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Henry VII 35-page revision booklet
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Henry VIIEngland in Context
The Wars of the Roses had been fought from 1455 to 1487.
This had seen England fall from power within Europe as they were too busy with internal conflict to continue
expanding and dominating the continent as they had been under Henry V. Henry VI was a weak king who
was deposed twice by Edward IV. After IV died he passed the throne on to his young son Edward V. His
protector, his uncle Richard, sent him and his brother Richard to the Tower of London for their own
protection. Richard of Gloucester quickly had himself crowned Richard III.
Richard III was initially a popular figure but after rumours of the death of the boys in the tower his popularity
waned.
The country’s nobility remained divided between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians. The majority of the
population, however, were more than ready to have a strong, stable king who was capable of leading
England back to glory rather than fighting over the Throne.
The economy was as destroyed as England’s international respectability. Henry V had been the last truly
respected king – and he died in 1422. Under Henry VI, customs had produced £47,000 a year whereas under
Richard it was just £2500. Income had fallen to £29,000 by 1485 – for example the Duchy of Lancaster had
provided the crown with just £650 that year. Customs had also fallen dramatically as people had been forced
to focus on metallurgy and weaponsmithing rather than lucrative trade.
The black death, despite having taken place in the 1340s, still dominated English society as peasants had
claimed their freedom as the population died off. Many had been granted lands for three generations by
landlords: a time period coming to a close just as Henry took the Throne.
Europe in Context
Iberia had united in 1479 with the marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, forming a
country which was becoming more powerful by the year. By the time of Henry VIII and especially Elizabeth I,
it would be the dominant force in Europe. However, what would become Spain in in 1500s was plagued with
a major issue – it was still two kingdoms. Isabella only ruled over Aragon for as long as Ferdinand lived… and
vice versa.
France, indisputably, was the dominant force of Europe. For a country to thrive they had to have friendly
relations with France. It was lucky for Henry Tudor then that he had grown up there and they had subsidised
part of his army at Bosworth. Charles VIII was, however, not a man of loyalty.
Frederick III was uninvolved in English politics. Maximillian I, his successor in 1493, was almost as
uninterested as he faced the same threat as Frederick did – the Ottoman Turks to the south-east threatening
conquest with their ever-expanding Muslim empire. All of Europe, despite their differences, feared the fall of
the Holy Roman Empire to Islam, though Henry did not engage with this.
The Pope, Innocent VIII, along with the Catholic Church, was the largest landowner in the country – far more
than the king. The Pope had the ability to decry a king, though Henry had no interest in deviating from the
Papacy.
Henry Tudor in Context
Henry’s mother Margaret Beaufort was an extremely strong and driven woman, though crippled by his birth.
She could never have another child as she was 13 when Henry was born. Henry’s father Edmund died three
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, months before his son’s birth (at the age of 26). He was created Earl of Richmond in 1452 and was legally
declared legitimate by Parliament on the condition that his children had no claim to the throne.
This meant that his main claim to the throne came from his mother (thereby making it invalid) through being
a distant and illegitimate relation of Edward III.
In 1471 Henry fled with other Lancastrians to Brittany. In 1476 he was almost forced to return to England but
managed to escape to a monastery where he found asylum.
1483 saw him attempt to land in England. This failed and resulted in the execution of Lord Buckingham.
Henry fled to France after Richard III attempted to extradite him to England with the support of the Prime
Minister of Brittany. The French readily supported him with equipment for a second invasion as well as
renewed troops from Brittany and some Scottish mercenaries.
Characters
Henry Tudor King of England 1485 - 1509
Elizabeth of York Queen of England 1485 - 1503
Arthur Tudor Prince of Wales 1486 - 1502
Margaret Beaufort Mother of the King 1485 - 1509
Prince Henry Heir Apparent 1503 - 1509
Isabella I Queen of Castile 1474 - 1504
Ferdinand II King of Aragon and Castile 1479 - 1521
Richard III King of England 1483 - 1485
Charles VIII King of France 1483 - 1498
James IV King of Scotland 1488 - 1513
Anne of Brittany Duchess of Brittany 1488 - 1514
Alexander VI Borgia Pope 1492 - 1503
Maximillian I Holy Roman Emperor 1493 - 1519
Philip I the Fair King of Castile 1506
Lambert Simnel Unwitting Pretender to the Throne 1486 - 1487
Perkin Warbeck Pretender to the Throne 1490 - 1497/9
Edmund de la Pole Final Yorkist Threat 1501 - 1506
Reginald Bray Chancellor of Lancaster 1486 - 1503
John Morton Archbishop of Canterbury 1486 - 1500
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,The Tudor Rose, a creation by Henry to symbolise the union of the houses of York and Lancaster upon his
marriage to Elizabeth of York.
Part I
An England Divided
1485 – 1492
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, Making the White Rose Bleed Red: Security I
O
nd
n the 22 August 1485, Henry and Richard saw battle on Bosworth Field. They both led more-or-less 9000
men. Henry’s Lancastrian army consisted mostly of troops from France, England and Brittany, with some
from Scotland and Wales.
Richard III was killed and with him the reign of the Yorkists. This was a safer victory than if Henry had killed the
much-beloved Edward IV as people had come to hate the ‘child-killer’ Richard. However, he still faced an arduous
quest to secure the Throne when it had not been so for 30 years.
Henry wisely put his primary claim as by that of conquest rather than his as good as non-existent claim by his family
and dated his reign as beginning on the 21st of August. This
way he could classify all of his enemies as traitors to the
Crown as they had rebelled against him.
After this, his first point of order was to reward those who
supported him. He rewarded his uncle with entrance to
the peerage as Duke of Bedford as well as John Morton
and Reginald Bray with their titles.
Henry had the option to punish those who fought for
Richard at Bosworth as severely as he wanted; they were
traitors; they had committed the highest crime – treason –
which was punishably by death by means of being Hanged,
Drawn and Quartered. However, the new king opted
instead to be lenient. The troops were pardoned, and the
leaders given short time in prison or the option to swear
loyalty to Henry. Lincoln, for example, was given the
option to either swear loyalty to Henry or face the Tower
of London. He swore the oath of allegiance which he
upheld for a long time. Percy, an extremely loyal Yorkist,
was even made Lord of the North. The only true
Coronation of Henry VII punishment was handed to the Earl of Warwick – the 10-
year-old nephew of Richard III who had no part in
Bosworth. He was sent to live in the Tower to live in
comfort.
He placed Elizabeth of York, the next claimant to the
Yorkist Throne after Warwick, in his mother’s household. He had promised in 1483 to marry her. Richard III was
rumoured to have murdered his wife Anne Neville by poisoning so that he would be able to marry Elizabeth, who
was his niece. He was killed before this could happen. He placed the next Yorkist claimant, Cecily of York, there too.
Within a week Henry was crowned. He did this before Parliament next sat so that he could claim his dominance over
them. After this coronation he proclaimed that anyone who swore fealty to him would be secure in their land and
peerage.
A week after his coronation, Henry called Parliament to recognise him as the legal king. It was then not until January
1486 that he fulfilled his promise of marriage to Elizabeth, uniting the houses of York and Lancaster. To celebrate this
marriage, he created the Tudor Rose – a combination of Edward IV’s white rose and the sparsely used Lancastrian
red rose. The marriage was complimented by the repeal of Richard III’s act Titulus Regius, which had declared
Elizabeth (and the Princes in the Tower) as illegitimate. This marriage quickly proved fruitful with the birth of Arthur
in September 1486. They would go on to have either seven or eight children, four of whom lived to adulthood. The
Pope issued a dispensation for their marriage as they were distant cousins. They had secured their lineage – at least
in terms of heirs.
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