How did Henry VII manage the nobility?

Henry's biggest challenge was to win the support of the nobility while keeping in check their power and arrogance. His relationship with them was critical to his survival as King. He depended on them to maintain law and order in the localities. Although the war of the Roses had resulted in the growing power of the nobility. They had gained land at the expense of the crown and had invested in strongholds to protect the land they had gained. 

Henry needed to win their support but limit their power. He sometimes tried to win their support by rewarding them with lands and titles but more often he forced them to support him by showing them the consequences of their opposition.  he used a variety of methods:

1. Attainders - An attainder was a law passed by parliament which meant someone could be declared a traitor without going through a trial. Henry passed 138 attainders during his reign. Henry often reversed attainders, restoring the lands and titles, in attempt to gain loyalty and support. Although as Henry's reign progressed an increasing number of attainders were passed and where they were reversed there was a price to pay. Historians have suggested that Henry became more paranoid as his reign progressed. 

2. Patronage - This was a traditional method of securing the support of the nobility but not one that Henry used. There were some grants made at the beginning of the reign but Henry feared that by giving away lands and titles he would create a  new group of nobles who could threaten them. The impact of Henry's reluctance to grant land and titles was that the noble class fell by one quarter. Henry on the other hand benefitted as vacant lands were absorbed into Henry's personal domains, making him the largest land holder in England. One area where Henry did award patronage was to the gentry. He gave them the responsibility of royal agents in the localities. There power and prestige was completely reliant on Henry and were not distracted by their own competing loyalties. 

3. Retaining - Retaining was the practice by the nobility of having a large household staff which in turn could be used as a private army. They were used during the war of the roses to fight for their master but also served a domestic purpose of putting pressure on those owing rents or on local justice agents. It was new problem, Edward IV had also expressed concern about the practice. Henry passed laws in 1485 and 1504 against illegal retaining. The 1504 Act ensured that those ywishing to retain a large number of men had to seek a special licence from the King. Those caught without a licence would be fined £5 per retainer per month.  While some were fined many nobles found ways to avoid being caught and the problem continued. 

4. Financial Bonds - A financial bond was where the King placed the noble in debt to the crown. The noble would then have to ensure good behaviour if they wanted to avoid a large fine or paying the debt.  In the last decade of the reign about 2/3s of the nobility were under bond to the King.  Henry established the Council of Learned in Law to act to recover and mange these debts.  It is these bonds and the council of learned in the law which was feared that historians have used to accuse Henry of a tyrannical final decade of his reign.