Tudor Period Quiz

Question: Who was the titular queen of England for nine days in 1553?

Answer: Lady Jane Grey was the titular queen of England for nine days in 1553. At age 15, she reluctantly allowed herself to be put on the throne by unscrupulous politicians; her subsequent execution by Mary Tudor, who became Queen Mary I, aroused great sympathy.

Question: Which English statesman and adviser to Henry VIII was the son of a butcher?

Answer: Thomas Wolsey, a statesman, cardinal, and royal adviser, was the the son of a butcher. He dominated the government of England’s King Henry VIII from 1515 to 1529. He exercised a degree of power never before wielded by a king or minister: as lord chancellor and cardinal legate, he united the authority of church and state.

Question: Which archbishop of Canterbury was burned at the stake for heresy during the Tudor period?

Answer: Thomas Cranmer was the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury (1533–56) and an adviser to the English kings Henry VIII and Edward VI. Denounced by the Roman Catholic queen Mary I for promoting Protestantism, he was convicted of heresy and burned at the stake in 1556.

Question: Which English monarch encouraged the Protestant Reformation in England yet despised Martin Luther?

Answer: In 1532, King Henry VIII broke with Rome and turned against the pope. His act was equal to encouraging the Protestant Reformation. Yet Henry despised Martin Luther, the German priest who sparked the Protestant Reformation on the Continent.

Question: Which English admiral circumnavigated the globe between 1577 and 1580?

Answer: In 1577 Francis Drake was chosen as the leader of an expedition intended to pass around South America through the Strait of Magellan and to explore the coast that lay beyond. Drake’s flagship made its way across the Atlantic Ocean, into the Pacific Ocean, and, eventually, around the world. On September 26, 1580, Drake brought his ship into Plymouth Harbour. Drake thus became the first captain ever to circumnavigate the globe in his own ship and the first Englishman to sail the Pacific, Indian, and South Atlantic oceans.

Question: Which principal adviser to Henry VIII was eventually executed, in 1540, for heresy and treason?

Answer: Thomas Cromwell was the principal adviser to England’s King Henry VIII and was chiefly responsible for establishing the Reformation in England and for strengthening the royal administration. At the instigation of his enemies, he was eventually arrested for heresy and treason and executed in 1540.

Question: Henry VIII’s marriage to which woman led to his break with the Roman Catholic Church?

Answer: Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII of England and mother of Queen Elizabeth I. The events surrounding the annulment of Henry’s sonless marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and his marriage to Anne in his quest to produce a male heir led him to break with the Roman Catholic Church and brought about the English Reformation.

Question: Who led a formidable uprising against Mary I?

Answer: Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger was an English soldier who led an unsuccessful rebellion against Queen Mary I of England. On February 3, 1554, Wyatt entered the outskirts of London with some 3,000 men. Confronted by the royal forces, Wyatt surrendered after a brief engagement. He was tried on March 15 and executed less than a month later.

Question: Which queen of England was known as “the Virgin Queen”?

Answer: Elizabeth I is known as “the Virgin Queen.” She was a Tudor monarch who served as queen of England from 1558 to 1603.