André's Life of Henry VII Published

We’re happy to announce that Daniel Hobbins’ translation of Bernard André’s The Life of Henry VII has now been published in both paperback and hardcover. The e-book edition will soon be available too.

Composed between 1500 and 1502, The Life of Henry VII is the first official Tudor account of the triumph of Henry VII over Richard III. Its author was a poet and historian at the court of Henry VII and tutor to the young Prince Arthur; and André’s account reflects the impact of new humanist models on English historiography.

Although cast as a biography, the work dramatizes the dynastic shift that resulted from Henry Tudor’s seizure of the English throne at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 and the death of Richard III. It is the first extended argument for Henry’s legitimate claims to the English crown.

The Life of Henry VII occupies an important place in the literary tradition of treatments of Richard III, begun by André, continued by Thomas More and Polydore Vergil, and reaching its classic expression in Shakespeare.