TO WHAT EXTENT WAS THERE A “MID TUDOR CRISIS” DURING THE REIGNS OF EDWARD VI AND MARY I?

The late seventeenth, the eighteenth, and the early nineteenth centuries saw political issues move away from religion and onto the issue of monarchies, especially of France and England. During this time, France’s power waned due to bad leadership while England’s, and later Great Britain's, power increased due to technology and overseas colonies.

How significant was the threat posed to royal authority by the Western rising of 1549?

During the years of 1547-1553 England experienced a handful of serious rebellions during the six-year reign of

Henry II was educated in England and by the year 1150, he became a duke of Normandy and the counts of Maine, Touraine, and Anjou after his father Geoffrey Plantagenet, who was a wealthy London merchant, died in 1151. Due to his mother’s entitlement to the royal family tree, he claimed the throne and by the High Middle Age, there was a struggle for power between the State and the Church. Moreover, an influx of royal power and crusade expeditions portrayed the seesaw power balance between the two foundations that resulted in the conflict of King Henry II as the King of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, as the head of the Church. The given study brings to light the reforms King Henry II brought during his reign and the impact they had on his rule and the conflict that arose between Thomas Becket because of the reforms the King made.

Their superior position towards the king and his patronage created an opposition – “evil councillors”, whose aim was to remove the favourites. All the previous points together with the king’s failure to exterminate disorder, chaos, corruption and misgovernment in the country degraded the Crown’s reputation and showed Henry’s shortcomings resulting in the outbreak of the Civil War.

It could be argued that Henry VII was never seriously threatened by rebellions. Throughout Henry’s 24 year reign, only 5 disturbances occurred, showing that rebellion only preoccupied a short span of time within his reign. It is clear to say that the loyal rebellions, based around economical aims and issues, did not pose a threat to Henry as the rebels did not want to harm the crown, but change crown policies which eventually Henry did sacrifice. Nonetheless, whilst the disloyal rebellions aims were strong and threatening, they were poorly led and constructed and didn’t have the strength to personally damage Henry VII. To sum up, any rebellion would be a threat to a certain extent, but it

Tudor governments were relatively successful in dealing with the problem of rebellion, although this was more effective towards the end of the period than at the beginning shown through the decline in rebellion after 1549: only 5 English rebellions occurred as opposed to 10 before 1549. Over the course of the Tudor period the main aims of rebellions were only fully achieved in the rebellions of 1525, the Amicable Grant and 1553. In addition to this the reforms made to local government, policies directly implemented by central government and the effects of trials and retribution, such as Henry VII’s concessions made to the late 15th century pretenders, Lambert

During the reign of Edward VI, Northumberland and Somerset attempted to rule England. They dealt with several issues, including foreign policy, finance, social and economic affairs, working as political operators and dealing with with rebellions. Northumberland proved to be successful in many of these aspects, particularly in social and economic affairs as well as finance. This is because he was able to effectively correct the faults Somerset had made such as introducing certain taxes and causing debt as well as debasement. This essay will talk about the extent of how successful Northumberland was in comparison to Somerset when it came to ruling England.

After this was when things started to get harder for Charles V. He was faced with Religious differences as a challenge to political authority. Charles V.

The concept of a ‘mid-Tudor crisis’ arrived under the scrutiny of modern scholarship largely through a priori reasoning and was first broadly promulgated by W.R.D. Jones in his 1973 book “The Mid Tudor Crisis1539-1563”. Jones attested a series of problems that “seem to have been ever-present in mid-Tudor England” (Jones, 1973, p. 6), exhibiting a “close relationship” (Jones, 1973, p. 6) with one another as a ‘crisis’. This compounded succession of agricultural volatility, deficiencies in administrative decree, specifically “the troubled shadowed reigns of Edward VI and Mary I,” (Jones, 1973, p.19) and divisive religious reformation, as Jones was to surmise, directly resulted in fluctuations

It emphasised the part political greed placed on individuals sparking rebellion as “a last-ditch attempt by those who were out of favour at court to restore their political fortunes by seizing on the discontents and puzzlements of others”. The Earl of Essex had gained a good reputation and worked his way up to be Elizabeth’s favourite courtier. However, he was short of money and so attempted to rule the court and oppose his rival Cecil which caused the Queen to turn against him. On one occasion during a heated Privy Council debate on the problems in Ireland, the Queen reportedly “cuffed an insolent Essex round the ear, prompting him to half draw his sword on her”. The incident meant Essex felt he had been publically shamed and was sent from court consequently losing all his influence at court. Political factions were central to the cause of this revolt as the Earl resented the influence that Robert Cecil had at court and thought by showing force in the form of a rebellion would lead the Queen to readmit him to court and to her favour. The Essex rebellion is very significant in showing how the corruption of the patronage system by Essex, and the dominance of Cecil, continued to affect politics after the Tudor period had ended into James’ I reign where political instability let to the Catholic dominated Main, Bye and Gunpowder plots. This underpins the argument that

These failures all added greatly to the eventual failure of the interregnum however there were religious factors which added to the failure as well; the Penruddock uprising was a royalist uprising which was able to knock the confidence of the protector although it was dealt with quickly and efficiently by Oliver Cromwell it made him

Henry VIII was the King that would change England’s religious system and make it his legacy. The religious system would carry on after his reign and become the predominant religion of England. The question is: How did events connected to key historical figures during Henry VIII’s reign cause for a permanent shift in the religious system of England? This question will be answered by analyzing events related to key historical figures during Henry VIII’s reign. These events will not be a biographical representation of any one historical figure, but relayed in connection to the topic of this paper in order to provide an answer for the essay question. This method is being utilized because it provides an analytical perspective, while also providing a personal appeal by tying the facts in with historical figures. History is not just facts, it is a story, and like any good story it should pull a reader in and make them interested. The historical figures utilized will be Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Thomas Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell, and Thomas Cranmer due to their direct correlation to the change in the religious system of England. The sources utilized were chosen and implemented in relation to how they encompassed concepts related to historical

The late Middle Ages were characterized by conflict. Towns and cities began to grow in alarming numbers; the new towns wanted to have their own self-control. They wanted to be free of outside leadership. One result of this struggle was the intensification of political and social thinking.

The people had been fighting for freedom from British rule, and with their struggle about to bear fruit they weren 't willing to let the princes fill the vacuum.