Finances and attempts at reform (S1.3)

Question 1

What was the problem with Crown finances in the early Stuart period?

Answer 1

• Expenditure was rising, due to inflation
• Crown’s income was falling, as Elizabeth had failed to reform the Crown’s major sources of income.

Question 2

What were the consequences of the Crown’s financial weakness?

Answer 2

• Increasingly difficult for the Crown to govern efficiently
• Crown had no alternatives in wartime but to devise new means of raising money without parliamentary consent; threatened to become a serious political problem.

Question 3

What were the consequences of Elizabeth not updating the Crown’s sources of income?

Answer 3

Exacerbated problems that were already concerning due to sustained inflation

Question 4

How much debt had James inherited from Elizabeth?

Answer 4

Elizabeth had bequeathed a debt of about £400,000 to her successor. ​

Question 5

In the First Parliament, how did Parliament respond to James’ request for fiscal help?

Answer 5

Only part of the money that he demanded was voted, and the Commons spent much time discussing his domestic and foreign policy (which he believed was past their royal prerogative).

Question 6

What did James’ see as Parliament’s only purpose?

Answer 6

Parliament existed principally for the collection of tax revenue.
> He need only summon it when he needs money; Parliament’s duty would then be to vote ‘subsidies’ or ‘supply’ for the King (i.e. vote to collect tax revenue for the King).​

Question 7

What were the financial problems in James’ Second Parliament (‘Addled Parliament’) in 1614?

Answer 7

James wished to raise a supply of £65,000 while the House of Commons resisted further taxation.
> Parliament saw no reason for a further grant: they saw the King’s continued debt as a result of his extravagance (especially on Scottish favourites such as Robert Car) and saw no justification for continued high spending.

Question 8

How much in Crown lands had Elizabeth sold to finance war, and why did this cause problems?

Answer 8

Elizabeth had sold over £800,000 worth of crown lands
> Ensured that royal income was insufficient to meet the expenses of government.​

Question 9

What had Elizabeth failed to update?

Answer 9

Elizabeth had failed to update tax assessments in line with inflation, so James had inherited a tax system that was entirely unfit for purpose.
> It allowed the gentry to assess their own liability to pay tax.​

Question 10

How much did James spend in peacetime, compared to Elizabeth, and when did this peak?

Answer 10

Elizabeth had spent less than £300,000 in peacetime
> Under James this rose almost immediately to £400,000 and peaked at £522,000 in 1622.​

Question 11

What were the four main sources of financial weakness in this period?

Answer 11

James’s personality​
Inherited problems​
James’s sources of income​
James’s expenditure​

Question 12

How much were Scottish favourites and English favourites recieving in an average year?

Answer 12

Scottish followers based in the royal court received £40,000 in total, whilst English equivalents received £10,000.​

James considered it perfectly acceptable to pay off their debts using his own revenue before paying off his own debts. This is what happened in 1607 when James paid off the debts of three men at a cost of £44,000. ​

James set aside £25,000p.a. after the birth of Henry for expenditure solely on him.​

Question 13

What was an ante-supper?

Answer 13

• Notorious example of court extravagance
  > Preparation of two huge feasts, where the first was for display and to be thrown away
  > One ante-supper in 1621 cost £3,300

Question 14

What expenditure did James increase between 1603 and 1610?

Answer 14

James decided that the royal wardrobe had to be suitably changed for a man, and increased the expenditure on royal clothing from £10,000 in 1603 to £36,000 in 1610.​

Question 15

What type of sales were a huge success, with it being estimated that between 1603 and 1629, £620,000 was the minimum profit made?

Answer 15

The sale of noble titles was a huge success. ​
> It has been estimated that between 1603 and 1629 that the minimum profit earned by the Crown in this way was £620,000.​

Question 16

Sale of what was condemned by Parliamentarians, and why?

Answer 16

The sale of monopolies was condemned by Parliamentarians because whilst it provided James with income, it created artificially high prices and put up barriers to trade.

Question 17

What was the 1606 Bate’s Case?

Answer 17

In 1606 a merchant, John Bate, was taken to court for refusing to pay a duty on currants.​
> Bate claimed the duty had not been sanctioned by Parliament.​
> The judges decided in the King’s favour because the monarch had the right to regulate trade for the security of the realm.​

Question 18

What was released in 1608, in relation to finance, and what was the results and reactions?

Answer 18

In 1608 the Book of Rates brought in new duties known as impositions that were levied on 1400 items with no real pretence that it was in the interests of trade. ​
> Impositions immediately brought in an additional £70,000 of revenue a year, but the practice was widely condemned in Parliament.

Question 19

What were the two measures and attempts by Robert Cecil, Lord Treasurer, to reform finance?

Answer 19

1608 Book of Bounty
1610 Great Contract

Question 20

What was the 1608 Book of Bounty?

Answer 20

This was issued by Cecil in an attempt to prevent James giving away major items such as lands, customs or impositions.​
> But James gave cash away instead. In the last 4 months of 1610 alone he gave away £36,000.​

Question 21

What was the 1610 Great Contract?

Answer 21

One-off payment of £600,000 and thereafter an annual grant of £200,000 from Parliament.​
> Crown would surrender its feudal rights of wardship and purveyance
> Would likely have secured James a sufficient income, if it had been combined with a variety of cost-cutting measures.​

​

Question 22

What was Parliament’s reaction to the 1610 Great Contract?

Answer 22

• A distaste for James’ spendthrift ways and resentment that the political nation was being asked to pay for it. ​
  > A fear that financial independence would allow James to sidestep Parliament and the political nation and impose a continental-style absolutism on the country.​

Rejected it.

Question 23

What was Parliament’s problem with prerogative taxation, and when did they clash with James over this?

Answer 23

The King collecting taxation using his royal prerogative meant that Parliament might become unnecessary. ​
> If he collected enough tax revenue using his prerogative, and therefore didn’t need Parliamentary supply for money, Parliament might never be called again!!​
> So James and Parliament clashed in 1610 and 1614 over impositions.​

Question 24

In relation to finance, why did James’ First Parliament (1604-1610) fail?

Answer 24

Dominated by Bate’s Case and debt
> Failed over Robert Cecil’s failed Great Contract and impositions

Question 25

In relation to finance, why did James’ Second ‘Addled’ Parliament (1614) fail?

Answer 25

Failed over monopolies and impositions​

Question 26

In relation to finance, why did James’ Third Parliament (1621-22) fail?

Answer 26

Failed over finance, but largely more over the Spanish Match, religious and foreign policy​

Question 27

What remained an issue in the 1624-1625 Fourth Parliament?

Answer 27

Finance (as well as foreign policy and religious policy, in the form of the Thirty Years War)

Question 28

Who was Lionel Cranfield, and what were his aims?

Answer 28

Cranfield rose through the ranks to become Lord Treasurer in 1621

Aims were to;
> To amass as much money personally as possible.​
> To reform royal finances.

Question 29

What were Cranfield’s measures​ to reform royal finances?

Answer 29

Halt to borrowing and the indiscriminate sale of Crown lands
Savagely cut the payment of gifts and pensions
No grants of lands, pensions or allowances would be made without Treasury approval.

Question 30

Why did Cranfield fall from grace, and what events exacerbated this?

Answer 30

Cranfield’s attempts to reform finance were blown when in 1623 Charles and Buckingham went to Madrid which cost £47,000.
> When in 1624 Cranfield opposed war against Spain, Buckingham turned against him.​
> In May 1624 he was found guilty of corruption by the House of Lords, sentenced to lose all his offices, heavily fined and imprisoned at the King’s pleasure. ​

Question 31

What was a monopoly?

Answer 31

• Process where the Crown could sell the exclusive right to provide a product or service
  > Often sold for whatever amount the Crown needed
  > Controversial and in disrepute as a form of the Crown’s exploitation of its prerogative

Question 32

Why was Parliament unwilling to fund James’ subsidies in 1621?

Answer 32

• Voted two subsidies, totalling £140,000
  > Reluctant to give more due to the want to express their grievances; feared he may dissolve Parliament like in 1611

Question 33

Who was impeached in the 1621 Parliament?

Answer 33

Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon
> Cranfield and Coke revived the feudal device of impeachment, to remove the minister
> James decided to sacrifice Bacon to appease the Commons, and to prevent an attack on Buckingham

Question 34

What were the two main Acts implemented in the 1624 Parliament?

Answer 34

Subsidy Act
Statute of Monopolies

Question 35

What was the 1624 Subsidy Act?

Answer 35

Act granted a subsidy of £300,000 to the Crown for warfare

Question 35

What was the 1624 Statute of Monopolies?

Answer 35

Act limited the Crown’s right to grant monopolies to individuals

Question 36

What was the financial landscape of Stuart Britain like by the time James had died?

Answer 36

• No systematic reform
• James’ extravagance had made the financial position weaker than in 1603
• Crown and Parliament had become caught and distrustful of eachother
• Finance remained a central parliamentary concern.