| |
More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
|
Henry VII
|
|
|
(1457–1509)
King of England from 1485; son of Edmund Tudor, earl of Richmond, and of Margaret Beaufort; married Elizabeth of York (1486).
Born Henry Tudor, three months after his father's death, he had no more than a tenuous claim on the English throne (see the house of *Tudor and the *royal house). But the deaths in 1471 of *Henry VI and his son meant that Henry was the only male claimant on the Lancastrian side. His uncle, the earl of Pembroke, took him in that year to Brittany for safety.
|
|
|
|
|
Henry's opportunity came when the Yorkist camp was split by the illegal accession of *Richard III. He invaded in 1485, defeating and killing Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was immediately crowned, and his marriage the following year to the daughter of the first Yorkist king, *Edward IV, was intended to demonstrate that the rift between the rival houses was now healed and the *Wars of the Roses over. The choice of *Arthur as the name for their first son (1486–1502) harked back to the legendary beginnings of the English royal line.
|
|
|
|
|
But after so much turmoil, ambitious rivals were not to be deterred by symbolism. Henry's rule was disturbed by uprisings and invasions, including those fronted by the pretenders Lambert *Simnel and Perkin *Warbeck. Henry defeated these and other threats, while building up a stable kingdom. His strong control over finance amassed considerable wealth for the realm, and his skill in foreign alliances gave international protection. Among his children, Mary was betrothed to the future emperor *Charles V; Margaret became the wife of the Scottish king, *James IV; and Arthur married the Spanish princess *Catherine of Aragon in 1501 (but died the following year). Henry's surviving son succeeded to the throne in 1509 as *Henry VIII without opposition (see the *royal house).
|
|
|
|