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Changes in the sinews of power - Coggle Diagram
Changes in the sinews of power
Finance
The crown gained income from a variety of areas, land, taxation, customs, feudal dues, pensions, fines and loans. How this money was used was essential in forming an effective government. Expenditure went under two headings:
Routine
: maintenance of the king, defence costs and admin.
Exceptional
: ceremonial costs, exceptional defence costs.
Key points:
Throughout this period traditional incomes for the king reduced mostly as a result of tax revenue from the wool trade falling.
Land: Act of Attainders, forfeiture, patronage and royal demesne (Duchy of Lancaster).
Patronage and resumption: Acts of Resumption.
Feudal rights: Bastard Feudalism and how military service became more centred on who could pay rather than who was loyal.
Taxation: Kings experimented with tax since they knew it was resented.
Henry IV:
Struggled with controlling finances due to a large number of rebellions
Made clever use of the Duchy of Lancaster (
average income of which was £11,000
)
Spent a lot on putting down rebellions.
Henry V:
Left a massive debt; jewellery and ships had to be sold.
Conquests in France gave him land to give out.
Spent a lot of money on foreign wars and conquests.
Henry VI:
Left a massive debt due to his incompetence;
by 1450 a debt of £372,000
and relied on heavy loans from OMS.
Gave away crown lands (royal demesne).
Parliament sought to curb this with Acts of Resumption.
Used income tax.
Spent a lot on anything anyone influenced him to.
Edward IV:
Made the crown's finances more efficient; largely after Treaty of Picquigny (pension of
£10,000 per annum
).
Resumption of royal estates; 'live of his own' as he promised (1471) crown retained own ineritances which he used to finance a wealthier economy.
Tripled royal income by his death;
annual income £65,000-£70,000 by end of reign
.
Gave out large areas of Warwick's land in forfeiture, passed an Act of Resumption on land given away by Henry VI's use of income tax.
People paid less tax due to retaining own inheritances.
Richard III:
Reign was too short, but his expenditure was massive on defence.
Did not enforce taxation; had own private cash and owned huge estates.
Henry VII:
Increased royal income by 40%
from under Edward IV.
Ruthless in finance; got a lot of money out of people.
Made clever use of the Acts of Attainders by dating his reign to a day before Bosworth as well as Resumption.
Ruthless in his payment of bonds.
Expenditure on rebellions and propaganda.
Parliament
Parliament did
not
curb royal power. Parliament was merely a sounding board for the king and the main role of parliament was to grant taxation. In return, they could petition a king and make legislation through negotiation.
Taxes were only levied in the common good and usually this meant the defence of the realm. If the king could prove there was a genuine need for tax then parliament could not fight him on this.
However, parliament did use these opportunities to voice concerns and issues, like with Suffolk in 1450. Even here, parliament knew its place, and complaints were against ministers not the king himself.
The relationship between the king and parliament was based around finance. Kings who required money called upon parliament for this.
E.g. Henry IV had financial difficulites hence the 1406 long parliament. Despite this, parliament's basic function was to serve the king.
Relationship between kings and parliament:
Henry V:
Much improved; parliament met briefly but frequently.
He appeared to listen to their grievances over law and order.
By early 1420s, he was increasingly in debt which strained relations.
Did not personally attend parliament 1417-20
and in 1421 he was denied money.
Henry VI:
Between 1422-61, 22 parliaments were called
.
Parliament attempted to undermine his rule (Parliament of Devils 1459), showing that parliament was only a curb in the case of a weak monarch.
Still argued that they were attempting to uphold the stability of the realm and prop a weak monarch.
Edward IV:
A stronger king with less need for tax;
parliament only called 6 times in 23 years
.
Cleverly packed parliament with his supporters.
E.g. in 1478 he convicted Clarence of treason, in which he packed parliament with his household which was easily with a large family.
Richard III:
Barely used parliament during his reign.
Only parliament was 1484
, where Richard extended things that were already in place like the system of bail and freedom of information.
He wanted to appear reformist whilst avoiding any confrontation.
Henry VII:
Tried to separate House of Commons from House of Lords.
House of Lords was made up of senior clergy and peers and so recognised that loyalty to Henry meant rewards.
House of Commons slowly gained power by end of the century and Henry recognised their importance for growth of the economy.
Parliament only met 7 times during his reign
, 5 of which were in the first 10 years.
War/Diplomacy
Henry IV:
Came to the throne through war and fought the Welsh and the Scots while provoking the French.
He also fought off internal challenges like Scrope's rebellion and the Hotspur rebellion.
So, war was important for clinging to the throne.
However, he knew the importance of diplomacy; the marriage of his daughter, informal alliances with the king of Portugal etc.
He was a usurper so conflict was almost inevitable but his later reign saw less conflict.
Henry V:
Won great battles at Agincourt (and later campaigns in Normandy) as well as signing the Treaty of Troyes ensuring that his son would rule France and England.
In the short term, war benefitted him whereas in the long term maintaining territories was impossible.
Treaty of Troyes came from a position of strength; Henry was a proven warrior and the threat of further war was intimidating.
Henry VI:
Attempted to maintain control through diplomacy which failed.
Initially, he held on to foreign conquests (1424 Battle of Verneuil) which was later lost due to Joan of Arc.
Treaty of Tours in 1444
was unpopular and England broke the truce in 1449, resulting in the loss of Gascony and Normandy.
Both war and diplomacy failed to benefit Henry VI greatly.
Edward IV:
War gave him the crown and proved him as a good warrior during Towton.
Diplomacy benefitted him most; invasion of France in 1474 and Treaty of Picquigny had massive benefits.
7 year truce, marriage of his daughter to the dauphin
Again, he was negotiating from a position of strength, showing that strength in war correlated with strength in diplomacy.
Henry VII:
War helped him secure the throne yet diplomacy had the greatest impact.
E.g. Spanish marriage of 1499 between Arthur and Catherine of Aragon.
Gained the Pope's approval to marry Catherine and Henry VIII in 1504.
Summary:
War was essential to kings in securing their rule and reputation.
However in the long term, diplomacy was more effective if done from a position of strength.
Diplomacy came through the threat of war and/or desire to avoid it.
So, war/diplomacy's efficacy is dependent on the situation and differentiates a strong king from a weak one - knowing when to use war or diplomacy
.