Breadth 2: Gaining cooperation of the localities - part 2

Question 1

What was the main central court and where was it based?

Answer 1

Court of kings bench - based in London. Prosecuted cases on behalf of the king and his laws

Question 2

How were JPs selected?

Answer 2

• Did not have to be a resident of the region
• Monarch inserted members of their court as JPs
• Had have land worth at leas £20 p/a
• Formed a quorum - group of jps present at meetings
• Some appointed because they were lawyers

Question 3

What did Jps do and how often were they appointed?

Answer 3

Annually for each county (aka the county bench)

• Kept law and order
• Could arrest potential suspects
• Could hear and decide on cases of felony and trespass
• Had to attend sessions 4X a year to perform their role (quarter sessions)

Question 4

How and why did Henry VII begin the extension of powers of JPs?

Answer 4

• He was a usurper so vulnerable to rebellions and needed law and order.
• Appointed trusted members of his court - eg Sir Thomas Lovell in Yorkshire and Sussex.
• Act of Parliament 1495 - allowed JPs to act on info recieved without waiting for jury to be summoned

Question 5

What attitudes did TW and TC have towards JPs in Henry VIII’s reign?

Answer 5

Expected them to enforce the reformations. Wanted to improve local justice. TW summoned JPs to hear a speach and fill in a 21Q questionnaire on law+order in their region.

Question 6

What roles did JPs take in Edward’s reign?

Answer 6

Social disorder - key fear e.g 1549 rebllion, 1549 JPs took an inventory of parish goods in order to expose those who had illegally taken them and then prosecuted them

1552 parliament laid down an act that all alehouses had to be licensed by JPs + enforced Edwards religious changes

1552 - ordered to enforce the second prayer book

Question 7

What roles did JPs take in Mary’s reign?

Answer 7

n/a

Question 8

How had the role of JPs grown by Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 8

average size of county bench grew from 25 under Wolsey to 40-50 by Liz. No. of JPs per country ranged from 40-90 by 1603. Cecil noticed people became JPs for political and social advancements

• William Cecil, as a result, had to keep an close eye on the membership of the benches, but reliant on report of royal judges who only visited the counties 2x a year

Question 9

What impact did the growth of JPs throughout the period have?

Answer 9

• increased corruption in local gov

- JPs being key to political advancement

Question 10

What was the role of Lieutenants in the 1580s?

Answer 10

1585 LLs appointed to county benches, had many responsibilities but could not oversee everything, deputy Ls appointed to help, e.g DLs recruited army for Spanish war

Question 11

What new responsibilities had JPs taken on?

Answer 11

BY 1603 - 309 Acts of Parliament which placed more responsibility on JPs.

• Power to deal with felonies by 1603 - riots, damage to property, minor offenses
• Administered poor law
• Collected subsidies

Question 12

What was the monarch supposed to do in theory in terms of finance?

Answer 12

Supposed to be financially independent - ‘to live of his own’. Had 2 main sources of income - ordinary revenue - royal lands and extraordinary revenue - tax

Question 13

What made a monarch’s financial situation worse?

Answer 13

• Henry VIII’s high expenditure - spent over £100,000 on building Hampton Court and Whitehall
• Royal Household in 1550s costed £75,000 p.a

Question 14

What problems did demanding taxation cause?

Answer 14

• Unrest - especially if high tax for long periods of time or coincided with social and economic problems
• e.g 1489+1497 rebellions in Henry VII caused by tax
• Pilgrimage of grace had demands about tax

Question 15

What was the medieval method of raising tax?

Answer 15

Fixed amount since 1334. Boroughs paid tax - 1/10 of the value of goods, countryside paid 1/15. Each 15th and 10th expected to yield £29,500. No assessment

Question 16

Why could the medieval method of raising tax cause problems?

Answer 16

Out of date, paid levels of tax set 150 years before. Didn’t account for population changes or other socioeconomic changes. Meant if inflation rose, tax couldn’t meet needs.

Question 17

Why were 10ths and 15ths seen as unfair?

Answer 17

Each community paid a fixed sum rather than based on individual wealth. Towns paid more than countryside. Towns becoming depopulated, increasing wealth in countryside due to cloth and wool trade growing.

Question 18

How did Henry VII introduce a new tax system?

Answer 18

Experimented by asking for 2 10ths and 2 15ths, also tried getting tax by assessing individual wealth, it yieled an extra £80,000 and was used again in 1504

Question 19

Why was the new subsidy system necessary?

Answer 19

Needed new tax system due to war with France. Foreign war very costly, 1509+1520 gov spend £1 million on the war effort but only got £25,000 rev that wasn’t tax

Question 20

What changes did the subsidy system introduced by TW make?

Answer 20

1513 - Flexible, each individual assessed on their income from different possible sources of wealth. Only had to pay tax from one source, the one they were richest in

Question 21

Why was the new tax system better?

Answer 21

Meant that a poor farmworker who was reliant on wages and owned no land or property would pay less than a member of the gentry, reduced resentment

Question 22

How were the nobility assessed on the new tax system?

Answer 22

Based on their rank, paid more if from a higher rank, local officials assessed wealth, repeated by TW in 1514, 1515 and 1523 because it was successful

Question 23

What is an example of the success of the new subsidy system?

Answer 23

1513-1523 TW raised £322,099 through subsidy but in 1512-1517 only £117,936 on old system

Question 24

How did Cromwell develop the subsidy system even further?

Answer 24

1534 TC wanted a subsidy to fund gov during peacetime. Justified it on the grounds that Henry had ruled GB successfully for 25yrs. Thought he would be supported.

Question 25

What evidence is there that despite the significance of the new subsidy in 1513, its effectiveness was not sustained?

Answer 25

Despite the POG - Further requests for subsidies in peacetime -were seen 1540, 1543, 1553 and 1555.
By the start of Liz’s reign parliament was granting subsides in peacetime which yielded £140,000 yielded each time but by end of reign only £80,000 due to resistance

Question 26

What was the problem with raising the subsidy?

Answer 26

Demands of war = resentment (1512-1529). Little to show for tax, parliament reluctant. 1523 parliament refused a grant of £800,000 but agreed to pay installments.

Question 27

What was TW forced to do in 1525 after parliament refused his grant of taxation?

Answer 27

Imposed non parliamentary tax - amicable grant, provoked mass resistance in East Anglia - 10,000 men protested in Suffolk. Forced to cancel grant.

Question 28

What problems did Elizabeth face with the use of the subsidy and how did she deal with taxation?

Answer 28

Caused by her desire to have political stability, permitted the tax rates to be fixed, 4 shillings for every pound of land, 2 shillings and 8p for every pound of goods. Ignored inflation. Gov income fell. 1563 no oath so corruption.

Question 29

What problems did Elizabeth’s method of raising tax cause?

Answer 29

• Most taxpayers lied about income
• Wealthy could evade tax e.g WC had income of £4000 p/a but claimed to have approx £133
• Local record keeping was poor - people died
• Elizabeth forced to ask for more subsidies

Question 30

What is an example of local record keeping being poor in Elizabeth’s reign regarding taxation?

Answer 30

1523 Suffolk had 17,000 taxpayers but only 7700 by 1566.

Question 31

What is an example of Elizabeth asking for more taxation due to her method being insufficient?

Answer 31

1601 granted - 4 subsidies and 8 10ths and 15ths

- Exploited royal prerogative to fund wars

Question 32

Why could the tax system in Elizabeth’s reign be seen to be effective?

Answer 32

No popular tax rebellion like Henry VII in 1489 and 1497. But partly due to control of localities.

Question 33

What purpose did Royal Progress have?

Answer 33

• Enhanced respect and obdiene to monarch in localities
• Put a face to the name, reminded of military power
• Journeys made by monarch and their court to regions of England that were outside London, sustained contact
• A way of showing prestige, wealth and power
• Restless population could be subdued by seeing ruler

Question 34

Why did Henry VII go on progress so much?

Answer 34

• Extended progress to the Midlands and the North - felt they faced the greatest challenge to his rule
• Also had a military purpose - dealt with rebellions himself in 1489 and 1497
• Seeing army encouraged obedience

Question 35

How often did Henry VIII go on progress and where?

Answer 35

• Not very often - too old and ill to travel. Only really went to escape smells and disease of london
• Often went to Hampton Court or Richmond Palace or to Essex, neglected North - reflected in 1536 rebel demands
• Went with 1000 people, visits to rest of England limited
• 1535 visited Gloucestershire, Bristol channel and Southampton

Question 36

Why did Edward and Mary progress less often?

Answer 36

• Edwards youth

- Mary’s ill health

Question 37

Why did Elizabeth use progress more often?

Answer 37

• Went every summer, did it to save money as she stayed at nobility’s house so they had to pay
• Majority of her travels in South, East and Midlands
• Longest progress North were to Staffordshire, Lincolnshire and West - Bristol and Gloucester

Question 38

Where did Elizabeth travel in the 1560s?

Answer 38

• 1560 and 1569 she visited Hampshire
• 1572 went Midlands
• 1578 went East Anglia
• Visited homes of Robert Dudley and Willaim Cecil the most