Henry VII of England
King of England, from 1485 to 1509 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Henry VII or Henry Tudor (28 January 1457–21 April 1509) was King of England from 1485 to 1509. He founded the Tudor dynasty by winning the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. His son became King Henry VIII of England.
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Biography
Henry VII was born in 1457 to Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort. His father died thirteen days before he was born, which left his 13-year-old mother as his only parent. After Henry's birth, he spent a lot of time with his uncle Jasper Tudor. Jasper took Henry to France, where he spent most of his youth. Henry had a claim to the throne of England, but it was not a strong one, and he had to wait a long time for a chance to take the throne.
In 1483, a new king came to the throne in England. Richard III was not liked by everyone. Some thought he had stolen the throne from his young nephews and had killed them. That gave Henry his long-waited chance. With help from the French, he raised an army and landed at Dale in Pembrokeshire, close to where he had been born. That allowed him to gather more supporters on the way.
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1485) had been going on for years. They were fought over the throne of England between supporters of the House of Lancaster and supporters of the House of York. Both houses were branches of the Plantagenet royal house and traced their descent from King Edward III.
King Henry VI and his family, the House of Lancaster, fought against their enemies, the House of York, for many years. The wars finally came to an end when Henry VII came to the throne in 1485.
On 22 August 1485, Henry's army defeated Richard's army at the Battle of Bosworth Field. When Henry killed Richard in this battle, Henry became king. Other people also had a claim on the throne, and Henry did his best to stop them from taking it from him by executing them, putting them in prison, or trying to make friends of them, as he did with the Earl of Lincoln. Another step that he took was to marry Elizabeth of York, the niece of King Richard III, who would herself have been the heir to the throne if she had not been a girl.
There were also people who pretended to be long-lost members of the royal family so that they could try to take the throne. One of them was a little boy, Lambert Simnel, who looked very like Edward, Earl of Warwick. The real Earl of Warwick was Henry's prisoner, but that did not stop other people from believing he was Lambert was him.
The Earl of Lincoln rebelled against King Henry, raised an army to make Lambert king and thought that he would really rule the country. There was a battle, and the Earl of Lincoln was killed. Lambert Simnel was captured, but because he was only a child, Henry spared his life, and Lambert became a royal servant.
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Children
Henry married Elizabeth of York, which helped put an end to the Wars of the Roses. They had seven children, but only four survived infancy:
- Arthur Tudor (19/20 September 1486–2 April 1502)
- Margaret Tudor (28 November 1489–18 October 1541)
- Henry VIII (28 June 1491–28 January 1547)
- Elizabeth Tudor (2 July 1492-14 September 1495)
- Mary Tudor (18 March 1496–28 June 1533)
- Edmund Tudor (21 February 1499–19 June 1500)(died young)
- Catherine Tudor (2 February-18 February 1503) (died young)
Henry VII was unpopular when he increased taxes so that future kings would have enough money.
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Death
Henry VII died of tuberculosis on 21 April 1509 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. He was succeeded by his son Henry VIII that day.
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