HENRY VII

HENRY VII. (1456-1509), king of England from 1485 to 1509, son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, first of the Tudor monarchs, born at Pembroke Castle; after defeating and slaying Richard III. on Bosworth Field he assumed the crown, and by his marriage with Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV., united the claims of the rival roses; his firm and prudent rule established quiet and order in the country; the pretensions of the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck were promptly crushed; a peaceful relationship was established with France, and the Scotch were conciliated by the marriage of his daughter Margaret to their king, James IV.; increased prosperity followed, maritime enterprise was encouraged, but the kingly power grew at the expense of the constitutional authority of Parliament; resort was had to benevolences and other unconstitutional methods of raising funds, and in his latter years the king's exactions became tyrannical; Henry was not a man of fine kingly qualities, but he accomplished much for his country, and is best described in Gardiner's words, "his contemporaries needed a chief-constable to keep order, and he gave them what they needed".