[1] This centralization allowed for an era of worldwide colonization and conquest in the 16th century, and paved the way for rapid economic growth in Europe.
People began taking bigger risks and forming partnerships, enabling large sums of money to be invested.
People became wealthier, resulting in a greater consumption of goods and luxuries, making merchants and traders wealthy.
In the early 15th century there was political fragmentation, as some countries were not unified and there were many separate rulers governing small areas.
[citation needed] The rulers of England and France both had to weaken their rivals, the church and nobility, in order to centralise power to the crown.
Henry then ascended to the throne after the Battle of Bosworth Field, and unified the two warring houses in his marriage to Elizabeth of York, thereby weakening the potential for opposition from the strongest noble families on both sides of the conflict, and making it much easier to centralise power away from the nobility.
Moreover, so many nobles had died during the Wars of the Roses that Henry VII came to the throne with a total of 73 peers in England, and a further 16 in Ireland, so there was a lack of power among the wider nobility to challenge his rule even if they had wanted to.
France needed more capital than England because of its permanent army of 15,000 soldiers, which cost half of the king's revenue.
[citation needed] Furthermore, he sold monopolies, which fetched large sums because those in possession could sell their products at any price, without fear of competition.
Additionally the strength formed during England's New Monarchies helped withstand the fragile reigns of Edward and Mary, who followed after Henry VIII.