roses depth 5 - HVII and securing control

Consolidating HVII claim

• weak claim but decisive victory with RIII dead

  • No other claimants, God onside as victory in battle, military ability proven

• Acceptable and practical alternative

  • Strong king, stability to overcome previous instability, wanted a secure kingdom

• Loyalty was rewards

  • Established broad support base and won people over, didn’t make mistakes of RIII

• Backdated reign to 21 August, day before Bosworth

  • Allowed attainder of Yorkists, giving land used for patronage of others

Marriage to Elizabeth of York

18 January 1486

• alliance of York and Lancaster - creating Tudor rose and ending Wars of the Roses

• Advantage to Elizabeth:

  • Secures safety of remaining Woodvilles, married man of royal status

  • Reversed Act of Bastardisation - RIII used to legalise his usurpation and had implications for Elizabeth of York

    • Parliament agreed to reverse act and destroy all copies

• Negotiated by their respective mothers, Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort in autumn 1483

• Requested by parliament December 1485 - to ensure marriage goes ahead

  • Married after HVII became king - not dependent on Elizabeth who had a stronger claim, and wanted to be king in his own right

• Required papal dispensation - related via John of Gaunt

  • Came quickly - Vatican approved and HVII published it in English and publicised it

How successful was the marriage

• designed to heal political divisions - but Woodvilles and Elizabeth kept in background regarding politics

  • Woodville influence declined during HVII reign

• HVII had no brothers - less need to support others, nobility had fewer members and possessions than before and was therefore less of a threat

• HVII careful to prevent ill-feeling to marriage like EIV

• Margaret Beaufort was dominant, especially over Elizabeth of York and HVII himself

  • Resented by Elizabeth - Spanish royalty told to make fuss of queen when they came so she could favour Spain and put in good word with HVII

• Provided heirs:

  • 5 children who survived infancy

  • 1st was boy, Arthur, heir, secured dynasty and takes pressure off, but dies 1502 at 15

  • Henry and Edmund - Edmund died 1503

  • Loss of Arthur = personal blow, both greatly distressed

  • Elizabeth dies trying to replace spare in childbirth with Catherine 1503 - only prince Henry left

HVII intelligence network

• method to control nobles

• Medieval kingship dependant on steady flow of communication between monarch and nobles

  • Provided king with information and advice, way to communicate his will to the people via the nobility and gentry

• King could not always trust leading subjects - use of spies was well established by now, and regarded as good kingship

• During Wars of Roses, important in gathering intelligence before battle

  • Counter espionage also used - Clarence and Warwick rebelled against EIV 1470 and sent him letters from own spies to give him false positions

    • 1497 - HVII used scouts to keep him informed of Cornish rebellion

• Gathered information about foreign courts - HVII took power due to influence of foreigners, well aware of their power

  • Calais was effective base - especially for Scotland and France

• HVII not first to use spies - HVI 1450s, EIV paid Scottish informers to keep eye on MofA and HVI, helping him to capture HVI in 1466

• HVII keen to have information about Margaret of Burgundy - key supporter of Yorkist plots against Tudor regime

  • Sir Richard Clifford = agent, most likely double agent

  • Spy network successful in helping HVII act quickly against Warbeck and Warwick whilst they were still being planned

• 2 innovations brought in:

  • 1505 ciphers by Katherine of Aragon - used for sensitive information

  • Bonds to put nobility under financial pressure to force them to act as informers and keep their loyalty - deeply unpopular

HVII financial policies towards nobility

• bonds - written obligation binding 1 person to another to perform some specified action or to pay a sum of money

  • Compelled nobles to behave well

  • Grew from earning HVII £3000 /yr 1493 to £35,000 by 1505

• Recognisances - formal acknowledgement of a debt or other obligation with sureties or penalties for enforcement

  • Recognition that person owed crown debt, but didn’t force to pay immediately, often held against nobility to ensure compliance

• Use:

  • Financial coercion to gain intelligence - controlled nobles via fear than cooperation and collaboration

  • Way of binding nobles to king and ensuring good behaviour

    • Bonds were payments in return for privileges

    • More than half peerage was obliged to pay crown as security for good behaviour

    • Could have more than 1 bond

    • Even if payments not called in, nobles lived in constant threat of losing enormous amounts of money if they offended the king

  • Annual sums could be demanded as instalments if noble could not pay - Lord Abergavenny 1507 unable to pay £70,000

  • Sign bonds to guarantee good behaviour of poorer relations, binding a whole family to the monarch

• Way of controlling and punishing nobles without trial - against Magna Carta

• Dependent on king’s opinion - replacement of ‘for life’ to ‘during the king’s pleasure’ for Sir Richard Empson 1507 in his grant of local offices

• Showed less generosity to nobility

  • Careful not create overmighty subjects via patronage and did not create many new peers despite small family

  • Treason punished via executions and confiscation of property, even for minor involvement in plots

  • Unlikely to reverse attainders

• HVII had reputation for avarice and lack of mercy

Edmund Dudley

• lawyer, president of king’s council 1506

• Linked to HVII most unpopular financial policies - disliked by many nobles

• Arrested and sent to Tower shortly after HVII death

  • Executed on orders of HVIII 1510

• Took blame for HVII policies

• Comments during arrest revealed that HVII keen to make people feel insecure and dependent on good will of king

• Main purpose of bonds and recognisances was to ensure control, not gain money

  • HVII equated financial security with power

Alternative claimants to the throne: Edward, Earl of Warwick

• son of George, Duke of Clarence

• 1485 - 10 years old, but Yorkist blood made him candidate

• Father was attainted from treason, which would normally exclude someone from inheriting, but HVII could not easily use this as he himself had been attainted for treason under the Yorkists

• Imprisoned in Tower for the rest ofc his life, from 1485

• 1499 - accused of plotting to escape and challenge the throne with help of Warbeck

  • Admitted, but believed to be partly manufactured by HVII intelligence network

• Beheaded November 1499

Alternative claimants to throne - Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck

• had no real claim to throne

• Claimed to be others who had strong birthright

  • Simnel claimed to be Warwick

  • Warbeck claimed to be EIV youngest son, Richard of York, whom some claimed had escaped Tower and was still alive

• Both clearly pretenders, but nonetheless received significant support from those who disliked Tudor regime

• Idea that sons of York had survived was a potent political weapon against HVII

John II of Portugal

• descended from John of Gaunt and first wife, Blanche of Lancaster

• Claim weakened by fact he wasn’t English - less likely to get support

• No serious threat

John of Pontefract (died 1499)

• illegitimate son of RIII

• Usually, illegitimate children barred from inheriting titles from parents, HVII own claim via Beauforts was dependent on illegitimacy

  • Descended from children of John of Gaunt and his mistress, Katherine Swynford

  • Gaunt later married her and legitimised his children, but not everyone accepted

• Concerned about threat - was imprisoned in Tower until he died

John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln

• was named RIII successor when his son died

• Mother was Elizabeth Plantagenet, sister of EIV and RIII

• Appeared loyal to HVII and entered his service, reducing his threat

• 1487 - fled HVII court and joined Viscount Lovell in Flanders, where they were provided with military support by Margaret of Burgundy

• Based in Ireland

  • May 1487 - Simnel crowned, claiming he was rightful claimant, EVI

  • Troops then invaded in support, defeated at Battle of Stoke where Lincoln was killed

Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk

• 3rd son of John de la Pole, second Duke of Suffolk, and his wife, Elizabeth Plantagenet, sister of EIV

• When HVII took throne, too young to pose threat - 12/13

• As he grew up, in favour of queen Elizabeth, therefore Yorkist leanings

• Placed under considerable financial pressure by HVII - contributed to his flight to his aunt, Margaret of Burgundy 1499

• HVII negotiated his return by threatening trade embargo on Duke of Burgundy

• HVII made his position financially humiliating and so he fled court again 1501 and went to Emperor Maximilian, where he plotted invasion

• HVII used spy network successfully against

• Following negotiation 1506, Edmund returned and imprisoned in Tower until he

• Position became vulnerable when brother, Richard de la Pole, was recognised by king of France as rightful king of England 1512

• Executed 4 May 1513

Richard de la Pole

• 5th son of John de la Pole, second Duke of Suffolk, and Elizabeth Plantagenet, sister of EIV

• Brother of Lincoln and Suffolk

• 1501 - fled to court of Emperor Maximilian with Edmund

• Both men and their brother William, were charged with treason by parliament 1504

• Later moved to Hungary

• HVII tried to negotiate for return but failed

• Never posed threat to HVII but did to HVIII

Context of HVII security on throne

• HVII aware he would need to act quickly to ensure control

• With Parliament agreement, he was able to return supporters to previous positions and reward those most loyal

  • Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford

  • Thomas, Earl of Derby

  • John, Earl of Oxford

  • Percy family after Northumberland released - other northern lords followed suit

  • Stanleys…

  • Lord Clifford

• Potential opposition:

  • Northern society loyal to RIII

  • Nevilles - no natural ties to HVII

    • Preferred Clarence’s son, Edward Earl of Warwick, heir to Warwick the kingmaker’s estates

  • Barons living on Scottish border

    • James II of Scotland supported HVII invasion but could not control barons who had stepped up raids

    • Needed strong individual to combat - released Earl of Northumberland

    • HVII began to progress north to consolidate personal authority March 1486

      • Welcomed by Northumberland April 1486, supporters showed loyalty to HVII despite previously being loyal to RIII

      • Encouraged other northern Ricardians to follow suit - Sir John Coyers

  • John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln - claim to throne