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Y Tuduriaid The TudorsTudor and Stuart Welsh genealogy
Documenting Welsh families through the transformative Tudor and early Stuart periods.
- 1485Henry Tudor wins at Bosworth
- 1536 · 1543the Acts of Union
- 1538parish registers begin
- 1485–1660the period this page covers
The age of transformation
From Henry Tudor's victory at Bosworth in 1485 through the early Stuart reign, Welsh families adapted to new legal systems, took up new chances for education, and recorded their lineages in more detail than ever, through the Acts of Union and the new parish record systems.
From ancient tribal laws to Tudor statutes, Welsh families bridged two worlds while preserving their ancestral pride.
Records and sources
Families who rose under the Tudors: courtiers, administrators, merchants and scholars who gained influence through royal service.
Find it: People → Acts of UnionHow the 1536 and 1543 Acts changed Welsh families: new laws, English surnames, property rights and new administration.
Find it: Surnames → Parish registersBaptisms, marriages and burials from 1538, in growing detail through the Reformation and into the Stuart period.
Find it: Search →Families who took up the new learning, from Jesus College Oxford founders to grammar school benefactors who kept Welsh literature alive.
Learned familiesOfficial visits by the College of Arms that recorded Welsh gentry pedigrees and their right to bear arms.
Find it: Heraldry → Estate and legal recordsWills, deeds, manor court rolls and legal papers, full of family detail as Wales moved to English common law.
Find it: Estate papers →How to search this era
- Start with the parish registersBaptisms, marriages and burials are recorded from 1538.
Search records → - Watch for surname changesThe Acts of Union brought English surnames into Welsh records.
Welsh surnames → - Check the gentry pedigreesHeraldic visitations record gentry families and their arms.
Welsh heraldry → - Fill gaps with wills and deedsWills, deeds and legal papers hold detailed family information.
Estate papers →
This era in context
A wider slice of society
The Renaissance period changed how Welsh families were documented. Medieval records focused mainly on noble lineages; Tudor and Stuart sources capture far more of Welsh society, from yeoman farmers to merchant families, and from Anglican clergy to recusant Catholics.
Sources that work together
Parish registers give new detail, heraldic visitations preserve gentry pedigrees, and legal documents trace how property was inherited. Together they allow fuller family reconstructions than any earlier era.
Old pride, new paperwork
Even as English law transformed Welsh society, families kept their pride in ancient lineages while adapting to new documentary requirements and social opportunities.
Gair i gall A word from BranParish registers begin in 1538, recording baptisms, marriages and burials.
Sources from this era reach well beyond the nobility, to yeoman farmers and merchant families.
Help document this era
Researching Tudor courtiers, parish records or gentry pedigrees? Add to our growing Renaissance collection.