2. Henry VIII and Tudor Times by Y5S

3. Henry VIII 1509 -1547 My name is Henry VIII. I am tall, handsome and intelligent. I am good at reading, music and sports. I will be remembered as the king who set up the Church of England and who closed many monasteries. I will also be remembered for my children, Edward, Mary and Elizabeth and the fact that I had six wives!

4. The Court Jester This is me with King Henry VIII! I am the Court Jester. It is a very good job. I need to keep the king happy. I dance and make jokes. I have to be good --- --- I don’t want my head chopped off!

5. The Tudor School Our lessons begin between six and seven o’clock in the morning.. The master looks on to see how well we do.

6. The Executioner I sharpened my axe for Thomas More in 1535, but when Queen Anne Boleyn was beheaded in 1536, she had a French swordsman to do the job, I could have chopped off her head just as well !

7. The Courtier I am a rich nobleman with lands and a mansion in Suffolk. I go to court in London quite often. I travel on horseback and it is a long way.

8. A Tudor Merchant I am a rich cloth merchant. I do most of my trade in London. I buy cloth from the north of England and sell it at high prices to foreign traders. My home is a mansion in Kent.

9. Message to the Pope! Here I am, The King’s Messenger, delivering Cardinal Wolsey’s demand that King Henry VIII should be given a divorce.

10. The Mary Rose was a fine warship. She was built in Portsmouth under the orders of Henry VIII and was named after his favourite sister, Mary Rose. The ship had 91 heavy guns. It was because the gun ports were left open as she sailed to meet the French fleet that she sank. I am a sailor. I was on the Mary Rose when it sank in 1545. I was lucky, all my mates drowned.

11. I am a monk. I lived in the abbey but the king has dissolved it. He said we were greedy and bad, but really we worked hard and helped the poor.

12. A thatcher of Thatchwood went to Thatchet a-thatching; Did a thatcher of Thatchwood go to Thatchet a-thatching? If a thatcher of Thatchwood went to Thatchet a-thatching, Where’s the thatching the thatcher of Thatchwood has thatched?

13. With thanks to the Tudor actors of Y5S!