Henry's early reign
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Hey there, welcome back to the YouTube channel for the Renaissance English History Podcast. I am your host, Heather. So this video that you're going to watch today is a call that we had yesterday. It's the highlights of a call that we had yesterday with Nathan Amin.

So you might know or not know that this year I am doing a year-long program. It's the first time I've ever done something like this. We're going through in chronological order the top 50 moments in Tudor history. So we started two weeks ago with the Battle of Bosworth, and last week we did the marriage of Elizabeth of York and Henry Tudor. And every week there's new kind of the top moments.

of Tudor history that we are talking about. And there's a video every week with the workbook and some reading lists, ideas. And then once a month, we have a live call with an expert in that area. So our call this week for this month for January was with Nathan Amin, who is an expert in early Tudor history and Henry Tudor and Bosworth and Henry's early reign. He has a new book coming out called The Son of Prophecy, which is about how Henry, how the Tudors came from these

Welsh rebels to become the King of England. And he has a quote, something like, the Tudors don't need six wives or the Armada to be interesting because they were interesting way before all of that too. So he's fabulous and amazing. So we were really thrilled to welcome him to the call and to have a discussion with Nathan. And so he was our January call. So you can actually still hop in to the Tudor Top 50. Just go to englandcast.com slash Tudor Top 50 to sign up.

And you can get caught up on the videos that you've missed. And then every Monday, a new video goes live. And then we have these calls once a month. So you wouldn't miss any future ones if you signed up now.

All right. Thank you so much for watching. I'm just going to turn this right over to the highlights with Nathan talking about Bosworth, how Henry Tudor got to Bosworth, and then the marriage with Elizabeth of York, whether Elizabeth got along with Margaret Beaufort, some myths around that. It was a really fun conversation, and I am really grateful to Nathan. He's fabulous. And you should also get his book, The Son of Prophecy. It's coming out in the U.S. this week. Have an amazing day, and I'll be back soon. And I'm just going to turn it over to Nathan now. Henry Tudor was never born to be king.

When he was born on the 28th of January 1457, nobody cared. Apart from, you know, his mother and his very close family. He was just another noble mouth to feed. The outbreak of the Wars of the Roses is a feud between the Beauforts and Richard, Duke of York. Now that's over how to run the kingdom. Who should be running the kingdom next to King Henry VI? But

Beneath the surface, who should be king if Edward VI dies? The Beauforts or Richard, Duke of York? Edward IV of York decides to crush the seed of Lancaster. Edward IV, the first king of the House of York, and what he does is he kills the Lancaster leadership after the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471. He's a man who cannot be trusted.

And he does have the greatest claim of the Lancastrians left alive. What do you think happens in 1475 when he's coming back from France on Edward IV's ship? He mysteriously drowns. What Edward IV does is he actually drafts a pardon on the back of a piece of paper. So it's not an official pardon. It hasn't gone through Parliament. It hasn't been officially approved. But he has written the pardon.

But nobody can convince me that she did not ask the question, By the way, King Richard, my son in France, can he come home? Your brother said he was allowed. Can he come home? I think Richard says no. Richard III creates the problem of Henry Tudor. And I would actually go so far as to say the rebellions in 1483 that do start

We're not even about putting Henry on the throne. Henry Tudor is just the luckiest man in the world in many respects. He's just in the middle of all of this, getting moved towards becoming king. Henry Tudor was 28 years old in 1485. His entire life, he had been the pawn of others. He had had no control over his own fate. He had no money. He had no lands.

Borsworth is a remarkable victory that should not have happened for that Tudor side. It's a lot better having your steps in as King of England than having a random king who doesn't like you. Henry gets to Shrewsbury and the gate is locked to him. He can't get through. If he can't get to Shrewsbury, he can't get to England. William Stanley, the man who we're told actually...

intervened at Bosworth and even gave the crown off the floor to Henry Tudor with the words Sir I make you king he won the day and he gets nothing for this in England

They made their decision and they made it correctly because they still go in and are still rich. And that all comes down to one decision made at the Battle of Bosworth. The story goes, he said that he would not allow anyone into Shrewsbury over his dead body. That was the oath he made to Richard III. William Stanley sent a message and went, let him in now.

I'm William Stanley. I run this area, not you. Visit Henry Tudor House, go along for a glass of wine and toast the greatest king in the Netherlands. First and foremost, let's blow the myth that Henry Tudor could only become king by marrying Elizabeth of York. Yes and no.

The New Party's Henry Tudor was king because he was king. He conquered the country, he was crowned, and Parliament made him king. The reason the Yorkist rebels supported Henry Tudor was because of the promise he made to Mary Elizabeth of York.

Henry VII married Elizabeth of York at the earliest opportunity he could. The Bishop of Bermuda is in London at this time and he's the purple legate. And he's been granted permission by the king, by the poor, to issue five licences for marriage if he believes they satisfy, you know, the requirements.

Henry Tader was a man who loved to do big country because he had to go over the top in celebrating the Tudor dynasty because obviously they were a nothing family. Henry Tader's come in through Wales, got up the coast of Wales and he cut across to Shrewsbury.

Now, from Shrewsbury, which is in the Midlands, he wants to go to London. So he starts marching in this direction. And there's a very nice Roman road that was around called Watling Street. And it's expected to take him all the way to London. If Henry Cuddy can get to London, he has an army. He can take London. If he's taken London, he's taken the kingdom.

People call it the Wars of the Roses, York versus Lancaster. But it's not. The Wars of the Roses are over. York won. 1485 is the House of York split into two. We know they had lots of plots and conspiracies against him, but he managed to hold on. Because, quite frankly, he was a ruthless king, but in the right way. Henry picked Brittany.

Because it's all well and good France giving him support, and he was grateful to France, but when he becomes King of England, well, his priorities are now England, not Henry Tudor. It's England. Yeah, I would say it is the most successful medieval marriage there was. It was political union that she probably had very little agency in, but it did...

It did become one that clearly was built on affection, mutual attraction. You know, we would call it love today. It was ideal for Elizabeth, quite frankly, to become Queen of England, stay home, stay with your family and establish a dynasty.

He is cold, he is distant, he is ruthless, he is taking all your money, he is suppressing all of your rights, he is coming for you. These ambassadors are always at court. They watch everything and they report everything back home. And historians like me love this because they can't fall under accusations of propaganda.

These are private reports written to be sent back home. Who here has not argued with their in-laws? It's a remarkable story of several generations of rebels, almost out of nowhere, as I've mentioned today, managed to do the unthinkable and find themselves on the English throne.

We don't need six wives and a Spanish Armada to make the Tudors interesting. The Tudors are very interesting before they even become the Tudors. At Verizon, anyone can trade in their old phone for a new one on us with Unlimited Ultimate. Which means everyone in your family could get a new phone and stay on your family plan, keeping you close. Hey mom, you seen my toothbrush? Maybe too close.

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