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. They were appointed for every shire and served for a year at a time. Otherwise, at the time of his father's arranging of the marriage to Catherine of Aragon, the future Henry VIII was too young to contract the marriage according to Canon Law and would be ineligible until age fourteen. 7.1 59min 2013 16+. [50] Henry had pressured the French by laying siege to Boulogne in October 1492. Henry the older was lean and shriveled, rigid with prudence, empty of any hunger other than a desire to secure his throne through the acquisition of cash. Most often asked questions related to bitcoin. I really enjoyed it. How like a winter hath my absence been From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! Today is Shrove Tuesday time for pancakes! Henry was thus handed over to English envoys and escorted to the Breton port of Saint-Malo. this was well-written and i love henry vii for how he managed to a) get the throne of england and b) keep it and make the crown so solvent after the devastating years of the Wars of the Roses, but i can't help but think that a lot of this was rather dry. Why was Henry VII called the Winter King? His claim to the throne was tenuous and permanently contested. Life at court was merry under Henry 8th, a fresh new beginning likened to springtime. Penn then moved on to how Henry became King. I'm not giving this a star rating because I suspect it's me at fault not the book. [6] Henry IV's action was of doubtful legality, as the Beauforts were previously legitimised by an Act of Parliament, but it weakened Henry's claim. Henry VII was succeeded by his second son, Henry VIII. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. More than a biography of Henry VII, this book is really a highly detailed history of the last ten years of his reign, and how he meticulously and ruthlessly turned England into a police state ruled by what amounted to an organized crime syndicate. He also enacted laws against livery and maintenance, the great lords' practice of having large numbers of "retainers" who wore their lord's badge or uniform and formed a potential private army. It was presented by historian Thomas Penn, author of Winter King and was an excellent examination of the King who, as Penn pointed out, tend to be eclipsed by Richard III, the glamour and notoriety of Henry VIII and the charisma of Elizabeth I. Elizabeth did get pregnant, but then went into premature labour. The future Henry VIII, in contrast,. Henry responded to this threat by embedding spies into households. Sometimes when reading nonfiction of this type, I never know if it is going to be dry and dull or not. The rebels were defeated (June 1487) in a hard-fought battle at Stoke (East Stoke, near Newark in Nottinghamshire), where the doubtful loyalty of some of the royal troops was reminiscent of Richard IIIs difficulties at Bosworth. [49] The confused, fractious nature of Breton politics undermined his efforts, which finally failed after three sizeable expeditions, at a cost of 24,000. Shakespeare, drawn to the colour on either side of the reign, skipped it. They did as much to endanger his throne as to secure it. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. After his victory at Bosworth Field, Henry married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York. of course, a large proportion of my opinion is probably due to the fact that i knew a lot about henry vii already, and Penn tried to create quite a thrilling/mysterious feel, which is all well and good if you don't already know how everything plays out. Henry, recognizing that Simnel had been a mere dupe, employed him in the royal kitchens. Why was Henry VII called the "Winter King"? - Quora : (April 25, 1883. Old rivalries simmered, however. [21], Henry devised a plan to seize the throne by engaging Richard quickly because Richard had reinforcements in Nottingham and Leicester. Wales was historically a Lancastrian stronghold, and Henry owed the support he gathered to his Welsh birth and ancestry, being agnatically descended from Rhys ap Gruffydd. Two themes of his book preside: the permanent vulnerability of Henry's regime, and his ruthless methods of rule. These bonds were enforced by the Council Learned in the Law, a council of legal advisers who were only answerable to the King. The King was heavily guarded. Having secured financial backing from Florentine bankers in London, Cabot was granted carefully phrased letters patent from Henry in March 1496, permitting him to embark on an exploratory voyage westerly. The union was both symbolic and necessary. Why was Henry VII called the Winter King? Why was Henry VII called the Winter King? - AnswersAll Sophia Money-Coutts: Sensitivity readers don't want Henry VIII to be Poor Henry VII. By 1900 the "New Monarchy" interpretation stressed the common factors that in each country led to the revival of monarchical power. When Henry VII became king, the royal exchequer was effectively bankrupt. When Richard III became King, Henrys strategy, planned by Margaret Beaufort, the mother whom he had not seen for years, was to declare in public, in Brittanys Rennes Cathedral, that he would marry Edward IVs daughter Elizabeth, then in sanctuary with her mother, and thus bury the enmity between Lancaster and York by making her his queen. That is, suspicious, insecure and crafty but also determined, patient and fiercely proud of his Lancastrian ancestry. He spent most of the next 14 years under the protection of Francis II, Duke of Brittany. He had to pay a 500 fine to save himself, to buy a pardon for the crime. He was a ruler to be feared, a ruler to be paid. Wow, it was like being battered by facts without remission for good intentions. Their chief task was to see that the laws of the country were obeyed in their area. I had an idea Henry VII was a force for stability; in fact he was a terrifying kleptocrat, abusing the law with arbitrary fines and imprisonment, scheming to effectively steal entire estates and wring every penny out of subjects as well as impose political control through financial means. [64] This made Henry VII's second son, Henry, Duke of York, heir apparent to the throne. Watch Henry VII: The Winter King | Prime Video - amazon.com Sometimes, Penn explained, charges against people were fabricated so that they would have to pay a fine, for example, a man who was charged with murdering a child and who was found guilty because the jury was rigged. [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. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Not only was . In the late 20th century a model of European state formation was prominent in which Henry less resembles Louis and Ferdinand. ), The Reign of Henry VII. I thought the way he controled the nobility was fascinating - keeping them in check as well a raising vast sums of money at the same time. King Henry the VII and King Henry the VIII both feared being invaded by foreign countries. Penn's picture of a reign of terror carries disturbing echoes of the Roman historian Tacitus's account of the emperor Tiberius, another ruler whose abridgements of liberty followed an era of civil strife. One of their sons was Edmund, Henry's father. For him, it was never about glory and battle. Henry VII: The Winter King. While most of us are familiar with Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and we probably have a sense of the Wars of the Roses in England, but how many of us are familiar with Henry VII. This is why he named the book the "Winter King". Henry Tudor is a familiar name to students of English history, especially the military side of it. Through luck, guile and ruthlessness, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, had clambered to the top of the heap--a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's throne. [22] Thus, anyone who had fought for Richard against him would be guilty of treason and Henry could legally confiscate the lands and property of Richard III, while restoring his own. 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. Henry marries Catherine of Aragon. Henry himself was clearly a distant figure who governed through his ministers, but this means that it's quite hard to get much of a sense of his character from the few sources available. 'Meeting between Francis I and Henry VIII at the Field of Cloth of Gold on 7 June 1520,' a painting by Friedrich August Bouterwek. Up to a point, he succeeded. Still, as Penn observes, the national sense of relief in 1509 was palpable. Warbeck was finally captured in 1497 and executed. Amateur historians Bertram Fields and Sir Clements Markham have claimed that he may have been involved in the murder of the Princes in the Tower, as the repeal of Titulus Regius gave the Princes a stronger claim to the throne than his own. This was excellent. The last few years of his reign were ones of repression. [30] Before departing for London, Henry sent Robert Willoughby to Sheriff Hutton in Yorkshire, to arrest Warwick and take him to the Tower of London. I found this really interesting, but Im a history nut. BBC - History - Henry VIII: Majesty with Menace An easy read? Years of instability, factionalism and his predecessors' penchant for war had seen royal finances severely battered. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Richard III's death at Bosworth Field effectively ended the Wars of the Roses. (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. Henry VIII, (born June 28, 1491, Greenwich, near London, Englanddied January 28, 1547, London), king of England (1509-47) who presided over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and the English Reformation. [31] Despite such precautions, Henry faced several rebellions over the next twelve years. For many he remained a usurper, a false king. The research was thorough and it was presented well and kept me engaged. During Henry's early years, his uncle Henry VI was fighting against Edward IV, a member of the Yorkist Plantagenet branch. One interesting thing about him is his early youth and the fourteen years he spent in exile in France Brittany to be precise and those, I believe, made him the man he was eventually to become. Reading this, I got a much better understanding of where Henry VIII came from, and why he was destined to be the colorful ruler he became, as an antidote to his own father. Henry VII: Winter King was aired last night on BBC2 and was the latest programme in BBC2s Tudor Court Season. The whole system was ingeniously designed to ensure the unchallenged supremacy of the king while stamping out any challenges to his authority from the nobles, merchants, and commons. For Henry VII, it was all about the money and stability. Celebrating the release of The Colour of Bone A London Charnel House. His father, Henry VII, was a cold, calculating man (he wasn't called "the Winter King" for nothing), a greedy monarch who during his last years on the throne had squeezed every last drop. Henry VII was born in Pembroke Castle , Wales, on January 28 th, 1457. From his victory over Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, to his secret death and the succession of his son Henry VIII, the film reveals the ruthless tactics . Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. There's a lot of cloak-and-dagger stuff here, something Henry and certain of his counselors seemed especially skilled at, and it was those parts that I particularly enjoyed. Prince Arthur was born just eight months after his parents marriage, at Winchester, the seat of King Arthurs Camelot. She was a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (fourth son of Edward III), and his third wife Katherine Swynford. He stabilised the government's finances by introducing several new taxes. Claiming to be Edward, earl of Warwick, the son of Richard IIIs elder brother, George, duke of Clarence, he had the formidable support of John de la Pole, earl of Lincoln, Richard IIIs heir designate, of many Irish chieftains, and of 2,000 German mercenaries paid for by Margaret of Burgundy. Serious disputes involving the use of personal power, or threats to royal authority, were thus dealt with. Get help and learn more about the design. Alison Weir points out that the Rennes ceremony, two years earlier, was plausible only if Henry and his supporters were certain that the Princes were already dead. [32], Next, in 1487, Yorkists led by Lincoln rebelled in support of Lambert Simnel, a boy they claimed to be Edward of Warwick (who was actually a prisoner in the Tower). [48], Henry later concluded a treaty with France at Etaples that brought money into the coffers of England, and ensured the French would not support pretenders to the English throne, such as Perkin Warbeck. He was, said Penn, a man who never knew a moments peace during his reign. Many of the entries show a man who loosened his purse strings generously for his wife and children, and not just on necessities: in spring 1491 he spent a great amount of gold on a lute for his daughter Mary; the following year he spent money on a lion for Elizabeth's menagerie. The rebellion was defeated and Lincoln killed at the Battle of Stoke. [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. With Elizabeth's death, the possibilities for such family indulgences greatly diminished. In turn, Antwerp became an extremely important trade entrept (transshipment port), through which, for example, goods from the Baltic, spices from the east and Italian silks were exchanged for English cloth. Elizabeth of York was Queen consort of England as spouse of King Henry VII from 1486 until her death on February 11th, 1503. The house of York then appeared so firmly established that Henry seemed likely to remain in exile for the rest of his life. What did the people of England think of Henry VIII? - eNotes.com Yet Henry's techniques of power went beyond the needs of surveillance and survival. Thomas Penns Winter King in a brilliant mash-up of gothic horror and political biography. They were third cousins, as both were great-great-grandchildren of John of Gaunt. [citation needed], Henry's most successful diplomatic achievement as regards the economy was the Magnus Intercursus ("great agreement") of 1496. The significant role played by bitcoin for businesses! Inadvertently, he provoked a revolution. But he leaves us wondering how Henry got away with it. ||sitemap_index.xml In 1485 Henry landed at Milford Haven in Wales and advanced toward London. [66], Henry wanted to maintain the Spanish alliance. In 1621 Francis Bacon's history of the reign called Henry "a dark prince, and infinitely suspicious". Henry needed an heir to secure his reign and fortunately an heir came quickly. I have to admit to being a history geek. She was Edward's heir since the presumed death of her brothers, the Princes in the Tower, King Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . After obtaining the dispensation, Henry had second thoughts about the marriage of his son and Catherine. Its goals, relentlessly pursued until Henry's death in 1509, were the establishment of a royal house, the elimination of opposition, and the steady accumulation of power and wealth. After winning the throne of England, he wed Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of the dead Yorkist king Edward IV. Henry VII (28 January 1457 21 April 1509) was King of England from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. Categories: Monarchy, NewsTags: birth of Tudor dynasty, Henry Tudor, Henry VII, Thomas Penn, Tudor dynasty, Winter King, Copyright 2023 The Anne Boleyn Files [53] Later on, Henry had exchanged letters with Pope Julius II in 1507, in which he encouraged him to establish peace among Christian realms, and to organise an expedition against the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. [28], Henry had Parliament repeal Titulus Regius, the statute that declared Edward IV's marriage invalid and his children illegitimate, thus legitimising his wife. Stanleys betrayal led to a complete security overhaul and his privy chamber going into lockdown. Henry VII was king of England from 1485 to 1509. [57], In 1506, Henry extorted the Treaty of Windsor from Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy. [75], Henry VII died of tuberculosis at Richmond Palace on 21 April 1509 and was buried in the chapel he commissioned in Westminster Abbey next to his wife, Elizabeth. I picked this audiobook up because it was narrated by Simon Vance. Some of them have more to say than Penn about the constructive sides of the reign, which developed the state-building methods of his Yorkist predecessors. 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 Field of Cloth of Gold: Royal Revelry. MP3 CD. Who could have expected that he would rule for 24 years, die in his bed, bequeath the first orderly succession to the throne for nearly a century, and found a famous dynasty? I thought the book was well written, even though a bit dry is spots. After Wolf Hall, I wanted to find out about Henry VII, the lesser-studied father of Henry VIII, who founded the Tudor Dynasty. Royal Collection Trust At the summit, even dinnerware testified to its owner's status. For inheriting an unstable throne, holding it for 25 year and leaving England relatively stable, Henry VII deserves his own biography and a lot more credit. Henry VII ruled from 1485-1509 and had a dubious claim on the throne, spending most of his time before the famous Battle of Bosworth Field in exile and gaining credibility from his marriage to Elizabeth of York. But Henry had a crucial asset: his queen and their children, the living embodiment of his hoped-for dynasty. Several of Richard's key allies, such as Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, and also Lord Stanley and his brother William, crucially switched sides or left the battlefield. The Great Debasement (1544-1551) was a currency debasement policy introduced in 1544 England under the order of Henry VIII which saw the amount of precious metal in gold and silver coins reduced and in some cases replaced entirely with cheaper base metals such as copper. They overrode all the usual legal processed and acted with complete impunity. One of the councils prominent members was Edmund Dudley, a man who helped Henry by enforcing the Kings legal rights, finding old laws to use against people and stretching the law to its limits. 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. - and that was only about 50% of the book, it was only about 50% interesting to me. It was a fantastic programme and I highly recommend Thomas Penns book on Henry VII Winter King. By subscribing you confirm that you have read and agree to the Privacy Policy [opens in new window] and the Terms & Conditions [opens in new window]. Henry VII was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 to his death. Musings on History - Henry VII - Learn for Pleasure In 1407, Henry IV, Gaunt's son by his first wife, issued new Letters Patent confirming the legitimacy of his half-siblings but also declaring them ineligible for the throne. Blair Worden's The English Civil Wars is published by Phoenix. Penn explained how Henry reworked recent events to suit him. Pembroke Castle, and later the Earldom of Pembroke, were granted to the Yorkist William Herbert, who also assumed the guardianship of Margaret Beaufort and the young Henry. [44] Following Henry VII's death, Henry VIII executed Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley, his two most hated tax collectors, on trumped-up charges of treason. The new prince was the embodiment of the red and white rose, he was the Tudor rose incarnate. Thus, the two warring houses were joined in marriage. Historians debate the extent of Henry's rapacity. Henry VII: Winter King - A Review and Rundown - The Anne Boleyn Files His biographer, Professor Chrimes, credits him even before he had become king with "a high degree of personal magnetism, ability to inspire confidence, and a growing reputation for shrewd decisiveness".