ABSTRACT

The truth is that Tudor kingship was strong in itself. To listen to some historians, one might think that large-scale rebellion is the kind of thing men devise over breakfast and carry out between lunch and dinner. By being king, and by exploiting the great inherent strength of that office, Henry VII put himself :nto a position of such power that disagreement had to reach a very considerable pitch before it would translate itself into resistance. The name of king was great, and men obeyed whatever king there was, unless they saw the chance of a better candidate or were driven too far. Henry VII removed all other candidates, walked with some delicacy to avoid driving anyone to extremes, and augmented his strength. He sought national support: he did not wish to be ruler by the grace of anyone class or section: and if the policy he pursued suited and benefited especially the middle sort of people, that was because it was a rational and national policy bound to profit those who eschewed factious ambitions. The king expected support from all layers of society, ci11d he got it, though Borne individuals in all layers he had to overcome. The power of the king rested upon his rights and prerogatives. Not for nothing did Henry VII elevate the word prerogative to the first place in his political vocabulary, a habit which endured until the end of the dynasty. No one could say exactly what the king's prerogative amounted to, but all a.greed that it included fixed rights and an indefinite reserve of power vested in the crown. No Tudor wished to define it: its vagueness was its worth. It was the essence of regality, capable of acting in the interests of the state and equipped with rights and privileges which none gainsaid because all understood their necessity and most approved their use. By making himself king Henry VII had taken the longest step towards the restoration of royal power; by putting hitnself upon his just prerogative he made that power effective. It remains to see how he used his prerogative to create strength out of wealth and to enforce the law upon a violent and turbulent people.