How effective was Henry VII as a Monarch Essay Example

How effective was Henry VII as a Monarch Essay Example How effective was Henry VII as a Monarch Essay How effective was Henry VII as a Monarch Essay Throughout the course of Henrys reign, there were various uprisings against him, not only because he was a usurper to the throne, but also because he had very little history in England. In 1485-86 there were few minor risings in the Midlands and the North, which were of little significance and were dealt with efficiently; Henry showed his seriousness through the execution of Humphrey Stafford after his treacherousness. A more serious threat than the aforementioned was the situation surrounding Lambert Simnel, which was potentially very serious as it led to the Battle of Stoke in 1487.However, after three hours of intense battle the Kings army had the Yorkists surrounded, and most of the key leaders were killed. Again, to show his seriousness Henry charged 28 of the opposing nobles with attainder and sentenced Symonds, the orchestrator, to life imprisonment. In 1489 there was a rebellion in York which was a relatively small tax opposed rebellion which Henry was able to deal with, aide d by the Earl of Surrey, who defeated the rebels. Here the King used calculated clemency, as he issued pardons to many of the prisoners as a gesture of conciliation to prevent further uprisings. In 1491, Perkin Warbeck emerged as a threat, pretending to be Richard, Duke of York whose assumed murder in the tower had never been proved.The threat from Warbeck was possibly the greatest that the King faced during his reign, as it lasted for 8 years, and drew much international recognition from areas of Ireland, Scotland and France. This situation, combined with the Cornish Rebellion of 1497, set Henry in a particularly troubled position. Warbeck was under the care of James IV of Scotland; whilst at the same time was under threat from the grieved Cornish who managed to march to London unopposed. However, James did not take this opportunity to invade and the Kings army were victorious against the Cornish. The Warbeck situation came to a close in 1497, after the efficient work of Henrys s pies had unpicked the conspiracy and support for the pretender had diminished. In 1499 both Warbeck and the Earl of Warwick were hanged.In 1501 Henry faced further threats, particularly from the Earl of Suffolk who had a strong Yorkist claim to the throne and gathered support abroad in Flanders. Henrys insecurity was evident through his rash behaviour; the King imprisoned Suffolks relations in England and charged 51 men who had connections to the Earl with of attainder. In 1506 a storm caused Philip of Burgundy, who had Suffolk in his care, to take refuge off Weymouth with his wife. Henry took this opportunity to persuade Philip to surrender Suffolk in return for sanctuary, and on the condition that Suffolks life would be spared. Overall, Henry dealt with the threats he faced rather well; they were never able to progress quite to the point where the crown was in serious jeopardy, although Simnel did get close. Henrys ability to use clemency enabled him to prevent further uprisings a nd his opportunistic nature enabled him to use a situation to his advantage and squander the last among the Yorkist threats.With regard to foreign policy, Henry had three main aims these were to further the interest of English merchants, to achieve an effective security system through preventing war, and to be recognised as the rightful King of England. The first major treaty that Henry signed was the Medina del Campo with Spain in 1489, which has been described by Rogers and Turvey as the most significant achievement of Henry VIIs foreign policy, and rightly so; Henry achieved all of his main aims with this treaty. The King gained recognition through the treaty as the Spanish Monarchs, who had emerged as a giant power in Europe, recognised him as a peer.Additionally, he was able to secure a marriage between his son Arthur and Ferdinand and Isabellas daughter, Catherine of Aragon. Furthermore, he achieved peace and security through diplomacy, the joint pact between Spain and Englan d, against France, ensured that both countries were protected against their French enemies should they go to war. As well as this, Henry achieved prosperity for his merchants as the trade tariffs between England and Spain were removed. Whilst the treaty of Medina del Campo did have its drawbacks, for example Henry having the worst of the bargain, as regaining Normandy and Aquitaine was impractical and unrealistic, he was willing to ignore this so he could reap the benefits of being recognised as an equal by the Catholic Monarchs.The second major treaty was the Treaty of Etaples, signed in 1492 with France. Again, Henry was able to achieve his main aims; security through Charles promise to no longer aid any English rebels, money through the sizeable annual pension from à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5000, and recognition as a good monarch, as he was able to establish good terms with France, who had been a traditional enemy of England. The third major treaty was signed with Scotland in 1497, the Truce of Ayton established good terms between England and Scotland, who, like France, had been traditional English enemies for centuries.The main outcomes of this truce were that Henry was able to secure his position, through James IVs promise not to aid any more rebels, and through a marriage seal between James and Henrys eldest daughter, Margaret. Recognition as a good monarch also came with this truce, as previously mentioned, this was major progress with Scotland, whom England had not had good relations with since 1328. Overall, Henry was able to reach his three main aim, and although there were few drawbacks, the King was able to establish the Tudors as a powerful dynasty overseas, particularly through recognition and security, the latter being the most important, as shown by the Magnus Intercursus in 1496.A potentially dangerous group that traditionally threatened the throne was the nobility. Henry had a number of ways of attempting to deal with the powerful nobles. Firstly, from t he beginning of his reign he limited the number of new Lords, as it was easier to control a smaller number of nobles, and this would save more money for the crown, with less money and land being handed over to nobles. This measure also meant that when he did make somebody a peer, it was more prestigious as it was a rare occasion. As an alternative to peerage, Henry introduced the Order of the Garter which was an ancient honour bestowed on the most important knights; this was a valuable alternative as it involved no financial obligations from the crown but acknowledged nobles as seniors.Similarly, the nobility were not to expect patronage from the King, it would have to be earned before Henrys support would be granted. Another method of curbing the nobilitys power was to control marriage between powerful families to prevent a further threat to the throne. Henry also used wardship to prevent abuses from the nobles, as the King would step in and interfere to look after inheritances in young male heirs, until they were of age and had proved their loyalty to the Tudor dynasty. Additionally, Henry and his agents kept a close eye on any potentially over mighty families that may attempt to abuse their power, and would step in if they thought this was the case. For example, the King used financial threats to make sure the nobles were loyal and behaved well, the use of bonds and recognisances meant that nobles would have to pay large sums of money as a promise of good behaviour.Henry also used acts of attainder to make examples of opposing Yorkist magnates, such as those who were supporters of the Earl of Suffolk. Henry did not only punish people though, he did forgive people if they showed loyalty to the crown, the King was willing to forget past problems if this was shown, for example Thomas Howard, who did not take the opportunity to escape from the tower when he could. As well as this, Henry had a strict policy on retaining, unlike his predecessors, he made sure to treat everybody the same when it came to punishment for retaining. This was evident when Henry even punished his close relatives such as his mother for the crime.All of these policies that were put in place may suggest that Henry had an agenda to deliberately quell the nobility, however it has been argued that nobles still enjoyed much wealth and not much changed for them. I support the view that Henry was conscious of the nobles threat and took the appropriate measures to make sure that they did not step out of line, however, I do not believe that he followed an anti-noble policy as such. In terms of effectiveness, Henry certainly managed to curb the nobilitys power, through these various policies, the most important, perhaps, being his financial threats against the nobles, which acted as an example to anybody else who was thinking of abusing their position.In conclusion, the King managed to effectively deal with all rebellions that he came across; although some threats were potent ially dangerous he was able to deal these, overall, in a very efficient manner. Similarly, Henrys foreign policy was able to achieve his main aims, with security being the most important of these. Lastly, the King developed several policies that effectively limited the power of the nobility in such a manner that he was able to diminish potential threats. These points being considered, Henry was a very efficient monarch when taking into consideration the instability of his position.