The Tudor dynasty was one of the most dramatic and troubled of all English royal families. Ruling during turbulent times, and with a precarious claim to the throne, the five Tudor monarchs left an indelible mark on England. Join Curator of Special Collections Curt DiCamillo for a sweeping lecture that sheds light on the Tudors' loves, personalities, art, architecture, and literature, all of which has come down to us today in many and surprising ways. In spite of their extreme shortcomings, there wouldn’t be an England today without the Tudors.

The Tudor dynasty was founded by Henry VII, who usurped the throne in 1485 with the battlefield murder of Richard III. Henry’s son, the infamous Henry VIII, changed England forever when his desire for a divorce led him to break with the Roman Catholic Church and create the Church of England. Originally a young and handsome prince, King Henry VIII’s court has been described by Tracy Borman as “an area ridden with intrigue, betrayal, treachery, and deceit.” From his brutal and greedy seizure of the monasteries to his gargantuan appetites for food and women, the king didn’t believe anything should be denied him. Ironically, Henry’s grotesque behavior placed England on the course toward the Protestant enlightenment, thus laying the groundwork for the tolerant country known today as the bedrock of stability. Henry’s daughters (Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I) were the first women ever to sit on the English throne. Though Mary’s reign was an unmitigated disaster (her attempt to bring England back to the Roman Church earned her the sobriquet “Bloody Mary” because of the almost 300 Protestants she had burned at the stake), Elizabeth stands as one of the greatest of all European monarchs. Her reign is best summed up by E. N. Williams: “Where the independence of England was gravely threatened by the Catholic powers of France and Spain, she maneuvered in the twilight zone between diplomacy and war with outstanding skill; stretching narrow resources to the limit, she struck with success wherever danger loomed. She preserved the unity, the independence, and the peculiarity of England, and there can be no doubting her greatness.”