Social Flashcards
What did Aske complain about?
A practice known as rack-renting, whereby landlords raise their rents at rates greater than the customary entry fine
What happened in the 16th century?
Rents in the estates belonging to the Earl of Cumberland had risen eightfold and tenants unable to pay were evicted
What did Aske want?
The entry fine to be statutorily fixed at two years’ rent
What had Henry Percy done and what was the impact?
Raised the entry fines on his properties
His tenants refrained from turning against him
What figured among Kett’s articles and why?
Excessive rents
Rents had increased by 30% since 1548 and landlords had revived castleward
What did copyholders and freeholders complain about in 1549?
That they had been forced off their lands
What were landlords accused of doing in 1549 and what was the result?
Buying land and altering tenancy conditions to their own advantage
Common people were denied the right to catch rabbits and fish the rivers
What was defended in Aske’s articles of complaints?
The right to hunt with handguns and crossbows
What was a social grievance of the gentry and nobles in 1536?
The Statute of Uses: forced landowners to keep their estates as a single block. Feudal dues such as wardship were payable to the Crown upon inheritance
What had landowners done before 1536 and why did this change?
Transferred the legal ownership of land to feoffees by a device known as the ‘use’
Cromwell was keen to extract every payment due to the Crown and close the legal loophole
What was the impact of the Statute of Uses?
Angered younger sons of nobles and gentry
What was Aske?
A feoffee of two sets of estates
How many of Kett’s demands were focused on socioeconomic issues?
17 out of 29
What was Kett’s rebellion considered as and why?
Close to a class war
The gentry received no sympathy from the rebels
What was the majority of land held by?
A small number of gentry and lesser nobles
What happened in Norwich?
Its principal source of employment, the worsted cloth industry, was in decline and unemployment levels rose
What was the situation in the countryside in the 1540s?
Wheat prices increased by 50%, enclosures were rife, and the people had lost all confidence in the governing classes
What were the gentry and merchants in Norfolk and how much land did they hold?
JPs or had connections to local and county authorities
60%
What did the Kett rebels want to do?
Return to the days when Henry VII reigned and to ‘redress and reform all such good laws … which have been bid by your JPs …’
What was a unique feature of Kett’s rebellion?
A request that ‘all bond men may be made free’
What may the reference to bond men in 1549 be?
Tenants serving on the 40 manors belonging to the Howard family: Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Surrey had been arrested in 1546 and their estates administered by the Crown
What is more likely regarding bond men and why?
Kett sought to eliminate an anomaly and safeguard the future tenure of all tenants in Norfolk
Tenants were paying high fees and wardship was levied elsewhere
What did the Western rebels make no complaints about but what were they concerned about?
Enclosures or rack-renting
Rising food and wool prices, which made enclosures more profitable
What was the main economic concern of the Western rebels?
The novel tax on sheep and wool introduced in 1548
What did Devon and Cornwall wish to do and what did they express concern at?
Limit the size of gentry households worth 100 marks
How local gentry were enriching themselves by purchasing Church lands
What does the Western rebel’s condemnation of the gentry reflect?
The perceived loyalty shown by a servant to his lord rather than to the community
What were the differences between Kett’s rebels and Western rebels?
WR wanted to restore Catholicism and its lands to the rightful owners and had the support of the clergy and commons
KR were intent on narrowing the widening gap between the privileged few and unprivileged many
What was the similarity between Kett’s rebels and Western rebels?
Contained radical elements who professed a desire to ‘kill all the gentlemen’
