He was never a real threat to Henry and the events lasted less than one year and Simnel never had much evidence he was real and the rebel support he gained was easily defeated by Henry.
However the second pretender to the throne was more of a threat, his name was Perkin Warbeck and was persuaded by the Yorkist party to persuade Richard, Duke of York, the younger brother of Edward V.
His claim was more serious as he had backing from some big names including Maximillian I, James IV of Scotland and Margaret of Burgundy.
He went to Scotland and married Catherine Gordon, a cousin of James IV, strengthening his royal roots. In 1497 Warbeck landed in Cornwall and proclaimed himself Richard IV and raised a rebel army, he was defeated by Henry VII at Exeter and he fled. He was captured and admitted the whole story and was imprisoned. In 1499 he and the Earl of Warwick were hanged for plotting against the king.
This was much more of a serious threat of Henry, we can see this by the way he acted, In 1493 Phillip assumed control of Burgundy and as he was harboring Warbeck and refused to give him back he imposed a trade ban, resulting in loss of revenues for Henry.
Also because of Warbeck, Henry and Charles signed the treaty of Etaples In 1492 agreeing not to shelter rebels. And when Warbeck was finally found he was executed. These were all drastic measures so obviously he was a big threat to Henry and many important people had given their support to Henry, showing how weak his power was. Henry saw Warbeck as a thorn in his side as he was trying to seize power for much of the 1490’s. From this we can see the pretenders were a large threat to Henry and he treated Warbeck’s threat very seriously. Even after Warbeck’s execution Henrys position was not fully secure, since he was a usurper himself, he could never afford to rest easy.
There were two main rebellions under Henry VII, showing how insecure his reign was, however he did manage to deal with them effectively, The first was the Yorkshire rebellion of 1489, this occurred when parliament granted Henry a subsidy so that he could help Brittany against the French, the Northern people didn’t want to pay the subsidy because they had a bad harvest that year and also didn’t think they had any thing to do with Brittany as they thought it was a southern issue. The kings’ representative, the Earl of Northumberland was sent to collect the tax and was murdered by the rebellious Yorkshire folk; the leader was Sir Egremont, who was a Yorkist. Henry sent an army the earl of surrey to be his representative in the north, what happened here shows just what they think about the king by killing his representative, the earl of Northumberland. The War of the Roses effectively is still present, as the leader of the rebellion was a Yorkist so was probably just using the subsidy as an excuse to rebel against Lancastrian rule.
The second rebellion was the Cornish rising of 1497 when a tax was introduced to pay for the war against Perkin Warbeck and the Cornish thought why should they have to pay to defend the North at Warbecks attack from Scotland.
The rebels march through England and there are 15,000 of them by the time they reach London, Henry gathered a force of 25,000 men and very easily the rebels are defeated with 1000 rebels killed.
We can see from the rebellions that the English people didn’t have much respect for him and weren’t willing to pay his taxes and I’m sure they would have hesitated to kill Henry just like they killed his representative In the Yorkshire rebellion. Although from the rebellions we saw his army could stand the threat and force of 15,000 rebels, therefore in this was he was quite secure but he only needed one big rebellion and possibly he could have been defeated.
The nobility are important in any country and to have a secure throne it was important for Henry to establish relationships with them.
He used a carrot and stick method with the nobility, giving them rewards while making sure they followed his rules.
When Henry came to the throne there were about 50 noble families however when he died there were roughly 35.
He was worried about over mighty subjects and the fact he had come to power through war could have been his downfall.
He secured relations with the nobility by giving them rewards of Patronage, The order of the Garter, or appointing them on the council or great council, he restrained from giving titles as with them included Money and land and with the other ways meant he could keep his recourses and still keep the nobility happy. However Henry did set some rules in which the nobility must follow, Bonds & Recognisances was a contract that the nobility had to sign stating they must have good behavior and follow rules; otherwise they will have to pay fines.
There was Livery which forbade people from wearing their crests which could incite trouble and maintenance was for the noblemen to prevent them from creating private armies and could face a fine if broken, like what happened to the Earl of Oxford.
Henry also introduced the acts of attainder where lands could be confiscated and money taken without legal means and courts, during his reign 92 acts of successfully carried on, many were probably Yorkists.
For Henry to have to set punishments to the nobility suggested he was not secure and he was afraid of the nobility and their private armies, however by giving them rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior would hopefully have put them in the right direction.
Finance was important during Henry reign as without money there was no army and with no army there was no defense from attack.
As well as the Bonds & Recognisances earning him up to £10,000 per year, there were other revenues which Henry could receive as king, such a Crown lands – lands held by the king by inheritance or confiscation from traitors, earning him £3,000 per year.
Feudal obligations, Wardship, Livery, Relief, Escheats and Marriage dues earning him up to £6,000 per year.
Customs Duties were used to pay for English defenses and usually earned Henry about £40,000 per year.
The English Parliament was very reluctant to grant money to the King, however Parliamentary grants were collected to help the king when the national interest was threatened.
During Henrys reign he received £203,000 in loans from richer subjects, this suggests he didn’t have large amount of his own at his disposal and other nobles had more money than him, effectively making them more powerful.
Henry forced the Kings who were defeated in the wars he fought to pay for the war losses from their treasury. In this way the cost of war was recovered. Besides this, he increased the tax on the crown lands by which the income was raised from £52,000 to £142,000. He raised money from other sources like confiscation of estates of barons who were destroyed in war times. He imposed heavy fines on the ones who broke any of his laws.
He was economical and avoided wars and ran the administration with proper balance of income and expenses. Economic development was very essential for him, and so he paid special attention to it. Due to his policy relating to commerce the country could become more prosperous and economically developed
I think financially Henry was secure and he managed to increase revenue to England. Although his taxes made him unpopular and were the cause of revolt where 100,000 rebels marched to London through Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Surrey. Henry VII was taken by surprise and seriously threatened. He recalled his Scottish army, summoned the nobility to arms, and defeated the rebels in a pitched battle at Blackheath on June 17, 1497.
Henry managed to withstand the problems created by the taxation and use the money wisely
In 1488 negotiations began for the betrothal of Henry’s eldest son, Arthur, to Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand V and Isabella I, king and queen of Aragon and Castile.
Spain was closed to Yorkist pretenders and an alliance with England projected. Arthur and Catherine were married in 1501, but Arthur died the following year, whereupon Henry opened fresh negotiations on behalf of Prince Henry, his second son. In 1503 Elizabeth of York died in childbirth. It was a personal loss to the king, but also an opportunity. As Henry was a widower, he was free to remarry. He began to negotiate with France and Spain. At the same time, he married his daughter, Margaret, to James IV of Scotland, thereby assuring a Scottish amity for the remainder of the reign
However the succession was by no means secure in Henry VII's reign. When Henry VII's heir Prince Arthur died prematurely on April 2, 1502 Prince Henry was only ten, and if he were not to survive there remained only his sisters Margaret and Mary. Henry VII fell ill shortly after Arthur's death, making the continuance of the dynasty suddenly seemed doubtful. However Henry would live for seven more years giving Prince Henry enough time to mature, and Henry VII enough time to further consolidate his dynasty
Henry died on 21st Apr, 1509 at Richmond Palace, Surrey. And perhaps in his very death his greatest achievement is revealed, for his son, Henry VII succeeded him peacefully, with no immediate rival to challenge the crown. Less 25 years after Henry VII had risked all on Bosworth Field, his throne was secure in his dynasty.
In conclusion I think that during Henry VII’s reign he was insecure however he handled his reign well. A reign in which he survived plots from the Yorkists, threats from pretenders, defeated the rebellions, had a child and treated the nobility with care.
