Which king henry married a daughter of a family he was at war with?

Question

Which king henry married a daughter of a family he was at war with?

Answer 1

Henry 7

Answer 2

You could be talking  of a few of them!  However, the one that comes to mind is King Henry VII. His ancestor was John of Gaunt, who was head of the House of Lancaster. When Henry took over the British throne, he married Princess Elizabeth, who came from the House of York. These two Royal Houses had been warring for  over a century, giving name to The Hundred Year's War. When Henry married Elizabeth, he combined the two families, and formed the House of Tudor.

Answer 3

Henry VII (January 28, 1457 – April 21, 1509), King of England, Lord of Ireland (August 22, 1485 – April 21, 1509), born Henry Tudor was the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty.

The unification of the houses of York and Lancaster by Henry VII's marriage to Elizabeth of York is represented in the heraldic symbol of the Tudor rose, a combination of the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort (May 31, 1443 – June 29, 1509) was from the House of Lancaster.

Answer 4

I believe you are thinking of Henry VII, of the Lancaster House, who married Elizabeth of York. The marriage was the start of the Tudor dynasty, and effectively ended the War of the Roses.

Answer 5

Henry VII of England is one possible answer to this question. I would argue that its not a perfect match because by the time Henry married Elizabeth of York he had already won the Wars of the Roses, even if that wasn't entirely clear to everyone at the time.

I think Henry V of England is a better answer. In 1420 he married Catherine of Valois, the daughter of Charles VI of France. At the time France and England were still in the middle of the 100 Years War.

Answer 6

The very fact that Henry Tudor became King of England at all is somewhat of a miracle. His claim to the English throne was tenuous at best. His father was Edmund Tudor, a Welshman of Welsh royal lineage, but that was not too important as far as his claim to the English throne went. What was important though was his heritage through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of Edward III. This descent from King Edward was through his third son, John of Gaunt. John's third wife, Katherine Swynford had borne him several children as his mistress before he married her. The children born before the marriage were later legitmized, but barred from the succession. Margaret Beaufort was descended from one of the children born before the marriage of John and Katherine.

By 1485 the Wars of the Roses had been raging in England for many years between the Houses of York and Lancaster. The Lancastrian Henry later took for his bride Elizabeth of York thereby uniting the houses.

The real matter was decided on the battlefield, at the Battle of Bosworth Field. It was here that Henry and his forces met with Richard III and Henry won the crown. (see quotation above) It was truly through the defeat of Richard and the 'right of conquest' that Henry claimed the throne. It was solidified however, by his marriage to Elizabeth of York, the eldest child of the late king, Edward IV.

The main problem facing Henry was restoring faith and strength in the monarchy. He also had to deal with other claimants, with some of them having a far stronger claim than his own. To deal with this, Henry strengthened the government and his own power, at the expense of the nobles. Henry also had to deal with a treasury that was nearly bankrupt. The English monarchy had never been one of the wealthiest of Europe and even more so after the War of the Roses. Through his monetary strategy, Henry managed to steadily accumulate wealth during his reign, so that by the time he died, he left a considerable fortune to his son, Henry VIII.

It could be debated whether or not Henry VII was a great king, but he was clearly a successful king. He had several goals that he had accomplished by the end of his reign. He had established a new dynasty after 30 years of struggle, he had strengthened the judicial system as well as the treasury and had successfully denied all the other claimants to his throne. The monarchy that he left to his son was a fairly secure one and most definitely a wealthy one.

Henry had seven children by Elizabeth of York, four of whom survived infancy: Arthur, who died shortly after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon (a point of some importance during "The Divorce"), Henry, Margaret and Mary.