Sample Coins and a Brief History of King Henry VII of England

BillJones · August 3, 2017 5:32AM

I wrote this piece for my local club a couple years ago. Rather than let it just sit on my computer, I decided to share it with you. I will follow this up with the rest of Tutor kings if you are interested.

Henry VII Groat (4 pence) medieval style

Henry VII Groat renaissance style'

Henry VII, 1485 - 1509
The Tudor Dynasty began in England in 1485 when forces under the command of Henry Tudor defeated an army led by King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. Richard III was killed in that conflict and would be the last British king to die on the battlefield. Henry Tudor's victory marked the end of a 30 year period known as The War of the Roses. During that time the feuding houses of Lancaster and York had fought over the British crown. The "roses" referred to the symbols of the two factions. The House of Lancaster adopted the red rose while the Yorkists fought under the white rose.

Henry Tudor, who was a member of the Lancaster faction, declared himself King Henry VII. He immediately began to consolidate his position by marrying Elizabeth of York who was the daughter of King Edward IV (ruled 1461 to 1483) and heiress to the Yorkist cause. Henry's ancestral claim to the crown was tenuous. He was a descendent on the female side of the family of King Edward III's (ruled from 1327 to 1377) fourth son. There were many others who had much stronger bloodlines to the crown, but Henry's army and his political abilities made him a formidable force.

Henry VII was a shrewd and resourceful leader. He pulled members from both factions into his government and used force when necessary to hold his position. When a joiner's son, named Lambert Simnel, claimed that he was a nobleman and led an army against Henry's forces to claim the crown, Henry easily defeated the threat. In a show of mercy Henry did not execute the boy, but gave him a job in the palace kitchens.

A more serious threat came from another imposter, Perkin Warbeck. Warbeck claimed to be the younger of two young princes who had disappeared while captives in the Tower of London. (They were probably murdered under the orders of Richard III.) Warbeck received military and financial backing from King Charles VIII of France, the Holly Roman Emperor and King James IV of Scotland. Warbeck proclaimed himself King Richard IV and landed in England from France with a small invasion force that gathered some local support. His backers quickly faded away when they were confronted by Henry's royal army. Warbeck confessed to being an impostor and signed a truce. Foolishly Warbeck tried to raise another army a few years later to press his claim once more. This time Henry tossed Warbeck into the Tower of London and had him hanged as a traitor.

Despite the fact that Henry's marriage to Elizabeth of York had been a political union, he loved her deeply. They had four children who survived into their teenage years and beyond. Henry named his oldest son Arthur in honor of the mostly mythical King Arthur, of Camelot fame, who had led the Knights of the Roundtable. Henry groomed Arthur as his successor and arranged a strategic marriage for him to Catherine of Aragon who was daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Thanks to Christopher Columbus' rediscovery of the New World, which had been sponsored by Ferdinand and Isabella, Spain had become the richest and strongest country in Europe. The marriage of Arthur into the Spanish royal family was a strategic triumph.

Arthur's death in 1502 followed by the death of Elizabeth of York in 1503, while giving birth to the couple's fourth daughter, broke Henry's spirit. When he died in 1509 he was a sad and reclusive figure. Despite the disappointments at the end of his life, Henry VII was successful and significant king. His consolidation of the ruling class and his monetary and fiscal policies, which left England financially strong, set the stage for Great Brittan to become a world power.

Henry VII's Coins
In addition to his financial and political reforms, Henry VII also brought great changes to British coinage. In 1494 Henry appointed a highly skilled die maker from the area of modern Germany to work at the royal mint. In the early 1500s that engraver introduced a new coinage that bore a realistic image of the king. Prior to that the kings of England had been depicted as medieval, cartoonish looking figures wearing a crown. The new coinage was a reflection of the Renaissance which was sweeping Europe. From a political perspective, the new coinage gave to the people of England a realistic view of their king for the first time.

amwldcoin · August 3, 2017 5:51AM

Please do continue! I find these posts very interesting!

Stork · August 3, 2017 6:19AM

These are the old style DPOTD (darkside post of the day) type reads. The sort that would be the featured threads on cointalk. Heck, I'd give you the DPOTW or M and certainly a strong contender for DPOTY types...except we never had those (week, month, year).

Very enjoyable! Even my generally non-numismatic husband just commented 'those are interesting' when I flipped my screen over so he could see .