Lancaster and York United

Lancaster and York United

Today marks the anniversary of the marriage in 1486 of the marriage of Henry VII (House of Lancaster) and Elizabeth of York.

      King Henry VII, the first of the Tudor monarchs, was, as described by the great Tudor historian G.R. Elton, “a political solution to a dynastic problem”; he was clearly not the closest claimant to the throne. Some would even argue that he had no dynastic claim on the throne.  He was, however, the successful leader at the Battle of Bosworth at which Richard III, who had seized the throne from the never-crowned Edward V (one of the two “Princes of the Tower”), was killed. 

            The House of York had similar problems in its claim to the throne. Henry V, the victor of Agincourt, died young. His only child, also named Henry, was nine months old at the time of his father’s death. Upon his father’s death, and subject of course to a Regency, young Henry, now Henry VI, was elevated to the English throne. Henry VI’s mother was Catherine of Valois, a French princess who after Agincourt married Henry V; under the Treaty of Troyes, Henry V was to inherit the French throne. Of course, that did not come to pass as the civil war aspect of the Hundred Years War was ultimately resolved (the enemy of my enemy is my friend). So now sitting on the throne was Henry VI, whose mother was a member of the house in Valois. That particular house was troubled with some sort (today it cannot be entirely diagnosed) of mental instability. At various times in his life this instability would manifest in Henry VI. In some of the later experiences he would be effectively catatonic while at other times he would appear to have no appreciation of where he was or what he was doing. Regardless of the degree of expression from time to time, these were not characteristics of an effective medieval king. In addition, Henry VI would go on to marry Margaret of Anjou. Being French, she brought no natural allies to Henry’s household and, for herself, was generally disliked.

      And so the stage was set; following the highly effective and well liked war hero Henry V, the country was plunged into a minority kingship with a regency and all of the instability that flows therefrom. The Duke of York, who had aspirations to the throne, served as a regent. Meanwhile nothing to bring stability to Henry VI’s position flowed from his marriage to Margaret of Anjou.

     Ultimately, the Cousins War would erupt. York would, in one of its earlier battles, be killed (Wakefield in 1460), but ultimately his son, Edward IV, would prevail in that conflict (Towton, 1461), taking the throne and then protecting it (except when he lost it for a period) through the balance of the War of the Roses.

            So out of Bosworth we have Henry VII (Tudor) whose claim to the crown was based on having won it at battle over the incumbent Richard III (York), even as York’s claim was on shaky footing, it having been based upon the usurpation of Henry VI.

            So in order to support the legitimacy of the Tudor (while claiming to be of Lancaster) line to the throne, a marriage to the eldest daughter of the late Edward IV was arranged.  Neither had a great claim to the throne, but together (it was hoped, ultimately successfully) there was a better political argument that the matter was resolved.  Henry VII’s reign would be punctuated with several significant rebellions, but none came close to prevailing.