J.P.Sommerville

 

 

Henry VIII:
Administrative and social reform
 

 

Tudor Government

bullet The Dissolution of the Monasteries brought the crown vast wealth, and increased its power and independence. However, the application of this power required an expansion of government.
bullet After the fall of Thomas Wolsey, control of governmental administration was taken by Thomas Cromwell (1485?-1540.)


Thomas Cromwell

 Cromwell never accumulated power, wealth and offices on the scale of Cardinal Wolsey. But as Henry's closest advisor during the 1530s, he exercised close oversight over daily government. He was Secretary to the King from 1534, Master of the Rolls (1534-36) and Keeper of the Privy Seal from 1536 to 1540.
 

bullet It has been suggested that Thomas Cromwell had a clearly formulated and farsighted policy of sovereign, secular, uniform, centrally-controlled, bureaucratic government, and that this was sufficiently novel in its conception, and systematic in its implementation, to constitute a "Tudor Revolution in Government."
bullet The measures taken to implement this vision included:

  1. The destruction of local liberties.
    Areas such as Ely and Chester, which had exercised independent jurisdiction in criminal matters lost these powers after 1536.
    The right of "sanctuary" (refuge on church property from arrest by secular authorities) was abolished in 1540 for most serious crimes (murder, rape, arson, sacrilege, burglary and highway robbery). (All privilege of sanctuary was abolished in 1624.)

  2. The absorption of Wales.


    A Tudor house in Pembrokeshire

    		 In response to minor disorder in Wales Cromwell appointed Rowland Lee (Bishop of Coventry & Lichfield) as agent there. His tough policies soon restored peace.
    A Statute of 1536 Act abolished Welsh local custom, and introduced common law. Wales was given parliamentary representation, and the county system of government supervised by Justices of the Peace was also in place by 1543.
     

     

  3. Calais too was reorganized in 1536 and granted parliamentary representation.
  4. Administrative reforms in Ireland were limited to the Pale and part of Leinster. A large army was sent in 1534 under the command of Sir William Skeffington, which subdued Maynooth. The Butlers were placed in charge, and attempts made to bring the Church in Ireland into Henry's reformation. In 1541 Henry took the title of King of Ireland.


    The King's Manor, York
    (expropriated from a local monastery)
     

  5. The Council of the North  was reorganized and strengthened by Cromwell after 1537. Although headed by noblemen, the bulk of the Council consisted of knights and lawyers - salaried royal officials who could be depended upon to enforce central policy.
     

Institutional changes in the English Church

bullet

The legislation of Henry's parliaments ended the independence of the English Church, effectively subjecting it to ultimate control of the secular state.

bullet

The Church's wealth was also significantly diminished by the seizure of monastic assets, and what property remained - such as episcopal land and revenues - was effectively held at royal discretion.


The ruins of Netley Abbey, Hampshire

 
bullet

The decrease in the resources and autonomy of the church meant that a career as a clergyman became increasingly unattractive to sons of noble and gentle families. Whereas it had been common in medieval England for the sons of the highest nobility to become bishops, the Tudor clergy was increasingly drawn from the sons of artisans and yeomen. Senior offices in royal government became almost entirely the preserve of laymen.

bullet

Power over the church was also passed to a layman - Thomas Cromwell became Vicegerent in Spirituals in 1535, and exercised the extensive powers vested in the Supreme Head to make the bishops comply with the king's will. (After Cromwell's execution, no other vicegerent was appointed.)


 

         

Bureaucratic reform

bullet Another aspect of institutional reform was the creation of courts to execute decisions previously made on a personal, ad hoc basis by the monarch. (These "courts" would be called Departments or Ministries today.)
bullet The Court of First Fruits and Tenths was created in 1540 to manage the revenues from church property.
bullet The Court of Wards (founded 1540) was designed to exploit feudal rights over wealthy orphans more profitably. The Exchequer was also reformed.
bullet The Privy Council was established as the body which advised the king and with him formed the state's executive. Its size was reduced and, although some major noblemen were members, most were salaried bureaucrats. A Clerk of the Privy Council was appointed to record the Council's decisions. The first Clerk was William Paget (1506-63):  his salary was £30 p.a. and he soon became one of Henry's key advisors.
bullet The Statute of Proclamations (1539) empowered the King (with the advice of the Privy Council) to issue proclamations with the force of law (provided these were consistent with existing law.)


 

[A proclamation devised and made by the king's highness, by the advice of his majesty's council, the 21st day of May in the XXXVI year of his highness' reign, that all Frenchmen, not being denizens, shall depart this his realm within xi days hereafter this proclamation published and proclaimed, except such as in the mean term shall upon special suit to his majesty be made denizens.]
 

bullet Thomas Cromwell used his office as Secretary to the King (previously a minor one) to intervene in all aspects of government.
bullet The importance of Statute law increased enormously, as Cromwell used it to control all parts of the realm and all areas of life. Whereas canon law had once been deemed separate and equal to Statute, it was now wholly subordinate to statute, just as the church was subjected to the state. Whereas disputes about land ownership had previously been determined by juries in accordance with common law, the power of Statute to determine all questions of title to property was firmly established in the acts dissolving the monasteries.
bullet All laws - except the Law of God and Nature - were deemed inferior to Statute Law. King-in-Parliament now reigned supreme in England: - the problem that would bedevil English politics for the next centuries was the distribution of power between king and parliament.

     

Cromwell's social reforms

bulletThomas Cromwell attempted to implement some of the policies advocated by humanist theorists to improve social and economic conditions.
bulletAn Act against Enclosure aimed to end rural depopulation by limiting the number of sheep that any one person could own to 2,400. (Since no apparatus was instituted to count sheep, it was probably ineffective.)
bulletAn attempt was made to regulate prices and encourage industry. This may have contributed to the increase in cloth exports between 1533 and 1543.


Medal issued when Thomas Cromwell was made Knight of the Garter (1537)
 

bullet Thomas Cromwell also attempted to establish a national system of poor relief. Social theorists at this time believed that those fit for work should be corporally punished if they became idle vagrants, but that those incapable of work should be supported by charity.
bullet In 1536, Cromwell proposed compelling the able-bodied to work on public projects (such as road and bridge building) at a basic wage. He wanted to finance these works by local taxes that would also pay for the maintenance of the sick, old and disabled. Parliament rejected the scheme because of its taxation provisions.

bullet The Tudor gentlemen who ran the localities were not apparently interested in social reform, but neither were they apparently eager to flog "sturdy beggars:"  an act of 1542 complained how remiss Justices were about punishing vagrants.

     Next section