Ch 3 Finances of Crown & Attempts @ Reform Flashcards
How did James attempt to strengthen Crown finances?
- the Treaty of London (1604)
- the Book of Rates (1608)
- the Book of Bounty (1608)
- the Great Contract (1610)
- the creation of knights (1603)
- Lionel Cranfield (1618)
What was the key issue w/ raising Prerogative Income?
-worried the Political Nation, since the money came predominantly from them, & the more funds the Crown raised, the greater possibility of monarch becoming absolutist
Who were monarchs dependent on for funds?
-monarch dependent on Parliament, & thereby also the Political Nation; especially during times of war
Why was the Crown’s expenditure rising?
- due to inflation caused by rising prices (1502-1622)
- food prices increased significantly above rest
Why was the Crown’s income falling when James I started his reign?
-due to Elizabeth’s failure to reform the Crown’s major sources of income before him
What failures of Crown income was Elizabeth responsible for (1558-1603)?
- she did not update the Crown’s sources of income, & due to period of inflation, this was a big problem
- major reform needed, but was safer for monarch’s to organise their finances in short term, than undertake financial reforms that would mean dealing w/ vested interests of Political Nation represented in Parliament
Who recognised major reform was need during James I reign?
-1st chief minister Robert Cecil (had also been chief minister under Elizabeth I
What was the Great Contract of 1610?
- Cecil negotiated w/ Parliament a major reform of Crown finances
- in return for annual grant from Parliament of £200,000 & the removal of debts (approx. £600,000), the Crown would give up SOME prerogative income
Why did the Great Contract of 1610 fall through?
-both Crown & Parliament felt they had too much to lose in such agreement (reform never attempted again under James)
What were the greatest sources of expenditure in 1603; more specifically by James himself?
- foreign policy & war (military struggle w/ Spain)
- financial extravagance (spent lots & was generous to courtiers)
What happened to the 3 subsidies Parliament gave James I in 1606?
- 3 subsidies supposed to help w/ James’ debt
- instead he gave £44,000 of money to 3 of his Scottish friends
- such generosity made MPs reluctant to consider reform that was needed; as they worried James would simply give money away, in particular to favoured Scots
What was the Ante-Supper?
- most notorious example of court extravagance
- involved preparation 2 feasts; first was displayed to courtiers & then thrown away; while 2nd was consumed
What did one Ante-Supper in 1621 cost?
-around £3,300
What year did James I dissolve Parliament?
-1611
What was the Cockayne Project (1614)?
- plan to reorganise cloth trade
- rather than helping Crown finances, it actually hindered them
- a monopoly of the production & sale of finished cloth was granted to businessman William Cockayne, but his scheme failed
- the Dutch refused to purchase finished cloth from England, resulting in slump in English cloth trade
What amount was royal debt by 1617?
-£726,000
What amount was royal debt by 1620?
-£900,000
What was the Thirty Years War (1618-48)?
- since the Reformation & emergence of Protestantism, religion was divided in Europe
- 1618, series of wars broke out between Catholics & Protestants
What year did James bring Parliament back after dissolving it in 1611?
-1614
When was James I’s third Parliament?
-1621-22
When was James I’s fourth Parliament?
-1624
How much money did Parliament grant James in 1621 & why?
- only approx. £140,000
- they wanted their grievances addressed before allowing James more money (fearing he would dissolve Parliament again after obtaining sufficient funds)
What was the problem with the sale of monopolies by 1621?
- there were over 100 monopolies; as James finances deteriorated, he had granted more to try & increase his own fund
- MPs discovered people (e.g. Mopesson, relative of Buckingham) had abused their monopolies
- dispute by Lionel Cranfield & Edward Coke to remove their mutual rival Francis Bacon where they revived the feudal device of impeachment (whereby Commons could remove a Crown minister)
- James sacrificed Bacon to appease the Commons; mostly to prevent attack on Buckingham (who had several relatives who had exploited monopolies)
What further weakened Crown finances in 1623/24?
-bad harvests
What was the Subsidy Act (1624)?
-granted a subsidy of £300,000 to the Crown for warfare; in order to gain it, the Crown (prince Charles & Buckingham as James I was old/ill) agreed that money would be used for specified areas of foreign policy only, as supervised by Parliamentary officials
What was the Statute of Monopolies (1624)?
-act that limited Crown’s right to grant monopolies to individuals
What was James I vs Charles I view on the Thirty Years War?
- James did not want to join war (due to weaknesses in Crown finances)
- Charles planned to participate, joining fight against Spain, due to failure of Spanish Match & his marriage alliance w/ French Princess Henrietta Maria (France main opponent of Spain)
What did Charles’ anti-Spanish policy consist of?
- financial backing for his uncle Christian IV of Denmark to attack the Catholics through northern Germany
- financial support for Protestant Dutch
- construction of a force of about 600 Englishmen to be led by a German mercenary, Count Mansfield
- a naval attack on Spain aimed at capturing shipments of gold from South America
- for this he needed £1million, though the Commons exhibited their distrust by granting only 2 subsidies of £140,000
What was the issue over Tonnage & Poundage for Charles I?
- rather than granting Charles the right to collect tonnage & poundage for life (a customs tax on goods paid to the king), as would be the usual for monarchs, the Commons granted this right for only 1 year
- Parliament saw the limited grant as way to gain time to discuss reform of customs duties
- this was a direct attack at Buckingham, who was serving as Lord High Admiral, as this usually contributed to naval protection, & some MPs wanted to make point that Buckingham was failing his responsibility due to lack of success in foreign policy
How did Charles view the limited grant of tonnage & poundage?
- saw it as a direct attack on his prerogative
- felt Parliament was too influenced by radicals like Edward Coke (responsible for persuading Commons to vote for limited grant)
How much was Charles I in debt by 1629?
-£2million
What was the 1604 Treaty of London?
-James I made peace w/ Spain & thereby reduced Crown expenditure significantly
How much was crown debt by 1608?
-£600,000
What promises did James I make to Robert Cecil & what were the problem for attempting to strengthen royal finances?
- 1608 James promised Cecil that he would stop giving gifts of land
- 1609 James promised to not to grant any gifts or pensions without Cecil’s agreement
- problem that James failed to keep both promises
What was the 1608 ‘Book of Bounty’?
- survey of Crown lands in attempt to strengthen royal finances
- aimed to make more money from the lands by revising the leasing policy
- however, the limited nature of Crown bureaucracy & James’ continuing granting of Crown lands to favoured courtiers hampered Cecil’s efforts
- Cecil resorted to short-term financial fixes instead, including the sale of Crown lands & deficit borrowing
What was the 1608 ‘Book of Rates’?
- 1st major revision of custom duties
- book that listed official valuations of those items on which customs duties should be paid
- for majority of items, the imposition was either a fixed sum or a percentage of the item’s value
- because it included fixed valuations, this form of Crown income did not keep up w/ inflation
- the last time valuations had been set were 1558
What was the problem w/ knighthood in James I reign?
- he created a significant number of knights when coming to power in 1603
- also allowed some courtiers to offer knighthoods to others at a price; this devalued the title
- as result, new hereditary title of ‘baronet’ introduced in 1611; sold to anyone who could pay £1095
- established 200 baronets & brought in revenue of approx. £91,000 by March 1914
What did Lionel Cranfield do regarding royal finances after 1618?
- conducted investigations into expenses of the royal household, navy, wardrobe & court of wards to try & save money to strengthen royal finances
- although they led to savings, the changes from the investigation were not permanent solution to the financial weaknesses of the Crown
How did Charles try to make up for his financial short-falls in 1625?
- continued to collect tonnage & poundage after the 1-year parliamentary grant had expired
- also resorted to benevolence, method which monarch could demand money from his subjects through his prerogative in times of emergency (this was a voluntary payment & in 1626 very few offered Charles money)
- the forced loan (1626)
What was the Forced Loan of 1626?
- without parliamentary finance & facing war against Spain & France, Charles called on the prerogative finance of a forced loan that would be equivalent to 5 parliamentary subsidies
- ensured those who were most liable, paid up
- summoned to public meetings where they were individually pressed to agree to pay; public manner of collection made any refusal to pay a very open act of opposition
- Charles also personally identified himself w/ the forced loan, making it a ‘test of political loyalty’
Signs of oppositon to the Forced Loan of 1626?
- 76 people were imprisoned for refusal to pay the loan
- number of open resistors was reflection of the wider unrest caused by the forced loan
- only about £267,000 (70%) of the expected amount was collected
What year did Charles I dissolve Parliament?
-1629 (tensions over finance, favourites & foreign policy had soured relationships)
What were the main forms of Crown income for a monarch?
- crown lands = sold land/rent on long leases @ fixed rate; income reduced as couldn’t keep up w/ inflation
- customs duties = taxes from goods imported into country; could also temporarily sell right to collect such taxes
- feudal dues = crown held right to control estates inherited by heir under 21yrs
- parliamentary subsidies = funds approved by Parliament for emergencies e.g. war
