England 1485–1558: the Early Tudors - Unit Y106
A complete set of essay plans covering every possible topic that may come up in Section B (20 mark essay) of the OCR History A - Early Tudors exam.
Written by student who achieved a top A* in 2018, these are easily digestible notes with detailed...
How effective/successful was Henry VII domestic government/policy?
How successfully did Henry VII deal with the domestic problems he faced?
Intro:
● Aims: consolidate power over nobles and parliament; restore Crown's financial strength (by increasing royal
income and decreasing expenditure); increase dynastic security
○ → achieved to a large extent through controlling nobility, and through financial and government reforms
● Domestic problems he faced:
○ Threat from overly powerful nobles; financial weakness of the crown; he was a usurper king so his
dynasty was under serious threat
Consolidate power over nobles: most successful
● Carrot - inducements
○ he was willing to give Yorkists a second chance following Bosworth, restoring Duke of Northumberland to
his old position → encouraged other Yorkists to support Henry
○ Display of loyalty to king → grant patronage (honour and status without direct financial loss to the crown)
■ Final reward summons to Great Council
■ Reintroduced Order of Garter and created 37 Knights of the Garter
○ → successful as it meant loyalty to the king from nobles, but crown didn't suffer material loss
● Stick - sanctions
○ Dated start of reign from day before Bosworth so that those who fought against him were traitors, and
therefore he had power over those nobles to seize their land.
○ Limits placed on noble retainers - needed a licence to keep retainers followed by a heavy fine if not kept
£5 a month for each illegal retainer kept → eg. Lord Burgavenny was fined over £70,000
○ Acts of Attainder placed on 51 noble families - if they were disloyal they would lose all right to their family
lands and possessions
○ Tied up 32/62 noble families in bonds and recognisances - written agreements whereby nobles which had
offended the King paid him money or paid money as security for future good behavior
⇒ these acts gave Henry control over nobles by encouraging loyalty while also placing fear of disloyalty
⇒ successful as little nobel unrest after Simnel's defeat, and number of over-powerful subjects reduced
● However, by end of Henry's reign, there was significant disquiet among the nobles with the 51 Acts of Attainder
○ Some historians have argued that civil war might have broken out again had Henry not died in 1509, such
was the harshness of the methods he was employing.
● That said, the fact that no such rebellion was seen demonstrates that overall Henry VIII was highly successful
Financial Gain: relatively successful
● Asserted feudal rights over marriages
● 1486 Act of Resumption - crown recovered all properties granted away since 1455
● Escheats - if a landowner died without an heir their land would be taken control over by the crown
● Henry exploited the justice system, using fines rather than imprisonment to raise money, causing income from
feudal dues to rise dramatically from £350 in 1487 to £6,000 in 1507
⇒ successful as income had risen to £113,000 per year and crown solvent by 1509
That said
● Cornish rising 1497
○ Henry's demands for a tax in the west to pay towards invasion from the north by Warbeck led to a 15,000
strong rising in Bodmin which required Henry to finance a royal army of 25,000 to put down
● Yorkshire tax revolt 1489
○ Caused by Henry trying to force tax out of northern counties to aid Brittany against France, and resulted
in no tax being collected as Henry failed to negotiate
● Unsuccessful with customs income, which dropped to £40,000 a year due to smuggling despite Henry blocking
some legal loopholes and updating the Book of Rates three times during his reign
⇒ however despite these failings, by 1509 income had risen to £113,000 per year and the Crown was again solvent.
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