Monarchy by David Starkey Monarchy by David Starkey Series 2
Episode 3 - The Children of Henry VIII (48 mins)
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Monarchy by David Starkey
Monarchy by David Starkey Series 2
Episode 3: The Children of Henry VIII
Date:
2005Categories:
FactualCast & Crew
David Starkey (writer)
About this programme:
It is 1544. Henry, now in the third decade of his reign, bestrides England like an ageing colossus. But who will succeed him? He decides to name all three of his children - Edward, Mary and Elizabeth - as his heirs, but urges them to pursue moderation in matters of religion. The first two children ignore the warning. But Edward's attempts to impose extreme Protestantism on the English are stopped in their tracks by his early death. Mary re-imposed Catholicism with shocking violence, burning at the stake hundreds of Protestant men, women and children, among them Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. However, she too died before she could complete her 'mission'. Last in line was Elizabeth I and she attempted to follow the moderate line her father had recommended. But the arrival in England of her Catholic cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, again stirred up religious tensions.
About this series:
Second series. The greatest living authority on the subject, Dr David Starkey presents a complete history of the British Monarchy. Over 20 episodes in four series, he tells the epic and bloody stories of our great Kings and Queens and charts the course of the oldest surviving political institution in Europe. Dr Starkey's perspective is controversial, well informed and very personal: he sees the story of our Monarchy as a crucial and sometimes violent dialogue between the people and the monarch, through which the very nature of our society was forged. Dr Starkey explores the dynamic relationship between monarchy and people from 400 and 1400AD: a relationship that has created English national identity and shaped Scotland and Wales; in short, forging the British nation.
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Episodes
Ep. 1:
| Tudors and Stuarts- The series begins in the dark days of the 1450's, in the maelstrom of the Wars of the Roses. Two rival factions, York and Lancaster, are slugging it out for power. The House of York triumphs, but then destroys itself through betrayal and murder that culminates in Richard III's coup, and the 'disappearance' of the Princes in the Tower. Richard's ambition and greed hands the crown on a plate to an obscure Welshman, Henry Tudor, and the Tudor dynasty is born. But behind the beheadings and the gore, says David Starkey, was a fundamental question: how should England be ruled? Henry Tudor thought he knew the answer - but the cure proved as bad as the disease, and he became one of England's most hated monarchs. | ||
Ep. 2:
| Henry VIII Kind and Emperor- The second series now enters the remarkable reign of Henry VIII. Inheriting the throne aged just 17 from his unpopular and miserly father, the new, teenage King is determined to bring glamour and glory back to monarchy. His reign turned into a quest for fame as obsessive as any modern celebrity's. In the search for love - and the need for an heir - he was determined to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and marry his mistress, Anne Boleyn. Unwittingly, the divorce led Henry to claim supreme authority over church and state, severing England's allegiance to the Pope in Rome. It led to the Dissolution of the country's 500 monasteries, unleashing violent sacrilege on a grand scale, and giving Henry powers that no English King had ever exercised before, allowing him to turn monarchy into virtual tyranny. | ||
Ep. 3:
| The Children of Henry VIII- It is 1544. Henry, now in the third decade of his reign, bestrides England like an ageing colossus. But who will succeed him? He decides to name all three of his children - Edward, Mary and Elizabeth - as his heirs, but urges them to pursue moderation in matters of religion. The first two children ignore the warning. But Edward's attempts to impose extreme Protestantism on the English are stopped in their tracks by his early death. Mary re-imposed Catholicism with shocking violence, burning at the stake hundreds of Protestant men, women and children, among them Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. However, she too died before she could complete her 'mission'. Last in line was Elizabeth I and she attempted to follow the moderate line her father had recommended. But the arrival in England of her Catholic cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, again stirred up religious tensions. | ||
Ep. 4:
| The Stuart Succession- With the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the power and reputation of the monarchy under Queen Elizabeth I stood at its zenith. Even the Pope, who had helped finance the Armada expedition, expressed his admiration of her and only regretted that they were unable to have children together. However, within a generation, the new British nation was to find itself in the middle of the bloodiest of civil wars. James VI of Scotland and now James I of England had managed to hold everything together but, under the Stuart succession, his son Charles I, by a mixture of intransigence and ineptitude, had managed to throw it all away. How could the monarchy lose so much of its lustre in so short a space of time? In a stunning piece of argument, David Starkey charts the transition of the monarchy from Tudor glory to abject Stuart weakness - and Civil War. | ||
Ep. 5:
| Oliver Cromwell the King Killer- England 1644; the Civil War is at its height and the very existence of monarchy is under threat. King Charles I had raised his standard at Nottingham to defy Parliament and declare war on half of his people. But he had reckoned without the strength of the New Model Army and its charismatic leader, Oliver Cromwell. Before the Civil War, the position of the King was inviolate. Now the army decided on a course of action which no one before had thought possible: putting the king on trial for his life. How had this come about, and what kind of future lay in store for a country that had decided it had no need of the monarchy at all? How could Oliver Cromwell possibly replace a King? In the final part of this compelling series, David Starkey explores the extraordinary transition from monarchy to republic; and tells the story of how a country killed a king only to find that it couldn't do without one after all. |
