A Man for All Seasons Historical Context

A Man for All Seasons Historical Context

The Ascension of the Tudor Monarchs

King Henry Yin was only the second Tudor king to rule in England, and he had good reason to worry about his ability to keep the throne in his family. Cardinal Wolsey alludes to the potential menace of two powerful families who alternated, captured, lost, and recaptured the kingdom for the thirty years prior to his father's reign when he says to Sir Thomas More, "Do you favor a change of dynasty? D'you think two Tudors is sufficient?." The two houses were House of Lancaster, whose symbol was a red rose and the House of York, whose symbol was a white rose; their quarrels over the throne came to be called "The War of the Roses." Henry Tudor, or Henry VII had fought with the Lancaster side, so he diplomatically arranged to marry a York, thus sealing a temporary truce between the families and beginning the Tudor dynasty. It was...
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