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HVII CONTROL OF OVERMIGHTY NOBLES - Coggle Diagram
HVII CONTROL OF OVERMIGHTY NOBLES
FINANCIAL
bonds and recognisances - nobles kept in perpetual debt to the Crown had to 'behave or be financially ruined'
Council Learned = royal debt collector
fines - for illegally retaining, crimes in Star Chamber etc
LEGAL
attainders - enacted from Bosworth to seize titles and assets of disloyal nobles
could be reversed to reap gratitude or future loyalty
REWARDS
HVII didn't look to make more nobles by rewarding them with land (afraid of threat to power)
HVII often turned to socially lower men for local royal representation - they relied on him for status
MILITARY
retaining - allowed nobles to keep a large amount of 'personal staff' - could be used as enforcers or private army for nobles
1485 & 1504 laws against retaining illegally
aimed to restrict potential for rebellion to overcome royal military
nobles continued to disobey as retaining was 'etched into their DNA'
CONCLUSION
HVII's unwillingness to allow nobles to become 'overmighty' demonstrated his natural paranoia and 'otherness', but also suggested an obsession with security
increased power of the monarch, relative to its subjects
However, was reliant on financial/legal measures to ensure the loyalty of many men and had to use nobles for control in unstable areas
BACKGROUND
due to large amounts of land given out during Wars of the Roses, the Crown's power had been diminished, relative to the monarchy