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Henry VII of England

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain); British History 1500-1750; Monarchs of
Great Britain

   Henry VII
   King of England, Lord of Ireland
   Reign August 22, 1485 - April 21, 1509
   Coronation October 30, 1485
   Born January 28, 1457 (age 52)
   Pembroke Castle
   Died April 21, 1509
   Richmond Palace
   Buried Westminster Abbey
   Predecessor Richard III
   Successor Henry VIII
   Consort Elizabeth of York (1466-1503)
   Issue Arthur, Prince of Wales (1486-1502)
   Margaret Tudor (1489-1541)
   Henry VIII of England (1491-1547)
   Elizabeth Tudor (1492-1495)
   Mary Tudor ( 1496-1533)
   Edmund Tudor, Duke of
   Somerset (1499-1500)
   Katherine Tudor (1503-1503)
   Royal House Tudor
   Father Edmund Tudor (c. 1430-1456)
   Mother Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509)

   Henry VII ( January 28, 1457 – April 21, 1509), King of England, Lord
   of Ireland ( August 22, 1485 – April 21, 1509), was the founder and
   first patriarch of the Tudor dynasty.

   Henry allied with the Habsburg empire as a member of the Order of the
   Golden Fleece.

Early life

   Henry was born at Pembroke Castle, in Wales, in 1457, and he was the
   only son of Edmund Tudor and Lady Margaret Beaufort. His father died
   two months before he was born, which meant that the young Henry spent
   much of his life with his uncle, Jasper Tudor. When the Yorkist Edward
   IV returned to the throne in 1471, Henry was forced to flee to
   Brittany, where he was to spend most of the next fourteen years. After
   the failure of the revolt of his second cousin, Henry Stafford, 2nd
   Duke of Buckingham, in 1483, Henry Tudor became the leading Lancastrian
   contender for the throne of England. With money and supplies borrowed
   from his host, Francis II, Duke of Brittany, Henry made an unsuccessful
   attempt to land in England but turned back after encountering Richard
   III's (1483–85) forces on the Dorset coast. Richard III attempted to
   ensure his return through a treaty with the Breton authorities, but
   Henry was alerted and escaped to France. He was welcomed by the French
   court, who readily supplied him with troops and equipment for a second
   invasion.

Rise to the throne

   Having gained the support of the in-laws of the late Yorkist King
   Edward IV, he landed with a largely French and Scottish force in Mill
   Bay, Pembrokeshire, and marched into England, accompanied by his uncle,
   Jasper Tudor, and the experienced John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford.
   Wales had traditionally been a Yorkist stronghold, and Henry owed the
   support he gathered to his ancestry, being directly descended, through
   his father, from the Lord Rhys. He amassed an army of around 5,000
   soldiers and travelled north.

   Henry was aware that this was his only chance to seize the throne since
   Richard had reinforcements that waited in Nottingham and Leicester and
   thus had only to avoid being killed in order to keep the throne. Though
   outnumbered, Henry's Lancastrian forces decisively defeated the Yorkist
   army under Richard at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485
   when several of Richard's key allies, such as the Earl of
   Northumberland and William and Thomas Stanley, crucially switched sides
   or deserted the field of battle. The death of Richard III on Bosworth
   Field effectively ended the long-running Wars of the Roses between the
   two houses, although it was not the final battle Henry had to fight.
   His claim to the throne was tenuous: it was based upon a lineage of
   illegitimate succession, and overlooked the fact that the Beauforts had
   been disinherited by an earlier act of attainder. Henry VII's paternal
   grandfather had married the widow of Henry V, while on his mother's
   side (Beauforts) claimed royal blood through an illegitimate line from
   John of Gaunt, third son of Edward III. The Tudors also said to be
   descended from Edward I through his granddaughter Eleanor of Bar, the
   daughter of the Count of Bar, apparently without any basis and
   intending to create a connection to the eralier Plantagenets. If
   forged, that pretension was, however, unnecessary since Catherine of
   Valois was twice a descendant of Henry II through the Kings of Castile.
   However, the Wars of the Roses had ensured that most other claimants
   were either dead or too weak to challenge him. In the end Henry dealt
   with the act of attainder by claiming that it could not apply to a
   king.

   The first of Henry's concerns on attaining the throne was the question
   of establishing the strength and supremacy of his rule. His own claim
   to the throne being weak as it was, he was fortunate in that there were
   few other claimants to the throne left alive after the long civil war.
   His main worry was pretenders including Perkin Warbeck, who, pretending
   to be Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the Princes in the Tower
   and son of Edward IV, made attempts at the throne with the backing of
   disaffected nobles and foreign enemies. Henry managed to secure 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 well as by a legislative assault on
   retaining, the practice of maintaining private armies. He also honoured
   his pledge of December 1483 to marry Elizabeth of York, daughter and
   heir of King Edward IV. The marriage took place on January 18, 1486 at
   Westminster. The marriage unified the warring houses and gave his
   children a stronger claim to the throne (although there is evidence
   that Edward was born illegitimate). The unification of the houses of
   York and Lancaster by Henry VII's marriage to Elizabeth of York is
   represented in the heraldic symbol of the Tudor rose, a combination of
   the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster.

   In addition, Henry had the Titulus Regius, the document declaring
   Edward IV's children illegitimate due to his marriage being invalid,
   repealed in his first parliament, thus legitimizing his wife. Several
   amateur historians, including Bertram Fields and most particularly Sir
   Clements Markham believe that he also may have been involved in the
   murder of the Princes in the Tower, as the repeal of the Titulus Regius
   would have given them a stronger claim to the throne than his own. This
   theory has made its appearance in such notable cases as former William
   Rehnquist's show trial, aired on CNN, where he 'found' that "There is a
   sufficient lapse of time even considering the evidence most favorable
   to the State as to put it beyond the time when Richard III was in
   control of things and into the time when Henry VII was in control of
   things".

   Henry's first action was to declare himself king retroactive to the day
   before the battle, thus ensuring that anyone who had fought against him
   would be guilty of treason. It is interesting to note, therefore, that
   he spared Richard's designated heir, John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln.
   He would have cause to regret his leniency two years later, when
   Lincoln rebelled and attempted to set a boy pretender, Lambert Simnel,
   on the throne in Henry's place. Lincoln was killed at the Battle of
   Stoke, but Simnel's life was spared and he became a royal servant.

   Simnel had been put forward as "Edward VI", impersonating the young
   Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of George, Duke of Clarence, who was still
   imprisoned in the Tower of London. Henry had imprisoned the boy at the
   age of 10, and though he did not release him at any point, he did not
   execute him until he had grown into adulthood, in 1499. Edward's elder
   sister, Margaret Pole, who had the next best claim on the throne,
   inherited her father's earldom of Salisbury and survived well into the
   next century (until she fell victim to a bill of attainder for treason
   too, under Henry VIII).

Economic and diplomatic policies

   Henry VII was a fiscally prudent monarch who restored the fortunes of
   an effectively bankrupt exchequer (Edward IV's treasury had been
   emptied by his wife's Woodville relations after his death and before
   the accession of Richard III) by introducing ruthlessly efficient
   mechanisms of taxation. In this he was supported by his chancellor,
   Archbishop John Morton, whose " Morton's Fork" (the two "tines" of
   which being: "If the subject is seen to live frugally, tell him because
   he is clearly a money saver of great ability he can afford to give
   generously to the King. If, however, the subject lives a life of great
   extravagance, tell him he, too, can afford to give largely, the proof
   of his opulence being evident in his expenditure.") was a catch 22
   method of ensuring that nobles paid increased taxes. Royal government
   was also reformed with the introduction of the King's Council that kept
   the nobility in check.

   Henry VII's policy was both to maintain peace and to create economic
   prosperity. Up to a point, he succeeded in both. He was not a military
   man, and had no interest in trying to regain the French territories
   lost during the reigns of his predecessors; he was therefore only too
   ready to conclude a treaty with France at Etaples that both directly
   and indirectly brought money into the coffers of England, and ensured
   that the French would not support pretenders to the English throne,
   such as Perkin Warbeck. Henry had been under the financial and physical
   protection of the French throne or its vassals for most of his career
   prior to his ascending to the throne of England. To strengthen his
   position, however, he subsidized 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. By the time of his death, he had amassed a personal
   fortune of a 1.5 million; it did not take his son as long to fritter it
   away as it had taken the father to acquire it.

   Henry VII was one of the first European monarchs to recognise the
   importance of the newly-united Spanish kingdom and thus concluded the
   Treaty of Medina Del Campo in 1489, by which his son, Arthur Tudor, was
   married to Catherine of Aragon. Similarly, the first treaty between
   England and Scotland for almost two centuries betrothed his daughter
   Margaret to King James IV of Scotland, a move which would ultimately
   see the English and Scottish crowns united under one of Margaret's
   descendants, James I. He also formed an alliance with the Holy Roman
   Empire, under the emperor Maximilian I (1493–1519) and persuaded Pope
   Innocent VIII to issue a Bull of Excommunication against all pretenders
   to Henry's throne.

Law Enforcement and Justices of the Peace

   Death mask of King Henry VII in Westminster Abbey
   Death mask of King Henry VII in Westminster Abbey

   Henry's principal problem was, indeed, to restore royal authority in a
   realm still recovering from the disorders of the Wars of the Roses.
   There were too many powerful noblemen, and, as a consequence of the
   system of so called bastard feudalism, each had what amounted to
   private armies of indentured retainers (contracted men-at-arms
   masquerading as servants).

   He was content to allow the nobles their regional influence if they
   were loyal to him. For instance, the Stanley family had control of
   Lancashire and Cheshire, upholding the peace on the condition that they
   themselves stayed within the law.

   In other cases, he brought his over powerful subjects to heel by
   degree. He passed laws against 'livery' (flaunting your adherents by
   giving them badges and emblems) and 'maintenance' (keeping too many
   male 'servants'). These were used very shrewdly in levying fines upon
   those that he perceived a threat.

   However, his principal weapon was the Court of Star Chamber. This
   revived an earlier practice of using a small (and trusted) group of the
   Privy Council as a personal or Prerogative Court, able to cut through
   the cumbersome legal system and act swiftly. Serious disputes involving
   the use of personal power, or threats to royal authority, were dealt
   with by the new Court.

   Henry VII used Justices of the Peace (JPs) on a large, nationwide
   scale. They were appointed for every shire and served for a year at a
   time. Their chief task was to see that the laws of the country were
   obeyed in their area. Their powers and numbers steadily increased
   during the Tudors, never more so than under Henry’s reign.

   Despite this, Henry was keen to constrain their power and influence,
   applying the same principles to the Justices of the Peace as he did to
   the nobility. i.e. a similar system of bonds and recognisances to which
   applied to both the gentry (who were most likely to be appointed as
   Justices of the Peace) as well as the nobles who tried to exert their
   elevated influence over these local officials.

   The enforcement of Acts of Parliament was overseen by the Justices of
   the Peace. For example, Justices of the Peace could replace suspect
   jurors in accordance with the 1495 act preventing the corruption of
   juries. They were also in charge of various administrative duties, such
   as the checking of weights and measures.

   By 1509 Justices of Peace were the key enforcers of law and order for
   Henry VII. They were unpaid, which, in comparison with modern
   standards, meant a lesser tax bill to pay for a police force. Local
   gentry saw the office as one of local influence and prestige and were
   therefore willing to serve. 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.

Later years

   In 1502, fate dealt Henry VII a double blow from which he never fully
   recovered: His heir, the recently-married Arthur, died in an epidemic
   at Ludlow Castle and was followed only a few months later by Henry
   VII's queen, in childbirth. Not wishing the negotiations that had led
   to the marriage of his elder son to Catherine of Aragon to go to waste,
   he arranged a dispensation for his younger son to marry his brother's
   widow — normally a degree of relationship that precluded marriage in
   the Roman Catholic Church. Also included in the dispensation was a
   proviso that would allow Henry VII himself to marry his widowed
   daughter-in-law. Henry VII obtained the dispensation from Pope Julius
   II (1503–13) but had second thoughts about the value of the marriage
   and did not allow it to take place during his lifetime. Although he
   made half-hearted plans to re-marry and beget more heirs, these never
   came to anything. On his death in 1509, he was succeeded by his second
   son, Henry VIII (1509–47). He is buried at Westminster Abbey.

Ancestors

   CAPTION: Henry VII's ancestors in three generations

   Henry VII of England Father:
   Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond Paternal Grandfather:
   Owen Tudor Paternal Great-grandfather:
   Maredudd ap Tudor
   Paternal Great-grandmother:
   Margaret ferch Dafydd
   Paternal Grandmother:
   Catherine of Valois Paternal Great-grandfather:
   Charles VI of France
   Paternal Great-grandmother:
   Isabeau of Bavaria
   Mother:
   Lady Margaret Beaufort Maternal Grandfather:
   John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset Maternal Great-grandfather:
   John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset
   Maternal Great-grandmother:
   Margaret Holland
   Maternal Grandmother:
   Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso Maternal Great-grandfather:
   Baron John Beauchamp of Bletso
   Maternal Great-grandmother:
   Edith Stourton

Marriage and Issue

   Henry and Elizabeth's children are:
   Name Birth Death Notes
   Arthur, Prince of Wales September 20, 1486 April 2, 1502 Married
   Catherine of Aragon (1485 - 1536) in 1501. No issue.
   Margaret Tudor, Princess of England November 28, 1489 October 18, 1541
   Married (1) James IV, King of Scotland (1473 - 1513) in 1503. Had
   issue. Married (2) Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus (1489 - 1557)
   in 1514. Had issue.
   Henry VIII, King of England June 28, 1491 January 28, 1547 Married (1)
   Catherine of Aragon (1485 - 1536) in 1509. Had issue. Married (2) Anne
   Boleyn (1501 - 1536) in 1533. Had issue. Married (3) Jane Seymour (1503
   - 1537) in 1536. Had issue. Married (4) Anne of Cleves (1515 - 1557) in
   1540. No issue. Married (5) Catherine Howard (1520 - 1542) in 1540. No
   issue. Married (6) Katherine Parr (1512 - 1548) in 1543. No issue.
   Elizabeth Tudor, Princess of England July 2, 1492 September 14, 1495
   Died young. No issue.
   Mary Tudor, Princess of England March 18, 1496 June 25, 1533 Married
   (1) Louis XII, King of France (1462 - 1515) in 1514. No issue.
   Elizabeth was half-sister. Married (2) Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of
   Suffolk (1484 - 1545) in 1515. Had issue (was grandmother to Lady Jane
   Grey).
   Edmund Tudor, Duke of Somerset February 21, 1499 June 19, 1500 Died
   young. No issue.
   Edward Tudor, Prince of England Unknown Unknown Edward Tudor. He may
   not have actually existed. Suspected to be a mistaken name for Edmund
   Tudor, Duke of Somerset. However, this name is listed in official
   records as a child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Edward is also
   mentioned in Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy by Alison
   Weir as having died young. She assumes the child to have been buried
   with his family in Westminster Abbey.
   Katherine Tudor, Princess of England February 2, 1503 February 2, 1503
   Died young. No issue. Mother, Elizabeth of York, died as a result of
   Katherine's birth.

   An illegitimate son has also been attributed to Henry. By "a Breton
   Lady":
   Name Birth Death Notes
   Sir Roland de Velville or Veleville 1474 25 June 1535 He was knighted
   in 1497 and was Constable of Beaumaris Castle. If de Velville was in
   fact Henry's son, he was born during the period of Henry's exile in
   France. Roland de Velville's descendants included Katheryn of Berain,
   hence she is sometimes referred to as "Katherine Tudor".

Descendants

   Henry VII's elder daughter Margaret was married first to James IV of
   Scotland (1488–1513), and their son became James V of Scotland
   (1513–42), whose daughter became Mary, Queen of Scots. By means of this
   marriage, Henry VII hoped to break the Auld Alliance between Scotland
   and France. Margaret Tudor's second marriage was to Archibald Douglas;
   their grandson, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley married Mary, Queen of
   Scots. Their son, James VI of Scotland (1567–1625), inherited the
   throne of England as James I (1603–25) after the death of Elizabeth I.
   Henry VII's other surviving daughter, Mary, first married the elderly
   King Louis XII of France (1498–1515) and then, when he died after only
   about 1 year of marriage, she married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk
   without her brother's (now King Henry VIII) permission. Their daughter
   Frances married Henry Grey, and her children included Lady Jane Grey,
   in whose name her parents and in-laws tried to seize the throne after
   Edward VI of England (1537–53) died.
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