Henry VII and Retaining Essay

Retaining involved magnates taking workforce into their service, generally involving the payment of fees and sometimes the granting of a distinctive badge or uniform (livery).This charge served the king, in that it allowed him to recruit armies more easily, by qualification contracts with leading magnates who then provided their retinues for service with the kings army for a specified time. However, it did allow magnates to retain what were, in effect, private armies and, at this could be very detrimental to man order.Thus, kings grew increasingly concerned to control the practice. The study statute of the fifteenth century which tried to limit it was Edward IVs statute of 1468. This outlawed some forms of retaining, but implicitly allowed others by stating (vaguely) that no unlawful retaining was allowed. In practice, retaining continued after Bosworth. hydrogen VIIs Attempts to Control RetainingIn 1486, hydrogen persuaded both Houses of Parliament to take an pesterer promisin g that they would not retain unlawfully.In all, Henrys parliaments passed foursome acts relating to retaining, but three of these did little to change the position that had existed since 1468. According to Chrimes, Henry wished to maintain the practice of retaining, but only so that he himself got the eudaimonia of it for his own purposes. Chrimes also noted that he sought to repress it til now as its practice by his subjects redounded to the public disadvantage and the corruption of public order. Thus, Henry never intended totally to end the practice of retaining, but he did intend to control it.The most significant of Henrys acts relating to retaining was 19 Henry VII c.14 (1504), which stated that retaining, other than of house servants, was extralegal. According to Cameron, this act represented the first occasionupon which the right of a nobleman to retain was called into question. The act did, however, allow Henry to grant licences to individuals to retain. thither are few examples of such licences, but recent research suggests that they were tending(p) to crown stewards and other officials entrusted with the management of royal estates.Prosecutions For Illegal RetainingThere were a number of prosecutions before the court of Kings Bench for illegal retaining under Henry VII, e.g.1491 Sir Nicholas Vaux prosecuted for illegally retaining 5 men1504 the earl of Northumberland was indicted for illegal retaining (the fiber was dismissed)There were also some high profile cases later in the reign, e.g. involving the prosecution of Henrys ally, the earl of Oxford and Lord Burgavenny, who was heavily fined in 1507 for memory an illegal retinue in Kent (Burgavenny had a long history of cherry disorder in Kent).