Patriotism in Tudor England: How a Nation Learned to Love Itself

Renaissance English History Podcast: A Show About the Tudors

Heather Teysko

History

4.6 • 624 Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It's Memorial Day, and I've been thinking about patriotism -- where it comes from, why people feel it so strongly, and whether Tudor people felt anything like it at all. The answer is more interesting than I expected. In 1485, when Henry VII takes the throne after the Battle of Bosworth Field, England is basically a collection of feudal relationships. Loyalty runs to your lord, your family, your region -- not to some abstract idea of "England." There's no standing army, no national church, no real sense of a shared national identity. And then the Reformation happens. And everything changes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Some follow the noise.
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0:13.8	there's a money-side to every story.
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0:29.7	Attention all passengers.
0:31.9	The Uber ride for Jeff's rugby team will depart in five minutes from Platform 15.
0:37.0	Your ride comes with six toilets and a
0:40.1	refreshments carriage that you'll empty within five minutes. Thank you for booking your tickets on
0:46.3	Uber. Trains on Uber. So it's Memorial Day here in the US as I'm recording, and I've been thinking a lot this weekend about patriotism, what it means, where it comes from, and why people feel it so strongly.
1:02.9	And being me, my brain immediately went to, okay, but did the tutor people feel this?
1:08.5	Like, was there even a concept of loving your country in the way that we think about it now?
1:15.3	And the answer is actually, as it usually is, so much more interesting and complicated than I expected.
1:21.1	So that's what we're going to talk about today.
1:23.5	So settle in, get comfy, grab a beverage.
1:25.8	We are going to talk briefly today because it is a holiday about patriotism in Tudor England. So let's get started.
1:38.3	Hey friend, welcome back to the Renaissance English History Podcast. I am your host, Heather.
1:49.7	I've been podcasting on Tudor England since 2009 with my show, which makes me the original Tudor history podcaster.
2:00.0	I am, as always, just delighted that you are here with me on a holiday weekend to talk about patriotism in Tudor England and if that was even a thing.
	...

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