The military obligations of the English people 1511-1558 Goring, John Jeremy The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author For additional information about this publication click this link. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/jspui/handle/123456789/1420 Information about this research object was correct at the time of download; we occasionally make corrections to records, please therefore check the published record when citing. For more information contact [email protected] The Military Obligations of the English People 1511-1558 By Jotfn Jeremy Goring A Th sis Submitted. for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy London 1955 of the firat four Tuore, often overlapping and sometimes clashing. By the end of Mary's reign, however, the quasi-feuda]. system had been almost completely superseded by the national one, and from this time forth the armies of the Crown were to be composed almost exclusively of the men of the local militias. Abbreviations used in the footnotes of this thesis Add. Ch. = Additional Charter. Acid. MS. = Additional Manuscript. A.P.C. Acts of the Privy Council. B.I.H.R. Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research. B.M. = British Museum. Bad. = Bodleian Library. Cal. S.P.Span. Calendar of State Pape's, Spanish. Cal. S.P.Ven. = Calendar of State Papers, Venetian. Cam. Soc. = Camden Society. Cant.C.R.O. = Canterbury City Record Office. Cat. Anc. Deeds. Catalogue of Ancient Deeds. C.C.C.C. Corpus Chnisti College, Cambridge. C.C.L. = Canterbury Cathedral Library. Cov.C.R.O. = Coventry City Record Office. C.P.R. Calendar of Patent Rolls. D.N.B. a Dictionary of National Biography. E.C.R.O. Exeter City Record Office. Eg. = Egerton Manuscript. E.R.O. = Essex Record Office. G.B.R.O. Guiliford Borough Record Office. Han. = Harleian Manuscript. H.C. = Heralds' College. H.M.C. Historical Manuscripts Commission. I.P.L. = Ipswich Public Library. LC.R.O. = London City Record Office. L.P. - Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. L.R.O. = Lancashire Record. Office. N.C.R.O. = Norwich City Record Office. N.P.L. Norwich Public Library. N.U.L. a Nottingham University Library. P.R.O. = Public Record Office. S.C.R.O. Salisbury Record Office. T.R.E.S. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. V.C.H. a Victoria County History. Westni. Abb. = Westminster Abbey. Y.C.R. = York Civic Records. Note on L.P. References. All references are to entry numbers, except where a page number is given. Only where the original document contains additional information is the MS. reference given. The Military Obligations of the English People 1511-1558 By Jothi Jeremy Goring A Thesis Submitted. for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy London 1955 Abstract of Theele This thesis is concerned with the military obligations of the people of England in the period between the re-issue of the Statute of Tirichester in 1511 and its repeal in 1558. In its pages am attempt is made to discorer what these obligations were and how they were enforced. The primary ptirpose of this thesis is to show that the Crown enforced these obligations in two different ways - to establish the hitherto unrecognized fact that there were two distinct military systems in England in the early Tidor period. On the one hand was the "national" system, under which roupa of gentlemen (acting on the authority of commissions of array) prepared men for the wars in the shires, hundreds, and parishes of the kingdom. On the other hand was the "quasi-feudal" system, under which individual gentlemen (acting on the authority of aigrtet letters) prepared men for the wars from the ranks of their own tenants, servants, arid other dependants. An examination of the workings of these two systems occupies the first two parts of this thesis. The third part is devoted to matters which concern both systems and matters which concern neither. The two systems existed side by aide throughout the reigns of the first four Tuors, often overlapping and. sometimes clashing. By the end of Mary's reign, however, the quasi-feudal system had. been almost completely superseded by the national one, and from this time forth the armies of the Crown were to be composed almost exclusively of the men of the local militias. Abbreviations used. in the footnotes of this thesis Add.. Cli. = Additional Charter. Add. MS. = Additional Manuscript. A.P.C. Acts of the Privy Council. B.I.H.R. = Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research. B.M. = British Museum. Bod.. = Bodleian Library. Cal. S.P.Span. Calendar of State Pape's, Spanish. Cal. S.P.Ven. Calendar of State Papers, Venetian. Cam. Soc. Camden Society. Cant.C.R.O. = Canterbury City Record Office. Cat. Anc. Deeds= Catalogue of Ancient Deeds. C.C.C.C. = Corpus Chnisti College, Cambridge. C.C.L. Canterbury Cathedral Library. Cov.C.R.O. = Coventry City Record Office. C.P.R. = Calendar of Patent Rolls. D.N.B. Dictionary of National Biography. E.C.R.O. = Exeter City Record Office. Eg. = Egerton Manuscript. E.R.O. = Essex Record Office. G.B.R.O. Guildford Borough Record Office. Han. = Harleian Manuscript. H.C. = Heralds' College. H.M.C. = Historical Manuscripts Commission. I.P.L. = Ipswich Public Library. L.C.R.O. = London City Record Office. L.P. Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. L.R.O. = Lancashire Record Office. N.C.R.O. = Norwich City Record Office. N.P.L. = Norwich Publtc Library. &.U.L. Nottingham University Library. P.RO. = Public Record Office. S.C.R.O. = Salisbury Record Office. T.R.H.S. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. V.C.H. = Victoria County History.. Westm. Abb. = Westminster Abbey. I.C.R. = York Civic Records. Note on L.P. References. All references are to entry numbers, except where a page number is given. Only where the original document contains additional information is the MS. reference given. CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION....... •.... .....••.•. ... 1 Section I. l32711l_85 , • • • • , • • • , • • • • • • • • • • • • • 3 II. 14-85-1511. 8 III. 1511 and. After. 13 PART ONE. NATIONAL SYSTEM Chapter I. The En.forceinent of Military Obligations 19 Section I. The Possession of Military Equipinent 20 II. The Practice of Military Exercises kl III. The Performance of Military Services Chapter II. The Incidence of Militar y Service.... 53 Section I. Regional Incidence of Military Service . 53 II. Individual Incidence of Military Service. .. 71 PART TWO. UA8I-FEUDAL SYSTEM Chapter I. The Organisati gn of the Forces....... 85 Section I. Military Preparedness............ 85 II. Military Service................. 100 Chapter II. The Suppliers of Sold.iers........... 110 Section I. The Gentry. 112 II. The Lords Temporal and. Spiritual. 128 Chapterill. 138 Section I. The Captains and Petty-Captains.. 138 II. TheCommoflSOldiers.............' 14-5 Page PART THREE. GENERAl, CONSIDERATIONS Chapter I. The Military Obligations of the Borous . • • • • • • • • • • • • 178 Section I. The Nature of the Obligation.. 178 II. The Enforcement of the Obligation: External Administration.. 188 III. The Enforcement of the Obligation: Internal Administration. 199 ter II. The Financial Aspects of Military Obligation. 213 Chapter III. RegularSoldiers............,.... 227 Section I. The Yeomen of the Guard....... 227 II. The Gentlemen of the Guard..... 232 III. Garrison Troops.......... 240 IV. Foreign Mercenar].es........... 249 V. Other Volunteers. .. .. .. ... .. 251 nV. N at of the Years 253 ection I. 1513....... S 253 II. 1544.......................... 264 CONCLUSION. •.. 274 Appendix I. The Survey of 288 II. Sir Thomas Wyatt's Scheme for Militia Reform.............. 302 III. Buckinghainshire Gentry, 1543.. 304 IV. The Armed Retinues of 1518.... 308 V. Commissions of Lzray.......... 310 VI. Sir Robert Cotton's Scale..... 313 VII. Monastic Contingents.. 314 VIII. Wolsey's Journey to Dover, July 1521. 315 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 316 GLOSSARY. 333 INTRODUCTION The title of this thesis has been chosen faute de mieux. Any other title, although it might have the advantage of being more concise and, less pretentious, would probably fail to indicate either the narrowness or the breadth of the subject with which the thesis attempts to deal. This study cannot claim, for example, to be a "History of the Early Tudor Army'. Apart from the fact that there was at this period no permanent Army (but only a long succession of ephemeral armies), such a title would be very misleading. The reader would expect to be provided with descriptions of the military engagements of these years - of the tactics employed at the battles of Flod.den and Pinkie and the strategy used at the sieges of Tournai and. Boulogne. As it is, these events are hardly mentioned at all in the pages that follow. Again, it would be wrong to describe this thesis as a "History of Early Tudor Military Organisation"; for, although it is concerned with some aspects of military organisation, there are many which it does not touch upon. Among these are important administrative matters like the 2 payment of wages, the purveyance of victuals, and. the provision of transport, tentage, and. ord.nance. The only part of the machinery of military organisation which is treated is that which controlled the recruitment of men. Nevertheless, this is not a purely administrative study. It attempts to describe not only the process of recruiting men for military service but also the way in which the burden of military service was distributed throughout English society. However, any such title as "Military R cruitment iii England" would be an insufficient description of its contents, since these embrace other obligations than that of military service. Furthermore, as its title indicates, the thesis is concerned only with the military obligations of the people of England and.