“How far do the sources suggest that there was considerable resistance to the Amicable Grant of 1525?”

Sources 1, 2 and 3 strongly suggest there was considerable resistance to the Amicable Grant as they all at least show traits of opposition from the public towards the new-implemented taxes.

Source 1 is a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Warham addressed to Cardinal Wolsey. The letter begins with ‘it will be hard’ demonstrating immediately that the archbishop has an adverse stance towards the Amicable Grant. As the letter continues, it begins to seem more like Warham is warning Wolsey about the Grant as opposed to supporting it; he quotes “Reports show the dissatisfaction prevailing” and “Some commissioners only announce the King’s command without pressing it further through fear of the people.” This infers that the commissioners are afraid to even introduce the new plan, let alone explain the conditions in detail due to the daunting reactions of the public; this in itself shows there was a substantial amount of resistance towards it, for the reason that there were already too many taxes implemented and the people didn’t have enough money to cover them all “It will be hard to raise the money…especially as other parliamentary grants are still to be paid.” This source could be seen as reliable as it was from the Archbishop of Canterbury who would, under any circumstances support the decisions made by the king, therefore would not have rose this issue to Wolsey if he did not think there was a problem.

Source 2 states ‘through all Suffolk, except Ipswich, the people can conform to the King’s request’ which initially leads you to believe the people were supportive for the new taxes, however the source further states that there were actually ‘allegations to the contrary.’ Likewise to source 1, this fundamentally tells us that the general public were in fact, opposing the new scheme, as they believe it’s unjust that the same rules don’t apply to the clergy “they say they do not see the clergy being made to pay”. As the letter draws to a close, the Duke of Suffolk (who the letter is written by) seems to depict a sense of fear across to Wolsey, he started to ask him for help “I wish to know what authority collectors shall have if any person should refuse to pay.” This shows a considerable amount of resistance towards the taxes as the Duke sounds somewhat scared of the threatening public’s reactions, which again relates to source 1 where it states how the commissioners had ‘fear of the people’.

Last but not least, source 3 is strong supporter of both source 1 and source 2 as it is advice from the King himself to the commissioners, which appears that Henry is resisting his own law, he advises them to ‘proceed gently, rather than by violence.’ This shows Henry is not exactly fervent towards the Amicable Grants either; otherwise he would be keen to force them on the people whatever it takes. He states that ‘the people plead their poverty.” This links back to source 1 as it is agreeing that the there are already too many taxes in place and that the people genuinely can’t afford to pay them all. He then leads on to explain the bad reactions of the public ‘People arose up in arms against the commissioners.’ This also links to source 2 where it states ‘I wish to know what authority collectors shall have if any person should refuse to pay.” Which infers that the authorities are preparing for an uprising about the Amicable Grants. Henry then goes on to explain how the people ‘lay all the blame’ on Wolsey, in which Wolsey apparently responded with ‘the people dare not use their tongues against their sovereign, they will not fail to use evil language against the cardinal.” This is interesting, as Wolsey is implying the public are using him as ‘scapegoat’, inferring that they are only speaking ill of him as they know they cant speak against the king; however, Wolsey seems to feel to justify himself to the king about the new taxes, this could show that Wolsey himself could see the Amicable Grants were a bad idea?

All the sources seem to support each other on the fact that there was a considerable resistance to the new Amicable Grants implemented by the King, as all of them agree that the public were very unhappy as there was too much to pay and a lot of them could not afford it “It will be hard to raise the money, especially as other parliamentary grants are still to be paid.” “They say they do not yet see the clergy being made to pay, while the lay people are required to pay.” And “The people plead their poverty.” From source 1, 2 and 3 respectfully.