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Henry VII
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Henry VII
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Henry VII
was born 28 January 1457. His father Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond
had died in November 1456. His mother, Margaret Beaufort
(great-grand-daughter of John
of Gaunt) was thirteen years old. (She had been born May 1443 and married
Edmund in November 1455.) |
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Henry spent the first years of his life in
Wales, until his custody was "sold" to a loyal Yorkist,
William Herbert in 1462. Herbert was killed at the Battle of Edgecote
(1469) and Henry passed into the charge of his uncle - Jasper Tudor.
The collapse of Henry VI's brief restoration ("readeption") (1471) forced Jasper and
Henry to flee to Brittany, where he stayed until his invasion of
England in August 1485. |
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Henry VII dated his reign from before his victory at
Bosworth, and parliament passed acts of attainder against Richard III (calling
him Richard Duke of Gloucester) and some of his major supporters for committing
treason by fighting against King Henry at Bosworth. |
Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509)
Establishing control
| Henry had defeated and killed Richard III, but his position was
still far from secure. |
| The first challenge to his rule arose in Spring 1486 when Lord
Lovell joined with Humphrey and Thomas Stafford in a brief, abortive
rebellion. Humphrey was hanged, Thomas pardoned, and Lord Lovell
fled. |
| A new challenge arose in Ireland, where Lambert Simnel - the
bright son of a tradesman - was coached to act the part of Edward
(son of George, Duke of Clarence; the real Edward was in the Tower
of London.)
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The ruins of Saint Mary's Church, Dublin where
Lambert Simnel was crowned as "Edward VI" (May 1487.) |
Although probably well aware that the child
was an imposter, Margaret of Burgundy (sister of Edward IV, and aunt of
the real Warwick)
supported his claim. Supported by Irish adventurers and
German mercenaries, Simnel and John de la Pole (Earl of
Lincoln, nephew of Edward IV) invaded England on 4 June 1487. They were
soon joined by Lord Lovell. |
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Henry VII was well-prepared and intercepted the
rebel forces at East Stoke, Nottinghamshire. In the Battle of Stoke
(16 June 1487) the German mercenaries fought stubbornly, but the
ill-equipped and untrained Irish forces were soon overcome, and Henry VII's victory was complete. John de la Pole was killed, Lord Lovell
disappeared (possibly drowned in the Trent River while fleeing) and
Lambert Simnel was captured. |
| John de la Pole's younger brother, Edmund
initially remained on amicable terms with Henry VII and was allowed to
remain Earl of Suffolk, but later he fled abroad. Edmund was given
sanctuary by the Hapsburgs until Philip the Handsome (ruler of the Netherlands
and husband of Joanna of Castile) was shipwrecked on the coast of England and obliged him to make
concessions to Henry VII. One of these was the surrender of Edmund,
who was sent to the Tower of London. (Philip had obtained Henry VII's
promise that Edmund should not be executed, but his son, Henry VIII,
did not feel bound by the promise and beheaded Edmund in 1513.)
The third of the de la Pole brothers, Richard, went into the
service of Francis I (King of France 1515-47) and was killed
at the Battle of Pavia (24 February 1525.) |
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Edward, Earl of Warwick (son
of George, Duke of Clarence and Isabel Neville) remained in the Tower
of London until 1499, when Henry VII executed him on dubious charges
of treason. His sister Margaret married Richard Pole (1494) and had
five children before finally being executed in 1541 by Henry VIII. |
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Another important Yorkist
claimant was Elizabeth - daughter of Edward IV. Henry neutralized any
threats from this direction by marrying her. This also ensured that
the claim of their children to the throne was unrivalled. |
The Tudor
dynasty
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Elizabeth soon (September 1486) bore a son,
Arthur. Three years later they had a daughter, Margaret, and in
June 1491 another son - Henry. A second daughter, Mary, was born
in 1496. |
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Two sons might seem to
have assured the succession, but in 1502 Prince Arthur died suddenly. |
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Henry VII was fortunate in
having no brothers who could plot to gain to the crown. Henry's claim
came from his mother, Margaret Beaufort, so his paternal uncle (Jasper
Tudor) was no threat. |
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Margaret Beaufort herself
remarried - to Thomas Lord Stanley. But in February 1495 Henry VII did
not hesitate to behead her brother-in-law Sir William Stanley, (who changed sides at
Bosworth) when he discovered that he was plotting against him. |
Perkin
Warbeck
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Perkin Warbeck (c. 1474-99) was the son of
John Werbeque (Osbek) a trader and official at the French town of Tournai.
Simnel had impersonated Edward, Earl of Warwick, but Warbeck preferred to be
Richard, Duke of York (the younger of the princes in the Tower.)
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Perkin Warbeck |
Warbeck made his
claims first in Cork, Ireland in 1491, but met with no
success. He later made his way to the court of Margaret of Burgundy, who
"recognized" him as her nephew. The head of the Hapsburgs - Emperor
Maximilian I - and (for a while) Charles VIII of France also went along
with the pretence to strengthen their hand against England. |
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James IV of Scotland may well
have been genuinely deceived by Warbeck's imposture, for he
entertained him in Scotland and allowed his marriage to Lady Catherine Gordon (a
relative of his on her mother's side.) |
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Henry VII launched a trade war
with the Netherlands to discourage their support for Warbeck, and
activated his intelligence service to be alert for plots at home. |
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Warbeck landed in Cornwall in
September 1497, and though he found some support there, he and his followers
were soon routed, and he surrendered to royal forces (October 1497.) |
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Warbeck made a complete and
abject confession, and was eventually hanged on Tyburn Hill (November 1499.)
Henry VII
Henry VII worked hard to
restore the prestige and power of the English crown. Ceremonial events
were celebrated with a pomp and splendor designed to impress, but
Henry was not extravagant. In fact, he scrutinized ever expense
with a critical eye, and did all he could to increase revenues from
royal lands and to promote English commerce.
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Henry was arguably England's
most hardworking king. He was also one of its most cautious.
He carefully avoided involvement in Continental wars and
husbanded his resources. |
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Henry's restrained expenditure
meant that he made few demands for parliamentary taxation, and summoned
parliament relatively rarely. |
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