Tudor Empire: The Making of Early Modern Britain and the British Atlantic World, 1485-1603

“Tudor Empire has many virtues: combining the domestic and broader history of the Tudors, treating the entire dynasty’s history both in depth and in dialogue across to the decades, and linking the sixteenth century engagements to the later history of empire. In that last regard, this book offers an excellent first chapter to the history of the English Atlantic and to the later (and more familiar) iteration of the British Empire.”
Carla Pestana, Department Chair and Professor, UCLA, California, USA

This book recasts one of the most well-studied and popularly-beloved eras in history: the tumultuous span from the 1485 accession of Henry VII to the 1603 death of Elizabeth I. Though many have gravitated toward this period for its high drama and national importance, the book offers a new narrative by focusing on another facet of the British past that has exercised an equally powerful grip on audiences: imperialism. It argues that the sixteenth century was pivotal to the making of both Britain and the British Empire. Unearthing over a century of theorizing about and probing into the world beyond England’s borders, Tudor Empire shows that foreign enterprise at once mirrored, responded to, and provoked domestic politics and culture, while decisively shaping the Atlantic World. Demonstrating that territorial expansion abroad and national consolidation and identity formation at home were concurrent, intertwined, and mutually reinforcing, the author examines some of the earliest ventures undertaken by the crown and its subjects in France, Scotland, Ireland, and the Americas. Tudor Empire is a thought-provoking, essential read for those interested in the Tudors and the British Empire that they helped create.