Henry VII (1485 – 1509)

 

Henry VII (1485 – 1509)

 

·        He was the founder of the Tudor dynasty.

·        Henry Tudor (House of Lancaster) defeated King Richard III (House of York) in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, the last of the series of battles fought between the two rival families over the throne of England.

·        He was crowned Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York (House of York), the daughter of Edward IV.

·        He was regarded as a king who maintained law and order of the country and his reign was believed to have pushed England to the modern age from middle ages.

 

Keeping law and order..

If any law set forth by the previous monarchs, was observed to be important, Henry VII let it remain in force.

·        Act of Livery and Maintenance (1487) – this act banned private armies belonged to aristocrats (like barons). This ct was based on a previous act.

·        Court of the Star Chamber – King’s council of advisors.  The advisors were trusted nobles and Bishops. The aristocrats were tried in this court.  

·        Court of Requests - to hear poor peoples’ complaints. This was set forth by Richard III in 1483.

·        He summoned parliament only 7 times in his tenure (usually the parliament was summoned whenever the monarch wanted to pass a law or to bring in new taxes)

·        Following the practice of Edward IV and Richard III, he maintained the position “Speaker of the Parliament” to control the House of Commons.

·        Council of the Marchers – councils governed the remote areas. This particular council used by Edward IV was brought back to keep Wales under control.

·        Set up new councils to govern the North of England, Cornwall and Devon.

·        Justices of peace who looked after law and order on a local scale was continued. This was first introduced by Edward III)

·        Just like Edward IV, he too was very strict on collecting taxes from the nobles. (Collected taxes by way of gifts. When a baron’s child gets married or a trade income earned through export or levying a tax on imports, a tax was due to the king)

International relations..

·        He was seen as a monarch who tried to avoid expensive wars. (The only war he fought was a battle with France in which France gave him money to end the war!)

·        He used marriage alliances to maintain peace with other countries (eg. His Eldest son Arthur was married to a Spanish princess –Catherine of Aragon, his eldest daughter Margaret was married to James IV, a prince of Scotland)

·        He made trade agreements with foreign countries (e.g.:  with Spain, The Netherlands)