The WORST episodes of The Tudors
Every episode of The Tudors ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Tudors!
The young, vibrant King Henry VIII, is a competitive and lustful monarch who navigates the intrigues of the English court and the human heart with equal vigor and justifiable suspicion.
#1 - Simply Henry
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/8/2007
Henry contemplates an alliance with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Spain despite his "Field of Cloth of Gold" ceremony celebrating allegiance to France, and executes a rival; Elizabeth gives birth to the king's illegitimate son.
#2 - Protestant Anne of Cleves
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/17/2009
War looms with France and Spain aligning against England with backing from Rome, so Henry agrees to a politically fortuitous marriage with Anne of Cleves, a plain and unsophisticated German aristocrat he has never met.
#3 - In Cold Blood
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/1/2007
Henry prepares for war with France but receives cautious counsel from the powerful Cardinal Wolsey, who urges a peace treaty; the king learns that his queen's lady-in-waiting Elizabeth Blount is pregnant with his child.
#4 - Everything is Beautiful
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 3/30/2008
The Reformation begins as Henry breaks with the Catholic Church and declares himself head of the church; Anne's insistence leads to Henry breaking all contact with Katherine and banishing her from the court.
#5 - Tears of Blood
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/6/2008
Henry continues undermining the Catholic Church's influence in England, while his chaplain makes a fact-finding tour of Lutheran Germany; Anne resolves to consummate her relationship with the king as Brandon plants doubts about her virtue.
#6 - Civil Unrest
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/5/2009
Henry VIII weds a third time: to shy, demure noblewoman Jane Seymour, a union that he and his advisors pray will result in a male heir; once-loyal subjects rebel against Henry's crusade against Catholicism.
#7 - Checkmate
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/13/2008
His patience at an end, Henry marries Anne in secret, appoints his Lutheran chaplain Thomas Cranmer the head of the Church, and strips Queen Katherine of her title and status; the king and new queen's first child is born, a girl christened Elizabeth.
#8 - The Definition of Love
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/4/2008
The power of Thomas Cromwell spreads as he investigates the Church for corruption, even as the Pope denounces the execution of Sir Thomas More; the queen is rebuffed by the king of France, who refuses to recognize her daughter's legitimacy.
#9 - Search for a New Queen
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/10/2009
Matchmaking begins in earnest as Cromwell schemes to secure the Reformation by marrying Henry to a Protestant wife - but the king's marital reputation precedes him; the condition of Henry's wounded leg turns life-threatening.
#10 - Problems in the Reformation
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/3/2009
Henry remains in seclusion while mourning the queen's death, an opportunity that enemies of the crown seize to murder several friends of the court; Cromwell is disturbed when Henry doesn't resist his new church's similarities to Catholicism.
#11 - You Have My Permission
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/16/2010
The newly single Henry surprises his countrymen by restoring his daughters to the royal succession, forging an unexpected political alliance, and manipulating events to marry an attractive, mature, and recent widow.
#12 - The Act of Succession
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/20/2008
The country is asked to swear an oath recognizing the new royal succession, and Henry's supreme authority; Anne becomes pregnant again; Sir Thomas More refuses to swear to all aspects of the oath and is jailed in the Tower of London.
#13 - Wolsey, Wolsey, Wolsey!
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/15/2007
A visit from Charles V forces Henry to conceal his growing disaffection from Queen Katherine, who is the influential Spanish monarch's aunt - even as Henry comes face-to-face with the seductive Anne Boleyn for the first time.
#14 - Matters of State
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/11/2008
The persecution of the Catholic Church reaches its pinnacle as Thomas Cromwell confiscates its wealth for the crown, making Henry the richest English king in history, while Katherine dies in pious poverty.
#15 - Arise, My Lord
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/29/2007
Henry is stunned by a reversal in his alliance with Charles V and forced to look elsewhere for European support, while an insulted Anne Boleyn refuses his offer of permanent mistress status, inflaming his desire to marry her.
#16 - Bottom of the Pot
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/9/2010
The king is devastated to learn of his beloved queen's ribald past and present affairs, and banishes her from court, even as the investigation rounds up and tortures suspects.
#17 - Truth and Justice
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 5/20/2007
A special envoy from the Pope arrives to hear Henry's petition regarding the legitimacy of his marriage, with the fate of Cardinal Wolsey's career, the king's romance with Anne Boleyn, and the nation's relationship with Rome in the balance.
#18 - Moment of Nostalgia
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/11/2010
King Henry VIII marries his fifth queen, a lusty teenager whose beauty and checkered past inflame the passions of a trusted courtier, Thomas Culpepper.
#19 - Dissention and Punishment
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/19/2009
Henry reconciles with his estranged daughters Mary and Elizabeth in time for the Christmas holidays, but betrays and brutally suppresses the rebellion against him after making conciliatory promises to the uprising's leaders.
#20 - Sister
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/18/2010
Henry's age catches up to him during Christmas celebrations, but his youthful and randy court continues the party without him; the arrogant Lord Surrey takes aim at the powerful Seymour clan.
#21 - Something for You
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/25/2010
A noticeably more benevolent and tolerant Henry VIII forgives the citizens of the North for their rebellion against him, but the youthful wife he dotes upon launches a passionate affair with Culpepper.
#22 - Sixth and the Final Wife
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/23/2010
War looms with France as Henry marries Catherine Parr, who proves to be an able and respected queen and stepmother, finally giving England's king the stable, happy household he has long desired.
#23 - Message to the Emperor
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/13/2007
The country is struck down with food shortages and an outbreak of plague, forcing the normally buoyant Henry to doubt his future and abilities - but a sudden change in fortunes is on the horizon.
#24 - Natural Ally
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/2/2010
The king's warm welcome in the North reinvigorates him but his queen's past catches up to her when a former lover appears with threats of blackmail, and an anonymous letter exposes her infidelities to Henry.
#25 - Secrets of the Heart
Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 6/13/2010
In the Series Finale, Henry defeats one final political foe but faces his mortality after the deaths of both his best friend Charles Brandon and King Francis of France, and the ghosts of his former queens appear for a final confrontation.