There were many aims Henry VIII tried to achieve through his domestic policies such as: to increase efficiency of government, increase revenue, increase power, improve law and order, decrease the political power of the nobility and show support for the nobility. Henry changed the administration from what his predecessor Henry VII had. Henry VIII decreased the size of the privy chamber from 12 people to 6. This was used for all of the crowns personal information which the king can oversee. This was reduced to make the government more efficient as there were too many people for the work load.
Also Henry decided in 1519 to expel the minions. These were his friends and noble men he decided to get rid of them and make government more efficient by replacing them with serious advisors. However this also meant that Henry was not showing support for the nobility so failing in his policies. 1526 Henry introduced the Eltham ordinances. This was a total reform of the government which got rid any people not working efficiently. However this was never implemented so was a failure. In summary Henry’s administration policies was more of a failure as nearly every policy did not show support for the nobles.
Henry also reformed the legal system to increase law and order. He did this by increasing the power of the Star Chamber and the court of the chancery. The Star Chamber is where someone could stand trial with a judge and no jury. The court of the chancery was where a person could appeal a judgement. The system of the court was so it did not discriminate between classes of people. This was called impartial justice because the law is equal for everyone. On the other end the Star Chamber nearly collapses under the weight of the new work load.
As well as Wolsely was in charge of it and could use it to peruse his anti-noble ambitions. Overall this was a success as the legal system was improved however this was somewhat a failure as it could be corrupted by Wolsey and nearly collapsed. Parliament was not called frequently enough. This was a success as this stopped people voicing an opinion. Parliament was called twice both times asking money for the war with France. This could also be a failure as if parliament is not called then taxes cannot be rose and subsidy cannot be collected.
However it does increase the power of the king if others cannot voice opinions against him as there will be no opposition to his power. On the other hand nobles will be very unhappy as parliament includes them and taking power from them will decrease support for the nobles. In summary this in the short term did increase the efficiency of government and also increased Henry’s power however long term the nobles will be unhappy and therefore will be failing in his aim to give support to his nobles. Henry had to try and control the nobles by giving them support and reducing their political power.
Henry increased the power of JPs and made them swear to the crown. This caused more conflict among nobles and JPs and the JPs undermined the nobles. However at the start of his reign Henry executed Empson and Dudley who when in charge of the Star Chamber created fake cases to gain more money for the country. This gave massive support from nobles as they were long enemies. This was more of a failure because other than the execution of Empson and Dudley the noble were turning against him as he undermined them with JPs, did not let them voice an opinion by not calling parliament and replacing them with advisors.
Henry like most kings wanted as much money as possible. Henry also had to gain money for the war in France. He went to parliament to ask them for money and wanted i?? 800, 000 and received i?? 130, 000 so he did receive some which could be seen as a success however did not even get half the amount requested. The Amicable grant was created to ask people to donate to the country for the war. It wanted to target people’s patronage. However this failed as it annoyed the nobles who did not like parting with any money.
This was also more of a failure as Henry finished his war in France due to financial problems and most policies failed however there was a big economic growth around this time. In conclusion Henry’s domestic policy was success in some places such as the legal system and parliament but short term. However it was a massive failure as he failed in most areas especially the nobles. Part of this failure could be put down to his advice of Wolsey because he rose to the top very fast but however after the amicable grant Henry started to see him in a different light not as the great advisor he was.
