ABSTRACT
The work on Henry VII has thrown important new light on some of the central issues of the man and his reign, but much of it has been more effective at clarifying and refining key questions than at definitively answering them. News that Henry’s forces were advancing towards them disheartened Warbeck’s followers, and as they deserted him he was left with no alternative but to surrender and throw himself on the King’s mercy. There was little indication under Henry VII, any more than there had been under Edward IV, of a deliberate policy to exclude members of the aristocracy from the royal administration. No outline of late Yorkist and early Tudor administration would be complete that left out the personality of the monarch. The distinction between Chamber and Exchequer was one of institutions, not personnel, for administrators who were skilled in financial matters were in short supply and they would move between departments.
