The essential episodes of The Tudors
Watch these 15 in order and you've got The Tudors — each pick states its reason.
- 01
Henry's uncle, Ambassador to Urbino, is assassinated by the French and Henry seizes upon this event to plan a war with France to establish his immortal reputation and seize back the title of King of France. More interested in his own ambitions, the Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, manipulates the young king to propose a "Treaty of Universal Peace" with France instead. Thomas More, Henry's teacher and a humanist, is in favour of the treaty which further convinces a reluctant Henry to abandon his war plans. A summit is to take place in France, and—against Katherine's express wishes—their daughter Mary is to be betrothed to the Dauphin of France, also still a child. Meanwhile, Henry has a rival to the throne in the Duke of Buckingham, a blood relative to earlier Kings. Buckingham plots to murder Henry and thus grab the throne for himself, letting Thomas Boleyn and the Duke of Norfolk in on his plan. Boleyn's beautiful daughters Mary and Anne prepare to meet King Henry; meanwhile, Henry discovers that Lady Elizabeth Blount, his mistress and one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, is pregnant with his child.
- 02
As Cardinal Wolsey has lost his chance to be Pope with King Henry's decision to go to war against France, a new accord with Spain and Queen Katherine's nephew Charles, Holy Roman Emperor, offers him fresh hope. Thomas More is knighted by Henry, and charged with destroying any copies of the Lutheran "heresy" he can seize, obviously paining More (although he, too, considers it heretical). Princess Mary's engagement to the Dauphin of France is broken off in favour of a marriage to Charles of Spain; and Henry's elder sister, Princess Margaret, is to marry the King of Portugal. Charles Brandon, Henry's friend, is made Duke of Suffolk in order to be able to escort her to Portugal. Meanwhile, Anne Boleyn encounters Henry face-to-face for the first time at a masquerade, leaving a distinct impression on him.
- 03
As a reward for his denunciation of Martin Luther in his book, the Defence of the Seven Sacraments, the Pope christens Henry "Defender of the Faith", but a brush with death causes the King to seek a solution to his lack of an heir. Princess Margaret reluctantly marries the decrepit King of Portugal, but the union is short-lived; Henry's desire for Anne Boleyn intensifies. Having arrested the King's secretary as a supposed French spy, Wolsey replaces him with his protege, a shrewd commoner named Thomas Cromwell.
- 04
King Henry is stunned by a reversal in his alliance with Emperor Charles and forced to look elsewhere for European support, while Anne Boleyn refuses his offer of mistress status, inflaming his desire to marry her. Katherine of Aragon's alliance with Charles and her hatred for Cardinal Wolsey intensify. Charles Brandon and the newly-widowed Margaret Tudor marry secretly, which infuriates the King, and he banishes both of them from court. Henry bestows a Dukedom on his bastard son Henry FitzRoy, but is heartbroken when FitzRoy dies only weeks later.
- 05
As King Henry gains in confidence, his displeasure with the way the Catholic church handles his request for an annulment of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon grows. As a result, Cardinal Wolsey's position is weakening, leaving him vulnerable to his enemies. Having restored Henry's former alliance with the French King Francis, Wolsey attempts to convene a conclave of the Cardinals in France, beyond the reach of Emperor Charles' influence, to decide on the matter. But the Cardinals refuse to come- on orders from the Pope, who remains the Emperor's captive. In return for securing his return to court and reconciliation with the King, Charles Brandon makes a reluctant alliance with the Duke of Norfolk and the Boleyn family.
- 06
William Compton dies of the "sweating sickness" at Compton Wynates, his house in Warwickshire. As King Henry VIII receives positive news of his war against Emperor Charles, the sickness spreads like a wildfire. Henry flees the palace and London, and starts having doubts about the future and his ability to rule the country. Both Anne Boleyn and Cardinal Wolsey are stricken with the disease, but recover. Wolsey sends agents to the exiled Pope asking for him to make a favorable decision on Henry's 'Great Matter' but Clement instead sends his legate, Cardinal Campeggio, to make a final decision in England.
- 07
The Pope's legate Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio arrives to hear the case for King Henry VIII's divorce from Katherine of Aragon. Cardinal Wolsey intimidates Campeggio: "Let me make certain things plain to you. If you do not grant the King his divorce, papal authority in England will be annihilated!" Wolsey has assured Henry that the divorce will be granted, but the Pope and Campeggio are not so easily swayed. A desperate Wolsey begs Queen Katherine to abdicate the marriage, but she ultimately refuses. Wolsey's enemies circle; Anne Boleyn plants more doubt in Henry's mind about Wolsey, who soon threatens Campeggio both physically and politically. A Legatine Court convenes at Blackfriar's Church, and both Henry and Katherine plead their cases.
- 08
Wolsey, now acting solely as the Archbishop of York and living in relative poverty, is repudiated by Anne Boleyn and writes to Queen Katherine instead, trying to gain her support. Thomas More uses his new powers as Chancellor and starts actively persecuting prominent Lutherans- including burning six of them at the stake, to the anger of Thomas Cromwell. King Henry finds his new Privy Counsellors less proficient than Wolsey was in running the country; he threatens to reinstate the Cardinal, spurring Norfolk and Suffolk to find a way to 'end' Wolsey. Henry has also found elements much to his liking in the teachings of Luther, and dispatches Cromwell to canvass various faculties of theology, hopefully to obtain favourable opinions regarding his intended divorce. Wolsey's secret communication with the Queen is uncovered by Cromwell, and he is arrested by Charles Brandon and charged with high treason. His fall from grace now complete, Wolsey laments his decadent lifestyle and commits suicide in a jail cell en route to London. Anne Boleyn engages Henry in a sexual encounter, but forces him to perform coitus interruptus after which a furious Henry storms off.
- 09
Attempts to legitimise the King's marriage and increase his power hit firm obstacles as Sir Thomas More and Cardinal Fisher insist that only Christ can be the head of the church, but both of them are now arrested. Meanwhile Henry's wandering eye continues to roam. Queen Anne Boleyn unexpectedly miscarries her child and fears that the king has lost his love for her. Anne also fears the Lady Mary and Catherine of Aragon for she feels that Henry may still designate Mary as Heir over her own beloved daughter, Elizabeth. Also, Anne's relationship with her older sister, Mary Boleyn, deteriorates when Mary marries a commoner in secret and becomes pregnant with his child without asking her permission; Anne has the pair banished from court when pressured by her father Thomas Boleyn. Imprisoned in the Tower, Cardinal Fisher and Sir Thomas More face likely execution unless they take the Oath of Allegiance, which Cromwell encourages them to do. Both still refuse, even after More received pleas from his family, and both are found guilty of high treason, and are beheaded despite Henry's indecisiveness on Thomas More. Meanwhile, Catherine of Aragon's health begins to fail.
- 10
At Henry's command Jane Seymour is made a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn, much to the discomfort and suspicion of the Queen. Emperor Charles indicates through Chapuys his interest in renewing relations with England. However Charles insists on legitimizing Lady Mary as Henry's heir as his condition, something Cromwell knows Anne will oppose. When Henry is seriously injured in a jousting match all thoughts turn to who might succeed him. After he recovers, Anne finds Henry kissing with Jane, and her shock, anger and grief leads to another miscarriage- of a son. Infuriated by yet another failed pregnancy, the episode closes with Henry declaring to Cromwell that his marriage with Anne is null and void, saying he was 'bewitched' into marrying her.
- 11
Anne has lost her son, and with him her last chance at a lasting marriage with Henry. The King's affections are shifting anyway: the Seymour family are awarded new and more luxurious rooms at court and soon replace the Boleyns as the new royal favourites. Anne's behavior becomes more erratic as she is browbeaten by her family to help regain favor at any cost. Several members of the court, including Charles Brandon, begin to move against her, accusing her of adultery and witchcraft. Arrests are made of suspected lovers, and eventually of Anne herself. Cromwell leads the interrogations, torturing some of the scapegoats to force a false confession. All of the accused (apart from Thomas Wyatt), including the Queen, are sentenced to death. Four of Anne's supposed lovers, including her trusted friend Mark Smeaton and her beloved brother George are executed at the Tower while a grief-stricken Anne awaits her own fate.
- 12
As Anne Boleyn awaits her death, which is painfully delayed by the executioner's late arrival, Henry visits Jane Seymour and asks for her hand in marriage. Declaring his marriage to Anne null and void means that their daughter Elizabeth becomes illegitimate and is no longer in line to the throne, clearing the way for a legitimate heir to come from his marriage with Jane; meanwhile, Lady Mary, delighted at Anne's fall, hopes she will soon be reconciled with her father. George Boleyn and the other men that are supposedly Anne's lovers have been put to death, while Earl Thomas Boleyn is expelled from court in permanent disgrace. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer is still Anne's loyal ally, but he can do nothing for her except protect her daughter and take her final confession, in which she firmly maintains that she was never unfaithful to Henry. Despite the roles they played in bringing Anne and her family down, both Charles Brandon and Cromwell show some remorse, feeling that death is too harsh a punishment for her. The season ends as Anne loses her head, going to her death with great dignity and surprising sympathy from the onlookers and the executioner. Henry, on the other hand, breakfasts in splendor on a swan and looks forward to his oncoming third marriage, completely indifferent to the death of his second queen.
- 13
The leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace uprising are put to death, but Brandon is haunted by the cruelty and mercilessness of the suppression and his part in it; Henry celebrates the birth of a son but his joy is short-lived as Queen Jane dies within days.
- 14
King Henry VIII marries his fifth queen, a lusty teenager whose beauty and checkered past inflame the passions of a trusted courtier, Thomas Culpepper.
- 15
Henry defeats one final political foe but faces his mortality after the deaths of both his best friend Charles Brandon and King Francis of France, and the ghosts of his former queens appear for a final confrontation.
Shows like The Tudors
The closest matches on shared genres, ranked by match strength and popularity.
- 01Drama·History·AdventureThe essential episodes of Shōgun2024–present
Shōgun is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. - 02Drama·History·ActionThe essential episodes of Vikings2013–2021·History
Vikings transports us to the brutal and mysterious world of Ragnar Lothbrok, a Viking warrior and farmer who yearns to explore - and raid - the distant shores across the ocean. - 03Drama·History·RomanceThe essential episodes of Reign2013–2017·The CW
Hidden between the lines of the history books is the story of Mary Stuart, the young woman the world would come to know as Mary, Queen of Scots. - 04Drama·History·CrimeThe essential episodes of Peaky Blinders2013–present·BBC OneAn epic gangster drama set in the lawless streets of 1920s Birmingham.
- 05Drama·History·ActionThe essential episodes of The Last Kingdom2015–2023The Last Kingdom is a show of heroic deeds and epic battles but with a thematic depth that embraces politics, religion, warfare, courage, love, loyalty and our universal search for identity.
- 06Drama·HistoryThe essential episodes of The Crown2016–2023The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world -- Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street - and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the…
