Tudor London Tudor London Henry Tudor, who seized the English throne as Henry VII in 1485, and married Elizabeth of York, put an end to the Wars of the Roses. Henry VII was a resolute and efficient monarch who centralised political power in the crown. He commissioned the celebrated "Henry VII Chapel" at Westminster Abbey, and continued the royal practice of borrowing funds from the City of London for his wars against the French. He repaid loans on their due dates, which was something of an innovation. Generally, however, he took little interest in enhancing London. Nonetheless, the comparative stability of the
House of Tudor of his son, Edward, in 1471, Henry became the person upon whom the Lancastrian cause rested. Concerned for his young nephew's life, Jasper Tudor took Henry to Brittany for safety. Lady Margaret remained in England and remarried, living quietly while advancing the Lancastrian (and her son's) cause. Capitalizing on the growing unpopularity of Richard III (King of England from 1483), she was able to forge an alliance with discontented Yorkists in support of her son. Two years after Richard III was crowned, Henry and Jasper sailed from the mouth of the Seine to the Milford Haven Waterway and defeated Richard