Financial policy Flashcards
What were Henry’s financial aims?
-To achieve solency by increasing royal income.
-Decrease expenditure.
-Restore the crown’s financial strength.
What could Henry do if he became rich?
-Reward loyal service.
-Bribe potential opponents.
-Fund armies.
What would a full treasury provide his heir with?
The resources to fight to retain the throne.
How much did Richard III’s estates earn per year?
£25,000.
How much did Henry’s estates earn per year?
£12,000 by 1486.
How much did the Chamber system handle per year by the late 1490s?
Over £100,000.
What did the Chamber system deal with?
Crown lands, profits of justice, feudal dues and the French pension.
What was the Chamber system?
An office within the royal household that was responsible for the King’s private income.
What was ordinary revenue?
The regular income on which the Crown could rely to finance the costs of the monarchy.
What are examples of ordinary revenue?
Crown lands, feudal dues, custom duties and profits of justice.
Method of crown lands
Land owned by the King that Henry profited from.
Act of Resumption 1486 = The crown recovered all land granted away since 1455.
From 1485-1509, the annual income of Crown lands had increased from £29,000 to £42,000.
At the beginning of Henry’s reign the Duchy of Lancaster brought in £650 a year to the Chamber, but by 1509 it increased to nearly £7000.
Method of custom duties
-Used to pay for defences, most notably the Calais garrison:
£70,000 during Edward IV’s reign, compared to £40,000 during Henry’s reign.
He updated the Book of Rates - an account book recording the rates of tax paid by foreign merchants on goods imported and sold in England - twice during his reign.
-In 1496, he tried to reduce privileges enjoyed by foreign merchants - immunity from English taxation.
-From 1487, merchants involved in coastal trading, shipping merchandise from one English port to another, were required to produce a certificate from the first port, specifying the duties paid.
Method of feudal dues
Taxes for:
Wardship = Henry had the right to take control of an heir’s estates and keep the profits if they were a minor until they became of age.
Livery = Fine paid to recover land from wardship.
Relief = Money paid to the king when land was inherited.
Escheats = Payments made when land reverted to the crown.
Marriage = Marriage dues for heiresses.
1487 = less than £350 per annum, 1949 = over £1500 per annum, 1507 = Over £6000 per annum.
1502 Robert Willoughby de Broke paid £400 in livery.
Profits of justice method
- Henry’s policy of using fines instead of executions as punishments, even in some treasonable cases when death should’ve taken place.
-Sir William Stanley paid the Crown £9000 in cash and £1000 per annum after his treason in 1495.
What were Henry’s extraordinary methods?
Parliamentary grants, loans, benevolences, clerical taxes, feudal obligations and the French pension.
