Henry VII
Henry VII (1457-1509). King of England. The sole surviving claimant to the English throne from the house of Lancaster, he fled to Brittany for safety in 1471. He invaded England in 1485 and, having killed Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, claimed the throne. On his marriage to Elizabeth of York (1486) the houses of Lancaster and York were united and the Tudor dynasty founded. As king he crushed the independence of the nobility, extracting great wealth from them that was later inherited by his son, Henry VIII.
