Henry VII of England, the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty, was born on 28 January 1457 to Margaret Beaufort and Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond. He spent much of his early life in exile in Brittany, owing to the Wars of the Roses, which pitted the Lancastrian side of his family against the Yorkists. It was a tumultuous time, with shifting allegiances and precarious safety for claimants to the throne.

Seizing an opportunity, Henry returned to England and defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. This victory not only ended the Wars of the Roses but also established Henry VII as the new king of England. As a consolidating move, he married Elizabeth of York, uniting the feuding houses of Lancaster and York and effectively cementing his claim to the throne.

Henry's reign was marked by his determined efforts to restore the powers and stability of the English monarchy. After the chaotic Wars of the Roses, Henry implemented policies to ensure a strong centralized government and fiscal health for the kingdom. He was renowned for his financial acumen, creating mechanisms like the Court of Star Chamber to control the nobility and enhance royal coffers.

While his reign witnessed several rebellions, such as the Simnel and Warbeck rebellions which revolved around pretenders to the throne, Henry's decisive actions ensured that none posed a significant threat to his rule. His relationship with the governing class was complex; he reduced their power to ensure the monarchy's dominance, resulting in grumblings among the nobility. With Parliament, Henry had a generally collaborative relationship, mainly because he used it judiciously to sanction his fiscal policies.

In terms of foreign relations, Henry aimed for peace and stability. He signed treaties with several European powers, including the Treaty of Redon with Brittany and the Treaty of Medina del Campo with Spain, which also agreed to the marriage of his son Arthur to Catherine of Aragon. This policy of using marital alliances to cement foreign relations became a hallmark of the Tudor dynasty.

Henry and Elizabeth had four children who survived infancy: Arthur, Henry (who would later become Henry VIII), Margaret, and Mary. His relations with them seemed to be of affection, but they were also inherently political, as royal families were in that era.

His death on 21 April 1509 marked the end of an era that saw the transition from medieval to early modern England. At his death, the kingdom was stable, prosperous, and positioned for the larger-than-life reign of his son, Henry VIII. The English people, by and large, felt a sense of stability at the time of his death, even if Henry VII's methods had sometimes been unpalatable. The treasury was full, and the specter of civil war had been laid to rest.

Culturally, Henry VII's reign saw the early stirrings of the Renaissance in England, with the flourishing of arts, architecture, and humanist thought. The establishment of his dynasty also indirectly paved the way for monumental shifts in religious, political, and cultural life in England, including the English Reformation under his son and successor.