X-Nico

16 unusual facts about Henry VII of England


Amanda Hale

In June 2013, she played Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, in the BBC series The White Queen, based on Philippa Gregory's bestselling historical novel series The Cousins' War.

Archbishop's Palace, Charing

Later both Henry VII and Henry VIII stayed at the Palace, the latter on his way to the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

Barnard Flower

He was King's Glazier to Henry VII and Henry VIII from 1505 to 1517, the first non-Englishman to hold this office.

Blackfriars, Leicester

In 1489 King Henry VII donated oaks to the friary for the reconstruction of the friar's dormitory.

College of Minor Canons

These statutes of 1396 were confirmed by successive monarchs, as by Henry VII in 1487 and Elizabeth I in 1566.

Feoffee

This had a considerably deleterious effect on the royal finances, which state of affairs was rectified by the aggressive and imaginative new fiscal measures taken by King Henry VII after his accession in 1485.

Golden Lion, Fulham

Faulkner, in his History of Fulham, supposes the original mansion to have been of the time of Henry VII; and that it was the residence of Bishop Bonner.

John Woodnutt

He had many television and film roles, including that of Henry VII in the first episode of The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970); Sir Watkyn Bassett in the television version of Jeeves and Wooster (1990 to 1993); and Merlin and Mogdred in the children's adventure game programme Knightmare (1987–1990).

Juan de Valdés

In 1531 he removed to Rome, where his criticisms of papal policy were condoned, since in his Diálogo he had upheld the validity of Henry VIII's marriage with Catherine of Aragon.

Le Conquet

As he fled England in exile, Henry Tudor landed in Le Conquet rather than France due to a storm that blew his ship off course.

Les Holroyd

Les Holroyd has collaborated with Alan Simon, notably in the 2009 rock opera Anne de Bretagne, in which he played King Henry VII of England.

Newark Friary

The friary was founded around 1499 by King Henry Tudor (VII), who had become the patron of the reformed branch of the Franciscan order, known as the "Friars Observant".

Pub games

Henry VII's statute of 1495 restricted "the indoor games which were distracting Tudor pubmen from archery".

RAF Chapel

At the eastern end of Westminster Abbey in the magnificent Lady Chapel built by King Henry VII is the RAF Chapel dedicated to the men of the Royal Air Force who died in the Battle of Britain between July and October 1940.

Stonehouse, Plymouth

During the reign of Henry VII defences at the mouth of the Tamar were strengthened by the building of cannon-bearing towers.

Teenage pregnancy

The mother of Henry VII of England was 13 years old when she gave birth to him in 1457.


1490s in England

5 March - King Henry VII issues letters patent to Italian-born adventurer John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to discover unknown lands.

Château de Suscinio

From 1471 to 1483, the castle housed Jasper Tudor, Henry Tudor (later King Henry VII of England), and the core of their group of exiled Lancastrians, numbering about 500 by 1483.

Chester Town Hall

Also in the hall are three sculptures which depict minstrels marching to the aid of Earl Ranulph III who was besieged in Rhuddlan Castle, Sir William Brereton following his arrest in 1642, Edward, the Black Prince granting a charter to the city in 1354 and Henry VII granting county status to Chester in 1506.

Concordat of Worms

The controversy would surface in the Thomas Becket affair under Henry II of England, the Great Charter of 1217, the Statutes of Mortmain and the battles over Cestui que use of Henry VII of England, and finally come to a head under Henry VIII of England.

English Gothic architecture

Notable later examples include Bath Abbey (c.1501-c.1537, although heavily restored in the 1860s), Henry VII's Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey (1503–1519), and the towers at St Giles' Church, Wrexham and St Mary Magdalene, Taunton (1503-1508).

Girdle of Thomas

There were a number of supposed original girdle relics across the ancient Christian world, partly conflated with "tertiary" relics of belts that had touched the supposed genuine belt - Elizabeth of York, queen of Henry VII of England, bought one of these from a friar to help her pregnancy, and there was an "original" at Westminster Abbey in London.

John Yonge

He was ordained in 1500 and held several livings before receiving his first diplomatic mission to arrange a commercial treaty with the archduke of Austria in 1504, and in the Low Countries in 1506 in connection with the projected marriage between Henry VII and Margaret of Savoy.

Margery Wentworth

Margery's father, Henry Wentworth, rose to be a critical component of Yorkshire and Suffolk politics: in 1489, during the Yorkshire uprising against Henry VII who had championed unity and married the female main claimant heir of increasingly irrelevant, dying dynasty, he left his home and was named the steward of Knaresborough, earning him the privilege to keep the peace in the name of the first Earl of Surrey.

Maxstoke Castle

Amongst the antiquities there is a 15th-century chair upon which Henry VII was crowned after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, a table owned by Sir Everard Digby (cousin to the Digbys of Coleshill) around which the Gunpowder Plot was planned in 1605, and a 'Whispering Door' (two doors with a common jamb) brought from Kenilworth Castle.

Monarchy in Prince Edward Island

What is today Prince Edward Island was discovered and claimed by John Cabot for King Henry VII, though it was later, in 1523, also claimed by Giovanni da Verrazzano for King Francis I, putting Île Saint-Jean, as Verrazzno called it, under the sovereignty of the French Crown until 1758.

Roland de Velville

Sir Roland de Velville (1474 - 25 June 1535) is thought to be an illegitimate son of King Henry VII of England by "a Breton lady".

Tandridge, Surrey

Due to the Cousins' Wars she became widow of Warwick the king-maker and was finally compelled to convey her enormous estates to Henry VII.

The Reluctant Queen

Unmentioned in the novel are Richard's eventual downfall and death at the battle of Bosworth and Elizabeth's rise as consort of the new king, and mother of a new dynasty, and the fate of Isabel's children Edward and Margaret who were executed in 1499 and 1541 respectively.

Thomas Spring of Lavenham

Spring played a large part in defeating supporters of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who claimed the throne from Henry VII.

Yeomen of the Guard

Top left: a crowned hawthorn bush and the letters HR, representing King Henry VII and the legend that the crown was discovered by the guard in a hawthorn bush following the Battle of Bosworth.