The Perkin Warbeck Rebellion - History Learning Site Home » Tudor England » The Perkin Warbeck Rebellion The Perkin Warbeck Rebellion Citation: C N Trueman "The Perkin Warbeck Rebellion" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 16 Mar 2015. 16 Aug 2016. The Warbeck Rebellion was Henry VII’s second rebellion to deal with after the Lambert Simnel Rebellion of 1486-87. The rebellion led by Perkin Warbeck was a long drawn out affair and lasted between 1491 and 1499. Whilst the rebellion was a curious affair it did show the fragility of Henry’s position in the first half of his reign. Perkin Warbeck’s father, Jehan de Werbecque, was a poor burgess from Tournai in France. Warbeck was born around 1474. As a boy he served as a servant in a number of households. In 1491 Warbeck was working for a Breton silk merchant called Pierre Jean Meno. Warbeck arrived in Cork in the autumn of 1491 on one of Meno’s merchant ships selling silk.

Whilst not a humble occupation, it hardly linked him to a rebellion. Ireland had been a stronghold of the York family for some years and many in Ireland grasped at any opportunity they had to advance the York cause. For whatever reason, the people of Cork believed that Warbeck (who spoke poor English) was the Earl of Warwick – no one was still sure as to where Warwick was. Warbeck denied that he was the Earl of Warwick. Instead he claimed that he was Richard, Duke of York – one of the princes in the Tower. It was assumed that he was dead but no one had ever been able to prove this. While it may seem strange that a silk seller from France should suddenly manifest himself into the Duke of York, Professor S B Chrimes believes that Warbeck’s appearance in a stronghold of the York family was no coincidence but was planned all along. Chrimes believes that two European players were behind the scheme in an effort to undermine Henry. Chrimes believes that Charles VIII of France and Margaret of Burgundy were behind the plot – Margaret had already played a part in the Simnel Rebellion of 1486-87.

On the scaffold Warbeck did mention the “French king” on a number of occasions but never in a specific way that would have incriminated him. Charles VIII did welcome Warbeck to Paris in 1492 and about 100 supporters of the House of York gathered around him. From Paris he moved to Flanders where Margaret of Burgundy took him in as her nephew. This was seen as such a threatening move by Henry that he broke off all trade with Flanders in 1493. The cloth trade with Flanders was worth a great deal – but such were the measures Henry was willing to take. Warbeck then gained another supporter – the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian. Such a powerful backer greatly increased the pressure on Henry. The Holy Roman Emperor on paper was the most powerful man in Europe. Maximilian recognised Warbeck as Richard IV of England. However, Henry had two lucky breaks. Maximilian was far less powerful in reality and had difficulties in enforcing his authority across his empire so his ability to influence English politics was even less. Charles VIII also lost interest in Warbeck and directed his attention and finance towards north Italy, which he invaded in 1494.

Henry had also set up a very good spy network across England and mainland Europe. He quickly got to know that Warbeck’s support was not as strong as it seemed to be. Henry also knew who his supporters were in England. The 1495 Parliament passed a number of acts of attainder including one for Sir William Stanley whose army had made such an impact at the Battle of Bosworth. Stanley also held the position of Chamberlain – one of the most trusted of positions in the king’s court. Stanley was executed and his estates passed to the king. Lord Fitzwalter, Henry’s steward, was also executed. One of the plotters was Sir Robert Clifford but it seems that he was working for the king all along and informing him of those who were plotting to betray Henry. Clifford received a full pardon for his conspiracy and a reward. In July 1485, Warbeck attempted to land at Deal in Kent. Here he hoped to gather around him supporters so that he could march on London. It was a disaster and Warbeck sailed for Ireland while leaving some of his men stranded in Deal to await their fate. Here he laid siege to Waterford – a town loyal to Henry – but was unsuccessful.

From Ireland, Warbeck sailed for Scotland. Here James IV gave Warbeck refuge and a pension of £1200 a year. James saw Warbeck as an opportunity to disrupt England though it is doubtful if he ever believed that he was Richard, Duke of York. Using his pension to finance it, Warbeck attempted an invasion of England. It was a disaster as no one south of the border was willing to support him. However, while Warbeck stayed in Scotland he remained a potential threat. Henry offered his eldest daughter’s hand in marriage to James, which James believed had far more advantages to Scotland than Warbeck could ever offer. Warbeck sensed that his time in Scotland was coming to an end and in July 1497 he went back to Ireland. However, even in a country that had supported the House of York, Warbeck was not welcome and he sailed for Devon. Here only a few thousand people joined him and the people of Exeter and Taunton drove him out. Warbeck fled to Beaulieu Abbey where he hoped to find sanctuary. In August 1497 he was persuaded to give himself up.

As a foreigner Warbeck could not be tried for treason so would not have faced the butchery of being hung, drawn and quartered. Henry allowed Warbeck to remain at court where he could be watched. However, he foolishly tried to run away which seemed to emphasise his treachery. Warbeck was put in the stocks, humiliated and sent to the Tower. Clearly after being generous to the pretender, Henry’s patience had run out. In 1499, Warbeck was charged with trying to escape for a second time, found guilty and hanged on November 23rd 1499. The execution of Warbeck may also have been ordered for another reason. Henry was determined to marry his eldest son, Arthur, to the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. The bringing together of the two nations would have had many advantages to both. However, with Warbeck lurking in the background, there was always the chance that Henry could have been challenged and such a disruptive possibility did not enhance Henry’s position. If Warbeck was permanently removed, Henry could claim that his kingdom was strong and stable. The marriage of Arthur and Catherine of Aragon went ahead.

Henry VII Henry VII References Henry Tudor, the second son of Edmund Tudor , Earl of Richmond and Margaret Beaufort , was born in Pembroke Castle on 28th January 1457. Margaret was the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt . (1) As Alison Weir has pointed out: "Margaret Beaufort, was his (Henry Tudor) only link by the blood to the Plantagents, and she herself was descended from the bastards born to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, fourth son of Edward III, and his mistress Katherine Swynford. These children, all surnamed Beaufort, were legitimised by statute of Richard II in 1397, after Gaunt married their mother; however, ten years later, Henry IV, confirming this, added a rider to the statute which barred the Beauforts and their heirs from ever inheriting the crown." (2) Henry's father had been dead for almost three months when he was born. Henry Tudor was soon separated from his mother as Edward IV decided that he wanted him live with Lord William Herbert, his leading supporter in Wales .

He was brought up at Raglan Castle , with the intention of marrying him to his eldest daughter. These plans came to an end when Herbert was executed after the Battle of Edgecote Moor on 26th July 1469. (3) Henry now went to live with his uncle, Jasper Tudor , the restored Earl of Pembroke. At the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4th May 1471 Margaret of Anjou was captured and her thirteen-year-old son, Edward of Westminster killed. Edward IV sent Roger Vaughan to arrest Henry and Jasper. Vaughan was captured and executed and the two men escaped to Tenby and took a ship, heading for France but landing in Brittany late in the month after a stormy voyage. Francis II , Duke of Brittany, offered them asylum but under Edward's diplomatic pressure, this turned into house arrest in a succession of castles and palaces. (4) Henry Tudor in Brittany John Edward Bowle , the author of Henry VIII (1964) claims that the young Henry Tudor benefitted from living in France: "Henry Tudor...

had learnt in exile and diplomacy to keep his own council and to handle men: he could hold aloof and inspire fear, and became the greatest architect of the Tudor fortunes. Without the sheer blood lust of his contemporaries, he had a sardonic wit." (5) King Louis XI of France agreed to Edward's request to try and capture Henry. However, this ended in failure when he was given sanctuary by a group of Breton noblemen in Brittany . On the death of Edward IV in 1483, his young sons, Edward and Richard , were usurped by their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. He proclaimed himself Richard III and imprisoned the Princes in the Tower, where, almost certainly, he had them murdered. Henry Tudor, as the head of the House of Lancaster, now had a claim to become king. Margaret Beaufort began plotting with various other opponents of Richard, to place her son on the throne. (6) Negotiations took place and in December 1483, Henry took an oath in Rennes Cathedral to marry Elizabeth of York were he to be successful in making himself king of England.

(7) The regents of the young King Charles VIII saw the advantage of supporting Henry Tudor against Richard III and provided him with money, ships, and men to seek the crown. In August 1485, Henry arrived in Wales with 2,000 of his supporters. He also brought with him over 1,800 mercenaries recruited from French prisons. While in Wales, Henry also persuaded many skillful longbowmen to join him in his fight against Richard. By the time Henry Tudor reached England the size of his army had grown to 5,000 men. (8) Battle of Bosworth When Richard heard about the arrival of Henry Tudor he marched his army to meet his rival for the throne. On the way, Richard tried to recruit as many men as possible to fight in his army, but by the time he reached Leicester he only had an army of 6,000 men. Henry Percy , 4th Earl of Northumberland, also brought 3,000 men but his loyalty to Richard was in doubt.

(9) Richard sent an order to Lord Thomas Stanley and Sir William Stanley , two of the most powerful men in England, to bring their 6,000 soldiers to fight for the king. Richard had been informed that Lord Stanley had already promised to help Henry Tudor. In order to persuade him to change his mind, Richard arranged for Lord Stanley's eldest son to be kidnapped. On 21 August 1485, King Richard's army positioned themselves on Ambien Hill , close to the small village of Bosworth in Leicestershire . Henry arrived the next day and took up a position facing Richard. When the Stanley brothers arrived they did not join either of the two armies. Instead, Lord Stanley went to the north of the battlefield and Sir William to the south. The four armies now made up the four sides of a square. Without the support of the Stanley brothers, Richard looked certain to be defeated. Richard therefore gave orders for Lord Stanley's son to be brought to the top of the hill. The king then sent a message to Lord Stanley threatening to execute his son unless he immediately sent his troops to join the king on Ambien Hill.

Lord Stanley's reply was short: "Sire, I have other sons." (10) Henry Tudor's forces now charged King Richard's army. Although out-numbered, Richard's superior position at the top of the hill enabled him to stop the rival forces breaking through at first. When the situation began to deteriorate, Richard called up his reserve forces led by Henry Percy , 4th Earl of Northumberland. However, Northumberland, convinced that Richard was going to lose, ignored the order. Richard's advisers told him that he must try to get away. Richard refused, claiming that he could still obtain victory by killing Henry Tudor in personal combat. He argued that once the pretender to the throne was dead, his army would have no reason to go on fighting. With a loyal squadron of his household, he swept through to Henry's immediate bodyguard, striking down his standard-bearer. At this moment his horse died under him. (11) Polydore Vergil later reported that "King Richard alone was killed fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies." (12) King Henry VII Henry VII was crowned on the battlefield with Richard's crown. He then marched into Leicester and then, slowly, onwards to London.

On 3rd September he entered the capital in triumph. Elizabeth of York was placed in the London household of his mother, Margaret Beaufort . The parliament which met on 7th November asserted the legitimacy of Henry's title and annulled the instrument embodying Richard III's title to the throne. On 10th December 1485, the House of Commons , through their speaker Thomas Lovell , urged the king to act on his promise to marry "that illustrious lady Elizabeth, daughter of King Edward IV" and so render possible "the propagation of offspring from the stock of kings". (13) Henry married Elizabeth of York and on 19th September 1486 she gave birth to a son, Prince Arthur . He was baptized on 24th September in Winchester Cathedral and named after the famous British hero whose fabulous exploits fill the pages of Geoffrey of Monmouth . Initially he was put into the care of women and his nursery at Farnham . This was headed by Dame Elizabeth Darcy. (14) Francis Bacon has suggested that Henry's "aversion toward the house of York was so predominant in him as it found place not only in his wars and councils, but in his chamber and bed".

However, Elizabeth's biographer, Rosemary Horrox , disagrees with this assessment. She quotes from several different sources that indicate that they had a happy marriage. (15) Spartacus E-Books (Price £0.99 / $1.50) Anne Boleyn Henry VII inherited a kingdom that was smaller than it had been for over 400 years. For the first time since the 11th century the realm did not include one French province. The only part of France still held by the English was the Marches of Calais, a strip of territory around the town of Calais . He held the title of "Lord of Ireland" since the 12th century, but effectively governed only an area that was roughly a semi-circle forty miles deep around Dublin . It is estimated that Henry VII had three million subjects. Nearly every summer they were hit by epidemics of the Plague or Sweating Sickness which killed many of the population and improved the standard of living of the survivors, as the shortage of tenants and agricultural labourers kept rents low and wages high. Fifty thousand people lived in the capital city, London.

The second largest city in England, Norwich, had 13,000 inhabitants; but Bristol and Newcastle were the only other towns with more than 10,000. Ninety per cent of the population lived in villages and on the farms in the countryside. According to Jasper Ridley the English were famous throughout Europe for their hearty appetite. "It was said the English vice was overeating, as the German vice was drunkenness and the French vice lechery." (16) Bishop Stephen Gardiner commented: "Every country hath his peculiar inclination to naughtiness. England and Germany to the belly, the one in liquor, the other in meat; France a little beneath the belly; Italy to vanity and pleasures devised; and let an English belly have a further advancement, and nothing can stay it." (17) Lambert Simnel Henry VII was always worried about being overthrown by rivals for the thrown. Alison Weir has argued that his childhood experiences had encouraged him to feel insecure and suspicious. "He presented to the world a genial, smiling countenance, yet beneath it he was suspicious, devious and parsimonious.

He had grown to manhood in an environment of treachery and intrigue, and as a result never knew security." (18) In February 1487 Lambert Simnel appeared in Dublin and claimed to be Edward, earl of Warwick, son and heir of George Plantagenet , Duke of Clarence, the brother of Edward IV, and the last surviving male of the House of York. (19) Polydore Vergil described him as as "a comely youth, and well favoured, not without some extraordinary dignity and grace of aspect". (20) It is believed that John de la Pole , Earl of Lincoln, nephew of the Yorkist kings, was the leader of the conspiracy. He sailed to Ireland with over 1,500 German mercenaries. With this protection, Simnel was crowned as King Edward VI. Pole and his mercenaries, joined by 4,000 Irish troops, arrived on the Cumbrian coast on 4th June and marched across northern Lancashire before moving south. Henry's army, probably twice the size of Pole's, headed north from London .

(21) Henry was well-prepared, having positioned himself strategically to raise support, and advanced purposefully northwards from Leicester. "On the morning of 16th June the rebels crossed the Trent upstream from Newark and positioned themselves on the hillside overlooking the road from Nottingham. The battle of Stoke was a sharp and brutal encounter." (22) Henry's archers decimated the rebel army. The Earl of Lincoln was killed during the battle and Lambert Simnel was captured. According to Polydore Vergil Henry VII spared Lambert Simnel , and put him to service, first in the scullery, and later as a falconer. (23) Jasper Ridley claims that this shows that "Henry VII... was not a vindictive man, and his style of government was quiet and efficient, never using more cruelty or deceit than was necessary.

When he captured Lambert Simnel, the young tradesman's son who led the first revolt against him and was crowned King of England in Dublin, he did not put him to death, but employed him as a servant in his household." (24) Perkin Warbeck While visiting Cork in December 1491 Perkin Warbeck was persuaded to impersonate Richard , Duke of York, second son of Edward IV , who had disappeared eight years earlier together with his elder brother, Edward . In 1492 King Charles VIII of France began funding his campaign. This included being sent to Vienna to meet Emperor Maximilian . He gave his support to Perkin Warbeck but spies in the Maximilian's court told Henry VII about the conspiracy. As a result, several people in England were arrested and executed. (25) In July 1495 Warbeck landed some of his men at Deal . They were quickly rounded up by the Sheriff of Kent and so Warbeck decided to return to Ireland. (26) However, on 20th November 1495 he went to see King James IV of Scotland in Stirling Castle .

On 13th January 1496 James arranged for him to marry him to Lady Katherine Gordon, a distant royal relative. He also provided funding for Warbeck's 1,400 supporters. When Henry VII heard what was happening he began to plan an invasion of Scotland. (27) Henry VII decided he would need to impose a new tax to pay the cost of raising an army. The people of Cornwall objected to paying taxes for war against Scotland and began a march on London . By 13th June, 1496, the Cornishmen, said to number 15,000, were at Guildford . The army of 8,000 that was being prepared against Scotland had to be rapidly diverted to protect London. On 16th June the rebel army reached Blackheath . When they saw Henry's large army, said to now number 25,000, some of them deserted. (28) Henry VII sent a force of archers and cavalry round the back of the rebels.

According to Francis Bacon : "The Cornish, being ill-armed and ill-led and without horse or artillery, were with no great difficulty cut in pieces and put to flight." A large number of the rebels were killed. Some of its leaders were hanged, drawn and quartered. He then proceeded to fine all those involved in the rebellion. It is claimed this raised £14,699. Bacon commented: "The less blood he drew, the more he took of treasure." (29) Perkin Warbeck decided to take advantage on the Cornish rebellion by landing in Whitesand Bay on 7th September. He quickly recruited 8,000 Cornishmen but they were unsuccessful in taking Exeter . They retreated to Taunton but with news that Henry's army was marching into Cornwall, on 21st September, Warbeck escaped and sought sanctuary at Beaulieu Abbey . However, he was captured and was brought before Henry at Taunton Castle on 5th October. Warbeck was taken to London where he was repeatedly paraded through the city.

(30) Warbeck managed to escape but he was soon recaptured and on 18th June, 1499, he was sent to the Tower of London for life. The following year he became entangled in another plot. "Exactly what part he played in the conspiracy, and in its betrayal to the king on 3 August, is hard to establish, but Henry and his council resolved to punish all the principal participants." (31) Perkin Warbeck was hanged at Tyburn on 23rd November 1499. Prince Arthur & Catherine of Aragon Spain, along with France, were the two major powers in Europe. Henry VII constantly feared an invasion from his powerful neighbour. Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile were also concerned about the possible expansionism of France and responded favourably to Henry's suggestion of a possible alliance between the two countries. In 1487 King Ferdinand agreed to send ambassadors to England to discuss political and economic relations. (32) In March 1488, the Spanish ambassador at the English court, Roderigo de Puebla , was instructed to offer Henry a deal.

The proposed treaty included the agreement that Henry's eldest son, Arthur , should marry Catherine of Aragon in return for an undertaking by Henry to declare war on France. Henry enthusiastically "showed off his nineteen-month-old son, first dressed in cloth of gold and then stripped naked, so they could see he had no deformity." (33) Puebla reported that Arthur had "many excellent qualities". However, they were not happy about sending their daughter to a country whose king might be deposed at any time. As Puebla explained to Henry: "Bearing in mind what happens every day to the kings of England, it is surprising that Ferdinand and Isabella should dare think of giving their daughter at all." (34) The Treaty of Medina del Campo was signed on 27th March 1489. It established a common policy towards France, reduced tariffs between the two countries and agreed a marriage contract between Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon and also established a dowry for Catherine of 200,000 crowns. This was a good deal for Henry.

At this time, England and Wales had a combined population of only two and a half million, compared to the seven and a half million of Castile and Aragon, and the fifteen million of France. Ferdinand's motivation was that Spanish merchants wishing to reach the Netherlands, needed the protection of English ports if France was barred to them. The English also still controlled the port of Calais in northern France. (35) However, the marriage was not guaranteed. As David Loades points out: "The marriage of a ruler was the highest level of the matrimonial game, and carried the biggest stakes, but it was not the only level. Both sons and daughters were pieces to be moved in the diplomatic game, which usually began while they were still in their cradles. A daughter, particularly, might undergo half a dozen betrothals in the interests of shifting policies before her destiny eventually caught up with her." (36) Catherine of Aragon by Juan de Flandes (1496) In August 1497, Catherine and Arthur were formally betrothed at the ancient palace of Woodstock . The Spanish ambassador, Roderigo de Puebla , standing proxy for the bride.

Catherine arrival was delayed until Prince Arthur was able to consummating the marriage. Catherine was also encouraged to learn French as very few people in the English court spoke Spanish or Latin. Queen Elizabeth also suggested she accustom herself to drink wine, as the water in England was not drinkable. (37) Catherine and Prince Arthur wrote several letters to each other. In October 1499 Arthur wrote to her thanking her for the "sweet letters" she had sent him: "I cannot tell you what an earnest desire I feel to see your Highness, and how vexatious to me is this procrastination about your coming. Let it be hastened, that the love conceived between us and the wished-for joys may reap their proper fruit." (38) Catherine left the port of Corunna on 20th July 1501. Her party included the Count and Countess de Cabra, a chamberlain, Juan de Diero, Catherine's chaplain, Alessandro Geraldini, three bishops and a host of ladies, gentlemen and servants. It was considered too dangerous to allow Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile to make the journey.

The sea-crossing was terrible: a violent storm blew up in the Bay of Biscay , and the ship was tossed about for several days in rough seas and the captain was forced to return to Spain. It was not until 27th September, that the winds died down and Catherine was able to leave Laredo on the Castilian coast. (39) Catherine of Aragon arrived in England on 2nd October 1501. Arthur was just fifteen, and Catherine nearly sixteen. (40) As a high-born Castilian bride, Catherine remained veiled to both her husband and her father-in-law until after the marriage ceremony. Henry would have been concerned by her size. She was described as "extremely short, even tiny". Henry could not complain as Arthur, now aged fifteen, was very small and undeveloped and was "half a head shorter" than Catherine. He was also described as having an "unhealthy" skin colour. (41) Arthur and Catherine married on 14th November 1501, at St Paul's Cathedral in London .

That night, when Arthur lifted Catherine's veil he discovered a girl with "a fair complexion, rich reddish-gold hair that fell below hip-level, and blue-eyes". (42) Her naturally pink cheeks and white skin were features that were much admired during the Tudor period. Contemporary sources claim that "she was also on the plump side - but then a pleasant roundness in youth was considered to be desirable at this period, a pointer to future fertility". (43) The couple spent the first month of their marriage at Tickenhill Manor . Arthur wrote to Catherine's parents telling them how happy he was and assuring them he would be "a true and loving husband all of his days". They then moved to Ludlow Castle . Arthur was in poor health and according to William Thomas, Groom of his Privy Chamber, he had been over-exerting himself. He later recalled he "conducted him clad in his night gown unto the Princess's bedchamber door often and sundry times." (44) If you find this article useful, please feel free to share on websites like Reddit . You can follow John Simkin on Twitter , Google+ & Facebook or subscribe to our monthly newsletter .

Alison Weir has argued that Arthur was suffering from consumption: "There was concern about the Prince's delicate health. He seems to have been consumptive, and had grown weaker since the wedding. The King believed, as did most other people, that Arthur had been over-exerting himself in the marriage bed." (45) Almost thirty years later Catherine deposed, under the seal of the confessional, that they had shared a bed for no more than seven nights, and that she had remained "as intact and incorrupt as when she emerged from her mother's womb". (46) Antonia Fraser , the author of The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1992) has argued that she believes the marriage was unconsummated. "In an age when marriages were frequently contracted for reasons of state between children or those hovering between childhood and adolescence, more care rather than less was taken over the timing of consummation. Once the marriage was officially completed, some years might pass before the appropriate moment was judged to have arrived. Anxious reports might pass between ambassadors on physical development; royal parents might take advice on their offsprings' readiness for the ordeal.

The comments - sometimes remind one of those breeders discussing the mating of thoroughbred stock, and the comparison is indeed not so far off. The siring of progeny was the essential next step in these royal marriages, so endlessly negotiated." Fraser goes on to argue that the Tudors believed that bearing children too young might damage their chances of having further children. For example, Henry VII's mother, Margaret Beaufort , was only thirteen when she had him and never had any other children in the course of four marriages. (47) On 27th March 1502, Arthur fell seriously ill. Based on the description of symptoms by his servants, he appeared to have been suffering from a bronchial or pulmonary condition, such as pneumonia, tuberculosis or some virulent form of influenza. David Starkey has suggested he might have been suffering from testicular cancer. (48) Antonia Fraser , believes that as Catherine was also ill at the same time, the both might have had sweating sickness . Prince Arthur died on Saturday, 2nd April, 1502. (49) Elizabeth of York told Henry that she was still young enough to have more children.

She became pregnant again and a daughter, Katherine was born prematurely on 2nd February 1503. She never recovered and died nine days later on 11th February, her thirty-seventh birthday, of puerperal fever. (50) Henry took her death very badly and "departed to a solitary place and would no man should resort unto him." (51) Richard Empson & Edmund Dudley Christopher Morris , the author of The Tudors (1955) has argued: "Henry VII... was an extremely clever man, possibly the cleverest man who ever sat on the English throne.... Henry's genius was mainly a genius for cautious manoeuvre, for exact timing, for delicate negotiation, for weighing up an opponent or a subordinate, and not least, a genius for organisation. It was allied to great patience and great industry. He was a competent soldier, but always chose peace instead of war as being so much cheaper and so much safer. These are admirable and invaluable qualities for a political leader in troubled times." (52) Henry VII, by unknown artist (1505) Henry VII was careful in the selection of his key officials.

During his reign Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley became the king's most trusted ministers. (53) Jasper Ridley has pointed out that Empson and Dudley were the chief instruments of the king's financial policy: "They seem to have been almost universally hated throughout England. They were accused of acting illegally when they extorted large sums of money from wealthy landowners under the recognisance system, and of not only obtaining this money for the King, but of enriching themselves in the process." (54) Christopher Morris , the author of The Tudors (1955) has suggested that Dudley was the king's most "unpopular and unscrupulous minister". (55) Empson's biographer, Margaret Condon , has pointed out: "As chancellor, Empson continued Bray's efforts to increase revenue, authorizing the raising of rents or disallowance of rebates, and directing surveys and audits, enclosures of commons, and investigations of feudal incidents. The drive to maximize feudal revenues, to pursue old bonds, and to manipulate the penal laws in the king's interests was centred on the council learned, even in those cases where parallel actions were sued at common law....

The methods he used included the use of promoters for prosecution; imprisonment to facilitate settlement by fine or composition; and summonses issued (as in other council courts) by privy seal... His particular responsibilities were the authorization of pardons, countersigned by the king; the finding and traverse of intrusions and the issue of commissions of concealments; pardons and forfeitures on outlawry; wards and liveries of lands. Most actions or grants of grace resulted in fines to the king, in amounts and by methods which led Polydore Vergil and others to characterize both Empson and Dudley as extortioners." (56) Richard Empson, Henry VII and Edmund Dudley (c. 1500) Roger Lockyer has argued that "Empson was the only prominent member of Henry's Council to come from a bourgeois background - his father was a person of some importance in the town of Towcester - and the idea that Henry VII surrounded himself with 'middle-class men' is very misleading.

The gentry, whose numbers and importance in the royal administration were steadily increasing, were close in blood and social assumptions to the aristocracy, and counted themselves among the upper ranks of English society." (57) Catherine of Aragon Henry VII was keen to maintain his alliance with Ferdinand of Aragon and recently widowed, offered to marry Catherine of Aragon himself. As he was 46 years-old and in poor health, this idea was rejected and on 23rd June 1503, he signed a new treaty betrothing Catherine to Henry , his only surviving son, then aged twelve. The treaty also contained an agreement that, as the parties were related, the signatories bound themselves to obtain the necessary dispensation from Rome. At that time, Christians believed it was wrong for a man to marry his brother's wife. It was also agreed that the marriage would take place as soon as Henry completed his fifteenth year. In the meantime Henry allowed Catherine £100 a month, and appointed one of his own surveyors to oversee the management of it. (58) Ferdinand wrote on 23rd August 1503: "It is well known in England that the Princess is still a virgin.

But as the English are much disposed to cavill, it has seemed to be more prudent to provide for the case as though the marriage had been consummated... the dispensation of the Pope must be in perfect keeping with the said clause to the marriage treaty... The right of Succession (of any child born to Catherine and Henry) depends on the undoubted legitimacy of the treaty." (59) Catherine was allocated Durham House in London . She was frequently ill, probably with tertian malaria . Her knowledge of English was still imperfect in 1505, which upset both Ferdinand of Aragon and Henry VII , who reduced her allowance. Catherine moved to Richmond Palace but complained to her father about her poverty and her inability to pay her servants, and her demeaning dependence on Henry's charity. She told her father she had managed to buy only two dresses since she came to England from Spain six years earlier. Catherine was kept apart from Prince Henry, complaining in 1507 that she had not seen him for four months, although they were both living in the same palace.

(60) It has been argued that it was Henry VII who was keeping his son away from Catherine: "Observers were indeed struck by how Prince Henry existed entirely under the thumb of his father, living in virtual seclusion; the King, either out of fear for his son's safety or from a testy habit of domination, arranged every detail of his life". (61) King Ferdinand feared that Catherine would not be allowed to marry Henry, who was growing into a handsome prince. Roderigo de Puebla told Ferdinand: "There is no finer youth in the world than the Prince of Wales". He told him of his startling looks, including his strong athletic limbs "of a gigantic size" was already beginning to arouse the admiration of the Royal Court. (62) Henry VII died on 21st April 1509. His personal fortune of £1.5 million illustrated the success of his foreign policy and the commercial prosperity that England enjoyed under his rule.

King Henry VII | Britroyals Born: January 28, 1457 at Pembroke Castle Parents: Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, and Margaret Beaufort Relation to Elizabeth II: 13th great-grandfather House of: Tudor Ascended to the throne: August 22, 1485 aged 28 years Crowned: October 30, 1485 at Westminster Abbey Married: Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV Children: Three sons and four daughters. Only 4 of whom survived infancy; Arthur, Margaret, Henry and Mary Died: April 21, 1509 at Richmond Palace, Surrey, aged 52 years, 2 months, and 21 days Buried at: Westminster Reigned for: 23 years, 7 months, and 28 days Succeeded by: his son Henry VIII Henry was the son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who died before Henry was born, and Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of Edward III through John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

Although the Beaufort line, which was originally illegitimate, had been specifically excluded (1407) from all claim to the throne, the death of the imprisoned Henry VI (1471) made Henry Tudor head of the house of Lancaster. At this point, however, the Yorkist Edward IV had established himself securely on the throne, and Henry, who had been brought up in Wales, fled to Brittany for safety. The death of Edward IV (1483) and accession of Richard III, left Henry the natural leader of the party opposing Richard, whose rule was very unpopular. Henry made an unsuccessful attempt to land in England during the abortive revolt (1483) of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. Thereafter he bided his time in France until 1485 when, aided by other English refugees, he landed in Wales. At the battle of Bosworth Field, Leicestershire, he defeated the royal forces of Richard, who was killed. Henry advanced to London, was crowned, and in 1486 fulfilled a promise made earlier to Yorkist dissidents to marry Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth of York.

He thus united the houses of York and Lancaster, founding the Tudor royal dynasty. Although Henry's accession marked the end of the Wars of the Roses, the early years of his reign were disturbed by Yorkist attempts to regain the throne. The first serious attempt, an uprising in favour of the imposter Lambert Simnel, was easily crushed (1487). In 1494, Henry sent Sir Edward Poynings�to Ireland to consolidate English rule there. Poynings drove out of Ireland the Yorkist pretender Perkin Warbeck, who then sought support from the Scottish king, James IV. James attempted (1496) to invade England, but the next year, under pressure from Spain, he expelled Warbeck. The latter was defeated shortly thereafter in an attempted invasion of Cornwall. A truce (1497) between England and Scotland was followed by the marriage (1503) of Henry's daughter Margaret Tudor�to James a marriage that led ultimately to the union of the monarchies of England and Scotland. Henry succeeded in crushing the independence of the nobility by means of a policy of forced loans and fines.

His chancellor, Cardinal Morton, was made responsible for the collection of these fines, and they were enforced by the privy councillors Empson and Dudley. Henry married his son Arthur to Catharine of Arag�n, daughter of Ferdinand II of Arag�n and Isabella of Castile, his daughter Margaret to James IV of Scotland, and his youngest daughter Mary to Louis XII of France. After Arthur died in 1502, an agreement was reached by which Catharine married Arthur's brother Henry (later Henry VIII). King Henry VII's Signature A History of 16th Century England A HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE 16TH CENTURY By Tim Lambert HENRY VII In the late 15th century England was torn by a series of civil wars between two dynasties, the Yorkists and the Lancastrians. The wars ended in 1485 when Henry Tudor won the battle of Bosworth and gained the throne of England. Henry Tudor (1457-1509) was crowned Henry VII on 30 October 1485 beginning a new dynasty.

In January 1486 he married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, uniting the dynasties of York and Lancaster. However the Yorkists were unwilling to accept the situation. In 1487 they attempted a rebellion. They claimed that a man named Lambert Simnel was Earl of Warwick and tried to put him on the throne. The Yorkists gathered an army in Ireland and landed in Cumbria. However they were crushed at the battle of Stoke on 16 June 1487. Simnel was captured. Henry VII could have executed him but instead he made Simnel a menial servant in the royal kitchens. Henry VII invaded France in 1492 but the French were preoccupied elsewhere and they quickly made peace. By a treaty of November 1492 they agreed to pay the English money and the French king agreed not to support any pretenders to the English throne. Afterwards Henry VII followed a policy of peace with France. Wars were expensive and Henry was a prudent man who avoided extravagant expenditure. Henry also strengthened government by creating the Court of Star Chamber (so called because it met in a room with stars painted on the ceiling).

The court dealt with 'unlawful maintenance, giving of licences, signs and tokens, great riots, unlawful assemblies'. Then in 1497 Henry VII faced two rebellions. First rebels from the West Country marched on London. However they were crushed by a royal army at Blackheath on 17 June 1497. Later that year a man named Perkin Warbeck claimed be Richard, the nephew of Richard III (one of the two princes who was murdered in the Tower of London). He called himself Richard IV. He landed in Cornwall in September 1497. However royal forces quickly defeated the rebellion and Warbeck was captured in October. He was finally executed in 1499. Meanwhile Henry VII was keen to make an alliance with Spain. In 1501 his oldest son Arthur married Catherine of Aragon . However Arthur died in April 1502. Henry VII's son Henry now became heir to the throne. Henry married Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow on 11 June 1509. Normally such a marriage would not have been allowed but the Pope gave a special dispensation.

Meanwhile in 1503 Henry VII's daughter Margaret married James IV of Scotland. Among his other achievements Henry VII began the dockyard in Portsmouth. He also financed an expedition by Cabot to the New World. In 1497 Cabot found rich fishing grounds off Newfoundland. Henry VII died on 21 April 1509. Henry VIII Henry was a clever and active young man. He spoke Latin and French fluently. He also performed and composed music. He was good at tennis, wrestling, and casting the bar (throwing an iron bar). Henry also enjoyed hunting, jousting and hawking. He also liked archery and bowling. Henry was also keen to revive the glories of the previous centuries when England conquered much of France. In 1511 he launched a warship the Mary Rose. In 1514 he launched the Henry Grace a Dieu. Meanwhile in 1512 he went to war with the French. In August 1513 the English won the Battle of the Spurs. (It was so called because the French cavalry fled without fighting). However in 1514 Henry made peace with the French and his sister Mary married the king of France.

Meanwhile the Scots invaded England to support their French allies. However the Scots were crushed at the battle of Flodden and their king was killed. In 1515 the Pope made Thomas Wolsey (1474-1530) a Cardinal. The same year the king made him Chancellor. In 1520 Henry met the king of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Determined to impress the French king Henry had a temporary palace made and it was decorated with very expensive velvet, satin and cloth of gold. Not to be outdone the French king erected tents of gold brocade. At the beginning of 1511 Henry had a son. Unfortunately the boy died after only 7 weeks. Catherine had four miscarriages and she only had one child who lived - a girl named Mary born in 1516. Henry was desperate to have a son and heir and Catherine could not give him one. Henry came to believe that God was punishing him for marrying his brother's widow. Normally that would not have been allowed but the Pope granted him a special dispensation. Henry now argued that the marriage to Catherine was not valid and should be annulled (declared null and void).

Not surprisingly Catherine was totally opposed to any move to dissolve the marriage. Henry asked the Pope to annul the marriage. However the Pope would not co-operate. (He could not because Catherine's uncle Charles V of Spain had captured Rome and the pope was his prisoner). In 1529 he formed an ecclesiastical court headed by Cardinals Wolsey and Campeggio to look into the matter. However the court could not reach a verdict. In the autumn of 1529 Henry sacked Wolsey and banished him to York. In 1530 Wolsey was accused of treason and was summoned to London to answer the charges but he died on the way. Thomas More replaced him as chancellor. More ruthlessly persecuted Protestants. More also strongly opposed the proposed relaxation of the anti-heresy laws. In 1530 a Protestant named Thomas Hitton was burned at Maidstone in Kent. Thomas More called him 'the Devil's stinking martyr'. However More resigned in 1532 and he was replaced by Thomas Cromwell. Meanwhile in 1527 Henry began a relationship with Anne Boleyn. Henry was keen to get rid of Catherine and marry Anne.

In 1529 Henry called the 'Reformation Parliament'. Ties between England and Rome were cut one by one. Finally he lost patience with the Pope and rejected his authority. In 1533 he obtained a decree of nullity from Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. (He had already secretly married Anne Boleyn). However Anne had two miscarriages. Henry tired of her and in April 1536 she was accused of committing adultery with 5 men, including her own brother. Anne and the five men were all executed in May 1536. Immediately afterwards Henry married Jane Seymour. Jane did give Henry one son, Edward, but she died on 23 October 1537, leaving Henry devastated. The Henrician Reformation Meanwhile in 1534 the Act of Supremacy made Henry the head of the Church of England. The same year the Act of Succession was passed. It declared that Anne Boleyn�s child would be heir to the throne. Although Henry broke with Rome he kept the Catholic religion essentially intact. However in 1538 Chancellor Thomas Cromwell did make some minor reforms.

In 1538 he ordered that every church should have an English translation of the Bible. He also ordered that any idolatrous images should be removed from churches. Nevertheless in 1539 Henry passed the Act of Six Articles, which laid down the beliefs of the Church of England. The Six Articles preserved the old religion mainly intact. However from 1545 Latin was replaced by English as the language of church services. Meanwhile Henry dissolved the monasteries in England. Parliament agreed to dissolve the small ones in 1536. The large ones followed in 1539-1540. The monks were given pensions and many of them married and learned trades. many monastery buildings became manor houses. Others were dismantled and their stones were used for other buildings. The vast estates owned by the monasteries were sold and fearing foreign invasion Henry used the wealth to build a network of new castles around the coast. Yet the changes made by Henry caused resentment in some areas. In 1536 a rebellion began in Louth in Lincolnshire. (Although it was sparked off by religion the rebels had other grievances).

The rebels marched to Doncaster but no pitched battles were fought between them and the royal forces. Instead Henry persuaded them to disperse by making various promises. However in 1537 Henry hanged the leaders. Meanwhile Henry looked for another wife. Chancellor Cromwell suggested making an alliance with the Duchy of Cleves. The Duke of Cleves had two sisters and Henry sent the painter Holbein to make portraits of them both. After seeing a portrait of Anne of Cleves Henry decided to marry her. However when Henry met Anne for the first time he was repulsed. Nevertheless Henry married her in January 1540 but the marriage was not consummated. Henry divorced Anne six months later but she was given a generous settlement of houses and estates. Anne of Cleves lived quietly until her death in 1557. Cromwell was accused of treason and executed in July 1540. Next, in 1540, Henry married Catherine Howard. However in December 1541 Henry was given proof that Catherine was unfaithful. Catherine was beheaded on 13 February 1542.

Then in 1543 Henry married Catherine Parr (1512-1548). The Tower of London Meanwhile in 1536 Henry had an accident jousting. Afterwards he stopped taking exercise and became obese. Worse a painful ulcer appeared on his leg, which his doctors could not cure. Nevertheless Henry went to war again. In 1542 he crushed the Scots at Solway Moss. In 1543 Henry went to war with the French. He captured Boulogne but was forced to return to England to deal with the threat of French invasion. The French sent a fleet to the Solent (between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight). They also landed men on the Isle of Wight. In a naval battle the Mary Rose was lost but the French fleet were forced to withdraw. Henry VIII died on 28 January 1547. He was 55. Edward VI Henry was succeeded by his 9-year-old son Edward. Since he was too young to rule his uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, was made protector and ruled England in his stead. Somerset was a devout Protestant as was Archbishop Cranmer.

They began to turn England into a truly Protestant country. The Act of Six Articles was repealed and in 1549 the first Book of Common Prayer, the first Anglican prayer book was issued. Meanwhile priests were allowed to marry and pictures or statues of Mary or the saints were removed from churches. Unfortunately England now faced an economic crisis. There was rapid inflation in the mid-16th century. Also the population was rising. In the 15th century there was a shortage of workers, which pushed wages up. In the 16th century the situation was reversed and laborer's wages fell. In 1549 Edward faced two rebellions. In parts of the Southwest the changes in religion provoked the so-called Prayer Book Rebellion. In Norfolk economic grievances led to a rebellion led by Robert Kett (the rebels took control of Norwich). However both rebellions were crushed. The rebellions led to the fall of Somerset. He was replaced by the ruthless John Dudley, Earl of Warwick (Later Duke of Northumberland). The unfortunate Somerset was sent to the tower and in January 1552 he was executed on a trumped up charge of treason. In 1552 a second prayer book was issued.

This one was more radical than the first. Meanwhile England fought the Scots again. Henry VIII had suggested that his son Edward should marry the king of Scotland's daughter Mary. However the Scottish king rejected the idea. Somerset revived the plan and he sent an army to Scotland to force the Scots to agree. The English won a battle at Pinkie Cleugh, near Edinburgh, in 1547. However the Scots simply sent 6-year-old Mary to France to marry the French kings son. However Edward was sickly and it was clear he was not going to live long. The Duke of Northumberland was alarmed as the next in line for the throne, Henry's daughter Mary, was a Catholic. Northumberland married his son to Lady Jane Grey, a descendant of Henry VII's sister Mary. When Edward died in 1553 Northumberland had Lady Jane Grey crowned queen. However the people rose in favor of Mary and Lady Jane Grey was imprisoned. Mary I When she became queen Mary was surprisingly lenient. The Duke of Northumberland was executed in August 1553. However Lady Jane was, at first, spared. However Mary married Phillip of Spain in July 1554.

The marriage was very unpopular and in Kent Sir Thomas Wyatt led a rebellion. He was defeated but Mary was forced to execute Lady Jane, fearing her enemies might try and place Jane on the throne. Mary was a devout Catholic and she detested the religious changes of Henry VIII and Edward VI. She was determined to undo them. Catholic mass was restored in December 1553. In 1554 married clergy were ordered to leave their wives or lose their posts. Then, in November 1554 the Act of supremacy was repealed. In 1555 Mary began burning Protestants. The first was John Rogers who was burned on 4 February 1555. Over the next 3 years nearly 300 Protestants were executed. (Most of them were from Southeast England where Protestantism had spread most widely). Many more Protestants fled abroad. However Mary's cruelty simply gained sympathy for the Protestants and alienated ordinary people. She simply drove people away from Roman Catholicism. Furthermore in 1557 England went to war with France. In 1558 the English lost Calais, which they had hung onto since the end of the Hundred Years War in 1453.

It was a major blow to English prestige. Mary died on 17 November 1558. She was 42. Tudor House Museum in Southampton ELIZABETH I The Religious Settlement Elizabeth I was crowned in January 1559. She restored Protestantism to England. The Act of Supremacy was restored in April 1559 and further Acts replaced Catholic practices. All but one of the English bishops refused to take the Oath of Supremacy (recognizing Elizabeth as head of the Church of England) and were removed from their posts. About one third of the parish clergy were also removed. However most of the population (not all) accepted the religious settlement. People could be fined for not attending church. Nevertheless some Catholics continued to practice their religion in secret. A history of Christianity in England In 1568 Mary Queen of Scots was forced to flee Scotland. She fled to England and Elizabeth held her prisoner for 19 years. In November 1569 Catholics in the north of England rebelled. The Catholic rebels hoped to murder Elizabeth and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots.

However the uprising was quickly crushed and the last battle took place on 19 February 1570. Afterwards many of the rebels were hanged. Meanwhile in 1570 the pope issued a bull of excommunication and deposition. This papal document decreed that Elizabeth I was excommunicated (excluded from the church) and deposed. Her Catholic subjects no longer had to obey her. In 1581 the fines for non-attendance at Church of England services (aimed at Catholics) were increased (although in some areas they were not imposed). In 1585 all Catholic priests were ordered to leave England within 40 days or face a charge of treason. Meanwhile in 1583 some Catholics attempted to murder the queen. However the Throckmorton Plot as it was called was foiled. In 1586 came another Catholic plot to kill the queen, called the Babington Plot. It was also foiled. However most English Catholics remained loyal to the Queen when the Spanish Armada sailed in 1588. Elizabeth's Foreign Policy In 1562 John Hawkins started the English slave trade. He transported slaves from Guinea to the West Indies.

However in 1568 the Spaniards attacked Hawkins and his men while their ships were in harbor in Mexico. Hawkins and his cousin Francis Drake then began an undeclared war against Spain. They attacked Spanish ships transporting treasure across the Atlantic and stole their cargoes. In the years 1577-1580 Drake led an expedition, which sailed around the world. Drake also stole huge amounts of gold and silver from the Spanish colonies but Elizabeth turned a blind eye. Meanwhile the Spanish king ruled the Netherlands. However the Dutch turned Protestant and in 1568 they rebelled against the Catholic king's rule. Elizabeth was reluctant to become involved but from 1578 onward the Spaniards were winning. In 1585 Elizabeth was forced to send an army to the Netherlands. Then in 1586 there was a by Catholics plot to murder the queen called the Babington Conspiracy. Because of her involvement Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded on 8 February 1587. Meanwhile Phillip II of Spain was planning to invade England. However in April 1587 Drake sailed into Cadiz harbor and destroyed part of the fleet that was preparing to invade.

Drake boasted that he had 'singed the king of Spain's beard'. Even so the next year the invasion fleet was ready and it sailed in July 1588. The Spanish Armada consisted of 130 ships and about 27,000 men. It was commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia. At that time the Spanish king ruled a large part of Northeast Europe. The plan was to send the armada to Calais to meet a Spanish army grouped there. The armada would then transport them to England. The English fleet was gathered at Plymouth. When the Spanish arrived they sailed in a crescent formation. The English harassed the Spanish ships from behind. In Drake's words they 'plucked the feathers'. However the English were unable to do serious damage to the armada until they reached Calais. When the armada arrived the Spanish troops in Calais were not ready to embark and there was nothing the armada could do except wait at anchor in the harbor. However the English prepared fire ships. They loaded ships with pitch and loaded guns which fired when the flames touched the gunpowder, and set them on fire then steered them towards the Spanish ships. In panic the armada broke formation.

Spanish ships scattered. Once the Spanish ships broke formation they were vulnerable and the English attacked doing considerable damage. Finally the armada sailed north around Scotland and west of Ireland. However they sailed into terrible storms and many of their remaining ships were wrecked. Eventually the Spanish lost 53 ships. The English lost none. Despite the failure of the armada the war went on until 1604 but neither side was able to gain a decisive advantage. Meanwhile Elizabeth I died on 24 March 1603. ExecutedToday.com » perkin warbeck 4 comments August 17th, 2011 Headsman On this date in 1510, the new king Henry VIII had his dad’s most hated tax collectors beheaded on Tower Hill. Better days: Empson (on the left) and Dudley (on the right) pal around with Henry VII. When Henry Tudor conquered Bosworth Field to emerge from the War of the Roses as King Henry VII , he brought the baggage of being the son of some Welsh squire . His shaky legitimacy exposed the newborn Tudor dynasty to existential threats from every quarter; even putative allies proved liable to turn against him .

Henry consequently looked for every opportunity to centralize power away from institutions that could check or threaten him and into his own hands — nowhere more notoriously so than in the realm of taxation.* Aggressive tax collection would not only regenerate the crown’s blasted treasury; it would widen his own scope of action. Whether Henry’s historical repute for cupidity is well-deserved is a topic beyond the scope of this site, but the fact that he does have such a reputation can be attributed in no small degree to this date’s featured players. These two persons, being lawyers in science, and privy councillors in authority, as the corruption of the best things is the worst, turned law and justice into wormwood and rapine. … Neither did they, toward the end, observe so much as the half-face of justice, in proceeding by indictment; but sent forth their precepts to attach men and convent them before themselves, and some others, at their private houses, in a court of commission; and there used to shuffle up a summary proceeding by examination, without trial of jury; assuming to themselves there to deal both in pleas of the crown and in controversies civil.

Then did they also use to inthral and charge the subjects’ lands with tenure in capite, by finding false offices, and thereby to work upon them for wardships, liveries, premier seisin, and alienations … When men were outlawed in personal actions, they would not permit them to purchase their charters of pardon, except they paid great and intolerable sums; standing upon the strict point of law, which upon outlawries giveth forfeiture of goods; nay, contrary to all law and colour, they maintained the king ought to have the half of men’s lands and rents, during the space of full two years, for a pain in case of outlawry. They would also raffle with jurors, and enforce them to find as they would direct, and if they did not, convent [summon] them, imprison them, and fine them. These and many other courses, fitter to be buried than repeated, they had of preyig upon the people; both like tame hawks for their master, and like wild hawks for themselves; insomuch as they grew to great riches and substance.

- Francis Bacon ‘s History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley were two powerful parliamentarians of less than lordly stature who had been elevated to this bad-cop role for their loyalty and aptitude. There, they became lightning rods for public resentment. It’s a path that had once taken a French counterpart from the common stock to the robes of state to (once his patron monarch died) the scaffold. Empson and Dudley trod it exactly. Even in Henry’s lifetime, his newly intrusive taxes risked fearful public reaction. The pretender Perkin Warbeck knocked Henry for the “ robberies, extortions , the daily pilling of the people by dismes [tithes], taskes [contributions], tallages [tolls], benevolences, and other unlawful impositions and grievous exactions” he imposed, “agreeable to the meanness of his birth.” Tax backlash helped generate at least some of Warbeck’s popular support. By the twilight of Henry’s rule in the first decade of the 1500’s, he had mastered these threats and could take advantage of political tranquility to really focus on his accounting.

And he’d figured out that by ratcheting up enforcement of already-existing levies, he could avoid the dangerous confrontations that might result from summoning Parliament to ask it for money. It’s from this period most of all that he gets his historical Ebenezer Scrooge image, and the tool he employed for it, the Council Learned in the Law , got its extreme unpopularity. Henry died in April of 1509 at the age of 52, leaving his son Henry VIII an overflowing treasury and countless grievances against the tax collectors who made it happen. As the Council Learned’s leading lights, Empson and Dudley — “the king’s long arms with which … he took what was his” — immediately became targets once their royal protector was in the ground. They were hailed before the greenhorn king and the Privy Council to justify themselves within days of Henry VII’s death.

Interestingly, because a royal pardon amnestied all crimes except “felony, murder, and treason,” the malfeasance of these two councilors — whose real offense was unimpeachable loyalty to the last sovereign — had to be exaggerated into rather fantastical charges of treason in order to satisfy petitioners against them while avoiding undue embarrassment for the late king or the other aides who had served him. In the year or so he lay in the dungeon awaiting his fate, “a pson most ignorant, and being in wordlie vexacon and trowble, also wth the sorrowfull and bitter remembrance of death,” Edmund Dudley wrote a treatise on the right arrangement of a society dedicated to the young new master who held Dudley’s life in his hands. The Tree of Commonwealth can be read here . Yale professor Keith Wrightson introduces an interesting lecture — “Early Modern England: Politics, Religion, and Society under the Tudors and Stuarts” — with Dudley’s Tree of Commonwealth social schema.

Remember both, since now each thrive, on perquisite ill gotten, Empson & Dudleys case survives, when they’re hang’d, dead, & rotten; -From an 18th century colonial Virginia ballad titled “Remonstrance”, comparing this date’s centuries-old executed to a contemporary politician (Richard Beale Davis, “The Colonial Virginia Satirist: Mid-Eighteenth-Century Commentaries on Politics, Religion, and Society,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 57, No. 1 (1967)) * The phrase “Morton’s fork” comes from Henry’s extractive machinations. Named for his Lord Chancellor John Morton , the original dilemma was a “fork” the crown used to stick taxpayers: those living high on the hog were made to pay up, since they obviously had enough to spare … and those living modestly were also made to pay, since they perforce must have saved enough to spare. On this day.. Henry VII J.P.Sommerville Henry VII Henry Tudor won the throne at the Battle of Bosworth. His hereditary claim to the throne was questionable, he was 28, unmarried and childless. His position looked far from secure.

Yet, Henry managed to establish Tudor dynasty, which lasted for more than a century. (1) The establishment of the Tudors: Military competence: neutral nobles joined Henry VII at Bosworth because he was winning anyway. In 1487 at the Battle of Stoke he easily beat the forces of Lord Lovell, John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln, and Lambert Simnel - pretender to crown. Lack of any really convincing rival to Henry VII. His most serious rivals were the four nephews of Edward IV - Henry VII dealt with them decisively: 2. Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk fled to the Hapsburg Court. The Hapsburg family was one of the most important royal dynasties in Europe from the 13th to the 20th centuries. Its members also came to rule Spain and its colonial possessions, the Netherlands, much of Italy, and the Holy Roman Empire. [See map ] When in 1506, fortune placed Philip the Handsome, Archduke of the Netherlands in Henry VII's hands (his ship was wrecked on the English coast), he extracted concessions from him, including that he hand over the Earl of Suffolk.

He incarcerated Suffolk, who remained in prison until 1513, when he was executed by Henry VIII. 3. Richard de la Pole eluded Henry VII's attempts to capture him. He took service with the King of France and survived till 1525, only to die in battle. 4. Edward, Earl of Warwick was the son of George, Duke of Clarence. Henry VII imprisoned him in the Tower and eventually executed him on flimsy charges in November 1499. His sister, Margaret survived till 1541 when Henry VIII executed her at age 68. Edward IV's two sons had conveniently been killed by Richard III, so Henry only had to worry about his daughters. He married the eldest, Elizabeth of York . (Edward's other daughters: Cicely Plantagenet married twice, and had two surviving children by her second husband Thomas Kyme; Bridget Plantagenet became a nun and died in 1517). Elizabeth of York In 1486 Elizabeth bore Henry VII a son, Arthur, who united Yorkist and Lancastrian claims Henry VII's uncle, Jasper Tudor was rich but no threat to Henry.

Jasper was the brother of Henry's father, and Henry's claim to the throne came from his mother Margaret Beaufort . Margaret Beaufort later married Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby; his brother Sir William Stanley switched sides at Bosworth, helping Henry win; Sir William felt that Henry had not rewarded him sufficiently for deserting Richard III, and dabbled in treason. Henry promptly executed him. Other nobles also came to regret Henry's succession, and lent support to two Pretenders, Lambert Simnel, and Perkin Warbeck. The Hapsburgs and the French king also supported Warbeck but in England, Henry's secret service arrested Warbeck's supporters before they did any harm. 41 Henry VII was careful to avoid letting great nobles become too powerful in their localities. For example, after 1489, he directly managed the estates of the powerful Percy family, whose heir was a child. Henry did benefit from the disappearance of the greatest magnates: Warwick the Kingmaker (d.1471) had no male heirs; his inheritance was split between two daughters who married into the royal family, which thus acquired his wealth.

Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham was very rich and with royal blood, but aged only 7 in 1485 so he posed no threat to the Tudors. When later he did become a threat, Henry VIII had him executed on trumped-up charges in 1521. Henry kept very close tabs on Thomas Grey, marquess of Dorset (stepson of Edward IV). For example, he forced him to enter into bonds and recognisances, binding him to pay Henry large sums of money if he ever misbehaved. Henry prevented the emergence of new super-nobles by keeping an eye on noble marriage alliances to prevent any family becoming too powerful. English Baronial castles 1485 At Henry's accession England was dotted with Baronial castles filled with armed retainers that could prove focal points of resistance to the crown's authority. Earlier kings had persuaded parliaments to legislate against armed retainers; but nobles ignored the legislation. Henry VII was far more successful in asserting the state's monopoly of violence. (3) Finance: Henry VII bypassed the large and cumbersome Exchequer and used the Chamber, a department in the royal household to control royal finances.

He took a close interest in its day-to-day business - closer than that of any other English monarch; Henry personally went over the state accounts, initialing every page. Henry's close concern with balancing the books helped to increase revenue from royal lands, customs, forced loans, and parliamentary taxation. But this did not make him popular. Henry's financial policies provoked rioting in Yorkshire 1489 and rebellion in Cornwall 1497. Since Henry held the lands of both the Yorkist and Lancastrian branches of the royal family, plus the Kingmaker's inheritance, his income from land would anyway have been much greater than that of his predecessors. He also had no siblings to bestow land on. (4) Foreign policy: Henry VII's reign coincided with the rise of a new power in Europe -Spain. It was united when Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of Castile. Spain soon gained control of much of Italy. England was weak compared to France or Spain and Henry VII knew this and acted accordingly. He tried to preserve good relations with Spain.

The treaty of Medina del Campo (1489) provided for the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella's daughter, Katherine (or Catherine), to Henry VII's eldest son, Arthur. Arthur died in 1502, but Henry used his control of Katherine's person to bring pressure on Spain. When Philip (the Hapsburg ruler of the Netherlands) and his wife Joanna were forced to land in England in 1506, Henry used the opportunity to extort highly favorable concessions from them - in particular a trade treaty with the Netherlands called the bad treaty (Malus Intercursus) because it was so biased toward English interests. Henry was careful to avoid expensive Continental wars, and instead directed his foreign policy towards enhancing trade. He even subsidized explorers, such as John Cabot, in the hope that this might bring in large returns from commerce. In 1509, Henry VII died of lung disease at the age of 52.

Question: Who led the unsuccessful uprising against Henry VII in 1497? He was hanged in 1499?
Answer: Perkin Warbeck