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Hello, in 1485 Henry Tudor slew Richard the 3rd and routed his army at the Battle of

Bosworth Field. It was a decisive victory which founded a bold new dynasty and this date like 1789 in 1066 has been taken by

historians to be one of the great year zeros of history. Suddenly it seemed

the muddled medieval world with its robber barons, feudal barbarism and bloody wars of the roses was banished,

and the modern age of centralized government in King's justice was ushered in.

But were the Tudors really as instrumental in reshaping the British state as historians

in the past have liked to make out?

And did their reign throughout the 16th century really lay the political foundations of our own

age?

To discuss the legacy of the Tudor era, I'm joined by the Tudor historians

John Guy, professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews, Christopher Hay, tutor of Modern History

at Christ Church, Cambridge, and also by the medieval historian Christine Carpenter,

Fellow in History at New Hall, Cambridge.

A curiosity here never happened before on this program, and highly unlikely ever to happen

again, is that all three historians are former pupils of

one man that distinguished and influential tutor historian Jeffrey Elton.

John Guy in 1485 Henry Tudor won the Battle of Bosworth Field. Now can you tell us what broadly

came as a result of the victory on that day? What happened at Bosworth was that Henry

of the 7th usurped the throne. His claim was exceptionally weak, he was extremely lucky. The question of

historians is what was the significance of this event. Really for 400 years the

...