notes from class: European Renaissance

• Henry the 8th. The Tudors
• Divorced his first wife because she bore him no sons and married Anne when she was 6 months pregnant with Elizabeth. His other daughter, Mary, had to work as Elizabeth's lady in waiting and was embarrassed by this. They did not like each other. In 1554 a law was passed so only his children from Anne were legitimate. She miscarried her only son and Henry was done with her and had her beheaded for adultery and treason. Elizabeth was then declared a bastard and kept from Henry for her safety. She was always used as a pawn for political movements and the like.
• Henry married Jane Seymour after two weeks of Anne's death and she wanted the two girls in the court where they became friends because they were both bastards. Jane gave birth to Edward but then died.
• He died from being overweight and having blood clots in his leg.
• Queen Elizabeth I was very powerful and loved by the people. Also called the Virgin Queen. Became queen at 25. Her reign was called the Elizabethan Age. Elizabeth under Henry's 6th wife was given a great education. Elizabeth was fascinated by her father and his great power. At her father's death people either hated her or wanted to use her for a politcal pawn. At Henry's death Elizabeth's brother Edward, age 10, was next in line buthe was to young so he had to wait till of Age. Edward Seymour held power until young Edward was of age. He appointed Thomas Seymour who was in love Catherine Parr, the widow of Henry, to power. At first he tried to get Elizabeth to marry him but when she refused him he married Catherine Parr. He still tried to have sex with Elizabeth and when Catherine figured this out she blamed Elizabeth. Catherine Parr died of child birth and Thomas still tried to get Elizabeth. This was embarrassing and her brother Thomas would not let her come to court. Thomas Seymour was eventually executed and she was allowed into the court. Mary did not like being in the antiCatholic court so when Elizabeth came she got a lot of attention. Particularly because of the way she dressed. A plot was hatched to get a sick Edward to debar his sisters from being next in line by Dudley which involved Lady Jane Gray becoming queen, Mary ended up being queen and Jane Gray was executed. Elizabeth decided to "watch and wait" and was very careful about everything she did. She had her own household and was quite frugal. She read, danced, and played the harp a lot. Mary was at first accpeted by England but because she wanted England to go back to Catholiscm the people grew angry. She also wanted to marry Philip king of Spain which resulted in Elizabeth becoming more popular and the people disagreeing with Mary even more. Protestants started to get killed across the countryside.