Gaining the Co-Operation of the Localities

Question 1

Why did Wales and the Marcher Regions pose a problem for Tudor monarchs?

Answer 1

• Before the 1530s, Wales had its own legal system - a crime could be committed in one lordship and the perpetrator could escape justice by fleeing to another. Justice was at the mercy of the respective local marcher lord. Blood feuds remains law in Wales
• The Marcher regions around the border especially were highly militarised and it was possible for the nobility to use them to build up their own power bases

Question 2

How did the nobility control the Marcher Regions and the Principality of Wales? Why was this a problem for the monarch?

Answer 2

• The nobility developed their own laws and customs as the first line of defence in the event of invasion, gaining enormous military and legal power, becoming almost quasi-kings in their region
• The monarchs of the Tudor period therefore attempted to extend their own power throughout to prevent these nobles holding too much authority

Question 3

How were members of the royal family used to control Wales and the Marcher Regions?

Answer 3

• Royal power was enforced in 1501, when Henry VII’s 15-year-old son, Prince Arthur, was sent to Wales as the Prince of Wales to enhance royal control by providing a more permanent presence in the region. This was unsuccessful as Arthur died in 1502
• Henry VIII attempted the same tactic in 1525, sending his nine-year-old daughter, Princess Mary, to Wales as the figurehead of the Council of Wales, being given her own base at Ludlow. However, by 1528, she had returned to England and the experiment of ruling Wales through an heir ended
• Before the 1530s, Henry VII and VIII had attempted to control Wales through the Council of Wales and the Marches, headed by members of the royal family and most trusted nobility, for example Jasper Tudor, Henry VII’s uncle, who became head of the council in 1490