henry VII, 1485-1509

Question 1

Marriage to Elizabeth of York

Answer 1

• 18 Jan 1486
• publicly pledged to marry her before Bosworth, formally requested on 10 Dec 1485
• required a papal dispensation (both great-grandchildren of John of Gaunt) and a reversal of the 1484 Act of Bastardisation (happened in Jan 1486, also Parliament requested for all records of the Act to be destroyed)
• also dated his reign to 21 Aug (day before Bosworth) to further legitimise reign

Question 2

Use of financial bonds

Answer 2

• financial forms of coercion to ensure loyalty and monarchical control
• imposed upon members whose loyalty was questionable/liable to quarrel violently with another noble family
• bonds rarely called in (therefore EFFECTIVE)
• 1507, Lord Abergavenny fined £70k, Henry let him pay £500 a year instead
• Edmund Dudley = former lawyer, financial advisor, DISLIKED

Question 3

Use of spies

Answer 3

• not greatly innovative, previous monarchs had also used spies
• resident foreign ambassadors in royal courts to inform of gossip
• used Calais as a base for espionage with the ambassadors
• infiltrated the Low Countries’ courts due to Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy. Useful Sir Richard Clifford, double agent.
• successful to find Stanley’s treason in 1495, also useful against Warbeck + Warwick

Question 4

Lovell + Stafford rising

Answer 4

• April 1486
• Henry on royal progress to York
• Lovell + Thomas and Humphrey Stafford left sanctuary, Lovell went to ambush Henry in the north while the Staffords stirred up rebellion in Worcester
• rebels fled, Lovell evaded capture and fled to Flanders, Humphrey was executed while Thomas was pardoned and remained loyal (‘calculated mercy’)

Question 5

Lambert Simnel

Answer 5

• winter 1486 to June 1487
• Richard Symonds (Oxford priest) passed Simnel off as Warwick (Clarence’s son)
• Feb 1487: Simnel taken to Ireland and proclaimed as king, Margaret sent money + 2000 German mercenaries to support
• May 1487: Simnel crowned as Edward VI in Ireland (Irish supported due to Richard DOY was Lieutenant of Ireland)
• the real Warwick was paraded through London, Lovell + Lincoln fled to Flanders and then Ireland again
• 16 June 1487: Battle of Stoke, Henry’s army (12k) met Lincoln’s army (8k), Lincoln killed. Simnel + Symonds captured, Simnel was made a turnspit in the royal kitchen while Symonds = life imprisonment
• Nov-Dec 1487: all involved nobles attainted

Question 6

Perkin Warbeck

Answer 6

• autumn 1491: arrives in Ireland, said he was Richard, duke of York
• summer 1492: Warbeck in France (welcomed by Charles VIII) and joined by 100 Eng. Yorkists
• Nov 1492: Treaty of Etaples (Eng+Fra) so Warbeck fled to Flanders, welcomed by Margaret
• 1493: all Eng. trade w/ Flanders stopped
• 1494: Maximillian, Holy Roman Emperor, recognised Warbeck as Richard IV (but no resources to invade England)
• 1495: acts of attainders of many nobles implicated in treason including Sir William Stanley (executed)
• July 1495: Landed in Kent, failed to get support. Sailed to Ireland, failed siege of town of Waterford. Went to Scotland, given refuge + pension £12k + marriage to Catherine Gordon by James IV. Failed Scottish invasion of England. Scottish support for Warbeck removed in 1497 Treaty of Ayton (Henry VII’s daughter to marry James IV + 7 year truce)
• July 1497: fails to find support in Ireland (Kildare = temporarily loyal to Henry) and Cornwall, abandoned his followers and fled
• Aug 1497: Warbeck convinced to give himself up, makes full confession. Henry allowed him to remain at court w/ wife
• 1498: escapes but is recaptured and publicly humiliated (stocks, paraded around country), then imprisoned in Tower (can’t charge w/ treason because foreigner)
• 1499: Warbeck + Warwick charged w/ trying to escape Tower, EXECUTED

Question 7

Causes of the Yorkshire rebellion (1489)

Answer 7

• Henry VII introduced a parliamentary tax on the north of a ‘tenth’ to fund defence of Brittany against French aggression
• north traditionally paid less tax as they were more directly engaged in defence, Henry had broken a custom
• widespread refusal to pay the tax, lingering loyalty to Richard III, Henry Percy’s retinue previously had Richard as their ‘good lord’
• Henry Percy was lynched when he tried to convince them to pay their taxes

Question 8

Events of the Yorkshire rebellion (1489)

Answer 8

• heir of Percy was a minor, Percy was a senior noble
• Sir John Egremont (a Yorkist sympathiser) led and escalated the insurrection in Yorkshire, rebels decided they would fight the ‘evil councillors’ especially as they were expecting Henry’s harsh reprisals
• Henry VII accompanied earl of Surrey to Yorkshire to subdue rebels, rebels fled and some ringleaders were executed at York. Egremont fled to Flanders

Question 9

Consequences of the Yorkshire rebellion (1489)

Answer 9

• Henry VII didn’t demand taxation from this area again
• led to limits on his military ambitions
• financial keenness made throne more unstable

Question 10

Causes of the Cornish rebellion (1497)

Answer 10

• Henry was preparing for war with Scotland but in May 1497, Cornwall saw this as quite irrelevant to them and revolted due to the high taxation
• Henry broke royal custom regarding taxation once again

Question 11

Events of the Cornish rebellion (1497)

Answer 11

• rebels marched to Somerset led by Micheal Joseph the Blacksmith and Thomas Flamank, then marched to Wells and gained Lord Audley + 24 other Kent gentlemen
• unable to secure support of Bristol but the insurrection spread through the South West
• rebels called Warbeck to lead but he was in Ireland. They marched via Salisbury, Winchester, Farnham, Guildford
• 17 June: Henry fought and defeated the rebels @ Blackheath, executed ringleaders including Audley, ordered investigations to find all lesser rebels
• 7 September: Warbeck landed in Cornwall, attacked Exeter with 8k troops but he was unsuccessful as royal troops defeated him. He fled to sanctuary

Question 12

Impacts of the Cornish rebellion (1497)

Answer 12

• Henry secured a truce with Scotland (Treaty of Ayton)
• he had to cancel the next round of taxation to reduce unrest
• Warbeck left sanctuary and made a full confession of his pretense and lack of genuine claim. Henry had him paraded around the country and held in stocks
• June 1498: Warbeck to the Tower
• Warbeck and Warwick caught in a plot to escape (maybe set up by Henry to secure marriage of Arthur to Catherine of Aragon), they were executed November 1499 (2 key rivals removed)