2.  Renaissance – is a French word that means “rebirth” or renewal  The Renaissance began in Italy  Marked the link into the modern world from the Middle Ages

3.  Accession of Henry VII inaugurates the Tudor dynasty and also marks the beginning of the Renaissance period  The family name derives from Owen Tudor. Although he had no direct claim to the throne he married Catherine of Valois (widow of King Henry V)  His grandson was Henry VII

4.  Interest in humans  Introduction of Universities  The movable print  Age of exploration  Reformation

5.  Markets expanded significantly  International trade flourished  The population expanded – from 60,000 in 1520 to 120,000 in 1550

6.  The art of printing from moveable metal type, a German invention, had been introduced to England by William Caxton  Printing made books cheaper and more plentiful, providing more opportunity to read and more incentive to learn

7.  Officially, in the early 16 th century England had one religion – Catholicism  The head of the church was the pope in Rome  A vast system of confessions, pardons, penance, absolution, indulgences, sacred relics, and ceremonies gave church great power

8.  The court was the center of culture  Fashions in dress, speech, painting, music, poetry shaped the taste and imagination of the country as a whole  In the Tudor era the route to power lay in proximity to the royal body. (groom of the stool)

11.  Married Catherine of Aragon  Died unexpectedly  Catherine of Aragon married his younger brother Henry VIII

12.  Married six times  It is easiest to remember using this device: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived  Declared himself the head of the English church in 1534  He produced three children all together – Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward VI  Edward died when he was only 15

13.  Became king in 1547 at the age of 10  Died in 1553 – only six years after his accession  Both the ten year-old Edward and his staunch successive Protectors were Protestants

14.  Mary was devout Catholic  Persecution of protestants led her to receive the name “Bloody Mary”  When Mary died of what modern researches would have called an ovarian cyst Elizabeth took the throne

15.  Reigned for 45 years  Considered the “Golden Years”  She never married  Was very well educated – she spoke six languages