Henry VII

1485 - 1509

Henry Tudor was never the obvious choice to become king. His claim to the throne came through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, who was descended from John of Gaunt, the son of Edward III. But there was a problem. The Beaufort family had originally been born outside marriage, which made Henry’s claim weak and easy to challenge. What he did have, however, was patience, nerve and a talent for survival.
Henry was born in 1457 at Pembroke Castle in Wales. His father, Edmund Tudor, died before he was born, and his mother was still very young when she gave birth to him. His childhood was shaped by the Wars of the Roses, the long struggle between the rival houses of Lancaster and York. As more Lancastrian heirs were killed, Henry became more important. Not because his claim was strong, but because there were so few Lancastrian claimants left.
For much of his youth, Henry lived under the protection of his uncle, Jasper Tudor. When Edward IV returned to power in 1471, Henry and Jasper fled to Brittany. Henry then spent many years in exile. He was watched by foreign rulers, hunted by Yorkist agents and treated as a useful political pawn. He had to be careful. One mistake could have cost him his life.
His chance came after Richard III took the throne in 1483. The disappearance of Edward V and his younger brother Richard, the Princes in the Tower, damaged Richard’s reputation. Many people became uneasy about his rule. Henry saw an opening and made a clever promise: if he became king, he would marry Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of Edward IV. This would unite the houses of Lancaster and York and give his claim much greater strength.
In 1485, Henry landed at Milford Haven in Wales with a small army. He had French support, along with English exiles and Welsh followers. As he marched inland, more men joined him. On 22 August 1485, Henry’s army met Richard III’s forces at the Battle of Bosworth Field.
Richard fought bravely and came close to reaching Henry himself. But the battle turned against him. Richard was surrounded and killed, becoming the last English king to die in battle. Henry was declared king after the fighting ended. The Plantagenet dynasty was over. The Tudors had begun.
Winning the crown was one thing. Keeping it was another.
Henry knew many people still saw him as a usurper. Yorkist supporters continued to challenge him, and two pretenders caused serious trouble during his reign. The first was Lambert Simnel. He was a boy put forward as Edward, Earl of Warwick, a Yorkist claimant to the throne. The real Earl of Warwick was actually locked in the Tower of London, but that did not stop Simnel’s supporters. They took him to Ireland, where he was crowned as if he were the rightful king.
In 1487, Simnel’s supporters invaded England with an army of rebels and foreign mercenaries. Henry defeated them at the Battle of Stoke Field, often seen as the final battle of the Wars of the Roses. Henry could have executed Simnel. Instead, he pardoned him and gave him a job in the royal kitchens. It was a clever move. By treating Simnel as a foolish boy rather than a dangerous rival, Henry weakened the whole rebellion.
Perkin Warbeck was a greater threat. He claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the two Princes in the Tower. If people believed him, Henry’s throne was in real danger. Warbeck attracted support in Ireland, Scotland and Burgundy, and foreign rulers used him as a way to put pressure on Henry. He tried several times to invade England, but never gained enough support to succeed.
Henry captured Warbeck and spared him at first. But after Warbeck tried to escape, Henry had him executed in 1499. The threat had gone on too long. Henry was not willing to risk another uprising.
As king, Henry ruled with caution. He did not want England to fall back into civil war, and he worked hard to stop the nobles becoming too powerful. He used fines, bonds and legal controls to keep them under pressure. He avoided costly wars when he could and preferred diplomacy, trade and marriage alliances. He was good with money. Some would say too good. By the end of his reign, he had a reputation for being cold, suspicious and miserly.
His marriage to Elizabeth of York in 1486 was one of the most important acts of his reign. It joined the red rose of Lancaster with the white rose of York, creating the Tudor rose as a symbol of unity. Their children helped secure the dynasty. Their eldest son Arthur married Catherine of Aragon, linking England with Spain. After Arthur died, Catherine later married Henry’s second son, the future Henry VIII. Henry’s daughter Margaret married James IV of Scotland. That marriage later helped unite the English and Scottish crowns when her great-grandson, James VI of Scotland, became James I of England in 1603.
Henry’s reign also left legacies beyond politics and royal marriage. His mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, became one of the great patrons of education in Tudor England. During Henry’s reign she refounded God’s House at Cambridge as Christ’s College. She also helped lay the foundations for St John’s College, Cambridge, which was formally founded just after her death. Both colleges still exist today.
Printing also became more established in England during Henry’s reign. William Caxton had introduced printing to England before Henry became king, but his successor, Wynkyn de Worde, helped turn printing into a more commercial business. He produced books for a wider audience and moved his press to Fleet Street, which later became famous as the heart of English publishing and newspapers. This was not Henry’s personal invention, but it belonged to the world of his reign: a period when books were becoming easier to produce and ideas could travel further.
Henry also helped begin England’s later naval and overseas ambitions. In 1495 he supported the development of Portsmouth as a royal dockyard, giving England a stronger base for shipbuilding and naval power. His son Henry VIII would later do far more to build up the navy, but Henry VII helped lay the groundwork.
He also backed John Cabot’s voyage across the Atlantic. In 1497, Cabot sailed from Bristol and reached the coast of North America. At the time, this did not create an English empire. Nothing so grand happened straight away. But it did mark one of England’s first steps into Atlantic exploration, a development that would become hugely important in later centuries.
Henry’s most visible building legacy is Henry VII’s Chapel at Westminster Abbey. Work began near the end of his reign, and the chapel still stands today. It is one of the finest examples of late Gothic architecture in England. Henry and Elizabeth of York are buried there, and later monarchs, including Elizabeth I and Mary I, were also laid to rest in the same part of the Abbey.
History generally regards Henry VII as one of England’s most effective kings. He was not loved in the way some kings were, and he was not remembered as a dazzling warrior or a charming ruler. But he restored order after years of bloodshed. He strengthened the monarchy, controlled the nobility, improved royal finances and left the throne far more secure than he had found it.
Henry died in 1509 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His son Henry VIII inherited a stable kingdom and a strong crown. That was Henry VII’s great achievement. He turned a weak claim and a battlefield victory into a lasting dynasty. He was a survivor, a planner and the founder of Tudor England.

Henry VII Factfile