Royal Authority And Govt Reform Under Cromwell Flashcards
For constitutional reform
Henry became head of church and state
Extension of royal authority over wales and semi-independent region
Against constitutional reform
The crown already had sig influence over church appointments and emergency taxation.
For a political revolution
King and parliament became king-in-parliament.
Against political revolution
Parliament developed bc the king needed its support. It was used less under the later tutors and Elizabeth successfully controlled its claim to be a parter in govt already Henry vii political reforms bypassed parliament
For bureaucratic revolution
Privy chamber, role of king’s principle secretary as co-ordinating minister, development of specialised departments of govt e.g financial courts.
Against bureaucratic revolution
Govt remained essentially personal. Not all of cromwell’s reforms were to survive in the long term
Royal council
Personal monarchy in h7 with no more than 20 members- professionally trained lawyers and bureaucrats.
Some historian disagree and argue that it was created after Cromwell’s fall, was a potential reform suggested by Wolsey in 1526 when one of his chief advisers was the young Thomas Cromwell. Smaller group members after the start of pilgrimage of grace.
Change in practice was extensive or part of a planned major change, as opposed to a reaction to particular circumstances?
Financial management
Moved from exchequer and treasurer to privy chamber. Gave monarch sig control over day to day decisions about all aspects of income and expenditure. Less bureaucratic and more personalised and centralised, intervene directly.
What was the court of augmentations
Controlled the land and finance under the control of the Catholic Church.
The court of general surveyors
Handed over some of the ex-monastic land, but was soon amalgamated with the court of augmentations
The court of first fruits and tenths
Collected money previously sent to rome
The court of wards
King had the ancient feudal right to collect money from the estate of a minor under 21 who had inherited
Power of the crown- act in restraint of appeals in 1533
Cromwell wrote historically that England was an empire and that the king was supreme in his own land so Englishmen should not have the automatic right to appeal to Rome. He seems to be suggesting that England was an independent political body -unitary, single state with all powers derived from the monarch
The view that Henry was an emperor was challenged ….
The king was supposed to seek the pope’s permission when choosing bishops. England held ‘liberties’ which gave them semi-independent status such ad Durham was governed by the bishop as a semi-independent ruler and Cornwall was a duchy. Wales was no longer independent but it had not been formally made part of the English system of gov
How did Cromwell deal with the uneven spread of royal authority?
1536 act of union with wales reorganised local gov in the principality and the borderlands of the marches.
Act against liberties and franchises removed and restricted the special powers exercised by regional nobles in the more remote parts of the kingdom.
Cromwell pursued a radical course of…
The redefinition of royal authority through statute.
Ecclesiastical reform e.g injunctions of 1536 and 1538 banned pilgrimages and mandated that every parish church possess an English bible and discouraged the veneration of relics, 10 articles 1536 and the bishops’ book 1537
Suppressed popular religious practices laid the groundwork for deeper changes in religious culture.
Did Cromwell revolutionise govt - parl
Yes= used parl more extensively and purposefully than any miniseries b4 him, especially during the reformation parliamnet 1529-36
Passed groundbreaking leg like the act in restraint of appeals 1533 and the act of supremacy, asserting royal authority via statute
Established the principle that statute law could define religious authority, embedding parl sov.
No= parl had been used for major policy decisions before from e.g war of the roses and h7 reign.
Reformation parliament was reactive responding to h8’s dynastic and religious crisis.
Parl remained dependent on the monarch’s will; its institutional development was not permanent or consistent after crom
Govt structure/ bureaucracy
Yes= c created specialised financial departments e.g court of augmentations, first fruits and tenths, war
Had trained staff, clear function and detailed record-keeping, resembling modern bureaucracy.
No= these reforms were often ad hoc responses to new revenue streams [e.g monastic land] not part of a coherent master plan.
Old institutions like the chamber system continued to operate alongside newer ones
The courts Cromwell created often fell into disuse or decline in the later 1540s and 1550s
Religious authority and the church. Revolutionise gov?
Yes= he fundamentally altered the church-state relationship:
Engineered the break w/rome through statute, promoted the English bible, dissolved monasteries and issued royal injunctions. His office of vicegerent in spirituals was unprecedented and gave the crown direct control over church governance.
No= reformation was initiated by Henry not c; his actions were often to serve royal policy, not independent vision.
His reforms were often ambiguous and reversible e.g the swing back to Catholicism under Mary, his influence depended entirely on royal flavour, making his power fragile.
Legal and constitutional change
Yes= emphasised the idea that England was an imperial crown, not subjected to foreign papal jurisdiction, developed the legal concept that the monarch ruled via parl, creating a framework for sov statute law
No- no formal constitutional codification occurred; England remained an unwritten monarchy, Henry ruled largely through personal monarchy; his will, not law or institutions, remained paramount. Cromwell’s fall demonstrated the limits of legalism when faced w/ factional politics.
Longevity of change
Yes- many structures introduced by c e.g financial courts continued under Edward vi and Elizabeth i, influencing the emergence of the Tudor state
No- several of his institutions were abandoned or reduced in significance later in the century. His failure to secure succession planning meant there was no sustained cromwellian ‘system’. The Tudor state’s expansion was piecemeal and reversible, not a linear ‘revolution’
