How did Henry Tudor become King of England?

1. He had a valid claim to the throne - On his mother's side he was a descendent of John of Gaunt who was the brother of Edward III. His grandmother on his father's side had been married to Henry V. It was not a strong claim however both his father and uncles had been half brothers to Henry VI and had been made Earls. Due to a number of deaths as a result of the Wars of the Roses Henry became the main Lancastrian claim to the throne. 

2. Henry was kept safe in exile - Henry left England with his uncle. He spent 14 years in Brittany and despite various attempts to secure his safety if he returned this was never achieved. 

3. Richard III's reputation - There was no evidence that Henry had attempted to challenge Edward VIs rule but with his unexpected death his brother Richard of Gloucester seized the throne. Richard's reputation was damaged by the mysterious disappearance of the princes into the tower. Richard faced discontent in the country and a rebellion by the Duke of Buckingham which although unsuccessful weakened Richard's authority. Henry Tudor used this opportunity, initially to support Buckingham, to launch his own attempt to become King of England.

4. Henry attracted support - Henry spent time in Paris and gathered around him men who had disliked Richard's reign. He also attracted experienced and influential men to his cause including the Earl of Oxford, a loyal Lancastrian and Jasper Tudor, both experienced soldiers. Henry landed in Wales and quickly gained support of the Welsh. Most crucially at the Battle of Boswoth Henry was outnumbered and made a direct plea to the Stanley's to join the battle in support of Henry. There entry into the fray was decisive and took Richard by surprise.

How did Henry VII consolidate his authority?

1. Advantages of the situation - The wars of the roses led to the mutual destruction of the nobility. This removed and reduced the power of many of those who would have ordinarily threatened Henry's authority. The crown was also strengthened by the land which was either taken from traitors or passed to the crown when nobles died without heirs.

  

2. Henry himself - Henry had the advantage of being an adult and had proven himself as a successful soldier and leader. He was an only child and so did not have to deal with family rivalry. His Welsh origins and years of exile meant he had few enemies in England.

3. Coronation Oct 1485 - Henry knew that this was essential in securing his crown. The ceremony required the nobility to swear an oath of allegiance to the monarch and ensured that any rebellion against the King was a sin in the eyes of God. It was public demonstration of his authority but it also signified the approval of the Church and God. 

4.  Parliament Oct/Nov 1485 - Henry called parliament to cement his power further. He made sure that this was done after his coronation so that no would could say Henry had been made King by parliament. 

5. Marriage to Elizabeth of York Jan 1486 - Henry married the daughter of Edward IV. This united the two rival families and was designed to end the factional divide which had ripped the country apart in the form of the Wars of the Roses

What problems did Henry VII face in 1485?

1. The continuation of the Wars of the Roses - The fifteenth century was an unstable time and many would have seen the Battle of Bosworth as a continuation of the wars which had defined the period.  If Henry could win the crown by battle then so could the next claimant.....Henry had to end this pattern if he was to keep his crown.

2. Rival claimants to the throne - Henry's claim remained weak and although Richard III and the princes were dead, the Yorkists' claim lived on through the de la Pole family - John (Earl of Lincoln) and Suffolk (Earl of Suffolk) had a claim at least as strong as Henry's.  Rival claimants gained support from Margaret of Burgundy. She was Edward IV  mother.  She had married the Duke of Burgundy who controlled the Netherlands and France and were an important trading partner with England. 

3. Crown control -Crown control was not equal across the country. It was stronger in the more popular areas, but looser in the borderlands especially due to the lack of developed local governance, 

4. Poor Finances - The crown's financial strength had been depleted by the wars of the Roses and wars abroad

How did Henry VII manage the nobility?

Henry's biggest challenge was to win the support of the nobility while keeping in check their power and arrogance. His relationship with them was critical to his survival as King. He depended on them to maintain law and order in the localities. Although the war of the Roses had resulted in the growing power of the nobility. They had gained land at the expense of the crown and had invested in strongholds to protect the land they had gained. 

Henry needed to win their support but limit their power. He sometimes tried to win their support by rewarding them with lands and titles but more often he forced them to support him by showing them the consequences of their opposition.  he used a variety of methods:

1. Attainders - An attainder was a law passed by parliament which meant someone could be declared a traitor without going through a trial. Henry passed 138 attainders during his reign. Henry often reversed attainders, restoring the lands and titles, in attempt to gain loyalty and support. Although as Henry's reign progressed an increasing number of attainders were passed and where they were reversed there was a price to pay. Historians have suggested that Henry became more paranoid as his reign progressed. 

2. Patronage - This was a traditional method of securing the support of the nobility but not one that Henry used. There were some grants made at the beginning of the reign but Henry feared that by giving away lands and titles he would create a  new group of nobles who could threaten them. The impact of Henry's reluctance to grant land and titles was that the noble class fell by one quarter. Henry on the other hand benefitted as vacant lands were absorbed into Henry's personal domains, making him the largest land holder in England. One area where Henry did award patronage was to the gentry. He gave them the responsibility of royal agents in the localities. There power and prestige was completely reliant on Henry and were not distracted by their own competing loyalties. 

3. Retaining - Retaining was the practice by the nobility of having a large household staff which in turn could be used as a private army. They were used during the war of the roses to fight for their master but also served a domestic purpose of putting pressure on those owing rents or on local justice agents. It was new problem, Edward IV had also expressed concern about the practice. Henry passed laws in 1485 and 1504 against illegal retaining. The 1504 Act ensured that those ywishing to retain a large number of men had to seek a special licence from the King. Those caught without a licence would be fined £5 per retainer per month.  While some were fined many nobles found ways to avoid being caught and the problem continued. 

4. Financial Bonds - A financial bond was where the King placed the noble in debt to the crown. The noble would then have to ensure good behaviour if they wanted to avoid a large fine or paying the debt.  In the last decade of the reign about 2/3s of the nobility were under bond to the King.  Henry established the Council of Learned in Law to act to recover and mange these debts.  It is these bonds and the council of learned in the law which was feared that historians have used to accuse Henry of a tyrannical final decade of his reign.