Changes made to the structure and function of the Household, 1485 - 1603

Question 1

Why did the Privy Chamber grow in importance under Henry VII?

Answer 1

Increasingly feared betrayal from those he trusted and the Chamber was used to restrict access to the monarch

Question 2

What did Henry Tudor create for the Household?

Answer 2

Yeomen of the Guard

Question 3

Yeomen of the Guard:

Answer 3

Acted as his personal bodyguards and guarded the entrance to his private rooms

Question 4

What did Henry use the Chamber to store?

Answer 4

Royal income, which he monitored personally

Question 5

Advantage of the Chamber finance:

Answer 5

Henry always had access to ready money

Question 6

Disadvantage of the Chamber finance:

Answer 6

Reliant on the monarchs ability and interest in controlling royal income

Question 7

Chamber finance after Henry VII:

Answer 7

Following Tudor monarchs did not have the time or inclination to follow this system and the use of Chamber finance lapsed

Question 8

Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber:

Answer 8

The Chamber’s staff

Question 9

The most important role in the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber:

Answer 9

Groom of the Stool

Question 10

Groom of the Stool:

Answer 10

In charge of the royal commode or toilet

Question 11

Under Henry VII, who were members of the Chamber filled by?

Answer 11

Henry’s most trusted friends, who were usually men from the nobility or gentry

Question 12

Why had member of the chamber also acted as advisers of Henry and often also employed in more ‘formal’ areas of government?

Answer 12

Because of their daily intimate and physical contact with Henry

Question 13

Between 1520 and 1525, where were Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber sent?

Answer 13

On diplomatic missions to France and on a military expedition against the Scots

Question 14

Dry stamp:

Answer 14

Stamp made of the monarch’s signature

Question 15

How did possession of the Dry stamp give the holder considerable power? (2)

Answer 15

• Control over aspects of government such as grants of land, offices and titles
• Always aware of what is going on

Question 16

Who led the faction in 1540?

Answer 16

Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford and John Dudley

Question 17

What did the 1540 faction achieve?

Answer 17

Gained control of the stamp which enabled them to make alterations to the king’s will in their favour in 1547, which bought them increase power and influence in government

Question 18

Role of the Privy Chamber under Mary and Elizabeth

Answer 18

Filled with more women rather than men as it required close, physical contact with the monarch

Question 19

Mary’s dry stamp:

Answer 19

Kept under lock and key and never to have allowed its use by her administrators

Question 20

Why didn’t the Chamber lose political importance entirely under Mary?

Answer 20

Mary’s female attendants were her former servants who had Catholic sympathies and were married to male members of Mary’s Household

Question 21

Members of Mary’s Chamber: (2)

Answer 21

• Frances Waldegrave
• Frances Jerningham

Question 22

Why did the Chamber continue to decline in political importance?

Answer 22

Reforms carried out in 1559 meant that members of her Household were also members of the Council. Therefore major decisions were determined through the formal channels of her Council, rather than through the informal route of the Chamber

Question 23

The role of the Royal Council: (2)

Answer 23

• More formal body to advise the monarch
• Day-to-day running of the country and could act as a judicial court when there were high-profile legal cases which could not be solved through the normal courts of law

Question 24

Who chose the members of the Council

Answer 24

The Monarch

Question 25

Role of the Royal Council under Henry VII:

Answer 25

Larger, more informal body than under Henry VIII

Question 26

How many men attended Council meetings between 1485 and 1509?

Answer 26

Over 200 men

Question 27

Who was included in Henry’s Royal Council: (2)

Answer 27

• 22 men who had served Edward IV
• 20 men who had served Richard III

Question 28

Why was the Royal Council crucial to Henry in securing the throne?

Answer 28

Henry was an usurper, with no experience of government and who had lived most of his life in exile, and so such men were important to establish and secure his position on the throne

Question 29

John Morton:

Answer 29

Served a long and distinguished career in the Royal Council

Question 30

Royal Council importance on the mood of the country:

Answer 30

Important in gathering opinion about popular opinion and the moos of the country to advise him on the best policy to ensue

Question 31

Great Councils:

Answer 31

Special gatherings of all members of the nobility and his councillors, mostly on war and taxation

Question 32

How many Great Council meetings did Henry VII hold between 1487 and 1502;

Answer 32

5

Question 33

How did Henry manipulate the use of these Great Council meetings?

Answer 33

It made it seem as if he were including all the nobility in his decisions, though in fact he had already made up his mind on what to do

Question 34

How did Henry VII use the Great Council meeting on ending the invasion of France?

Answer 34

In 1492, when he wanted to end his invasion of France, he made sure that he consulted all the nobility and made them sign a contract agreeing to retreat

Question 35

When Henry VIII came into power, how was the Royal council left? (2)

Answer 35

• Help the 18 year old Henry to govern
• Made up of experienced administrators, such as the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Warham and the Bishop of Winchester, Richard Fox.

Question 36

What policy of Henry VII did William Warham and Richard Fox support that conflicted with Henry VIII’s policy?

Answer 36

Not engaging in expensive foreign was

Question 37

Who were William Warham and Richard Fox replaces by and why?

Answer 37

Thomas Wolsey as he was able to give Henry what he wanted - war

Question 38

Thomas Wolsey:

Answer 38

First of the king’s chief ministers and was responsible for undertaking much of the day-to-day running of government in which Henry had no interest

Question 39

Members of the Royal Council under Wolsey:

Answer 39

40 members whom would not attend on a regular basis

Question 40

What did Wolsey plan to put forward in 1526?

Answer 40

Eltham Ordinances - to reduce the number of men in the Royal Council to 20 men who would meet daily

Question 41

When was the Privy Council created?

Answer 41

1540