Henry VII

(1457-1509) Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, later Henry VII, King of England (1485-1509) He was the son of Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort. He was the first Tudor King. Henry was related to John of Gaunt, and thereby a member of the House of Lancaster. He opposed Richard III and was constantly getting more and more supporters until the decisive battle. Henry fought against Richard III during the War of the Roses and defeated him in the Battle of Bosworth Field, in which Richard III died (1485). This marked the end of the War of the Roses. Henry declared himself King of England. He based his claims on the fact that he was a member of the house of Lancaster, although these claims were rather meagre because the dynasty was inherited by his mother (female line only) and by John of Gaunt’s illegitimate son John Beaufort. Moreover, Henry claimed to have defeated a usurper and a villain as Richard III was supposed to be responsible for killing his nephews in order to become King himself. That is why Henry had a great number of supporters, who also supported his claims to become King. After becoming King, he married Elizabeth of York in 1486. She was the daughter of the former King Edward IV and belonged to the House of York. The unification of the two erstwhile hostile dynasties (Lancaster and York) was celebrated as the start of a new dynasty (Tudor), and a new peaceful time for England. Most historians nowadays see this as part of the Tudor Myth.

Sources:

Eßer, Raingard. Die Tudors und die Stuarts. Stuttgart. Kohlhammer. 2004. Kluxen, Kurt. Geschichte Englands. Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Stuttgart. Kröner. 3. Auflage. 1985.