Henry VIII government and finance

Question 1

How often did parliament meet?

Answer 1

9 times however parliaments lasted longer than Henry VII’s as he was more reliant on parliament to make decisions

Question 2

What was unusual about the 5th parliament?

Answer 2

He changed the structure of parliament and religion and it lasted over 6 years

Question 3

How long did the conciliar government last?

Answer 3

1509-14

Question 4

Why did conciliar government end?

Answer 4

• Henry didn’t like the reluctance of his father’s senior councilors
• He was impressed with Wolsey’s organisation skills
• Young courtiers who hung out with Henry reinforce his suspicions of the old guard

Question 5

How did the privy chamber change?

Answer 5

• It expanded in size so it gained more power and status
• Young courtiers became gentlemen of the privy chamber
• These young courtiers were suspicious of Wolsey so in 1519, Wolsey removed them for men that were loyal to him however many of the young courtiers managed to regain their position
• Wolsey didn’t have full control over the privy chamber

Question 6

What was the court of chancery?

Answer 6

• It was meant to uphold fair justice
• It dealt with issues relating to enclosure, contracts and land left to other in wills
• The court became too popular and justice was slow

Question 7

What was the court of star chamber?

Answer 7

It was established by an act of parliament in 1487 as part of the king’s council but it became a centre of government and justice under Wolsey
- Extended use from 1516 to increase cheap and fair justice
- It heard many cases of alleged misconduct
- encouraged private lawsuits
- a series of overflow tribunals was set up to deal with the pressure of business
- a permanent committee was set up in 1519 which later became the court of requests to deal with cases relating to the poor

Question 8

What did Eric Ives say about Henry VIII’s opinion on government?

Answer 8

He liked an overview of his government but he was happy to let others do the mundane work for him

Question 9

How did Wolsey rise to power?

Answer 9

• He was educated at Oxford
• In 1498, he was ordained a priest
• He was chaplain to Sir Richard Nanfan, deputy lieutenant of Calais who recommended Wolsey to Henry VII and in 1507, he became Henry’s chaplain
• In 1509, he was appointed dean of Lincoln and 5 years later, Pope Leo X made him bishop of Lincoln
• In September 1514, he became archbishop of York
• In 1515, he became a cardinal and by December, he was lord chancellor

Question 10

What did Wolsey do despite the reform?

Answer 10

He suppressed 29 monasteries to gain revenue to build Christ church in Oxford

Question 11

What was the Eltham ordinance?

Answer 11

It was created in 1526 to reorganise finances within the privy chamber however Wolsey actually used it to reduce the men and their influence within the privy chamber. He secured the removal of Henry’s groom of the stool, Sir William Crompton replacing him with the more complaint Henry Norris. But, it wasn’t successful as many young courtiers regained their position in court

Question 12

What is Peter Gwyn’s opinion on the Eltham ordinance?

Answer 12

It’s purpose was primarily financial whilst gentlemen of the privy chamber did lost their job; household staff suffered the same fate

Question 13

What is David Starkey’s opinion on the Eltham ordinance?

Answer 13

Wolsey issued the Eltham ordinance to maintain political influence due to the unpopularity of the amicable grant

Question 14

What was the Tudor subsidy and was it successful?

Answer 14

A grant issued by parliament to the sovereign for state needs and it imposed a tax of one shilling in a pound for land worth over £59 and one shilling in a pound for personal savings and goods. It didn’t raise enough money for war against France and the church had to be taxed as a result

Question 15

How did the methods of collecting subsidies change?

Answer 15

Local commissioners weren’t used rather a national committee was used with Wolsey at the head

Question 16

What was the amicable grant?

Answer 16

In 1522, Wolsey organised a national survey to assess who could pay tax and how much. He used it to gain £200,000 in forced loans in 1522-23. In March and April 1525, Wolsey taxed clergymen and regular taxpayers for money for war against France. It was outside of parliament’s grant so many people were either unable or didn’t want to pay and many regions wanted to be exempt from it. Due to this, Henry had to suspend it so money wasn’t raised to invade France

Question 17

How much did people owe in the amicable grant?

Answer 17

Commissioners were instructed to tax laity at between 1/6 and 1/10 of the value of the goods they owned and to the clergy, 1/3 of the value of their goods and they had 10 weeks to find the money

Question 18

What were Cromwell’s achievements?

Answer 18

• England breaking from Rome
• Being Henry’s closest advisor for 10 years
• The dissolution of monasteries
• Finding the minsteries of augmentations and first fruits
• Increasing control over Wales, Ireland and Northern England
• Creating propaganda campaigns using the printing press

Question 19

What were the reasons for Henry and Catherine’s divorce?

Answer 19

• Catherine failed to produce a male heir
  -Catherine was past child bearing age
• He fell in love with Anne Boleyn but she didn’t want to be his mistress
• He couldn’t have a divorce as it was against the catholic church
• There was fears of civil war if Henry didn’t have a male heir

Question 20

Why was the annulment hard to get?

Answer 20

Pope Clement VII was under the control of Charles V (holy roman emperor) and Catherine of Aragon was his aunt

Question 21

What were the scriptural arguments for the divorce?

Answer 21

Wolsey found in the book of Levitus which contained a prohibition marrying his brother’ widow and Catherine was married to Arthur. However, Catherine claimed her and Arthur never consummated their marriage so the biblical ban didn’t apply

Question 22

What was the role of Cardinal Campeggio?

Answer 22

Wolsey tried to get and envoy, Campeggio, for two years even through creating an alliance with France to free the pope from Charles V. However, the pope put off the visit as he was against the annulment. Campeggio finally stayed in London from the 15th of June to July 1527 to view the fake court but the annulment wasn’t secured

Question 23

What was the fake court?

Answer 23

In may 1527, Wolsey used his power as a personal representative of the pope to ring Henry to a false court to “accuse” him of living in sin with Catherine. She refuses to accept the court’s verdict and she used church law to appeal to the pope. A court was further reopened at Blackfriars in October 1528 but Campeggio broke up the court insisting it had to be done in Rome and it had no legal jurisdiction

Question 24

What did Anne Boleyn do to secure Henry’s divorce?

Answer 24

• She began sexual relations with Henry to increase her chances of becoming pregnant forcing Henry to take decisive action against the pope
• The archbishop of Canterbury, William Warham died and Thomas Cramner replaced him. Since Anne was known to be pregnant by December 1532, he allowed Henry and Anne to marry on the 25th of January 1533
• Cramner annulled Henry and Catherine’s marriage in May 1533

Question 25

How was the pope pressured in 1531?

Answer 25

Clergy were collectively accused of praemunire (the offence of believing the pope is superior in England) and were fined. This began a sustained attack on the clergy forcing them that Henry was “protector and supreme head of the English church,” so far as “the laws of Christ allowed.”

Question 26

How was the pope pressured in 1532?

Answer 26

• The act in conditional restraint of Annates. This was designed to increase the papacy by withholding conditionally the first year’s income from the office of bishop which the papacy had traditionally enjoyed
• The house of commons supplication against the ordinaries was designed to increase anticlerical pressure within the house of commons
• The clergy formally submitted to Henry VIII provoking the resignation of Sir Thomas More as Lord Chancellor

Question 27

What were the legal and historical justifications to exploit weaknesses within the church?

Answer 27

• The church was already weakened by Colet and Erasmus and anticlerical satire of Simon Fish
• Christopher St German placed English law over canon law in 1528
• Thomas Cramner and Edward Foxe compiled a collection of historical documents called the collectanea satiscopiosa which looked to justify the king’s divorce on legal and historical justifications
• Henry sought expert opinions from universities
• The king himself humiliated Thomas More by requiring him to present these favourable opinions to both houses of parliament

Question 28

What was the act of instrait in appeals?

Answer 28

Cromwell drafted it in April 1533 and founded on the evidence of the collectanea. The act declared the monarch posses an imperial jurisdiction which was not subject to any foreign power and that appeals couldn’t be made to Rome especially on matrimony meaning Catherine couldn’t appeal to Rome against the annulment

Question 29

What acts were passed in 1534?

Answer 29

• In April 1534, the act of succession declared the marriage to Catherine was void, only Anne’s children were heirs, to deny Henry and Anne’s marriage was treasonable and oath should be taken to affirm an individual’s acceptance of the new marriage
• The treason act of November 1534 allowed spoken word, a deed or writing as treasonable encouraging high profile victims to be punished
• The act of supremacy in November 1534 allowed Henry to break from Rome and become supreme head of the church

Question 30

What was the act annexing first fruits and tenths to the crown in November 1534?

Answer 30

• Annates paid by a bishop to the pope were now paid to the king increasing the financial burden on the clergy
• They earned a tax of 10%
• The court of first fruits of tenths was established in 1540 to further increase money from the church

Question 31

What happened to Anne Boleyn in 1536?

Answer 31

Anne and Cromwell fell out leading him to team up with conservatives which made Anne more vulnerable to them after Catherine of Aragon’s death. The conservatives argued Anne’s flirtations would lead to adultery. On the 19th of May 1536, Henry executed on the grounds of incest and adultery

Question 32

What happened to Cromwell in 1540?

Answer 32

• Cromwell’s influence was declining so he arranged a marriage alliance between Henry and Anne of Cleves from the league of Schmalkalden but it was politically unwelcome and resulted in an annulment
• Members of the court like Norfolk accused him of treason and on the 10th of June, he was put into the tower of London during a council meeting
• He was executed on the 28th of July 1540

Question 33

What was the government like in 1540 - 47?

Answer 33

• Conciliar government was restored
• The privy council with fixed members rose in provenance
• There was a secretary who recorded events in the council
• Norfolk, Stephen Gardiner and Thomas Wriothesley rose as conservatives within the council

Question 34

What happened to Catherine Howard and Katherine Parr?

Answer 34

• Rumours spread of an affair between Howard and her cousin, Thomas Culpepper resulting in her execution for treason on the 13th of February 1542. This ruined her family’s reputation but Norfolk managed to escape from the situation.
• Parr posed a thread to Henry’s ambitions as a protestant so he tried to unsuccessfully embroil her in accusations of heresy

Question 35

What were the political rivals in 1547?

Answer 35

Henry’s health was in decline so Norfolk and Edward Seymour battled who was the most influential so they could dominate Edward’s reign. Seymour won as he was Edward’s uncle. Norfolk’s son Henry Howard threatened the king’s throne and was executed for treason. Norfolk was placed in the tower of London but he was spared as Henry died on the 28th of January 1547

Question 36

How was local government managed?

Answer 36

• More of Henry’s loyal men took over JP positions rather than just landowners
• Larger emphasis on the great chain of being to control his people
• 2,200 JPs and many were non northern landowners appointed by Wolsey to help control the north
• JPs failed to control revolt relating to the amicable grant
• 1/3 of JPs were replaced after the pilgrimage of grace were replaced