General Notes

Henry, son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, and Margaret Beaufort, was born nearly three months after his father's death. His father was the son of Owen Tudor, a Welsh squire, and Catherine of France, the widow of King Henry V. His mother was the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, whose children by Catherine Swynford were born before he married her. Henry IV had confirmed Richard II's legitimation ( 1397) of the children of this union but had specifically excluded the Beauforts from any claim to the throne (1407). Henry Tudor's claim to the throne was, th erefore, weak and of no importance until the deaths in 1471 of Henry VI's only son, Edward, of his own two remaining kinsmen of the Beaufort line, and of Henr y VI himself, which suddenly made Henry Tudor the sole surviving male with any ancestral claim to the House of Lancaster.
As his mother was only 14 when he w as born and soon married again, Henry was brought up by his uncle Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke. When the Lancastrian cause crashed to disaster at the Battle of Tewkesbury (May 1471), Jasper took the boy out of the country and sought re fuge in the duchy of Brittany. The House of York then appeared so firmly establ ished that Henry seemed likely to remain in exile for the rest of his life. The usurpation of Richard III (1483), however, split the Yorkist party and gave He nry his opportunity. His first chance came in 1483 when his aid was sought to r ally Lancastrians in support of the rebellion of Henry Stafford, duke of Buckin gham, but that revolt was defeated before Henry could land in England. To unite the opponents of Richard III, Henry had promised to marry Elizabeth of York, e ldest daughter of Edward IV; and the coalition of Yorkists and Lancastrians con tinued, helped by French support, since Richard III talked of invading France. In 1485 Henry landed at Milford Haven in Wales and advanced toward London. Than ks largely to the desertion of his stepfather, Lord Stanley, to him, he defeate d and slew Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth on Aug. 22, 1485. Claiming the throne by just title of inheritance and by the judgment of God in battle, he w as crowned on October 30 and secured parliamentary recognition of his title ear ly in November. Having established his claim to be king in his own right, he ma rried Elizabeth of York on Jan. 18, 1486.

Character.
The whole of Henry's youth had been spent in conditions of adversity, often in danger of betrayal an d death, and usually in a state of poverty. These experiences, together with th e uncertainties of his reign, taught him to be secretive and wary, to subordina te his passions and affections to calculation and policy, to be always patient and vigilant. There is evidence that he was interested in scholarship, that he could be affable and gracious, and that he disliked bloodshed and severity; but all these emotions had to give way to the needs of survival. The extant portra its and descriptions suggest a tired and anxious-looking man, with small blue e yes, bad teeth, and thin white hair. His experiences and needs had also made hi m acquisitive, a trait that increased with age and success, and one that was op portune for both the crown and the realm.
OBJE: C:\My Documents\Royalty\HenryV II.jpg