Fact 1 - How did the Tudors start? The powerful Tudor family started when Owen Tudor married Catherine of Valois, the widow of Henry VI. Their son was Edmund Tudor and their grandson was Henry Tudor who became King Henry VII, the first Tudor King
Fact 2 - How did the Tudors start? Henry Tudor defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field which started the House of Tudor
Fact 3 - When did the Tudors start? The Lancastrian Henry Tudor's victory over the Yorkist Richard III was in 1485
Fact 4 - How many Tudors ruled Britain? Five - Three Kings and Two Queens
Fact 5 - Who were Kings and Queens of the Tudors dynasty? The royal dynasty of the Tudors were:
King Henry VII (1457 - 1509)
King Henry VIII (1491 - 1547)
King Edward VI (1537 - 1553)
Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary - 1516 - 1558)
Queen Elizabeth I (1533 - 1603)
Fact 6 - How long did the Tudors rule? 1485 - 1603. The Tudor period started with the reign of Henry VII in 1485 and ended with the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603
Fact 7 - On 18 January 1486 Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville uniting the Houses of York and Lancaster, ending the Wars of the Roses
Fact 8 - What was the Tudor family emblem? The Tudor Rose
Fact 9 - Why was the Tudor rose formed? To represent the fusion of the Lancastrian and Yorkist noble factions. The Tudor rose was formed by combining the red rose which was the emblem of the House of Lancaster and the white rose which was the emblem of the House of York
Fact 10 - The father of King Henry VII, Edmund Tudor, died before he was born and Henry was raised by his uncle Jasper Tudor
Fact 11 - Edmund Tudor married Margaret Beaufort who was a descendent of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford
Fact 12 - The Lancastrian rebellion against the Yorkist King Richard III followed the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower ( the two young brothers of Elizabeth of York)
Fact 13 - Henry VIII was a second son and was originally destined for life in the clergy - this changed when his brother Arthur died at the age of fifteen
Fact 14 - The early armour of King Henry VIII showed a waist measurement of about 34 to 36 inches but the last set of armour showed a waist measurement of about 58 to 60 inches!
Fact 15 - The six wives of Henry VIII were:
Katherine of Aragon the mother of Bloody Mary
Anne Boleyn the mother of Elizabeth I
Jane Seymour the mother of Edward VI
Anne of Cleves
Catherine Howard
Katherine Parr
Fact 16 - The ending of the marriages of King Henry VIII can be remembered by the following rhyme:
"Divorced, Beheaded, Died
Divorced, Beheaded, Survived"
Fact 17 - Katherine of Aragon was a princess, the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain
Fact 18 - 19 May 1536 Anne Boleyn was beheaded on charges of treason, witchcraft, adultery and incest
Fact 19 - Jane Seymour died just twelve days after giving birth to her son from puerperal fever on 24 October 1537
Fact 20 - The marriage between the German princess, Anne of Cleves, and Henry VIII was not consummated - he is reputed to have called her 'a fat Flanders Mare'
Fact 21 - The tragic Catherine Howard was thirty years younger than King Henry VIII and was only 21 when she was beheaded on February 13th, 1542
Fact 22 - Some believe that King Henry VIII died of the sexually transmitted disease Syphilis which seems to go with his image as a lecher but his cause of death has never been established
Fact 23 - King Edward VI was only 15 when he died and named Lady Jane Grey, as his heir and successor to the throne of England - Lady Jane Grey ruled for just 9 days
Fact 24 - Catholic Queen Mary I was given the nickname Bloody Mary because of the number of Protestant Tudors who were executed during her reign. In fact there were only 287 Protestant executions whereas her father, King Henry VIII, had been responsible for 57,000!
Fact 25 - Scandal followed Queen Elizabeth I when Amy Robsart, the wife of her favourite courtier Robert Dudley (some say lover) was found dead at the foot of the stairs - Dudley was suspected or arranging her murder so that he would be free to marry Queen Elizabeth
Fact 26 - Queen Elizabeth I almost died of Smallpox in 1562 and was left with some scars on her face which were covered with the heavy white make-up which was fashionable at the time
Fact 27 - Queen Elizabeth I never met her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots
Fact 28 - Queen Elizabeth I Reigned for 45 years from 1558 - 1603
Fact 29 - Queen Elizabeth I was to be laid to rest next to her half-sister, Bloody Mary, who had always disliked Elizabeth and who had imprisoned her in the Tower of London
Fact 30 - The throne of England passed to the Protestant King James VI of Scotland who became King James I of England and started the dynasty of the Stuarts
