Henry VII (1485-1509)

Henry VII → 1485 - 1509

Consolidation of power: character and aims, establishing the Tudor dynasty

• H put under guardianship of William Herbert until Herbert killed in battle. Then reunited with mother (separated from her aged 4 due to political revolution) and Uncle Jasper Tudor.

• 1971, political wheel turned again and Jasper and Henry fled to Brittany. Here, Henry learned that rulers should never let themselves go and should maintain their dignity and control 24/7

• Weak claim to the throne → had lots of opposition against him as a result, but was only strong Lancastrian claim

• Battle of Bosworth - 22 August 1485 (Yorkists vs Lancastrians), after long battle, Henry finally succeeded (Richard III’s horse went missing, Stanleys joined Henry and Richard was slain and hacked to death)

• Crowned 13th October 1485

• Secured throne by erasing Richard’s laws, accusing Richard’s supporters of treason and executing them, married Elizabeth of York (uniting the divided country) and had son, Arthur (September 1486)

Government: councils, parliament, justice, royal finance, domestic policies

• Henry shrunk the number of nobles from 62 (1485) to 42 (1509)

• Henry used the award, ‘the Order of the Garter’, as an alternative to granting noble titles

• Had policies for nobles such as: no retaining (fined £5 per retainer if found which could mount up to thousands), young nobles were not allowed possession of inherited property until older and marriages had to be passed by Henry himself in order to prevent new and dangerous power blocs

• Henry never tried to buy loyalty through patronage

• Bonds and recognisances → written agreements in which a person who offended the king in a particular way was forced to either pay up front or promise to pay a certain sum of money as security for their behaviour. Henry used the system as a financial threat and to raise revenue for the crown.

• Acts of Attainder → led to a family losing the right to possess it’s land

• Patronage → giving of positions of power, titles, land etc

• Feudal dues → numerous commissions of inquiry to reestablish rights in wardship, marriage etc

• Benevolence → type of loan which could be forced out of people (usually nobles and gentry) and would not need to be repaid by the king. Henry was reluctant to use and was only supposed to be used to gain revenue for parliament in emergencies.

• Bonds → Written agreement whereby a person and to pay a sum of money if they failed to fulfill a promise the king had made them make. Henry used this to control the nobles behaviour, it was collected regularly as ordinary revenue and was extracted by the council learned.

• Chamber → System of finance under which Henry kept direct supervision of the finances, personally signing every finance sheet, making it more efficient than the Exchequer. Henry used this for personal control and dealing with income.

• Exchequer → Traditional department for collecting and auditing the government’s finances. It was slow and inefficient and not under King’s direct control. Used by…