Posted on Oct 31, 2020
Henry VII and Elizabeth of York | Westminster Abbey
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On October 30, 1485, Henry VII of England was crowned at Westminster Abbey. From the article:
"Henry VII and Elizabeth of York
Henry VII was the only child of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond (son of Henry V's widow Catherine de Valois and Owen Tudor) and his 13-year old wife Lady Margaret Beaufort (who died in the Abbot of Westminster's house on 29th June 1509, shortly after Henry VIII's coronation, and was buried in the Abbey). He was born at Pembroke Castle in Wales on 28th January 1457. Edmund died a few months before the birth so mother and son were cared for by Jasper Tudor, Henry's uncle. After several years of exile in France Henry landed at Milford Haven in August 1485 to claim the English throne and defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.
His reign is remembered for peace and prosperity and he spent lavish sums on building work, including the Lady Chapel at the Abbey, called the "wonder of the world". The foundation stone of his exquisite Chapel was laid on 24th January 1503 and it was consecrated on 19th February 1516. It has a magnificent fan-vaulted roof, with carved wooden stalls with misericords and statues of saints around the walls. During the time of Oliver Cromwell its altar, by Pietro Torrigiano, was destroyed, as was much of the stained glass and the floor tiles. Some Tudor glass quarries with the King's initials survived the Civil War and later the Blitz and are set in a window of the side aisle.
Marriage
His marriage in January 1486 to Elizabeth of York united the Houses of Lancaster and York (Henry claimed descent through his mother from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son of Edward III).
Coronation
This took place in Westminster Abbey on 30th October 1485. Elizabeth's coronation was held on 25th November 1487.
Burial and Monument
Henry died on 21st April 1509, having suffered from gout and asthma. He and his wife lie in a vault beneath his magnificent tomb in the Lady Chapel (the first monarchs to be buried in the Abbey in a vault under the floor rather than in a tomb chest above ground). This was designed in the Renaissance style by Italian sculptor Pietro Torrigiano (Henry VIII had not liked the designs which were first put forward for the tomb by other sculptors). The black marble tomb base is adorned with six medallions in copper gilt representing the Virgin Mary and Henry's patron saints (Michael, George, Anthony, Christopher, Anne, Edward the Confessor, Vincent, Barbara, Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist and John the Evangelist). At either end are coats of arms supported by cherubs. The gilt bronze recumbent effigies can be seen through the fine grille which surrounds the monument. Seated angels balance on the carved frieze at each corner of the tomb, supporting coats of arms They once held pennants in their hands.
The grille is by Thomas Ducheman (who most likely also designed the bronze gates to the Chapel). Only six of the thirty two statues in the niches of the grille now remain (Saints George, Edward the Confessor, Bartholomew, James the Great, John the Evangelist and another). The badges of the Welsh dragon and the greyhound of Richmond are also part of its decoration. The grille was originally gilded and on special anniversaries many candles, each nine feet high, were lit on top. Four candles were to burn constantly, tended by the monks.
Around the grille (both inside and outside) is a Latin inscription which can be translated
Henry VII rests within this tomb, he who was the splendour of kings and light of the world, a wise and watchful monarch, a courteous lover of virtue, outstanding in beauty, vigorous and mighty; who brought peace to his kingdom, who waged very many wars, who always returned victorious from the enemy, who wedded both his daughters to kings, who was united to kings, indeed to all, by treaty, who built this holy temple, and erected this tomb for himself, his wife, and his children. He completed more than fifty three years, and bore the royal sceptre for twenty four. The fifteenth hundredth year of the Lord had passed, and the ninth after that was running its course, when dawned the black day, the twenty first dawn of April was shining, when this so great monarch ended his last day. No earlier ages gave thee so great a king, O England; hardly will ages to come give thee his like.
Funeral effigies
The heads of the effigies carried at their respective funerals still survive in the Abbey collection, that of the king being particularly lifelike and probably from a death mask. The bodies of the funeral effigies were damaged by water during the blitz in the Second World War.
Inscriptions
The inscriptions for Henry on the tomb can be translated:
Here lies Henry the Seventh of that name, formerly King of England, son of Edmund, Earl of Richmond. He was created King on August 22 and immediately afterwards, on October 30, he was crowned at Westminster in the year of Our Lord 1485. He died subsequently on April 21 in the 53rd year of his age. He reigned 23 years eight months, less one day.
And that around the edge of the tomb:
Here is situated Henry VII, the glory of all the kings who lived in his time by reason of his intellect, his riches, and the fame of his exploits, to which were added the gifts of bountiful nature, a distinguished brow, an august face, an heroic stature. Joined to him his sweet wife was very pretty, chaste and fruitful. They were parents happy in their offspring, to whom, land of England, you owe Henry VIII.
Elizabeth of York
She was born on 11th February 1465, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Her eldest son Arthur died soon after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and their second son Henry later married her. Several children who did not survive infancy are buried in the Abbey – Elizabeth, who has a small monument in the chapel of St Edward (the inscription has gone), Edmund and Catherine. The other daughters were Margaret Tudor, who married (firstly) James IV, King of Scots and Mary, who married Louis XII of France as her first husband. She died in childbirth in the Tower of London on her birthday, 11th February 1503.
She had a magnificent funeral, her body being brought through the City of London on a gorgeous hearse on which lay her funeral effigy in royal robes. Eight ladies on white horses followed as part of the grand procession. She was temporarily buried in one of the side chapels until the main Lady chapel was sufficiently advanced for her grave to be made in it.
Her tomb inscription reads:
Here lies Queen Elizabeth, daughter of the former King Edward IV, sister of the formerly appointed King Edward V, once the wife of King Henry VII, and the renowned mother of Henry VIII. She met her day of death in the Tower of London on the 11th day of February in the year of Our Lord 1502, having fulfilled the age of 37 years
(This date is given in Old Style dating, now called 1503).
The funeral effigies are on show in the new Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries in the Abbey triforium.
During the 1939-1945 war most of the movable figures from the tomb, and the chapel itself, were evacuated to country houses. The grille was dismantled, apart from its stone base."
"Henry VII and Elizabeth of York
Henry VII was the only child of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond (son of Henry V's widow Catherine de Valois and Owen Tudor) and his 13-year old wife Lady Margaret Beaufort (who died in the Abbot of Westminster's house on 29th June 1509, shortly after Henry VIII's coronation, and was buried in the Abbey). He was born at Pembroke Castle in Wales on 28th January 1457. Edmund died a few months before the birth so mother and son were cared for by Jasper Tudor, Henry's uncle. After several years of exile in France Henry landed at Milford Haven in August 1485 to claim the English throne and defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.
His reign is remembered for peace and prosperity and he spent lavish sums on building work, including the Lady Chapel at the Abbey, called the "wonder of the world". The foundation stone of his exquisite Chapel was laid on 24th January 1503 and it was consecrated on 19th February 1516. It has a magnificent fan-vaulted roof, with carved wooden stalls with misericords and statues of saints around the walls. During the time of Oliver Cromwell its altar, by Pietro Torrigiano, was destroyed, as was much of the stained glass and the floor tiles. Some Tudor glass quarries with the King's initials survived the Civil War and later the Blitz and are set in a window of the side aisle.
Marriage
His marriage in January 1486 to Elizabeth of York united the Houses of Lancaster and York (Henry claimed descent through his mother from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son of Edward III).
Coronation
This took place in Westminster Abbey on 30th October 1485. Elizabeth's coronation was held on 25th November 1487.
Burial and Monument
Henry died on 21st April 1509, having suffered from gout and asthma. He and his wife lie in a vault beneath his magnificent tomb in the Lady Chapel (the first monarchs to be buried in the Abbey in a vault under the floor rather than in a tomb chest above ground). This was designed in the Renaissance style by Italian sculptor Pietro Torrigiano (Henry VIII had not liked the designs which were first put forward for the tomb by other sculptors). The black marble tomb base is adorned with six medallions in copper gilt representing the Virgin Mary and Henry's patron saints (Michael, George, Anthony, Christopher, Anne, Edward the Confessor, Vincent, Barbara, Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist and John the Evangelist). At either end are coats of arms supported by cherubs. The gilt bronze recumbent effigies can be seen through the fine grille which surrounds the monument. Seated angels balance on the carved frieze at each corner of the tomb, supporting coats of arms They once held pennants in their hands.
The grille is by Thomas Ducheman (who most likely also designed the bronze gates to the Chapel). Only six of the thirty two statues in the niches of the grille now remain (Saints George, Edward the Confessor, Bartholomew, James the Great, John the Evangelist and another). The badges of the Welsh dragon and the greyhound of Richmond are also part of its decoration. The grille was originally gilded and on special anniversaries many candles, each nine feet high, were lit on top. Four candles were to burn constantly, tended by the monks.
Around the grille (both inside and outside) is a Latin inscription which can be translated
Henry VII rests within this tomb, he who was the splendour of kings and light of the world, a wise and watchful monarch, a courteous lover of virtue, outstanding in beauty, vigorous and mighty; who brought peace to his kingdom, who waged very many wars, who always returned victorious from the enemy, who wedded both his daughters to kings, who was united to kings, indeed to all, by treaty, who built this holy temple, and erected this tomb for himself, his wife, and his children. He completed more than fifty three years, and bore the royal sceptre for twenty four. The fifteenth hundredth year of the Lord had passed, and the ninth after that was running its course, when dawned the black day, the twenty first dawn of April was shining, when this so great monarch ended his last day. No earlier ages gave thee so great a king, O England; hardly will ages to come give thee his like.
Funeral effigies
The heads of the effigies carried at their respective funerals still survive in the Abbey collection, that of the king being particularly lifelike and probably from a death mask. The bodies of the funeral effigies were damaged by water during the blitz in the Second World War.
Inscriptions
The inscriptions for Henry on the tomb can be translated:
Here lies Henry the Seventh of that name, formerly King of England, son of Edmund, Earl of Richmond. He was created King on August 22 and immediately afterwards, on October 30, he was crowned at Westminster in the year of Our Lord 1485. He died subsequently on April 21 in the 53rd year of his age. He reigned 23 years eight months, less one day.
And that around the edge of the tomb:
Here is situated Henry VII, the glory of all the kings who lived in his time by reason of his intellect, his riches, and the fame of his exploits, to which were added the gifts of bountiful nature, a distinguished brow, an august face, an heroic stature. Joined to him his sweet wife was very pretty, chaste and fruitful. They were parents happy in their offspring, to whom, land of England, you owe Henry VIII.
Elizabeth of York
She was born on 11th February 1465, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Her eldest son Arthur died soon after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and their second son Henry later married her. Several children who did not survive infancy are buried in the Abbey – Elizabeth, who has a small monument in the chapel of St Edward (the inscription has gone), Edmund and Catherine. The other daughters were Margaret Tudor, who married (firstly) James IV, King of Scots and Mary, who married Louis XII of France as her first husband. She died in childbirth in the Tower of London on her birthday, 11th February 1503.
She had a magnificent funeral, her body being brought through the City of London on a gorgeous hearse on which lay her funeral effigy in royal robes. Eight ladies on white horses followed as part of the grand procession. She was temporarily buried in one of the side chapels until the main Lady chapel was sufficiently advanced for her grave to be made in it.
Her tomb inscription reads:
Here lies Queen Elizabeth, daughter of the former King Edward IV, sister of the formerly appointed King Edward V, once the wife of King Henry VII, and the renowned mother of Henry VIII. She met her day of death in the Tower of London on the 11th day of February in the year of Our Lord 1502, having fulfilled the age of 37 years
(This date is given in Old Style dating, now called 1503).
The funeral effigies are on show in the new Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries in the Abbey triforium.
During the 1939-1945 war most of the movable figures from the tomb, and the chapel itself, were evacuated to country houses. The grille was dismantled, apart from its stone base."
Henry VII and Elizabeth of York | Westminster Abbey
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October 30 - Henry VII is crowned king
On this day in Tudor history, 30th October 1485, Henry Tudor, 2nd Earl of Richmond and son of Lady Margaret Beaufort and the late Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of R...
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for reminding us that on October 30, 1485 Henry VII of England was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
October 30 - Henry VII is crowned king
On this day in Tudor history, 30th October 1485, Henry Tudor, 2nd Earl of Richmond and son of Lady Margaret Beaufort and the late Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, was crowned King Henry VII at Westminster Abbey in London.
Henry VII had of course become king following the defeat of King Richard III's forces, and the death of Richard, at the Battle of Bosworth Field in August 1485
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQParnK6WWo
Images:
1. Family Tree of House Lancaster & York by Shakko
2. Henry VII of England, National Portrait Gallery by Unknown Netherlandish artist in 1505 - oil on panel
3. On October 30, 1485 Henry VII first Tudor King [from manuscript] was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey
4. On 25 November 1487, Elizabeth was crowned queen consort.
Biographies:
1. ancient.eu/Henry_VII_of_England
2. tudorsandotherhistories.wordpress.com/2017/08/18/judging-henry-vii-historians-two-cents-on-the-first-tudor-king/
1. Background from {[ https://www.ancient.eu/Henry_VII_of_England/]}
Henry VII of England ruled as king from 1485 to 1509 CE. Henry, representing the Lancaster cause during the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487 CE), defeated and killed his predecessor the Yorkist king Richard III of England (r. 1483-1485 CE) at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 CE. Known as Henry of Richmond or Henry Tudor before he was crowned, Henry VII was the first Tudor king. Despite having to deal with three pretenders to his throne and two minor rebellions, Henry’s reign was largely peaceful and prosperous as, like a master auditor, he steadily increased the health of the state’s finances. The king died of ill health in April 1509 CE and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547 CE).
The Lancastrian Claim
Richard III was one of England’s most unpopular kings, and he was accused of being involved in the murder of the two sons of his brother Edward IV of England (r. 1461-70 & 1471-83 CE) who disappeared from the Tower of London. Richard, having eliminated his nephews, made himself king in 1483 CE. His reign would be short and troubled; it was brought to an end by the rise of Henry Tudor, at the time better known as Henry, Earl of Richmond.
THE VICTORIOUS HENRY TUDOR WAS GIVEN RICHARD III’S CROWN AT BOSWORTH, FOUND BY LORD STANLEY BENEATH A HAWTHORN BUSH.
Henry was born on 28 January 1457 CE in Pembroke Castle, the son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond (l. 1430-1456 CE). Henry was the grandson of the Welsh courtier Owen Tudor (c. 1400-1461 CE) and Catherine of Valois (l. 1401 - c. 1437 CE), the daughter of Charles VI of France (r. 1380-1422 CE), former wife of Henry V of England (r. 1413-1422 CE) and mother of Henry VI of England (r. 1422-61 & 1470-71 CE). Henry Tudor’s mother was Margaret Beaufort (l. c. 1441-1509 CE), the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and son of Edward III of England (r. 1312-1377 CE). It was not much of a royal connection, especially as some regarded the Beaufort’s as illegitimate, but it was the best the Lancastrians could hope for as their dynastic dispute with the House of York, the Wars of the Roses, rumbled on. Thus, Henry Tudor, returning from exile in Brittany, became the figurehead of the Lancastrians who aimed to topple the Yorkist king Richard III.
Henry Tudor wisely allied himself with the alienated Woodvilles, family of Elizabeth Woodville (l. c. 1437-1492 CE), the wife of Edward IV. Other allies included such powerful lords as the Duke of Buckingham who were not happy with King Richard’s distribution of estates, and anyone else keen to see Richard III receive his just deserts. These allies even included the new king across the Channel, Charles VIII of France (r. 1483-1498 CE). The first move by the rebels proved premature and poorly planned so that Henry’s invasion fleet was put off by bad weather and Buckingham was captured and executed in November 1483 CE.
Battle of Bosworth
The Lancastrian cause was given a dramatic boost when Richard III’s son and heir, Edward, died on 9 April 1484 CE. On 8 August 1485 CE, the Wars of the Roses reached boiling point when Henry Tudor landed with an army of French mercenaries at Milford Haven in South Wales, a force perhaps no bigger than 5,000 men. Henry’s army swelled in numbers as it marched to face the king’s army at Bosworth Field in Leicestershire on 22 August 1485 CE. Richard, although commanding an army of some 8,000-12,000 men, was, at the last moment, deserted by some of his key allies, and the Earl of Northumberland even refused to engage his troops until he had a clear idea which side was going to win the day. Nevertheless, the king fought bravely and perhaps a little foolishly in his efforts to kill Henry Tudor with his own sword. Richard, although managing to strike down Henry’s standard-bearer, had his horse cut from under him, and the king was killed.
THE WAR OF THE ROSES MIGHT HAVE ENDED ACCORDING TO THE HISTORY BOOKS BUT KING HENRY STILL HAD PLENTY OF UNREST IN HIS REALM.
The victorious Henry Tudor, according to legend, was given Richard’s crown, found by Lord William Stanley beneath a hawthorn bush at Bosworth Field. The new king was crowned Henry VII of England (r. 1485-1509 CE) on 30 October 1485 CE in Westminster Abbey and, marrying Elizabeth of York (b. 1466 CE), daughter of Edward IV on 18 January 1486 CE, the two rival houses were finally united and a new one created: the Tudors. The battles of the Wars of the Roses were (almost) over, half the English barons had been killed in the process, but England was at last (more or less) united as it left the Middle Ages and headed into the modern era.
The Great Pretenders
The War of the Roses might have ended according to the history books but King Henry still had plenty of unrest in his realm. His first problem was that he had few loyal followers, coming as he did from years of exile. This situation had its advantages as the king formed the Privy Chamber and Council of close advisors, allowing him to keep a tight personal hold on the reigns of power and physically limiting access to the royal person. Specialised committees, mostly populated with lawyers, were set the task of ruling the kingdom, all personally supervised by the king.
Of the outsiders of the king’s inner circle, the most dangerous were two Yorkists pretenders/imposters to the throne. The first was a joiner’s son, Lambert Simnel (c. 1475 - c. 1535 CE) who claimed he was the Earl of Warwick (nephew of Richard III), an unfortunate boast as the king already had the real earl safely locked up in the Tower of London. Simnel and his supporters were roundly beaten at the Battle of East Stoke on 16 June 1487 CE. The imposter was then made to work in the palace kitchens to learn some humility.
The second and more serious challenge came from Perkin Warbeck (1474-1499 CE) who claimed to be Richard, Duke of York (one of the disappeared sons of Edward IV). Warbeck had the support of several foreign kings eager to destabilise England, but he was defeated in battle in Cornwall in October 1497 CE, and he confessed that his claims were nonsense. Warbeck was imprisoned and then executed in 1499 CE.
Other minor rebellions fuelled by lingering Yorkists included Viscount Francis Lovell’s rebellion of 1486 CE in southeast England and another around Thirsk, Yorkshire in 1489 CE where tax hikes fuelled unrest. Both rebellions were easily dealt with, although the Earl of Northumberland was killed in Yorkshire. A third and final Yorkist claimant was Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk (nephew of Edward IV), captured in 1506 CE and executed in 1513 CE. Henry’s throne was now secure, and the seal which indicated the new dynasty was his creation of the ‘Tudor rose’, an amalgamation of the livery badges of the two rival houses: the red rose of the Lancasters and the white rose of the Yorks.
Henry's Financial Policies
Not only effective at getting rid of his rivals, Henry was an extremely efficient ruler in terms of finances. Through a mixture of taxes, feudal dues, rents, and fines, Henry was able to double state revenues during his reign. The latter tactic, that is, imposing fines, proved particularly lucrative as the king charged misdemeanours ranging from bad behaviour at court to possessing too many armed retainers. One fiendish financial strategy was to issue a penal bond (recognisance) to anyone already caught guilty of a financial misdemeanour or fine. If a person failed to meet any of his existing financial obligations, then under this second signed declaration, the king could confiscate their property and ruin them. Many nobles were kept under the king’s thumb in this way with a financial guillotine perpetually hovering over them. The number of nobles also went down as the new position of Surveyor of the King’s Wards sought out money that was owed the king and confiscated lands to bolster Henry’s ever-growing estates.
Henry even made money from his one major foreign expedition. In 1489 CE an army was sent to help Brittany maintain its independence from France and Boulogne was briefly besieged. Henry was perhaps initially eager to repay the dukedom for looking after him during his childhood exile there. However, by 1492 CE he had backed down after suitable financial compensation was forthcoming from Charles VIII of France, who lived up to his nickname ‘Charles the Affable’.
Another source of income was the massive increase in duties which came from the boom in trade as England signed off treaties with Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Florence. Trade was further encouraged by the Crown investing in a small fleet of merchant ships and establishing for it a fortified base at Portsmouth. The king was even keen to find brand new trading places, famously funding the pioneering voyage of the Genoese merchant John Cabot (aka Giovanni Caboto) to Newfoundland. Cabot sailed in his vessel the Mathew from Bristol in 1497 CE. Successful in his endeavour, Cabot died on the return journey to England and his family, true to Henry VII’s reputation as a miser, received the paltry sum of 10 pounds from the king.
Eventually, this obsession with enriching the state led to the king becoming unpopular but by then he had already firmly reasserted royal power over the nobility. This was done not only by imposing on them fines and debts and limiting their ability to form private armies but by establishing councils in Wales, the North and the West of England to better control them. The rise and dominance of the barons which had so troubled Henry’s predecessors and ensured the Wars of the Roses had dragged on so long, was at an end. Even the evolution of Parliament went backwards during Henry’s reign, still an institution only really called to approve new taxes. In the 23 years of Henry's reign, Parliament sat only six times, an indicator that English government was still medieval and the monarch still absolute.
Spending: Palaces & Weddings
A tight hold on the state’s purse strings did not in any way put Henry off spending on his own projects and displaying his great love of pomp and pageantry, especially medieval tournaments. Royal residences received particular attention with Windsor Castle, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey (notably the chapel that today bears his name), Richmond Palace and Greenwich Palace all being built or refurbished. The weddings of the king’s children were another area of lavish spending; these included the marriage of the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon to Henry (b. 1491 CE) who became heir when his older brother Arthur died in 1502 CE aged just 15. The king suffered another tragic blow the next year when Queen Elizabeth died during childbirth aged 37. This marked the decline of the king who retreated to as much a life of solitude as being a monarch allowed.
Death & Successor
Henry VII died of ill health on 21 April 1509 CE at Richmond Palace in Surrey. The king was buried alongside his queen in Westminster Abbey, and their tomb was eventually encased in bronze sculpted by Pietro Torrigiano. Henry VII’s fiscal policies might have earned him a certain level of unpopularity - as evidenced by the execution of his two principal lawyers after the king’s own death - but he had set the ship of state on a sure course for future expansion and prosperity. He was succeeded by his eldest namesake son who, aged just 17, was crowned Henry VIII on 24 June 1509 CE. Henry VIII, inheriting a financially sound kingdom, was a young, athletic, and charismatic ruler who would become one of the great kings of English history. His reign would entertain future historians with his search for a male heir and six wives, and it would witness such momentous events as the formation of the Church of England.
EDITORIAL REVIEW This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication.
Bibliography
• Brigden, Susan. New Worlds, Lost Worlds. Penguin Books, 2002.
• Cannon, John. The Kings and Queens of Britain. Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Cavendish, Richard. Kings & Queens. David & Charles, 2007.
• Crouch, David. Medieval Britain, c.1000-1500. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
• Elton, G.R. England Under the Tudors. Routledge, 1991.
• Ferriby, David. AQA Alevel History Tudors England. Hodder Education, 2015.
• Miller, John. Early Modern Britain 1450-1750. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
• Morrill, John. The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor & Stuart Britain. Oxford University Press, 1996.
• Phillips, Charles. The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Kings & Queens of Britain. Lorenz Books, 2006.
• Saul, Nigel. The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England. Oxford University Press, 1997.
• Starkey, David. Crown and Country. HarperPress, 2011.
2. Background from {[https://tudorsandotherhistories.wordpress.com/2017/08/18/judging-henry-vii-historians-two-cents-on-the-first-tudor-king/]}
Judging Henry VII: Historians’ Two Cents on the first Tudor King
Prominent historians and biographers weigh in on Henry Tudor with cited primary sources on his appearance (be careful with this, because they all describe him differently. In some he is dark haired, others he is blond and others he is brown haired, but all agree he was pale or fair of face and with blue eyes).
“England’s new king was a mysterious figure. In Hall’s chronicle Richard criticizes Henry as ‘a Welsh milksop, a man of small courage and less experience.’ The chronicler himself was more impressed though; Tudor rode about giving ‘gentle’ words of encouragement to his men before the battle; ‘for he was a man of no great stature but so formed and decorated with all gifts of nature that he seemed more an angelical creature than a terrestrial personage.’ According to Hall ‘his countenance and aspect was cheerful and courageous, his hair yellow like the burnished gold, his eyes gray shining and quick, prompt and ready.’ This contrasts quite sharply with the description of Henry from the ‘Ballad of Lady Bessie’ which has him wearing black velvet as he practices shooting at the butts, with his long pale face marred by a red wart. Other sources have him as dark-haired crisply curled in the European style, with a cast in one of his pale blue eyes that made him look as if he had a squint. Vergil described him as ‘remarkably attractive’ but with a sallow complexion and bad teeth, although by the time of his writing, Henry’s hair had turned thin and white. At the time of accession though, he was 28, tall slender and reserved, dressed in subdued, elegant foreign fashions, having spent the last fourteen years at the court of Francis II, Duke of Brittany.” (Licence)
“At twenty eight, Henry Tudor was not longer a pretty lad. In looks he was still personable, but an itinerant and uncertain youth had shaped a cautious personality. He was not a man who took anything for granted. The immense challenge of ruling the larger of the two realms that formed the island of Britain lay ahead of him. He had come by his crown in blood and battle.” (Porter)
“The events of the fifteenth century were to be fashioned into drama, with Hall’s chapter on Richard’s own reign being titled ‘The Tragical Doings of King Richard the Third’. It was a compelling tale of the Tudor’s inexorable rise, contrasted against the downfall of the houses of Lancaster and York, inspiring William Shakespeare to transform it into blank verse for popular audiences who devoured his history plays, the power of which defined for generations the wider view of what became known in Sir Walter Scott’s famously invented phrase, ‘the Wars of the Roses.’ The reality of Henry Tudor’s ascent to the throne -his narrow escapes from death, his failures and anxieties, complete with constant uncertainty of his situation and the compromises that he had been forced to make, including the support from France and his former Yorkist enemies gaining the crown -was a far less welcome tale. It remains nonetheless just a remarkable; against all the odds, at Bosworth Henry achieved a victory that he should not have won. For Philippe de Commynes, who had met Henry as a fourteen-year-old when he arrived as an exile at Duke Francis’s court in Brittany in 1471, knowing exactly how Henry, who had told Commynes to his face how he had been a prisoner all his life since the age of five, had ‘suffered much’ having ‘neither money, nor rights, so I believe, to the crown of England, nor any reputation except what his own person and honestly brought him’, there could be no other explanation. Writing his memoirs, Commynes wrote simply, ‘A battle was fought. King Richard was killed on the battlefield and the Earl of Richmond was crowned king of England on the field with Richard’s crown. Should one describe this as Fortune? Surely it was God’s judgment.’” (Skidmore)
“The coronation began on 28 October with Henry taking formal possession of the Tower. The next day he was processed to Westminster before the London crowds. Heralds, sergeants-at-arms, trumpeters, esquires, the mayor, aldermen, and nobles, preceded the king dressed in their rich liveries …The king rode under a canopy fringed with twenty eight ounces of gold and silkl, carried by four knights on foot. He was bare-headed, his light brown hair reaching his shoulders, a rich belt slung across his chest, and a long gown of purple velvet furred with ermine on his back … On Sunday 30 October Henry was crowned and anointed at Westminster Abbey. In November Henry sought for his rule the necessary approval of Parliament. It duly confirmed that ‘the inheritance of the crowds of England and France abide in the most royal person of our sovereign Lord King Henry VIII and the heirs of his body’. Elizabeth of York, in turn was being given an opportunity to get to know her husband to be, and she found Henry could be good company. In Brittany he had enjoyed gambling, music, dancing, poetry and literature. He was quick to smile, with an exceptionally expressive face, but his years of vulnerability had made him a man anxious to be in control of every detail of his environment.” (de Lisle)
“A thin face with high cheekbones framed a long thin nose, a feature shared by his mother, Margaret Beaufort. Round, somewhat hooded eyes formed a tight triangle with his thin, downward sloping mouth, and dark wavy hair tumbled down almost to his shoulders. Having barely lived in England, his preferred language was French. But he had already adopted the style and bearing of a crowned king …Philippe de Commynes described him as being ‘without power, without money, without right to the crown of England.’ Nevertheless, on Sunday, August 7, 1485, this unlikely claimant to England’s Crown landed at Mill Bay near Milford Haven, waded through the salt water onto wet Welsh sand, knelt and kissed the ground, and uttered the words of Psalm 43: ‘Judge me, O Lord, and plead my cause’ … Accounts of the coronation were drawn up by Sir Robert Willoughby, and they spoke of a flurry of activity among the goldsmiths, cloth merchants, embroiders, silkwomen, tailors, laborers, boatmen and silk in royal purple, crimson and black, which were then run up into beautiful jackets, hose, hats, robes, wall hangings, cushions and curtains. Henry’s henchmen were ordered hats plumed with ostrich feathers, boots made from fine Spanish leather and striking costume of black crimson. Even the horses were smartly dressed: their stirrups were covered in red velvet, while tassles and silk buttons adorned their halters … The coronation went off with appropriate pomp, with the most prominent roles carried out by the small group of English nobles whom Henry could count as his intimates … Henry had sworn a solemn oath in 1483 that he would marry Elizabeth of York. Now that he was king, he was bound to make good on his word. On December at Henry’s first parliament, the speaker Thomas Lovell requested that the king’s ‘royal highness should take to himself that illustrious lady’ … The wedding as to be held on January 18, 1486 … The wedding was celebrated in the customary fashion, with ‘wedding torches, marriage bed and other suitable decorations.’ followed by great magnificence …” (Jones)
Later Years: Economic Policies & Final Legacy
“The first Tudor king was still only 28 wen he came to te throne, having spent most of his adolescence and early adulthood in Brittany, living precariously as a political exile. He had the most unsettled upbringing of any king of England, something that helped shape his character. According to the author Philippe de Comines (1447-c.1511), the king himself once declared that “from the time he was five years old he had been always a fugitive or a prisoner”. It was a life lived “continually between hope and fear”, as Edward Hall described it in Hall’s Chronicle, something which spurred Henry on to action when his moment came. Although treated well in Brittany, he was never able to forget his lack of freedom or status, growing into a suspicious but highly intelligent young man. He was tall, thin and dark. Surviving portraits tend to show the king in his later years: narrow-faced and thin-lipped. In 1498, when he was in his early 40s, the Spanish ambassador Don Pedro de Ayala wrote a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain in which he said that the king looked “old for his years, but young for the sorrowful life he has led”. Nothing came easily for the young Henry Tudor and retaining the throne and building a stable dynasty were the desires that drove him, above all else, throughout his reign … Henry VII had never been a charismatic king and his death went largely unlamented in England. Instead, people looked towards his 17-year-old son, who resembled his Yorkist mother and grandfather in appearance.” (Norton)
“Early in his reign, Henry substantially increased the royal lands (and thereby the revenues from rents) by having Parliament backdate his reign to the day before the Battle of Bosworth Field. By this device he turned all those who fought against him at the battle into traitors, enabling him to claim their estates as forfeit for treason. Through efficient administration of his royal lands, Henry increased their value, and by the end of his reign they were yielding him around 35,000 per annum.
Another important source of income for Henry was customs revenue from foreign trade. After persuading his customs revenue from foreign trade. After persuading his first Parliament to grant him customs revenue for the whole of his life, Henry went about encouraging trade through international diplomacy, substantially increasing customs yield. Finally, by expanding the reach and effectiveness of his courts, Henry could rely on a steady income from the ‘profits of justice’ -in other words, fines.
All these policies led to a rise in royal income from an average of 52,000 per annum in 1485 to 142,000 per annum by 1509 … Henry has been described by some of his biographers as cold-hearted, and it is true that he was not generally given to extravagant displays of emotion. Yet he surprised his courtiers with his intense grief on the death of his son Arthur, and when his wife Elizabeth died in childbirth in 1503 he fell into a deep depression and, according to one chronicler, ‘privily departed to a solitary place and would no man should resort unto him’ … Henry left his kingdom strong, at peace and, by past standards, wealthy. Hhis sober and efficient statesmanship had enhanced England’s standing among the major European powers. At home, he had greatly strengthened the position of the monarchy in relation to the nobility, creating a powerful centralized administration. In so doing, he had laid the foundation for a successful dynasty.” (Woolf)
“If Edward V had been allowed to live, Henry Tudor would be a footnote in history. He had been in captivity of one sort or another for all but four of his twenty-eight years, and his reign was to see constant threats to his life, despite his incredible generosity (for these times) and forgiveness to his former and new enemies. He never felt secure on the throne, and, never having any family except his uncle Jasper (he was separated from his mother until he became king), came to rely upon those who were with him in exile and who supported at Bosworth. He made sensible choices, marrying the eldest daughter of Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, to consolidate his position further. However, the new king remained reliant upon the wise counsel given to him by trusted friends. He never stopped travelling the country and retained the same close circle of advisors. Sadly, towards the end these men began to die around him and his own health grew progressively worse. He lost his beloved wife and all but three of his children, including Prince Arthur, upon whom rested his real hope for a wise continuation of the new Tudor Dynasty … Henry, also devout like his mother, often stayed at monasteries and churches. He probably spent more time in prayer or with ecclesiastics than any other English king. We are fortunate to have the king’s personal accounts for 1492 to 1503, and those of the queen for 1502 and 1503 which supplement other sources, but there are still some gaps or anomalies in his whereabouts. Ailing, worn out from overwork (an attribute rarely seen in English monarchy over the centuries), the deeply religious king saw nearly all his close friends die, and was beset with financial problems, a fact ignored by modern biographers. His attempts in his declining years to prevent another costly international war or invasion drained his finances, and his more effective tax-gathering was hated by the nobility and growing middle classes. The financial aspect is more important in understanding his reign. To solidify the monarchy after generations of fighting and infighting was vitally important to the future of a stable Britain. Henry was not ‘greedy’, ‘avaricious’ or ‘venal’, all recent accusations, but towards the end of his reign, because he was suffering with ill health and depression at the loss of so many around him, the king was not much as in control of the finances as he once had been. He turned to God and left his son enough money to secure a peaceful succession, but this gift was soon expended.
Henry’s army of Bretons, Sscots, Ffrench, English and Welsh travelled unopposed through ales, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire in 1495, gaining many English supporters, and won at Bosworth. Henry did not follow the Plantagenet path of executing his rivals, a practice which had almost wiped out all claimants to the crown, but was now plagued by a series of pretenders to the crown … Henry died in 1509, leaving a peaceful succession in a solvent country.” (Breverton)
“More pertinent, and more feasible perhaps, is to consider how far Henry VII succeeded in obtaining revenue in excess of expenditure. There is enough evidence, mainly from the chamber accounts surviving -and these accounts, after all, came to include the great bulk of revenue and expenditure- to show that Henry VII did become solvent quite early in the reign, and was able to secure some considerable surplus annually during his later years. The cessation of short-term loans by 1490 suggests that the government no loner had need of hand-to-mouth methods. The chamber accounts at the end of September 1489 appear to show a surplus of 5,000. From 1492 at least Henry found himself able to put by substantial sums in the purchase of jewellery, plate, cloth of gold and the like, and to spend money on buildings … Henry VII did, then, no doubt enjoy ‘the felicity of full coffers’ for the last few years of his reign but the other Baconian tradition that he left behind him a surplus of some two million pounds cannot be maintained …
He was interested in bringing commercial interests into his diplomatic relations with other countries; he was interested in reforming the coinage and in encouraging shipping, exports, and maritime exploration. He took some initiative in these matters; he gave his assent to a variety of measures for the regulation of merchant companies, trade, wages and prices, weights and measures, for the restraint of enclosures, and the treatment of vagabonds and beggars. Some of these measures were precedents for more far-reaching governmental action in later decades, but many though not all these appear to have been initiated by others than the government in Henry VII’s time, and how far the mere giving of assent to proposals for minor regulations amounted to acceptance as serious government policy a matter for speculation rather than dogma. We can scarcely accuse Henry VII of adopting ‘paternalistic’ attitudes. Whatever else Henry VII was, he was essentially an opportunist and sought to achieve few broad or far-reaching aims in either economic or social matters. We may well attribute to Henry VII especially the characteristics that have been attributed to the Tudor monarchs generally -perhaps too generally. Of him we may well believe that ‘economic problems were always secondary, and that economic measures often served non-economic ends. The paramount aims were peace and security. His policies always remained primarily political, not economic, and any economic aims that he may have cherished (other than the strengthening of his own economic position) were subordinated to his political and diplomatic objectives …” (Chrimes)
Henry’s first year in government was bound to be turbulent. His mother cried when she saw her son cried because having lived through various reigns, and surviving every king, she knew that as the founder of a new dynasty, his troubles were far from over. After Henry defeated his enemies, he became more obsessed with bringing peace to England. He formed an alliance with Scotland where the two kingdoms agreed that to avoid further conflict, Henry would marry his eldest daughter to James IV, and establish a series of law courts where border raiders would be judged by a jury of their peers which consisted of half Scots and half Englishmen (to avoid any accusations of favoritism). Henry kept much of Edward IV’s economic policies, including the Star Chamber, which he perfected, and added new measures that made England into a prosperous nation by the time his son took the throne in 1509. Overall, Henry’s legacy is in the eye of the beholder but one thing no one can deny is that he did more than any other monarch before him in that century. He nearly worked himself to death, and even when he was ill, he refused to let others do his work. It is also important to note that Henry is one of the few English monarchs who managed to heal the wounds of internal conflict by making allies of his former enemies, including those abroad who had not only nearly cost him his throne, but also put his family at risk.
Ironically, it was his paranoia, which got worse after he lost his son, wife and baby daughter, that enabled him to turn England into one of the most peaceful nations at the time, and prevent his dynasty from going the way the York and Lancaster had gone. In doing so, he also rewrote history, providing us with an alternative and simplified tale of the wars of the roses, where he comes out on top because he was the last Lancastrian scion and descendant of Arthur Pendragon and other Welsh (turned English) heroes, who had been chosen by god to be England’s king and restore law and order to a war-torn country. His marriage to Elizabeth solidified his claim, and helped promote the idea that as the last Lancastrian scion and she as the eldest daughter of the first Yorkist King, had put an end to the dynastic civil war, by uniting both houses of York and Lancaster. This was beautifully represented in a symbol known today as the “Tudor rose”, which has come to embody his dynasty.
Sources:
Breverton, Terry. Henry VII: The Maligned Tudor King. Amberley. 2016.
Chrimes, S.B. Henry VII. Yale University Press. 1999
de Lisle, Leanda. Tudor. Passion. Manipulation. Murder: The Story of England’s Most Notorious Royal Family. Public Affairs. 2013
Porter, Linda. Tudors vs Stewarts: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary, Queen of Scots. St. Martin’s Press. 2014.
Skidmore, Chris. The Rise of the Tudors: The Family that Changed English History. St. Martin’s Press. 2014.
Jones, Dan. Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses and the Rise of the Tudors. Faber and Faber. 2014.
Licence, Amy. Elizabeth of York: The Forgotten Tudor Queen. Amberley. 2013.
Woolf, Alex. The Tudor Kings and Queens. Arcturus. 2016.
Norton, Elizabeth. Tudor Treasury. Andre Deutsch. 2014."
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October 30 - Henry VII is crowned king
On this day in Tudor history, 30th October 1485, Henry Tudor, 2nd Earl of Richmond and son of Lady Margaret Beaufort and the late Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, was crowned King Henry VII at Westminster Abbey in London.
Henry VII had of course become king following the defeat of King Richard III's forces, and the death of Richard, at the Battle of Bosworth Field in August 1485
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQParnK6WWo
Images:
1. Family Tree of House Lancaster & York by Shakko
2. Henry VII of England, National Portrait Gallery by Unknown Netherlandish artist in 1505 - oil on panel
3. On October 30, 1485 Henry VII first Tudor King [from manuscript] was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey
4. On 25 November 1487, Elizabeth was crowned queen consort.
Biographies:
1. ancient.eu/Henry_VII_of_England
2. tudorsandotherhistories.wordpress.com/2017/08/18/judging-henry-vii-historians-two-cents-on-the-first-tudor-king/
1. Background from {[ https://www.ancient.eu/Henry_VII_of_England/]}
Henry VII of England ruled as king from 1485 to 1509 CE. Henry, representing the Lancaster cause during the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487 CE), defeated and killed his predecessor the Yorkist king Richard III of England (r. 1483-1485 CE) at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 CE. Known as Henry of Richmond or Henry Tudor before he was crowned, Henry VII was the first Tudor king. Despite having to deal with three pretenders to his throne and two minor rebellions, Henry’s reign was largely peaceful and prosperous as, like a master auditor, he steadily increased the health of the state’s finances. The king died of ill health in April 1509 CE and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547 CE).
The Lancastrian Claim
Richard III was one of England’s most unpopular kings, and he was accused of being involved in the murder of the two sons of his brother Edward IV of England (r. 1461-70 & 1471-83 CE) who disappeared from the Tower of London. Richard, having eliminated his nephews, made himself king in 1483 CE. His reign would be short and troubled; it was brought to an end by the rise of Henry Tudor, at the time better known as Henry, Earl of Richmond.
THE VICTORIOUS HENRY TUDOR WAS GIVEN RICHARD III’S CROWN AT BOSWORTH, FOUND BY LORD STANLEY BENEATH A HAWTHORN BUSH.
Henry was born on 28 January 1457 CE in Pembroke Castle, the son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond (l. 1430-1456 CE). Henry was the grandson of the Welsh courtier Owen Tudor (c. 1400-1461 CE) and Catherine of Valois (l. 1401 - c. 1437 CE), the daughter of Charles VI of France (r. 1380-1422 CE), former wife of Henry V of England (r. 1413-1422 CE) and mother of Henry VI of England (r. 1422-61 & 1470-71 CE). Henry Tudor’s mother was Margaret Beaufort (l. c. 1441-1509 CE), the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and son of Edward III of England (r. 1312-1377 CE). It was not much of a royal connection, especially as some regarded the Beaufort’s as illegitimate, but it was the best the Lancastrians could hope for as their dynastic dispute with the House of York, the Wars of the Roses, rumbled on. Thus, Henry Tudor, returning from exile in Brittany, became the figurehead of the Lancastrians who aimed to topple the Yorkist king Richard III.
Henry Tudor wisely allied himself with the alienated Woodvilles, family of Elizabeth Woodville (l. c. 1437-1492 CE), the wife of Edward IV. Other allies included such powerful lords as the Duke of Buckingham who were not happy with King Richard’s distribution of estates, and anyone else keen to see Richard III receive his just deserts. These allies even included the new king across the Channel, Charles VIII of France (r. 1483-1498 CE). The first move by the rebels proved premature and poorly planned so that Henry’s invasion fleet was put off by bad weather and Buckingham was captured and executed in November 1483 CE.
Battle of Bosworth
The Lancastrian cause was given a dramatic boost when Richard III’s son and heir, Edward, died on 9 April 1484 CE. On 8 August 1485 CE, the Wars of the Roses reached boiling point when Henry Tudor landed with an army of French mercenaries at Milford Haven in South Wales, a force perhaps no bigger than 5,000 men. Henry’s army swelled in numbers as it marched to face the king’s army at Bosworth Field in Leicestershire on 22 August 1485 CE. Richard, although commanding an army of some 8,000-12,000 men, was, at the last moment, deserted by some of his key allies, and the Earl of Northumberland even refused to engage his troops until he had a clear idea which side was going to win the day. Nevertheless, the king fought bravely and perhaps a little foolishly in his efforts to kill Henry Tudor with his own sword. Richard, although managing to strike down Henry’s standard-bearer, had his horse cut from under him, and the king was killed.
THE WAR OF THE ROSES MIGHT HAVE ENDED ACCORDING TO THE HISTORY BOOKS BUT KING HENRY STILL HAD PLENTY OF UNREST IN HIS REALM.
The victorious Henry Tudor, according to legend, was given Richard’s crown, found by Lord William Stanley beneath a hawthorn bush at Bosworth Field. The new king was crowned Henry VII of England (r. 1485-1509 CE) on 30 October 1485 CE in Westminster Abbey and, marrying Elizabeth of York (b. 1466 CE), daughter of Edward IV on 18 January 1486 CE, the two rival houses were finally united and a new one created: the Tudors. The battles of the Wars of the Roses were (almost) over, half the English barons had been killed in the process, but England was at last (more or less) united as it left the Middle Ages and headed into the modern era.
The Great Pretenders
The War of the Roses might have ended according to the history books but King Henry still had plenty of unrest in his realm. His first problem was that he had few loyal followers, coming as he did from years of exile. This situation had its advantages as the king formed the Privy Chamber and Council of close advisors, allowing him to keep a tight personal hold on the reigns of power and physically limiting access to the royal person. Specialised committees, mostly populated with lawyers, were set the task of ruling the kingdom, all personally supervised by the king.
Of the outsiders of the king’s inner circle, the most dangerous were two Yorkists pretenders/imposters to the throne. The first was a joiner’s son, Lambert Simnel (c. 1475 - c. 1535 CE) who claimed he was the Earl of Warwick (nephew of Richard III), an unfortunate boast as the king already had the real earl safely locked up in the Tower of London. Simnel and his supporters were roundly beaten at the Battle of East Stoke on 16 June 1487 CE. The imposter was then made to work in the palace kitchens to learn some humility.
The second and more serious challenge came from Perkin Warbeck (1474-1499 CE) who claimed to be Richard, Duke of York (one of the disappeared sons of Edward IV). Warbeck had the support of several foreign kings eager to destabilise England, but he was defeated in battle in Cornwall in October 1497 CE, and he confessed that his claims were nonsense. Warbeck was imprisoned and then executed in 1499 CE.
Other minor rebellions fuelled by lingering Yorkists included Viscount Francis Lovell’s rebellion of 1486 CE in southeast England and another around Thirsk, Yorkshire in 1489 CE where tax hikes fuelled unrest. Both rebellions were easily dealt with, although the Earl of Northumberland was killed in Yorkshire. A third and final Yorkist claimant was Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk (nephew of Edward IV), captured in 1506 CE and executed in 1513 CE. Henry’s throne was now secure, and the seal which indicated the new dynasty was his creation of the ‘Tudor rose’, an amalgamation of the livery badges of the two rival houses: the red rose of the Lancasters and the white rose of the Yorks.
Henry's Financial Policies
Not only effective at getting rid of his rivals, Henry was an extremely efficient ruler in terms of finances. Through a mixture of taxes, feudal dues, rents, and fines, Henry was able to double state revenues during his reign. The latter tactic, that is, imposing fines, proved particularly lucrative as the king charged misdemeanours ranging from bad behaviour at court to possessing too many armed retainers. One fiendish financial strategy was to issue a penal bond (recognisance) to anyone already caught guilty of a financial misdemeanour or fine. If a person failed to meet any of his existing financial obligations, then under this second signed declaration, the king could confiscate their property and ruin them. Many nobles were kept under the king’s thumb in this way with a financial guillotine perpetually hovering over them. The number of nobles also went down as the new position of Surveyor of the King’s Wards sought out money that was owed the king and confiscated lands to bolster Henry’s ever-growing estates.
Henry even made money from his one major foreign expedition. In 1489 CE an army was sent to help Brittany maintain its independence from France and Boulogne was briefly besieged. Henry was perhaps initially eager to repay the dukedom for looking after him during his childhood exile there. However, by 1492 CE he had backed down after suitable financial compensation was forthcoming from Charles VIII of France, who lived up to his nickname ‘Charles the Affable’.
Another source of income was the massive increase in duties which came from the boom in trade as England signed off treaties with Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Florence. Trade was further encouraged by the Crown investing in a small fleet of merchant ships and establishing for it a fortified base at Portsmouth. The king was even keen to find brand new trading places, famously funding the pioneering voyage of the Genoese merchant John Cabot (aka Giovanni Caboto) to Newfoundland. Cabot sailed in his vessel the Mathew from Bristol in 1497 CE. Successful in his endeavour, Cabot died on the return journey to England and his family, true to Henry VII’s reputation as a miser, received the paltry sum of 10 pounds from the king.
Eventually, this obsession with enriching the state led to the king becoming unpopular but by then he had already firmly reasserted royal power over the nobility. This was done not only by imposing on them fines and debts and limiting their ability to form private armies but by establishing councils in Wales, the North and the West of England to better control them. The rise and dominance of the barons which had so troubled Henry’s predecessors and ensured the Wars of the Roses had dragged on so long, was at an end. Even the evolution of Parliament went backwards during Henry’s reign, still an institution only really called to approve new taxes. In the 23 years of Henry's reign, Parliament sat only six times, an indicator that English government was still medieval and the monarch still absolute.
Spending: Palaces & Weddings
A tight hold on the state’s purse strings did not in any way put Henry off spending on his own projects and displaying his great love of pomp and pageantry, especially medieval tournaments. Royal residences received particular attention with Windsor Castle, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey (notably the chapel that today bears his name), Richmond Palace and Greenwich Palace all being built or refurbished. The weddings of the king’s children were another area of lavish spending; these included the marriage of the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon to Henry (b. 1491 CE) who became heir when his older brother Arthur died in 1502 CE aged just 15. The king suffered another tragic blow the next year when Queen Elizabeth died during childbirth aged 37. This marked the decline of the king who retreated to as much a life of solitude as being a monarch allowed.
Death & Successor
Henry VII died of ill health on 21 April 1509 CE at Richmond Palace in Surrey. The king was buried alongside his queen in Westminster Abbey, and their tomb was eventually encased in bronze sculpted by Pietro Torrigiano. Henry VII’s fiscal policies might have earned him a certain level of unpopularity - as evidenced by the execution of his two principal lawyers after the king’s own death - but he had set the ship of state on a sure course for future expansion and prosperity. He was succeeded by his eldest namesake son who, aged just 17, was crowned Henry VIII on 24 June 1509 CE. Henry VIII, inheriting a financially sound kingdom, was a young, athletic, and charismatic ruler who would become one of the great kings of English history. His reign would entertain future historians with his search for a male heir and six wives, and it would witness such momentous events as the formation of the Church of England.
EDITORIAL REVIEW This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication.
Bibliography
• Brigden, Susan. New Worlds, Lost Worlds. Penguin Books, 2002.
• Cannon, John. The Kings and Queens of Britain. Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Cavendish, Richard. Kings & Queens. David & Charles, 2007.
• Crouch, David. Medieval Britain, c.1000-1500. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
• Elton, G.R. England Under the Tudors. Routledge, 1991.
• Ferriby, David. AQA Alevel History Tudors England. Hodder Education, 2015.
• Miller, John. Early Modern Britain 1450-1750. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
• Morrill, John. The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor & Stuart Britain. Oxford University Press, 1996.
• Phillips, Charles. The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Kings & Queens of Britain. Lorenz Books, 2006.
• Saul, Nigel. The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England. Oxford University Press, 1997.
• Starkey, David. Crown and Country. HarperPress, 2011.
2. Background from {[https://tudorsandotherhistories.wordpress.com/2017/08/18/judging-henry-vii-historians-two-cents-on-the-first-tudor-king/]}
Judging Henry VII: Historians’ Two Cents on the first Tudor King
Prominent historians and biographers weigh in on Henry Tudor with cited primary sources on his appearance (be careful with this, because they all describe him differently. In some he is dark haired, others he is blond and others he is brown haired, but all agree he was pale or fair of face and with blue eyes).
“England’s new king was a mysterious figure. In Hall’s chronicle Richard criticizes Henry as ‘a Welsh milksop, a man of small courage and less experience.’ The chronicler himself was more impressed though; Tudor rode about giving ‘gentle’ words of encouragement to his men before the battle; ‘for he was a man of no great stature but so formed and decorated with all gifts of nature that he seemed more an angelical creature than a terrestrial personage.’ According to Hall ‘his countenance and aspect was cheerful and courageous, his hair yellow like the burnished gold, his eyes gray shining and quick, prompt and ready.’ This contrasts quite sharply with the description of Henry from the ‘Ballad of Lady Bessie’ which has him wearing black velvet as he practices shooting at the butts, with his long pale face marred by a red wart. Other sources have him as dark-haired crisply curled in the European style, with a cast in one of his pale blue eyes that made him look as if he had a squint. Vergil described him as ‘remarkably attractive’ but with a sallow complexion and bad teeth, although by the time of his writing, Henry’s hair had turned thin and white. At the time of accession though, he was 28, tall slender and reserved, dressed in subdued, elegant foreign fashions, having spent the last fourteen years at the court of Francis II, Duke of Brittany.” (Licence)
“At twenty eight, Henry Tudor was not longer a pretty lad. In looks he was still personable, but an itinerant and uncertain youth had shaped a cautious personality. He was not a man who took anything for granted. The immense challenge of ruling the larger of the two realms that formed the island of Britain lay ahead of him. He had come by his crown in blood and battle.” (Porter)
“The events of the fifteenth century were to be fashioned into drama, with Hall’s chapter on Richard’s own reign being titled ‘The Tragical Doings of King Richard the Third’. It was a compelling tale of the Tudor’s inexorable rise, contrasted against the downfall of the houses of Lancaster and York, inspiring William Shakespeare to transform it into blank verse for popular audiences who devoured his history plays, the power of which defined for generations the wider view of what became known in Sir Walter Scott’s famously invented phrase, ‘the Wars of the Roses.’ The reality of Henry Tudor’s ascent to the throne -his narrow escapes from death, his failures and anxieties, complete with constant uncertainty of his situation and the compromises that he had been forced to make, including the support from France and his former Yorkist enemies gaining the crown -was a far less welcome tale. It remains nonetheless just a remarkable; against all the odds, at Bosworth Henry achieved a victory that he should not have won. For Philippe de Commynes, who had met Henry as a fourteen-year-old when he arrived as an exile at Duke Francis’s court in Brittany in 1471, knowing exactly how Henry, who had told Commynes to his face how he had been a prisoner all his life since the age of five, had ‘suffered much’ having ‘neither money, nor rights, so I believe, to the crown of England, nor any reputation except what his own person and honestly brought him’, there could be no other explanation. Writing his memoirs, Commynes wrote simply, ‘A battle was fought. King Richard was killed on the battlefield and the Earl of Richmond was crowned king of England on the field with Richard’s crown. Should one describe this as Fortune? Surely it was God’s judgment.’” (Skidmore)
“The coronation began on 28 October with Henry taking formal possession of the Tower. The next day he was processed to Westminster before the London crowds. Heralds, sergeants-at-arms, trumpeters, esquires, the mayor, aldermen, and nobles, preceded the king dressed in their rich liveries …The king rode under a canopy fringed with twenty eight ounces of gold and silkl, carried by four knights on foot. He was bare-headed, his light brown hair reaching his shoulders, a rich belt slung across his chest, and a long gown of purple velvet furred with ermine on his back … On Sunday 30 October Henry was crowned and anointed at Westminster Abbey. In November Henry sought for his rule the necessary approval of Parliament. It duly confirmed that ‘the inheritance of the crowds of England and France abide in the most royal person of our sovereign Lord King Henry VIII and the heirs of his body’. Elizabeth of York, in turn was being given an opportunity to get to know her husband to be, and she found Henry could be good company. In Brittany he had enjoyed gambling, music, dancing, poetry and literature. He was quick to smile, with an exceptionally expressive face, but his years of vulnerability had made him a man anxious to be in control of every detail of his environment.” (de Lisle)
“A thin face with high cheekbones framed a long thin nose, a feature shared by his mother, Margaret Beaufort. Round, somewhat hooded eyes formed a tight triangle with his thin, downward sloping mouth, and dark wavy hair tumbled down almost to his shoulders. Having barely lived in England, his preferred language was French. But he had already adopted the style and bearing of a crowned king …Philippe de Commynes described him as being ‘without power, without money, without right to the crown of England.’ Nevertheless, on Sunday, August 7, 1485, this unlikely claimant to England’s Crown landed at Mill Bay near Milford Haven, waded through the salt water onto wet Welsh sand, knelt and kissed the ground, and uttered the words of Psalm 43: ‘Judge me, O Lord, and plead my cause’ … Accounts of the coronation were drawn up by Sir Robert Willoughby, and they spoke of a flurry of activity among the goldsmiths, cloth merchants, embroiders, silkwomen, tailors, laborers, boatmen and silk in royal purple, crimson and black, which were then run up into beautiful jackets, hose, hats, robes, wall hangings, cushions and curtains. Henry’s henchmen were ordered hats plumed with ostrich feathers, boots made from fine Spanish leather and striking costume of black crimson. Even the horses were smartly dressed: their stirrups were covered in red velvet, while tassles and silk buttons adorned their halters … The coronation went off with appropriate pomp, with the most prominent roles carried out by the small group of English nobles whom Henry could count as his intimates … Henry had sworn a solemn oath in 1483 that he would marry Elizabeth of York. Now that he was king, he was bound to make good on his word. On December at Henry’s first parliament, the speaker Thomas Lovell requested that the king’s ‘royal highness should take to himself that illustrious lady’ … The wedding as to be held on January 18, 1486 … The wedding was celebrated in the customary fashion, with ‘wedding torches, marriage bed and other suitable decorations.’ followed by great magnificence …” (Jones)
Later Years: Economic Policies & Final Legacy
“The first Tudor king was still only 28 wen he came to te throne, having spent most of his adolescence and early adulthood in Brittany, living precariously as a political exile. He had the most unsettled upbringing of any king of England, something that helped shape his character. According to the author Philippe de Comines (1447-c.1511), the king himself once declared that “from the time he was five years old he had been always a fugitive or a prisoner”. It was a life lived “continually between hope and fear”, as Edward Hall described it in Hall’s Chronicle, something which spurred Henry on to action when his moment came. Although treated well in Brittany, he was never able to forget his lack of freedom or status, growing into a suspicious but highly intelligent young man. He was tall, thin and dark. Surviving portraits tend to show the king in his later years: narrow-faced and thin-lipped. In 1498, when he was in his early 40s, the Spanish ambassador Don Pedro de Ayala wrote a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain in which he said that the king looked “old for his years, but young for the sorrowful life he has led”. Nothing came easily for the young Henry Tudor and retaining the throne and building a stable dynasty were the desires that drove him, above all else, throughout his reign … Henry VII had never been a charismatic king and his death went largely unlamented in England. Instead, people looked towards his 17-year-old son, who resembled his Yorkist mother and grandfather in appearance.” (Norton)
“Early in his reign, Henry substantially increased the royal lands (and thereby the revenues from rents) by having Parliament backdate his reign to the day before the Battle of Bosworth Field. By this device he turned all those who fought against him at the battle into traitors, enabling him to claim their estates as forfeit for treason. Through efficient administration of his royal lands, Henry increased their value, and by the end of his reign they were yielding him around 35,000 per annum.
Another important source of income for Henry was customs revenue from foreign trade. After persuading his customs revenue from foreign trade. After persuading his first Parliament to grant him customs revenue for the whole of his life, Henry went about encouraging trade through international diplomacy, substantially increasing customs yield. Finally, by expanding the reach and effectiveness of his courts, Henry could rely on a steady income from the ‘profits of justice’ -in other words, fines.
All these policies led to a rise in royal income from an average of 52,000 per annum in 1485 to 142,000 per annum by 1509 … Henry has been described by some of his biographers as cold-hearted, and it is true that he was not generally given to extravagant displays of emotion. Yet he surprised his courtiers with his intense grief on the death of his son Arthur, and when his wife Elizabeth died in childbirth in 1503 he fell into a deep depression and, according to one chronicler, ‘privily departed to a solitary place and would no man should resort unto him’ … Henry left his kingdom strong, at peace and, by past standards, wealthy. Hhis sober and efficient statesmanship had enhanced England’s standing among the major European powers. At home, he had greatly strengthened the position of the monarchy in relation to the nobility, creating a powerful centralized administration. In so doing, he had laid the foundation for a successful dynasty.” (Woolf)
“If Edward V had been allowed to live, Henry Tudor would be a footnote in history. He had been in captivity of one sort or another for all but four of his twenty-eight years, and his reign was to see constant threats to his life, despite his incredible generosity (for these times) and forgiveness to his former and new enemies. He never felt secure on the throne, and, never having any family except his uncle Jasper (he was separated from his mother until he became king), came to rely upon those who were with him in exile and who supported at Bosworth. He made sensible choices, marrying the eldest daughter of Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, to consolidate his position further. However, the new king remained reliant upon the wise counsel given to him by trusted friends. He never stopped travelling the country and retained the same close circle of advisors. Sadly, towards the end these men began to die around him and his own health grew progressively worse. He lost his beloved wife and all but three of his children, including Prince Arthur, upon whom rested his real hope for a wise continuation of the new Tudor Dynasty … Henry, also devout like his mother, often stayed at monasteries and churches. He probably spent more time in prayer or with ecclesiastics than any other English king. We are fortunate to have the king’s personal accounts for 1492 to 1503, and those of the queen for 1502 and 1503 which supplement other sources, but there are still some gaps or anomalies in his whereabouts. Ailing, worn out from overwork (an attribute rarely seen in English monarchy over the centuries), the deeply religious king saw nearly all his close friends die, and was beset with financial problems, a fact ignored by modern biographers. His attempts in his declining years to prevent another costly international war or invasion drained his finances, and his more effective tax-gathering was hated by the nobility and growing middle classes. The financial aspect is more important in understanding his reign. To solidify the monarchy after generations of fighting and infighting was vitally important to the future of a stable Britain. Henry was not ‘greedy’, ‘avaricious’ or ‘venal’, all recent accusations, but towards the end of his reign, because he was suffering with ill health and depression at the loss of so many around him, the king was not much as in control of the finances as he once had been. He turned to God and left his son enough money to secure a peaceful succession, but this gift was soon expended.
Henry’s army of Bretons, Sscots, Ffrench, English and Welsh travelled unopposed through ales, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire in 1495, gaining many English supporters, and won at Bosworth. Henry did not follow the Plantagenet path of executing his rivals, a practice which had almost wiped out all claimants to the crown, but was now plagued by a series of pretenders to the crown … Henry died in 1509, leaving a peaceful succession in a solvent country.” (Breverton)
“More pertinent, and more feasible perhaps, is to consider how far Henry VII succeeded in obtaining revenue in excess of expenditure. There is enough evidence, mainly from the chamber accounts surviving -and these accounts, after all, came to include the great bulk of revenue and expenditure- to show that Henry VII did become solvent quite early in the reign, and was able to secure some considerable surplus annually during his later years. The cessation of short-term loans by 1490 suggests that the government no loner had need of hand-to-mouth methods. The chamber accounts at the end of September 1489 appear to show a surplus of 5,000. From 1492 at least Henry found himself able to put by substantial sums in the purchase of jewellery, plate, cloth of gold and the like, and to spend money on buildings … Henry VII did, then, no doubt enjoy ‘the felicity of full coffers’ for the last few years of his reign but the other Baconian tradition that he left behind him a surplus of some two million pounds cannot be maintained …
He was interested in bringing commercial interests into his diplomatic relations with other countries; he was interested in reforming the coinage and in encouraging shipping, exports, and maritime exploration. He took some initiative in these matters; he gave his assent to a variety of measures for the regulation of merchant companies, trade, wages and prices, weights and measures, for the restraint of enclosures, and the treatment of vagabonds and beggars. Some of these measures were precedents for more far-reaching governmental action in later decades, but many though not all these appear to have been initiated by others than the government in Henry VII’s time, and how far the mere giving of assent to proposals for minor regulations amounted to acceptance as serious government policy a matter for speculation rather than dogma. We can scarcely accuse Henry VII of adopting ‘paternalistic’ attitudes. Whatever else Henry VII was, he was essentially an opportunist and sought to achieve few broad or far-reaching aims in either economic or social matters. We may well attribute to Henry VII especially the characteristics that have been attributed to the Tudor monarchs generally -perhaps too generally. Of him we may well believe that ‘economic problems were always secondary, and that economic measures often served non-economic ends. The paramount aims were peace and security. His policies always remained primarily political, not economic, and any economic aims that he may have cherished (other than the strengthening of his own economic position) were subordinated to his political and diplomatic objectives …” (Chrimes)
Henry’s first year in government was bound to be turbulent. His mother cried when she saw her son cried because having lived through various reigns, and surviving every king, she knew that as the founder of a new dynasty, his troubles were far from over. After Henry defeated his enemies, he became more obsessed with bringing peace to England. He formed an alliance with Scotland where the two kingdoms agreed that to avoid further conflict, Henry would marry his eldest daughter to James IV, and establish a series of law courts where border raiders would be judged by a jury of their peers which consisted of half Scots and half Englishmen (to avoid any accusations of favoritism). Henry kept much of Edward IV’s economic policies, including the Star Chamber, which he perfected, and added new measures that made England into a prosperous nation by the time his son took the throne in 1509. Overall, Henry’s legacy is in the eye of the beholder but one thing no one can deny is that he did more than any other monarch before him in that century. He nearly worked himself to death, and even when he was ill, he refused to let others do his work. It is also important to note that Henry is one of the few English monarchs who managed to heal the wounds of internal conflict by making allies of his former enemies, including those abroad who had not only nearly cost him his throne, but also put his family at risk.
Ironically, it was his paranoia, which got worse after he lost his son, wife and baby daughter, that enabled him to turn England into one of the most peaceful nations at the time, and prevent his dynasty from going the way the York and Lancaster had gone. In doing so, he also rewrote history, providing us with an alternative and simplified tale of the wars of the roses, where he comes out on top because he was the last Lancastrian scion and descendant of Arthur Pendragon and other Welsh (turned English) heroes, who had been chosen by god to be England’s king and restore law and order to a war-torn country. His marriage to Elizabeth solidified his claim, and helped promote the idea that as the last Lancastrian scion and she as the eldest daughter of the first Yorkist King, had put an end to the dynastic civil war, by uniting both houses of York and Lancaster. This was beautifully represented in a symbol known today as the “Tudor rose”, which has come to embody his dynasty.
Sources:
Breverton, Terry. Henry VII: The Maligned Tudor King. Amberley. 2016.
Chrimes, S.B. Henry VII. Yale University Press. 1999
de Lisle, Leanda. Tudor. Passion. Manipulation. Murder: The Story of England’s Most Notorious Royal Family. Public Affairs. 2013
Porter, Linda. Tudors vs Stewarts: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary, Queen of Scots. St. Martin’s Press. 2014.
Skidmore, Chris. The Rise of the Tudors: The Family that Changed English History. St. Martin’s Press. 2014.
Jones, Dan. Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses and the Rise of the Tudors. Faber and Faber. 2014.
Licence, Amy. Elizabeth of York: The Forgotten Tudor Queen. Amberley. 2013.
Woolf, Alex. The Tudor Kings and Queens. Arcturus. 2016.
Norton, Elizabeth. Tudor Treasury. Andre Deutsch. 2014."
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Henry VII: The Winter King
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBpSRQ6wVPU
Images:
1. A stained-glass window in St James's Church, Sutton Cheney, commemorates the Battle of Bosworth fought nearby and the leaders of the combatants, Richard III (left) and Henry VII (right).
2. Young Henry VII, painted by French artist Musée Calvet, Avignon
3. Henry VII of England PAINTINGS Perréal, Jean (attributed to) French, ca. 1455-ca. 1530 ca. 1500
4. Posthumous portrait bust by Pietro Torrigiano made using Henry VII's death mask
Background from {[http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/henry7.htm]}
Luminarium: Encyclopedia Project Tudor Rose England under the Tudors
KING HENRY VII, of England, was the first of the Tudor dynasty. His claim to the throne was through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, from John of Gaunt and Catherine Swynford, whose issue born before their marriage had been legitimated by parliament. This, of course, was only Lancastrian claim, never valid, even as such, till the direct male line of John of Gaunt had become extinct. By his father, Edmund of Hadham, the genealogists traced his pedigree to Cadwallader, but this only endeared him to the Welsh when he had actually become king. His grandfather, Owen Tudor, however, had married Catherine, the widow of Henry V and daughter to Charles VI of France. Their son Edmund, being half brother of Henry VI, was created by that King Earl of Richmond, and having married Margaret Beaufort, only daughter of John, Duke of Somerset, died more than two months before their only child, Henry, was born in Pembroke Castle in January 1457.
The fatherless child had sore trials. Edward IV won the crown when Henry was four years old, and while Wales partly held out against the conqueror, he was carried for safety from one castle to another. Then for a time he was made a prisoner; but ultimately he was taken abroad by his uncle Jasper Tudor, who found refuge in Brittany. At one time the duke of Brittany was nearly induced to surrender him to Edward IV; but he remained safe in the duchy till the cruelties of Richard III drove more and more Englishmen abroad to join him. An invasion of England was planned in 1483 in concert with the Duke of Buckingham's rising; but stormy weather at sea and an inundation in the Severn defeated the two movements.
A second expedition, two years later, aided this time by France, was more successful. Henry landed at Milford Haven among his Welsh allies and defeated Richard at the battle of Bosworth (August 22, 1485). He was crowned at Westminster on the 30th of October following. Then, in fulfilment of pledges by which he had procured the adhesion of many Yorkist supporters, he was married at Westminster to Elizabeth (1465-1503), eldest daughter and heiress of Edward IV (Jan. 18, 1486), whose two brothers had both been murdered by Richard III. Thus the Red and White Roses were united and the pretexts for civil war done away with.
Nevertheless, Henry's reign was much disturbed by a succession of Yorkist conspiracies and pretenders. Of the two most notable impostors, the first, Lambert Simnel, personated the Earl of Warwick, son of the Duke of Clarence, a youth of seventeen whom Henry had at his accession taken care to imprison in the Tower. Simnel, who was but a boy, was taken over to Ireland to perform his part, and the farce was wonderfully successful. He was crowned as Edward VI in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, and received the allegiance of every one — bishops, nobles and judges, alike with others. From Ireland, accompanied by some bands of German mercenaries procured for him in the Low Countries, he invaded England; but the rising was put down at Stoke near Newark in Nottinghamshire, and, Simnel being captured, the king made him a menial of his kitchen.
This movement had been greatly assisted by Margaret, duchess dowager, of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV, who could not endure to see the House of York supplanted by that of Tudor. The second pretender, Perkin Warbeck, was also much indebted to her support; but he seems to have entered on his career at first without it. And his story, which was more prolonged, had to do with the attitude of many countries towards England. Anxious as Henry was to avoid being involved in foreign wars, it was not many years before he was committed to a war with France, partly by his desire of an alliance with Spain, and partly by the indignation of his own subjects at the way in which the French were undermining the independence of Brittany. Henry gave Brittany defensive aid; but after the duchess Anne had married Charles VIII of France, he felt bound to fulfil his obligations to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and also to the German king Maximilian, by an invasion of France in 1492. His allies, however, were not equally scrupulous or equally able to fulfil their obligations to him; and after besieging Boulogne for some little time, he received very advantageous offers from the French king and made peace with him.
Now Perkin Warbeck had first appeared in Ireland in 1491, and had somehow been persuaded there to personate Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the two princes murdered in the Tower, pretending that he had escaped, though his brother had been killed. Charles VIII, then expecting war with England, called him to France, recognized his pretensions and gave him a retinue; but after the peace he dismissed him. Then Margaret of Burgundy received him as her nephew, and Maximilian, now estranged from Henry, recognized him as king of England. With a fleet given him by Maximilian he attempted to land at Deal, but sailed away to Ireland and, not succeeding very well there either, sailed farther to Scotland, where James IV received him with open arms, married him to an earl's daughter and made a brief and futile invasion of England along with him. But in 1497 he thought best to dismiss him, and Perkin, after attempting something again in Ireland, landed in Cornwall with a small body of men.
Already Cornwall had risen in insurrection that year, not liking the taxation imposed for the purpose of repelling the Scotch invasion. A host of the country people, led first by a blacksmith, but afterwards by a nobleman, marched up towards London and were only defeated at Blackheath. But the Cornishmen were quite ready for another revolt, and indeed had invited Perkin to their shores. He had little fight in him, however, and after a futile siege of Exeter and an advance to Taunton he stole away and took sanctuary at Beaulieu in Hampshire. But, being assured of his life, he surrendered, was brought to London, and was only executed two years later, when, being imprisoned near the Earl of Warwick in the Tower, he inveigled that simple-minded youth into a project of escape. For this Warwick, too, was tried, condemned and executed — no doubt to deliver Henry from repeated conspiracies in his favour.
Henry had by this time several children, of whom the eldest, Arthur, had been proposed in infancy for a bridegroom to Catherine, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon. The match had always been kept in view, but its completion depended greatly on the assurance Ferdinand and Isabella could feel of Henry's secure position upon the throne. At last Catherine was brought to England and was married to Prince Arthur at St Paul's on the 14th of November 1501. The lad was just over fifteen and the co-habitation of the couple was wisely delayed; but he died on the 2nd of April following. Another match was presently proposed for Catherine with the king's second son, Henry, which only took effect when the latter had become king himself [cf. Henry VIII]. Meanwhile Henry's eldest daughter Margaret was married to James IV of Scotland — a match distinctly intended to promote international peace, and make possible that ultimate union which actually resulted from it. The espousals had taken place at Richmond in 1502, and the marriage was celebrated in Scotland the year after.
Henry VII (Rawlinson bequest), 16th century. Society of Antiquaries, LondonIn the interval between these two events Henry lost his queen, who died on the 11th of February 1503, and during the remainder of his reign he made proposals in various quarters for a second marriage — proposals in which political objects were always the chief consideration; but none of them led to any result. In his latter years he became unpopular from the extortions practised by his two instruments, Empson and Dudley, under the authority of antiquated statutes. From the beginning of his reign he had been accumulating money, mainly for his own security against intrigues and conspiracies, and avarice had grown upon him with success. He died in April 1509, undoubtedly the richest prince in Christendom. He was not a niggard, however, in his expenditure. Before his death he had finished the hospital of the Savoy and made provision for the magnificent chapel at Westminster which bears his name. His money-getting was but part of his statesmanship, and for his statesmanship his country owes him not a little gratitude. He not only terminated a disastrous civil war and brought under control the spirit of ancient feudalism, but with a clear survey of the conditions of foreign powers he secured England in almost uninterrupted peace while he developed her commerce, strengthened her slender navy and built, apparently for the first time, a naval dock at Portsmouth.
In addition to his sons Arthur and Henry, Henry VII had several daughters, one of whom, Margaret, married James IV, King of Scotland, and another, Mary, became the wife of Louis XII of France, and afterwards of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.
(James Gairdner)
Excerpted from:
Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Ed., vol. XIII.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910. 283.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBpSRQ6wVPU
Images:
1. A stained-glass window in St James's Church, Sutton Cheney, commemorates the Battle of Bosworth fought nearby and the leaders of the combatants, Richard III (left) and Henry VII (right).
2. Young Henry VII, painted by French artist Musée Calvet, Avignon
3. Henry VII of England PAINTINGS Perréal, Jean (attributed to) French, ca. 1455-ca. 1530 ca. 1500
4. Posthumous portrait bust by Pietro Torrigiano made using Henry VII's death mask
Background from {[http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/henry7.htm]}
Luminarium: Encyclopedia Project Tudor Rose England under the Tudors
KING HENRY VII, of England, was the first of the Tudor dynasty. His claim to the throne was through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, from John of Gaunt and Catherine Swynford, whose issue born before their marriage had been legitimated by parliament. This, of course, was only Lancastrian claim, never valid, even as such, till the direct male line of John of Gaunt had become extinct. By his father, Edmund of Hadham, the genealogists traced his pedigree to Cadwallader, but this only endeared him to the Welsh when he had actually become king. His grandfather, Owen Tudor, however, had married Catherine, the widow of Henry V and daughter to Charles VI of France. Their son Edmund, being half brother of Henry VI, was created by that King Earl of Richmond, and having married Margaret Beaufort, only daughter of John, Duke of Somerset, died more than two months before their only child, Henry, was born in Pembroke Castle in January 1457.
The fatherless child had sore trials. Edward IV won the crown when Henry was four years old, and while Wales partly held out against the conqueror, he was carried for safety from one castle to another. Then for a time he was made a prisoner; but ultimately he was taken abroad by his uncle Jasper Tudor, who found refuge in Brittany. At one time the duke of Brittany was nearly induced to surrender him to Edward IV; but he remained safe in the duchy till the cruelties of Richard III drove more and more Englishmen abroad to join him. An invasion of England was planned in 1483 in concert with the Duke of Buckingham's rising; but stormy weather at sea and an inundation in the Severn defeated the two movements.
A second expedition, two years later, aided this time by France, was more successful. Henry landed at Milford Haven among his Welsh allies and defeated Richard at the battle of Bosworth (August 22, 1485). He was crowned at Westminster on the 30th of October following. Then, in fulfilment of pledges by which he had procured the adhesion of many Yorkist supporters, he was married at Westminster to Elizabeth (1465-1503), eldest daughter and heiress of Edward IV (Jan. 18, 1486), whose two brothers had both been murdered by Richard III. Thus the Red and White Roses were united and the pretexts for civil war done away with.
Nevertheless, Henry's reign was much disturbed by a succession of Yorkist conspiracies and pretenders. Of the two most notable impostors, the first, Lambert Simnel, personated the Earl of Warwick, son of the Duke of Clarence, a youth of seventeen whom Henry had at his accession taken care to imprison in the Tower. Simnel, who was but a boy, was taken over to Ireland to perform his part, and the farce was wonderfully successful. He was crowned as Edward VI in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, and received the allegiance of every one — bishops, nobles and judges, alike with others. From Ireland, accompanied by some bands of German mercenaries procured for him in the Low Countries, he invaded England; but the rising was put down at Stoke near Newark in Nottinghamshire, and, Simnel being captured, the king made him a menial of his kitchen.
This movement had been greatly assisted by Margaret, duchess dowager, of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV, who could not endure to see the House of York supplanted by that of Tudor. The second pretender, Perkin Warbeck, was also much indebted to her support; but he seems to have entered on his career at first without it. And his story, which was more prolonged, had to do with the attitude of many countries towards England. Anxious as Henry was to avoid being involved in foreign wars, it was not many years before he was committed to a war with France, partly by his desire of an alliance with Spain, and partly by the indignation of his own subjects at the way in which the French were undermining the independence of Brittany. Henry gave Brittany defensive aid; but after the duchess Anne had married Charles VIII of France, he felt bound to fulfil his obligations to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and also to the German king Maximilian, by an invasion of France in 1492. His allies, however, were not equally scrupulous or equally able to fulfil their obligations to him; and after besieging Boulogne for some little time, he received very advantageous offers from the French king and made peace with him.
Now Perkin Warbeck had first appeared in Ireland in 1491, and had somehow been persuaded there to personate Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the two princes murdered in the Tower, pretending that he had escaped, though his brother had been killed. Charles VIII, then expecting war with England, called him to France, recognized his pretensions and gave him a retinue; but after the peace he dismissed him. Then Margaret of Burgundy received him as her nephew, and Maximilian, now estranged from Henry, recognized him as king of England. With a fleet given him by Maximilian he attempted to land at Deal, but sailed away to Ireland and, not succeeding very well there either, sailed farther to Scotland, where James IV received him with open arms, married him to an earl's daughter and made a brief and futile invasion of England along with him. But in 1497 he thought best to dismiss him, and Perkin, after attempting something again in Ireland, landed in Cornwall with a small body of men.
Already Cornwall had risen in insurrection that year, not liking the taxation imposed for the purpose of repelling the Scotch invasion. A host of the country people, led first by a blacksmith, but afterwards by a nobleman, marched up towards London and were only defeated at Blackheath. But the Cornishmen were quite ready for another revolt, and indeed had invited Perkin to their shores. He had little fight in him, however, and after a futile siege of Exeter and an advance to Taunton he stole away and took sanctuary at Beaulieu in Hampshire. But, being assured of his life, he surrendered, was brought to London, and was only executed two years later, when, being imprisoned near the Earl of Warwick in the Tower, he inveigled that simple-minded youth into a project of escape. For this Warwick, too, was tried, condemned and executed — no doubt to deliver Henry from repeated conspiracies in his favour.
Henry had by this time several children, of whom the eldest, Arthur, had been proposed in infancy for a bridegroom to Catherine, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon. The match had always been kept in view, but its completion depended greatly on the assurance Ferdinand and Isabella could feel of Henry's secure position upon the throne. At last Catherine was brought to England and was married to Prince Arthur at St Paul's on the 14th of November 1501. The lad was just over fifteen and the co-habitation of the couple was wisely delayed; but he died on the 2nd of April following. Another match was presently proposed for Catherine with the king's second son, Henry, which only took effect when the latter had become king himself [cf. Henry VIII]. Meanwhile Henry's eldest daughter Margaret was married to James IV of Scotland — a match distinctly intended to promote international peace, and make possible that ultimate union which actually resulted from it. The espousals had taken place at Richmond in 1502, and the marriage was celebrated in Scotland the year after.
Henry VII (Rawlinson bequest), 16th century. Society of Antiquaries, LondonIn the interval between these two events Henry lost his queen, who died on the 11th of February 1503, and during the remainder of his reign he made proposals in various quarters for a second marriage — proposals in which political objects were always the chief consideration; but none of them led to any result. In his latter years he became unpopular from the extortions practised by his two instruments, Empson and Dudley, under the authority of antiquated statutes. From the beginning of his reign he had been accumulating money, mainly for his own security against intrigues and conspiracies, and avarice had grown upon him with success. He died in April 1509, undoubtedly the richest prince in Christendom. He was not a niggard, however, in his expenditure. Before his death he had finished the hospital of the Savoy and made provision for the magnificent chapel at Westminster which bears his name. His money-getting was but part of his statesmanship, and for his statesmanship his country owes him not a little gratitude. He not only terminated a disastrous civil war and brought under control the spirit of ancient feudalism, but with a clear survey of the conditions of foreign powers he secured England in almost uninterrupted peace while he developed her commerce, strengthened her slender navy and built, apparently for the first time, a naval dock at Portsmouth.
In addition to his sons Arthur and Henry, Henry VII had several daughters, one of whom, Margaret, married James IV, King of Scotland, and another, Mary, became the wife of Louis XII of France, and afterwards of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.
(James Gairdner)
Excerpted from:
Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Ed., vol. XIII.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910. 283.
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