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The Mid- Tudor Crisis
The Tudor Background:
War of the Roses:
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Between Richard III and Henry VII
Hnery VII has troops from France
...
Established foreign
relations in order to protect British land
Set up trade relations with the Netherlands (wool), France which in turn improved foreign relations and the
economy
Concentrated on creating a strong Dynasty

Henry VIII:
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The government in his final years had been marked by factional rivalry whose objectives was control of the young
Prince Edward with motives that the knowledge of control of Edward would be key in political power after Henry’s
death
Henry’s will laid down that a council of 16 members should rule after his death until Edward VI was of age to rule
The English political system, laid out by Henry VIII made it so that ultimate authority lay with the Crown
...

The Break with Rome is the rejection of the authority of the Pope over the English church and therefore cutting ties
with Catholicism
To Catholics, the authority of the Pope guaranteed that religious practice had been transmitted from the earliest
Christian church
He had ensured in 1554, the break of the English Church from the Church of Rome and had created the Church of
England with himself as the supreme head
...
For example, the Treason Act of 1534
significantly widened the scope of what constituted treason
Religious disunity meant political conflict as different members of the government were either Protestant and
Catholic and many did not see eye-to-eye with each other
o Key members of Henry’s council, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Earl of Hertford were
Protestant
...
This is called
the dissolution of the monasteries

Results:
 The result was a country whose emerging religious divisions would become even more stark
 The dissolved monasteries led to the push of English Church in a Protestant direction

Economic Problems during Henry VIII’s Reign:
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Henry’s search for personal glory led to expensive wars with Scotland and France
Despite the fact that the English captured Boulogne, to defend it, new fortifications had to be built and to pay for
these escapades, Henry sold off crown assets and debased the coinage
o Due to debasement, money was worth less and led to rapid inflation causing economic instability
The wars with France and Scotland were so expensive that Henry was forced to sell much of monastic land the
Crown had acquired from the dissolution of the monasteries
...
Debasement of the coinage
in order to pay for the expensive wars against France and Scotland had triggered inflationary pressure that would
get much worse during Edward VI’s reign

The Mid- Tudor Crisis 1547~1548:
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David Loades (Revisionist view) – there was “simmering discontent” in the countryside, where people could not
understand why, in a time of good harvests, bread should be so expensive
Some historians argue that the changes were so radical and wide-ranging that they contributed to a MTC
However, other historians argue that the changes that did occur were natural and what one might expect from a
period spanning over 50 years
The permanent machinery of State continued to function without a break after 1547
o Shows that the overhaul of government under the first two Tudor monarchs had achieved a firm basis
...

 They generally agreed that the feudal crisis and chronic anarchy of the late Middle Ages enabled western European
monarchs to gain power at the expense of the Church and aristocracy
o This was seen in both Mary and Edward’s reign
o In both Edward and Mary’s reign, aristocrats’ wealth was mainly untouched especially under Mary who had
to compromise her power for her subordinates’ wealth
New approaches:
 Many recent historians have argued that the mid-Tudor government is now considered to show considerable
strength in overcoming a series of potentially damaging difficulties

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Religious change is similarly seen as having been achieved with remarkably little disruption when compared with
developments on the continent
Although there was popular unrest, this was thought to have been caused by economic stresses rather than any
weakness on the part of the authorities
The major crisis point is now thought to have been the economy, which suffered not only from government
mishandling, but also from problems which were out of the governments’ control
The period from the final years of Henry VIII’s reign to the death of Mary constituted the Mid Tudor Crisis and was
overcome in Elizabeth’s reign
The main features of the crisis are:
o A crisis of authority in which the monarchs were compromised by religious factional fighting
o Social and economic crisis marked by poor harvests, government debasement of the coinage resulting in
inflation
o Foreign policy problems in which England’s second-rate status among the European powers was all too
evident
The abundance of political, social and economic factors was sufficient to create a structural crisis in which the
authority of monarchy and nobility was itself under threat

English government system:
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England was a constitutional monarchy constitutional monarchy – a system whereby a monarch governs the
kingdom within the limits of an agreed framework
They had to rely on the revenue from royal estates, and whatever money they could persuade parliament to grant
them
This meant that they could rarely afford to keep a standing army of mercenaries
o They had to rely on the goodwill of the aristocracy and gentry to raise troops from among their tenants

Order:
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Order was seen as the central problem for the 16th century state
Monarchs had to raise money for the ever-increasing machinery of government needed to maintain peace and
security
They would have to increase their revenue
o Extra taxation was unpopular and likely to provoke rebellion - > collapse of government
English monarchs depended on the active support of the majority of landowners (Marxist historian : bourgeois) and
on the passive obedience of the great mass of the population

The Reign of Edward VI 1547~1553:
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Whitney Jones (1973) – the weakness of the monarchy, accompanied by a decline into factionalism, was itself the
main cause of mountain economic and social distress in the period
...
However, the accession of a 9 yr old king created additional problems
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W
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Edward was crowed believing that it was his duty from God to purify the church and embarked on a policy of
Puritanism
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His vision of uniting the crowns of England and Scotland lay in ruins and, while the threat of French invasion
of the English mainland had been reduced, the English possessions in France were in danger of being lost
Nigel Heard – Somerset failed to show the leadership necessary to compensate for the absence of an adult monarch
Relied on his brother Thomas Seymour, Viscount Lisle, the Earl of Essex (Catherine Parr’s brother), Sir William Paget,
and Earl of Arundel, all very important people, to support him in being the Lord Protector
...

Original members of the Privy Council were angered by additional members and so, Somerset ordered for the arrest
of Earl of Southampton, to set an example
The atmosphere of Somerset’s regime was abundant of factional rivalries
o Thomas Seymour was angry for being left out of the Regency Council and tried to further his career by
marrying Princess Elizabeth
...
Because of this, Somerset pressed treason charges against Seymour and thereby achieved his
readmission to the Council

Government under Somerset:
 Nigel Heard – what can also be said is that Somerset failed to show the leadership necessary to compensate for the
absence of an adult monarch
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The Privy Council was made up of men who had risen to power under Henry
They used the same methods and machinery of government to cope with similar problems
The real differences were the lack of effective leadership, and the fact that existing problems had grown worse

Somerset’s Foreign Policy:
 Somerset wanted to:
o reassert the ancient claim of Edward I to suzerainty (feudal overlordship) over the Scottish throne
o to enforce the marriage between Edward VI and Mary Queen of Scots thus uniting the crowns of England
and Scotland
 Although the government was already bankrupt, Somerset continued the war and thereby further crippled the
country’s finances
 The continuation of war was seen as a matter of national pride by most of the aristocracy and gentry
o Any move to end the war would have lost Somerset support among the landed elites
 The Council was also bound by Henry VI’s last wishes to arrange a marriage between Edward VI and the infant Mary
o The English continued the war based on the ill-founded belief that a military victory would force the Scots to
agree to the marriage
 Somerset’s chosen strategy was to defeat the Scots in a battle, build and garrison a number of forts in the borders
and the south of Scotland thereby forcing the Scots into submission
...

o The deteriorating relationship between France and England led to a threat of war and the prospect of a
French invasion of S
...
1million GBP on the war and borrowed a further 152,000 from continental bankers
o To pay for this he had sold off most of the monastic lands seized between 1530-1540 as well as some Crown
lands
o This mean that the crown had lost most of its assets and increasingly plunged deeper into debt and became
increasingly illiquid
 1547 – the annual revenue from Crown lands had fallen to 200,000 GBP
 There was an urgent need to reform the taxation and customs systems
 There was also a need to reform the way finances were administered up to date
 Somerset and the Council did none of these things because of their preoccupation with the war
 They were also worried that if they raised taxes this would be unpopular with elites and other taxpayers
o Rebellion
 Instead, they seized more Church property and debased the coinage which led to inflation
 Royal mints were ordered to reissue the coinage and reduce the silver content by adding copper
o Currency lost value which encouraged inflation
 1551 – silver content had reduced to 25%
 However, these measures provided much needed revenue
 By increasing the number of coins in circulation the government was adding to inflation
o Prices, particularly for grain, rose rapidly fuelling discontent among the poor
Somerset’s Religious Reforms:
 Michael Tilbrook – Somerset himself seems to have been a genuine, albeit late, convert to Protestantism, and have
welcomed religious radicals such as John Hooper and Thomas Becon
 Eamon Duffy (The Stripping of Altars 1992) – the religious injunctions were a charter for revolution as it struck at the
heart of one of the principal expressions of medieval communal religion
...
Images such as statues
of saints were removed from churches and long-established ceremonies banned
o The Latin Roman Catholic Mass which was the heart of the Catholic doctrine and practice was replaced
under the 1549 Act of Uniformity by a service in English

Policies:
 1547 – When the government had established its power and decided its legislative programme, parliament was
summoned to meet
o One of its first actions was to pass a new Treason Act
The Treason Act:
Government
 Released the old heresy, treason and censorship laws and the Act of Six Articles which maintained doctrinal tried to
appeal to its
orthodoxy since 1539
people
 Removal of heresy laws allowed people to discuss religion freely without fear of arrest
amidst
 Ending of censorship on printing and publishing enabled the circulation of books and pamphlets on religion economic
and social
 It also allowed the importation of Lutheran and Calvinist literature
crises
 A whole mass of unpopular legislation passed during the previous reigns was thus swept away
 Public meetings frequently ended in disorder and riots, with attacks on churches to break up statues and other
Catholic images
 Repeal of the old laws let the county and urban authorities with much less power to deal with such situations
o The government had helped to promote the very disorder that it was trying to avoid
Chantries Act:
 1547 – it was a logical step after the dissolution of monasteries, to close chantries
 In reality, it was also a device to raise money to pay for the wars
 1548 – commissioners were sent out to visit chantries, confiscate their land and property, and collect gold and silver
o The gold and silver were melted down to make coins
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Denounced the images of saints and the use of holy water, in the process, triggering acts of iconoclasm (destruction
of images in churches) in London
A set of injunctions was issued under the authority of the King as the Supreme Head of the Church:
o Forbidding the burning of lights
o Encouraging the destruction of images and stained glass
The injunctions formed the basis of visitations (inspection of parish churches usually carried out under the authority
of a local bishop)
Dissolving of chantries and other religious guilds
...

However, dissolution of chantries was the main form of organised lay religious activity
The Crown secured money and property that had traditionally was the core of all sorts of popular and charitable
activities, feasts and celebrations

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Edward was wary of Mary because she continued Catholicism and this, to Edward meant initiative for others to
ignore his religious reforms

Anri Sakakibara

Date

Policy

Reason

Feb 1547

Denunciation of images in London

Reflected radical attitudes amongst
churchmen especially Nicholas Ridley

Jul 1547

Injections (orders issued for the
implementation of Church policy)
issued
Dissolution of chantries (chapels set
aside for the singing of masses for the
repose of dead souls in purgatory)

Reflected radical attitudes of the
government

Introduction of Book of Common
Prayer

Needed a uniform approach to religious
services

Dec 1547

May 1549

Crown needed money to pay for expensive
foreign policy

Increasing audience

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Significance
Ridley was supported by both the government
and Protestant activists within London who
advocated iconoclasm (destruction of images
within the church)
Attacked many features of popular Catholicism

Chantries, guilds and lay brotherhoods
abolished and their property seized by Crown
...
This meant that those reading the
new bible also followed the ideals of Edward VI

Anri Sakakibara
Domestic Policy:
 Williams Loach and D
...
The rebels had little
chance to experience the new prayer book and so, the actual religious grievances ran much deeper for the rebels
wanted nothing less than the reversal of the entire process of religious reform
 John Guy (Tudor England 1988) – the closest thing Tudor England came to a class war
 Eamon Duffy (The Voices of Morebath 2001) described the Western Rebellion was class antagonism
 Philip Caraman – the Western Rebellion was the most formidable opposition to the Reformation that England saw
 Historians agree that the rebels showed little knowledge of either Protestant or Catholic doctrines, but suggests that
such ignorance in the West Country probably reflected similar confusion among the great mass of the people
 Fletcher, Pollard, Stevenson – social tension lay at the heart of the rebellion and the rebels considered the gentry as
their enemy
 Historians tended to ignore the social and economic grievances in favour of the religious 0
 Nicholas Fellows – it is possible to make a link between the rebels’ religious grievances and their attack upon the
gentry: it was after all the gentry who had gained from the Reformation
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Only the Western Rebellion was directly linked with religion and even then, underlying economic and social
discontent played an important part in causing the uprising
To a certain extent the rebels in the west were complaining about enclosures and about the gentry, whom they
accused of making use of the Reformation to seize Church land for their own enrichment
Such views were held in other areas during the popular uprisings but only the West Country was direct opposition to
the new Act of Uniformity the central issue
The religious These changes on tradition led to the Western Rebellion of 1549, in which the rebels demanded a
return to the religious teachings and practices of Henry VIII’s reign

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 reforms had destroyed the whole way in which they had experienced religion, both in church services whose rituals
had had mainly a sensual appeal and in the Church’s wider communal role, in which they and their forebears had
invested money and emotion
 On the other hand, the Western Rebellion was more economic in origin
...
(Enclosures - when common land was taken into private ownership
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)
 The imposing of taxes on sheep came as a blow on farmers in Devon and Cornwall who saw it as rules by a seemingly
uncaring and ignorant government in London, made worse through its implementation by insensitive local officials
 Somerset’s government found it difficult to cope with the rebellions
o the thin resources of the Tudor State overstretched
o large number of troops engaged in the garrisoning at Scotland or stationed at the S
...

What the rebels actually wanted the government to do was to act on the promises of the reform which had been
made by the Duke of Somerset in his proclamation against enclosures in contrast to the western rebels who wished
to reverse government policy
 Nigel Heard – although enclosure has been cited as the primary cause of the rebellion, it truth it was just one among
many agricultural demands made by the rebels
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The Norfolk foldcourse was the right to graze sheep on the enclosed piece of land
...

o The denial of access to foldcourse was one of the factors that increased levels of peasant discontent and
contributed to the outbreak of the rebellion
The rebellions camped at Mousehold Heath where Kett negotiated with the civic authorities in Norwich
The Earl of Northampton had moved into East Anglia with 1,000 men
...
John decided that Somerset’s should be
brought to an end
...
However, it seems more likely that Warwick acted because he feared that he himself might be ejected by the
conservatives
...
Northumberland is one of the most remarkably able governors of any European state during the 16 th
century, solving many problems which he had inherited from Somerset
 David Loades (Oxford Dictionary of National Library, 2004) – on one hand, he views Northumberland as a major
English figure in English government for a crucial decade; on the other hand, though a professional, he destroyed
himself by a major miscalculation which left his reputation as discredited as his career
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He was anxious to avoid the excessive concentration of power that had brought Somerset down, and so there was
no attempt to re-establish the protectorate
...

1551 – Warwick himself was promoted to the Duke of Northumberland
Northumberland did for a time operate an effective government through the Privy Council, although his task in this
respect was undoubtedly made easier by the expulsion of Southampton
Paget had also drawn up a set of guidelines for the more effective operation of the Privy Council
The political difficulties facing the new government were the same as those that Somerset had failed to resolve
Unfortunately for Northumberland, they had become more acute
The most pressing problems were:
o English diplomatic position
o The short-fall in revenue

Somerset’s plot against Northumberland:
 Hoak – Somerset’s execution saved England from a revival of the chaos that had characterised the Protectorate
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Having been readmitted to the Council, Somerset plotted to recover his old position but was outwitted by
Northumberland

Northumberland’s increase in power:
 Presumed enemies such as Paget were removed from the council
 Power lay increasingly in the hands of Northumberland and his friend Gates, who had possession of the dry stamp
and could therefore affix the King’s signature to documents
Northumberland’s foreign policies:
 The war situation with France had deteriorated
o 1549 – Taking advantage of England’s domestic problems, France had declared open warfare
 Somerset’s fall caused a temporary breakdown in military leadership
 This enabled the French to gain the initiative in the war and they went on the offensive
 This, combined with a lack of money, forced Northumberland to make peace with France and Scotland
 This annoyed many of the ruling elites who thought that this was humiliating
 While the ending of war eased the immediate financial difficulties diplomatic relations with Charles V had become
strained
o Charles mistrusted England’s new position of neutrality towards France
Northumberland’s economic policies:
 Northumberland achieved stability in the national finances
...
356million GBP
o Government borrowed 500,000GBP/year to maintain the Royal Household
 Debts created by the war began to pay off, indicative of better financial planning and situation
 New poor laws were introduced to help the poorest sections of society
 He brought to an end the wards against Scotland and France, and this not only ensure considerable Crown
expenditure but also brought in £133,000 as a French payment for the return of Boulogne
 1551 – the coinage was debased for the last time
 Although inflation continue to raise, government made a profit of 114,000GBP to pay immediate expenses and
short-term loans
o Even so, 243,000 GBP had to be borrowed from continental bankers
 1552 – coinage was called in and reiussed with the silver content restored to that of 1527
o This helped to slow the rise in inflation and restore confidence in sterling
 Northumberland was able to pay off the remainder of his mercenary troops
 Although Crown income improved, it was through unscrupulous methods such as the melting down of the Church
plate for bullion
 The London trading companies agreed to support government debts
 More money was raised from the mints and Crown lands
 Under the influence of Walter Mildmay, a commission produced a detailed analysis of the shortcomings of in royal
finances and plans were made for financial administration
o They recommended the sale of chantry lands and Church goods to support government debts
o However, most of these were not implemented until the reign of Queen Mary
 At the same time, there was a concerted effort to improve the efficiency of the financial machinery
o The most pressing need was the streamline the collection of revenue
o To find new ways of increasing government income (raising taxes was unpopular)
 Although Northumberland did little to resolve the underlying economic problems, he did check inflation and ease
some of the social distress
Northumberland’s Religious Policies:
 Susan Brigden (The Reformation of London, 1991) – roughly 20% of Londoners were Protestant by 1547, which does
mean, of course, that 80% were not
 Christopher Haig – 70% of northern wills between 1540 and 1546 left money to their parish but only 32% did so
during Edward’s reign
...
This represents a crisis as service become plainer, pays and ales were suppressed, guilds and special funds
were abolished, so churches attracted less affection – less money from their people
o This shows that in Edward’s reign, not only was the religious policies unpopular as people found that they
lost enjoyment in them, but that by reforming so much of the church, they had actually lost out on a
significant amount of donations
...
Mary was
able to win support because people supported the legitimacy and held a grudge against Edward’s religious policies
...

Michael Tilbrook – it is undeniably the case that Queen Mary’s accession was, on the whole, greeted favourably by
the English people
Christopher Haig – the scale of Mary’s popularity reflected the considerable devotion to Catholic faith held by most
English people and their regard for the legitimate succession
...
She is also accused
of being over-zealous in her support of Roman Catholicism and Spain
However it is not suggested that her reign was not altogether disastrous and that had she lived longer, her policies
might have succeeded
...
She was also the legal inheritor of the throne if
Edward died without an heir
...
At one level, the Crown’s strategy appears
to have misfired
...
Their death elicited widespread public sympathy
...
Clearly, given time and
resources, Pole and Mary might have succeeded in their mission to properly re-Catholicise England
...
The delay in properly restoring the Church’s
institutional structure and the divisions between Crown and papacy did not help
 Robert Tittler – Pole took over England to be as he remembered it rather than as it was
...

o It was mainly caused by fears over property rights
o Such worries were removed by guarantees that there would be no attempt to take back monastic and
chantry lands
 In the first year of her reign, parliament agreed to repeal and thereby ignore all the Protestant legislation under
Edward
o 1555 – all Henrican and Edwardian religious legislation had been repealed
 The presumed restoration of the “old religion” was anticipated in many parts of the country even while the
Edwardian religious legislation still remained in force
o In Leicestershire, the altar was immediately rebuilt and masses were said
o Even in London, where Protestantism had been quite well established, some parishes rushed to restore
Catholic practices
 Aristocracy and gentry were initially prepared to conform to Mary’s religious views and the bulk of the population
did too
 However, 800 strongly committed Protestants gentry and clergy left the country
 When Mary, using her royal prerogative, suspended the second Act of Uniformity and restored Mass, there was so
public outcry
 The first step towards removing all traces of Protestantism from the Church of England was achieved with the
passage of the first Statue of Repeal
o This act swept away all the religious legislation approved by parliament under Edward
o The doctrine of the Church of England was restored to what it had been in 1547 under the Act of the Six
Articles
Return to the Church of Rome:
 Roger Turvey – Although Gardiner had started the persecution on the grounds that some executions would frighten
the Protestant extremists into submission, he was too astute a politician to rail to see the policy was not working
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1554 – Cardinal Pole’s return to England marked the next decisive stage in the restoration of Roman Catholicism
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Anri Sakakibara
 Passed the second Act of Repeal
o This ended Royal Supremacy
o Returned England to papal authority
 Careful provision was made in the Act to protect the property rights of all those who had bought Church land since
1536
 This demonstrates that Mary had to recognise the authority of parliament in the matter of religion
 It also meant that she had to forgo her plants for a full-scale restoration of the monasteries because the Crown
lacked the finance
 She only received 60,000GBP/year from return of monastic lands still held by the Crown
 1555 – death of Gardiner removed a trusted and restraining influence and thereafter the regime became more
repressive
 After his death, Mary and Pole (Archbishop of Canterbury) felt that it was their sacred duty to stamp out heresy and
increased the level of persecutions
 Altogether, 28 Protestants were burnt
o Some of the victims were famous and created bad publicity for Mary including Archbishop Cranmer and
Bishop Hooper
o The number of persecutions exceeded the number recorded in any Catholic country on the continent over
the same period
o This undermines the claims by some historians that the Marian regime was moderate than those on the
continent
 To many, Catholicism became firmly linked with dislike or Rome and Spain
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When Mary Tudor came to power there was no great purge of Protestant politicians
o Men like Paget were given high office
o Mary did not trust such men but neither did she have great confidence in her English Catholic councillors
Protestantism, although a minority faith, had attracted adherents in London and other parts of the south
The reform of the Church of England was enshrined in statute law
Many members of the political elites during Edward’s reign, and whose support Mary depended, had benefitted
financially from the acquisition of monastic land and had no desire to surrender what they had acquired
...
Repealed the ecclesiastical laws that had been passed during
Edward VI’s reign and restored the service as it had been at the time of the death of Henry VIII
o The reversing of the Edwardian legislation did not do was alter the legal status of the Church of England and
so, the Crown still had supreme control over the church
All clergy who had married when permitted to do so could be deprived of their livings
o ¼ (800) of parish clergy in dioceses of London and Norwich were deprived
...
The resources of the Church which had been reducing for 20
years had to be restored and both the quantity/quality of the priests needed to be improved
o Pole, in particular, saw his role in pastoral terms
 Most of the new bishops whom Mary appointed took their pastoral responsibilities seriously and in accordance with
the spirit of Catholic Reformation
 There was a proposal, never put into effect, that each cathedral should have a seminary attached for the training of
new recruits to the priesthood
 Many of Pole’s reforms’s success depended on the commitment at parish level
Queen Mary’s Domestic Policies:
 Popular discontent was made worse by the steadily worsening economic situation and rising unemployment
Governmental Rule:
 Michael Tillbrook – although many historians think that Mary’s employment of numerous councillors led to
inefficiency, this is misleading as Mary regarded “councillor” as an honorary title which meant they were to be
experts
 Michael Tillbrook – the relationship between Mary and parliament was usually one of cautious cooperation
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Her Catholicism led her into domestic and foreign policy disaster as her political inexperience did not match that of
her Privy Council’s piety
Most of her loyal and trusted supporters who had administered her household such as Robert Rochester were not
politically in the front rank and had no serious experience in government
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o Her lack of trustworthy advisors meant she often made mistakes
o She therefore had to rely on those who had served Edward
 Mary appointed as many as 50 councillors during her reign and the large number of councillors led to inefficiency
 Mary was never at ease with her key councillors
...
He had raised and kept a large following, outmanoeuvred the
Duke of Norfolk and came close to securing the City of London
...
However, for the second time in crisis she behaved bravely and resolutely,
and her councillors had no defections to the rebel cause
 There were 4 simultaneous rebellions: Devon, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire and Kent
o Kent was the only one which experienced serious risings, led by Sir Thomas Wyatt raised a force of 3000
men
 Wyatt marched on London, hoping to either dissuade Mary from marrying Philip or, if that failed, to stage a coup
and replace her with Elizabeth
 Wyatt and his chief supporters wre captured and executed, although the vast majority of his followers were
released
 The rebels had a mixture of motives:
o Some were motivated by religion, with many of Wyatt’s urban supporters coming from Maidstone, a
Protestant stronghold
o Xenophobia towards King Philip of Spain
o The decline in the local cloth industry might have prompted some poor reels to use the revolt as a means of
expressing their social and economic grievances
o The rebellion attracted some gentry who had lost office within the counties
 The rebels were significant because:
o It showed that although Protestants were a minority, their religious opinions could not be neglected
o It demonstrated the extent to which there was a popular suspicion against King Philip of Spain

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Naval and Militia reforms:
 John Guy – Mary’s naval and militia reforms were a landmark in English military organisation
 There was a complete reorganisation of the new administration and finance of the navy
...
It is generally
agreed that the major problem for modern governments was to find fresh sources of revenue to meet their rising
costs
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To government expenditure
o Increased taxation was unpopular and might lead to rebellion
o Borrowing or debasement of the coinage was dangerous and might result in bankruptcy or inflation, which
merely added to the cost of government
o Alternative was for the state to adopt an aggressive foreign policy to acquire land, wealth and trade
By the middle of the 16th century England was neither strong not wealthy enough to compete with the great
continental powers such as the Holy Roman Empire or France
o This meant that it was necessary for England to ally with her more powerful continental neighbours
Once she came to the throne, Mary was anxious to get married
...
Europe
...

His fall from power prevented any of the recommendations from being implemented in Edward VI’s reign
Although the level of royal indebtedness rose during the reign, it did not do so dramatically given that England was
at war with France during the later stages of the reign
The long-term security of Crown finances was boosted by the plans for recoinage drawn up from 1556 to 1558 but
implemented under Elizabeth

System of Government:
 One of the main criticisms of Mary’s Privy Council has been that it was too large to conduct business effectively
o At times it has been claimed that the Council contained 43 members
o Making the Council too large caused strong rivalry between Catholics, led by Gardiner, and moderates, led
by Paget -> inefficiency
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Anri Sakakibara
 It has also been claimed that the council contained members of no real political ability and administrative
experience
 Although there was disagreement, Paget and Gardiner co-operated closely to restore effective government
 In addition, affairs of State were largely handled by an “inner council” consisting of those experienced councillors
who had reformed the Privy Council under Northumberland

Extent of Mary’s policies:
Success:
 Michael Tilbrook – in fact, Mary’s reign did see some successes; unfortunately for Mary’s reputation, the chief
beneficiary of those successes was her half-sister Elizabeth
 Nigel Heard – although the loss of Calais was seen as a national disaster, it can be interpreted as a crucial moment
when England turned its attention away from fruitless continental conquest towards exploration opportunities in
the New World
Failure:
 The bulk of the country remained Catholic in sentiment, a point Protestants returning from exile after Elizabeth’s
access emphasised
 Some historians claim that Mary’s failure was her childlessness and her relatively early death, rather than her
policies

Effect of the Mid- Tudor crisis:









During Edward’s reign, significant moves towards Protestant reforms were made
...

The return of Catholicism under Mary was similarly divisive as it resulted from extreme acts such as the persecution
of the Protestants
...
Under Elizabeth, the Queen, as Supreme
Governor, considered religious matters to be part of royal prerogative and therefore not subject to parliamentary
debate without her permission
...
Lack of
resources and
support was another
impediment
Successful as the
Book of Common
Prayers was instilled
and parishes
complied to most
rules however, many
still practiced their
religion in their own
ways secretly

Northumberland
Aim
Success?
Stabilise economy
Successful in that he
from the effect of
ended the war
war
stopping the Crown
from financing the
war and also the war
brought in £133,333
for Boulogne
Have a more radical
Fired conservative
government rather
members in favour of
than a conservative
radical members and
government like his
this helped reduce
predecessor
factional rivalry
Repress uprisings
Northumberland’s
reign saw a decrease
in rebellions as
opposed to
Somerset’s chaotic
reign but he did not
bring closer the state
and the people

Further Somerset’s
policies but on a
more radical scale

27

Just like Somerset,
his policies were
mostly successful on
the surface but the
majority of people
remained Catholic

Aim

Queen Mary
Success?

Anri Sakakibara
Foreign Policy

Claim suzerainty of
Scotland

Failure because
France and Scotland
worked together to
defeat the French

End war with France
and Scotland

28

Ended the war with
France and Scotland
and England was left
unharmed at all

Anri Sakakibara

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