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 - 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.
#3 - 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.
#4 - 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.
#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 - 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.
#7 - 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.
#8 - 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.
#9 - 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.
#10 - 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.
#11 - 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.
#12 - 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.
#13 - 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.
#14 - 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.
#15 - 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.
#16 - 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.
#17 - 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.
#18 - The Act of Treason
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 5/25/2008
The fall from grace of Anne Boleyn is swift and complete, as the king grants greater powers to the family of his new love Jane Seymour, and accepts Thomas Cromwell's obviously trumped-up charges of adultery against the queen.
#19 - 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.
#20 - As it Should Be
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/6/2010
The war with France is nearly lost when one of Henry's officers cleverly engineers a sudden victory, but the triumphant king's health has been weakened by the costly adventure; Brandon returns from France with a mistress.
#21 - His Majesty, The King
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/22/2007
Despite being named "Defender of the Faith" by the Pope, Henry begins to scheme to replace his queen with the more desirable Anne Boleyn, as court intrigues involving Princess Margaret and plots against Cardinal Wolsey intensify.
#22 - 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.
#23 - His Majesty's Pleasure
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/27/2008
A miscarriage and her sister's impetuous marriage jeopardize the Boleyns' influence at court; after many failed attempts to coerce his endorsement of the king's powers, Sir Thomas More is ordered to be executed as a traitor by a reluctant Henry.
#24 - Lady in Waiting
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 5/18/2008
The brief resurgence of Anne at court is short-lived, as Jane Seymour rapidly replaces her in the king's affections, a process speeded up by Henry's near-fatal jousting accident and Anne's hysteria-induced miscarriage.
#25 - The Northern Uprising
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/12/2009
The rebellion now known as the "Pilgrimage of Grace" begins in earnest, with Henry dispatching Brandon to deal with the uprising; bedridden due to the recurrence of his jousting injury, Henry takes a new mistress: Lady Ursula Misseldon.