Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Wolsey and the Parliament of 1523
- The Act of Appeals and the English reformation
- Thomas Cromwell and the ‘brethren’
- Henry VIII and the dissolution of the Secular Colleges
- God's law and man's: Stephen Gardiner and the problem of loyalty
- Bondmen under the Tudors
- Wales and England after the Tudor ‘union’: Crown, principality and parliament, 1543–1624
- Robe and sword in the conquest of Ireland
- The principal secretaries in the reign of Edward VI: reflections on their office and archive
- Philip II and the government of England
- Sin and society: the northern high commission and the northern gentry in the reign of Elizabeth I
- The crown, the gentry and London: the enforcement of proclamation, 1596–1640
- Taxation and the political limits of the Tudor state
- Bibliography of the writings of G. R. Elton, 1946–1986
- Index
Wolsey and the Parliament of 1523
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Wolsey and the Parliament of 1523
- The Act of Appeals and the English reformation
- Thomas Cromwell and the ‘brethren’
- Henry VIII and the dissolution of the Secular Colleges
- God's law and man's: Stephen Gardiner and the problem of loyalty
- Bondmen under the Tudors
- Wales and England after the Tudor ‘union’: Crown, principality and parliament, 1543–1624
- Robe and sword in the conquest of Ireland
- The principal secretaries in the reign of Edward VI: reflections on their office and archive
- Philip II and the government of England
- Sin and society: the northern high commission and the northern gentry in the reign of Elizabeth I
- The crown, the gentry and London: the enforcement of proclamation, 1596–1640
- Taxation and the political limits of the Tudor state
- Bibliography of the writings of G. R. Elton, 1946–1986
- Index
Summary
‘Newes’, wrote Thomas Cromwell to John Creke on 17 August 1523, ‘refresshith the spy[rit] of lyffe’. His letter followed hard upon the dissolution four days earlier of the only parliament summoned during Wolsey's chancellorship.
Wherfor ye shall vnderstonde that by long tyme I amongist other haue Indured a parlyament which contenwid by the space of xvij hole wekes wher we communyd of warre, pease, Stryffe, contencyon, debatte, murmure, grudge, Riches, pouerte, penurye, trowth, falshode, Justyce, equyte, discayte, opprescyon, Magnanymyte, actyuyte, force, attempraunce, Treason, murder, Felonye, consyli[ation], and also how a commune welth myght be ediffyed and a[lso] contenewid within our Realme. Howbeyt in conclusyon we haue d[one] as our predecessors haue been wont to doo that ys to say, as well as we myght and lefte wher we begann.
That this parliament was acrimonious thanks to Wolsey's heavy-handedness is uncontroversial. The cardinal soured the atmosphere from the start by demanding supply of £800,000 on top of the £204,424 he collected from the laity by means of ‘loans’ in 1522–3.3 When the commons mustered, Wolsey blustered. He retorted ‘that he would rather have his tongue, plucked out of his hedde with a paire of pinsons, then to move the kyng, to take any lesse some’; he tried to overawe M.P.s but met ‘a marvellous obstinate silence’; he lied that the lords had offered the requisite taxation; he reneged on his promise of 1522 that the ‘loans’ would be repaid out of the proceeds of the next parliamentary subsidy. Yet what proportion of the parliament was taken up by the subsidy negotiations? Did Wolsey have intentions besides taxation in 1523 that, in the event, he was unable to pursue?
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- Law and Government under the TudorsEssays Presented to Sir Geoffrey Elton, pp. 1 - 18Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1988
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