Stability of Monarchy (30marker)

• what did the third succession issued by Henry in 1543 include?

  If Edward died without heirs the throne would be passed to Mary, if she died without heirs it would be passed onto Elizabeth and her heirs - This reversed the earlier successions which did not include Elizabeth and Mary
• Henry established the regency council due to fears of political stability under Edward - was balanced by reformists led by Seymour and Catholics under Norfolk
• how was the regency council undermined?

  • William Paget and Denny left space on King's will for changes to be made and Henry couldn't do anything as he was close to death.
  • Gardiner also removed Norfolk from the tower
  • Denny controlled the dry stamp of Henry's signature so they did not need it.
• 3 problems of a minor on the throne?

  • unable to lead troops into battle
  • other countries may try and exploit the weakness of a minor on the throne and attack
  • high chance of civil war similarly to fifteenth century
• during this period somerset rose in power
• 3 overarching factors that came from Edward's age?

  • establishment of regency council
  • problems with a minor on the throne
  • emergence of somerset
• 4 reasons why gender was such a huge concern for Mary coming to the throne?

  • the one time there was female ruler it led to civil war
  • unable to control faction
  • unable to lead an army into battle
  • women expected to marry but will be subservient to their husbands
• what 2 further problems did Mary being subservient in her marriage lead to?

  • if she married an Englishman her husbands family will have too much power, leading to domination of the court
  • if she married a foreigner, country could be dominated by foreigners
• an advantage of Mary's marriage with Philip was it would bring England closer to Habsburgs who were her mothers origin. a disadvantage was as she is subservient England could be dragged into non beneficial wars
• 3 pieces of evidence showing Mary's marriage caused instability?

  Wyatt rebellion 1554

  Council rejecting her marriage through a petition

  Lady Jane Grey 1553
• consequently all opposition to marriage destabilised her marriage as it was delayed for a year and Philip was rarely present in England
• the devise of the succession in 1553 was to exclude Mary from the succession due to her being Catholic, Northumberland was claimed to be behind it as Mary coming to power would mean:

  • he would lose power as he was a protestant
• Northumberland grew his importance by arranging the marriage of his son Guildford Dudley to marry Lady Jane Grey and then Edward named her as his heir
• the plot was poorly managed and supports the view Edward was behind the organisation as Northumberland would:

  • ensure sufficient forces are there to take control due to being an experienced soldier
  • ensure Mary was captured but she fled to East Anglia
  • launch a propaganda campaign to prepare the nation for change of succession
• the 1558 succession was very peaceful. Mary wanted Elizabeth to maintain Catholic faith but the peaceful succession shows that Henry's Third Succession Act was more important than religious faith
• Faction in the last years of Henry VIII was a struggle because of dominance of reformist faction over Catholic faction - going against a balanced regency council
• In 1549 there was unrest from the countryside, rebels and disquiet within governing circle about nature of Somerset’s government - led to formation of anti Somerset faction
• the anti-somerset faction was a dislike of Somerset's methods and policies, it included Paget and Northumberland (Warwick).

  Warwick would have saw it as an opportunity to advance his own power while Paget was concerned about Somerset ignoring his advice
• Somerset fled to Hampton Court with Edward when his hold on power declined. Edward fell ill and claimed he was a prisoner so abandoned Somerset. Edward also claimed Somerset threatened riots if he was removed from power
• 4 ways Warwick guaranteed his position?

  • council contained many religious conservatives who wouldn't trust Warwick so he brought his allies for protestant majority
  • rumours of Catholic plot so declared anyone attacking Somerset was attacking him
  • dismissed leading Catholic like Earl Arundel and Southampton and made himself Lord President of the Council by January 1550
  • placed his own supporters in important positions around Edward
• Somerset was reconsolidated when released from jail, his goods were restored and his daughter married Warwick's son. However Somerset continued to plot to recover his position, privy coucil executed him in January 1552
• there was worries about Mary's faction as people believed a woman could not control faction and her proposed marriage supported different suitors

  English courtiers also worried about their position as they expected Spanish to dominate court
• divisions in the privy council occurred as Mary brought many of her own supporters to help secure the throne alongside experienced administrators making the council large. it can be argued it was still effective as:

  • rare for all councillors to be present
  • average size of meetings similar to Northumberland
• clashes between Gardiner and Paget were because of revival of heresy laws and Mary's marriage
• 2 things parliament rejecting reintroduction of heresy laws in 1554 showed?

  • Mary's religious policies were unpopular
  • factional struggle between Paget and Gardiner as same legislation easily was passed later as Paget and his supporters backed it
• Cardinal Pole as papal legate changed nature of court as Mary knew of disagreements between councillors so everything was referred to Cardinal Pole