The Right of Succession

During the sixteenth-century England had no fixed rule or law to govern the royal succession, and numerous potential claimants who held some right to the throne, however distant that right may be. The debate took written form in succession tracts, the examination of which forms the foundation of this chapter. Modern scholarship tends to divide the succession debate into either ‘early’ or ‘late’ periods based upon the creation of these tracts. However, this chapter argues that means of production and circulation should be emphasised over creation date as the approaches used by these tracts remained relatively consistent across Elizabeth’s reign. Throughout the succession tracts there was a consistent focus on the rights of the various claimants to the throne and any legal impediments to their claims. This chapter explores these legal concerns, those being the Succession Acts of Henry VIII, Henry VIII’s Will, English common law, and the Act for the Queen’s Safety, and seeks to place the Elizabethan succession debate back into its original context.