Henry's reign was in the interest of the middle classes,--the farmers,
tradesmen, and mechanics. His policy was to avoid heavy taxation, to
exempt the poor from the burdens of state, and so ingratiate himself
with a large body of the people.
In order to accomplish this, he revived "benevolences" (SS307, 313),
and by a device suggested by his chief minister, Cardinal Morton, and
hence known and dreaded as "Morton's Fork," he extorted large sums
from the rich and well-to-do.[2]
[2] Those whose income from land was less than $2, or whose movable
property did not exceed 15 pounds (Say 150 pounds and $1125 now), were
exempt. The lowest rate of assessment for the "benevolences" was
fixed at twenty pence on the pound on land, and half that rate on
other property.
The Cardinal's agents made it their business to learn every man's
income, and visit him accordingly. If a person lived handomely, the
Cardinal would insist on a correspondingly liberal gift; if, however,
a citizen lived very plainly, the King's minister insisted none the
less, telling the unfortunate man that by his economy he must surely
have accumulated enough to bestow the required "benevolence."[3] Thus
on one prong or the other of his terrible "fork" the shrewd Cardinal
impaled his writhing victims, and speedily filled the royal treasury
as it had never been filled before.[4]
[3] Richard Reed, a London alderman, refused to contribute a
"benevolence." He was sent to serve as a soldier in the Scotch wars
at his own expense, and the general was ordered to "use him in all
things according to sharp military discipline." The effect was such
that few after that ventured to deny the King what he asked.
[4] Henry is said to have accumulated a fortune of nearly two millions
sterling, an amount which would perhaps represent upwards of
$90,000,000 now.
But Henry VII had other methods for raising money. He sold offices in
Church and State, and took bribes for pardoning rebels. When he
summoned a Parliament he obtained grants for putting down some real or
pretended insurrection, or to defray the expenses of a threatened
attack from abroad, and then quietly pocketed the appropriation,--a
device not altogether unknown to modern government officials.
A third and last method for getting funds was invented in Henry's
behalf by two lawyers, Empson and Dudley, who were so rapacious and
cut so close that they were commonly known as "the King's skin
shearers." They went about the country enforcing old and forgotten
laws, by which they reaped a rich harvest.
Their chief instrument for gain, however, was a revival of the Statute
of Liveries. This law imposed enormous fines on those noblemen who
dared to equip their followers in military garb, or designate them by
a badge equivalent to it, as had been the custom during the late civil
wars (S296).
In order to thoroughly enforce the Statute of Liveries, Henry
organized the Court of Star Chamber, so called from the starred
ceiling where the tribunal met. This court had for its object the
punishment of such crimes committed by the great families, or their
adherents, as the ordinary law courts could not, or through
intimidation dared not, deal with. It had no power to inflict death,
but might impose long terms of imprisonment and ruinous fines. It,
too, first made use of torture in England to extort confessions of
guilt.
Henry seemed to have enforced the Law of Livery against friend and foe
alike. Said the King to the Earl of Oxford, as he left his castle,
where a large number of retainers in uniform were drawn up to do him
honor, "My lord, I thank you for your entertainment, but my attorney
must speak to you." The attorney, who was the notorious Empson,
brought suit in the Star Chamber against the Earl, who was fined
fifteen thousand marks, or something like $750,000, for the incautious
display he had made.