Key Takeaways

• According to sources such as the English Heritage, the Tudors are possibly the most famous royal family in English history. The Royal Family's website also describes the five monarchs of the Tudor dynasty as some of the most well-known figures in Royal history.
• The Stuarts were the first kings of the United Kingdom whose reign lasted from 1603 to 1714. Before ruling England, the Stuarts ruled Scotland for a very long time. However, because Queen Elizabeth I never married or had any children, when she died, her closest royal relative, King James VI of Scotland, succeeded her and became King James I of England. King James I's ascension united the two long-warring nations and signified the beginning of one of the most important eras in forming modern British society.
• King Henry VIII and his daughter Queen Elizabeth I are among the most famous monarchs from the Tudor dynasty to ever sit on the English throne while King James I and King Charles II are some of England’s most popular & beloved kings from the Stuart dynasty.

Introduction

The Tudors

• According to sources such as the English Heritage, the Tudors are possibly the most famous royal family in English history. The Royal website also describes the five monarchs of the Tudor dynasty as some of the most well-known figures in Royal History.

• The Tudors who witnessed key events like the establishment of the American colonies and the foundation of the Royal Navy ruled for 118 years. Their reign lasted from 1485 to 1603.

 

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• King Henry VIII and his daughter Queen Elizabeth I are among the most famous monarchs from the Tudor dynasty to ever sit on the English throne.
• King Henry VIII succeeded the throne at 17 years old after the death of his father, Henry VII. He was also allowed to marry his late brother’s wife, Catherine of Aragon, after the pope gave a special dispensation. The young king’s rule lasted from 1509 to 1547.
• Queen Elizabeth I (also known as the Virgin Queen) is considered to be the greatest English monarch by many according to the English History. She ruled from 1558 to 1603 after her half-sister Queen Mary I, who took over from their father, died.
• The Tudor period is one of the most exciting eras in English History as they introduced many changes. Under Tudors, the church of England was formed to cancel out the power of the Catholic church after king Henry VIII’s request to annul his marriage with Catherine was denied. This brought about the martyrdom of many Catholics and Protestants during the Tudor era. The growth of the English Renaissance, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and England becoming one of the leading European colonial powers are also some of the major events that shaped this era.
• The creation of the Royal Mail (the first national postal service), growth of the Royal Navy, defeat of the Spanish Armada, and blossoming of the Royal Exchange (the first purpose-built center for trading stocks in London) are some of the great achievements of the Tudors that shaped modern Britain.
• However, the messy separation from the Catholic church and persecution of the people who opposed it during king Henry VIII’s reign and later on the killing of protestants who refused to convert back to Catholicism when Queen Mary I tried to reconcile with Rome goes down in history books as one of the major failures of the Tudor dynasty.
• One interesting fact about the Tudor monarchs and aristocrats is that they inherited mottos, which could change to reflect important occasions, that would be placed alongside their personal symbols on their servants’ uniforms. Some of the mottos had a quite modern feel. For instance, during the Christmas period in 1530, in reference to her intention to marry King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn used the motto ‘Ainsi sera, groigne qui groigne’ which translates to more or less ‘Haters gonna hate’.

The Stuarts

• According to the Royal website, the Stuarts were the first kings of the United Kingdom whose reign lasted from 1603 to 1714.

 

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• Before ruling England, the Stuarts ruled Scotland for a very long time. However, because Queen Elizabeth I never married or had any children, when she died, her closest royal relative, King James VI of Scotland, succeeded her and became King James I of England. King James I's ascension united the two long-warring nations and signified the beginning of one of the most important eras in forming modern British society.
• As the first king to rule over both Scotland and England, King James I is one of the well-known rulers from the Stuarts dynasty. He was an able theologian and ordered the translation of the bible, which is popularly known as King James's Version of the Bible. He ruled from 1603 to 1625.
• King Charles II is also one of England’s most popular & beloved kings from the Stuart dynasty. He was also known as the Merry Monarch, in “reference to both the liveliness & hedonism of his court & the general relief at the return to normality after over a decade of rule by Cromwell & the Puritans.”
• The Stuarts’ era, just like the Tudors’ period, witnessed a lot of changes and intense events, such as religious strife and radical politics, which brought about a bloody civil war in the mid-seventeenth century. As one of the most fascinating eras in British history, this era witnessed “civil war, rebellion, the beheading of a king, plague outbreaks, the Great Fire of London, and a successful foreign invasion,” among other things.
• Despite the many challenges this dynasty faced, the Stuarts played a huge role in Britain's commercial revolution. The nation’s merchant fleet flourished leading to increased trade and citizens’ standards of living improved because of the advancements in coal mining and agriculture during this dynasty’s reign.
• The first and second civil wars, which broke out in 1642 and 1648, respectively, can be said to be one of the dynasty’s major failures. The first civil war broke out in 1642 after King Charles I refused to give Parliament real power in State and Church. Many people were killed while others were “pressed into active service for the first time since the Middle Ages.” King Charles was defeated in this war and was imprisoned but under the guise of peace negotiations, he was able to provoke the second civil war in 1648. This time around, the Parliament ordered his execution, and he was beheaded. As a result, the monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished until 1660, when King Charles II was welcomed from his exile.
• According to History Extra, one of the most surprising facts about the Stuarts is that they had a nasty habit of losing their heads. Mary, Queen of the Scots, her grandson King Charles I, and King Charles I’s grandson (the Duke of Monmouth), all lost their heads to the executioner’s axe.

Research Strategy

Key Takeaways

• Henry VIII is known for his marriages, and executing those who opposed him, however he also increased the size of the British Navy.
• King John is part of the Plantagenet dynasty, ruling from 1199 to 1216. King John was nicknamed Bad King John, and has been portrayed as a villain by Shakespeare and in tales of Robin Hood. 
• William the Conqueror reigned from 1066 to 1087, the first king of the house of Normandy dynasty. His reign began by the defeat and killing of his rival to the throne, Harold Godwinson, at the Battle of Hastings. The battle costs the lives of thousands.

Introduction

Henry VIII — 1509-1547

• Writers from the Historical Writers Association were polled as to who they believed to be the worst monarch in British history, 20% agreed that Henry VIII took the top spot.
• Ruling from 1509 to 1547, Henry VIII was the second monarch in the Tudor dynasty. Henry VIII is well-known for his marriages, and how he handled each of his wives.
• Determined to have a male heir, he annulled his marriage to his first wife after she only produced a daughter. Of his six wives, two were beheaded, two were divorced, one died during childbirth, and his final wife outlived him.
• The King was so determined to divorce his fourth wife that he separated from the Catholic church and named himself the head of the Church of England. Any opponents to the revolution were executed, it is alleged that during his reign he had hundreds of people executed.
• During his reign, Henry VIII increased the size of the Royal Navy by ten times. He was the first British monarch to set up a defense for the island, creating dockyards at Deptford, Woolwich and Portsmouth.
• In 1518, the King turned his attention to the medical profession, and established what would become the Royal College of Physicians. Licenses were granted, and standards were put in place for malpractice.

 

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King John — 1199-1216

• King John is part of the Plantagenet dynasty, ruling from 1199 to 1216. King John was nicknamed Bad King John, and has been portrayed as a villain by Shakespeare and in tales of Robin Hood. 
• Before becoming King, he was already seen as untrustworthy as he tried to take his brother's crown. When he did become King, he inherited the greatest dominion in Europe, ruling England, Wales, Ireland, and the Western half of France. Within five years, he had lost nearly all the continental territories to Philip Augustus.
• The embarrassment of losing the territories caused King John to tax England to raise money for war to win them back. Lands were taken from churches, and people were imprisoned and tortured until they agreed to pay up. The campaign was a disaster, and let to rebellions, and civil unrest.
• In 1215, King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta, which ensured feudal rights and restated English law. Almost immediately he went to the Pope to have the Magna Carta declared invalid.
• King John inherited the throne on the verge of ruin from his father and brother. Some historians argue that he was a good administrator who pushed the machinery of government as hard as he could.

 

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William the Conqueror — 1066-1087

• William the Conqueror reigned from 1066 to 1087, the first king of the house of Normandy dynasty. He claimed the English throne by asserting that his distant cousin, Edward the Confessor had promised the throne to him.
• His reign began by the defeat and killing of his rival to the throne, Harold Godwinson, at the Battle of Hastings. The battle costs the lives of thousands.
• In 1069, the Danes and other English nobles invaded the North of England, and took York. To drive them out, William devastated Mercia and Northumbria. Churches were burnt to the ground, and agricultural land was destroyed so badly that nine years of famine lasted for the area's peasant population.
• William ordered the Domesday survey, and resulting in the two volumes of the Domesday Book in 1086. The survey was a comprehensive record of all the landowners, property, tenants, and serfs of England. The book is seen as one of his most successful achievements. 

 

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Queen Mary I - 1516-1558

• Queen Mary was the first first-ever Queen of England to rule in her own right. She reigned during the Tudor dynasty from 1516-1558.
• Mary I was give the nickname Bloody Mary, due to the hundreds of Protestant heretics she had burnt at the stake. However, how much of her reign was darkened because she was a Catholic monarch in a mainly protestant country, and succeeded by a Protestant Queen is unknown.
• However, this religious persecution is the reason she is seen as one of the most tyrannical British monarchs. Her disastrous war campaigns also saw the loss of Calais in 1558.
• The reign of Queen Mary saw the 1554 Act of Parliament, which declared a female ruler, married or unmarried could take the English throne. She was also able to restore the navy, introduced policies of fiscal reform, and established new hospitals.

 

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Edward II — 1307-1327

• Edward II was the first King to be forced to abdicate his throne. He reigned from 1307 to 1327 during the dynasty of the house of Plantagenet.
• During his reign, the threat of civil war was always present, as Edward surrounded himself with his favorites, and caused the rebellion of the barons. In 1311 a baronial committee created the Ordinances, a document that restricted the King’s powers over finances and appointments.
• King Edward II was determined to pacify Scotland, and led armies to Scotland, only to be thwarted by Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn. The defeat was followed by famine, and in 1321 civil war broke out.
• In 1326, his own wife led an invasion with Roger Mortimer, and in 1327 Edward was captured and forced to abdicate.
• Despite his reign being filled with civil war and defeats, he did help increase exports to France, particularly in the exports of wool, which significantly helped the economy. Edward also founded Oxford University's Oriel College in 1326.

 

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Research Strategy

Key Takeaways

• The first written account that mentions King Arthur is believed to have been composed by a Welsh monk from the 6th century known as Gildas. Approximately 200 years later, King Arthur appeared again in a series of works known as the History of the Britons written by a 9th century historian called Nennius and some scholars point to this work as evidence he was real.
• According to Historic UK, the most famous depiction of King Arthur’s legend is The History of the Kings of Britain (Historia Regum Britanniae) written by a Celtic cleric known as Geoffrey of Monmouth.
• While some scholars point to Gildas and Nennius’ works as evidence that King Arthur existed, others such as a retired medievalist at the University of Manchester and the author of 2018’s King Arthur: The Making of the Legend, Nicholas Higham, state that the evidence in those texts is hardly conclusive.

Introduction

 

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Arguments Supporting the Hypothesis

Gildas and Nennius Works from the 6th and 9th Centuries

• The first written account that mentions King Arthur is believed to have been composed by a Welsh monk from the 6th century known as Gildas. In his work, Gildas talks about the Roman conquest of Britain, stating that a Roman-British leader called Ambrosius Aurelianus (believed to be King Arthur) won a series of battles against Saxons at places such as the Badon Hill. According to the Smithsonian, while Gildas only mentioned the battle, other works such as the eighth-century Ecclesiastical History of the English People describe the battle in detail, convincing scholars that it happened.

• Approximately 200 years later after appearing in Gildas's work, King Arthur appeared again in a series of works known as the History of the Britons written by a 9th century historian called Nennius and some scholars point to this work as evidence that King Arthur was real.

• The History of the Britons stated that a warrior known as Arthur won 12 battles over Saxons, with the twelfth one being at the Hill of Badon. Nennius, who did not refer to Arthur as a king, claimed that he single-handedly killed approximately 900 Saxons at the battle of Badon.

History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth

• According to Historic UK, the most famous depiction of King Arthur’s legend is The History of the Kings of Britain (Historia Regum Britanniae) written by a Celtic cleric known as Geoffrey of Monmouth.
• In his book, not only does Geoffrey talk about Arthur’s victories against the Saxons, but also gives the first full account of his birth at Tintagel Castle and his rise to the throne as a teenager after his father's death.
• Claiming to have based most of his work on the translation of an ancient work given to him by a fellow cleric, Geoffrey also wrote about Arthur’s wife Queen Guinevere, his trusted knight Lancelot, his magic sword Caliburn (Excalibur), and the wizard Merlin.
• The History of the Kings of Britain became quite popular among British, Saxon, and Norman readers and is described as the medieval equivalent of a best-seller by History Extra. As a result, many Arthurian tales popped up across Europe with other writers adding their own touches.
• So many people believed in Geoffrey’s text and were convinced that King Arthur was real. For instance, the Earl of Cornwall, Richard, was convinced that King Arthur is real to an extent that he traded three prime estates for prime Tintagel to solidify his position in both legend and history as the successor of Arthur.
• Moreover, while many scholars have dismissed Tintagel as King Arthur’s birthplace, Win Scutt, an archaeologist from nearby Plymouth, and his team from English Heritage, have excavated items such as houses and pottery from the area and through carbon dating, it was confirmed that a settlement from the sixth century existed in the area.
• A sixth-century stone slab with the word “Artognou” carved into it was also discovered and some people insist the inscription is a variation of Arthur and that the slab is a mark of the King’s realm.

Arguments Against the Hypothesis

Critique of Gildas and Nennius Works

• While some scholars point to Gildas and Nennius’ works as evidence that King Arthur existed, others such as a retired medievalist at the University of Manchester and the author of 2018’s King Arthur: The Making of the Legend, Nicholas Higham, state that the evidence in those texts is hardly conclusive. For instance, the text was written 300 years after the supposed Battle of Badon Hill.

• Additionally, historians in the Middle Ages are “widely known to have blended fact and fiction to advance a political or religious agenda,” and when the Saxons were conquering Britain, Britons needed a god-beloved warrior to lift their spirits and encourage them. Thus, Nennius came up with King Arthur's character to help the situation, according to Higham.

Critique of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Text

• The Smithsonian states that scholars across the world have dismissed Geoffrey’s text saying that it was born out of febrile imagination and ancient Welsh folk-tales.

• According to Marc Morris, a British historian and author of 2021’s The Anglo Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 to 1066, just like Nennius, Geoffrey also had a political agenda that made him write his Arthurian tale. Morris claims that possibly born in Wales, Geoffrey wanted to “show the superiority of the Celtic-speaking Britons, and by extension, the Welsh, who spoke the same language” because the Welsh were thought of as savages and barbarians. He invented a noble history for them, making King Arthur a Celtic-speaking warrior-king.

• Moreover, Geoffrey said that he got “details of Arthur’s life from an ancient Welsh history book shown to him by an Oxford archdeacon” but there is no proof that the book existed.

• There is also zero evidence or knowledge of why Geoffrey based Arthur’s origin at Tintagel or whether he ever visited the place. If he visited the place, he would have “known it as a very dramatic, rocky clifftop, a mystical place, a place that there were plenty of stories about,” said Higham.

• In addition, experts in Celtic dismiss the significance of the mysterious word “Artognou” carved into the slab that was found.

King Arthur's Tale Used to Gain Political Advantage

• According to the Smithsonian, whether or not King Arthur was real, he remained a source of legitimacy for Britain's rulers, as he had from the very beginning. For example, the Tudors used his tale as a propaganda tool during their reign.

• The Tudors claimed they were direct descendants of King Arthur and one of their monarchs, King Henry VII, even baptized his son Prince Arthur. The king knew his claim to the throne was shaky and decided to claim King Arthur as his ancestor to strengthen his position. According to the Special Broadcasting Service, King Henry went as far as to have “royal genealogists trace his lineage back to Camelot.”

Research Strategy

Key Takeaways

• The House of Hanover began reigning over England after the death of Queen Anne of the Stuart Dynasty in 1714.
• Queen Victoria's marriage to Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1840 marked the entrance of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha into the royal family.
• In 1901, Edward VII, son of Queen Victoria, became the first king of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. After he died in 1910, his second son, George V, became the King of England. George V, during his reign, changed his house's name from the German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the more English Windsor.

Introduction

The Reign of the House of Hanover

• The House of Hanover began reigning over England after Queen Anne of the Stuart Dynasty, who did not bear any children, died in 1714. King George I, the first king of the House of Hanover, assumed the position by the 1701 Act of Settlement. Prior to this, the King was the 52nd in line to the throne, while the House of Hanover was simply the Stuart dynasty's German Protestant cousins.

• There were six British monarchs from the House of Hanover, reigning from 1714 to 1901.

 

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• King George Lewis (George I) began his reign at the age of 54 from 1714-1727. He was an unpopular King, and unsuccessful attempts were made to depose him and replace him with the Catholic James Francis Edward Stuart, also known as the Old Pretender. When King George died of a stroke in Osnabrück, he was buried in his hometown, Hanover, making him the last "British monarch to be buried outside of Britain."

 

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• King George II, son of King George I, ascended the throne after the death of his father in 1727. The relationship between the two was fractious and estranged, as George I had imprisoned his wife and George II's mother, Sophia Dorothea of Celle. George I was also said to have, at some point, prevented George II and his wife from seeing their children. George II was known to publicly oppose his father's policies.

 

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• King George III succeeded his grandfather, George II, after his death in 1760. He was the first Hanover King to be born in Britain. He became the heir after the death of his father, Prince Frederick, in 1751. Although a popular king, George III lived his final years "neglected and unkempt, a blind and deaf octogenarian." He died after "another violent attack of porphyria" and was buried in 1820.

 

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• King George IV, son of George III, ascended the throne in 1820. While a prince, he was known to amass debts and live a wild and extravagant life. To induce the English Parliament to pay his £600,000 debt, he was forced to marry his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick. He died in 1830 with multiple conditions, including gout, arteriosclerosis, addiction to laudanum, obesity, peripheral edema, and possibly porphyria.

 

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• King William IV ascended the throne after his brother, George IV, in 1830. He had a career in the Navy and was appointed Admiral of the Fleet at age 21. He retired from the Navy in 1790. After ten children with his mistress, Dorothy Jordan, William IV was married to Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen as a requirement to secure the line of succession. He was described as "good-natured and well-meaning." He died of cardiac failure and bronchopneumonia in 1837 with no children from his legitimate marriage.

 

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• Queen Victoria reigned after her uncle, William IV, in 1837. She was married to her first cousin, Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in 1840. Initially reluctant to share power with her husband, Victoria eventually came to trust and rely on his "influence in state affairs." She had nine children, including Victoria, the German Empress, and Edward VII. She died in 1901.

 

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How the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Became the Royal Family

• Victoria became Queen at age 18 after her uncle, William IV, died without any children from his legitimate marriage to Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. She was married shortly after her ascension.
• Queen Victoria's marriage to Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha marked the entrance of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha into the royal family. The couple was married on the 10th of May 1840.
• Although their marriage is said to have had a rocky start, the Queen eventually became devoted to her husband. They both led exemplary lives that helped regain respect for the crown.
• The marriage produced King Edward VII, who reigned as the first King of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha from 1901 to 1910.

The Reign of Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

• Members of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha are descendants of the Wettin family, German Prince-Electors of Saxony.
• Born in 1841, Edward VII was subject to a rigorous system of education designed to make him a perfect king. However, the effectiveness of this system has been put into question, as the King was prone "to rages and outbursts of fury and defiance." He got married to Alexandra of Denmark in 1863.

 

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• Edward VII was known to have had multiple mistresses, about 55 of them, including Lily Langtry, Sarah Bernhardt, and Alice Keppel. These amorous affairs, coupled with his love for horse racing and involvement in scandals, led to a strained relationship with his mother.
• His mother, Queen Victoria, once described the prospect of Edward becoming the King of England as "too awful" to contemplate. The Queen also denied him access to cabinet papers. Although he spent a long time as an heir, he was described as unprepared to ascend the throne.
• Having ascended the throne at age 59, Edward VII, a skilled diplomat, "fostered relationships with other countries and was largely responsible for the Entente Cordiale with France." He helped maintain peace across Europe during his reign and is also known as Edward the Peacemaker.

House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Becomes the House of Windsor

• After Edward VII's died in 1910, his second son, George V became the King of England. He was King during the First World War from 1914 to 1918. He became the heir to the throne after the death of his elder brother, Albert Victor.

 

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• In 1917, during the First World War, King George V changed his house's name from the German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the more English Windsor. The change was due to Germany's tyranny at the time and its effect on Great Britain. The general sentiment in the country was anti-German, and the royal house "felt a need to distance" themselves from Germany.
• During George V's reign, women were allowed to vote for the first time, and he launched the annual Royal Christmas Speech in 1932.

Research Strategy