![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() His claim to the throne was tenuous and permanently contested. Two themes of his book preside: the permanent vulnerability of Henry's regime, and his ruthless methods of rule. Yet in the hands of a narrator as accomplished as Penn, the reign acquires its own, troubling fascination. Its goals, relentlessly pursued until Henry's death in 1509, were the establishment of a royal house, the elimination of opposition, and the steady accumulation of power and wealth. The father's government was an exercise in discoloration. Shakespeare later turned to Henry's son and successor Henry VIII, whose rule brought marital sensation, renaissance spectacle and the reformation. His history plays depicted the dramatic conflicts of the wars of the roses, which Henry's accession after his victory at Bosworth in 1485 brought to an end. Shakespeare, drawn to the colour on either side of the reign, skipped it. H enry VII can look a dull king, so dull that Thomas Penn's title omits his name. ![]()
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