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Flashcards by Natarliya James, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Natarliya James
over 7 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Councils and the court | The King ruled with a 'council' of advisers who supported him in making key decisions. Around 227 men are recorded as having attended the Council during his reign. In practice however, Henry VII's actual working Council was a much smaller affair with around six or seven members. The Council under Henry had three main functions: 1. to advise the king 2. to administer the realm on the king's behalf 3. to make legal judgements |
| Council - Continued | During Henry Vii's reign the Council had no established rulers and procedures, though it was a permanent body with a core membership. Sometimes members also met separately, however, to deal with key administrative concepts when the king was not present, so it was possible for different members of the Council to meet in two places simultaneously. The importance of the Council depended on its key members and its offshoot, the Council Leaned in Law. It was not however, essential for a man or woman to hold office as a councillor in order to advise the king. |
| The Council Learned in Law | The Council's main offshoot was the Council Learned in Law. This body developed during the second half of the reign, at first under Bray's leadership. Its function was to maintain the king's revenue and to exploit his prerogative rights. It was this council which made the system of bonds and recognizances work so effectively and thus able to entrap many of the king's subjects. It was not a recognised court of law and those summoned before it had no chance to appeal. |
| The Council Learned - Continued | Learned caused fear, frustration and anger, as it bypassed the normal legal system. It was, however, the expression of the king's will and was thus as important for the maintenance of his authority as it was for the raising of finances. Bray's associate in the Council was Richard Empson, a fiercely ambitious lawyer and bureaucrat, whose ruthless approach seemed increasingly to define the behaviour of the Council. Following Bray's death in 1503, Empson was joined by Edmund Dudley. Together they formed a feared combination of able and conscientious bureaucrats who raised the extraction of money from the king's subjects to a fine art. The downfall of Empson and Dudley brought rejoicing on the streets. This is an indication of just how feared and unpopular their financial control became in the last years of Henry VII's reign. |
| Court and household | The tudors relied heavily on the royal court. This was the centre of government. The royal court was always to be found wherever the king was at any given time. It was where the power of the monarch was demonstrated to all the courtiers in attendance. It was through the court that rewards and status were distributed to those who were deserving or, more likely, well connected. |
| Levels at court | 1. The household proper was responsible for looking after the king, the courtiers, guests and others who were being entertained. These personal and catering requirements were supervised by the Lord Steward. 2. The politically more important part of the system was the Chamber, presided by the Lord Chamberlin. The Lord Chamberlin and other senior house officials were influential courtiers. The position of Lord Chamberlin was both powerful and a matter of considerable trust. Ot was therefore a considerable blow to Henry to discover in 1495 that his lord chamberlin, Sir William Stanley, had been involved in a treason plot with the pretender Perkin Warbeck. Henry's response to this challenge was to remodel the chamber by creating the new Privy Chamber, to which the king could retreat, protected by his most intimate servants. This changed the character of the court, thus making it more difficult for those who were out of favour to refain the king's support. Henry cut himself off from much of the king's traditional contacts at court. |
| Parliament | Parliament, comprising of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, had existed since the 18th century, but it only met occasionally and was not, therefore, central t the system of government. It had two main functions: to pass laws and to grant taxation to the Crown. Only the king could call Parliament, and henry demonstrated his right to rule by calling his first parliament early in his reign. Henry's early parliaments were largely concerned with issues of national security and the raising of revenue. For example, his first two parliaments passed numerous Acts of Attainder. His first parliament granted tonnage and poundage for life; other parliaments granted extraordinary revenue, taxation granted to enable the king to wage war. |
| Domestic Policy: justice and the maintenance of order | A prime responsibility for the king was the maintenance of law and order. At worst, problems with law and order could lead to uprisings or rebellions and Henry was always concerned that potential enemies might exploit trouble to challenge his authority. The king relied on well-placed members of the nobility to exercise power on his behalf, although there was a delicate balance to strike to ensure that the more influential of these nobles did not themselves become so powerful that they could challenge the king's own authority. After releasing the Yorkist Earl of surrey from the tower, where he had been imprisoned since the Battle of Bosworth, to rule the north on his behalf. Sending a known supporter of Richard III to the area which had been his predecessor's centre of power was a high-risk strategy, but Surrey proved his loyalty through effective service in the north for 10 years. |
| Justices of the peace (JPs) | At local level henry relied increasingly on justices of the peace to maintain law and order in the countryside. Most JPs were local gentry who fulfilled their unpaid tasks either out of a sense of duty or because they perceived that doing so might open the path to greater advancement or local prestige. Various Acts of Parliament were passed to increase the powers and responsibilities of JPs who were responsible for the routine administration such as; tax assessments. In that role they superseded the traditional authority of the country sheriff. |
| Bonds and Recognizances | Henry restored law and order largely through forcing many of his subjects to take out bonds and recognizances. Some of the bonds and recognizances were the result of genuine debts owed to the Crown. However, many of them were purely political. In the words of Edmund Dudley 'to have many persons in danger at his pleasure' this means that the king used bonds to enforce order and obedience and defeat the law, a system which can be regarded as morally dubious. |
| Domestic Policy: improving royal finances | There were a number of sources of royal income: 1. crown lands 2. profits from feudal dues and the exercise of the royal prerogative 3. customs revenue 4. pensions from other powers 5. profits of justice 6. extraordinary revenue For many years two things were assumed about henry and finance: that he was a miserly king who begrudged throwing money away like many other contemporary rulers, and that he had transformed the royal finances by leaving a vast amount of money to his son Henry VII. |
| Crown Lands | Henry VII was by far the country's larges landowner and the rental income from his property was a very important part of the Crown's ordinary revenue. Income from Crown lands had significantly increased during the reign of Edward IV. It was probably in 1492 that Henry decided to revert to Edward's system of administration through the chamber where policies were formulated and decisions were made. Finances improved markedly and the income from the land had increased by the end of the reign to around 42K per year. |
| Profits from feudal dues and the exercise of the royal prerogative | The pursuit of the king's feudal rights was tightened. There were increased profits from wardship and parliament granted a feudal aid in 1504. |
| Other Sources of revenue | -Customs revenue: tonnage and poundage had been granted for life by Henry's first parliament. Over the course of the reign there was a small increase in the annual revenue from this source from 34K to 38K -Pensions from other powers: at the Treaty of Etaples in 1492 the french agreed to pay henry a pension of 5k per year - Profits of justice: this included fines and income from bonds. Bonds represented a potential rather than an actual asset. For example, between 1504 and 1507 a total of at least 200k was promised to the king though not all was collected Much energy was spent on improving henry's revenues but there was a political price to be paid. The main victims of henry's policies were the nation's landowners, precisely the people whose support henry would need if his throne was threatened. Yet henry treated them in a way which might have made them threaten the crown. |
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