今天继续由Robert老师带领我们走近英国历史，拉开都铎王朝的序幕，讲述了英格兰从一个稳固的天主教国家到新教强国的转变历程，那些承载着国家命运的女性角色也将陆续登场。
The Tudor Dynasty (House of Tudor)
By Robert Summarised by Arthur
After Richard III was killed in the battle of Bosworth Field ( the last battle in the War of the Roses), Henry Tudor ( Henry VII ) became king and the first thing he (tried) to do was to marry his eldest son: Arthur. In the end, he married Catherine of Aragon. Catherine of Aragon was a Spanish princess and Spain was very powerful then, so Henry Tudor wanted an alliance with Spain. Sadly, Arthur died of an disease a few weeks later and so Tudor wanted his second son, Henry (as well) to marry her. He didn’t want to do it and said of a line in the bible saying that ‘you must not marry your dead brother’s widow’. When Tudor died, they married anyway. Catherine gave birth lots of times but most die. The only one that survives is Mary (Queen of Scots). Henry’s unhappy, and wants a divorce. Pops says ‘NO’, Henry says ‘ Right! I’ll make up my own religion and I’ll be the head of it’. And so Henry starts Protestantism. Catherine gets the boot and in comes Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn failed to get a son and is believed to be a witch. So Anne goes to the chop (execution). Fact: Henry wasn’t even AT Anne’s execution, in fact, he was having a game of tennis. Jane Seymour was number 3 and she was Henry’s favourite wife. She had a son : Edward VI and was brilliant at tennis ( Henry’s favourite game). She dies just two weeks after Edward’s birth. Then came (another) Anne of Cleaves but was divorced ( because the painting that decided the marriage made her look beautiful but Henry after seeing her in person said she looked like a horse). Then it was Kathrine Howard ( a teenager and lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleaves ) who sneakily had a boyfriend ( Thomas Culpeper, you couldn’t blame her, she was just a teenager) and was beheaded (as well as Culpeper). Then was Katherine Parr who survived and was Henry’s last wife. After Henry died, he told his son, Edward VI to be his successor but he died young. Elizabeth I then took over and held her cousin ( Mary queen of Scots) at her palace ( because she had become unpopular in Scotland ). Secretly, Mary was plotting against her and so Mary was executed. Elizabeth triumphed over the Spanish Armada and was the person who told James VI of Scotland to become James I of Scotland, starting the reign of the Stuarts.
After James dies, Charles I comes to the throne and famously loses the civil war. He also started the custom when a monarch is giving a speech, the messenger, strikes the speaker’s staff ( then, the messenger is called ‘Black Rod’) after the door being slammed in his/her face, three times. It is three times because that was how many times the battering ram was striked before Charles I ( as well as 100 armed soldiers ) got into parliament. From 1649~1658 Britain was ruled by Oliver Cromwell and after he died of a type of malaria, the English invited Charles II (chopped Charles I’s son) to rule the country. Two thing, the plague and the great fire of London are marked as great (not great but important) events that happened during his reign as well as the Popish plot (the not-so famous fake plot about Catholics trying to take over ). He was known as the jolly king and was nicknamed ‘Charlie two’. Anne Stuart (probably Charlie two’s daughter) later became the queen but had no children. Either they were born dead or died soon after. All of her 50 closest relatives were Catholic. So she made a law that all monarchs must be descended from the Stuarts and can’t be Catholic. Note: that law is still around and might be changed. Then, people going through her heritage found Number 51, Sophia of Hanover. So after Anne died, Sophia’s son, George I of Hanover came over from Germany and became king, ending the Stuarts and starting the Hanoverian Dynasty ( or Georgians; because they were all called George).
Key words:
To behead：斩首；砍头
To plot：阴谋；密谋
Protestant：新教
Catholic：天主教徒
The Pope：教皇
Spanish Armada：西班牙无敌舰队
Consent：同意
Henry VIII: 亨利八世
Henry VIII's six wives的结局: Divorced, beheaded, died; Divorced, beheaded, survived.
Edward VI：爱德华六世
Lady Jane Grey: 九日女王
Mary I: 玛丽一世（血腥玛丽）
Elizabeth I：伊丽莎白一世（童贞女王，The Virgin Queen）
James I: 詹姆士一世
Guy Fawkes: 盖伊·福克斯
Charles I: 查理一世
Oliver Cromwell: 奥利弗·克伦威尔（护国公）
Charles II: 查理二世（欢乐王、快活王）
Constitutional monarchy：君主立宪制
伊丽莎白一世（Elizabeth I；1533年9月7日－1603年3月24日），于1558年11月17日至1603年3月24日任英格兰和爱尔兰女王，是都铎王朝的第五位也是最后一位君主。她终生未婚，因此有“童贞女王”（The Virgin Queen）之称。在她之前的都铎王朝君主顺序是亨利七世、亨利八世、爱德华六世、（9日女王Lady Jane Grey）和她的异母姊玛丽一世。伊丽莎白一世即位时，英格兰处于内部因宗教分裂的混乱状态。伊丽莎白一世不但成功地保持了英格兰的统一，而且在经过近半个世纪的统治后，使英格兰成为欧洲最强大和最富有的国家之一。英格兰文化也在此期间达到了一个顶峰，出现出了诸如许多著名的人物，包括剧作家威廉·莎士比亚、克里斯托弗·马洛和本·琼森；桂冠诗人爱德蒙·史宾赛将史诗《仙后》献给她；海上探险家法兰西斯·德瑞克爵士在其任内成为第一个环航地球的英国人；弗兰西斯·培根爵士发表了他对哲学与政治的观点；沃尔特·罗利爵士和汉弗莱·吉尔伯特爵士在北美建立英国殖民地。她的统治期在英国历史上称为“伊丽莎白时代”，亦称为“黄金时代”。
詹姆士一世和六世（James I and James VI，1566年6月19日－1625年3月27日），苏格兰国王，称詹姆士六世（James VI），1567年7月24日到1625年3月27日在位。
1603年未婚的英格兰女王伊丽莎白一世逝世后，詹姆士继承英格兰及爱尔兰王位，称詹姆士一世（James I），1603年3月24日到1625年3月27日在位，开启苏格兰与英格兰及爱尔兰共主邦联的时代。1604年詹姆士一世即位后，不了解英国国会，轻视下议院，鼓吹君权神授。1604年，他与西班牙议和，结束战费浩大、得不偿失的英西战争；任命名臣之子——政治家第一代索尔兹伯里伯爵罗伯特·塞西尔为首席大臣。1605年激进的天主教徒盖伊·福克斯策动火药阴谋，意图炸死国王与国会议员，结果失败被捕；詹姆士立刻赶赴国会大楼，塑造自己勇敢坚定的形象，获得议员的一致肯定。1610年，第一次解散议会；1614年，第二次解散议会。
查理一世（Charles I，詹姆士一世的次子），自1625年3月27日登基至1649年1月30日被处死（他是唯一以国王身份被处死的英格兰国王）。他在位期间卷入了与议会的权力斗争。在查理一世最后的几年中，由于企图推翻英格兰与苏格兰国会的权威，他与国会之间爆发了战争，史称为英国内战。查理一世在第一次英国内战（1642年 - 1645年）中被击败后，国会希望他能够接受君主立宪制。然而查理一世执迷不悟，他与苏格兰结盟，并逃到了怀特岛郡，这种行为彻底激怒了国会，从而导致了第二次英国内战（1648年 - 1649年）查理一世再次被击败，随后他被拘捕，审判，定罪，并以叛国罪处死。君主制瓦解，英格兰成了共和国，名为英格兰共和国，由国会的领袖奥立佛·克伦威尔独裁执政，这一时期也被称为克伦威尔空位期。查理一世的儿子，查理二世，在其父死后继承了王位，但直到1660年复辟后才得以行使君主权力。
伦敦大瘟疫是一场1665年至1666年间发生在英国的大规模传染病爆发，超过10万人死于这次瘟疫之中，足足相当于当时伦敦人口的五分之一。该次的疾病后来被确认为是淋巴腺鼠疫，一种由鼠疫杆菌造成并以跳蚤为载体的细菌感染。
1666年伦敦大火是英国伦敦历史上最严重的火灾，火势自9月2日开始蔓延，至9月5日才扑灭。火灾损失包括13200户住宅、87座教区教堂、圣保罗大教堂以及多数市政府建筑，估计造成城市8万人口之中的7万居民无家可归。
安妮是英格兰、苏格兰和爱尔兰国王詹姆斯二世及七世与夫人安妮·海德的次女，1702年3月8日起成为英格兰、苏格兰和爱尔兰女王。1707年3月1日，英苏《联合法令》正式生效，英格兰和苏格兰两个王国合并为大不列颠王国。于是她以“大不列颠及爱尔兰女王”的名义继续统治，直到1714年逝世。除了她唯一的儿子格洛斯特公爵威廉王子活过了十岁外，安妮女王在其他17次怀孕中，分别经历了8次流产，5次死胎，最可悲的是，有一个死胎在她体内待了至少一个月。其他四次怀孕，安妮女王都生了孩子，只是两个女儿因为天花在温莎城堡去世，就是上文说的玛丽公主和索菲亚公主，另外两个婴儿生下来只活了几分钟。
