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Summary AQA A-level History Tudors revision notes
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Revision notes for Henry VII and Henry VIII for A Level History AQA from textbook.
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Henry VIIChapter 1:The Consolidation of Power
Henry Tudors, Earl of Richmond, became King Henry VII of England following his
victory over Richard III’s forces at the Battle of Bosworth on 22nd August 1485. The
victory terminated Plantagenet rule in England and saw the establishment of the
Tudor dynasty. Henry became the Lancastrian claimant only because there was no
one else who could fulfil his role.
Henry VII’s Character and Aims
Henry consolidated his power in many ways:
-He backdated his reign to 21st August 1485, the day before the Battle of Bosworth,
thereby ensuring anyone who fought on the Yorkist side could be considered a
traitor.
-He arranged to detain Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, and the early Earl
of Warwick, Edward IV’s nephew, each of who could be seen as having a greater
claim to the throne.
-He arranged his coronation to take place on 30 October before the first meeting of
Parliament on 7 November, thereby ensuring his right to rule was based on
hereditary right and not only because Parliament had sanctioned it.
-Acts of Attainder against Yorkists who fought at Bosworth ensured that their property
was forfeited to the Crown which increased revenue.
-In January 1486 Henry married Elizabeth of York. He was able to exploit royal
propaganda for the union of the 2 houses of Lancaster and York. (Tudor rose
combined the red rose of Lancaster with the white rose York).
-September 1489, birth of an heir to the throne, Prince Arthur.
Viscount Lovell and the Staffords, 1486
Lovell tried to raise a rebellion in Richard III’s heartland of support in the North Riding
of Yorkshire. Simultaneously, Stafford tried to raise forces against Henry, drawing
upon Yorkist support in the Midlands. Stafford was captured and executed while his
younger brother, Thomas was pardoned. These rebellions were easily suppressed.
Lambert Simnel and the Rebellion of the Earl of Lincoln
Simnel was being passed off as the Earl of Warwick by the Yorkists, who’d been
imprisoned by Henry, and was crowned as King Edward in Ireland in May 1487. The
conspiracy was put together by John de la Pole (nephew of Edward IV & Richard III),
the Earl of Lincoln (a potential Yorkist claimant). Lincoln joined Lord Lovell and
persuaded Margaret of Burgundy to support Simnel’s bogus claim and pay for a force
of mercenaries to invade England.
The 2 armies met at East Stoke near Newark in Nottinghamshire. Henry’s army, led
effectively by the Earl of Oxford, held firm and the Earl of Lincoln was killed in battle,
having been unable to add sufficient followers to the army of mercenaries with which
he landed in England with. The Battle of Stoke Field was significant as it brought an
end to the War of Roses. Henry was mild in his treatment towards those that rebelled
against him which weakened the resolve of many Yorkists to oppose him.
The Perkin Warbeck Imposture
In 1491 Perkin Warbeck began to impersonate Richard, Duke of York in Ireland. On
Warbeck’s first attempt to land in England in 1495, Henry had been informed of
Warbeck’s intentions by one of his royal agents, Sir Robert Cliffors, and Warbeck
was quickly defeated and fled to the court of James IV of Scotland.
,In 1496, a small Scottish force crossed the border on Warbeck’s behalf but quickly
retreated. Warbeck’s interests were soon sacrificed when James gave in to Henry’s
offer of marriage to his daughter, Margaret. Warbeck made one final attempt to seek
the English throne by trying to exploit the uncertainties created by the Cornish
rebellion in 1497, was tried and executed.
Warbeck’s final attempt at conspiracy enabled him to get rid of the Earl of Warwick,
who in 1499 was accused of plotting with Perkin Warbeck against Henry and he was
beheaded.
Edmund and Richard De La Pole
The final piece of dynastic security concerned the younger brothers of the Earl of
Lincoln. Suffolk fled to Flanders in 1498 and in 1501, this time seeking refuge at the
court of the Emperor Maximilian. The Treaty of Windsor in 1496 meant Maximilian
was willing to give up Suffolk, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Richard
de la Pole (the “White Rose”), spent a lot of time in exile but was killed fighting for the
French forces at the Battle of Pavia in 1525.
Chapter 2:Henry VII’s Government
The King ruled with a “council” of advisers who supported him in making key
decisions. Around 227 men are recorded as having attended the Council during his
reign. But in practice, Henry VII’s actual working Council was a much smaller affair
with 6 or 7 members.
The Council
Under Henry VII the council had 3 main functions:
To advise the king, To administer the realm on the king’s behalf, To make legal
judgements.
There were 3 main types of councillor:
1. Members of the nobility (e.g. Lord Daubeney and Dynham), though the
working Council only rarely included the great magnates of the realm.
2. Churchmen (e.g. John Morton and Richard Fox), who often had legal training
and were excellent administrators.
3. Laymen (gentry or lawyers), who were skilled administrators (e.g. Sir
Reginald Bray and Edmund Dudley).
During Henry VII’s reign the Council had no established rules and procedures,
though it was a permanent body with core membership. Those ‘professional’
counsellors (Bray & Dudley), who didn’t see themselves as courtiers often met to
deal with legal and administrative matters in London when other councillors were with
the king elsewhere.
The Great Council
The Great Council was a gathering of the House of Lords, meeting without the House
of Commons. It had no clearly defined functions and was an occasional body. It only
met 5 times and concerned itself with issues relating to war or rebellion and was a
means of binding the nobility and key decisions relating to national security.
The Council Learned
This body was developed during the 2nd half of Henry’s reign. The function was to
maintain the king’s revenue and exploit his prerogative rights. Historians argue that it
caused fear, frustration and anger as it bypassed the legal system. It was the
expression of the king’s will and was thus important for the maintenance of his
authority as it was for raising finances.
, The Council Learned was headed by Sir Reginald Bray and his associate Richard
Empson, a fiercely ambitious lawyer and bureaucrat, whose ruthless approach
defined the behaviour of the Council Learned. After Bray’s death in 1503, Edmund
Dudley joined Empson and they raised the extraction of money from the king’s
subjects.
Court and Household
The court was the very centre of the government. It was where the power of the
monarch was demonstrated to all the courtiers in attendance. Through the court
rewards and status were distributed to those who were deserving and well
connected. The court was also where support for the king could be attained and
obtained.
There were different levels to the court:
1. The household proper was responsible for looking after the king, courtiers
and others who were being entertained
2. The politically important part of the system was the Chamber, presided by
Lord Chamberlain, whose position was powerful & a matter of considerable
trust. The Lord Chamberlain and other senior officials were influential
courtiers.
Henry’s response to Sir William Stanley's betrayal was remodelling the Chamber by
creating a Privy Chamber, to which the king could retreat, protected by his most
intimate servants.
Parliament
It comprised the House of Commons & Lords, but it only met occasionally and was
not central to the system of government. It had 2 main functions: to pass laws & grant
taxation to the Crown.
Only the king could call parliament and Henry demonstrated his right to rule by
calling his first parliament early in his reign. Henry called it only 7 times, though 5 of
these met in his first 10 years of reign and only 2 met in the remaining 14 years.
Justices of the Peace
Henry relied increasingly on the JPs to maintain law and order in the countryside.
JPs were appointed on a county by county basis and met 4 times a year to
administer justice through the quarter sessions. Various Act of Parliament were
passed to increase the power and responsibilities of JPs who were responsible for
routine administrations such as tax assessments and the maintenance of law and
order. In the role they superseded the traditional authority of the county sheriff.
Bonds and Recognisances
Henry VII restored law and order largely through forcing many of his subjects to take
out bonds and recognisances. Some of the bonds were the result of genuine debts
owed to the crown. However, many of them were purely political. The king used
bonds to enforce order and obedience.
Crown Lands
At the beginning of Henry’s reign income dropped to £12,000 per year, this was
because income from lands was collected and administered through the inefficient
Court of Exchequer which showed Henry’s inexperience in such financial matters. It
was probably in 1492 that Henry decided to revert to Edward’s system of
administration through the Chamber, where policies were formulated and decisions
were made. Finances improved and income from land increased by the end of the
reign to around £42,000 per year.
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