HVII SOCIETY + CHURCH

Question 1

HOW MANY nobleman were in Henry VII’s England?

Answer 1

50-60

Question 2

WHAT percentage of the country’s land did John Guy estimate that peers and knights owned during Henry VII’s reign?

Answer 2

15-20%

Question 3

HOW MUCH of the population did the nobility and gentry make up under Henry VII?

Answer 3

Around 1%

Question 4

WHAT was the role of the knight during Henry VII’s reign?

Answer 4

Both military and administrative

Question 5

WHAT is the hierarchy of commoners?

Answer 5

• Gentry (landowners)
• Merchants
• Yeoman (independent farmers)
• Husbandmen (independent subsistence farmers, who only farmed enough for their family)
• Cottagers and labourers (farmers who worked on others’ lands)
• Vagrants/beggars

Question 6

WHICH groups of people were growing in Henry VII’s society?

Answer 6

The professional (educated) and mercantile (relating to trade) bourgeoisie (middle class)

Question 7

WHAT was the relationship between the landlord and the tenant like? (2 key words)

Answer 7

Deference - tenants/commoners were expected to be obedient to their landlord/nobleman
Paternalism - the landlord would protect their tenants in return

Question 8

HOW MUCH of the population during Henry VII’s reign lived in the east and south-east of England (the ‘lowland zone’)?

Answer 8

Roughly 3/4

Question 9

NAME the 3 types of farming that were most common in Henry VII’s England and WHERE they were used.

Answer 9

Mixed: predominated in the more densely populated counties in the east and south-east (the ‘lowland zone’)
Pastoral: (rearing of sheep, cattle and horses) dominated in the more sparsely populated counties in the north and west (the ‘highland zone’)
Grain/fruit farming: popular in the Welsh border counties

Question 10

WHAT regional divisions were there in Henry VII’s reign?

Answer 10

Londoners tended to look down on northerners for perceived savagery and northerners envied southern riches.

Question 11

WHAT was the Church hierarchy under Henry VII?

Answer 11

• The papacy
• Secular clergy
• Cardinals
• Archbishops
• Bishops
• Parish priests

Question 12

WHAT background did Henry VII tend to appoint bishops from?

Answer 12

1) He tended to prioritise men who had legal training and valued administrative competence over spirituality.
2) He was reluctant to appoint men whose social background was aristocratic

Question 13

WHAT were some important functions of the Catholic Church under Henry VII?

Answer 13

1) Maintaining social control locally
2) Caring for the population’s spiritual needs
3) Providing employment opportunities and the ability to socially advance
4) Political role (both domestically and internationally)

Question 14

WHAT was the most central religious experience of the Catholic Church?

Answer 14

Mass, where the priest would perform the Eucharist (or, Holy Communion). Catholics believed in transubstantiation (idea that the bread and wine literally transformed into the body and blood of Christ)

Question 15

WHAT is the term to describe the relationship between the Church and state where the state has authority over the Church?

Answer 15

An Erastian relationship. In Henry VII’s reign, the English king was firmly in control and popes were generally eager to grant favours demanded by the king.

Question 16

WHAT other skills and powers did senior churchmen have during Henry VII’s reign?

Answer 16

They were generally highly competent and conscientious professionals and often had legal training. Many held important positions in government as well

Question 17

WHAT government position was monopolised by clergymen during Henry VII’s reign?

Answer 17

The Chancellor

Question 18

HOW MANY clergy and how many in monastic orders were there in England under HVII?

Answer 18

35,000 clergy
10,000 monks and nuns

Question 19

HOW MUCH English land did the Church own during Henry VII’s reign?

Answer 19

Around 1/3

Question 20

WHY would people of the laity invest into their parish church?

Answer 20

1) To enhance the beauty of worship
2) Ensure the remembrance of them, the benefactor
3) Reduce the time the benefactor would spend in purgatory
4) To found chantries (a chapel where priests would say prayers on the behalf of their patrons)

Question 21

WHAT was a confraternity?

Answer 21

A religious guild or lay brotherhood who grouped together in association with the parish church.

Question 22

WHAT would confraternities raise money for?

Answer 22

• Funerals of members
• Chaplains for masses
• Helping to maintain church buildings / build new projects like spires
• Charitable donations
• Run schools

Question 23

NAME some examples of popular pilgrimages during Henry VII’s reign.

Answer 23

• Visiting the tomb of a saint (e.g. Thomas Becket at Canterbury)
• Visiting a shrine where there had been a reported visitation of the Virgin Mary (e.g. Walsingham, Norfolk)

Question 24

WHAT is absenteeism?

Answer 24

When a priest rarely visits their parish

Question 25

WHAT is pluralism?

Answer 25

When some clergy had more than one position in the church

Question 26

WHAT is simony?

Answer 26

Selling positions in the church for money

Question 27

WHAT percentage of parish churches were renovated or rebuilt in the 15th century?

Answer 27

60%

Question 28

NAME 2 crimes that Church Courts dealt with.

Answer 28

Heresy and blasphemy

Question 29

WHAT were the Lollards’ criticisms of the Church?

Answer 29

1) They favoured the Bible’s translation into English
2) Skeptical of transubstantiation
3) Saw the Catholic Church as corrupt

Question 30

HOW significant was Lollardy as a threat to the Catholic Church?

Answer 30

Lollardy was beginning to decline after the early 15th century, so did not pose much of a threat but some historians believe it to be a predecessor of Protestantism

Question 31

WHAT was humanism?

Answer 31

An intellectual movement, devloping out of the 14th/15th century Renaissance, which was concerned with going back to the original religious texts to establich reliable translations.

Question 32

WHAT were the humanist criticisms of the Catholic Church?

Answer 32

1) They wanted to improve standards of education in the clergy (and laity)
2) Claimed the clergymen were exploiting their parishes
3) Accused the Church of corruption and using their money on luxury, not the people

Question 33

WHO was Erasmus?

Answer 33

He was a humanist scholar who wrote works like ‘The Praise of Folie’ which criticised the Catholic Church for corruption. He visited England in 1499 and gave a series of lectures.

Question 34

HOW significant was humanism as a threat to the Catholic Church?

Answer 34

Not greatly significant in Henry VII’s reign as only some educated people believed in it and traditional attitudes remained unquestioned. Erasmus did develop a friendship with Thomas More (one of Henry VIII’s councillors) which contributed to an increase in humanist ideas during Henry VIII’s reign

Question 35

WHO did Henry VII employ to write poetry about England during his reign?

Answer 35

John Skelton

Question 36

HOW did education improve under Henry VII?

Answer 36

1) New grammar schools
2) Some schools started a more humanist approach by the 1480s (e.g. Magdalen College School, Oxford)
3) Expansions and new builds at both Cambridge and Oxford Universities

Question 37

NAME 2 examples of buildings Henry VII commissioned.

Answer 37

Richmond Palace and a chapel in Westminster Abbey

Question 38

WHAT was the preferred architectural style during Henry VII’s reign?

Answer 38

The Gothic perpendicular style

Question 39

WHEN was the printing press first brought to England?

Answer 39

1476

Question 40

HOW did the printing press lead to change?

Answer 40

1) More gentry and noble classes learnt to read and assimilate into wider culture
2) More books published and ideas were passed orally more often