. Many achievements were made in those days, but to a high price paid in human lives.   

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Encyclopaedia Britannica. English Literature. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Retrieved

     Oct. 30^th 2010.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/188217/English_literature

Encyclopaedia Britannica. Western Architecture. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Retrieved

     Nov. 2^nd 2010.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/toppic/32952/Western-architecture

English Monarchs. Retrieved Oct. 30^th 2010.

http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/tudor_10.htm

Morrill, John, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor & Stuart Britain. Oxford University

     Press. New York. 1996

Williams, Penry. The Later Tudors – ENGLAND – 1547-1603. Butler & Tanner Ltd. Frome,

     England. 1995.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. Henry VIII of England. Retrieved Oct. 31^st 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England

  

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[1] “English literature.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Retrieved Oct. 30 2010.

  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/188217/English-literature

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. Henry VIII of England. Retrieved 31 October 2010.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England

[5] Penry Williams. The later Tudors – ENGLAND – 1547-1603. Butler & Tanner Ltd.. Frome. 1995

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] English Monarchs. Retrieved October 30^th 2010.

  http://www.englishmonarchs,co.uk/tudor_10.htm

[9] Penry Williams. The later Tudors – ENGLAND – 1547-1603. Butler & Tanner Ltd. 1995.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ed. John Morrill. The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor & Stuart Britain. Oxford University Press. New York. 1996.

[12] Ibid.

[13] ”Western Architecture”. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 2 Nov. 2010.

  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/32952/Western-architecture