This statue of King Henry VII stands over the amazing wooden doors at the Great West entrance to Bath Abbey. Why this particular King? Because Bishop Oliver King (who had the dream to rebuild the church in 1499) served as the King's Secretary, that's why! See: (
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Of course, the King's statue is erected over his Royal Coat of Arms, surmounted with his crown.
Henry VII was the first King of the House of Tudor. Originally from the House of Lancaster, he defeated King Richard III (of the House of York) at the Battle of Bosworth Field.
From the Royal Family History website: (
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Name: King Henry VII
Born: January 28, 1457 at Pembroke Castle
Parents: Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, and Margaret Beaufort
Relation to Elizabeth II: 13th great-grandfather
House of: Tudor
Ascended to the throne: August 22, 1485 aged 28 years
Crowned: October 30, 1485 at Westminster Abbey
Married: Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV
Children: Three sons and four daughters. Only 4 of whom survived infancy; Arthur, Margaret, Henry and Mary
Died: April 21, 1509 at Richmond Palace, Surrey, aged 52 years, 2 months, and 21 days
Buried at: Westminster
Reigned for: 23 years, 7 months, and 28 days
Succeeded by: his son Henry VIII
Henry was the son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who died before Henry was born, and Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of Edward III through John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Although the Beaufort line, which was originally illegitimate, had been specifically excluded (1407) from all claim to the throne, the death of the imprisoned Henry VI (1471) made Henry Tudor head of the house of Lancaster. At this point, however, the Yorkist Edward IV had established himself securely on the throne, and Henry, who had been brought up in Wales, fled to Brittany for safety.
The death of Edward IV (1483) and accession of Richard III, left Henry the natural leader of the party opposing Richard, whose rule was very unpopular. Henry made an unsuccessful attempt to land in England during the abortive revolt (1483) of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. Thereafter he bided his time in France until 1485 when, aided by other English refugees, he landed in Wales. At the battle of Bosworth Field, Leicestershire, he defeated the royal forces of Richard, who was killed. Henry advanced to London, was crowned, and in 1486 fulfilled a promise made earlier to Yorkist dissidents to marry Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth of York. He thus united the houses of York and Lancaster, founding the Tudor royal dynasty.
Although Henry's accession marked the end of the Wars of the Roses, the early years of his reign were disturbed by Yorkist attempts to regain the throne. The first serious attempt, an uprising in favour of the imposter Lambert Simnel, was easily crushed (1487). In 1494, Henry sent Sir Edward Poynings to Ireland to consolidate English rule there. Poynings drove out of Ireland the Yorkist pretender Perkin Warbeck, who then sought support from the Scottish king, James IV. James attempted (1496) to invade England, but the next year, under pressure from Spain, he expelled Warbeck. The latter was defeated shortly thereafter in an attempted invasion of Cornwall. A truce (1497) between England and Scotland was followed by the marriage (1503) of Henry's daughter Margaret Tudor to James a marriage that led ultimately to the union of the monarchies of England and Scotland.
Henry succeeded in crushing the independence of the nobility by means of a policy of forced loans and fines. His chancellor, Cardinal Morton, was made responsible for the collection of these fines, and they were enforced by the privy councillors Empson and Dudley. Henry married his son Arthur to Catharine of Aragón, daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragón and Isabella of Castile, his daughter Margaret to James IV of Scotland, and his youngest daughter Mary to Louis XII of France. After Arthur died in 1502, an agreement was reached by which Catharine married Arthur's brother Henry (later Henry VIII)."
Henry VII's Royal coat of arms features 6 English lions and 6 French fleur-de-lis.