Once Henry was on the throne, it was a tough job for him to keep it. Henry deliberately arranged for his coronation to take place before the first parliament. This is because although he was officially king, it could never be said that parliament made Henry king. He also intended to marry Elizabeth of York, thus finally uniting the two houses of York and Lancaster, but also to further strengthen and justify Henry’s claim on the throne. As Henry and Elizabeth were distant cousins it was necessary to apply for papal dispensation, the inevitable delay ensured that no one could say that Henry owed his crown to his wife. When Henry became king he dated the official start of his reign before the battle of Bosworth. He could therefore call Richard’s supporters in the battle traitors have then executed for treason.
Before Henry had been on the throne for one whole year there were minor risings. Although now we can see that they are fairly unimportant and not really a threat, it was worrying for Henry at the time as he could not tell if the yorkists would support them or not. The risings started when Henry was travelling north to York to establish his presence as king, and secure their support. As Henry travelled north three lords (Lord Lovel and brothers Lord Thomas Stafford and Lord Humphrey Stafford) broke sanctuary. Lovel travelled north to waylay the king; meanwhile the Stafford’s went to stir a rebellion in the west. Henry was aware of this, but in order to show his confidence as king and act like he was not worried he continued to York and sent an armed force to the rebels. There they offered the rebels a pardon, or if they fought and lost excommunication and death. The rebels dispersed, and Lovel was not captured. However, the Stafford’s were caught. Humphrey was executed, but pardoned afterwards and remained loyal. Henry harshly punished the ringleaders of the rebellion, but was merciful to the others, this proved successful and Henry was supported for it. It showed that he was a strong king, he was able to deal with the rebellion appropriately, but was merciful where mercy was due. Henry was now seen as the upholder of justice and order.
Another threat to Henry were the two main pretenders to the throne, Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. Lambert Simnel was less of a threat to Henry than Warbeck; but still both worried Henry. Simnel came about thanks to a priest called Richard Simon, he wanted power. So he took a young boy from his church (an orphan) and taught him how to act and speak like royalty. He made a claim the Simnel was one of the princes in the tower, the rightful heir to the throne. They went to Ireland to gain support they also went to England and Flanders; where Lady Margaret Burgundy supported the pretender because she hated Henry. At the battle of Stoke Henry’s army defeated the pretender Lambert Simnel and the rebels died down.
The second pretender to the throne and arguably the most serious threat for Henry was Perkin Warbeck. Edward Brampton, a professional actor, trained him to act like royalty and he was very convincing. To gain support he went to Ireland, but the Irish wouldn’t support him as they had already been deceived by Simnel. So he went to France. France accepted Warbeck as Richard Duke of York and called him the rightful King of England. However, Henry and France made a peace deal, under the conditions that France were to disregard Warbeck. Warbeck then went to Lady Margaret Burgundy; she accepted him and agreed to support him. To tighten royal control and show that he could be ruthless if need be Henry executed some of his enemies including Sir William Stanley. Warbeck tried but failed landing in Kent (as no one in England would support him) in June 1495. From there he fled to Scotland where James IV gave him support, he married Lady Catherine Gordon tightening his relations with the Scottish Royal family. This was the ultimate insult to Henry as he had previously tried to make peace with Scotland in the form of a marriage between the families but James IV had refused.
There were challenges to Henry’s rule from within England; these were caused for no reason other than that the King had asked for money. The first of the rebellions was in Yorkshire, 1489. Henry planned to go to war to help Brittany and parliament had granted him £100,000 to pay for it. This caused resentment especially in Yorkshire as they were suffering from a bad harvest the previous summer, also the fact that people further north were exempt from the tax as there were expected to defend the country from the Scottish; this further angered the people of Yorkshire. The Earl of Northumberland put their case to Henry, but he would not negotiate. When the Earl returned with the news he was murdered, presumably by angry rebels. The Earl of Surrey defeated the rebels outside York. Henry travelled north to pardon the prisoners, but he did not receive any more of his tax.
In conclusion I doubt that Henry ever felt entirely secure on the throne. This is because he was opposed even by some of his own supporters, if it was in their own interests to do so. Most people’s loyalties could easily be swayed if it suited them. In order for him to feel completely safe Henry would have to rely on the loyalties of others, which would not be advised. However, Henry was a good king; arguable the best king that England had seen for sometime. Henry was a successful king in many areas such as government, trade and the restoration of law and order. Due to his success in these areas it is easy to overlook the troubles he endured in order to keep the throne. It is a credit to Henry that he managed to hand the throne in tact to his son, where three previous kings had not managed to do so.
