How would you go about RANKING THE TUDORS, specifically the Tudor monarchs? There are five to choose from; Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I (no Lady Jane Grey I’m afraid, as she wasn’t really a Tudor and I don’t see her as genuine monarch either). As members of what I think is England’s most famous royal dynasty, much ink has been spilt on all of them, but who’s your favourite Tudor monarch and who’s your least? Do you think Henry VIII was just misunderstood, or that Gloriana was the worst thing to happen to England this side of 1066?

In today’s royal history documentary from History Calling, I’m going to take you through my personal ranking and explain why I’m putting them in this order. I’m sure there will be cries of treason in the comments from people who disagree with my choices, but you can share your own ranking with everyone there as well.

I’ll be thinking about how hard these Tudor Kings and Queens had to work to get and keep the throne, how they treated their subjects (and sometimes their family members) while they were there, any mitigating factors which might explain their bad behaviour and their posthumous reputations. Events discussed will include the end of the Wars of the Roses, the six wives of Henry VIII, Edward VI’s experiences of being a child monarch with a Lord Protector, the gruesome fate of his two uncles, Thomas Seymour and Edward Seymour, Mary I’s habit of burning Protestants at the stake and Elizabeth I’s famous jealous streak, temper tantrums and refusal to marry.

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YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
THE WARS OF THE ROSES PLAYLIST https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLSjVq5Qtb0EVv2DJZOZT5ZyQwSJ4o7oZ
TUDOR MONARCHS’ PLAYLIST

SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII PLAYLIST

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Amy Licence, Elizabeth of York: forgotten Tudor Queen (Amberley, 2013).
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Chris Skidmore, Bosworth: the birth of the Tudors (London, reprint, 2014). https://amzn.to/3sfYcF7
S.B. Chrimes, Henry VII (New Haven & London, 2013). https://amzn.to/3cc59Bh
Robert Hutchinson, Young Henry: The Rise of Henry VIII (W&N, 2012). https://amzn.to/3mu5liP
David Starkey, Henry: Virtuous Prince (Harper Press, 2008). https://amzn.to/39y2jVK
Giles Tremlett, Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s Spanish Queen (London, 2010)
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Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (Wiley-Blackwell, 2005)
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Gareth Russell, Young and Damned and Fair: The Life and Tragedy of Catherine Howard at the Court of Henry VIII (2017). https://amzn.to/2VExTgg (US link)
Josephine Wilkinson, Katherine Howard: The Tragic Story of Henry VIII’s Fifth Queen (London, 2016 https://amzn.to/3rbFuPj
Eric Ives, Lady Jane Grey: a Tudor mystery (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). https://amzn.to/3EiF012
Antonia Fraser, The Six Wives Of Henry VIII (2nd edn, Phoenix, 2009) https://amzn.to/36IqD5r
David Starkey, Six Wives: the Queens of Henry VIII (Vintage, 2004)
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Anna Whitelock, Mary Tudor: England’s First Queen (Bloomsbury, London, 2009) https://amzn.to/3dUgYwN
David Starkey, Elizabeth: apprenticeship (2001) https://amzn.to/3upA1Eu
Anne Somerset, Elizabeth I (2003): https://amzn.to/3MQUU4v

BUY OR RENT
Britain’s Bloody Crown Presented by Dan Jones (2016) https://amzn.to/2TPep8i
The Tudors, season 1
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The Tudors, season 4
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Henry VIII and his Six Wives (2016 docu-drama)
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Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (2016 docu-drama)
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