Henry VII

• Parliament

  • 7 parliaments total (5 in first 10yrs) - statute law had greater legitimacy

  • 1486 Act of Resumption returned all crown lands lost since 1455

  • Total 138 Attainders - 46 reversed

    • Case study - Thomas Howard

    • 1486 Attained

    • 1489 Nucleus of howard estates returned after Yorkshire rebellion put down

    (Reign dated from 21st Aug to allow yorkists @ bosworth to be attained)

  • Tonnage and Poundage granted for life

  • 1504 parliament only agreed to £40,000 of the £90,000 requested

• Finance

  • Crown Lands

    • Act of Resumption

    • 1492 shift from chancery to council system

      • start of reign = £12,00/ yr

      • end of reign = £42,000/ yr

  • Customs (aka tonnage and poundage)

    • Granted by first parliament for life - reliable income

    • £34,000 to £38,000/ yr

  • Feudal Dues

    • Investigated by council learned

    • 1487 = less than £350/yr

    • 1507 = over £6,000/yr

  • Attainders gave lands/wealth of those attained directly to the crown, increasing crown lands and personal wealth

  • Extraordinary Taxation

    • Had to be granted by parliament

      • Yorkshire Rebellion

        • Prompted by 1489 extraordinary taxation to raise army against the French

        • Only £27,000 of original £100,000 collected

      • Cornish Rebellion

        • Prompted by 1496 Warbeck incursion

        • 15,000 force stopped at Blackheath

        • 1,000 of king’s men killed = significant threat

  • Soft power loan of £138,000 to Burgundy (never paid back)

  • Retaining fines £5/illegal retainer

    • Lord Burgavennny fined £70,000 in 1506

• Councils

  • The Council

    • 227 magnates, churchmen + laymen

    • 7 key members

  • The Grea t Council

    • Met 5 times (gathering of HoL in times of crisis to bind nobility together)

  • The Council Learned

    • est 1495 without a Jury

    • Feudal rights -

    • Bonds + Recognisances

      • Thomas Grey Marquis of Dorset

      • 36/ 62 noble families under Bonds/ Recognisances (compared to only 1 under yorkist rule)

  • Council of Wales

    • Different method of government than england - ensured support from welsh noblemen

    • Run by Jasper Tudor, his uncle

• Justice

  • 1487 Star Chamber est

  • JPs:

    • met 4x per yr

    • Local gentry - balanced power of magnates

    • 1485 JPs given power to arrest poachers in disguise - threat of rebellion

    • 1495 JPs given power to remove juries they believed to be corrupt

  • Chancery + Equity courts dispensed justice based on fairness rather than strict law

  • Counter - Council Learned had no jury or appeal court, undermining the rule of law and proving very unpopular

Henry VIII

• Wolsey

  • Finance

    • 1515 Act of Resumption (returned lands granted by Henry at beginning of reign)

    • 1525 AMICABLE GRANT

      • to fund Henry’s second expedition to france 1522-5 (total cost of £400,000+)

      • Caused open rebellion in East Anglia - surrender of 10,000

      • Most wasn’t paid - 4,000 in Norfolk and Suffolk

      • Failure - Henry paid for third french war with monastery money

    • 1526 Eltham Ordinances cut back court spending

      • Gentlemen of the privy chamber reduced

      • William Compton replaced with more compliant Henry Norris as groom of the stool

      • Total raised was over £800,000, - £260,000 was in forced loans, but not enough to offset £1.7 million spending 1509-20

  • Justice

    • Star Chamber expanded 1516 to root out corrupt JPs + nobility

      • caseload went up by x10

    • Court of chancery in huge demand due to often absent Wolsey

      • Wolsey established permanent judicial committee to deal with cases brought by the poor

• Cromwell

  • Finance

    • 1536 Court of Augmentations (to deal with income from the monasteries)

    • Crown income DOUBLED from £150,000 to £300,000

  • Justice

    • 1540 Act abolished Sanctuary

  • Wales

    • 1536 Act of Union

      • incorporated into English legal system

    • 1543 - divided into 3 shires, each with JPs + 24 MPs

  • North

    • After 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace, council of the north became much more prominent, allowing the King’s power to be felt.

    • Nominated JPs, and dealt with serious crimes like treason

• King’s power

  • Execution of Cromwell 1540 shows how Henry was ultimately in charge

  • Counter - Dry Stamp frequently given to Gentlemen of privy chamber by Henry

• Nobility

  • Jan 1510 - Council Learned abolished

  • 1521 execution of Duke of Buckingham (claim to the throne and questioned the legitimacy of Henry’s ascension to the throne)

  • Dry Stamp

• Conciliar Government

  • 1509-1514

  • 1529-1532

  • 1540-1547 -

    • dominated by conservative factions (Gardiner, Wriothesley + Norfolk) meant that protestant reforms were stalled

    • privy council restored with Fixed membership and a formal record of meetings = more professional

• Justice

  • Star Chamber expanded 1516

  • Court of chancery in huge demand due to often absent Wolsey

    • Wolsey established permanent judicial committee to deal with cases brought by the poor

  • Wales

    • 1536 Act of Union - english law in wales - removed challenges to Henry’s authority

    • 1543 Act of Union - english language, (crown appointed) JPs + 24 MPs

  • Ireland

    • 1541 English law imposed

  • 1540 Act abolished Sanctuary

• Finance

  • Crown lands income had fallen to £25,000/yr

  • 1535 - Court of Augmentations - to handle monastic wealth

  • 1540 - Court of First Fruits and Tenths - to collect money that would have gone to rome

Edward VI

• Social

  • Vagrancy Act 1547

    • never implemented (as too severe)

  • Homily on Obedience 1547

  • Midlands commission est by Somerset on Enclosure 1547

  • 5% sheep tax 1549

• Economic

  • wars with Scotland = £580,000

  • ended debasement 1550 (N)

  • Installed talented marquis of Winchester as treasurer (N)

  • Established privy coffer to reduce spending (N)

  • Collapse in Antwerp cloth market