Consolidating power Flashcards
Consolidation B of Bosworth
1485 – Predated his reign to the day before the B of Bosworth, declaring R III and his supporters traitors and utilising parliamentary Acts of Attainders so their property became forfeit to the Crown (attained 138 men, only reversed 46 of these)
Consolidation - coronation
H arranged his coronation for a week before the first meeting of his Parliament, to show that his right to the throne was hereditary and demonstrate he was anointed by God, and not based on parliamentary sanction, and inv Eng’s nobles all taking a public oath of loyalty to him
Consolidation - remove Yorkist threats
Detained the E of Warwick (most direct challenge, with stronger claim) to the Tower; H secured the service of former Yorkist adherents to the Yorkist kings at court and in his administration, even those who fought ag him at Bos were offered the opp to prove their loyalty to the new regime
Consolidation - marriage, heir
1486 – having consolidated power in his own right, H married Eliz of York, enabling the union of the houses of Lancaster and York; the birth of Arthur, an heir, meant that the Tudor legacy would live on as a descendant from both houses of York and Lancaster
H VII personality
H not brought up to rule, had lived in exile in Britanny since 14, following the Yorkist victory and the B of Tewkesbury, in which many of his relations (the Lancastrians) died or were executed. H fled to Fr, where he lived for most of the time as a fugitive in the Dutchy of Brittany. H was shrewd, calculating, and self-restrained, and this was probably shaped by his life as a fugitive
H VII aims
From 1485, H main aim = consolidate his power to maintain the throne, through political actions and military success. H had to work to retain his throne and est his dynasty. Above all, he had to reduce the power of nobles who had used the previous period of instability to enhance their own authority. He also had to imp the Crown’s financial position and secure the recognition of foreign powers
