Henry VII : AQA Q1 – How did Henry develop the Powers of the Monarchy? 

Consolidation of Rule:

  • 21st August 1485 – date Henry VII put the beginning of reign at first Parliament to ensure any Yorkists were designated traitors and vulnerable to attainders, charges of treason etc.
  • 22nd August – B.o.B, Henry’s 6,000 army v Richard III’s army of double, Stanley’s 3,000 remained on the side-lines.
  • 30th October – Official coronation at Westminster, before marriage to Elizabeth and first Parliament, to show he was rightfully king.
  • 7th November – First meeting at parliament – 28 Acts of Attainder against Yorkists. Granted tonnage and poundage for life. Act of Resumption, returned all crown lands given away after 1455 (Beginning of W.o.R)
  • Beginning of reign – Annual income at 12,000.
  • Placed Jasper Tudor as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
  • 1486 – Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, made Lieutenant of the North
  • 16th Jan 1486 – Papal dispensation granted for Henry and Elizabeth’s marriage.
  • 18th Jan – Marriage takes place.
  • April 1486 – Begins Royal Progression to the North.
  • 19th September – Birth of Prince Arthur.
  • 25th November 1486 – Elizabeth crowned Queen of England.

Controlling the Nobility:

Carrots:

  • Order of the Garter –Earl of Oxford, invested with the Order of the Garter in 1486 for helping Henry win BoB, 37 nobles awarded 1485-1509.
  • Peerage – 62 in 1485, 42 in 1509.
  • JP’s – powers increased:
    • 1485 – power to arrest poachers and hunters
    • 1491 – power to grant bail
    • 1495 – power to vet juries
  • King’s Council – 227 attended 1485-1509, only around 6 or 7 on the working Council. Compromised of Nobility, Churchmen and Laymen.
  • Patronage:
    • Earls – Edward IV created 9 earls while Henry only created 3 – Earl of Derby, Earl of Bath, Earl of Devon.
    • Edward created 2 viscounts and 13 barons. Henry created 2 viscounts and 8 barons and only 3 were genuinely new peerages accompanied by land grants.

Sticks:

  • Acts of Attainder – 138 Attainders were passed, 46 were reversed. More lenient than Edward III. Examples:
    • Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey: 1486 – Imprisoned and attained for supporting Richard III at BoB, 1487, refuses to escape with Simnel, 1489 – half reversal of attainders, helped quell the first Yorkshire rebellion, 1491 – helped to quell the second, 1492 – complete reversal of attainders.
    • Henry became more paranoid, 51 passed from years 1504-09.
    • Thomas Tyrell paid £1,738 for the reversal of his and his father’s attainders.
    • After Warbeck, 1493, William Stanley placed under attainder; fined £9,000, £1,000 per annum income.
  • Laws against retaining – Passed at second parliament Nov-Dec 1487.
    • Example: Lord Burgavenny, convicted in 1507 for retaining 471 men, fined £70,650. Allowed to be placed under a bond of £5,000 over 10 years. (Sort of a carrot, showing slight leniency.)
  • Placement – Moving a noble away from his powerbase. Example – Earl of Surrey sent North as part of his attainder.
  • Feudal rights/dues – Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Buckingham fined around £7,000 in 1496 for marrying without a license. Revenue from Wardship and marriage: £350 in 1487, £6,000 in 1507.
  • Bonds – Example – Marquis of Dorset was placed under a £10,000 bond after suspected involvement in the Simnel plot.
  • Recognisances – Example – Earl of Westmorland, Earl of Northumberland, Viscount Beaumont of Powicke were fined £10,000 after B.o.B. If they were disloyal, this £10,000 had to be paid.
    • 46 of 62 noble families were at Henry’s financial mercy
    • 191 bonds in the first ten years of his reign
    • Number of nobles fell from 62 to 42 during his reign.
    • “Loyalty and ability were Henry’s sole requirements in his most important servants; patronage had to be earned, it was not an automatic privilege of the upper class.” (Caroline Rogers)

Securing the Succession:

  • 19th September 1486 – Arthur born
  • 26th March 1489 – Treaty of Medina del Campo – Arthur and Catherine of Aragon promised.
  • 28th November 1489 – Margaret Tudor born.
  • 25th June 1491 – Henry VIII born.
  • 18th March 1496 – Mary Tudor born.
  • 27th September 1501 – Catherine arrives in England.
  • 14th November 1501 – Arthur and Catherine married.
  • 2nd April 1502 – Arthur dies.
  • 1503 – Henry VIII promised to Catherine.
  • 22nd April 1509 – Henry VII dies, Henry VIII ascends.
  • 11th June 1509 – Henry VIII marries Catherine.

Rebellions:

Lovell Rebellion:

  • April 1486.
  • During Henry’s Northern Progression (at Lincoln).
  • 3 of Richard supporters had broken sanctuary in Colchester.
  • Viscount Lovell tried to raise an uprising in North Yorkshire.
  • Thomas and Humphrey Stafford tried to raise on in the midlands.
  • Rules of sanctuary were altered as Staffords tried to reclaim it, no longer applicable in cases of treason.
  • Lovell fled to Flanders.
  • Humphrey executed, Thomas pardoned.

Lambert Simnel:

  • Why Earl of Warwick – imprisoned in the tower, strong claim to the throne, believed to be dead.
  • Support from Margaret of Burgundy, angry at the usurpation of Richard III, her brother. Recognised Simnel as her nephew.
  • Raised 2,000 German and Swiss mercenaries, as well as Commander Schwarz set sail for Ireland in April 1487.
  • General Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, accepted Simnel.
  • 24th May 1487 – Simnel crowned as King Edward VI in Dublin.
  • Battle of Stoke – 16th June 1487:
    • Henry had 12,000 men, led by Earl of Oxford. John de la Pole had 8,000, of which 4,000 died in battle.
    • John de la Pole killed in battle, Simnel sent to work in the royal kitchen.

Yorkshire Rebellion:

  • 1489
  • Parliament voted for £100,000 to be raised in taxes for war with Brittany, only £27,000 was raised.
  • Yorkshire hit by bad harvest, people believed it was too much.
  • Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, pleaded to the King. After returning with no success, was promptly murdered.
  • Rebels led by John Egremont.
  • Earl of Surrey put down rebels easily, Egremont fled to Flanders.
  • Faced no more northern rebellion, but never collected the tax quota for Brittany.

Perkin Warbeck:

  • Impersonated Richard, Edward’s younger son.
  • 1491 – Lands in Ireland, Kildare did not give support.
  • Was welcomed by Charles VIII of France but expelled after 1492 Treaty of Etaples.
  • Welcomed into Burgundy by Margaret and Philip.
  • 3rd July 1495 – First attempted landing in Deal, Kent. 150 of his army were killed, never even disembarked.
  • July 1495 – Arrived in Scotland, welcomed by James IV.
  • Married to James’ cousin, Catherine Gordon.
  • September 1496 – Small Scottish force crosses the border, retreated due to threat of no support and Henry’s army.
  • 1496 – Kildare becomes loyal to Henry.
  • Treaty of Ayton 1497 – Forces Warbeck out of Scotland.
  • Lands in Ireland again, rejected due to Kildare’s loyalty to Henry.
  • September 12th 1497 – Warbeck arrives at Lands End with 120 men, attempting to exploit the Cornish rebellion and garner support. Crushed by Daubeney’s army in Exeter, surrenders.
  • 1499 – Warbeck and Earl of Warwick conspire to escape.
  • 23rd November 1499 – Warbeck hanged.

Cornish Rebellion:

  • 1497
  • January 1497 – Parliament vote for £120,000 in taxes for war with James IV and Warbeck.
  • 15,000 rebels marched to London, were stopped outside Exeter.
  • 17th September, Battle of Blackheath, Henry’s army crush rebels, 1,000 killed.
  • Leaders, Michael an Gof and Thomas Flamank beheaded.

Earl of Suffolk (The White Rose):

  • Edmund de la Pole flees to Calais in 1499, Henry’s response is 51 attainders on Suffolk’s relations.
  • 1501 – Fled to court of Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian.
  • 1505 – Philip’s ship wreaked in Port of Weymouth. Agrees to hand over de la Pole, in return Henry paid £158,000.
  • Suffolk imprisoned until 1513, Henry VIII takes over and executes him.

Financial Consolidation:

  • Inherited a bankrupt throne – income at around £12,000 per annum.

Ordinary Revenue:

  • Crown Lands – All land inherited by Houses of Lancaster and York, Earldoms of Richmond, March and Warwick, the Duchy of Lancaster and the Principality of Wales. Annual income rose from £29,000 in 1485 to £42,000 in 1509.
  • Feudal Dues – Relief – paid by an heir to receive inheritance. Wardship – control of the estates of minors before they come of age, Sir John Hussey was appointed Master of the King’s Wards to distribute Wardships. Wardship income rose from £350 in 1487 to £6,000 in 1507. Marriage – Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Buckingham fined around £7,000 in 1496 for marrying without a license.
  • Custom Duties – Tunnage (Exports), Poundage (Imports). Annual income rose from £33,000 to around £40,000.
  • Legal System and Profits of Justice – Attainder of William Stanley brought in £9,000, £1,000 annually afterwards. 1507 – Burgavenny fined £70,450 for retaining 471 men.

Extraordinary Revenue:

  • Bonds and Recognisances – Receipts rose from £3,000 in 1493 to £35,000 in 1505.
  • Parliamentary Taxes/Subsidies – Gross yield of a 15th and 10th was £29,000-£31,000. Special taxes such as for the wars with Brittany and Scotland caused 2 rebellions (Yorkshire and Cornish)
  • Clerical Taxes – Special levies/subsidies imposed on the Church. £9,000 per parliamentary subsidy. Also, occasional funding in the form of gifts from the convocation, such as £25,000 for the war with France.
  • French Pension – After Treaty of Etaples 1492 – French agree to pay £159,000 (750,000 crowns) in £5,000 annual sum. Charles VIII agrees to pay arrears.
  • Feudal Obligations - £30,000 for the Knighthood of Arthur.
  • Loans and Benevolences – In 1491, raised £48,000 for war with Brittany, of which £9,000 was contributed by London.