Henry VII

Henry VII is named as the ruler in whom the houses of York and Lancaster were united, ending a dynastic struggle that Thomas Paine presents as evidence against hereditary succession. He appears not as a developed individual portrait but as the endpoint of a historical argument: the conflict persisted across generations, and its eventual resolution came through the union of the rival families.

Place in the Dynastic Conflict

Paine traces the contest between York and Lancaster to the reign of Henry VI and describes a succession of reversals involving Henry VI and Edward IV. The two rivals each experienced captivity, and the balance of power shifted sharply: Henry was carried from prison to the palace, while Edward fled from the palace abroad. Henry was later driven from the throne, and Edward recalled to succeed him; Parliament, Paine says, followed whichever side was strongest.

Accession and Settlement

The conflict was not fully extinguished until Henry VII, through whom the two families were united. Paine dates the period of instability from 1422 to 1489, a span of 67 years. Henry’s significance in this account is therefore chiefly dynastic and political: his reign marks the settlement of a struggle that had outlasted successive changes in power.

Historical and Political Significance

Paine uses the episode to challenge the claim that hereditary succession preserves a nation from civil war. He contrasts that promise with the English record, which he describes as including eight civil wars and nineteen rebellions since the conquest. The York–Lancaster contest supplies a concentrated example of the contradiction: succession did not prevent conflict over monarchy but furnished its grounds, and its eventual end under Henry VII does not erase the decades of instability that preceded it.