The Tudors for Dummies (AvaxHome Download) (8 page)

The royal Council

There was no Cabinet or prime minister in One of the most infamous parts of the Council's

Tudor times. The king made the decisions and work was the Court of Star Chamber, named after

to advise him was the Council, 40 or so men a room in which it met, which had stars painted

who had no collective responsibility � they just on the ceiling. It dealt with great men who'd

worked for the king. About half were church- broken the law but who could ride roughshod

men, a quarter nobles and the rest lawyers over the local courts. Star Chamber has devel-

and Household administrators. An inner core oped an undeserved reputation of being some-

of about a dozen carried out all the business of where where justice wasn't available, but was

government on the king's behalf. just the king getting heavy and ignoring the law.

Getting married

Henry had promised, in the run-up to the Bosworth campaign, to marry

Elizabeth Woodville's daughter, Elizabeth of York. She was 19 in 1485 and

Henry had never seen her. Parliament reminded the new king of his promise

to marry but the snag was, the pair were distant cousins. In the Catholic

Church only one man in the world could get round this usually prohibited

match and that was the pope, God's vicar (number two) on earth. This

permission came through on 2 March 1486. Anybody who opposed Henry

and his new bride would now face excommunication (being cut off from the

Church and heaven) as well as Henry's axe if the attempt went pear-shaped.

We know virtually nothing about the wedding, except that Archbishop

Bourchier probably did the honours.

The marriage united the houses of York and Lancaster forever, but it was

probably sheer exhaustion and lack of leaders that stopped a continuation of

the fighting.

Ruling the Kingdom

Some people expected the new king to make sweeping changes, but in fact

Henry much preferred to operate within existing systems and was very good

at making the best of an average job, turning a small kingdom on the edge of

Europe into a powerful country that nobody could ignore. 40 Part I: Encountering the Early Tudors

Choosing the right men

Henry deliberately picked men who relied on him for their income and suc-

cess. Some were churchmen like John Morton and Richard Fox; others were

gentlemen like Reginald Bray and Edmund Dudley. These `new men' were

very much the hallmark of the Tudor period and when it came to serious

trouble against the royals � as in the Rising of the North and the rebellion of

the earl of Essex under Elizabeth � it was the nobility who were still at it, with

ideas above their station.

Rousting the rebels: Lambert Simnel

and Perkin Warbeck

Henry faced opposition in the first half of his reign. In 1486 viscount Lovell

and the Stafford brothers tried to stir up discontent against Henry in

Yorkshire and Worcestershire.

In the same year Lambert Simnel (impostors have to have cool names)

claimed to be Edward, Earl of Warwick, which was ridiculous as Henry had

the real guy safely in prison. Simnel was set up by Richard Simons, a priest,

and he was actually the son of a carpenter from Oxford. The pretender got

across to France, got the backing of one of Warwick's aunts (Margaret of

Burgundy, who'd never seen the real Warwick) and went to Ireland, from

where he intended to invade. There he was welcomed with open arms

and crowned Edward VI (don't confuse him with the real Edward VI � see

Chapters 7 and 8) on 24 May 1487.

Landing in Lancashire with about 4,000 Irish and German mercenaries, Simnel

and the earl of Lincoln were decisively beaten at Stoke on 16 June. This, not

Bosworth, was really the last battle of the Wars of the Roses. Richard Simons

was imprisoned for life and Simnel put to work as a scullion (dogsbody) in

the royal kitchens.

Then, in 1491, Perkin Warbeck (see what we mean about cool names?)

turned up as another threat to Henry. He was actually the son of a boatman

from Tournai, but he looked so like Edward IV that rumours spread he was

Richard of York, the younger of the vanished princes (see the earlier side-

bar `The princes in the Tower'. Others took up the idea and tried to launch

another invasion from Ireland, but since the Irish had been thrashed at Stoke,

they weren't interested in getting involved again.

Warbeck went to France, cashing in on a temporary period of hostility

between Henry VII and Charles VIII (see the following section), but when that

came to nothing he latched on to Margaret of Burgundy, who hated Henry.

She fed Warbeck enough information on the real Richard to make his claim

seem genuine. Henry's spy network monitored Warbeck's every move, however, Chapter 2: Starting a Dynasty: Henry VII 41 and when he tried to land in Kent in July 1495 with a small force he was easily beaten back.

Next Warbeck tried Scotland and was backed by King James IV, who believed every word the impostor said. He even offered Warbeck his kinswoman Katherine Gordon in marriage. The Scots invasion was feeble, however (see Chapter 7 for one that was far more serious), and it petered out. More trouble came from Cornwall where resentment against Henry's taxation (see `Figuring out finances', later in this chapter) was the cause of open rebellion. Warbeck joined the rebels there but was chased around the country and taken prisoner.

When Warbeck tried to do a runner, it was obvious that Henry couldn't trust him and he was hanged on 29 November 1499.

The threats to Henry's throne were over.

Pursuing peace and prosperity Henry's main aim in foreign policy was to get other countries to recognise his dynasty and to remain on friendly terms with them. War cost money and you might not win.

Wales Being Welsh was a huge advantage for Henry and he cashed in on it. Wales wasn't technically a separate country, but even so it was useful to keep the Welsh on-side. So Henry made his eldest son, Prince Arthur, prince of Wales in November 1489. Arthur ran (in theory anyway because he was still a child) the royal Council that governed Wales and controlled the marcher lordships (the rich families who owned the castles along the English border). This situ- ation would eventually lead to Wales being governed totally by England by 1536 (although the Welsh were given some rights for behaving themselves). Figure 2-2 shows the situation in 1536 � the western areas were the principal- ity of Wales and the eastern areas were the marcher lordships.

Ireland The English had occupied a narrow strip of land around Dublin since the 12th century and had built castles and garrisoned them with troops to keep the natives in their place. England had been too busy during the Wars of the Roses to bother much about Ireland and most people, of all classes, regarded the Irish with contempt. Long after the word vanished from England, the majority of Irish men and women were peasants, desperately poor and wholly reliant on the harvest.

Figure 2-3 outlines the lay of the land in Tudor times. 42 Part I: Encountering the Early Tudors

The Pale was the bit around Dublin, run by a governor or lieutenant

appointed by the king. Outside this were marcher lordships where lords

lived in their castles and often fought each other without very much

reason.

The Obedient Lands � the earldoms of Desmond, Ormond and Kildare �

were the places run by Englishmen whose families had been in Ireland

for years. The Crown could largely trust these Englishmen.

The English Plantations were areas of land that the English had confis-

cated from the Irish and populated with their own colonisers, or

planters.

The Wild Lands were Gaelic Ireland (and led to the phrase beyond the

pale, meaning hopeless). The Irish tribes like the O'Donnells, Maquires

and O'Connells ran the Wild Lands.

The whole country was lawless with battles and skirmishes beyond the Pale

and no overall control existed. The vast majority of people spoke Gaelic and

wore woven kilts and plaids like the Scottish clans.

Religion was complicated in Ireland, but it wasn't a problem until the rise of

Protestantism under Edward VI (see Chapter 8).

Henry had been concerned about Ireland for some time. The place was like

sand, constantly slipping through his fingers, and lawlessness, squabbling

and violence were rife. He was determined to get a firm grip on the situation,

especially as in the late 1520s thousands of Irish people emigrated to Wales,

tired of the endless fighting and the protection money they had to pay for

peace and quiet.

The leading figures in Irish politics were:

The Earl of Kildare

The Earl of Ossory

William Skeffington

John Alen, archbishop of Dublin

Henry was dealing with all these men as their individual power and support

came and went. When Thomas Cromwell replaced Wolsey as chief councillor

for the lordship of Ireland in 1532, the job of sorting out the wayward country

fell to him.

In September 1533 Cromwell ordered Kildare and other leaders to London

for top level talks. Kildare didn't like the sound of that because he valued his

independence too much. He started moving cannon out of Dublin Castle to

his own estates, but he did finally go to London in February 1534, leaving his

son, Thomas Fitzgerald, Lord Offaly, as governor. Chapter 2: Starting a Dynasty: Henry VII 43

Henry, via Cromwell, sent Offaly orders as to how to do his job (never a path

to smooth Anglo�Irish relations) and Kildare resigned the governorship in pro-

test. That was as far as Kildare intended to go, but his son had other ideas.

Revolting with Silken Thomas

Offaly, who was known as Silken Thomas because of the mantling (cloth deco-

ration) he wore on his helmet, warned Henry off any more interference by

cosying up to Charles V, the holy Roman emperor, for help.

Flint

Conw ay

Bangor

N

Machynl l eth

A ber ystwyt h

C ar digan

Brecon

New port

Sw ansea

H aver for d West

Cardi ff

KEY

= Anglo-Welsh border

= The Principality Figure 2-2:

Wales in

= The Marcher Lordships

1536. 44 Part I: Encountering the Early Tudors

N ANTRIM

ULSTER

Carri ckfergus

MONAGHAN

H

UT

LO

Ki ngs and

Queens Dubl i n

LEIX

Count i es

Maynooth

MUNSTER OFFALY

KEY

S mer wick

Wexford = Obedient Lands

= Dublin Pale

K i nsal e = English Plantations

Figure 2-3:

Ireland in

Tudor times. = Wild Lands

Offaly was clearly trying it on. He claimed to be defending the Catholic Church,

but Henry had made no direct attacks on the Church in Ireland at this stage.

In 1536 Henry's new brand of Catholicism (which we detail in Chapter 6) was

accepted by Ireland. He was now `the only Supreme Head on earth of the

whole Church of Ireland called Hibernia Ecclesia'.

Offaly's troops overran the Pale, backed by Irish chieftains from the Wild

Lands who saw a chance for profit and a punch-up (see the nearby sidebar

`A glimpse of 16th-centry Ireland' for more on these regions). He was now the

earl of Kildare and a man to be reckoned with, but William Skeffington's army

brought the rebels to heel. Offaly was besieged in Maynooth, west of Dublin, Chapter 2: Starting a Dynasty: Henry VII 45 and although the town surrendered he got away and continued to make a nui- sance of himself, raiding far and wide.

Offaly surrendered to Henry's troops in August 1535 and was imprisoned in the Tower, dying by the axe for treason along with five uncles 18 months later. The power of the Fitzgerald family was destroyed.

Establishing the kingdom of Ireland Anthony St Leger became governor of Ireland in July 1540. The situation he inherited looked like this:

The Parliament in Dublin was a rubber stamp for Henry, but it only

operated in the Pale and the Obedient Lands (see the nearby sidebar `A

glimpse of 16th-centry Ireland').

Only the monasteries (which Henry had destroyed � see Chapter 6) in

the anglicised area had gone; the others were out of reach.

Henry's and St Leger's solution was to make the lordship into the kingdom of Ireland. Its status would improve and the Irish chieftains were to hand over their lands to the king, who'd then rent the lands back to them under what was left of the feudal system. This would mean that the chieftains would become lords under Henry's direct control and they could pass their lands on to their children rather than having them owned by the tribe, which was the current system.

Nobody was much fooled by Henry's olive branch and fighting broke out against those who accepted his offer. King of Ireland Henry may have been, but his new kingdom was as much trouble as ever.

Scotland Hostility between the English and the Scots had endured for centuries, and the way James IV welcomed Perkin Warbeck was proof the bad relations were ongoing. James had the sense, however, to drop Warbeck and instead he and Henry signed the Peace of Ayton in September of 1497. This arranged a marriage deal between James and Henry's 12-year-old daughter Margaret, which was to have huge consequences later (see Figure 2-4 and Chapter 16) because it led to the Stuarts becoming kings of England. It was the first full treaty between the two countries since 1328 and was proof was Henry's skil- ful diplomacy. The accord was renewed in 1499.