HOW EFFECTIVE WERE THE KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN TUDOR GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION?

Divine Right of Kings - God chose who would be monarch

God

• top of hierarchy
• decided on next monarch

Monarch

• Chosen by God
• Rule as they wished - needed support of nobility and gentry
• No standing army/police force - relied on nobility and gentry to carry out roles
• Controlled country

Nobility

• Group of men who held highest titles below king (duke, earl, viscount)
• Small but powerful minority - held 10% land for cultivation
• Relied on monarch to protect land
• Carried out govt. locally

Gentry

• 5000 gentry families - knights/esquires
• Originally had military role, increasingly involved in local govt.
• Landowners, less extensive estates than nobility

Yeomen

• Prosperous farmers, tended to own land
• 1600 = 60,000 
• Financially secure, less affected by price/rent increases

Artisans

• Skilled craftsman, lived in towns/large villages
• Prosperous in wool/cloth industry

Peasants

• Worked on land for local landord for wages
• Reliant on food production for survival
• Didn't own land
• Most vulnerable to socio-economic changes e.g. poor harvests

Vagrants/Beggars

• Without masters, in countryside
• Feared/seen as a threat
• Harshly treated and punished under Acts of Parliament

• Made important and key decisions
• Sensible monarch = take advice
• Ruler = adult, competent and male
• Duty = protection from invasion, and rights and privileges

Royal Court

• Served monarch - followed them everywhere they went
• Display and entertainment
• Informal source of power - anyone wanting power visited Court for patronage
• Important for monarch to emphasise power and wealth to visitors e.g. tournaments and plays

Royal Household

• Responsible for domestic needs
• 100s employed in kitchens, laundries, gardens and servants, controlled by Board of Green Cloth
• Based on personal needs of monarch and family
• Attempts to reform = Thomas Wolsey issued Eltham Ordinances (1526) = unsuccessful

• Private rooms where king and family lived
• For example = Hampton Court Palace - Great Hall for formal events, Guard Room for visitors, Presence Chamber for dining

• Privy Chamber increase in political importance
• 1495 = Chamber restricted access to Henry VII and other monarchs
• Created Yeomen on the Guard = personal bodyguard
• Chamber collected and stored royal income, monitiored personally, lapsed after Henry VII
• 1518 = Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, most important was Groom of the Stool (royal commode)
• Filled with nobility and gentry, employed in areas of govt. e.g. expeditions and diplomatic missions
• 1540s = control of dry stamp, faction led by Edmund Seymour and John Dudley got control of stamp through members of Chamber, made changed to King's will in their own favour

• Roles replaced with women e.g. Mary's = Frances Waldegrave and Fraces Jerningham - influence on the queen
• Married to male members of Mary's household
• Dry stamp kept under lock and key, didn't allow administrators to use it
• Elizabeth - chamber decreased in political importance, major decisions determined through council

Henry VII

• Larger, more informal
• Consisted of mixture of members - nobility, churchmen, royal officials, lawyers
• Included men who served under Edward IV (22) and Richard III (20)
• Gathered information about popular opinion and mood of country
• Created 'Great Council' for nobility and councillors (5 held from 1487-1502)

Henry VIII

• Made up of experienced administrators - Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Winchester
• Supported Henry's policy of not engaging in expensive foreign wars = Henry VIII opposite
• Wanted to prove himself against France and Scotland
• Council retained traditional functions (day-to-day running of country)

• Reformed in 1536-7 and 1540
• Under Henry VII  = 227 members
• Under Henry VII = 120 members
• Increased under Edward VI - Edward Seymour (Duke of Somerset) in charge
• Under Mary I = inclusive, larger no. of men appointed, average 12 members in 1555, active regular meetings - clerk recorded meetings
• 1603 = 13 members
• 1540 reform = Became chief minister (as one), members collectively responsible for work previously perfomed by Cromwell (executed 1540) and Wolsey
• Role = issue orders and proclamations in monarch's name without having to wait for them
• Under Elizabeth = William Cecil used position to be Secretary, increased administration, meetings increased by 1590s to everyday, sometimes twice

• Close, personal access to monarch, controlled personal seal, made documents official
• Thomas Cromwell became secretary in 1534. controlled council meetings, had access to King's private correspondance, fell in 1540
• Role decreased in political importance - split between Ralph Sadler and Thomas Wriothesely
• Increased amount of work, one more dominant than the other
• Increased in importance under Elizabeth I, William Cecil appointed 1558-1572 / Francis Walsingham 1573-1590 / then Robert Cecil
• Elizabeth's reign = permanently important, enhance own power and conduct day-to-day running of govt.
• Can be dangerous e.g. William Davidson (1586), responsible of keeping death warrant of Mary, Queen of Scots, was sent, blamed him, 10,000 marks fine, released in 1589

• 1549 = Duke of Northumberland appointed members of nobility as Lieutenants - dealt with rebellion trouble
• Expected to have policing and military role at local level
• Mary I = 1557-8 nobility and gentry couldn't recruit troops, Mary divided country into 10 lieutenancies, each one responsible for defence of religion and military recruitment, diminished in 1558, unsuccessful in war with France
• Elizabeth I - permanent post, response to war with Spain 1585-1604, LL appointed to each county with deputy = for life
• Work - organisation of war effort, recruitment of army, commission given to organise recruitment, ensure men properly armed, trained and disciplined, local officials expected to help and obey LL
• Directly answerable to monarch - disobeyed orders = punished
• Locals could refuse to cooperate - Suffolk and Wiltshire in 1590s
• Relied on nobility - council members acted as LL