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HENRY VII

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 287 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HENRY VII . (1457-1509), See also:king of See also:England, was the first of the Tudor See also:dynasty. His claim to the See also:throne was through his See also:mother from See also:John of Gaunt and See also:Catherine See also:Swynford, whose issue See also:born before their See also:marriage had been legitimated by See also:parliament. This, of course, was only a Lancastrian claim, never valid, even as such, till the See also:direct male See also:line of John of Gaunt had become See also:extinct. By his See also:father the genealogists traced his See also:pedigree to Cadwallader, but this only endeared him to the Welsh when he had actually become king. His See also:grand-father, See also:Owen Tudor, however, had married Catherine, the widow of Henry V. and daughter to See also:Charles VI. of See also:France. Their son See also:Edmund, being See also:half See also:brother of Henry VI., was created by that king See also:earl of See also:Richmond, and having married See also:Margaret See also:Beaufort, only daughter of John, See also:duke of See also:Somerset, died more than two months before their only See also:child, Henry, was See also:horn in See also:Pembroke See also:Castle in See also:January 1457. The fatherless child had sore trials. See also:Edward IV. won the See also:crown when he was four years old, and while See also:Wales partly held out against the conqueror, he was carried for safety from one castle to another. Then for a See also:time he was made a prisoner; but ultimately he was taken abroad by his See also:uncle See also:Jasper, who found See also:refuge in See also:Brittany. At one time the duke of Brittany was nearly induced to surrender him to Edward IV.; but he remained safe in the duchy till the cruelties of See also:Richard III. drove more and more Englishmen abroad to join him. An invasion of England was planned in 1483 in See also:concert with the duke of See also:Buckingham's rising; but stormy See also:weather at See also:sea and an inundation in the See also:Severn defeated the two movements.

A second expedition, two years later, aided this time by France, was more successful. Henry landed at See also:

Milford Haven among his Welsh See also:allies and defeated Richard at the See also:battle of See also:Bosworth (See also:August 22, 1485). He was crowned at See also:Westminster on the 3oth of See also:October following. Then, in fulfilment of pledges by which he had procured the See also:adhesion of many Yorkist supporters, he was married at Westminster to See also:Elizabeth (1465-1503), eldest daughter and heiress of Edward IV. (See also:Jan. 18, 1486), whose two See also:brothers had both been murdered by Richard III. Thus the Red and See also:White See also:Roses were See also:united and the pretexts for See also:civil See also:war done away with. Ncvertheless,Hcnry's reign was much disturbed by a See also:succession of Yorkist conspiracies and pretenders. Of the two most not-able impostors, the first, See also:Lambert See also:Simnel, personated the earl of See also:Warwick, son of the duke of See also:Clarence, a youth of seventeen whom Henry had at his See also:accession taken care to imprison in the See also:Tower. Simnel, who was but a boy, was taken over to See also:Ireland to perform his See also:part, and the See also:farce was wonderfully successful. He was crowned as Edward VI. in See also:Christchurch See also:Cathedral, See also:Dublin, and received the See also:allegiance of every one—bishops, nobles and See also:judges, alike with others. From Ireland, accompanied by some bands of See also:German mercenaries procured for him in the See also:Low Countries, he invaded England; but the rising was put down at Stoke near See also:Newark in See also:Nottinghamshire, and, Simnel being captured, the king made him a See also:menial of his See also:kitchen.

This See also:

movement had been greatly assisted by Margaret, duchess See also:dowager of See also:Burgundy, See also:sister of Edward IV., who could not endure to see the See also:House of See also:York supplanted by that of Tudor. The second pretender, See also:Perkin See also:Warbeck, was also much indebted to her support; but he seems to have entered on his career at first without it. And his See also:story, which was more prolonged, had to do with the attitude of many countries towards England. Anxious as Henry was to avoid being involved in See also:foreign See also:wars, it was not many years before he was committed to a war with France, partly by his See also:desire of an See also:alliance with See also:Spain, and partly by the indignation of his own subjects at the way in which the See also:French were undermining the See also:independence of Brittany. Henry gave Brittany defensive aid; but after the duchess See also:Anne had married Charles VIII. of France, he See also:felt See also:bound to fulfil his obligations to See also:Ferdinand and See also:Isabella of Spain, and also to the German king See also:Maximilian, by an invasion of France in 1492. His allies, however, were not equally scrupulous or equally able to fulfil their obligations to him; and after besieging See also:Boulogne for some little time, he received very advantageous offers from the French king and made See also:peace with him. Now Perkin Warbeck had first appeared in Ireland in 1491, and had somehow been persuaded there to personate Richard, duke of York, the younger of the two princes murdered in the Tower, pretending that he had escaped, though his brother had been killed. Charles VIII., then expecting war with England, called him to France, recognized his pretensions and gave him a See also:retinue; but after the peace he dismissed him. Then Margaret of Burgundy received him as her See also:nephew, and Maximilian, now estranged from Henry, recognized him as king of England. With a See also:fleet given him by Maximilian he attempted to See also:land at See also:Deal, but sailed away to Ireland and, not succeeding very well there either, sailed farther to See also:Scotland, where See also:James IV. received him with open arms, married him to an earl's daughter and made a brief and futile invasion of England along with him. But in 1497 he thought best to dismiss him, and Perkin, after attempting something again in Ireland, landed in See also:Cornwall with a small See also:body of men. Already Cornwall had risen in insurrection that See also:year, not liking the See also:taxation imposed for the purpose of repelling the Scotch invasion.

A See also:

host of the See also:country See also:people, led first by a blacksmith, but afterwards by a nobleman, marched up towards See also:London and were only defeated at See also:Blackheath. But the Cornish-men were quite ready for another revolt, and indeed had invited Perkin to their shores. He had little fight in him, however, and after a futile See also:siege of See also:Exeter and an advance to See also:Taunton he See also:stole away and took See also:sanctuary at See also:Beaulieu in See also:Hampshire. But, being assured of his See also:life, he surrendered, was brought to London, and was only executed two years later, when, being imprisoned near the earl of Warwick in the Tower, he inveigled that See also:simple-minded youth into a project of See also:escape. For this Warwick, too, was tried, condemned and executed—no doubt to deliver Henry from repeated conspiracies in his favour. Henry had by this time several See also:children, of whom the eldest, See also:Arthur, had been proposed in See also:infancy for a bridegroom to Catherine, daughter of Ferdinand of See also:Aragon. The match had always been kept in view, but its completion depended greatly on the assurance Ferdinand and Isabella could feel of Henry's Secure position upon the throne. At last Catherine was brought287 to England and was married to See also:Prince Arthur at St See also:Paul's on the 14th of See also:November 1501. The lad was just over fifteen and the co-habitation of the couple was wisely delayed; but he died on the 2nd of See also:April following. Another match was presently proposed for Catherine with the king's second son, Henry, which only took effect when the latter had become king himself. Mean-while Henry's eldest daughter Margaret was married to James IV. of Scotland—a match distinctly intended to promote inter-See also:national peace, and make possible that ultimate See also:union which actually resulted from it. The espousals had taken See also:place at Richmond in 1502, and the marriage was celebrated in Scotland the year after.

In the See also:

interval between these two events Henry lost his See also:queen, who died on the 11th of See also:February 1503, and during the See also:remainder of his reign he made proposals in various quarters for a second marriage—proposals in which See also:political See also:objects were always the See also:chief See also:consideration; but none of them led to any result. In his latter years he became unpopular from the extortions practised by his two See also:instruments, See also:Empson and See also:Dudley, under the authority of antiquated statutes. From the beginning of his reign he had been accumulating See also:money, mainly for his own See also:security against intrigues and conspiracies, and avarice had grown upon him with success. He died in April 1509, undoubtedly the richest prince in Christendom. He was not a niggard, however, in his See also:expenditure. Before his See also:death he had finished the See also:hospital of the See also:Savoy and made See also:provision for the magnificent See also:chapel at Westminster which bears his name. His money-getting was but part of his statesmanship, and for his statesmanship his country owes him not a little gratitude. He not only terminated a disastrous civil war and brought under See also:control the spirit of See also:ancient See also:feudalism, but with a clear survey of the conditions of foreign See also:powers he secured England in almost uninterrupted peace while he See also:developed her See also:commerce, strengthened her slender See also:navy and built, apparently for the first time, a See also:naval See also:dock at See also:Portsmouth. In addition to his sons Arthur and Henry, Henry VII. had several daughters, one of whom, Margaret, married James IV., king of Scotland, and another,'See also:Mary, became the wife of See also:Louis XII. of France, and afterwards of Charles See also:Brandon, duke of See also:Suffolk. The popular view of Henry VII.'s reign has always been derived from See also:Bacon's See also:History of that king. This has been edited by J. R.

Lumby (See also:

Cambridge, 1881) But during the last half See also:century large accessions to our knowledge have been made from foreign and domestic archives, and the See also:sources of Bacon's See also:work have been more critically examined. For a See also:complete See also:account of those sources the reader may be referred to W. See also:Busch's England under the, Tudors, published in German in 1892 and in an See also:English See also:translation in 1895. Some further See also:information of a See also:special See also:kind will be found in M. See also:Oppenheim's Naval Accounts and Inventories, published by the Navy Records Society in 1896. See also J. See also:Gairdner's Henry VII. (1889). (J.

End of Article: HENRY VII

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