Penn explained how Henry reworked recent events to suit him. His claim to the throne was precarious and was from an illegitimate line, a family who had been banned from taking the throne, so Henry needed to make the people believe that he was their rightful King and to do that he had to start behaving like one. Penn pointed out that for over half a century no king had passed on the crown without turmoil and Henry knew that what had happened to Richard could happen to him. He’d achieved the impossible, he’d risen from refugee to King of England. Stanley placed Richard’s circlet on Henry’s head, he was now King. However, with the help of the forces of his step-father, Lord Stanley, he defeated Richard and Richard was killed on the battlefield.
When he met Richard III at Bosworth Field, Henry found that his army of dissidents and mercenaries was completely outnumbered. On 7th August 1485, he dropped anchor at Mill Bay, Milford Haven, and when he reached the beach he prayed “Judge me, O Lord, and favour my cause.” The odds were stacked against him in his quest to take the throne of England. Penn then moved on to how Henry became King. He was, said Penn, a man who never knew a moment’s peace during his reign. Penn went on to show Henry VII’s wax funeral effigy, which I saw on my recent trip to London, and which shows his fine-boned features and his crooked eye, but also a face bearing the signs of stress and illness. His regime was magnificent, yet terrifying and oppressive. A man who rewrote history and rebuilt the crown, but who was paranoid, manipulative and suspicious “a dark prince” with a wintery reign. In 1485, history was about to be changed for ever by a man who was a refugee, a fugitive who’d spent half his life on the run and with barely a claim to the throne: Henry Tudor. Here is a rundown of the programme for those who missed it. It was presented by historian Thomas Penn, author of Winter King and was an excellent examination of the King who, as Penn pointed out, tend to be eclipsed by Richard III, the glamour and notoriety of Henry VIII and the charisma of Elizabeth I.
Henry VII: Winter King was aired last night on BBC2 and was the latest programme in BBC2’s Tudor Court Season.
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