![]() ![]() ![]() Even fifty-six years after Bosworth, Henry VIII perceived such a threat from those with royal blood (direct Plantagenet blood especially) that he had Margaret Pole executed in 1541 despite her being a woman of sixty-seven years old. For his son, too, legitimacy was an issue always at the forefront of his mind. The dynasty was plagued with insecurity when Henry VII took the crown there were other heirs lingering with much better claims than himself (the earls of Lincoln and Warwick, for example), and the string of pretenders to the throne made it imperative that the first Tudor king stress his legitimacy. ![]() The chances of Tudor winning the day at Bosworth – his first major battle – were relatively low.Īs a result, following the battle the Tudors were keen to impress upon the nation their legitimacy at every opportunity they could. Henry Tudor was one of the “unlikeliest” men ever to ascend the throne of England, having spent most of his life in exile in France without even the experience of running his own household. When, in August 1485, Henry VII claimed “glorious victorie” at the battle of Bosworth, the Tudors were a family of little importance, their nobility claimed from the second marriage of Henry VI’s mother Katherine of Valois, and through Margaret Beaufort’s descent through John of Gaunt from Edward III. A Vehicle for Legitimacy: Early Tudor Coronations ![]()
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