Henry Tudors upbringing was unusual even for fifteenth century standards!
Little is known about his first few years, his mother, Margaret Beaufort was just thirteen years of age when she gave birth to him and his father, Edmund Tudor had died before his birth. He was named Henry after the Lancastrian King Henry VI.
Henry was brought up as an heir to a great noble title, the Earl of Richmond, probably by his bachelor uncle, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke.
In 1461 there was a political revolution. Henry, now aged four, was separated from his mother and put under the guardianship of William Herbert, The Yorkist Earl of Pembroke. Herbert was preparing him to eventually marry one of his own daughters. During 1469-71 Herbert was killed in battle, Henry's uncle, Henry VI was restored to the throne and Henry was reunited with his mother and uncle Jasper.
In 1471, the political wheel turned again; the Yorkists were restored, and Jasper Fled with his nephew, hoping to make France but landing up in Brittany. By now Henry, aged fourteen, was the best hope to the Lancastrians had to re-gain the throne. He proved to be a valuable political pawn to the Duke of Brittany, who could threaten to use him to embarrass Edward IV, if Edward were ever tempted to let the Bretens down and abandon them to the aggressive designs of the French. So from age 14-27 Henry was in Brittany, part of the time a prisoner but for most of it hanging around the Duke's court, one of a crowd of courtiers.
Henry, in his teens and early twenties, had perhaps the most useful training of any King in English history. Not in any bookish way, nor in terms of experience of administration or decision making; but just in being able to observe court politics as a little-regarded outsider. Most Kings have an unreal education. They have been princes, or at any rate great noblemen, never treated quite naturally by those they meet. In Brittany, Henry was nothing much. He must have learned a lot about courts in all that time hanging about waiting for the Duke to get ready to go hunting or sitting through never ending meals; in gossip, in getting to know what people really thought behind the flattery they used to the powerful, in joining in the hollow laughter at the ducal jokes; in watching the intrigues, the gossip campaign to do down this minister, the deals to bring somebody else to power. The Breton court had a weak ruler, a lot of intrigue and occasional blood-letting The conclusion Henry appears to have drawn was that rulers should never let themselves go,should maintain their dignity at all times, that they should always retain control and never become indebted to a party or group.
Behind-the-scenes experience, followed then by his own wheeling and dealing at the French court, must have taught Henry a vast amount about how politics really worked. No wonder, that as King, he was careful, always wanting to double check every bit of information, always determined to keep up a front, to prevent the mask slipping, never behaving as 'one of the lads' in a way that Edward IV and Henry VIII often did. He was so concerned about 'pretenders', the Simnel and Warbeck pretenders were used by foreign princes to stir up trouble against him. But whilst distrustful, Henry was no neurotic. Calm consideration was the keynote to his policy; he was not a man for instant and impetuous decisions.
Henry had an inner depth. There was a small group of people he really trusted. His uncle Jasper, who had been with him in Brittany and France, and had looked after Wales for him until his death in 1495, was something of a father figure. His mother, Margaret Beaufort, who had been in England during Henry's time abroad, was a great noblewoman in her own right. Now married to Thomas, Lord Stanley (who switched to Henry's side during the battle of Bosworth) she worked hard to try and get Henry, her only child, rehabilitated as a Nobleman during Edward IV's life.
After Edward's death she forged the agreement with Edward IV's widow Elizabeth Woodville by which their supporters joined forces against the usurper Richard III, in return for Henry's promising to Marry Elizabeth of York.
Unusual to most contemplates, Henry was completely faithful to his wife, while never giving her political influence, not trusting her relatives.
Two talented clerics, both of whom had worked for him in exile, were part of the inner circle:
John Morton: Who later became Archbishop of Canterbury, and
Richard Fox: later Bishop of Winchester.
In effect, his two successive chief ministers.
As King, he was always on duty, determined to give no hint of that human fallibility behind the mask.
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