end of medieval England.
Another important factor that contributed to the eventual demise of the medieval order of things was the civil wars of the second half of the 15th century commonly known as the Wars of the Roses. The houses of Lancaster (the red rose) and York (the white rose) were both descended from Edward III and had equal claims to the throne of England. The last of the Lancaster kings, Henry VI, had a nervous breakdown in 1453, after which he became a pawn in the hands of whoever seized power, the victim of the rival parties who took sides in the conflict. These civil wars would never have happened if the character of Henry VI had been different. Law and justice in the political system created by William the Conqueror depended on the king making effective use of his nobles, because there was no army or police force. To make the system work the king had skillfully to choose the right allies among nobles and reward them with titles, lands and offices. His failure to do so meant that people now turned to the next best thing, the great lord whose power would protect them. So gradually the whole of England became divided up into groups loyal to this or that lord.
Warwick Castle, the residence of the Earl of Warwick
The only solution to the country’s problems was to get rid of the weak king, and this was finally achieved by Edward of York, Earl of March, descended from both the second and fourth son of Edward III. Supported by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, nicknamed the ‘kingmaker’ because of the decisive role he played in the conflict, Edward defeated the king’s forces and in 1461 was crowned with Warwick’s support. Then, however, Warwick changed sides and tried to bring back Henry, who was a prisoner in the Tower. Henry was restored in 1470, but in 1471 Edward killed Warwick in battle, and a few days later Henry died mysteriously. This signaled the real end of the Wars of the Roses.
Today the Wars of the Roses are often seen through Shakespeare’s plays. It was natural in the 16th century to depict the previous century as a turbulent one from which the Lancastrian Henry VII had rescued the country by defeating the tyrant Richard III and marrying the Yorkist princess Elizabeth. However, as some historians have shown, the reality of 15th century England was very different. In short, normal life went on. Towns tried to keep out of the war by avoiding taking sides. Trade continued as usual. Many of the officers of government stayed in their posts, most of the country saw no fighting at all; on one occasion only was there plunder and pillaging. There were 13 weeks of real fighting during 32 years. Numbers killed ran into hundreds and not thousands. The huge loss of life by the nobility was due to their role in battle, that of leading their knights. What really brought the Wars of the Roses to an end was everyone’s realization that a strong king was needed. The growth of that attitude was to ensure the success of the rule of first Edward IV and later that of Henry VII.
Edward IV ruled for 12 years as a tremendously successful and popular king blessed with nearly all the attributes men looked for in a monarch. When he died his 12-year-old son became Edward V. But before he could be crowned, he and his brother were shut up in the Tower by their uncle, who had himself crowned instead as Richard III. A month later the two boys were murdered, although there is no proof that Richard was responsible for this double murder. His enemies started looking for a leader. It wasn’t an easy task to find one, for all the most prominent members of both royal houses, as well as the most powerful noble families had been wiped out during the wars. Finally Henry Tudor, a powerful Welsh lord was found, whose mother was descended from Edward III. Henry accepted the offer, landed in Wales and defeated and killed Richard at the Battle of Bosworth, near Leicester. Richard’s death at Bosworth was to usher in the Tudor age, for the victor was quickly proclaimed Henry VII.
Tudor England
When in August 1485 Henry VII (1485–1509) became king it was by no means the dawn of a new age. For men at the time it merely marked yet another twist of fate. Half a century later the perception of the event radically changed: it was viewed as the beginning of a new era. That was due to two things: the success of Tudor rule and the promotion by the family itself of the idea. Actually, the reign of Henry VII was a continuation of what had gone before. It was a reversion to Edward IV. Henry VII, however, had industry, patience, powers of organization and a firm belief in the splendor of the crown. Under him that conviction was to increase, as a compensation for what he lacked most, a good claim to the throne. It was this lack of a good claim that made him start the long process of eliminating rival claimants and deliberate distancing of the monarchy from the nobility. As the victor at Bosworth, Henry was able to pass acts of attainder and thus took over his enemies’ estates, and held on to them. So many lords had been killed in the Wars of the Roses, or had lost their lands to the crown, that with the Commons’ support Henry was able to destroy their power for ever. Now the lords were forbidden by law to keep any armed followers. The royal court of the Star Chamber was given power to deal severely with any rich man who wronged his poorer neighbors. The feudal basis of society was broken completely. Henry often preferred to employ his own well-educated and trusted officials instead of noblemen. The noble families didn’t disappear, but they mixed more freely with the commercial and professional classes. Their younger sons often became merchants and lawyers.
The keynote of Tudor rule was the concentration of power in the hands of the dynasty. This changed the nature of power: it was no longer supported by armed retainers, but exercised instead through wealth and political influence at court. Men now attached themselves to a great lord who enjoyed the king’s favor. Attendance at court and an office in the household became the summit of ambition for the aristocracy. The Tudor kings saw this as a means of control and elaborated the role of the king, one already mystical in the Middle Ages, so that by the close of the 16th century the ruler enjoyed almost semi-divine status.
It was during Henry’s reign that the centre of regal power became based in the Council. This consisted of up to a hundred and fifty councillors in all: peers, lawyers, household officials and clergymen. The monarchy also needed support throughout the country and many of the councillors occupied key posts outside London. But far more important was the enhanced status given to members of the gentry, who were appointed by the crown as Justices of the Peace. Throughout the century of Tudor rule they were fundamental instruments for the execution of royal policy in the countryside. The Tudors were brilliant at going with the grain, rarely asking officials to carry out a policy to which there was overwhelming opposition.
Henry VII followed Edward IV in sharing a firm belief that sound finances were one of the keys to successful rulership. Although he died only just solvent, that in itself was a major and rare feat, achieved through receiving income from crown lands, customs and fees. He avoided expensive foreign wars, trade flourished. Instead of fighting he married his children to the royal families of Scotland and Spain. In Henry’s new national state there was no need for an army, for he ruled with popular approval. Except in the first few years of his rule, he made little use of Parliament and ruled through his council instead. It was possible only because he was a good businessman.
When Henry VII died in 1509 he was succeeded by his second son, Henry VIII (1509–1547), who promptly married his brother’s widow, Catherine of Aragon. Henry was a very gifted man, who spoke three foreign languages, was both an academic and an athlete, a talented musician and a lover of both the arts and learning. At the beginning the young king was not very interested in the day-to-day business of government. For most of the first twenty years of his reign Wolsey, the son of an Ipswich butcher, ruled the country for the king, fulfilling his every whim, while Henry indulged in one long festival. The capable and efficient Wolsey swiftly established a hold over Henry VIII which led to the king showering upon him a great number of offices both in Church and State. In 1515 Wolsey became Lord Chancellor, and later a cardinal and a papal legate, a position that gave him supreme authority over the English church, exceeding that of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Henry VIII is popularly best known for his wives. There were six of them altogether. Henry’s marriage to the first one, Catherine of Aragon, was officially annulled in 1533. The second one, Anne Boleyn, was queen for less than three years and was executed in 1536 on a charge of
