Henry VII ruled as Machiavelli, just after his reign, was to advise usurpers to do through fear rather than love. Henry was a remarkable man. 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. Henry showed remarkable clemency to the surviving rebels: he pardoned Kildare and the other Irish nobles, and he made the boy, Simnel, a servant in the royal kitchen where he was in charge of roasting meats on a spit. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Today is Shrove Tuesday time for pancakes! Henry VII was born on 28 January 1457 at Pembroke Castle, in the English-speaking portion of Pembrokeshire known as Little England beyond Wales. Seriously, got nudged by my partner when I'd nodded off. Files Welcome Pack of 5 goodies, 28 January 1457 Birth of Henry VII at Pembroke Castle, 30 October 1485 Coronation of Henry VII, Henry VIIIs Enforcer: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell A Review and Rundown, Henry VII: Winter King A Review and Rundown, 31 May 1533 The Coronation Procession of Queen Anne Boleyn, Why I think Henry VIII was ultimately responsible for Anne Boleyns downfall, 4 March 1522 Anne Boleyn plays Perseverance, The Boleyns of Hever Castle now 99p on Kindle on Amazon UK, YouTube Live 4 March 2023 The Fascinating Background of Henry VIII. Thanks largely to the desertion of his stepfather, Lord Stanley, to him, he defeated and slew Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth on August 22, 1485. (We certainly can, and do, decide what sort of king Henry was based on what he had his government get up to, however.). 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. Having established his claim to be king in his own right, he married Elizabeth of York on January 18, 1486. He rewrote history by backdating his reign to 21st August 1485, the day before the Battle of Bosworth Field. Hence, the king was plagued with conspiracies until nearly the end of his reign. Claiming to be Edward, earl of Warwick, the son of Richard IIIs elder brother, George, duke of Clarence, he had the formidable support of John de la Pole, earl of Lincoln, Richard IIIs heir designate, of many Irish chieftains, and of 2,000 German mercenaries paid for by Margaret of Burgundy. Hidden under the floor in St George's Chapel in Windsor, England where thousands of people walk every day, a forgotten tomb lies. The King was heavily guarded. He was the founder of the Tudor dynasty, and his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville brought together the too sides that were facing off during the Wars of the Roses (the Lancasters and the Yorks) basically uniting the two houses into a single family. An easy read? This is why he named the book the "Winter King". Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). From 1527 Henry pursued what became known as "the King's great matter": his divorce from Catherine. Thomas Penn's Winter King is not really a biography of Henry VII, and more a study of what he was directing his government to do in his name. No. There were some sections I had to skim because I didn't feel they were relevant to the storyline, but mostly I was hooked into this very complex King. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. of course, a large proportion of my opinion is probably due to the fact that i knew a lot about henry vii already, and Penn tried to create quite a thrilling/mysterious feel, which is all well and good if you don't already know how everything plays out. They did as much to endanger his throne as to secure it. Famed British author Thomas Penn takes an extraordinary journey into the dark and chilling world of the first Tudor King, Henry VII. He paid very close attention to detail, and instead of spending lavishly he concentrated on raising new revenues. Hed achieved the impossible, hed risen from refugee to King of England. The significant role played by bitcoin for businesses! It's difficult to get a handle on Henry VII. Still, as Penn observes, the national sense of relief in 1509 was palpable. But, his enemies didnt agree. The insurrections fronted by the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck emerged from wide and formidable networks of conspiracy that drew in foreign rulers and leading English magnates, and infiltrated Henry's court. 3.5 Stars. Accordingly, he arranged a papal dispensation from Pope Julius II for Prince Henry to marry his brother's widow Catherine, a relationship that would have otherwise precluded marriage in the Church. As we know, Henry VII was true to his word, married Elizabeth and they founded the Tudor dynasty between them. 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 VII was king of England from 1485 to 1509. During Henry's early years, his uncle Henry VI was fighting against Edward IV, a member of the Yorkist Plantagenet branch. [66], Henry wanted to maintain the Spanish alliance. If you missed the programme then here is the YouTube video for you enjoy! 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. Claire is going live on YouTube on 11 February! More wrote that this King is loved and compared Henrys accession to the coming of a new season, a new spring following a winter of repression. He had, Bacon added, much to be suspicious about, "his times" being "full of secret conspiracies and troubles". [65] Henry VII was shattered by the loss of Elizabeth, and her death impacted him severely. After his death, a commission found widespread abuses in the tax collection process. (1): (April 24, 1883. He created the sovereign coin to spread the message that he was King. The father's government was an exercise in discoloration. Letters to relatives have an affectionate tone not captured by official state business, as evidenced by many written to his mother Margaret. 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. Bacon wanted the future Charles I to learn from Henry's reign, but the financial methods that would provoke fatal opposition to Charles look pale beside the exactions levied by Henry from often innocent subjects, who were denied legal process or threatened with trumped-up prosecutions and had to buy their freedom (though at moments of apparently impending death the king would repent of his methods and have the jails cleared and pardons issued). 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. France, Burgundy, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and the Hanseatic League all rejected the treaty, which was never in force. With the assistance of the Italian merchant banker Lodovico della Fava and the Italian banker Girolamo Frescobaldi, Henry VII became deeply involved in the trade by licensing ships, obtaining alum from the Ottoman Empire, and selling it to the Low Countries and in England. The portly Henry VIII, and the ill-fated destinies of most of his six wives, is one of the first historical figures primary-aged pupils are aware of.. 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 . [69] The wedding never took place, and the physical description Henry sent with his ambassadors of what he desired in a new wife matched the description of his wife Elizabeth. He had to pay a 500 fine to save himself, to buy a pardon for the crime. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort, was a descendant of the Lancastrian branch of the House of Plantagenet. You can find out more on the conflicts between England and France, the Wars of the Roses and also the Tudors in our history courses. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. He was crowned on October 30 and secured parliamentary recognition of his title early in November. [52] He also concluded the Treaty of Perpetual Peace with Scotland (the first treaty between England and Scotland for almost two centuries), which betrothed his daughter Margaret Tudor to King James IV of Scotland. Penn explained that the marriage had been one of genuine love and that Henry was shattered by his wifes death. [citation needed], In 1502, Henry VII's life took a difficult and personal turn in which many people he was close to died in quick succession. Henrys throne, however, was far from secure. In 1502 the death of his heir Arthur left the dynasty's prospects with Arthur's 10-year-old brother, Henry. Penn notes something else about the paeans on the son's accession: later in the Tudor period, apologists for the regime would remember Henry VII as the restorer of national peace and unity, but in 1509 it was the king's death, not his rule, that was held to have ended a long era of dark instability. Gaunt's nephew Richard II legitimised Gaunt's children by Swynford by Letters Patent in 1397. 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. Philip had been shipwrecked on the English coast, and while Henry's guest, was bullied into an agreement so favourable to England at the expense of the Netherlands that it was dubbed the Malus Intercursus ("evil agreement"). They were unpaid, which, in comparison with modern standards, meant a smaller tax bill for law enforcement. The marriage did not take place during his lifetime. They overrode all the usual legal processed and acted with complete impunity. One of the councils prominent members was Edmund Dudley, a man who helped Henry by enforcing the Kings legal rights, finding old laws to use against people and stretching the law to its limits. Henry Tudor, named after his father, Henry VII, was born by Elizabeth of York June 28, 1491 in Greenwich Palace. Pembroke Castle, birthplace of Henry VII [ JKMMX ] [ CC BY-SA 3.0 ]. 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. Henry VII was born in Pembroke Castle , Wales, on January 28 th, 1457. 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. [41] Henry also increased wealth by acquiring land through the act of resumption of 1486 which had been delayed as he focused on defence of the Church, his person and his realm. Some of them have more to say than Penn about the constructive sides of the reign, which developed the state-building methods of his Yorkist predecessors. They were third cousins, as both were great-great-grandchildren of John of Gaunt. Henry VII was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 to his death. [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. His bouts of grave illness brought the question repeatedly to the fore. 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. Their chief task was to see that the laws of the country were obeyed in their area. One of their sons was Edmund, Henry's father. I couldn't even stay awake reading this. [4] Owen is said to have secretly married the widow of Henry V, Catherine of Valois. In 1494, Henry embargoed trade (mainly in wool) with the Burgundian Netherlands in retaliation for Margaret of Burgundy's support for Perkin Warbeck. If he trusted anyone, it would be his queen and why not, since both had so much in common both being familiar with being in sanctuary, and pawns in the game of power? One interesting thing about him is his early youth and the fourteen years he spent in exile in France Brittany to be precise and those, I believe, made him the man he was eventually to become. After his victory at Bosworth Field, Henry married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York. By 1500, Henry felt safer and things were looking good. Annoyingly, much of the most interesting stuff concerns his son, and whenever Penn comments intelligently on how the events here affected the future Henry VIII's reign I found myself perking up such as the suggestion that Henry VII's marriage to Elizabeth was the kind of marriage that their second son, Prince Henry, would spend his whole life trying to find. Together, they had seven children. Unfortunately, since all I really wanted to know about was learning about Henry the 7th and his family as people - the things that happened to them, what kind of people they were, etc. [20] He amassed an army of about 5,0006,000 soldiers. The Lancastrians triumphed under the leadership of a 28-year-old exile named Henry Tudor. His father was the son of Owen Tudor, a Welsh squire, and Catherine of France, the widow of King Henry V. His mother was the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, whose children by Catherine Swynford were born before he married her. enry VII can look a dull king, so dull that Thomas Penn's title omits his name. For Henry VII, it was all about the money and stability. Henry was devastated. While there, he feigned stomach cramps and delayed his departure long enough to miss the tides. Henry VII can look a dull king, so dull that Thomas Penn's title omits his name. Henry VII is actually a less familiar figure, despite being the same person. Stephens, "affords some illustrations of the avaricious and parsimonious character of the king". In the late 20th century a model of European state formation was prominent in which Henry less resembles Louis and Ferdinand. The baby died and Elizabeth, herself, died on 11th February 1503, her 37th birthday. Backdating Henry's Reign. This is why he named the book the Winter King. The Merchant Adventurers, the company which enjoyed the monopoly of the Flemish wool trade, relocated from Antwerp to Calais. With the English economy heavily invested in wool production, Henry VII became involved in the alum trade in 1486. In 1837 Henry VIII's tomb was eventually marked in the chapel with a commemorative marble slab. He also enacted laws against livery and maintenance, the great lords' practice of having large numbers of "retainers" who wore their lord's badge or uniform and formed a potential private army. What are the differences between Henry VII and Henry VIII? 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. [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.