Maintenance 3 - Role of Government Policies

Question 1

How did government religious policy create unrest? (political destabilisation)

Answer 1

• Religious reforms of Henry VIII and Edward VI were a cause of conflict.
• Henry VIII’s dissolution of smaller monasteries was a cause of the Pilgrimage of Grace (1536-7).
• Edward VI’s dissolution of the chantries, and the introduction of the 1549 Prayer Book, helped spark the Western rebellion.

Question 2

How did government religious policy create stability?

Answer 2

• The Elizabethan Church Settlement, declaring her Supreme Governor and establishing a moderate Protestantism, was most effective in creating religious stability.
• She established outward conformity and most Catholics accepted the Oaths of Supremacy and Uniformity.
• The lack of support of the Northern Earls (1569) showed the policy’s success.

Question 3

What economic government policy created the most unrest in the early Tudor period? How was this changed in governments after 1540 to avoid unrest?

Answer 3

• Innovative taxation.
• Governments tried finding other ways of raising money to avoid heavy tax demands.
• They debased the coinage, sold crown lands, borrowed from overseas, cut expenditure and avoided war when possible.
• Elizabeth did not increase taxes with inflation which was very important in reducing unrest based on financial policies.

Question 4

What impact did Enclosure policy have on political stability? (Economic Policies)

Answer 4

• Tried to reduce unrest and discontent surrounding enclosures as the government knew that Enclosures caused unemployment.
• Therefore, commissions were established to enquire into illegal enclosure and this encouraged people to use litigation.
• However, in 1548-9, the establishment of an Enclosure Commission under Protector Somerset provoked unrest as many believed Somerset sympathized with their concerns.
• They believed that by throwing down illegal enclosures they were just enacting the Commission’s likely findings.

Question 5

What impact did Food supplies policy have on political stability? (Economic policies)

Answer 5

• Many of population lived near the starvation line and with 1 in 4 harvests failing, the government had to take action to try prevent food riots.
• The lack of food riots, even with the 1580s and 1590s poor harvests, suggest that measures were mostly effective later.
• The government passed Acts limiting the export of grain in 1534, 1555, 1559, 1563, 1571 and 1593.
• Measures were also taken to prevent hoarding of grain in 1527, 1544, 1545, 1550, 1556, 1562.
• Book of Orders issued to JPs in 1527, 1550, 1556, 1586 on how to deal with shortages.
• Meanwhile in 1590s, JPs were instructed on how to move corn to areas suffering from shortages.

Question 6

What impact did Unemployment Policy have on political stability? (Economic policies)

Answer 6

• Outside farming, the cloth trade was the largest employer and any decline in sales resulted in workers losing their jobs.
• Unemployment caused unrest so the government took measures to regulate the trade and maintain the quality of cloth to sustain exports.
• The most notable piece of legislation was the 1563 Statute of Artificers, which fixed all workers, as the unemployed travelling in search of work was seen as a threat to stability.

Question 7

What was the role of government social policies in maintaining political stability?

Answer 7

-The government was concerned with the rising number of poor and beggars, who were seen as a threat to law and order.
-Laws were initially passed that punished them, however:
-Under Elizabeth, Acts provided for thsoe who were sick of old.
Parishes had to provide work for the unemployed.
By the 1590s, the genuine poor were assisted but the ‘undeserving’ poor were still punished.
-While it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of this legislation, there was very little unrest in the 1590s despite the poor economic situation (as evidenced by the 4 rebels in Oxfordshire 1596).