Topic 2: gaining the cooperation of the localities 1485-1603

Question 2

Wales:

Answer 2

• 1537 Act of Union: divided Wales and the Marcher lands into 12 English-style counties replacing the marcher lordships and the principalities of Wales, banned the use of welsh in its court and each new county and new county town in Wales got 2 MPs to sit in the central parliament,
  1542 ACT OF UNION- effect on the Council of Wales and the Marches- made it a more formal body with a president and vice president appointed by the monarch e.g Bishop Rowland Lee (1534-43)
• new counties and county towns were allocated 24 seats in the house of commons

Question 3

Increasing borough representation in the commons:

Answer 3

1485-1603 the number of MPs increased from 296-492
constituencies: under Edward= 20, under Elizabeth= 60
MPs of York, eager to prevent woodland chopping- example of acting in constituent favour

Question 4

Increasing literacy rates of the Yeoman class:

Answer 4

1533 around 30% with higher rates in the South, 50% of the Yeomen were enrolled at either Oxford or Cambridge

Question 5

Taxation: Henry VII

Answer 5

• collected £900,000 from imports and exports during his reign
• each 15th and 10th yielded around £29,500 total yielding £203,000, from subsidies in his reign he collected £80,000,
• summoned 5 great councils for advice and levying taxation

Question 6

Taxation: Henry VIII

Answer 6

• the development of the tudor subsidy, Wolsey implemented the new system 4 times in 1513-15 and once in 1523- raising £322,009
• 1523 subsidy secured less than a quarter of what he first sought,
• clerical tax: 1536 paid £51,770 to Henry VIII, subsidy act 1534

Question 7

Taxation: Edward VI

Answer 7

• parliamentary taxation yielded £335,988 in Edward’s reign
• tax on sheep approved in 1549

Question 8

Taxation: Mary I

Answer 8

• taxation in 1555 and 1558 raised £349,000
• two 15ths and 10ths granted in march 1553 yielding £59,000,
• forced loans in 1556 and 1557 were unpopular but grossed £42,100 and £109,000 respectively

Question 9

Taxation: Elizabeth I

Answer 9

taxation was granted in all her parliamentary sessions except in 1572
before 1585 Elizabethean financial policy had been a success story, policy of retrenchment and reconstruction continued, revenue enhancement= main objective. Recoinage was successfully achieved by 1560/61, in 1560 £670,000 converted into new coin, estimated total taxation granted by parliament between 1559-1571 totalled £690,000, tudor subsidy: beginning of her reign yield= £140,000 towards end= £80,000 due to corruption in system, in 1563 in london 7,123 people paid the subsidy whereas by 1606 only 4,968 paid

Question 10

Poor Laws: (Poor Relief 1598)

Answer 10

formed the beginnings of a national code completed in 1598 and 1601 when further acts for the relief of the poor improved and extended previous legislation and streamlined its implementation, in particular the duties of overseers of the poor and JPs were defined; authority was given for the imprisonment or restraint of unwilling ratepayers; and it ordered dangerous rogues to be banished or sent to the galleys and other vagrants to whipped and sent to houses of correction

Question 11

Statute of Artificers 1563:

Answer 11

transferred the responsibility of fixing wages from parliament to local JPs so that there was no longer a statutory wage system, it became an offence to either demand or to pay more than the locally assessed wage, labour mobility was restricted through compulsory 7 year apprenticeships, while property qualifications for urban apprenticeships were increased to inhibit migration of population into towns

Question 12

Patronage:

Answer 12

• Henry VII: two main benefitters= John de Vere and Jasper Tudor (e.g controlled the Council of Wales and the Marches and was promoted to a Dukedom

Question 13

Royal Progresses:

Answer 13

Henry VII marched at the head of his progresses to deal with army rebellion e.g 1487 and 1497, size of Henry VIII’s court= 1,000 people, travelled with the king on progresses
Henry VIII visited the West in 1535: may have prevented a rebellion in the religiously conservative south west, went on a progress in 1541 to the North- included a 5 day stay at York- 5 years after the Pilgrimage of Grace
Elizabeth visited the homes of leading councillors during royal progresses in order to maintain local links e.g Dudley 20 times, Cecil 23 times
Henry VII- first royal progress in 1486 (ensured his coronation and marriage first), last tudor progress took place in the summer of 1602, Mary took progresses as princess but due to the unpopularity of her husband and her own ill health led to her remaining in royal residences near London
Elizabeth- during each year of her 44 year reign she insisted her court accompanied her on a progress in the spring and summer months

Question 14

JPs:

Answer 14

20 JPs in 1485 to 90 by 1603