The Reign of the Tudors and the Stuarts

Henry VII began the process of strengthening the idea of kingship, which he had to do from necessity because of the weakness of his claim to the throne. The weakness of kings in the fifteenth century had had real consequences, such as bad government and the disintegration of the rule of law. The king had to rely on the good will of the people for his power, and he had no standing army and was dependent on the conformance of the nobility to the ancient duty of every male citizen to serve in the militia. Henry now worked to place the kingship on a new plane of eminence (Willson and Prall 175). Councillors had been selected by rank in the past, but beginning with Henry the Tudors selected councillors on the basis of their intelligence and the quality of their work (Dawson 36-37). Henry gave the councillors great power because they were dependent upon him for their jobs and because they represented his will in action (Willson an

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hat if Mary died, he would remain king. That is precisely what happened when Mary died of smallpox in 1694. This agreement was the result of the Glorious Revolution, which made the monarchy both constitutional and Parliamentary so that the fundamental struggles between Crown and Parliament were largely resolved. William was declared king by Parliament, and this meant that the old view that the king was divinely ordained and set apart was ended. The religious dispute started by Henry VIII remained powerful, and to prevent James I from reinstating Catholicism, Parliament had earlier offered a Bill of Rights that decreed that no Catholic or anyone with a Catholic spouse could hold the Crown (Delderfield 92-93). Queen Elizabeth I had been imprisoned for a time by her sister, Mary I, also known as Bloody Mary for the ruthlessness with which she eliminated Protestants. Elizabeth ascended to the throne in 1558 when Mary died, and she reigned for 44 years during a period of unprecedented artistic, commercial, and social change, giving her name to an era in history. She would be the last of the Tudors and would be succeeded by the Stuart James I. When Elizabeth came to power, the country was governed by religious fears and differen
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1662
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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