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Wolsey in Power - Coggle Diagram

- - - - As Lord Chancellor, Wolsey was responsible for overseeing the legal system
    - - Tackle issue of slow and unfair delivery of justice
      - Promote civil law rather than common law. Civil law is based on natural justice and evidence; common law is based on precedence (decisions made in similar cases in the past)
      - Undermine political rivals, like the nobility
    - - Star Chamber
        
        Wolsey strengthened the use of the Star Chamber
        
        Wolsey used Star Chamber much more frequently
        to attack nobles and local officials who abused their power
        
        He encouraged commoners to bring their complaints before the court and in doing so, increased the number of cases heard each year to about 120. Annual number of cases heard during Henry VII's reign was 12.
        
        This gave him the reputation of being a friend to the poor
      - Wolsey used the Court of Requests to hear cases from poor people. It was popular because it was cheap to bring a case and there were quick responses.
- - - - National survey
        
        In 1522 Wolsey organised a national survey to assess who could pay tax and how much
        
        It was the first systematic investigation into national finances since the Domesday Survey of 1086
        
        He used this to gain about £200,000 in forced loans in 1522–23.
        
        This amount was still insufficient due to inflation and expensive foreign policy
      - Subsidy
        
        This was a form of flexible tax
        
        Had to be approved by the House of Commons which met in 1523
        
        Based on income rather than property
        
        The subsidy did not raise as much as was hoped, and Wolsey also levied a tax on the Church.
      - Amicable Grant
        
        Proposed in 1525
        
        Involved requesting money from from both the Church and ordinary taxpayers based on his valuations of their property
        
        There was a lot of resistance to this tax and led to a rebellion, so it was suspended
- - - - Wolsey believed the the conversion of arable land to sheep pasture by enclosing fields destroyed village life and jobs
      - National Enquiry
        
        IIn 1517 Wolsey began a national enquiry to find out how much land was enclosed and what effects it was having
        
        This information was used as the basis of legal cases against landowners who who were judged to have enclosed land without the proper permission
        
        Further investigations were conducted in 1518, although opposition from landowners in Parliament in 1523 forced him to suspend these enquiries temporarily until 1526
    - - The English cloth trade suffered badly during the late 1520s
      - Due to Wolsey's alliance with France against Spain. This led to a trade embargo against Spain which controlled Burgundy, which was a vital trading port for English cloth
    - - Poor trade and a bad harvest (1527) led to widespread unemployment, which was worsened by rising prices.
      - In 1526, Wolsey undertook a recoinage which increased number of coins but reduced their value overseas as they weighed less. There was both a rise in exports and prices
      - The later 1520s marked the first occasion in Tudor England where economic depression and price rises caused substantial suffering among the poor. Many riots had to be quelled in the spring of 1528 in the south east, East Anglia and the south west.
- - - - Issues revolving around Hunne's Case
      - Richard Hunne was a London merchant tailor who was arrested and placed in the Bishop of London's prison after refusing to pay a mortuary fee to the Church after his child died. He was found hanged in prison and the Church was held responsible for his murder.
      - Cardinal Wolsey, as the senior representative of the Church in England, had to kneel before Parliament, begging forgiveness
    - - Called to approve a taxation needed to cover Henry's pricey foreign policy