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"[73] Further compounding Henry's distress, his older daughter Margaret had previously been betrothed to King James IV of Scotland and within months of her mother's death she had to be escorted to the border by her father: he would never see her again. Henry the eighth was a renaissance King. I couldn't even stay awake reading this. [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. He created the sovereign coin to spread the message that he was King. Royal Collection Trust At the summit, even dinnerware testified to its owner's status. The rebels were defeated (June 1487) in a hard-fought battle at Stoke (East Stoke, near Newark in Nottinghamshire), where the doubtful loyalty of some of the royal troops was reminiscent of Richard IIIs difficulties at Bosworth. [36] However, he spared Warwick's elder sister Margaret, who survived until 1541 when she was executed by Henry VIII. Henry's original head was cut out of the painting and replaced at some point after the work's creation. Henry VII (28 January 1457 21 April 1509) was King of England from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. A man who rewrote history and rebuilt the crown, but who was paranoid, manipulative and suspicious; a dark prince with a wintery reign. Together, they had seven children. Quite ambitious in nature, Thomas Penn attempts to write a portrait of Henry VII and his reign. [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. [59][60][61], He was content to allow the nobles their regional influence if they were loyal to him. All the information is from Thomas Penn. Here was a young man who enjoyed jousting, who enjoyed chatting with the other knights in the tiltyard and with people of low degree. 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.. [citation needed], By 1509, justices of the peace were key enforcers of law and order for Henry VII. His second son, also called Henry, inherited the throne and became . 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? Henry VII ruled as Machiavelli, just after his reign, was to advise usurpers to do through fear rather than love. Yet in the hands of a narrator as accomplished as Penn, the reign acquires its own, troubling fascination. 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. Here is a rundown of the programme for those who missed it. They were third cousins, as both were great-great-grandchildren of John of Gaunt. I was disappointed by this it was decent but I think it was somewhat overhyped. Their chief task was to see that the laws of the country were obeyed in their area. Henry VIII was spring and Henry VII was winter. After the Holy Roman Emperor . I would read more by this author. He had a populist touch and his reign started with pardons, reforms and justice. Shakespeare, drawn to the colour on either side of the reign, skipped it. It was not until 1506, when he imprisoned Suffolk in the Tower of London, that Henry could at last feel safe. [citation needed], Henry began taking precautions against rebellion while still in Leicester after Bosworth Field. In response to this threat within his own household, the King instituted more rigid security for access to his person. More than a biography of Henry VII, this book is really a highly detailed history of the last ten years of his reign, and how he meticulously and ruthlessly turned England into a police state ruled by what amounted to an organized crime syndicate. Dydd Gyl Dewi Hapus! After obtaining the dispensation, Henry had second thoughts about the marriage of his son and Catherine. Henry decided to keep Brittany out of French hands, signed an alliance with Spain to that end, and sent 6,000 troops to France. His spies and informers were everywhere. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor.[a]. "King Henry VII" redirects here. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. His claim to the throne was precarious and he wanted to portray Richard III as a usurper. [42], The capriciousness and lack of due process that indebted many would tarnish his legacy and were soon ended upon Henry VII's death, after a commission revealed widespread abuses. [14] In November 1476, Francis fell ill and his principal advisers were more amenable to negotiating with King Edward. Life at court was merry under Henry 8th, a fresh new beginning likened to springtime. What old December's bareness every where! [40], Henry VII improved tax collection in the realm by introducing ruthlessly efficient mechanisms of taxation. ||sitemap_index.xml The union was both symbolic and necessary. 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. We know that Henry attended the wedding celebrations of Arthur and his bride . [55] Since alum was mined in only one area in Europe (Tolfa, Italy), it was a scarce commodity and therefore especially valuable to its land holder, the Pope. Reasonably interesting overview of the reign of Henry VII of England. This book is a nonfiction look at King Henry the VII. In 1501, England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, coups . The author does a good job drawing on his sources and bringing the characters to life while staying true to the history, but the subject matter is just not inherently as sexy as Henry VIIIs or Elizabeth Is reigns. 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. The marriage between Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Catherine of Aragon would be the culmination of everything that Henry VII had fought for at the Battle of Bosworth, so in 1501 there was a fortnight of marriage celebrations and London was in a carnival mood. His claim to the throne was tenuous and permanently contested. It was 1501. Henrys throne, however, was far from secure. Shakespeare later turned to Henry's son and successor Henry VIII, whose rule brought marital sensation, renaissance spectacle and the reformation. The king's own death seven years later had to be kept secret until his nervous entourage had ensured the succession. Pembroke Castle, and later the Earldom of Pembroke, were granted to the Yorkist William Herbert, who also assumed the guardianship of Margaret Beaufort and the young Henry. His first chance came in 1483 when his aid was sought to rally Lancastrians in support of the rebellion of Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, but that revolt was defeated before Henry could land in England. Gaunt's nephew Richard II legitimised Gaunt's children by Swynford by Letters Patent in 1397. In other cases, he brought his over-powerful subjects to heel by decree. They were unpaid, which, in comparison with modern standards, meant a smaller tax bill for law enforcement. 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. Prince Arthur was born just eight months after his parents marriage, at Winchester, the seat of King Arthurs Camelot. 3.5 Stars. Shakespeare later turned to Henry's son and successor Henry VIII, whose rule brought marital sensation, renaissance spectacle and the reformation. Author of, Assistant Master and Professor of History, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. The Great Debasement (1544-1551) was a currency debasement policy introduced in 1544 England under the order of Henry VIII which saw the amount of precious metal in gold and silver coins reduced and in some cases replaced entirely with cheaper base metals such as copper. Henry started a new policy to recover Guyenne and other lost Plantagenet claims in France. Present were exiles from Richards court, friends of Edward IVths queen, but King Richard was able to bribe the ageing Duke of Brittany to relinquish Henry in return for funds to fight an increasingly hostile French king, whereupon Henry Tudor flew to the French court for sanctuary. He passed laws against "livery" (the upper classes' flaunting of their adherents by giving them badges and emblems) and "maintenance" (the keeping of too many male "servants"). Amateur historians Bertram Fields and Sir Clements Markham have claimed that he may have been involved in the murder of the Princes in the Tower, as the repeal of Titulus Regius gave the Princes a stronger claim to the throne than his own. In many ways, it highlights that Henry VIII was a feckless inheritor of the tools of Machiavellian power, but had no idea to what productive end to put them. [13] When the Yorkist Edward IV regained the throne in 1471, Henry fled with other Lancastrians to Brittany. During Henry's early years, his uncle Henry VI was fighting against Edward IV, a member of the Yorkist Plantagenet branch. 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. It was no easy feat. By 1900 the "New Monarchy" interpretation stressed the common factors that in each country led to the revival of monarchical power. Yorkist malcontents had strength in the north of England and in Ireland and had a powerful ally in Richard IIIs sister Margaret, dowager duchess of Burgundy. 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. Henry VII was king of England from 1485 to 1509. It is not known precisely where Cabot landed, but he was eventually rewarded with a pension from the king; it is presumed that Cabot perished at sea after a later unsuccessful expedition. These bonds were enforced by the Council Learned in the Law, a council of legal advisers who were only answerable to the King. [citation needed], To secure his hold on the throne, Henry declared himself king by right of conquest retroactively from 21 August 1485, the day before Bosworth Field. Rarely was a father's reign so widely disparaged and disowned on the accession of the son. He was supported in this effort by his chancellor, Archbishop John Morton, whose "Morton's Fork" was a catch-22 method of ensuring that nobles paid increased taxes: those nobles who spent little must have saved much, and thus could afford the increased taxes; in contrast, those nobles who spent much obviously had the means to pay the increased taxes. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [citation needed], Henry honoured his pledge of December 1483 to marry Elizabeth of York and the wedding took place in 1486 at Westminster Abbey. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers. This approach raised puzzling questions about similarities and differences in the development of national states. Through luck, guile and ruthlessness, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, had clambered to the top of the heap--a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's throne. The research was thorough and it was presented well and kept me engaged. From 1527 Henry pursued what became known as "the King's great matter": his divorce from Catherine. Still, as Penn observes, the national sense of relief in 1509 was palpable. 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. 'Meeting between Francis I and Henry VIII at the Field of Cloth of Gold on 7 June 1520,' a painting by Friedrich August Bouterwek. [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. [8], In 1456, Henry's father Edmund Tudor was captured while fighting for Henry VI in South Wales against the Yorkists. [74] Margaret Tudor wrote letters to her father declaring her homesickness, but Henry could do nothing but mourn the loss of his family and honour the terms of the peace treaty he had agreed to with the King of Scotland.

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