 |
The House Of Tudor |
|
Henry VII
1485-1509
PERKIN WARBECK
Perkin Warbeck landed in Ireland in July 1495 and besieged Waterford, when the siege was raised he sailed for Scotland where he was welcomed by James IV. The King of Scots formed an alliance with him, marrying Warbeck to his cousin, Lady Katherine Gordon. Their planned invasion of England was however, abandoned.
The pretender then returned to Ireland while his Scots allies conducted border raids. He landed in England but as Henry's army approached, Warbeck lost his nerve and fled, claiming sanctuary in Beaulieu Abbey but then had a sudden change of mind, surrendered and threw himself on the King's mercy. Henry was lenient with him and kept him and his wife close at hand, at court.
Arthur, Prince of Wales
Henry had been haggling with Ferdinand and Isabella for some time regarding the terms of the arranged marriage between his son Arthur and their daughter Katherine of Aragon. The main bones of contention being the dowry she would receive and the two fathers deep distrust of each other, based on past experience. A final marriage treaty was arrived at in October, 1496, after which a proxy marriage took place.
Ferdinand and Isabella raised their fears about sending their daughter to England before the Tudor dynasty was secured by the removal of rival claimants to the throne. Due to his Yorkist descent, the Earl of Warwick, the son of Clarence, posed the largest threat to the Tudor claim to the throne.
A plot was hatched whereby an escape attempt would be engineered involving Warwick and Warbeck, who would then be hastily recaptured. This resulted in Warbeck being hanged at Tyburn and Warwick beheaded. Warwick, believed to have been mentally retarded, (his sister later said 'he did not know a goose from a capon'), was held prisoner all his short life for being who he was and died because he tried to escape.
Catherine of Aragon was sent to England in 1501 and recieved in her new country with much rejoicing. The royal family waited to receive her in London, Henry, still fearing he had been deceived in some way by the cunning Ferdinand and suspecting that Arthur's bride could be ugly or even worse, deformed, could contain his anxiety no longer and rode with Arthur to see her at Basingstoke. Catherine was a sweet faced, pretty girl with attractive red-gold hair. A pleasant interlude took place, where Catherine danced some of her native Spanish dances for the King and her future husband, who then departed well satisfied. Henry wrote to her parents that he 'much admired her beauty as well as her agreeable and dignified manner.'
Catherine of Aragon. Click to enlarge.
Arthur and Catherine were married at St. Paul's Cathedral, the bride was given away by Arthur's ebullient ten year old brother, Henry, Duke of York. There were feasts, jousts and disguisings to celebrate the event. Even the parsimonious Henry, always inclined to be very frugal with money, spent lavishly on the celebrations. The 'upstart' Tudor dynasty gained much in prestige from its new-forged links with the powerful House of Trastamara.
Arthur Tudor, eldest son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Click to enlarge.
Arthur and Catherine where sent to Ludlow, on the Welsh Marches, traditionally the seat of the Prince of Wales. During the spring, an epidemic of sweating sickness was rife in the area and both Arthur and Catherine contracted it. Catherine recovered, but Arthur, a pale thin youth who had never enjoyed robust health, did not and died at Ludlow Castle.
The Death of Elizabeth of York
Henry and Elizabeth were prostrate with grief at the loss of their eldest son and heir and attempted to comfort each other. The survival of the dynasty they had founded now rested on their one surviving son, Prince Henry.
The grieving parents decided to try for another son to secure the succession in the Tudor line. Elizabeth quickly became pregnant. The pregnancy affected her health and she was unwell throughout it. Nine days after giving birth to a daughter, Catherine, she died in the Tower of London, in February, 1503. The child lived only a day. Henry VII gave his wife a magnificent funeral, Elizabeth was buried at Westminster Abbey in the ornate Henry VII chapel which her husband was building. The young Sir Thomas More wrote an elegiac poem in her memory.
Margaret Tudor
The King's elder daughter Margaret Tudor , was married to James IV, King of Scots, to seal an alliance with Scotland. Henry escorted her part of the way, calling en-route to see his aged mother, Margaret Beaufort, at her home in Collyweston, Northamptonshire.
Timechart of the Tudor dynasty
THE LATER YEARS
New disputes arose between Henry VII and Ferdinand of Aragon, who still could not bring themselves to trust each other. Since his daughter was now widowed, Ferdinand wished to be reimbursed of the first installment of her dowry. Henry, on the other hand, having got the money, was singularly inclined not to part with it and inflamed the situation further by promptly demanding the rest of it.
Henry suggested that he should marry Catherine himself. This proposal met with an icy response from Isabella, 'It would be an evil thing,' she wrote 'the mere mention of which offends the ears'. Agreement was finally reached that Catherine should marry the young Henry, the new heir to the throne. Even this arrangement did not run smoothly, Henry and Ferdinand continued to haggle endlessly about money.
Catherine was forced to live in near penury with a frugal allowance from her father-in-law. Henry at one point instructed his son to repudiate his betrothed and embarked on a series of alternative negotiations with the Habsburgs. This resulted in his younger daughter Mary being betrothed to the Habsburg heir, the ugly and highly inbred, Charles V.
After the death of Elizabeth of York, Henry became somewhat reclusive and even more avaricious. He entertained the idea of marrying Catherine's mentally deranged sister, Joanna, who since the death of their elder sister, was heiress to her mother's kingdom of Castille.
Henry VII Chapel, Westminster Abbey. Click to enlarge.
He died on 21st April, 1509 and was buried at Westminster beside Elizabeth of York. Their magnificent effigies and that of Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort, (who followed him to the grave but a few months later) by the Renaissance sculptor Pietro Torrigiano can still be seen in the Henry VII chapel at Westminster Abbey.