Government, Politics and the State 1536-88 continued

Today I have looked at the section entitled 'The Lord President Northumberland 1550-3'


The Lord President Northumberland 1550-3

Rise to power 1549-51

Even before his arrest it was clear that Somerset was discredited and had lost control of the political situation:

• He had offended members of the Privy Council


• undermined the confidence of the aristocracy and the genry


• Ineptly handled the popular uprisings


• His religious reforms alienated even moderate among the Conservative faction

Power Struggle

A power struggle soon developed in which Northumberland was a leading contender:

1. Northumberland crushed the rebel army in Norfolk on 26th August 1549


2. Somerset was unable to order troops to return France and Scotland following the rebellions under the two proclamations that he issued


3. The Privy Council issued a proclamation blaming Somerset for the rebellions and after agreeing to negotiate Somerset was arrested on 11th October 1549

Northumberland the politician

He had risen to political prominence during the last years of Henry VIII's reign and had gained a good military reputation in the Scottish and French wars. Furthermore in Henry's will he had been named as one of the members of the Privy Council.

The events of 1549 gave him his opportunity to take advantage of Somerset's political isolation and showed his considerable ability as a politician. By pretending to be a Catholic sympathiser, he successfully conspired with the conservatives which gave him control of the council.

Northumberland the tactician

Northumberland plotted too with the reform party, particularly Archbishop Cranmer and with his help he gained contol over the administration of the Royal Household, which gave him immediate access to Edward VI and enabled him to win the confidence of the King. To secure his position he becamse Lord President of the Council and was mnade General Warden of the North which gave him military command. However he only achieved complete power in October 1551 when he had Somerset re-arrrested and assumed the title of Duke of Northumberland.

In marked contrast to Somerset he introduced a series of significant and lasting reforms and thus is described by historians as an ambitious but able politician.

Maintaining control

Northumberland had learned from Somerset's mistakes and saw that control of the council was the key to political power.

As Lord President he was able to appoint and dismiss councillors at will and had complete control over procedure. Able supporters of Somerset such as Paget and William Cecil who had been arrested, were released and returned to their posts. Under their guidance the Council and its procedures were restored to the pattern established in the period 1536-47.

Northumberland enlarged the membership of the council to 33 and chose whenever possible men of military experience so if any further rebellions came about then he could be sure of immediate armed support. To make the Council more efficient and stable Northumberland created a smaller, inner committee with a fixed routine to conduct business and to stop the bypassing of the Council, Northumberland restored it to the centre of the government. Also for similar reasons he made less use of proclamations, preferring to use parliament to conform legislation.

Northumberland and the problems of government

The political difficulties facing the new government were the same as those that Somerset had failed to resolve. Unfortunatel for Northumberland, they had become more acute and the most pressing problems were:

• the diplomatic position


• the short-fall in revenue

The diplomatic position

The war situation had deteriorated because the French, taking advantage of England's domestic position, had declared open warfare in August 1549 and thus placed Boulogne under serious threat. Northumberland realised that England was in an impossible military and financial position and therefore ended the war with France and withdrew many of the garrisons from Scotland.

While this eased the immediate difficulties, diplomatic relations with Charles V became strained as the Emperor mistrusted England's new position of neutrality towards France. Furthermore in order to gain further supreme power he allied himself with more extreme Protestat reformers such as Bishops Ridley and Hooper but Northumberland had to allow the Church of England to swing towards Calvinism. This further antagonised Charles V, who favoured moderation in the English Church and England became diplomatically isolated.

The short-fall in revenue

Revenue remained a serious problem. The government was bankrupt in 1549: Somerset had spent £1,356,000 on the war and sold crown lands to the value of £800,000. The government even had to borrow to raise the £50,000 a year needed to maintain the Royal Household.

Ending the war greatly reduced the expenditure but a number of other things had to be done to keep the government solvent:

• In May 1551, the coinage was debased for the last time but more money still needed to be loaned from Continental baks despite the government making a profit of £114,000.
• Cecil was restored as Secretary of State and put in charge of financial planning: he recommended the sale of chantry lands and Church goods to start paying off loans
• Gresham (from the government Treasury) was sent to the Netherlands to manipulate the stock market, restore the value of sterling against continental currencies and pay off loans.
• In March 1552 the coinage was called in and reissued with the silver content which helped to slow the rise of inflation and restore confidence in sterling.
• Strict economies were made in government spending and Northumberland paid off the remainder of his mercenary troops.

Thus most of the overseas debts were now paid off and an emergency fund had been established. By 1553 the financial situation had been stablished and Northumberland had shown considerable political skill in resolving a serious financial crisis.

At the same time there was a concerted effort to improve the efficiency of the financial machinery. The most pressing need was to streamline the collection of revenue and to find ways of increasing government income. In 1552 a commission began to investigate the five revenue courts that carried out the work of the Exchequer and recommended that to avoid corruption and inefficiency that the number of courts be reduced to two- the Exchequer and the Office of Crown Lands.

Economic and social problems

The government was faced by equally pressing economic and social problems:

1. Population and inflation was still rising which meant that the living standards of the masses continued to decline and that work was more difficult to find.
2. NBy 1550 the growing instability of the Antwerp cloth market was causing widespread unemployment among textile workers in W.Country and E.Anglia.
3. The debasement of the coinage in 1551 raised inflation still further.
4. Grain prices rose rapidly; a situation worsened by poor harvests.
5. In 1550 the country was still simmering after the recent popular uprisings and was further unsettled by the political power struggle among the privy councillors.

Thus the administration had to act carefully to avoid further unrest, for instance:

• The unpopular 1547 Vagancy Act and the sheep tax of 1548 were repealed in 1550 which helped to dispel unrest.
• In the same year a new Treason Act was passed, which restored censorship and gave the authorities more power to enforce law and order.

Initially these measures helped to prevent the widespread popular discontent from turning into actual revolt.

At the same time the administration introduced further measures in 1552:

• It tried to improve the economic situation and relieve poverty and distress.
• The existing anti-enclosure legislation was rigorously enforced and the unpopular enclosure commissions were withdrawn.
• The revaluation of the coinage halted inflation and reduced prices.
• Acts were passed to protect arable farming and to stop the charging of excessive interest on debts.
• A new poor law was passed which made it easier for the parish and town authorities to support the aged, infirm and crippled.

It seems from this research that Northumberland was a lot more successful than Somerset at ruling under the reign of Edward VI.

Thus if I was to ask children to look at this two topics in more detail I would explain to them the main problems of Somerset's rule and the successes of Northumberland rule either by using a powerpoint presentation aksing them questions as they went along to check they had concentrated on what I was telling them or by displaying around the classroom problems and successes of their reigns and asking them to match them with the rulers before I revealed the correct answers.

Once they had completed this task I would ask them to answer the following questions in groups and to make an essay plan of their answers which could be used to write an essay for assessment purposes:

How and why did Somerset fall from power?

How and why was Northumberland able to deal with the problems he faced much better than Somerset did?

Once they had answered these questions and we had discussed their answers with the rest of the class to check they had got all of the points they needed for their essay, I would ask them to complete a comparison of the reigns of Somerset and Northumberland reminding them to look at why one seemed to succeed and the other failed.

Next time I will look at the section entitled 'Mary Tudor 1553-8' to try to understand the political problems that she faced during her reign and how she dealt with them.