The English government in the sixteenth century was what people of the period described as a "mixed" government, with both a monarch and a parliament. The parliament was composed of a House of Commons (representing commoners) and a House of Lords (represented the nobility and the church in the form of Lord Bishops). There was also a judiciary branch, including both church and regular courts. By comparison with the modern era, the early modern government was quite small, with many functions of what we now consider the secular state performed by the church, including marriage, burial, welfare, and even identity (your baptismal certificate was your only actual legal identity document entitling you to such things are poor law benefits). Power was somewhat centralized in the king, but given the lack of fast travel, local justice was usually in the hands of the local nobility or clergy.