Henry vii : 4 English society

Question 1

was the structure of society like?

Answer 1

not as rigidly hierarchal as France or Spain but was exceedingly layered and based on a class system with social status dominating society ands a person place within this social pyramid was strictly observed,continutiy from the high point of the feudal system

Question 2

what did the social pyramid look like?

Answer 2

• king at the top
• nobility
• gentry
• higher clergy
• merchants
  -burgesses
• artisans
  -lower clergy
  -commoners
  -servants and labouring poor

Question 3

what did the church teach about the social pyramid?

Answer 3

each class had a duty to serve those above it, the higher classes ere also obliged to look after the interests of those below (the great chain of being)

Question 4

which section grew?

Answer 4

professional and mercantile bourgeoisie (middle class residents of towns)

Question 5

change to the social order?

Answer 5

although it mainly stayed the same due to economic pressures social mobility had increased which had created alarm amongst more conservative-ended members of the upper classes who aimed to uphold traditional value

Question 6

who were the nobility?

Answer 6

the most privileged class in England,only 55 in 1500
- dominated land ownership
- all nobles were entitles to a seat in the House of Lords

Question 7

significance of the nobility?

Answer 7

• crown relied on them to govern, keep peace and pay majority of taxes especially in the countryside
• ## Henry vii distrusted nobility (flew new peerage titles)

Question 8

how did Henry control the nobility?

Answer 8

• through bonds and recognises and bastard feudalism by which wealthy magnates recruited knights and gentlemen to serve them as administrators or accountants
• sought a limit on the military power of nobility
• number of limits on retaining employed

Question 9

what was the feudal system?

Answer 9

the medieval system by which society was structured depending on relationships in which land was held in return for a service eg land was held by Henry for military service

Question 10

what were sumptuary laws?

Answer 10

laws that attempted to regulate how individuals should dress, depending on their social status

Question 11

what was peerage?

Answer 11

a group of people who held one of the five ranks of the aristocracy - usually considerable landowners who held considerable power in their localities

Question 12

what were bonds?

Answer 12

local documents which bound an individual to perform an action of forfeit money if they failed to do so

Question 13

what was recognisance?

Answer 13

a formal acknowledgement of a debt or other obligation which would be enforced by means of financial penalty

Question 14

who were the gentry?

Answer 14

the group immediately below the peerage, by the late 15th century they were often great landowners

Question 15

who was sir Reginald Bray?

Answer 15

an important member of the gentry

Question 16

what was the social status of the clergy?

Answer 16

it varied massively,chnatry priests were modestly rewarded where as bishops were important figures entitled to sit in the House of Lords

Question 17

who were the two most important clergy men during henrys reign?

Answer 17

John Morton and Richard Fox

Question 18

who were commoners?

Answer 18

below the nobility and gentry
- the small number of educated professionals in towns and cities of which lawyers were the most influential
- lower down the scale but still respectable came shop owners

Question 19

where there regional divides in England?

Answer 19

yes but they were relatively small and politically unified, some derived from agriculture
- contemporaries were certainly aware of reigional differences,Londoners often looked down on Northerners for their perceived savagery
- reinforced by local govt,structures,justice and saints clubs such asa Canterbury or Durham
- ‘was a country where ideas of language and nationhood conferred as stronger sense of single identity than ever beofre’

Question 20

why did people rebel in the Tudor times?

Answer 20

• regional economic problems (eg Yorkshire had suffered from a bad harvest)
• taxation (people in the regions believing taxation was unfair and had nothing to do with them eg Cornish rebellion in response to raise taxes to support the defence of the Northern boarders against Scotland)
• local issues/greivances (eg the murder of Northumberland)
• support for the Yorkist cause

Question 21

what are some specific reasons for rebellions?

Answer 21

• the challenges of Staffor/Lovell and Warbeck were direct challenged to the authority and position of Henry
• the Cornish rebellion culminated in an army march to London which was a direct challenge to Henrys authority
• dynastic claims
• regional problems (decline in agriculture profitability) continued up to 1509

Question 22

social issues/strengths?

Answer 22

• living conditions seemed to be improving but inflationary pressures became more evident
• not much social discontent in comparison to to other Tudor periods
• England seems to have largely avoided the subsistence crises
• ‘Tudor Englands greatest success was its ability to feed itself’

Question 23

what caused the Yorkshire Rebellion (1489)?

Answer 23

sparked of by resentment of the taxation granted by parliament to finance the involvement of English forces in the campaign in Brittany
- parliament voted for £100,000 to be raised in taxes for the war with Brittany, only £27,000 was raised
- Yorkshire had been hit by a bad harvest so people believed the taxation was too much

Question 24

what happened during the Yorkshire Rebellion?

Answer 24

• the earl of Northumberland pleaded to the king regarding taxation but returned with no success and was promptly murdered
• the rebels led by John Egremont were easily put down by the earl of Surrey
• Egremont fled to Flanders
• Henry faces no further rebellions in the North but he never collected the tax quota for Brittany

Question 25

what cause the Cornish Rebellion (1947)?

Answer 25

sparked by a demand for extraordinary revenue to finance a paw-away military campaign
- January 1947 parliament voted fro £120,000 in taxes for war with James IV and Warbeck

Question 26

what happened during the Cornish Rebellion?

Answer 26

• an estimated 15,000 rebels marched to London
• 17th September Battle of Blackheath - Henrys army crushed the rebels and 1000 were killed
• the rebel leaders Micheal an Gof and Thomas Flamank and the peer Lord Audely were executes, Henry only punished the leaders and treated the bulk of the leaders with conspicuous leniency

Question 27

significance of the Cornish Rebellion?

Answer 27

• alarming for the king as the rebels were able to travel so far without being stopped raised questions as to how effective the Crowns systems were for painting order in the countryside
• by reaching London they were challenging the secruity of Henrys regime
• this shocked Henry into ensuring that Anglo-Scotish tensions were eased and made him particularly cautious about entering into any further foreign conflicts

Question 28

summary?

Answer 28

• England remained stable due to the people at the bottom remaining reasonably well off
• for most of henrys reign people remained peaceful and various pretenders and claimants were unable to gain much support
• the two rebellions of the reign were exceptional and easily suppressed