Illustrated with contemporary artworks, photographs, and documents, The Tudors tells the public and private story of England's most famous royal family and the country they ruled. The Tudors reigned for just over a century (1485-1603), through one of the most colorful and tumultuous periods in English history, marked by tyranny, rebellion, religious fanaticism, and threat of invasion. No other dynasty has so impressed itself on our consciousness, for it was an era just as enthralling and notorious as its portrayal in fiction. Beginning on the bloody battlefield of Bosworth, when Henry Tudor seized the English crown and ended the Wars of the Roses, this book explores the monarchs who have fascinated readers for centuries--including Henry VIII, famous for his six marriages and for breaking from Rome; "Bloody Mary" and her attempt to return England to the Catholic fold; and Elizabeth I, "Gloriana," who ushered in a new era of discovery and innovation.