Henry VII, Challenging the succession 1485-99

• Was fairly weak, so open to challenge
• Maternal Claim- his mother, Margaret Beaaufort was a direct descendant of Edward III- his third son John of Gaunt was her great-grandfather, however he and Katherine Swynford had Margaret's grandfather, John, out of wedlock, which weakened the claim (it being maternal also weakens it)
• Paternal claim- Henry's grandfather, Owen Tudor, had married Henry V's widow and they had produced Henry's father, Edmund Tudor
• He had defeated and killed Richard III and this was seen by many as a sign that God approved of Henry being King
• The Princes in the tower, as Richard's nephews, had a stronger claim than Henry and there was no proof they weren't still alive, so they could easily be impersonated
• John de la Pole was also Richard's nephew, but on the maternal side- he was invited to join Henry's council
• Edward, Earl of Warwick was also Richard's nephew but on the paternal side, although he was only 10 in 1485- he was sent to the Tower of London

Henry was a usurper, which made his position weak, particularly at the beginning of his reign, so he took many measures to secure his reign, including:

• Dating his reign back to the day before Bosworth, effectively making Richard and all of his supporters guilty of treason- their estates could now be seized
• He arranged his coronation before the first meeting of Parliament and before his marriage to Elizabeth of York, so that it couldn't be said that Parliament made him King
• He married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Yorkist King Edward IV, securing at least some Yorkist support
• His son and heir, Arthur, was born in September 1486 , which helped him secure the Tudor dynasty
• He enlisted the support of the Church and gained the support of the nobility
• He secured the support of the Pope and the Kings of France and Spain, who recognised the legitimacy of his kingship
• Henry was lenient with remaining Yorkist supporters to endear himself to them
• He rewarded those that had helped him at Bosworth to show that supporting him was a worthwhile endeavour
• The 1489 Treaty of Medina Campo meant that Arthur would marry Catherine of Aragon and secured English and Spanish relations

Henry aimed to maintain his hold on the throne by securing the unchallenged succession of his descendants. This influenced many of his policies, including:

• Bonds and recognisances- debts that were created/owed and used to ensure the good behaviour of nobles (if someone were to betray Henry, particilarly twice, they would be financially ruined), 36/62 gave bonds or recognisances to Henry
• Acts of Attainder- A law that could ***** a noble of their land and title, 138 attainders passes during Henry's rule with 46 reversed
• Order of the Garter- highest award for chivalry- came with no land or pension so Henry could control who got power and keep more of it for himself
• Council learned in law were introduced- they were responsible for administration of financial dues
• Feudal dues- ancient taxes owed to the monarchy by the nobility for things such as marriage or inheriting property as a minor
• Controlling who could retain- this meant Henry was controlling who could keep employees and how many they could keep
• Patronage- Henry only created 3 new earls during his reign in order to retain as much power as possible

It was essential to Henry's reign that he managed the rivalry between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians at both court and country. Despite their defeat at Bosworth, many important Yorkists still remained, including Edward IV's sister Margaret of Burgundy, although this rift was healed slightly due to the marriage between Henry and Edward's daugher, Elizabeth of York. This marraige proved fairlt effective at dissuading Yorkists from attacking Henry. 

Some notable Yorkists that Henry dealt with include-

• Edward, Earl of Warwick- he was only ten at the time, so was sent to the Tower of London, where he remained until his execution in 1499
• John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln- invited to join the King's council, where he remained loyal until 1487 (he fled and was killed at the 1487 Battle of Stoke)
• Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey- pardoned and agreed to work with the new regime
• Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland- pardoned and agreed to work with the new regime
• Frances, Lord Lovell; Humphrey: SIr Thomas Stafford- executed as they refused to work with Henry under the new scheme 

• 10 years old, the son of an organ maker, taken on by an Oxford priest called Richard Symonds who passed him off as the Earl of Warwick after hearing rumours of his death - this was not the best choice as Edward was still alive and available for show (although he had initially planned to pass him off as Richard of York, one of the Princes in the tower)
• Moved to Ireland, where he received the support of the Earl of Kildare (the Lord Deputy)
• Kildare's power and influence allowed Simnel to be crowned as Edward IV in Dublin in May 1487
• John de la Pole fled to Burgundy in 1487, claiming he had aided Warwick's 'escape' and Margaret of Burgundy gave him a troop of 2000 German mercinaries, under the leadership of Martin Schwartz to help the cause
• The troops landed in Ireland on the 5th May (Henry was alerted and began to raise troops himself) and Simnel then landed in England with both German and Irish troops (the Irish troops had no body armour)
  
• English support for Simnel was very limited, so Henry easily managed to defeat the rebels at the 1487 Battle of Stoke
• de La Pole and Schwartz were killed, Lovell dissappeared and Simnel was sent to work in the Royal Kitchens
• Henry attained 28 nobles who had fought at Stoke from November to December 1487 to deter nobles from supporting rebel causes in the future
• It was in 1487, two years after Henry became King, so his position was still insecure

• 17 years old, landed in Cork in Ireland in Autumn 1491, received graciously by the townsfolk, who assumed him to be the Earl of Warwick- he denied this, claiming to be Richard, Duke of York (one of the Princes in the tower)- this was clever as there was no proof of his death so this was perefctly plausible and not possible to disapprove
• The Earl of Desmond helped Warbeck contact Charles VIII of France, who welcomed him at the French Court in 1492, however the November 1492 Treaty of Etaples was negotiated by Henry to mean he had to leave
• He fled to Flanders, where Margaret of Burgundy accepted him as her nephew (although it is unlikely she actually believed this, she probably just wanted a Yorkist King)
• In 1494, the newly elected emepror of the Holy Roman Empire, Maximillan, recognised him as Richard IV, but didn't have the resources to finance an invasion of England
• In July 1495, Warbeck attempted to invade Deal in Kent with just 300 men, but it was a fiasco and he had to retreat to Scotland
• James IV gave Warbeck refuge and support, his cousin in marriage, an annual pension of £1200 and prepared a force to invade England with
• The Scottish invasion was also a failure and forced Warbeck to return to Ireland in July 1497
• He found no support in Ireland, so set sail for South West England, where only a few thousand people joined him and he was drived out of both Taunton and Exeter
• In August 1497, he was persuaded to give himself up
• Henry allowed Warbeck to remain in court with his wife, but he escaped in 1498 and was put into the tower of london
• In the tower, Warbeck and the Earl of Warwick planned an escape, but it failed and in 1499, Warbeck was hanged and Warwick executed

Henry used diplomacy to develop a netwrk of alliances and trade agreements to help cement his relationships with neighboring European states

The following treaties/agreemets were a signficant milestone in his European diplomacy-

• Redon, 1489- Henry promised to support Brittany's independece from France and support her with troops if the French invade (failed to stop the French taking over in 1491)
• Medina del Campo, 1489- A defensive and trade agreement with Spain, ratified by the promise of marriage between Arthur and Catherine of Aragon
• Etaples, 1492- The French agreed not to support Warbeck
• Magnus Intercursus, 1496- Trading relations between England and Burgundy were resumed following the 1493 embargo
• Truce of Ayton, 1497- Henry and King James (Scotland) agreed to cease hostilities and the Scots promised not to support Warbeck
• The Treaty of Perpetual Peace, Ayton, 1502- the truce became permanent

• Edward IV's sister, Margaret, was married to the ruler, Charles the Bold
• Margaret supported both Simnel and Warbeck with finance and mericinary troops
• Margaret also threatened the very important Englsih cloth industry because Burgundy was a major trading partner of England
• In 1493, a temporrary embargo on commercail trading with the Netherlands was impsoed by Henry because of the aid that Philip, Duke of Burgundy and Margaret provided for Warbeck
• The embargo hurt England more than the Netherlands, however
• Burgundy was no longer a threat following Margaret;s death in 1503

• The relationship had been harmonious until France threatened the independence of Brittanyt in 1488
• Heny announced his intention to assert his claim to the French throne and sent an army across the Channel in 1492, where they led seige to Boulogne
• King Charles II wished to avoid war, so signed the treaty of Etaples in 1492- Charles promised not to aid any of Henry;s enemies, including Warbeck; he also agreed to pay Henry's campaign costs and paid Henry an annual pension of £5000
• France ceased to be a threat

• The most vulnerable part of Henry's Kingdom was its northern border with Scotland
• Scotland was England's traditional enemy and had a long standing alliance with France
• Henry was threatened with James IV's support of Warbeck, although it only lasted 2 years as James grew disillusioned with him
• The Truce of Ayton was signed in 1497 and became a full peace treaty in 1502
• The treaty was sealed in 1503, by the marriage of James IV to Henry's daugher, Margaret
• Scotland ceased to be a threat

• One of the most powerful Irish noblemen, the Earl of Kildare, supported Lambert Simnel in 1487, even arranging his coronation
•  He was wary of supporting further pretenders, but was persuaded to in 1492, when he recognised Warbeck's claim to the throne
• In 1494, Henry appointed Sir Edward Poynings, one of his most trusted advisors, as Lord Deputy
• Poyngings' main task was to pacify the most rebellious areas and impose a system of government that would ensure Ireland's future obedience to the English crown
• Ireland posed no threat thereafter