In the Tudor world, the monarch is the centre of the political universe – and much depends on their temper. Tudor kings and queens rule with the help of a small council, infrequent parliaments and a coterie of ministers.

• Henry VII (1457-1509) Son of Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of the royal John of Gaunt. Raised in Wales by his uncle Jasper Tudor, he never forgets that other men have a better claim to the throne and that his rule depends solely on his victory at Bosworth. An example of his cunning is that he dates the start of his reign from the day before the battle – thus everyone who fights against him is a traitor. Henry marries Elizabeth of York, and ends the Wars of the Roses by uniting the two main rival families. Very religious, he attends Mass daily. Although he has no experience of government before becoming king, he is a diligent administrator and keen crime-buster. Because he uses crafty schemes to raise money, he is more feared than loved by his subjects.

Henry Tudor is challenged by pretenders to the throne. Because Richard III imprisoned the rightful king, Edward V, and his brother Richard, duke of York, in the Tower, and then may have had them secretly killed in 1483, some claimants to the throne are able to pretend to be one of the princes, although others prefer different identities:

• The son of an Oxford tradesman, 10-year-old Lambert Simnel pretends to be the earl of Warwick, a nephew of Richard III, and is proclaimed Edward VI in Dublin by Lord Kildare, the lord deputy of Ireland, in May 1487. A pawn in a bid by English and Irish nobles to defeat Henry VII, Simnel is supported by his 'aunt' Margaret of Anjou, widow of Henry IV, who sends 2,000 German mercenaries to help him. He is defeated by Henry VII at Stoke in Nottinghamshire on 16 June 1487, is pardoned and made a servant in the royal kitchens, where he lives for almost 40 years.

• Perkin Warbeck, the son of a Flemish tax collector, is supported by the king of France, the Holy Roman emperor and James IV of Scotland. He plots openly for seven years, pretending to be Richard, duke of York, who disappeared in the Tower. In 1491, Warbeck makes his bid, also gaining the support of Margaret of York, duchess of Burgundy and sister of Edward IV. In 1497, he is captured while trying to invade England and is executed for treason two years later.

• Henry VIII (1491-1547) The second son of Henry VII, he is 17 when his father dies but acts like a king from day one. He is boisterous and vindictive, but also keen to appear imperial. Deeply religious, he regularly listens to two-hour sermons, and his zeal in theological controversy earns him the title Defender of the Faith from the pope. A Renaissance man, he enjoys talking about art, philosophy and religion. Deeply troubled by the failure of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to bear him a son, he has several mistresses before failing in love with Anne Boleyn. The divorce from Catherine to marry Anne brings about the break with Rome. Suspicious and brutal, Henry disposes of Anne when she, too, fails to bear a son, and marries another four times.

Like his father, Henry VIII distrusts the hereditary nobility, preferring the advice of men of humble origins whose prime loyalty is to him:

• Thomas Wolsey (c.1472-1530) is the son of a poor Ipswich butcher. He studies at Oxford, and rises in the Church, becoming both cardinal and lord chancellor in 1515. A papal legate, Wolsey is England's effective ruler for 14 years. Proud and powerful, his household employs almost 1,000 people. He's nearly as rich as the king, and he founds colleges and entertains magnificently. But he fails to solve the king's 'great matter' – the annulment of his first marriage – and is sacked in October 1529. He dies on 24 November 1530 as he travels from York to London to answer treason charges.

• Thomas More (1478-1535) is a lawyer, humanist and theologian. A friend of Erasmus, his Utopia is a bestseller. His career takes off when he is knighted in 1521, and he succeeds Wolsey as lord chancellor in 1529. He tries to persuade Henry to take Catherine back, submit to Rome and to persecute heresy, but fails and is forced to resign. Unable to compromise his deepest beliefs, he opposes Henry's decision to become supreme head of the English Church and is executed on 6 July 1535.

• Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540) The son of a Putney cloth-worker, and a 'ruffian' in his teens, he works his way up the royal bureaucracy to become Henry VIII's most trusted adviser, appointed principal royal secretary in 1534. A brilliant administrator, he is responsible for drafting the Acts of Parliament that legalise Henry's break with Rome and is ruthless with opponents. He also supports ideas for social reform, especially improvements in poor relief. In 1540, he persuades Henry VIII to marry Anne of Cleves, hoping to further an international pro-Protestant policy. The marriage ends in disaster, and Cromwell is executed on 28 July 1540.

• Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) is born to a gentry family in Nottinghamshire and studies at Jesus College, Cambridge. He rises to fame in 1529 when he suggests that Henry VIII should ask universities in Europe for their opinion on his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. In 1533, he becomes archbishop of Canterbury and presides over the court that annuls the royal marriage. Although deeply conservative, Cranmer is a Protestant, and on the accession of Edward VI, he issues a set of official Protestant sermons, homilies and The Book of Common Prayer, laying the basis for Anglican Church. When the Catholic Mary I comes to the throne, he recants his Protestant views, then changes his mind. He is burned for heresy on 21 March 1556, putting the hand that signed the recantation first into the flames.

• Hugh Latimer (c.1485-1555) One of most celebrated preachers of the Tudor Church at the beginning of the Reformation, he is the son of a Leicestershire yeoman and educated at Cambridge. In 1535, after the break with Rome, he is appointed bishop of Worcester. He resigns in 1539 in protest against the Six Articles, and in the 1540s, he is twice imprisoned. Freed during Edward VI's reign, after Mary's accession he is burned for heresy at Oxford in 1555, along with Nicholas Ridley, the former bishop of London.

• Edward VI (1537-53) Edward is only nine when he comes to the throne in 1547, and the government is in the hands of his uncle, Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, who has the title of 'protector'. After a power struggle between nobles, John Dudley, duke of Northumberland is appointed lord president of the Council on 21 February 1550.

Edward is reserved, courteous and intelligent, and a committed Protestant. In 1552, he develops measles and smallpox, and a year later begins to suffer from tuberculosis. He dies – aged only 15 – on 6 July 1553.

• Edward Seymour, 1st duke of Somerset (c. 1500-52) The elder brother of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife, and uncle of Edward VI, he rises after his sister's marriage in May 1536. On Henry's death, he becomes 'protector of the realm' and duke of Somerset. He abolishes the laws against heresy, removes images and altars from churches and introduces an English- language Book of Common Prayer, compiled by Thomas Cranmer. In August 1547, he defeats the invading Scots at Pinkie, but soon his power collapses after a series of rebellions against the prayer book. In July 1549, Kett's Rebellion is put down by his rival Northumberland. He's sent to the Tower, pardoned the following year, then executed on the 22 January 1552 by Northumberland.

• John Dudley, 1st duke of Northumberland (c. 1505-53) He begins as a soldier, is knighted in 1523 and, in 1538, becomes deputy governor of Calais after putting down the Pilgrimage of Grace. After the death of Henry VIII, he works closely with Somerset and becomes earl of Warwick in 1547. In 1549, he supplants Somerset, and for the rest of Edward's short reign, he holds power. Created duke of Northumberland in 1551, his position is precarious due to Edward's ill health. In 1553, after hastily arranging a marriage between his son and Lady Jane Grey he declares her queen on Edward's death. But the public support Mary I, and on 22 August 1553, Northumberland is executed.

• Lady Jane Grey (1537-54) In an attempt to head off a Catholic revival, Edward VI's last act is to switch the succession from Mary (a Catholic) to his cousin Lady Jane Grey (a Protestant), who is hastily married by Northumberland to his fourth son, Lord Guildford Dudley. On the 10 July 1553, Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed queen at the Tower. But because she attracts little support, with most people preferring to back Mary Tudor as the rightful heir despite her religion, she reigns little more than a fortnight. She is executed on 12 February 1554.

• Mary I (1516-58) Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Mary is a devout Catholic with no experience of government. At her accession to the throne following the death of Edward VI in 1553, the new 37-year-old queen has two main objectives: to restore Roman Catholicism, and to prevent her half-sister, the Protestant Princess Elizabeth, from succeeding her. In 1553, Mary uses Parliament to repeal Edward VI's religious legislation, but provokes discontent by marrying a Spanish royal, Charles V's son Philip II, in 1554. No heir is born, and in 1555, Philip leaves England. Known as 'Bloody Mary' because of her persecution of Protestants, which results in more than 300 being burnt for heresy, Mary dies on 17 November 1558.

• Elizabeth I (1533-1603) Henry VIII's youngest daughter, she is born five months after the announcement of his marriage to Anne Boleyn. She spends her childhood at Hatfield House where she receives a high-powered classical education, and speaks Greek, Latin, French, Italian and Spanish. A talented musician, she loves dancing and hunting, and is a very skilled politician, calculating and extremely clever. Celebrated in art as Gloriana, she says of herself (when addressing her troops at Tilbury in 1588): 'I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England too.' Although she remains unmarried, she depends on her male advisers. Her 45-year reign witnesses a flowering of English culture, voyages of exploration, the execution of her cousin Mary Queen of Scots (see below) and the attack of the Spanish Armada. Just before Elizabeth dies on 24 March 1603, she names James VI of Scotland as her successor.

• Mary Queen of Scots (1542-87) Having inherited the Scottish throne when only six days old, Mary marries the French dauphin Francis in 1558. On his death soon after, Mary returns to Scotland and marries the Catholic Henry, Lord Darnley in 1565. Although this is a love match, relations between the couple soon break down and Darnley is murdered. Mary's decision to marry the earl of Bothwell, chief suspect in the killing, gives her Protestant enemies in Scotland the excuse to depose her. Her flight to England results in her imprisonment by her cousin Elizabeth I. After being involved in plots to depose Elizabeth, she is executed on 8 February 1587. Her son, James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England after Elizabeth's death.

• William Cecil, 1st Lord Burghley (1520-98) The son of a Lincolnshire gentleman, Cecil is appointed chief secretary of state on the first day of Elizabeth's reign after securing her smooth accession. Created Lord Burghley in 1571, this skilled administrator and cautious politician is anxious that England never again becomes a Catholic nation. As Elizabeth's confidant, he sees her almost every day and wants her to marry in order to guarantee a Protestant succession. The bond between him and the queen lasts, despite occasional disagreements, until Cecil's death on 4 August 1598.

• Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (c. 1532-88) The younger son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, the dashing Leicester is Elizabeth's favourite during the early part of her reign. Handsome and ambitious, he becomes a prominent courtier. In 1560, he is rumoured to have killed his wife, Amy Robsart, to obtain Elizabeth's hand. A privy counsellor, he favours an aggressive foreign policy and further reform of the Church of England. He is made general of the English forces in the Netherlands in 1585, but his support of the Dutch rebels against Spain is ineffectual. He dies on 4 September 1588.

• Sir Francis Drake (1542-96) A skilled Devon seaman, he is the greatest of the Elizabethan 'sea dogs'. Between 1577 and 1581, his Golden Hind makes an epic journey around the world. Elizabeth I buys shares in the voyage, and Drake plunders Spanish colonies as well as exploring Asia. He claims to have seized California for Elizabeth and is knighted. His raids on key Spanish positions in the Caribbean (1585-6) and on the Spanish port of Cadiz (1587) and his role as second in command of the fleet that defeats the Spanish Armada (1588) bring him honours. Drake becomes an MP for Plymouth, but in 1595 resumes his previous piratical career, dying from dysentery at sea off Panama a year later. For more information on Drake, see his biography in Elizabeth's Pirates.

• Sir Walter Ralegh (c. 1554-1618) Born in Devon, he is a soldier, explorer and writer. The story of him removing his cloak and placing it over a puddle so that Elizabeth I wouldn't get her feet wet may not be true, but he does become one of the Queen's favourites. In 1585, he sends 300 colonists to North America and names the colony Virginia after Elizabeth – the Virgin Queen. Ralegh also introduces tobacco and potatoes to England. A bitter rival of Essex, he becomes marginalised in the 1590s. In 1595, he leads an expedition up the Orinoco River in search of gold, and in 1596 joins the attack on Cadiz. When James VI of Scotland succeeds Elizabeth in 1603, Ralegh is tried for plotting with Spain to crown the king's cousin Arabella Stuart. Imprisoned in the Tower, he writes the first volume of The History of the World. Released in 1617 for a second Orinoco expedition, which proves disastrous, James executes him on 29 October 1618. For more information on Ralegh, see his biography in Elizabeth's Pirates.

• Robert Devereux, 2nd earl of Essex (1566-1601) The stepson of the earl of Leicester, he is a dazzling courtier who becomes Elizabeth's favourite at the end of her long reign. From 1587, he is her master of horse, but honours only encourage his arrogance and ambition. After his sacking of Cadiz in 1596, he rivals Ralegh. In 1599, he becomes lord deputy of Ireland but instead of attacking the rebel Lord Tyrone, he secretly concludes a truce. As a result, Essex is disgraced. Headstrong and unpredictable, he plots a coup, which fails miserably. He is executed on the 25 February 1601.

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