Henry VII of England

Henry VII of England

Henry VII was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from 22 August 1485 to his death. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. His father, Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, died three months before his birth. Henry reigned for nearly 24 years and was peacefully succeeded by his son, Henry VIII.

About Henry VII of England in brief

Summary Henry VII of EnglandHenry VII was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from 22 August 1485 to his death. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. His father, Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, died three months before his birth. Henry reigned for nearly 24 years and was peacefully succeeded by his son, Henry VIII. He 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. Henry also made some political capital out of Welsh ancestry in safeguarding his army’s passage through Wales on its way to the throne. He came from the Anglesey family claimed descent from Cadwaladr, the last ancient British king, and on occasion displayed it as well as the standard of St. Pancras. His younger brother, George, was captured while fighting for Henry VI in South Wales against the Yorkists. He died shortly afterwards in Carmarthen Castle. Henry’s younger brother George, Earl of Pembroke, died in 1456, and his younger brother Jasper Tudor was the Earl of Montgomerie. Henry 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 King Edward.

His mother, Margaret Beaufort, was a descendant of the Lancastrian branch of the house of Plantagenet. Henry Tudor spent 14 years in exile in Brittany. 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. Henry VI was fighting against Edward of York, a member of the Yorkist plantagenet branch. After Edward took the throne in 1471, Henry Tudors were forced to live in exile. Henry VII was born on 28 January 1457 to Lady Margaret BeauFort, Countess of Richmond. His paternal grandfather, Owen Tudor had been a page in the court of King Henry V. He rose to become one of the \”Squires to the Body to the King\” after military service at theBattle of Agincourt. He had four children, including Henry’s great-grandfather John Beaufort. He married Lady Margaret in 1396, and had four more children before his death in 1483. His son Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, and the other Beaufort line of descent through Lady Margaret’s uncle, Edmund Beaufort 2nd Duke of Somerset, was Henry’s heir to the English throne. 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, but it further weakened Henry’s claim.