Henry VII (of England)

King of England from 1485, when he overthrew Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. A descendant of John of Gaunt, Henry, by his marriage to Elizabeth of York in 1486, united the houses of York and Lancaster. Yorkist revolts continued until 1497, but Henry restored order after the Wars of the Roses by the Star Chamber and achieved independence from Parliament by amassing a private fortune through confiscations. He was succeeded by his son Henry VIII.

Born in Pembroke, Wales, the son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond (c. 1430–1456), Henry lived in Brittany, France, from 1471 to 1485, when he landed in Britain to lead the rebellion against Richard III. Henry succeeded in crushing the independence of the nobility by means of a policy of forced loans and fines. His chancellor, Cardinal Morton, was made responsible for the collection of these fines, and they were enforced by the privy councillors Empson and Dudley. This form of taxation became known as Morton's Fork, the dilemma being that, if a subject liable for taxation lived an extravagant lifestyle, obviously they could afford to pay the fine; if they lived austerely they should have sufficient funds saved with which to pay. To further curb the pretensions of the nobility, there were no unions of his children with the baronage. He married his son Arthur to Catherine of Aragón, daughter of the joint sovereigns of Spain, his daughter Margaret to James IV of Scotland, and his youngest daughter Mary to Louis XII of France.