Henry VII - Government

Question 1

How many men attended the council during his reign?

Answer 1

227, but his working council only contained 6 or 7 members

Question 2

What were the functions of his council?

Answer 2

To advise the king
The administer the realm on the king’s behalf
To make legal judgements

Question 3

What were the three main types of councillor?

Answer 3

Members of the nobility
Churchmen
Laymen - either gentry or lawyors

Question 4

Who was Sir Reginald Bray?

Answer 4

Helped Henry raise funds for Battle of Bosworth
He became the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Question 5

What was the Great Council?

Answer 5

A gathering in the House of Lords without the House of Commons.
It only met 5 times during his reign
Dealt with war or rebellion

Question 6

What were prerogative rights?

Answer 6

Rights or powers which the monarch could exercise without the consent of parliament

Question 7

What was the function of the Council Learned?

Answer 7

It maintained the king’s revenue and exploited his prerogative rights

Question 8

Who was John Morton?

Answer 8

Died 1500
Highly able churchman and lawyer
Served under Edward IV as the bishop of Ely
Worked against Richard III and was promoted by Henry to Archbishop of Canterbury in 1486.
Became cardinal in 1493

Question 9

What was the Duchy of Lancaster?

Answer 9

A significant body of property which personally belonged to the king but was formally the territory of the duke

Question 10

Who was Sir Richard Empson?

Answer 10

1450 - 1510
Member of the King’s Council from 1494
Eventually Chaired the Council Learned
Arrested shortly after Henry’s death, charged with treason and was executed the following year.

Question 11

Who was Edmund Dudley?

Answer 11

1462 - 1510
Came to prominence after the death of Bray
He exploited financial opportunities, which gave him opportunity to make influential enemies
He became accountable for the kings demands after Henry’s death.

Question 12

What was the function of the court?

Answer 12

The Royal Court was the centre of government. It was the focus of a personal monarchy and a place with royal ceremony.

Question 13

What were the two elements of the court?

Answer 13

The Household, which was responsible for looking after the king, the courtiers and the guests who were being entertained, and the Chamber, a private area of the court which was presided over by the Lord Chamberlain.

Question 14

What did Henry create after the Stanley plot to increase his protection?

Answer 14

In 1495, Henry discovered that Sir William Stanley, who was his Lord Chamberlain, had been involved in a treasonable plot with the pretender Perkin Warbeck. In response, he remodelled the Chamber by creating a new Privy Chamber, where he could retreat and be protected by his most intimate servants. This made it harder for those out of favour to regain the king’s support.

Question 15

How many times did Henry call parliament during his reign?

Answer 15

Henry called parliament five times during the first ten years of his reign and twice in the last fourteen years.

Question 16

What were Henry’s early parliaments mainly concerned with?

Answer 16

His early parliaments were largely concerned with issues of national security and the raising of revenue, like the Acts of Attainder, which could declare individuals guilty without trial.

Question 17

What was the most usual form of extraordinary revenue that parliament granted?

Answer 17

Extraordinary revenue was money raised by the king from additional sources as one-off payments when he faced an emergency, and its most usual form was in fifteenths and tenths.

Question 18

In what year did Parliament limit the demand for extraordinary revenue?

Answer 18

In 1504, Henry’s final parliament managed to limit the demand for extraordinary revenue, and the king could no longer seek revenue by this means.

Question 19

Why was Henry unable to rule the country by spheres of influence like Edward IV before him?

Answer 19

The country had been divided into spheres run by magnates under Edward, but the number of magnates had been greatly reduced and the land was controlled by the crown.

Question 20

How did Henry solve the problem of the spheres of influence?

Answer 20

He released the Yorkist Earl of Surrey from the Tower after his imprisonment in the Battle of Bosworth, to rule the north on his behalf. It was a risky move to send a Yorkist supporter to Richard III’s centre of power, but Surrey effectively ruled for ten years, proving his support.

Question 21

What was a bond?

Answer 21

A legal document which bound an individual to another to perform an action or forfeit a specified sum of money if they failed to do so.

Question 22

What is a recognisance?

Answer 22

A formal acknowledgement of a debt or other obligation which could be enforced by means of financial penalty.

Question 23

What was the role of the Justices of the Peace (JPs)?

Answer 23

JP’s maintained order in the countryside and met four times a year to administer justice. They were local gentry who performed these unpaid tasks out of a sense of duty or in the hope of advancement.

Question 24

How were JP’s powers increased?

Answer 24

They were in charge of tax assessments, alehouse regulation, the investigation of complaints against local officials and the maintenance of law and order.

They superseded the traditional role of the county sheriff.

Question 25

How far did Henry increase income from Crown Lands between the beginning and end of his reign?

Answer 25

At the beginning of his reign, income from the Crown Lands had dropped to £12000 per year because it was administered through the inefficient Court of Exchequer. By the end of his reign, it had increased to £42000 per annum.

Question 26

How did Henry increase his income from the Crown Lands?

Answer 26

He achieved this by reverting back to Edward’s system of administration through the Chamber where policies were formulated, and decisions were made.

Question 27

How did Henry gain profit from feudal dues?

Answer 27

Parliament granted a feudal aid in 1504, which meant that the crown could impose a tax on their tenants for the knighting of the eldest son, the marriage of the eldest daughter or to ransom a lord.

Question 28

How much did customs revenue increase by?

Answer 28

Tonnage and poundage had been granted by Henry’s first parliament for life. There was a small increase from £34,000 to £38,000.

Question 29

How much did Henry receive from his French pension a year?

Answer 29

At the Treaty of Etaples in 1492, the French agreed to pay Henry a pension of £5000 per annum.

Question 30

What did Profits of Justice include?

Answer 30

This included fines and bonds; however, this represented a potential so could not be relied upon. Between 1504 and 1507, £200,000 was promised though not all was collected.

Question 31

Give two examples of extraordinary revenue:

Answer 31

He received £400,000 from extraordinary taxation.
Henry was granted a subsidy 0f £75,000 from parliament, and £25,000 was added on behalf of the clergy.

Question 32

What did Henry use to promote himself and the dynasty?

Answer 32

To promote himself and his dynasty, Henry sought to maintain positive relations with foreign powers

Question 33

How much did Henry leave on his death?

Answer 33

Henry left plate and jewels worth around £300,000 along with £10,000 in cash. This was not £1.8 million as suggested by Bacon’s estimate, though still a fair sum.