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How did Henry VII consolidate his position?
- Early moves to consolidate
- Dated the start of his reign to the day before Bosworth Field
(21/08/85) so those who fought against him could be accused of
treason (links to controlling the nobility).
- Appointed his most trusted family and friends to be his
trusted advisors (his mum, Margaret Beaufort, his
uncle Jasper Tudor, step-dad Lord Stanley as well fellow
Brittany exiles eg Reginald Bray and Giles Daubeney)
- Married Elizabeth of York and created the Tudor Rose
symbolising unity between the warring houses
- Dated the start of his reign to the day before Bosworth Field
(21/08/85) so those who fought against him could be accused of
treason (links to controlling the nobility).
- Improved royal finances (view
separate resource on more
detail for this)
- He moved the administration of Royal finances
from the slow inefficient Exchequer system to his
direct supervision in the Chamber (Eg creating the
Court of General Surveyors which increased
revenue from Crown land from £11,700 in 1486 to
£42,000 in 1508)
- He increased scrutiny of accounts for his
ordinary income (eg his regular income
from sources such as Customs Duties,
Crown lands and feudal dues). A good
example is the way the Council Learned in
Law chased feudal dues so a due like the
annual income from wardship rose from
£350 in 1487 to £6000 in 1507)
- He managed income from “extraordinary” revenue very well
(extraordinary revenue was the money the king was entitled to collect
for one-off expenses) as there appeared to be very little resistance to
his demands for money eg Charles VIII agreeing to pay arrears for the
Brittany pension under the Treaty of Etaples netted Henry £159,000
and, as an indication of how secure he felt on the throne towards the
end of his reign he managed to collect £30,000 from the nobility as a
due for knighting his son Arthur in 1504. Arthur had died two years
previously in 1502!
- He moved the administration of Royal finances
from the slow inefficient Exchequer system to his
direct supervision in the Chamber (Eg creating the
Court of General Surveyors which increased
revenue from Crown land from £11,700 in 1486 to
£42,000 in 1508)
- Maintained a steady relationship with Parliament
- Henry did not ask Parliament for money for expensive foreign wars, he didn’t want
to build resentment among his new subjects so, instead of summoning Parliament
to raise money, he found different ways to fill the Royal coffers eg via bonds and
recognisances. He also didn’t enact legislation on a large scale, most parliamentary
business was passing acts of attainder, this meant there was little debate or possible
resistance towards Henry from parliament.
- Henry did not ask Parliament for money for expensive foreign wars, he didn’t want
to build resentment among his new subjects so, instead of summoning Parliament
to raise money, he found different ways to fill the Royal coffers eg via bonds and
recognisances. He also didn’t enact legislation on a large scale, most parliamentary
business was passing acts of attainder, this meant there was little debate or possible
resistance towards Henry from parliament.
- Henry was very lucky, especially at the start of his reign
- The noble families that had been so troublesome during the Wars of the
Roses, had been reduced in number. By the time of Bosworth Field,
there were only 60 noble families left, many of whom were on the verge
of dying out because of the lack of a male heir, or had fled abroad after
Henry’s victory, forfeiting their land in England to the Crown.
- Unlike his predecessors, Henry VI and
Edward IV, he was an only child, he had
no threat to his rule from any brothers
etc
- England had been in the midst of an economic
depression throughout the 1400s, luckily for
Henry, the country appeared to be pulling out of
it gradually by 1485 meaning he was untroubled
by large-scale civil unrest.
- The noble families that had been so troublesome during the Wars of the
Roses, had been reduced in number. By the time of Bosworth Field,
there were only 60 noble families left, many of whom were on the verge
of dying out because of the lack of a male heir, or had fled abroad after
Henry’s victory, forfeiting their land in England to the Crown.
- Controlled the nobility
- This is dealt with on a separate mindmap
- This is dealt with on a separate mindmap
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