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Wars of Tudor England: Part I After the reign of Henry VIII uncertainty clouded the English succession, just as the King had feared throughout his lifetime and many marriages. The lack of a strong and old enough male heir was a major problem dating back to the Wars of Roses and many feared for the safety and security of England and her realms if a Queen succeeded Henry. Like his brother Arthur, the untimely death of the pre-eminent royal heir, Henry’s only legitimate son Edward VI (b.1537-1553) in the year 1553, worried those royal lords and retainers who had served the Tudor hegemony for many years faithfully. Would they lose everything in another play for the kingdom like the Wars of the Roses from 1455-1487. The only other male heir with a claim, Henry Fitzroy (b.1519-1536), the King’s legitimized bastard had already long since died, a crisis was brewing. King Edward VI of England & Ireland 1547-July 6, 1553 Had the young King Edward lived longer perhaps Tudor succession would h...

Through the lens of warfare and diplomatic historical analysis, the timeline of Tudor England from 1485-1553 is fascinating because of the complex nature of late medieval and renaissance culture. Furthermore it was a time where weapons (gunpowder: firearms, artillery and naval cannon) and strategic understanding were advancing rapidly but the medieval style of combat from the skirmish, to cavalry, and siege warfare, remained entrenched in the values and teachings of the past. What makes this period so fascinating is that it was the end of medieval era chronologically, though technically speaking the realm's military institutions would only begin to modernize into the later reign of Henry VIII and his daughters. Henry VIII as he looked in his later reign The medieval influences on the reign of the Tudors cannot be overstated, it was an era which saw the end of the ‘bastard feudalism’ which tore England apart, and signaled the beginning of a modern Great Britain , united un...