Was there a Mid-Tudor Crisis?

Yes

Negative How this supports the idea that there was crisis
aspect of the
Tudor period
Dynastic The line of succession was not always secure or consistent. For
instability example, both Mary I and Elizabeth I had been declared illegitimate
at some point by their father, Henry VIII married three times before
he had a male heir, and none of his three surviving children had
children of their own. All of this led to much instability, and
problems arose when a ruler died, such as Edward VI in 1553.

‘Gaping It has been argued that the Tudor monarchs were not always well
insufficiencies in suited to their role. E.g. Edward VI was just nine years old when he
a series of became King in 1547. Mary and Elizabeth were female, and so
inadequate considered at the time to be less capable of ruling the country.
rulers’
Religious Problems related to religion plagued the country for almost half a
instability century: 1530-1580. It began with Henry VIII’s reformation and split
from the Catholic Church, and ended with Mary I burning around
300 Protestant ‘heretics’ in her reign of less than five years. The
religion of England changed quickly depending on the beliefs of the
monarch – England was made Protestant under Edward VI but was
then returned violently to Catholicism by Mary I. Such quick
changes from one extreme to the other caused a continuous sense
of crisis, and religious change may have been the main problem for
the Tudors.

Foreign policy The Duke of Somerset led costly and ineffective campaigns in
failures Scotland and France between 1547 and 1549. National pride
suffered, and this contributed to the crisis as people were not
happy.

Rebellions There were: ‘as many serious rebellions in some half-dozen years
(1549-1554) as there were for the whole of the rest of the Tudor
era’. Most of these rebellions took place in the south of England
near to the capital, making them even more worrying to the
monarchy.

Economic and Throughout this period, debasement caused many problems. This
financial was where a small percentage of the value was removed from each
problems coin as it was made and then used to make new coins. This helped
in the short term, but led to inflation and worse problems later.
Henry VIII initiated debasement in 1543, and it was continued after
his death by Somerset and Northumberland to such an extent that
‘by 1551 the silver content of coins was down to 25 percent of what
it had been in 1542’. Such a change in the currency led to inflation
and higher prices: ‘by 1559 the purchasing power of an agricultural
labourer’s wages dropped to around 60 percent of what it had been
50 years earlier’. This was a huge problem for peasants, who
normally spent around 80 percent of their income on food. The
situation was also worsened by a population increase of around 20
Michelle Newbold
 percent between 1500 and 1547, as well as continuous military
expenditure which amounted to around £3.5 million between 1544
and 1550.

Factions Political in-fighting was a problem throughout the 1500s. Factions

would go in and out of favour and try to get more power. This led to
a certain amount of instability as the Tudors were threatened by
factions who became too powerful.

No

Positive How this supports the idea that there was no crisis
aspect of the
Tudor period
Central Although there were many rebellions throughout the Tudor
government period, none succeeded in overthrowing the monarchy: ‘the
remained institution of the monarchy had retained, and, may even have
firmly in enhanced its status’. The Privy Council, Parliament and local
control administration also operated consistently and effectively
throughout the middle of the century, helping to prevent crisis
by remaining loyal to the monarchy.
The situation in England is sometimes compared to that in
France at around the same time. In the 1560s, France suffered
a series of ‘faction-ridden civil wars’. Some historians argue
that the situation in England can’t be described as a crisis
compared to what was happening in France.

Workers were After the break with the Catholic Church, there were fewer
more efficient days off than there had been before. The ‘number of days
available in the year for work may well have been raised by
up to a fifth’. This helped the economy to keep going in
difficult times.

England Even when Mary I married the Spanish Prince Philip,

retained its effectively making him King of England and Spain, the Privy
independence Council ensured that England retained its independence from
Habsburg Spain.

Michelle Newbold