The Legacy of England’s King Henry VII

King Henry VII ascended to the throne of England through an act of illegitimacy (no, it had nothing to do with the Supreme Court or his brother being governor of Florida), and the primary concern of his tenure was to strengthen his hold on the throne while also extending the claims of dynastic power that King Edward IV had fought for. The overwhelming desire of King Henry VII was to firmly entrench the Tudor dynasty as the legitimate and unquestioned heir to the Kingship not only in the eyes of his British subjects but in the eyes of the rest of the world.

Henry VII followed Edward in recognizing that a kingdom is nothing without financing to back it up. By firmly establishing both his legitimacy and his power, he was able for force through acts of attainder which allowed him to keep the spoils of victory. The primary difference in policy and perhaps the key policy of the reign of Henry VII was the establishment of power among the gentry. Gentrification can be seen as a foundational component of the rise of British power and it was Henry VII who endowed the gentry with the power of overseeing the royal power throughout the countryside. (Which my lady loves, by the way.)

The investment of this power in the gentry resulted in a significant shift of how power was asserted in England. Rather than relying upon the military might and the fear of the masses, by keeping in close contact with the needs and desires of the masses, Henry was able to adapt policies that would be seen as too strict or unfair by the people. Essentially, Henry moved the power of the king from one of fearsome might to one of subtle political influence.

It was this change in approach that led to the concept of court favorites as a means of governance. Henry VII’s dream of an all-powerful monarch rested upon the idea of absolute legitimacy and that meant that the king had to be seen not only as someone to be feared, but to be respected. Henry VII brought into fashion the concept of the aristocracy; men beneath the king who could court favor.

In this way the king himself came to be looked upon as someone to be flattered, to be adored, to be worshipped as a semi-divine being; as a demigod. Henry VII’s uniqueness is that he was able to bring to bear upon the position of king the qualities of ultimate legitimacy as ordained in his role by God and therefore whose rulings should be considered absolutely sacrosanct, beyond question.

This was also accomplished by the Henry VII’s movement toward treating the kingship in a far more ceremonial manner, bringing pomp and circumstance to all ceremonies involving the expression of any fealty to the King. The legacy of Henry VII is that the role of the king was changed to one of grandiloquent magnificence. The lesson that should be learned from Henry VII is that arms don’t create true allegiance.