WEBVTT 00:01.770 --> 00:05.200 Prof: Well, today we turn to politics and 00:05.197 --> 00:08.767 the structures of power under the early Tudors. 00:08.770 --> 00:13.480 On the 22nd of August 1485, Henry Tudor, 00:13.480 --> 00:17.880 who was then the Earl of Richmond, defeated and killed 00:17.876 --> 00:22.186 King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, 00:22.190 --> 00:25.900 a battlefield which is located in central England in the county 00:25.902 --> 00:29.002 of Leicestershire, and was crowned upon the 00:28.995 --> 00:33.885 battlefield with the crown which was found in the King's tent, 00:33.890 --> 00:38.320 and became king as Henry VII. 00:38.320 --> 00:41.640 Now, in fact, his claim to the throne was 00:41.641 --> 00:42.971 somewhat weak. 00:42.970 --> 00:48.480 He was descended on his father's side from the widow of 00:48.478 --> 00:51.868 King Henry V, who had married Henry's 00:51.869 --> 00:54.699 grandfather after the King's death, 00:54.700 --> 00:57.840 but that didn't establish a direct claim to the throne. 00:57.840 --> 01:00.970 His claim came principally through his mother, 01:00.966 --> 01:04.436 Lady Margaret Beaufort, who was a descendant of the 01:04.439 --> 01:07.149 fourteenth-century king Edward III. 01:07.150 --> 01:09.440 Nevertheless, weak though his claim was, 01:09.438 --> 01:14.718 Henry was the last of the claimants of the Lancastrian 01:14.716 --> 01:20.686 House and he took the throne on the behalf of that particular 01:20.691 --> 01:26.121 group in English politics, which I'll explain later. 01:26.120 --> 01:30.100 In the twenty-four years following his seizure of the 01:30.099 --> 01:34.999 throne he made it his business first of all to hang on to it, 01:35.000 --> 01:38.510 secondly to assert his authority as best he could, 01:38.510 --> 01:43.300 and thirdly to pass on the crown to his son, 01:43.300 --> 01:47.850 Henry VIII, who succeeded him in 1509-- 01:47.849 --> 01:52.609 and by doing so he founded a new dynasty, 01:52.610 --> 01:56.250 the Tudor dynasty. 01:56.250 --> 02:00.010 Well, today I want to look at some of the early stages of that 02:00.013 --> 02:03.413 dynasty and in particular to introduce the structures of 02:03.408 --> 02:07.298 political power and authority as they were exercised under Henry 02:07.296 --> 02:10.996 VII and in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII, 02:11.000 --> 02:16.310 and by doing so to show how they managed to establish and 02:16.310 --> 02:19.060 consolidate the new regime. 02:19.060 --> 02:22.100 Now by "power," of course, 02:22.098 --> 02:27.008 I mean that I'm concerned with the capacity to secure 02:27.006 --> 02:31.626 compliance and obedience on the part of others. 02:31.628 --> 02:35.028 By "authority I mean legitimate power: 02:35.032 --> 02:39.902 those forms of power and its manifestations which were deemed 02:39.895 --> 02:43.255 by most, if not all, people to be 02:43.264 --> 02:46.114 legitimate, to be binding, 02:46.111 --> 02:50.321 to put you under obligation to obey. 02:50.318 --> 02:54.308 There were many sources of such power and authority: 02:54.311 --> 02:57.601 economic, ideological, political, military, 02:57.598 --> 02:58.928 and so forth. 02:58.930 --> 03:00.960 And to a considerable degree, as we'll see, 03:00.960 --> 03:06.000 they all overlapped and reinforced one another, 03:06.000 --> 03:10.740 but taken together they comprised the polity of the time 03:10.742 --> 03:16.362 as contemporaries described it; the polity, a system of 03:16.361 --> 03:20.341 established government and rule. 03:20.340 --> 03:23.940 Now in approaching this kind of subject it's currently 03:23.939 --> 03:27.809 fashionable amongst political historians of this period to 03:27.812 --> 03:32.032 speak of the need for what they call a new political history as 03:32.025 --> 03:35.485 distinct from the old constitutional history. 03:35.490 --> 03:39.130 It's a central theme in John Guy's book, The Tudor 03:39.133 --> 03:43.483 Monarchy, from which several of our key readings are 03:43.479 --> 03:44.179 taken. 03:44.180 --> 03:48.340 By this people mean a political history which is less narrowly 03:48.342 --> 03:52.782 focused upon the development of the institutions of government. 03:52.780 --> 03:56.350 That was for a long time the really central concern of 03:56.346 --> 03:58.226 historians of this period. 03:58.229 --> 04:01.339 They were very focused on the development of particular 04:01.336 --> 04:02.196 institutions. 04:02.199 --> 04:06.309 Instead, now people are recommending a concern instead 04:06.306 --> 04:10.946 with the changing contexts and dynamics of political life and 04:10.954 --> 04:15.994 in particular the social and ideological context of politics. 04:15.990 --> 04:20.460 Well, I'm very sympathetic to that shift of perspective. 04:20.459 --> 04:25.349 I can still remember only too well the old constitutional 04:25.346 --> 04:27.436 history in its heyday. 04:27.439 --> 04:31.889 As a student I sat sometimes at the feet of the great professor 04:31.889 --> 04:32.319 G.R. 04:32.319 --> 04:35.719 Elton who was famous for declaring that in getting to 04:35.716 --> 04:39.636 grips with the structures of government it was essential that 04:39.637 --> 04:42.117 students should learn to be bored. 04:42.120 --> 04:43.810 > 04:43.810 --> 04:47.200 And when he could deliver a whole lecture on one of the 04:47.204 --> 04:50.984 seals used in Tudor government and the purposes for which the 04:50.976 --> 04:54.696 seal was employed and so forth, he was a man who sometimes 04:54.702 --> 04:57.632 practiced what he preached > 04:57.629 --> 05:02.029 But even if the approach has changed somewhat over the years 05:02.033 --> 05:05.913 it's still essential that we do get to grips with the 05:05.913 --> 05:09.643 institutions through which government authority was 05:09.644 --> 05:10.844 exercised. 05:10.838 --> 05:15.678 They provided the forum for political competition and they 05:15.675 --> 05:18.635 shaped the way that--that--political 05:18.644 --> 05:21.194 competition was conducted. 05:21.189 --> 05:25.709 So historians today are very much concerned with political 05:25.706 --> 05:26.496 culture. 05:26.500 --> 05:29.590 I've offered a definition of that on your handout, 05:29.591 --> 05:32.811 but political culture involves also institutions; 05:32.810 --> 05:34.720 they're part of it. 05:34.720 --> 05:38.940 So we'll start by running over some of the aspects of the 05:38.942 --> 05:43.392 institutional structure under the early Tudors and then look 05:43.391 --> 05:48.071 at political society and then at how political society could be 05:48.065 --> 05:52.135 animated and controlled and the authority of government 05:52.137 --> 05:56.507 sustained by the effective use of all of these institutions 05:56.511 --> 05:59.001 under the early Tudors. 05:59.000 --> 06:02.230 Now the essential points about some of these institutions are 06:02.230 --> 06:05.880 laid out on your handout, so I'll just quick march 06:05.875 --> 06:10.145 through some of them to briefly introduce them. 06:10.149 --> 06:10.679 Right. 06:10.682 --> 06:14.942 Well, in 1500 England was already a very old and, 06:14.942 --> 06:19.472 by the standards of the day, a quite intensively and 06:19.470 --> 06:22.400 uniformly governed monarchy. 06:22.399 --> 06:29.059 It had existed as a single monarchy for 600 to 700 years 06:29.059 --> 06:30.269 already. 06:30.269 --> 06:33.989 The origins of its high degree of centralization probably go 06:33.987 --> 06:38.017 back to the late Saxon kings but in particular to the time of the 06:38.019 --> 06:42.179 Norman conquest of the eleventh century and its consequences, 06:42.180 --> 06:44.540 but that's not our business today. 06:44.540 --> 06:48.610 Suffice to say that by 1500 many of the central institutions 06:48.607 --> 06:52.737 of royal government were very old and had been established by 06:52.744 --> 06:56.194 the initiatives of medieval kings and reflected the 06:56.192 --> 06:59.982 relationships which they had hammered out over time with 06:59.983 --> 07:01.573 their subjects. 07:01.569 --> 07:04.629 Above all with their most powerful subjects, 07:04.629 --> 07:09.479 the nobility, those who served the king but 07:09.478 --> 07:16.288 could also on occasion oppose him and had done so many times 07:16.291 --> 07:18.141 in the past. 07:18.139 --> 07:22.159 The king was of course at the very center of the polity. 07:22.160 --> 07:25.280 He was described by one sixteenth-century constitutional 07:25.281 --> 07:27.391 writer, Sir Thomas Smith, 07:27.394 --> 07:32.594 as being "the life, the head, and the authority of 07:32.591 --> 07:37.881 all things that be done in this realm of England." 07:37.879 --> 07:41.869 The principal functions of the king were seen to be those of: 07:41.865 --> 07:44.785 keeping the peace and defending the realm; 07:44.790 --> 07:48.110 maintaining the law and the administration of justice; 07:48.110 --> 07:52.420 and upholding the church: a relatively limited set of 07:52.418 --> 07:55.898 functions compared to modern government. 07:55.899 --> 07:59.299 And to achieve those ends the king enjoyed a variety of 07:59.302 --> 07:59.872 powers. 07:59.870 --> 08:04.340 He enjoyed what were thought of as his ordinary powers exercised 08:04.343 --> 08:09.183 within the framework of the law, but in time of emergency he 08:09.180 --> 08:14.230 might also exercise residual absolute powers which could go 08:14.233 --> 08:17.983 beyond the normal boundaries of the law. 08:17.980 --> 08:22.830 Well, English kings already had a very high notion of their 08:22.833 --> 08:26.183 dignity and their sovereign authority. 08:26.180 --> 08:29.650 From the fourteenth century onwards they very often 08:29.649 --> 08:31.939 represented-- in the coinage--they were 08:31.944 --> 08:34.614 represented wearing what's known as the "imperial 08:34.605 --> 08:35.355 crown." 08:35.360 --> 08:43.300 That's a crown which is enclosed at the top usually with 08:43.304 --> 08:46.284 a cross; an enclosed crown. 08:46.279 --> 08:51.689 It was meant to symbolize the fact that they recognized no 08:51.687 --> 08:56.427 authority higher than themselves save God alone. 08:56.428 --> 09:00.708 And though the authority of the pope was exercised within the 09:00.711 --> 09:04.191 kingdom over the church, agreements which had been 09:04.191 --> 09:07.851 reached and statutes which had been passed in the fourteenth 09:07.854 --> 09:11.524 century meant that in practice in making appointments in the 09:11.517 --> 09:15.367 church the pope usually acted on the advice and in consultation 09:15.365 --> 09:16.665 with the king. 09:16.668 --> 09:20.388 They didn't override his authority. 09:20.389 --> 09:26.689 So a monarchy of considerable dignity claiming a sovereignty 09:26.692 --> 09:30.542 represented in the imperial crown. 09:30.538 --> 09:33.088 But high as the king's dignity was, 09:33.090 --> 09:36.730 England was also, as one contemporary jurist, 09:36.730 --> 09:40.230 John Fortescue, put it, a dominium 09:40.231 --> 09:45.491 politicum et regale-- he phrase is there on your 09:45.488 --> 09:48.308 handout-- which meant that royal 09:48.307 --> 09:52.467 authority was supreme-- that's the regale 09:52.472 --> 09:57.592 part--but it was also sustained and restrained by certain 09:57.591 --> 10:03.921 political expectations, certain constitutional 10:03.922 --> 10:06.382 institutions. 10:06.379 --> 10:11.069 First, kings were expected to take advice. 10:11.070 --> 10:17.780 They were expected to be guided by counsel, by the counsel of 10:17.782 --> 10:20.582 their leading subjects. 10:20.580 --> 10:23.810 They ruled with the advice of a variety of councils. 10:23.808 --> 10:26.598 Occasionally, a great council of the leading 10:26.595 --> 10:30.025 nobility could be called, especially when advice and 10:30.034 --> 10:33.604 support was needed in the making of some major decision. 10:33.600 --> 10:37.480 Henry VII called such councils of his leading noblemen on a 10:37.477 --> 10:38.947 number of occasions. 10:38.950 --> 10:43.060 More usually, for day-to-day administration, 10:43.058 --> 10:46.998 the king was advised by a smaller council which attended 10:46.996 --> 10:51.076 his person on a day-to-day basis and handled the executive 10:51.077 --> 10:53.007 business of government. 10:53.009 --> 10:58.789 Some of its members were great noblemen, but very often their 10:58.793 --> 11:04.773 position in the council was one which was largely honorific. 11:04.769 --> 11:08.509 They tended on the whole to proffer their advice to the king 11:08.514 --> 11:12.204 informally and occasionally when they were in attendance at 11:12.195 --> 11:12.825 court. 11:12.830 --> 11:14.840 For the most part, for example, 11:14.840 --> 11:18.590 Henry VII's day-to-day council consisted in its principal 11:18.594 --> 11:22.084 members not of the great nobles of the kingdom, 11:22.080 --> 11:24.290 but of great members of the church, 11:24.288 --> 11:27.458 notably Cardinal John Morton, who was one of his closest 11:27.456 --> 11:29.986 advisers in the early stages of his rule, 11:29.990 --> 11:34.370 and in addition a number of lawyers and professional 11:34.365 --> 11:37.915 administrators, those who are sometimes 11:37.922 --> 11:43.132 described as 'men of business', the nucleus of a kind of royal 11:43.125 --> 11:44.125 bureaucracy. 11:44.129 --> 11:46.949 So the king was expected to take counsel. 11:46.950 --> 11:50.420 In addition, he was restrained by the law, 11:50.421 --> 11:54.401 the 'common law' of England--described as common 11:54.399 --> 11:58.209 because it extended over the whole realm. 11:58.210 --> 12:02.950 The king's writ ran everywhere in legal matters. 12:02.950 --> 12:07.400 The common law had grown up over centuries by custom and by 12:07.399 --> 12:08.319 precedent. 12:08.320 --> 12:10.830 It was administered in the king's name. 12:10.830 --> 12:14.220 All legal writs began with the king's title. 12:14.220 --> 12:19.020 It was administered in his name, though under normal 12:19.024 --> 12:24.874 circumstances he was expected to operate within the constraints 12:24.865 --> 12:26.275 of the law. 12:26.278 --> 12:29.188 The administration of the law, the provision of justice, 12:29.190 --> 12:33.370 and the redress of grievances, the means of settling disputes 12:33.373 --> 12:36.493 peacefully, was one of the principal 12:36.488 --> 12:39.248 functions of royal government. 12:39.250 --> 12:43.190 Occasionally, the king might still sit 12:43.187 --> 12:45.527 himself in judgment. 12:45.529 --> 12:49.739 One of the courts which became most feared under Henry VII was 12:49.743 --> 12:52.233 the king's Court of Star Chamber, 12:52.230 --> 12:55.360 which met in a chamber of the palace of Westminster which 12:55.359 --> 12:58.209 happened to be decorated on the roof with stars, 12:58.210 --> 13:00.200 the Star Chamber. 13:00.200 --> 13:04.330 It was effectively the king's council sitting as a law court 13:04.330 --> 13:08.250 and the king might on occasion be personally present, 13:08.250 --> 13:11.790 but for the most part the principal law courts operated 13:11.792 --> 13:13.762 outside the royal household. 13:13.759 --> 13:16.099 They sat permanently in Westminster, 13:16.100 --> 13:19.180 in Westminster Hall that still stands besides-- 13:19.178 --> 13:22.838 beside--the houses of Parliament, and they were 13:22.835 --> 13:25.055 staffed by royal justices. 13:25.058 --> 13:27.128 The names of the principal courts are on your handout. 13:27.129 --> 13:29.799 There was a Court of King's Bench which dealt principally 13:29.798 --> 13:33.148 with criminal matters, the Court of Common Pleas which 13:33.149 --> 13:35.729 dealt principally with civil cases, 13:35.730 --> 13:39.920 and the Chancery, the Court of the Lord 13:39.917 --> 13:41.347 Chancellor. 13:41.350 --> 13:44.910 That court was a little unusual in that it was not a common-law 13:44.909 --> 13:47.239 court; it was a court of equity. 13:47.240 --> 13:48.230 Equity. 13:48.230 --> 13:52.770 That meant that in cases where the common law didn't provide a 13:52.768 --> 13:57.228 remedy principles of natural justice might be administered by 13:57.231 --> 14:00.181 the chancellor, and for that reason the 14:00.182 --> 14:03.112 chancellor was sometimes described as being the 14:03.110 --> 14:07.540 conscience of the king, could provide a remedy based on 14:07.542 --> 14:11.482 natural justice when the common law did not. 14:11.480 --> 14:12.360 Okay. 14:12.360 --> 14:16.820 In addition to the central courts, the king also exercised 14:16.821 --> 14:18.701 justice by commission. 14:18.700 --> 14:23.620 Twice a year royal judges left Westminster and went out to 14:23.619 --> 14:26.779 ride-- to literally ride--six circuits 14:26.783 --> 14:31.493 going from county town to county town where they heard cases 14:31.491 --> 14:34.531 arising-- civil cases and criminal cases 14:34.527 --> 14:36.457 arising-- in the provinces. 14:36.460 --> 14:41.320 Those were the assize courts, the riding of circuits by royal 14:41.318 --> 14:42.208 justices. 14:42.210 --> 14:46.640 And in addition the king exercised justice through the 14:46.636 --> 14:48.806 commission of the peace. 14:48.808 --> 14:52.208 In each county some leading gentlemen were appointed as 14:52.208 --> 14:55.098 justices of the peace commissioned to deal with 14:55.104 --> 14:57.494 crimes, usually petty crimes, 14:57.485 --> 15:00.735 and other administrative matters arising. 15:00.740 --> 15:06.150 They met in a court called Quarter Sessions because it met 15:06.150 --> 15:08.050 four times a year. 15:08.048 --> 15:13.318 Counsel and law came together in another great institution 15:13.317 --> 15:17.987 that must be mentioned, Parliament: the periodic 15:17.994 --> 15:22.324 meeting of the king, the nobility who had the right 15:22.322 --> 15:27.352 to sit in the House of Lords, and representatives of the 15:27.354 --> 15:29.864 commons of the kingdom. 15:29.860 --> 15:34.220 The House of Lords consisted of the leading lay and church 15:34.222 --> 15:38.972 nobility of the realm summoned by a personal writ to attend. 15:38.970 --> 15:42.680 In 1510 for example, when Parliament met there were 15:42.676 --> 15:47.046 100 of them, fifty laymen, fifty great men of the church. 15:47.048 --> 15:51.528 The House of Commons consisted of a gathering of two 15:51.527 --> 15:54.597 representatives for each county-- 15:54.600 --> 15:56.850 they were known as the "Knights of the 15:56.846 --> 15:59.676 Shire"-- and two representatives from 15:59.682 --> 16:03.242 each city which had the parliamentary franchise; 16:03.240 --> 16:05.720 they were known as burgesses. 16:05.720 --> 16:07.970 The city of London provided an exception. 16:07.970 --> 16:11.830 It had four members because of its size. 16:11.830 --> 16:16.820 Now theoretically the members who came for the counties were 16:16.817 --> 16:21.547 elected by freeholders who had land to the value of forty 16:21.551 --> 16:24.171 shillings, though in fact contested 16:24.168 --> 16:25.628 elections were very rare. 16:25.629 --> 16:28.879 Generally, the elite of the counties would get together and 16:28.879 --> 16:31.789 choose from amongst their numbers who would represent 16:31.794 --> 16:32.304 them. 16:32.298 --> 16:35.168 They were selected rather than elected. 16:35.169 --> 16:37.879 The urban franchise might vary. 16:37.879 --> 16:41.069 In some cities all householders had the vote. 16:41.070 --> 16:45.450 In others the choice of a member for Parliament was 16:45.445 --> 16:50.515 restricted to a small oligarchy of the leading citizens. 16:50.519 --> 16:55.139 Parliament, then, represented the whole realm and 16:55.138 --> 16:59.658 it had two great functions, long established. 16:59.658 --> 17:03.478 First of all, only Parliament could make 17:03.484 --> 17:09.274 statutes: new laws which could override or modify common law 17:09.270 --> 17:10.350 custom. 17:10.348 --> 17:15.898 So the legislative sovereignty of the realm lay in Parliament 17:15.901 --> 17:20.161 where the king, the lords and the commons acted 17:20.156 --> 17:21.356 together. 17:21.358 --> 17:24.068 Bills proposing new laws were presented, 17:24.068 --> 17:28.658 they were read and debated in each of the houses before being 17:28.664 --> 17:33.494 passed and passed on to the king for his consent or his veto. 17:33.490 --> 17:38.820 Now if all that sounds rather familiar, this is where it comes 17:38.817 --> 17:39.427 from. 17:39.430 --> 17:42.710 Secondly, Parliament could grant taxes, which from the 17:42.707 --> 17:46.787 fourteenth century required the consent of the House of Commons. 17:46.788 --> 17:51.218 It was essential that the Commons gave their consent to 17:51.215 --> 17:54.655 any tax bill passing through Parliament. 17:54.660 --> 17:55.150 Okay. 17:55.154 --> 18:00.814 One last word on institutions and that concerns finance. 18:00.808 --> 18:03.728 The king was expected to "live of his own." 18:03.730 --> 18:06.970 That's the phrase they used, "to live of his own." 18:06.970 --> 18:12.080 That meant he was expected to live on the revenues of the 18:12.079 --> 18:16.229 royal land holdings, the customs dues and other dues 18:16.234 --> 18:20.084 which were due to him as feudal overlord of the kingdom, 18:20.078 --> 18:24.588 and for all normal purposes that should provide for all his 18:24.585 --> 18:25.435 expenses. 18:25.440 --> 18:29.210 The collection and the disbursement of royal revenues 18:29.212 --> 18:32.842 was handled by an institution called the Exchequer, 18:32.840 --> 18:34.220 at Westminster. 18:34.220 --> 18:37.900 At least that was so in theory since some late medieval kings 18:37.897 --> 18:41.147 took to handling financial business in a more intimate 18:41.147 --> 18:43.537 setting within their own household. 18:43.538 --> 18:46.128 This was known as "chamber finance," 18:46.131 --> 18:49.531 because they would deal with these matters in the king's own 18:49.528 --> 18:50.908 lodgings or chamber. 18:50.910 --> 18:55.930 Henry VII, who was a notorious workaholic and also extremely 18:55.933 --> 19:01.263 tight in financial matters, actually personally went over, 19:01.256 --> 19:06.606 checked and initialed every page of the chamber accounts to 19:06.605 --> 19:09.645 check his financial situation. 19:09.650 --> 19:13.130 Reliance on taxation was rare. 19:13.130 --> 19:16.540 Taxes would be voted by Parliament for extraordinary 19:16.539 --> 19:20.549 circumstances and would then be collected and returned to the 19:20.553 --> 19:21.493 Exchequer. 19:21.490 --> 19:23.830 So for the most part the king lives of his own; 19:23.828 --> 19:29.178 periodically taxes would be granted for special reasons. 19:29.180 --> 19:30.150 Okay. 19:30.150 --> 19:34.430 That's a quick run through some of the principal institutions of 19:34.430 --> 19:37.760 day-to-day administration of royal government, 19:37.759 --> 19:41.829 but of course administration is not synonymous with government. 19:41.828 --> 19:45.838 If we want to understand the structures of power we need to 19:45.836 --> 19:49.976 look beyond this to the larger political society within which 19:49.981 --> 19:57.371 these institutions functioned, or sometimes failed to function. 19:57.368 --> 20:03.398 Obviously, the monarch stood at the head of the structure of 20:03.402 --> 20:04.222 power. 20:04.220 --> 20:08.550 This is still an age of personal monarchy and the 20:08.553 --> 20:13.433 personalities of individual monarchs colored and gave a 20:13.426 --> 20:17.396 particular texture to particular reigns. 20:17.400 --> 20:22.380 Henry VII was a man who seems by all accounts of him to have 20:22.381 --> 20:25.171 been of a cold, somewhat detached, 20:25.167 --> 20:28.627 calculative, suspicious, temperament. 20:28.630 --> 20:32.130 His son, Henry VIII, in contrast, 20:32.125 --> 20:35.615 was energetic, muscular, vain; 20:35.618 --> 20:41.258 a mixture of largesse on the one hand but prone to bursts of 20:41.262 --> 20:45.972 terrifying wrath on the other, and the personalities of 20:45.971 --> 20:49.981 different kings gave something of the flavor to their reigns. 20:49.980 --> 20:54.170 Henry VII for example was only twenty-eight when he won the 20:54.171 --> 20:56.051 crown at Bosworth Field. 20:56.048 --> 21:00.008 He was only fifty-two when he died, and yet it's been said we 21:00.006 --> 21:02.376 never think of him as a young man. 21:02.380 --> 21:07.810 His personality was such that one doesn't think of him that 21:07.809 --> 21:11.369 way, in contrast to his flamboyant son, 21:11.368 --> 21:13.708 the young Henry VIII. 21:13.710 --> 21:16.800 The various institutions of government of course embodied 21:16.798 --> 21:18.508 the authority of the monarch. 21:18.509 --> 21:20.639 They gave stability and continuity, 21:20.640 --> 21:24.600 but the actual exercise of power and the maintenance of the 21:24.602 --> 21:28.842 authority of government depended very much upon the personality 21:28.836 --> 21:32.726 of the king and the way in which the kings interacted with 21:32.730 --> 21:35.600 various important groups of people, 21:35.598 --> 21:40.188 communities of interest within the realm. 21:40.190 --> 21:44.710 By 1500, there already existed a relatively broad political 21:44.707 --> 21:48.837 society which was involved in government in one way or 21:48.835 --> 21:49.765 another. 21:49.769 --> 21:54.139 Most ranks of society down to the principal citizens of the 21:54.143 --> 21:58.673 towns or even the leaders of village society were involved in 21:58.666 --> 22:03.716 government in one way or another except perhaps the very poor, 22:03.720 --> 22:07.360 who were described by Sir Thomas Smith as being born 22:07.361 --> 22:10.861 "to be ruled and not to rule others." 22:10.858 --> 22:14.638 But of course if many people participated in one way or 22:14.643 --> 22:18.923 another in the exercise of royal power, some people mattered a 22:18.916 --> 22:21.156 great deal more than others. 22:21.160 --> 22:25.840 And those who mattered most were of course the nobility and 22:25.843 --> 22:28.513 the gentry and their counterparts, 22:28.507 --> 22:30.927 the leaders of the church. 22:30.930 --> 22:34.310 And the crucial relationship within the whole structure of 22:34.313 --> 22:37.823 authority was that between the king and his central officers 22:37.815 --> 22:41.015 and those members of the social elites who governed the 22:41.019 --> 22:42.029 localities. 22:42.029 --> 22:47.139 It was those elites who constituted the political nation 22:47.140 --> 22:49.930 proper, and when historians of this 22:49.932 --> 22:53.932 period talk about the political nation it's primarily those 22:53.932 --> 22:56.142 people they're talking about. 22:56.140 --> 23:01.370 The nobility were absolutely vital in two very obvious ways 23:01.365 --> 23:03.885 which were interconnected. 23:03.890 --> 23:07.290 First of all, by virtue of their enormous 23:07.288 --> 23:12.978 landed possessions they were the natural rulers of the provinces. 23:12.980 --> 23:20.830 Social power and political power in the realm intersected. 23:20.828 --> 23:24.168 The Percy family, the earls of Northumberland, 23:24.170 --> 23:27.880 held absolutely vast lands in the north of England alongside 23:27.875 --> 23:31.325 the Scottish border where they had the responsibility of 23:31.328 --> 23:34.028 defending the border against the Scots. 23:34.029 --> 23:36.969 Indeed, they still hold them. 23:36.970 --> 23:41.260 The--they virtually ruled that part of the north from their 23:41.260 --> 23:45.850 principal castles at Alnwick and Warkworth, both of which still 23:45.848 --> 23:46.588 stand. 23:46.588 --> 23:49.778 If you've seen a Harry Potter film, you've seen Alnwick 23:49.778 --> 23:50.308 Castle. 23:50.308 --> 23:54.378 It was used to shoot parts of those movies. 23:54.380 --> 23:56.750 The Percys were based there and it was said, 23:56.750 --> 23:58.890 with only a little exaggeration, 23:58.894 --> 24:02.354 that in that part of the kingdom they "knew no 24:02.353 --> 24:04.363 prince but a Percy." 24:04.358 --> 24:09.458 Secondly, the powers of lordship which were conferred by 24:09.461 --> 24:14.381 these great estates translated into military power. 24:14.380 --> 24:17.020 The king had no standing army. 24:17.019 --> 24:21.299 Henry VII was unusual in that he had a small group of royal 24:21.303 --> 24:25.443 guards permanently available, the Yeomen of the Guard; 24:25.440 --> 24:27.840 otherwise, though, there was no standing army. 24:27.838 --> 24:32.348 In time of war the king relied upon the nobility coming in to 24:32.346 --> 24:36.476 support him with their armed retainers and servants, 24:36.480 --> 24:40.520 and each great lord had his 'affinity' as it was called, 24:40.519 --> 24:46.199 his affinity of retainers: men bound to his service by 24:46.199 --> 24:52.199 ties of personal loyalty and often by formal contract. 24:52.200 --> 24:57.230 They wore his badge or his livery and they were expected to 24:57.234 --> 24:59.844 follow him when called upon. 24:59.838 --> 25:03.368 People as humble as farm tenants in some parts of the 25:03.369 --> 25:07.169 kingdom still had to keep a horse and arms as part of the 25:07.171 --> 25:10.701 conditions of holding their farms from the gentry and 25:10.701 --> 25:11.721 nobility. 25:11.720 --> 25:14.330 In the north for example that was commonly the case, 25:14.328 --> 25:17.288 and when called upon by the earls of Northumberland or the 25:17.290 --> 25:20.560 earls of Westmoreland, who dominated what's now the 25:20.556 --> 25:23.816 Lake District, they would come in, 25:23.818 --> 25:28.098 especially for service on the border. 25:28.098 --> 25:31.668 To give one example of the importance of the military power 25:31.666 --> 25:34.496 of the nobility: in 1536 at the outbreak of the 25:34.496 --> 25:37.256 rebellion against the Reformation known as the 25:37.263 --> 25:40.343 Pilgrimage of Grace the Earl of Shrewsbury, 25:40.338 --> 25:42.938 who was based in the north Midlands, 25:42.940 --> 25:50.430 was able to mobilize no fewer than 3,000 men in only six days. 25:50.430 --> 25:52.670 The rebellion had broken out in Yorkshire; 25:52.670 --> 25:54.160 Shrewsbury was here. 25:54.160 --> 25:57.850 The fact that he could mobilize 3,000 men so quickly was 25:57.853 --> 26:01.753 absolutely crucial because he was able to move north and to 26:01.749 --> 26:06.049 halt the rebel advance, to shadow the rebels until a 26:06.051 --> 26:09.341 larger royal force could be mustered. 26:09.338 --> 26:12.818 In contrast, his friend and former companion 26:12.817 --> 26:16.447 in arms, Lord Darcy, based in South Yorkshire, 26:16.454 --> 26:20.584 sympathized with the rebels and failed to move. 26:20.578 --> 26:24.818 He sat on his hands for a while and then eventually joined the 26:24.815 --> 26:25.435 rebels. 26:25.440 --> 26:27.900 He should have been mustering his troops to stop them. 26:27.900 --> 26:31.670 That's why such men were crucial. 26:31.670 --> 26:35.370 Darcy didn't act because he was out of sympathy with royal 26:35.366 --> 26:36.726 policy in religion. 26:36.730 --> 26:39.730 Shrewsbury acted and saved the day. 26:39.730 --> 26:43.470 Such men were vital. 26:43.470 --> 26:46.990 Having said all of this, I must be careful not to 26:46.987 --> 26:47.937 exaggerate. 26:47.940 --> 26:52.750 The nobility were rich and powerful but they didn't have 26:52.748 --> 26:57.988 fully independent jurisdictions of their own where the king's 26:57.993 --> 27:00.183 authority didn't run. 27:00.180 --> 27:03.550 Some of the great nobility of continental Europe enjoyed that 27:03.550 --> 27:04.450 kind of power. 27:04.450 --> 27:08.760 So did some of those of Scotland in this period. 27:08.759 --> 27:12.619 In England such jurisdictions had existed in the past but they 27:12.624 --> 27:16.244 had mostly gradually fallen into the crown's hand and been 27:16.236 --> 27:17.056 retained. 27:17.058 --> 27:20.278 As a result, English nobles depended 27:20.281 --> 27:25.531 ultimately for their power upon grants of royal office. 27:25.528 --> 27:30.748 Their local authority was granted to them by the king. 27:30.750 --> 27:34.550 King Edward IV, who ruled between 1461 and 27:34.548 --> 27:39.638 1483, had ruled very largely by parceling out spheres of 27:39.644 --> 27:42.984 influence to the great nobility. 27:42.980 --> 27:47.250 His system of government has been described as being somewhat 27:47.250 --> 27:51.520 like the mob in the way that each of the great nobles had his 27:51.519 --> 27:54.509 quasi-independent sphere of influence. 27:54.509 --> 27:57.689 But that was an anomalous situation. 27:57.690 --> 28:03.450 For the most part the nobles depended upon royal authority 28:03.450 --> 28:05.370 formally granted. 28:05.368 --> 28:10.928 Nevertheless, they still mattered a great 28:10.934 --> 28:11.914 deal. 28:11.910 --> 28:15.290 Maintaining authority over them was absolutely vital. 28:15.288 --> 28:16.728 In the middle of the fifteenth century, 28:16.730 --> 28:21.900 King Henry VI had failed to do so, leading first of all to 28:21.898 --> 28:27.518 rivalry and factionalism amongst his nobles and eventually to a 28:27.522 --> 28:31.072 bid by one of them, the Duke of York, 28:31.069 --> 28:36.149 to overthrow him because York had a rival claim to the throne. 28:36.150 --> 28:41.370 That led to the on-and-off civil wars which ran between 28:41.367 --> 28:47.067 1450 and 1485 usually described as the Wars of the Roses. 28:47.068 --> 28:51.408 Now the feuding of the fifteenth-century Wars of the 28:51.412 --> 28:56.182 Roses had taken out a number of exceptionally over-mighty 28:56.180 --> 29:01.120 subjects amongst the nobility, but in the reign of Henry VII 29:01.115 --> 29:05.295 there were still a dozen or so who really mattered and not just 29:05.299 --> 29:08.269 in the north or along the Welsh borders, 29:08.269 --> 29:11.469 which were areas of insecurity, but in the very heart of the 29:11.467 --> 29:12.007 kingdom. 29:12.009 --> 29:15.409 In East Anglia the dukes or Norfolk, the Howards, 29:15.413 --> 29:16.623 were paramount. 29:16.618 --> 29:19.978 In Kent, Lord Abergavenny was paramount. 29:19.980 --> 29:23.050 In the west, the Marquis of Exeter, 29:23.054 --> 29:26.494 the Courtney family, were paramount. 29:26.490 --> 29:28.970 They still nurtured their affinities of retainers, 29:28.970 --> 29:32.450 they still enjoyed great prestige as regional leaders, 29:32.450 --> 29:37.840 and they still adhered to an aristocratic code that certainly 29:37.835 --> 29:43.335 stressed loyalty, honor and service to the king. 29:43.338 --> 29:45.828 But nonetheless they could be very haughty, 29:45.828 --> 29:49.538 very touchy, they assumed their right to 29:49.538 --> 29:51.818 rule, they assumed their right to be 29:51.820 --> 29:54.090 consulted, and they could be very 29:54.089 --> 29:57.109 dangerous indeed if they were slighted. 29:57.108 --> 30:02.038 No Tudor king was ever likely to forget that in 1485 at the 30:02.036 --> 30:05.796 Battle of Bosworth the Stanleys, William Stanley, 30:05.798 --> 30:08.328 Lord Derby, and his brother, Thomas Stanley, 30:08.330 --> 30:12.470 brought their forces and then sat on the hill waiting to see 30:12.465 --> 30:15.685 which way the battle between the claimant, 30:15.690 --> 30:20.430 Henry Tudor, and King Richard III would go. 30:20.430 --> 30:24.370 When they decided that it looked like Tudor was gaining 30:24.372 --> 30:28.902 the upper hand they joined in on his side leading ultimately to 30:28.898 --> 30:33.278 the death of Richard III in a desperate last charge to try to 30:33.279 --> 30:34.739 break through. 30:34.740 --> 30:37.990 That's what had happened on the day that Henry came to the 30:37.987 --> 30:38.497 throne. 30:38.500 --> 30:42.900 He was unlikely to forget that in his dealings with his 30:42.903 --> 30:43.803 nobility. 30:43.798 --> 30:46.588 So then, how did the early Tudors handle their 30:46.586 --> 30:50.356 relationships with the various institutions and groups on whom 30:50.363 --> 30:53.153 the effectiveness of their rule depended? 30:53.150 --> 30:57.150 I think one can suggest four ways. 30:57.150 --> 31:01.000 They did it by propaganda, by patronage, 31:01.000 --> 31:04.460 by consultation and, when necessary, 31:04.458 --> 31:06.728 by simple coercion. 31:06.730 --> 31:11.620 Two P's, two C's: propaganda, patronage, 31:11.622 --> 31:15.262 consultation, and coercion. 31:15.259 --> 31:18.919 At this point in time, propaganda was perhaps the 31:18.924 --> 31:23.434 least important of the four but it was not insignificant. 31:23.430 --> 31:28.810 Great stress was laid in royal proclamations and ceremonial and 31:28.813 --> 31:33.593 symbolism upon the divine nature of royal authority, 31:33.588 --> 31:38.188 on the fact that the king was ordained by God and his subjects 31:38.192 --> 31:40.912 had a religious duty of obedience. 31:40.910 --> 31:45.670 Henry VII was very careful early in his reign to obtain the 31:45.666 --> 31:47.796 recognition of the pope. 31:47.798 --> 31:51.348 He further bolstered his claim to the crown by marrying the 31:51.345 --> 31:54.635 daughter of his predecessor, King Edward IV, 31:54.640 --> 32:00.710 uniting the houses of Lancaster and York through that marriage, 32:00.710 --> 32:04.020 adding to his legitimacy. 32:04.019 --> 32:07.089 From the reign of Henry VII onwards into the reign of his 32:07.086 --> 32:09.766 son, the past, the public memory of 32:09.773 --> 32:12.873 the past, was to some extent remodeled 32:12.871 --> 32:17.691 into an exaggerated picture of the horrors which had attended 32:17.694 --> 32:22.604 the breakdown of royal authority in the Wars of the Roses. 32:22.598 --> 32:26.498 They elaborated the myth of Richard III as a kind of monster 32:26.497 --> 32:26.957 king. 32:26.960 --> 32:31.270 I mean, true enough he was no sweetie, but he was not the 32:31.266 --> 32:35.716 crook-backed monster portrayed for example in Shakespeare's 32:35.724 --> 32:37.114 history plays. 32:37.108 --> 32:41.188 Historians were commissioned to write appropriate histories 32:41.194 --> 32:43.454 celebrating the Tudor dynasty. 32:43.450 --> 32:45.480 Polydore Vergil, an Italian humanist, 32:45.483 --> 32:48.143 was brought in to write one history in Latin. 32:48.140 --> 32:51.480 Edward Hall produced another history in English entitled 32:51.476 --> 32:54.866 The Union of the Illustrious Families of Lancaster and 32:54.874 --> 32:59.064 York, which sustained the Tudors' claim to the throne. 32:59.058 --> 33:03.848 Shakespeare's history plays of course reflect very much this 33:03.848 --> 33:06.608 Tudor interpretation of history. 33:06.608 --> 33:10.888 The image of royalty was cultivated in a kind of theater 33:10.887 --> 33:11.897 of majesty. 33:11.900 --> 33:15.880 Tight as he was with his finances, Henry VII never forgot 33:15.882 --> 33:19.932 the importance of having a magnificent court and sumptuous 33:19.934 --> 33:20.864 clothing. 33:20.858 --> 33:24.458 The pageantry of the court was magnificent. 33:24.460 --> 33:26.800 Great tournaments were held. 33:26.798 --> 33:31.568 Great buildings were erected, perhaps the greatest of which, 33:31.566 --> 33:35.526 Henry VII's chapel at Westminster Abbey where he's 33:35.525 --> 33:38.025 buried, still stands today. 33:38.029 --> 33:42.899 Under the reign of Henry VIII portraiture, royal portraiture, 33:42.901 --> 33:46.881 began to emerge as a means of royal propaganda. 33:46.880 --> 33:51.090 Henry VIII always had himself represented as something more 33:51.086 --> 33:52.026 than human. 33:52.029 --> 33:55.929 In the National Portrait Gallery in London you can see 33:55.933 --> 34:00.503 the cartoon which survives of a great painting of Henry and the 34:00.501 --> 34:04.481 Tudor line which was once on the walls of his palace of 34:04.480 --> 34:05.660 Whitehall. 34:05.660 --> 34:09.630 Henry himself is shown much larger than life size, 34:09.634 --> 34:12.234 dwarfing all those around him. 34:12.230 --> 34:17.840 He was indeed a big man but he's represented as even larger 34:17.838 --> 34:18.998 than life. 34:19.000 --> 34:23.680 You are probably familiar with the Holbein portraits of Henry 34:23.677 --> 34:27.727 standing, arms on hips, gigantic shoulders padded out 34:27.731 --> 34:29.371 with his doublet. 34:29.369 --> 34:33.909 That kind of image of the king is the one that dominates our 34:33.905 --> 34:37.895 memory and it was meant to dominate those who saw his 34:37.902 --> 34:38.982 portraits. 34:38.980 --> 34:41.550 It's an image that is so familiar to people in England 34:41.554 --> 34:43.744 that it was actually used to sell potato chips 34:43.739 --> 34:45.099 > 34:45.099 --> 34:46.459 a few years ago. 34:46.460 --> 34:51.110 There was a brand of potato chips--they're no longer sold so 34:51.106 --> 34:54.406 this is not product placement--called Tudor 34:54.413 --> 34:57.803 Crisps--we call them crisps in England. 34:57.800 --> 35:01.830 Henry VIII on the packet glowering out as you had your 35:01.829 --> 35:02.969 potato chips. 35:02.969 --> 35:05.629 Of course, he was a king known for his hearty eating. 35:05.630 --> 35:08.330 > 35:08.329 --> 35:11.299 The nobles themselves of course imitated all of this. 35:11.300 --> 35:14.000 The theater of the great extended to them. 35:14.000 --> 35:17.960 Take a look in the Yale gallery of British art where you'll see 35:17.956 --> 35:20.156 some of-- well, we'll go there later in 35:20.161 --> 35:22.751 the term to look at some of the power portraits, 35:22.750 --> 35:26.950 as they're called: the calm, proud faces of these 35:26.951 --> 35:30.191 people staring down from the walls. 35:30.190 --> 35:33.390 Well, the main impact of portraiture and so forth was on 35:33.394 --> 35:35.614 the members of the elite themselves. 35:35.610 --> 35:38.600 They were the ones who were likely to see these paintings, 35:38.601 --> 35:41.281 but for a larger audience there were processions; 35:41.280 --> 35:44.470 there were royal progresses where the king would travel 35:44.465 --> 35:47.825 around an area in a magnificent procession, staying in the 35:47.827 --> 35:50.007 houses of his principal subjects. 35:50.010 --> 35:55.910 There were royal entries to the cities accompanied by great 35:55.911 --> 36:00.391 ritual, pageants, display, and everywhere the 36:00.387 --> 36:03.437 royal badge was displayed. 36:03.440 --> 36:06.100 It's an interesting topic, the politics of display, 36:06.101 --> 36:09.241 the art and architecture of power, and a great deal has been 36:09.242 --> 36:10.362 written about it. 36:10.360 --> 36:15.470 If it interests you, I can recommend some reading. 36:15.469 --> 36:19.559 Rather more significant than propaganda of this type, 36:19.559 --> 36:22.469 and in fact vitally significant, was the use of 36:22.474 --> 36:25.504 patronage, the exercise of what they 36:25.496 --> 36:27.426 called good lordship. 36:27.429 --> 36:32.229 That involved the conferring on significant subjects of honors 36:32.231 --> 36:36.401 and prestige and material benefits in return for their 36:36.402 --> 36:37.822 loyal service. 36:37.820 --> 36:41.750 After all, the interests of the king and his great subjects were 36:41.746 --> 36:42.616 not opposed. 36:42.619 --> 36:46.799 The system ideally could be utilized to the advantage of 36:46.800 --> 36:49.740 both, and so from Henry VII onwards 36:49.742 --> 36:54.332 the Tudors were careful to build up their own affinity, 36:54.329 --> 36:57.739 their own loyal retainers. 36:57.739 --> 37:00.599 Royal lands were used to this end. 37:00.599 --> 37:03.349 Those who had shown their loyalty and who were trusted 37:03.353 --> 37:06.473 would be granted stewardships of royal lands where they would 37:06.472 --> 37:08.762 share in the profits: favorable leases, 37:08.760 --> 37:13.480 the constableships of castles, offices of profit, 37:13.480 --> 37:18.790 and of course grants of local authority which demonstrated the 37:18.791 --> 37:24.011 king's trust and which conferred honor and power within their 37:24.014 --> 37:26.544 localities of prominence. 37:26.539 --> 37:30.379 All of this was not only to the personal benefit of the 37:30.382 --> 37:34.372 individual noble but it also enabled such men to dispense 37:34.367 --> 37:38.207 patronage themselves downwards to their own clients and 37:38.210 --> 37:39.350 retainers. 37:39.349 --> 37:44.409 It enabled them to maintain their own affinities and 37:44.409 --> 37:46.989 enhanced their standing. 37:46.989 --> 37:51.869 The Tudor kings had no objection to building up 37:51.867 --> 37:57.697 powerful men of this kind so long as they were loyal. 37:57.699 --> 38:00.759 But ideally patronage should be spread around; 38:00.760 --> 38:06.560 it should be dispensed judiciously in a way that would 38:06.561 --> 38:12.911 maximize the community of interest in obeying the crown. 38:12.909 --> 38:15.379 Let's look now at consultation. 38:15.380 --> 38:20.310 The royal court was the very center of the patronage system. 38:20.309 --> 38:25.299 Access to the king was vital, and those who could control 38:25.297 --> 38:30.017 access to the king were in positions of real power. 38:30.018 --> 38:33.698 Under the young Henry VIII, the gentlemen of the privy 38:33.695 --> 38:36.805 chamber, his personal companions, 38:36.811 --> 38:42.791 those who hunted and engaged in other sports with the king, 38:42.789 --> 38:49.069 were absolutely central figures in gaining access to the king, 38:49.070 --> 38:52.450 principal amongst them the groom of the stool, 38:52.449 --> 38:54.099 an office which still exists. 38:54.099 --> 38:58.149 In Henry's day the groom of the stool literally looked after the 38:58.150 --> 39:02.200 king's chamber pot and brought it for him when it was needed. 39:02.199 --> 39:07.009 These were people in an excellent position to drop names 39:07.014 --> 39:08.944 into the king's ear. 39:08.940 --> 39:13.320 But the court was also vital to the business of consultation 39:13.324 --> 39:14.444 more broadly. 39:14.440 --> 39:18.060 Any person of significance was expected to visit the court from 39:18.061 --> 39:20.461 time to time, and when they were there the 39:20.458 --> 39:22.618 king could be quite approachable. 39:22.619 --> 39:25.149 Henry VII was quite famously approachable. 39:25.150 --> 39:29.290 He let people pop into the privy chamber where he conducted 39:29.293 --> 39:30.083 business. 39:30.079 --> 39:33.809 Henry VIII was famously affable, something of a 39:33.813 --> 39:38.283 back-slapping hearty type when he was in a good mood. 39:38.280 --> 39:41.650 Nobles in particular expected that kind of personal access. 39:41.650 --> 39:45.090 They expected to be able to give their counsel informally on 39:45.094 --> 39:46.324 matters of concern. 39:46.320 --> 39:48.410 They weren't part of the regular executive, 39:48.409 --> 39:51.389 their main duties lay out in their countries, 39:51.389 --> 39:55.189 but they did expect to visit for part of the year and have 39:55.186 --> 39:57.316 that kind of personal contact. 39:57.320 --> 39:59.930 More broadly, the regular executive council 39:59.931 --> 40:03.481 was a point of contact with these members of the political 40:03.476 --> 40:04.156 nation. 40:04.159 --> 40:06.309 It received letters and dispatched them. 40:06.309 --> 40:10.819 It expressed the king's gracious thanks for good 40:10.820 --> 40:11.780 service. 40:11.780 --> 40:14.950 It handled all kinds of business brought to its 40:14.952 --> 40:15.782 attention. 40:15.780 --> 40:19.200 And then of course there was Parliament, the greatest 40:19.195 --> 40:23.775 occasion of consultation; the whole political nation 40:23.775 --> 40:26.685 gathered in common action. 40:26.690 --> 40:30.510 Sir Thomas Smith said that "every Englishman is 40:30.510 --> 40:34.780 intended to be there present, either in person or by... 40:34.780 --> 40:37.230 attorney from the prince... 40:37.230 --> 40:38.990 to the lowest person... 40:38.989 --> 40:43.989 And the consent of the Parliament is taken to be every 40:43.985 --> 40:46.055 man's consent." 40:46.059 --> 40:49.589 The king, however, only called Parliament when he 40:49.586 --> 40:52.376 needed money or new laws or support. 40:52.380 --> 40:55.990 Before 1529, the early Tudors called it only 40:55.994 --> 40:59.794 occasionally, but then from 1529 to 1559 in 40:59.786 --> 41:04.506 the crisis of the Reformation there were only eight years 41:04.512 --> 41:09.832 without a parliamentary session and it grew in significance as a 41:09.829 --> 41:13.459 regular part of the political process. 41:13.460 --> 41:16.990 The Tudor kings usually got what they wanted from parliament 41:16.987 --> 41:19.557 but they did it by managing it carefully. 41:19.559 --> 41:22.789 Its compliance could never be simply taken for granted. 41:22.789 --> 41:25.699 It had to be managed, and it was a genuine forum of 41:25.704 --> 41:26.234 debate. 41:26.230 --> 41:28.380 The Speaker of the House of Commons, 41:28.380 --> 41:32.090 who controlled the agenda, was granted at the beginning of 41:32.090 --> 41:34.890 each session the liberty of free speech, 41:34.889 --> 41:38.509 so that he could speak openly to the king, 41:38.510 --> 41:42.770 and by 1547 that liberty had been extended to every member of 41:42.771 --> 41:47.321 Parliament within the precincts of the meetings of Parliament. 41:47.320 --> 41:51.740 They could address any issue openly for the good of the 41:51.735 --> 41:54.185 prince and the commonwealth. 41:54.190 --> 41:57.340 And these members in their turn got what they wanted. 41:57.340 --> 42:01.460 Government bills might be amended in the light of their 42:01.458 --> 42:05.658 local experience and a great deal of private legislation 42:05.655 --> 42:09.465 intended for particular localities was passed. 42:09.469 --> 42:13.189 So, Parliament as a place of consultation was a very 42:13.188 --> 42:16.688 significant forum for the resolution of potential 42:16.688 --> 42:19.408 conflict, for the presenting of royal 42:19.411 --> 42:22.311 policy and its explanation and justification. 42:22.309 --> 42:26.209 The Tudors used it very carefully to achieve their ends. 42:26.210 --> 42:30.890 In fact, on one occasion Henry VIII flattered it by saying that 42:30.894 --> 42:34.984 his royal dignity was never so high as when he met with 42:34.976 --> 42:36.106 Parliament. 42:36.110 --> 42:41.530 And the growing significance of this institution is indicated by 42:41.534 --> 42:46.364 the anxiety of members of the governing elite to serve as 42:46.356 --> 42:47.386 members. 42:47.389 --> 42:49.149 But finally, if propaganda, 42:49.154 --> 42:52.824 the use of patronage and consultation didn't succeed in 42:52.818 --> 42:56.888 welding together the interests of the crown and the political 42:56.889 --> 42:59.969 nation, there remained coercion, 42:59.974 --> 43:04.514 what was described at the time as heavy lordship, 43:04.510 --> 43:09.540 as distinct from good lordship--often evident under 43:09.539 --> 43:15.979 both Henry VII and Henry VIII as they established their authority 43:15.976 --> 43:18.186 and their dynasty. 43:18.190 --> 43:23.120 When necessary they would bring to Parliament and rush through 43:23.121 --> 43:24.901 'acts of attainder'. 43:24.900 --> 43:30.210 Acts of attainder simply declared particular individuals 43:30.211 --> 43:34.751 guilty of treason, depriving them of their lands 43:34.751 --> 43:36.781 and their status. 43:36.780 --> 43:40.570 They were often used against rebellious nobles. 43:40.570 --> 43:44.700 They could be reversed in the interests of the heirs to those 43:44.701 --> 43:48.141 estates if they behaved themselves, but they had to 43:48.144 --> 43:50.284 prove themselves compliant. 43:50.280 --> 43:53.030 Henry VII made frequent use of acts of attainder. 43:53.030 --> 43:56.470 He very cleverly dated the beginning of his reign to the 43:56.469 --> 43:58.719 day before the Battle of Bosworth. 43:58.719 --> 44:00.489 He got Parliament to agree to that. 44:00.489 --> 44:03.559 That meant that everyone who had opposed him, 44:03.559 --> 44:06.929 even though they were actually fighting for the person who was 44:06.925 --> 44:10.795 the king at the time, was automatically a traitor and 44:10.800 --> 44:12.940 their lands were forfeit. 44:12.940 --> 44:14.290 Clever. 44:14.289 --> 44:17.649 It enabled him to greatly extend the royal lands in one 44:17.652 --> 44:20.272 move and there was more of that to come. 44:20.268 --> 44:25.888 Acts of attainder were also used against those who supported 44:25.891 --> 44:30.661 pretenders to the throne who were foci of potential 44:30.655 --> 44:35.085 rebellions, and actual rebellion in 1487 44:35.086 --> 44:37.056 against Henry VII. 44:37.059 --> 44:43.909 Henry VII was also willing to use another coercive measure, 44:43.905 --> 44:49.445 the placing of his nobility under recognizances: 44:49.454 --> 44:52.174 recognizance bonds. 44:52.170 --> 44:55.260 They were like a bail bond, a bond-- 44:55.260 --> 44:59.310 a legal bond--that nobles were forced to enter into to be of 44:59.311 --> 45:03.011 good behavior, or if they failed to pay 45:03.012 --> 45:06.182 enormous financial penalties. 45:06.179 --> 45:09.229 They usually had to find sureties from amongst their 45:09.233 --> 45:11.753 kinsmen and supporters for those bonds, 45:11.750 --> 45:16.080 which meant that those people had an interest in making sure 45:16.076 --> 45:20.036 that the nobleman concerned complied and would lose out 45:20.036 --> 45:22.526 themselves badly if he didn't. 45:22.530 --> 45:24.860 These were used, for example, 45:24.864 --> 45:29.954 against any nobleman who in any way infringed the requirements 45:29.954 --> 45:31.294 of new laws. 45:31.289 --> 45:35.249 For example, under Henry VII retaining, 45:35.246 --> 45:41.076 the retaining of an affinity of clients, was regulated by 45:41.079 --> 45:42.329 license. 45:42.329 --> 45:46.289 Only those who were licensed to do so could retain armed 45:46.293 --> 45:49.973 retainers and they were forbidden from retaining any 45:49.969 --> 45:52.779 member of the crown's own affinity. 45:52.780 --> 45:55.330 You could owe loyalty to the king only. 45:55.329 --> 45:58.859 Anyone who infringed that was likely to find himself hauled 45:58.864 --> 46:02.284 before the council and faced with a recognizance bond. 46:02.280 --> 46:06.140 Lord Abergavenny, the principal magnate in Kent, 46:06.137 --> 46:09.987 was put under a potential fine of 70,000 pounds, 46:09.994 --> 46:14.514 a massive sum of money, for such failure to comply. 46:14.510 --> 46:19.640 It wasn't actually executed but it hung over his head like the 46:19.639 --> 46:23.509 sword of Damocles and he complied in future. 46:23.510 --> 46:26.680 And then there were the laws of treason. 46:26.679 --> 46:30.419 In the fourteenth century the law of treason had been 46:30.420 --> 46:34.740 introduced defining treason as acts against the king's person 46:34.737 --> 46:38.907 or his family or open rebellion against his authority. 46:38.909 --> 46:42.479 Under the early Tudors the law of treason was extended. 46:42.480 --> 46:46.830 By the time of Henry VIII, it came to include even 46:46.831 --> 46:50.211 treasonable words such as, for example, 46:50.206 --> 46:55.176 denying the legitimacy of the king's many marriages. 46:55.179 --> 46:58.699 Particularly dangerous individuals were ruthlessly 46:58.704 --> 46:59.644 eliminated. 46:59.639 --> 47:02.859 Under Henry VII, the young Earl of Warwick-- 47:02.860 --> 47:07.580 Edward, Earl of Warwick--who was the last potential claimant 47:07.579 --> 47:10.619 to the Yorkist claim to the throne, 47:10.619 --> 47:15.109 was imprisoned in the Tower of London from childhood where he 47:15.112 --> 47:19.532 was kept until 1499 when in a moment of danger to the throne 47:19.528 --> 47:21.848 Henry VII had him executed. 47:21.849 --> 47:25.799 Sir William Stanley, one of those who had supported 47:25.804 --> 47:30.794 Henry at the Battle of Bosworth, fell under the king's suspicion 47:30.786 --> 47:33.156 and was taken out in 1497. 47:33.159 --> 47:37.049 Under the young Henry VIII, the presumptuous Edward 47:37.052 --> 47:41.332 Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, was executed on trumped-up 47:41.333 --> 47:42.893 charges in 1521. 47:42.889 --> 47:48.419 His real crime was that he had a distant claim to the throne. 47:48.420 --> 47:51.910 Henry didn't yet have a male heir and it was alleged that 47:51.905 --> 47:55.205 Buckingham had listened to prophecies that Henry never 47:55.206 --> 47:58.456 would have a male heir, and that he had made some 47:58.460 --> 48:00.820 resentful statements against the King. 48:00.820 --> 48:06.510 When this came to the King's knowledge Buckingham's days were 48:06.514 --> 48:07.564 numbered. 48:07.559 --> 48:11.849 Like most nobles who fell under royal displeasure, 48:11.849 --> 48:14.299 Buckingham died by the ax. 48:14.300 --> 48:18.380 Lesser folk were hung, drawn and quartered, 48:18.378 --> 48:22.068 a less honorable means of execution. 48:22.070 --> 48:24.930 It meant that they were hung by the neck until they were not 48:24.931 --> 48:26.821 quite dead, disemboweled, 48:26.820 --> 48:30.550 their bowels burned before their eyes, 48:30.550 --> 48:34.030 and then cut down, their bodies cut into four 48:34.034 --> 48:38.714 quarters which were dipped in pitch and sent to be displayed 48:38.708 --> 48:42.988 at the gates of the leading cities of the kingdom as an 48:42.985 --> 48:46.705 example to warn other potential traitors. 48:46.710 --> 48:49.390 And trial procedures and treason trials could be 48:49.385 --> 48:50.635 extremely arbitrary. 48:50.639 --> 48:53.289 The council could order arrest at will. 48:53.289 --> 48:56.729 It could order the torture of suspects--torture wasn't 48:56.728 --> 48:58.738 normally used in English law. 48:58.739 --> 49:01.809 Defense counsel was denied. 49:01.809 --> 49:06.399 Evidence could be fabricated to get rid of unsuccessful losers 49:06.403 --> 49:08.743 in court factional struggles. 49:08.739 --> 49:12.809 At the very highest levels, then, political conflict was 49:12.809 --> 49:16.879 played out to the death, especially under Henry VIII. 49:16.880 --> 49:20.870 Indeed, one historian of Henry VIII has said that in some parts 49:20.869 --> 49:24.799 of his reign his court had the atmosphere of the Kremlin under 49:24.797 --> 49:28.217 Stalin, with people going in constant 49:28.221 --> 49:31.971 fear of arousing the King's displeasure. 49:31.969 --> 49:35.379 So the crown could deliver largesse to the loyal; 49:35.380 --> 49:38.010 it could consult with its leading subjects; 49:38.010 --> 49:42.700 but it could also brutally display its wrath. 49:42.699 --> 49:46.129 The majesty which it displayed on the one hand was 49:46.130 --> 49:48.090 counterbalanced by terror. 49:48.090 --> 49:51.290 All of this adds up then to a political culture, 49:51.289 --> 49:55.079 a set of institutions of government animated by certain 49:55.077 --> 49:58.727 understandings and rules and practices which governed 49:58.726 --> 50:00.266 political conduct. 50:00.268 --> 50:04.158 That unwritten consensus about how things were done was very 50:04.157 --> 50:07.317 well understood throughout political society, 50:07.320 --> 50:10.750 and political stability depended upon sharing power in 50:10.750 --> 50:14.120 varying degrees at various levels of the structure in 50:14.115 --> 50:16.765 accordance with these understandings. 50:16.768 --> 50:20.838 Effective rule was the outcome of the use of considerable 50:20.844 --> 50:25.144 political skills by the kings and their advisers within this 50:25.137 --> 50:28.697 framework to bring about the willing obedience and 50:28.702 --> 50:32.052 participation of their leading subjects. 50:32.050 --> 50:36.550 And for the most part the early Tudor kings proved very able in 50:36.545 --> 50:39.805 achieving that: in rebuilding the authority of 50:39.807 --> 50:44.377 the crown which had been so much shaken by the civil wars of the 50:44.376 --> 50:48.356 fifteenth century, in instilling habits of 50:48.364 --> 50:54.424 obedience, in reestablishing the latent power of the monarchy and 50:54.416 --> 50:59.836 indeed in enhancing it-- something that we'll discuss in 50:59.836 --> 51:00.666 section. 51:00.670 --> 51:02.810 But finally, changing government in the 51:02.807 --> 51:06.067 sixteenth century involved more than just reasserting royal 51:06.072 --> 51:06.862 authority. 51:06.860 --> 51:09.730 It also came to involve something else, 51:09.730 --> 51:15.190 the expansion of the very scope and objectives of government, 51:15.190 --> 51:18.460 and to understand that we need to see its development in the 51:18.456 --> 51:22.796 context of processes of change, which were scarcely on the 51:22.802 --> 51:27.652 agenda as late as 1530, but which were very soon to 51:27.652 --> 51:28.392 emerge. 51:28.389 --> 51:32.489 And in the next few lectures I'll be looking at those by 51:32.485 --> 51:36.355 examining the most explosive of these new issues, 51:36.360 --> 51:42.070 the issues of the succession and the issue of religion. 51:42.070 --> 51:47.000