Here was a young man who enjoyed jousting, who enjoyed chatting with the other knights in the tiltyard and with people of low degree. [5], The descent of Henry's mother, Margaret, through the legitimised House of Beaufort bolstered Henry's claim to the English throne. England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, violence, murders, coups and countercoups. [59][60][61], He was content to allow the nobles their regional influence if they were loyal to him. It was not until 1506, when he imprisoned Suffolk in the Tower of London, that Henry could at last feel safe. Edward would have liked to rid himself of Henry, a rival to his throne, but Francis kept Henry safe. Hence, the king was plagued with conspiracies until nearly the end of his reign. How like a winter hath my absence been From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! Even if the king outfaced his enemies in his lifetime, would they not forestall a Tudor succession? His second son, also called Henry, inherited the throne and became . Some of them have more to say than Penn about the constructive sides of the reign, which developed the state-building methods of his Yorkist predecessors. He spent money lavishly, held big parties. 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. Penn explained that the marriage had been one of genuine love and that Henry was shattered by his wifes death. His first son and heir apparent, Arthur, Prince of Wales, died suddenly at Ludlow Castle, very likely from a viral respiratory illness known at the time as the "English sweating sickness". Get help and learn more about the design. I picked this audiobook up because it was narrated by Simon Vance. If you missed the programme then here is the YouTube video for you enjoy! Henry VIII was the first English king to be called "Your Majesty.". Henry VII declared himself king by just title of inheritance and by the judgment of God in battle, after slaying Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. 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. Serious disputes involving the use of personal power, or threats to royal authority, were thus dealt with. He would learn better as the new reign unfolded. This battle saw the end of the Wars of the Roses which had brought instability to England. His biographer, Professor Chrimes, credits him even before he had become king with "a high degree of personal magnetism, ability to inspire confidence, and a growing reputation for shrewd decisiveness". Quite ambitious in nature, Thomas Penn attempts to write a portrait of Henry VII and his reign. Henry's original head was cut out of the painting and replaced at some point after the work's creation. He spent most of the next 14 years under the protection of Francis II, Duke of Brittany. I am glad to say that I think it does, for it concentrates on the reign, and court, of Henry VII, giving a different slant to the well known story. [citation needed] Henry had been under the financial and physical protection of the French throne or its vassals for most of his life before becoming king. Corrections? The new prince was the embodiment of the red and white rose, he was the Tudor rose incarnate. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . 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. 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. 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 . This is why he named the book the Winter King. Since we are in the middle of winter, Ive been thinking of a volume on my shelves on Henry VII, who could be called the Winter King. [77][78] His mother died two months later on 29 June 1509. But Henry had a crucial asset: his queen and their children, the living embodiment of his hoped-for dynasty. (1): (April 24, 1883. He explained how Henry VII had achieved what he set out to do, he had passed on the crown successfully. [14] In November 1476, Francis fell ill and his principal advisers were more amenable to negotiating with King Edward. If he trusted anyone, it would be his queen and why not, since both had so much in common both being familiar with being in sanctuary, and pawns in the game of power? [58], Henry's principal problem was to restore royal authority in a realm recovering from the Wars of the Roses. Soon after his fathers burial on 10 May, Henry suddenly declared that he would indeed marry Catherine, leaving unresolved several issues concerning the papal dispensation and a missing part of the marriage portion. His account of Henry's government is more contentious than he lets on. Both were survivors and as united in death as in life, as their tomb in Westminster Abbey illustrates. [23] After his coronation Henry issued an edict that any gentleman who swore fealty to him would, notwithstanding any previous attainder, be secure in his property and person. Rarely was a father's reign so widely disparaged and disowned on the accession of the son. 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. A King from upstart usurper to renaissance monarch to Machiavellian schemer. Poor Henry VII. [67], Henry made half-hearted plans to remarry and beget more heirs, but these never came to anything. In 1621 Francis Bacon's history of the reign called Henry "a dark prince, and infinitely suspicious". [citation needed] We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. The king's own death seven years later had to be kept secret until his nervous entourage had ensured the succession. 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.. The treaty marks a shift from neutrality over the French invasion of Brittany to active intervention against it. The nobility was forced into bonds, legal agreements that they would act as the King wanted or be fined. It was really very well researched and painstakingly written. He was crowned on October 30 and secured parliamentary recognition of his title early in November. That is, suspicious, insecure and crafty but also determined, patient and fiercely proud of his Lancastrian ancestry. Happy St Davids Day! 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. However, with the help of the forces of his step-father, Lord Stanley, he defeated Richard and Richard was killed on the battlefield. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which marked the end of the Wars of the Roses. 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. Henry VII is usually treated as a charmless and thrifty prelude to the big reign of Henry VIII, with the inevitable marriage of Henry and Catherine of Aragon, and the reversal of his father's bully policies for a golden age of chivalry and, you know, all the crazy shit Henry VIII was about to do. Luther gained support for his ideas and Europe became . For him, it was never about glory and battle. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. There were some sections I had to skim because I didn't feel they were relevant to the storyline, but mostly I was hooked into this very complex King. Fittingly he dressed in expensive black. Here is a rundown of the programme for those who missed it. It was the end of the union of Lancaster and York and many had only accepted Henry as King because of his wifes Yorkist roots, so Henry was once more on shaky ground with his old enemies resurfacing and raising armies. Henry's father, Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, a half-brother of Henry VI of England and a member of the Welsh Tudors of Penmynydd, died three months before his son Henry was born. 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. 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. If Penn's interpretation can sometimes seem slanted, its exposition would be hard to over-praise. Raised in France, admiring of Italian-trained lawyers (and reaping the reward of the return of a whole generation of educated English commoners who sat out the War of the Roses abroad), with good taste in Renaissance art and advised by his gracious wife and steely mother, Henry VII is a major figure, not a prequel. When Richard III became King, Henrys strategy, planned by Margaret Beaufort, the mother whom he had not seen for years, was to declare in public, in Brittanys Rennes Cathedral, that he would marry Edward IVs daughter Elizabeth, then in sanctuary with her mother, and thus bury the enmity between Lancaster and York by making her his queen. They were also in charge of various administrative duties, such as the checking of weights and measures. [11] When Edward IV became King in 1461, Jasper Tudor went into exile abroad. Blair Worden's The English Civil Wars is published by Phoenix. 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). [52] He also concluded the Treaty of Perpetual Peace with Scotland (the first treaty between England and Scotland for almost two centuries), which betrothed his daughter Margaret Tudor to King James IV of Scotland. His history plays depicted the dramatic conflicts of the wars of the roses, which Henry's accession after his victory at Bosworth in 1485 brought to an end. There's a (relatively) brief explanation of Henry's rather tumultuous childhood and his rise to the throne, before Penn really gets into the nitty gritty details during the second half of Henry's reign, focusing on his intricate foreign policy, his increasing use of finance as a means of control over his subjects and, most entertaining to me, the various plots and conspiracies of Henry's enemies. [citation needed], All Acts of Parliament were overseen by the justices of the peace. He was a ruler to be feared, a ruler to be paid. Otherwise, at the time of his father's arranging of the marriage to Catherine of Aragon, the future Henry VIII was too young to contract the marriage according to Canon Law and would be ineligible until age fourteen.