The Tudors are the most notorious family to have ever ruled over England, with their Kings
and Queens being associated with brutality, execution and ruling with an iron fist.
Henry VIII, the King who had 6 wives, 2 of which were executed inside the Tower of London
was the Second Tudor King, and it was his father who was the first Tudor Monarch.
Henry vii came onto the throne in 1485, after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.
He seemingly ended the Wars of the Roses, uniting the country by his marriage to Elizabeth
of York and he sought to restore power and stability in the English Monarchy.
For years, the War of the Roses had led to the people of England lacking the stability
required in the royal family.
Henry vii reigned for roughly 24 years, before the passed away at the age of 52.
Today we look at the Painful death of King Henry vii.
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Henry vii was declared King by the right of conquest, and he married Elizabeth of York
with the hope of uniting the warring Yorkist and Lancastrian factions of the Plantagenet
dynastic disputes.
He was considered successful in this, and he took steps even after the Battle of Bosworth
to ensure that rebellions did not become significant.
He did face a number of them initially, including one in which the pretender Lambert Simnel
claimed to have been Edward of Warwick.
His rebellion was put down and Henry in a show of clemency allowed Simnel to work inside
the royal kitchens after, placing him in charge of roasting meat on a spit.
Perkin Warbeck’s rebellion came in 1490, where he claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury,
the younger Prince in the Tower, but Henry vii put this rebellion down also, and had
Warbeck executed.
Though a number of executions, including William Stanley’s the Chamberlain of the Household,
Henry showed the country that he was not willing to be messed with.
He was a King ultimately that had little experience in running lands and overseeing them, but
during his reign he became known for being a wealth King who was prudent and made the
monarchy richer.
He kept a close eye over the countries wealth, and did impose a number of taxes.
The increase in tax and the ruthlessness in which it was collected did affect his popularity
inside of England.
In terms of his foreign policy, in England he sought to maintain peace following the
Wars of the Roses and to make money.
He signed a treaty with France that brought wealth to England and importantly stated that
France would not support any more pretenders to the throne.
Henry did invade Brittany in November 1492 as he wanted to keep it from the French as
they had recently signed an agreement and alliance with Spain that he deemed dangerous.
He built up his navy for this, and he realised the importance and danger of the Spanish Kingdom.
He formed an alliance also with the Holy Roman Emperor and the pope.
He was shrewd along with his advisors around trade, and through major industries such as
wool and cloth England became a rather prosperous nation.
English cloth during his reign began to be traded in many different places.
To secure power, he used Justices of the Peace on a big scale, and their job was to ensure
that the country’s laws were being adhered to.
The court of the Star chamber was also used to allow Henry to deal with disputes and issues
quickly, and he dealt with threats to his own power swiftly through this.
Justices of the Peace were seen as Key law enforces for Henry vii and despite being unpaid
there were successful and efficient.
So overall during his reign, Henry vii did a significant degree of positive things to
ensure that the monarch was much more stable than it was during the Wars of the Roses.
However in 1502, tragedy struck the royal family.
Henry vii and Elizabeth had a child named Arthur who was the great hope for the Tudor
dynasties.
He was their eldest son, and he was the heir apparent to the throne, and had married Catherine
of Aragon forming an alliance between England and the emerging and feared Spanish.
However shortly after marriage, Arthur was taken ill and at Ludlow Castle he died from
a viral illness known as the sweating sickness.
This devastated the King, and he was regarded as a reserved man who rarely showed any emotion
in public, however he was overcome by immense grief and upset.
He was known to have been sobbing uncontrollably at court, and the death of Arthur shattered
him greatly.
But a year later, further upset for the King came as his Queen, Elizabeth of York passed
away and he shut himself away following this for a number of days and refused to speak
to anyone.
Henry vii was completely devastated by the loss of Elizabeth, and her death caused him
great heartbreak.
Following her death, he considered remarrying but nothing came to anything.
He considered marriage to renew alliances with Spain, but through the negotiations for
Catherine of Aragon to marry his other son Henry, the future Henry VIII this was sufficient.
He did take an interest in Joanna of Naples, but this never came to anything.
After Elizabeth’s death, Henry himself became very ill and nearly died form an unknown illness,
but he did recover.
He remained ill for a number of years, and in his final years it was noted how ‘his
sickness increased daily more and more.’
Between February and March 1508, Henry suffered from gout and it was said that he was ‘in
the last stages of consumption,’ in July 1508.
A month later, it was reported that Henry was ‘very ill and in extremis,’ and that
he was’ very ill without hope of recovery.’
At the end of March 1509, Henry must have known his death was coming, and he made his
last will and testament.
Its believed that the decline in his health was made quicker by the death of Elizabeth
and Arthur, and his mood became very depressed after these.
Other veterans of his campaign against Richard III passed away, and he made arrangements
for a seamless transition of power to his son Prince Henry.
Accounts of Henry VII’s death come mostly from Bishop John Fisher, who have a sermon
on the 10th May 1509, shortly after Henry’s death.
He said how two nights before the King’s death, he became so weak that he could not
hear mass at the altar and had struggled for some time to eat and drink.
However he was keen to do his religious duty, and he summoned his confessor to his bedside
to hear the sacrament.
Mass at his bedside was heard, at Henry it was said to have been a very moving spectacle.
It was said that those who witnessed Henry receiving the sacrement were moved with a
marvellous compassion and flow of tears, that at some time they wept and sobbed by the space
of three quarters of an hour.’
An image of the proceedings shortly before the King’s death show him attended on by
a number of his closest courtiers and most initimate members of his household.
Shortly after hearing the religious blessing, Henry managed to cling onto life for another
48 hours.
On the day of his death, he heard mass again and this time held the crucifix a number of
times with great reverence, embracing it tenderly and kissing it.
He was in a significant amount of pain and was suffering and scared, and he in his final
moments appealed to Jesus to deliver his soul and to protecting him.
It was said he claimed’ Oh my blessed Jesus, oh my lord deliver my soul from the misery
of this world, deliver my soul from these deadly pains, deliver my could from this corruptible
body.
In his final moments, the King’s son Prince Henry who was just 17 at the time was summoned
to his father’s bedside for his final instructions and the king said, ‘fatherly and godly exhortations
committed unto him the laborious governance of this realm of England.’
The King passed away surrounded by his closest advisors, with William Fitzwilliam the Gentleman
Usher of Henry’s office being responsible for closing the King’s eyes after death.
Inside of his bed in Richmond Palace on the 21st April 1509, Henry vii died from what
is believed to have been tuberculosis at the age of 52.
He was buried in the chapel he commissioned to be built, Henry VII’s Lady Chapel in
Westminster Abbey and was laid to rest alongside his wife Elizabeth of York.
It was clear in his final days, Henry vii knew that his death was coming.
He ultimately knew what he was facing, and he decided to end his days in pious prayer
and repentance for any sins he had committed.
Inside of Richmond Palace he was not alone, being attended on by his closest advisors
and friends.
It was his son who would take the throne and become Henry VIII, and his reign in particular
is known for brutality and turmoil.
Henry vii sought to bring an end to the turbulent nature of the time, but Henry VIII his successor
ripped up all of the work his father had done, and changed the face of English history forever,
dividing his nation further by religion.
In fact Henry VIII drove as big a wedge through the population by his religious reforms as
the Wars of the Roses did.
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