The Life and Times of Henry VII Quiz

Answer: January 1457

Henry was born on the 28th of January, 1457 at Pembroke Castle. His father, Edmund Tudor, the Earl of Richmond had died less than three months before, leaving his young widow, Margaret Beaufort, alone and pregnant.

Answer: Jasper Tudor

Jasper swept in and took Henry's mother under his protection when Henry's father died. Jasper stayed with him and championed his cause to become the King of England, even going so far as to join him on the battlefield at Bosworth. He remained utterly loyal to Henry until his death in 1495.

Answer: That there were too many Yorkist males who might lead a rebellion against him

There were just too many Yorkist cousins of his for him to be comfortable. There was the young Earl of Warwick, son of Edward IV's brother, there were the de la Pole brothers, sons of Edward's sister Elizabeth, and there was the also-young Duke of Buckingham, a distant relative of Edward III. All this however, was effectively neutralised when he married Elizabeth of York.

Henry was never particularly worried about popularity, but money vexed him greatly. He needed money to secure his (and his family's) dynasty, but was never granted much by Parliament who generally didn't like this unpopular new king. So he decided to take money from whoever he could easily deprive it of (See Q7). However, I feel that a direct threat to his sovereignty would have been more important to him than his financial future. He would eventually come to worry about foreign powers, but domestic issues dominated his early reign.

Answer: Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck

Lambert Simnel claimed to have conveniently 'escaped' from the Tower as the Earl, reappearing in Ireland. Henry produced the real Earl, but it did not dissuade the Irish chieftains. There was a battle at Stoke on the 16th of June 1487 where Simnel was captured. He was pardoned and given a job in the royal kitchens.

Perkin Warbeck was not so lucky. He originally posed as the Earl of Warwick also, but failed to find support in Ireland as Simnel had done. He was welcomed in King Charles VIII of France's court, however, as the Duke of York, escaped from his evil uncle, Richard III! Unfortunately for him, Charles soon tired of Warbeck and sent him away. He failed to find reasonable support in either France or Scotland and was eventually executed, along with the real Earl of Warwick, in November 1499.

Answer: 4

Henry and Elizabeth had eight children, in total, but only four made it through their first years. Their eldest, Arthur Prince of Wales; a daughter, Margaret; a son, Henry and another daughter, Mary.

Answer: 1501

Arthur and Catherine were married on the 14th of November, 1501. They were married in St. Paul's Cathedral by the Archbishop of Canterbury in a ceremony that lasted more than three hours. The celebrations lasted over a fortnight. Finally, at the end of November, the couple and the Spanish household left for Ludlow Castle near the English/Welsh border. Arthur suddenly died of what was believed to be consumption (pulmonary tuberculosis) on the 2nd of April, 1502, leaving his father heartbroken.

Answer: Richmond Palace

Henry decided that he needed a new state-of-the-art palace, and the destruction of the antique palace of Sheen provided just that opportunity. He rebuilt the palace, and renamed it Richmond, in honour of the earldom that both he and his father had used. Unfortunately, it has not survived to the present.

Hampton Court was a 'gift' from Cardinal Wolsey to Henry's son, Henry VIII, who acquired it in 1526.

Buckingham Palace was originally Buckingham House, the residence of the Duke of Buckingham. In 1762, George III bought the house and it was furbished by his son George IV. Not until Queen Victoria did it become the main residence for the royal family.

Whitehall was also acquired by Henry VIII, in 1512. He created an extension by building a tennis court and a bowling alley. Charles I commissioned the building of a Banqueting House; ironically this is where he was executed in 1649. The Banqueting House is the only part of the palace to survive today.

Answer: A Court of Appeal and a supervisory body

The Court of the Star Chamber was originally an advisory council to the king in medieval times, which evolved into a court of law. It only became a separate judicial body under Henry's reign in 1487.

The court was meant to be a place where the nobility could be tried with "dignity" and not have to suffer the shame of being openly paraded in the lower courts, where they could use their power and money to easily bribe their way to freedom. The court wouuld also surpervise the day-to-day activity of the lower courts. It was made up of privy councillors as well as common-law judges to give it flexibilty and variety of opinion.

Answer: Cataracts

He wrote a letter to his mother complaining of failing eyesight in 1501 and also apologized for having taken three days to write this letter in his own hand. A description of him in 1504 or 1505 said that 'the King's grace is but a weak and sickly man, not likely to be a long-lived man'. It was a long time since the young Welshman had surprised everyone with victory at Bosworth.

Answer: April 1509

Henry died on the 21st of April, 1509, of a 'consuming' sickness. He was 52 years old and had ruled for 23 years and 8 months. He was an extremely able speaker and ruler, who cemented the Tudor dynasty with alacrity. He took from the rich, and gave to himself, therefore earning the reputation as a Tudor Scrooge and miser.

It is probably fair to say this is not true. While popularity was never one of his chief concerns, he enjoyed a good party like anyone else. His son would become one of the most famous kings in history.

He was overall, a great leader, statesman, king and human.