The Tudors
The Tudors
Years 1485 – 1603 are considered as the most glorious period in English history. This period is associated to the Tudor family, the powerful and controversial family.
Everything started with Henry VII who built a wealthy nation state and a powerful monarchy. He believed that conflicts are bad for business and that is why they are bad for state. England was not in very good condition. A closed trading society had destroyed English trade with the Baltic and northern Europe and trade with Italy and France had also been reduced. But in 1485, Henry VII made an important trade agreement with the Netherland which allowed English trade to grow again.
Henry was very lucky man, many of the old nobility had died and all land had gone to the king. It caused that Henry had more power and more money than earlier kings. And to make his power stronger, he forbade anyone except himself, to keep armed men. Because nobility did everything but not respected law and Henry had to punish them. His goal was to make Crown financially independent and the lands taken from the old nobility helped him to do this. He wanted to keep peace and prosperity and was really mean that made him unpopular. The only way of spending money was building of ships for merchant fleer because he believed that people of future England will depend on international trade. What a smart idea!
Henry´s son Henry VIII was unpopular too. It was said that he had been cruel. Despite his father he was wasteful with many and focusing on his own pleasure. He wanted to be very powerful in issues of Europe politics but what happened-France, now, was more powerful than England and of course Spain was the country with greater power thanks to union with Holy Roman Empire. Henry VIII was now between two superpowers. He wanted to keep England but the wrong turn was that he balanced between this strong giants. At first he was on the side of France, but it did not bring him anything and he turned his interest to
Years 1485 – 1603 are considered as the most glorious period in English history. This period is associated to the Tudor family, the powerful and controversial family.
Everything started with Henry VII who built a wealthy nation state and a powerful monarchy. He believed that conflicts are bad for business and that is why they are bad for state. England was not in very good condition. A closed trading society had destroyed English trade with the Baltic and northern Europe and trade with Italy and France had also been reduced. But in 1485, Henry VII made an important trade agreement with the Netherland which allowed English trade to grow again.
Henry was very lucky man, many of the old nobility had died and all land had gone to the king. It caused that Henry had more power and more money than earlier kings. And to make his power stronger, he forbade anyone except himself, to keep armed men. Because nobility did everything but not respected law and Henry had to punish them. His goal was to make Crown financially independent and the lands taken from the old nobility helped him to do this. He wanted to keep peace and prosperity and was really mean that made him unpopular. The only way of spending money was building of ships for merchant fleer because he believed that people of future England will depend on international trade. What a smart idea!
Henry´s son Henry VIII was unpopular too. It was said that he had been cruel. Despite his father he was wasteful with many and focusing on his own pleasure. He wanted to be very powerful in issues of Europe politics but what happened-France, now, was more powerful than England and of course Spain was the country with greater power thanks to union with Holy Roman Empire. Henry VIII was now between two superpowers. He wanted to keep England but the wrong turn was that he balanced between this strong giants. At first he was on the side of France, but it did not bring him anything and he turned his interest to