English Society Flashcards
What structure did English society follow?
A feudal system
How did upper classes try to maintain traditional values?
Sumptuary laws (dress depending on social status)
How many men were in the nobility (peerage)?
50 or 60 men
What did the Crown rely on the nobility for?
Maintenance or order in the countryside
Who were 2 military commanders who had a lot of political influence under Henry?
Earl of Oxford and Lord Daubeney
How did Henry control the nobility?
Bonds and recognisances
What was the key to the nobility’s power?
Bastard feudalism by which wealthy members of the nobility recruited knights and gentlemen to serve as administrators
How did Henry limit the military power of the nobility?
Legislation against bastard feudalism
What were the 3 limits on bastard feudalism introduced during Henry’s reign?
- In 1486, MPs and the nobility were required to take an oath against the illegal use of bastard feudalism
- 1487, a law against bastard feudalism was introduced
- Parliament Act of 1504 reinforced 1487 law, a license for bastard feudalism could be sought
How many knights were there in 1490?
500
What would the gentry assist in doing?
Administration of the localities
What percentage of the country’s land, according to John Guy did peers and knights own?
15% to 20%
Which churchmen dealt with spiritual needs of ordinary folk?
Priests
Which churchmen held political roles and were entitled to sit in the House of Lords?
Bishops and abbots of larger religious houses
Who were the 2 most important clergymen of his reign?
John Morton and Richard Fox (Bishop of Exeter and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal)
Who was at the top level of commoners?
Rich merchants and craftsmen
Who were lower than the top level of the commoners but still respectable? What were they dominant in?
Shopkeepers and skilled tradesmen. They were dominant in town councils, and guilds and corporations
Yeomen farmers were in the top level of the commoners. True or false.
True, just in the countryside
What were husbandmen?
Smaller farmers than the yeomen
What did labourers do due to irregular income?
Exercise of grazing right or plant vegetables
What type of farming dominated south and east of the line between the mouth of the Tees to Weymouth in Dorset? And what type of farming was predominant north and west of the line?
Mixed farming in the south and east, pastoral farming in the north and west
Why did Londoners look down upon northerners? Why were northerners envious of southerners?
Londoners looked down on them because of their perceived savagery, southerners were envious of the riches of the southerners
How was regional identity reinforced?
Local government structures
What were real wages? Were they increasing of decreasing?
Value of income relating to prices of goods, they were increasing
What were subsistence crises? Did England avoid them for the most part?
When harvest failures raise in prices to the point the poor died of starvation, yes they did largely avoid them
What sparked off the Yorkshire Rebellion in 1489?
Resentment of taxation granted by Parliament in 1489 to support the English in Brittany
Where did the Yorkshire Rebellion take place?
North Riding of Yorkshire and Topcliffe near Thirsk
Who was murdered in the Yorkshire Rebellion?
The Earl of Northumberland
Why did Northumberland’s retainers allow his tenants to murder him?
Because of his desertion of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth
Why did the Cornish Rebellion happen in 1497?
Extraordinary revenue demanded for the military campaign against Scotland
Why was the Cornish Rebellion a huge threat to Henry? (3 reasons)
- Sheer numbers involved (approx 15,000)
- Perkin Warbeck exploiting it
- Rebels marched on London, stopped at Blackheath
Who crushed the Cornish Rebellion?
Lord Daubeney
Were the rebel leaders, such as Lord Audley, executed?
Yes
Did the Cornish Rebellion make Henry more cautious of entering into further foreign conflicts?
Yes
