Mid Tudor Crisis

Question 1

What did Mary establish in 1554 to address the problem of her overly large privy council?

Answer 1

Mary established committees in 1554 by excluding casual councillors

Question 2

what were the problems with Mary’s privy council?

Answer 2

1) too large to conduct business effectively
2) The council contained too many members with no political ability
3) Lacked administrative experience
4) Mary had chosen councillors from her own household and from among leading Catholic nobleman that supported her.

Question 3

Explain the reasons as to why people were concerned by Mary’s female rule?

Answer 3

1) It was feared that her gender would lead to her being dominated by Faction - thus there would be a crisis of authority.
2) The reign of the only previous female ruler, Matilda, had ended in civil war 1139-47.
3) Mary’s gender was used by protestants like John Knox, who attempted to undermine her government.

Question 4

What problems did Mary encounter towards her ascension to the throne and How was this dealt with?

Answer 4

1) Northumberland marched to confront Mary with 2,000 troops, many deserted him en route, despite him raising their pay. In the end, Northumberland was forced to retreat to Cambridge where he proclaimed Mary queen.
2) The privy council endorsed Mary’s claim to the throne.
3) mary had Northumberland arrested for treason on the 17th of July and executed on the 22nd of August, despite his renunciation of Protestantism.

Question 5

When was Mary declared Queen?

Answer 5

Mary was acknowledged Queen on the 20th of July and entered London to ‘mass enthusiasms’ on the 3rd of August.

Question 6

Describe the conflict amongst faction and Council?

Answer 6

There were frequent clashes between the conservative faction, led by Stephen Gardiner, and the moderates, led by William Paget, over specific issues such as the revival of heresy laws, although this did not impact government efficiency. Furthermore, Phillip’s depature in 1555 when it was clear Mary wasn’t going to have an heir and the death of Gardiner meant for Paget he could later dominate and run a more stable government.

Question 7

Describe the power struggle amongst the English advisors?

Answer 7

There was a power struggle between the English advisors and Simon Renard, the imperial ambassador who soon emerged as Mary’s closest advisor.

Question 8

Why did Mary not trust her English councillors?

Answer 8

Mary did not trust her councillors because due to the treatment of her mother and humiliations under Edward. She knew that the only reason actions against her hadn’t been more severe under Edward was a fear of the Habsburgs and she favoured a close relationship with Charles V.

Question 9

What were the issues with Mary’s leadership?

Answer 9

The main problem was that mary did not appear to exert any leadership, or show any real confidence in her council. frequently, she did not consult the privy council until she had already decided matters of policy in consultation with Renard.

Question 10

Explain the Spanish marrage treaty arranged for Mary?

Answer 10

Decwmber 1553, a marriage treaty drafted by Mary .Paget, gardiner and Renard was presented to the council and ratified in January 1554.

Question 11

What were the conditions of this Spanish marriage treaty?

Answer 11

1) Phillip was to have no regal power in England
2) If Mary were to die, neither he nor his heirs were to have any claim to the English throne.
3) He was forbidden from promoting foreigners to hold office in Engalnd.

Question 12

What was done to dramatize the conditions of this marriage treaty?

Answer 12

Royal advisors planned the wedding ceremony so that her throne was slightly higher than his. At the banquets, Mary ate from a gold place, whilst Philip had to make do with silver.

Question 13

Explain the Hapsburg Valois conflict?

Answer 13

• The Hapsburg Valois conflict dominated Europe for 30years. Charles V abdicated in 1555 splitting Hapsburg empire between his brother Ferdinand and his son Philip.
• A truce was brokered in feb 1556, however in September 1556 Phillip attacked the anti-Spanish pope Paul VI, a French ally. Henry VII of France countered and immediately the Englsih were under pressure to join a war against France.

Question 14

How did Mary get involved in the Hapsburg Valois conflict?

Answer 14

1) Phillip demanded support from Mary and returned to England in March 1557 to make his case for funds, troops and naval support. 2) Mary had sent 6,000 troops to the Netherlands in January 1557 unable to convince Mary to join a war against the Valois King.

Question 15

When was the Western rebellion?

Answer 15

In 1549

Question 16

Explain the causes of the Western rebellion?

Answer 16

1) The Act of Uniformity - protestors gathered at Bodmin to protest against the act.
2) Religion - The rebels demands included the call for Reginald Pole, the English catholic cardinal exiled by Henry VIII, to be included in the King’s council.
- Faction of local gentry ( Edward Courtenay and Henry Arundell ) younger sons of declining catholic families joined the rebels and provided leadership alongside the clergy drawing up the first set of rebels demands.
3) Socio-economic issues - Including opposition against the 1549 sheep tax which hit places like Devon and Cornwall hard.

Question 17

Why was the western rebellion considered a threat?

Answer 17

Harsh punishment- after the rising Lord Russell- the leader of the royal army - observed that landlords in the West Country had abandoned the concept of ‘Good Lordship’ and raised rents excessively rather than caring for the poor.
Violent nature - The rebels made it clear landowners and the gentry were enemies. The Cornish rebels attacked and robbed the gentry at St Michael’s Mount and at Bodmin cried “Kill the Gentlemen!”

Question 18

When was the Wyatt’s rebellion?

Answer 18

1553

Question 19

Explain the causes of the Wyatt’s rebellion?

Answer 19

1) Xenophobia - news of Mary’s marriage to Phillip of Spain circulated which meant rumours of the court being dominated by Spaniards leaving no post for English men antyagonised Englishmen.
* “ We will lie in pig sties in caves amd the Spaniards will have our houses”
2) Religion - the largest group within Wyatt’s rebels were from Maidestone, a strong trinitarian ( very Protestant) area as well as all the leaders of the four-pronged attack were protestant with no catholic memebers.
* when the rebels reached London, they attacked the property of Stephen Gardiner , a leading catholic and the new Bishop of Winchester.
3) Economic unrest - The decline in the Kent cloth trade meant that there had been rising unemployement and many of those who took part came from the area around Cranbrook, which had suffered particularly from the slump.

Question 20

Explain the limitations to the Religios and economic causes of the Wyatt’s rebellion?

Answer 20

1) The rebels came from over 30 different occupational backgrounds, making it difficult to argue that they all faced economic pressure.
2) The government, in an attempt to show the rbels were traitors, stressed the religious nature of the uprising, in order to deflect attention from Mary’s marriage.
* Religion was not an issue in which Wyatt could gain support due to the nature of engalnd being religiously divided just appealing to the protestants would alienate the country so his public statements stressed xenophobia.

Question 21

When was the Ketts rebellion?

Answer 21

July 1549

Question 22

Explain the causes of the Kett’s rebellion?

Answer 22

1)Enclosures - Unrest began with anti-enclosure riots in Norfolk towns of Attleborough and Wymondham. In July 1549, rioters in Wymondham pulled down the fences put up by John Flowerdew, a local lawyer.
2) Social hierarchy issues - Kett’s rebels wanted to maintain the social hierarchy but insisted that the nobles and the clergy did their job properly, for example wanting them to run government fairly and properly carrying out religious services.
Governance - Ketss established an alternative system of government in the rebel camp on Mousehold Heath, keeping order and avoiding mob rule.
* wrongdoers were brpught to justice under the ‘ Oak of Reformation’.
Religion - The Norfolk rbels were largely Protestant. At their camp at Mousehold Heath, they brought in ministers who could preach and would use the new Prayer book.
3) Socio-economic - Norwich was a centre of the textile trade and the collapse of that industry in the later 1540s threw many men into unemployement.
* High level of social inequality: just 6% of the population owned 60% of the wealth.

Question 23

Describe religion under Edward?

Answer 23

Ruling elites were largerly protestant and wanted reform. To help the spred of Protestantism, every parish was ordered to obtain a copy of Cranmer’s Book of Homilies and Erasmus’ Paraphrases ( books containg protestant sermons, worship and religious phrases).

Question 24

How was England more protestant under Edward?

Answer 24

• In July 1547, an injunction was issued ordering all clergy to conduct their services in English, preach a sermon every sunday and create a library of protestant literature including an English bible. They were asked to encourage the laity to readthese books and finally they were told to remove all superstitious statues and images from their churches.
• Radical Protestants in London, East Anglia and Lincolnshire led Iconclastic riots. They destroyed stained glass windows, statues and images.
• In November 1547 parliament met and passed the Chantries act. Chantires ( Religious houses that prayed for the souls of the dead) were to be shut down due to their superstition.

Question 25

What are Counter arguments to the growth of Protestantism during the early Mid Tudor crisis?

Answer 25

1) Most of the iconoclastic riots were organised and led by Protestant refugees from the continent who were settling in England, rather than the English people themselves.
2) The Chantries Act in 1547 in reality were shut down to raise money for war with France and Scotland, rather than any religious motive.
3) Parlaiment also passed the Treason Act, which repeled Henrican Heresy and censorship laws, giving people freedom to discuss religious matters.

Question 26

How was England more Catholic under Edward?

Answer 26

1) In January 1548, the Privy Council issued proclamations that supported Catholic transubstantiation.
2) The first Act of Uniformity 1549 - many Catholic practices were kept, including fast days, Holy days, traditional robes and vestments for priests and the Eucharist was still defined in the Catholic terms of transubstantiation.
3) In December 1549 there was a proclamation insisting that all images should be destroyed. This was the third time in three years that the same request had been made, indicating that Protestant reforms were not being embraced by the common people.

Question 27

Describe the Second Act of Uniformity?

Answer 27

1) In March 1552, Cranmer’s new Book of Common Prayer became the official basis of church services. All traces of all Catholicism and the Mass had been removed and the Eucharist was clearly defined in terms of consubstantiation.

Question 28

Why did Nothumberland in 1552 launch a survey?

Answer 28

In 1552, Northumberland launched a survey on the wealth of boshops and clergy with parishes worth more than £350. The report stated that their lands had a total value of £1,087,000 and it was decided that some of this should be transferred to the crown.