page_title: Henry VII of England
section_title: Later years and death
hierarchical_section_title: Henry VII of England / Reign / Later years and death
caption_attribution_description: Bust of Henry VII 1509-1511 This bust was based on a plaster cast taken from the dead King's face. The cast was also used for his funeral effigy. The bust was meant to show the King as in life and may have been a test of skill for the Florentine sculptor, Pietro Torrigiani. In 1512 he was commissioned to make the tomb of Henry VII and his wife Elizabeth of York in Westminster Abbey. Torrigiani was the most important Italian artist to be employed by their son, Henry VIII. Painted terracotta Made in London by Pietro Torrigiani (born in Florence, Italy, 1472, died in Seville, Spain, 1528; active in England about 1507-1522/25). Possibly commissioned by John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester (1459-1535), together with his own portrait bust and one of Henry VIII. Museum no. A.49-1935. Wikipedia Loves Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum This photo of item # A.49-1935 at the Victoria and Albert Museum was contributed under the team name "va_va_val" as part of the Wikipedia Loves Art project in February 2009. Victoria and Albert Museum The original photograph on Flickr was taken by Val_McG—please add a comment to the original Flickr page whenever a use has been made on Wikipedia or another project. Project galleries on Flickr: this institution, this team
context_page_description: Henry VII was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 to his death. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor.
  Henry attained the throne when his forces defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. He was the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle. He cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Richard's brother Edward IV. Henry was successful in restoring the power and stability of the English monarchy after the civil war.
  Henry is credited with a number of administrative, economic and diplomatic initiatives. His supportive policy toward England's wool industry and his standoff with the Low Countries had long-lasting benefit to the whole English economy. He paid very close attention to detail, and instead of spending lavishly he concentrated on raising new revenues. New taxes stabilised the government's finances. After his death, a commission found widespread abuses in the tax collection process. Henry reigned for nearly 24 years and was peacefully succeeded by his son, Henry VIII.
context_section_description: In 1502, Henry VII's life took a difficult and personal turn in which many people he was close to died in quick succession. His first son and heir apparent, Arthur, Prince of Wales, died suddenly at Ludlow Castle, very likely from a viral respiratory illness known at the time as the "English sweating sickness". This made Henry, Duke of York, heir apparent to the throne. The King, normally a reserved man who rarely showed much emotion in public unless angry, surprised his courtiers by his intense grief and sobbing at his son's death, while his concern for the Queen is evidence that the marriage was a happy one, as is his reaction to the Queen's death the following year, when he shut himself away for several days, refusing to speak to anyone.
  Henry VII wanted to maintain the Spanish alliance. He, therefore, arranged a papal dispensation from Pope Julius II for Prince Henry to marry his brother's widow Catherine, a relationship that would have otherwise precluded marriage in the Roman Catholic Church. In 1503, Queen Elizabeth died in childbirth, so King Henry had the dispensation also permit him to marry Catherine himself. After obtaining the dispensation, Henry had second thoughts about the marriage of his son and Catherine. Catherine's mother Isabella I of Castile had died and Catherine's sister Joanna had succeeded her; Catherine was, therefore, daughter of only one reigning monarch and so less desirable as a spouse for Henry VII's heir-apparent. The marriage did not take place during his lifetime. 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.
  Henry made half-hearted plans to remarry and beget more heirs, but these never came to anything. He entertained thoughts of remarriage to renew the alliance with Spain — Joanna, Dowager Queen of Naples (daughter of Ferdinand I of Naples), Joanna, Queen of Castile (daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella), and Margaret, Dowager Duchess of Savoy (sister-in-law of Joanna of Castile), were all considered  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's physical suitability. The wedding never took place, and the physical description Henry sent with his ambassadors of what he desired in a new wife matched the description of Elizabeth.  
  After 1503, records show the Tower of London was never again used as a royal residence by Henry Tudor, and all royal births under Henry VIII took place in palaces. Henry VII was shattered by the loss of Elizabeth, and her death broke his heart. Of all British kings, Henry VII is one of only a handful that never had any known mistress, and for the times,  it is very unusual that he did not remarry: his son, Henry, was the only heir left and the death of Arthur put the position of the House of Tudor in a more precarious political position.
  During his lifetime the nobility often jeered him 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 Tudor was hellbent on keeping detailed records of his personal finances, down to the last halfpenny; 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. Until the death of his wife, the evidence is clear from these accounting books that Henry Tudor was a more doting father and husband than was widely known and there is evidence that his outwardly austere personality belied a devotion to his family. Letters to relatives have an affectionate tone not captured by official state business, as evidenced by many written to his mother Margaret.  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 go
caption: Posthumous portrait bust by Pietro Torrigiano made using Henry's death mask
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