Government Flashcards
Councils, parliament, justice, royal finance, domestic policies
What were the 3 main functions of of the Council under Henry VII?
- advise the king
- administer realm on king’s behalf
- make legal judgements
What were the 3 main types of councillor?
- members of nobility
- churchmen
- laymen (gentry or lawyers)
- skilled administrators
Despite it being a permanent body with a core membership, what did the Council not have?
- any established rules and procedures
What did the importance of the Council depend on?
- its key members
- Bray and Dudley
- the Council Learned
- offshoot of the Council
Who was Sir Reginald Bray?
LOOK AT FACT FILE
- faithful servant of Henry Tudor for some time
- had helped raise funds for Battle of Bosworth
- his influence increased through his role as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
- led the Council Learned in Law
Who was Henry’s most influential advisor?
Lady Margaret Beaufort (Henry’s mother, who held no office)
Who was Margaret Beaufort?
LOOK AT FACT FILE
- married Edmund Tudor in 1455
- gave birth to Henry VII when she was 13
- her 3rd husband was Thomas, Lord Stanley
- remained an important unofficial advisor to Henry VII
What was the Great Council?
- a gathering of the House of Lords
- without House of Commons
- no clearly defined function
- occasional rather than permanent body
- met only 5 times throughout Henry VII’s reign
- concerned with issues relating to war or rebellion
- a means of binding nobility to key decisions relating to national security
What was the Council Learned in Law?
- main offshoot of the Council
- developed during second half of Henry’s reign
- under Bray’s leadership (at first)
- maintain king’s revenue
- exploit king’s prerogative rights
- made the system of bonds and recognisances work effectively
- often seen as a shady operation
- was not a recognised court of law
- those summoned before it had no chance to appeal
- important for the maintenance of the king’s authority as well as raising finances
Who was Bray’s associate in the Council Learned?
Richard Empson
What happened after Bray’s death in 1503?
- Empson was joined by Edmund Dudley
- both were feared and were able to extract money from the king’s subjects
What is an indicator that the Council Learned was unpopular in the last years of Henry’s reign?
- after Henry’s death, they were both removed from the Council Learned
- ‘brought rejoicing on the streets’
Who was Sir Richard Empson?
LOOK AT FACT FILE
- member of the king’s Council from 1494
- eventually chaired the Council Learned
- identified with increasing ruthlessness of Henry’s regime
- arrested shortly after Henry VII’s death, charged with treason and executed
Who was Edmund Dudley?
LOOK AT FACT FILE
- came to prominence after death of Bray
- role to exploit financial opportunities
- made influential enemies
- became vulnerable to attack once lost king’s protection
- became accountable for his actions after Henry VII’s death
What did the Tudors rely heavily upon?
the royal court
What was the royal court and what did it have to be?
- centre of government
- focus of personal monarchy
- place for royal ceremony
- where monarch’s power was shown to all in attendance
- always to be found wherever the king was at any given time
- had to be magnificent and gorgeous because wealth = power
- influenced by continental examples of royal courts
What was the role of the royal court?
- through which rewards and status were distributed
- courtiers enjoyed paid positions or the right to receive free food
- where an advancement could be attained
- where support of the kings or other influential people could be obtained
What is a personal monarchy?
- the political power and influence of an individual depended more on their relationship with the monarch
- access to the king was a main determinant of power
- access controlled through royal court
What were the different levels of court?
- household proper
- the Chamber
What was the function of the household proper?
- looking after the king, courtiers, guests, and ‘hangers-on’ who were being entertained
- personal and catering requirements supervised by the Lord Steward
What was the Chamber?
- politically important part of the system
- presided over by Lord Chamberlain
- position of considerable trust and power
- Lord Chamberlain and other senior officials were influential courtiers
What was a considerable blow to Henry in 1495?
discovering that his Lord Chamberlain, Sir William Stanley, was involved in the treasonable plot with Perkin Warbeck (pretender)
What was Henry’s response to this challenge?
(Lord Chamberlain involvement in Warbeck plot)
remodel the Chamber by creating a Privy Chamber
What was the Privy Chamber?
- where the king could retreat as he was protected by his most intimate servants
- changed the character of the court
- more difficult for those out of favour with the king to regain his support
What did Parliament comprise of?
- House of Commons
- House of Lords
What were the 2 main functions of Parliament?
- pass laws
- grant taxation to the Crown
Why was Parliament not central to the system of government?
as it only met occasionally
What was Parliament’s subsidiary function?
a means by which local issues and grievances could be passed on to the king’s officials through local Members of Parliament (MPs)
INSERT INFO ABOUT HENRY’S PARLIAMENTS AND HIGHLIGHT THAT THERE WAS A BIG GAP BETWEEN 6TH AND 7TH PARLIAMENT
How many parliaments did Henry call throughout his reign?
7
What were Henry’s early parliaments mainly concerned with?
- national security
- raising revenue
- his first 2 parliaments passed numerous Acts of Attainder
- his first parliament granted tonnage and poundage for life
What were Acts of Attainder?
- declared individuals guilty without having to go through trial if they were alive
- if they were dead, their property would be forfeit to the Crown
What was tonnage and poundage?
customs revenues
What did other parliaments grant?
- extraordinary revenue
What was the most common form of extraordinary revenue?
- fifteenths and tenths
- imposed upon the alleged value of taxpayer’s goods
- yielded £203,000 from 1487 to 1497
What did Henry’s final parliament do?
- limit the demand for extraordinary revenue
Why was the maintenance of law and order a prime responsibility for Henry?
- at worst it could lead to uprisings or rebellions
- concerned that potential enemies might challenge his authority
What did Henry rely upon to ensure law and order was maintained?
- well placed members of nobility to exercise power on his behalf
- must ensure that the more influential nobles did not become so powerful that they could challenge Henry’s authority
How was the country divided?
- into spheres of influence controlled by magnates
- number of magnates had declined since War of the Roses
- few Henry could trust
What demonstrated Henry’s lack of trust in magnates across the country?
- spying network
- imposition of bonds and recognizances
What were bonds?
- legal document binding an individual to another to perform an action or forfeit a specified sum of money if they failed to do so
What were recognizances?
- formal acknowledgement of a debt or other obligation which could be enforced by means of financial penalty
What were bonds and recognizances/what did they do/how did they help?
- Henry restored law and order largely through forcing subjects to take out bonds and recognizances
- some were a result of genuine debts owed
- many purely political
- used to enforce order and obedience
What were justices of the peace (JPs)?
- maintain law and order in the countryside
- appointed on a county-by-county basis
- met 4 times a year to administer justice
- most were local gentry
- various Acts of Parliament were passed to increase the power and responsibilities of JPs who were responsible for routine admin
- such as tax assessments, alehouse regulation, investigation of complaints against local officials, maintenance of law and order
What were the types of court that made up the judicial system?
- church courts
- local courts
- manor courts
- borough courts
- king’s courts at county level
- king’s common law courts
- chancery and other equity courts
What were the areas of jurisdiction of church courts?
- church admin
- offences committed by clergy
- proving of wills
- issues relating to marriage
- ‘moral’ offences
What were the areas of jurisdiction of manor courts?
- landholding
- rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants
- use of common land
- responsibilities for drainage and land issues
What were the areas of jurisdiction of borough courts?
- medieval trading standards
- specific judicial rights granted by royal charter
What were the areas of jurisdiction of king’s courts at county level?
- assizes
- held twice a year
- deal with major criminal and civil cases
- presided over by senior Westminster judges
- quarter sessions
- held four times a year
- presided over by JPs
- deal with less important criminal cases as well as civil and admin affairs
- special commissions
- set up on ad hoc basis
- deal with major issues such as rebellion
What were the areas of jurisdiction of king’s common law courts?
- King’s Bench
- had superior criminal jurisdiction
- Common Pleas
- dealt with major civil cases
- Exchequer
- dealt with issues relating to royal revenues
What were the areas of jurisdiction of the chancery and other equity courts?
exercised jurisdiction on basis of equity (fairness) rather than on strict reading of common law
What were the sources of royal income?
- Crown lands
- profits from feudal dues and exercise of royal prerogative
- customs revenue
- pensions from other powers
- profits of justice
- extraordinary revenue
What two things have been commonly assumed about Henry VII and finance?
- he was a miserly king who begrudged throwing money away
- he transformed royal finances by leaving a vast amount of money to his son, Henry VIII
What were the Crown lands and how did they generate income?
ADD MORE FROM NOTES
- the Crown lands were the king’s estates
- the rental income from his property was a very important part of the Crown’s ordinary revenue
What were there increased profits from?
- wardship
- aspect of feudal system enabling Crown to gain profits from property held by a minor
What did Parliament grant in 1504 and how did this increase Crown finances?
- granted a feudal aid
- the Crown could impose a tax on their tenants for knighting the eldest son, the marriage of the eldest daughter or to ransom a lord
What was an additional source of revenue?
obligations payable on the death of a feudal tenant in chief
- irritated landowners
What was customs revenue?
- tonnage an poundage had been granted for life
- increased annual revenue from this from £34,000 to £38,000
What were pensions from other powers?
- Treaty of Etaples in 1492, French agreed to pay Henry £5000 per annum
What were profits of justice?
- included fines and income from bonds
(however, bonds were a potential rather than actual asset, therefore not all expected was collected)
What was extraordinary revenue?
- money raised from additional sources as on off payments
- could be parliamentary grants, loans or clerical taxes
- overall received over £400,000 from extraordinary revenue
- but helped to provoke rebellions in 1489 and 1497
- 1504 Henry had to promise not to use this to raise any more money
How much money did Henry VII leave to his son, Henry VIII?
- plate and jewels worth around £300,000
- £10,000 in cash
What were the consequences of Henry trying to increase Crown finances?
- political price to be paid
- angered landowners, who Henry would need if his throne was threatened
To what extent were Henry VII’s financial policies successful?
LOOK AT NOTES ETC
