Having randomly looked at Henry VII’s foreign policy with Scotland last week I thought that it would be sensible to consider why Henry’s policies in regard to his neighbours and Europe were established rather than doing what English kings did – i.e. going to war with the French and the Scottish at the first opportunity to win land, glory, possibly a pension from a foreign monarch who wanted you to go away, and to prove that God was smiling on you – oh yes, and to keep your nobility happy because they were bagging lots of loot and ransoms.

Henry Tudor’s claim to the throne which came from his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, was tenuous. God, or possibly the Stanley family, smile upon him at Bosworth on 22 August 1485 when he became king by right of arms – the last of England’s kings to do so. Early modern people regarded the victory as evidence that Henry’s claim to the throne had divine approval. However, kings had come and gone throughout the fifteenth century in a series of increasingly bloody encounters so Henry, his mother and their advisors needed to strengthen Henry’s position on his new throne if there was to be a Tudor dynasty. Setting aside Shakespeare’s assessment of Henry’s reign, the first exploration of his policies was made by Francis Bacon in 1622. Most famous in the twentieth century for their analysis of Henry’s rule were GR Elton and SB Chrimes.

1. He dated his reign from the day before the battle. This was standard procedure and meant that anyone who didn’t sue for pardon who fought for the Yorkists could be attainted of treason and executed or imprisoned. It also meant that those nobility who were pardoned were required to be on their best behaviour.
2. He secured the remaining royal members of the house of York. The 15 year old Earl of Warwick, son of George Duke ofClarence, was at Sheriff Hutton when Henry became king. He was moved to London where he spent a short time in Margaret Beaufort’s custodianship before being shifted to the Tower where he remained for the rest of his life. Margaret was assigned various other noble wards including the young Duke of Buckingham (who had his own claim to the throne). These wards could be educated under Margaret’s watchful eye, she had the right to organise their weddings into families known to be loyal to the Tudors and even better she retained control over their lands until they achieved their majorities.
3. Hey married Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV, as he had promised (on Christmas Day 1483 at Rennes Cathedral) before he invaded England but he was careful to ensure that he was the rightful king rather than ruling by right of his wife. For many people, it was Elizabeth as the eldest surviving child of Edward IV who was the rightful monarch. And it also raises the question that if Elizabeth was legitimate once more, then so were her missing brothers, presumed dead in the Tower. One of the consequences of Henry’s need to look as though he was king in his own right was that Elizabeth was not crowned until 25 November 1487
4. He and his new bride produced an heir in short order. Prince Arthur was born on 19 September 1486 – suggesting that his parents may have preempted the marriage ceremony, which also makes sense because as king Henry needed an heir to succeed him to a) demonstrate that God was still smiling on him, b) a male heir reduced the likelihood of further rebellion because it provided stability of succession.
5. Henry and his advisors developed a mythology about the Tudor claim to the throne that pre-dated the Plantagenets and legitimised his rule still further. The unification of the red rose of Lancaster and white rose of York was only one element of the way the Tudors spun their claim to the throne. Later Tudors continued the policy e.g. Shakespeare’s Richard III.
6. He rewarded his supporters, married off the female members of the Plantagenet family into safe hands so that they wouldn’t become focal points for later rebellion or packed them off into nunneries.
7. He established the Yeomen of the Guard – a 200 strong force to look after him and his family.
8. He had to deal with Yorkist plots – there were sponsored by foreign powers including Margaret of Burgundy. Henry’s foreign policy always had to come back to potential Yorkist threats which he needed to nullify through diplomacy rather than war (the royal piggy bank was empty).
9. He wanted established European royal families to recognise the Tudors as monarchs – so he was very keen on marriage alliances and also on doing things that defined him as a renaissance king…just like his neighbours.
10. He needed to fill the treasury. Foreign wars cost money – all those troops and equipment had to be paid for so Henry and his advisor’s used diplomacy to avoid war. He also tightened the way the realm was administered to ensure that he received everything that he was due. Depending on which Historian you read the use of Tudor administrators to ensure the taxes were collected was a new development but revisionist historians, point out that Edward IV established a very similar system and that Henry developed it to ensure that regional nobility was bypassed for a more centralised approach to government. It would have to be said that Henry VII had a strong grasp of his accounts and inspected them regularly.
11. He needed to ensure that so-called ‘over mighty subjects’ were put in their place and unable to go to war against him. It was another reason he didn’t want any foreign wars. Henry did not have a standing army, he was reliant on his nobles putting forces in the field but while the system of ‘bastard feudalism’ survived in which it was the nobles who offered regional patronage and reward and could call on armed forces – his own stability on the throne was a bit wobbly…so no wars if it could be helped.
12. No war also meant that although there were seven parliaments during the course of Henry’s reign he didn’t need to call on them to provide subsidies for war – which meant that parliament didn’t have that much leverage over the king.

The need for security, the appointment of men he could trust on his council- not to mention the delights of the Court of the Star Chamber- another cunning wheeze to keep the nobility in check- meant that Henry kept his crown for 24 years until his death in 1509. The policies did not prevent Yorkist plots or make him very popular with anyone but he ensured stability within his kingdom, promoted the economy and filled his treasury. When he died, largely unlamented, he left an heir who succeeded him with very little blood being shed – Empson and Dudley, Henry VII’s tax collectors were executed to show that a new reign had begun and that the repressive elements of the first Tudor’s rule were a thing of the past.

Henry VIII was tall, handsome and not quite 18…and what is a king to do with a full treasury to show that God is indeed smiling upon him…of course…start a war!