Henry VIII's Government Flashcards
What was the nickname given to Wolsey by the public?
Friend of the Poor
How many times was parliament called while Wolsey was the first minister?
Twice - 1515 and 1523
What was the name of the measure Wolsey introduced in 1525 to raise money for war without Parliament’s approval?
The Amicable Grant
By how much did Wolsey increase the number of cases heard by the Star Chamber?
10 times
What was the name of the court that heard 7526 cases and used principles of fairness rather than a strict reading of the law?
Court of Chancery
In what year were the Eltham Ordinances passed, which reduced the number of people in the chamber for finance and the number of people close to Henry passed?
1526
How much had Wolsey raised by 1520 despite expenditure being 1.7 million?
800,000
Which year did Wolsey fall from power?
1529
What was the main reason behind Wolsey’s fall?
Inability to secure a break
from Rome
Why was Wolsey disliked by his enemies?
- He was not of noble stock
- He believed he had the the same amount of authority as the king
How did Wolsey use Parliament to gain extraordinary revenue?
The Tudor subsidy
Which treaty did Wolsey create to bring an end to England’s diplomatic isolation?
Treaty of London 1518
What court did Wolsey extend the use of to administer cheap and fair justice in 1516?
Star Chamber
What did Wolsey build, and then later gift to Henry?
Hampton Court Palace
What was the charge brought against Wolsey?
Praemunire
When does Thomas Cromwell serve as chief minister and lord chancellor?
1532-1540
When was the dissolution of monasteries?
1536 – 1542
Who was hostile to Cromwell’s religious reforms?
The Duke of Norfolk
When was the Act of Supremacy passed?
November 1534
How many men made up the privy council after it was reduced from 70 members?
Cromwell reduced the number down to 19 members
What was the act, drafted by Cromwell which gave the Monarch Imperial Jurisdiction?
Act In Restraint of Appeals
What did Cromwell charge Anne Boleyn with in 1536?
Adultery
Who did Cromwell arrange a marriage between after the death of Jane Seymour?
Anne of Cleves 1540 and Henry VIII
What was Cromwell’s fathers job?
Blacksmith
What institution did Geoffrey Elton believe that Cromwell was responsible for revolutionising?
Parliament
What type of payment was withheld from the Papacy under Cromwell’s policy in 1532?
Annates
What did the Act of Succession state and when was it drafted?
Signed in April 1534, stated that Henry’s marriage to Catherine was void and that the Children of Henry and Anne should succeed the throne.
What court was used to deal with the income of the dissolution of the Monasteries and by how much did crown income rise?
Court of Augmentations.
Crown Income rose from £150,000 to £300,000
What role had Cromwell assumed by 1532?
The king’s chief minister
What was Cromwell arrested for?
He was arrested for charges of treason, heresy & corruption – on the 10th June 1540.
An example of how the Star Chamber curbed the powerful’s abuse of the legal system?
1516 the Earl of Northumberland was put in prison for contempt of court.
What was set up as a result of the popularity of the Star Chamber and Chancery?
Overflow Tribunals
e.g Whitehall in 1519
What did the Court of Chancery deal with and what was passed that led to how many prosecutions 2 years later?
The Enclosure Act 1515
17 committees were sent out in 1517 to make sure the law was being carried out. This led to 264 prosecutions.
Limitations of the Court of Chancery
Wolsey became distracted by foreign policy
The court was slow because of popularity
The enclosure policy was abandoned in 1523 for 18 months because of the subsidy.
What was the Act of Resumption?
1515
Returned some of the Crown lands to increase revenue
_ Income from Crown Lands decreased to £20,000 per anum
What was the aim of the Subsidy?
Replace fifteenths & tenths tax
Designed to be more flexible instead of a fixed amount
Be more realistic and accurate on the value of people’s assets & wealth
How did Wolsey change the method of assessing wealth?
Moved away from using local commissioners to do it
In 1522, he used a national committee that ran a survey
How much did the Subsidy raise (Wolsey) ?
Used 4 times (1513-1515 & in 1523)
£322,099 in subsidy
£240,000 in Clerical tax
£260,000 in forced loans
Total raised : £822,000
Total expenditure on war 1509-1520: £1.7 million
Limitations of the Amicable Grant
London & East Anglia had a resistance of 20,000 men
Widespread unpayment
Pardoned by the King so Wolsey took the blame for the expensive foreign policies
Who was the Trade Embargo against in 1527?
Spain
Wolsey had aligned foreign policy with France & against Spain
Spain controlled the Netherlands which heavily impacted the English cloth trade
What contributed to the first occasion in Tudor England of substantial economic suffering of the poor?
Debasement of the coinage
Trade Embargo with Spain heavily impacted the Cloth industry
Poor harvests in 1527
The first parliament of 1515
Wolsey stopped the Parliament before it granted money because some MPs were criticising the Church, addressing anticlericalism
The Second Parliament of 1523
Wolsey requested £800,000 in subsidy
Wolsey received £150,000
He asked Parliament for £100,000 which was unpopular
Showed lack of humility & caused relationship with Parliament to worsen
When & what was the Act to abolish Sanctuary?
- 1540
- Criminals could no longer shelter in places of worship to avoid arrest and prosecution.
Laws in Wales Act 1536
- English common law replaced any pre-existing laws in the area.
- Justices of the Peace, appointed by the King, were responsible for the maintenance of law and order in each Shire.
- English became the official legal language for documentation
Transformation in local governance in Wales
- Laws in Wales Act in 1536
- Able to elect 1 MP for each Shire & a 2nd for the boroughs
- English law enforced in 1542
- 2 Acts of Union , landowners could participate in local & national politics
After the pilgrimage of Grace, Cromwell reformed the Council of the North in 1536 by…
Increased power for Henry and the North starts to feel the power of the Crown more directly.
It was responsible for the maintenance of law and order, and this was overseen by Justices of the Peace.
Permanent bureaucratic council and enforced political and religious policies.
The Court of First Fruits and Tenths
Established to collect the money previously paid to Rome through the Annates.
Debasing of the coinage happened in what years under Cromwell?
- 1544
- 1546
Reformation of Parliament 1529-1536
Statute law created in parliament could only be overturned through a subsequent act of parliament
Justices of Peace under Cromwell
- Increased the number of JPs
- 1,000 paid JPs
- Justice of Assize 1542, JPs held accountable
- Duties increased
Palatinates under Cromwell
Palatinates are semi-autonomous areas of England : Durham, Cambridge & Lancaster
In 1536, JPs were appointed to limit their powers and brought the Palatinates under the Crown more.
Local government change in Calais under Cromwell
1536 : 2 MPs sent to the House of Commons
Local government change in the South West under Cromwell
The creation of the Council of the South West was unpopular & ineffective.
President John Russel
Abandoned after Cromwell’s fall
Local government change in Ireland under Cromwell
- Lord Grey sent to govern & 4 royal commissioners to examine the issues.
- June 1541: Policy introduced that Ireland was a kingdom & Henry VIII was King
- The Cusack st Leger initiative in 1540 meant each Irish lord had to obey the king’s officers, pay tax, do military service, and adopt English customs abandoned in 1543.
