Tudor England

The Tudor Dynasty followed the Plantagenet Dynasty after a civil war for power known as the War of the Roses, between the Welsh Henry Tudor and the Yorkish Richard III, and lasted between 1485 and 1603 under the monarchs of Henry VII for 24 years, Henry VIII for 38 years, Edward VI for 6 years, Mary I for 5 years and Elizabeth I, the symbol of the dynasty, for about 70. It was succeeded by the King James I of England (or James V of Scotland), and though a relatively short dynasty lasting less than two centuries, the Tudor Age was not one soon to be forgotten, two of its rulers -- Henry VIII and Elizabeth I -- still standing as some of England's most well-known, intriguing and beloved figures.

Tudor England's most famous figures include, naturally, Henry VIII, above the other of his six wives Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, Mary I also known as Bloody Mary, Elizabeth I, Robert Dudley, Walter Raleigh, and Mary, Queen of Scots. These figures among others and their dramatic and dangerous stories of passion and ambition are depicted often in biographies and particularly fictional works as novels, most famously The Other Boleyn Girl or Wolf Hall, television series such as The Tudors and Elizabeth R, and movies including Elizabeth and Anne of the Thousand Days. Tudor England stands as a popular subject for literature and screenplays due to its bearing of all Hollywood and popular books' most beloved and essential elements: romance, passion, sex, and seduction, as well as war, battles, conspiracies and plots, and perpetual danger.

The Tudor Age is certainly a time period worth learning more about, and given how only about two years of my life have been put to learning and cultivating a knowledge of it, I might not be your best source of information. But if you're curious about it, I encourage you to look to the side bar where I list a few great links for you to visit so that you might educate yourself. Enjoy!

• Read about Tudor people/events (mainly major battles, religious reform movements or marriages)