Breadth Study 2

• The localities were regions in England that lay beyond London, where the further the locality was away from London, the harder it was to govern
• Local governance was adminstered by gentry and nobility who collected taxation and upheld order
• Tudor monarchs extended control through patronage, as it increased a strong working relationship with the nobility
• Marcher regions were areas where they had developed their own laws and customs: found in: Scotland and Wales
• Nobility in these areas were known as 'quasi-kings' and were granted land by the king and had more military power
• Some of the marcher lords in Wales were out of touch with England until the 1530s
• The Nobility had built a large power base and could be a threat to the monarch
• The North was split into 3 marches, operated by wardens: the Percies, Nevilles and Cliffords
• The North was imperative to Henry VII, as he had defeated the Yorkists and was seen as a usurper, therefore had a sense of vunerability
• The 1535 Act in Wales by Thomas Cromwell transformed the structure of Welsh Government
• The Welsh marcher lordships were abolished and Wales was split into 12 English-style counties. It also abolished the Welsh langauge in the courts - only English was permitted
• Each county had a sheriff, JP, coroner and 2 Mp's allocated for Parliament
• The 1535 Act was the end of the traditional military marcher lords, a process which had already begun with the destruction of the Duke of Buckingham in 1521, but legalised in 1535
• The 1542 Act in Wales brought Wales into the English legal system, abolishing systems such as blood feuds
• Counts of great sessions were allocated twice per year in each Welsh county
• The 1542 Act also formalised the Council of Wales, making it a formal body, with a president and vice president appointed by a monarch
• In 1536, a rebellion had broken out in Lincolnshire, therefore Cromwell decided to remodel the Council of the North in 1537
• Cromwell changed it so it:

  • Had authority over Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland
  • Had headquarters in York, the former abbot of St Mary's priory
  • Spearheaded by a member of the nobility or bishop from the South, therefore remaining impartial
• The Northern council was perceived as the Star Chamber, but in the North
• Elizabeth tried to enforce more southerners into the council, however many resented and it contributed to the Rebellion of the Northern Earls in 1569, which again showed the council was not fully in control of the North
• The Northern council was again reconstructed in 1569, where Elizabeth's cousin Henry Hastings was made president. As a result, the North became much more stable with no further rebellions
• Borough representation grew to 191 boroughs in the end of Elizabeth;s reign as the house of commons grew from 296 members to 462
• Rotten boroughs were an area with a very small population, however still had the right to send MP's
• Many gentry who became Mp's for a constituency did not even live in the area they were supposed to represent
• Many gentry who became MP's were also puppets to the higher up nobility, who were then controlled by the monarch. In turn, the MP's were controlled by the Monarch
• At the start of the Tudor period, 50% of MP's were merchants, and at the end, 80% were gentry who didn't live in the area
• Many boroughs were also created in regions controlled by the Monarch eg the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster. These included boroughs in Grampound and Camelford
• The 1513 Subsidy from Wolsey was a fairer method of income tax to increase taxation
• Previously, everyone was taxed either a 10th or 15th of their income, Now people were taxed on your wealth, land, wages or value of assests
• Subsidies were carried out in 1514, 1515, 1523, 1534, 1555
• The revenue of tax from Wolsey's era to Elizabeth's era diminished from £322,099 to a mere £80,000
• The growth of humanist ideas reinforced the increase of literacy, especially amongst the yeomen class
• Rich and poor boys were allowed to attend public grammar schools, where they were taught basic skills and were taught to read and write, along with English and Latin
• Oxford and Cambridge's number of students also increased during the period. Oxford went from 1150 from 1500 to 2000 by the end of the period
• With literacy rates increasing, the yeomen started to become apart of government into the localities , where parliament and statute law brought around new opportunities
• Another result of increased literacy was men of the yeomen class becoming less involved in rebellion, especially in Elizabeth's reign, as they could now dispute it instead of attacking it. Eg - economic crisis's in the 1590s saw no popular mass uprising
• JP's were local officials from the local nobility or gentry who were appointed annually for each county to hear and decide cases of felony, trespass, arrest suspects and supervise fix on wages and prices
• Henry VII extended the power of the JP's as he was a usurper, so he needed his most trusted members to help him rule eg Thomas Lovell in Yorkshire and Essex. In 1495, he allowed them to act on information without a jury and replace jurors plus inquire into illegal retaining by the nobility
• Under Elizabeth, deputy lieutenants who were JPs, had the responsibility of gathering men to combat rebellion.
• By 1603, 309 Acts of Parliament were passed which gave JP's more social and political influence such as the ability to deal with new felonies such as drunkenness, riots and minor offences. Also tasked with the administration of the poor laws.