Tudor, name of the dynasty that occupied the throne of England from 1485 to 1603. The house was founded by the Welsh nobleman Owen Tudor, who married Catherine of Valois, the widow of the English king Henry V. Their eldest son, Edmund Tudor, married Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of John of Gaunt, son of King Edward III. In 1485 Edmund and Margaret's son, Henry, killed Richard III of the house of York and became Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch. The successive Tudor sovereigns were Henry VIII and his son and two daughters, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I; the three died childless. The Tudors reunited the country after a period of civil strife and made the English church independent of the pope. They were followed in royal succession by the Stuart family.