28 January: Henry VII

This date in 1457 saw the birth of Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty in England.

1. Henry was the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle, the Battle of Bosworth Field, to be exact, when his forces defeated those of Richard III and Richard was killed. This battle ended the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York.
2. Henry VII was born at Pembroke Castle. His father, Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, had died three months earlier, and his mother, Margaret Beaufort, was just thirteen.
3. It was through his mother that Henry had a claim to the throne of England since she was a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, fourth son of Edward III, and his third wife Katherine Swynford. It was a tenuous claim, though, since it came through a female line, and Edward and Katherine hadn't been married before having children.
4. When Henry was 14, Edward IV won power for the House of York in the Battle of Tewkesbury. Henry was sent to France with his uncle Jasper. By 1483, Henry was being promoted by his mother as an alternative to Richard III. Henry promised publicly that if he won the throne, he would marry Elizabeth of York (Edward IV's daughter and the sister of the Princes in the Tower) and unite the two houses. Henry's first attempt at invading England failed, but the second, which led to the Battle of Bosworth Field, was successful despite Richard's Yorkists having more troops. Henry was crowned King Henry VII at the top of Crown Hill, near the village of Stoke Golding.
5. Henry kept his promise and married Elizabeth of York on 18 January 1486 at Westminster. This did indeed unite the two families and was symbolised by the Tudor Rose, a combination of the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. It may have been a marriage undertaken for political reasons, but there is evidence he really did love her. When their first son, Arthur, died, he was concerned for her, and when Elizabeth died he was inconsolable, shutting himself away for days and refusing to speak to anyone. His attempts to find another wife were somewhat half-hearted and never came to anything. The closest he came was sending ambassadors to Naples to report on the suitability of Joan, the recently widowed Queen of Naples, against a list of desirable qualities he had given them. The list essentially was a description of Elizabeth.
6. He's a suspect in the murder of the Princes in the Tower. Henry had Parliament repeal Titulus Regius, the statute that declared Edward IV's marriage invalid and his children illegitimate. While this made his wife Elizabeth legitimate, strengthening his claim to the throne, at the same time it made her brothers legitimate and their claim would have been stronger. So he certainly had a motive.
7. Despite winning his throne in battle, King Henry VII was not a military man. He was more of an economist, aiming to build up the wealth of the country, left in a bad state by the Wars of the Roses. Unlike previous kings, he didn't have any experience in managing estates and finances, but he engaged some financial advisors who remained with him throughout his reign. He collected taxes from the nobility using a method known as "Morton's Fork" which maintained that if a noble wasn't spending, it meant he had savings, which could be taxed, and if he was spending, it demonstrated he had enough money to pay the taxes as well. His tax collectors were so unpopular that when Henry VIII took over, he had them executed. Henry VII also got involved in trade, in particular of alum, a substance used in wool production, an important industry in England at the time. There was only one place in Europe producing the stuff, on land belonging to the Pope. It was scarce and expensive. Henry acquired ships to import cheaper alum from the Ottoman Empire, and selling it to the Low Countries and in England, challenging the Pope's monopoly. Despite his careful managing of finances, though, there is evidence that he spent money lavishly on gifts for his wife and children.
8. Henry established the Pound Avoirdupois as a standard of weight.
9. So what did he look like? He was described as being tall and slender with small blue eyes, very fair hair and a long, sallow face; and bad teeth. He was friendly, intelligent and charismatic, but may have had a delicate appearance as his health wasn't good.
10. He died of tuberculosis at Richmond Palace on 21 April 1509. He was buried at Westminster Abbey, next to his wife, Elizabeth, and was succeeded by his second son, Henry VIII. His mother outlived him - but only by two months.

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