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| 8 | <title>Primary Sources: The obituary of King Henry VII, 1509</title>
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| 20 | <p align="center"> <br>
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| 22 | <img border="0" src="1509.gif" alt="Primary Sources: 1509: The obituary of King Henry VII" width="436" height="73"><p align="center"> </td>
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| 29 | <tr>
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| 30 | <td valign="top" width="48%" bgcolor="#FFFFE8"><font size="2">The account
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| 31 | at right was recorded in the <i>Anglica Historia</i>.</font><p>
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| 32 | <font size="2">Henry VII was the first Tudor king of England. He was
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| 33 | born on 28 January 1457 to Margaret Beaufort and Edmund Tudor, earl of
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| 34 | Richmond and half-brother of the ill-fated King Henry VI. Henry was
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| 35 | born when his mother was just 13 years old; he was her only child.
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| 36 | His father died a few months prior to his birth.</font></p>
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| 37 | <p><font size="2">Henry had a tumultuous life, much of it spent in exile
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| 38 | until he fought King Richard III at Bosworth Field in the summer of 1485.
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| 39 | Richard's own forces betrayed him, most notably Henry's step-uncle and
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| 40 | stepfather; he died in battle. Henry was crowned king of England and
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| 41 | soon married the royal princess Elizabeth of York.</font></p>
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| 42 | <p><font size="2">Henry's improbable rise encouraged those qualities which
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| 43 | made him a very effective but personally unpopular king. He was
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| 44 | secretive, acquisitive, and rarely trusted others. He gained a
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| 45 | reputation as both greedy and miserly. He may have been both but
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| 46 | keep in mind that he inherited a bankrupt government; he died solvent, no
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| 47 | small achievement for a king.</font></p>
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| 48 | <p><font size="2">After the upheaval of the 'Wars of the Roses', the
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| 49 | English people desired peace. They were prepared to accept Henry's
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| 50 | very dubious claim to the throne (via his mother, through a rumored
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| 51 | marriage between her great-grandfather, a royal duke, and his mistress) if
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| 52 | he provided a stable government. He did so, and his position was
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| 53 | greatly strengthened by his marriage to the popular Elizabeth of York.
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| 54 | Even more importantly, he provided two male heirs within a few years of
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| 55 | marriage.</font></p>
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| 56 | <p><font size="2">Henry's true genius was in administration. He did
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| 57 | not reform government, but he did increase its effectiveness. He
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| 58 | also reestablished royal authority over the English nobility. His
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| 59 | later years were unexpectedly difficult. The deaths of Prince Arthur
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| 60 | and Elizabeth of York within a year of each other saddened him personally
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| 61 | and made the succession more insecure. His own death in 1509 was
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| 62 | preceded by several years of illness. He was succeeded by his 18
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| 63 | year old son, Henry.</font></td>
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| 64 | <td width="4%"></td>
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| 65 | <td valign="top" width="48%">
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| 66 | <p align="left">He [Henry VII] well knew how to maintain his royal majesty and all
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| 67 | which appertains to kingship at every time and in every place. He
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| 68 | was most fortunate in war, although he was constitutionally more inclined
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| 69 | to peace than to war. He cherished justice above all things; as a
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| 70 | result he vigorously punished violence, manslaughter and every other kind
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| 71 | of wickedness whatsoever. Consequently he was greatly regretted on
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| 72 | that account by all his subjects, who had been able to conduct their lives
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| 73 | peaceably, far removed from the assaults and evil doings of scoundrels.
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| 74 | He was the most ardent supporter of our faith and daily participated with
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| 75 | great piety in religious services....<br>But all these virtues were obscured latterly by avarice, from which
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| 76 | he suffered. This avarice is surely a bad enough vice in a private
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| 77 | individual, whom it forever torments; in a monarch indeed it may be considered
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| 78 | the worst vice since it is harmful to everyone and distorts those qualities
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| 79 | of trustfulness, justice and integrity by which the State must be governed.
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| 80 | <p align="left"> <p align="left"> <p align="left"> <p align="left">
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| 81 | <br> <p align="left"> <p align="center">
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| 82 | <font size=-1><a href="primary.html">to
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| 83 | Primary Sources</a></font></td>
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| 84 | </tr>
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