Henry VII of England Timeline

In 1483, Henry's mother Margaret Beaufort was actively promoting him as an alternative to Richard III, despite her being married to Lord Stanley, a Yorkist.

Image source: Lady Margaret Beaufort

By 1483 Henry was the senior male claimant heir to the House of Lancaster remaining after the deaths in battle, by murder, or execution of Henry VI, his son Edward of Westminster, and the other Beaufort line through Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset.

Image source: House of Lancaster

At Rennes Cathedral on Christmas Day 1483, Henry pledged to marry Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of Edward IV, uniting the warring houses of Lancaster and York.

Image source: Elizabeth of York

To secure his hold on the throne, Henry declared himself king by right of conquest retroactively from 21 August 1485, the day before Bosworth Field, dating his reign from before the battle.

Image source: Henry VII of England

Though outnumbered, Henry's Lancastrian forces decisively defeated Richard III's Yorkist army at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, winning the crown on the field of battle — the last king of England ever to do so.

Image source: Battle of Bosworth Field

Henry took care not to address the baronage or summon Parliament until after his coronation, which took place in Westminster Abbey on 30 October 1485.

Image source: Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry honoured his pledge of December 1483 to marry Elizabeth of York, and the wedding took place in 1486 at Westminster Abbey, symbolically uniting the Houses of Lancaster and York.

Henry defended his crown two years after Bosworth at the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487, decisively ending the Wars of the Roses that had raged since 1455.

Image source: Battle of Stoke Field

The first rebellion against Henry was the 1486 uprising of the Stafford brothers, abetted by Viscount Lovell, which collapsed without fighting.

Image source: Humphrey Stafford (died 1486)

Henry increased wealth by acquiring land through the act of resumption of 1486, which had been delayed as he focused on the defence of the Church, his person and his realm.

Next, in 1487, Yorkists led by Lincoln rebelled in support of Lambert Simnel, a boy they claimed to be Edward of Warwick (who was actually a prisoner in the Tower).

Image source: Lambert Simnel

In 1490, a young Fleming, Perkin Warbeck, appeared and claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, the younger of the 'Princes in the Tower', becoming a persistent pretender to Henry's throne.

Image source: Perkin Warbeck

Warbeck led attempted invasions of Ireland in 1491 and England in 1495, and persuaded James IV of Scotland to invade England in 1496.

In September 1497, Warbeck landed in Cornwall with a few thousand troops, but was soon captured and later executed, ending the most serious threat to Henry's reign.

In November 1499, Henry had the Earl of Warwick executed, eliminating another potential rival claimant. He spared Warwick's elder sister Margaret, who survived until her execution by Henry VIII in 1541.

Image source: Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick

By 1509, justices of the peace were key enforcers of law and order for Henry VII, empowered among other things to replace suspect jurors in accordance with the 1495 act, preventing corruption of juries.

Image source: Justice of the peace

With the English economy heavily invested in wool production, Henry VII became involved in the lucrative alum trade in 1486, reducing dependence on foreign supplies used in cloth-making.

Image source: Alum

The Treaty of Redon was signed in February 1489 between Henry and representatives of Brittany, committing English support for the duchy against France.

Henry pressured the French by laying siege to Boulogne in October 1492, and mounted a minor invasion of Brittany in November 1492, securing financial concessions from France.

Henry formed an alliance with Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (reigned 1493–1519) and persuaded Pope Innocent VIII to issue a papal bull of excommunication against all pretenders to his throne.

Image source: Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

In 1494, Henry embargoed trade (mainly in wool) with the Burgundian Netherlands in retaliation for Margaret of Burgundy's support for Perkin Warbeck, preceding the Magnus Intercursus settlement.

Image source: Burgundian Netherlands

Henry subsidised shipbuilding to strengthen the navy and improve trading opportunities, commissioning Europe's first-ever dry dock — the world's oldest surviving — at Portsmouth in 1495.

Image source: Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

Henry's most successful diplomatic achievement regarding the economy was the Magnus Intercursus ('great agreement') of 1496, restoring trade relations with Burgundy.

Having secured financial backing from Florentine bankers in London, John Cabot was granted carefully phrased letters patent from Henry in March 1496, permitting him to embark on an exploratory voyage westward.

Image source: John Cabot

Henry concluded the Treaty of Perpetual Peace with Scotland — the first treaty between the two kingdoms for almost two centuries — which betrothed his daughter Margaret Tudor to King James IV of Scotland.

Image source: Treaty of Perpetual Peace

In 1506, Henry extorted the Treaty of Windsor from Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy, gaining favourable commercial terms for English merchants after Philip was shipwrecked on the English coast.

Image source: Philip the Handsome

In 1502, Henry VII's life took a difficult and personal turn in which many people he was close to died in quick succession, including his eldest son Arthur and then Queen Elizabeth of York in early 1503.

In 1505 Henry was sufficiently interested in a potential marriage to Joanna of Naples that he sent ambassadors to Naples to report on the 27-year-old Joanna's physical suitability.

Image source: Joanna I of Naples

In 1506, Henry resumed the construction of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, started under Henry VI, guaranteeing finances which would continue even after his death.

Image source: King's College Chapel, Cambridge

In 1506, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller Emery d'Amboise asked Henry VII to become the protector and patron of the Order, as he had an interest in the crusade.

Image source: Knights Hospitaller

Henry exchanged letters with Pope Julius II in 1507, encouraging him to establish peace among Christian realms and to organise an expedition against the Turks of the Ottoman Empire.

Image source: Pope Julius II

During Henry VII's lifetime, the nobility often criticised him for re-centralising power in London, and later the 16th-century historian Francis Bacon was ruthlessly critical of the methods by which he enforced tax law.

Henry VII died of tuberculosis at Richmond Palace on 21 April 1509 and was buried in the chapel he commissioned in Westminster Abbey next to his wife, Elizabeth.

Image source: Richmond Palace

Henry was succeeded by his second son, Henry VIII (reigned 1509–1547), who would initiate the Protestant Reformation in England.

Image source: Henry VIII

By 1600, historians emphasised Henry's wisdom in drawing lessons in statecraft from other monarchs, shaping early assessments of his reign.

In 1622 Francis Bacon published his History of the Reign of King Henry VII, a landmark account that both praised and sharply criticised the king's methods of rule.

Image source: History of the Reign of King Henry VII