WOLSEY'S DOMESTIC POLICIES

Question 1

1. ENCLOSURES (1517)

Answer 1

PROBLEM
* Landowners rented open land in villages BUT split land into fenced enclosures, to try and gain more money.
Also split common land so the villagers had less land, led to unemployment as sheep rearing took less men, so increased vagrancy

WOLSEY’S ACTIONS:
* Supported Commoners vs Landowners, took 260 cases against landowners in 1517 for illegal enclosures

POSITIVES:
* More friends in less fortunate, good leadership, helps people from similar background to him

NEGATIVES:
* FAILED - Landowners driven by unemployment, so continued
* Made enemies of the landowners

Question 2

2. FINANCE (1515)

Answer 2

PROBLEM
* King has 2 types of income: 1) Ordinary income from farmland 2) Extraordinary/tenths and fifteenths (voted for by Parliament)
Extraordinary income was fixed at a LOWER/inaccurate level, so unfair and ineffective to raise money for war

WOLSEY’S ACTIONS:
* Passed law in 1515 to take back lands given away in 1509, so raise ordinary income
* Replaced tenths and fifteenths with subsidy based on real wealth

POSITIVES:
* Made more money (£800,000) from 1509-1520

NEGATIVES:
* Raised less than half required (£1.7m needed) due to war cost rise
* King now had to sell more land to cover

Question 3

3. JUSTICE (1516)

Answer 3

PROBLEMS:
* Poor couldn’t take legal cases as very expensive, so treated worse
* Nobility bribed judges for biased decisions

WOLSEY’S ACTIONS:
* Earl of Northumberland sent to Fleet Prison for refusal to obey his laws (symbol to peasants)
* Wolsey acted as a judge 5x a week in Court of Star Chamber - set up in 1497
* Strengthened court (that was built in 1483) in 1518 to deal with poor people - The Court of Requests

POSITIVES:
* Some were helped

NEGATIVES:
* Most turned away due to sheer number so worse morale and trust
* Wolsey gained more rich enemies

Question 4

4. THE ELTHAM ORDINANCES (1519+Jan 1526) - Named after Eltham Palace where Wolsey planned this

Answer 4

PROBLEMS:
* Cost of Royal Household too high e.g 500 meals needed x2 daily due to sheer amount of workers + Low deviation of ordinary and extraordinary income
* Young noblemen tried to convince Henry to reduce Wolsey’s power (he was low-born and he monopolised the court and concealed info from the Privy Council)

WOLSEY’S ACTIONS:
* IN 1519, made the Eltham Ordinances, and proposed it in 1526 again to cut costs
* Proposed to cut down the number of courtiers, so Henry has less direct access to other people for political agendas

RESULTS:
* Literally nothing happened as Wolsey had to spend his time with the annulment

Question 5

5. THE AMICABLE GRANT (March 1525)

Answer 5

PROBLEMS:
* Henry wanted to invade France to capitalize on Francis I being Charles V’s prisoner after Francis’ loss in Pavia in 1525
* Tried to raise money for it, but parliament refused as:
- Wolsey made the nobilty pay a forced loan of “benevolence” in 1522 accumulating £200,000 from it, and wasn’t paid back
- Parliament agreed to a tax in 1523, but money was still being collected

WOLSEY’S ACTIONS:
* Collected the Amicable Grant Tax without asking in 1525, to show people’s love to the King.

NEGATIVES:
* Deeply unpopular and people resented this as there was rising taxes and high unemployment
* East Anglia Rebellion saw 4000 rebels in Lavenham, outnumbering Duke of Suffolk’s Royalist Army
* Wolsey had to abandon the grant, and King couldn’t invade

(Duke’s soldiers said that “Against their neighbours they would not fight”) - They were in support