Henry VII
Henricus VII
King of England · Lord of Ireland · Earl of Richmond
1457 – 1509
Biography
Founder of the Tudor dynasty, claiming the throne through a thin Lancastrian descent from John of Gaunt's legitimized Beaufort line and securing it by killing Richard III at Bosworth Field. His marriage to Elizabeth of York, the senior Yorkist heir, united the warring houses and ended the Wars of the Roses by domestic peace rather than further bloodshed. Cautious, parsimonious, and politically shrewd, he rebuilt royal finances and used marriage diplomacy to draw England into the European mainstream.
Events
Thirty-two years of intermittent civil war between the Lancastrian and Yorkist branches of the Plantagenet dynasty, triggered by the recurring incapacity of Henry VI and the rival claim of Richard, Duke of York. The conflict produced six battles in the 1450s–1460s, the murderous reign of Edward IV, the disappearance of his sons in the Tower, and the final defeat of Richard III at Bosworth in 1485. Resolved by the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York the following year.
Also there: Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou, Edward IV, Richard III
On 22 August 1485, Henry Tudor's army of perhaps five thousand met Richard III's larger royal force on Ambion Hill in Leicestershire. The crucial defection of the Stanleys mid-battle, and Richard's reckless personal charge in an attempt to kill Henry himself, decided the outcome. Richard III became the last English king to die in battle; Henry VII was crowned on the field. The Plantagenet dynasty ended on the same hour the Tudor dynasty began.
Also there: Richard III
On 18 January 1486 Henry Tudor married Elizabeth of York, eldest surviving daughter of Edward IV, in Westminster Abbey. The match fused the warring Lancastrian and Yorkist branches of the Plantagenet house, ending the Wars of the Roses by dynastic union rather than continued bloodshed. Their grandson Henry VIII would be the result; through their granddaughter Margaret, the union also transmitted the English crown to the Stuart line a century later.
Also there: Elizabeth of York
Recommended Reading
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