Tudor life

The Tudor era lasted from 1485 – when Henry VII defeated the Yorkist king Richard III at the battle of Bosworth – until the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603. So what was life like during Tudor times?

Two men dressed in Tudor clothes stand next to one another against a green curtain backdrop. Between them are several items, including a globe, a hymnbook and a lute

Tudors in turmoil: deciphering Hans Holbein’s masterwork The Ambassadors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tudor spymaster: the secret machinations of Robert Cecil. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tracy Borman at Hampton Court Palace

Explore Hampton Court Palace with Professor Tracy Borman. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Thomas Cromwell

Your guide to Thomas Cromwell

The Evil May Day Riots of 1517: what happened?

Tudor podcast episodes

Ladies in Tudor costume in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. (Photo by Steve Vidler via Alamy)

7 things you (probably) didn't know about Tudor fashion

Q&AWhat was the fascination behind Tudor codpieces?

London in the 16th century map, illustration by Theresa Grieben

Trade, religion and diversity: how Tudor London became a global city. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tudor childhood: from dodging death to nursery rhymes. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A witch feeds her familiars in this illustration from the 1579 pamphlet about Windsor woman Elizabeth Stile (Photo by Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo)

Forgotten TudorsWhat the lives of ordinary people tell us about Tudor England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Disabled people in Tudor times. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Depiction of a musician and dancing fool in Paris, 14th century

What was life like for a court jester?

Queen Elizabeth I dancing with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Artist unknown. (© Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library/Alamy)

Tudor tunes: music at the courts of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and James VI and I

Thomas More: saint or sinner?

Portrait of an African man, c1530 . (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The missing Tudors: black people in 16th-century England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Catherine of Aragon

Your guide to Catherine of Aragon: Henry VIII’s first wife and mother of Mary I

Richard III. (Photo by Getty Images)

Have we completely misinterpreted Shakespeare’s Richard III?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

English admiral Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596), circa 1585. (Photo by Getty Images)

Francis Drake: slave trader. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The unexpected Tudors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Nicola Tallis photographed by David Hampton in October 2019

Nicola Tallis on Margaret Beaufort, mother of the Tudors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A depiction of the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh (10 September 1547), the last formal battle between England and Scotland. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

Q&AWhen was the last battle between England and Scotland?

Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn's childhood home in Kent. (Photo by Prisma Bildagentur/UIG via Getty Images)

8 must-visit castles with Tudor connections

English countrywoman (right) with a lady of the court. From ‘Civitates Orbis Terrarum’, 1572. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Tudor women: what was life like?

Tudor advent calendar

24 facts about Christmas in the Tudor period

How did Henry VIII and Elizabeth I celebrate Yuletide? (Illustration by Becca Thorne for BBC History Magazine)

Tales from a Tudor Christmas. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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)

5 facts about Shakespeare’s Globe theatre

A crowned Tudor rose. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Stringer via Getty Images)

Why the Tudors grab us. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Henry VIII “regarded his wars as the worthy successors of the great martial victories of England’s past”, says Steven Gunn. (Photo by PHAS/UIG via Getty Images)

The LibraryTotal war in Tudor England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Black faces of Tudor England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.