retaining

Question 1

Richard II

Answer 1

• he had a retinue despite kings not being allowed to have one (Cheshire archers)
• his retinue was with him in Ireland in 1399, meant that Henry Bolingbroke could invade England quite easily to usurp the throne

Question 2

Henry IV

Answer 2

• Lancastrian affinity supported him during the usurpation in 1399
• Hotspur and Prince Henry used their retinues in Wales 1401-1402, Henry IV returned to England

Question 3

Henry V

Answer 3

• nobles such as Richard, Earl of Cambridge used their retinues in the Southampton Plot 1415
• nobles like Duke of York and Baron Camoys used their retinues in Agincourt 1415, significant as they won this battle

Question 4

Henry VI

Answer 4

• mainly led to local disorder + factionalism
  
  • York/Somerset -> 1455 St Albans
  • Neville/Percy (early 1400s -> 1460s)
  • Bonville/Courtenay (peak of violence 1450s)
• retinues used by nobility to fight each other

Question 5

Edward IV

Answer 5

• Warwick and Clarence had retinues e.g. Warwick’s retinue used at Barnet
• Prince Edward retinue at Tewkesbury
• passed statute against retaining 1468, outlawed the practice of retaining except for legal advisers, domestic servants, estate officials and those in ‘lawful service’
  
  • vague ‘lawful service’ lead to loopholes, meant that nobles having retinues continued
• basis of national army against France in 1475
• Richard as Duke of Gloucester, retinue used for northern defence e.g. against Scotland
• Barnet, livery tradition meant that Montagu’s men mixed up Oxford’s ‘star with rays’ for Edward’s ‘sunne in splendour’ and attacked their own side

Question 6

Richard III

Answer 6

• Buckingham’s retinue used in rebellion
• Stanley at Bosworth, changing sides to Henry Tudor was decisive as his retinue formed a large part of Richard’s army
• Henry Tudor had connections to Wales, formed parts of his troop at Bosworth (more support for Henry over Richard)

Question 7

Henry VII

Answer 7

• Warbeck and Simnel were both put down by nobles with retinues
• 1504 statute, lords had to receive written permission in the form of a licence from the king to retain men, and they had to provide a list of men for his approval. Disobey law = fine, even fined his own mother under this statute
• those loyal to Henry VII such as Sir Thomas Lovell were still able to develop large retinues

Question 8

Bastard feudalism

Answer 8

Move away from a system of exchanging land for loyalty, lords would make annual cash payments for services to their retinue

Question 9

Affinity/retinue

Answer 9

• the group of followers of a lord
• affinity preferred by recent historians as some suggest the bond between lord and follower was more informal and relied more on social/political networks rather than indentures

Question 10

Maintenance

Answer 10

Paying followers in return for service

Question 11

Livery

Answer 11

A distinctive badge or piece of clothing to advertise a person’s link to a particular lord