why was henry vii called the winter king

When Henry VII became king, the royal exchequer was effectively bankrupt. When they married in 1396 they already had four children, including Henry's great-grandfather John Beaufort. 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. He spent his entire reign fixated on eliminating or disarming his enemies, and stabilizing England after the bloody, seemingly endless War of the Roses. The marriage did not take place during his lifetime. In 1502 the death of his heir Arthur left the dynasty's prospects with Arthur's 10-year-old brother, Henry. Shakespeare, drawn to the colour on either side of the reign, skipped it. But definitely rewarding! Then in 1491 appeared a still more serious menace: Perkin Warbeck, coached by Margaret to impersonate Richard, the younger son of Edward IV. It's difficult to get a handle on Henry VII. The author does a good job drawing on his sources and bringing the characters to life while staying true to the history, but the subject matter is just not inherently as sexy as Henry VIIIs or Elizabeth Is reigns. [66], Henry wanted to maintain the Spanish alliance. The king's own death seven years later had to be kept secret until his nervous entourage had ensured the succession. However, King Henry the VIII was much more self-centered as most of his spending was inappropriate and did not benefit England much. 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. [10] A contemporary writer and Henry's biographer, Bernard Andr, also made much of Henry's Welsh descent. 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 attained the throne when his forces defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. Well written and really interesting about an often ignored king. Seriously, got nudged by my partner when I'd nodded off. 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. Penn graphically describes a huge financial racket run by the king and his profiteering advisers. I really enjoyed it. Sonnet XCVII - Massachusetts Institute of Technology Henry VIII | Biography, Wives, Religion, Death, & Facts 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. At the same time, Flemish merchants were ejected from England. Anyone perceived to have any potential political power or social capital was rendered deeply indebted to the crown and at risk of complete financial ruin upon the whim of the king and his councillors. His early reign was plagued by pretenders to the throne, giving the new Tudor dynasty a rocky start and a fear of conspiracy which dogged Henry VII throughout his life. He attained the throne when his forces, supported by France, Scotland, and Wales, defeated Edward IV's brother Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. Loyalty was ensured, and the nobility was effectively neuteredand Henry became the richest monarch in Europe. [49] The confused, fractious nature of Breton politics undermined his efforts, which finally failed after three sizeable expeditions, at a cost of 24,000. Warbeck was finally captured in 1497 and executed. Early life I'm not giving this a star rating because I suspect it's me at fault not the book. Indeed he was born in winter, on January 28th 1457, in Pembroke Castle, in Wales and that is one of the reasons why the Welsh dragon always formed part of his insignia. 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. Their powers and numbers steadily increased during the time of the Tudors, never more so than under Henry's reign. Iain Hollingshead reviews Henry VII: Winter King, a BBC Two documentary which examines how the first Tudor monarch came to power and went on to have a 23-year reign. In 1501, England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, coups . The rebels were defeated (June 1487) in a hard-fought battle at Stoke (East Stoke, near Newark in Nottinghamshire), where the doubtful loyalty of some of the royal troops was reminiscent of Richard IIIs difficulties at Bosworth. Alternate titles: Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, Professor of Medieval History, University of Liverpool, 196780. With Elizabeth's death, the possibilities for such family indulgences greatly diminished. 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. Overall, this was a successful area of policy for Henry, both in terms of efficiency and as a method of reducing the corruption endemic within the nobility of the Middle Ages. Henry VII - History Learning Site [54], Henry VII was much enriched by trading alum, which was used in the wool and cloth trades as a chemical fixative for dyeing fabrics. Thomas Penn's Winter King is not really a biography of Henry VII, and more a study of what he was directing his government to do in his name. Next month find out more on someone known as The Winter Queen! To say the least, Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England is quite an interesting read. I wasn't disappointed because, as usual, he did a great job with the narration. When Henry VII called his first parliament he used it as an opportunity to legitimise his reign. Henry, recognizing that Simnel had been a mere dupe, employed him in the royal kitchens. Hed achieved the impossible, hed risen from refugee to King of England. [citation needed], However, his principal weapon was the Court of Star Chamber. [63] Despite this, Henry was keen to constrain their power and influence, applying the same principles to the justices of the peace as he did to the nobility: a similar system of bonds and recognisances to that which applied to both the gentry and the nobles who tried to exert their elevated influence over these local officials. Philip died shortly after the negotiations. He rewrote history by backdating his reign to 21st August 1485, the day before the Battle of Bosworth Field. Henry VIII, (born June 28, 1491, Greenwich, near London, Englanddied January 28, 1547, London), king of England (1509-47) who presided over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and the English Reformation. Reasonably interesting overview of the reign of Henry VII of England. Henry VII ruled as Machiavelli, just after his reign, was to advise usurpers to do through fear rather than love. But that's not really what I wanted from a book about Henry VII. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. In 1407, Henry IV, Gaunt's son by his first wife, issued new Letters Patent confirming the legitimacy of his half-siblings but also declaring them ineligible for the throne. [citation needed] Henry had been under the financial and physical protection of the French throne or its vassals for most of his life before becoming king. I have to admit to being a history geek. Martin Luther 95 thesis. Henry VII: The Winter King - Amazon Prime Video If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Why was Henry VII called the Winter King? Henry VII was born on 28 January 1457 at Pembroke Castle, in the English-speaking portion of Pembrokeshire known as Little England beyond Wales. [14] In November 1476, Francis fell ill and his principal advisers were more amenable to negotiating with King Edward. For example, they could replace suspect jurors in accordance with the 1495 act preventing the corruption of juries. Sometimes, Penn explained, charges against people were fabricated so that they would have to pay a fine, for example, a man who was charged with murdering a child and who was found guilty because the jury was rigged. More wrote that this King is loved and compared Henrys accession to the coming of a new season, a new spring following a winter of repression. 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. What are the differences between Henry VII and Henry VIII? Please check your email to confirm your subscription. Shakespeare later turned to Henry's son and successor Henry VIII, whose rule brought marital sensation, renaissance spectacle and the reformation. The King was heavily guarded. this was well-written and i love henry vii for how he managed to a) get the throne of england and b) keep it and make the crown so solvent after the devastating years of the Wars of the Roses, but i can't help but think that a lot of this was rather dry. The house of York then appeared so firmly established that Henry seemed likely to remain in exile for the rest of his life. Not only was . Henrys throne, however, was far from secure. The Great Debasement - Wikipedia A King from upstart usurper to renaissance monarch to Machiavellian schemer. Henry VII was succeeded by his second son, Henry VIII. Henry VII. The Winter King HD - YouTube 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. Updates? The insurrections fronted by the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck emerged from wide and formidable networks of conspiracy that drew in foreign rulers and leading English magnates, and infiltrated Henry's court. Henry was the only child of Edmund Tudor , Earl of Richmond , and Margaret Beaufort . Penn notes something else about the paeans on the son's accession: later in the Tudor period, apologists for the regime would remember Henry VII as the restorer of national peace and unity, but in 1509 it was the king's death, not his rule, that was held to have ended a long era of dark instability. He had brought the country to the brink of dynastic ambition, but not quite, so his closest advisers kept his death secret until St Georges Day, the annual meeting of the Order of the Garter. Based on the terms of the accord, Henry sent 6000 troops to fight (at the expense of Brittany) under the command of Lord Daubeney. His dynasty was hanging by a thread and all his hopes had to rest on his youngest son, Henry, and Elizabeth of York producing another son, a spare. Their main aim was money. For instance, the Stanley family had control of Lancashire and Cheshire, upholding the peace on the condition that they stayed within the law. 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. Thank you for subscribing. There's a (relatively) brief explanation of Henry's rather tumultuous childhood and his rise to the throne, before Penn really gets into the nitty gritty details during the second half of Henry's reign, focusing on his intricate foreign policy, his increasing use of finance as a means of control over his subjects and, most entertaining to me, the various plots and conspiracies of Henry's enemies. His spies and informers were everywhere. 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. 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. [64] This made Henry VII's second son, Henry, Duke of York, heir apparent to the throne. Get help and learn more about the design. During his 23-year reign, Henry had only two Lord High Treasurers, and this continuity helped provide stability. Henry VII shut himself away in Richmond Palace from January 1509 and at 11pm on Saturday 21st April 1509 he died. Why is this ambitious? He made huge gobs of money binding his subjects to him with loyalty bonds. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which marked the end of the Wars of the Roses. Poor Henry VII. His first chance came in 1483 when his aid was sought to rally Lancastrians in support of the rebellion of Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, but that revolt was defeated before Henry could land in England. Here was a young man who enjoyed jousting, who enjoyed chatting with the other knights in the tiltyard and with people of low degree. The usurpation of Richard III (1483), however, split the Yorkist party and gave Henry his opportunity. BBC Two - Henry VII: The Winter King, Backdating Henry's reign [72] Immediately afterwards, Henry became very sick and nearly died himself, allowing only his mother Margaret Beaufort near him: "privily departed to a solitary place, and would that no man should resort unto him. [67], Henry made half-hearted plans to remarry and beget more heirs, but these never came to anything. Consultant editor for the. The 17 year-old Prince Henry became King Henry VIII and started a different era. He had a populist touch and his reign started with pardons, reforms and justice.