Government

• Elizabeth I's reign

  1558-1603
• Governance under Henry VII

  1. Decisions made until 1514

  2. Governance by Council broke down due to the king's impulsiveness and councillors' conservatism

  3. Wolsey dominated government after the conciliar approach ended in 1514
• Henry VII's reign

  1485-1509
• Edward VI's reign


  1547-1553
• Governance under Edward VI

  1. Somerset largely governed with his own household

  2. Warwick presided as Lord President of the Council following a coup against Somerset
• Governance under Elizabeth I

  Central Government's most important element
• Henry VIII's reign

  1509-1547
• Mary I's reign


  1553-1558
• Governance under Henry VIII

  1. Wolsey complimented the king's hands-off approach to policy making

  2. Cromwell dominated royal government for the rest of the 1530s

  3. Tudor Revolution in Government with reforms sweeping away the old medieval style
• Privy Council

  • Advised the King
  • Consisted of about 24 Privy Councillors under Henry VII
  • Term 'privy council' evolved under Henry VIII
  • Major reform in the 1530s with 20 men chosen for specific responsibilities
• Governance under Mary I

  1. Northumberland extended the use and importance of the Council

  2. Rivalry between Mary's catholic councillors and moderates led by Sir William Paget
• Central Government for Elizabeth

  1. Most important element

  2. Achieved first success

  3. Did not repeat Mary’s mistake of a large Council

  4. About 10 members met regularly

  5. Continuity with some of Mary’s councillors and added her own

  6. Sir William Cecil and Robert Dudley most prominent

  7. Cecil served in government of Edward

  8. Members of the Privy Council served Elizabeth as Parliamentary managers

  9. Structure of government reduced factional rivalries as no minister had complete control over patronage

  10. Coherent government began to decline in 1590s due to clashes between Elizabeth and Cecil and Earl of Essex
• Parliament was called on 7 occasions, 5 of which were in Henry’s first decade
• Henry continued to grant extraordinary revenue and pass laws following his father's pattern
• Parliament's function is to pass laws and grant taxation
• Cromwell exploited the use of Parliament, calling it more frequently in the latter half of Henry’s reign for money required for expensive foreign wars and the establishment of the Royal Supremacy
• Parliament operated effectively and Henry respected decisions
• Parliament was used to pass religious laws but not to establish or destroy the protectorate or to pass the Act of Succession
• In November 1553, a deputation of MPs petitioned Mary to marry an Englishman
• Mary’s plan to confiscate the property of protestant exiles was defeated by Parliament
• Elizabeth made a clear distinction between topics that Parliament was in its rights to discuss and those of Royal Prerogative, discussing at invitation only
• Elizabeth had to be persuaded to call Parliament as it was as unimportant to her as it was to her father, with the Royal Veto ensuring Elizabeth had the final say
• There is little evidence of Henry ‘managing’ Parliament through ministers
• Parliament is not central to the system of government
• Extraordinary revenue was granted for war by Parliament
• Wolsey only called one Parliament during his period of dominance, in 1523
• Acts of Attainder were most frequently passed in Parliament
• In 1554, Parliament rejected a bill that would have specifically included Philip in a proposed new law on treason, preventing Philip’s coronation as King in 1555
• The practice of frequent parliaments continued with 2 parliaments in six years and only one year without a session in 1551
• Parliament remained an occasional part of the political system with 13 sessions in 44 years of reign
• Mary’s first Parliament passed the first Act of Repeal
• Members of Henry's Privy Chamber

  • Daubeney
  • Lovell
  • John Morton
  • Richard Fox
  • Sir Reginald Bray
  • Edmund Dudley
• Wolsey tried to neutralise the Privy Chamber in 1519 but was unsuccessful
• Relationship between Elizabeth and Parliament

  Marked by cooperation rather than conflict
• Staff of Mary's privy chamber

  • Catholic loyalists or familiars
  • Susan Tonge
  • Mary Finch
  • James Basset
• The Privy Chamber was the private rooms where Queen Elizabeth would often eat, away from the public gaze
• 1536 Act divided Wales into shires and brought Wales into the same legal framework as England
• Admission to the Privy Chamber was carefully guarded
• Henry Courtney, Marquess of Exeter


  Dominant in the Southwest
• Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford


  Headed the Council in Wales and the Marches