1399-1509: The King's Relationship With Parliament

“The key factor in limiting royal power in the years 1399-1509 was the king’s relationship with parliament.”
How far do you agree with this statement?

Due to the unstable political environment of the period 1399-1509, royal power varied from monarch to monarch, as parliament’s ability to limit this power fluctuated. There are several factors in limiting royal power, including the king’s relationship with parliament, royal finances and a king’s popularity, often due to military success. The most significant of these factors, however is the king's finances, as one of parliament's primary roles was to consider the king’s requests for taxation, and thus denying these requests would have been one of the few ways to effectively limit royal power.

One monarch who faced limited royal power due to his relationship with parliament was Henry IV. This uneasy relationship was mainly down to the fact that Henry was a usurper, and was exacerbated by his long periods of serious illness later in his reign. Parliament was thus able to exercise a large amount of control over royal power, which is evident in the Long Parliament of 1406, in which debates lasted from March until December. The length of these debates shows us that Henry IV’s unstable relationship had allowed parliament to severely limit his royal power, as he was unable to receive his requested taxation. A king with an amiable relationship with parliament, such as Henry V, and later Edward IV, would be much more secure in their power, as taxation was mostly granted, however their power was also supported more by other factors, such as popularity and finances. Like Henry IV, Henry VI also faced severely limited power due to his relationship with parliament.

This was due to parliament’s primary role being to consider the king’s requests for taxation. Refusing this request was on of the few ways to limit royal power. During part of his reign, Edward IV was able to rule with total royal power, after he signed the “Treaty of Picquigny”, which granted him £15,000, and then a pension of £10,000 a year. This money enabled Edward to rule without the need to call for a parliament, meaning he was free from control and criticism. This treaty was important as it signifies parliament losing some of their ability to control the crown. Edward was able to rule with this pension until 1482, to pay troops against Scottish rebels. Edward IV shows us that a king was able to rule with complete royal power, as long as they had the funds to support themselves. This also worked the other way round, with financially struggling monarchs having much of their royal power limited by parliament. The most important example of this is in 1404, when parliament demanded the appointment of “special” treasurers, to ensure taxes were not spent in the royal household. Henry IV later faced further limiting of his royal power, after thirty-one acts were written to control the finances of the royal