Chapter 2: Henrys Government

Question 1

How did the king rule ?

Answer 1

• ruled with a ‘council’ of advisers who supported him in making key decisions
• around 227 men are recorded as having attended the Council during his reign
• however, the working Council had around 6 or 7 members

Question 2

What was the councils three main functions under HVII ?

Answer 2

• to advise the king
• to administer the realm on the kings behalf
• to make legal judgements

Question 3

What were the three main types of councillor ?

Answer 3

1. members of the nobility eg. Lords Daubeney and Dynham, thought the working council rarely included the great magnates of the realm
2. churchmen eg. John Morton and Richard Fox, often had legal training and were excellent administrators
3. Laymen (either gentry or lawyers), who were skilled administrators eg. Sir Reginald Bray and Edmund Dudley

Question 4

How did HVII’s council show continuity ?

Answer 4

• the dependance on lawyers did not begin with HVII, they had also played a significant role in the ‘second reign’ of Edward IV from 1471, so Henry was continuing a trend which had become increasingly evident

Question 5

Who was Sir Reginald Bray ?

Answer 5

• Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (significant body of property which belonged to the king) and a faithful servant to Henry
• led the Council Learned in the Law
• helped Henry raise funds before his Battle of Bosworth

Question 6

Who was John Morton ?

Answer 6

• highly valuable churchman and lawyers
• became the Bishop of Ely under Edward IV
• worked against Richard III and was promoted for his services by Henry to Archbishop of Canterbury in 1486 + became cardinal in 1493

Question 7

What was the Great Council ?

Answer 7

• meetings of noblemen, called by the king to discuss high matters of state, usually in moments of emergency when the calling of parliament would have taken too long (gathering of the House of Lords w/o the House of Commons)
• also a useful form of control for the king as they were a way of gaining agreement and support of his most important subjects for a potentially controversial policy
• ❗️only met 5 times during HVII’s reign

Question 8

When were the five meetings of the Great Council ?

Answer 8

• 1485: for the calling of Parliament and the announcement of Henry’s marriage
• 1487: in response to Lambert Simnel’s threat
• 1488: to authorise a subsidy for the campaign in Brittany
• 1491: to authorise war against France
• 1496: to grant a loan of £120,000 for war in Scotland

Question 9

What was the main reason for the Great Council to meet ?

Answer 9

• concerned itself with issues relating to war or rebellion and was a means of binding the nobility to key decisions relating to national security

Question 10

When and why was the Council Learned established ?

Answer 10

• Sir Reginald Bray introduced it in 1495 (second half of the reign) to defend Henry’s position as a feudal landlord, maintain the King’s revenue and exploit his prerogative rights

Question 11

What was the role of the Council Learned ?

Answer 11

• dealt with the king’s fiscal matters and enforced payments of debts ➡️ proved to be more efficient than the Exchequer
• a secondary department to the Star Chamber but it was the Council Learned made the system of bonds and recognisances work so effectively

Question 12

How did the Council Learned fail after Bray’s death ?

Answer 12

• took over by Edmund Dudley (after Bray’s death in 1503)
• Dudley and Empson formed a feared combination of able bureaucrats who raised the extraction of money from the King’s associates into a fine art and created many enemies amongst key advisors of the king
• by the end of HVII’s reign, the Council Learned had become very unpopular and after his death in 1509, it was abolished

Question 13

What happened to Dudley and Empson ?

Answer 13

• both were imprisoned after being convicted of treason (although evidence was scarce), attainted and executed in 1510
• Dudley confessed to having issued harsher penalties that lawful in several cases ➡️ gave the Council a strongly negative connotation

Question 14

Why is there much controversy about the Council Learned in the Law ?

Answer 14

• most existing sources date after 1509 when it have been officially condemned
• behaviour of the Council defined by Empson’s ruthless approach
• very unpopular

Question 15

Why was the Council Learned significant ?

Answer 15

• it bypassed the normal legal system since it was not a court and those summoned had no chance of appeal
• 🔔 it was an expression the the King’s will and as such was as important for maintaining authority as it was raising finances

Question 16

What was the royal court ?

Answer 16

• was the centre of govt and was always to be found wherever the king was at any given time
• since wealth was power, the royal court was magnificent and generous (H was influenced by continental royal courts eg. France and Burgundy)
  🔔 show continuity as the Tudors, like their predecessors, relied heavily of the royal court

Question 17

Why was the royal court important ?

Answer 17

• it was the focus of personal monarchy and a place for royal ceremony (which HVII was very enthusiastic)
• it was where the power of the monarch was demonstrated to all the courtiers in attendance + where rewards and status was distributed
• it was where the support of the king or other influential persons could be obtained ➡️ useful in the event of legal problems

Question 18

What were the different levels to the court ?

Answer 18

1. The household proper ➡️ responsible for looking after the king. courtiers, guests and others who were being entertained (supervised by the Lord Steward)
2. The Chamber ➡️🔔 the politically important part of the system which was presided over the Lord Chamberlain (his position was both powerful and a matter of considerable trust)

Question 19

How was the betrayal of Sir William Stanley (Lord Chamberlain) significant ?

Answer 19

• considerable blow to HVII to discover in 1495 that his Lord Chamberlain had been involved in a treasonable plot with the pretender Perkin Warbeck
• he responded by creating the Privy Chamber to which the king could retreat and be protected by his most intimate servants
• 🔔 this changed the character of the court as Henry cut himself off from much of the king’s traditional contacts at court + it was much harder for those who were out of favour to regain the king’s support

Question 20

What is meant by personal monarchy ?

Answer 20

• medieval monarchy was personal
• in any personal monarchy the political power and influence of an individual depended more on the relationship that the person had with the monarch than on any specific office they may have held
• therefore access to the king was the main determinant of power and it was through royal court that access was controlled

Question 21

What was parliament comprised from ?

Answer 21

• the House of Commons (comprised two MPs for each county, two MPs for each borough and representatives of the two universities (Oxford and c
  Cambridge))
• as well as the House of Lords, consisting of lords Temporal (nobility) and Lords Spiritual (Bishops/abbots of major religious houses)

Question 22

What was parliaments functions and how significant was it during HVII’s reign ?

Answer 22

• had existed since the 13th C
• not central to the system of government, only meeting when called by the King (which was rare)
• on a whole parliament operated effectively and the King respected its decisions and there was a number of private acts passed in response to local demands for improvements
• little evidence that Henry tried to ‘manage’ parliament through his ministers

Question 23

What were the two main functions of Parliament ?

Answer 23

• to pass laws and to grant taxation to the crown
• had a further subsidiary function as a means by which local issues and grievances could be passed on to the king’s officials by local MPs

Question 24

How many times did Henry call Parliament ?

Answer 24

• he called a total of seven parliaments in his reign
• five of these met in the first ten years of his reign, with the other two meeting in the remaining fourteen years

Question 25

Why did Henry call his early Parliaments ?

Answer 25

• his early parliaments were largely concerned with issues of national security and the raising of revenue
• He used it to recognise his title as king in 1485, pass acts of attainder and vote on taxes ➡️ parliament can be seen as a means by which HVII extended his royal authority

Question 26

Closer look into what HVII’s Parliament passed ?

Answer 26

• his first two parliaments passed numerous Acts of Attainder (which declared individuals guilty without having to go through the inconvenience of a trail if they were alive; if they were dead, their property would be forfeit to the crown)
• his first parliament granted tonnage and poundage (custom revenues) for life
• other parliaments granted extra ordinary revenue, taxation granted to enable to king to wage war
• ❗️most unusual form of extraordinary revenue was fifteenths and tenths which were imposed upon the alleged value of a taxpayer’s goods (made in 1487, 1489-90, 1491-92 and 1497), yielding £203,000
• HVII’s final parliament in 1504 did manage to limit the demand for extraordinary revenue and received an undertaking that the king would not seek more revenue by this means

Question 27

How was it harder for Henry to maintain law and order ?

Answer 27

• he was not able to divide the country into spheres of influence like Edward IV, each controlled by a great noble or magnate
• magnate control was largely confined to the north of England (The Stanley’s and the Earl of Northumberland until his murder in 1489)
• 🔔 problems with law and order could lead to uprisings or rebellions, Henry always concerned that potential enemies might exploit trouble to challenge his authority

Question 28

How did Henry solve the problem of law and order in the North ?

Answer 28

• after the murder of the Earl of Northumberland in 1489 he took a risk and released the ❗️Yorkist Earl of Surrey from the Tower (who had been imprisoned since the Battle of Bosworth)
• he proved his loyalty through effective service in the north for 10 years

Question 29

How can Henry’s lack of trust in nobles/magnates be demonstrated ?

Answer 29

• in the rest of the country he had to rely on those he did not trust (The Earl of Oxford and Lord Daubney) and those in whom he had little real faith (The Marquis of Dorset)
• 🔔 Henry employed a spying network (lack of trust), whose task was to report on magnate performances + the imposition of bonds and recognisance

Question 30

What were Justices of the Peace ?

Answer 30

• Henry relied increasingly on JPs to maintain law and order in the countryside
• they were appointed from local land owners/gentry and therefore they had vested interest in implementing legislation that ensured greater social cohesion at a local level
• met four times a year to administer justice through the Quarter Sessions (where serious court cases were dealt with incl. everything but treason)

Question 31

Why did Henry select his JPs from the second tier of a country’s landowners ?

Answer 31

• part of his campaign to restrict the power of the great magnates as the JPs were answerable to the king ➡️ useful source of information with regards to any magnate that was becoming too powerful
• wanted his JPs to be responsible to him and not to the magnates in their counties

Question 32

How did Henry extend the power of the JPs ?

Answer 32

• Various Acts of Parliament were passed to increase the powers and responsibilities of JPs who were responsible for routine administration such as tax assessments, alehouse regulations, the investigation of complaints against local officials and the maintenance of law and order
• ❗️1487 JPs were given the power to grant bail to those awaiting trail
• ❗️1495 JPs were given the authority to deal with juries that were considered to be tainted by loyalties to a magnate
  -🔔 continued to policy of Edward IV (extending the power of JPs)

Question 33

What were JPs incentive to do well for the king ?

Answer 33

• any JP who fell from grace would also fall from grace socially within his region as his failure to be reappointed would be seen as a sign of incompetence (JPs reappointed every year), therefore had a very good incentive to do as well as they could for the king ➡️ Henry benefitted from this
• the king was also responsible for social advancement and a successful and loyal JP could expect to advance up the social ladder if only by being awarded a title

Question 34

What assumptions were made about Henry ?

Answer 34

1. he was a miserly king
2. he had transformed the royal finances by leaving a vast sum to his son HVIII
   - BUT these have been largely discredited in the recent years

Question 35

What financial problems did Henry face in 1485 ?

Answer 35

• nobles whose wealth and territorial power made them potential rivals to the crown ➡️🔔 during 15th C the nobility managed to grow power, gaining more lands at the expense of the crown
• the poor finances of the crown ➡️ depleted by wars at home and abroad

Question 36

What key development was their in Henry’s reign ?

Answer 36

• the emergence of committees of the council to deal with specific matters of policy ➡️ the Council Learned of the Law and the Star Chamber were two such committees

Question 37

How did Henry’s approach to finance change ?

Answer 37

• he gained a reputation for having a keen financial mind
• 🔔 he took a more direct personal interest in the state of national finances as his reign progressed
• at the start of his reign he allowed clumsy and inefficient departments such as the Treasury and the Exchequer to take control
• from 1487 onwards he followed Edward IV’s example of dealing with the administration of finance from his private rooms in the palace (chamber and privy chamber) ➡️ this system became the most important institution of financial administration
• by the end of his reign he ensured that the Crown had built up enough annual income to meet its commitments + money was careful accounted for

Question 38

What were Henry’s financial policies like ?

Answer 38

• his financial policies were cautious and realistic ➡️ he avoided expensive foreign wars and exploited his legal rights to claim special payments from his nobles

Question 39

How did Henry leave the financial situation ?

Answer 39

• by the end of his reign he ensured that the Crown had built up enough annual income to meet its commitments + money was careful accounted for

Question 40

How were crown lands a source of revenue ?

Answer 40

• 1486 used the Act of Resumption to reclaim all Crown lands granted away since the start of the War of the Roses
• Henry did not always act on these claims, he was by far the country’s largest landowner and rental income from his property was a very important part of the Crown’s ordinary revenue
• ❗️ income increased by the end of his reign to around £42,000 per year up from 12,000 per year at the start

Question 41

How were feudal dues a source of revenue/income ?

Answer 41

• exploited feudal payments for financial and political purposes
• Henry increased his demands for payments from nobles
• ❗️income from wardships 1487: £350 risen to 1507: £6000 per year
• Henry created the post of Surveyor of the King’s Wards (Wardship) as part of this ➡️❗️ £30,000 was received from Parliament in 1504 for the knighthood of Prince Arthur (who had died in 1502)

Question 42

How did custom duties raise income ?

Answer 42

• largely continued the work and methods of Edward
• ❗️customs duties at the start of the reign = £34,000 per year and rose to £38,000 at the end

Question 43

How did legal dues/profits of justice raise finance?

Answer 43

• they increased the use of fines and attainders
• ❗️Sir William Stanley’s attainder brought an immediate payment of £9000 and £1000 per year thereafter

Question 44

How did bonds and recognisances raise finance ?

Answer 44

• used for financial (genuine debt owed to the crown) and political purposes
• council learned in the law enforced payments of these debts + was a useful way of maintaining law and order (forcing his subjects to take these out)
• ❗️ payments could also be substantial- the Earl of Westmorland had to pay £10, 000 after the Battle of Bosworth
• the king wished ‘to have many persons on danger at his pleasure’ (Edmund Dudley) ➡️ the king used bonds to enforce order and obedience and defeat the law, a system that can regarded as morally dubious

Question 45

How did loans and benevolences raise finance ?

Answer 45

• Council Learned in the Law enforced these payments, which were raised when the King needed funds
• ❗️£48,000 was raised for the war in Brittany in 1491 (£9000 of which was contributed by the city of London)

Question 46

How did clerical taxes raise finance ?

Answer 46

• Henry used his right to appoint leading churchman to raise money by selling offices
• ❗️H raised £300 by selling the post of Archdeacon of Buckingham
• this practice was forbidden, but widely practiced (Simony)

Question 47

Were parliamentary taxes a good source of revenue ?

Answer 47

• they were available when necessary but were often unpopular and triggered two rebellions in Henry’s reign (Yorkshire & Cornwall)

Question 48

How did pensions raise finance ?

Answer 48

• French agreed to pay Henry a pension of £5000 per annum as part of the Treaty of Etaples

Question 49

How were attainders used to reduce Henry’s reliance on the nobility and reduce their power ?

Answer 49

• they allowed the king to accuse a noble of treason and disloyalty, therefore Henry could seize titles and possessions of nobles
• ❗️HVII attained 138 men
• special laws were passed by parliament that allowed H to declare a noble guilty of treason without a court trail ➡️ allowed Henry to act more quickly against those he suspected (meant they weren’t able to have any influence or threaten the crown
• Henry could reverse attainders and restore property if good behaviour was continued ❗️only 46 attainders reversed during his reign

Question 50

How was patronage used to reduce Henry’s reliance on the nobility and reduce their power ?

Answer 50

• the giving of power, possessions, titles and land to help buy loyalty from the nobility ➡️ HVII made it clear that patronage came as a result of good and loyal service
• vacant lands were absorbed into Henrys personal domains
• first to be rewarded were those who helped and supported Henry at and before the Battle of Bosworth.
• it needed Royal agents in local communities, these were men lower down on the social scale and whom were dependant on the king for position and status, meaning they would stay loyal.

Question 51

How was retaining used to reduce Henry’s reliance on the nobility and reduce their power ?

Answer 51

• lords would recruit those of low social status to fight for them if necessary
• could help Henry to gather sizeable army if needed BUT also meant it was possible that a nobleman could become more powerful than the king

Question 52

How did Henry ensure the nobility didn’t become more powerful than him (retaining) ?

Answer 52

• he passed a law in 1485 to prevent this ➡️ the lords and commons had to swear in parliament that they would not illegally retain
• passed another law in 1504, proclamations ensured that nobles had to obtain licenses to retain ➡️ the licences had to be obtained from the king in person (🔔 another indication of how Henry’s policies relied on his personal input)

Question 53

How were financial bonds used to raise finance ?

Answer 53

• written agreements in which people promised to pay a sum of money if they failed to carry out their promises (from individual nobles or their families)
• ❗️between 1485-509, 36 out of 62 noble families gave bonds
• this placed nobles in debt to the crown and so they stayed loyal in the future + forced nobles to agree to behave themselves or face a ruinous fine

Question 54

How did order of the garter increase revenue ?

Answer 54

• the garter was the ultimate mark of honour favoured by HVII ➡️ was effective for Henry as it gave prestige but not power of land

Question 55

Finance conclusion ?

Answer 55

• Henry’s financial policies were cautious and realistic ➡️ he avoided foreign wars and exploited his legal rights to claim special payments from his nobles
• he used finance as a method of control
• to some, Henry was a money obsessed miser ➡️ some truth in this, especially in the final decade of his reign HOWEVER he was also always willing to spend extravagantly to enhance the image of his kingship
• Henry left plate and jewels worth around £300,000 + £10,000 in cash (substancial sum but not the £1,800,00 estimated by Bacon)