Henry VII - financial policy and dealing with nobility

Question 1

Why did Henry keep the nobility a small group

Answer 1

Easier to control
Regarded as the ultimate prize
Creating peers costs money

Question 2

Evidence Henry reduced size of the nobility?

Answer 2

Edward IV created 9 earls. Henry created 3 (e.g. Thomas Stanley - Earl of Derby)

Question 3

How did Henry cut expenditure associated with peerage?

Answer 3

Usually expected that a peerage comes with land. Of all the titles he gave, only 3 came with land.

Question 4

How much did the nobility shrink?

Answer 4

1485 - 62 peers.

1509 - 42 peers.

Question 5

What was the Order of the Garter?

Answer 5

Gift of the crown - no financial obligations (e.g. William, Stanley, Rhys ap Thomas)

Question 6

What happened to ex-Yorkist land?

Answer 6

They were attained through the Act of Resumption 1486.

Question 7

Why did Henry control who married who?

Answer 7

Avoid the emergence of dangerous power blocs. When Katherine Woodville married without Henry’s permission, she was fined £1000

Question 8

Example of overmighty family, and how they were dealt with?

Answer 8

The Stanley family - they were kept closely in check.

1506: Bishop Stanley fined £250,000 for retaining.

Question 9

What was a way other than peerage that Henry rewarded his nobles?

Answer 9

Becoming a Councillor.
Edmund Dudley, a trusted advisor of his, never became a peer, but was given a key place on his Privy Council and central to the Council Learned.

Question 10

Example of reconciliation?

Answer 10

THOMAS HOWARD
Yorkist who fought in the Battle of Bosworth so was attained and imprisoned.
1489: didn’t escape Prison with Simnel, so Henry was pleased with him and he was released.
He was given back his title of Earl of Surrey, and made Lieutenant of the North after quashing Yorkshire Rebellion.

Question 11

What were financial penalties?

Answer 11

If Henry couldn’t prove that a Lord’s action was treasonous, he would often punish them with a financial penalty.
Marquis of Dorset’s friends under bond of £10000 to secure his obedience, 1492

Question 12

What was retaining, and what were the punishments?

Answer 12

As of 1504, men could only employ retainers for the King’s service, with a permit.
1507: Lord Bergavenny fined £70,000.

Question 13

What were Henry’s financial aims

Answer 13

1) increasing revenue
2) decreasing expenditure
3) restoring financial strength

Question 14

Why was money important

Answer 14

• raise an army
• impress foreign nations
• pass on to next generation
• reward loyal service
• bribe opponents

Question 15

What was the form of financial administration early in Henry’s reign.

Answer 15

The exchequer. However, this led to Henry’s income from crown lands falling considerably.
Richard III: £25,000/annum
1486: £12,000

Question 16

What did Henry do as a result of the crown lands falling into disrepair?

Answer 16

Introduced the chamber system.

By the 1490s, his income from the Chamber was over £100,000/annum

Question 17

What did the Chamber deal with?

Answer 17

Crown lands
Profits of justice
feudal dues
french pension

Question 18

What did the Exchequer deal with?

Answer 18

custom duties

sheriffs accounts

Question 19

What was the role of the Treasurer of the Household?

Answer 19

Chief financial officer

Initially Sir Thomas Lovell, then Sir John Heron.

Question 20

How did profits from Crown lands change

Answer 20

1485: £29,000/annum
1509: £42,000/annum

Question 21

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Answer 21

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Question 22

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Answer 22

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Question 23

How did Henry increase profits of justice?

Answer 23

Most criminal acts, even treason, punished by fines.

Sir William Stanley - £9000 and £1000/annum following for Treason, 1495

Question 24

Forms of ordinary revenue

Answer 24

• Crown lands
• Custom duties
• Feudal dues
• Profits of justice

Question 25

Forms of extraordinary revenue

Answer 25

• Paeliamentary grants
• Loans and benevolvences
• Clerical taxes
• Feudal obligations
• Bonds and recognisances
• French pension

Question 26

Did Parliamentary Grants work?

Answer 26

Henry rarely used Parliamentary grants - they were usually an admission of weakness, and taxation wasn’t popular.
One of the few grants he asked for was for War against France (to protect Brittany) in 1489. Only £25,000 out of the £100,000 was collected, and it resulted in the Yorkshire rebellion.

Question 27

What were forced loans and benevolences?

Answer 27

Money given to the King from landowners. Not necessarily paid back.
1491 - £50,000 to protect Brittany.

Question 28

What money did Henry make off the Church

Answer 28

1) CLERICAL TAXES (1489 - £25,000 for War against France)
2) SIMONY (£300 - AB of Buckingham)
3) KEPT BISHOPRICS VACANT (£6000/year. Didn’t fully exploit this. A Bishopric was never vacant for over a year)

Question 29

What were feudal obligations?

Answer 29

Money for special occasions

-> £35,000 to Knight Arthurq

Question 30

What was the French pension?

Answer 30

1492 - Treaty of Étaples secured £5000 annual payments to Henry to compensate for the finances spent from the siege of Boulogne.

Question 31

What were bonds and recognisances?

Answer 31

If a noble wasn’t loyal, he would have to pay money too Henry.
-> Baron Bergavenny - £70,000 in 1507
Receipts rose from £3000 (1493) to £35,000 (1505)

Question 32

How did Henry use bonds and recognisances?

Answer 32

To keep nobility in check.

46 out of 62 noble families were financially tied to Henry at some point