Henry VII was the king of England and the Lord of Ireland from 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509.
He was the son of Edmund Tudor and Lady Margaret Beaufort and he had 8 children with his wife, Elizabeth of York. Only 4 of their children lived to adulthood.
Arthur, the eldest brother, was born on 19 or 20 September 1486 and died on 2 April 1502. He was Duke of Cornwall from birth and he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in 1489.
Margaret was born on 29 November 1489 and died on 18 October 1541. She was queen of Scotland from 1503 to 1513 as the wife of James IV. Then she served as regent (a substitute for the monarch, because he was a minor, absent or incapacitated) of Scotland during her son’s minority.
Mary Tudor was born on 18 March 1496 and died on 25 June 1533. She was an English princess who became queen of France as the third wife of King Louis XII.
Henry VIII was born on 28 June 1491 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich and died on 28 January 1547. He was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547.
HENRY’S CHILDHOOD
At the age of two, Henry was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (league of the major port cities of England).
He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. At the age of three, he was made a Knight of Bath, the day after he was made Duke of York and a month later Warden of the Scottish Marches.
In May 1495, he was appointed to the Order of the Garter. Not much is known about his childhood other than his positions.
HENRY’S ADULTHOOD
At the age of 17, he became King of England and he suddenly declared that he would have married Catherine, saying that it was the wish of his father. He also claimed to be a descendant and successor of the Roman Constantine and of the legendary King Arthur of England, Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
On 24 June 1509 he and Catherine were crowned in Westminster Abbey. It was a long and beautiful ceremony. Two days after, he ordered the arrest of two ministers, Richard Empsons and Edmund Duley, who were executed in 1510 for opposing him.
Harry had an illegitimate son, Henry Fitz Roy, who was made Duke of Richmond in June 1525. In 1533, he married Mary Howard, but died 3 years later childless. In the same year, the Parliament was considering Act of Succession that might have allowed Fitz Roy to become king of England after Henry VIII’s death.
In this years he fell from his horse and broke his legs. His health started to become worse and worse: he became obese with a waist measuring around 140 cm, he couldn’t walk and he suffered from continuous infections on his legs, gout and mood swings. Some historians have suggested that he may have had syphilis, although this theory is generally dismissed. We don’t know how he died but probably for scorbutus, or a Kell-positive blood type.
ARTHUR’S CHILDHOOD
There’s a popular belief that Arthur was frequently ill during his lifetime because of a misunderstanding of a letter, but there are no reports of that.
In May 1490, Arthur was created Warden of all the marches towards Scotland and the Earl of Surrey was appointed as the Prince’s deputy.
From 1491, Arthur was named on peace commissions, and in October 1492, when his father travelled to France, he was named Keeper of England and King’s Lieutenant. Henry VII also set up the Council of Wales and marches for him in Wales.
In March 1493, Arthur was granted the power authority to appoint judges and in November of that year the Prince also received an extensive land grant in Wales, including the County of March. His household included the sons of English, Irish and Welsh nobles.
ARTHUR’S ADULTHOOD
His father arranged for Arthur to marry Catherine of Aragon, the youngest daughter of the Catholics Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, in order to forge an Anglo-Spanish alliance against France. Because they were very young, they made an agreement, the “Treaty of Medina del Campo”. According to it, Arthur would have married Catherine only once they reached the canonical age, meaning the age when, for the Catholic church, a person has certain offices, privileges and obligations. The pope ignored the canon law of the church and let them engage in 1497.
To demonstrate his status as heir to the throne, Arthur made a Royal Entry to Coventry in October 1498 and in 1499 a marriage by proxy took place at Arthur’s Tickenhill Manor in Bewldy, near Worcester.
On 14 November 1501, the marriage ceremony finally took place at Saint Paul’s Cathedral. After the ceremony, Arthur and Catherine left the Cathedral and headed for Baynard’s castle, where they were entertained by the best-voiced children of the King’s chapel, who sang right sweetly with quaint harmony.
Then they had a bedding ceremony: the bed was sprinkled with holy water, she was undressed, veiled and laid in the bed, while Arthur was led to the bedchamber by his gentlemen. The Bishop of London blessed the bed and prayed for the marriage to be fruitful, after which the couple were left alone. This is the only public bedding of a royal couple recorded in Britain in the 16th century.
Arthur had been growing weaker since his wedding. At least he found it easy to govern Wales, as the border had become quiet after many centuries of warfare.
In March 1502, Arthur and Catherine were afflicted by an unknown illness. Catherine recovered, but Arthur died on 2 April 1502 at Ludlow, six months before his sixteenth birthday.
Andrea Ficarelli