Reasons For The Challenges Of Henry Vii's Reign

Henry faced all sorts of challenges during his reign; from pretenders to Lords. Despite these efforts no one was able to overthrow him suggesting the challenges were not very serious.

Henry first faced a challenge to his thrown by York supporters who had previously been on the throne before the battle of bosworth in 1485 where Henry and the Lancaster House managed to kill Richard and overthrow Richard`s reign. Despite winning the battle Henry had realised that York still posed a threat. He therefore took 4 actions which he believed would help him remain in power. The first action he took was to date his reign back to the day before the battle of Bosworth consequently meaning that those who were fighting against him in the battle committed

treason. This gave Henry power over them and was able to seize their land which would help Henry economically as well as reducing the power of potential opposition. Henry coronation took place on the 30th October which was before the parliament meet, this therefore stopped the possible argument that Henry was only king because of them. Henry realised to maintain his rule he would have to have some sort of York figure head in his reign. He therefore married Elizabeth of York which he believed would unite the two houses. The final thing Henry did to avoid challenges from York was to give them a second chance and re-establish them in their former position for example the Duke of Northumberland was restored in his position under Richard which gave him control over the North. This decision consequently gained Henry support from other Yorkists. However Henry had not dealt with the whole of the yorkist threat as Henry knew there were two people who had better claims to the throne than him. Richard still had two nephews alive, these were the earl of warwick and the Earl of Lincoln. Henry therefore seeked them out; Warwick was sent to the tower of London where on the other hand Lincoln was invited on to the king's council as he professed loyalty to Henry. Despite these being possible threats and challenges to Henry's reign they did not show any serious challenge as Henry was able to deal with them comfortably.
However that was not the only threat Henry faced. Henry also faced a challenge from Lord Lovell and the Stafford brothers who in the spring of 1486 tried to spark a rebellion in the north and the midlands. However they failed as Henry was able to stop them in their tracks as spies had given him the knowledge to stop the uprising. This attempt to challenge was again a failure as Lovell fled to flanders, one of the Stafford brothers was executed. Despite this Henry throne being threatened he was still able to show that he was genuine and pardoned the other brother.
This challenge posed no real threat to Henry's reign.
Henry`s main challenge to his reign was that of pretenders.

Henry was faced with two pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. Lambert Simnel claimed to be the Earl of Warwick who i previously mention had a better claim to the throne than Henry. He posed a serious challenge to Henry's throne as he gained support from both Ireland and Margaret of Burgundy Simnel was even crowned Edward vi in Ireland. Despite Simnel gaining support abroad he struggled to gain any in England. They were however able to cause Henry to engage in battle in 1487. Henry sent an army to Stoke to confront Simnel and his supporters. Henry`s men were victorious at the same time as this Henry was parading the real Earl of Warwick which consequently meant that Simnel would not gain any more support from England. Warbeck pretended to be Richard Duke of York who had been murdered in the tower of London this therefore meant that Henry could not parade the real one around. Warbeck was again successful in gain international support however this time Warbeck gained support from France and Scotland. However Henry was able to stop Warbecks relationship with France through the treaty of etaples. Warbeck still posed a threat with the support of Scotland. Warbeck managed to increase his partnership with Scotland through the marriage with James iv`s cousin. Despite this partneship when Warbeck failed with his invasion James was quick to lose faith and support of

Warbeck.
In conclusion the challenges to Henry's throne at the beginning of his reign posed no real threat but as his reign developed more of a threat was posed through pretenders who were able to gain support from international powers. Despite this support Henry was still able to defeat the attempted invasions without engaging in a war consequently suggesting that there challenge to the throne was a long way of achieving their aim in overthrowing Henry.