Bosworth field, which ends the civil War of the Roses between the
Lancaster and York factions. As King, Henry VII restored order to
the nation. He was readily accepted as king because he was
descended from the Lancaster royal line and he married a woman
from the York royal line. Henry was intelligent and sensitive. He
weighed alternatives and possible consequences before taking
action. He was convinced by reason on what plans to make. His
primary strategy was enacting and enforcing statutes to shore up
the undermined legal system, which includes the establishment of a
new court: the Court of the Star Chamber, to obtain punishment of
persons whom juries were afraid to convict. It had no jury and no
grand jury indictment. For speed and certainty, it tried people
"ex officio": by virtue of its office. Suspects were required to
take an oath ex officio, by which they swore to truthfully answer
all questions put to them. A man could not refuse to answer on the
grounds of self-incrimination. The Star Chamber was the room in
which the King's council had met since the 1300s. In his reign of
24 years, Henry applied himself diligently to the details of the
work of government to make it work well. He strengthened the
monarchy, shored up the legal system to work again, and provided a
peace in the land in which a renaissance of the arts and sciences,
culture, and the intellectual life could flourish.
The most prevalent problems were: murder, robbery, rape or forced
marriage of wealthy women, counterfeiting of coin, extortion,
misdemeanors by sheriffs and escheators, bribing of sheriffs and
jurors, perjury, livery and maintenance agreements, idleness,
unlawful plays, and riots. Interference with the course of justice
was not committed only by lords on behalf of their retainers; men
of humbler station were equally prone to help their friends in
court or to give assistance in return for payment. Rural juries
were intimidated by the old baronage and their armed retinues.
Juries in municipal courts were subverted by gangs of townsmen.
Justices of the Peace didn't enforce the laws. The agricultural
work of the nation had been adversely affected.
Henry made policy with the advice of his council and had
Parliament enact it into legislation. He dominated Parliament by
having selected most of its members. Many of his council were sons
of burgesses and had been trained in universities. He chose
competent and especially trusted men for his officers and
commanders of castles and garrison. The fact that only the king
had artillery deterred barons from revolting. Also, the baronial
forces were depleted due to civil War of the Roses. If Henry
thought a magnate was exercising his territorial power to the
King's detriment, he confronted him with an army and forced him to
bind his whole family in recognizances for large sums of money to
ensure future good conduct. Since the king had the authority to
interpret these pledges, they were a formidable check on any
activity which could be considered to be disloyal. The earl of
Kent, whose debts put him entirely at the King's mercy, was bound
to "be seen daily once in the day within the King's house". Henry
also required recognizances from men of all classes, including
clergy, captains of royal castles, and receivers of land. The
higher nobility now consisted of about twenty families. The heavy
fines by the Star Court put an end to conspiracies to defraud,
champerty [an agreement with a litigant to pay costs of litigation
for a share in the damages awarded], livery, and maintenance. The
ties between the nobility and the Justices of the Peace had
encouraged corruption of justice. So Henry appointed many of the
lesser gentry and attorneys as Justices of the Peace. Also he
appointed a few of his councilors as non-resident Justices of the
Peace. There were a total of about thirty Justices of the Peace
per county. Their appointments were indefinite and most remained
until retirement or death. Henry instituted the Yeomen of the
Guard to be his personal bodyguards night and day.
Many bills of attainder caused lords to lose their land to the
King. Most of these lords had been chronic disturbers of the
peace. Henry required retainers to be licensed, which system
lasted until about 1600. Henry was also known to exhaust the
resources of barons he suspected of disloyalty by accepting their
hospitality for himself and his household for an extended period
of time.
Henry built up royal funds by using every available procedure of
government to get money, by maximizing income from royal estates
by transferring authority over them from the Exchequer to
knowledgeable receivers, and from forfeitures of land and property
due to attainders of treason. He also personally reviewed all
accounts and initialed every page, making sure that all payments
were made. He regularly ordered all men with an income of 800s.
[40 pounds] yearly from lands or revenue in hand to receive
knighthoods, which were avoided by those who did not want to
fight, or pay a high fee. As a result, the Crown became rich and
therefore powerful.
Henry's Queen, Elizabeth, was a good influence on his character.
Her active beneficence was a counteracting influence to his
avaricious predisposition. When Henry and his Queen traveled
through the nation, they often stopped to talk to the common
people. They sometimes gave away money, such as to a man who had
lost his hand. Henry paid for an intelligent boy he met to go to
school.
Henry had the first paper mill erected in the nation. He fostered
the reading of books and the study of Roman law, the classics, and
the Bible. He had his own library and gave books to other
libraries.
The age of entry to university was between 13 and 16. It took four
years' study of grammar, logic, and rhetoric to achieve the
Bachelor of Arts degree and another five before a master could
begin a specialized study of the civil law, canon law, theology,
or medicine. Arabic numbers replaced Roman numerals, making
multiplication and division possible. Humanist studies were
espoused by individual scholars at the three centers of higher
learning: Oxford University, Cambridge University, and the Inns of
Court in London. The Inns of Court attracted the sons of gentry
and merchants pursuing practical and social accomplishments. The
text of 'readings' to members of the inns survive from this time.
In the legalistic climate of these times, attorneys were
prosperous.
The enclosure of land by hedges for sheep farming continued,
especially by rich merchants who bought country land for this
purpose. Often this was land that had been under the plough. Any
villeins were given their freedom and they and the tenants at will
were thrown off it immediately. That land held by copyholders of
land who had only a life estate, was withheld from their sons.
Only freeholders and copyholders with the custom of the manor in
their favor were secure against eviction. But they could be
pressured to sell by tactics such as breeding rabbits or keeping
geese on adjoining land to the detriment of their crops, or
preventing them from taking their traditional short cuts across
the now enclosed land to their fields. The real line of
distinction between rural people was one of material means instead
of legal status: free or unfree. On one extreme was the well-to-do
yeoman farmer farming his own land. On the other extreme was the
agricultural laborer working for wages. Henry made several
proclamations ordering certain enclosures to be destroyed and
tillage to be restored.
Other land put to use for sheep breeding was waste land. There
were three sheep to every person. The nearby woodlands no longer
had wolves or lynx who could kill the sheep. Bears and elk are
also gone.
There were still deer, wild boar, wildcats and wild cattle in vast
forests for the lords to hunt. Wood was used for houses, arms,
carts, bridges, and ships.
The villages were still isolated from each other, so that a
visitor from miles away was treated as warily as a foreigner. Most
people lived and died where they had been born. A person's dialect
indicated his place of origin. The life of the village still
revolved around the church. In some parishes, its activities were
highly organized, with different groups performing different
functions. For example, the matrons looked after a certain altar;
the maidens raised money for a chapel or saw to the gilding of the
images; the older men collected money for church repair; and the
younger men organized the church ales and the church plays. Wills
often left property or rents from leased land to the church. Cows
and sheep given could be leased out to villagers. Buildings given
could be leased out, turned over to the poor, used to brew ale or
bake bread for church ales, or used in general as a place for
church activities. Church ales would usually a good source of
income; alehouses would be closed during the ceremonies and
parishioners would contribute malt for the ale and grain, eggs,
butter, cheese, and fruits.
The largest town, London, had a population of about 70,000. Other
towns had a population less than 20,000. The population was
increasing, but did not reach the level of the period just before
the black death.
In most large towns, there were groups of tailors and hatmakers,
glovers, and other leatherworkers. Some towns had a specialization
due to their proximity to the sources of raw materials, such as
nails, cutlery, and effigies and altars. Despite the spread of
wool manufacturing to the countryside, there was a marked increase
of industry and prosperity in the towns. The principal streets of
the larger towns were paved with gravel. Guild halls became
important and imposing architecturally.
A large area of London was taken up by walled gardens of the
monasteries and large mansions. There were some houses of stone
and timber and some mansions of brick and timber clustered around
palaces. In these, bedrooms increased in number, with rich bed
hangings, linen sheets, and bolsters. Bedspreads were introduced.
Nightgowns were worn. Fireplaces became usual in all the rooms.
Tapestries covered the walls. Carpets were used in the private
rooms. Some of the great halls had tiled floors. The old trestle
tables were replaced by tables with legs. Benches and stools had
backs to lean on. Women and men wore elaborate headdresses. There
are guilds of ironmongers, salters, and haberdashers [hats and
caps]. On the outer periphery are mud and straw taverns and
brothels. Houses are beginning to be built outside the walls along
the Thames because the collapse of the power of the great feudal
lords decreased the fear of an armed attack on London. The
merchants introduced this idea of living at a distance from the
place of work so that they could escape living in the narrow,
damp, and dark lanes of the City and have more light and space.
Indeed no baronial army ever threatened the king again. East of
London were cattle pastures, flour mills, bakers, cloth-fulling
mills, lime burners, brick and tile makers, bell-founders, and
ship repairing. There was a drawbridge on the south part of London
Bridge for defense and to let ships through. Water sports were
played on the Thames such as tilting at each other with lances
from different boats.
The Tailors' and Linen Armorers' Guild received a charter in 1503
from the king as the "Merchant Tailors" to use all wares and
merchandise, especially wool cloth, as well wholesale as retail,
throughout the nation. Some schooling was now being made
compulsory in certain trades; the goldsmiths' company made a rule
that all apprentices had to be able to read and write.
A yeoman was the second-rank person of some importance, below a
knight, below a gentleman, below a full member of a guild. In
London, it meant the journeyman or second adult in a small
workshop. These yeomen had their own fraternities and were often
on strike. Some yeomen in the large London industries, e.g.
goldsmiths, tailors, clothworkers, who had served an
apprenticeship started their own businesses in London suburbs
outside the jurisdiction of their craft to search them.
The Merchant Adventurers created a London fellowship confederacy
to make membership of their society and compliance with its
regulations binding on all cloth traders and to deal with common
interests and difficulties such as taxation, relations with
rulers, and dangers at sea. They made and enforced trading rules,
chartered fleets, and organized armed convoys when the seas were
unsafe and coordinated policies with Henry VII. Membership could
be bought for a large fee or gained by apprenticeship or by being
the son of a member.
Foreign trade was revived because it was a period of comparative
peace. The nation sought to sell as much as possible to foreign
nations and to buy at little as possible and thereby increase its
wealth in gold and silver, which could be used for currency.
Ships weighed 200 tons and had twice the cargo space they had
previously. Their bows were more pointed and their high prows made
them better able to withstand gales. The mariners' compass with a
pivoting needle and circular dial with a scale was introduced. The
scale gave precision to directions. Ships had three masts. On the
first was a square sail. On the second was a square sail with a
small rectangular sail above it. On the third was a three cornered
lateen sail. These sails make it possible to sail in almost any
direction. This opened the seas of the world to navigation. At
this time navigators kept their knowledge and expertise secret
from others. Adventurous seamen went on voyages of discovery, such
as John Cabot to North America in 1497, following Italian
Christopher Columbus' discovery of the new world in 1492.
Ferdinand Magellan of Portugal circumnavigated the world in 1519,
proving uncontrovertedly that the earth was spherical rather than
flat. Sailors overcame their fear of tumbling into one of the
openings into hell that they believed were far out into the
Atlantic Ocean and ceased to believe that a red sunset in the
morning was due to a reflection from hell. Seamen could venture
forth into the darkness of the broad Atlantic Ocean with a fair
expectation of finding their way home again. They gradually
learned that there were no sea serpents or monsters that would
devour foolhardy mariners. They learned to endure months at sea on
a diet of salt beef, beans, biscuits, and stale water and the bare
deck for a bed. But there were still mutinies and disobedient
pilots. Mortality rates among seamen were high. Theologians had to
admit that Jerusalem was not the center of the world. There are
more navy ships, and they have some cannon.
The blast furnace was introduced in the iron industry. A blast of
hot air was constantly forced from a stove into the lower part of
the furnace which was heating at high temperature a mixture of the
iron ore and a reducing agent that combined with the oxygen
released. After the iron was extracted, it was allowed to harden
and then reheated and hammered on an anvil to shape it and to
force out the hard, brittle impurities. Blast furnace heat was
maintained by bellows worked by water wheels. Alchemists sought to
make gold from the baser metals and to make a substance that would
give them immortality. There was some thought that suffocation in
mines, caverns, wells, and cellars was not due to evil spirits,
but to bad air such as caused by "exhalation of metals".
There were morality plays in which the seven deadly sins: pride,
covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth, fought the
seven cardinal virtues: faith, hope, charity, prudence,
temperance, justice, and strength, respectively, for the human
soul. The play "Everyman" demonstrates that every man can get to
heaven only by being virtuous and doing good deeds in his
lifetime. It emphasizes that death may come anytime to every man,
when his deeds will be judged as to their goodness or sinfulness.
Card games were introduced. The legend of Robin Hood was written
down.
The Commons gained the stature of the Lords and statutes were
regularly enacted by the "assent of the lords spiritual and
temporal and the commons", instead of at the request of the
Commons.
- The Law -
Royal proclamations clarifying, refining or amplifying the law had
the force of parliamentary statutes. In 1486, he proclaimed that
"Forasmuch as many of the King our sovereign lord's subjects
[have] been disposed daily to hear feigned, contrived, and forged
tidings and tales, and the same tidings and tales, neither
dreading God nor his Highness, utter and tell again as though they
were true, to the great hurt of divers of his subjects and to his
grievous displeasure: Therefore, in eschewing of such untrue and
forged tidings and tales, the King our said sovereign lord
straitly chargeth and commandeth that no manner person, whatsoever
he be, utter nor tell any such tidings or tales but he bring forth
the same person the which was author and teller of the said
tidings or tales, upon pain to be set on the pillory, there to
stand as long as it shall be thought convenient to the mayor,
bailiff, or other official of any city, borough, or town where it
shall happen any such person to be taken and accused for any such
telling or reporting of any such tidings or tales. Furthermore the
same our sovereign lord straitly chargeth and commandeth that all
mayors, bailiffs, and other officers diligently search and inquire
of all such persons tellers of such tidings and tales not bringing
forth the author of the same, and them set on the pillory as it is
above said." He also proclaimed in 1487 that no one, except peace
offiers, may carry a weapon, e.g. bows, arrows, or swords, in any
town or city unless on a journey. He proclaimed in 1498 that no
one may refuse to receive silver pennies or other lawful coin as
payment regardless of their condition as clipped, worn, thin, or
old, on pain of imprisonment and further punishment.
Statutes included:
Lords holding castles, manors, lands and tenements by knight's
service of the king shall have a writ of right for wardship of the
body as well as of the land of any minor heir of a deceased person
who had the use [beneficial enjoyment] of the land for himself and
his heirs as if the land had been in the possession of the
deceased person. And if such an heir is of age, he shall pay
relief to the lord as if he had inherited possession of the land.
An heir in ward shall have an action of waste against his lord as
if his ancestor had died seised of the land. That is, lands of
"those who use" shall be liable for execution of his debt and to
the chief lord for his relief and heriot, and if he is a bondsman,
they may be seized by the lord. The king tried to retain the
benefits of feudal incidents on land by this Statute of Uses, but
attorneys sought to circumvent it by drafting elaborate and
technical instruments to convey land free of feudal burdens.
Any woman who has an estate in dower, or for a term of life, or in
tail, jointly with her husband, or only to herself, or to her use,
in any manors, lands, tenements, or other hereditaments of the
inheritance or purchase of her husband, or given to the said
husband and wife in tail, or for term of life, by any of the
ancestors of the said husband, or by any other person seised to
the use of the said husband, or of his ancestors, who, by herself
or with any after taken husband; discontinue, alienate, release,
confirm with warranty or, by collusion, allow any recovery of the
same against them or any other seised to their use, such action
shall be void. Then, the person to whom the interest, title, or
inheritance would go after the death of such woman may enter and
possess such premises. This does not affect the common law that a
woman who is single or remarried may give, sell, or make
discontinuance of any lands for the term of her life only.
All deeds of gift of goods and chattels made of trust, to the use
of the giver [grantor and beneficiary of trust], to defraud
creditors are void.
It is a felony to carry off against her will, a woman with lands
and tenements or movable goods, or who is heir-apparent to an
ancestor. This includes taking, procuring, abetting, or knowingly
receiving a woman taken against her will.
A vagabond, idle, or suspected person shall be put in the stocks
for three days with only bread and water, and then be put out of
the town. If he returns, he shall spend six days in the stocks. (A
few years later this was changed to one and three days,
respectively.) Every beggar who is not able to work, shall return
to the hundred where he last dwelled, is best known, or was born
and stay there.
No one may take pheasants or partridges by net snares or other
devices from his own warren [breeding ground], upon the freehold
of any other person, or forfeit 200s., one half to the owner of
the land and the other half to the suer. No one may take eggs of
any falcon, hawk, or swan out of their nest, whether it is on his
land or any other man's land, on pain of imprisonment for one year
and fine at the King's will, one half to the King, and the other
half to the holder of the land, or owner of the swan. No man shall
bear any English hawk, but shall have a certificate for any hawk
imported, on pain for forfeiture of such. No one shall drive
falcons or hawks from their customary breeding place to another
place to breed or slay any for hurting him, or pay 200s. after
examination by a Justice of the Peace, one half going to the king
and one half to the suer.
Any person without a forest of his own who has a net device with
which to catch deer shall pay 200s. for each month of possession.
Anyone stalking a deer with beasts anywhere not in his own forest
shall forfeit 200s. Anyone taking any heron by device other than a
hawk or long bow shall forfeit 6s.8d. No one shall take a young
heron from its nest or pay 10s. for each such heron. Two justices
may decide such an issue, and one tenth of the fine shall go to
them.
No man shall shoot a cross-bow except in defense of his house,
other than a lord or one having 2,667s. of land because their use
had resulted in too many deer being killed. (The long-bow was not
forbidden.)
No beasts may be slaughtered or cut up by butchers within the
walls of a town, or pay 12d. for every ox and 8d. for every cow or
other beast, so that people will not be annoyed and distempered by
foul air, which may cause them sickness.
No tanner may be a currier [dressed, dyed, and finished tanned
leather] and no currier may be a tanner. No shoemaker [cordwainer]
may be a currier and no currier may be a shoemaker. No currier
shall curry hides which have not been tanned. No tanner shall sell
other than red leather. No tanner may sell a hide before it is
dried. No tanner may tan sheepskins.
No long bow shall be sold over the price of 3s.4d.
Good wood for making bows may be imported without paying customs.
No grained cloth of the finest making shall be sold for more than
16s., nor any other colored cloth for more than 11s. per yard, or
forfeit 40s. for every yard so sold. No hat shall be sold for more
than 20d. and no cap shall be sold for more than 2s.8d., or
forfeit 40s. for each so sold.
Silver may not be sold or used for any use but goldsmithery or
amending of plate to make it good as sterling, so that there will
be enough silver with which to make coinage.
Each feather bed, bolster, or pillow for sale shall be stuffed
with one type of stuffing, that is, dry pulled feathers or with
clean down alone, and with no sealed feathers nor marsh grass, nor
any other corrupt stuffings. Each quilt, mattress, or cushion for
sale shall be stuffed with one type of stuffing, that is, clean
wool, or clean flocks alone, and with no horsehair, marsh grass,
neatshair, deershair, or goatshair, which is wrought in lime-fats
and gives off an abominable and contagious odor when heated by a
man's body, on pain of forfeiture of such.
Salmon shall be sold by standard volume butts and barrels. Large
salmon shall be sold without any small fish or broken-bellied
salmon and the small fish shall be packed by themselves only, or
forfeit 6s.8d. Herring shall be sold at standard volumes. The
herring shall be as good in the middle and in every part of the
package as at the ends of the package, or forfeit 3s.4d. Eels
shall be sold at standard volumes, and good eels shall not be
mixed with lesser quality eels, or forfeit 10s. The fish shall be
packed in the manner prescribed or forfeit for each vessel 3s.4d.
Fustians shall always be shorn with the long shear, so that it can
be worn for at least two years. If an iron or anything else used
to dress such injures the cloth so that it wears out after four
months, 20s. shall be forfeited for each default, one half to the
king and the other half to the suer.