Chapter 4 - Maintenance of political stability - continuity and change.

Question 1

How did the Tudors maintain political stability - continuity and change?

Answer 1

Nobility, religious changes, economic developments, social reforms, Ireland.

Question 2

How did the crown alter the role of the nobility through retainers in order to maintain political stability?

Answer 2

• HVII knew nobles indispensable if he was to survive.
• As long as they were competent and loyal the king would leave them alone. If acted independently or against his best interests he would reign them in.
• Statutes of 1487 and 1504 attempted to confine retainers to licenced holders and harsh fines were imposed on nobles who ignored the law. E.g. Lord Burgavenny was fined £71,000 and Sir James Stanley £245,000 in 1506.
• Didn’t want to eliminate retaining, punished worst cases of abuse.
• Other Tudor rulers took same view.
• HVIII relied on 700 of Norfolk’s retainers and Lord Ferrers provided 1000 men to counter the pilgrims of 1536.
• Mary issued over 2000 licences for retaining.
• Elizabeth needed noble’s retainers to deal with 1569 uprising.
• End of period, despite crown efforts, some nobles still capable of raising and equipping troops independently if they wished.

Question 3

How did the crown alter the role of the nobility through land in order to maintain political stability?

Answer 3

• Crown preferred to seize a noble’s land in acts of treason
• HVII passed 138 acts of attainder only reversed a minority of them
• HVIII, Edward, Mary more generous in restoring land
• Few nobles after 1536 involved in treasonous activity
• Bond imposed by all monarchs.
• Estimated 2/3 of nobility and gentry were at the King’s mercy by 1509.
• Although HVIII cancelled all bonds as a generous gesture bonds still preferred method of controlling unreliable nobles.
• Introduced after rebellions of 1537,1549,1554,1570 and 1601.
• All Tudors tried to prevent major families from building up large amounts of land and exercising political dominance in their counties.
• HVII discouraged English heiresses from marrying powerful and potentially threatening nobles.
• 4th Earl of Northumberland was murdered 1489, HVII took possession of young heir to gain control of Percian states in Yorkshire and Northumberland.
• HVIII similarly tried to strengthen royal control in sensitive areas. Appointment of local gentry who owed their office to the Crown used more freq to reduce lawlessness in the North.
• Northern magnates promoted disorder. Ignoring or encouraging disturbances. Demise of great Northern families came after the Northern Earls revolt when lands were seized and re-granted to gentry from the South.

Question 4

How did the crown alter the role of the nobility through rewards in order to maintain political stability?

Answer 4

• HVII did not favour ennobling his subjects. Raised only 4 men to peerage and in the course of his reign the overall number of peers fell from 20 to 10
• HVIII, Edward and Mary behaved more generously.
• HVIII rewarded his nobility with lands and titles and was responsible for creating over half the peerage by 1547.
• Edwards reign his regents rewarded themselves and many of their associates with peerages.
• Elizabeth ungenerous in her creation of peers. Only 10 new. Total number fell from 57 in 1558 to 55 in 1603.

Question 5

What were the main government institutions used to maintain noble obedience?

Answer 5

• Parliament/Councils

- Royal Court

Question 6

How did government institutions maintain noble obedience?

Answer 6

• Tudors relied on nobles as councillor’s, administrators, and military leaders.
• Parliament/Councils.
• HVII convened 5 great councils of the nobles and HVIII and Elizabeth he;d assemblies of nobles in 1530s and 1580s to discuss matters of state.
• Parliament was occasion where peers invited to advise monarch. Councils always contained nobility.
• 1526 7/20 Royals councillors were peers, 1540 8 were in attendance, 14 in Edwards enlarged council 1553
• Only in Elizabeth’s reign did no. of peers decline 6 in first council to 1 in 1601.
• Nobles also presided over the regional councils in Wales, the North, and Dublin. They used their influence to impose order in the region.
• Above all relied on Nobles to put down rebellions.
• HVII: Surrey, Oxford, Pembroke
• HVIII: Norfolk, Suffolk, Shrewsbury
• Elizabeth: Sussex, Clinton, Hunsdon – NE
• Irish: Grey, Essex, Mountjoy (under Elizabeth)

Question 7

What were the main religious reforms under Henry VIII that helped to maintain political stability?

Answer 7

• Religious reforms common source of conflict.
• Much effort made to explain and justify religious forms to minimise popular instability.
• Persecuted a minority of Roman Catholics who could not be reconciled to his religious changes.
• After PoG faced no further religious uprisings. Halted any further Protestant reforms. Few English and Irish were prepared to rally to the papal cause.

Question 8

What were the main religious reforms under Edward I that helped to maintain political stability?

Answer 8

• Little negative reform to Edwards religious reforms.
• Duke of Somerset and Northumberland introduced reforms slowly and cautiously.
• September 1548 banned all preaching
• 1549 censorship was introduced to prevent printing of radical publications.
• Reforms greeted more by apathy than active opposition.
• Potential opposition was perhaps biding its time in anticipation of the catholic restoration under Mary or possible that the introduction of legislation, making the gathering of 12 or more people a felony, deterred potential protesters.

Question 9

What were the main religious reforms under Mary that helped to maintain political stability?

Answer 9

• Harsh in her treatment of the Protestants, she faced no religious revolts.
• Encouraged recalcitrant Protestants to emigrate rather than spread opposition.
• Burning of nearly 300 heretics must have deterred some potential rebels. Government was concerned burnings might cause popular protest, banned groups from attending.
• Mary was to be succeeded by the Protestant Elizabeth - better to suffer in silence?
• In reality, apart from London & key dioceses e.g. Canterbury & York, (where catholic bishops keen to enforce counterreformation), the religious reforms in the 1550s had little impact.
• Up to 2000 priest resigned or retired rather than give up their recently acquired marital status.

Question 10

What were the main religious reforms under Elizabeth that helped to maintain political stability?

Answer 10

• Wanted to achieve outward conformity & establish religious settlement acceptable to majority. Explains absence of popular resistance & revolts in her reign.
• Only small number of catholic priests unwilling to subscribe to the oaths of supremacy and uniformity.
• None prepared to revolt against the Elizabethan church or join Northern earls in pseudo-religious revolt of 1569
• Arrival of Mary Queen of Scots in England in 1568, excommunication of 1570, increased potential of catholic plots.
• Counties known to favour catholic - JPs remodelled
• Judges ordered to re-administer oath of supremacy to all JPs in 1579
• Walsingham’s agents alerted Privy Council the plots linked to Mary.
• Anti-Catholic penal laws after 1571 made it clear that Catholics had to choose between obeying the Queen or the Pope. Majority stayed loyal to Queen.
• No concerted attempt made to force catholic settlement on Ireland - religion never a serious issue with Irish clans in spite of its potential to cause instability.

Question 11

Why were the protagonists in religious disturbances mainly Catholic?

Answer 11

• Minority of Protestants wanted further reform in 1549, consistently loyal to the monarchy.

Question 12

How did the government deal with the Protestant nonconformists to maintain political stability?

Answer 12

• Minority of Protestants wanted further reform in 1549, consistently loyal to the monarchy.
• However Elizabethan Protestantism not popular, disliked long sermons & little time for Bible reading. Attendance at church was generally low in many parishes.
• The emergence of Protestant nonconformists in the 1580s led to the government taking action to stamp out possible dissent.
• Some forced into exile, leading members arrested, censored literature and issued licences to preachers.
• Act of 1593 restricted all recusants to a 5-mile radius from their homes and imprisoned indefinitely known troublemakers, both puritan and catholic.
• Whilst the radicals did not pose a serious threat, the act may have been a factor in ensuring that dissidents were kept under control.

Question 13

Why was it necessary to deal with the increasing number of beggars, vagrants and poor people?

Answer 13

• Poor unlikely to cause rebellion, but could join protesters & exacerbate social economic problems for the authorities, especially in towns and cities.

Question 14

What were the social reforms under Cromwell that aimed to maintain political stability?

Answer 14

• Depression 1520s increased unemployment & led gov & some towns to take action
• Act of 1531 made distinction between important and idle poor; former licensed by JPs to beg, the latter whipped.
• London introduced voluntary alms’ collections in 1553. Extended nationally in Act of 1536. Required parish authorities to find work for able-bodied but lazy poor.
• In practice, few collections made, given neither money nor materials to set poor to work - reforms proved ineffectual.

Question 15

What were the social reforms under Edward that aimed to maintain political stability?

Answer 15

• Made little headway in helping the poor: vagabonds continued to be punished
• The genuine poor were to receive dole money from church donations, failed attempt at stopping begging.
• Measures taken by local authorities were much more effective than government legislation. Cities such as Norwich and York instituted compulsory poor rate levied by parish.
• By 1553 some hospitals housed vagabonds, orphans, sick, aged, impotent.

Question 16

What were the social reforms under Elizabeth that aimed to maintain political stability?

Answer 16

• Most important legislation occurred in Elizabeth’s reign.
• 1572 Act recognised that the “deserving poor” (the aged, sick and impotent) were to be helped, and vagabonds severely punished, required JPs to assess how much needed.
• Overseers appointed to collect compulsory parish taxes. Since responsibility fell on the parish, parishioners developed collective responsibility for maintaining order and were keen to discourage begging and vagrancy.
• 1576 Act required parishes to provide wool, flax, iron and hemp so that all able-bodied people had work.
• Run of bad harvests 1594-1598, large numbers people “out of service”
• 1598 introduced two new reforms.
• “Act for the Relief of the Poor” replaced JPs with churchwardens to oversee welfare of genuine poor and unemployed
• “Act for the Punishment of Rogues and Sturdy Beggars” separated vagabonds into dangerous vagabonds who would be rounded up and punished; other beggars returned to parishes of birth or placed in houses of correction and made to work.

Question 17

What effect did social reform have on the poor by the end of the period?

Answer 17

• 1603 clear distinction between the deserving poor and wilful vagrants; and the wandering poor and the settled poor.
• Vagabonds discouraged from begging or becoming nomadic & punished if refused to work.
• Genuine poor assisted by combination of state, municipal and private charitable relief. Laws not consistently enforced but enough done to ensure that the poor did not pose threat to stability of the country.

Question 18

Why was it so difficult to maintain political stability in Ireland?

Answer 18

• Only effective areas of law enforcement centred around Dublin & Pale where Anglo Irish tended to live.
• Feuding between rival clans common e.g. Geraldines and Butlers
• Tudor monarchs not recognised as rulers by Gaelic lords, who controlled most of Ireland
• English monarchs largely depended on prominent Anglo Irish family, the Geraldines, to govern on their behalf.

Question 19

What was the biggest change in Anglo-Irish relations?

Answer 19

• Prior to 1534 main Irish grievance had been Royal neglect: no Tudor ever visited Ireland, the administration was expected to be self-funded, and rulers underestimated the difficulties that the Lord deputies faced.
• After 1534 main grievance was royal interference. English-born officials held all the principal offices, causing resentment amongst Old English families and Gaelic lords, who resented increasing interference in their way of life.

Question 20

How did Irish policy change under Henry VIII?

Answer 20

• Chiefs agreed to surrender their lands, HVIII re-granted it to them according to English laws and customs.
• Had to swear oath of allegiance and loyalty & reject authority of the Pope. In return, Henry gave up claims to land under Gaelic occupation and surrendered many feudal rights.
• Gave Irish greater security, as tenure of their lands was now hereditary.
• Progress made in getting Gaelic chiefs to attend Irish parliaments, adopt English customs and refrain from tribal conflict.
• Idea of united and non-partitioned Kingdom of Ireland was slowly taking shape.

Question 21

How did Irish policy change under Edward I?

Answer 21

• Garrison was enlarged to 2600 troops and more fortresses were built in the marcher borderlands.
• Somerset and Northumberland had aggressive approach, winning more enemies than friends.
• Resentment increased as more Englishmen in Dublin saw the opportunity to gain land and wealth at the expense of the Irish.

Question 22

How did Irish policy change under Mary I?

Answer 22

• More garrisons built, plantations set up.
• Establishment of colonies outside the Pale and growing military presence increased the likelihood of instability and worsened Anglo-Irish relations.

Question 23

How did Irish policy change under Elizabeth?

Answer 23

• Irish policy inconsistent.
• Reluctant to spend money maintaining her garrisons and regularly changed her deputies, justicars and lieutenants.
• Queen condoned numerous experiments to keep effective control of Ireland that were underfunded, poorly organised and likely to antagonise both the Old and New English inhabitants.
• 1603, Ireland in poor condition as a result of the lengthy and exhausting Tyrone Rebellion. Much of Ulster devastated, colonies in Connaught and Munster had been swept away, divisions between the New and Old English and Gaelic natives had resurfaced.

Question 24

What economic developments did the government use to maintain political stability?

Answer 24

Government finance, enclosures, food supplies, unemployment.

Question 25

How did the government reform finance to maintain political stability?

Answer 25

Raising tax was unpopular and was the cause of many rebellions. The government’s response was to try to justify the need for taxation and avoid making excessive demands.

• Henry VII and his successors used parliamentary grants to pay for wars, and the practice of receiving peacetime subsidies began in the 1530s.
• Henry VIII and Edward debased the coinage, sold off Crown lands and negotiated loans from continental bankers.
• Mary and Elizabeth cut back on expenditure made their administrations more efficient and avoided wars as long as possible.
• Even during the last decade of her reign, when Elizabeth requested very large subsidies, MPs approved.
• War needs outweighed any thoughts of complaining.
• By careful financial management and avoiding excessive demands, neither Mary nor Elizabeth experienced tax revolts.

Question 26

How did enclosure reforms maintain political stability?

Answer 26

Enclosure was not a major issue, except when it occurred illegally or times of economic hardship, and only in areas where fertile land and in short supply.

All Tudor governments passed laws against unlawful enclosure. Commissions of enquiry were periodically held to ensure that illegal enclosure had not occurred, and there is evidence to suggest that people increasingly turned to litigation rather than violence to deal with enclosure:

• Wolsey charged 264 landlords and corporations with unlawful enclosure
• The Privy Council took action against illegal enclosure after the Pilgrimage of Grace
• However, Northumberland sided with the landlords in 1550 and took action to deter protesters (although the collapse of the wool trade and a series of good harvests may explain the absence of complaints in the 1550s).
• Enclosure became less of an issue during Elisabeth’s reign, and in 1593 the government repealed all existing anti-enclosure legislation.
• Even in the economic downturn, there were no strong calls to re-implement the laws.
• In fact, an Act was passed that made protest against enclosure treasonous, which probably contributed to a large spate of enclosure during the final years of Elizabeth’s reign.

Question 27

How did the government control food supplies to maintain political stability?

Answer 27

• Acts were passed in 1534, 1555, 1559, 1563, 1571 and 1593 to limit the export of grain and encourage imports.
• Measures were taken in 1527, 1544, 1545, 1550, 1556 and 1562 to prevent hoarding of grain.
• In many cases, towns such as Norwich, London and Ipswich bought up cheap corn, stockpiled it and sold it to the poor at below the market rates in times of hardship.
• JPs were ordered to search houses the grain, and farmers were forced to sell their corn for fair prices
• Books of Orders were issued by Royal councils in 1527, 1550, 1556 and 1586, giving detail advice on how to deal with food shortages; orders in the 1590s required towns to transport surplus corn to the most affected areas.

The government was more willing to intervene when there were food shortages than in other areas of economic activity.

Question 28

How did the government deal with unemployment to maintain political stability?

Answer 28

The increasing population and fluctuating trade markets meant that levels of unemployment rose during periods of depression, increasing the likelihood of unrest. The main legislation was the Statute of Artificers (1563) which introduced a range of measures designed to restrict the movement of labour and to ensure that relations between employers and workers were put on a fair basis.

The Act declared that:

• No one could practice a craft without completing a seven-year apprenticeship
• Workers and servants had to be hired for at least a year
• Masters were not allowed to dismiss a servant and servants could not leave employment without good reason
• JPs had to set maximum wage rates for every occupation
• Unemployed people between 12 and 60 were to be found work in their parish; men in agriculture, women in domestic service.

This act was a real attempt to control the economy and preserve order. There were no revolts involving unemployed workers or farmers in the second half of the 16th century, but JPs appear to have been reluctant to impose regulations strictly and only fully applied the laws when it was in their interests to do so.