Wolsey's rise to power + Domestic Policies

The Eltham Ordinances

Amicable Grant, 1525

Enclosures

Finance

Justice

Effects:

  • The commissioners were greeted with anger and many people simply refused to pay, saying they had no money.


  • A full scale broke out in Suffolk in May 1525, when 10,000 men met in the main market town of Lavenham. They expressed support for the king, but made it clear that they also wanted the Crown to be aware of their anger.


  • It was the first significant rebellion of Henry's reign.

  • Wolsey was humiliated and his unpopularity increased.
  • No further taxation was attempted by Wolsey.
  • Henry's wish to attack France had to be abandoned instead, he sought peace.

Reasons for:
England had used up most of its money in a failed invasion of France in 1523. So, having already demanded various forced loans and subsidies in the period 1522-24, Wolsey looked for new ways to raise funds. His solution was to impose a new direct tax without gaining the approval of parliament.


The Amicable Grant demanded that priests pay one third of their income and everyone else one sixth as a tax. People were given just ten weeks to find the money.

Reasons for:
Henry's palaces were dirty, bad behavior was common and money was spent without thought. To tackle this, Wolsey drew up a detailed list of rules known as the Eltham Ordinances.

Measures:

  • Servants who were sick or not needed were laid off.
  • The number of people who were allowed expenses for things like food, drink, fuel and lodgings was cut.

Reasons for:
Henry wanted to follow an aggressive foreign policy to prove himself to be the greatest king in Europe, but this was expensive. Henry's normal average yearly income was £110,00, and this was not enough to win wars abroad.
The existing system of direct taxation, which was known as the fifteenths and tenths, was no longer working.

Measures:
Wolsey's solution was to improve the system of direct taxation with the subsidy. This was an additional tax based on an up-to-date assessment of a person's income, with commissioners being sent out across the country to ensure valuations were accurate.


The tax was set up in such a way that, the greater a person's income, the more tax they paid. The tax worked. Between 1513 and 1516, the subsidy raised £170,000 while the old system only raised £90,000.

Effects
Henry's spending kept on increasing and the heavy rates of taxation were very unpopular.

Reasons for:
The practice of individual landowners fencing off land for profitable sheep rearing was being blamed for poverty in rural areas. Enclosure could lead to farmers being forced off their land and the removal of the common areas were villagers could graze their animals.

Measures:
In 1517, he set up an inquiry to investigate where land had been enclosed without proper permission. This led to over 260 court cases being brought against landowners.

Effects:
Wolsey's actions actions increased his unpopularity among wealthy landowners of England. In 1523, angry landowners in parliament forced Wolsey to call a halt to any further investigations into enclosed land. Wolsey's stand against enclosures achieved very little.

Reasons for:
The legal system in England was flawed, delivering slow, expensive and often unfair justice. Verdicts often favored those with the most money and influence.

Measures:
Wolsey's main method of getting fairer justice was to strengthen the court of the Star Chamber. He did this by:

  • Increased the court's work rate(from 12 cases a year to 120 cases a year)
  • Oversaw many cases in person
  • Supported the cases of the poor against the rich
  • Encouraged poor people to bring cases to this court
  • Made the reasons for his decisions public

Effects:
Wolsey inevitably built up resentment against himself among the higher classes. Later, as Wolsey's time increasingly became tied up with foreign problems a large backlog of cases built up in the Star Chamber, meaning very few were ever resolved.

Rise to Power

Early life
Wolsey was very intelligent and made the most of this opportunity - gaining his degree when he was only 15 years old. Wolsey became his college's treasurer in Oxford and used his position to undertake a huge college rebuilding programme, showing the ambition and arrogance that would later become his trademark.

Growth of influence
When Henry VIII became king, he appointed Wolsey as Royal Almoner, so in 1509 he became a member of the Royal Council. The ambitious priest now had access to Henry, and the opportunity to build a personal relationship with the king.


Wolsey's 'big break' came in 1512. Henry needed someone to organise an army for war with France. Wolsey took it on and supplied Henry with a well-equipped and well-supplied army to France in 1513. Henry was impressed with Wolsey's efficiency and saw him as a capable subject, so he was appointed as Lord Chancellor in 1515. This gave him the highest position in Henry's government.


Wolsey also gained influence in the Church, by 1515, he as Bishop of Lincoln, Archbishop of York and a cardinal. He also managed to be named Papal Legate in 1518, making him the pope's representative in England.

Life at the top
Due to his multiple jobs, appointed by both king and the Church, Wolsey gained a huge fortune. Being Archbishop of York alone gave him an income of £3,000 per year (nearly £1 million today). He was ten times richer than his nearest rival.


With his wealth, he built the palaces of York House and Hampton Court for himself, and used them to entertain the English and European elite on a grand scale. He was supported by a household of 500 servants - equal in size to the king's own Royal Household.


However, there was also a dark side to Wolsey, he was ruthless with anyone who threatened his position, and he therefore became deeply feared and hated.