Changes to Royal Finances in the Tudor Period
- Created by: emilieh
- Created on: 03-01-16 14:45
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- Changes to Royal Finances
- Changes to the Crown's finances
- A constant theme of the Tudor period was the tension between the Crown's income and expenditure.
- Both Wolsey and Cromwell attempted to put the Crown's finances on a more secure footing, but were both only partially successful.
- In theory the monarch was supposed to be financially independent.
- The Crown had two main sources of income...
- 'Ordinary Revenue'
- Came from royal lands and the monarch's status of landlord.
- Come from the rents or sales of lands.
- 'Extraordinary Revenue'
- Usually taxation granted by parliament for the monarch's special needs, usually the costs of war.
- 'Ordinary Revenue'
- The monarchy rarely had enough money and was often reliant on parliamentary taxation and other legally dubious source of income.
- 1521- Royal officials were so short of money that they had to resort to loans to pay the royal servants.
- The situation was not helped by extravagant expenditure.
- Henry VIII spent more than £100,000 on building Hampton Court and Whitehall, while the royal household in the 1550s was costing £75,000 a year to run.
- Even Elizabeth, who avoided the costs of war until 1585, found it difficult to balance the royal books and died owing £350,000.
- The Crown had two main sources of income...
- A constant theme of the Tudor period was the tension between the Crown's income and expenditure.
- Changes to Royal Finances under Henry VIII
- Financial policy under Henry VIII was driven by his desire to go to war and the costs that this entailed.
- It has been estimated that the income from Crown lands in 1515 was £25,000 per annum, but Henry's war against France in 1512-14 cost about £1 million.
- Henry's chief ministers, Wolsey and Cromwell were responsible for funding Henry's ambitions.
- Wolsey was prepared to try new methods to achieve this.
- Introduction of the Subsidy, a new form of parliamentary taxation in 1513, based on an assessment of each individual's wealth.
- This raised £322,099 between 1513 and 1523.
- A further £117,936 was raised through the traditional form of taxation (The Fifteenths and Tenths).
- This was still not enough to fund Henry's wars and Wolsey was forced to resort to less legal methods, in particular, the Amicable Grant (1525)
- This was in effect a forced loan from his taxpayers, as this loan was on top of the high levels of taxation already demanded and 'loans' extracted in 1522-23 that had raised £260,000 but had not been repaid, the result was rebellion.
- Wolsey was forced to take responsibility and withdraw the Grant, while Henry claimed no knowledge of his minister's plans.
- This was in effect a forced loan from his taxpayers, as this loan was on top of the high levels of taxation already demanded and 'loans' extracted in 1522-23 that had raised £260,000 but had not been repaid, the result was rebellion.
- Introduction of the Subsidy, a new form of parliamentary taxation in 1513, based on an assessment of each individual's wealth.
- 1530s- Cromwell tried to solve these problems by the acquisition of former monastery lands for the Crown.
- This temporarily raised Crown income to a peak of £126,296 in 1541, but this did not last, as by the end of Henry's reign 2/3 of these lands had been sold off.
- Cromwell also created 4 specialised financial courts to handle the increased flow of money to the Crown.
- These were the Courts of Augmentation, First Fruits & Tenths, Wards & Liveries and General Surveyors.
- However, only the Court of Wards and Liveries lasted beyond the end of the Tudor period, the other three courts were all amalgamated into the Exchequer under Edward and Mary.
- These were the Courts of Augmentation, First Fruits & Tenths, Wards & Liveries and General Surveyors.
- Wolsey was prepared to try new methods to achieve this.
- Financial policy under Henry VIII was driven by his desire to go to war and the costs that this entailed.
- Financial Developments under Edward, Mary & Elizabeth
- Under the protectorate of Northumberland and then the rule of Mary, some attempts were made to put the Crown on a more sound financial footing.
- Under Mary, Crown income from customs, which had remained the same since 1507, was reformed, increasing income from duties on imports and exports from £25,900 in 1550-51 to £82,797 in 1558-59.
- Elizabeth reaped the benefits from these reforms but did little to change the financial system.
- Her main contribution was to end the debasement of the coinage which had begun under Mary.
- Elizabeth's natural caution also meant that she avoided costly warfare before 1585, but after this, the war with Spain led to high levels of taxation.
- The situation was made worse because Elizabeth and her advisers did nothing to reform the system of taxation. The result was decreasing returns- a subsidy yielded £140,000 in 1558 but only £80,000 in 1603.
- This in turn led to Elizabeth's controversial exploitation of her royal prerogative, which soured the last years of her reign.
- The situation was made worse because Elizabeth and her advisers did nothing to reform the system of taxation. The result was decreasing returns- a subsidy yielded £140,000 in 1558 but only £80,000 in 1603.
- Elizabeth's natural caution also meant that she avoided costly warfare before 1585, but after this, the war with Spain led to high levels of taxation.
- Her main contribution was to end the debasement of the coinage which had begun under Mary.
- Elizabeth reaped the benefits from these reforms but did little to change the financial system.
- More Crown lands were sold off to reduce debt.
- Under Mary, Crown income from customs, which had remained the same since 1507, was reformed, increasing income from duties on imports and exports from £25,900 in 1550-51 to £82,797 in 1558-59.
- Under the protectorate of Northumberland and then the rule of Mary, some attempts were made to put the Crown on a more sound financial footing.
- Changes to the Crown's finances
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