ABSTRACT

Government functioned despite changes of regime, though the apparent breakdown of law and order was both cause of political instability and reaction to it. The concept of the monarch and his position which had developed over previous centuries was not fundamentally altered by continuing uncertainty over the rights of the various claimants to occupy the throne, but seems to have given greater emphasis to certain elements within that concept. The rituals of coronation and the increasing elaboration of royal ceremonial, seen in particular under Edward IV, stressed the unique position of the king as the ruler ordained by God with dominion over his realm and subjects. In the fifteenth century, there was no standing army other than small garrisons at Calais, Berwick and Carlisle, no police force and no civil service except the clerks employed within the departments of state.