The admiralty titles that eventually fed into the office of Lord High Admiral first served administrative needs. Edward I required ships and maritime logistics, yet he did not establish a standing professional navy. The conventional institutional lineage of the Royal Navy therefore begins around Henry VII's reign rather than with Alfred the Great or Edward I. De Leybourne's office belongs to a different stage in organizing naval power from those earlier rulers' use of ships.
Notable Point · 3:30-4:37
An admiralty administration before a standing Royal Navy
De Leybourne's office organized naval power for the Crown without creating the permanent professional navy associated with the Tudor period.