[67], Henry made half-hearted plans to remarry and beget more heirs, but these never came to anything. [41] Henry also increased wealth by acquiring land through the act of resumption of 1486 which had been delayed as he focused on defence of the Church, his person and his realm. As we know, Henry VII was true to his word, married Elizabeth and they founded the Tudor dynasty between them. For inheriting an unstable throne, holding it for 25 year and leaving England relatively stable, Henry VII deserves his own biography and a lot more credit. He spent most of the next 14 years under the protection of Francis II, Duke of Brittany. Life at court was merry under Henry 8th, a fresh new beginning likened to springtime. Consultant editor for the. I found this really interesting, but Im a history nut. [citation needed] The first was the 1486 rebellion of the Stafford brothers, abetted by Viscount Lovell, which collapsed without fighting. He also enacted laws against livery and maintenance, the great lords' practice of having large numbers of "retainers" who wore their lord's badge or uniform and formed a potential private army. The father's government was an exercise in discoloration. This book was way too focused on what happened, but not so much on the why or why it was important. In 1501, England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, coups . Henry, recognizing that Simnel had been a mere dupe, employed him in the royal kitchens. When Henry VII became king, the royal exchequer was effectively bankrupt. His younger brother, Jasper Tudor, the Earl of Pembroke, undertook to protect Edmund's widow Margaret, who was 13 years old when she gave birth to Henry. He created the Tudor dynasty. Happy St Davids Day! But, his enemies didnt agree. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which marked the end of the Wars of the Roses. The first rising, that of Lord Lovell, Richard IIIs chamberlain, in 1486 was ill-prepared and unimportant, but in 1487 came the much more serious revolt of Lambert Simnel. Years of instability, factionalism and his predecessors' penchant for war had seen royal finances severely battered. Based on the terms of the accord, Henry sent 6000 troops to fight (at the expense of Brittany) under the command of Lord Daubeney. Henry VII ruled - as Machiavelli, just after his reign, was to advise usurpers to do - through fear rather than love. The father's government was an exercise in discoloration. Henry VIII, (born June 28, 1491, Greenwich, near London, Englanddied January 28, 1547, London), king of England (1509-47) who presided over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and the English Reformation. Henry the older was lean and shriveled, rigid with prudence, empty of any hunger other than a desire to secure his throne through the acquisition of cash. Thus, Henry Tudor had no choice but to gather together an army including mercenary soldiers as well as his own supporters, and he landed in Wales in August, 1485. By this marriage, Henry VII hoped to break the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France. Through luck, guile and ruthlessness, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, had clambered to the top of the heap--a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's throne. These laws were used shrewdly in levying fines upon those that he perceived as threats. To strengthen his position, however, he subsidised shipbuilding, so strengthening the navy (he commissioned Europe's first ever and the world's oldest surviving dry dock at Portsmouth in 1495) and improving trading opportunities. In 1621 Francis Bacon's history of. [28], Henry had Parliament repeal Titulus Regius, the statute that declared Edward IV's marriage invalid and his children illegitimate, thus legitimising his wife. The Lancastrian Henry and his Yorkist wife Elizabeth strove to reconcile the factions, but unreconciled Yorkists, to whom he was no more than a usurper, harassed his reign. For many he remained a usurper, a false king. After his victory at Bosworth Field, Henry married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York. [citation needed], However, his principal weapon was the Court of Star Chamber. It is a sobering reflection for professional historians that the apparently unpromising territory of Henry's reign has recently produced two memorable books, both of them written outside their ranks: this one, and Ann Wroe's biography of the pretender, Perkin (2003), a longer work on a shorter subject. Poor Henry VII. For him, it was never about glory and battle. Henry VII, also called (145785) Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, (born January 28, 1457, Pembroke Castle, Pembrokeshire, Walesdied April 21, 1509, Richmond, Surrey, England), king of England (14851509), who succeeded in ending the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York and founded the Tudor dynasty. Henry decided to keep Brittany out of French hands, signed an alliance with Spain to that end, and sent 6,000 troops to France. Henry was also worried by the treason of Edmund de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, the eldest surviving son of Edward IVs sister Elizabeth, who fled to the Netherlands (1499) and was supported by Maximilian. In response to this threat within his own household, the King instituted more rigid security for access to his person. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. What are the differences between Henry VII and Henry VIII? People saw him as being like a traditional king and hoped that his reign would bring positive change. Henry VIII, (born June 28, 1491, Greenwich, near London, Englanddied January 28, 1547, London), king of England (1509-47) who presided over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and the English Reformation. In 1407, Henry IV, Gaunt's son by his first wife, issued new Letters Patent confirming the legitimacy of his half-siblings but also declaring them ineligible for the throne. When he met Richard III at Bosworth Field, Henry found that his army of dissidents and mercenaries was completely outnumbered. At any rate, the Wars of the Roses had ended with a victory by which the winner took all, and regardless of his somewhat dubious Plantagenet ancestry. Wolf Hall this is not. He had to pay a 500 fine to save himself, to buy a pardon for the crime. Soon after his fathers burial on 10 May, Henry suddenly declared that he would indeed marry Catherine, leaving unresolved several issues concerning the papal dispensation and a missing part of the marriage portion. Thomas Mores coronation poem for Henry VIII contrasted the new Kings reign with the dark days of the past. They overrode all the usual legal processed and acted with complete impunity. One of the councils prominent members was Edmund Dudley, a man who helped Henry by enforcing the Kings legal rights, finding old laws to use against people and stretching the law to its limits. Even if the king outfaced his enemies in his lifetime, would they not forestall a Tudor succession? Henry Tudor is a familiar name to students of English history, especially the military side of it. It seems that Henry was skilful at extracting money from his subjects on many pretexts, including that of war with France or war with Scotland. Unfortunately, since all I really wanted to know about was learning about Henry the 7th and his family as people - the things that happened to them, what kind of people they were, etc. Iain Hollingshead reviews Henry VII: Winter King, a BBC Two documentary which examines how the first Tudor monarch came to power and went on to have a 23-year reign. He was a ruler to be feared, a ruler to be paid. He likens the beginning of Henry VIII's reign to a metaphorical spring, a second coming of sorts because Henry VIII seemed to be the opposite of his father. [37], For most of Henry VII's reign Edward Story was Bishop of Chichester. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. I thought the way he controled the nobility was fascinating - keeping them in check as well a raising vast sums of money at the same time. [24][17][25] He was 29 years old, she was 20. He stabilised the government's finances by introducing several new taxes. And yet this time removed was summer's time, The teeming autumn, big with rich increase, Bearing the wanton burden of the prime, Like widow'd wombs after their lords . He invited artists, musicians and scholars to live at his court. When they married in 1396 they already had four children, including Henry's great-grandfather John Beaufort. Claire is going live on YouTube on 11 February! Henry was the only child of Edmund Tudor , Earl of Richmond , and Margaret Beaufort . Read all Directors Giulia Clark Stuart Elliott Writers Letters to relatives have an affectionate tone not captured by official state business, as evidenced by many written to his mother Margaret. Henry started a new policy to recover Guyenne and other lost Plantagenet claims in France. Through this, he found that his Lord Chamberlain, Sir William Stanley, was involved in the plot. [38], Unlike his predecessors, Henry VII came to the throne without personal experience in estate management or financial administration. Penn pointed out that for over half a century no king had passed on the crown without turmoil and Henry knew that what had happened to Richard could happen to him. His bouts of grave illness brought the question repeatedly to the fore. Henry VII ruled from 1485-1509 and had a dubious claim on the throne, spending most of his time before the famous Battle of Bosworth Field in exile and gaining credibility from his marriage to Elizabeth of York. Henry's father, Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, a half-brother of Henry VI of England and a member of the Welsh Tudors of Penmynydd, died three months before his son Henry was born. [48], Henry later concluded a treaty with France at Etaples that brought money into the coffers of England, and ensured the French would not support pretenders to the English throne, such as Perkin Warbeck. Here was a young man who enjoyed jousting, who enjoyed chatting with the other knights in the tiltyard and with people of low degree. Henry restored power and stability to the English monarchy following the civil war. Elizabeth of York (11 February 1466 11 February 1503) was Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. After Wolf Hall, I wanted to find out about Henry VII, the lesser-studied father of Henry VIII, who founded the Tudor Dynasty. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The future Henry VIII, in contrast,. Luther gained support for his ideas and Europe became . The portly Henry VIII, and the ill-fated destinies of most of his six wives, is one of the first historical figures primary-aged pupils are aware of.. His dynasty was hanging by a thread and all his hopes had to rest on his youngest son, Henry, and Elizabeth of York producing another son, a spare. Henry was a remarkable man. The marriage between Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Catherine of Aragon would be the culmination of everything that Henry VII had fought for at the Battle of Bosworth, so in 1501 there was a fortnight of marriage celebrations and London was in a carnival mood. England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, violence, murders, coups and countercoups. Thanks largely to the desertion of his stepfather, Lord Stanley, to him, he defeated and slew Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth on August 22, 1485. Henry VIII was the first English king to be called "Your Majesty.". The reigns of his three predecessors were interrupted or foreshortened. Henry needed an heir to secure his reign and fortunately an heir came quickly. Their powers and numbers steadily increased during the time of the Tudors, never more so than under Henry's reign. If Penn's interpretation can sometimes seem slanted, its exposition would be hard to over-praise. He had a populist touch and his reign started with pardons, reforms and justice. He had, Bacon added, much to be suspicious about, "his times" being "full of secret conspiracies and troubles". Henry attained the throne when his forces defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. I would read more by this author. [43] According to the contemporary historian Polydore Vergil, simple "greed" underscored the means by which royal control was over-asserted in Henry's final years. He likens the beginning of Henry VIIIs reign to a metaphorical spring, a second coming of sorts because Henry VIII seemed to be the opposite of his father. With the English economy heavily invested in wool production, Henry VII became involved in the alum trade in 1486. [36] However, he spared Warwick's elder sister Margaret, who survived until 1541 when she was executed by Henry VIII. I wasn't disappointed because, as usual, he did a great job with the narration. 4. While most of us are familiar with Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and we probably have a sense of the Wars of the Roses in England, but how many of us are familiar with Henry VII. The significant role played by bitcoin for businesses! Many of the entries show a man who loosened his purse strings generously for his wife and children, and not just on necessities: in spring 1491 he spent a great amount of gold on a lute for his daughter Mary; the following year he spent money on a lion for Elizabeth's menagerie. [42], The capriciousness and lack of due process that indebted many would tarnish his legacy and were soon ended upon Henry VII's death, after a commission revealed widespread abuses. Omissions? Gaunt's nephew Richard II legitimised Gaunt's children by Swynford by Letters Patent in 1397. Thomas Penns Winter King in a brilliant mash-up of gothic horror and political biography. He was the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle. Henry VIII was spring and Henry VII was winter. Historians debate the extent of Henry's rapacity. Stanley was accused of supporting Warbeck's cause, arrested and later executed. Through luck, guile, and ruthlessness, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, emerged as rulerbut as a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's throne, he remained a usurper and false king to many, and his hold on power was precarious. He married his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon. Henry had only been accepted as King because the Princes in the Tower, the sons of Edward IV, were dead, so when Yorkist exiles groomed Perkin Warbeck to pose as one of the princes and raised an army it was a huge threat. It was 1501. For Henry VII, it was all about the money and stability. For instance, the Stanley family had control of Lancashire and Cheshire, upholding the peace on the condition that they stayed within the law. [81], Henry VII and Elizabeth had seven children:[b]. Bacon wanted the future Charles I to learn from Henry's reign, but the financial methods that would provoke fatal opposition to Charles look pale beside the exactions levied by Henry from often innocent subjects, who were denied legal process or threatened with trumped-up prosecutions and had to buy their freedom (though at moments of apparently impending death the king would repent of his methods and have the jails cleared and pardons issued). Penn's picture of a reign of terror carries disturbing echoes of the Roman historian Tacitus's account of the emperor Tiberius, another ruler whose abridgements of liberty followed an era of civil strife. I am glad to say that I think it does, for it concentrates on the reign, and court, of Henry VII, giving a different slant to the well known story. [33], In 1490, a young Fleming, Perkin Warbeck, appeared and claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, the younger of the "Princes in the Tower". Today is Shrove Tuesday time for pancakes! Penn showed a genealogical roll that had belonged to the de la Pole family which showed Henry VI being the end of the Lancastrian line and the Yorkist line continuing on to Richard III. Henry VII was king of England from 1485 to 1509. Henry VII was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 to his death. On the other side of the coin, instead of the cross, was a Tudor rose and the arms of England. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. By 1900 the "New Monarchy" interpretation stressed the common factors that in each country led to the revival of monarchical power. Present were exiles from Richards court, friends of Edward IVths queen, but King Richard was able to bribe the ageing Duke of Brittany to relinquish Henry in return for funds to fight an increasingly hostile French king, whereupon Henry Tudor flew to the French court for sanctuary. 'Meeting between Francis I and Henry VIII at the Field of Cloth of Gold on 7 June 1520,' a painting by Friedrich August Bouterwek. Having seen it pop up in a lot of papers' Books of the Year lists, I think I was expecting something altogether more gripping and dramatic, but in the end I thought the story of Henry VII and the Tudor succession was just not an especially thrilling tale. Henry VII introduced stability to the financial administration of England by keeping the same financial advisors throughout his reign. It was no easy feat. To unite the opponents of Richard III, Henry had promised to marry Elizabeth of York, eldest daughter of Edward IV; and the coalition of Yorkists and Lancastrians continued, helped by French support, since Richard III talked of invading France. Overspending by Henry VIII to pay for his lavish lifestyle and to fund foreign wars with France and Scotland are cited as . Its inhabitant was once one of England's most exuberant kings, yet his resting place was only re-discovered in 1813. Otherwise, at the time of his father's arranging of the marriage to Catherine of Aragon, the future Henry VIII was too young to contract the marriage according to Canon Law and would be ineligible until age fourteen. The nobility was forced into bonds, legal agreements that they would act as the King wanted or be fined. By subscribing you confirm that you have read and agree to the Privacy Policy [opens in new window] and the Terms & Conditions [opens in new window]. Possession of something the French King wanted also made the Duke of Brittany safer in his own duchy. One of their sons was Edmund, Henry's father. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort, was a descendant of the Lancastrian branch of the House of Plantagenet. Annoyingly, much of the most interesting stuff concerns his son, and whenever Penn comments intelligently on how the events here affected the future Henry VIII's reign I found myself perking up such as the suggestion that Henry VII's marriage to Elizabeth was the kind of marriage that their second son, Prince Henry, would spend his whole life trying to find. It was the end of the union of Lancaster and York and many had only accepted Henry as King because of his wifes Yorkist roots, so Henry was once more on shaky ground with his old enemies resurfacing and raising armies. He had unified the kingdom, accrued immense wealth and created the most notorious dynasty in English history: the Tudors. This approach raised puzzling questions about similarities and differences in the development of national states. Henry Tudor, named after his father, Henry VII, was born by Elizabeth of York June 28, 1491 in Greenwich Palace. But definitely rewarding! Elizabeth had died in childbirth, so Henry had the dispensation also permit him to marry Catherine himself. What old December's bareness every where! Seriously, got nudged by my partner when I'd nodded off. [17] Now supported by Francis II's prime minister, Pierre Landais, Richard III attempted to extradite Henry from Brittany, but Henry escaped to France. Henry spared Richard's nephew and designated heir, John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, and made the Yorkist heiress Margaret Plantagenet Countess of Salisbury suo jure. Philip had been shipwrecked on the English coast, and while Henry's guest, was bullied into an agreement so favourable to England at the expense of the Netherlands that it was dubbed the Malus Intercursus ("evil agreement"). By the way, dont forget that Ian Mortimers Time Travellers Guide to Elizabethan England is on tonight on BBC2 at 9pm. ), The Reign of Henry VII. [5], The descent of Henry's mother, Margaret, through the legitimised House of Beaufort bolstered Henry's claim to the English throne. There's a (relatively) brief explanation of Henry's rather tumultuous childhood and his rise to the throne, before Penn really gets into the nitty gritty details during the second half of Henry's reign, focusing on his intricate foreign policy, his increasing use of finance as a means of control over his subjects and, most entertaining to me, the various plots and conspiracies of Henry's enemies. Henry VII declared himself king by just title of inheritance and by the judgment of God in battle, after slaying Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. Richard III's death at Bosworth Field effectively ended the Wars of the Roses. Author Thomas Penn takes an extraordinary journey into the dark and chilling world of the first Tudor King, Henry VII. But he leaves us wondering how Henry got away with it. It is not known precisely where Cabot landed, but he was eventually rewarded with a pension from the king; it is presumed that Cabot perished at sea after a later unsuccessful expedition. This definitely was not that. 3.5 Stars. However, with the help of the forces of his step-father, Lord Stanley, he defeated Richard and Richard was killed on the battlefield. So 4 stars. But now, sensitivity readers are pushing back . He was probably baptised at St Mary's Church, Pembroke,[1] though no documentation of the event exists. By 1600 historians emphasised Henry's wisdom in drawing lessons in statecraft from other monarchs. [58], Henry's principal problem was to restore royal authority in a realm recovering from the Wars of the Roses. She was Edward's heir since the presumed death of her brothers, the Princes in the Tower, King Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. From his victory over Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, to his secret death and the succession of his son Henry VIII, the film reveals the ruthless tactics . Henry IV had confirmed Richard IIs legitimation (1397) of the children of this union but had specifically excluded the Beauforts from any claim to the throne (1407). She was a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (fourth son of Edward III), and his third wife Katherine Swynford. Henry VII is actually a less familiar figure, despite being the same person. He would learn better as the new reign unfolded. There were some sections I had to skim because I didn't feel they were relevant to the storyline, but mostly I was hooked into this very complex King. [citation needed] Henry VII shut himself away in Richmond Palace from January 1509 and at 11pm on Saturday 21st April 1509 he died. (We certainly can, and do, decide what sort of king Henry was based on what he had his government get up to, however.). Together, they had seven children. [54], Henry VII was much enriched by trading alum, which was used in the wool and cloth trades as a chemical fixative for dyeing fabrics. This family took a dim view of Henry and it was John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, who instigated the first rebellion against him. [citation needed], Henry began taking precautions against rebellion while still in Leicester after Bosworth Field. In many ways, it highlights that Henry VIII was a feckless inheritor of the tools of Machiavellian power, but had no idea to what productive end to put them. He had brought the country to the brink of dynastic ambition, but not quite, so his closest advisers kept his death secret until St Georges Day, the annual meeting of the Order of the Garter. For many he remained a usurper, a false king. Henry then cemented his claim to the throne and his dynastic ambitions by marrying Elizabeth of York and bringing the Houses of Lancaster and York together; the red rose and white rose combined to become the Tudor rose. At the same time, Flemish merchants were ejected from England. Wow, it was like being battered by facts without remission for good intentions. Thomas More hailed the end of "slavery" and the return of "liberty", "the end of sadness, the beginning of joy". Henry VII, also called (1457-85) Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, (born January 28, 1457, Pembroke Castle, Pembrokeshire, Walesdied April 21, 1509, Richmond, Surrey, England), king of England (1485-1509), who succeeded in ending the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York and founded the Tudor dynasty. At Rennes Cathedral on Christmas Day 1483, Henry pledged to marry Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of Edward IV. : (April 25, 1883. ||sitemap_index.xml Henry VII comes across as a talented micromanager and financier. Stanley placed Richards circlet on Henrys head, he was now King. [65] Henry VII was shattered by the loss of Elizabeth, and her death impacted him severely. In 1622 Francis Bacon published his History of the Reign of King Henry VII. Henry VII was the founder of the Tudor dynasty and father of Henry VIII and Ive been doing a bit of digging on this lesser known Tudor. Inadvertently, he provoked a revolution. Through luck, guile and ruthlessness, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, had clambered to the top of the heap--a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's throne. Henrys Chamber Accounts show payment to strangers and people across the sea, who appear to have been part of a network of spies and informers who kept an eye on potential troublemakers and alerted the King. Claiming to be Edward, earl of Warwick, the son of Richard IIIs elder brother, George, duke of Clarence, he had the formidable support of John de la Pole, earl of Lincoln, Richard IIIs heir designate, of many Irish chieftains, and of 2,000 German mercenaries paid for by Margaret of Burgundy. Up to a point, he succeeded. [77][78] His mother died two months later on 29 June 1509. In my never-ending quest to read possibly every single published book on the Tudor monarchy, I spied this little gem a few weeks ago and picked it up. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-VII-king-of-England, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Henry VII, English Monarchs - Biography of Henry VII, Henry VII - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Henry VII - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Henry VII died on 21 April 1509, and the 17-year-old Henry succeeded him as king. [12], Henry lived in the Herbert household until 1469, when Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (the "Kingmaker"), went over to the Lancastrians. Penn graphically describes a huge financial racket run by the king and his profiteering advisers. [citation needed], Henry honoured his pledge of December 1483 to marry Elizabeth of York and the wedding took place in 1486 at Westminster Abbey. Still, as Penn observes, the national sense of relief in 1509 was palpable. Though this was not achieved during his reign, the marriage eventually led to the union of the English and Scottish crowns under Margaret's great-grandson, James VI and I, following the death of Henry's granddaughter Elizabeth I. Penn then moved on to how Henry became King. Edward would have liked to rid himself of Henry, a rival to his throne, but Francis kept Henry safe. His early reign was plagued by pretenders to the throne, giving the new Tudor dynasty a rocky start and a fear of conspiracy which dogged Henry VII throughout his life. Corrections? Yorkist malcontents had strength in the north of England and in Ireland and had a powerful ally in Richard IIIs sister Margaret, dowager duchess of Burgundy. The rebellion was defeated and Lincoln killed at the Battle of Stoke. Shakespeare later turned to Henry's son and successor Henry VIII, whose rule brought marital sensation, renaissance spectacle and the reformation. In 1494, Henry embargoed trade (mainly in wool) with the Burgundian Netherlands in retaliation for Margaret of Burgundy's support for Perkin Warbeck. Alternate titles: Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, Professor of Medieval History, University of Liverpool, 196780. Henry was building a myth, the idea that he and his family were the true royal blood of England. [citation needed] John Cabot, originally from Genoa and Venice, had heard that ships from Bristol had discovered uncharted new found territory far west of Ireland. His father was the son of Owen Tudor, a Welsh squire, and Catherine of France, the widow of King Henry V. His mother was the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, whose children by Catherine Swynford were born before he married her. Wales was historically a Lancastrian stronghold, and Henry owed the support he gathered to his Welsh birth and ancestry, being agnatically descended from Rhys ap Gruffydd. Henry VII is known for successfully ending the War of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York and for founding the Tudor dynasty.

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