Henry VII

Henry VII is also known as Henry Tudor. He was the first Tudor king after
defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485. This battle
saw the end of the Wars of the Roses which had brought instability to
England. Henry VII was king of England from 1485 to 1509. His second son,
also called Henry, inherited the throne and became Henry VIII. Henry VIII
and Elizabeth I tend to dominate Tudor history and their lives do
overshadow the importance of Henry VII’s reign.

The Wars of the Roses had been a constant battle between two of

England’s most powerful families – the families of York and Lancaster.

Henry was a member of the Lancaster family and to bring the families

closer together he married Elizabeth of York soon after being crowned

king. 

However, the powerful York family remained a threat to him for years to

come as they never recognised their defeat in the Wars of the Roses nor

did they want a member of the Lancaster family as king of England.

However, Henry was a very difficult opponent. He was a clever man who

was determined not to lose his throne. He quickly identified the main

problem he faced – the powerful barons of England. They were rich and

they had their own private armies. During the Wars of the Roses, they had

not been loyal to either side – renting out their private armies to the family

that paid the most. Henry had to control them.

Henry had a three-way plan to bring the barons under his control. 

First, he banned all private armies. Any baron who disobeyed this royal

command would be committing treason which carried the death penalty. 

Secondly, he heavily taxed the barons to reduce their wealth. The money

raised could be used by Henry to develop his own royal army. A powerful

royal army was an obvious threat to the barons. 

The third way of controlling the barons was to use the Court of Star

Chamber. This was a court run by men who were loyal to Henry VII and they

could be relied on to severely punish any baron who angered the king. 

With these three potential punishments against them, the barons, though a

threat to Henry VII, were reasonably well tamed by him.

Unlike many kings before him, Henry took a keen interest in financial

matters as he knew that a wealthy king was a strong king and a poor king

was a weak one. He also knew that money would expand his army and the

larger his army was, the more powerful he was in the eyes of the barons.

This alone, he believed would keep them

loyal.                                                     

Though he was very careful with money, he also enjoyed himself. He was

keen on playing cards. On January 8th, 1492, he put aside the large sum of

£5 for an evening of gambling. We know that he lost £40 playing cards on

June 30th, 1492. He regularly tipped those who entertained him – especially
musicians – the sum of 33p – not much by our standards, but a good sum

of money for an entertainer in Tudor times. He was also very keen on

playing Real Tennis.  

To develop better relations abroad, and to avoid costly foreign wars, he had

arranged for his eldest son – Arthur – to marry a Spanish princess called

Catherine of Aragon. Aragon is in north-east Spain. Such political marriages

were common among the children of royal families. Neither Arthur nor

Catherine would have had the opportunity to say no to the marriage. 

The marriage lasted only five months as Arthur died. To maintain a

friendship with Spain, Henry arranged for Catherine to marry his second

son, Henry, the future king of England. Henry VII died before the marriage

took place.   

When he died in 1509, the country was by past standards wealthy and the

position of the king was good. The barons by 1509 had been all but tamed.

Many barons believed that it was better to work with the king than against

such a powerful man. 

Henry VIII inherited many advantages from his father’s reign as king. The

reign of the Tudor family – 1485 to 1603 – is famous for many occurrences

and two monarchs stand out (Henry VIII and Elizabeth I), but the 118 years

of Tudor England has a great deal to thank Henry VII for as he got the

Tudor family off to a stable and powerful start.

 Henry VIII
Henry VIII was king of England from 1509 to 1547. Henry’s father was Henry
VII and his mother was Elizabeth of York. Henry had six wives – 1. Catherine
of Aragon (divorced); 2.  Anne Boleyn (executed); 3. Jane Seymour
(died); 4.  Anne of Cleves (divorced) 5. Catherine Howard (executed) and 6.
Catherine Parr (outlived Henry).

He had three children – Mary (by Catherine of Aragon), Elizabeth (by Anne

Boleyn) and Edward (by Jane Seymour). Each became a monarch – Edward

VI, Mary Tudor (or Mary I) and Elizabeth I in that order.

Henry’s reign saw major changes in religion –  the English Reformation.

Though Henry could be a cruel and heartless man – as the trial of Anne

Boleyn and the marriage to Anne of Cleves might indicate – he was also

highly intelligent. 

He enjoyed watching plays, he wrote poetry and he was a skilled lute

player. Some historians believe that he wrote the famous song

“Greensleeves”. Henry also loved sports such as wrestling and hunting. As a

young man he was a skilled horse rider though as he got older, he put on a

lot of weight and this lead to him exercising less and the less he exercised,

the fatter he got. In the last few years of his life, he was affected by ulcerous

legs that turned gangrenous, he may have had syphilis and he may have

had osteomyelitis possibly caused by a jousting accident.

When Henry died on January 28th, 1547, few mourned his death. He had

become highly unpredictable in his final years and this alone made him

more and more of a danger to those who were near to him.