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?

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

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The Tudors: 51 moments that shaped the royal dynasty

Mary Tudor (top left), the eldest daughter of King Henry VIII, had five stepmothers: Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Katherine Parr. But what was her relationship with each of them? (Photos by Getty Images)

Mary Tudor and her five stepmothers: what was their relationship like?

Roman toilet

Tales of the toilet: a historical A–Z

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Thomas More: saint or sinner?

Portrait of an African man, c1530

The missing Tudors: black people in 16th-century England

Portrait of Catherine of Aragon

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

An illustration of King Richard speaking to James Tyrrell in William Shakespeare's 'The Tragedy of King Richard the Third

Have we completely misinterpreted Shakespeare’s Richard III?

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

Francis Drake: slave trader

Francis Drake portrait

Francis Drake’s forgotten role in the English slave trade

Sam Willis and James Daybell. (Photo by David Hampton, Tudor rose by Alamy)

The unexpected Tudors

The best Tudor podcasts to listen to right now. (Photo by Alamy)

9 podcasts about the Tudors to listen to right now

A portrait of Thomas Cromwell

Your guide to Thomas Cromwell

Nicola Tallis photographed by David Hampton in October 2019

Nicola Tallis on Margaret Beaufort, mother of the Tudors