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Royalty & Dynasties
Crowns & Successions
Ruling houses across three continents and how power moved.
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Who is the longest-reigning monarch in British history?
The House of Tudor
The Tudors held the English throne from 1485 to 1603 — a short dynasty that left an unusually long shadow.
About this topic
The Tudor claim to the throne was thin. Henry Tudor won it at Bosworth in 1485 with a small army and a distant hereditary argument, and he spent much of his reign making the outcome look inevitable. His son inherited a secure crown and a treasury, and used both to pursue a marital problem that turned into a constitutional revolution: by 1534 the English church answered to the king rather than the pope, and within a few years its monasteries had been dissolved and their land sold. What followed was three siblings pulling in different directions. Edward VI pushed Protestant reform hard, Mary I tried to reverse it, and Elizabeth I settled on a compromise that held. The dynasty ended for a simple reason: none of the three had children. The crown passed in 1603 to the king of Scotland, whose mother Elizabeth had executed sixteen years earlier.
Questions & answers
The House of Tudor: all 10 questions and answers
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
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1The Tudor dynasty began when Henry Tudor won which battle in 1485?
- A Towton
- B Agincourt
- C Flodden
- D Bosworth Field Correct
Answer: D. Bosworth Field
Why: The defeated Richard III was the last English king to die in battle. His remains were found under a Leicester car park in 2012.
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2How many times did Henry VIII marry?
- A Five
- B Seven
- C Six Correct
- D Four
Answer: C. Six
Why: Two of the marriages were annulled, two wives were executed, one died after childbirth and the last outlived him. Only one legitimate son survived him.
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3Henry VIII broke with Rome chiefly in order to do what?
- A Secure an alliance with Spain
- B Have his first marriage annulled Correct
- C Adopt Lutheran doctrine wholesale
- D Reduce the taxes paid by the nobility
Answer: B. Have his first marriage annulled
Why: The Act of Supremacy made him head of the English church in 1534. Doctrine changed comparatively little in his lifetime; the sharper Protestant turn came under his son.
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4The closure of England's religious houses in the late 1530s is known as what?
- A The Dissolution of the Monasteries Correct
- B The Pilgrimage of Grace
- C The Great Enclosure
- D The Act of Union
Answer: A. The Dissolution of the Monasteries
Why: Their land and income passed to the crown and was largely sold on to landowners. The Pilgrimage of Grace was the northern rebellion that followed.
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5Which of Henry VIII's children succeeded him directly?
- A Mary I
- B Elizabeth I
- C Jane Grey
- D Edward VI Correct
Answer: D. Edward VI
Why: He was nine at his accession in 1547 and governed through councils until his death at fifteen. Protestant reform advanced sharply during those six years.
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6Elizabeth I occupied the throne for approximately how long?
- A About 60 years
- B About 10 years
- C About 45 years Correct
- D About 25 years
Answer: C. About 45 years
Why: She came to the throne in 1558 and died in 1603. She never married, and the succession stayed unsettled almost to the end.
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7In which year did the Spanish Armada sail against England?
- A 1605
- B 1588 Correct
- C 1571
- D 1596
Answer: B. 1588
Why: Storms and the difficulty of embarking the invasion army in the Netherlands did as much damage as English gunnery. Spain sent further armadas in the 1590s that are barely remembered.
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8Which Tudor monarch attempted to restore Catholicism, in a reign marked by the burning of Protestants?
- A Mary I Correct
- B Elizabeth I
- C Edward VI
- D Henry VII
Answer: A. Mary I
Why: She reigned from 1553 to 1558 and married Philip II of Spain. Close to three hundred people were burned, and the nickname attached to her came from later Protestant writers.
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9Which figure was executed in 1587 after nineteen years of captivity in England?
- A Anne Boleyn
- B Lady Jane Grey
- C Catherine Howard
- D Mary, Queen of Scots Correct
Answer: D. Mary, Queen of Scots
Why: She had fled Scotland in 1568 after losing a civil war there. Her son inherited the English throne sixteen years after her death.
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10On Elizabeth I's death the English crown passed to which ruler?
- A Philip III of Spain
- B Christian IV of Denmark
- C James VI of Scotland Correct
- D Henry of Navarre
Answer: C. James VI of Scotland
Why: He became James I of England while remaining king of Scotland. The two kingdoms kept separate parliaments until 1707.
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