J.P.Sommerville

 

Henry VIII:
Administrative & social reform;
the final years

The Tudor Revolution in Government.

Thomas Cromwell never became as personally wealthy and powerful as Cardinal Wolsey, but he had much more influence on government because of the administrative changes that he instituted during the 1530s.

	destruction of liberties and franchises (semi-independent regions);         1540: sanctuary was abolished for most serious crimes   1536: the jurisdictional exemptions of areas such as Ely and Chester were ended.
	Efforts to incorporate Wales, Calais, and (some of) Ireland into the English system; 1536: Welsh local customary law was abolished and replaced by English common law Over the following years, Wales was organized into shires on the English model 1536: Calais reorganized. 1536-7: After the Pilgrimage of Grace, Cromwell strengthened the Council of the North, and undermined the influence of local noble families.
	Translation of Royal Supremacy over the church into reality by the subjection of bishops to the King (acting through his vicegerent Cromwell); 1535:  Cromwell used his power as vicegerent in spirituals to make the Royal Supremacy a reality. He suspended non-compliant bishops and controlled ecclesiastical appointments.
	Institution of new departments of state to deal with both new and old revenues and powers of crown. Moreover, these institutions increasingly acted according to formalized rules, not informally or subjectively as had often been the case in the Middle Ages; Cromwell reduced power of the Chamber and cut its links with the household. He set up new courts to deal with revenue: these courts were put on a formal bureaucratic footing; Augmentations (1536) Court of First fruits and tenths (1540) Court of Wards (1540) Court of General Surveyors (1542; this dealt with established crown lands). Other revenues were administered by two older courts - Duchy of Lancaster (Lancaster estates); Exchequer (customs, fines, taxes). John Russell, Earl of Bedford Henry VIII's Lord Privy Seal
	Reduction in size of the Privy Council, which acquired its own clerk and minute book to document and detail decisions 1534-6: Privy Council reduced in size to 19 members (and these were almost entirely officeholders - not old nobility). 1540: clerk appointed to record Privy Council decisions. William Paget Secretary of State to Henry VIII
	The extension of the power of the Secretaryship. Throughout the 1530s, Thomas Cromwell increased the power of this office. It became accepted that the Secretary could intervene in all aspects of government. In the second half of the 16th century, William and Robert Cecil, and Sir Francis Walsingham continued to use the Secretaryship as the basis for controlling governmental administration.
	The subordination of all other institutions to the King in Parliament. Cromwell set up a unitary realm, all parts of which were subordinate to statute. The doctrine became accepted that all law (except the law of God and nature) could be changed by Parliament; (canon law had earlier been seen as separate and equal to statute; now it was subordinate to it - canon law was deemed invalid if contradicted English customs or statute.) Statute was also deemed superior to English customary law (common law): it had earlier been held that disputes on who owned what land should always be tried at common law by jury; but the Acts dissolving the monasteries said that statute could definitively resolve land disputes without a jury. The Acts of the Reformation Parliament indicated that King-in-Parliament could change law on the government of the church, and the doctrine developed that King-in-Parliament could change anything. It remained unclear how much the King could do without the other two houses of Parliament. It is unquestionable that Parliament increased in importance and prestige during the 1530s.     Revolution? The belief that there was a 'Tudor Revolution in Government' has been criticized since Geoffrey Elton formulated the theory in 1953. Many of Cromwell's institutional reforms were ineffective or temporary. The Privy Council again expanded in size under Edward VI and Mary. The Secretaryship was never again as important as it had been under Cromwell, and arguably only Henry VIII's personal favor (not institutional power) made it significant then. However, massive and lasting changes did result from Cromwell's period in power. It led to increased unity of the realm, governed by one law, administered by officials directly accountable to the King, and regulated by statutes passed in Parliament. Parliament did became an institution of enormous importance. Elton may have exaggerated the extent of bureaucratization - government was still very personal under Cromwell and later - but he was right to emphasize the crucial importance of changes in the 1530s.   Social reforms Cromwell followed current ideas in attempting to prevent rural depopulation. An Act of 1534 limited the number of sheep that anyone could own to 2,400. A 1536 Act was directed against enclosure. Cromwell sponsored legislation to improve the quality of cloth:  the 25% increase in cloth exports 1533-34 may have been connected to government efforts. Cromwell tried to combat rising prices by laws setting an upper limit on the price of many goods including meat and wine; but it proved impossible to enforce these limits - in the case of meat at least. In 1536, Cromwell proposed an ambitious scheme for poor relief. It was based on the idea that the able-bodied should be employed on public projects (such as road and bridge building), while the infirm were supported from charitable contributions. Unfortunately, he wanted to finance the scheme by an income tax, so Parliament rejected it. Cromwell's ambitious schemes for social reform collapsed in practice because the Tudor state was dependent on the voluntary cooperation of  local gentlemen who were unconvinced by the benefits of his reforms.

John Dudley, Viscount Lisle

 The last years of Henry VIII

1. The ever changing fortunes of the various factions at court suggest that Henry was deteriorating mentally as well as physically during the 1540s.
   In 1540, Henry married Catherine Howard, but when Archbishop Cranmer supplied him with evidence of her unchastity, she was executed (1542).
   1543, Henry temporarily imprisoned Cranmer himself for heresy, but then let him go free.
    

   In 1544, Henry ordered the arrest of Stephen Gardiner but then pardoned him.

   Stephen Gardiner

   
   1546, Henry arrested the Duke of Norfolk and his son Henry Howard Earl of Surrey. He executed Surrey, but died before he could execute Norfolk (or change his mind again). Gardiner fell from favor after he refused to exchange some lands with the king; Henry's will omitted him from the list of names of councillors who were to govern for young Edward VI.
    

   1547, Edward Seymour (Edward VI's uncle) was in the ascendant when Henry died, and so positioned to grasp power.

   
   
   
2. Henry went to war with Scotland in 1542 and with France in 1544.
    

   The English army won a major victory at  Solway Moss (November 1542). Many Scottish nobles were captured. As the price of their release they agreed in the Treaty of Greenwich (1543) to the virtual subjection of Scotland to England by a marriage between Henry's son, Edward and the infant, Mary.

   
   
   French aid emboldened the Scottish to resist these marriage plans and to renege on their earlier commitments. The war in Scotland was directed at breaking the power of the "French party" (led by Cardinal Beaton and Mary of Guise/Lorraine, James V's wife), and at persuading the Scottish to agree to the planned marriage.
   The campaign was therefore known as the "rough wooing".
   The invasions of 1544 and 1545 were led by  Edward Seymour (Earl of Hertford; later Duke of Somerset). Seymour captured Edinburgh (1544) and Cardinal Beaton was murdered 29 May 1546, but the English were unable to reduce Scotland to obedience.
   
   Henry invaded France in 1544, carried in a litter at the head of an army of 40,000.
   The French attempted to invade England, but were defeated in 1545, by the Lord Admiral John Dudley, Viscount Lisle (later Duke of Northumberland).
   The great English battle ship, the Mary Rose, sank during this campaign.
    

   The only achievement of the French war was the capture of Boulogne, but in the Peace of Ardres 1546, Henry agreed to sell the town back in eight years time.

   
   The wars were extremely expensive and achieved almost nothing. Indeed, arguably Henry only strengthened the hand of the French in Scotland.
    

3. These wars cost over £3 million. In order to pay for them, Henry had to sell off much of the monastic land he had acquired, and to tax at an unprecedentedly high rate.
   He also began to debase the coinage from about 1542 onwards  - that is, to mix base metals with the silver that was used for most English coins. Soon the silver coins were almost entirely copper, and Henry himself became know as "old coppernose" from the appearance of his portrait on the coins.
   This expedient allowed the government to buy what it needed but soon led to rapid inflation - as people lost faith in the value of the currency and hoarded their old silver coins.
   
   

   Gresham's Law: "Bad money drives out good" Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-79) gave early expression to the principle that: when depreciated or debased coinage is in concurrent circulation with money of high value in terms of precious metals, the good money is withdrawn from circulation by hoarders.

   
   Henry's debasement also made foreign goods far more expensive, as traders on the Continent refused to accept worthless copper for their wares.
   The disruptive effects of debasement continued for many years, until Mary began a partial recoinage that was completed by Elizabeth.