Historians and essay plans

• Henry VIII success: Accession (high position)

  • He ascended to the throne in a joint coronation with Catherine of Aragon.
  • His reign was seen as a new era.
  • Many believed they were being released from the harshness of his father's reign, especially with him immediately increasing support through the arrest of Empson and Dudley + closure of the Council Learned.

  BUT...

  • He was not prepared for kingship, not educated in government and the art of kingship.
• Henry VIII success: Foreign Policy

  • Battle of Spur (1513)
  • Battle of Flodden Field (1513)
  • Regency of sister Margaret in Scotland= peace
  • Treaty of Bruges (1521)
  • Made over £730,000, in total with French pensions.

  BUT...

  • Very expensive FP
  • Failed ultimate goal of French crown
  • Anglo-Scottish relations= tense + unfriendly
  • Field of Cloth of Gold (1520), no real achievements.
  • Ireland drained finance.
  • Trade embargo, Antwerp
  • Total cost of wars was over 3.5 mil
• Henry VIII success: Government

  • Called Parliament 9X ,money and religious legislation
  • Began w/ 70 Privy councillors, ended with 20, Eltham Ordinances.
  • Court of Chancery, land and enclosures.
  • Power of nobles re-established
  • Wolsey, 322,099 in subsidies, 240,000 clerical taxation, 260,000 forced loans
  • Cromwell, doubled revenue from £150,000, following Court of Augmentation.

  BUT...

  • Not interested in government & depended too much on Wolsey and Cromwell.
  • Expenditure between 1509-1520 = £1.7 mil
  • Factionalism increased due to Henry's changing wives.
• Henry VIII success: Economy

  • Estimated inheritance of £1.8 mil in 1509
  • 70% cloth exported in English ships, woolen trade exports doubled
  • Attempts to deal with enclosure issues
  • 26 blast furnaces, iron ore.
  • Act of Resumption, ^ crown revenue
  • Hides and tin, trade and exports.

  BUT...

  • Aggressive FP led to forced loans and subsidies.
  • Amicable Grant (1525) illegal tax, rebellion in Lincolnshire
  • Bad harvests 1520s
  • Debasement of coinage 1526, 1544-46
  • No exploration
• Henry VIII success : Society

  • Enclosures, found 264 cases against landowners
  • ^ authority given to Council of North- P of G.
  • Life expectancy ^ 35-38 years
  • 60,000 people living in London
  • ^ no. of JP's

  BUT...

  • Amicable Grant (1525),rebellion
  • P of G (1536), 30,000 rebels
  • Enclosure issues not effectively addressed
  • Vagrancy ^
  • Bad harvest, debasement, inflation
  • Churches lost education, Dissolution of Monasteries impact
  • Grain prices ^
• Henry VIII success: Religion and Humanism

  • Submission of Clergy 1532
  • Act in Restraint of Appeals (1533)
  • Supremacy (1534)
  • Succession (1534)
  • Treason Act (1534)
  • Dissolution Acts (1534-1536)
  • Rome influence reduced
  • Henry got divorced, + income ^. Resale= 1.3 mil roughly
  • Religious doctrine fairly unchanged.

  BUT...

  • Henry excommunicated 1538
  • P of G 1536
  • More than 800 Monastic Houses closed.
  • Unemployment & Vagrancy ^, no charity from Monasteries
  • Church buildings and idols destroyed