Council of the North
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Council of the North was an administrative body set up by King Richard III of England in 1484 to improve government control and economic prosperity over Northern England. It was originally based at Sheriff Hutton and Sandal Castle. The reason for doing so was the deteriorated state of Northern society since the harrying of the North under the Normans.
Richard was the first post-Norman King of England to legislate and conduct government in the English language, possibly because his experience among his subjects whilst at Middleham Castle had created a mutual respect between them. Die hard Yorkists did not forget this when Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel appeared. This local loyalty did not save Richard from desertion, when the Earl of Richmond rose against him. (Coincidentally, Richmond Castle had seniority over Middleham Castle!)
Following the suppression of the Pilgrimage of Grace, Henry VIII reorganised the council. He placed it under Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset with its seat at York. It met the lodgings of St. Mary's Abbey in the centre of that city; after the dissolution of the abbey the building was retained by the king who formally allocated it to the Council. The building is nowadays called King's Manor.
It was abolished by the Long Parliament in 1641, because it was the chief support for Catholic Recusants and Anglicans. After the English Restoration, the Secretary of State for the Northern Department was formed and influenced industry.
[edit] List of Presidents of the Council of the North
- Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of Durham 1530–1533
- Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland 1533–1536
- Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, 1536–1537
- Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of Durham 1537–1538
- Robert Holgate, Bishop of Llandaff 1538–1540
- Francis Talbot, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury, 1549–1560
- Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland, 1561–1563
- Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, 1564
- Thomas Young, Archbishop of York, 1564–1568
- Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, 1568–1572
- Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, 1572–1595
- Matthew Hutton, Bishop of Durham & Archbishop of York, 1596–1599
- Thomas Cecil, Lord Burghley 1599–1603
- Edmund Sheffield, 3rd Baron Sheffield 1603–1619
- Emanuel Scrope, 1st Earl of Sunderland 1619–1628
- Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford 1628–1641
[edit] External links
[edit] Books
- King's Council in the North by Rachel R Reid ISBN 0-7158-1126-6
