The Reasons Why Henry VII Won the 1485 War

The Reasons Why Henry VII Won the 1485 War

Henry had a very weak inheritance claim to the throne, and when he was

born in 1457, he was never thought to become King as he was born into

a family containing past illegitimate relations. His mother, Margaret

Beaufort was only 14 years of age when Henry was born and his father,

Edmund Tudor, had died three months earlier. Henry's guardian was

appointed to Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke. Henry was only ever

thought to live his life as the Earl of Richmond as Henry VI and his

son were still alive when he was born and therefore had a much greater

claim to the throne than Henry. However, when Edward IV killed them,

Henry suddenly became the main Lancastrian claimant to the throne.

Although, it was never suspected that he would ever become King. After

Edward IV seized power for the second time, Henry and his uncle

(Jasper) fled to Brittany in exile. Where they were thought to stay.

So even with all these unfortunate circumstances for Henry, how did he

ever get the chance to become the King of England?

The first time Henry realised he had a chance to the throne was in

1483, when Richard, Duke of Gloucester, proclaimed himself King of

England instead of what should have been his brothers' son. Richard

was not a popular King. He also had a very weak claim to the throne

and was thought to have killed his brothers' (Edward IV) sons in the

twin towers, although this was never proven. In becoming King, Richard

split his own side (Yorkists) and began to spread rumours about his

claim to the throne and about his brothers claim to the throne. This

may have also made him less popular as Edward IV was quite a popular

King at the time and many wouldn't have liked Richard saying that

Edward had actually had no claim to the throne in the first place.

Henry therefore changed from being an unlikely claimant to the throne,

to a rival of Richard III.