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Summary Henry VIII - All notes you would need for an A*
Provides all the information needed for Henry VIII and the Tudors at A Level, summarising each topic into key factors and essay plans according to the specification.
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Henry VIIIGovernment:
Parliament:
- Established principle of parliamentary sovereignty, whilst setting the precedent for
future monarchs to ignore parliament when it suited their purpose
Stats=
- Parliament called 38 times compared to 7 in Henry VII reign
- 1032 pages of legislation passed in Henry’s reign, compared to 1094 in the 251
years prior
Acts=
- Act of Supremacy of 1534 established the English monarch as the highest authority
in matters of both state and church (further Erastian)
- Treason Act 1534 made opposing the Act of Succession or Supremacy punishable
by death, such as Sir Thomas More in 1535 for refusing the Oath of Supremacy.
- Acts of Annexing First Fruits and Tenths to the Crown 1534 made annates paid by
bishops to the king acceptable, despite previously intolerable when paid to the pope.
This increased the financial burden on the clergy and strengthened the royal
supremacy.
- Acts of Succession (1534 and 1536). 1536 removed Mary and Elizabeth from
succession and 1534 required an oath recognizing the legitimacy of Henry’s marriage
to Anne Boleyn (control and legitimising potential heirs). These acts underscored the
close connection between political and religious matters during this period.
Finance:
- 1536 Court of Augmentations was established to oversee financial affairs of
dissolved monasteries. It was headed by a board of commissioners (civil servants)
and was mainly used in the sale of monastic lands to wealthy landowners , for
example Fountain Abbey for £9000. Revolutionary in its use of civil servants and also
due to the new requirement to handle monastic lands after the reformation, but
unsuccessful in its consideration of long-term finances, with finance generated
quickly squandered on war and monastic land sold instead of rented.
- In 1542 the Court of General surveyors combined into the Augmentations, which
made it responsible for surveying and valuing all the kings estates as well as
collecting and accounting the revenue, a change with a minor magnitude. However,
the Court also heard disputes over land ownership and boundaries and collected
information about the state of the economy and agriculture, two features which were
highly valuable for a monarch, ensuring they were well advised in policy making and
decisions.
- 1540 The Court of Wards and Liveries administered a system of feudal dues
(revenue collection and issues). It’s existence was met with much public disapproval,
which whilst a drawback of the Court, also proves it’s effectiveness in generating
finance, which it is designed to do.
Extension of royal authority to different regions:
- Limited success in extending royal authority to remoter parts of the kingdom.
, - Dependent on unpaid cooperation of local gentry, like JPs and the will of the gentry,
who were often anti-government policies e.g. Sir Thomas Percy leading the
Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536
● Wales
- Originally comprised of marcher lordships and the principality of Wales, which had no
direct political link with England
- Acts of Union 1536
- > Divided Wales into shire counties which would operate the same as their English
counterparts
- > Shires had direct representation in House of Commons
- > Same legal framework as England
- > Only English was spoken in Parliament
- > Welsh took it fait accompli
● North
- Cromwell reestablished the Council of the North as a permanent body in York in
1537 which had both administrative and legal function, designed to improve access
to conciliar justice in Northern England.
- Helped keep the North out of the summer of rebellions in 1549
Cromwell and Elton’s Thesis:
● Modern Criteria: Permanent and centralised institutions + Separation between
domestic/civil servants
● Cromwell change: Restored Exchequer + Council of North + Wales + Courts (New
and revised)
- Elton’s thesis describes a departure in the style of government during Henry VIII’s
reign from the medieval to the modern.
Medieval:
- The government was little more than the monarch and a few servants (a travelling
royal court) and a bureaucracy with no central base. Administration of England was
performed the personal servants of the monarch, in almost daily attendance. They
served the king’s personal needs as well as the needs of the country – in fact, there
was little actual difference between the two.
Modern:
- The purpose of government was still to reflect the will of the king
- London would become a central and coordinated base with oversight of the local
areas and proper records
- Clear difference between the servants of the Royal Household who should deal with
domestic needs, and those who served the King as the head of the executive of
England and Wales.
- The head of this more permanent and centralised administration would be the Privy
Council, which would deal with the military, the Church, finance, law and
administration. It dealt with day-to-day administration and having the force of law,
could run the country in times of royal illness, or in Henry’s case - general disinterest.
Cromwell’s changes:
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