About the lecture

In this module, we track Henry’s path from a relative unknown to becoming king of England in 1485, focusing in particular on: (i) Henry’s royal ancestry: his relation to John of Gaunt via his mother and to Catherine of Valois, wife of Henry V, via his father; (ii) his early life in the Herbert household, and his mother’s marriages to Sir Henry Stafford (1458-71) and Thomas Stanley (1472-1504); (iii) the political tumult of the 1470s; (iv) the extent to which Henry’s political fortunes change with the premature death of Edward IV in 1483 and the accession of Richard III; (v) the unpopularity of Richard’s rule and the creation of a court in exile in Brittany, centred on Henry; (vi) Henry’s return to England in 1485 and his defeat of Richard III at the battle of Bosworth Field; and (vii) the threats facing Henry in 1485.

About the lecturer

Dr Sean Cunningham is Head of Medieval Records at the National Archives, with a specialism in the interconnecting processes of government and how they functioned through representative agencies, officials and individuals in the period 1399–1558. He is one of the leading historians on the reign of Henry VII (1485–1509), and has published and lectured widely on many aspects of this reign and the key figures who helped to establish Tudor power in England and Wales before the Reformation.