THE TUDOR PERIOD - THE TUDOR PERIOD - HENRY VII Some important events completely trasformed England in the 15th century. The most important changes were: The Englich Reformation, the Centralization of the power and the fall of the feudal system, the importance of the new middle classes and the development of overseas commerce. New classes were coming into being. These were the gentry or country gentlemen, the yeomen or minor land owner and the merchants, who would be very important in the development of English commerce. The Parliament was not an essenzial part of the political system and Henry VII made the Tudor monarchy very strong. He tried to increase his standing in Europe by marring his son Arthur to Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of the king of Spain and his daugther Margaret to James IV of Scotland. HENRY VIII The most important event happened in this period was the breach with Rome. After Arthur's death, Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon, who had borne him a daugther, but he needed a male heir. He felt in love with the cortesan Anne Boleyn so he ask the Pope to declare his marriage void on the pretext that it was illegal ince Catherine was his sister in law. Clement VII refused so the king didn't accept the Pope's authority and he decided to solve the question through the Parliament. The king's first marriage was declared void by the Parliament, so in 1533 Henry was able to marry A.B. The Act of Supremacy, worded in 1534, declared the king the only head of the Chruch of England and stabilished that civil and ecclesiastic causes were both decided by national autorities and not by foreign jurisdiction. Sir Thomas More din't accept the Act so he was put to death and he died in 1535. Henry VIII gave England a new fightinf fleet, which consisted of long and narrow ships with heavy cannons. These vessels were different from the heavy Spanish battleships because they were faster and easier to handle. EDWARD VI - MARY TUDOR Edward VI was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour. He was only nine years old when he came to the throne so his uncle was appointed Protector. In this period Cranmer wrote the Book of Common Prayer and the Churh services could be in English instead of Latin. Maru Tudor considered the mission to reintroduce the Catholic Religion and restore the Latin Mass and the old cerimonies. Mary burned alive more than 300 protestants so she was called Bloody Mary. She married Philip II of Spain on the understanding that Philip would not interference. In 1558 Mary died living England in a poor situation. ELIZABETH I Elizabeth ascended to the throne in 1558. She restablished the Anglican Church. The Second Act of Supremacy, written in 1559, declared the monarch the "Governor" of the Church of England and stated that ecclesiastic causes wasn't decided by foreign jurisdiction. The Act of Uniformity (1559) restablished the Book of Common Prayer and stated that only it was to be used by English people. There were many causes of the Continua »