Councils and the court (2)

Question 1

What did Henry rule with?

Answer 1

A council of advisers who supported him in making key decisions.

Question 2

How many men are recorded having attended the Council during his reign?

Answer 2

227

Question 3

How many members were in his working Council?

Answer 3

Around 6 or 7 members.

Question 4

What were the Council’s 3 main functions under Henry VII?

Answer 4

1) To advise the king
2) To administer the realm on the king’s behalf
3) To make legal judgments

Question 5

What was the Councils rules and procedures during Henry VII’s reign?

Answer 5

It had no established rules or procedures.

Question 6

What was the Council?

Answer 6

A permanent body with a core membership.

Question 7

What did other members do?

Answer 7

They met separately to deal with key administrative concerns when the king was not present, so it was possible for different members of the Council to meet in two places simultaneously.

Question 8

Who were Bray and Dudley?

Answer 8

They were classed as “professional” councilors who met to deal with legal and administrative matters in London when other councilors were with the king elsewhere.

Question 9

What did the importance of the Council depend on?

Answer 9

It’s key members and it’s offshoot, the Council Learned..

Question 10

What was it not essential to hold to be a councillor in order to advise the king?

Answer 10

For man or women to hold an office.

Question 11

What did the historian David Loads argue?

Answer 11

That Henry’s most influential adviser was someone who held no office, Lady margret Beaufort his mother.

Question 12

When did the Council Learned develop?

Answer 12

In the second half of Hnery’s reign.

Question 13

At first who lead the Council learned?

Answer 13

Bray

Question 14

Where did the Council Learned often meet?

Answer 14

In the office of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Question 15

What was the Coucil Learned function?

Answer 15

To maintain the king’s revenue and to exploit his provogative rights.

Question 16

What did the Council Learned make work so well?

Answer 16

The system of bonds and recognizances thus able to entrap many of the king’s subjects.

Question 17

Was it a recognised court of law?

Answer 17

No

Question 18

What happened to those who were summond before the Council Learned?

Answer 18

They had no chance to appeal.

Question 19

Who was Bray’s associate in the Coucil Learned?

Answer 19

Richard Empson

Question 20

Who was Richard Empson?

Answer 20

A fiercely ambitious laeyer and bureaucrat.

Question 21

Following Bray’s death in 1503 who was Empson joined by?

Answer 21

Edmund Dudley

Question 22

Together what did Edmund Dudley and Empson create?

Answer 22

A feared combination of able and conscientious bureacrats who raised the extraction of money from the king’s sibjects to a fine art.

Question 23

Who were enemies with Edmund and Empson?

Answer 23

Bishop Fox and Sir Thomas Lovell thus removing them when Henry VII died.

Question 24

What did the downfall of Empson and Dudley bring?

Answer 24

Rejoice on the streets, indicating just how feared and unpopular their financial control became in the last year of Hnery VII’s reign.

Question 25

What was the centre of the government?

Answer 25

The royal court

Question 26

What was the royal court? (3)

Answer 26

1) It had to be magnificent and generous since wealth was power.
2) Henry VII was influenced by continental examples of ryal courts especially in Burgundy and France.
3) They royal court was found wherever the king was at any given time.

Question 27

What were the different levels to the court? (2)

Answer 27

1) The household proper was responsible for looking after the king, the courtiers, guests and other “hangers-on” who were being entertained.
2) The Politically important part of the system was the Chamber, presided over by the Lord Chamberlain. The Lord Chamberlain and other senior household officials were influential courtiers. The position of Lord Chamberlain was both powerful and a matter of considerable trust.

Question 28

What did Henry create?

Answer 28

A new Privy Chamber where the king could retreat and be protected by his most intimate servants.