The consolidation of power Flashcards
Who did Henry beat to become King of England and at which battle?
Beat Richard III
Battle of Bosworth
In which year was the battle of Bosworth?
1485
In which two respects was Henry’s claim to the throne weak?
- He was descended through the female line represented by his mother, Lady Margaret Beufort.
- More importantly, the line came from John of Gaunt’s third wife: their son John Beaufort had been born before their marriage and was therefore seen as illegitimate.
Henry became the Lancastrian claimant only because there was no one else who could fulfil the role. In reality, however, it was victory on the battlefield alone which had brought him to the throne.
Who proclaimed Henry as King of England on the battlefield?
Lord Stanley
Who was Lord Stanley?
Stanley, Henry VII’s stepfather, initially stood aside from the battle. His intervention on behalf of Henry proved crucial, and he was rewarded with the title Earl of Derby. Derby was crucial to the exercise of royal power in the northwest of England and North Wales during Henry’s reign.
By the point of Henry becoming King, why was Richard become an object of suspicion?
Disappearance of the princes in the Tower, along with other presumed crimes.
Where did Henry live for most of his time before being King since 14 years old?
France, as a fugitive in the Duchy of Brittany.
What is a parliamentary sanction?
An official confirmation or ratification of a law given by Parliament as the acclaimed body of the State; by the laws of the time, King Henry VII’s tenuous claims to the throne would normally have had to be fortified by a parliamentary sanction.
What is Act of Attainder?
This declared a landowner guilty of rebelling against a monarch; the attainted noble lost his title, lands and sometimes his head; his heirs were disinherited.
What is tonnage and poundage?
The right to raise revenue for the whole reign from imports and exports.
Essentially an import and export tax.
Who was Edward, Earl of Warwick?
The son of Edward IV’s brother, the Duke of Clarence, he was placed in the Tower of London in 1485. There he remained except for occasional public appearances. He was alleged to have plotted with Perkin Warbeck against Henry VII in 1499 and was beheaded for doing so.
Who was Sir William Stanley?
Stanley, the brother of Thomas Stanley, the Earl of Derby, and Henry VII’s step-uncle, was rewarded with the post of Lord Chamberlain following Bosworth. This not only gave him considerable political influence, it also enabled hum to develop his landed estate in Cheshire and North Wales. It was therefore a shock when he was accused of treason.
Why did Henry date his reign from the day before the Battle of Bosworth?
It ensured that anyone who had fought on the Yorkist side could be designated a traitor.
An example of Henry publicly rewarding many of his key supporters?
Conferring 11 knighthoods.
What did Henry do regarding people who were seen to have much greater claim to the throne than Henry himself?
He arranged for supporters to detain Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, and the Earl of Warwick, Edward IV’s nephew.
Examples of key appointments to his Council and Household by Henry?
Making Sir Reginald Bray Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Making Sir William Stanley Chamberlain of the Household.
Why did Henry arrange for his coronation to take place on 30th October before the meeting of his first Parliament on 7th November?
Demonstrated that his right to the throne was based on hereditary right and not only because Parliament had sanctioned it.
How did Henry use Parliamentary Acts of Attainder?
Used Parliamentary Acts of Attainder against Yorkists who had fought at Boswroth ensured that their property was forfeit to the Crown, thereby increasing royal income.
Who did Henry marry?
Elizabeth of York
How did Henry use his marriage to Elizabeth of York to spread propaganda?
The union of the two houses of Lancaster and York.
The emblem of the Tudor rose combined the red rose of Lancaster with the white rose of York.
Who was Lambert Simnel?
Lambert Simnel was a boy from Oxford who was tutored in courtly manner by a priest, Richard Symonds, with the intention initially of impersonating Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the two princes in the Tower, though he soon switched to impersonating the Earl of Warwick. Captured at the Battle of Stoke, Simnel was spared by Henry VII, who have him a job in the royal kitchens.
Following 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 to this?
Firstly, they needed a figurehead who could claim to be a Yorkist prince.
Secondly, they needed financial support to generate a significant military threat to Henry.
Who was Lambert Simnel being passed off as?
Earl of Warwick, who was imprisoned by Henry
Simnel was crowned as King what and in which country and in which year?
King Edward in Ireland in 1487
Who was John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln?
Lincoln, a nephew of Edward IV and Richard III, was the latter’s designated successor. As such, he was regarded as the Yorkist leader in the immediate aftermath of Bosworth.
Who was the Simnel conspiracy put together by?
John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln
Who did Lord Lovell and Lincoln persuade to support Simnel’s bogus claim and to pay for a force of mercenaries to invade England?
Margaret of Burgundy
What are mercenaries?
Hired soldiers who work simply for pay and have no specific commitment to the cause for which they are fighting.
How did Henry neutralise Richard’s old power base in the North of England during the Simnel rebellion?
He took the gamble of reinstating the rather untrustworthy Earl of Northumberland, who led a major portion of Richard III’s army at the Battle of Bosworth, to power in the North.
Where did Simnel’s rebels land in England when invading from Ireland?
Cumberland
Who was Henry’s army led by when fighting at the Battle of Stoke?
Earl of Oxford
Who was killed in battle at the Battle of Stoke and what was partially the reason for this?
Earl of Lincoln
He was unable to add sufficient followers to the army of mercenaries with which he had landed in England.
What were bonds of good behaviour?
When giving bonds to the landowners, Henry recognised himself as owing the lump sum stated. The sum did not have to be paid back provided the condition (usually good behaviour) was observed. If the condition was broken, the sum had to be paid in penalty.
Who did Perkin Warbeck claim to be?
Richard, Duke of York.
What transformed Warbeck from being an irritant to a potentially serious threat?
His ability to attract patronage from foreign rulers.
What did the fact that Perkin Warbeck being able to attract patronage from foreign rulers demonstrate?
How fragile Henry’s position was considered to be by other rulers.
When did Warbeck begin to impersonate Richard, Duke of York and where?
1491, in Ireland
What did Warbeck do in Burgundy after fleeing from France?
Began being trained as a potential Yorkist prince and began to draw English courtiers into his conspiracies.
How did Warbeck’s first attempt to land in England in 1495 prove to be 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.
Why was the Perkin Warbeck potentially dangerous?
It could have proved very costly for Henry because the conspirators had an accomplice in the heart of Henry’s government, Sir William Stanley.
Stanley, Henry’s step-uncle and potential traitor, was Lord Chamberlain and headed the royal household at a time when household government was still the normal model of political operation.
What is household government?
Medieval system of governance where the head of a household, invariably an adult male, had authority over the property, labour, and mobility of everyone living on his land.
When did Warbeck attempt to invade England from Scotland but quickly retreated?
1496
What happened to Warbeck after he had surrounded to Henry?
Allowed Warbeck to stay at court, but confined him to the Tower after he tried to abscond.
Having allegedly trying to escape with the Earl of Warwick, he was accused of treason, and they were both tried and executed.
What happened to the real Earl of Warwick?
In 1499, when being accused of plotting with Perkin Warbeck against Henry VII, he was beheaded.
