ABSTRACT
The Tudor monarchy provided the institutional structure and executive direction within which the defenceless but progressive movements represented by the middle classes were able to expand. Political obedience was the condition of prosperity. The queen resolutely upheld the Tudor ideal of monarchy, claiming both the initiative and the ultimate responsibility for established government. Policy was hers to decide; her judgment was final. The drama of the reign sprang from the tensions in the Tudor partnership, and the means by which the queen sought to control a society driven by its own inner forces. Tudor administration depended very largely upon the local justices of the peace, meeting in the quarter-sessions of the counties or by special commissions or sessions as new needs arose. The sheriff’s importance was declining, and the Lord Lieutenants, a Tudor creation, existed for more specific purposes, primarily of defence. In the Tudor Commonwealth, king and parliament were joint organs with powers regulated and protected by the law.
