Author, historian, joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces

Tracy Borman

<p>The Tudors are one of the best-known royal dynasties in history, popularised by the likes of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I. What are the most important moments that shaped the period? In this timeline spanning the Tudor era, historian Tracy Borman selects 51 pivotal events from 1485–1603…</p>

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Henry Tudor, King Henry VII of England

Double portrait of Elizabeth of York and Henry VII, King of England

A portrait of the children of Henry VII (l to r): Prince Henry; Arthur, Prince of Wales and Princess Margaret, c1498. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Lambert Simnel was masqueraded as one of the Princes in the Tower. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Henry, who would would later accede to the throne as Henry VIII, as a baby. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Prince Arthur around the time of his marriage, c1501 and Catherine of Aragon, 1502. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

An engraving of Margaret Tudor, after a portrait by Hans Holbein. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Henry VIII inherited the charm, charisma and good looks of his mother’s family, the House of York. (Photo by Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Illustration shows James IV ceding his crown following defeat at the battle of Flodden. (Picture by Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo)

Thomas Wolsey - Alamy Images

Mary Tudor, the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. For the first few years of her life, Mary was a source of delight to her parents. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A 19th-century interpretation of the meeting of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.(Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Thomas Cromwell's rise in Henry VIII's court was "meteoric". (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Anne Boleyn became Henry VIII's queen in 1533. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

The ruins of Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire. Henry’s motives when dismantling such monasteries “were much more complex than pure revenge or pure avarice alone”, says Adam Morton. (Photo by Getty Images)

An engraving depicting Anne Boleyn's execution. (Photo by: Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Edward VI (1537-1553) king of England and Ireland from 1547. Son of Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour. Always a sickly child, he died of natural causes. Portrait by Holbein.

Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife and queen consort

<h4>Did you know…? Tudor London was a mudbath</h4><p>Andreas Franciscius, an Italian visitor to London in 1497, was horrified by what he found. Although he admired the “fine” architecture, he was disgusted by the “vast amount of evil-smelling mud" that covered the streets and lasted a long time – nearly the whole year round.<p>The citizens, therefore, in order to remove this mud and filth from their boots, are accustomed to spread fresh rushes on the floors of all houses, on which they clean the soles of their shoes when they come in.”<p>Franciscius added disapprovingly that the English people had “fierce tempers and wicked dispositions”, as well as “a great antipathy to foreigners”.<p><ul><p><li><strong>Read more about <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/tudor/life-in-tudor-london/">life in Tudor London</a></strong></li><p></ul>

This portrait of Anne of Cleves, painted by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1539, delighted Henry VIII. Unfortunately, the king was far less impressed with his new bride when he met her in the flesh. (Photo by © Historical Picture Archive/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Portrait of a young woman believed to be Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

A portrait of Katherine Parr by William Scrots. (Photo by De Agostini Picture Library/Getty Images Plus)

The family of Henry VIII: an allegory of the Tudor succession. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Henry VIII was succeeded by his nine-year-old son, Edward VI. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

<h4>Did you know…? Edward VI might have had a 'whipping boy'</h4><p>Education was seen as something of a luxury for most Tudors, and it was usually the children of the rich who received anything approaching a decent schooling.<p>There were few books in Tudor schools, so pupils read from 'hornbooks' instead. Pages displaying the alphabet and religious material were attached to wooden boards and covered with a transparent sheet of cow horn (hence the name).<p>Discipline was much fiercer than it is today. Teachers would think nothing of punishing their pupils with 50 strokes of the cane, and wealthier parents would often pay for a ‘whipping-boy’ to take the punishment on behalf of their child. Barnaby Fitzpatrick undertook this thankless task for the young Edward VI, although the two boys did become best friends.

Portrait of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England, 1535. From the New York Public Library. Note: Image has been digitally colorized using a modern process. Colors may not be period-accurate. (Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).

<h4>Did you know…? Edward VI might have had a 'whipping boy'?</h4><p>Education was seen as something of a luxury for most Tudors, and it was usually the children of the rich who received anything approaching a decent schooling.<p>There were few books in Tudor schools, so pupils read from 'hornbooks' instead. Pages displaying the alphabet and religious material were attached to wooden boards and covered with a transparent sheet of cow horn (hence the name).<p>Discipline was much fiercer than it is today. Teachers would think nothing of punishing their pupils with 50 strokes of the cane, and wealthier parents would often pay for a ‘whipping-boy’ to take the punishment on behalf of their child. Barnaby Fitzpatrick undertook this thankless task for the young Edward VI, although the two boys did become best friends.

Paul Delaroche's work, 'The Execution of Lady Jane Grey'. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

A 17th century Dutch portrait of Queen Mary I of England (1516-1558), eldest daughter of Henry VIII. She was nicknamed "Bloody Mary" for her persecution of English Protestants. The painting hangs in the Dutch Room of the Gardner Museum in Boston. | Located in: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.   (Photo by Kevin Fleming/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

Elizabeth succeeded her half sister, Mary Tudor, as Elizabeth I

The daughter and great-niece of Henry VIII respectively, Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots didn't feel strong family ties when it came to their relationship. (Photo by Getty Images)

<h4>Did you know…? Elizabeth I owned more than 2,000 dresses</h4><p>When her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed, Elizabeth was so neglected by her father, Henry VIII, that she soon outgrew all of her clothes, and her servant was forced to write to ask for new ones.<p>Perhaps the memory of this humiliation prompted Elizabeth, as queen, to stuff her wardrobes with more than 2,000 beautiful dresses, all in rich fabrics and gorgeous colours.<p>But despite her enormous collection, she always wanted more. When one of her maids of honour, Lady Mary Howard, appeared in court wearing a strikingly ostentatious gown, the queen was so jealous that she stole it, and paraded around court in it herself.

Portrait of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (1532-1588) an English nobleman.(Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

A 16th-century illustration of the 'Golden Hind', an English galleon best known for her circumnavigation of the globe, captained by Sir Francis Drake. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Walter Ralegh sent the first colonists to Roanoke in 1585, but they abandoned the settlement the following year. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

A portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. (Photo by VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images)

The Spanish Armada, a great fleet sent by King Philip II of Spain in 1588 to invade England. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

A portrait of William Shakespeare. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

First built in 1576, the Globe theatre burnt to the ground in 1613. During a performance of the play now known as 'Henry VIII', a set of stage cannons were fired and a piece of flaming material from one of the cannons landed on the theatre’s thatched roof, causing the fire. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

The portrait of Queen Elizabeth I known as the Ditchley portrait, painted by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

The Tudors are one of the best-known royal dynasties in history, popularised by the likes of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I. What are the most important moments that shaped the period? In this timeline spanning the Tudor era, historian Tracy Borman selects 51 pivotal events from 1485–1603…

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