"Shadow of the Tower" Personal Review & The Henry's

*At the very bottom of this post are the historic events of 1/28/1547 (Henry VII Born & Henry VIII died)

Personal Review of "the Shadow of the Tower"

I blogged about the series, "The Shadow of the Tower" on Tuesday 1/26/12.  In this post, I am simply going to write my own personal review/opinion of the series.  The BBC Series overall was very good.  It was not as entertaining as "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" or "Elizabeth R", but I DEFINITELY recommend watching it. 
For the most part, Henry VII is underrated.  His Son, Henry VIII, and Granddaughter Elizabeth I outshine his reign enormously.
Let's not forget, without Henry VII, there is no Tudor Dynasty.  As my last blog illustrated, Henry VII emerges victorious over King Richard III at the battle of Bosworth Field. 
After defeating Richard III, Henry VII becomes King and marries Elizabeth of York.  By Henry VII becoming King of England and marrying Elizabeth of York, the War of the Roses ended and England was finally united.  By no means, am I suggesting that things were perfect under King Henry VII.  There were always politics and those that wanted revenge after Richard III (a Plantagenet) was defeated.  However, Henry VII was no fool - how else would he have become and remained King until his death.   After he died, Henry VIII became king and the Tudors ruled England from 1485 (when Henry VII became King) - 1603 (Elizabeth I died). 

Characteristics of King Henry VII based on the series:
ambtitous
assertive
caring
cautious
curious
considerate
clever/intelligent
dry
faithful
loyal
manipulative
reserved
serious
sincere with his beliefs
spiteful
thoughtful

Henry VII believed:
no one was above the law
there should be no private armies - only armies belonging to England
executing enemies illustrated a sign of weakness

The episodes that caught my attention:
Episode 5, The Serpent and the Comforter, is an extremely powerful episode.  Must see for yourself.
Episode 7, in my opinion was very boring.  Sorry, not everything is perfect!
Episodes 10-12 are interesting as it deals with overthrowing Henry and putting someone else on the throne to continue the Plantagenet dynasty.  These three episodes (10-12), in particular, illustrate how Henry VII handled matters under pressure. 
Episode 11, we learn that the people do not love Henry VII but respect him.  Henry VII is fine with this.
Episode 13, when King Henry VII & Queen Elizabeth of York discover that their first son, Arthur passed, it was very hard for them both to cope with.  Elizabeth of York, oddly enough, was very strong during Arthur's death and helped Henry VII mourning his first Son.

As I wrote in the beginning of this post, "The Shadow of the Tower" is a very good movie and is a MUST SEE.  It demonstrates how the Tudor Dynasty started and especially illustrates Henry VII character.  It was invigorating watching a movie all about Henry VII. 

The characteristics of Henry VII and his Son Henry VIII are very different.  If you review the above characteristics of Henry VII, a lot of those are not characteristics of Henry VIII.  I shall not point them out exactly.  I'll allow you to make your own judgment.  Feel free to post your opinion about this matter or any other matter involved in this post. 

You can watch "The Shadow of the Tower" on my YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLED69416947C769D1&feature=plcp

On 1/28/1547, very important historic events occurred:

1) King Henry VII was born  (In honor of his birth, I wrote the above blog)

Henry VII

2) King Henry VIII died (In honor of his death, here are 2 YouTube videos)

Please feel free to share your opinions and comments!