A guide to the key names in the Henry VII podcast episode:
The Royal Family
Henry VII – the King, and what’s more the first Tudor monarch.
Elizabeth of York – Henry’s wife and the daughter of the Yorkist king, Edward IV. Their marriage helped unite the Lancastrian and Yorkist factions after the Wars of the Roses.
Margaret Beaufort – Henry’s formidable mother, who exerts a great influence on him throughout his reign and through her descent from Edward III provides him with his claim to the throne.
Elizabeth Woodville – Henry’s mother-in-law. The widow of Edward IV, mother of the Princes in the Tower and mother of Elizabeth of York.
Prince Arthur – Henry’s eldest and beloved son, raised to be Henry’s perfect successor to usher in a golden age. He married the Spanish Infanta, Catherine of Aragon, in 1501 but was a sickly child.
Prince Henry – Henry’s second and rather more robust son who would later become Henry VIII.
Margaret Tudor – Henry’s eldest daughter, whose marriage to James IV of Scotland in 1503 foreshadowed the Stuart dynasty in England.
Jasper Tudor – Henry’s uncle, who brought him up first in England and then in exile, before helping him take the crown at Bosworth and hold onto it in the next decade.
The Dead (featured in previous episodes but relevant to this one too!)
Edward IV – Successful Yorkist king who seemed to have ended the Wars of the Roses until his early death in 1483 saw the country return to internal conflict.
Richard III – The Last Yorkist and Plantagenet king, whose usurpation of his nephew, Edward V, threw the country into conflict once more and created the conditions in which Henry Tudor could launch a successful invasion.
Owen Tudor – Henry’s grandfather, whose marriage to Catherine de Valois (widow of Henry V) put the Tudor family on the map.
Edmund Tudor – Henry’s father, who died before he was born.
George, Duke of Clarence – Brother of Edward IV and Richard III, executed for treason against Edward in 1478.
The Pretenders (Challenging Henry VII for the throne)
The Earl of Warwick (Edward Plantagenet) – Son of George, Duke of Clarence (brother of Edward IV and Richard III). Named by Richard III as his heir in 1485 but immediately imprisoned by Henry VII after Bosworth. Although perpetually imprisoned, he was a focal point for rebellions.
Lambert Simnel – A commoner trained by an Oxford priest to impersonate the Earl of Warwick, leading to a Yorkist attempt to defeat the Tudors.
John de la Pole (Earl of Lincoln) – Descended from Richard Duke of York, father of Edward IV and Richard III, and thus a Plantagenet with a claim to the throne. Led Lambert Simnel’s invasion of England in 1487.
Perkin Warbeck – The biggest threat to Henry VII, claiming to be the young of the Princes in the Tower, and thus the rightful king. His international support caused significant difficulties for Henry for a number of years.
The International Crowd
Margaret of Burgundy – Sister to Edward IV and Richard III and married to the Duke of Burgundy, she was a powerful woman who took every opportunity to support plots against Henry VII in the hope of restoring the Yorkist dynasty.
Charles VIII – King of France who tries to use Perkin Warbeck as a way to keep England from interfering in his conflict with Burgundy.
James IV – King of Scotland who hopes to use Perkin Warbeck to restore his international prestige and recover territory.
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor – Another meddler who used Perkin Warbeck against Henry VII, though seems to have genuinely believed he was who he claimed to be.
Gerald Fitzgerald, 8th Earl of Kildare – De facto ruler of Ireland under English lordship. Supported Lambert Simnel’s claim and was later forced to rule at Henry’s pleasure rather than his previously independent status.
Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castille – Their marriage helped lay the foundations for a united and powerful kingdom of Spain, creating a new European power to rival French dominance. Infamously created the Spanish Inquisition.
Catherine of Aragon – The Spanish Infanta, daughter of the above, whose marriage to Prince Arthur Tudor symbolised an alliance between England and Spain.
Notable Others
John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford – Veteran Lancastrian military commander who fought at the Battle of Barnet in 1471 and was the effective leader of all of Henry VII’s battles from Bosworth to Blackheath.
Francis Lovell – Old friend and ally of Richard III who survived Bosworth to lead a rebellion against Henry VII with the Stafford brothers, sons of the Duke of Buckingham.
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