1500-1522.
Henry VII of England is a monarch much maligned by history. Forever cast in the historical role as the schemer, the penny-pincher, the perjurer and the conceited, this is less due to his personal traits, which although parsimonious were by no means unjustified, following decades of civil war in an already impoverished kingdom, but rather because of the dazzling reign of his heirs, who would see England rise to new heights and take the stage as one of Europe's Great Powers. Because by the close of the 16th century, England would no longer be scraping for grace and favour from the table of Spain and France, but rather joining them as a companion and rival. Beyond that era would be good times, yet no other period in history can match the energy, the dynamism and the splendour that was the Tudor Century.
Yet what would be a glorious time started with an old miser. Henry VII, crowned on the field of battle at Bosworth where he had vanquished Richard III, would rule England with a merchant's eye and a poor man's purse. He had Parliament declare those who had fought against him at Bosworth declared traitors, and seized their lands and properties. He raised new taxes and reinforced ancient taxes which had gone unenforced in those long years of anarchy which had plagued the country since the death of Henry V. In this his two lieutenants, Edmund Dudley and Richard Epsom, were the most notorious. They chaired tribunals, courts and special conventions which were meant to squeeze the nobility for all they were worth. Taxes were placed on livery, on retainers and on imported fabrics, especially silks and furs, which were favoured by the nobility. Henry's Chancellor Archbishop John Morton stated that everyone would pay tax; if one lived frugally, then one was clearly a saver and investor, and could afford to pay. If, however, one lived large and spent heavily, then one clearly had disposable income and could also afford to pay. Morton's Fork, as it became known, was to skewer the nobility most, and thus the powerful baronies and peerages were diminished in power and subordinated to the King and his House.
Henry's frugality became legendary, even without the Kingdom. Catherine of Aragon, married to Arthur Prince of Wales would write home complaining of the draughts at Winchester Palace, and the Venetian Ambassador noted that Queen Elizabeth of York seemed to have darned the dress she greeted him in when he arrived in Westminster. However, there was one thing the King did not hold back on and that was the education of his heirs. He kept his children close to him and all four of his children, Arthur Prince of Wales, Henry Duke of York, and the Ladies Margaret and Mary, were all educated by the finest tutors in Europe. Their lessons would mark them apart, especially the two brothers. Arthur took more after his father; quiet, studious and thoughtful, who wrote complex and subtle poetry in Latin and French and who was fluent in seven languages. His brother Henry, on the other hand, was loud, brash and bold. His work showed signs of brilliance, yet was often haphazard due to his haste, usually because he would rather be horse riding or shooting. Nonetheless, he played the lute and the harp adeptly, and his compositions would be played even three centuries after his death. He lacked his brother's foresight, however, and was prone to mood swings and bouts of depression which he would in later life medicate with food and alcohol.
In 1501 Arthur was sent to Ludlow Castle in the Welsh Marches under the protection of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, an old soldier who had fought in the Wars of the Roses. Arthur grew very attached to the Duke and his company, veterans of England's many wars and conflicts, and from them learned much about war and its political uses. He cared little for the actual business of war; the sieges, counter-sieges, sallies and charges, but rather its uses, to what he would later call 'the economy of violence.' It seemed that rather too much of his father and his unchivalrous ways had rubbed off on Arthur, for he would later prove himself as Machiavellian as any Italian statesman.
If Arthur became calculating, reflective Prince, then his brother became the paragon of knightly virtue. He embraced the old lifestyle of action and nobility, and was much praised across Europe for his virtue and accomplishment. For this, he became much courted, yet in 1503 he was betrothed to Antoinette de Bourbon, daughter of Francis I, Count of Vendome. She was a scion of a French noble family which had some loose connection to the throne, yet who had themselves many dynastic ties with the Houses of Navarre and Lorraine, and thus were a useful string for the House of Tudor to pull in case of emergency.
The first decade of the 16th century was characterised by rapid economic growth for England, especially in the Midlands and in London. The City of London was spurred onwards by the growth of trade with the Netherlands and the Continent. English wool was of famously good quality, and fetched good prices in the clearing houses of Antwerp. A domestic fabric industry, however, was also growing in the Midlands, mostly due to the additional demand for well made wool garments due not only to the high taxes on foreign luxury fabrics, but also due to the increasingly cold winter, a product of the Little Ice Age which was falling unnoticed on Europe. The King ploughed the profits he earned from this economic boom into the navy, and built more military dry-docks in Portsmouth and Chatham. He wanted to secure England's future trade through control of the seas, and he also feared that another rival to the throne would cross over the Channel and do to him what he had done to Richard. A well-maintained, well paid navy was therefore a necessity.
This last investment, however, would far outlive the King. On the 14th November 1510 he died of pneumonia. It seemed his parsimony, and refusal to repair the old Royal Palace had come back to haunt him. Upon his death, Arthur was crowned King of England, France and Lord of Ireland. Two weeks after his accession, he called his first Privy Council meeting, which consisted of Sir Richard Epsom, Edmund Dudley, Henry the Duke of York his brother, Thomas Howard 2nd Duke of Norfolk, Richard Foxe, who had been made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1501 and William Warham, Bishop of Winchester. These lay and ecclesiastical figures would dominate Arthur's early rule, and a popular saying was that although the Holy Roman Empire had seven Electors who chose one emperor, England had seven emperors chosen by one elector. The Royal Council struck a balance between the days of Henry VII; Epsom and Dudley remained, yet new men had risen such as Foxe and, most obviously, the Duke of York, who often commanded the meetings.
It was feared in some circles that the different characters of the royal siblings Henry and Arthur would lead to discord, and some even feared a return of civil war. This was not to be, however, as Arthur treated his brother almost as a co-monarch, and when he was struck with sweating fever in March 1512 he made his brother Protector of the Realm. Henry, for his part, desired power, yes, but was also bound by a strict moral compass and a set of virtues which his brother rather more flexible with. Arthur pulled through his bout of sweating sickness after three months of uncertainty, yet his wife did not. Catherine's body was sent back to Spain for burial, and Arthur went into mourning. He would never remarry, and would never father a son. His only child, Anne, was betrothed to Charles of Burgundy. In 1512 this looked to be of little consequence, yet the twelve year old boy was to become the most powerful man in Christendom in later life, and spawn a race of kings and emperors.
Anne's marriage to Charles of Burgundy was conditional, however, on England joining the League of Cambrai against the King of France. Henry pressurised his brother into making war on the French King and make good on his claim to the French throne. Arthur saw little advantage in this, yet he saw the profit that could be earned from his alignment with Spain and the Empire. Furthermore, although he himself saw little use for war for war's sake, his brother did, and some guessed that he made war to divert his brother's energies away from plotting.
The War of the Holy League had been dragging itself across Northern Italy for four years, as the Empire, Venice, Spain, the Papal States and the Sforzas battled the French for control of Milan. By 1512, however, the conflict was petering out as both sides were exhausted. The French were largely beaten, yet they still possessed Milan, the casus belli. The English intervention did little alter the status quo in Italy, yet it did put additional pressure upon Louis. He had previously been bargaining for time, hoping that the internal fault lines within the League would show themselves during negotiations, and he could then exploit this to achieve at least some of his war aims. The landing of 6,000 English soldiers at Calais and their march south, however, made this impossible. The 1512 campaign was unsuccessful; no towns were captured, and a lack of supplies forced the army and the frustrated Duke of York to retreat. However, the next year they crossed the Channel once more, with the same leader but with a different man in charge of provisioning them. The management of the war had been entrusted to Richard Epsom, yet when he failed miserably, he came under suspicion of negligence. When he and Henry faced one another at the Privy Council, sparks flew; they both blamed each other for the failure of the campaign, and finally this snapped in one meeting when Henry pulled Epsom from his seat and dragged him to the floor. Arthur had to make a choice: Epsom, an old friend and advisor of his father, or his brother. The choice was not really that hard: Epsom was accused of treason and tried before Parliament in December 1512. He was found guilty and executed on the 14th January 1513. his last words were 'All my works I hath wrought for God and for England.'
The man put in charge of the 1513 campaign was a man who had come to Henry's attention in 1512. Thomas Wolsey had been secretary to Richard Foxe, and had shown himself diligently and capable in dealing with matters of state. Henry recommended him to his brother, and the as yet untried Wolsey was made War Secretary in March 1513. He familiarised himself with his new brief with great speed and, as a whirlwind of activity and energy streamlined procurement and transport. He browbeat the Cinque Ports into carrying all the war materials for half the normal shipping rates, and because of him, the 1513 campaign was better stocked and provisioned than any English expedition in decades. Henry was able to advance into Flanders, and captured Tournai, before turning south and defeating a French force at Coucy. Henry proved himself a competent if uninspired general, yet earned greater praise for his good treatment of prisoners and the people of conquered cities, whom he showered with gifts which earned him the sobriquet 'That most Christian Knight' yet which no doubt had his father rolling in his tomb.
This timely intervention led to King Louis entering negotiations earlier than he had hoped. Emperor Maximilian hoped that he could have one of his cousins made Duke of Milan, and he and Ferdinand of Spain conspired to make this so. Opposed to this were the Venetians, the Papacy and the Sforzas themselves. The Venetians, however, were finally bought off when Maximilian promised them land in the mainland. Thus Milan passed into the Empire's sphere of influence, and the Holy League dissolved itself with most of the parties' war aims met. This left the English to fight on alone in the north.
Arthur, when he heard of this, immediately scrambled to bring England to the negotiators' table. He finally started peace talks in early 1513 and these were concluded a week later with the Treaty of Falais. England extracted some additional territory around Calais, as well as Tournai and by the close of 1513 Henry and the English army were back home. The War of the League of Cambrai had changed the face of Europe and European diplomacy. However, in England the effects were a crucial lesson in military preparedness. Although the English army had beaten the French in open battle once and won a strategic victory, tactically they were far inferior to French forces. Bowmen and cavalry dominated the army, whereas the other great European armies were coming to be dominated by the pike and musket. This concerned Arthur, who had the gift of foresight which his brother lacked. He made Wolsey Secretary of Munitions and the Navy, and gave him power to reorganise military provisioning, equipment and naval defence. Wolsey set about this with his characteristic energy, and he appointed Thomas More as his under-secretary. In 1515 Wolsey was made a Privy Councillor, and he spent more and more of his time at court. This left More to develop the military reforms which the King had demanded. He himself had little passion for the subject, yet the bullish Duke of York was constantly breathing down his neck. The Royal brother was constantly visiting cannon foundries, parade grounds and coastal defences. During each of these visits More would have to inform him of the newest changes made; the standardisation of the royal cannons, the establishment of state-run arms workshops or the creation of a new network of ammunition depots and militia barracks operated by the local Sheriff. The Duke of York was the real driving force behind military reform. Although Arthur was the instigator, he cared little for it, but it was the war obsessed Prince who charged around the kingdom inspecting ships and soldiers, making sure all was ready for the occasion when he could lead them into battle.
In 1515 Charles of Burgundy came of age, and was recognised as legal sovereign of the ancestral lands of Burgundy, including the Netherlands. The new King of France, Ferdinand I, sought to bring these lands into his own kingdom, especially the Rhone lands of Burgundy and Charles's possessions in Flanders. Charles, however, led a vigorous defence of his lands, and fought Francis for two years across France's eastern borders. He wrote to his father in law King Arthur of England asking for aid, promising him eternal friendship and gratitude. Arthur was at first cautious to do so, having recently extracted gains from France. However, when it was drawn to his attention that Charles stood to inherit not only the thrones of Castille and Aragon but also his grandfather's possessions in Germany, including the Imperial crown, he jumped at the opportunity. He mobilised his newly reorganised forces, and the Duke of York once more led an invasion of France. He landed at Calais and marched east to support Burgundian forces in Flanders. Having turned French forces away from Burgundian lands, he and Charles's lieutenant in the Netherlands made a joint attack on Picardy. Amiens fell in September 1516 and Henry decided to winter on the Continent. The next year he continued his march south, intending to capture Rouen and hopefully Normandy in its entirety. However, it was not to be. The siege of Rouen failed after two months, and Henry was forced to withdraw to Amiens. Arthur and Charles entered into negotiations with Francis, who wanted to free up his flank for an invasion of Italy, and the Peace of Artois was signed in October 1517. Francis recognised Charles as Duke of Burgundy and all his possessions. He was also forced to hand over Amiens to England, and Henry wintered his army in France before making the crossing to England in 1518 where he was greeted as a conquering hero.
The brief war with France had done much to bolster Henry's ego and his domestic position. He came to be seen by the common people as a virtuous soldier and leader who was the paragon of virtue, as opposed to his brother, who was seen as a carbon copy of his father. Prosperity and security meant nothing, the people wanted splendour. Arthur was aware of this, and so began to sponsor the arts more openly and also made more public appearances. His support of the arts, however, failed as most people in Tudor England cared little for polemics or portraits, and although the Sport of Kings (cock fighting) thrived, Arthur was seen as too 'high brow' for such pursuits, even though he himself possessed a champion fighting cock. His public appearances, furthermore, showed him to be a short, pale man with narrow shoulders, small eyes and wiry red hair, as opposed to his tall, strong brother. He was also devoid of a family; his wife was dead and his daughter with Charles on the Continent. Henry, on the other hand, had his beautiful French wife and two children, a ten year old son Stephen and a four year old daughter Elizabeth. The fun-loving, virtuous family man was always more popular than the diminutive widower. That would be the tragedy of Arthur's reign: he would always dwell in his brother's shadow, even in death.
Arthur had fallen ill with sweating sickness in 1512 and although he had made a full recovery, his constitution was still frail. Almost every year there would be talk that his life was in danger, and he had thousands of Masses said for his well being. However, by 1518 he was already beginning to fade. He was only thirty two yet he was haggard, and walked with a pronounced hunch. Nonetheless, he was still relatively sound, and soldiered on as ever before.
By 1520 Charles of Burgundy was also King of Spain, Duke of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sardinia, Sicily and Naples. He was the most powerful dynastic monarch Europe had ever seen, yet with that came enormous hostility. His most implacable foe, Francis I, was constantly plotting against him, even going so far as to align himself with the Ottoman Turks and their Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who raided deep into Europe almost every year. However, he would have an erstwhile ally in the little Kingdom of England, which although a military dwarf, no match even for France which lay completely surrounded by Imperial territory, was relatively prosperous, stable and well positioned to take Ferdinand off guard whenever he lurched east into Italy of the Upper Rhone.
Thus the state of European diplomacy was set. The Tudors had, through clever manoeuvring and dogged determination, affixed themselves to the most powerful Prince in Europe, and were in a position to fight their ancient enemy, the King of France, as well as extend their power and influence throughout Europe. The King, however, would never see this bear fruit. On the 13th January 1522 he died of a fever in Warwick Castle. His body was returned to London and buried in Westminster Abbey next to his father. The issue of succession was debated for a while. Some pushed for the King's daughter, Anne, to succeed him. However, they were hugely outnumbered by supporters of Henry. The Royal brother was far more popular than any other contender, and no one in England wanted the Holy Roman Emperor ruling them; Charles boasted that he spoke Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse.' yet he never mentioned English. Indeed, the ambitious Emperor cared little for actually ruling England, and feared it would be another drain of his energies. He therefore endorsed Henry's claim to the throne.
On the 3rd April 1522 Henry was crowned King Henry VIII of England and Lord of Ireland. He was thirty one years old and in his peak. He had waited quite long enough for the throne, and his accession would mark a new page in Tudor England. The dour parsimony of his father and brother was gone, replaced by a vitality which only Henry could bring. That energy, however, would not only create, but destroy, and so when we examine Henry the King we must also examine Henry the monster.