Henry VII 1485-1509 Flashcards
What were Henry VII’s 9 problems after the Battle of Bosworth? In order of importance
Parliament have not officially recognised him as King, Pope has not officially recognised him as King, not been officially crowned King, hasn’t married Elizabeth of York yet so house of York is still his enemy, no heir to the throne, other Yorkist nobility with claims to the throne (Earls of Warwick and Lincoln), deciding what to do about his opponents, many people consider him a usurper, his supporters from Bosworth would be expecting rewards
How did Henry VII solve his problem with parliament?
On 7th November 1485 he called the first parliament of his reign, parliament were not allowed to meet unless invited by the king
How did Henry VII solve his problem with the Pope?
He had Archbishop Morton visit Rome to secure papal support for him before Bosworth which paved the way for a papal dispensation (permission) to marry Elizabeth of York
How did Henry VII solve his problem of not having been officially crowned? 3 points
Had a big coronation 30th October 1485, paid £8 per yard for gold cloth and 40 shillings per yard for purple velvet for his robes, began a tour through his new kingdom in March 1486
How did Henry VII solve his problem of not having married Elizabeth of York yet? 3 points
They married on 18th January 1486 (not straight away so people wouldn’t think his only claim to the throne was his wife) and she didn’t become Queen until November 1487, Henry made sure all her sisters were married to suitable Lancastrians
How did Henry VII solve his problem of not having an heir to the throne?
Prince Arthur born 19th September 1486, Margaret in 1488, Henry in 1491 and Mary in 1496
How did Henry VII solve his problem of other Yorkist nobility having potential claims to the throne? 3 points
Ten year old Earl of Warwick (nephew of Richard III) was a direct threat so Henry sent him to the Tower of London to live in relative comfort, John de la Pole (Earl of Lincoln) was another nephew of Richard III so Henry allowed him to swear loyalty to him and eventually invited him to join his council, began to develop his own personal protection squad (the Yeoman of the Guard) which numbered 200 by the end of his reign- he copied this from Kings he had witnessed in French courts
How did Henry VII solve his problem of dealing with his opponents? 6 points
Less than a quarter of temporal lords (not clergy) fought against him and many who did were dead, predated his reign to the day before Bosworth so anyone who fought against him should be treated as a traitor (Act of Attainder passed against 30 of Richards supporters), he confiscated lands and property of Richard III and his supporters which increased his own income and security, realised not all Yorkists had been supporters of Richard (Duke of Buckingham openly fought against him) and he allowed former Yorkist lords to swear allegiance to him, Earl of Surrey fought against Henry so he kept him in prison until 1489, Earl of Northumberland was at Bosworth but did not fight for Richard so Henry released him from prison 1485 and gave him control of the north to prove his loyalty
How did Henry VII solve his problem of rewarding his supporters? 5 points
Rewarded his uncle Jasper Tudor with titles: Duke of Bedford/Chief Justice of Wales/Constable of al Royal Castles in Wales/Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Sir William Stanley who famously sided with Henry at Bosworth made Lord Chamberlain, Thomas Lord Stanley (Henry’s step father) made Earl of Derby, Bishop Fox (lawyer who had been in exile with France with Henry) made keeper of the privy seal, didn’t reward too much land to subjects as he was aware the creation of overmighty subjects had led to issues for his predecessors and would limit his income
Define nobility
Mounted warriors who swore allegiance to their sovereign and promised to fight for him in exchange for an allocation of land
Define overmighty subjects
Anybody who had built up enough power/men to be equal to or above the King through bastard feudalism
Define affinity
Group of men whom a lord gathered around himself in his service
Define retaining
Noblemen keep large numbers of men as personal staff which can be used to put pressure on tenants who are slow at paying rent or juries to return a desired verdict
Define temporal lord
Title given to members of the House of Lords who are either life peers or hereditary peers
Define spiritual lord
English bishop or archbishop who is a member of the House of Lords
Define Act of Attainder
No need for trial, confiscation of land
Define wardship
The right to the custody of an infant heir of a feudal tenant and of the heirs property
Define pretender to the throne
Someone who put forward claim to a title falsely
Define usurper
To seize and hold a position/power by force or without legal rights
Define benevolence
Any gift made to the king
Define privy council
A body of the monarchs closest advisors that advises him to give confidential advice on state affairs
Define bonds and recognisances
Written contract of good behaviour or for an individual to perform a specific task. If they failed they lost the money associated with their bond
Define accession
Attainment or acquisition of a position of rank or power
Define succession
Action of process of inheriting a title
Give 2 facts which show that Henry VII ruled in a similar way to Edward IV
He inherited all the institutions of government that had operated under Edward IV, his use of council through a body of close advisors and frequent meetings made it effective
Identify 4 problems centred around Henry VIIs claim to the throne
Consolidating royal power, promotion of a harder working nobility and gentry, struggle to build up royal finances, avoidance of costly wars
When did Henry VII become head of the house of Lancaster?
In 1471 on the death of Henry VI
How did Margaret help her son Henry secure the throne? 3 ways
Helped arrange his marriage to Elizabeth of York, kept him well supplied with money, helped organise 1483 rebellion
Describe Henry VIIs appearance when he died in 6 points
Cheerful face, attractive, well built and strong, pale, hair thin and grey, teeth few and blackish
Define bastard feudalism
Instead of giving land to knights, nobles have annual payments which allows them to build up a following of men and raise them as an army
Who were Empson and Dudley?
Two leading members of the Council Learned in the Law who collected debts owed to the king, widely hated and acted without a jury
How did Henry VII lay the foundations of Tudor power? 5 points
His breaking up of the feudal power of the nobility was made easier by the extinction of some noble lines in the wars, king took over their estates and lands of those attained for having fought for Richard III, set up council ‘Learned in the Law’ in 1495 to deal with influential Lords, forbade practices of Libery and maintenance, levelled keeps and castles as a more drastic measure
Who was Henry VIIs royal council made up of?
227 councillors but around 7-24 regula attendees in inner circle ‘council select’ included chancellor, treasurer, keeper of privy seal, bishops and magnates, lawyers and knights
How did Henry VII try to increase royal wealth?
Husbanded proceeds from royal estates, exacted full feudal dues from his rights of Wardship/Marriage/Benevolence/Promotions/Death Incidents, levied forced loans and benevolences, got ‘extraordinary’ supplies from parliament however parliament was only called seven times during his reign
By which year had Wales been irreversibly conquered?
1415 but wales remained a mixture of private lordships and royal shores well into the sixteenth century
What was the Council in the Marches of Wales?
The Council of the Prince of Wales was set up to administer the princes estates in Wales in the reign of Edward IV but it later lapsed and Henry made it a permanent institution for his son Prince Arthur and after Arthur’s death in 1502 it continued as the Council in the Marches of Wales. It was not given statutory powers until the Act of Union with Wales in 1536 and had power to appoint sheriffs and justices of the peace. The semi independent Marcher Lorda had to acknowledge the authority of the English crown
What was the Council of the North?
Edward IV and Richard III appointed this council where the great border families of Percy/Neville/Scrope/Dacre ruled like independent princes but Henry gradually made this a virtual offshoot of his own Council. The Council was to meet once every quarter to order and examine all bills of complaint; it had powers to deal with riots/robberies/other misbeahaviours. Under Earl of Surrey from 1489 when Northumberland died. Political outsiders used to control areas which weren’t loyal to the crown
How did Henry VII govern the North?
He needed a Percy so he had to release the Earl of Northumberland from the tower and restored him as Lord Wareen of the East and Middle Marches, he was like reduced influence of regional magnates with regional influence but Henry needed nobility to control the country so members of household appointed as royal council wardens and to local offices
What were relations like between France and England after Henry VII became king?
The Hundred Years’ War lasted 1337 to 1453 between England and France. by the time Henry was king of england relations were still hostile and France had three times the resources of England in manpower and revenue. This was a natural gathering place for people opposed to tudors given its close distance to England
What did the treaty with France at Etaples secure?
England’s neutrality in Charles VIII wars with Italy but he paid £159,000 to Henry VII for the privilege, it did not end English claims on France as they were revived from Henry VIII time, no French aid would be forthcoming for Yorkist pretenders
When was the Treaty of Medina del Campo with Spain and what did it do?
March 1489, Henry and Spain go to war against France and hell Henry regain territory, cemented by the marriage of Henry VIIs eldest son Arthur with Catherine of Aragon a spanish princess which enhanced Henry’s prestige abroad, Isabelle and Ferdinand bound not to allow any Yorkist pretenders to take refuge on Spanish soil, Henry chose this moment to create a new coin, the golden sovereign, on which he was wearing an imperial crown
When and why was the Magnus Intercursus treaty agreed to?
Signed in February 1496, both France and the Emperor Maximilian courted English support for their Italian wars and Henry agreed to this trade treaty with the ruler of the Netherlands (Phillip of Burgundy) which allowed English merchants to sell their goods wholesale anywhere in the duke of Burgundy’s lands except Flanders without paying any tolls or customs, persuaded emperor Maximilian to stop supporting Yorkist pretenders. A few months later Henry joined the Holy league
How did Henry VII go further after the Magnus Intercursus to promote trade by agreement? 3 points
In Florence in 1490, In Denmark in 1496, in 1506 he negotiated another commercial treaty with Phillip of Burgundy but even so had to confirm privileges of the German Hanseatic League merchants in England in 1486 and in 1504
Who were John Cabot and his sons?
Genoese merchant adventurers who had settled in Bristol and were planning a voyage westwards across the North Atlantic, Henry’s letter patent to them in 1496 meant they were required to return any goods to Bristol and were granted monopoly of any trade they developed in the course of their maritime enterprises. Cabot’s first voyage of 1497 during which he discovered Newfoundland
Who did Henry VIIs daughter Margaret marry?
King James IV of Scotland -this ‘Auld Alliance’ cut across the ancient and dangerous alliance between France and Scotland
What did the three successive Earls of Kildare do?
From 1470 to 1534 they ruled those areas of Ireland subject to the English crown, these consisted mainly of the pale which by the 19th century stretched in a thirty mile radius from Dublin and certain garrison towns throughout the island
Why did Henry VII pardon the right Earl of Kildare (Garret) and what for?
For his support of the Yorkist pretenders and his restoration as Lord Deputy in the 1490s began a period of uninterrupted rule in Ireland until 1519. Main reason was because Kildares were able to govern in the Kings name without calls on the English revenue because after 1496 the major portion of royal revenues in Ireland was paid directly to Kildare for civil and military administration in the defence of English interests
4 facts about Garret (the great earl)’s family
He and his great son married into the English aristocracy, his second wife was Elizabeth St John (relative of Henry Tudor), five of their surviving sons and a nephew Thomas died on the scaffold in 1537. His son Gearóid Óg married Elizabeth Gray (daughter of marquis of Dorset) so Fitzgerald’s of Kildare were part of the circle of English nobility
What did the Old English colony think of the Kildares and what did this lead to?
Resented the extortionate methods of them and saw their government as acting against the best interests of the old English colony in Ireland. This caused a spate of reform plans and treaties originating from London and the spake calling for the revitalisation or English law, custom and practice within Ireland. This led to the dismissal of Kildare who was replaced by Sir Edward Poynings as governor
When was Poynings law and what did it do?
1494, restricted legislation in the Irish Parliament so no bill for example could be introduced without being approved by London. In contrast with the policies of the Kildares which favoured working within the Gaelic political system rather than trying to radically change it
What was Kildare licensed to do after being reinstated as Lord Deputy?
To summon a parliament in 1508 which was the first since 1499. Its sessions resulted in the renewal of a ten year subsidy, all other bills including ten regulation of trade were suspended on the news of Henry VIIs death on 21st April 1509
Why was Henry VIIs considered the greatest of his dynasty? 5 reasons
Built a strong orderly government out of chaos but by using existing institutions, handed his son a secure throne, a full treasury, established prestige abroad and a prosperous foreign trade
What happened in the 1489 Yorkshire rebellion? 5 points
1489 parliament gave Henry a subsidy of £100,000 which was raised as an income tax, resentment was high in Yorkshire due to the bad harvest and ongoing costs in that area of dealing with the Scots, royal tax collector Earl of Northumberland murdered, Kings forces beat rebels and he raised no more if the tax, Surrey put in place as new ruler of the area having no local tie
Why did Henry VII feel vulnerable after 1502?
Death of his heir in 1502 made succession less secure, confrontation with parliament in 1504 revealed some of the underlying tensions existing with the body politic, he strengthened laws on retaining to protect his sons inheritance with the 1487 and 1504 acts
Give 3 statistics about Henry VIIs finances
Income from royal lands and warship rose by 45%, customs revenues rose by 20%, Henry VIIs total land revenue was three times that of Henry VI
What happened to crown income from lands in the first year of Henry VIIs reign?
Fell by half to £11,700, the Exchequer was often lacking supplies of cash to meet emergencies
When and why did Henry VII re asset the Yorkist Chamber system?
1487, to give him access to cash and the ability to supervise financial affairs personally. Chamber dealt with estate revenues, profits of justice, feudal dues and later the French pension. By end of reign it dealt with 90% of crown income
What did the Inquisitions Post Mortem do?
Investigate feudal duties. Levels of income -1487 income from wardship stood at £300pa rising to £6000pa by 1507. These levels elf to a new development, greater specialisation and the creation of a new office, Master of Wards, held by Hussey
What was the Surveyor if the Kings Preorogative?
Used from 1508, held by Belknap enabling efficient pursuance of debts to the crown
Which 6 advisors did Henry rely on?
Heron in the chamber, Bray as his eyesight deteriorated (who occupied the post of lord treasurer) who had a proven track record in improving efficiency in his handling of the Duchy of Lancaster, Dudley and Belknap had roots in the lower nobility, Empson and lawyer Morton were new men like Bray
Why did Henry VII need nobles? 4 points
To oversee tax collection and law and order, used some nobles to asset royal authority in areas well beyond their regions e.g Surrey in the north, when a noble presence was lacking their could be serious disorder as seen in the north midlands due to Warwick’s imprisonment as lesser peers vied for power resulting in feuding and violence
Who in the gentry were influential?
Croft was influential in Shropshire, Hampden given authority in Oxfordshire, JPs given an increasing role and were drawn from the ranks of the gentry
Which key gentry supported the Cornish Rebellion in 1486 and why?
Latimer and Luttrell because Henry failed to acknowledge the support given by them
What was the role of Parliament? 5 points
Taxation required its consent, no policy making role, protect the monarch, consultation role, consisted of Lords and commons
What were the 7 parliaments with Henry VII called during his 23 year reign?
1485-6 declared Henry king and attained Richard III and supporters, Nov and Dec 1487 gave a poll tax on aliens, 1489-9 grant to maintain a force of archers, 1491-1492, Oct-Dec 1495, 1497, 1504 about retaining and feudal aides
How many statutes were passed and what for?
- Reinforce the royal position (40 acts of resumption and attainder, 12 fiscal matters), restore law and order via legislation on JPs (7 acts on JPs, 14 on law enforcement), regulate corporations and franchises, economic legislation (31 on trade, prices and wages)
When and what was the Statute of limitations?
1495 to limit actions against Yorkists, possible attempt to heal the county and prevent further outbreaks of rebellion
Identify 3 minor reforms with limited impact
Act against hunting in disguise, 1489 act against depopulation, 1495 Act on wages and working hours
What did JPs do? 4 things
Assessed subsidies, enquired into weights and measures, regulated alehouses, examines taxation complaints
What 4 things did key legislation include?
JPs regulation granting of recognizances, limited the granting of bail, requirement upon JPs to review juries, requirement to enforce game and vagrancy laws
When was the only real example of tension between Henry VII and parliament?
1504 when Henry VII asked for two feudal aids to levy £90,000 but parliament offered compromise of £30,000
How was the Brittany expedition a failure and how did Henry prepare for Charles’ threat afterwards?
Charles captured Rennes and married Anne of Brittany thus bringing Brittany into France, Charles sent for Warbeck and threatened action against England and Henry built a fighting force and amass supplies and asserted his claim to the French throne and sent out agents to collect a benevolence in the summer of 1491 and summoned parliament in the winter to make a more formal and legitimate grant
When did Henry VII declare war on Scotland and how did he prepare?
Following James IVs raid of England in support of Warbeck in 1496. Hired mercenary troops and purchased supplies, requested a grant from the 1497 parliament and between £60,000-90,000, halted by Cornish rebellion
When was the Truce of Ayton signed and what did Warbeck do after this?
In 1497 Warbeck was expelled from Scotland and a seven year truce was signed. He moved his campaign to Cornwall to profit from Cornish rebellion but was arrested by Henry’s men.
Identify 5 failures of Henry’s monarchy
Lack of a police force, standing army, sufficient treasury, independent legislative power, system of recognisances viewed as excessive
What is the traditionalist perspective of Henry VII?
Henry deserves credit for the way he consolidated his position after the Battle of Bosworth through his skill and wise decision making
What is the revisionist perspective of Henry VII?
He inherited a lucky set of circumstances. His consolidation owes just as much to the circumstances out of his control than to his own skill and decisions
How did the conspiracy about Lambert Simnel/Earl of Warwick start?
Lambert Simnel was tutored as a child by 28 year old clerical resident Richard Symonds who saw resemblance between Simnel and Edward (Earl of Warwick) which was brought to Yorkist attention. It is likely that John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln was behind the scheme and had been put into contact with Symonds by Bishop Stillington of Bath and Wells
Why did Lambert Simnel impersonate Earl of Warwick?
He was the leading Yorkist claimant to the throne. He had been arrested by Henry after Bosworth and by late 1486 Yorkists feared he had been murdered
Who supported Simnel’s claim to the throne as Earl of Warwick?
Margaret of Burgundy (Richard III sister) who has good relations with the Yorkists and ruler of Burgundy Maximilian on the political front and supplied 2000 mercenaries, she took Simnel in as her nephew, John de la Pole (Earl of Lincoln), Ireland heavily supportive of the Yorkists for example Earl of Kildare who had held the office of Lord Deputy from 1479 and was the most powerful man in Ireland
How did rebels try to gain support in Simnels rebellion?
Marched quickly east through Cumbria and North Yorkshire hoping to gain support in this area but they failed perhaps due to the speed of their march which gave little opportunity for troops to be raised
How did Henry respond to Simnels rebellion?
He paraded the Earl through the streets of London. 8000 rebels confronted Henry’s 12,000 men in a field near East Stoke where Henry’s forces inflicted a heavy defeat in the rebels, John de la Pole killed. Henry instructs Parliament to spend more time dealing with his enemies but only 28 men were attainted so he had less land to give to his supporters
When did Lovell rebel and who was he?
Lovell was one of Richard IIIs councillors and a close ally of the king who fled after Bosworth with the brothers Humphrey and Thomas Stafford, to sanctuary in Colchester Abbey. Eight months later (April 1486) they left to raise a rebellion when Henry had gone on a tour of the north of England
How did Lovell’s rebellion begin?
Lovell travelled to Richards old stronghold to raise troops while the Stafford’s did the same in Worcestershire but they were pursued by Henry’s spies. Lovell went to Yorkshire to Middleham castle and a few Yorkist retainers supported him, few people supported the Stafford brothers in Worcester
How did Henry VII respond to the Lovell rebellion? 6 points
When Henry heard of the rebellion in Lincoln he moved north to York to suppress it with his large armed force, Jasper Tudor was sent into Yorkshire and the rebel force disbanded, 2 reliable noblemen (Sir Richard Edgecombe and Sir William Tyler) sent in to arrest Lovell who had fled to Margaret of Burgundy. Other rebels fled to Culham Abbey but they were dragged out and out on trial for treason and found guilty. Pope supported Henry VII so said sanctuary could not be claimed by rebels against the king. Elder brother Humphrey was executed but the younger brother promised to behave so was set free
What happened to Lovell in the end?
He rallied support from Margaret of Burgundy to support Lambert Simnel, he fought at the battle of Stoke and his body was never found
What happened to Sir John Coyers and the Abbot of Abingdon after the Lovell rebellion?
John was suspected of supporting Lovell so was stripped of his stewardship of Middleham and had to pay a £2000 bond. The abbot tried to give sanctuary to the Stafford brothers so was forced to pay a 3000 mark bond of allegiance
Why did the Lovell rebellion fail? 4 reasons
Lack of credible alternative as king (very few willing to rise in support of the noble leaders), only minor nobles involved so has no great wealth or group of supporters/servants on which to base a rising, Henry had an efficient intelligence operation by successfully tracking the rebels when they fled and not giving them time to become a threat, no backing from overseas
What are arguably the three main reasons why Henry VII was never really in danger?
Those seeking the throne needed to be credible and viable alternatives to him, Henry VII would need to be isolated and there would need to be enough domestic support for an invasion to ensure that it did not look like a self interested act of political speculation by either foreign powers or isolated English malcontents, foreign powers possessed of the requisite military and financial muscle had to be prepared to support an invasion
How did Henry have support from the Pope?
He issued a bull warning to those who refuted the legitimacy of Henry VIIs claim that they would be excommunicated
Who were Henry’s core supporters at the battle of Stoke?
Duke of Bedford, Earl of Derby, Earl of Oxford as well as a multitude of Midlands gentry however one noble (James Lord Audley) and 22 gentry were on the side of the rebels
How many men fought in Henry’s army at the battle of Stoke?
12,000 (much larger force than assembled for Richard III at Bosworth), more than a third of nobles fought at Blackheath for their king and the forces arrayed against him included some 4000 semi naked wild Irish kerns
How strong was Margaret of Burgundy in reality?
In 1495 she enjoyed independence as a result of her dowager lands but the Intercursus Magnus of 1496 stipulated that neither government would support eachothers pretenders and that if she did not follow this directive she would lose all her lands. In September 1498 she wrote to Henry asking forgiveness for supporting his enemies, she ceased to be politically active five years before her death in November 1503
What did Edmund de la Pole (Earl of Suffolk) do in 1501?
Fled to the continent to seek the support of Philip of Habsburg against Henry
How did Henry VII keep Maximilian of Habsburg’s successor Philip on his side? 4 points
Gave Philip a loan of £138,000 in 1505, neutralised Suffolk’s power base in East Anglia in order to eliminate any risk of a rising by his tenantry. Suffolk’s attempts to rouse his tenants to rebellion were completely extinguished by Earl of Oxford in the autumn of 1501 with large numbers of his adherents being forced to swear bonds for their good conduct, many de la Pole clients changed allegiances after 1501 and the region was brought under closer royal control as many of these sought service with Thomas Howard (Earl of Surrey)
How did Henry VII target Suffolk’s relations after the threat from Edmund de la Pole?
Number of executions including that of Sir James Tyrell, some imprisonments and 17 attainders in the 1504 parliament
Identify 3 reasons why Henry did not feel secure 1499 onwards although he had little to fear
The realisation that the Cornish rebellion was not just about resentment against an unpopular tax in a distant region, his heir Prince Arthur died 1502, revelation of the Calais Conspiracy in 1504
What was the Calais conspiracy?
Captions of the garrison discussed the virtues of Edward Stafford duke of Buckingham and Edmund de la Pole Earl of Suffolk as worthy successors to Henry but not Henry VIII
What was the cause of the Cornwall rebellion?
In January 1497 Henry asked for a parliamentary grant of £88,606 (raised by parliament as a tax) to finance the campaign against James IV and Perkin Warbeck. The Cornish refused to contribute to this tax as it was for the north and had no impact on them
What did the rebels do in the Cornwall rebellion? 4 points
Led by Joseph Flammock they set out from Bodmin in May 1497, they marched east and gained their recognised leader James Lord Audley at Wells, they reached the outskirts of London on June 16th, 15,000 camped on Blackheath
How did Henry respond to the Cornwall rebellion?
Sent 25,000 troops north for an anticipated clash with James IV but called it back to London, this army was led by Lord Daubeney, killed about 1000 rebels at the battle of Blackheath, leaders of rebels put to death afterwards
Identify one success of the Cornwall rebellion
They marched from Bodwin in Cornwall to Blackheath just outside of London without anybody challenging them however there was no viable alternative put forward to replace Henry on the throne
When and why was Warwick executed for treason?
Warbeck found himself in the Tower in 1498 and inveigled Warwick into a plot for their joint escape and it was this discretion, combined with a fresh attempt to impersonate him by a young Londoner Ralph Wilford that sealed Warwick’s fate. He was condemned and executed for treason in November 1499
Why was army limited under Henry VII? 5 points
He was soon to become wealthy enough to have taken into his pay one of those mercenary armies with which Europe abounded but prudence and parsimony counselled him to keep this form of aggrandisement and expenditure down to a minimum, gunpowder was no atomic bomb revolutionising warfare, cannon did not look impressive in armouries and weapon statements, every able bodied man required when called upon to have weapons ready to fight for his king and country, national weapon was a longbow
Why was bastard feudalism a threat to Henry VII?
Local military followings, instead of forming subsidiaries of a national defence system, had developed into private armies which held different parts of the country, and at times the whole kingdom, in their thrall
In which two ways did Henry VII deal with bastard feudalism? Give a specific fact about this
Commission of array or the signet letter. Between 1485 and 1497 he issued 11 COA and the men of 26 counties were embodied, many more than once
What was the commission of array?
Used for home defence, issues when an army was required to restore order or to repel invasion, it empowered a dozen or more of the notables in the counties concerned to raise the men needed and to conduct them to the scene of operations
What was the signet letter?
Used for expeditionary forces or for exceptional emergencies at gone, a personal summons to a magnate to recruit among his own followers
