History Tudors

• Henry Tudor defeated the Yorkist king, Richard III, at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485
• Henry's claim to the throne was very weak, being largely through his mother Margaret Beaufort, who was a descendant of Edward III by the marriage of his third son, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, to Catherine Swynford
• Although Henry was the male Lancastrian claimant to the throne, his claim was weak and was likely to be challenged by Yorkist claimants who had seen their king killed at Bosworth
• One of Henry's first acts was to date the start of his reign from the day before Bosworth; this meant that any who fought against him were traitors and could have their estates seized
• Henry asked for a papal dispensation to marry Elizabeth of York, uniting the houses of Lancaster and York
• There were two important Yorkist claimants at the start of Henry VII reign. Edward Earl of Warwick was invited to join the king's council but John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln was sent to the tower.
• The earl of Surrey was kept in prison until 1489
• The Duke of Northumberland was released at the end of 1485 and restored to his old position in control of the north.
• Henry's position was weakened by his years in exile. He was unknown in England after spending 14 years in exile after the Lancastrian defeat at Tewksbury
• Henry could provide the kingdom with peace and stability after 30 years of civil war. Richard III was also dead and unpopular
• Henry VII did not rely on powerful nobles and had no close male relatives to contest the throne.
• In 1486, there was limited unrest in the form of the Lovell conspiracy in the Midlands, Wales and the North.

  Henry embarked on a royal progress to the north where Yorkist support was strong. The rebellion in the north and midlands involved Lord Lovell and the Stafford brothers, all of whom had been loyal supporters of Richard

  The rebels dispersed after Henry sent an armed force to quell them.
• After the Lovell conspiracy, the Staffords were arrested. Humphrey was executed and Thomas was pardoned and remained loyal.
• Lovell fled to Flanders after the Lovell conspiracy of 1486
• The Yorkshire rebellion of 1489 was as a result of Henry's attempts to raise money to aid Brittany in its struggle against France. Yorkshire was particularly annoyed as there was a bad harvest in 1488 and other northern counties were exempt due to them being on the border with Scotland
• Parliament granted Henry VII a subsidy of £100,000 to fund his intervention in Brittany. But very little was actually collected.
• In 1489, Yorkshire did not like the tax as they were not close to France. Highlighting the regionalism and localism of politics of the time.
• The Duke of Northumberland was murdered in a tax riot during the Yorkshire rebellion of 1489. This was orchestrated by Yorkists.
• The rebellion was led by Sir John Egremont
• Although the Yorkshire rebellion was crushed by a royal army, the money was never collected.
• The Cornish rebellion was in 1497
• The Cornish was rebellion was far more serious than the Yorkshire rebellion
• The Cornish were far from the Scottish border and had no interest in paying a subsidy for Henry to defend against Perkin Warbeck supported by James IV
• The Cornish rebels assembled at the town of Bodmin in May 1497.
• The Cornish rebellion attracted 15,000 supporters, a sign of the unpopularity of the tax.
• Only one impoverished noble, Lord Audley, partook in the Cornish rebellion.
• The Cornish rebels blamed "evil counsellors" such as Morton and Bray, and not the king himself.
• A royal army of 25,000 was assembled which crushed the Cornish rebels at Blackheath in June 1497
• John Morton became Lord Chancellor and in 1486 the Archbishop of Canterbury.
• Reginald Bray was appointed to Henry's council in 1492
• Although the Cornish rebellion was more of a threat than the Yorkshire rebellion, it only reached London as Henry was mroe focused on Warbeck
• The Cornish rebellion suggested that 12 years into his reign loyalty towards Henry VII was still limited
• The early years of Henry VII's reign has revealed that rising from Yorkist supporters were almost inevitable, even if there were few Yorkist claimants.
• The Lovell, Stafford and Vaughan incidents all occurred in 1486
• The challenge of Lambert Simnel (who claimed to be the Earl of Warwick) was a serious threat as it came within a year of Henry seizing the throne
• Simnel was able to raise support first in the Yorkist stronghold of Oxford and then in Ireland.
• Simnel was supported by Margaret of Burgundy who sent money and a force of 2,000 German mercenaries
• The Simnel conspiracy began in the Autumn of 1486, Henry was not aware of it until early 1497, a further indication of his vulnerable position an sub par intelligence of his country.
• Henry paraded the real Earl of Warwick around London to prove that Simnel was an imposter.
• Support for Simnel increased as the Yorkist Earl of Lincoln joined the rebels