Richard Luttrell

Edward VI was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. He was England's first monarch to be raised as a Protestant.

The transformation of the Church of England into a recognisably Protestant body occurred under Edward, who took great interest in religious matters. Although his father, Henry VIII, had severed the link between the Church and Rome, Henry VIII had never permitted the renunciation of Catholic doctrine or ceremony. It was during Edward's reign that Protestantism was established for the first time in England with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the Mass, and the imposition of compulsory services in English.

Edward VI named Lady Jane Grey as his heir in his will, overruling the order of succession laid down by Parliament in the Third Succession Act. Four days after his death on 6 July 1553, Jane was proclaimed queen - the first of three Tudor women to be proclaimed queen regnant. Nine days after the proclamation, on 19 July, the Privy Council switched allegiance and proclaimed Edward VI's Catholic half-sister Mary queen. Jane was executed for treason in 1554, aged 16

Mary I is best known for her aggressive attempt to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, Henry VIII. The executions that marked her pursuit of the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England and Ireland led to her denunciation as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents.

During her five-year reign, Mary had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian persecutions. After Mary's death in 1558, her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed by her younger half-sister and successor Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry and Anne Boleyn, at the beginning of the 45-year Elizabethan Era.

Under the terms of the marriage treaty between Philip I of Naples and Queen Mary I, he was to enjoy Mary's titles and honours for as long as their marriage lasted. An Act of Parliament gave him the title of king and stated that he "shall aid her Highness … in the happy administration of her Grace's realms and dominions" (although elsewhere it said Mary was to be "sole queen").

Elizabeth I was also known as The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess. She was the last of the five monarchs of the House of Tudor.

Elizabeth's reign became known as the Elizabethan era. The period is famous for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Francis Drake. After the short reigns of her half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity

William Shakespeare became a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor. His work includes 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets, and other poems.

No original manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays exist. A group of actors from Shakespeare's company collected about half for publication after Shakespeare died.

From the various documents that have survived we know that he spelled his last name in various ways, none of which was "Shakespeare"