Henry VII of England
The War of the Roses has been a continuing hostile encounter between two most influential and potentially strong families in England (York and Lancaster). It ended up when King Richard III of York had been defeated by Henry Tudor of Lancaster which brought economic changes to England in the following years under different monarchies.
Henry Tudor or King Henry VII was born in 1457 at Pembroke Castle, the one and only son of Lady Margaret Beaufort (widow of Derby) and Edmund Tudor (Earl of Richmond). Henry VII ruled and exercised his sovereign power as a monarch in England from 1457 to 1509 as the first King of the Tudor monarch.
Two months after he was born, his father died which made young Henry to expend much of his early existence with Jasper Tudor, his uncle. With the coming of Edward IV to the royal office of sovereign in 1471, Henry was obliged to run away from danger where he consumed almost fourteen years of his life after reports and news came to him that Henry Stafford, his second cousin failed in the revolt of Buckingham. In 1483, he became the direct commander of Lancastrian rivalry for the sovereign power of England. With the equipment and money lend to him by the Duke of Brittany, he slipped away to France after the first unsuccessful attack to conquer England and contend against Richard III on the coast of Dorset by the use of the treaties between Breton forces. Henry was again accepted by the court of France who fully supported him with troops on his next second attack.
Again, he gathered all his armies to bear and withstand with him in the battle, moving over Wales and win the victory over King Richard III who died in Bosworth Field in 1485. In the coming year, he was proclaimed as King Henry VII in London that ended up in the War of the Roses.
In order to convey the York family closer at the same time, he married Elizabeth, heiress of York on January 18, 1486, after he became a King. Nevertheless, York stayed being a threat to him for they did not want any member of the Lancaster family to become the next King of England. On the other hand, Tudor was a hard-to-defeat opponent and a superficially skilful leader dedicated to triumph and stay holding his throne. He started to think and plan automatically on how to face the existing problem with the uprising Yorkist forces and how to take control over them. Among the reported Yorkist revolution which was led by Lambert Simnel, English pretender who demanded to be the last Yorkist successor to the throne of England but, he was put into prison by the King at the Tower of London. The same year, another hostile encounter arose in the leading power of another Walloon pretender, Perkin Warbeck, who also claimed to be the duke of the late Richard. This time, he already knew what to do which was to convey the barons to come with him under his control and power.
Powerful barons are rich noblemen of England having their own particular and secret armies who have not been faithful to and showed sympathy to either York or Lancaster forces during the Wars of the Roses. Henry Tudor designed a three way scheme for barons by banning all existing private armies’ carrying charges of treason and death punishment for those who would not follow his royal orders. He also established a law to burden the barons with their taxes for the purpose of reducing their wealth. Out of this system, he used the money he gathered to form his own royal and powerful group of soldiers to threaten all the barons. Another plan is to control the baron in using the Star Chamber, a court run by Henry VII’s men in executing any barons who showed anger or revenge towards the King. Because of these successful laws being established to barons, they were no longer threats to the King otherwise, they became submissive individuals being savaged by his great power.
Compared to other Kings, Henry spent much of his time and focused sharply in financial aspects of his Kingdom, based on his beliefs that the King becomes only strong and powerful when he has plenty of wealth and money while the poor one is considered to be the weakest King in the whole world. He also foresaw that by means of money he could freely extend and stretch-out his allies of army, the bigger it is the more authoritative and influential he was, not only in the eyes of the noblemen but also to the whole country while keeping them dedicated and committed to him. He used the power of the Justice of Peace across the Kingdom by establishing it in every one's country to serve yearly at the same time. There were chiefs who determined and saw to it that the laws were well ensured and obeyed in any area of responsibility.
Despite his strict behaviour with regards to money, he was fond also of occupying himself with cards and real tennis, by spending large amounts on his gambling hobby and giving splendour tips to musicians who regularly entertained him. To build more relations in other countries abroad and to keep away from costly external wars, he set up his eldest son Arthur to marry Catherine of Aragon, a Spanish princess. Both Arthur and Catherine could not refuse the arrangement although politically set-up, for marriages were already practiced and adopted among sovereign families before. Their marriage lasted only five months when Arthur died of a widespread disease at Lodlow Castle but, to keep the friendship intact he again King Henry VII wanted his second son Henry, the future ruler and King of England by marrying the widowed wife of his brother.
Normally, this is the stage of marriage being prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church, including the legality that would permit himself to marry also his daughter in law in which the husband had already died. But, Pope Julius did not permit this idea taking place in his hand. Henry VII died without witnessing the matrimonial ceremony of his son.
When King Henry VII died, the throne was succeeded by Henry VIII, his second son. Margaret, his elder daughter was united in wedlock to the King of Scotland, James IV hoping to destroy the treaty between France and Scotland.
Original Authors: Phil Post
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 22/07/2008
