ABSTRACT
Solvency was one of the most novel aspects of the new monarchy of the Yorkist and early Tudor period, but from the institutional viewpoint there was little that was truly new. The Council was medieval in origin; Chamber finance was similar in essentials to the Wardrobe administration of the fourteenth century; and as for the use of new men this was as old as monarchy itself. There were elements of despotism in Yorkist and early Tudor government, to be found mainly in the Council and its various offshoots, but there were other elements, such as the continuing supremacy of the common law and the reliance on country gentlemen for local government, that pulled in the opposite direction. Edward Poynings and Henry could conceivably have created or at least tried to create a more autocratic monarchy on the French pattern, but instead of remodelling the English system of government they took the easier, and less risky course of pumping new blood and vigour into it.
