Henry VII - Controlling the nobles (government)

What was the state of the government by 1485?

• It was well organised, but had come perilously close to collapse on a number of occasions during the fifteenth century.

• Because of this, the actual authority that it had over the people of England – and, more importantly, the nobility – was questionable.

What were the 3 particular problems facing Henry when it came to the government?

1. Nobles whose wealth and territorial power made them potential rivals to the Crown.

2. The uneven control that the Crown had over the kingdom: stronger in the more populated areas of the south and east, but looser in the borderlands.

3. The poor finances of the Crown, which had been depleted by wars at home and abroad.

What was Henry determined to do?

He was determined to manage government by himself rather than delegate too much power to his advisers

Why did Henry have a poor reputation?

His natural suspicion and anxieties about rivals forced him to act firmly and on occasion, take harsh measures.

What was Henry’s biggest challenge?

To win the support of the nobles, while at the same time making sure that their power and arrogance was controlled.

What were the two obvious lines he could take with the nobles to gain their support, and which did Henry favour?

• Henry could buy their support by rewarding them with land or titles

• He could force them to support him by showing them the unwelcome consequences of opposition.

• Although he used the first approach on occasion, Henry was more inclined to the latter

Why were Henry’s relationships with his leading nobles so important?

They were critical to his survival as King. He depended on them to maintain law and order in the areas where they held land and estates.

How had the nobles grown more powerful during the fifteenth century? (2 points)

• They had gained more lands at the expense of the Crown.

• Their large estates generated income from rents and leases, which some had used to build impressive strongholds and to recruit and retain private armies.

What key noble families were now headed by children because of a series of deaths in the 1480s?

Warwick, Northumberland and Buckingham

What 3 factors did the nobles depend on to maintain their independence from the King? What did Henry do about this?

Land, wealth and support - Henry reduced all three of these during his reign, while being careful not to push them into open rebellions

What did Henry’s different policies towards the nobles aim to do?

Reduce his reliance on nobility and limit their power

What were attainders?

Attainders were special laws passed by Parliament which allowed someone to be declared guilty of treason without going through the process of a trial.

How did Henry use attainders? (3 points)

• From the start of his reign, Henry used attainders to seize the titles and possessions of nobles he suspected of disloyalty.

• Henry asked his first Parliament to issue attainders against men who had opposed him at the Battle of Bosworth.

• He resorted to using them periodically throughout his reign.

What was Henry prepared to do when it came to attainders?

He was often prepared to reverse an attainder and restore lands and titles if he thought that it would secure the gratitude and future loyalty of the victim

How many attainders were passed during Henry’s reign? How much of these were reversed?

138 attainders were passed, of which 46 were reversed

How many attainders were passed in the years 1504-1509? What does this suggest?

• 51 attainders were passed

• This suggests increasing severity as Henry’s reign progressed, suggesting insecurity and paranoia right to the end of his reign

Give an example which shows the Henry’s severity when it came to attainders.

Sir Thomas Tyrell had to pay £1,738 for the reversal of his and his father’s attainders.

Which of Edward VI’s policies did Henry largely abandon and why?

• Distributing lands to loyal followers (patronage)

• There were some grants at the beginning of Henry’s reign but he was concerned not to create a new group of nobles which could rise to become a potential threat.

What was the result of Henry’s caution when it came to nobles and patronage?

The number of people who could be described as nobles fell by about one-quarter during his reign due to deaths and attainders.

What happened to vacant lands?

Vacant lands were absorbed into Henry’s personal domains, making him by far the largest landowner in the country.

What did Henry often do when he needed royal agents in local communities? (2 points)

• He looked to men lower down the social scale who did not have extensive lands in the area.

• These men were therefore dependent on him for the position and status they held and were not distracted by competing loyalties.

What were retainers?

Retainers was the practice by which a nobleman kept a large number of men as his personal staff, in theory to be used as household servants but in practice as gangs of enforcers.

Describe two ways in which retainers could be used.

• To put pressure on tenants who were slow in paying their rent

• To put pressure on juries to return the verdict their master wanted

What did the new laws against illegal retaining passed in 1485 and 1504 do?

• In the 1485 Parliament, Lords and Commons had to swear that they would not retain illegally.

• The 1504 Act required nobles to obtain a special licence from the King before they could retain large numbers of men, and imposed severe fines if they did not. The penalty was £5 per month per illegal retainer.

What were the problems with the 1504 Act? (2 problems)

• Retaining had been going on for too long to be settled so easily.

• Nobles found ways to avoid getting a licence, for example by covering up records of the wages they paid to servants, so that no one knew exactly how many men were being retained.

How did Henry use bonds to control his nobles?

Henry would demand a financial bond from individual nobles or their families in order to place the noble in debt to the Crown, so that he would remain loyal in future.

What did bonds essentially do?

In effect, they forced nobles to agree to behave themselves or face a ruinous fine.

Give a statistic which acts as evidence of how widely used Henry’s policy of financial bonds was.

In Henry’s last decade as King about two-thirds of the nobility were held under bonds.

Describe how Henry used bonds in the case of Lord Burgavenny. (3 points)

• In 1507 Burgavenny was convicted of illegally retaining 471 men and fined £70,000

• Henry knew that paying this amount would bankrupt the lord, so he generously agreed to place him under a bond to repay £5,000 over ten years.

• The conditions attached to this included an instruction that Burgavenny should not set foot on his family lands in the south-east until the debt was settled.

What did Henry establish to act as a royal debt collector for bonds?

The Council Learned in Law

What four devices did Henry use to control the nobles and reduce his reliance on them?

• Attainders

• Patronage

• Attacks on retaining

• Financial controls