0:00:34 > 0:00:38'Sailing from France, an invading army is about to land in Wales.'
0:00:40 > 0:00:44The leader of this army was a refugee, a fugitive,
0:00:44 > 0:00:46a man who had spent half of his 28 years on the run
0:00:46 > 0:00:50and who had barely a claim to the throne of England.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53His name was Henry Tudor.
0:00:56 > 0:00:57And, as King Henry VII,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00he would create the dynasty that bore his name...
0:01:00 > 0:01:02the Tudors.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09But Henry VII remains obscure -
0:01:09 > 0:01:12eclipsed by the monarch he deposed, Richard III,
0:01:12 > 0:01:17by the glamour and notoriety of his wife-killing son, Henry VIII,
0:01:17 > 0:01:21'and the charisma of his granddaughter, Elizabeth I.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29Yet Henry VII's is possibly the most extraordinary story of them all.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32With a hunger for power and an iron determination
0:01:32 > 0:01:37to hang on to the throne at all costs, he would rewrite history,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40seizing the crown and rebuilding the monarchy in his own image.
0:01:43 > 0:01:44He would become paranoid,
0:01:44 > 0:01:48described later as an 'infinitely suspicious' ruler,
0:01:48 > 0:01:53a 'dark prince', his reign seen as a bleak, wintry landscape.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01'For years, I've explored his murky story, of spies and informers,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03'intrigue and extortion.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08'And I've found that the deeper you go,
0:02:08 > 0:02:10'the more you discover fascinating glimpses
0:02:10 > 0:02:12'of this manipulative king...
0:02:15 > 0:02:18'..who created one of the strangest regimes in history.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21'Magnificent, oppressive
0:02:21 > 0:02:23'and terrifying.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30'This is the story of Henry VII, the first Tudor.'
0:02:46 > 0:02:49This is Henry. It's what remains of his funeral effigy,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52which was paraded through the streets of London after his death,
0:02:52 > 0:02:54dressed in his Parliament robes
0:02:54 > 0:02:56and clutching his orb and sceptre of state.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00We can see his fine boned features
0:03:00 > 0:03:03and the distinctive cast in his left eye.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09But this is also a face emaciated and ravished by illness and stress.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13It's the face of a man who's never known a moment's peace.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23'Henry's journey to fulfil his unlikely destiny
0:03:23 > 0:03:27'brought him to Milford Haven on Sunday 7 August 1485.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33'His small fleet appeared from the south
0:03:33 > 0:03:36'and anchored quietly in Mill Bay.'
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Henry's ships drop anchor here and his men come ashore,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48and we can picture them heaving munitions onto the beach,
0:03:48 > 0:03:50canons, horses, coming through the surf.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58Henry wades ashore and as he gets to this beach, to the sand,
0:03:58 > 0:04:01he sinks to his knees, raises his eyes to heaven,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03clasps his hands in prayer and says,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05"Judge me, oh, Lord, and favour my cause."
0:04:10 > 0:04:12'Henry would need all the help he could get.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16'His army was a rag tag bunch of political dissidents
0:04:16 > 0:04:20'and foreign mercenaries - a mixture of different accents filled the air.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25'Henry had deliberately chosen this windswept
0:04:25 > 0:04:29'and distant corner of Wales - he wanted to slip in undetected,
0:04:29 > 0:04:32'giving him time to raise support in his Welsh homeland
0:04:32 > 0:04:35'before facing Richard III's much larger army.'
0:04:35 > 0:04:38And so this invasion, really, feels...
0:04:38 > 0:04:42More than anything else, it feels almost not like an invasion,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44it feels very kind of furtive and anxious.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47He knows the odds are stacked against him.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55'Henry made his way northwards
0:04:55 > 0:04:58'to the homeland of his stepfather, Lord Stanley.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01'The Stanleys, a powerful noble family,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05'had half-promised Henry their support.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07'The plan was to make for London.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10'But Richard's army was now hot on his heels.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15'He had no choice but to turn and fight.'
0:05:18 > 0:05:20On the eve of battle,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23Henry knew Richard's army was only a few miles away
0:05:23 > 0:05:25and that it massively outnumbered his own.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31It had come down to this -
0:05:31 > 0:05:35tomorrow he would claim the throne of England, or he would die trying.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Early on the morning of 22 August 1485,
0:05:57 > 0:06:01Henry advanced from over here toward Richard's much bigger army
0:06:01 > 0:06:03drawn up on the ridge.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12Over here was Sir William Stanley with his men,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14watching as the battle unfolded.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Stanley was keeping his options open.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23He only wanted to back a winner.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26Seeing Henry's army fragmented,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Richard spotted his chance, and charged.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33In the carnage, the two men fought nose to nose,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36and Henry's standard bearer was cut down.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39And it was at this moment, probably,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41as he saw Henry's standard begin to topple,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45that Sir William Stanley made his fateful decision.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51At the crucial moment, Stanley's army piled in on Henry's side.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58Richard, it was said, fought valiantly, like a true king.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01One of Henry's men reportedly heard him shout,
0:07:01 > 0:07:05"I will die like a king this day, or win,"
0:07:05 > 0:07:07and Richard himself was swept away.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Richard III, the King of England, was viciously battered to death.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25By mid-morning, it was all over.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Henry's men moved busily about the battlefield,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30relieving the dead and dying of their valuables,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32piling bodies onto carts.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37On a nearby hill, Lord Stanley placed the dead king's circlet
0:07:37 > 0:07:40on Henry's head to the shouts of acclamation from his troops.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49Against all odds, Henry had achieved the impossible -
0:07:49 > 0:07:53this man, who had been a refugee and fugitive half his life,
0:07:53 > 0:07:55had won the crown of England.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01The battle of Bosworth may have been over,
0:08:01 > 0:08:03but the real struggle was about to begin.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05For over half a century,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08no monarch had successfully passed on the crown without turmoil.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10Building a dynasty would be a battle
0:08:10 > 0:08:14that Henry would fight for the rest of his life.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33I'm taking off my shoes because I'm about to tread on
0:08:33 > 0:08:36what is one of the most extraordinary pieces
0:08:36 > 0:08:38of medieval art,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41not just in England, but in Europe.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56This is amazing.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07It feels astounding to stand here.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Every single English king - and queen, for that matter -
0:09:11 > 0:09:16since 1308, has been crowned on this spot,
0:09:16 > 0:09:18precisely here.
0:09:20 > 0:09:26And it was here on 30 October 1485 that Henry VII was crowned.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33It was a glorious, triumphant occasion,
0:09:33 > 0:09:37and Henry must have felt as though he'd achieved almost the impossible.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42This was an affirmation of his victory at Bosworth.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44It was a vindication of everything that he'd done,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47that he'd prayed for on the beach at Milford Haven.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56But there was perhaps a sense too of something else -
0:09:56 > 0:09:59after all, Henry had seen a crowned king, Richard III,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02killed, despoiled, mutilated,
0:10:02 > 0:10:04trussed naked on the back of a donkey
0:10:04 > 0:10:06without so much as a rag to cover his genitals.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08And he knew that what had happened to Richard III
0:10:08 > 0:10:10could also happen to him.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Henry's claim to the throne was precarious.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26His mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30provided the only trickle of royal blood in Henry's veins.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34The Beauforts were a great but illegitimate Lancastrian family,
0:10:34 > 0:10:36banned from ever claiming the throne.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43On the other side of his family, Henry's grandfather, Owen Tudor,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46a fast-talking Welsh servant, had secretly married
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Henry V's widow Catherine some 50 years previously.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52Not exactly the ideal pedigree for a king.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00Henry was born a nobleman, the Earl of Richmond.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02But his upbringing in exile
0:11:02 > 0:11:05had left him with no experience of governing.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09It had made him a sharp observer and a man who gave nothing away.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16'For England to believe that Henry was the rightful king,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19'he would need to behave like one.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21'And that is exactly what he did.'
0:11:29 > 0:11:33Parliament has met at Westminster for over 800 years.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45'The official records of its debates, meetings and acts
0:11:45 > 0:11:47'stretch back to the Middle Ages.'
0:11:49 > 0:11:53In early November 1485, Henry VII's first parliament met.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56He would use it to tackle
0:11:56 > 0:11:59the inconvenient truth of Richard III's reign
0:11:59 > 0:12:01and to re-work recent events to suit himself.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12'And here's the written proof,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15'the parliamentary record which shows how he did just that.'
0:12:17 > 0:12:20In this record, Richard III is the usurper,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24Henry VII is the rightful king, putting the record straight.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27Richard III is referred to as 'the late Duke of Gloucester',
0:12:27 > 0:12:34and afterwards, 'indeed and not of right king of England'.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39And his legislation is referred to as the act of
0:12:39 > 0:12:42'false and malicious imaginations'.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47But there was one thing in particular during this parliament
0:12:47 > 0:12:50that Henry did which sent a ripple of unease through the Commons -
0:12:50 > 0:12:52he re-wrote history.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57It simply consists of a date, here.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Now, the Battle of Bosworth was fought on 22 August 1485,
0:13:03 > 0:13:08but here, Henry VII has dated his reign "the 21st" -
0:13:08 > 0:13:10in Roman numerals -
0:13:10 > 0:13:13"day of August last past."
0:13:13 > 0:13:17That's to say, the day before the battle was fought.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20We might ask, "What's in a day?"
0:13:20 > 0:13:26Well, by backdating his reign to the day before he beat Richard III
0:13:26 > 0:13:30and became king, Henry was effectively accusing everybody
0:13:30 > 0:13:34who had turned out for Richard III on the battlefield of treason.
0:13:40 > 0:13:41The Commons was shocked.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44But in practice, there was very little they could do about it.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Henry had won his battle and he was king,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50and here it is, enshrined in parliamentary record.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01With Parliament sewn up,
0:14:01 > 0:14:05Henry's next move would bolster his position further...
0:14:08 > 0:14:12A marriage to cement all his dynastic ambitions.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14It was a strategic partnership,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17the fulfilment of a pact made while he was in exile.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21The pact on which his invasion was founded.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25The previous 30 years had seen England torn apart
0:14:25 > 0:14:28in what would come to be known as the Wars of the Roses.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31The House of Lancaster, represented by the red rose,
0:14:31 > 0:14:35against the House of York, represented by the white rose.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41Richard III's coming to the throne in 1483 divided the House of York.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46He imprisoned his young nephews - two princes - in the Tower,
0:14:46 > 0:14:51and proclaimed himself king. The princes were never seen again.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Their supporters fled to Brittany
0:14:57 > 0:14:59where they found the young Lancastrian Henry,
0:14:59 > 0:15:01a refugee in exile.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06They agreed to support Henry's challenge to the throne,
0:15:06 > 0:15:08but only if he would marry Elizabeth of York,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10daughter of the late King Edward IV.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16It would be a union that promised to reconcile a divided England.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32'But Henry needed something that would reinforce this union,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35'something that would link this new dynasty
0:15:35 > 0:15:38'with the English crown in the minds of his subjects.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44'So, he brought in the decorators.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47'At Westminster, the seat of government,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49'he plastered his family emblems
0:15:49 > 0:15:51'across the walls, ceilings and windows.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55'They included a symbol so powerful in its simplicity
0:15:55 > 0:15:58'that we still recognise it to this day.'
0:15:59 > 0:16:02This, of course, is a Victorian building, but we can get a sense
0:16:02 > 0:16:04of how these badges and emblems were deployed and used by Henry.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09We can still see his mother's badge, the Beaufort portcullis,
0:16:09 > 0:16:13and, alongside it, the most significant emblem of all,
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Henry's red rose.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Henry's revival of a rather obscure Lancastrian emblem, the red rose,
0:16:21 > 0:16:23was a masterstroke.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27What it allowed him to do was to put his own rather sketchy credentials
0:16:27 > 0:16:32on a par with those of his wife, Elizabeth of York, the white rose.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35And together these two roses would combine to create
0:16:35 > 0:16:38the most potent and enduring emblem in English royal history,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41the rose both red and white...
0:16:43 > 0:16:44The Tudor rose.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Henry was stamping his mark on the nation.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05But of course, the Tudor rose
0:17:05 > 0:17:08could only be truly embodied by an heir...
0:17:10 > 0:17:12..vital if Henry was to build a dynasty.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18And Henry would not have to wait long.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Named after King Arthur, the mythical king of Britain,
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Prince Arthur was born early
0:17:24 > 0:17:28on the rain-lashed morning of 20 September 1486,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32at Winchester, the legendary seat of Camelot.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39This is a wonderful and very rare book.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41It's a songbook from Henry VII's court.
0:17:44 > 0:17:45And we can see in this songbook
0:17:45 > 0:17:50a song celebrating Prince Arthur's birth, and it says precisely this.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52"I love the rose both red and white,"
0:17:52 > 0:17:56it runs, "Is that your pure perfect appetite?
0:17:56 > 0:17:59"To hear talk of them is my delight,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02"Joyed may we be, our prince to see and roses three."
0:18:04 > 0:18:06So, in other words, Arthur was the embodiment
0:18:06 > 0:18:12of the red and the white rose, he was the Tudor rose incarnate.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16Henry and Elizabeth were lucky.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20They would have more children, including another son.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29Henry was building a myth - that he and his family
0:18:29 > 0:18:33were the true and rightful royal blood of England.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37'But there were those who just didn't buy it.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40'In fact, they would do their own re-writing of history
0:18:40 > 0:18:43'to expose Henry for the usurper he was.'
0:18:44 > 0:18:48What we have here is a genealogical roll.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51These family trees were owned by kings and noblemen
0:18:51 > 0:18:54to describe and sometimes invent their glorious ancestries.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58And it's this part that we're interested in in particular,
0:18:58 > 0:19:02which tells us why Henry was so very afraid, and what he was afraid of.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04We start here, with Edward III,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07the Plantagenet king from whom
0:19:07 > 0:19:09both the Yorkists and the Lancastrians
0:19:09 > 0:19:11trace their lines of descent.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13We can see here the Lancastrian line coming down
0:19:13 > 0:19:15through Henry IV,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19Henry V, victor of Agincourt,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21and Henry VI,
0:19:21 > 0:19:26and then it stops, because the Lancastrians are exterminated.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30And this thick red line is what this roll believes to be
0:19:30 > 0:19:32the main line of royal descent.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35And it goes to the Yorkist king,
0:19:35 > 0:19:36to Edward IV,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39and to his wife, Elizabeth Woodville.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43The main line of descent carries on to Richard III.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48But as we can see, the line runs out, it's actually unfinished.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50Henry is notably absent.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55In this glorious vision of English kingship,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Henry VII doesn't fit at all.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02He's squashed in here, and then a thick black line
0:20:02 > 0:20:05traces his descent all the way up
0:20:05 > 0:20:07and it goes past the Lancastrian line,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10it's not connected to it significantly,
0:20:10 > 0:20:14and it keeps going and it keeps going up to here,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19not to any king, but simply to Owen Tudor,
0:20:19 > 0:20:21a chamber servant.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27So this roll was composed for a family who took
0:20:27 > 0:20:30a very dim view of Henry VII's claim to the throne indeed.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33What was more, they believed that they, not he,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36were the rightful kings of England.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39'The roll belonged to a great Yorkist family called
0:20:39 > 0:20:43'the de la Poles. John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45'was related to the late King Richard III,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48'and he claimed that Richard had named him as his heir
0:20:48 > 0:20:50'to the throne.'
0:20:50 > 0:20:52John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, would in fact instigate
0:20:52 > 0:20:56the first serious rebellion of Henry's reign.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01In 1487, Lincoln's forces clashed with Henry's troops
0:21:01 > 0:21:02in the East Midlands.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09But there would be no dead king as there had been at Bosworth.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Henry's battle-hardened army massacred Lincoln's men,
0:21:12 > 0:21:14and Lincoln himself was slaughtered.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24Henry had won a decisive victory
0:21:24 > 0:21:26and removed a genuine Yorkist contender for the throne.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35With this threat eradicated, he set about consolidating his rule.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38He looked for new ways to drive home the power
0:21:38 > 0:21:40and permanence of his reign,
0:21:40 > 0:21:42through magnificent architecture...
0:21:44 > 0:21:46..an opulent household,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49and the thing dearest to his heart...
0:21:55 > 0:21:56..money.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00The very first English gold sovereign,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02the very first pound as a coin.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06Wow, this is an extraordinary privilege, really, to see these.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09'Barry Cooke looks after the medieval coin collection
0:22:09 > 0:22:11'at the British Museum.'
0:22:11 > 0:22:14Henry VII is the first person to think, "I will create a pound coin,"
0:22:14 > 0:22:17and he gives it this very special name, sovereign.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19And what he's doing with the word "sovereign" is to say,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23"I am sovereign over my land," part of the whole royal package.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Yes, this is not a coin anybody used in their daily lives,
0:22:26 > 0:22:28it's a way for the king to show his power and authority,
0:22:28 > 0:22:30- to spread his message. - To put in circulation...
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Literally, to spread the message,
0:22:32 > 0:22:34and in some ways, the audience for this
0:22:34 > 0:22:37might not have been his own subjects, but foreign visitors.
0:22:37 > 0:22:38So, when ambassadors were visiting,
0:22:38 > 0:22:42Henry would have given them a kind of royal goody bag, as it were,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44and along with them he would have given them a number of these,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46a takeaway souvenir of Henry's England.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49Absolutely - you have a huge, stonking, gold coin,
0:22:49 > 0:22:51and what does that tell you about the person who gives it you
0:22:51 > 0:22:53in a casual way?
0:22:53 > 0:22:56Usually, just the head of the monarch was featured,
0:22:56 > 0:22:59but here Henry sits full length on a great throne,
0:22:59 > 0:23:03orb and sceptre in hand and the imperial crown on his head,
0:23:03 > 0:23:05every bit the image of a king.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09But the most important part of the coin is on the reverse.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13This is a Tudor rose, isn't it?
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Yes, again, traditionally in the Medieval period,
0:23:16 > 0:23:18you had a cross on the back of a coin.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20But now, we've got the Tudor double rose
0:23:20 > 0:23:22and the arms of England superimposed upon it.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25It's very specifically associating the coat of arms of England
0:23:25 > 0:23:28with the symbols of the Tudor family,
0:23:28 > 0:23:32the Tudor dynasty - the two are interlinked, inextricable.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Image is reality for power. That's what these things are.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38They are the one way a ruler can get the message across
0:23:38 > 0:23:41to the widest number of people before the advent of the modern world,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44they are the only mass media. So what's on them is very important.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49But while Henry was starting
0:23:49 > 0:23:52to convince the international community that he was here to stay,
0:23:52 > 0:23:54at home, old rivalries simmered,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57and the after-shocks of rebellion rippled on.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05In early 1493, Henry got wind of another plot.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08Yorkist exiles in Europe were grooming a young man
0:24:08 > 0:24:13named Perkin Warbeck to impersonate one of the princes in the Tower,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16and were raising an army to invade England.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18For Henry, this was a disaster.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22'Many had accepted him as king
0:24:22 > 0:24:25'only because the princes in the Tower were presumed dead.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29'Now, with this supposed reappearance,
0:24:29 > 0:24:31'their loyalties would be torn.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38'After a decade of battling to establish his dynasty,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41'this was a threat that Henry had to defuse.'
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Henry spun a web of surveillance.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Outwardly, he was always calm and inscrutable,
0:24:47 > 0:24:48giving nothing away.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51But this masked a savage intensity.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54He embedded spies in suspects' households,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57interviewing their servants and the chaplains and confessors
0:24:57 > 0:25:00to whom they opened their souls. And he discovered, to his horror,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03that the trail of conspiracy led him very close to home indeed.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09In fact, right to the heart of the royal household,
0:25:09 > 0:25:11to his lord chamberlain,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14who was responsible for the king's personal security.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18This man was none other than Sir William Stanley,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21whose intervention had won Henry the Battle of Bosworth.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28When Henry's men searched Stanley's house,
0:25:28 > 0:25:33they found a Yorkist livery collar studded with white roses...
0:25:34 > 0:25:38..and £10,000 - enough money to bankroll an army.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Henry began to feel that he would never be able to convince
0:25:44 > 0:25:47everyone that he was the rightful king.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49He would need to become even more vigilant -
0:25:49 > 0:25:51starting with how he ran his household.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01This is the fabulous Great Hall at Hampton Court.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09Henry's royal houses were destroyed centuries ago,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12but Hampton Court is laid out along much the same lines.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18This is the awe-inspiring public face of the royal household,
0:26:18 > 0:26:20and just to get in here you would have had to have been
0:26:20 > 0:26:22one of the hundreds of servants
0:26:22 > 0:26:24who worked here on a regular basis, or an accredited visitor.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28But the king was rarely seen here.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31He resided in the state apartments
0:26:31 > 0:26:33which began behind this heavily guarded door.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38And if your name wasn't down, you weren't coming in.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51This is one of the great public apartments, and on the feast days
0:26:51 > 0:26:55of court it would have been packed with noblemen, courtiers, diplomats,
0:26:55 > 0:26:59petitioners of all kinds hoping to catch a glimpse of the king.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07But it was this door that people most wanted to get through,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10and behind which very few indeed were ever admitted.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14Behind this door lay the secret or privy chamber, the private
0:27:14 > 0:27:17apartments where the king worked, slept, ate, and relaxed.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20And it was what happened behind this door that would become
0:27:20 > 0:27:23synonymous with Henry VII's reign.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30With the discovery of the Stanley plot, the privy chamber
0:27:30 > 0:27:32went into lockdown.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36Previously, its workings were transparent,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39but with the new security overhaul, only those
0:27:39 > 0:27:43who would best content the king were admitted.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47So at the heart of this glittering household was an institutional
0:27:47 > 0:27:51black hole whose workings were known only to Henry himself.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58'Inside the privy chamber, things were changing.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03'Henry was obsessed with control, especially when it came to money.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06'The remit of his private chamber treasury was expanding.'
0:28:08 > 0:28:12These books are chamber accounts - they're books of payments,
0:28:12 > 0:28:14and what's interesting about these books is that
0:28:14 > 0:28:18they represent Henry's very personal control of finance.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20These account books are brought to him,
0:28:20 > 0:28:24and he will look down everything and he will sign it at the bottom.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28We have everything from wages for trumpeters, for barbers...
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Queen's minstrels, the prince's trumpeters,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34- falcons brought from Hungary... - Falcons brought from Hungary,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36- brilliant.- Quite a journey. - Brilliant.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40'Historian Sean Cunningham has been studying Henry's account books.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42'This one shows money coming
0:28:42 > 0:28:45'directly into Henry's personal coffers,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48'and these pages are written by Henry himself.'
0:28:48 > 0:28:52I love this entry in particular. We have money delivered in
0:28:52 > 0:28:54"old weighty crowns".
0:28:55 > 0:28:58You can sense him weighing it in his hand.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00That's right, just seeing what the value is.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Picking up this weighty crown, "Ah, that's good!"
0:29:03 > 0:29:05And then I like this - "good crowns".
0:29:05 > 0:29:08"These are some good crowns we have here."
0:29:08 > 0:29:11There's thousands of pounds' worth of bullion going through the king's...
0:29:11 > 0:29:14literally, through the king's hands.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18To Henry, money meant security and control,
0:29:18 > 0:29:21and how he used it was key.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24There's all sorts of unofficial activity going on.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26You'll have, for example, quite
0:29:26 > 0:29:30substantial rewards of tens or maybe hundreds of pounds
0:29:30 > 0:29:33sometimes being given to strangers in reward - people from across the
0:29:33 > 0:29:38sea, or certain persons riding on the king's business.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41And here - this is an interesting one.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43Sean, who's this? This is...
0:29:43 > 0:29:46Probably Sir Charles Somerset.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49..who was one of the king's masters of intelligence.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53- "For a man of Flanders." - A man of Flanders.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00Up to something or other on official business.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02Lack of full detail, isn't it, which is a bit frustrating.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04Well, it's always a giveaway, though, isn't it?
0:30:04 > 0:30:06If you haven't got the detail,
0:30:06 > 0:30:08you have a sense that he's on his majesty's secret service.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15Henry was building up a dense network of spies and informers
0:30:15 > 0:30:19whose reach would extend into the furthest and darkest corners
0:30:19 > 0:30:20of the realm.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25He would map the political loyalties of his subjects,
0:30:25 > 0:30:29putting under surveillance those who looked likely to cause trouble.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38In 1497, Warbeck, the Yorkist pretender who had caused
0:30:38 > 0:30:40Henry such anxiety over the years
0:30:40 > 0:30:43was captured and eventually executed.
0:30:52 > 0:30:53As the new century began,
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Henry VII had been on the throne for 15 years.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00Only now did he feel truly safe.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04Things seemed good.
0:31:04 > 0:31:09Henry completed his magnificent new house on the Thames,
0:31:09 > 0:31:12west of London, and named it after his earldom - Richmond.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19Here, in his maze of rooms, Henry could control his allies
0:31:19 > 0:31:22and keep a close eye on his enemies.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28The Spanish ambassador
0:31:28 > 0:31:30was clearly impressed by the state of the nation.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36England, he said, was remarkably tranquil. "Previously," he wrote,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39"there had always been a number of competing claims for the throne,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42"but now there remained only the true blood of Henry VII,
0:31:42 > 0:31:45"Queen Elizabeth, and their first-born son and heir,
0:31:45 > 0:31:48"Prince Arthur." There remained "not a drop of doubtful royal blood"
0:31:48 > 0:31:50left in the kingdom.
0:31:56 > 0:32:01The stage was now set for the most significant moment of Henry's
0:32:01 > 0:32:05reign so far, a royal marriage that had taken a decade to broker.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07His eldest son, Prince Arthur,
0:32:07 > 0:32:12was to marry a great Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19For Henry, it would be the culmination of everything
0:32:19 > 0:32:23he had fought for, setting the seal on his dynastic ambitions.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34And the celebrations would be glorious.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38On the early afternoon of Friday 12th November 1501,
0:32:38 > 0:32:41Catherine's procession rode into the city across London Bridge.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43It was a dank, grey, drizzly afternoon,
0:32:43 > 0:32:46but what awaited her was spectacular.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48It was the first stage in the fortnight-long series
0:32:48 > 0:32:51of wedding celebrations that would be Henry's ultimate PR event, and
0:32:51 > 0:32:55it would showcase his chief source of political capital - his sons.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00London was in a carnival mood.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05The heaving streets were a riot of colour.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08Accompanying Catherine of Aragon on her procession through London
0:33:08 > 0:33:11was the king's younger son.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14The ten-year-old Prince Henry loved the limelight -
0:33:14 > 0:33:17already, he was a boy with the popular touch.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20But one thing was clear to everybody,
0:33:20 > 0:33:22and to Catherine in particular -
0:33:22 > 0:33:25she was about to become part of something very special indeed.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32But for one onlooker, this lavish occasion provoked unease.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35Among the masses that lined the route, craning to catch a glimpse
0:33:35 > 0:33:39of the princess was a young legal student called Thomas More.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42More later described the procession.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44He'd been enraptured by Catherine.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48She was so beautiful, he said, that words couldn't do her justice.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51But he ended on a slightly hesitant note - "I do hope",
0:33:51 > 0:33:54he said, "that these celebrations will prove a happy omen."
0:33:54 > 0:33:57It was as if, in their splendour and magnificence,
0:33:57 > 0:34:00that the festivities were somehow tempting fate.
0:34:02 > 0:34:07The wedding was a triumph. The Tudor myth was turning into reality.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10But as Arthur and Catherine left London to start their married life,
0:34:10 > 0:34:15it wouldn't be long before Thomas More's words would be fulfilled.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26Late on the 4th of April, 1502, a boat docked at Greenwich
0:34:26 > 0:34:28where the king and queen were in residence.
0:34:28 > 0:34:32Aboard was a messenger who brought terrible news.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36Prince Arthur had caught the virulent sweating sickness,
0:34:36 > 0:34:38and was dead.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44Henry was devastated.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00On St George's day, Prince Arthur was laid to rest here
0:35:00 > 0:35:02at Worcester Cathedral,
0:35:02 > 0:35:07far away from Westminster and the glare of international attention.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14It was a funeral befitting a prince,
0:35:14 > 0:35:16reflecting the scale of the tragedy.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26As a requiem mass was sung, through this door, the west door,
0:35:26 > 0:35:29and through crowds of mourners, rode a man on horseback
0:35:29 > 0:35:32wearing Arthur's own plate armour
0:35:32 > 0:35:35and gripping a poleaxe, blade downwards.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38The man-at-arms rode a black caparisoned warhorse
0:35:38 > 0:35:41up the nave and into the choir.
0:35:45 > 0:35:46Arthur's coat of arms,
0:35:46 > 0:35:48his sword and shield,
0:35:48 > 0:35:50the symbols of his earthly roles, were offered up,
0:35:50 > 0:35:53and his coffined body was lowered into its grave.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57"To have seen the weepings when the offering was done,"
0:35:57 > 0:36:00wrote one herald, "He had a hard heart that wept not."
0:36:07 > 0:36:11This is Arthur's chapel, his final resting place.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17The political impact of Arthur's death was immense.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22The Tudor dynasty now hung by a thread.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35The dynasty's future now rested on the shoulders of Arthur's
0:36:35 > 0:36:38younger brother, Prince Henry, the king's only surviving son.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44But Elizabeth reassured the king that they were still young enough
0:36:44 > 0:36:46to have more children - and, sure enough,
0:36:46 > 0:36:48within months, she was pregnant.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52The royal household moved here, to the Tower,
0:36:52 > 0:36:56where Elizabeth was to give birth. She went into confinement,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59surrounded by her ladies and gentlewomen.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02But it was a traumatic and premature labour.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06With a raging temperature, she slipped in and out of consciousness.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08Henry was beside himself.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14Messengers rode through the night to summon specialists,
0:37:14 > 0:37:15but nothing worked.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22On the 11th of February 1503, her 37th birthday, Elizabeth died.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33Their marriage had been one of genuine love,
0:37:33 > 0:37:35and Henry was shattered by her loss.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41But of course, their marriage had represented something else as well -
0:37:41 > 0:37:44the union of Lancaster and York,
0:37:44 > 0:37:47the reuniting of England after decades of civil war.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55Many had accepted Henry as king out of loyalty
0:37:55 > 0:37:57to Elizabeth's Yorkist family.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00Now, her death threatened to tear the country apart all over again.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05Perhaps nothing summed up better the situation that Henry
0:38:05 > 0:38:07now found himself in than a poem
0:38:07 > 0:38:09that Thomas More wrote on the occasion of Elizabeth's death.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14More's poem read...
0:38:26 > 0:38:30More was referring to the new chapel Henry VII was building
0:38:30 > 0:38:31at Westminster Abbey.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38Adorned with all the familiar symbols of his kingship,
0:38:38 > 0:38:41the Beaufort portcullis and the Tudor rose,
0:38:41 > 0:38:44the chapel was intended to be yet another monument
0:38:44 > 0:38:46to the splendour of Henry's dynasty.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52Thomas More's poem struck at the heart of the matter.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55Henry could build all the magnificent buildings he wanted,
0:38:55 > 0:38:57but without his wife,
0:38:57 > 0:39:00the very foundations of his reign were shaken.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06Usually so inscrutable, Henry's reaction to Elizabeth's death
0:39:06 > 0:39:09was one of complete physical collapse.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Retreating into the depths of Richmond, he came close to death.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21But when he emerged six weeks later, the mask was back in place,
0:39:21 > 0:39:25and his drive for control was even more remorseless.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36The cornerstones of his reign - his wife and heir - were gone,
0:39:36 > 0:39:39and Henry's crown was more at risk than ever.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43Old enemies had resurfaced.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47John de la Pole, who had instigated the first rebellion against Henry,
0:39:47 > 0:39:49had died 15 years before,
0:39:49 > 0:39:53but his younger brother, the Earl of Suffolk,
0:39:53 > 0:39:57was now a man, and at large on the continent raising an army.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03Increasingly ill, suspicious and unable to trust people,
0:40:03 > 0:40:06Henry saw conspiracy at every turn.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09But his resolve was unshakeable.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12He would hang on to the crown, whatever the cost.
0:40:12 > 0:40:17'If his subjects would not love him, they would be made to fear him.'
0:40:22 > 0:40:25Henry was perfecting a very effective system of repression.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30His counsellors were experts in extortion.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33They forced people into bonds and debts to the king
0:40:33 > 0:40:36to guarantee their good behaviour,
0:40:36 > 0:40:38and fined people vast, unpayable sums of money.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41For everyone, from nobles to merchants,
0:40:41 > 0:40:43it was like being on permanent bail.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47Anybody who broke the conditions of these bonds faced financial ruin.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53Now, betraying the king was not just unthinkable, it was unaffordable.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02This terrifying system was enforced by a shadowy tribunal
0:41:02 > 0:41:05known as the Council Learned in the Law.
0:41:09 > 0:41:14It would become the most notorious expression of Henry's rule...
0:41:16 > 0:41:20..and the minutes of its meetings are recorded here in this book.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25It wasn't legally constituted, it wasn't a court of record, but
0:41:25 > 0:41:29it consisted of a number of Henry's most powerful legal advisors.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33And this council answered directly, and only, to the king.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39It relied on information supplied by the regime's network
0:41:39 > 0:41:43of informers and spies, who provided details about offences committed,
0:41:43 > 0:41:46or potential debts owing to the king.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49And what's interesting about the Council Learned is that it
0:41:49 > 0:41:54overrode a lot of the normal processes of government and of law.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57It might, for example, interrupt normal legal processes that
0:41:57 > 0:42:00were going on and pluck them out of the process, pluck them
0:42:00 > 0:42:05out of the system, and haul them in front of this group of counsellors.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08It acts with complete impunity - it is totally unaccountable.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11This was a process that struck fear and rage
0:42:11 > 0:42:15and frustration into those people who were caught up in its dealings.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22Of all the men associated with the Council Learned, perhaps
0:42:22 > 0:42:24the most infamous and potent
0:42:24 > 0:42:27was a silver-tongued lawyer named Edmund Dudley.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31'Dudley had spent six years working in the City of London,
0:42:31 > 0:42:35'networking and becoming intimately familiar with its corridors
0:42:35 > 0:42:39'of power, its major players, and the intricate web of rivalry,
0:42:39 > 0:42:43'opportunism and distrust that linked the guilds and companies.'
0:42:45 > 0:42:49And he saw first-hand the dodgy dealings and corrupt transactions
0:42:49 > 0:42:52of the bankers and merchants that made the City tick.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58When in autumn 1503 Dudley resigned from his post,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01he was given a golden handshake by a grateful City,
0:43:01 > 0:43:04but what the City did not expect
0:43:04 > 0:43:07was that Dudley was going to work for the king.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12Dudley was a poacher turned gamekeeper.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14Fast-tracking him into royal service,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16Henry handed him an unprecedented role.
0:43:18 > 0:43:19Dudley's expertise lay in defining
0:43:19 > 0:43:22and enforcing the king's legal rights.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25Sifting through pages and pages of financial paperwork,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28he used long-forgotten laws to inflict crushing financial
0:43:28 > 0:43:30penalties on Henry's subjects.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34Dudley described the brief he had been given.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38"Henry", he said, "wanted many persons in danger at his pleasure,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41"bound to His Grace for great sums of money."
0:43:42 > 0:43:45What Dudley was doing was technically legal,
0:43:45 > 0:43:48but it was stretching the law to its absolute limits.
0:43:48 > 0:43:53It was, he said, extraordinary justice.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57And nowhere was this extraordinary justice applied more thoroughly
0:43:57 > 0:44:01than in Dudley's own stamping ground, the City of London.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14'But as time passed, the charges brought against people didn't just
0:44:14 > 0:44:19'stem from obscure laws - sometimes they were entirely fabricated.'
0:44:22 > 0:44:25Perhaps nothing sums up the atmosphere of confusion
0:44:25 > 0:44:28and terror in the City at this time more than an appalling case
0:44:28 > 0:44:32of extortion involving the prosperous London haberdasher
0:44:32 > 0:44:34Thomas Sunnyff and his wife Alice.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39Dudley falsely accused the Sunnyffs of murdering a newborn child
0:44:39 > 0:44:41and dumping the body in the Thames.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46The phoney charges were designed to make it seem that
0:44:46 > 0:44:50the Sunnyffs had broken an existing bond for good behaviour.
0:44:50 > 0:44:55The fine for doing so was £500 - a huge sum of money.
0:44:55 > 0:44:57Sunnyff refused to pay.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01Instead, he was carted off to prison where he stayed for three months.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05When his case finally came to court, the jury was rigged,
0:45:05 > 0:45:09and the judges, intimidated by the king's lawyers, found him guilty.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15With no prospect of release, and fearing that he may have
0:45:15 > 0:45:19died in jail, Thomas Sunnyff finally broke and paid up.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26In his account book, Dudley entered Sunnyff's fine of £500
0:45:26 > 0:45:29for a pardon for the murdering of the child.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36As his men tightened their grip on the City,
0:45:36 > 0:45:40Henry had an incredible stroke of luck.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43He received an unexpected guest at court.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46In January 1506, Philip of Burgundy,
0:45:46 > 0:45:50the man sheltering the Earl of Suffolk on the continent,
0:45:50 > 0:45:53was shipwrecked on the coast of England.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Seizing the opportunity, Henry welcomed this powerful prince
0:45:57 > 0:46:01with lavish hospitality, but it was clear that Philip was trapped.
0:46:01 > 0:46:06Henry would release him only if he agreed to hand Suffolk over.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11And so, in mid-March, a ship carrying the fugitive earl
0:46:11 > 0:46:13docked at the port of London.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17A heavily-armed reception committee marched him to the Tower.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21He would never emerge.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26The threat of Suffolk was finally gone.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31But two decades spent fending off rebellion, plot,
0:46:31 > 0:46:33and conspiracy had left their mark.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37This perpetual state of emergency had hardened into a way of rule
0:46:37 > 0:46:40and England was now in the grip of a system that people found
0:46:40 > 0:46:43both disorientating and terrifying.
0:46:43 > 0:46:47Henry's subjects were scared, and they were resentful.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51But they knew that Henry could not go on for ever.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57Closeted away at Richmond, his health had been failing for years.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02All eyes were on Prince Henry,
0:47:02 > 0:47:04and what sort of king he was going to be.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10Ever since Prince Arthur's death, the king had wrapped Prince Henry
0:47:10 > 0:47:14in cotton wool, keeping him confined in the royal household.
0:47:15 > 0:47:19By 1507, Prince Henry was growing into a brilliant, handsome
0:47:19 > 0:47:21and athletic teenager,
0:47:21 > 0:47:24but his father's control had begun to chafe.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31The king, increasingly ill, was only too happy to show off his son.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34He allowed Prince Henry to organise the spring tournament.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38The prince would be shown off -
0:47:38 > 0:47:40but not in the way his father anticipated.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53Tournaments were spectacular events lasting for days,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56and at their centre were the chivalric superheroes of the age -
0:47:56 > 0:48:00armoured knights, jousting on horseback.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03But although he was proving a brilliant jouster,
0:48:03 > 0:48:05Prince Henry was not allowed to fight -
0:48:05 > 0:48:10his father had already lost one son, and wasn't about to lose another.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13'Toby Capwell is the Curator of Arms at the Wallace Collection,
0:48:13 > 0:48:16'and has first-hand experience of the joust.'
0:48:18 > 0:48:22There's always risk in anything that's worth doing, right?
0:48:22 > 0:48:26And jousting would be pointless if it was completely safe.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29When you look at what they're fighting with, this is a safe one,
0:48:29 > 0:48:32this is the safe kind!
0:48:32 > 0:48:34You have three prongs on the head,
0:48:34 > 0:48:38and that prevents the lance from penetrating too much.
0:48:38 > 0:48:42But still, if you can imagine being struck by one of these
0:48:42 > 0:48:46in your face at a closing speed of 40 miles an hour or more,
0:48:46 > 0:48:51in a collision that is in all respects very much like a car crash,
0:48:51 > 0:48:54- the danger is what makes it meaningful.- Right.
0:48:54 > 0:48:59Strong bonds were formed in the jousting arena between knights,
0:48:59 > 0:49:01their loyalties forged in combat
0:49:01 > 0:49:04like brothers-in-arms on a battlefield.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09So while Henry VII commanded loyalty through financial control,
0:49:09 > 0:49:13his son Prince Henry would form his bonds in the tiltyard.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17He's clearly built physically very differently from his father,
0:49:17 > 0:49:20but also he thinks differently from him as well.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24It's really just a matter of Henry VII being perfectly aware
0:49:24 > 0:49:28of the importance of chivalry and chivalric display,
0:49:28 > 0:49:34but he just wasn't willing to back that up with his own body,
0:49:34 > 0:49:39- whereas his son couldn't wait to get involved personally.- Right.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43Prince Henry's friends put on a thrillingly violent display
0:49:43 > 0:49:46of jousting, pushing the sport to its boundaries
0:49:46 > 0:49:48in a brash disregard for the rulebook.
0:49:48 > 0:49:52It was a performance that the king and his counsellors found alarming.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54But Prince Henry loved it.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57Caught up in the occasion,
0:49:57 > 0:50:00he eagerly chatted with "gentlemen of low degree" -
0:50:00 > 0:50:03his openness a sharp contrast with his father's remote detachment.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08So people started to see Prince Henry, even at the tender age of 15,
0:50:08 > 0:50:12as someone who would be a return to a traditional kind of king,
0:50:12 > 0:50:16valuing honour and glory over money.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19He would privilege noblemen above lawyers and accountants -
0:50:19 > 0:50:24an entirely different proposition to his calculating and distant father.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31Imperceptibly, allegiances were starting to shift.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40In January 1509, Henry VII shut himself away at Richmond.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43His health was failing yet again,
0:50:43 > 0:50:46only this time, there would be no recovering.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52At 11 o'clock at night,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55on Saturday the 21st of April 1509,
0:50:55 > 0:50:57Henry VII died.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03He had brought the kingdom to the brink of dynastic succession -
0:51:03 > 0:51:06almost, but not quite.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09This is a pen-and-ink drawing of the scene around Henry's bed,
0:51:09 > 0:51:12in his privy chamber, at the moment of his death.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14Here we can see one of the king's gentleman ushers closing
0:51:14 > 0:51:16Henry's eyes at the moment of his death,
0:51:16 > 0:51:20and we can see here doctors holding urine flasks.
0:51:22 > 0:51:23Among those present
0:51:23 > 0:51:26were some of Henry's oldest and closest servants.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29In the past century, the deaths of kings had brought violence
0:51:29 > 0:51:31and instability to England.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34And they were determined to make sure the same thing
0:51:34 > 0:51:36did not happen this time.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39Now, the 14 people in this picture were the only people
0:51:39 > 0:51:41who knew that Henry VII had died.
0:51:41 > 0:51:46They had a unique opportunity to order events to their own advantage,
0:51:46 > 0:51:48and this is precisely what they did.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52They agreed to keep the king's death a secret for two days,
0:51:52 > 0:51:54until the court gathered
0:51:54 > 0:51:56for the Feast of the Garter on St George's Day.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01But in order to smooth the path of Prince Henry's succession,
0:52:01 > 0:52:05there would need to be scapegoats - people to take the rap
0:52:05 > 0:52:08for the wrongs that had been done in his father's name.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15The new regime had to send out an emphatic statement
0:52:15 > 0:52:17that it would not be like the old.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22One of those not at court on St George's Day was Edmund Dudley -
0:52:22 > 0:52:24he was away in the City.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27Dudley had failed to understand how resented
0:52:27 > 0:52:30and isolated his rapidly acquired power had made him,
0:52:30 > 0:52:34and, consequently, he failed to watch his back.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40He had become the unacceptable face of the old regime.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45He was thrown into the Tower on trumped-up charges of treason
0:52:45 > 0:52:47and finally executed.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01'As the 17-year-old Henry VIII was proclaimed king,
0:53:01 > 0:53:05'he worked with a populist touch, issuing a general pardon
0:53:05 > 0:53:10'which promised reforms, justice, and the redressing of wrongs.'
0:53:14 > 0:53:16Thomas More's coronation poem
0:53:16 > 0:53:18celebrated the coming of the spectacular new young king,
0:53:18 > 0:53:20and contrasted the reign to come
0:53:20 > 0:53:23with the dark days that had just passed.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26"This day is the end of our slavery, the beginning of our freedom,
0:53:26 > 0:53:30"the end of sadness, the source of joy."
0:53:30 > 0:53:33"Now," he said, "there were no thieves with their sly,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36"clutching hands, and no longer does fear hiss
0:53:36 > 0:53:38"whispered secrets in one's ear -
0:53:38 > 0:53:40"this king is loved."
0:53:40 > 0:53:43More also said that the crowning of the new king
0:53:43 > 0:53:45was like the coming of a new season.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49But this reference to the seasons also said something else.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51In fact, it underscored a contrast
0:53:51 > 0:53:54that More emphasised throughout his poem.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57If there was to be a new spring of joy and freedom,
0:53:57 > 0:54:00it had to follow a winter of repression and fear.
0:54:00 > 0:54:02If Henry VIII was the spring,
0:54:02 > 0:54:05Henry VII had been the winter.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18Henry VII's funeral cortege processed through London's streets,
0:54:18 > 0:54:20his effigy displayed on a carriage
0:54:20 > 0:54:23drawn by five horses draped in black velvet.
0:54:25 > 0:54:29'But for all the criticism of his reign, Henry VII had still
0:54:29 > 0:54:31'achieved what he had set out to do.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35'He had passed on the crown of England.'
0:54:39 > 0:54:42Westminster Abbey is a national shrine,
0:54:42 > 0:54:47the burial place of kings, politicians, poets and playwrights.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52And this is where Henry VII was laid to rest,
0:54:52 > 0:54:56in the chapel he had been building for the past six years.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59It was one of the architectural wonders of the age.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19It was described in the 16th century as "miraculum orbis universalis",
0:55:19 > 0:55:21the wonder of the entire world,
0:55:21 > 0:55:23and it really is a staggering building.
0:55:25 > 0:55:27This spectacular mausoleum
0:55:27 > 0:55:30is Henry's ultimate statement to the world...
0:55:32 > 0:55:36..not what we might expect from a wintry miser king.
0:56:23 > 0:56:26So, here they are - Henry, buried according to his last will
0:56:26 > 0:56:30and testament, alongside his dearest wife, Elizabeth.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36These are idealised portraits of Henry and Elizabeth
0:56:36 > 0:56:37as they were in their prime -
0:56:37 > 0:56:41they're intended to be eternal figures of kingship and queenship.
0:56:48 > 0:56:50More than 500 years after his death,
0:56:50 > 0:56:55Henry's chapel remains at the heart of British political life.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58It stands as testament to his extraordinary determination
0:56:58 > 0:57:03and will to power - to everything he aimed for and wanted to be.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08'From an isolated beach in Wales,
0:57:08 > 0:57:11'where he landed with little claim to the throne and even less hope...
0:57:13 > 0:57:17'..he fought and he won his battles.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22'He unified a kingdom...
0:57:25 > 0:57:28'..he accrued immense wealth...
0:57:29 > 0:57:32'..but his greatest legacy would only become clear over time.'
0:57:36 > 0:57:39Running around the tomb is an inscription.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42Henry, it says, was the most rich, the most intelligent,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45the most dignified, the most glorious of kings,
0:57:45 > 0:57:48and Elizabeth his wife was the most beautiful,
0:57:48 > 0:57:51the most chaste and the most fruitful.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54Not only had their marriage been a happy one,
0:57:54 > 0:57:57but, crucially, it had also produced children.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02The inscription concludes by saying that the land of England
0:58:02 > 0:58:04should count itself particularly lucky
0:58:04 > 0:58:08in the foremost of those offspring, the current king, Henry VIII.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10Lucky old England.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17Henry VIII's reign would be turbulent in the extreme.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20Yet it was also his father's greatest achievement.
0:58:20 > 0:58:26Henry VII had created our most famous, most notorious dynasty -
0:58:26 > 0:58:28the Tudors.
0:58:55 > 0:58:58Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd