ABSTRACT
England’s national government had a simple mandate: to keep the peace anddefend the realm against external and internal enemies. Historically, the English people had, time after time, seen that peace broken by over-mighty subjects, and the Tudor monarchs worked hard to force them into obedience, but they walked a fine line since they had so little direct control over local governments. Those were in the hands of local aristocrats, oligarchs and landed gentlemen. They had to be encour aged to co-operate with the monarchy to enforce the law, keep the peace, collect the taxes and defend the realm.
