Henry VII pursued a cautious foreign policy. He only actually encountered a battle with one foreign country. This was France. However it was not to invade and take land from France it was used as a pressure point in order to restore the French pension that Britain once got, in order for not attacking or invading France. Henry however did receive funds for a war against Scotland from Parliament but he never actually encountered a battle with them. Instead of handing the money back he kept it for his chambers. Henry’s government were very shrewd in cutting costs and manufacturing greater income. The council Learned of the Law had two main compatriots within it’s ranks Empsom and Dudley, these people were very effective
within the chambers, perhaps a bit too successful, they taxed the nobles for quite substantial amounts which led to the gain in money the chambers had, and it has even been said that they accounted more revenue than they actually took, working in the King’s name and aiming to please him. This led to a later outcry by the nobles under the rule of Henry VIII where they were accused of treason, and because Henry VIII wanted to stay ruler he duly obliged.
Henry VII moved his rule, via Government back one day to the day before the battle of Bosworth. This was so that he could accuse all of the men that fought against him with treason and would therefore be allowed to pass an Act of Attainder against him. Henry used 140 Acts of Attainder in total during his reign. Henry also reversed the Acts of Attainder granted against himself and his uncle Jasper Tudor, granted unto them by Richard III. Henry took the action of restoring Chamber finance, revived by earlier Yorkist kings. This proved to be very effective in terms of use of time and the revenue being brought in. The Chamber brought in the profits of Justice, dealt with the money received via the Crownlands, feudal dues and also received £10 000 from the French pension this surmounted to somewhere in the region of £100 000 in revenue by the 1490’s
Henry’s financial income was based on two sorts of income. Ordinary revenue and Extraordinary revenue. Ordinary revenue consisted of money received via the Crownlands for example Acts of Attainder, escheats and relief. Customs duties and feudal dues also were gather via the chambers. Bonds and recognisances, Bonds helped keep the nobility in check. Basically Henry would receive money if any of them stepped out of line, for example the nobility were fined for holding too many guards in the house, this was called retaining. Recognisances accepted the fact that they had done wrong and set the fee for which they had to pay, this was usually smaller than the initial amount agreed with the King. Extraordinary revenue consisted of money which was received or given to the King only in special circumstances these included Parliamentary grants, for things such as wars, they also consisted of loans and benevolences and clerical taxes.
During Henry’s reign only seven Parliaments were called in most of these cases it was in order to submit a request for a parliamentary grant or to pass an Act of Attainder. In Henry’s reign each call of Parliament only lasted for about a couple of weeks. Parliament was much the same as it is now, it was divided into two sections, the lords and the commons, however the commons had virtually no power and were onlookers in certain cases. The Parliament altogether was really used as an instrument to raise taxes for the King. Lords were made up of two sections the Lords Spiritual and Temporal. The Lords Spiritual being the clerics and the Temporal being the peers.
Henry sustained local gentry as magistrates, handing out Justice within their localities. These people were part of what was known as the Justice of the Peace. The magistrates were appointed yearly and were only allowed to pass judgement on non-capital cases. In 1485 the council learned of the law were granted the means to arrest pretenders and poachers. A couple of years later they were granted the power to grant bail to those who were awaiting their trial. This also helped fill the coffers in the royal palace. They were also allowed to deal with corrupt and unjust juries. However this
shows that the King did lose his grip over control of Law and Order and rarely dispensed the Justice himself, apart from Capital charges such as treason. The only
threat that was available to royals was to dispense with them from their office, which would not be such a great loss compared to imprisonment.
Unlike previous Kings Henry approved of effort rather than noble blood. And rewarded those who served him well. His office contained many who did not come from the “old nobility” and proved to be very valuable to him, his office and financial stability. Henry had subdivided councils which advised him on matters of state, to help him administer law and order and for general information about the ambassadors. Henry reinstated what he thought as useful additions suggested and used by the Yorkist predecessors. One such arrangement was the Court of Requests used by Richard III, for people that could not afford a representative min court and would be dealt justly. Another thing that was introduced by Richard III were area councils. The effectiveness of these councils was recognised by Henry and again restored to their full capacity, opening area for improvement in personal improvement. Wales was a great supporter of Henry and remained loyal to his cause, as in his earlier years Henry had grown up in Wales before having to flee to France. Therefore Wales was peacefully ruled over by Arthur, Prince of Wales and the Marches mostly made up of independent lords, local to that region. The Earl of Surrey, Son of the Earl of Norfolk, who fought alongside Richard III at the battle of Bosworth, headed the council of the North, this seemed a safe choice as the Earl of Surrey had no land, power or support up in the North and so could be trusted to rule justly.
Henry’s Policies were based around that he trusted no-one, he wanted to secure his aim in keeping the throne, he used Bonds and recognisances in order to keep people loyal to himself, even his own mother and also used Parliament, back dating his reign by one day in order to get rid of the power his main rivals had against him. He knew that as he had not enough experience of being in the position that he was in, he needed to take everything seriously and to handle issues properly. Otherwise his reign would be short-lived and he would once again have to flee. But by no means at all was he anti-nobility, he just wanted to make sure that no-one had too much power, that people would appreciate what he gave them and that most importantly he consolidated his power so that his family would be on the throne for many years to come, of which they were. With trusting main men in order to govern over the country had it’s perks. After the death of his councillors, Henry did not establish a new one to take them over, instead he relieved them of their lands and duties and started to concentrate the councils around himself. Combining these councils actually improved efficiency.
Although Henry took control by the reigns and established his authority over England and Wales one area was never really within his grasp, Ireland. Although he only gained a small part of Ireland, he never could realistically gain control of the whole of Ireland. The area that he ruled was known as “The Pale” this was a strip of land that was 50 miles west of Dublin. Officially in Ireland Henry was known as the Lord of Ireland, but could not govern it himself, so administered a lord lieutenant in order to take care of the business, however the Lord of Kildare really held the power, he was the lieutenants Deputy. Lord Kildare Supported Perkin Warbeck, who was a pretender, impersonating one of Edward’s sons in the Tower of London. The money
granted by the Parliament for the war against Scotland as used in order to tame these threats of impersonation and the rebellion down in Cornwall. Henry tried to practise English law within Ireland but proved to of more expense than gain, the long distance proving too far to breach. Therefore Kildare was reinstated and the main power again lay with the Anglo-Irish Chieftains in Ireland.
For the period that the government was in Henry’s government proved to be very efficient increasing by far the amount of incoming revenue, this is proved as Henry died solvent. It is also proved to be in some circumstances too effective as Dudley and Empsom found out, with their lives, in honouring the King and make his finances seem more with fraud, his successor Henry VIII then executed them from an outcry from the Nobles. Henry did not make the mistake of granting too much power to any one noble, distributed power evenly and cautiously with great effectiveness, thus securing his power. His government and administration can also be seen as a success as he was able to hand his crown down to his son and heir Henry VIII. This had not been done for quite some time and shows that Henry VII had finally placed some kind of stableness in the country of England. Henry’s basic aim’s were to secure power, in which he did and achieve financial stability, which he also achieved. However I do no think that he intended of creating the start of a New monarchy in the respects of changing things for the future. He just changed things to benefit himself and his government.
