Outbreak of the Wars 1445-1550 (Chapter One)

The King 

• Limited power - needed parliament's agreement for law/tax
• Believed to have been made king by God - treason to act against him
• Called parliament 
• Could not make laws
• King talked of relations with other monarchs
• Expected to lead country in war
• Rewarded nobility through pilgrimage 

The Nobility

• Relied on to enforce laws, provide armies
• If King weak, they knew they could manipulate him
• Wanted to/competed to be closer to king
  • Influence him
  • Senior = king listened more
• 3% of population
• Income from patronage/land - more land=more income
• Knew concerns of people - reported to king 
• Access to king through household

Magnate, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron, Knight, Squire, Gentleman 

The King's Household

• Responsible for king (feeding, clothing)
• Lord Chamberlain had closest access to king
  • Decide who else had access 
  • People unhappy if felt not enough access to king 

Justice System

• Sheriff
  • Often corrupt
  • Held trials
  • Brought defendants to court
  • Assembled juries
  • Carried out verdicts
• Justices of Peace
  • Maintained public order
  • Heard criminal cases of land/contracts
• Court of assizes
  • Twice yearly
  • Harder cases
• Highest court = court of King's bench 

Parliament 

• Called by king - not very often
• Discussed king's business - money/taxes
• House of lords (gentry) and house of commons
  • Commons = reps from towns and shires
• Taxes not granted very often 
  • Emergencies
• Limited power but powerful as laws not made without their consent 

The Major Nobles

• Henry unfairly patronised favourites
• Owen Tudor and Jasper Tudor (half brothers)
• Beaufort family (illegitimate Lancastrians)
  • Wanted to gain French estates in 100 years war
  • Leant £200,000 to crown in first half of 15th century
  • 1448: Edmund made Duke of Somerset
• Buckinham/Warwick wanted to keep land and gain more
• Suffolk dominated household in 1440s

Law and Order

• Unjust
• Factions
• King hired lawyers
• Ownership of land = key to prosperity
  • Nobles arguments 
• 1448: Paston and Moleyns (Suffolk's faction)
• 1449: William Tailboys (protected by Suffolk)

Duke of Suffolk

• 1447: Henry's Lord Chamberlain
• Unjust in law and order
• 1445: surrendered Anjou/Maine to France in secret marriage negotiations
• 1448: protected Moleyns
• 1449: protected Tailboys
• Corruptly took advantage of king's weakness
• Favoured own men 
• Wasted money on lands/titles for him and his faction
• Responsible for disastrous peace policy with France - led to defeat
• Associated with mismanagement of funds and humiliation
• Blamed by parliament for French losses in November 1449
• Jan 1450: arrested, accused of treason, placed in ToL
  • Exiled for 5 years but killed by pirates 

Duke of Suffolk

• 1447: Henry's Lord Chamberlain
• Unjust in law and order
• 1445: surrendered Anjou/Maine to France in secret marriage negotiations
• 1448: protected Moleyns
• 1449: protected Tailboys
• Corruptly took advantage of king's weakness
• Favoured own men 
• Wasted money on lands/titles for him and his faction
• Responsible for disastrous peace policy with France - led to defeat
• Associated with mismanagement of funds and humiliation
• Blamed by parliament for French losses in November 1449
• Jan 1450: arrested, accused of treason, placed in ToL
  • Exiled for 5 years but killed by pirates 

Duke of Gloucester

• Henry's Uncle
• Against Henry's (Suffolk's) peace policy with France 
• Pushed for campaign in France
• 1447: arrested and accused of treason
  • Died from stroke OR Suffolk killed him

Henry VI's role in the problems 

• Unfairly patronised his favourites
• Weak so could not control feuding nobles
• Contributed to feuds through illjudged use of patronage/granting of royal favour

How well did Henry VI use patronage?

• Patronage - giving out lands and titles
• Henry VI - over-generous, lacked judgement, taken advantage of by household members
• Endowments - 1440: Eton, 1443: King's College
• Henry VI in debt so could not afford to be generous - had to borrow from nobility
• Act of Resumption 1450 - to reverse/reclaim grants and gifts
  • Unsuccessful - exceptions for Henry's household
• Act of Resumption 1451 - more successful
• Only gave patronage to those he liked/in his faction
  • Moleyns: bishopries (Chichester), keeper of Privy Seal
  • Ayscough: bishopries (Salisbury), confessor
  • Grants to Buckingham, York, Gloucester
• Heavy patronage on individuals e.g. Suffolk - dominance of one faction - unjust
• Patronage to gain nobles/people support and balance factions 

How well was the issue of taxation managed?

• War debt/cost too much from England 
  • Inherited from Henry V
• Crown income/revenues decreased (due to patronage)
  • 1421: £40,677 - 1446: £28,100
• Taxes introduced
  • Parliament reluctant 
  • 1445-1449 taxes (peace years) used to pay off crown debts 
• End of peace - too short for financial recovery
  • March 1449: English attack Fougeres
  • French attacked Normandy 
  • February 1449: grant tax to finance war renewal?
    • Lords reluctant 
    • Commons demanded Act of Resumption

Did York and Somerset's Hostilities Begin in the 1440s?

• 1443: John Beaufort (previous Duke of Somerset) appointed to governing Gascony 
  • Challenged York's authority as Lieutenant General in France 
  • King chose to fund Beaufort in Gascony over York in Normandy
    • Beaufort failed in Gascony 
    • 1443: York failed in Dieppe due to lack of funding 
• Edmund Beaufort (new Somerset) replaced York as LG in France 
• 1447: York made LG of Ireland - demotion
  • Did not leave for two years - reluctant to be sidelined 
• 1449: Somerset blamed for loss of York's land in Rouen 
  • Somerset surrendered Rouen in return for safe passage home
• Somerset's actions meant York lost money - Somerset paid first
  • York forced to sell manors as he awaited £38,000 loan repaid 
• York = king's senior male relative after Gloucester 
  • Felt he was excluded from rightful place as principal advisor to king 

Did York and Somerset's hostilities begin in the 1450s?

• 1452: York's letter to people of Shrewsbury explaining motives against Somerset
• Issue of loans 
  • Somerset paid back promptly when he returned from France 1445
  • York recieved no money from 1444-1451
• York's return to England 
  • Delayed for unknown reasons 
  • When returned, Somerset occupying position of power York felt was rightfully his

How was Henry V's empire lost?

• Henry V's victories due to
  • Weak leadership of French king Charles VI
  • Alliance with Duke of Burgundy (lots of land in France)
• 1435 under Henry VI
  • Duke of Burgundy allied with France 
  • New French king Charles VII = more effective
• Crown debts - 1440s=commanders unpaid, crown lands sold for campaigns 
• 1442: York = LG of France, Somerset got all money for campaign in Gascony, failed
• 1443: York failed in Dieppe - lack of funding 
• 1444: Truce of Tours - Suffolk agreed to hand Anjou/Maine over to Margaret for marriage
• March 1449: England broke truce by seizing Fougeres
• October 1449: Battle of Rouen won by France, attacked Normandy 
• April 1450: French victory at Battle of Formigny 
• August 1450: fall of Cherbourg 

Reasons for English defeat

• Somerset: incompetent as LG of France, slow reaction to French attack 
• Gloucester said French had time to prepare during Truce 
  • Careful three pronged attack on Normandy 
  • English government failed to use time to prepare
• Suffolk's government: underfunded, poorly led, lack of planning/direction
• Henry VI - ineffective ruler 

What happened as a result of the loss of Normandy?

• Suffolk's faction blamed
  • Jan 1450: Moleyns (bishop of Chichester) killed by unpaid soldiers/sailors
  • Feb 1450: Suffolk charged with treason, exiled, murdered
  • June 1450: Ayscough (bishop of Salisbury) killed by own parishoners
  • June 1450: Cade's rebellion in Kent 
    • Deaths of Lord Say and Crowmer
• Somerset lost prestige
• Socio-economic:
  • Influx of refugees in London (made homeless in Normandy)
  • Reduction of trade (Northern French towns no longer held by English)
  • Increase in French naval attacks on English coast (Sussex, Kent)

Accusations towards government 

• Incompetence
• Mishandling of funds
• Interference in judicial process
• Giving bad advice ('evil council') to king 
• Some criticism directed at king himself

Taxation

• High levels demanded to fund disasters in France
• Government accused of mishandling money and military campaign 
• Losses = less happy about paying tax

Feeling in England

• People felt vulnerable to French attack on English coast
• Focused anger on Suffolk - blamed by parliament for defeats
• People wanted York to return from Ireland - replace Somerset 

Introduction to Cade's Rebellion

• Began in Kent 
• Led by Jack Cade (used York's mother's maiden name 'Mortimer')
• May 1450: discontented people marched through Kent 
• Blackheath 1st June: total army = 46,000 
  • One knight
  • Five parsons
  • A mayor
  • About 100 gentry
  • Rebels from Essex, Sussex, Surrey

Causes

• Murder of Duke of Suffolk 
  • Kentish people feared blame (body on Kent beach)
• Unfairly levied taxes
  • Increased because King gave so much to favourites
• Justice not impartially administered
• Lords who were favourites at court were allowed to continue holding offices despite being responsible for misgovernment and losses in France
• Wanted political reform 
  • Duke of York could bring this
• Supported King but blamed 'evil advisors'

Events

• 1st June: 46,000 rebels in Cade's army at Blackheath
• Henry VI returned to London from Midlands with 10,000 men army 
  • Cade withdrew but half of king's army followed
• Sevenoaks: king's men ambushed/slaughtered 
  • King fled to Kennilworth
• Unrest spread - bishops of Lichfield/Norwich threatened by mobs, bishop of Salisbury killed
• Cade marched on London but army lacked discipline
  • Looting
  • Pillaging
  • Killed Lord Say and William Crowmer (Kent Sheriff)
• People of London forced rebels out of London 
• Margaret of Anjou (at Greenwich) promised pardon if rebels dispersed
  • Most went home
• Cade tried to attack Queensborough castle with remaining army 
  • They fled when found out pardon revoked
• Cade chased into Sussex - killed - head on a spike in London, quarters of body sent to Blackeath, Salisbury, Norwich, Gloucester 

Consequences

• Demonstrated king's inability to cope in crisis 
• Complaints represented not only Kent but the whole country
• Call for York to return 
  • Took so long that Somerset took position of king's right hand man 
• No major change in how country governed