Section C: Cromwell and government, 1534-40

• what were the problems with wales, ireland, and the north?

  1. ireland could be a back door for foreign invasion of england
  2. wales retined its own laws and language = difficult to control
  3. the north was governed by the council of the north under the control of the king, but in reality the northern nbility retained great power in their own right.
• what was the problem of the government run by the royal council?

  it was not well run, decisions were not oficially recorded and it was often dominated by one man.
• what did cromwell do to fix the problems in ireland?

  he established a permanent military force in the area round Dublin called the Pale. however, he did not try to extend english control beyond this area because of the risks.
• what did cromwell do to fix the problems in wales?

  the 1536 act of union said that welsh laws would be replaced by english laws, wales was divided into counties which sent MPs to the english parliament, an english became the official language of wales.
• what did cromwell do to fix the problems in the north?

  cromwell reorganised the council of the north and gave it greater responsibility for law and order. this improved royal security in the north, but northern lords remained extremely powerful and the crown was still dependent on their loyalty to maintain law and order.
• what did cromwell do to fix the problems in the royal council?

  cromwell created a new, simpler version of the royal council known as the privy council. it was made up of 20 permanent advisors and a clerk of the privy council was appointed to record decisions.
• what were henry's financial problems that cromwell tried to fix?

  1. he needed to maintain his magnificent court and defend england from the risk of invasion
  2. in the 1520s, henry received a big windfall from the dissolution of the monasteries, and this needed to be organised properly
  3. the king's chamber kept track of henry's income and expenditure, but accounts were not properly kept, and henry's lack of interest in its day-to-day running meant that it was badly organised.
• what did cromwell do to try and maintain his magnificent court and defend england from the risk of invasion?

  he set up the Court of Augmentation in 1536, to handle the money from the dissolution of the monasteries. it had a central staff and regional offices to make sure the maximum income was obtained.
• what did cromwell do to try and fix the big windfall from the dissolution of the monasteries?

  the court of first fruit and tenths, created in 1540, which collected a tax from the clergy that had previously been sent to rome
• what were the problems with parliament? - cromwell era

  1. parliament was only called occasionally to raise money for wars or approve new laws. in the 1530s as henry and cromwell needed parliament to pass laws which changes the country's religion and established the king as the supreme head of the church. however, there was a danger that when they parliament it would express opposition to henry's policies instead of supporting them.
• what were solutions to problems with parliament? - cromwell era

  1. in 1532, cromwell and henry forced the. house of commons to 'divide' the vote for the first time. puts MPs under the pressure to vote for what the king wanted, so henry would know who supported him.
  2. 1533, cromwell made sure many new MPs supported the king's reforms by managing elections with bribery and threats. no new but effective.
  3. cormwell wrote pamphlets outlining new laws for the MPs to read in advance = propaganda