Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > Henry VII > Status Update

'after Henry VII's removal from the scene, many persons sought and obtained opportunity to air their grievances and lodge complaints. Unfortunately it seems virtually impossible, at present at least, to disentangle in these moves much reliable information about Henry VII's and his agent's activities, from the inevitable desire of the young and dashing new king and his councillors to emphasise the change of regime'

'We can safely acquit Henry VII of having formed any intention to marry his daughter-in-law Catherine, as this improbable allegation has never been based upon any valid evidence. His first choice for serious consideration was apparently Ferdinand's niece, the recently widowed Queen Joan of Naples. At any rate he sent three envoys to Valencia to interview her and her mother the Dowager Queen'

'It seems difficult to perceive much of a 'system' in Henry's diplomacy, though 'his reactions to external pressures sprang from firm-seated and consistent instincts, or rather from a clear and balanced understanding of the basic interests of the dynasty and the nation'. We may well believe in Henry's consistency, but the external pressures to which he was subjected varied so much'

'Some progress had thus been made in making the Prince's Council an instrument of government in the principality, the Marches, and the Crown lordships. But none of these developments in itself affected the most intractable problem of ensuring justice within the marcher lordships. It was not possible for the king or the prince to attempt direct interference in the internal administration of justice'

'control over the episcopate attained by Henry VII may have constituted a condition precedent without which his son might well have been confronted with a greater degree of opposition from the Church than in fact he experienced when it came to the crisis. To many clergy and others it must have seemed that papal power in practice was no great thing, and that its abolition was not so significant'

'No dispute between the king and the papacy arose. After Bosworth, Henry was prudent enough to declare his obedience, and Innocent VIII quickly reciprocated by providing the necessary dispensation for Henry's marriage with Elizabeth of York and pronouncing that their children would be legitimate, and at the same time obliged by declaring that rebels, including those in Ireland, were ipso facto excommunicate.'

'Approximately fifty statutes of the reign may be said to impinge in some way upon the economic and social spheres, but only about a third of these at most appear to have been initiated by the government. The great bulk therefore originated either in the petitions of interested parties presented, usually to the commons, or in the petitions or prayers of the commons themselves.'

'In this field, more than any other, it is possible to see Henry VII applying his legal rights for financial gain with a zeal and relentless application which earned him and his agents an unpopularity and a measure of odium which became marked towards the end of the reign and which might well have produced serious consequences for the regime if it had lasted longer.'

'By far the largest category into which Henry VII's proclamations fell was that of general administrative arrangements. Twenty-five fell into that category, dealing with such matters as the mustering and victualling of troops, the surrender of rebels, distraint of knighthood, the maintenance of public order and prohibition of the spread of false news, snd other miscellaneous matters.'

'Five meetings of the Great Council are thus known to have been held; all except the first, which was inaugural to the reign, were concerned with the threats of war or rebellion; three of them authorised the imposition of financial air in advance of any parliamentary grant... they clearly performed a function which must have seemed indispensable. The machinery of parliament was clearly too slow'