House of Tudor, 1485-1603
Henry VII 1485-1509 (grandson of Henry V, wife's second husband)
Henry VIII 1509-1547 (Henry VII's second son)
Edward V 1547-1553 (Henry's son by Jane Seymour)
Mary 1553-1558 (Henry's daughter by Queen Catherine)
Elizabeth I 1558-1603 (Henry's daughter by Anne Boleyn)

Henry VII was the founder of the Tudor dynasty and the king who succeeded in ending the Wars of the Roses.

The son of Edmund Tudor, Henry was born after his father's death. He was brought up by his uncle, Jasper Tudor, who fled with Henry to France after the Lancastrian defeat in 1471. Following Richard III's usurpation of the throne in 1483, Henry promised to marry Elizabeth of York, eldest daughter of Edward IV. This united Richard's opponents and, in 1485, Henry landed at Milford Haven. He killed Richard at the Battle of Bosworth and was crowned in October 1485. Having secured parliamentary recognition of his title, he married Elizabeth of York in January 1486.

His throne was far from secure. His Lancastrian blood was illegitimate and he was constantly plagued with conspiracies. He consolidated his position by a treaty with France that provided both recognition and a handsome pension. Trade agreements with the Netherlands and a marriage treaty with Scotland cut off European support for Perkin Warbeck, a challenger for the throne. Finally, Henry secured a marriage treaty between his eldest son, Arthur, and the Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon, in 1501. Although Arthur died the next year, the marriage went ahead, this time between Catherine and Henry's second son, the future Henry VIII.

Yet Henry had also to boost his finances: he knew he needed financial independence to free him from Parliament and creditors. Henry avoided war and increased administrative efficiency, promoted trade and enforced royal fiscal rights to the point of ruthlessness, leaving a fortune to his successor and a legacy of hatred for some of his financial ministers.

Money could buy power, but only the law brought respect. The royal council was reborn as the Court of Star Chamber and dealt with judicial matters. Special arrangements were made to promote better order in Wales and the North by setting up special councils and more powers were entrusted to the justices of the peace. Medieval rule, in which local law and custom dominated, was slowly being transformed into a single state subject to royal decrees. When he died in 1509, Henry left something quite new: a safe throne, a solvent government and a prosperous and reasonably united kingdom.

1485 -90 Henry VII hammered silver half groat 19.80, 1.49g

CIVI/TAS/CAN/TOR - Canterbury mint Class II

Archbishop Morton

1485 Henry VII hammered silver half penny - wide hair, wide cleft reverse cross end

Obv HENRICVS REX

Rev **** ON/DON - London mint

1485 Henry VII hammered silver half penny - Cross furchee - Open crown

Obv HENRIC *** REX

Rev CIVI/TAS/LON/DON - London mint

0.39g,12.55mm

1485 Henry VII hammered silver halfpenny - open crown

Obv HENRICVS *****

Rev - CIVI/TAS/LON/DON - London mint

12.04mm, 0.29g

1485 Henry VII hammered silver sovereign penny - keys below shield - Archb Rotherham

Obv CIVI/TAS/EBO/RACI - York mint

In 1502, Henry VIII became heir to the English throne. Seven years later he was crowned King of England and quickly married to his dead brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon.

Although Henry himself was no soldier he found success with Wolsey who organised the first French campaign and proved to be an outstanding minister. Defeat of the Scots at Flodden in 1513 added a feather to Henry's cap. However, battle with France ultimately proved expensive and unsuccessful and Wolsey's ascendancy was cut short by Henry's need for a male heir and hence separation from Catherine of Aragon. This was achieved in 1533 against Catherine's wishes, leaving Henry free to marry Anne Boleyn.

The king's primary pursuit was an heir to the throne and it set in motion radical ecclesiastical change. With the help of Wolsey's replacement, Thomas Cromwell, Henry established himself as head of the Church of England and ordered the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Other reforms - such as the creation of the Council of the North and the Household and Exchequer - were also instigated during the 1530s. Within three years he had tired of Anne Boleyn and she was beheaded in 1536, accused of treason and adultery. Jane Seymour became queen and in 1537 produced an heir, Edward VI, who cost Jane her life and proved a sickly child.

Henry's rule was at times merciless and his suppression of dissidents was brutal. But religious change was not inspired by the king's piety, far from it; Henry's obsession was with power and the security of the throne and although the need for divorce tested Henry's allegiance to the Pope, a conversion to Protestantism was never a real prospect. Cromwell fell victim to this when in 1540 - after a fated alliance with the Lutheran Princes and the arrangement of a marriage between the king and Anne of Cleves - conservatism claimed superiority and he too was executed.

The final years of Henry's reign witnessed his physical decline and an increasing desperation to appear all-powerful. The 20-year-old Catharine Howard replaced Anne of Cleves as Henry's wife but she too faced the scaffold accused of adultery. A final marriage to Catherine Parr (despite Henry's physical ruin) was more harmonious although Catherine's religious leanings proved dangerous and might have brought her to the block if it wasn't for Henry's death. Further fruitless wars against Scotland and France emptied the coffers whilst at home the King attempted to play off the conservatives and radicals. Henry's legacy was bewildering - he failed to provide clear instructions regarding the rule of Edward VI and set in motion a chaotic and relentless religious upheaval.

1526-44AD Henry VIII hammered silver half groat 2nd coinage Archb Warham

1.18g, 18.34mm Canterbury mint

1509- 26 Henry VIII hammered silver half groat - first coinage - two arches unjewelled

rev CIVITAS CANTOR (Canterbury mint) POSUI DEUM (Archbishop William Warham)

1.11g, 18.83mm

1526-44 Henry VIII hammered silver penny Sovereign type - London mint

0.67g, 16.47mm

1526-44 AD Henry VIII hammered silver groat, second profile issue Type G

C in Henric is reversed D

obv HENRIC + VIII + D + E + AGL Z FRANC

rev POSVI DEV + ADITORE MEV

Satires on cross ends

1526-32 Henry VIII hammered silver half groat WA beside shield- Warham's Uncertain initial mark (Archbishop William Warham)

1526- 32 Henry VIII milled silver half groat - Cross patonce initial mark

WA by shield Archbishop William Warham - Ref JJ North 1802

Obv HENRIC VII DI GRA REX AGL Z FRA

Rev CIVI/TAS/CAN/TOR - Canterbury mint

1.26g,19.39mm

1508-14 Henry VIII hammered silver halfgroat - Marlett mint mark

Archbishop Brainbridge issue - keys below shield

Somerset's first attempts to repeal treason and heresy laws brought a state of religious and social discord and he was forced to introduce the Prayer Book of 1549 and an Act of Uniformity to enforce it. Written by Thomas Cranmer, the Prayer Book hedged around the nature of the mass - service or sacrament - and just antagonised Protestants and Roman Catholics alike.

This unrest was worsened by an inflationary crisis that saw prices double between 1547 and 1549. In the summer of 1549, peasants in Cornwall and Devonshire revolted against the Prayer Book, while those in Norfolk rose up against economic and social injustices. When Somerset then agreed to an unsuccessful war with Scotland and France, he was arrested in October 1549 and executed for treason two years later.

Somerset's fall was engineered largely by the man who succeeded him - John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. He pulled England out its wars and ruthlessly cracked down on social dissent. Like Edward, he sympathised with the more extreme Protestant reformers, imprisoning Henry VIII's more conservative bishops and looting the church. The new Prayer Book of 1552 was avowedly Protestant; altars were turned into tables, clerical vestments were downgraded and religious orthodoxy was enforced by a new and more stringent Act of Uniformity.

However, in January 1553 Edward showed the first signs of tuberculosis. In May it had become evident that he was dying. Edward's legal successor was Mary, who would undo all of Northumberland's work. With Edward's support, Northumberland devised a new order of succession. They declared Mary illegitimate and passing the throne to Northumberland's daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, and her male heirs. It was a nice try but, following Edward's death on 6th July 1553, Lady Jane Grey was Queen for just nine days before Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, won the kingdom's support and was crowned Mary I.