his dead brother and other members of the royal family. A court chronicler of the time wrote that the Woodvilles ‘were afraid that if Richard took the crown, they who bore the blame of Clarence’s death would suffer death or at least be ejected from their high estate’.
Dog eat dog
Therefore, after her royal husband’s death in April 1483, the queen arranged for her son Edward to be brought from Ludlow to London as quickly as possible for safety sake. The trouble was, too many lords of the land supported Richard in preference to the queen, and through them Richard got wind of her plans. At this point it has to be asked, what was his best course of action?
Queen Elizabeth’s intentions were clear. She was going to get her young son crowned as soon as possible. Indeed preparations were being made for a coronation on 24 June, just weeks away. Once Richard’s responsibility as Protector was dissolved, he would be vulnerable. For Edward, aged twelve, was considered in those days to be nearly an adult. On becoming king, he was not going to favour Richard over his own mother. The solution was simple: to survive, Richard had to rule, and to rule he had to be king. It was a dog-eat-dog situation.
Kidnap
So, on hearing the news that the young prince was travelling to London, Richard and his men headed south, kidnapped the prince and took him to the Tower. The rest, as they say, is history. Richard had also to kidnap the second of Elizabeth’s sons to eliminate his possible accession.
A rumour was circulated that the princes were bastards in any case. With power to his elbow, Richard had little difficulty in persuading parliament to present him with the crown in the absence of legitimate contenders.
Though he won this round, Richard was still up against it. For Elizabeth would not lie down easily. Though she had given up hope of ever seeing her two sons again, she could wrest the crown from this Yorkist usurper by presenting one Henry Tudor, sole surviving Lancastrian claimant, with the hand of her daughter in marriage. She being the daughter of Edward IV would help Tudor’s cause to rule. And so it was, when Richard fell on the field at Bosworth in 1485 – the last English king to die in battle – that the Plantagenet dynasty came to an end, to be replaced by the Tudors. It was a milestone in English history. From now on, the country was no longer beset by medieval struggles in arms but bloomed in the growing prosperity of the modern era.
Patron of Expansion
Henry VII commissions Cabot to set sail
U nder the guidance of Henry VII the country laid the foundation of future Tudor strength. Efficient and continuous government, without the enervating preoccupation with war that beset every Plantagenet administration, enabled the nation’s energies to create wealth. The wool and cloth industries expanded bringing more sterling than ever before into the nation’s coffers.
Henry VII was probably the first businessman to be king of England. Not only did he quietly set about building up the country, he was astute enough to seize an opportunity when it came his way.
That opportunity came in the form of an Italian navigator named John Cabot. Having pondered the news of Columbus’s discovery of America five years earlier, Henry had thought of commissioning the Spanish explorer to search out new sources of wealth overseas for British commercial interests. When Cabot turned up with his own promises to find new ocean routes to Japan and China – which were thought to be accessible by sailing west across the Atlantic – Henry was delighted to fund him.
The king made available all that Bristol had to offer, with its long heritage in shipping. Accompanied by 20 English mariners, Cabot set sail from Bristol quay aboard the
Matthew
in 1497 and crossed the Atlantic in 35 days – the first seafarer to cross the northern Atlantic since the Vikings. Unsure of where he had made landfall, Cabot simply named the place New-Found Land,
Dog eat dog
Therefore, after her royal husband’s death in April 1483, the queen arranged for her son Edward to be brought from Ludlow to London as quickly as possible for safety sake. The trouble was, too many lords of the land supported Richard in preference to the queen, and through them Richard got wind of her plans. At this point it has to be asked, what was his best course of action?
Queen Elizabeth’s intentions were clear. She was going to get her young son crowned as soon as possible. Indeed preparations were being made for a coronation on 24 June, just weeks away. Once Richard’s responsibility as Protector was dissolved, he would be vulnerable. For Edward, aged twelve, was considered in those days to be nearly an adult. On becoming king, he was not going to favour Richard over his own mother. The solution was simple: to survive, Richard had to rule, and to rule he had to be king. It was a dog-eat-dog situation.
Kidnap
So, on hearing the news that the young prince was travelling to London, Richard and his men headed south, kidnapped the prince and took him to the Tower. The rest, as they say, is history. Richard had also to kidnap the second of Elizabeth’s sons to eliminate his possible accession.
A rumour was circulated that the princes were bastards in any case. With power to his elbow, Richard had little difficulty in persuading parliament to present him with the crown in the absence of legitimate contenders.
Though he won this round, Richard was still up against it. For Elizabeth would not lie down easily. Though she had given up hope of ever seeing her two sons again, she could wrest the crown from this Yorkist usurper by presenting one Henry Tudor, sole surviving Lancastrian claimant, with the hand of her daughter in marriage. She being the daughter of Edward IV would help Tudor’s cause to rule. And so it was, when Richard fell on the field at Bosworth in 1485 – the last English king to die in battle – that the Plantagenet dynasty came to an end, to be replaced by the Tudors. It was a milestone in English history. From now on, the country was no longer beset by medieval struggles in arms but bloomed in the growing prosperity of the modern era.
Patron of Expansion
Henry VII commissions Cabot to set sail
U nder the guidance of Henry VII the country laid the foundation of future Tudor strength. Efficient and continuous government, without the enervating preoccupation with war that beset every Plantagenet administration, enabled the nation’s energies to create wealth. The wool and cloth industries expanded bringing more sterling than ever before into the nation’s coffers.
Henry VII was probably the first businessman to be king of England. Not only did he quietly set about building up the country, he was astute enough to seize an opportunity when it came his way.
That opportunity came in the form of an Italian navigator named John Cabot. Having pondered the news of Columbus’s discovery of America five years earlier, Henry had thought of commissioning the Spanish explorer to search out new sources of wealth overseas for British commercial interests. When Cabot turned up with his own promises to find new ocean routes to Japan and China – which were thought to be accessible by sailing west across the Atlantic – Henry was delighted to fund him.
The king made available all that Bristol had to offer, with its long heritage in shipping. Accompanied by 20 English mariners, Cabot set sail from Bristol quay aboard the
Matthew
in 1497 and crossed the Atlantic in 35 days – the first seafarer to cross the northern Atlantic since the Vikings. Unsure of where he had made landfall, Cabot simply named the place New-Found Land,
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