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Henry VII - Rule of England (Yorkist Opposition (Lovell Conspiracy: A…
Henry VII - Rule of England
Claim to Throne
Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in
1485
, and despite his weak claim to the throne he went on to rule until his death in 1509.
Although Henry was the only male
Lancastrian heir
to the throne, his claim was weak and he would likely face many threats, particularly Yorkist after the death of Richard III.
However, Henry recognised his weak position and quickly took action to secure dynastic security.
He firstly dated the start of his reign to the day before Bosworth, meaning anyone who fort against him was a traitor and could have their estates seized.
He then gained
papal dispensation
and married
Elizabeth of York
, uniting the two houses.
Despite his weak claim, and suspicions on how well he could run England after
being in exile since 1471
, Henry still had the support of many due to the fact his was
replacing an unpopular king
, and was offering peace, not war.
Yorkist Opposition
Lovell Conspiracy:
A rebellion in the North and Midlands broke out in the first year of Henry's rule due to angry Yorkist supporters. It involved
Lord Lovell
and the
Stafford brothers
, both of whom had been loyal Richard III supporters.
However this plan failed as Henry heard of the plot and sent armed forces to
crush the rebellion
, causing the rebels to flee, causing little to no damage to Henry.
The Simnel Rebellion:
This challenge was more serious and came in the year that Henry seized the Throne. Simnel
claimed to be the Earl of Warwick
and was able to raise support first in Oxford, then in Ireland, where he was
crowned Edward VI
. He also gained
support from Margret of Burgundy
, who sent money and 200 mercenaries.
Despite Henry parading the real earl or Warwick through London and offering the rebels a pardon the rebellion did not stop, and actually gained more support from the Earl of Lincoln.
However, Simnel failed to gain widespread support, and was beaten by Henry in battle.
The Warbeck Rising:
It is suggested that when Perkin Warbeck arrived in Ireland claiming to be
Richard, Duke of York
(one of the suspected boys locked away and murdered in the tower) it was no accident, but in fact a plan created by
Charles VIII of France
and
Margret of Burgundy
.
Warbeck
failed to gain support
in
Ireland
,
France
(due to the treaty of Estaples) and the
HRE
(due to lack of available financial support. However, he did
gain some support in Flanders
from Margret, forcing Henry to cut off trade with Burgundy.
Despite lack of support, Warbeck was
welcomed in Scotland
and married to James IV's cousin.
However,
failing to gain support in England
, Warbeck fled back to Scotland, where he was rejected by James due to a marriage offer between himself and Henry's daughter.
Failing again to gain support in England
through the Cornish rebellion, Warbeck was finally caught and
executed in 1498
.
Edmund de la Pole/Suffolk:
Despite appearing loyal, de la Pole was dissatisfied as
Henry refused to make him Duke of Suffolk
, as his father had been. As a result he fled to france, and despite returning he fled again in 1501 to the HRE, where he was joined by other Yorkists.
During this period Henry was facing some difficuties, within 3 years (1500-1502) he had
lost his heir, his wife, and his youngest son
, placing all his hope of a secure dynasty in his finally son Prince Henry.
It was this fear of an insecure dynasty that caused Henry to
imprison the rest of the Suffolk family
in England and pass
51 Acts of Attainder
against those with Suffolk connections.
De la Pole was later
handed over to Henry by Phillip
of Burgundy on the condition that he was not harmed, only imprisoned, although this promise was later broken by
Henry VIII, who had him executed.
Relations with Nobility
Problems of the Nobility:
Many nobles had been able to gain land during the 1450's and still had large amount when Henry came to power (e.g. Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Northumberland etc.) and as
land=power
, Henry had to make sure to control them. This was made more difficult by the fact that
many had been Richard III supporters
, and having been in exile for the majority of his life, Henry desperately
needed their support and advice to govern
.
They were also a group which could
provide leadership and support to rebellion
, as well as recruiting followers, as seen through
Lord Lovell
.
Controlling the Nobility:
Henry managed to control the power of the nobles by limiting the number he created,
only creating 3 new Earls
during his reign, compared to 9 under Edward IV.
He also issued a proclamation in
1504
limiting retainers
making it illegal to recruit support without a licence**.
However, his
2 main methods
used was the concept of
'the carrot'
and
'the stick'
. This is the idea that supporting nobles were
rewarded
(carrot) while those who went against him were
punished
(stick).
Henry used more
modern methods of rewards
rather than giving out excess amounts of land, which ultimately diminished the wealth of the crown. For example, he created the
Order of the Garter
, which was made up of
37 knights
and was a huge honour, while managing to give prestige to nobles without giving power and land.
Henry did still use more traditional rewards such as
patronage
, but
limited the amount given
out so that it was highly valued.
Controlling the Nobility 2:
The final reward was a summons to either the
King's Council
or the
Great Council
. A membership to the King's council was a sign of trust, while a membership to the Great council was a method of ensuring support.
Two of Henry's most notorious methods of punishment were
Acts of Attainder
and
bonds and recognisance's
.
Acts of Attainder
were damaging to families as they lost their right to possess their land, which meant social and economic ruin. Although they were not a new method, Henry was more severe in their use.
Acts of Attainder were effective as good behaviour could result in their reversal.
In order to guarantee good behaviour Henry also used
bonds and recognisance's
, which were written agreements where nobles who offended the King either
paid for their offence
or paid money as security for future goof behaviour.
These were particularly effective in discouraging potentially disloyal nobles and, like acts of attainder, became
more severe
as the reign progressed.
Key People:
Edmund Dudley:
Lawyer, employed to execute Henry's financial policies. President of the Council. Accused of treason by Henry and executed.
Richard Foxe:
Appointed Lord Privy Seal and Secretary of State after Bosworth. Active statesman and diplomat, especially in negotiation for Treaty of Estaples, Magnus Intercursus and marriage negotiations. (Was also a patron to Wolsey.)
John Morton:
Active in the enforcement of Henry's policy of financial benevolence
Royal Finance and Administration
Henry attempted to achieve royal finance in 3 main ways:
Reorganise
financial administration
Exploit sources of
ordinary revenue
Increase income from
extraordinary revenue
However there was difficulties associated with these policies, most notably attempts to increase income would
face opposition
from those who were forced to pay. E.g. Yorkshire & Cornish rebellion
Ordinary Revenue:
Not all Henry's financial policies were a success as income from trade relied relations with European powers, which Henry was unable to control.
The
profits from justice varied
from year to year, but Henry did do his best to
exploit the system
, causing some to claim
after his death
that he charged some subjects with crimes
simply to be able to fine them
.
However, even if this wasn't true Henry was still
more likely to fine
someone than imprison them e.g. Earl of Northumberland was fined
£10,000
for raping a royal ward.
Income from feudal dues
rose dramatically
during Henry's reign and he was determined to fully exploit
Wardship
, which was when a child inherited land it was placed under the protection of the monarch, meaning the crown ran the estates and took the income.
This resulted in
feudal dues
income rising from
£350 per year in 1487
to
£6000 a year in 1507
.
Bonds and recognisance's
were also
exploited
to their full potential.
Extraordinary Revenue:
Henry was also able to raise money from the church is several ways, for example
when parliament had granted the king money
for the French exhibition the church raised
£25,000
.
However Henry also used less justifiable methods, such as selling church offices and
leaving Bishoprics vacant
so he could claim the
revenue
.
Feudal aided was levied on special occasions such as Arthur's knighting.
The
French pension
also helped with Royal finances and brought in an annual income of
£5000
.
Overall, Henry was effective n restoring royal fiances, however he did spend a lot of money on
maintaining a lavish lifestyle
and he did
exploit
some of the methods used to gain more money.
By 1487 Henry began to move away from the use of the
Exchequer
and began to restore the use of the
Chamber system
, which managed crown lands,
feudal dues
(money paid to the king by those who held land from him to avoid military service), profits from justice and the
French pension
(from the treaty of Estaples)
Extraordinary Revenue:
The
most frequent source
of extraordinary revenue income came from
parliamentary taxation
and although Henry was determined to increase his revenue he
did not misuse this
.
He asked for money from parliament
only in exceptional circumstances
, e.g. defeating Simnel. However, the amount collected varied and Henry never successfully tapped on the wealth of the country.
Henry also sometimes used loans from wealthy subjects, which he had to pay back. However, benevolences were different as they were loans subjects were forced to pay to show their loyalty, where there was no repayment. This was effective but not used often as it could cause resentment.
Kings had two sources of income, the
ordinary revenue
and the
extraordinary revenue
:
Ordinary
revenue came
yearly
from
crown lands
, customs and profits from justice and feudal dues, although the
amounts varied
.
While
Extraordinary
revenue was not regular and was usually
raised
only in
times of need
from taxation, or in
times of emergency
from borrowing.
Ordinary Revenue:
The
most important
revenue from ordinary revenue was
crown lands
. Henry not only
maximised his income
from existing lands but also increased the amount of land the crown held so that it is estimated to be
5X larger
at the end of his reign than under Henry VI.
This was achieved through 1486
Act of Resumption
and seizure of land from those declared
traitors
(attained). As a result income from crown lands rose from
£29,000
at the end of Richards reign to
£42,000 by 1509
.
However, in order to
avoid antagonising the Nobility
, Henry
did not claim back
all the land which he was
entitled
.
Perhaps the most successful area of this is
the Duchy of Lancaster
as Henry was able to
increase its income tenfold
.