Henry VII - Dealing with the Nobility

Question 1

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Answer 1

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Question 2

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Question 3

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Question 4

What were the main sources of royal income?

Answer 4

• Crown lands - Profits from feudal dues and royal prerogative - Customs revenue - Pensions from other powers - Profits of justice - Extraordinary revenue

Question 5

How did Francis Bacon’s ‘History of the Reign of Henry VII’ present Henry and his finances?

Answer 5

• It presented Henry VII as a miserly king who begrudged throwing money away like many other contemporary rulers, transforming finances to leave a large amount of money to his son

Question 6

What was the revenue from Crown Lands at the start of Henry’s reign, how did this change at the end of his reign?

Answer 6

• Start - £12,000 - End £42,000

Question 7

How does Christine Carpenter regard Henry’s income from Crown lands?

Answer 7

• impressive - this is significant as Carpenter is very critical of many aspects of Henry’s Kingship

Question 8

Why did Crown revenue drop at the start of Henry’s reign?

Answer 8

• they dropped because lands were collected and administered through the inefficient Court of Exchequer - perhaps shows that Henry was inexperienced in finance

Question 9

What did Henry decide to do in 1492 regarding finances?

Answer 9

• reverted the Edward’s system of administration through the chamber

Question 10

What was Edward’s system of administration that Henry reverted to?

Answer 10

• finances were dealt with through the royal household rather than through an administrative department - this allowed Henry to have effective treasurers of the Chamber, such as Sir Thomas Lovell and Sir John Heron

Question 11

What 3 problems did Henry face when taking the throne?

Answer 11

• nobles had too much power - made them a threat - crown had an uneven distribution over the kingdom (limited control in the north) - the crown had poor finances after the wars of the roses

Question 12

What role did the surveyor of the King’s wards have?

Answer 12

• investigate money owed to Henry VII from wardship

Question 13

What was the Court of Order?

Answer 13

• this was a place to measure government spending

Question 14

Why did the nobles prove a problem for Henry and what measure did he take overall against them?

Answer 14

• they had too much power and influence - instead of rewarding the nobles to ensure loyalty, Henry decided to force them to support him by showing them the unwelcome consequences of opposition

Question 15

Why was nobles having money a problem?

Answer 15

• they had small private armies (mercenaries) - could generate their own income from rent and leases

Question 16

What three factors did the nobility depend on for independence?

Answer 16

• land - wealth - support - Henry directly attacked all three of these through his financial policy

Question 17

What were attainders?

Answer 17

• these were special laws passed by parliament that allowed someone to be declared guilty of treason without trial - these would take away finances and titles from the person in question, leaving them in no position of power or authority

Question 18

Which men did Henry first give attainders to?

Answer 18

• those who opposed him at the Battle of Bosworth

Question 19

Did Henry reverse attainders?

Answer 19

• yes, if he felt that it would benefit and increase loyalty of the person attained

Question 20

How many attainders did Henry pass in his time as King?

Answer 20

• 138

Question 21

How many attainders did Henry reverse in his time as King?

Answer 21

36

Question 22

How man attainders were passed in the final years of Henry’s reign? What does this show?

Answer 22

• 51 were passed from 1504-09 - this shows how Henry became increasingly insecure and paranoid at the end of his reign

Question 23

What else did Henry sometimes require when reversing an attainder, can you give an example of this?

Answer 23

• often required a sum of money to reverse an attainder - for example, Thomas Tyrell had to pay £1,738 for the reversal of his and his father’s attainders

Question 24

What were Henry’s feelings towards the distribution of lands as a reward?

Answer 24

• He disliked this policy as he was concerned that he would make a new group of nobles that threatened his power.

Question 25

By how much did the ‘noble’ population decrease by in Henry’s reign?

Answer 25

• fell by 1/4

Question 26

What happened to vacant lands from attainders/death?

Answer 26

• Henry claimed them, making him the largest landowner in the country

Question 27

How did Henry safely employ royal agents to look after local communities?

Answer 27

• he employed people who were lower down the social scale, as they were less dependent on him and did not have extensive lands in the area

Question 28

What was retaining?

Answer 28

• the act of keeping personal staff for ‘household servants’ - in reality these were personal armies or gangs of enforcers

Question 29

What law was passed in 1485 to reduce retaining?

Answer 29

• He passed a law in Parliament saying that one could not retain illegally

Question 30

What did Henry do in 1504 to reduce retaining?

Answer 30

• passed an act requiring all nobles to obtain a special license before they could retain larger numbers of men - there were severe penalties if this was broken

Question 31

What penalties did Henry introduce for illegal retainers?

Answer 31

• a fine of £5 per month per illegal retainer

Question 32

How did nobles avoid the new laws against retaining?

Answer 32

• they found new ways to avoid getting a license - for example, they would cover up wages they had paid to servants so that no one knew exactly how many men were being retained

Question 33

What were bonds and how did Henry use them?

Answer 33

• these were financial debts owed to the crown that would ensure loyalty - Henry forced nobles to agree to behave themselves or face a ruinous fine

Question 34

What percentage of the nobility were held under bonds in Henry’s reign?

Answer 34

• two thirds

Question 35

Give an example of someone who held a bond.

Answer 35

• Lord Burgavenny - He was convicted in 1507 of illegally retaining 471 men, giving him a fine of £70,000 - Henry placed this debt under a bond to repay £5000 over 10 years - He also gave him the instruction that he could not step foot in his family lands until the debt was settles - This meant that Henry both raised money from someone he did not trust, and also obliged him to keep in the King’s favour or risk ruin

Question 36

How did Henry enforce these financial policies?

Answer 36

• through the creation of the Council Learned in Law

Question 37

What was the Council Learned in Law?

Answer 37

• this was an offshoot from the main Royal Council which dealt initially with the King’s feudal rights, but later controlled all financial matters

Question 38

What was special about members of the Council Learned in Law?

Answer 38

• they all had legal training and acted both as investigators and as judges in cases where there was suspicion of noble not paying their proper dues

Question 39

Who was the first leader of the Council Learned in Law?

Answer 39

• Reginald Bray unitl 1503

Question 40

Who led the Council Learned in Law in the final years of Henry’s reign?

Answer 40

• Edmund Dudley and Richard Empson - They were hated and feared

Question 41

Which areas of the country were most difficult to control?

Answer 41

• Those most distant from London - these needed the presence of local nobility

Question 42

How did Henry control areas that were more settled?

Answer 42

• through JPs, who were responsible for public order, the implementation of laws and dispensing justice to criminals brought before them - 4 times a year they met at the Quarter Sessions to try those accused of more serious crimes (apart from treason which was left to the crown)

Question 43

Who ruled the North on Henry’s behalf?

Answer 43

• after the death of Northumberland in 1489, the Earl of Suffolk - Henry placed him here because he had no support, lands or a strong base to rival Henry from