Henry VII consolidating of Authority/Rebellions Flashcards
Why was Henry’s position extremely insecure?
- Many Yorkists were not satisfied by his marriage to Elizabeth, still regarded him as a usurper
- He had a weak claim to the throne
- There were several potential Yorkist claimants to the throne
Who were the potential Yorkist claimants to the throne? (2)
- Earls of Warwick
- Earls of Lincoln, Edward IV’s nephews
How was Henry’s position made even more difficult?
- The appearance of pretenders to the throne who were allegedly either Edward V or his younger brother Richard, the two murdered ‘princes in the tower’.
What did Henry have to fear the most?
- The influence of Margaret of Burgundy, the sister of Edward IV, and Richard III
Why was Margaret of Burgundy such a powerful threat?
- As the dowager duchess of Burgundy, she had access to funds which enabled her to encourage the ambitions of Yorkist claimants
What was the first (minor) rising against Henry
- Few months after he was crowned
- Lovell and Stafford rebellion - Easter 1486
What was the Lovell and Stafford rebellion - Dynastic or Popular (economic)
- It was a dynastic rebellion
Who was the Lovell/Stafford rebellion led by?
- Led by Francis + Viscount Lovell (prospered as key supporters of Richard III)
- And Humphrey Stafford
What did Lovell try to do?
- Tried to raise a rebellion in Richard III’s heartland of support in the North Riding of Yorkshire
- Simultaneously, Stafford tried to raise forces against Henry, drawing upon another area of Yorkist support - Midlands
Who managed to escape from the King’s forces?
- Lovell managed to escape from the King’s forces
- Humphrey’s younger brother and accomplice Thomas were pardoned
Who was captured and executed in the Lovell rebellion?
- Humphrey Stafford was captured and executed
What was so significant about the Lovell/Stafford rebellion?
- There was little enthusiasm at this stage for a Yorkist rising in their traditional Heartlands
- It was poorly funded
- Easily suppressed
What year was the Lambert Simple rebellion?
1486-1487
What did Yorkists realise from the Lovell rebellion?
- Leading Yorkists realised that a change in strategy was needed if they were to be successful in their attempts to get rid of Henry VII
What were the two key aspects that would improve Yorkist rebellions?
- They needed a figurehead who could claim to be a Yorkist prince
- They needed financial support to generate a significant military threat to Henry
Who was the figurehead in the Simple rebellion?
- The figurehead was Lambert Simple
- He was passed off as being the Earl of Warwick
Who was the Earl of Warwick (the real one)
- He had been imprisoned by Henry
What had Simnel been crowned in Ireland? (2) + include year
- Crowned as King Edward V in Ireland in May 1487
Who organised the conspiracy?
- John de la Pole, the Earl of Lincoln, a potential Yorkist himself
What did Henry do in response to the hoax of Earl of Warwick
- Henry had the real Earl of Warwick exhibited in London for all to see
After Henry exposed the Earl of Lincoln, where did John de la pole flee to?
- He fled from Henry VII’s court and had joined the failed plotter Lord Lovell at the court of Margaret of Burgundy in the Netherlands
What did The Earl of Lincoln (JDLP) persuade Margaret to do?
- Persuaded Margaret to support Simnel’s claim and to pay for a force of mercenaries to invade England
What did Henry take the risky gamble of doing?
- Reinstating the rather untrustworthy Earl of Northumberland, who led a major portion of Richard III’s army to the Battle of Bosworth
What was the effect of using the Earl of Northumberland?
- Using the Earl of Northumberland helped to neutralise Richard’s old power base
- It also ensured that the traditionally Yorkist Howard family had no intention of joining the conspiracy, as Northumberland was one of their descendants
What did Henry reinforce in East Anglia?
- Henry reinforced coastal defences in East anglia
Even though Henry had coastal defences in East Anglia, where did the rebels land?
- The rebels landed on the northwest coast in Cumberland
- They crossed the Pennines in order to dump up support in Richard III’s old heartland in the North Riding of Yorkshire.
What was observed about the Yorkist gentry of the North Riding?
- They were reluctant to commit themselves wholeheartedly to the cause, presumably waiting to see who was likely to win
When was the Battle of Stoke Field?
- 1487
- Who did Henry gather for the battle?
- Henry gathered a group of advisors, which included the close relatives of former Yorkists who had been victims of Richard III, in the south and the Midlands.
Where did the two armies meet?
- The two armies met at East Stoke near Newark in Nottinghamshire.
Was Henry confident about the battle?
- Henry was not confident, he could remember only too vividly how Richard had been double-crossed at Bosworth and feared that he himself might suffer the same fate
Who was Henry’s army led by
- Led effectively by the Earl of Oxford
Who was killed in the battle?
- John de la Pole, The Earl of Lincoln
Why was John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln ultimately die?
- He was killed in the battle, having crucially been unable to add sufficient followers to the army of mercenaries with which he had landed in England
Why was Henry’s victory at the Battle of Stoke Field significant?
- It was this battle which really brought and end to the Wars of the Roses, not the Battle of Bosworth.
- Henry’s position became safer but still not completely secure
What can be said about Henry VII’s character at the Battle of Stoke Field?
- Henry had been faced with a crisis which he had overcome by a combination of his own shrewdness and hard work
- The organisational skills and military leadership of his key supporters and the willingness of landowners in many parts of the country to support his cause.
What did Henry do to those who rebelled after the Battle of Stoke Field?
- Henry was relatively mild in his treatment of many of those who had rebelled, winning over some Yorkists who had previously opposed him
What did Henry develop after the Battle of Stoke Field?
- The policy of using bonds of good behaviour to ensure well-behaved landowners who might otherwise face financial ruin.
Who was Perkin Warbeck before his imposture?
- A cloth trader from Tournai in Flanders
Why was Perkin Warbeck annoying to Henry?
- Persistent irritant to Henry VII over a period of 8 years
- caused Henry VII great anxiety
Who did Perkin Warbeck claim to be?
- Richard, Duke of York
Why was Perkin Warbeck so significant?
- If Perkin’s activities had been confined to England he might have been dismissed as a deluded pest.
- But it was his ability to attract patronage from foreign rulers which transformed him from an irritant to a potentially serious threat
What did Perkin Warbeck’s impersonation reveal about Henry?
- It demonstrated how fragile Henry’s positions was considered to be by other rulers
What happened in 1491 with Warbeck?
- Warbeck began to impersonate Richard, Duke of York in Ireland.
- Then he makes a brief appearance at the court of Charles VIII of France
What happened the following year after Perkin went to France?
- He was forced to flee France, to the court of Margaret of Burgundy
- He was trained as a potential Yorkist prince and began to draw English courtiers into his conspiracies
Several years after the Battle of Stoke in 1487, when did Warbeck first try to land in England
- 1495
Was Perkin Warbeck a Dynastic or popular rebellion?
Dynastic rebellion
Why was Warbeck’s attempt to land in England a fiasco?
- Henry had been informed of Warbeck’s intentions by one of his royal agents, Sir Robert Clifford, who had infiltrated Warbeck’s retinue
- Warbeck was quickly defeated and fled to the court of James IV of Scotland
Although Warbeck’s appearance in 1495 was a fiasco, why could it have been a huge threat?
- However, it would be a mistake to write off this event simply as a farce which had no chance of success.
- It could have proved very costly for Henry because the conspirators had an accomplice in the heart of Henry’s government, William Stanley
Who was William Stanley to Henry?
- Henry’s step uncle and potential traitor
What did Sir William Stanley (Lord Chamberlain) have control over?
- Headed the royal household at a time when household government was still the normal model of political operation
What did the modern historian Christine Carpenter think about the conspiracy at court?
- Believes it was striking that this conspiracy actually revealed Henry at his most vulnerable in the very place where he should have been more secure
In 1496 what happened with Warbeck?
- A small Scottish force crossed the border on Warbeck’s behalf but quickly retreated
Why were Warbeck’s interests soon sacrificed?
- When James gave in to Henry’s offer of marriage to his daughter, Margaret
Having failed to invade England from Scotland in 1496, where did Warbeck make a final attempt to seek the English throne?
- Wanted to exploit the uncertainties created by the Cornish Rebellion in 1497
- His forces were crushed and Warbeck eventually surrendered to the King
Was Henry lenient to Warbeck?
- Allowed Warbeck to stay at court, but confined him to the Tower after he tried to be abscond
- This time there was no mercy
- He tried to escape with the Earl of Warwick, he was accused of treason, and they were both tried and executed
Why was Warbeck’s final attempts at conspiracy beneficial for Henry?
- Enabled him to get rid of the Earl of Warwick, potentially the most obvious Yorkist claimant to the throne
Describe the Earl of Warwick at the end
- Warwick was in many respects an innocent victim of the political manoeuvrings of the period.
- Aged only ten at the time of the Battle of Bosworth, he spent most of his life in confinement before he met his fate in 1499
- He was accused of plotting with Perkin Warbeck against Henry VII, he was beheaded
When was the White rose (Edmund de la Pole) conspiracy?
1500-1506
Who did the final piece of dynastic security concern?
- Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, and Richard de la Pole
- Younger brothers of the Earl of Lincoln
When did Suffolk flee to Flanders?
- Suffolk fled to Flanders in 1498
When he was persuaded to come back (Earl of Suffolk), when did he flee again? Who did he seek refuge from
- Fled again in 1501
- this time seeking refuge at the court of the Emperor Maximilian
Under what circumstances would Suffolk be safe
- As long as Margaret of Burgundy was politically opposed to Henry VII, Suffolk was safe
What did the Treaty of Windsor in 1506 result in?
- More friendly relations were restored
- One feature of this improvement in relations was that Maximilian agreed to give up Suffolk, who was duly imprisoned in the Tower of London
What did Henry VII do to the Earl of Suffolk
- Henry took no further action against him
- Henry VIII had him executed for treason in 1513
Summarise the consolidating of authority
- Henry consolidated his power in the short time.
- Henry was also concerned with ensuring long-term dynastic stability: he wanted English men and women to believe that the Tudors had a legit claim to the throne.
- Henry enjoyed some success in consolidating power and establishing his dynasty.
- It should not be assumed that his victory at the Battle of Stoke left Henry in an unchallengeable position: Henry himself certainly did not think so.
When was the Cornish rebellion?
- 1497
What was the Cornish Rebellion a result of?
- Sparked off by the demand for extraordinary revenue to finance a far-away military campaign
- The revolt was triggered by the need for revenue to finance the campaign against Scotland
Why did the Cornish Rebellion pose a threat?
- sheer numbers involved (15,00)
- The attempt to exploit the rebellion made by Perkin Warbeck
- The fact that the rebels marched on London, only being halted at Blackheath
What does the historian Christine Carpenter regard the Cornish rebellion as?
- Considers the rebellion to have been alarming for the King.
- It was certainly a cause for immense concern for the Crown that the rebels could have marched such a long distance without any serious attempt being made to stop them
- It raises questions about how effective were the Crown’s systems for maintaining order in the countryside.
- By reaching London, they were in effect challenging the security of Henry VII’s regime
Why did the Cornish rebellion create a problem for Henry VII’s?
- In order to ensure its effective suppression he needed to withdraw Lord Daubeney and his troops from defending the Scottish border
- The rebellion was crushed easily enough by Daubeney
- Rebel leaders punished by Henry
What did the Cornish Rebellion shock Henry into doing?
- The rebellion shocked Henry into ensuring that Anglo-Scottish tensions were eased and made him particularly cautious about entering into any further foreign conflicts
Why did the rebellions (Yorkshire + Cornish) take place?
Two rebellions did take place in Henry VIl’s reign, in Yorkshire in 1489 and in Cornwall in 1497. In each case the main catalyst (or trigger) was taxation.
When was the Yorkshire rebellion?
- 1489
What was the Northern rebellion sparked by?
- Sparked off by resentment of the taxation granted by Parliament in 1489 in order to finance the involvement of English forces in the campaign in Brittany
