By Andrew Lewis
Although lasting only 118 years and producing only five monarchs, the Tudor dynasty is possibly the most famous in English history.
At the end of the 15th century, England entered a new, turbulent, but ultimately beneficent phase of its history. Civil war, religious schism, and Renaissance ideals transformed English culture and politics under the leadership of the new Tudor dynasty. The Tudors, especially Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, are best known for their absolutist rule and for leading England’s separation from the Catholic Church. The Tudor dynasty also helped to bring England fully out of the medieval era. Directly and indirectly—partly by design and partly by provoking resistance—these monarchs promoted humanist ideals which saw feudalism and mysticism gradually replaced by parliamentary and secular ideals.
This course, a successor to earlier courses on English and European history, examines the increasingly sophisticated relationship between England’s monarchy and its parliament—partly setting the precedent for the Glorious Revolution of 1688—and the cultural developments which distinguished England from the rest of Europe. It identifies the central role played by religious disagreements in these developments, in addition to the leadership (or lack thereof) by the various monarchs.
The course covers the rise of the Tudor dynasty in the Wars of the Roses, Henry Tudor’s firm guidance, Henry VIII’s “great matter” and mercurial leadership, and the volatile legacy he left for his children.
This course was recorded at the 2012 Objectivist Summer Conference in San Diego, CA.
(MP3 download; 3 hrs., 59 mins., 172 MB)
