England
Conclusions
The first of the Tudors is an important transitional figure. It is difficult to exaggerate his importance. By the sheer act of staying in power without stirring up new rivals and eliminating old ones, by patiently soothing the ancient quarrels between York and Lancaster, Henry brought to an end decades of chaos and misery.
Somewhat like Louis XI in France, Henry introduced few innovations, but he took existing practices and institutions and pushed them to their limits. This is particularly noticeable in matters of finance, where Henry VII took over a kingdom that was chronically broke and left the crown very well off. He did this by re-instituting taxes that had languished, by enforcing laws strictly, and by cutting down on the corruption within his own government. Rich and poor alike groaned and complained and even rebelled from time to time, but because the crown had adequate income, Henry was able to free it from the inordinate influence of wealthy barons.
In foreign relations, Henry was both wise and fortunate. He was wise because he sought to avoid getting England into wars, and he was fortunate in that there were few wars that affected English interests. The French invasion of Italy was a remote event, and the Germans were preoccupied with the Turks. Louis XI had conveniently eliminated Burgundy as a power, and Henry was careful to keep relations with Flanders on a cordial basis.
It had been a rough two centuries for the English. They had begun with a great king, Edward I, in his waning years. Then came a rocky reign under Edward II, and bad economic times to boot. Edward III gave his country twenty years of glory followed by twenty years of tight belts and middling defeats. Richard II's complicated reign ended in disaster and laid the groundwork for the civil wars of the next century.
Henry Bolingbroke tried to mend England by beginning a new dynasty, with mixed results, but his son Henry V gave his country one of its greatest victories. There followed a steady descent into chaos and then into civil war. A mad king, grasping nobles who could command more wealth and greater armies, and ferocious personal rivalries combined to sow the seeds. Defeat in France brought the seeds to fruit, and from 1450 to 1470, the English were busy tearing one another to bits.
Edward IV emerged from the wars and for a time returned a measure of stability to the realm. But most of what he accomplished had to do with his own force of personality, and his beginnings were utterly derailed by his younger brother, Richard III. Two years of him, and the English chose yet another dynasty, the Tudors.