Tudor Parliaments 1509-88

• Reversed unpopular laws of Henry VII
• 6 sessions 1510-15 - pay for wars
• Wolsey's subsidy tax raised £170,000 1513-1516. Fifteenths and Tenths - £90,000 and clergy gave £40,000
• 1512 The Benefit of the Clergy limited - renewal 1515 successfully blocked
• 1515 Act of Resumption - taking land back to raise money
• 1523 - Wolsey demanded £800,000 on top of loans of £260,000 for war. Had to abandon enclosure policies. 
• 1523 - Attainder of Buckingham - removal of Wolsey's enemies

What was the impact on the power of the king?

• King and parliament became king in parliament
• Religion became a parliamentary matter led by the king
• Concept of legitimacy based on consent of the governed - Henry seeking the consent of the governing classes for controversial changes

• Used parl to attempt to solve large social and economic problems
• Vagrancy Act 1547 - Vagabonds could be enslaved for 2 years and continued weekly collections for poor
• Chantries Act 1547 - Abolished chantries
• Acts of Uniformity - New prayer books in the church. 
• Devise for the Succession never approved by parliament
• Govt often resorted to issuing proclamations due to concerns about the legality of a minor king passing laws in parl
• Opposition to some religious changes in the lords

• 5 parliaments - 104 acts passed
• Faced opposition to desire to return former church property. Parl also rejected bill to seize protestant exiles Dec 1555
• Limits to Philip's powers and kept Elizabeth's claim intact
• Parliament generally compliant- fears of social unrest
• John Guy - 'less battlefields than shareholder's meetings'

• Parliaments a necessary evil - A.G.R Smith
• Parl grew from 400 MPs 1559 to 462 1586
• Passed religious settlement and able to handle opposition from Puritans and Catholics - parl took active role in shaping settlement
• Elizabeth's power over parliament and careful management prevented confrontations
• Clashed over marriage, succession, death of Mary Stuart and bear baiting
• Parl management through PC members (Burghley) effective in both houses - promoting of public bills
• Majority of private bills failed

• Neale - claimed privilege considered a constituional right not a temporary one granted by the monarch. 
  • Events such as Paul Wentworths demand to discuss succession 1566 as signs of growing independence
  • Loades - sees this events as MPs seeing their role as to shape policy
• Both - emergence of the 'Parliament man' - experienced MPs who sat in a number of parliaments, developing expertise on practice and procedure over time
  
• Loach - 'Century after 1530 was one of substantial harmony in the relationship between crown and parliament'
• Guy - political debates in parliament served no real purpose if Elizabeth ignored them

• Edward to Elizabeth - solid core of MPs tied to crown expected to earn fees in a crisis. 
• Circular letters from 1515 requested return of suitable MPs to which Mary's government added a Catholic requirement
• Cromwell and Cecil managed them well but this was not down to the parliaments themselves
• Private bills increased under Elizabeth - average of 68 147-8 to 126 1559-81.
• Later period saw increasing discussion of parliamentary matters amongst the gentry - manuscript newsletters circulated