Simnel and his supporters, led by John de la Pole crossed to England
and were defeated by Henrys forces. Margaret of Burgundy also
supported Simnel as she was brother of Richard III and wanted to see
the Lancastrians defeated. When Simnel was caught he was pardoned,
this suggested he was just a puppet in the hands of the Yorkists.
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 with
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
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 reign.
When Henry VII 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 VIII succeeded him peacefully, with no immediate rival to
challenge the crown. Less than 25 years after Henry VII had risked all
on Bosworth Field, his throne was secure in his dynasty.
In conclusion during Henry VII 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.