How effectively did the Tudors restore and develop the powers of the monarchy?

Situation in 1485

  • War of the Roses weakened the Crown and drained royal finances
  • bitter division between House of York and House of Lancaster meant chances of a unified nation were slim
  • some nobility had become too powerful and would be difficult to control (had fortified homes, armies of retainers, and sometimes were as wealthy as the King)
  • Henry VII relative unknown having lived in exile most of his life, very weak blood claim to the throne

Early Consolidation

  • 21st August 1485 - Henry dated his reign to the day before the Battle of Bosworth - so any Yorkists could be designated traitors - vulnerable to attainders and charges of treason
  • 22nd August 1485 - Battle of Bosworth, victory on the battlefield
  • 30th October 1485 - Official coronation at Westminster, before first parliament meeting and marriage to Elizabeth - shows he was King in his own right
  • 7th November 1485 - First Parliament meeting, 28 acts of attainder against Yorkists, act of resumption - returned all crown lands given away during Wars of the Roses
  • Put trusted figures in positions of power
    • Jasper Tudor - Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
    • Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland - Lieutenant of the North

Marriage and family

  • 16th January 1486 - Papal dispensation granted for Henry and Elizabeth’s marriage, Henry named Edward V as his predecessor - no one could question Elizabeth’s legitimacy, Richard III never ruled
  • 18th January 1486 - Henry and Elizabeth’s wedding - uniting House of York and House of Lancaster, things will be much smoother for their children
  • April 1486 - begins Royal Progression to the North
  • 19th September 1486 - birth of Prince Arthur
  • 25th November 1486 - Elizabeth crowned Queen of England

Control of the nobility

  • ruthless
  • 46 of 62 noble families were at Henry’s financial mercy
  • Henry rewarded loyalty and service - noble blood was no guarantee of position or favour
  • Patronage - Henry only created small number of noble titles, only 3 genuinely new peerages with land, number of nobles fell from 62 to 42
  • Acts of Attainder - owe Henry because guilty of treason, 138 attainders passed, 46 reversed - from money given or loyalty shown
  • Laws against retaining - to stop nobles having their own armies, passed at second parliament, e.g. Lord Burgavenny convicted in 1507 for retaining 471 men, fined £70,650, allowed to be placed under bond of £5000 over 10 years, little bit of leniency
  • Placement - moving a noble away from his power base, e.g. Earl of Surrey sent to North as part of his attainder
  • Feudal rights/dues - nobles fined for marrying without a license, revenue from wardship (when a noble is underage so Henry looks after inheritance or sells it) and marriage £350 in 1487, £6000 in 1507
  • Bonds - placed on nobleman to say if you do something wrong you will have to pay the bond, 191 bonds in first 10 years of reign, e.g. Marquis of Dorset placed under £10,000 year bond after suspected involvement in the Simnel plot
  • Recognisances - e.g. Earl of Westmorland fined £10,000 after Bosworth, any further disloyalty would incur the same fine
  • JP’s - often from gentry class, power increased, 1485 power to arrest hunters and poachers, 1491 power to grant bail, 1495 power to vet juries

Financial security

  • inherited a bankrupt throne but left it financially secure
  • changed from chamber to exchequer and back to chamber to have more control over finance - signed everything off personally
  • Ordinary revenue:
    • crown lands - all land inherited by Houses of Lancaster and York, annual income rose from £29,000 in 1485, to £42,000 in 1509
    • feudal dues - revenue from wardship and marriage £350 in 1487, £6000 in 1507, Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Buckingham fined around £7000 in 1496 for marrying without a license
    • Customs Duties from import and export taxes rose from £33,000 to around £40,000 per year
    • Legal systems and profits of justice - acts of attainder, council learned in law
  • Extraordinary revenue:
    • Bond and recognisances - receipts rose from £3000 in 1493 to £35,000 in 1505
    • Parliamentary taxes/subsidies - issues as taxes for wars with Brittany and Scotland caused Yorkshire and Cornish rebellions
    • Clerical taxes - special levies/subsidies imposed on the church
    • French pension - after Treaty of Etaples 1492, French agree to pay £5000 annual sum, Charles VIII agrees to pay arrears
    • Feudal obligations - £30,000 for the knighthood of Arthur
    • Loans and benevolences - 1491 raised £48,000 for the war with Brittany, of which £9000 was contributed by London

Dealing with rebellions

  • Lovell rebellion, April 1486
    • during Henry’s Northern progression
    • Viscount Lovell tried to raise an uprising in North Yorkshire whilst Thomas and Humphrey Stafford tried to raise one in the Midlands
    • Defeated with ease as there was little support
    • Lovell fled to Flanders, Humphrey executed, Thomas pardoned
  • Lambert Simnel, 1487
    • impersonated Earl of Warwick who was imprisoned in the Tower of London, had strong claim to the throne and was believed to be dead
    • support from Margaret of Burgundy
    • sent 2000 German and Swiss mercenaries to Ireland in April 1487 to support Simnel
    • Earl of Kildare crowned Simnel as King Edward VI of Ireland, May 1487
    • Battle of Stoke, June 1487
    • Henry had 12,000 men led by Earl of Oxford
    • John de la Pole had 8000, 4000 of which died in battle
    • John de la Pole killed in battle, Simnel sent to work in royal kitchens
  • Yorkshire rebellion, 1489
    • parliament voted for taxes for war with Brittany
    • Yorkshire hit by bad harvest and a long way from Brittany - refused to pay
    • Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland pleaded King to scrap the tax
    • returned with no success - immediately murdered by rebels
    • Earl of Surrey put down rebels easily
    • Leader of rebels fled to Flanders
    • Henry never collected tax quota for Brittany from Yorkshire
  • Perkin Warbeck, 1491-1497
    • impersonated Richard, one of the Princes in the Tower
    • receives a lot of support from various foreign leaders over time
    • 1491 - lands in Ireland, moves to France
    • 1492 - Treaty of Etaples means he’s expelled from France, welcomed into Burgundy by Margaret and Phillip
    • July 1495 - first attempt of landing in Deal, Kent - fails
    • July 1495 - arrives in Scotland, welcomed by James IV, married to James’ cousin
    • September 1496 - small failed invasion
    • 1497 - Treaty of Ayton forces Warbeck out of Scotland, Treaty of Perpetual Peace
    • lands in Ireland again - rejected due to Kildare’s loyalty to Henry
    • September 1497 - arrives at Lands End with 120 men, defeated in Exeter, surrenders
    • 1499 - Warbeck and Earl of Warwick conspire to escape, fails, Warbeck executed
  • Cornish rebellion, 1497
    • January 1497 - parliament votes for £120,000 in taxes for war with James IV and Warbeck
    • 15,000 rebels marched to London, stopped outside Exeter
    • September 1497 - Battle of Blackheath, Henry’s army crush rebels, 1000 killed, leader beheaded
  • Earl of Suffolk
    • 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 - Phillip’s ship wrecked in the Port of Weymouth, agrees to hand over de la Pole, Henry pays £158,000
    • Suffolk imprisoned until 1513, Henry VIII takes over and executes him

Securing succession

  • children and foreign treaties
  • 19th September 1486 - Arthur born
  • 26th March 1489 - Treaty of Medina del Campo, marriage alliance of Arthur and Katherine of Aragon
  • 28th November 1489 - Margaret Tudor born, married James IV of Scotland in 1503
  • 25th June 1491 - Henry VIII born
  • 18th March 1496 - Mary Tudor born
  • 14th November 1501 - Arthur and Katherine get married
  • 2nd April 1502 - Arthur dies
  • 1503 - Henry VIII promised to Katherine
  • 22nd April 1509 - Henry VII dies, Henry VIII takes the throne
  • 11th June 1509 - Henry VIII marries Katherine