The main problem facing Henry was restoring faith and strength in the monarchy. He also had to deal with other claimants, with some of them having a far stronger claim than his own. To deal with this, Henry strengthened the government and his own power, at the expense of the nobles. Henry also had to deal with a treasury that was nearly bankrupt. The English monarchy had never been one of the wealthiest of Europe and even more so after the War of the Roses.
Moreover, Richard III was very good at politics, having a lavish court and is good at using propaganda, yet he is highly unpopular among both the people and the nobility; his reign only lasts two years before the throne is usurped by Henry Tudor. Therefore, while both the main Yorkist Kings during this period did go some way to restoring royal authority in England, their successes were limited. Edward IV was successful at restoring royal authority as he was able to control the different regions of the Kingdom, such as the North and Wales, through the use of magnates. During his reign, Edward makes Richard, his brother, the duke of Gloucester, and puts Rivers in charge of Wales and his son. This meant that these areas, which were traditionally either pro-Lancastrian or prone to rebellion, were more controlled during Edward IV’s reign, which helped to restore royal authority.
To some extent, I agree with this statement as John had many faults such as, he was a bad fighter and the people of medieval England liked their kings to be great warriors. He lost all of the land in France and some sources written by barons say that it was because he was idle and was not bothering to fight. He was also over taxing the barons which obviously was not sensible as the barons in medieval times had a lot of power. If they inherited land, king John would get a large share of it, or if they didn’t want to fight in a battle, they would have to pay a large amount of money to the king. However I also disagree with this statement for as many reasons as I agree with it, one being that Johns brother was Richard the Lion Heart.
England managing to successfully pursue a policy of peace making in the years 1514-21 and how Wolsey was very sly and flexible in his diplomacy and arguments which disagree with the statement, for example it could also be seen that Henry’s chief aim, the invasion of France, was unpopular with people at the time and that Henry’s foreign policy was too costly when compared with the few benefits it brought to England. Henry’s allies often let him down and were much more interested in their own aims and not so much of England’s. A point in support of the view that the successes in foreign policy outweighed the failures is that England had successfully delivered a policy of peace making in the years 1514-21. This is seen in source 4, in which M.D. Palmer writes about how Wolsey successfully brought about peace between England and France in 1514, and that he engineered the universal peace of London in 1518.
Joshua Painter 27/09/13 Henry VIII Essay ‘How far did Henry VIII’s reign begin a new era in Tudor kingship?’ Henry VII and Henry VIII were very different kings. Their styles of ruling and aims had very different intentions. Henry VII was a very conservative king who liked to rule very safely and avoid war wherever possible whilst being very obsessive and greedy when it came to money. Henry VIII however was a young and vibrant king who wanted to gain a strong reputation, willing to fight and go to war at any cost. Henry VIII also dished out harsh and extreme punishments.
How successful was Edward IV in restoring royal authority between 1461 and 1470? Edward IV did not begin with the whole world in his favour; there were many threats and oppositions for him to overcome as well as the fact he had to produce his own solutions to problems to achieve his ultimate power, for example an heir and a queen. This however was not an easy task as Henry VI s son Prince Edward was growing up fast, which intensified the pressure on nineteen year old Edward to get on with his arrangements. The threats mainly involved the rivalry of the Duke of Somerset, who was in the Beaufort line and had a distant claim to the throne. Whilst that was at the back of Edward's mind, he also had the inhibitory situation of Warwick and Clarence becoming over-mighty subjects.
Wilson’s ‘comfy and complacent’ campaign did play in role in deciding the 1970 election in favour of the Conservatives but it was only a minor one. Much more important was the combination of mistrust by the public over Labour’s ability to control the economy and most importantly; Labour’s complete failure to control the Trade Unions and the fears that this brought with it. Even a Labour minister himself, Richard Crossman admits in Source C that a ‘final warning on the trade figures’ put voters off. Whilst Source A does attack Wilson for his ‘highly personalised campaign’ and his ‘presidential’ style leadership, it goes on to suggest that there is no clear reason for why people changed their minds and voted Tory at the last minute. Despite his ‘too relaxed and assured’ campaign Wilson was not to blame but instead it was a combination of ‘unfavourable trade figures’ and Enoch Powell that swung the vote.
Many of the Conservatives at the time realised that it was inevitable due to popular agitation and past attempts to pass similar acts that the act would be passed and thus knew that it did not involve an abundance of political skill other than that of oratorial talent to pass this electoral reform through the commons. Thus this can clearly not be the only reason why the Conservatives saw Disraeli as the next leader. His political skill and determination was one of these reasons and played a considerable part in his rise to party leader. He was a very intelligent man and clearly was at ease with the English language, his
Despite his keen intelligence, he allowed himself to come under the influence of unscrupulous men who, as much as any actions of his own, ensured that Tiberius's posthumous reputation would be unfavourable; despite his vast military experience, he oversaw the conquest of no new region for the empire; and despite his administrative abilities he showed such reluctance in running the state as to retire entirely from Rome and live out his last years in isolation on the island of Capri. His reign represents, as it were, the adolescence of the Principate as an institution. Like any adolescence, it proved a difficult time.
This essay will ignore current reality and all electoral power is vested in my hands. Such a decision can make a sane man go crazy. This is no simple decision, the complexities of putting a man into the white house go beyond a personal schema, but rather affect the nation in it’s entirety. The pressures of such a decision has made me sift through wisdom of great men. Teddy Roosevelt, Martin Luther King jr.; Individuals who have changed the nations path.