To What extent was Henry VII 's Reign Distinguished by Sober Statesmanship?

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Clare Worsfold

To What extent was Henry VII ‘s Reign Distinguished by Sober Statesmanship?

The first of the Tudor kings, Henry VII defeated Richard III at the battle of Bosworth on 22nd August 1485. Henry was born to Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort, (though his father was killed before his birth and his mother was only 13). He spent 14 years in Wales and then another 14 in exile in France before making his bid for the throne. Early in 1486 he married Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's daughter and united the two houses of York and Lancaster. His reign lasted from 1485 to 1509 when the crown passed to his more famous son, Henry VIII.
The Wars of the Roses (1455–
) is the name given to the civil war fought over the throne of  between adherents of the House of Lancaster and the House of York. Both houses were branches of the Plantagenet royal house, tracing their descent from King . The name Wars of the Roses was not used at the time, but has its origins in the badges chosen by the two royal houses, the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York.

The Wars were fought largely by armies of mounted knights and their feudal retainers. The House of Lancaster found most of its support in the north and west of the country, while support for the House of York came mainly from the south and east. The Wars of the Roses, with their heavy casualties among the nobility, were a major factor in the weakening of the feudal power of the nobles, leading to the growth of a strong, centralised monarchy under the . The conflict between the two houses was ended by King Henry VII of England, who symbolically united the White and Red Roses to create the Tudor Rose, symbol of the Tudor dynasty.
Many claims were made about Henry VII ‘s appearance for example one sculpture by Petro Torrigiano shows Henry VII as decisive with dominant eyes. Yet Michael Sittow is portraying him in his painting (1505) to almost flatter the king as he shows the kings face to be perhaps cheerful and sensual. However it was not only Henry who had painters differ in their works of his appearance, Richard III also has different views on his appearance. One portrait that is shown from the sixteenth century reveals that the painting had been retouched so that Richard has one shoulder higher then the other. In contrast with another from the same period which shows Richard with a broken sword and infra-red photography has shon that it was oringinally painted with a very exaggerated left shoulder and a very deformed left arm. We know that pictoral images were improtant at this time as literacy levels were low (reaching about 30% in London) and relied on such images. Polydore Vergil an italian historian frequently wrote about Richard III and Henry VII. Generally showing Richard III either in a negative or positive way. Most of his works are propaganda meaning that they probably influenced and changed what many people believed about either Richard III or Henry VII. For example one source from Vergil writings describes the situation of the murders in the Tower of London. Yet this is a biased source and uses emotive language and Vergil tries to be objective to give some legitimacy to his version of history.

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The Tudor dynasty began with the secret marriage between Owen Tudor and Catherine of Valois; gaining strength in the only Earl of Richmond to become King of England and ending when Elizabeth died childless. Her successor was James VI of Scotland, a descendant of Henry VII through his daughter Margaret Tudor.
During his reign Henry VII turned England into a strong modern country, which he administered like a businessman. Henry succeeded in gaining royal land back from the Church and confiscated the lands of nobles who had been defeated or had died in the recent war. Henry also chose his ...

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