Niall Ashton
How successful was Henry VIII’s domestic policy in the years of 1509 – 1529?
There were many aims Henry VIII tried to achieve through his domestic policies such as: to increase efficiency of government, increase revenue, increase power, improve law and order, decrease the political power of the nobility and show support for the nobility.
Henry changed the administration from what his predecessor Henry VII had. Henry VIII decreased the size of the privy chamber from 12 people to 6. This was used for all of the crowns personal information which the king can oversee. This was reduced to make the government more efficient as there were too many people for the work load. Also Henry decided in 1519 to expel the minions. These were his friends and noble men he decided to get rid of them and make government more efficient by replacing them with serious advisors. However this also meant that Henry was not showing support for the nobility so failing in his policies. 1526 Henry introduced the Eltham ordinances. This was a total reform of the government which got rid any people not working efficiently. However this was never implemented so was a failure. In summary Henry’s administration policies was more of a failure as nearly every policy did not show support for the nobles.