Nobility

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Were made up of 50-60 men who dominated land ownership and were often succeeded by those in the King's favour. Although Henry VII and VIII often mistrusted nobles, there was support for Lancastrian Military commanders, like Lord of Daubeney and Earl of Oxford, and even for those who were not particularly trustworthy, like the Earl of Northumberland, as they were needed to stabilise the position of rebellions within places like the northeast.

The nobles were mainly controlled by Henry in the use of bonds (signed obligations that meant a fine would be payed if certain obligations were not met) and recognisances (a signed obligation due to misconduct to the King or previous debt that promised good behaviour in knowledge of a penalty without) and Acts of Attainder (Passed by Parliament and meant a families lands would be taken away and involved execution of behalf on bad behaviour-136 passed and 48 negated).

The nobles main power came from the use of Retaining. Retaining was the act of recruiting Knights or gentlemen for specified roles in the household like administration, accounting and the military. They were used against the King's and at the noble's personal disposal so Henry passed Parliamentary legislation in 1487 and 1504 to inhibit the use of retaining.

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Bastard feudalism was a reciprocal relationship between a magnate and a retainer and accounted for the fact that retainers would gain rewards for their work, which would come in the form of such things as local offices, direct payment or grants of land.

The name of Bastard Feudalism came from Victorian historians who believed that it was an abusive process that allocated for the violence shown in the 30 year-long War of the Roses. However, this was contradicted by Kenneth B. McFarlane who believed it was a natural response to the period of the time.

Henry was not agreeable with the position of Bastard Feudalism because it often put his position as the Monarch at risk, therefore he introduced multiple measures and legislation into place to inhibit the threat of retaining:

In 1486, Henry introduced an obligatory oath that had to be taken by peers of the House of Lords and MPs from the House of Commons to say that they would not participate in retaining or become a retainer themselves. However, whilst this outlined its illegality for peers and MPs, there was no definition to what exactly illegality constituted in this situation.

In 1487, Legislation was passed that made the act of retaining illegal in England.

In 1504, Henry cemented the illegality of retaining in the 1487 legislation by contributing the aspect of licensing onto retaining-in which a license must be given by the King to allow retaining to occur, however this only lasted for the King's lifetime.

People were punished for the act of illegal retaining and prime example of this was Lord Bergavenny. Lord Bergavenny was fined £100,000 by Henry for retaining however he only had to pay £1000 when, at the time of Henry VII's death in 1509, Henry VIII's reign inhibited his payment.