History of the Reign of King Henry VII

History of the Reign of King Henry VII is a 1622 work by the English writer Francis Bacon. It charts the reign of the first Tudor monarch Henry VII who took the throne from his rival Richard III in 1485. At the time of writing Bacon had recently fallen from political power, and completed the work in late 1621 and sent a copy to James I. It was published the following year.[1]

The book remains his only completed work of history.[2] At the request of Charles, Prince of Wales he began work on a follow-up account of the reign of Henry VIII, but only completed a brief introduction.[3]

Bacon's portrayal of Henry was extremely influential for the following three centuries.[4]

Background

History of the Reign of King Henry VII was written by Bacon during his exile, over a period of 5 months in 1621. Written during the Renaissance literary and political period, History reflects Bacon's purpose of using his work to instruct his audience on the proper way in which kings should handle their kingdoms and policies.[5]

References
  1. Peltonen p.235
  2. Peltonen p.12
  3. Peltonen p.235
  4. Chrimes p.xi
  5. Bacon, F. (1998). Introduction. In B. Vickers (Ed.), Bacon: The History of the Reign of King Henry VII and Selected Works (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, pp. Xi-Xxxv). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139171212.002

Bibliography
  • Markku Peltonen. The Cambridge Companion to Bacon. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
  • Stanley Bertram Chrimes. Henry VII. University of California Press, 1972.


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