[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. 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. Henry restored power and stability to the English monarchy following the civil war. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers. 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. The nobility was forced into bonds, legal agreements that they would act as the King wanted or be fined. The significant role played by bitcoin for businesses! Henry needed an heir to secure his reign and fortunately an heir came quickly. I'm not giving this a star rating because I suspect it's me at fault not the book. These laws were used shrewdly in levying fines upon those that he perceived as threats. After his death, a commission found widespread abuses in the tax collection process. Henry showed remarkable clemency to the surviving rebels: he pardoned Kildare and the other Irish nobles, and he made the boy, Simnel, a servant in the royal kitchen where he was in charge of roasting meats on a spit. 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. 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. But now, sensitivity readers are pushing back . [69] The wedding never took place, and the physical description Henry sent with his ambassadors of what he desired in a new wife matched the description of his wife Elizabeth. In 1497 Warbeck landed in Cornwall with a few thousand troops, but was soon captured and executed. 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. That was to prevent the King of France capturing him and letting him loose on the English as a rival. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort, was a descendant of the Lancastrian branch of the House of Plantagenet. Detailed Information. [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. He had unified the kingdom, accrued immense wealth and created the most notorious dynasty in English history: the Tudors. 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. 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. In response to this threat within his own household, the King instituted more rigid security for access to his person. This battle saw the end of the Wars of the Roses which had brought instability to England. There he found more English fugitives, willing to invade England in support of Henry, and bearing news that Richard III had serious plans to marry the princess Elizabeth himself. This is why he named the book the "Winter King". You can find out more on the conflicts between England and France, the Wars of the Roses and also the Tudors in our history courses. [39] Despite this, during his reign he became a fiscally prudent monarch who restored the fortunes of an effectively bankrupt exchequer. enry VII can look a dull king, so dull that Thomas Penn's title omits his name. Shakespeare later turned to Henry's son and successor Henry VIII, whose rule brought marital sensation, renaissance spectacle and the reformation. [26] Henry married Elizabeth of York with the hope of uniting the Yorkist and Lancastrian sides of the Plantagenet dynastic disputes, and he was largely successful. Penn explained that the marriage had been one of genuine love and that Henry was shattered by his wifes death. 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. Author Thomas Penn takes an extraordinary journey into the dark and chilling world of the first Tudor King, Henry VII. After obtaining the dispensation, Henry had second thoughts about the marriage of his son and Catherine. I wasn't disappointed because, as usual, he did a great job with the narration. [citation needed] John Cabot, originally from Genoa and Venice, had heard that ships from Bristol had discovered uncharted new found territory far west of Ireland. 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. One interesting thing about him is his early youth and the fourteen years he spent in exile in France Brittany to be precise and those, I believe, made him the man he was eventually to become. It was no easy feat. Why was Henry VII called the Winter King? [22] Thus, anyone who had fought for Richard against him would be guilty of treason and Henry could legally confiscate the lands and property of Richard III, while restoring his own.
Henry VII: Winter King - A Review and Rundown - The Anne Boleyn Files The house of York then appeared so firmly established that Henry seemed likely to remain in exile for the rest of his life. I was disappointed by this it was decent but I think it was somewhat overhyped. Penn pointed out that for over half a century no king had passed on the crown without turmoil and Henry knew that what had happened to Richard could happen to him. [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. The Treaty of Redon was signed in February 1489 between Henry and representatives of Brittany. This definitely was not that. The King, normally a reserved man who rarely showed much emotion in public unless angry, surprised his courtiers by his intense grief and sobbing at his son's death, while his concern for the Queen is evidence that the marriage was a happy one, as is his reaction to Queen Elizabeth's death the following year, when he shut himself away for several days, refusing to speak to anyone. The Merchant Adventurers, the company which enjoyed the monopoly of the Flemish wool trade, relocated from Antwerp to Calais. Thank you for subscribing. His bouts of grave illness brought the question repeatedly to the fore. Penn ended the programme by visiting the tombs of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in Henrys chapel at Westminster Abbey, a chapel that remains at the heart of political life.
Henry VII of England - Wikipedia Their main aim was money. Two themes of his book preside: the permanent vulnerability of Henry's regime, and his ruthless methods of rule. The treaty marks a shift from neutrality over the French invasion of Brittany to active intervention against it. The last few years of his reign were ones of repression.
Sophia Money-Coutts: Sensitivity readers don't want Henry VIII to be [33], In 1490, a young Fleming, Perkin Warbeck, appeared and claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, the younger of the "Princes in the Tower". Why is this ambitious? [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. What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen! Henry, son of Edmund Tudor, earl of Richmond, and Margaret Beaufort, was born nearly three months after his fathers death. Pembroke Castle, birthplace of Henry VII [ JKMMX ] [ CC BY-SA 3.0 ]. The king's own death seven years later had to be kept secret until his nervous entourage had ensured the succession. Castles of . Henry VII died on 21 April 1509, and the 17-year-old Henry succeeded him as king. 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. This meant that Henry had been the rightful King in the battle and that Richard had been the usurper, and those who supported him had been traitors. Henry decided to keep Brittany out of French hands, signed an alliance with Spain to that end, and sent 6,000 troops to France. In 1485 Henry landed at Milford Haven in Wales and advanced toward London. Overblown prose trumpeting his reign seemed to be the order of the day. Henry VII was king of England from 1485 to 1509. His claim to the throne was precarious and was from an illegitimate line, a family who had been banned from taking the throne, so Henry needed to make the people believe that he was their rightful King and to do that he had to start behaving like one. Fittingly he dressed in expensive black. [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. Stanley placed Richards circlet on Henrys head, he was now King. Author of, Assistant Master and Professor of History, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. No. [13] When the Yorkist Edward IV regained the throne in 1471, Henry fled with other Lancastrians to Brittany. 1845. His legacy was his son, Henry VIII, lucky old England Penn commented. 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). 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. [citation needed], Henry honoured his pledge of December 1483 to marry Elizabeth of York and the wedding took place in 1486 at Westminster Abbey. 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 usual courts and justice system were totally circumvented, and there was no chance of appeal other than purchasing extremely high priced royal pardons. [51], Henry VII was one of the first European monarchs to recognise the importance of the newly united Spanish kingdom; he concluded the Treaty of Medina del Campo, by which his son Arthur, Prince of Wales, was married to Catherine of Aragon. 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. Dydd Gyl Dewi Hapus! ||Wordpress installation and design by http://www.MadeGlobal.com, FREE Anne Boleyn 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 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. 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 . [17] Now supported by Francis II's prime minister, Pierre Landais, Richard III attempted to extradite Henry from Brittany, but Henry escaped to France. 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. Hidden under the floor in St George's Chapel in Windsor, England where thousands of people walk every day, a forgotten tomb lies. A King from upstart usurper to renaissance monarch to Machiavellian schemer. Henry was also worried by the treason of Edmund de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, the eldest surviving son of Edward IVs sister Elizabeth, who fled to the Netherlands (1499) and was supported by Maximilian. To say the least, Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England is quite an interesting read. [citation needed], Henry's most successful diplomatic achievement as regards the economy was the Magnus Intercursus ("great agreement") of 1496.
Anne Boleyn | Biography, Children, Portrait, Death, & Facts - Britannica In other cases, he brought his over-powerful subjects to heel by decree. Interesting look at the founder of the Tudor dynesty. To be notified of special offers, news, new courses, and new tutors, please subscribe to our newsletter. 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. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. [45], Henry VII established the pound avoirdupois as a standard of weight; it later became part of the Imperial[46] and customary systems of units. 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. Luther made a protest against the Catholic practice of Indulgences. Before taking the throne, he was known as Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond. ), 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. [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. Thomas More hailed the end of "slavery" and the return of "liberty", "the end of sadness, the beginning of joy". Wales was historically a Lancastrian stronghold, and Henry owed the support he gathered to his Welsh birth and ancestry, being agnatically descended from Rhys ap Gruffydd. Henry's original head was cut out of the painting and replaced at some point after the work's creation. It was not until 1506, when he imprisoned Suffolk in the Tower of London, that Henry could at last feel safe. [14] In November 1476, Francis fell ill and his principal advisers were more amenable to negotiating with King Edward. Henry VII: The Winter King. Henry Tudor, named after his father, Henry VII, was born by Elizabeth of York June 28, 1491 in Greenwich Palace. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. However, King Henry the VIII was much more self-centered as most of his spending was inappropriate and did not benefit England much. Here was a young man who enjoyed jousting, who enjoyed chatting with the other knights in the tiltyard and with people of low degree. [7] He came from an old, established Anglesey family that claimed descent from Cadwaladr, in legend, the last ancient British king,[8] and on occasion Henry displayed the red dragon of Cadwaladr. The whole system was ingeniously designed to ensure the unchallenged supremacy of the king while stamping out any challenges to his authority from the nobles, merchants, and commons.
Henry VIII and the Break with Rome Timeline - History Henry VII is actually a less familiar figure, despite being the same person. For instance, the Stanley family had control of Lancashire and Cheshire, upholding the peace on the condition that they stayed within the law. [9] He took it, as well as the standard of St. George, on his procession through London after the victory at Bosworth. [11] When Edward IV became King in 1461, Jasper Tudor went into exile abroad. Penn notes something else about the paeans on the son's accession: later in the Tudor period, apologists for the regime would remember Henry VII as the restorer of national peace and unity, but in 1509 it was the king's death, not his rule, that was held to have ended a long era of dark instability. Henry then consolidated his reign with magnificent architecture, an opulent household and money. Henry VIII Books livestream YouTube 18 February 2023, February 13 A queen and her lady-in-waiting are beheaded. Consultant editor for the. The Lancastrians triumphed under the leadership of a 28-year-old exile named Henry Tudor. He entertained thoughts of remarriage to renew the alliance with Spain Joanna, Dowager Queen of Naples (a niece of Queen Isabella of Castile), Queen Joanna of Castile, and Margaret, Dowager Duchess of Savoy (sister-in-law of Joanna of Castile), were all considered.
He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. 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. Reading this, I got a much better understanding of where Henry VIII came from, and why he was destined to be the colorful ruler he became, as an antidote to his own father. He died shortly afterwards in Carmarthen Castle. I don't read a lot of NF because I usually find it to be tedious, but The Winter King certainly wasn't that. Henry VII The Winter King is also the title of a book by Thomas Penn, and a useful read. Shakespeare, drawn to the colour on either side of the reign, skipped it. But that's not really what I wanted from a book about Henry VII. 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. At the same time, Flemish merchants were ejected from England. He created the Tudor dynasty. 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. 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? But, his enemies didnt agree. Much of the ruthless machinery of control was designed to deal with ongoing challenged like pretenders and Yorkist sleepers and expats. He spent most of the next 14 years under the protection of Francis II, Duke of Brittany. 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. To strengthen his position, however, he subsidised shipbuilding, so strengthening the navy (he commissioned Europe's first ever and the world's oldest surviving dry dock at Portsmouth in 1495) and improving trading opportunities. He was the first Tudor king after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485. People saw him as being like a traditional king and hoped that his reign would bring positive change. 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. For other uses, see, Henry holding a rose and wearing the collar of the, Law enforcement and justices of the peace, the 1486 rebellion of the Stafford brothers, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Cultural depictions of Henry VII of England, "Tudor Pembroke | Ymddiriedolaeth Harri Tudur | Henry Tudor Trust", "BBC Wales History Themes Pembroke The Main Street", "Westminster Abbey website: Coronations, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York", "Calendar of State Papers, Spain: Supplement To Volumes 1 and 2, Queen Katherine; Intended Marriage of King Henry VII To Queen Juana", "Domestic and foreign policy of Henry VII", "Queen Margaret's Arch | York Civic Trust", "Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond", The Reign of Henry VII.