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.
