Henry VIII - Overview 1
The way in which Tudor society was arranged. “Tudor” refers to the family name of Henry VIII - his real name was Henry Tudor - the Royal House of Tudor.
Who can tell me the family name of the
Queen at the moment?
Windsor. She is from the Royal House of
Windsor.
Throughout history, though, not all kings and
queens of England had the same surname. Henry’s
father, Henry VII, was the first one to be
called ‘Tudor’. Before him, was the Royal House
of the Plantagenets.
There’s also been the Royal Houses of York and
Lancaster and a few others.
The picture on the right above shows you how Tudor society was ‘layered’ - and it had two separate sides to it.
The King, of course, was at the very top and being what we call an ‘absolute’ monarch - what he said, happened.
On the left we have the influence of the Church.
Which religious group did everyone belong
to at that time?
Roman Catholic.
And the Roman Catholic Church was very very
rich and very powerful too. The Church owned a
lot of land, Archbishops had power with the
people and with the King and could also have
power with The Pope.
Bishops had great influence with the
Archbishops, the people and sometimes the king;
and at the lowest level were the everyday
clergymen - or priests. The priests did as they
were told by the bishops, who did as they were
told by the Archbishops who did as they were
told by both The Pope and the King.
On the other side were the ‘normal’
people.
Under the King came the
‘Gentlemen’. These were members
of court, knew the king personally, could get to
talk in private to him, they were also rich and
owned quite a lot of land. Some were even richer
than the King (such as the Duke of Buckingham)
but still, they were not the king.
The ‘Gentry’ were rich people
who lived most of their time the countryside in
their big houses and lots of land. They didn’t
really have Royal connections, but if they
needed to see the King, they could arrange an
appointment.
The ‘Court’ were all the people who were around the King
every day. In any country, the monarch is always
surrounded by people - those are the monarch’s
‘Court’. It is also a place, where the monarch’s
throne is.
What is a ‘throne’?
The seat upon which only the monarch is
allowed to sit.
The next level was the
‘Yeomanry’. These were people
mostly in the countryside who owned land, or
rented land, and made their living from
agriculture. They had no connection with the
King at all and if they ever got to see him - at
a distance - they were very lucky. The people in
the city who were equally to the yeomanry were
the ‘citizens’. They were
merchants, owning shops and they were usually
craftsmen - such as those who built carriages,
or were cabinet and furniture makers and so on.
Again, they too didn’t have anything to do with
the king.
Then came the labourers. Way
more poor, little money, and they worked hard
most of the time with their hands. They were not
really skilled; they might work in the fields,
or with animals; they rented their homes from
whoever was their boss - and probably had little
idea who the king even was!
Finally, at the very bottom were the
vagrants and
beggars.
What is a ‘vagrant’? We still have them
today.
They are the people who probably have no
home, no work and no income. They usually
move about. A country a lot, doing jobs now
and then that no one else would do; cleaning
drains and so on. Beggars are the people we
see sitting on the floor, holding out their
cups, expecting people who work for their
money to give them something for
nothing.
The beggars we usually see usually look quite
normal and maybe could get work, but
they either choose not to work or they
have had a bad experience. Its is possible they
had jobs, house, even families, but something
happened and they lost it all. That’s happening
right now in many countries because of the
Virus.
That’s how the society of the Tudor time was arranged. The higher up you were, the more things and money you had, and the lower you were, the less you had.
At that time, do you think people could
change the level they were at?
No, there was no ‘social mobility’. You
were born into a level and that’s where you
stayed. The Indian Caste system is the same
today. Born a Dalit, stay a Dalit - born a
Brahmin, stay a Brahmin.
Can we change our level in society in
modern countries?
Yes, we can, by hard work and doing our
best - it’s called ‘succeeding’. It is not
easy at all though, because you still need
to know people and work very hard.
Do you think the people were happy?
Well, mostly they were. They knew their
place, and they knew how to act and behave
to people in the other levels of society.
They could kick the lower ones, but bow and
curtsy to the higher ones.
This actually made people more happy, because
it is true to say that when people know their
place, they are far more happy.
In most of what we are studying, we only look
at the top levels of society. The King and the
Gentleman, the Church, Archbishops and the
Bishops a little bit.
So, let’s look at what Henry wanted for his country.
You might remember that his father was a more peaceful man than Arthur or Henry.
Who was King Arthur?
The younger brother of Henry, and Arthur
married Catherine of Aragon and died when he
was 15 years old.
Henry though wanted power and influence; some
people might say he was arrogant, but he was
certainly forceful.
Who can tell me what ‘arrogant’ means?
Arrogant means to think highly of oneself,
and make sure people around try to also to
think that that person is important
too.
Henry’s forceful personality made him both
popular and unpopular. He was popular because he
was seen as a strong King, one who would
increase the power and importance of England.
And everyone loves to feel more strong and
important!
But his force also made him unpopular, because
if a King makes wars, he needs soldiers, and in
those days a great, large Navy too.
Why didn’t he need an airforce?
Aeroplanes had not been invented!
So why does needing an army and a navy make
a king unpopular?
Because someone has to pay for it.
In the times of Henry VIII, although his father
left him huge amounts of money, Henry was very
very good at spending it.
So where could he get more money?
Taxes from the people - usually from the
rich people.
No one likes to simply give their money away, really, and the gentlemen of the court became a bit unhappy with all the times Henry wanted their money. But they didn’t really have a choice. Not only that, but the army - made up, as you know - of men, came from the workers in the fields of the rich men. Fewer men in the fields might have meant lower profits, so that was another thing which wasn’t popular.
If Henry knew you didn’t pay, oops! Upsetting the king was a bad, bad idea. He was in total charge … and some of his people had very big axes (picture 1), which were very sharp and could cut off your head instantly.
And Henry succeeded in making the navy (picture 2) and army powerful.
So this was what made Henry both popular and
unpopular. As a person, when he was
young (picture 3), people said that Henry was a
very nice guy, and everyone genuinely liked him.
As a king, you just had to be careful not to get
on his bad side.
What did Henry want to achieve?
The first thing is that he
believed he was the correct king of France. In
those days, Europe was a bit mixed up, with
countries taking land here and there, claiming
that it was theirs, then some other country
would take it from them, or the original country
would get it back. All a bit of a mess.
Henry believed that he was the King of France
and England because in years gone by,
the King of England was also the King
of France. But then the French kings had taken
back (by battles, of course) their land.
As you know - or you should know -
England is part of the British Isles - it’s
an island (picture 4). The land in France is not
even connected to England, but Henry believed he
was the King of it.
For years of his reign (time as king) he was pretty nasty and arrogant towards the French - and of course, they were hostile back.
The second thing Henry wanted was to make himself more important in Europe. When his father was king, England has become less important in Europe, because Henry VII was not a fighter, he was peacemaker. Henry wanted to boost his own reputation, and make his ‘mark’ in Europe.
That just means he wanted every other king to
think he mattered a lot, and with his forceful
personality and his growing reputation as a
warmaker, he quickly made people think he was a
threat to their own safety.
A way to get popular again with the
nobility. What is the ‘nobility’?
The people with titles, Lords, Earls, Dukes
and so on.
The way for Henry VIII to get popular again
with these titled people was to actually be
successful. Making war in those days was -
strangely - a popular thing to do, and when here
was a war on, the King (if he was winning) rose
in popularity. In this way, they supported him
more, which they had not done under his father,
because he was far more peaceful.
Henry’s father did make a lot of money, because
he didn’t spend it on wars. Wars a very
expensive, because the king has to pay for
everything - wages for the soldiers or sailors,
their food, their weapons, and their transport.
Mind you, their protection was pretty bad.
And their weapons were often whatever they
could make themselves (picture 5).
But still, armies and navies cost a lot of
money. Henry managed to use all the money that
his father left for him and the country, and
that’s why he had to get the richer people to
pay taxes.
Another aim Henry had was to make not just
himself more important, but to make England more
important in the politics of Europe. He really
was a great patriot and wanted to make England
the greatest country - which, although
expensive, he did. And one of his daughters,
Queen Elizabeth the First (picture 6), made the country even more
strong and powerful.
Having the personality that he had, Henry
wanted to make sure that he was thought of as a
warrior king, a Royal fighter, just like the
more famous kings such as
Henry V.
That was another of his aims.
Personally, he was a competitive man. He always
liked to win at sports, but hated it if people
allowed him to win. He was very honest in that
way and would not want anyone to let him win
just because he was king. And they didn’t let
him win. He was simply really good at many
sports.
This competitive nature though, spread to more
than only sports. He was in competition with
King Francis of France and King Charles V of
both France and The Holy Roman Empire.
All those things, then, were what Henry wanted to achieve in his foreign policy.
What actually is ‘policy’?
It’s a set of ideas and aims and goals and
the way to achieve them.