A local legend later developed that—on account of John Clifford having killed one of the House of York's royal princes in battle, and the new Yorkist King Edward IV seeking revenge—Henry was spirited away by his mother.

More recently, historians have questioned this narrative, noting that for a supposedly ill-educated man, he was signing charters only a few years after his father's death, and that in any case, Clifford was officially pardoned by King Edward in 1472.

Henry's victory meant that he needed men to control the North of England for him, and Clifford's career as a loyal Tudor servant began.

Generally, however, royal service was extremely profitable for him: King Henry needed trustworthy men in the region and was willing to build up their authority in order to protect his own.

Although Clifford's later years were devoted to service in the north and fighting the Scots (he took part in the decisive English victory at Flodden in 1513) he fell out with the King on numerous occasions.

[4] By the time of Clifford's birth, the King, Henry VI, was politically weak and occasionally incapacitated, which prevented him from ruling effectively.

By 1461 a number of battles had been fought between nobles loyal to the Lancastrian King and those of the Yorkists, led by Richard, Duke of York, who had claimed the throne in 1460.

John, Lord Clifford, crying "by God's blood, thy father slew mine and so shall I slay thee", stabbed Rutland to death.

[20] Lady Anne was, she says, "keen to emphasise the role of women in the survival of the Clifford dynasty", and as such created a "dramatic narrative" in which Margaret deliberately defies the crown for the sake of her dead husband's heir.

Anne clearly believed that King Edward sought revenge for the murder of his younger brother, which put young Clifford's life in danger.

[20][note 3] Malay suggests that, while Anne Clifford believed the story of the shepherd's family taking her ancestor in, modern historians generally discount it as folklore, to greater or lesser degrees.

[20] It has received some traction; the 19th-century genealogist George Edward Cokayne accepted the story of Clifford's being "(for security against the disfavour with which his family was viewed by the reigning house) concealed by his mother" and raised as a shepherd,[19] as did the antiquarian J. W. Clay in a 1905 article for the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal.

[38] The Earl of Warwick—now aligned with the House of Lancaster against Edward—was in charge of the government,[1] and his brother, John, Marquess Montagu, was granted the Henry Clifford's wardship during his minority.

"[45] Clifford had been one of a number of stalwart[46] Lancastrian lords excluded from local power in the region during Gloucester's hegemony, first as Duke and then King.

He sent the earls to London under arrest and received into the King's grace those who wished to make peace with the new regime ("for all", notes A. J. Pollard, "but a number of named men").

[50] Summerson suggests that Henry had little choice in restoring Clifford to his traditional regional position, as Northern England had been firmly Yorkist for over 20 years, first under the Nevilles and then under Gloucester.

During the Yorkist rebellion of 1487, which attempted to place Lambert Simnel on the throne (as a pretender for Edward IV's second son, Richard of Shrewsbury) Clifford was responsible for guarding the city.

[62] He camped in Tadcaster overnight,[61] where word was brought to him that a small force of rebels, led by Lords Scrope of Masham and of Bolton[63] had launched an assault on Bootham Bar.

[37][61] The city scribes "laconically recorded the disastrous outcome", writes Anthony Goodman, and emphasised how the King's man in the north "had signally failed" to contain the rising.

Summerson highlights Clifford's declaration in 1486 to the Mayor and Common Council that he intended "to mynistre as myn auncistres haith done here to fore in all thinges that accordith to my dewtie".

In 1518, for example, the Dean of York, Brian Higton wrote to Clifford explaining why he had refused to accept Clifford's favoured nominee as parish priest of Conisbrough Church:Where ye dide of laite presente your clerk unto the church of Conesburgh of your patronege, surely I cane nott (of my conscience) admytte hym to itt, fore his connyng is mervyllus slendure.

[19] Shortly after, Dudley—by then imprisoned in the Tower of London on charges of constructive treason—petitioned Henry VIII over what he believed were grave injustices carried out by the King's father against members of his nobility, including Clifford.

According to Cokayne—possibly citing an unnamed contemporary—Clifford "seldom 'came to court, or London'", spending much of his time in Barden Tower, Bolton,[19] from where most of his extant charters and letters are signed.

[119] In 1511, Clifford complained that young Henry was both wild and a wastrel, who dressed flamboyantly in cloth of gold, "more lyk a duke than a pore baron's sonne as hee is".

[120] Summerson suggests that Clifford was to a degree culpable for his son's behaviour, considering that if he "had ideas above his station, the responsibility was largely his father's, who not only placed him at court but also set about marrying him into the high aristocracy".

[1] It is also probable, suggests Dickens, that Clifford's own frugality towards his son's expenses encouraged his heir's behaviour,[120] perhaps combined with irritation at his father's longevity.

[1] Furthermore, Dickens asserts, young Henry's sojourn at court forced a great distance between him and his father, which prevented him from learning at first-hand the responsibilities he would at some point be expected to take up in the north.

In 1512 young Henry married Margaret Percy, daughter of the Earl of Northumberland,[1][note 25] which further augmented the Clifford family's wealth and influence in the northeast.

[41] Wordsworth depicts various aspects of Clifford's life: the loss of his estates in 1461, his rustic upbringing—and the role his father-in-law, Sir Lancelot Threlkeld played—his post-Bosworth revival and his castle building.

[134] Charlotte Mary Yonge compares Clifford in his shepherd hut to the roaming of the deposed King Henry VI—now supposedly a hermit—around the north, and casts them together: "both are in hiding: each is content with his lot.