It was no easy feat. His spies and informers were everywhere. 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. (HIST003) Persecutions, Populations and Politics: Early Modern Britain 1550-1750, (HIST004) Country, Colonies and Culture: Early Modern Britain 1550-1750, (HIST006) The Stuart Court: History Politics and Culture, (HIST010) The Tudors: History, Culture and Religion, (HIST011) The English Country House: History, Architecture and Landscape, (HIST018) The Changing English Countryside, 20th Century Musicals: A Celebration of Song and Dance on the Silver Screen and the Stage. Edward would have liked to rid himself of Henry, a rival to his throne, but Francis kept Henry safe. Before taking the throne, he was known as Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond. He made huge gobs of money binding his subjects to him with loyalty bonds. 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. This is why he named the book the Winter King. Why was Henry VII called the Winter King? The King was heavily guarded. Henry, recognizing that Simnel had been a mere dupe, employed him in the royal kitchens. But that's not really what I wanted from a book about Henry VII. Edward, Earl of Warwick, the ten-year-old son of Edward IV's brother George, Duke of Clarence, was the senior surviving male of the House of York. [17] Now supported by Francis II's prime minister, Pierre Landais, Richard III attempted to extradite Henry from Brittany, but Henry escaped to France. Hidden under the floor in St George's Chapel in Windsor, England where thousands of people walk every day, a forgotten tomb lies. So Henry was a valuable bargaining tool, whose fate always depended on what relations were between England and France, always tainted by the recent Hundred Years War, and how Brittany sought to ward off threats to its own independence. Updates? [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. 1517. [68] In 1505 he was sufficiently interested in a potential marriage to Joanna of Naples that he sent ambassadors to Naples to report on the 27-year-old Joanna's physical suitability. On the debit side, he may have looked a little delicate as he suffered from poor health. [62], Henry VII used justices of the peace on a large, nationwide scale. Based on the terms of the accord, Henry sent 6000 troops to fight (at the expense of Brittany) under the command of Lord Daubeney. [70] Henry VII falls among the minority of British monarchs that never had any known mistresses, and for the times, it is very unusual that he did not remarry: his son Henry was the only male heir left after the death of his wife, thus the death of Arthur created a precarious political position for the House of Tudor. [24][17][25] He was 29 years old, she was 20. Omissions? These laws were used shrewdly in levying fines upon those that he perceived as threats. There were too many powerful noblemen and, as a consequence of the system of so-called bastard feudalism, each had what amounted to private armies of indentured retainers (mercenaries masquerading as servants). Wolf Hall this is not. [74] Margaret Tudor wrote letters to her father declaring her homesickness, but Henry could do nothing but mourn the loss of his family and honour the terms of the peace treaty he had agreed to with the King of Scotland. Up to a point, he succeeded. Henry marries Catherine of Aragon. (ROYAL HISTORY) Directors Stuart Elliott Genres Documentary, International Subtitles English [CC] Audio languages English. 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. [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. He explained how Henry VII had achieved what he set out to do, he had passed on the crown successfully. [40], Henry VII improved tax collection in the realm by introducing ruthlessly efficient mechanisms of taxation. Though outnumbered, Henry's Lancastrian forces decisively defeated Richard's Yorkist army at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485. After his victory at Bosworth Field, Henry married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York. Through this, he found that his Lord Chamberlain, Sir William Stanley, was involved in the plot. Having seen it pop up in a lot of papers' Books of the Year lists, I think I was expecting something altogether more gripping and dramatic, but in the end I thought the story of Henry VII and the Tudor succession was just not an especially thrilling tale. However, with the help of the forces of his step-father, Lord Stanley, he defeated Richard and Richard was killed on the battlefield. Still, as Penn observes, the national sense of relief in 1509 was palpable. He rewrote history by backdating his reign to 21st August 1485, the day before the Battle of Bosworth Field. Here was a young man who enjoyed jousting, who enjoyed chatting with the other knights in the tiltyard and with people of low degree. 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It was propaganda to spread the message that he was the rightful King. Henry then cemented his claim to the throne and his dynastic ambitions by marrying Elizabeth of York and bringing the Houses of Lancaster and York together; the red rose and white rose combined to become the Tudor rose. Luther gained support for his ideas and Europe became . 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. After winning the throne of England, he wed Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of the dead Yorkist king Edward IV. 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. The country was in a perpetual state of emergency and Henrys subjects were scared and resentful. Henry Tudors claim to the throne was, therefore, weak and of no importance until the deaths in 1471 of Henry VIs only son, Edward, of his own two remaining kinsmen of the Beaufort line, and of Henry VI himself, which suddenly made Henry Tudor the sole surviving male with any ancestral claim to the house of Lancaster. 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. More wrote that this King is loved and compared Henrys accession to the coming of a new season, a new spring following a winter of repression. [9] He took it, as well as the standard of St. George, on his procession through London after the victory at Bosworth. The first rising, that of Lord Lovell, Richard IIIs chamberlain, in 1486 was ill-prepared and unimportant, but in 1487 came the much more serious revolt of Lambert Simnel. He was the first Tudor king after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485. They did as much to endanger his throne as to secure it. Luther made a protest against the Catholic practice of Indulgences. After Edward retook the throne in 1471, Henry Tudor spent 14 years in exile in Brittany. He created the Tudor dynasty. - and that was only about 50% of the book, it was only about 50% interesting to me. The father's government was an exercise in discoloration. Watch for $0.00 with Prime. Henry was building a myth, the idea that he and his family were the true royal blood of England. Quite ambitious in nature, Thomas Penn attempts to write a portrait of Henry VII and his reign. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. 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. [10] A contemporary writer and Henry's biographer, Bernard Andr, also made much of Henry's Welsh descent. What old December's bareness every where! Henry VIII Books livestream YouTube 18 February 2023, February 13 A queen and her lady-in-waiting are beheaded. [49] The confused, fractious nature of Breton politics undermined his efforts, which finally failed after three sizeable expeditions, at a cost of 24,000. Categories: Monarchy, NewsTags: birth of Tudor dynasty, Henry Tudor, Henry VII, Thomas Penn, Tudor dynasty, Winter King, Copyright 2023 The Anne Boleyn Files [81], Henry VII and Elizabeth had seven children:[b]. Henry gained the support of the Woodvilles, in-laws of the late Edward IV, and sailed with a small French and Scottish force, landing at Mill Bay near Dale, Pembrokeshire. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which marked the end of the Wars of the Roses. His legacy was his son, Henry VIII, lucky old England Penn commented. Henry VII was also shown, but his black line just traced back to Owen Tudor, a chamber servant. He had to pay a 500 fine to save himself, to buy a pardon for the crime. [38], Unlike his predecessors, Henry VII came to the throne without personal experience in estate management or financial administration. Thomas Penns Winter King in a brilliant mash-up of gothic horror and political biography. The nobility was forced into bonds, legal agreements that they would act as the King wanted or be fined. I couldn't even stay awake reading this. He was the only child of Lady Margaret Beaufort and Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond. Well written and really interesting about an often ignored king.