KING HENRY VII AND THE YEARS AFTER THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH FIELD

With King Henry VII's claim to the English Monarchy being as weak as it was, his first concern after the victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, was to secure his hold on the throne.

From the beginning he was determined to bring order to the country, after nearly one hundred years of civil war,(the War of the Roses). For prior to the First Battle of St. Albans in 1455, there had been armed conflicts, rebellions and uprisings,from the year 1399, when Henry Bolingbroke deposed King Richard II, and had himself crowned King Henry IV.

King Henry VII was very fortunate indeed that most of the would be English Monarchs were now dead, having been killed in the War of the Roses, or executed by his predecessors.

The House of Lancaster and the House of York were eventually unified when King Henry VII honoured his pledge,taken on Christmas Day 1483, by marrying Elizabeth of York at Westminster on 18th January 1486.

This unification strengthened the claim his children had to the throne and is symbolized by the Tudor Rose, which is a combination of the red rose of the House of Lancaster and the white rose of the House of York.

Although King Henry VII had a very tenuous claim to the throne, he was still the heir of the House of Lancaster, and as the House of Lancaster was junior to the House of York in the line of succession to the throne, he had taken the throne by right of conquest.

With the presumed death of the two young Princes in the Tower of London, their sister Elizabeth of York was now the rightful heir of their father King Edward IV.

King Henry VII, knew he had to marry Elizabeth in order to secure his own stability and survival on the throne, as well as to weaken any claims of surviving members of the House of York.

However, he wanted to make it perfectly clear to everyone, that he ruled by right of CONQUEST, NOT as Elizabeth's husband. He had no intention of sharing power with her.

With this in mind, he had the Titulus Regius repealed immediately, which had declared King Edward IV's marriage as invalid and his children illegitimate, as he did not want the legitimacy of his wife or her claim as heiress to the late King Edward IV called into question.

This repeal relegitimised the children of King Edward IV and acknowledged the accession of the young Edward V as king when his father died.

Although the crown had been placed on the head of King Henry VII, immediately after the Battle of Bosworth field, he was officially crowned King on 30th October 1485 at Westminster Abbey. His marriage to Elizabeth of York however, did not take place until 18th January 1486.

Both he and Elizabeth were descended from John of Gaunt, meaning they could not marry without a Papal Dispensation due to consanguinity.

An application had been made to the Pope after the Victory at Bosworth, but it wasn't until 16th January 1486, that Henry heard from the Papal Legate, of Pope Innocent VIII's intention to grant the dispensation. Two days later they were married at Westminster Abbey.

The idea that Henry delayed his marriage to show that he did not owe the throne to his wife being the daughter of King Edward IV, but soley through conquest, used to be the view of most historians, but it appears not any longer. They now appear to take the view that it was due to his waiting for the dispensation.

However, there does seem to be logic behind the original view and should not be dismissed out of hand. If they had been married before he was crowned King, many people WOULD have believed he had gained the throne through his wife, Elizabeth of York.

This belief could and most probably would have been very dangerous for him. Elizabeth had four sisters who would marry and have children. The country had been torn apart by civil war for nearly a century. Although the Wars of the Roses is thought to have begun in earnest in 1455, there had been several armed clashes since 1399.

Once Elizabeth's sisters had children, there would then be several potential pretenders to the throne. They would be of Yorkist descent, Henry was of Lancastrian descent. It could have led to a volatile situation, especially if Elizabeth and Henry did not produce a male heir to the throne.

The only course of action for him to take, would be to deny that any heiress of the House of York, including his own wife, had any right to the throne.

Having thoughts like these could naturally have influenced his decision to delay the marriage until after his coronation.

Although King Henry VII's marriage had taken place for political reasons, it proved to be a very successful one. Elizabeth was very happy to remain in the background and never interfered in political affairs.

She presented Henry with their first child in September 1486, a son whom they named Arthur. Henry doted on Elizabeth, but despite their happy marriage, Henry would not let his wife be crowned until 25th November 1487.

Henry consolidated his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, by declaring himself King retroactively from the day before the Battle of Bosworth Field, meaning that anyone who had fought for King Richard III against him, would now be guilty of treason.

They had Acts of Attainder passed against them, which meant that they were declared a traitor without having been found guilty in a court of law. King Henry VII did not sign these Acts but used them as a very powerful and effective threat against the Nobles. If they showed any signs of disloyalty towards him they could then be executed and their property taken away from their families. However, if the Nobles remained loyal then the Act of Attainder would not be carried out.

The intention therefore, was to make the Nobility well aware of what the consequences of disloyalty really meant. Now that it was backed up by the law, it was made very clear, that any noble who Henry did not even trust, could be executed.

He also got Parliament to pass laws of livery and maintenance in 1487, which outlawed the nobles practice of having large numbers of retainers, who wore the badge or uniform of their Lordships, thus forming potential private armies.

In 1504 Parliament passed another Act which forced the Nobles to purchase a licence from the King if they wanted to retain a large number of servants. They would then be fined if they failed to comply.

He divided the Nobility and undermined their power, especially through the forcefull use of bonds and recognisances to secure loyalty, by which a person would bind himself to a specified act before a court of law. The King could make landowners sign agreements in which they would agree to pay a large fine, if they broke that agreement.

On 19th November 1485, eighteen Peers took the Parliamentary Oath to abstain from illegal acts.

Over the next few years King Henry VII had to contend with several rebellions. The first one occurred in 1486 when Viscount Lovell and the Stafford brothers led an armed uprising against the King. However, it was a total disaster. Lovell decided against openly rebelling and escaped to Burgundy.

Whilst King Henry was away in the North of England the Stafford Brothers continued with the uprising in Worcester, where the King had widespread support.

On his arrival at Pontefract in Yorkshire, Henry learned that, what had up to then been treated as rumour, was in fact truly happening. Henry dispatched a force to Worcester, the Stafford Brothers took flight and claimed Sanctuary at Culham, in Oxfordshire.

King Henry VII was determined to capture the two brothers in order to make an example of them. He decided to challenge the centurys' old right of the Church to offer Sanctuary to traitors, by ordering his men to enter the monastery and arrest them. They were then taken to Westminster and tried on charges of treason.

Although it was a minor uprising which totally collapsed, it was highly significant. For instance, it showed that there was still a lot of resistance to King Henry VII. A precedent had been set on the continuing use of Sanctuary. It demonstrated how the King was determined to administer his Kingdom, and with force if necessary.

Humphrey Stafford based his defence on the violation of Sanctuary. After a lot of hesitation from the judges, they came to their conclusion, after they were told of the King's desire. No one could plead Sanctuary in cases of treason.

Their reasoning was that treason was a common-law offence over which even the Pope had no jurisdiction. The King was the only person who could pardon treason and Sanctuary could only be offered as temporary protection to traitors.

Humphrey Stafford was executed at Tyburn in July. His younger brother Thomas was pardoned by the King. The Pope, Innocent VIII understood Henry's reasons for violating Sanctuary and refused to take any offence from Henry's action.

He issued a Papal Bull in August condemning the most common abuses associated with Sanctuary.

Church properties could now be closely watched so that suspected traitors would automatically be handed over to royal officials after forty days.

It went further by stating criminals who left Sanctuary only to commit additional crimes, could be forcibly removed and would never be granted Sanctuary again. The following year the Pope added to it by decreeing that Sanctuary would no longer be available to fraudulent debtors.

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