Henry VII: The First Tudor King

Henry Tudor, born at Pembroke Castle in January 1457, was the son of Edmund Tudor and the Lady Margaret Beaufort. After Edward IV had defeated the Lancastrian Henry VI in battle, the young Henry Tudor was taken into custody by the Earl of Pembroke at his seat, Raglan Castle in Wales. Henry was in Wales forfourteen years and spent another fourteen as a political exile at the Court of François II of Brittany. After the murder of Henry VI (1471) and the death of his son, Prince Edward, Henry of Richmond (as he was then known) became head of the House of Lancaster. He invaded England in 1485 to defeat the last tyrannous Plantagenet king at Bosworth Field. Henry’s hereditary claim to the throne was weak but the first Tudor King was a born politician and became one of the ablest kings. Henry ruled over a splendid court never stinting expense. His greatest sorrow was the premature death of his son Prince Arthur and soon afterwards that of his wife, Elizabeth (1503). Henry’s character deteriorated and he became mean and miserly. Succeeding to an impoverished kingdom, his ambition was to make England important in the Europe of the time and in that he succeeded, leaving a prosperous kingdom to Henry VII.