The Life of Henry VII - Softcover

Bernard André, the author of “The Life of Henry the Seventh,” was born about 1450. He was a native of Toulouse and earned a doctorate in canon and civil law. At some early date he joined the Augustinian friars. He also prized the humanist currents coming from Italy, and from his writings we can tell that he had carefully read the Latin classics, must have memorized large tracts of classical literature, and also managed to stay abreast of the most recent humanist scholarship. And he did all this despite suffering from some form of poor eyesight or blindness. He achieved fame in his own day primarily as a poet. Some of his contemporaries, Erasmus included, praised him for his eloquence and learning. André came to the attention of Henry Tudor during Henry’s exile in Brittany or in France (1471–85). Following Henry’s victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field in August 1485, André greeted him in London by reciting Latin verses. By November 1486 he was being styled one of Henry VII’s poets laureate. That same year Henry granted him an annuity, and by the late 1490S André was receiving a large annual pension and further monetary gifts from the king. André's great coup was to land the position of royal tutor to Prince Arthur in 1496, which brought him into the inner circle at court. During these years he also wrote various pedagogical works for the prince, few of which survive. André probably began working on the “Life of Henry the Seventh” some time after 22 August 1500. Prince Arthur’s sudden death on 2 April 1502 threw the Tudor court into turmoil and devastated André, and he soon abandoned the royal biography. We then have two of his yearly annals for the years 1504–5 and 1507–8, and we know that he also wrote a history of Henry VIII, now lost. Following Henry VII’s death in 1509, André faded from court, though he continued to win patronage from Henry VIII. He was still making presentations of his works in 1521 or 1522, and he is presumed to have died around that year.