HENRY VII. 1485 - 1509
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DOMINIONS England, Ireland, and Calais. Henry succeeded as the nominee of the coalition of Yorkists and Lancastrians which had won Bosworth, on condition of marrying the eldest daughter of Edward IV. Descended from the illegitimate line of Lancaster the Beauforts, he had no claim by birth to the throne, and the birth of his wife had been declared to be illegitimate by Parliament under Richard III., on the ground of Edward's pre-contract with Lady Eleanor Butler, before marrying Elizabeth Woodville. |
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| Born 1455. - Married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV. of England, by whom he had four sons and four daughters. | The strength of the monarchy notwithstanding rested upon the ruin of so many great houses; the great possessions in the hands of the crown; the desire of the middle classes to support a strong executive for the sake of peace and order; the similar attitude of the clergy; the changes in the method of warfare, the use of cannon and professional soldiers, which gave a great advantage to the possessor of money; | |
| Began to reign 1485. - Reigned 24 years. - Died l509. | the growth of strong monarchies abroad, the aid of which would be indispensable to English parties, and made the support of the king an act of patriotism; the decay of the sentiment in favour of Constitutional government, owing to its breakdown under Henry VI; and the growth of feeling in favour of monarchical power. | |
PRINCIPAL EVENTS
The Houses of York and Lancaster
united by the marriage of Henry with Elizabeth. Lambert Simnell, who professed to be the son of the duke of Clarence,
defeated at Stoke, and made turnspit in Henry's kitchen, 1487. Perkin Warbeck, - who professed to be Richard, duke
of York, who was murdered in the Tower, - executed, The Star Chamber established, 1504. The same year, Henry's
daughter, Margaret, marries James IV. of Scotland.
Henry VII.., King of England first Sovereign of the Tudor's, born in 1456, he was the son of Edmund, earl of Richmond, son of Owen Tudor and Catharine of France, widow of Henry V. His mother, Margaret, was the only child of John, duke of Somerset, grandson of John of Gaunt After the battle of Tewkesbury he was carried by his uncle, the Earl of Pembroke, to Brittany, and on the usurpation of Richard III. was naturally turned to as the representative of the house of Lancaster.
In 1485 he assembled a small body of troops in Brittany, and having landed at Milford Haven, defeated Richard at Bosworth, and was proclaimed king on the field of battle, his right being subsequently recognized by parliament. In 1486 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV. and heiress of the house of York, and thus united the claims of the rival houses, of York and Lancaster . The reign of Henry VII. was troubled by repeated insurrections, of which the chief were that headed by Lord Lovel and the Staffords (1486), and the impostures of Lambert Simnel (1487) and Perkin Warbeck (1496 - 99). He brought about a match between the Infanta.Catharine, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and of Isabella of Castile, and his eldest son Arthur; and on the death of the latter, in order to retain the dowry of this princess, he caused his remaining son Henry to marry the widow by papal dispensation, an event which in the sequel, led to a separation from the see of Rome.
He married his eldest daughter to James IV., king of Scotland, from which marriage there ultimately resulted the union of the two crowns. In his latter years his avarice became increasingly marked, two exchequer judges, Empson and Dudley, being employed in. all sorts of extortion and chicanery in order to gratify this passion.
His reign, however, was in the main beneficent. Its freedom from wars permitted the development of the internal resources of the country. His policy of depressing the feudal nobility, which proportionally exalted the middle ranks, was highly salutary. For a time, however, the power lost by the aristocracy gave an undue preponderance to that of the crown. Henry died at Richmond in 1509 .
WARS
Henry's policy was to keep the peace, and to free
England from the dependence upon foreign powers, which had become marked during the late wars, .nevertheless, he
was involved in both civil war and foreign war.
In 1487 the Earl of Lincoln, nephew and adopted heir to Richard III, was defeated and killed at Stoke, near Newark,
with a force of Yorkists, Irish, and mercenaries from the Burgundian dominions.
In 1488 some English troops under the Earl Rivers were in the battle of St. Aubin, when Henry's ally, the Duke
of Britanny, was defeated by the French. In 1497 the Cornishmen rose against a subsidy voted by Parliament, and
were defeated at Blackheath by the king's artillery and trained soldiers.
OFFICIALS
Archbishops - Thomas Bourchier, 1485 - 1486; John
Morton, translated from Ely, afterwards Cardinal, 1486 - 1500; Henry Deane, translated from Salisbury, 1601 - 1504;
William Warhan, translated from London, 1504 - 1509.
Chancellors - John Alcock, Bishop of Worcester; afterwards Bishop of Ely, 1485 - 1487; John Morton, Archbishop,
1487 - 1500; Richard Nikke, Keeper, 1500; Henry Dean; Bishop
of Salisbury, afterwards Archbishop, Keeper, 1500 - 1502;William Barons, Keeper, 1502; William Warham, Bishop of
London, afterwards Archbishop, Keeper, 1502 - 1504, Chancellor,1504 - 1509.
Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, son to the Duke of Norfolk killed at Bosworth, and himself
attained for the part he took in supporting Richard III, was Lord High Treasurer in 1501, and continued under Henry
VIII to 1522, when he retired at the age of seventy-nine.
ACTS AND DOCUMENTS
In 1485, by 1 Henry VII e. 6, the attainder under
which many members of the Parliament lay was reversed, in the absence of those members. The case of the king himself,
attained in Richard III.'s time was raised, but the Judges decided that the possession of the crown removed all
taint of blood, and that from the day that the king assumed the crown he was freed from all such disability. The
possession of the crown became the starting-point for the re-organization of government
The parliament also settled the crown upon Henry and his heirs, and the Papal Bull granting a dispensation for
the marriage of the King with Elizabeth of York confirmed the king's title. Printed in the Statutes, Rolls of Parliament,
vi., 270, and Rymer'a Foedera, xii.
In 1487, by S Henry VII 1, the irregular jurisdiction of the council was put into legal form, and the chancellor,
treasurer, privy seal, or any two of them, with a bishop and temporal lord of the council, and the chief justices
of the king's bench and common pleas, or in theft absence two other justices, were given summary and arbitrary
power to proceed in cases of riots, combinations, intimidation; untrue returns, the bribing of juries and other
cases. This act legalized what was afterwards done without parliamentary sanction by the Star Chamber -a name which
does not appear in the act, but is used earlier. (Printed in the Statutes.)
In 1495, by 11 Henry VII c. 1., service of obedience to the king de facto was declared not to be punishable by
parliament or any other court as treason, notwithstanding any acts made to the contrary. It is significant that
this act was passed when Perkin Warbeck was in Scotland. Though an impostor, his appearance indicated a Yorkist
movement which might result in another change of dynasty. (Printed in the Statutes.)
Ireland, so far as it was English at all, had been in favour of the Yorkist party, and had supported all but unanimously
the attempt of 1487.
In 1495 Sir Edward Poynings, lord Deputy in Ireland to Henry'; the king's son, procured the passing of Poynings'
Act by which English laws poised before that time were to be in force in Ireland, and no legislation could be proposed
in the Irish Parliament without the permission of the English Council. (Printed in Leland, Irish Statutes ii. 102.)
In 1496 the Great Intercourse, a treaty of peace and commerce, was made with Philip Archduke of Austria and Duke
of Burgundy, the ruler of the Netherlands. The Yorkist sympathy of Burgundy being overruled by the commercial necessities
of Flanders. (Rymer's Foedera, xii. 578.)
In 1506 another treaty, called by the Flemings Malus Intercursus, because it limited their right of fishery on
the English coasts, was made during the accidental detention of Philip in England owing to bad weather. It provided
for the surrender of the Earl of Suffolk, Edmund de la Pole, a grandson of Richard Duke of York. (Rymer's Foedera,
xiii. 123.)
In 1504, by 19 Henry VII 14, the giving of liveries was further forbidden. It had been continually forbidden since
Richard II., but bad been continually the practice. Henry VII. had already severely punished infractions of the
former statutes. Liveried retainers, personal followers, must be distinguished from feudal tenants, who as landholders
had a certain weight and position of respectability (Printed in the Statutes.)
