Changes to Governance at the Centre - Examples

Question 1

Control of the ‘dry stamp’ within the Privy Chamber

Answer 1

In the 1540s, the faction led by Edward Seymour, Earl Hertford, and John Dudley gained control of the dry stamp using members of their faction within the Privy Chamber, enabling them to make alterations to the king’s will in their favour in 1547, bringing them increased power and influence in government

Question 2

Example of the way in which the reformed Privy Council under Henry VIII after 1540 ensured there was no ‘chief minister’

Answer 2

The Duke of Norfolk, a member of the newly-formed Council, insisted that anyone wishing to conduct business with the Council should write to them as a group and not to an individual, meaning that no one person could wield the same power as Wolsey and Cromwell (the Lord Chancellors) had. This continued into the reigns of Edward and Mary

Question 3

Example of the reduction in members of the Privy Council - number of councilors under Henry VII and Henry VIII until 1536, and no. members following reform

Answer 3

The council of Henry VII had 227 members, while until 1536, the Council of Henry VIII had 120. From 1540, the membership of Henry VIII’s Council was reduced to 31 members in 1552, ad to 11 by 1579

Question 4

Reassertion of the Council’s importance under Edward VI

Answer 4

The Council was able to reassert itself from the influence of Edward Seymour, Earl of Somerset and Edward’s protector, who had bypassed the Council and made decisions through his own household. A rebellion in 1549 in the West Country and East Anglia saw the Earl of Warwick, a member of the Council lead an attack on Somerset, bringing him down. Northumberland, who replaced Somerset as Edward’s protector, was careful to go through the Council, reasserting its importance in Tudor government since 1540

Question 5

The men who shared the role of Secretary following Cromwell’s downfall, but who never held the same level of power

Answer 5

Thomas Wriothesely and Ralph Sadler

Question 6

The years between which William Cecil held the role of Secretary, reintroducing its influence once again in governance

Answer 6

William Cecil held the role of Secretary from 1558 until 1572

Question 7

An example of Secretary being a dangerous role under Elizabeth

Answer 7

Secretary William Davidson, who took the role in 1586, had the responsibility of keeping the death warrant of Catholic rival to the throne, Mary, Queen of Scots, which Elizabeth signed reluctantly and told Davidson was not to be sent. The Council decided the warrant should be sent anyway, and Mary was executed. When Elizabeth found out, she was furious, and Davidson was tried, imprisoned, and forced to pay 10,000 marks

Question 8

Early examples of under Henry VIII of the role that would later become that of the Lord Lieutenant

Answer 8

The first developments in extension of royal power into the localities and the improvement of military recruitment began in the reign of Henry VIII. In 1512 and 1545, Henry VIII gave commissions to members of the nobility to organise defense against the threat from France and Scotland, with whom England was at war. In 1536, he issued commissions to deal with the threat posed by the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion

Question 9

The more formal role of Lieutenant under Edward VI

Answer 9

In 1549, the Duke of Northumberland, acting as protector for Edward VI, appointed members of the nobility as Lieutenants to deal with the trouble caused by the serious rebellions of that year. Northumberland’s Lieutenants were expected to have both a policing and military role at local level

Question 10

The development to further formalise the post of Lieutenant under Mary I

Answer 10

An attempt was made to formalise the system due to the demand of war with France - Mary’s nobility found it very hard to muster troops, and her response was to divide the country into ten lieutenancies, each Lieutenant being responsible for the defense of their region and military recruitment. However, this was a temporary arrangement and did not continue once the threat of French invasion had diminished in 1558

Question 11

The development of Lord Lieutenant into an official role under Elizabeth I

Answer 11

Under Elizabeth I, the post became a permanent one, this time in response to war with Spain, which began in 1585 and lasted until 1604. Lord Lieutenants were appointed to each county, together with a deputy to help them in their work. Many of these appointments were for life because the war lasted so long. Initially, their work was the organisation of the war effort; they were responsible for the recruitment of the national militia. The commission given to the Lord Lieutenant was to organise the mustering of all available men to fight in the law; the Lieutenants also had to ensure that their armies were properly armed, trained, and disciplined. All local officials were expected to help and obey the Lord Lieutenants. The system was particularly effective because it harnessed the most powerful men in the country, the nobility, in the service of the Crown. Traditionally, the nobility had always seen themselves as defenders of their country; the Lord Lieutenant system reinforced this idea. However, the Lieutenants were directly answerable to the monarch; they were raising troops for a national army, not for their own ‘private’ armies, as had been the case before 1585. If they disobeyed orders, they could be punished. It was also very common for members of the Council to act as Lord Lieutenants as well. This enhanced the links between the central government and the localities, especially because it was the Council who ran the war effort on Elizabeth’s behalf. The Lord Lieutenants were able to gather information about local conditions, which meant that the system of recruitment and military organisation ran more smoothly

Question 12

The number of times parliament was called by Henry VII between during his reign

Answer 12

Henry summoned parliament seven times during his 24-year-old, sitting for a total of 72 weeks

Question 13

The number of times parliament met between 1509 and 1529 and the reason for these parliaments meeting

Answer 13

Parliament met only four times under Henry VIII between 1509 and 1529 for the purpose of granting taxation to fund Henry’s wars with France and Scotland

Question 14

What made parliament less willing to grant taxation by 1517? What did this lead to?

Answer 14

By 1517, most of the initial gains made by Henry had been lost, and as the burden of taxation increased, with little to show for it, parliament became less keen to grant increasing amounts of money. This was partly because as landowners, the MPs feared rebellion brought about by too much taxation. This led to a stubborn silence in 1523 when Wolsey attempted to exact the amount of taxation he wanted after a large amount of tax had already been raised, along with ‘loans’ which had not been paid back

Question 15

An example of Henry VII being prepared to override traditional Church privileges only in the case that they threatened his power as monarch

Answer 15

Henry was prepared to override traditional sanctuary laws to arrest Humphrey Stafford, who had plotted to rebel against him in 1486

Question 16

An example of the continued harmony between Church and state at the start of Henry VIII’s reign, reflecting his devotion to Catholicism

Answer 16

Henry VIII considered himself a devout Catholic, publishing ‘In Defense of the Seven Sacraments’ in 1521

Question 17

An example of doctrinal changes made by Cromwell in 1536 to the Church

Answer 17

Cromwell:
- passed the Act of Ten Articles (1536), the first attempt to define the doctrine of the new Church, mostly in line with the Catholic belief, but the Article of the Eucharist was deliberately ambiguous in its language, while the number of sacraments was decreased from seven to three
- Issued to sets of Injunctions (instructions) to the English clergy in 1536, discouraging practices that were see as superstitious by reformers, such as pilgrimage

Question 18

Evidence that Henry himself was not a reformer of the Church, despite his supremacy over the Church

Answer 18

In 1539, the Act of the Six Articles, was passed, which reinforced Catholic doctrines such as transubstantiation and celibacy for priests, as Henry himself was not a reformer. Following Cromwell’s execution in 1540, the king continued to move back toward a more Catholic doctrine with the publication of the 1543 King’s Book, which emphasised traditional practices such as masses for the dead

Question 19

Changes introduced to the Church under Edward VI

Answer 19

• 1549 Act of Uniformity introduced Thomas Cranmer’s English Book of Common Prayer and made its use compulsory in all Church services, leading to the serious rebellions of 1549
• By 1552, Cranmer’s more protestant B.C.P. was introduced, which replaced the Catholic stone altar with a wooden table and told the clergy to wear a plain surplice rather than the more decorated vestments of Catholicism. The book moved away from the Catholic idea of transubstantiation

Question 20

How did Elizabeth ensure her governorship would be accepted in the Act of Supremacy 1560?

Answer 20

In the Act of Supremacy 1560, an oath was to be sworn by the nobility to Elizabeth, ‘Supreme Governor’ of the Church of England, the penalty for not doing so being the loss of office

Question 21

Aspects of the Act of Uniformity that meant it faced problems in the Lords

Answer 21

The Act of Uniformity was too Protestant for some Catholic lords to accept, reinstating the more radical 1552 Prayer Book, making Church attendance compulsory, and adding ambiguity to the Eucharist doctrine. It narrowly passed the Lords by a vote of 21 to 18

Question 22

‘Prophesyings’ and the action taken by Elizabeth to suppress them

Answer 22

Some local groups of Puritans set up ‘prophesyings’, encouraging better education through Bible study and allowing clergy to practice preaching sermons. Elizabeth feared these as she worried about the spread of dangerous Puritan ideas as what was said could not be controlled, and she ordered the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund Grindal, to suppress the meetings. He was sympathetic to the Puritans and refused, and Elizabeth placed him under house arrest until 1577

Question 23

How did Elizabeth deal with the ‘vestments controversy’?

Answer 23

Elizabeth struggled to enforce the rules of vestments in her 1959 settlement, as Puritan clergy preferred a simpler form of dress and refused to follow the rules. Elizabeth ordered Matthew Parker, A.o.C, to enforce the rule in 1566, and he published the ‘Book of Advertisements’, which insisted upon the correct form of dress. 37 clergymen resigned, but the controversy was ended

Question 24

An example of the challenge to the settlement in Parliament and the way this was suppressed by Elizabeth

Answer 24

Further Puritan challenge came in Parliament - in 1587, Anthony Cope and Peter Wentworth attempted to remove the C. of E. structure based around the hierarchy of bishops and archbishops, with the queen as governor. Cope and Wentworth were sent to the Tower of London and Elizabeth ordered the speaker to block further discussion about the settlement

Question 25

Act Against Seditious Secretaries, 1593

Answer 25

Parliament, afraid of political instability and threats to the queen, passed the Act against Seditious Secretaries in 1593, ordering anyone who refused to attend Church of England services to leave the country. Any exiles who returned would be executed. The fact that parliament had to pass such an Act suggests the Tudor government was concerned about possible threats to the religious settlement. However, the decrease of Puritan activity in this period suggests that the Act was successful and that Elizabeth was ultimately able to sustain royal control over the Church and those who challenged it.