mercenaries in June. But, when it came to battle at Stoke, Simnel’s army was squarely defeated. What was more, Henry could demonstrate that he had the real Warwick in the Tower of London!
Another pretender to the throne, on the other hand, was not so easily dispatched. The curious case of Perkin Warbeck is shrouded in mystery to this day, and we will probably never know for sure whether he was in fact Richard, Duke of York — or Richard IV — the younger brother of Edward V, one of the ‘Princes in the Tower’ who had miraculously escaped, or simply a rank imposter. Certainly, it is true that Warbeck managed to convince Charles VIII, King of France; Margaret of York, who welcomed him as her nephew; Isabella of Spain; and Maximilian, the new Holy Roman Emperor, that he was the rightful king of England.
This foreign support created great instability for the new Tudor King, and it was a threat that rumbled on and on. Henry decided to act ruthlessly. In early 1495, he arrested and beheaded those he suspected of plotting Warbeck’s usurpation, including Sir William Stanley, his step-uncle who had courageously defected from Yorkist ranks in order to help him at Bosworth.
The destruction of local support meant that when Warbeck finally landed at Deal, Kent, in July 1495, his troops were quickly obliterated. And when — despite having the support of the Irish Earl of Desmond and James IV of Scotland — Warbeck’s second attempt to invade at Land’s End in 1497 with 8,000 men was met by the full force of Henry’s army, James IV saw the error of his ways. Warbeck’s troops were crushed, and he was finally executed in November 1499.
These had been troubling times and coupled with a Cornish insurrection (defeated in battle on Blackheath) and one finalpretender, Ralph Wilford, the majority of Henry VII’s reign was marked by uncertainty and constant danger.
Henry cleverly used the marriages of his children to strengthen the new dynasty: Prince Arthur was betrothed to Katherine of Aragon in 1497 and they were married with great pomp in 1501. Subsequently, Princess Margaret married James IV of Scotland in August 1503. Nevertheless, despite the elimination of claimants to his throne, after 1500 the succession became more precarious: Henry’s third son died as an infant in June, and two years later his eldest son, Arthur, followed, leaving only Prince Henry as a male heir. Henry and Elizabeth comforted themselves with the prospect of more children: a daughter was born ten months after Arthur’s death, but both the baby and her mother died just days after the birth. Henry was plunged into years of grief and anxiety, during which he searched unsuccessfully for a new wife (even considering Katherine of Aragon’s sister, the unpromising-sounding Joanna the Mad), while his health steadily declined.
Richmond Palace, however, was a product of the rare period of his reign when Henry was most secure and contented. There had been a royal manor at Sheen since the twelfth century: Edward III had built a palace there, and died in it in 1377; Henry V had rebuilt it in 1413—1422, but the palace had burned down during Christmas 1497. This is when Henry VII decided to rebuild it, naming it after the title he held before he became King: Earl of Richmond.
Henry retained the shell of Henry V’s stone moated keep and added red-brick lodgings that went to three storeys high, with an enchanting series of four-storey turrets topped with gilded domes and pinnacles. Inside, the rooms were richly decorated with tapestries, painted ceilings and walls decked with gold roses and portcullises. Henry added, naturally, a Great Hall, chapel, fountains and a large outer courtyard. A visitor in 1501 noted that ‘upon each side of this goodly court … there are galleries with manywindows full lightsome and commodious’. Such extravagant use of glass was rare — and expensive. Set in a deer park and surrounded by ‘most fair and pleasant’ gardens,
Another pretender to the throne, on the other hand, was not so easily dispatched. The curious case of Perkin Warbeck is shrouded in mystery to this day, and we will probably never know for sure whether he was in fact Richard, Duke of York — or Richard IV — the younger brother of Edward V, one of the ‘Princes in the Tower’ who had miraculously escaped, or simply a rank imposter. Certainly, it is true that Warbeck managed to convince Charles VIII, King of France; Margaret of York, who welcomed him as her nephew; Isabella of Spain; and Maximilian, the new Holy Roman Emperor, that he was the rightful king of England.
This foreign support created great instability for the new Tudor King, and it was a threat that rumbled on and on. Henry decided to act ruthlessly. In early 1495, he arrested and beheaded those he suspected of plotting Warbeck’s usurpation, including Sir William Stanley, his step-uncle who had courageously defected from Yorkist ranks in order to help him at Bosworth.
The destruction of local support meant that when Warbeck finally landed at Deal, Kent, in July 1495, his troops were quickly obliterated. And when — despite having the support of the Irish Earl of Desmond and James IV of Scotland — Warbeck’s second attempt to invade at Land’s End in 1497 with 8,000 men was met by the full force of Henry’s army, James IV saw the error of his ways. Warbeck’s troops were crushed, and he was finally executed in November 1499.
These had been troubling times and coupled with a Cornish insurrection (defeated in battle on Blackheath) and one finalpretender, Ralph Wilford, the majority of Henry VII’s reign was marked by uncertainty and constant danger.
Henry cleverly used the marriages of his children to strengthen the new dynasty: Prince Arthur was betrothed to Katherine of Aragon in 1497 and they were married with great pomp in 1501. Subsequently, Princess Margaret married James IV of Scotland in August 1503. Nevertheless, despite the elimination of claimants to his throne, after 1500 the succession became more precarious: Henry’s third son died as an infant in June, and two years later his eldest son, Arthur, followed, leaving only Prince Henry as a male heir. Henry and Elizabeth comforted themselves with the prospect of more children: a daughter was born ten months after Arthur’s death, but both the baby and her mother died just days after the birth. Henry was plunged into years of grief and anxiety, during which he searched unsuccessfully for a new wife (even considering Katherine of Aragon’s sister, the unpromising-sounding Joanna the Mad), while his health steadily declined.
Richmond Palace, however, was a product of the rare period of his reign when Henry was most secure and contented. There had been a royal manor at Sheen since the twelfth century: Edward III had built a palace there, and died in it in 1377; Henry V had rebuilt it in 1413—1422, but the palace had burned down during Christmas 1497. This is when Henry VII decided to rebuild it, naming it after the title he held before he became King: Earl of Richmond.
Henry retained the shell of Henry V’s stone moated keep and added red-brick lodgings that went to three storeys high, with an enchanting series of four-storey turrets topped with gilded domes and pinnacles. Inside, the rooms were richly decorated with tapestries, painted ceilings and walls decked with gold roses and portcullises. Henry added, naturally, a Great Hall, chapel, fountains and a large outer courtyard. A visitor in 1501 noted that ‘upon each side of this goodly court … there are galleries with manywindows full lightsome and commodious’. Such extravagant use of glass was rare — and expensive. Set in a deer park and surrounded by ‘most fair and pleasant’ gardens,
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