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Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 4179725, member: 101855"]Here is Part 2 of the Tudor Dynasty Edward VI was groomed to be king from the time he was born. He was blessed with superior intellect and was schooled by the best tutors. He began to study Greek and Latin at age five and was well versed in the history of the Protestant Reformation in northern Europe. When he became king at age nine in 1547, he was said to be learned and precocious, and his intellect and religious piety were noted throughout the continent. The only thing that was left out of his life was a childhood, and Henry VIII's sixth wife, Catherine Parr, was the closest thing he ever had to a mother. Given the king's age more senior officials assumed primary responsibility for ruling the country. King Henry VIII had made provisions for a ruling regency council, but one of its members, Edward Seymour, who was the king's uncle and his late mother's brother, out maneuvered the others and made himself regent under the title, Duke of Summerset. Like King Edward, Summerset was committed to the Protestant cause. He outlawed the traditional Catholic Mass and made the use of the Book of Common Prayer mandatory. Summerset's hold on power seemed secure until the beginning of 1549 when a royal sex scandal broke that would have made the front page of the modern National Enquirer. Summerset's bother, Thomas Seymour, secretly married Henry VIII's last wife, Catherine Parr, soon after the king died. Using his position as Catherine's husband, he gained access to Princess Elizabeth and tried to seduce her. A story made the rounds that there was a love triangle between Catherine, Elizabeth and Thomas. The scandal got even juicier when it was claimed that Thomas had fathered a child with Princess Elizabeth! The only thing that was true was that Thomas had tried to seduce Elizabeth and had failed. Thomas was indicted for treason and convicted. Not even his brother as regent could save him, and he was executed. In mean time Catholics in the western part of England rose up against the rules that forced them to use the Book of Common Prayer while peasants in other areas rose up against land enclose schemes by the local gentry. John Dudley, who was also known as the Earl of Warwick, led a force to put down the peasant revolt. In late August 1549 Warwick presided over a massacre of at least 3,500 peasants. The Duke of Summerset came out in sympathy for the peasants, and Warwick used that as wedge issue to push him aside. Warwick had Summerset arrested and tossed into the Tower of London, and replaced him as the Lord Protector. Subsequently Warwick moved up in the hierarchy of nobles when he was made the Earl of Northumberland. As Summerset's replacement, Northumberland now had the ear of the king and proceeded to crack down on the Catholics even more. Catholic dress, including priestly vestments were outlawed as were various forms of worship, including prayers for the dead. King Edward VI became very ill during the summer of 1552 with smallpox and measles. He never fully recovered, and during the brutally cold winter of 1553, he developed "pulmonary tuberculosis" which caused him to cough up thick, dark blood. He was also losing his hair would led some to say that he had inherited congenital syphilis from his father. It was clear that Edward would soon die, and the Protestant nobility was concerned that his Catholic half sister, Mary, would try to restore Catholicism if she became queen. Just prior to his death, Edward, under the influence Northumberland, drew up a Devise for Succession which removed Mary and Elizabeth from the line of secession. In their place, the Devise named Lady Jane Gray queen, who was Henry VIII's great-niece. The plan was that Lady Jane, who was devout Protestant, would continue the religious policies that had been set in place under Edward. Northumberland's fingerprints were all over the plot because Lady Jane had married his son, Guildford Dudley, a few months before Edward wrote out his Devise. Edward VI died on July 6, 1553. He was only 15 years old. Edward VI Shilling [ATTACH=full]1075186[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1075187[/ATTACH] Edward VI Half Pound [ATTACH=full]1075188[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1075189[/ATTACH]   Lady Jane Gray, A Queen for Nine Days, 1553 At 16 years of age, Lady Jane Gray was a pawn that the Protestant nobles used to retain their powers. Despite that she was well educated and showed wisdom that was beyond her years. When she first heard that she was to be named queen, she declared that crown belonged Mary and that she had no right to it. When Northumberland pushed her to name her husband and his son king, she stated that she would make him a duke, but never a king. Lady Jane Gray was named queen by the King's Council, but she would only rule for nine days before Mary raised an army and declared herself the true queen. Northumberland tried to intercept Mary before she reached London to claim the crown, but he was arrested and executed. Jane Gray and her husband, Guilford, were convicted of treason, but in a rare act of mercy, Queen Mary planned to let them live. Mary's announcement that she would marry the strongly Catholic King Philip of Spain prompted another Protestant revolt, which sealed the young couple's fate. Lady Jane and Guilford were executed and became martyrs to the Protestant cause. There were no coins produced during the brief nine day rule of Lady Jane Gray, and she was never crowned. There are fantasy coins that have been struck for “her reign,” but I have no interest in those pieces. Mary I, The Cruel Reactionary, 1553 - 1558  Mary I was very much her mother's daughter and some historians have described her as "a psychological mess." She was a devout Catholic and during her rule she did everything she could to restore the Roman Church as the British state religion. That included burning almost 300 Protestants at the stake, which was her chosen form of execution for heretics. One of her most prominent victims was Bishop Thomas Crammer who had granted Henry VIII's divorce from Mary's mother, Katherine of Aragon. That divorce also had Mary declared a bastard, which deprived her of her legal rights. Mary objected to marrying any Englishman because the marriage vow required her to obey her husband. As queen she was not required to obey any man. Instead she decided to marry a foreigner, and her choice was King Philip II of Spain. That choice did not go down well with the British people because Philip was the leader of the strongest nation in Europe and a major rival of England. The British did not want to become a de facto province of Spain. Although Philip declared that he would have no claim the British crown if Mary died, he remained an unpopular choice as Mary's spouse. Like her father Mary was determined to have an heir to her crown. Mary's attempts have a child were frustrated by the fact that she and Philip were often apart. She had two false pregnancies which resulted in disappointment. The second one turned out to be an abdominal tumor which ended her life. As she lay dying, Mary acknowledged that her sister, Elizabeth, would be her successor. Much to Mary's regret, Elizabeth was a Protestant who would end Mary's drive to restore Catholicism as the official state religion. Mary's cruel religious policies insured that most future British monarchs would avoid links to the Catholic Church. It also probably had an effect upon America's founding fathers who noted the strife that resulted from the establishment of a state sponsored religion.  The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right of U.S. citizens to practice the religion of their choice. Queen Mary Groat [ATTACH=full]1075190[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1075191[/ATTACH] 1555 Phillip & Mary Shilling [ATTACH=full]1075194[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1075195[/ATTACH] Elizabeth I, "The Virgin Queen,"1558 - 1603 The reign of Queen Elizabeth I put to rest any concerns about the ability a woman to be the head of state. During Elizabeth's rule England defeated her arch rival, Spain, and emerged as a world power. In addition culture bloomed as William Shakespeare pursued his illustrious career as a poet and playwright. Her only major failure was that she did not provide the Tutor Dynasty with an heir who could hold the crown in the family.  When Elizabeth became queen, she was a beautiful 25 year old woman. Many assumed that she would soon marry, and she had many suitors. One of the first was King Philip II of Spain who proposed to Elizabeth almost before her sister was cold in her grave. Elizabeth rejected his proposal out of hand. Another more serious suitor was Robert Dudley. The queen elevated the handsome Dudley to the Earl of Leicester which was often a position given to the king or the queen's son. The position carried with it the rights to much land and power. Dudley lived in an apartment next to the queen and acted has her host at entertainments. After waiting for a number of years Dudley secretly wed the Countess of Essex, which angered the queen greatly. Ultimately Dudley got back into the queen's good graces and became a lieutenant-general in the army. He would be one of the leading defenders during the Spanish invasion of 1588. Although Elizabeth had other beaus including Sir Christopher Hatton, Robert Devereux and Sir Walter Raleigh, she would marry none of them. Her image was that of "the virgin queen" who was married to her country and her subjects. Elizabeth actually seemed to detest marriage perhaps because of the mockery her father had made of it by having her mother, Anne Boleyn, executed. She expressed displeasure whenever members of her royal court were wed. Like most British heads of state, Elizabeth I had a rival who was looking to take her throne. That rival was Mary Stuart who is better known as Mary Queen of Scots. Mary Stuart was the granddaughter of King Henry VIII's older sister, Margaret, which made her Elizabeth's cousin. Mary claimed that she was the rightful heir to the British crown because the Catholic Church had not recognized Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. That made Elizabeth an illegitimate child of Henry VIII. In a complicated series of events Mary won and lost the Scottish crown and was forced to abdicate her throne to her one year old son, James. Elizabeth granted sanctuary to Mary, but refused to see her. In the coming years Mary continued to plot with the Catholics in England and the French to overthrow Elizabeth. In response Elizabeth put Mary under house arrest, but Mary continued her scheming. Ultimately Elizabeth reluctantly had Mary put to death. Elizabeth grieved over the death of her cousin, but many in England rejoiced over her demise. Elizabeth's finest hour was in 1588 when she rallied her troops to defeat the Spanish Armada. "I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman," she said, "but I have the heart and the stomach of a king and of king of England too." A well timed storm at sea, the superior design of the British ships and the battle hardened experience of their captains brought the defeat of the Armada and changed the course of world history. England became the leading European power, and would spread that influence thought out the world. Despite the fact that Elizabeth used every device to fight off aging that was at her disposal, she died in 1603 at age 69. Since she left no heir, the English crown passed to King James VI of Scotland, who became King James I of England. In an ironic twist of fate, King James I was the son of Elizabeth's bitter rival, Mary Queen of Scots. In the end Mary Stuart's son wore the crown that she gave her life to obtain. [ATTACH=full]1075196[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1075197[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]

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