Tudor England | 1. Power and politics

Summary

History Extra Podcast Summary Episode: Tudor England | 1. Power and Politics
Release Date: November 28, 2024
Host: Emily Briffet
Guest: Tracy Borman, Author, Historian, and Broadcaster

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Introduction to Tudor England

In the premiere episode of the History Extra podcast series on Tudor England, host Emily Briffet welcomes her guest, renowned historian Tracy Borman. Together, they embark on an exploration of Tudor England, delving into the intricate power dynamics, political maneuvers, and societal transformations that defined the era.

Defining the Tudor Era (00:01 - 04:22)

The episode begins by establishing the timeframe of Tudor England, spanning from 1485 to 1603. Tracy explains, “The Tudor period, there was a great deal of blurring between that and what went before the medieval period... [02:04].” This period initiates with Henry VII’s victory at the Battle of Bosworth, which ended the Wars of the Roses, and concludes with the death of Elizabeth I. Despite modern classifications, Tracy notes that contemporaries did not refer to their time as the Tudor era, emphasizing, “People at the time wouldn't have thought they were living in Tudor England. I think they'd have just thought of themselves as English, not really particularly Tudor” ([03:38]).

Five Key Milestones Impacting Ordinary Lives (04:22 - 08:00)

Tracy outlines five pivotal events that significantly influenced the lives of ordinary people:

1. Battle of Stoke (1487): Henry VII decisively crushed Lambert Simnel’s claim to the throne, effectively ending the Wars of the Roses and stabilizing the nation ([04:35]).

2. Henry VIII Becomes Supreme Head (1534): His break from the Roman Catholic Church initiated the English Reformation, dramatically altering religious and social structures ([04:35]).

3. Dissolution of the Monasteries (1538): The dismantling of monastic institutions disrupted local communities that relied on these establishments for education and charity, leading to widespread unrest ([04:35]).

4. Enclosures and Kett's Rebellion (1549): The enclosure of common lands ignited social discontent and rebellion, reflecting the economic hardships faced by many ([04:35]).

5. Defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588): This event solidified England’s status as a formidable global power and elevated Elizabeth I’s authority, as she famously became known as "Gloriana" ([04:35]).

The Tudor Monarchs: A Brief Biography (08:00 - 10:00)

Tracy provides a succinct overview of the Tudor monarchs:

• Henry VII: Established the Tudor dynasty through his marriage to Elizabeth of York.
• Henry VIII: Best known for his six marriages and initiating the English Reformation.
• Edward VI: The short-reigned boy king whose succession was contested by Lady Jane Grey.
• Mary I: Known for her attempt to restore Catholicism.
• Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen whose long reign marked the height of the Tudor era ([08:30]).

Absolute Power vs. Parliamentary Authority (10:00 - 11:49)

The discussion shifts to the nature of monarchical power during the Tudor period. Tracy explains that while Tudor monarchs like Henry VIII wielded significant authority, their power was exercised in collaboration with Parliament. “The monarchy's authority was certainly strengthened by increasing revenues, tightening royal administration...” ([10:13]). However, by Elizabeth I’s reign, Parliament’s influence had grown, laying the groundwork for the modern parliamentary system ([10:13]).

Daily Life of the Monarch (11:49 - 14:00)

Tracy paints a vivid picture of the daily routines of Tudor monarchs, highlighting their busy schedules filled with hunting, elaborate feasts, and religious observances. She notes, “Henry VIII would spend literally all day hunting... And even though the Tudors in general only ate two main meals a day... These feasts could go on for several hours” ([11:56]). The monarchs’ days were meticulously structured, reflecting their status and the demands of governance.

Challenges Faced by Tudor Monarchs (14:00 - 15:21)

Several enduring challenges plagued the Tudor rulers:

• Dynastic Insecurity: The Tudor claim to the throne was tenuous, leading to persistent threats from rival claimants like Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck ([14:09]).
• Religious Dissent: Henry VIII’s Reformation sowed seeds of religious conflict that persisted throughout the era ([14:09]).
• Social and Economic Strains: Issues such as enclosures and the rise of the middle class created social tensions ([14:09]).
• External Threats: Wars and diplomatic challenges tested England’s resilience on the global stage ([14:09]).

Rebellions and Responses (15:21 - 17:40)

Tracy delves into the major rebellions of the Tudor period, emphasizing their roots in religious discontent. Notable uprisings include:

• Pilgrimage of Grace (1536): A widespread rebellion against Henry VIII’s religious reforms, brutally suppressed, revealing the fragility of Tudor control ([15:28]).
• Kett’s Rebellion (1549): Sparked by economic grievances and the enclosure of common lands, this revolt highlighted the socio-economic tensions of the time ([15:28]).

She further discusses how pretenders like Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck exploited these insecurities, challenging Tudor authority and necessitating ruthless responses ([17:40]).

Impact on Ordinary Lives (17:40 - 20:35)

While the Tudor monarchs’ actions had profound implications, Tracy points out that everyday concerns often overshadowed courtly affairs for the common people. “They might have been more preoccupied by whether the harvest was going to be a good one... or the price of corn” ([17:49]). Religion, however, remained a central influence, fundamentally altering societal norms and personal beliefs ([17:49]).

The Tudor Court: Structure and Function (20:35 - 33:32)

The episode provides an in-depth look at the Tudor court, describing its vast scale and complex hierarchy:

• Household Above Stairs (Domus Magnificence): Managed by the Lord Chamberlain, encompassing the monarch’s private chambers and chambers for courtly activities ([20:41]).
• Household Below Stairs (Domus Providenti): Overseen by the Lord Steward, responsible for stables, kitchens, and service departments ([20:41]).

Tracy highlights the competitive nature of court life, where rivalries and scandals were commonplace. Positions within the court ranged from high-status roles like the Groom of the Stool to lower-ranking servants who managed the day-to-day operations. She shares intriguing anecdotes, such as the enforcement of strict table manners through the Eltham Ordinances, introduced by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey to regulate courtly behavior ([28:56]).

Consequences of Losing Favor (33:32 - 35:37)

Tracy discusses the perilous nature of courtly favor, illustrating how falling out of grace with the monarch could lead to execution. Notable examples include Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both of whom were executed after losing Henry VIII’s favor ([33:47]). Regaining favor was nearly impossible without maintaining close access to the monarch, underscoring the high-stakes environment of the Tudor court ([35:37]).

Governance Structure: From National to Local (35:37 - 40:21)

The conversation transitions to the broader governance structure during the Tudor period:

• National Level: The monarch at the apex, supported by the Privy Council and Parliament ([35:46]).
• Local Level: Administration was managed by sheriffs, Lord Lieutenants, Justices of the Peace, and church wardens, who handled law enforcement, road maintenance, and the upkeep of local churches ([35:46]).

Tracy emphasizes that local governance became more organized under the Tudors, despite the absence of a formal police force. Law enforcement relied on parish constables and strict penalties to deter crime, including unconventional methods such as employing wizards to solve crimes ([37:24]).

Law, Crime, and Punishment (40:21 - 38:33)

Common crimes in Tudor England included theft, poaching, heresy, treason, and witchcraft. Tracy explains that severe punishments were employed to maintain order, with witch hunts being particularly rampant. She notes, “the witch hunts had already been underway for almost 100 years by now” ([38:33]). The intertwining of law enforcement with local beliefs in magic and the supernatural added a unique dimension to justice during this period ([37:24]).

Social Hierarchy and Structure (40:21 - 41:38)

Tracy outlines the rigid social hierarchy of Tudor England, adhering to the "great chain of being":

1. Monarch
2. Nobility and Aristocracy
3. Gentry
4. Yeomanry
5. Commoners (Peasants and Laborers)
6. Poor and Vagrants ([40:21])

This hierarchy was strictly maintained, although the rise of trade and commerce began to shift the status of the gentry. Issues like vagrancy highlighted the persistent social challenges that the Tudors struggled to address effectively ([40:21]).

Conclusion: The Transformative Tudor Era (42:01 - 42:54)

Tracy concludes by emphasizing the transformative nature of the Tudor period. It was an era of immense change, marked by the end of medieval structures and the rise of national identity. England emerged as a significant global power, laying the foundations for the modern nation. “It was transformative” ([42:01]).

Emily Briffet wraps up the episode by expressing gratitude to Tracy Borman for her insightful contributions, setting the stage for future episodes that will delve deeper into daily life, culture, and broader societal impacts of Tudor England.

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Notable Quotes:

• Tracy Borman (02:04): “Henry vii... put more sort of royal administration in place... it is quite right that it is defined as sort of the beginning of the early modern period, the end of the medieval.”

• Tracy Borman (03:38): “People at the time wouldn't have thought they were living in Tudor England. I think they'd have just thought of themselves as English, not really particularly Tudor.”

• Tracy Borman (10:13): “The monarchy's authority was certainly strengthened by increasing revenues, tightening royal administration...”

• Tracy Borman (17:49): “The main way in which the reigns affected the daily lives of their ordinary subjects was in religion.”

• Tracy Borman (28:56): “...they [courtiers] are being watched... so don't put a foot, or indeed don't put a buttock wrong.”

• Tracy Borman (33:47): “The consequences could be the worst that you can imagine... She was executed.”

• Tracy Borman (42:01): “It was transformative.”

Key Takeaways

• The Tudor era was a period of significant political, religious, and social transformation in England.
• Tudor monarchs exercised increasing power, often in collaboration with emerging parliamentary structures.
• Religious reforms under Henry VIII had profound and lasting impacts on English society.
• The Tudor court was a center of power, intrigue, and strict social hierarchy.
• Ordinary lives were largely influenced by local concerns and the overarching changes initiated by the monarchy.
• The period laid the groundwork for modern England's national identity and global presence.

This comprehensive summary encapsulates the essential discussions and insights from the episode, providing a thorough understanding of the power and politics that shaped Tudor England.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

This is a History Extra Production. From vicious court politicking and cultural innovation to global voyages of discovery and total religious upheaval, Tudor England was a turbulent and exciting place to be. In this History Extra podcast series, we're heading right to the beating heart of the era to uncover what life was like for those who lived through it. I'm your host, Emily Briffet and I'm joined by author, historian and broadcaster Tracy Borman. In this first episode, we'll be meeting the movers and shakers of the Tudor royal court, exploring what it took to run the country and escape the monarch's wrath. Welcome to the series, Tracy. It's lovely to have you here.

[A]

Thanks so much, Emily. I'm really excited about this.

[B]

So we are going to be exploring everything Tudor England. But first we need to start with the bookends, the eras defined between 1485 and 1603. Why those bookends?

[A]

Yes, we're so used to them, aren't we? That 118 year period? Well, it begins with the establishment of the Tudor dynasty by Henry VII when he defeats Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. And it ends with the death of the last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth. And so we see that as a clearly defined period. We do. Would people at the time have done? I'm less sure. And in fact, the Tudor period, there was a great deal of blurring between that and what went before the medieval period. Actually, there's a sense of continuation. Henry vii, the first Tudor King didn't really do anything that was vastly different. Certainly he was very good at tightening the crown's finances and putting more sort of royal administration in place. But he inherited a working system from the Plantagenet monarchs, from Edward IV and then briefly Richard iii. Feudalism. That's one of the changes that's often pointed out, this system of giving service in return for land that was already on the wane by the time the Tudors came to power. So they can't claim to have really ended feudalism. I'm downplaying it, though, because, let's be honest, the Tudor period witnessed huge change and I think it's quite right that it is defined as sort of the beginning of the early modern period, the end of the medieval. The beginning of sort of modern times.

[B]

And did people at the time call it the Tudor era?

[A]

Well, they didn't at all. We're obsessed with calling it the Tudor era. I can't get through a day without saying the word Tudor, in fact. But a lot of research has been done on this in original chronicles, letters, poems, plays, and actually the name Tudor hardly came up at the time. And in fact, it would have been a bit embarrassing for the Tudor monarchs themselves to call themselves that because it was a reminder of their Welsh origins and their frankly dodgy claim to the throne, might I say. So they wouldn't really have called themselves that at all. People at the time wouldn't have thought they were living in Tudor England. I think they'd have just thought of themselves as English, not really particularly Tudor.

[B]

Really good insight there. As we don't have time to cover absolutely every single milestone in this series, could you perhaps share five that you think really impacted the lives of normal people?

[A]

I think I struggled with this question more than any other because there are so many potential milestones and I'm sure this is going to get listeners posting, writing in furious. Why didn't she mention X, Y and Z? But I'm going to go with the five that I. I think were the most important, both nationally but also at a local level. I would begin in 1487, so just two years into the Tudor reign with the Battle of Stoke. This is when Henry VII put an end to the claims of the first pretender, Lambert Simnel, who claimed to be Edward Earl of Warwick. And many people wanted to see him on the throne in place of this Tudor upstart, Henry vii. And by decisively defeating him, Henry VII is seen to have put an end in 1487 to the wars of the Roses. So that was a major milestone, both on a national and on a local level as well. Now I'm going to claim two milestones under the umbrella of the Reformation, because it's just so huge to ordinary people. 1534, Henry VIII becomes Supreme Head of a new Church of England. He has broken with Rome. The reverberations of that act will echo down not just the Tudor period, but the centuries to follow. It's impossible to overstate how huge this was. And then, four years later, or thereabouts, 1538, then the dissolution of the Monasteries really gets underway. So that's milestone number three for me, because the monasteries had been such a pivotal part of local communities for centuries, the buildings themselves dominated the English landscape. They played such a crucial role in education, in community, in charity. And now they were being torn down, brick by brick, stone by stone. And little wonder. This then provokes not just unrest, but actual rebellion against the Tudors. More unrest a few years later. 1549, thanks to enclosures. The enclosure of common land is a feature of the Tudor period and it certainly affected the lives of ordinary people. And Kett's rebellion. Robert Kett rebelled in 1549 and it was really a threat to the regime of Henry VIII's son, Edward VI. And it was one of those issues that probably affected ordinary lives almost more than any other, perhaps only religion aside. And then you can't talk about milestones without talking about 1588, one of the most famous dates of the Tudor era. Elizabeth I vanquishes the Armada with a little help from the English weather, which blew the Spanish ships off course. And, yes, you might say, as victories, it wasn't the most impressive, but what it did was to really establish England on the world stage as a power to be reckoned with. And also to establish Elizabeth. It's the beginning of her cult status as Gloriana, and now nobody is questioning her authority. Even the Pope says words to the effect of, she's just a woman and yet she rules a country, she rules Europe effectively. So this really is a huge landmark in the Tudor period.

[B]

Some excellent suggestions there. And I think you're allowed to have those two for the Reformation, because religion is such an important topic. We've got a whole episode on that coming up. But first we must get into the petty politicking of the Tudor court. So we talk so much about the Tudor monarchs and there is so much out there about them. But just to start us off, could you give us a 60 second biography? Who were they? How'd they come to power? How did they tail off their dynasty.

[A]

So the Tudors were of Welsh descent, originally from Owen Tudor, who married Catherine of Valois, the widow of Henry V, Henry vii, the first Tudor. His claim to the throne came through his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, and she was descended from an illegitimate line from John of Gaunt, a son of Edward iii, and his then mistress, Catherine Swynford, who he later married and had their legitimized. But there was always this stain of illegitimacy that hung over the Tudors. Now there are five, or if you count Lady Jane Grey's six Tudor monarchs. So Henry VII was succeeded by his second born son, Henry viii, the most famous. I'm sure he's gonna be cropping up in our discussion over this series. Then Edward vi, the boy king, didn't reign very long. Ironically, after Henry VIII had gone to so much trouble to have a son, he changed the succession in favour of his cousin, Lady Jane Grey. But the people of England weren't prepared to put up with that. She was just queen for nine days before the rightful heir, Mary Tudor, Edward's elder half sister, came to the throne. A brief, bloody reign followed by the last of Henry VIII's children, Elizabeth I, famously the Virgin Queen. She didn't marry, she didn't have children, and therefore, at the end of her 44 year, highly successful reign, that was the end of Tudors.

[B]

Perfect. A really brief rundown to what is a quite a long period in comparison. So in this era, as we're going to move on quite quickly, because we've got a bit of a timeline there, how absolute was the monarch's power?

[A]

You can see the development of what we might call absolutist power during the Tudor period. But the Tudors did reign in collaboration with Parliament, so they're not absolutely absolute, if I can say that. But the monarchy's authority was certainly strengthened by increasing revenues, tightening royal administration, forming a personal bodyguard. And all of those were instituted during the reign of Henry vii. But it really gets going in the reign of his son, Henry viii. He makes himself head of the Church, takes control of the Church. This is huge because for centuries kings of England have been subject to papal authority, but now the King is above the Pope and he's certainly above his people. And now it's a crime even to think against the king. So we're talking absolutism here with the reign of Henry viii and that continues to varying degrees for the rest of the Tudor period. In the 1560s, one contemporary described Parliament as the most high and absolute power. So there's this sort of parall of the monarchy's power increasing, but also that of their parliaments. And Elizabeth I was certainly adept at working with Parliament and I think by the end of the period it was much more about Parliament than it was about absolute monarchy. And that was all actually thanks to Henry viii. He'd set something in train with the Reformation because he needed Parliament.

[B]

We're going to come on to talk about this wider governance in a moment, but first, let's keep with the monarch. What did they do?

[A]

Day to day, a monarch was very busy and some of it sounds pretty nice. So in his early reign, for example, Henry VIII would spend literally all day hunting. He would get up at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning and he wouldn't get back until after dark. And that was his right as king. And so all of the business of monarchy was passed to the shoulders of the very capable Cardinal Thomas Woolsey. The Altair Rex, or other king, as they called him, and other sporting pursuit were very popular with monarchs as well. Elizabeth I also liked to hunt. There was bowling, tennis, so there's the sort of leisure aspect. And as part of leisure, eating took up a lot of time. Even though the Tudors in general only ate two main meals a day, usually around 10 o'clock in the morning and about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. They were sort of occasions of such ceremony with many different courses, about 17 or 18 dishes at each course. So this is not just a quick snack, you know, grab a 15 minutes later, you're back at your desk. It's not really like that. These feasts could go on for several hours. So of course there was business, there were presiding over meetings of the Privy Council, attending Parliament, but I would say top of the list, unless you're Henry VIII and sports mad was religion. And this really set the structure of a monarch's daily life in court. The observance of religious services beginning early in the morning and sort of punctuating their day. And they wouldn't just quickly pop off to church, they processed through the public rooms of the court and of course attended church with the same ceremony that they did everything else. So it was pretty exhausting. There would be then evening entertainments and they wouldn't retire until late at night. But if you think it's exhausting for the monarch, the servants basically have to stay up later than the monarch and get up earlier than them. So they could have had a little more than three or four hours sleep a night.

[B]

Sounds truly exhausting. Well, this brings us on to talk about the challenges, what were the challenges the monarch might face?

[A]

Well, the Tudors were fundamentally insecure as a royal dynasty. And you see this throughout the period. It's not just Henry VII who is particularly vulnerable because there are arguably better claimants to. So they can never really rest easy on the throne. And I think that's probably the biggest challenge. And you know, even Elizabeth I is very conscious that about half of her subjects see her as illegitimate because her parents marriage had been dissolved just before her mother's execution. So she didn't feel very secure on the throne either. So that was a challenge. And of course then there was the whole religious dissent provoked by Henry's Reformation. There was social mobility, the rise of the middle classes, the endemic power of these great nobles who often challenged royal authorities. And then looking abroad, wars, invasion attempts, diplomatic challenges, and running throughout the Tudor period, this thread of the production of heirs, the need to secure the dynasty. And of course that reaches fever pitch in the reign of Henry viii.

[B]

As you mentioned before, the monarchs obviously faced a few rebellions. So what were the causes, what was the response?

[A]

Most of the most serious rebellions during the Tudor period had their origins in religion and more specifically in Henry VIII's Reformation, which provoked widespread unease, leading to unrest, leading to rebellion. And one of the most threatening rebellions of the Tudor age was the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536. It started in my native Lincolnshire, I'm rather proud of this. And it rapidly spread across the Midlands and the northern counties. And it was a real threat to the Tudor regime. We tend to forget that because ultimately it was defeated and crushed. Actually, Henry was merciless with the pilgrims, as they called themselves, but it was a real threat to the Tudors and a wake call for Henry. I think he was so used to enjoying the love of his people, now he realized that was far from being the case. So religion continued to be a major source of unrest in the reign of his son. You get the Prayer Book rebellion. There was a religious element to Ket's rebellion in 1549, certainly a religious element to the rebellion in Mary's reign, the Wyatt Rebellion in 1554, and then in Elizabeth's reign, the rebellions, the conspiracies, they had a very strong religious thread because this was the era of Catholic plotting against this Protestant monarch, trying to oust her from the throne. I've come at this in a very non chronological way because I wanted to talk about religion at the top of this answer, but actually going back to the beginning of the Tudor period, It was the pretenders who caused the biggest headache to Henry vii. These two pretenders, Lambert Simnel and Perkin War Warbeck, who claimed respectively to be Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard the Younger of the princes in the Tower, a son of Edward iv. And really that went to the heart of the instability of the Tudors, because everybody knew that Henry VII's claim to the throne did not bear close scrutiny. And this is why such rebellions were able to gain such support.

[B]

And you've been hinting at this throughout so far. How did the reigns of the Tudor monarchs affect the lives of their subjects?

[A]

The main way in which the reigns affected the daily lives of their ordinary subjects was in religion. And it is going to keep coming up because you can't avoid it. And we think we understand the Tudors, but unless we lived in a society where religion is as paramount as it was to the Tudors, I think we can never really get under the skin of just how important this was. And so the Reformation, we're back with the Reformation, but this is the main way that the Tudor monarchs influence the daily lives of their subjects. And we're gonna be talking about that in a later episode. That aside, though, I would like to say something a little bit, perhaps unexpected, a bit controversial in that I think on a day to day basis, religion aside, most people wouldn't have been all that much aware of what was happening in the heart of royal power, who the King's latest wife was, what was happening with the Queen, whether she was entertaining any suitors today. Would they have known? Would they have cared? Actually, they might have been more preoccupied by whether the harvest was going to be a good one this year, by whether this seemingly endless, terrible weather, known as the sort of mini ice age of the Tudor period, whether that would ever abate. What was the price of corn? Just the minutiae of daily life, I think, was so much more important to people than what we're obsessed with. What I've spent most of my career talking about, and that's the Tudor monarchs themselves.

[B]

I was going to ask you how the ordinary person viewed the monarchs that seemed to have answered. They won't seem to be as aware as maybe we are today of what's going on with the UK monarchy today.

[A]

Absolutely. Because, of course, this is an age where you don't have social media, you don't have newspapers, you find out about things in a number of ways, but news doesn't travel fast. So it's local concerns that would have dominated much More than an awareness even of your monarch, you might, if you're very lucky, see them. Now. You're much more likely to see them if you live in London, of course, they're often progressing through the city. You might see them on one of their royal progresses. But even Elizabeth, who was famous for her royal progresses, she didn't venture actually that far away from London, relatively speaking. You would see them on coins, you might hear about them through traveling merchants, but they wouldn't be a huge presence in your life and certainly you wouldn't have the instant access to what they were getting up to that we have today.

[B]

And of course, wherever a monarch went, their court went too. So what was the court and how did it function?

[A]

This is a really big question. The court, for a start, was huge. At its height, it could comprise about 1,000 people. So it's a massive operation. It's incredibly well run. This is an important point to make. At every single level of court life, it was run like a military operation. So the court in general terms was divided into two sections, or at least the royal household was. There was the household above stairs, known as the domus magnificence or magnificent, then Che. I wish I'd chosen Latin over woodwork when I was doing my GCSes. And then the household below stairs, which was called the Domus providenti. Now, the household above stairs, that comprised things like the chamber, the presence chamber, the privy chamber, it was controlled by the official, called the Lord Chamberlain, the most trusted, really, official at court. And then below stairs, that was commanded by the Lord Steward. It would comprise stables, kitchens, the sort of service departments, and you can imagine an absolute army of staff above and below stairs. And so many sub departments within those two main departments that I've just described. And at the heart of it all, like a kind of queen bee in the hive, would be the monarch themselves. And it's like a ripple effect. They're at the center and then the closest ripples to that center are the most highly favored courtiers. I would have been at the kind of outer edges of the pond, so to speak, and everything was done according to status. You couldn't just wander wherever you liked in the court. You had to be of a certain rank to get anywhere near, say, the Privy Chamber, which were the private apartments of the King and Queen. Most people would have been sort of loitering with intent in the outer courtyards.

[B]

So who made up the courts and how much influence did they have? And presumably that varied from what you've said.

[A]

Yes, indeed. So the Court was largely made up of nobles in the highest ranking positions. There would have been nobles and almost the positions were hereditary. They tended to, you know, pass from father to son, mother to daughter. And so it was usual for the monarch themselves to be surrounded by very blue blooded subjects, dukes, earls, other nobles, and then slightly further down, so the ranks would decrease and you might get knights and esquires, but essentially it's dominated by the nobility and it has been for centuries. But Henry viii, if we are to give him some credit in this podcast, and I think we should, he does understandably get a bad press. He was a bit more interested in ability over rank and so two of his foremost courtiers were men of humble birth. The man of the moment, Thomas Cromwell, we've seen him on our screens and perhaps if your listeners have read the Wolf hall trilogy, you'll be very familiar with. Thomas Cromwell, who was the son of a blacksmith, became the most powerful man in England next to the king and his predecessor, Thomas Woolsey, son of a butcher. And, and both of these men held more power under Henry VIII than any of the nobles put together. So I think, yeah, good for Henry. He sometimes recognized ability over rank.

[B]

So what were the different roles that people could be given or take up?

[A]

So the roles varied between members of the privy chamber. This is the plum job, if you want to get ahead, serve the king or queen in their privy chamber, the sort of inner sanctum of the court. Henry VIII vastly increased the number of privy chamber staff. So he had about 50 people serving him in his privy chamber. His father had about 12. So Henry VIII, this was his social life. He loved to be in his privy chamber. There would be such positions as the gentleman of the privy chamber. The job that sounded like the worst one was actually the highest ranking and that was groom of the stool. I could talk about this job all day because the groom of the stool was responsible for accompanying the king when he visited the clothes stool, the toilet, and really kind of keeping him company in there, making sure he was clean afterwards before he went back out into the public court. Sounds dreadful. But it was sought after because the closer you got to the king, the more highly favored you were. And to get ahead in the Tudor court, it's all about access, and no pun intended, you have pretty regular access as a groom of the stool. So that was the absolute top job. But then you get the gentlemen, then you get grooms, then you get sort of more charwomen, lower ranking servants who do the actual work. And that's an important point to make Most of these positions actually were pretty easy. You just had to hang out with the monarch. Not really hard work. You might help them dress a little bit, but it was the lower ranking positions. They would be the ones that were up at 3 or 4 in the morning, sweeping out fireplaces, cleaning, preparing laundry, cooking. They were the people who were doing the real work.

[B]

Now there are so many privileged positions there. Just how common were political rivalries and scandals?

[A]

The court was all about rivalries and scandals. And it's really important to note that there was a sort of blurring between the court positions, the sort of private positions. So work in the privy chamber and work in the public court, the privy council, in that you could work in both. Certainly when there was a king on the throne, his advisors would also be helping him dress in the morning, if you see what I mean. Whereas it was a bit different when there was a queen, because women couldn't hold public office. So a queen's privy chamber staff were more just focused on her private needs and then her privy council would be filled with men. So you can imagine there was great competition for places in the court. Everybody wanted the top jobs factions would form, particularly once religion came to the fore in such a major way during the reign of Henry viii. You get the Conservative, the Catholics, the Reformers, later known as Protestants. Everybody's scheming for power and for personal gain. Of course, there are scandals in a court which is also a kind of marriage market. This is where you send your sons or your daughters to make advantageous marriages. So of course there's going to be scandals, sexual scandals. Quite often there are illicit affairs, there are unwanted pregnancies and actually a lot of the scandals you might associate with Henry VIII because of his marital history, which was quite colourful. But it was his daughter Elizabeth, who probably suffered the most scandals during her long reign, because she expected her women to follow her example and not marry and not have children. And so little wonder that they started conducting kind of illicit affairs and secret marriages even, because they knew the Queen wouldn' so this is when you get the most, I think, scandals developing and I'm thinking of the likes of Lettice Knowles, who dared to steal away the Queen's closest favorite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and she married him in secret. And when Elizabeth found out, she boxed her ears and she said she would never have that she wolf back in her court.

[B]

Not a good move.

[A]

Very dangerous move on Lettice's part.

[B]

Were there any strict rules surrounding etiquette or guidelines to how you should behave?

[A]

Perhaps Etiquette was very strictly controlled by each of the Tudor monarchs because the court was their public face. And so on the one hand, it had to be magnificent because the more magnificent, the more wealthy and therefore the more powerful. Powerful. It's not just expense for the sake of expense. You know, they are showing off their wealth because wealth equals power. But it has to be strictly controlled. No monarch wants to be known for presiding over an immoral court. And it's really interesting that in the reign of Elizabeth, her court was described by a contemporary as being at once gay, decent and superb. And that's the combination you wanted. It had to be full of sort of frivolity and entertainment and it had to be superb. It had to be glittering, dazzling to impress the world. But that word decent, I think is the most important. The monarch was the moral heart of the nation and the moral heart of their court. So they had to both introduce and uphold very high standards. Now, some of my favorite rules include table manners. So because I've already said, you know, they spent a lot of time eating, so that was the subject of a whole raft of rules and regulations. And in fact, the Dutch writer, philosopher, humanist, Erasmus published a book in the reign of Henry VII with a list of such instructions. Among them, sit not down until you have washed. And there would be somebody whose responsibility was to help the king wash his hands before every meal and indeed the queen. But then my favorite Erasmus goes on to say, don't shift your buttocks. Sit neatly and still for the duration of the feast. So you must have been kind of a bit on edge because everybody's watching you. And as if to remind you of that fact, at Hampton Court, where I'm lucky enough to work, one of my favourite features in the great hall, which was like the staff canteen, this is where most courtiers ate. In the great hall, you see in the ceiling, these little faces peering down at you and they're in the eaves and they're called eavesdroppers. And that's where the name comes from, because they were put there to remind everybody dining below. So you're being watched here. So don't put a foot, or indeed don't put a buttock wrong.

[B]

Fantastic. It's really strange to hear of the table manners being so important, but as you say, they're spending so long eating, they've got to be on their best behavior.

[A]

They've got to be on their best behavior and often they weren't. And Woolsey, Henry VIII's right hand man, he introduced in 1520 a set of rules called the Eltham Ordinances, and these were hugely influential throughout the Tudor period. Really. Woolsey's aim in introducing these was to attack the Privy Chamber staff, who were his rivals, so he was trying to reduce their influence. But the ultimate ordinances did include a whole raft of other rules and regulations and such as, you know, you're not allowed to suck your soup too loudly, you've got to keep your mouth clean of crying and gravy and goodness knows what else might be dripping when you're eating your daily meals. But as well, I'm afraid, toilet habits sometimes got out of hand. I'm sorry to lower the tone, Emily, but it did. And because in a court filled with a thousand people, sanitation wasn't as advanced as today. They did have the great house of easement at hampton court, a 28 seat toilet even. So that was soon at capacity. And so people, if they got caught short, they would just go where they were. And so rules had to be introduced to stop people just urinating against walls. And it was during the reign of Henry VIII that crosses were painted on walls because nobody would want to actually blaspheme by urinating on a cross. So they went to some quite cunning measures to make people behave.

[B]

I never knew that. It's a great fact.

[A]

I have a number of top facts like that. I just love those little details. I think they're so revealing. Yes, we need to talk about the big political moves and the religious changes, but it's those little details that I think just bring the Tudor court to life.

[B]

It paints such a vivid picture of what it must have been like to live at that time. Now I want to go back to poor old Lattice Knowles and just ask, what were the consequences of losing favor with a monarch? How could you get back in the good books?

[A]

Well, the consequences could be the worst that you can imagine. And quite often for Henry's wives, really, I'm thinking notably of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both of whom fell from his favor with disastrous results. And they certainly weren't ever forgiven. In fact, they were executed. And that was the ultimate result of a loss of favour. And it was a result that became all the more common as the reign of Henry VI progressed. Nobody was safe. Wives, favorites, ministers. That man Cromwell again follows Anne Boleyn to the block four years after he'd helped to bring her down. The key to regaining favor was access. This, I can't stress it enough. That's what it's all about. If you want to get ahead, you have to Be in close and regular contact with your monarch. Catherine Howard, for example, when she was suspected and arrested for adultery, her first act was to try and reach Henry. She needed to see him, she needed access to plead her case in person. And she was said to have run screaming along this corridor in Hampton Court that's now called the Haunted Gallery because she ran screaming. She broke free of her guards trying to reach the King, but she was held back and he wouldn't see her. And it's called the Haunted Gallery. Cause apparently you can still hear Catherine's agonized screams at certain hours of the night. Although I've worked there for 16 years and never have, but other people have. So it's all about access. You can't hope to get back into favor if you're not actually there. Seeing your monarch letters aren't enough. You need to be there on the spot.

[B]

If we look beyond the monarch, beyond the courts, how was governance structured from sort of national level down to the really local level?

[A]

So, yes, the Tudor court was really at the top of the tree, although there wasn't an incredibly well established, efficient structure. Local government administration was starting to be tightened up during the Tudor period. And I'm very conscious I keep mentioning the reign of Henry viii, but this is when actually local government really gets going. So at the top of the tree you have the monarch, the Privy Council, the Parliament. Then lower down, local justice is administered by sheriffs. Sheriffs were appointed by the Privy Council for a one year term. They would run courts, they would supervise elections. Beneath them, the Lord Lieutenants. Again, they had quite a lot of power locally. Next we have the Justices of the Peace. Now they were almost like local MPs, because as well as being responsible for things like law and order, they would also have to fix roads. And, you know, you can imagine them sitting there in their office and the local people just coming and say, oh, no. But you know, the church bells, I think they need fixing. They're not ringing quite as well as they used to. And there's a few kind of potholes in the road. Could you do something about that? And they were really overburdened officials at a local level, church wardens, they were responsible for the upkeep of churches. There was also an overseer of the parish responsible for helping the poor. And the church generally was a real force in everybody's local community. But of course that shifted during the course of the Reformation.

[B]

How was law enforced?

[A]

Now this was patchy, so there was no police force. Some towns and villages appointed parish constables who would be responsible for keeping law and order, catching criminals. Laws were strict, and I think this was the number one way that the Tudors tried to uphold order in society. If you make the penalties strict enough, people just won't commit the crime to begin with. I think that that's the theory. There were other slightly more unorthodox methods for detecting crime, and my favorite has to be the cunning men or wizards. They were really like male witches and they were responsible for, you know, they would literally use a crystal ball to find lost property, hunt down criminals, decide who it was responsible for a murder, for example. So, yeah, there was this sort of blurring of the official and the magical as well at a local level. But, you know, desperate times and all that.

[B]

Now, I'm curious, what were the most common crimes of the era and how were they punished?

[A]

Some of them would be recognizable and obviously still exist today. So theft, for example, was a real problem in the Tudor period. Poaching as well as part of that, religious crimes became very much predominant. And heresy, which was when you don't adhere to the official religion, you don't believe, as the monarch tells you, you have to believe. In other words, treason. We know about treason. Perhaps more than any other crime in the Tudor period, this is the sort of highest profile, rebelling against the monarch, conspiring his death in some way. And of course, they carry the heaviest penalties. But increasingly thought crimes, it's a crime to envisage the monarch's death, to even contemplate that the monarch might not live forever. That becomes a crime during the Tudor period. So there's a whole raft of different crimes. And the other one I would mention, because thankfully, it's not something that crops in court cases very often today, and that's witchcraft. And that really did dominate the local courts during the Tudor period. The witch hunts had already been underway for almost 100 years by now, and it was so easy to end up accused and then condemned as a witch. So that was one of the most frequent crimes that you hear about in the Tudor court records.

[B]

And this is definitely something we've got to come back to in a later episode.

[A]

It deserves a more of spotlight than just that mention, of course.

[B]

Of course. Now, looking beyond the monarch, looking beyond the court, looking beyond the governance, how was Tudor society structured? You know, what was the social hierarchy?

[A]

The Tudor period still conformed to this idea of the great chain of being. And I love this a contemporary illustration of it that your listeners might find if they look this up, the great chain of being and at the top, top is God and then the angels and then the king, his nobles, all the way down to the poor people. That shifted a little bit. The king kind of went up a few notches above God and the angels. So the king was at the very top. Below him, the nobility, the aristocratic classes, then the gentry, landed gentry, gentlemen whose status rose as trade and commerce grew during the period. The yeomanry, the class of people in the countryside, commoners, that meant peasants, laborers, and then at the very bottom of society, the poor, day laborers, servants, vagrants. Vagrancy was a real issue in the Tudor period, and that term covered really anybody who didn't have employment and who were therefore dependent on the charity of the state. So it was definitely a social problem that the Tudors tried and didn't really ever succeed in dealing with.

[B]

A really important issue that we need to address before we come onto the rest of the series. Now, as a final question to you, and on a similar note of important context, we're going to be talking about daily life, culture, beliefs, the wider world. What do you think is one thing that we really need to bear in mind about the Tudor world? Tudor England and their worldview.

[A]

So I think hopefully we've given a flavor in this episode. This is a time of immense change. The whole landscape changes, both metaphorically and physically. The end of the monasteries, the beginning of royal authority over the Church. But it's also a time more positively when England emerges as a player on the world stage. You see the emergence of national identity, a greater sort of sense of being a kingdom, of being England and a force to be reckoned with. I think it's for good reason that the Tudor period is so popular, is so celebrated. It was transformative.

[B]

An excellent point, Oliva, so thank you so much, Tracey.

[A]

It's been such a pleasure and hopefully has has whetted some appetites for the episodes to follow.

[B]

And that brings us to the end of this episode. Join us again next time when we'll be taking a closer look at daily life on the streets of Tudor England.