‘The Lancastrian council (of Henry VI) ruled economically and well’ do you agree with Gillingham’s interpretation? Henry VI was born on December 6, 1421 and became king of England on September 1, 1422. Problems began almost immediately, though these problems were not seen as such at the time. First, the power of the king, instead of being entrusted to one man, it was given to a council of magnates. They claimed the ‘precedent of Richard II’s minority to support their actions.’ Though the council did rule fairly on the whole, it created a big problem.
Although Henry did eventually get his Heir to crown it didn’t happen till’ Edward VI in 1537. This means that Henry’s biggest and most important aim was technically a failure during the early years of his reign. Another important goal that Henry VIII wanted to achieve in the early years of his Reign was to bring Honour and Glory to England and for him to be known as a true English warrior to the rest of Europe. Henry did somewhat achieve this goal with his wars with France and Scotland. The battle of the Spurs (1513) and the Battle of Flodden (1513), although to some considered small skirmishes, did make the countries of Europe start to notice England as a possible threat and certainly now knew about Henry VIII.
Some may say that Henry was largely successful in achieving his aims with his biggest success being the battle of the spurs in 1513. Henry VIII want to be seen as a different king to his father who had a bad reputation for being aware of his money and not engaging in many wars which the nobilities did not like. He started by giving away the crowns land and gave many titles to the nobilities to prove that he would be different to his father. Catherine of Aragon, who had married Henry’s brother Arthur was still kept in England after Arthur had died. Henry had immediately married her after all the delays that his father had caused.
Obviously, Vladek’s survival was also included a great deal of his skillfulness. However I believe luck is the larger reason why Vladek survived. In this essay, I am going to prove that Vladek’s survival was mostly based on his luck. I intend to prove and give evidence that Vladek needed luck in order to use his considerable resources to survive. In addition, I am going to show how Vladek survived only by luck and when he was unlucky.
Wolsey changed areas of government such as the justice system and revised areas such as finances and parliament structure. His relationship with the King was significant, as he would be the higher power and would need to negotiate with the King and yet still get the correct decision. Wolsey managed his relationship with henry well, he tried to get the right outcome for the country but never forced it upon Henry, not damaging their relationship and keeping Wolsey in power. Wolsey had a poor approach with justice; in court he gained a poor reputation for taking bribes and his relationship with England’s nobility was poor to say the least. The financial approach was a tough period in finance; with a King that wanted to spend and go to war, and Wolsey had no choice but to bow to his majesty’s request.
Power is a privilege and should only be given to those who can handle it. The act of counterfeit can often hinder success. King Henry himself rose to the thrown with help from the Percy’s as he “stole all the courtesy from heaven” and broke Richard’s “divine right” to being King. Although he is successful in gaining power, because of its illegitimacy, Henry struggles to use his this effectively. As he suggests to Hal, he wants to be “like a comet” to be seen on a rare basis to be “wondered at” by his subjects.
Do you agree with the suggestion in Source 6 that Henry treated Wolsey more as a partner than as a servant? Many believe that Wolsey was a partner and not a servant in the eyes of Henry due to him being often depicted as an alter rex or more commonly known as the other King. However there are those who do believe that Wolsey was a servant who was just very clever at getting his way and therefore fooling people into believing that he was an alter rex. Source 6 suggests that Wolsey was more of a partner to Henry but only between the years 1515 and 1525. The reason that he was more of a partner between those years was due to him being able to please the King in any way from allowing the young King to enjoy and indulge himself in Hunting, sports and drinking whereas many of his other advisors told him to be more like his father.
These nobles expected a monopoly of influence over the king. As a result, the king had to perform a balancing act between expectations of the nobles and the King’s own freedoms of action to appoint his own councillors. The King needed to stop one faction from dominating and not exclude people of royal blood, something that Henry would struggle with. Although Henry was not directly responsible for the growth in power of the nobility, many of his actions certainly exacerbated the problem. More powerful nobles meant hat Henry had to dispense patronage fairly or risk upsetting and isolating powerful nobles.
I personally think that Henry failed in his foreign policy because he didn’t end up gaining a full grasp on France, this was the main precedence. The initial aim was to capture more land, gaining more land meaning capturing France and knowing Henry’s ambitious mindset, he most probably had his whole mind set on creating an empire and France was a good place to start. Had Henry been what he said he was ‘a warrior king’ he wouldn’t have been used as a toy twice throughout this unsuccessful foreign policy. Charles took advantage of Henry. At the Battle of Pavia, the French were defeated and Francis along with his strongest supporters were held captive.
Richard III in many ways could be described as either a good or a bad king, as well as hi actions before and during his short reign as King. Before Richard III became King, the people of England wanted him to be the protector of Edward V eldest son of Edward IV, thus giving him power until Edward V could make his own decisions. This proves that Richard III was thought of by the people of Britain as trustworthy of ruling their great nation. During his reign in October of 1483 Richard crushed an attempt at rebellion against him, this is one of his strengths as it proves that he was capable of retaining his power whilst under threat. He also had the Duke of Buckingham who plotted against him captured, tried and put to death, this shows that