As King, Henry VII restored order to
the nation. He was readily accepted as king because he was
descended from the Lancaster royal line and he married a woman
from the York royal line. Henry was intelligent and sensitive. He
weighed alternatives and possible consequences before taking
action. He was convinced by reason on what plans to make. His
primary strategy was enacting and enforcing statutes to shore up
the undermined legal system, which includes the establishment of a
new court: the Court of the Star Chamber, to obtain punishment of
persons whom juries were afraid to convict. It had no jury and no
grand jury indictment. For speed and certainty, it tried people
"ex officio": by virtue of its office. Suspects were required to
take an oath ex officio, by which they swore to truthfully answer
all questions put to them. A man could not refuse to answer on the
grounds of self-incrimination. The Star Chamber was the room in
which the King's council had met since the 1300s. In his reign of
24 years, Henry applied himself diligently to the details of the
work of government to make it work well. He strengthened the
monarchy, shored up the legal system to work again, and provided a
peace in the land in which a renaissance of the arts and sciences,
culture, and the intellectual life could flourish.
The most prevalent problems were: murder, robbery, rape or forced
marriage of wealthy women, counterfeiting of coin, extortion,
misdemeanors by sheriffs and escheators, bribing of sheriffs and
jurors, perjury, livery and maintenance agreements, idleness,
unlawful plays, and riots.
Pages:
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527