Henry VII in Context: Problems and Possibilities

Abstract

Clearer understanding of Henry VII's reign is hindered not only by practical problems, such as deficiencies in source material, but also by its liminal position in historical study, at the end of the period conventionally studied by later medievalists and the beginning of that studied by early modernists. This makes it harder to evaluate changes in the judicial system, in local power structures, in England's position in European politics, in the rise of new social groups to political prominence and in the ideas behind royal policy. However, thoughtful combination of the approaches taken by different historical schools and reflection on wider processes of change at work in Henry's reign, such as in England's cultural and economic life, can make a virtue out of Henry's liminality. Together with the use of more unusual sources, such an approach enables investigation for Henry's reign of many themes of current interest to historians of the later Tudor period. These include courtly, parliamentary and popular politics, political culture, state formation and the interrelationships of different parts of the British Isles and Ireland. H enry VII is the victim of a sad paradox. 'Liminality' -existence on the threshold between two phases of a process -is a fashionable notion, so fashionable that some groups of students laugh excitedly each time one of them contrives to use the word. Henry VII, first of the Tudors, last of the Lancastrians, presiding over the end of the Wars of the Roses, the eve of the Reformation and the first English landfalls in North America, is surely a liminal king. Yet Henry VII is by no stretch of the imagination fashionable. To be outshone in public memory by his charismatic son and granddaughter, Henry VIII and Elizabeth, might be accepted as his dynastic duty. To be eclipsed in fame by the man he displaced is a bitter fate indeed. Since 1980 Richard III has scored six new biographies to Henry's two, at least four monographs to Henry's two, and three collections of scholarly essays to Henry's one; not to mention three edited collections of contemporary documents, a personalized academic journal and several Ricardian websites.

Establishing the Tudor Dynasty: The Role of Francesco Piccolomini in Rome as First Cardinal Protector of England

“…3 (1949), 174-187 (186 and n.36). beginning of that studied by early modernists". 164 On the Italian side, little has survived, either, of Piccolomini's personal papers. Consistorial records are equally incomplete and sparse in detail.…”

Monastic Records and the Dissolution: A Tudor Revolution in the Archives?

“…The shadow this revolution casts over previous reigns is one of the major challenges facing historians seeking to trace continuities and changes between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Henry VII's reign (1485-1509) has been seen as liminal, even 'medieval', as far as the records of government go, with earlier staples of administrative history petering out and new record series only incipient; 2 Henry VIII's reign (1509-47) seems to mark a watershed in the evolution of modern government, reflected in its surviving archival record.…”