He spent his entire reign fixated on eliminating or disarming his enemies, and stabilizing England after the bloody, seemingly endless War of the Roses. Yet Henry's techniques of power went beyond the needs of surveillance and survival. ), The Reign of Henry VII. Watch with Prime In 1494, Henry embargoed trade (mainly in wool) with the Burgundian Netherlands in retaliation for Margaret of Burgundy's support for Perkin Warbeck. [64] This made Henry VII's second son, Henry, Duke of York, heir apparent to the throne. He created the Tudor dynasty. But he leaves us wondering how Henry got away with it. After Edward retook the throne in 1471, Henry Tudor spent 14 years in exile in Brittany. 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]. [77][78] His mother died two months later on 29 June 1509. The last few years of his reign were ones of repression. 1) The number of books on Henry VII can basically be counted on one hand 2) This is Penns first book. He stabilised the government's finances by introducing several new taxes. He likens the beginning of Henry VIII's reign to a metaphorical spring, a second coming of sorts because Henry VIII seemed to be the opposite of his father. [citation needed] Following the example of Edward IV, Henry VII created a Council of Wales and the Marches for his son Arthur, which was intended to govern Wales and the Marches, Cheshire and Cornwall. Only through the deaths of more obvious claimants, and after the accession of Richard III in 1483, when Henry was 26, did he become a leading candidate. Castles of . ||sitemap_index.xml Henry started a new policy to recover Guyenne and other lost Plantagenet claims in France. Henry VII: Winter King (TV Movie 2013) - IMDb Henry VII was king of England from 1485 to 1509. [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. Henry VII - History Learning Site However, such a level of paranoia persisted that anyone (John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, for example)[27] with blood ties to the Plantagenets was suspected of coveting the throne. My obsession is European history from the 12th through 17th centuries - especially British history - so of course, when I was offered the chance to review this book, my interest was piqued immediately. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Swynford was Gaunt's mistress for about 25 years. But that's not really what I wanted from a book about Henry VII. After Wolf Hall, I wanted to find out about Henry VII, the lesser-studied father of Henry VIII, who founded the Tudor Dynasty. The research was thorough and it was presented well and kept me engaged. [29] Henry secured his crown principally by dividing and undermining the power of the nobility, especially through the aggressive use of bonds and recognisances to secure loyalty. No. Penn went on to show Henry VIIs wax funeral effigy, which I saw on my recent trip to London, and which shows his fine-boned features and his crooked eye, but also a face bearing the signs of stress and illness. King Henry the VII and King Henry the VIII both feared being invaded by foreign countries. Then in 1491 appeared a still more serious menace: Perkin Warbeck, coached by Margaret to impersonate Richard, the younger son of Edward IV. After winning the throne of England, he wed Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of the dead Yorkist king Edward IV. The significant role played by bitcoin for businesses! The purpose of the agreement was to prevent France from annexing Brittany. With the assistance of the Italian merchant banker Lodovico della Fava and the Italian banker Girolamo Frescobaldi, Henry VII became deeply involved in the trade by licensing ships, obtaining alum from the Ottoman Empire, and selling it to the Low Countries and in England. 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. - and that was only about 50% of the book, it was only about 50% interesting to me. Henry VII is usually treated as a charmless and thrifty prelude to the big reign of Henry VIII, with the inevitable marriage of Henry and Catherine of Aragon, and the reversal of his father's bully policies for a golden age of chivalry and, you know, all the crazy shit Henry VIII was about to do. Henry VII's reign has yielded an evocative study, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, ILLUSTRATION: CLIFFORD HARPER/AGRAPHIA.CO.UK. We know that Henry attended the wedding celebrations of Arthur and his bride . The union was both symbolic and necessary. [76] He was succeeded by his second son, Henry VIII (reigned 150947), who would initiate the Protestant Reformation in England. [28], Henry had Parliament repeal Titulus Regius, the statute that declared Edward IV's marriage invalid and his children illegitimate, thus legitimising his wife. He likens the beginning of Henry VIIIs reign to a metaphorical spring, a second coming of sorts because Henry VIII seemed to be the opposite of his father. While there, he feigned stomach cramps and delayed his departure long enough to miss the tides. Author of, Assistant Master and Professor of History, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. Here is a rundown of the programme for those who missed it. 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. [9] He took it, as well as the standard of St. George, on his procession through London after the victory at Bosworth. This is why he named the book the "Winter King". Why did the nobility accept the curtailment of the military power it had wielded in the wars of the roses and swallow the elevation of upstarts at Henry's court? This revived an earlier practice of using a small (and trusted) group of the Privy Council as a personal or Prerogative Court, able to cut through the cumbersome legal system and act swiftly. 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. I would read more by this author. [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. 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. Henry VII ruled as Machiavelli, just after his reign, was to advise usurpers to do through fear rather than love. 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. Even if the king outfaced his enemies in his lifetime, would they not forestall a Tudor succession? His claim to the throne was precarious and he wanted to portray Richard . Henry VII, grown rich from Morton's Fork and other squeezes, was far from a bumpkin trying to break into the royal circles of western Europe--he was being courted, and he knew very well to play Castile (Hapsburg) and Aragon off against one another after Isabella died (and Catherine might very well have been packed off home to marry someone else, it was common). 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 . [4] Owen is said to have secretly married the widow of Henry V, Catherine of Valois. Henry VII: The Winter King (95) 59min 2013 PG. Effectively an orphan, he had spent wretched years as a fugitive in Brittany. Henry responded to this threat by embedding spies into households. What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen! His younger brother, Jasper Tudor, the Earl of Pembroke, undertook to protect Edmund's widow Margaret, who was 13 years old when she gave birth to Henry. 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. The Great Debasement - Wikipedia Thus, Henry Tudor had no choice but to gather together an army including mercenary soldiers as well as his own supporters, and he landed in Wales in August, 1485. In that, he was quite successful, but he was neither loved nor admired. The reigns of his three predecessors were interrupted or foreshortened. Celebrating the release of The Colour of Bone A London Charnel House. BBC Two - Henry VII: The Winter King, Backdating Henry's Reign 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. His father was the son of Owen Tudor, a Welsh squire, and Catherine of France, the widow of King Henry V. His mother was the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, whose children by Catherine Swynford were born before he married her. Detailed Information. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. He passed laws against "livery" (the upper classes' flaunting of their adherents by giving them badges and emblems) and "maintenance" (the keeping of too many male "servants"). [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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Henry restored power and stability to the English monarchy following the civil war. He was probably baptised at St Mary's Church, Pembroke,[1] though no documentation of the event exists. So 4 stars. Categories: Monarchy, NewsTags: birth of Tudor dynasty, Henry Tudor, Henry VII, Thomas Penn, Tudor dynasty, Winter King, Copyright 2023 The Anne Boleyn Files The future Henry VIII, in contrast,. Watch for $0.00 with Prime. His spies and informers were everywhere. Please check your email to confirm your subscription. Henry VII was king of England from 1485 to 1509. Henry VII: Winter King was aired last night on BBC2 and was the latest programme in BBC2s Tudor Court Season. He was crowned on October 30 and secured parliamentary recognition of his title early in November. This meant that Henry had been the rightful King in the battle and that Richard had been the usurper, and those who supported him had been traitors. [46] In 1506 he resumed the construction of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, started under Henry VI, guaranteeing finances which would continue even after his death. Henry needed an heir to secure his reign and fortunately an heir came quickly. I thought the book was well written, even though a bit dry is spots. Soon after his fathers burial on 10 May, Henry suddenly declared that he would indeed marry Catherine, leaving unresolved several issues concerning the papal dispensation and a missing part of the marriage portion. One of their sons was Edmund, Henry's father. Loyalty was ensured, and the nobility was effectively neuteredand Henry became the richest monarch in Europe. 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. Happy St Davids Day! Philip had been shipwrecked on the English coast, and while Henry's guest, was bullied into an agreement so favourable to England at the expense of the Netherlands that it was dubbed the Malus Intercursus ("evil agreement"). Penn then moved on to how Henry became King. In 1621 Francis Bacon's history of the reign called Henry "a dark prince, and infinitely suspicious". [37], For most of Henry VII's reign Edward Story was Bishop of Chichester. 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. This definitely was not that. Edward would have liked to rid himself of Henry, a rival to his throne, but Francis kept Henry safe. Though this was not achieved during his reign, the marriage eventually led to the union of the English and Scottish crowns under Margaret's great-grandson, James VI and I, following the death of Henry's granddaughter Elizabeth I. His second son, also called Henry, inherited the throne and became . Corrections? 1845. [citation needed], To secure his hold on the throne, Henry declared himself king by right of conquest retroactively from 21 August 1485, the day before Bosworth Field. Claire is going live on YouTube on 11 February! Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn - review Alternate titles: Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, Professor of Medieval History, University of Liverpool, 196780. In 1621 Francis Bacon's history of. [17] Now supported by Francis II's prime minister, Pierre Landais, Richard III attempted to extradite Henry from Brittany, but Henry escaped to France. The expressive and evocative power of his writing, and the union of scholarship with artistry, are rare in modern historical writing. Warbeck won the support of Edward IV's sister Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy. I picked this audiobook up because it was narrated by Simon Vance. Henry VIII and the Break with Rome Timeline - History Stanleys betrayal led to a complete security overhaul and his privy chamber going into lockdown. With Elizabeth's death, the possibilities for such family indulgences greatly diminished. Since we are in the middle of winter, Ive been thinking of a volume on my shelves on Henry VII, who could be called the Winter King. He would learn better as the new reign unfolded. 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. She was a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (fourth son of Edward III), and his third wife Katherine Swynford. On one side of the coin, instead of a profile of his face, there was a full length depiction of Henry sat on his throne with his crown and sceptre. Historians debate the extent of Henry's rapacity. There he found more English fugitives, willing to invade England in support of Henry, and bearing news that Richard III had serious plans to marry the princess Elizabeth himself. How did a precariously enthroned ruler, lacking a police force or a standing army, manage to run roughshod over the law? Omissions? That was to prevent the King of France capturing him and letting him loose on the English as a rival. Henry VIII was spring and Henry VII was winter. The Winter King is also the title of a book by Thomas Penn, and a useful read. The Treaty of Redon was signed in February 1489 between Henry and representatives of Brittany. Bacon wanted the future Charles I to learn from Henry's reign, but the financial methods that would provoke fatal opposition to Charles look pale beside the exactions levied by Henry from often innocent subjects, who were denied legal process or threatened with trumped-up prosecutions and had to buy their freedom (though at moments of apparently impending death the king would repent of his methods and have the jails cleared and pardons issued). Penn then went on to talk about the heir to the throne, the young Prince Henry, who seemed very different to the King. [citation needed], Henry's most successful diplomatic achievement as regards the economy was the Magnus Intercursus ("great agreement") of 1496. Henry reigned for nearly 24 years and was peacefully succeeded by his son, Henry VIII. He became paranoid and made the decision that if his people couldnt love him then they should fear him. When Henry VII called his first parliament he used it as an opportunity to legitimise his reign. Fittingly he dressed in expensive black. I'm not giving this a star rating because I suspect it's me at fault not the book. As his mother was only 14 when he was born and soon married again, Henry was brought up by his uncle Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke. [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. He had unified the kingdom, accrued immense wealth and created the most notorious dynasty in English history: the Tudors.