Alison Weir points out that the Rennes ceremony, two years earlier, was plausible only if Henry and his supporters were certain that the Princes were already dead. The house of York then appeared so firmly established that Henry seemed likely to remain in exile for the rest of his life. King Henry the VII and King Henry the VIII both feared being invaded by foreign countries. Years of instability, factionalism and his predecessors' penchant for war had seen royal finances severely battered. [43] According to the contemporary historian Polydore Vergil, simple "greed" underscored the means by which royal control was over-asserted in Henry's final years. Before Henry VIII, English kings were addressed as "Your Grace" or "Your Highness.". Henry restored power and stability to the English monarchy following the civil war. Henry VIII, (born June 28, 1491, Greenwich, near London, Englanddied January 28, 1547, London), king of England (1509-47) who presided over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and the English Reformation. Not only was . Luther gained support for his ideas and Europe became . I thought the way he controled the nobility was fascinating - keeping them in check as well a raising vast sums of money at the same time. In that, he was quite successful, but he was neither loved nor admired. 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. He had a populist touch and his reign started with pardons, reforms and justice. There are an awful lot of books written about the Tudor era, both fiction and non-fiction, so you have to ask whether this book adds anything new. [79], Amiable and high-spirited, Henry was friendly if dignified in manner, and it was clear that he was extremely intelligent. However, as France was becoming more concerned with the Italian Wars, the French were happy to agree to the Treaty of Etaples. He created the Tudor dynasty. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. [12], Henry lived in the Herbert household until 1469, when Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (the "Kingmaker"), went over to the Lancastrians. He had finished his palace of Richmond, he was controlling his allies and keeping an eye on his enemies, and now was the time to finalise the marriage agreement between England and Spain. Henry himself was clearly a distant figure who governed through his ministers, but this means that it's quite hard to get much of a sense of his character from the few sources available. This is why he named the book the "Winter King". These laws were used shrewdly in levying fines upon those that he perceived as threats. That was to prevent the King of France capturing him and letting him loose on the English as a rival. Four different kinds of cryptocurrencies you should know. [19] He marched toward England accompanied by his uncle Jasper and John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford. ), Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_VII_of_England&oldid=1141813382, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from September 2021, Articles incorporating a citation from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia with Wikisource reference, Articles incorporating text from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia with Wikisource reference, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the ODNB, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from August 2021, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2020, Articles needing additional references from October 2020, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Katherine (2 February 1503 10 February 1503), This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 23:16. 1) The number of books on Henry VII can basically be counted on one hand 2) This is Penns first book. Indeed he was born in winter, on January 28th 1457, in Pembroke Castle, in Wales and that is one of the reasons why the Welsh dragon always formed part of his insignia. 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. 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. The rebellion began in Ireland, where the historically Yorkist nobility, headed by the powerful Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, proclaimed Simnel king and provided troops for his invasion of England. [18] He was welcomed by the French, who readily supplied him with troops and equipment for a second invasion. [15], By 1483, Henry's mother was actively promoting him as an alternative to Richard III, despite her being married to Lord Stanley, a Yorkist. While most of us are familiar with Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and we probably have a sense of the Wars of the Roses in England, but how many of us are familiar with Henry VII. His younger brother, Jasper Tudor, the Earl of Pembroke, undertook to protect Edmund's widow Margaret, who was 13 years old when she gave birth to Henry. Henry Tudors claim to the throne was, therefore, weak and of no importance until the deaths in 1471 of Henry VIs only son, Edward, of his own two remaining kinsmen of the Beaufort line, and of Henry VI himself, which suddenly made Henry Tudor the sole surviving male with any ancestral claim to the house of Lancaster. [28], Henry had Parliament repeal Titulus Regius, the statute that declared Edward IV's marriage invalid and his children illegitimate, thus legitimising his wife. The significant role played by bitcoin for businesses! What are the differences between Henry VII and Henry VIII? From 1527 Henry pursued what became known as "the King's great matter": his divorce from Catherine. The wedding was a triumph but in April 1502 a messenger brought the King the news that his eldest son had died of sweating sickness. In 1621 Francis Bacon's history of the reign called Henry "a dark prince, and infinitely suspicious". Hed achieved the impossible, hed risen from refugee to King of England. Watch with Prime In 1494, Henry embargoed trade (mainly in wool) with the Burgundian Netherlands in retaliation for Margaret of Burgundy's support for Perkin Warbeck. England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, violence, murders, coups and countercoups. The king's own death seven years later had to be kept secret until his nervous entourage had ensured the succession. Penn went on to show Henry VIIs wax funeral effigy, which I saw on my recent trip to London, and which shows his fine-boned features and his crooked eye, but also a face bearing the signs of stress and illness. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-VII-king-of-England, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Henry VII, English Monarchs - Biography of Henry VII, Henry VII - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Henry VII - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). 7.1 59min 2013 16+. Stanley placed Richards circlet on Henrys head, he was now King. Today is Shrove Tuesday time for pancakes! 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. [30] Before departing for London, Henry sent Robert Willoughby to Sheriff Hutton in Yorkshire, to arrest Warwick and take him to the Tower of London. The country was in a perpetual state of emergency and Henrys subjects were scared and resentful. 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. MP3 CD. [64] This made Henry VII's second son, Henry, Duke of York, heir apparent to the throne. In response to this threat within his own household, the King instituted more rigid security for access to his person. Henry VII: The Winter King (95) 59min 2013 PG. The fact that a Cockney could provide a recognisable representation of him gives away part of his enduring appeal; in national memory, Henry was one of the lads, the only English king to have. He spent most of the next 14 years under the protection of Francis II, Duke of Brittany. With the English economy heavily invested in wool production, Henry VII became involved in the alum trade in 1486. Henry VII introduced stability to the financial administration of England by keeping the same financial advisors throughout his reign. A fresh look at the endlessly fascinating Tudorsthe dramatic and overlooked story of Henry VII and his founding of the Tudor Dynastyfilled with spies, plots, counterplots, and an uneasy royal succession to Henry VIII. Stephens, "affords some illustrations of the avaricious and parsimonious character of the king". Local gentry saw the office as one of local influence and prestige and were therefore willing to serve. A King from upstart usurper to renaissance monarch to Machiavellian schemer. Yet Henry's techniques of power went beyond the needs of surveillance and survival. He made huge gobs of money binding his subjects to him with loyalty bonds. If you are new the era, this wouldn't the first book I would pick up because it does flip flop around a bit in the beginning-but if you want to understand the players that ultimately have a significant impact on Henry VIII, this is the book for you. [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. Henry gained the support of the Woodvilles, in-laws of the late Edward IV, and sailed with a small French and Scottish force, landing at Mill Bay near Dale, Pembrokeshire. Until the death of his wife, the evidence is clear from these accounting books that Henry was a more doting father and husband than was widely known and there is evidence that his outwardly austere personality belied a devotion to his family. Sometimes when reading nonfiction of this type, I never know if it is going to be dry and dull or not. Here was a young man who enjoyed jousting, who enjoyed chatting with the other knights in the tiltyard and with people of low degree. I'm not giving this a star rating because I suspect it's me at fault not the book. 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. Henry VIII had become heir to the throne when his elder brother, Arthur, died in 1502. ||sitemap_index.xml Pembroke Castle, birthplace of Henry VII [ JKMMX ] [ CC BY-SA 3.0 ]. [76] He was succeeded by his second son, Henry VIII (reigned 150947), who would initiate the Protestant Reformation in England. He died shortly afterwards in Carmarthen Castle. Categories: Monarchy, NewsTags: birth of Tudor dynasty, Henry Tudor, Henry VII, Thomas Penn, Tudor dynasty, Winter King, Copyright 2023 The Anne Boleyn Files In 1485, history was about to be changed for ever by a man who was a refugee, a fugitive whod spent half his life on the run and with barely a claim to the throne: Henry Tudor. The devastated King became so ill that he was close to death, but then he recovered and Penn explains that when he took control once more, he was remorseless. Overspending by Henry VIII to pay for his lavish lifestyle and to fund foreign wars with France and Scotland are cited as . Author of, Assistant Master and Professor of History, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. 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. [63] 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: a similar system of bonds and recognisances to that which applied to both the gentry and the nobles who tried to exert their elevated influence over these local officials. [38], Unlike his predecessors, Henry VII came to the throne without personal experience in estate management or financial administration. 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. [39] Despite this, during his reign he became a fiscally prudent monarch who restored the fortunes of an effectively bankrupt exchequer. 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. 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. Having established his claim to be king in his own right, he married Elizabeth of York on January 18, 1486. But definitely rewarding! At the same time, Flemish merchants were ejected from England. He attained the throne when his forces, supported by France, Scotland, and Wales, defeated Edward IV's brother Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. In 1497 Warbeck landed in Cornwall with a few thousand troops, but was soon captured and executed. [48], Henry later concluded a treaty with France at Etaples that brought money into the coffers of England, and ensured the French would not support pretenders to the English throne, such as Perkin Warbeck. 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. As his mother was only 14 when he was born and soon married again, Henry was brought up by his uncle Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke. Stanley was accused of supporting Warbeck's cause, arrested and later executed. Shakespeare, drawn to the colour on either side of the reign, skipped it. [8], In 1456, Henry's father Edmund Tudor was captured while fighting for Henry VI in South Wales against the Yorkists. 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. [47], Henry VII's policy was to maintain peace and to create economic prosperity. However, such a level of paranoia persisted that anyone (John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, for example)[27] with blood ties to the Plantagenets was suspected of coveting the throne. Based on the terms of the accord, Henry sent 6000 troops to fight (at the expense of Brittany) under the command of Lord Daubeney. : (April 25, 1883. The Field of Cloth of Gold: Royal Revelry. Having secured financial backing from Florentine bankers in London, Cabot was granted carefully phrased letters patent from Henry in March 1496, permitting him to embark on an exploratory voyage westerly. This book is a nonfiction look at King Henry the VII. Author Thomas Penn takes an extraordinary journey into the dark and chilling world of the first Tudor King, Henry VII. [citation needed], Henry also made some political capital out of his Welsh ancestry in attracting military support and safeguarding his army's passage through Wales on its way to the Battle of Bosworth. Henry VII was king of England from 1485 to 1509. When he died, his only surviving son, Henry VIII, succeeded him without a breath of opposition. Only through the deaths of more obvious claimants, and after the accession of Richard III in 1483, when Henry was 26, did he become a leading candidate. Their chief task was to see that the laws of the country were obeyed in their area. Old rivalries simmered, however. His claim to the throne was tenuous and permanently contested. There's a lot of cloak-and-dagger stuff here, something Henry and certain of his counselors seemed especially skilled at, and it was those parts that I particularly enjoyed. Story's register still exists and, according to the 19th-century historian W.R.W. [citation needed] Following the example of Edward IV, Henry VII created a Council of Wales and the Marches for his son Arthur, which was intended to govern Wales and the Marches, Cheshire and Cornwall. ||Wordpress installation and design by http://www.MadeGlobal.com, FREE Anne Boleyn In 1621 Francis Bacon's history of. 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. According to John M. Currin, the treaty redefined Anglo-Breton relations. For many he remained a usurper, a false king. Its goals, relentlessly pursued until Henry's death in 1509, were the establishment of a royal house, the elimination of opposition, and the steady accumulation of power and wealth. His early reign was plagued by pretenders to the throne, giving the new Tudor dynasty a rocky start and a fear of conspiracy which dogged Henry VII throughout his life.