Wolf Hall this is not. [49] The confused, fractious nature of Breton politics undermined his efforts, which finally failed after three sizeable expeditions, at a cost of 24,000. [51], Henry VII was one of the first European monarchs to recognise the importance of the newly united Spanish kingdom; he concluded the Treaty of Medina del Campo, by which his son Arthur, Prince of Wales, was married to Catherine of Aragon. [57], In 1506, Henry extorted the Treaty of Windsor from Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy. [70] Henry VII falls among the minority of British monarchs that never had any known mistresses, and for the times, it is very unusual that he did not remarry: his son Henry was the only male heir left after the death of his wife, thus the death of Arthur created a precarious political position for the House of Tudor. His history plays depicted the dramatic conflicts of the wars of the roses, which Henry's accession after his victory at Bosworth in 1485 brought to an end. 1509. The king's own death seven years later had to be kept secret until his nervous entourage had ensured the succession. [citation needed], However, his principal weapon was the Court of Star Chamber. [citation needed] John Cabot, originally from Genoa and Venice, had heard that ships from Bristol had discovered uncharted new found territory far west of Ireland. Famed British author Thomas Penn takes an extraordinary journey into the dark and chilling world of the first Tudor King, Henry VII. These bonds were enforced by the Council Learned in the Law, a council of legal advisers who were only answerable to the King. Hence, the king was plagued with conspiracies until nearly the end of his reign. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Overall, this was a successful area of policy for Henry, both in terms of efficiency and as a method of reducing the corruption endemic within the nobility of the Middle Ages. A King from upstart usurper to renaissance monarch to Machiavellian schemer. In 1621 Francis Bacon's history of. Henry VII is known for successfully ending the War of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York and for founding the Tudor dynasty. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. They were third cousins, as both were great-great-grandchildren of John of Gaunt. Reading this, I got a much better understanding of where Henry VIII came from, and why he was destined to be the colorful ruler he became, as an antidote to his own father. Thomas More hailed the end of "slavery" and the return of "liberty", "the end of sadness, the beginning of joy". Since he was the second son, and not expected to become king, we know little of his childhood until the death of his older brother Arthur, Prince of Wales. In 1837 Henry VIII's tomb was eventually marked in the chapel with a commemorative marble slab. [citation needed] Henry had been under the financial and physical protection of the French throne or its vassals for most of his life before becoming king. Stephens, "affords some illustrations of the avaricious and parsimonious character of the king". The first rising, that of Lord Lovell, Richard IIIs chamberlain, in 1486 was ill-prepared and unimportant, but in 1487 came the much more serious revolt of Lambert Simnel. Some of it is due to his personality--he played his cards close to the vest, unlike his son--and some of it is due to Tudor spin--they were, after all trying to bolster up the royal credentials for a man who didn't have that many. Henry VIII, (born June 28, 1491, Greenwich, near London, Englanddied January 28, 1547, London), king of England (1509-47) who presided over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and the English Reformation. By 1600 historians emphasised Henry's wisdom in drawing lessons in statecraft from other monarchs. She was Edward's heir since the presumed death of her brothers, the Princes in the Tower, King Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. Supported at one time or another by France, by Maximilian I of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (Holy Roman emperor from 1493), by James IV of Scotland, and by powerful men in both Ireland and England, Perkin three times invaded England before he was captured at Beaulieu in Hampshire in 1497. I had an idea Henry VII was a force for stability; in fact he was a terrifying kleptocrat, abusing the law with arbitrary fines and imprisonment, scheming to effectively steal entire estates and wring every penny out of subjects as well as impose political control through financial means. He led attempted invasions of Ireland in 1491 and England in 1495, and persuaded James IV of Scotland to invade England in 1496. The whole system was ingeniously designed to ensure the unchallenged supremacy of the king while stamping out any challenges to his authority from the nobles, merchants, and commons. [citation needed], In 1506, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller Emery d'Amboise asked Henry VII to become the protector and patron of the Order, as he had an interest in the crusade. People saw him as being like a traditional king and hoped that his reign would bring positive change. Henry VII, grown rich from Morton's Fork and other squeezes, was far from a bumpkin trying to break into the royal circles of western Europe--he was being courted, and he knew very well to play Castile (Hapsburg) and Aragon off against one another after Isabella died (and Catherine might very well have been packed off home to marry someone else, it was common). Yet Henry's techniques of power went beyond the needs of surveillance and survival. Henry, son of Edmund Tudor, earl of Richmond, and Margaret Beaufort, was born nearly three months after his fathers death. Author of, Assistant Master and Professor of History, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. He married his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon. The expressive and evocative power of his writing, and the union of scholarship with artistry, are rare in modern historical writing. After his victory at Bosworth Field, Henry married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York. Serious disputes involving the use of personal power, or threats to royal authority, were thus dealt with. Many of the entries show a man who loosened his purse strings generously for his wife and children, and not just on necessities: in spring 1491 he spent a great amount of gold on a lute for his daughter Mary; the following year he spent money on a lion for Elizabeth's menagerie. [40], Henry VII improved tax collection in the realm by introducing ruthlessly efficient mechanisms of taxation. My obsession is European history from the 12th through 17th centuries - especially British history - so of course, when I was offered the chance to review this book, my interest was piqued immediately. Henry VII was born in Pembroke Castle , Wales, on January 28 th, 1457. This definitely was not that. Celebrating the release of The Colour of Bone A London Charnel House. The usurpation of Richard III (1483), however, split the Yorkist party and gave Henry his opportunity. He entertained thoughts of remarriage to renew the alliance with Spain Joanna, Dowager Queen of Naples (a niece of Queen Isabella of Castile), Queen Joanna of Castile, and Margaret, Dowager Duchess of Savoy (sister-in-law of Joanna of Castile), were all considered. He attained the throne when his forces, supported by France, Scotland, and Wales, defeated Edward IV's brother Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. Four different kinds of cryptocurrencies you should know. "King Henry VII" redirects here. enry VII can look a dull king, so dull that Thomas Penn's title omits his name. Henry VII, also called (1457-85) Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, (born January 28, 1457, Pembroke Castle, Pembrokeshire, Walesdied April 21, 1509, Richmond, Surrey, England), king of England (1485-1509), who succeeded in ending the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York and founded the Tudor dynasty. By the way, dont forget that Ian Mortimers Time Travellers Guide to Elizabethan England is on tonight on BBC2 at 9pm. Henry's original head was cut out of the painting and replaced at some point after the work's creation. But, his enemies didnt agree. Shakespeare later turned to Henry's son and successor Henry VIII, whose rule brought marital sensation, renaissance spectacle and the reformation. (ROYAL HISTORY) Directors Stuart Elliott Genres Documentary, International Subtitles English [CC] Audio languages English. He had enough of that getting himself to the throne. Both were survivors and as united in death as in life, as their tomb in Westminster Abbey illustrates. His spies and informers were everywhere. In turn, Antwerp became an extremely important trade entrept (transshipment port), through which, for example, goods from the Baltic, spices from the east and Italian silks were exchanged for English cloth. I found this really interesting, but Im a history nut. Elizabeth of York (11 February 1466 11 February 1503) was Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death. It was not until 1506, when he imprisoned Suffolk in the Tower of London, that Henry could at last feel safe. His claim to the throne was precarious and he wanted to portray Richard III as a usurper. [citation needed], Henry honoured his pledge of December 1483 to marry Elizabeth of York and the wedding took place in 1486 at Westminster Abbey. When he met Richard III at Bosworth Field, Henry found that his army of dissidents and mercenaries was completely outnumbered. [37], For most of Henry VII's reign Edward Story was Bishop of Chichester. When Henry VII called his first parliament he used it as an opportunity to legitimise his reign. [8], In 1456, Henry's father Edmund Tudor was captured while fighting for Henry VI in South Wales against the Yorkists. Henry VII: The Winter King (95) 59min 2013 PG. Penn then moved on to how Henry became King. Who could have expected that he would rule for 24 years, die in his bed, bequeath the first orderly succession to the throne for nearly a century, and found a famous dynasty? The King, normally a reserved man who rarely showed much emotion in public unless angry, surprised his courtiers by his intense grief and sobbing at his son's death, while his concern for the Queen is evidence that the marriage was a happy one, as is his reaction to Queen Elizabeth's death the following year, when he shut himself away for several days, refusing to speak to anyone. Henry VII ruled as Machiavelli, just after his reign, was to advise usurpers to do through fear rather than love. There are an awful lot of books written about the Tudor era, both fiction and non-fiction, so you have to ask whether this book adds anything new. I thought the way he controled the nobility was fascinating - keeping them in check as well a raising vast sums of money at the same time. All the information is from Thomas Penn. [15], By 1483, Henry's mother was actively promoting him as an alternative to Richard III, despite her being married to Lord Stanley, a Yorkist. Henry had only been accepted as King because the Princes in the Tower, the sons of Edward IV, were dead, so when Yorkist exiles groomed Perkin Warbeck to pose as one of the princes and raised an army it was a huge threat. Many influential Yorkists had been dispossessed and disappointed by the change of regime, and there had been so many reversals of fortune within living memory that the decision of Bosworth did not appear necessarily final. It was propaganda to spread the message that he was the rightful King. He had to pay a 500 fine to save himself, to buy a pardon for the crime. For many he remained a usurper, a false king. [13] When Warwick restored Henry VI in 1470, Jasper Tudor returned from exile and brought Henry to court. In 1622 Francis Bacon published his History of the Reign of King Henry VII. Through luck, guile, and ruthlessness, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, emerged as rulerbut as a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's throne, he remained a usurper and false king to many, and his hold on power was precarious. But definitely rewarding! The research was thorough and it was presented well and kept me engaged. He cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of King Edward IV. Penn pointed out that for over half a century no king had passed on the crown without turmoil and Henry knew that what had happened to Richard could happen to him. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. But now, sensitivity readers are pushing back . [43] According to the contemporary historian Polydore Vergil, simple "greed" underscored the means by which royal control was over-asserted in Henry's final years. For instance, except for the first few months of the reign, the Baron Dynham and the Earl of Surrey were the only Lord High Treasurers throughout his reign. Henry VII's reign has yielded an evocative study, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, ILLUSTRATION: CLIFFORD HARPER/AGRAPHIA.CO.UK. Why is this ambitious? About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . Though this was not achieved during his reign, the marriage eventually led to the union of the English and Scottish crowns under Margaret's great-grandson, James VI and I, following the death of Henry's granddaughter Elizabeth I. Henry was building a myth, the idea that he and his family were the true royal blood of England. [36] However, he spared Warwick's elder sister Margaret, who survived until 1541 when she was executed by Henry VIII. This book is a nonfiction look at King Henry the VII. Pembroke Castle, birthplace of Henry VII [ JKMMX ] [ CC BY-SA 3.0 ]. Castles of . I've never read much on the reign of Henry VII - mostly because to really get to grips with his policies, you first have to get to grips with his exhaustively complicated financial policies - but Penn provides a wonderful accessibility through his writing, which provides valuable context to the man who founded England's most famous dynasty. For Henry VII, it was all about the money and stability. After his death, a commission found widespread abuses in the tax collection process. Henry decided to keep Brittany out of French hands, signed an alliance with Spain to that end, and sent 6,000 troops to France. 1517. He created the Tudor dynasty. [62], Henry VII used justices of the peace on a large, nationwide scale. But Henry had a crucial asset: his queen and their children, the living embodiment of his hoped-for dynasty. [3] Henry's paternal grandfather, Owen Tudor, originally from the Tudors of Penmynydd, Isle of Anglesey in Wales, had been a page in the court of King Henry V. He rose to become one of the "Squires to the Body to the King" after military service at the Battle of Agincourt. However, with the help of the forces of his step-father, Lord Stanley, he defeated Richard and Richard was killed on the battlefield. Luther made a protest against the Catholic practice of Indulgences. I thought the book was well written, even though a bit dry is spots. If you missed the programme then here is the YouTube video for you enjoy! Henry VII, also called (145785) Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, (born January 28, 1457, Pembroke Castle, Pembrokeshire, Walesdied April 21, 1509, Richmond, Surrey, England), king of England (14851509), who succeeded in ending the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York and founded the Tudor dynasty. To strengthen his position, however, he subsidised shipbuilding, so strengthening the navy (he commissioned Europe's first ever and the world's oldest surviving dry dock at Portsmouth in 1495) and improving trading opportunities. Shakespeare later turned to Henry's son and successor Henry VIII, whose rule brought marital sensation, renaissance spectacle and the reformation. [56] This trade made an expensive commodity cheaper, which raised opposition from Pope Julius II, since the Tolfa mine was a part of papal territory and had given the Pope monopoly control over alum. [26] Henry married Elizabeth of York with the hope of uniting the Yorkist and Lancastrian sides of the Plantagenet dynastic disputes, and he was largely successful. [citation needed], Henry also made some political capital out of his Welsh ancestry in attracting military support and safeguarding his army's passage through Wales on its way to the Battle of Bosworth. Happy 14th Birthday to the Anne Boleyn Files! In my never-ending quest to read possibly every single published book on the Tudor monarchy, I spied this little gem a few weeks ago and picked it up. [22] Thus, anyone who had fought for Richard against him would be guilty of treason and Henry could legally confiscate the lands and property of Richard III, while restoring his own. [14] In November 1476, Francis fell ill and his principal advisers were more amenable to negotiating with King Edward. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. For instance, the Stanley family had control of Lancashire and Cheshire, upholding the peace on the condition that they stayed within the law. Thomas Penns Winter King in a brilliant mash-up of gothic horror and political biography. [20] He amassed an army of about 5,0006,000 soldiers. Letters to relatives have an affectionate tone not captured by official state business, as evidenced by many written to his mother Margaret. There's a lot of cloak-and-dagger stuff here, something Henry and certain of his counselors seemed especially skilled at, and it was those parts that I particularly enjoyed. Henry VII was the founder of the Tudor dynasty and father of Henry VIII and Ive been doing a bit of digging on this lesser known Tudor. Poor Henry VII. Henry needed an heir to secure his reign and fortunately an heir came quickly. Henry was also worried by the treason of Edmund de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, the eldest surviving son of Edward IVs sister Elizabeth, who fled to the Netherlands (1499) and was supported by Maximilian. It took Henry, who in any case needed to marry her if the expected issue was to solve the succession problem, some six years to achieve their joint purpose. We know that Henry attended the wedding celebrations of Arthur and his bride . The wedding was a triumph but in April 1502 a messenger brought the King the news that his eldest son had died of sweating sickness. The rest, as we say, is history; Richard III was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth and Henry Tudor had arrived out of nowhere and avenged the death of the little princes in the tower, although there is some debate as to who was actually responsible for their murder. Reasonably interesting overview of the reign of Henry VII of England. The usual courts and justice system were totally circumvented, and there was no chance of appeal other than purchasing extremely high priced royal pardons. Four good reasons to indulge in cryptocurrency! One of their sons was Edmund, Henry's father. Consultant editor for the. The last few years of his reign were ones of repression. I'm beginning to wonder if all of the kings beginning with the conquest weren't a little off their rocker in some way. Henry was thus handed over to English envoys and escorted to the Breton port of Saint-Malo. [46] In 1506 he resumed the construction of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, started under Henry VI, guaranteeing finances which would continue even after his death. Stanley placed Richards circlet on Henrys head, he was now King. Richard III's death at Bosworth Field effectively ended the Wars of the Roses. Here is a rundown of the programme for those who missed it. Gaunt's nephew Richard II legitimised Gaunt's children by Swynford by Letters Patent in 1397. During his 23-year reign, Henry had only two Lord High Treasurers, and this continuity helped provide stability. The treaty marks a shift from neutrality over the French invasion of Brittany to active intervention against it. Claiming the throne by just title of inheritance and by the judgment of God in battle, he was crowned on October 30 and secured parliamentary recognition of his title early in November. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort, was a descendant of the Lancastrian branch of the House of Plantagenet. [25][80], Historians have always compared Henry VII with his continental contemporaries, especially Louis XI of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon. Its restoration by the Magnus Intercursus was very much to England's benefit in removing taxation for English merchants and significantly increasing England's wealth. Henry started a new policy to recover Guyenne and other lost Plantagenet claims in France. Soon after his fathers burial on 10 May, Henry suddenly declared that he would indeed marry Catherine, leaving unresolved several issues concerning the papal dispensation and a missing part of the marriage portion. Henry, recognizing that Simnel had been a mere dupe, employed him in the royal kitchens. It seems that Henry was skilful at extracting money from his subjects on many pretexts, including that of war with France or war with Scotland. [29] Henry secured his crown principally by dividing and undermining the power of the nobility, especially through the aggressive use of bonds and recognisances to secure loyalty. As his mother was only 14 when he was born and soon married again, Henry was brought up by his uncle Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke. Stanley was accused of supporting Warbeck's cause, arrested and later executed.
