wars of the roses - topic 1 - why did opposition towards the govt grow 1445-1450

patronage

- lack of judgement in handling patronage, taken advantage of by household members

- e.g endowments kings college and eton 1440-1443

- strain of war in france meant couldnt afford to be generous

- 1450 act of resumption reclaimed some gifts

- unsuccessful due to exemptions made by the king, largely for household members

examples of unfair patronage

- adam moleyns and william aynscough given bishoprics

- moleyns = keeper of privy seal

- york and gloucester recieved grants

- dominance of suffolk, caused problems in localities and caused lack of justice

taxes

- relied on crown lands income but decreased due to patronage

- decreased to £28,100 in 1446-48

- parliament voted taxes 1445-49 (time of peace) and trouce of tours 1444 renewed

- lumley decided to use tax money to pay off crown debts

- people inc reluctant to lend king money

- death of cardinal beaufort 1447 = bankrolled war effort

peace links to financial recovery

- parliament called in february 1449 to grant tax to finance renewal of war

- english attacked fouheres march, french attacked normandy

- approved by suffolk and somerset

- lords reluctant to support self interest with money or service

failure in france

- henry v victories due to weak leadership of king charles vi

- 1435 = burgundy changed alliances away from england to france

- english crowns debt mounting

- york appointed liuetenant in france 1440 bug lacked leadership so replaced with somerset

- used up almost all money for 1442 campaign so was a failure by somerset

failure in france: truces

- truce of tours led to suffolk negotiating margaret of anjous marriage to king

- in return gave up anjou and maine

- aggressive campaign against french not in englands best interest as poor finances

- broke truce, england attacked fortress of fougeres march 1449

- french attacked normandy in battle of rouen and won

result of loss of normandy

- suffolk and faction blamed

- somerset lost prestige

- blow to national pride

- influx of english refugees that settled in normandy

- reduced trade

- increase in french naval attacks in sussex and kent

resentment

- high levels of taxes demanded to fund disasters in france

- govt faced accusations of mishandling money and militarys campaign

- suffolk blamed by parliament for defeats

- york should return from ireland amd replace suffolk

york and somerset hostilities

- john beaufort governing gascony 1443

- york saw as challemge authority and lieutenant general france

- king funded beaufort in gascony, not normandy campaign

- replaced by new duke of somerset as lg in france

- 1447: york made lg in ireland

- blamed somerset for loss of rouen 1449

- was owed £38,000 by king

cades rebellion summary

- led by john mortimer

- may 1450

- kent

- blackheath = 1st of june with 1 knight, 5 parsons, 1 mayor and 100 members of the gentry

- 46,000 rebels

cades rebellion causes

- murder of suffolk key trigger

- taxes unfairly levied

- taxes increased as king gave crown land to favourites

- lords favoured at court allowed to hold office even though responsible for misgovt and loss of french territories

- political reform

- blamed 'evil advisers'

cades rebellion events

- henry returned to london with 10,000 men

- cade withdrew his army

- at sevenoaks, kings men ambushed and slaughtered

- king fled back to midands

cades rebellion unrest

- unrest spread to other parts country e.g bishops of lichfield and norwich threatened and salisbury killed

- lord say and william crowmer murdered by cades

- people forced rebels out of london

- anjou promised rebels pardon if they dispersed

- cade killed in sussex

cades rebellion consequences

- complaints resonated with whole country

- york didnt rush back from ireland

- no major change in how govt was ran

suffolk

- took advantage of kings weaknesses for own aggrandisement

- favoured own men and wasted kings money on land and titles for self and supporters

- accused of having affair with queen

- made lord chamberlain and made enemies of gloucester and york as prevented from advising the king

gloucester

- critic of frances peace policy

- treaty of tours 1444 critic

- 1447 = arrested for treason to silence him at next parliament

- rumours killed by suffolk a few days later