Elizabeth Regnum
Today marks the anniversary of
the coronation, in 1559, of Queen Elizabeth I, she to be the last of the Tudor
dynasty. It almost didn’t happen.
King Henry VII, the first of
the Tudor monarchs, was, as described by the great Tudor historian G.R. Elton,
a political solution to a dynastic problem; he was not clearly the closest
claimant to the throne. He was, however,
the successful leader at the Battle of Bosworth at which Richard III, who had
seized the throne from the never-crowned Edward V (one of the two “Princes of
the Tower”), was killed. Henry’s reign
would be punctuated with several significant rebellions.
Upon the death of Henry VII,
power did transfer easily to his son Henry VIII. That had not been, however, the plan. Henry had an older brother, Arthur, who was
to inherit the throne; for that reason he had been engaged and ultimately
married to Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of
Spain. After Arthur’s death, likely from
tuberculosis, Catherine was engaged and then ultimately married to Henry, a
situation that would set up the later dispute over the “Divorce.”
That marriage would ultimately
sour on the fact that only one of the children of Henry and Catherine survived
infancy, that being Mary. England was
not, it was feared, ready to be ruled by a queen. The only example of it doing so, that being the
reign of the Empress Matilda (daughter of King Henry I) was referred to as the
“Anarchy.” Seeking to perpetuate the
dynasty and avoid the possibility of civil war after his death, Henry pursued
the Divorce (it was actually what we would refer to today as an annulment) so
that he could marry Anne Boleyn.
The Divorce could not easily be
had consequent to at least a pair of factors.
Initially, on theological grounds, the basis for the Divorce was
weak. Politically, Eleanor’s nephew,
Charles V, was now King of both Spain, the Netherlands and as well Holy Roman
Emperor. He was able, successfully, to
delay any decision on the divorce, it depriving Henry of the one thing he did
not have, namely time. Ultimately, Henry
would schism the English church from Roman communion (an act which earned for
Henry his very own bull of excommunication).
The marriage to Catherine of Aragon then being annulled by Thomas Cramer,
Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry proceeded to marry Anne Boleyn. She, already pregnant at the time of the
marriage, would be the mother of Elizabeth.
Elizabeth would be their only child.
Henry was now in no better position than he was before; two potential
female heirs to the throne did not address the perceived need for a male
heir. Anne’s fortunes would ultimately
be destroyed consequent to a series of events whose genesis is still greatly
debated, but it is clear that the charges of adultery and incest for which she
was convicted and executed were entirely fabricated.
After Anne, Henry quickly
married Jane Seymour, and she shortly thereafter became pregnant, ultimately
delivering a son who would survive infancy.
That child was Edward VI. Jane
would die of complications from childbirth.
While Henry would go on to
marry three more times, namely to Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and
Catherine Parr, none of them would have children by him.
Upon Henry’s death, the child
Edward VI succeeded to the throne.
Never, however, reaching his majority, the so-called reign of Edward VI
is best understood as the reign of his counsel, dominated through much of his
existence by his uncle Edward Seymour, he acting under the title of “Lord
Protector.” It was during the reign of
Edward that the English church moved from schism from the Catholic Church into
the hallmarks of Protestant theology.
With Edward’s death, likely from tuberculosis, approaching, members of
the council feared that Mary, his oldest sister, would come to the throne and
impose Catholicism instead of the recently adopted Protestant-influenced
Anglicanism. These views led to an
attempted revolt pursuant to which Lady Jane Grey was placed on the throne. Lady Jane Grey was a Tudor by means of descent
from Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, and wife of Sir Charles Brandon,
Duke of Suffolk. That revolt, spanning
nine days, was ultimately unsuccessful, and Mary was able to take her place on
the throne. Mary would die, however,
without children.
Which brings us back to
Elizabeth. As the second female child of
Henry VIII, she was after Mary the heir apparent to the throne. She was, however, clearly Protestant,
especially when contrasted with Mary’s strict Catholicism. Elizabeth had as well been involved (to what
degree remains a matter in dispute) in a number of palace intrigues and revolts
against Mary, actions which nearly led to her death. At the time of Mary’s passing from any number
of causes (it is fairly clear she suffered from Type 2 diabetes), there had
already been drafted the warrant of execution for Elizabeth. Her sister, Queen Mary, would, however, die
without signing it, allowing Elizabeth to come to the throne.
So all Elizabeth needed to get
to the throne was her grandfather’s victory at Bosworth, her uncle Arthur’s
death, the divorce of Henry and Catherine so he could marry Anne Boleyn, the
young death of her half-brother Edward, the rejection of Lady Jane Grey’s rebellion,
the death without issue of her older half-sister Mary and surviving the
threatened death sentence for her part in rebellion against Mary.
Elizabeth would never marry,
and the Tudor dynasty would end with her death in 1603. It would be succeeded by the Stuarts,
descendants of Henry VII through his daughter Mary who had married the King of
Scotland.
