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To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2281.2007.00459.x Byline: P. R. Cavill (1) Abstract: Abstract Henry VII's reputation for avarice partly rests on the enforcement of penal statutes. From about 1505, according to contemporaries, the increasingly grasping king exploited statutory penalties to raise revenue. However, the regime's behaviour should be contextualized by examining the whole reign. Two sources connected with the 1495 parliament shed light on the subject: in one, the king reported his intention to implement existing legislation; in the other, he pardoned offences committed before the opening of the parliament. Royal commitment at this stage challenges the ready association between the enforcement of the penal statutes and the king's alleged rapacity later on in the reign. Author Affiliation: (1)Bangor University

Praemunire was the offence of undermining royal authority. Despite its antipapal origins, by 1500 praemunire was being used to inhibit the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction within England. Notorious from 1529 as a royal instrument for intimidating the clergy, praemunire was already contentious at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Historians of the common law have identified a growing number of praemunire cases in these years; at the same time, ecclesiastical historians have detected a decline in the business of most church courts. A causal relationship has often been assumed, but not examined in the manner attempted here. A spate of praemunire cases within his diocese provoked from Bishop Nykke of Norwich a famous letter of complaint, in which he censured the attorney-general Sir James Hobart. This article examines the praemunire cases to which Nykke referred and also Hobart's role in promoting them. The interaction between church and common law courts and between their personnel and litigants is explored. New light is shed on relations between leading churchmen and common lawyers and also on the Crown's attitude to praemunire. The evidence presented deepens our understanding of the decline of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the debate and dissent in the parliaments of Henry VII of England. According to the article, the principal records of parliamentary business are the parliament rolls, which during Henry VII's reign, record summaries of the opening sermons and the announcements of prorogations delivered by the chancellor. It cites a Commons' petition which referred to a statute passed in 1404 that required that all merchandize entering and leaving England should be assessed at seaports.