December 1546 AD: Henry VIII Fixing His Bastardy Problem & Succession

December 1546 A.D. King Henry refines his will on dynastic succession. 

For more information, see: http://reformationanglicanism.blogspot.com/2013/08/dynastic-succession-of-tudors-to-stuarts.html

Fixing Henry's "bastardy" problems.

In this "Third Act," the succession was outlined: Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth in that order (“the previous bastardizations being now ignored”). Might makes right, right?

In December 1546, Henry "refines" the will. He provides another potential line of succession.

If the Edwardian, Marian and Elizabethan succession should fail to have issue, the throne would devolve to the issue of Henry VIII’s oldest sister, Margaret Tudor (the Stuart line).

The question of “succession remained a vital issue” during Elizabeth 1’s reign (3). With Edward and Mary dead and Elizabeth childless, who's next? Henry had the foresight to anticipate this.

Henry VIII’s will came into “operation without trouble or question.”

James 1st will come to the English throne in 1603. He was the son of Henry VIII's eldest sister.

"To rule or not to rule? Rule by military victory, dynastic succession, or both in some combination? Or, with other factors like a Parliament and the Church too?"