A descendant of a daughter of John of Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster, he was thus a contender for the English throne on the Lancastrian side. In 1465 he slew Richard III, the reigning Yorkist monarch, at the Battle of Bosworth Field and succeeded to the throne. He was a shrewd and able administrator, much given to thrift and even miserliness. His eldest son, Arthur, was betrothed to Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of the Spanish Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. Arthur died before his father, and Henry, unwilling to return the huge royal dowry, betrothed his second son, Henry, to Catherine. It was during his reign that the ‘New Learning’ of the Renaissance began to impact upon England.