New men

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This article is about people holding government positions. For other uses, see New men (disambiguation).

New men is a term used by some historians when referring to middle class professionals who held important positions in government in Britain during the House of Lancaster, House of York and Tudor periods (especially those during the reign of Henry VI).

New men were most usually lawyers, doctors and clerics who had come to the notice of the King, often due to a patron of some sort and had been granted ministerial positions because administrative capabilities rather than because of a noble background, which had been the norm in earlier British history. Common examples of new men are John Morton, Richard Fox and Reginald Bray. Thomas Cardinal Wolsey could be considered a new man, although by the time of his rise to power new men were not so new and were in fact becoming the norm within government.

New men were first used in order to ensure the aristocracy were not allowed to become over-mighty by giving positions to people with little money, land or influence. This was in many respects a success - as it increased efficiency within government by the use of competent ministers and moved away from the previous policy bias towards the nobility. However, many new men used the influence they gained to secure new lands and great wealth and were essentially corrupt. Men like Edmund Dudley and Richard Empson were resented by both the nobles and the general population for the harsh taxes they collected uncompromisingly. This led to their execution on trumped up treason charges.

The existence of new men has been disputed by several historians, who feel that middle class professionals have always been a part of government throughout British history. Other historians have claimed that the use of new men, rather than being invented by the British Kings, was borrowed from the French monarchs' tendency to use the middle classes to help govern. However, it is commonly agreed that there was a sudden rise in this type of administrator in government towards the end of the 15th century and this, rather than being a paradigm shift, occurred over a sustained period of time.