Wolsey’s domestic reforms: Justice, Enclosures and Finance

Cards (7)

  • Domestic reforms are changes a person makes to their own country.
  • The main areas that Wolsey worked on were justice, enclosure and finance
  • As lord chancellor, he was in charge of the legal system. The system was unfair and favoured those with money.
  • He strengthens the star chamber court.
    1. he raises the previous 12 cases a yr to 120 cases.
    2. he encouraged poor people to bring cases forward.
    3. decisions were made public.
  • Henry wanted money to increase power. The old system of direct taxation didn’t work. Subsidy was introduced when the more income you have the more money you pay.
  • Enclosure was being blamed for poverty, enclosure could lead to farmers being forced off their land as landowners would fence off other peoples land for sheep rearing.
    1. Wolsey tried to find a solu to enclosures out of genuine care for the poor and so he could attack the rich
    2. in 1517 he investigated where land had been enclosed. This led to 260 cases this is a significant number since not many cases are normally put on.
    3. Angry land owners forced Wolsey to cause a halt in his investigation.