The Tudors

1In Cold Blood

After the murder by Frenchmen of his uncle, the English ambassador in Urbino, one of the Itamian states being invaded by France, young Tudor king Henry VIII orders his council to prepare war on France. His de facto prime minister, cardinal Wolsey, obeys but actually prepares an alternative, a pan-European institutionalized peace, to Thomas More's humanist liking, and plots to be rewarded with the papacy. Meanwhile Henry, whose major sorrow is the lack of a son, enjoys life, especially jousting, hunting and games with duke Charles Brandon and adulterous love, which only adds to the hatred of men around the duke of Buckingham, who believes to be the true pretender to the throne. There is much intrigue at the court of the young Kinh Henry VIII. After his uncle, the English Ambassador in Urbino, Italy, is killed by French soldiers the King thinks the time has come to make war with the French who have already conquered 6 Italian States. Everyone support hims but the French claim the attack was not ordered by their King and that those involved have been eliminated. Cardinal Wolsey, with an eye on the Papacy which the French will support, recommends against war and proposes his own plan for peace. The Duke of Buckingham feels he should rightly be on the throne and is planning a coup. His fellow plotters include Sir Thomas Boleyn, Ambassador to France and Wolsey. The King has voracious appetites and enjoys manly games such as hunting, royal tennis and jousting tournaments. He also has a mistress, Lady Blount, who is also a lady in waiting to his wife the Queen, Catherine of Aragon with whom he has already had one daughter, Mary. Lady Blount is pregnant however.

2Simply Henry

Henry and the court go to the summit to sign the treaty with France. Tensions are understandably high, and tempers of both kings flare up more than once. Meanwhile, Henry takes on a new mistress named Mary Boleyn. He soon tires of her and her father summons her sister Anne to court and tells her to find a way to keep the king's interest.

3Wolsey, Wolsey, Wolsey!

King Henry asked Charles Brandon to escort his sister, princess Margaret, to her betrothed, the old Portuguese king, and for the occasion creates him Duke of Suffolk. Envoys from the Habsburg king of Spain, who was recently elected Holy Roman-Emperor Charles V, meet with Cardinal Woolsey and agree to cement an eternal treaty between their nations against France -Woolsey is ordered to build the greatest navy in Europe, spending Henry's father's rich inheritance- by engaging Henry's kid daughter princess Mary to wed Charles himself, who promises Woolsey a generous pension and support at a bid for the papacy. Anne Boleyn catches the King's notice in a sumptuous masque (play and masked ball) staged by composer William Cornish, her father the diplomat is promoted Knight of the Garter and comptroller of the royal household, she named lady in waiting to queen Katherine of Aragon. The Emperor is invited to the King's court. Thomas More is knighted for his help with the king's anti-Luther writing and ordered to present it to the pope and organize a book-burning. Despite the queen's assurance she never slept with Henry's late older brother, her first husband, Anne Boleyn gets the king's lusting favor. Learning that King Francis I of France already knows of the treaty talks, the Cardinal needs a scapegoat: royal secretary Pace is falsely tried as French spy -while it was the cardinal who actually got a pension from the French- when emperor Charles visits England to plan the overthrow of the French kingdom. Anne's father and uncle want her to seduce the King and break Woolsey's political predominance.

4His Majesty, the King

Henry is rewarded by Rome with the hereditary honorary title Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith) for his denunciation of Martin Luther in a writing by his own hand, helped by Thomas More, arousing great anger with Luther and his followers. Poor mister Pace has gone mad in the Tower before the innocent secretary is released; cardinal Wolsey nominates his successor: Thomas Cromwell, equally low-born and ruthlessly ambitious. A victory at Pavia by Henry's Habsburg ally, emperor Charles, who even captured the French king Francis I, is celebrated in a joust, where Henry personally fights, and failing to close his helmet gets wounded, almost losing an eye, but gets back in the saddle, as if he were invulnerable; a reckless jump over a bog with a pole which breaks and miserable medical care -bleeding- remind Henry of his mortality, which makes the king focus on the Tudor dynasty's lack of a male heir. Princess Margaret marries the old decrepit king of Portugal only when promised she may choose her next husband, but jumps her studly minder Charles Brandon's bones on the ship to Lisbon; the king's ugliness and intention to have many children make her faint, but after a nightmare wedding night, 'taken in use' with half the court attending behind a thin cloth, she makes sure the union is short-lived. Henry's desire for Anne Boleyn is only intensified when she returns his extravagant jewelry and retires to the family estate; her father intends to sit on damaging proof against Wolsey's greedy crimes till the time is ripe to make the chancellor fall out of the king's still unshakable grace.

5Arise, My Lord

6True Love

Henry is still besotted with Anne Boleyn, queen Catherine asks a diplomat to appeal to her Habsburg relatives. Now the emperor has captured the pope in Italy, cardinal Woolsey promises the king to get a mandate from the cardinals to handle Henry's divorce demand and personally goes to Paris in triumph, to sign a treaty with the French king Francis I. Ann's father Thomas Boleyn tells the incredulous king about the cardinal's stealing confiscated monastical goods. After utterly abject humiliation at Henry's feet, Charles Brandon is allowed to win his return to court by arm-wrestling. When the pope escapes to Orvieto, Thomas Cromwell pleases the king by proposing Ann's former tutor as messenger to present his divorce requests; Woolsey has him intercepted, reads the draft documents and lets him go, sneering the mission is hopeless; the king is furious when it fails indeed.

7Message to the Emperor

Sir William Compton is diagnosed on his Warwickshire estate with highly contagious 'sweating sickness', the physician bleeds his back- death comes swift, his body is burned before burial, Thomas Tallis breaks his lute on the fresh grave, then courts Joan Larke. The Cardinal flatters Ann and announces the alliance with France against the emperor is a fact, while he sends lawyers Stephen Gardiner and Foxe to pope Clement VII in Orvieto, requesting an annulment of the royal marriage to Catherine, if necessary by threats, while the emperor demands confirmation. The duke of Norfolk is removed from court. Just after the arrival of the new French ambassador, who promises French troops will drive the emperor out of Italy soon, the epidemic and utter panic reach London, even the royal court, where Henry tries every remedy, including working up a natural sweat, ultimately flees like most before him. The pope appoints cardinal Campeggio as legate to constitute a divorce court with Wolsey after the plague. Moore tells his daughter Lutheranism is a far worse danger then the plague, in all Europe. Unlike tens of thousands, Anne Boleyn and Wolsey survive, the plague recedes, the papal legate arrives as court reassembles, Tallis conducts a mass of thanks.

8Truth and Justice

Cardinal Campeggio's long awaited papal legation has arrived at court to decide with colleague-cardinal Thomas Wolsey on the royal request for divorce, claiming Catherine's first marriage to Henry's late elder brother nullified his. When Campeggio learns the king won't yield, he suggests an alternative: the queen could retire to a monastery, but only voluntarily, which she refuses, swearing in confessional she came as a virgin to Henry. Thomas Tallis proposes to his late lover Joan's sister Jane. Under Anne Boleyn's love spell, Henry sends bishops to tells the queen she's suspected of hating and conspiring against him, and grows angry at Wolsey's failure to persuade or threaten Campeggio, even sends Charles Brandon to Paris to question the French king Francis I about the true intentions of the emperor, pope and cardinal. Brandon also confirms to father Thomas Boleyn's party the time may be ripe to bring Wolsey down. When the legatine court finally assembles, the king states his case personally as a matter of justice, allegedly after 'his conscience' finally stopped him from keeping silent out of love for the queen. Wolsey simply brushes aside the queen's objections to the competence and objectivity of the court. After imploring justice and appealing to Henry kneeling at his feet, Catherine walks out, to public acclaim, royal fury and Wolsey's despair.

9Look to God First

The legatine court's divorce trial continues in the Queen's absence, hearing testimony suggesting prince Arthur carnally consummated his marriage to Catherine: embarrassing for the court, amusing for the populace. Catherine's council, bishop Fisher, dares claim even heaven can't dissolve the royal marriage, comparing to Herod Antipas' adultery shamed by Saint John the Baptist who was executed for that truth. Woolsey sends Thomas More to Cambria (Cambray) to check if France and the pope remain irreconcilable with the emperor. After Anne walks off, disbelieving Wolsey's promises to the king of a divorce by summer, Henry implies to cardinal Campeggio a negative verdict could turn him and England Lutheran, like half of Germany, yet after a papal message the legate prorogues the court till the end of the Roman Curia's recess, in October; imperial ambassador Mendoza, who is ceding his post to bishop Chapuys, tells Catherine it's the emperor's doing. Henry's sister Margaret dies from the consumption she contracted from Brandon, who recovered. When Thomas More reports the negotiations reconciled the emperor with France and pope Clement, Woolsey fears facing the royal wrath and ends up banned from court, ordered to relinquish all lucrative offices and accused of usurping royal authority. More is persuaded to succeed him as chancellor, under Henry's promise his conscience won't be abused by matters such as the divorce.

10The Death of Wolsey

Now cardinal Wolsey lives in misery as penniless archbishop of and in York, barred from court, hoping in vain Ann Boleyn who broke his hold on the king will reward his efforts as she once wrote, honors and offices are mainly distributed to the Boleyn clan, with Norfolk in charge -Charles Brandon neglects his joint presidency- of the royal council. While the devout, rather ascetic new chancellor Thomas More is determined to crush heresy, personally attending the stake, Thomas Cromwell convinces Henry that under Luther's vision the king is above all earthly laws, even his annulment should merely be treated as a theological matter, so he is commissioned to put the case before European theology faculties, while ambassador Boleyn must approach pope and emperor. Once he tastes the burden of government, Henry reproaches the council less virtue and worse results then the cardinal, especially now the treasury is empty and troubles spread, but when Cromwell learns trough a physician about Wolsey's plot for his own reinstatement with pope and queen, the former master of the game is thrown in the Tower, where he slits his own throat, while More and the Catholic church are doomed now Henry has decided to make his own, almost Lutheran break-up with Rome after most universities and princes sided with Catherine.

1Everything Is Beautiful

2Tears of Blood

3Checkmate

Henry destroys all ties with authority and the past. After many failed attempts to have his marriage to Katherine annulled by the Catholic Church, Henry's patience finally wears out and he marries Anne in secret, appoints his Lutheran chaplain Thomas Cranmer the head of the Church of England, and strips Katherine of her title and status of Queen. The king and new queen are disappointed that their first child is a girl, whom they christen Elizabeth.

4The Act of Succession

After princess Elisabeth's baptism, Henry orders Thomas Cromwell to draw up a bill of succession favoring his and Ann's offspring, to be accepted by an oath from all subjects. The affront to the imperialist party is maximized by making princess Mary a lowly lady in waiting to her half-sister, yet the French King still refuses openly to recognize the new Queen. Ann orders her rival lady Eleanor Luke eliminated, by false charges of jewel theft. Tired of Henry's schismatic obstinacy, Pope Paul III makes the loyal, hence jailed bishop Fisher a cardinal, Henry orders his beheading. Thomas More can no longer support his entire family, yet answers Cromwell's questions with Henry's own pamphlet arguing for papal supremacy by divine right. At her father George Boleyn's suggestion only an ambitious mistress is a problematic rival, Ann urges Margaret 'Madge' Sheldon to 'succeed' Eleanor. Thomas More refuses to take the oath as phrased, while accepting he succession, landing him in the Tower.

5His Majesty's Pleasure

Efforts to legalize the Henry's marriage and further advance his authority and power come to steadfast obstructions. Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher demand that only God can govern the church. Arrested and confined to the Tower of London, both men are confronted with charges of high treason and a possible beheading unless they receive the Oath of Allegiance. In the mean time, Henry's adventurous eye endures to stray.

6The Definition of Love

Cromwell convinces Henry the religious houses' immorality justifies spoliation, which even finances plays to show the people the papist 'debauchery'. Henry wants the French king's junior son to marry Anne's daughter Elisabeth. The French envoy, an admiral entertained by duke Charles Brandon, proposes, rather then legitimize the royal son, the dauphin to wed Katherine's daughter Mary- or the emperor's. Charles tells Chapuys he believes Anne is a witch. After More's ghost haunts Henry, Anne further looses openly unfaithful Henry's favor.

7Matters of State

While the Pope still hopes that tide will turn Henry's England back to Rome's fold, Cromwell and Cranmer use a catalog of real, exaggerated and invented clerical abuses to close all religious houses and confiscate their immense wealth for Henry's treasury. The Boleyn family worries Anne's position is perilous without a son, but waits for Katherine' illness to prove fatal. Henry is prepared to ally himself with the emperor despite Anne. Hunting with duke Charles, Henry meets fellow France veteran John Seymour's enchanting daughter Jane.

8Lady in Waiting

The Seymour family hopes Henry's favor may make Jane queen instead of Anne. Pope Paul III excommunicates apostate England and urges pious French king Francis I to invade it. Now Katherine is dead, rumored poisoned, the emperor offers to accept another queen provided Mary is declared the legal heiress. Henry's new love inspires him to enter a joust carrying Jane's color, to the Boleyns' horror, but he is badly wounded. Cromwell prepares for Elisabeth's succession, with grandpa Thomas as regent, but Henry recovers. Anne scolds Henry when she finds Jane on his knee, but looses another child. Henry and Cromwell now consider her an obstacle.

9The Act of Treason

Jane Seymour's brother, Edward, is appointed a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber. Anne believes she can still marry off Elizabeth to France and repel the Seymours, but Cromwell is only following Royal orders to get rid of the Boleyns and switch to the imperial side, as her father Thomas senses. They believe to have triumphed when Henry refuses Chapuys's discrete alliance offer, but Cromwell tortures musician Mark Smeaton into a false confession of adultery with Anne. Brereton confesses to ensure the Queen's death, Sir Henry Norris and her own brother George Boleyn are equally found guilty and precede her beheading, only Thomas Wyatt is -wrongly- acquitted.

10Destiny and Fortune

May 1536, Henry hopes Anne Boleyn's beheading and marriage annulment will allow an anti-French alliance with the emperor. Eager for a 'renaissance', Henry can't even await the arrival of the reputed executioner from Calais to 'ask' Jane's father John Seymour for her hand. She asks him to reinstate princess Mary as heir. Charles Brandon enjoys fatherhood and tells Thomas Boleyn he may leave court, stripped of everything. Anne confesses haughtily but dies graciously.

2The Northern Uprising

3Dissension and Punishment

4The Death of a Queen

5Problems in the Reformation

6Search for a New Queen

7Protestant Anne of Cleves

8The Undoing of Cromwell

Mary is attracted to Anne's cousin Philip of Bavaria but he is a Protestant and so marriage is impossible. Henry tires of Anne and Bryan procures 17-year old Katherine Howard to 'amuse' him. He gives her jewels and Nonsuch Palace. She gives him her cherry. Henry seeks to prove the marriage to Anne is void but Cromwell will not support him. A group of conspirators jealous of Cromwell - including Gardner and Brandon - have him arrested for treason on the grounds that he permitted heretic preachings. He is beheaded in a grotesque execution by a drunken headsman who botches the killing, appalling even his foes.Simultaneously Anne is told that her marriage is unlawful but she is to be known as "the king's sister" and will be given property and an annuity. Henry Tudor is now free to marry Katherine.

1Moment of Nostalgia

2Sister

3Something for You

4Natural Ally

5Boottom of the Pot

6You Have My Permission

7Sixth and the Final Wife

8As It Should Be

9Secrets of the Heart

10Death of a Monarchy