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Henry VII Government (Domestic policy: improving royal finances (Sources…

- - - - Henry was by far the country's largest landowner and this played an important part of the Crown’s ordinary revenue
      - At the beginning of Henry’s reign the royal income had dropped to £12,000 a year, because income from land was being collected and administered through the inefficient Court of Exchequer, demonstrating Henry’s inexperience in financial matters
      - In 1492, Henry decided to revert to Edward’s system of administration through the Chamber (through the royal household) where policies were formulated and decisions made
      - By the end of his reign the annual income of the crown had markedly increased to £42,000 (partially due to effective treasurers of the Chamber, such as Sir Thomas Lovell and Sir John Heron)
    - - There was an increased profits from wardship and Parliament granted feudal aid in 1504
      - Became a useful additional source of revenue for the crown, although it annoyed people particularly landowners, especially after the Statute of Uses of 1489 cut out a potential loophole to avoid the charge
    - - Tonnage and poundage had been granted for life by Henry’s first parliament
      - Over his reign there was a small increase in revenue from this source £34,000 to £38,000
    - - The treaty of Etaples in 1492 the French agreed to pay Henry an annual pension of £5000 a year
    - - Included fines and income from bonds
      - Bonds represented a potential asset rather than an actual one, between 1504 and 1507 £200,000 was promised to the king but not all was collected
    - - Henry raised £400,000 from this taxation
      - It helped provoke rebellions in 1489 and 1497
      - In 1504 Henry promised parliament he would not raise any more money by this method
- - - - The power of the monarchy was demonstrated to all the courtiers in attendance
      - The Royal Court was relied on heavily by the Tudors (and their predecessors) and was the centre of government
      - Since wealth translated to power the court was magnificent and generous, and Henry was influenced by continental royal courts, such as France and Burgundy
      - The Royal Court moved to wherever the king was
      - It was through court that rewards and status were distributed
- - - - It could pass on local issues onto the King’s officials by local Members of Parliament, but this was a less important function
    - - Only the King could call Parliament, and demonstrated his right to rule by calling his first parliament early in his reign, but not before he was coronated demonstrating his right to rule was due on hereditary rights not because Parliament sanctioned it
      - Called 7 Parliaments through his reign, 5 met in the first ten years
      - Henry’s early Parliament were mainly concerned with issues of national security and the raising of revenue
        
        In his first two Parliaments passed numerous Acts of Attainder, these declared individuals guilty without trial and their family's land was taken from them for good because of disobedience towards the crown
        
        His first Parliament granted tonnage and poundage which was a customs revenue (tax imposed on imports and exports)
      - Other Parliaments granted extraordinary revenue (taxation granted to wage war)
        
        The most common type of extraordinary revenue was fifteenths and tenths (paid by towns and boroughs to the Crown, the amount was based on local assessments of land and goods)
        
        From 1487 to 1497 fifteenths and tenths allowed Henry to gain £203,000
        
        Parliament in 1504 managed to limit the demand for extraordinary revenue and pledged the King would not seek anymore revenue by this means
- - - - However, the working Council only ever had six or seven members at one time
    - - To advise the king
      - To administer the realm on the king’s behalf
      - To make legal judgements
    - - Members of the nobility- although the working Council rarely contained nobles
        
        Lord Daubney and Dynham
      - Churchmen- they often had legal training and were excellent administration
        
        John Morton and Richard Fox
      - Laymen (Gentry or Lawyers)- they were skilled administrators, the dependence on lawyers
        
        Sir Reginald Bray and Edmund Dudley
        
        What previous monarch had relied on laymen
        
        They played a significant role in the ‘second reign’ of Edward IV from 1471
- - - - Magnate control happened mainly in the North, to Henry’s step fathers relatives the Stanley’s and the North East under the Earl of Northumberland
    - - Earl of Northumberland died in 1489, leaving Henry without a great magnet to control the North East (a strategically important area)
        
        Henry released the Yorkist Earl of Surrey, who had been imprisoned in the Tower of London after the Battle of Bosworth, sending a known supporter of Richard III to the area which had previously been Richard’s centre of power was risky, however, Surrey showed his loyalty through 10 years effective service
    - - In areas Henry relied on those he did trust, such as the Earl of Oxford and Lord Daubeney, but they lacked the resources of great magnates
      - He also had to rely on this he did not trust, such as the Marquis of Dorset, and this lack of trust was demonstrated by the use of spy network to report on the magnates performance and the use of Bonds and Recognizances