He created the Tudor dynasty. [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. - and that was only about 50% of the book, it was only about 50% interesting to me. But Henry had a crucial asset: his queen and their children, the living embodiment of his hoped-for dynasty. ||sitemap_index.xml Shakespeare, drawn to the colour on either side of the reign, skipped it. Henry VII was born in Pembroke Castle , Wales, on January 28 th, 1457. 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. He is credited with many administrative, economic and diplomatic initiatives. Henry marries Catherine of Aragon. In 1501, England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, coups . [citation needed], All Acts of Parliament were overseen by the justices of the peace. Henry VII, also called (145785) Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, (born January 28, 1457, Pembroke Castle, Pembrokeshire, Walesdied April 21, 1509, Richmond, Surrey, England), king of England (14851509), who succeeded in ending the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York and founded the Tudor dynasty . : (April 25, 1883. Four different kinds of cryptocurrencies you should know. Thomas Mores coronation poem for Henry VIII contrasted the new Kings reign with the dark days of the past. 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. [53] Later on, Henry had exchanged letters with Pope Julius II in 1507, in which he encouraged him to establish peace among Christian realms, and to organise an expedition against the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. Still, as Penn observes, the national sense of relief in 1509 was palpable. He died shortly afterwards in Carmarthen Castle. In 1621 Francis Bacon's history of. 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. 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. [49] The confused, fractious nature of Breton politics undermined his efforts, which finally failed after three sizeable expeditions, at a cost of 24,000. Penn graphically describes a huge financial racket run by the king and his profiteering advisers. Having established his claim to be king in his own right, he married Elizabeth of York on January 18, 1486. It was presented by historian Thomas Penn, author of Winter King and was an excellent examination of the King who, as Penn pointed out, tend to be eclipsed by Richard III, the glamour and notoriety of Henry VIII and the charisma of Elizabeth I. Henry VII was succeeded by his second son, Henry VIII. [9] He took it, as well as the standard of St. George, on his procession through London after the victory at Bosworth. Henrys Chamber Accounts show payment to strangers and people across the sea, who appear to have been part of a network of spies and informers who kept an eye on potential troublemakers and alerted the King. Several of Richard's key allies, such as Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, and also Lord Stanley and his brother William, crucially switched sides or left the battlefield. For inheriting an unstable throne, holding it for 25 year and leaving England relatively stable, Henry VII deserves his own biography and a lot more credit. Happy 14th Birthday to the Anne Boleyn Files! [67], Henry made half-hearted plans to remarry and beget more heirs, but these never came to anything. His second son, also called Henry, inherited the throne and became . This was accomplished through the targeted imposition of fines and bonds through extrajudicial councils. He likens the beginning of Henry VIII's reign to a metaphorical spring, a second coming of sorts because Henry VIII seemed to be the opposite of his father. Detailed Information. 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. Pembroke Castle, birthplace of Henry VII [ JKMMX ] [ CC BY-SA 3.0 ]. I don't read a lot of NF because I usually find it to be tedious, but The Winter King certainly wasn't that. A King from upstart usurper to renaissance monarch to Machiavellian schemer. The first rising, that of Lord Lovell, Richard IIIs chamberlain, in 1486 was ill-prepared and unimportant, but in 1487 came the much more serious revolt of Lambert Simnel. He also enacted laws against livery and maintenance, the great lords' practice of having large numbers of "retainers" who wore their lord's badge or uniform and formed a potential private army. We know that Henry attended the wedding celebrations of Arthur and his bride . Henry VII: The Winter King (95) 59min 2013 PG. How like a winter hath my absence been From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! This book is a nonfiction look at King Henry the VII. Anyone perceived to have any potential political power or social capital was rendered deeply indebted to the crown and at risk of complete financial ruin upon the whim of the king and his councillors. In that, he was quite successful, but he was neither loved nor admired. (ROYAL HISTORY) Directors Stuart Elliott Genres Documentary, International Subtitles English [CC] Audio languages English. Old rivalries simmered, however. Edward, Earl of Warwick, the ten-year-old son of Edward IV's brother George, Duke of Clarence, was the senior surviving male of the House of York. Philip had been shipwrecked on the English coast, and while Henry's guest, was bullied into an agreement so favourable to England at the expense of the Netherlands that it was dubbed the Malus Intercursus ("evil agreement"). [75], Henry VII died of tuberculosis at Richmond Palace on 21 April 1509 and was buried in the chapel he commissioned in Westminster Abbey next to his wife, Elizabeth. 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. After the Holy Roman Emperor . Here is a rundown of the programme for those who missed it. [citation needed], During his lifetime the nobility often criticised Henry VII for re-centralizing power in London, and later the 16th-century historian Francis Bacon was ruthlessly critical of the methods by which he enforced tax law, but it is equally true that Henry VII was diligent about keeping detailed records of his personal finances, down to the last halfpenny;[71] these and one account book detailing the expenses of his queen survive in the British National Archives, as do accounts of courtiers and many of the king's own letters. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. I'm beginning to wonder if all of the kings beginning with the conquest weren't a little off their rocker in some way. Henry VII was born on 28 January 1457 at Pembroke Castle, in the English-speaking portion of Pembrokeshire known as Little England beyond Wales. [41] Henry also increased wealth by acquiring land through the act of resumption of 1486 which had been delayed as he focused on defence of the Church, his person and his realm. [citation needed], Henry began taking precautions against rebellion while still in Leicester after Bosworth Field. "[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. 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. To be notified of special offers, news, new courses, and new tutors, please subscribe to our newsletter. [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. The Merchant Adventurers, the company which enjoyed the monopoly of the Flemish wool trade, relocated from Antwerp to Calais. Wow, it was like being battered by facts without remission for good intentions. Stephens, "affords some illustrations of the avaricious and parsimonious character of the king". [21], Henry devised a plan to seize the throne by engaging Richard quickly because Richard had reinforcements in Nottingham and Leicester. This approach raised puzzling questions about similarities and differences in the development of national states. That is, suspicious, insecure and crafty but also determined, patient and fiercely proud of his Lancastrian ancestry. [39] Despite this, during his reign he became a fiscally prudent monarch who restored the fortunes of an effectively bankrupt exchequer. The research was thorough and it was presented well and kept me engaged. With Elizabeth's death, the possibilities for such family indulgences greatly diminished. It took Henry, who in any case needed to marry her if the expected issue was to solve the succession problem, some six years to achieve their joint purpose. Henry responded to this threat by embedding spies into households. The Field of Cloth of Gold: Royal Revelry. Henry IV had confirmed Richard IIs legitimation (1397) of the children of this union but had specifically excluded the Beauforts from any claim to the throne (1407). [13] When the Yorkist Edward IV regained the throne in 1471, Henry fled with other Lancastrians to Brittany. Penn's picture of a reign of terror carries disturbing echoes of the Roman historian Tacitus's account of the emperor Tiberius, another ruler whose abridgements of liberty followed an era of civil strife. 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. Based on the terms of the accord, Henry sent 6000 troops to fight (at the expense of Brittany) under the command of Lord Daubeney. For many he remained a usurper, a false king. What are the differences between Henry VII and Henry VIII? Henry VIII Books livestream YouTube 18 February 2023, February 13 A queen and her lady-in-waiting are beheaded. A man who rewrote history and rebuilt the crown, but who was paranoid, manipulative and suspicious; a dark prince with a wintery reign. [47], Henry VII's policy was to maintain peace and to create economic prosperity. Its restoration by the Magnus Intercursus was very much to England's benefit in removing taxation for English merchants and significantly increasing England's wealth. Fittingly he dressed in expensive black. The insurrections fronted by the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck emerged from wide and formidable networks of conspiracy that drew in foreign rulers and leading English magnates, and infiltrated Henry's court. So 4 stars. Their chief task was to see that the laws of the country were obeyed in their area. February 7 Sir Francis Bryan loses an eye and Henry VIII has a new love, An interview with historical novelist Sandra Byrd, Henry VIII and His Six Wives event open for registration. When they married in 1396 they already had four children, including Henry's great-grandfather John Beaufort. 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. Possession of something the French King wanted also made the Duke of Brittany safer in his own duchy. [13] When Warwick restored Henry VI in 1470, Jasper Tudor returned from exile and brought Henry to court. But, his enemies didnt agree. I'm not giving this a star rating because I suspect it's me at fault not the book. The father's government was an exercise in discoloration. If you missed the programme then here is the YouTube video for you enjoy! He had brought the country to the brink of dynastic ambition, but not quite, so his closest advisers kept his death secret until St Georges Day, the annual meeting of the Order of the Garter. When the Lancastrian cause crashed to disaster at the Battle of Tewkesbury (May 1471), Jasper took the boy out of the country and sought refuge in the duchy of Brittany. He was the founder of the Tudor dynasty, and his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville brought together the too sides that were facing off during the Wars of the Roses (the Lancasters and the Yorks) basically uniting the two houses into a single family. Bacon wanted the future Charles I to learn from Henry's reign, but the financial methods that would provoke fatal opposition to Charles look pale beside the exactions levied by Henry from often innocent subjects, who were denied legal process or threatened with trumped-up prosecutions and had to buy their freedom (though at moments of apparently impending death the king would repent of his methods and have the jails cleared and pardons issued). 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. Rarely was a father's reign so widely disparaged and disowned on the accession of the son. Henry VII was king of England from 1485 to 1509. Henry VII is actually a less familiar figure, despite being the same person. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers. [citation needed] The first was the 1486 rebellion of the Stafford brothers, abetted by Viscount Lovell, which collapsed without fighting. As we know, Henry VII was true to his word, married Elizabeth and they founded the Tudor dynasty between them. On the debit side, he may have looked a little delicate as he suffered from poor health. It was a fantastic programme and I highly recommend Thomas Penns book on Henry VII Winter King. Then in 1491 appeared a still more serious menace: Perkin Warbeck, coached by Margaret to impersonate Richard, the younger son of Edward IV. Henry attained the throne when his forces defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. 3.5 Stars. This definitely was not that. Many of the entries show a man who loosened his purse strings generously for his wife and children, and not just on necessities: in spring 1491 he spent a great amount of gold on a lute for his daughter Mary; the following year he spent money on a lion for Elizabeth's menagerie. Blair Worden's The English Civil Wars is published by Phoenix. Their powers and numbers steadily increased during the time of the Tudors, never more so than under Henry's reign. Henry VIII had become heir to the throne when his elder brother, Arthur, died in 1502. Updates? This battle saw the end of the Wars of the Roses which had brought instability to England. I couldn't even stay awake reading this. 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. [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. Henry VII was the founder of the Tudor dynasty and father of Henry VIII and Ive been doing a bit of digging on this lesser known Tudor. Henry VII ruled from 1485-1509 and had a dubious claim on the throne, spending most of his time before the famous Battle of Bosworth Field in exile and gaining credibility from his marriage to Elizabeth of York. The treaty marks a shift from neutrality over the French invasion of Brittany to active intervention against it. He would learn better as the new reign unfolded. In 1497 Warbeck landed in Cornwall with a few thousand troops, but was soon captured and executed. [57], In 1506, Henry extorted the Treaty of Windsor from Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy. 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. 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. This is why he named the book the "Winter King". 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. The house of York then appeared so firmly established that Henry seemed likely to remain in exile for the rest of his life. By this marriage, Henry VII hoped to break the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France. Stanleys betrayal led to a complete security overhaul and his privy chamber going into lockdown. I was disappointed by this it was decent but I think it was somewhat overhyped. Though outnumbered, Henry's Lancastrian forces decisively defeated Richard's Yorkist army at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485. The dispute eventually paid off for Henry. He was, said Penn, a man who never knew a moments peace during his reign. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Henry needed an heir to secure his reign and fortunately an heir came quickly. England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, violence, murders, coups and countercoups. 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. Before Henry VIII, English kings were addressed as "Your Grace" or "Your Highness.". Why is this ambitious? [68] In 1505 he was sufficiently interested in a potential marriage to Joanna of Naples that he sent ambassadors to Naples to report on the 27-year-old Joanna's physical suitability. Local gentry saw the office as one of local influence and prestige and were therefore willing to serve. When he met Richard III at Bosworth Field, Henry found that his army of dissidents and mercenaries was completely outnumbered. Yet in the hands of a narrator as accomplished as Penn, the reign acquires its own, troubling fascination. Wolf Hall this is not. this was well-written and i love henry vii for how he managed to a) get the throne of england and b) keep it and make the crown so solvent after the devastating years of the Wars of the Roses, but i can't help but think that a lot of this was rather dry. It is a sobering reflection for professional historians that the apparently unpromising territory of Henry's reign has recently produced two memorable books, both of them written outside their ranks: this one, and Ann Wroe's biography of the pretender, Perkin (2003), a longer work on a shorter subject. The baby died and Elizabeth, herself, died on 11th February 1503, her 37th birthday. I had an idea Henry VII was a force for stability; in fact he was a terrifying kleptocrat, abusing the law with arbitrary fines and imprisonment, scheming to effectively steal entire estates and wring every penny out of subjects as well as impose political control through financial means. Henry the eighth was a renaissance King. Hed achieved the impossible, hed risen from refugee to King of England. [54], Henry VII was much enriched by trading alum, which was used in the wool and cloth trades as a chemical fixative for dyeing fabrics. However, as France was becoming more concerned with the Italian Wars, the French were happy to agree to the Treaty of Etaples. Thus, the two warring houses were joined in marriage. [11] When Edward IV became King in 1461, Jasper Tudor went into exile abroad. 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? Years of instability, factionalism and his predecessors' penchant for war had seen royal finances severely battered. This family took a dim view of Henry and it was John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, who instigated the first rebellion against him. 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. [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. Elizabeth of York was Queen consort of England as spouse of King Henry VII from 1486 until her death on February 11th, 1503. He was probably baptised at St Mary's Church, Pembroke,[1] though no documentation of the event exists. Royal Collection Trust At the summit, even dinnerware testified to its owner's status. These bonds were enforced by the Council Learned in the Law, a council of legal advisers who were only answerable to the King. He was the first Tudor king after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485.