Much of Henry's bad reputation comes from his eventful (to say the least) marital life. When Anne produced only a daughter as well, Henry had her executed for adultery and treason and immediately married Jane Seymour, who produced the much-desired son, but died in childbirth.
Henry became King of England because he defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field and declared himself king. His claim to the English throne by blood was weak.
How did Henry VIII build England's first naval battleships? Henry VIII (1491–1547) is one of the most famous kings in English history. An important part of his legacy was his establishment of the Royal Navy, encouraging shipbuilding and creating dockyards.
This problem became the "King's Great Matter." In 1527, Henry, being Catholic, asked the pope, the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church, for permission to divorce Catherine. Henry wanted to marry another woman who would give him a son. The pope, an ally with Catholic Spain, did not permit the divorce.
Tudor ships were able to travel across oceans and seas, and they were used for trading, fighting and exploration. Most ships had 3 or 4 masts with triangular or square sails and they were quite easy to steer. The ships were constructed from timber.
The São João Baptista (English: Saint John the Baptist), commonly known as the Botafogo, was a Portuguese galleon built in the 16th century, around 1530, considered the biggest and most powerful warship in the world by Portuguese, Castillian and Italian observers of the time.
São João Baptista (galleon)
| History |
|---|
| Portugal |
|---|
| Tons burthen | 1,000 tons |
The 76.15 m × 21.22 m (249.8 ft × 69.6 ft) ship of the line was armed with 128 cannons on three decks and was manned by 1,280 sailors.
Tudor Sailors lived mostly on salted beef, salted fish and ship's biscuits. They had meat four days a week and fish on the other three. We know the crew ate other foods like cheese and butter, but we didn't find any on the Mary Rose.
During the Battle of the Solent on July 19, 1545, the Mary Rose sank in a strait of the English Channel. According to an eyewitness account, after firing at the French fleet, the Mary Rose was attempting to turn when it was blown onto its side by a gust of wind.
Yet, by the 18th century, Britain had established a naval hegemony that was to remain unshaken until the 1920s. England had some natural advantages. Thanks to prevailing westerly winds, most of the time it sits 'upwind' of Europe. It was because the British paid for more ships and more guns than anyone else.
The English Navy becomes the Royal Navy after the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660.
The Royal Navy was formally founded in 1546 by Henry VIII though the Kingdom of England and its predecessor states had possessed less organised naval forces for centuries prior to this.
Henry VIII built a fleet of fighting ships armed with large guns and created a naval administration. Under Elizabeth I the navy developed into England's major defense and became the means by which the British Empire was extended around the globe.
In the 1570s and 1580s, Sir Francis Drake led English attacks on Spanish vessels and raided Spanish settlements in the Americas. In 1588, Spain's King Philip II ordered a naval invasion of England. Philip's Spanish Armada of 124 ships, 27,000 men, and 1,100 guns departed from Lisbon on May 30, 1588.In the 1570s and 1580s, Sir Francis Drake led English attacks on Spanish vessels and raided Spanish settlements in the Americas. In 1588, Spain's King Philip II ordered a naval invasion of England. Philip's Spanish Armada of 124 ships, 27,000 men, and 1,100 guns departed from Lisbon on May 30, 1588. Robert Blake (admiral)
| Robert Blake |
|---|
| Nickname(s) | "Father of the Royal Navy" |
| Born | 27 September 1598 Bridgwater, England |
| Died | 7 August 1657 (aged 58) At sea off Plymouth, England |
| Buried | Westminster Abbey (originally) St Margaret's, Westminster (now) |
While the Armada tried to get in touch with the Spanish army, the English ships attacked fiercely. However, an important reason why the English were able to defeat the Armada was that the wind blew the Spanish ships northwards.
Led by Drake and Lord Charles Howard, the Royal Navy assembled a fleet of some 40 warships and several dozen armed merchant vessels.
The Field of the Cloth of Gold was a magnificent gathering – 18 days of revelry near Calais in June 1520 in which Henry VIII of England met with Francis I of France.
The wreck of the Mary Rose was discovered in 1971 and was raised on
11 October 1982 by the Mary Rose Trust in one of the most complex and expensive maritime salvage projects in history.
Mary Rose.
| History |
|---|
| England |
|---|
| Completed | 1512 |
| Homeport | Portsmouth, England |
| Fate | Sank in battle in 1545, raised in 1982 |
Henry VIII's most famous residence, Hampton Court Palace was devoted to pleasure, celebration and ostentatious display. When Henry finished his building programme in around 1540, Hampton Court was the most modern, sophisticated and magnificent palace in England.
The water flooded in and the ship went down in a matter of minutes. Of the nearly 500 men on board, no more than 35 survived. Despite the tragedy of losing the Mary Rose, she was the only loss of the battle.
After its excavation, the Mary Rose was initially put into passive storage and constantly kept moist with chilled water. “Whilst the structure can look quite intact, there is actually a considerable amount of wood matter that has been lost, and when it was excavated it was essentially being held up by water.
The sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Titanic in 1912, with over 1,500 fatalities, is probably the most famous shipwreck, but not the biggest in terms of lives lost.
The Mary Rose (launched 1511) is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany.
Mary Rose.
| History |
|---|
| England |
|---|
| Completed | 1512 |
| Homeport | Portsmouth, England |
| Fate | Sank in battle in 1545, raised in 1982 |
Only 1300m into its voyage, a light gust of wind toppled the ship over on its side. As water flooded through the gun portals of the ship, it sank in the shallow waters of Stockholm harbor and lay there at 32m, forgotten.
The Mary Rose's primary purpose was to sail alongside an enemy vessel, fire its cannons, and then allow English sailors to board the other ship. The Mary Rose was involved in three campaigns against France.
'Mary Rose' is a repeat flowering rose that starts to flower early in the season shortly after the last frost and continues throughout summer.
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
The bones of a total of 179 individuals were found during the excavations of the Mary Rose, including 92 fairly complete skeletons.
