The Tudors and Europe

In 1517, a certain Dr Beale, rector of St Mary Spitall in London, had roused the capital’s mob by laying the blame for an increase in poverty squarely upon the shoulders of grasping foreigners. ‘God has given England to Englishmen,’ he fumed, and ‘as birds would defend their nest, so ought Englishmen to cherish and defend themselves and to hurt and grieve aliens for the common weal.’ But migration was not the only factor influencing Tudor attitudes to Europe. War, religion, commerce and dynastic security were all critical in linking England to developments abroad, and in ways that remain strikingly relevant today. What were the forces that shaped the shifting perspectives of Tudor men and women and their rulers towards a continent at the crossroads? And what, in turn, were the responses of sixteenth-century Europeans to their counterparts across the Channel? At a time when the very survival of England hung critically in the balance, were there, asks The Tudors and Europe, lessons for the present? AUTHOR: John Matusiak studied at the universities of London and Sussex before embarking upon a teaching career that eventually spanned more than thirty years. For over a third of that time, he was Head of the History Department at Colchester Royal Grammar School, founded by Henry VIII in 1539. He is the acclaimed author of Henry VIII (THP, 2012), Wolsey (THP, 2013) and the forthcoming Europe in Flames (THP, 2018). 20 colour illustrations