How did Henry VII Limit the Power of the Nobility?

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  • How did Henry VII Limit the Power of the Nobility?
    • Attainders
      • Make money
      • Used attainders to seize the title and possessions of nobles he suspected disloyalty.
      • Special laws passed by parliament
      • Allowed someone to be declared guilty of treason- no trial
      • Against men who fought for Richard III
      • Could be reversed (restore lands or titles to secure gratitude and future loyalty)
      • 138 passed, 46 reversed
      • 5 years at the end- paranoid, 51 passed
    • Patronage
      • Patron- Financially helped (rewarding loyalty)
      • Special favours e.g. land or titles
      • Henry abandoned these (shrunk by 25%)
      • Didn't want to create a new group of nobles who could rise and become a threat
      • Number of nobles fell by about one quarter
      • Henry was the largest land owner in the country
      • Nobles dependent on him for position and status
      • Let families die out
    • Financial controls
      • Would demand a financial bond from nobles or their families
      • Placed a noble in debt to the crown
      • Nobles had to agree to behave themselves
      • Two-thirds of the nobility under bonds
      • Was a way of raising money from someone he did not trust and to stop nobles from trying to corrupt power
      • Council Learned in Law was a royal debt collector
    • Retaining Laws
      • The practice by which a noble man kept a large number of men as his personal staff (servants) (in theory they were an army)
      • Used to put pressure on tenants who were slow at paying rent or on juries so that they could get the verdict they wanted
      • New laws in 1485 and 1504 made retaining illegal without a licence
      • In 1485 nobles had to swear they would not retain illegally.
      • In 1504 they had to obtain a special licence or would face fines (£5 per retainer)
      • Nobles found ways to avoid getting a licence
      • Corrupt (covered up records)

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