carrot and stick policies

patronage

• henry had to be able to win over nobles to his cause. patronage was the giving of positions of power, titles and land. henry made it clear that patronage was a result of good and loyal service. applied to the nobility and gentry alike

• henry first awarded those who had given him loyal support at the battle of bosworth, for example the earl of oxford, who because the major land owner in east anglia. additionally, he rewarded people on the basis of good service. for example, the earl of shrewsbury became one of henry’s closest councillors

order of the garter

• a significant honour reserved for the kings closest servants

• created 37 knights of the garter, such as the earl of oxford and reginald bray. effective for henry because he gave the recipient prestige, but not power of land

kings council

• position as kings councillor was a sign of the kings confidence

• examples of two long serving councillors are john morton and william warham. henry’s five key councillors aligned with him before bosworth, including reginald bray and giles daubeney

great council

• meetings of noblemen to discuss high matters of state, especially in moments of emergency when calling parliament would’ve taken too long. a form of control for the king as he could gain the agreement and support of his most important subjects

• there were 5 meetings of the great council, including one in response to lambert simnel’s threat and one to authorise war in france

acts of attainder

• an act that led to a family losing the right to possess land, and to inherit its land. spelt social and economic ruin for any family, but they were reversible and used as a sanction for good behaviour. both a carrot and a stick

• for example, thomas howard and his father had fought against henry at bosworth. he attained him. he was released from the tower after taking an oath of alligance, he was then restored back to the earl of surrey. was later put in charge of law and order in the north and rewarded by having the nucleus of the howard estates returned to him. after putting down a second rising in yorkshire he got back the remainder of the attained estates. payment for reversal was common. for example, thomas tyrell had to pay £1738 for the reversal of his and his fathers attainders

bonds and recognisances

• bonds were written agreement where someone promised to pay a sum of money if they failed to carry out a promise. recognisances were a formal acknowledgement of a debt or obligation that already existed - money had to be paid if this obligation was not met

• thomas grey was required to transfer all his land except two manors to trustees, give a recognisance of £1000 and find others who would give recognisances of £10000 on his behalf. when he proved his loyalty to henry in 1499 the agreements were cancelled. 36 out of 62 noble families gave bonds and/or recognisances to henry, compared to only one during yorkist rule

feudal dues,

• the king could take control of the estates if minors until they became of age, taking most profits (wardship), then he was paid for someone to recover their land from wardship (livery), profited off of arranged marriages of heirs and heiresses, received money when land was inherited (relief), and received money from when land reverted to the crown (escheats)

• dowager duchess of buckingham was fined £7000 for marrying without the kings license. her son, duke of buckingham was fined £7000 for entering his inheritance without license before he was 21

retaining

• long held noble practice of recruiting gentry followers. used for general administrative purposes but a threat to henry’s power as feudal lord and king. limited it but didn’t get rid of it

• lords and commons had to swear in 1485 parliament that they wouldn’t retain illegally. in 1504 they had to obtain special placards to retain, obtained from henry in person. penalty of £5 per month per illegal retainer, lord burgavenny had to pay £70550 split with 26 others

crown lands

• henry’s policy to bring back as much land as possible into the hands of the crown. the more land he possessed, the more power he wielded

• lands formerly held by warwick, duke of clarence and duke of gloucester were almost all attained by henry throughout his reign. act of resumption 1486 recovered all properties granted away for the crown. gave loyal supporters land forfeited land, not land from the crown