Mid-Tudor Crisis

The Mid-Tudor Crisis denotes the period of English history between 1547 (the death of Henry VIII) and 1558 (the death of Mary Tudor), when, it has been argued by Whitney Jones and others, English government and society were in imminent danger of collapse in the face of a combination of weak rulers, economic pressures, a series of rebellions, and religious upheaval in the wake of the English Reformation, among other factors.The term 'Mid-Tudor Crisis' was first introduced by historian Whitney Jones in The Mid-Tudor Crisis 1539–1563 (1973), who argued that weak rulers, economic hardship, rebellions, and religious upheaval posed an existential threat to Tudor government.

Recently, historians such as David Loades have disputed the underlying assumptions of the thesis and have argued that this period was actually one of success and even outright achievements.However, more recent scholarship—including David Loades—has questioned whether the period was truly a crisis, instead suggesting that it featured considerable administrative and religious successes.