2009/07/27 by Steven Gunn · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Scottish History and National Identity #Historical Economic and Social Studies #American Constitutional Law and Politics
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.2009.00492.x
openalex publication_date 2009/07/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Historians have repeatedly compared Henry VII with his continental contemporaries, Louis XI of France and Ferdinand of Aragon. Around 1600 the writers of politic history emphasized Henry's wisdom in drawing lessons in statecraft from his fellow monarchs. By 1900 analysts of the ‘New Monarchy’ placed more stress on the common circumstances that underlay the revival of monarchical power, but thereby raised awkward questions about similarities and differences in the development of national states. Latterly a model of European state formation has been constructed which sets Henry's kingship less comfortably alongside those of Louis and Ferdinand. This should lead us not to abandon, but to reshape the attempt to set Henry in his European context.