James I 1603 - 25 - Finance Flashcards
1603 Treaty of London
England made peace with Catholic Spain in order to reduce royal expenditure.
1603 – 25 Crown Debts
Under James’ reign, Crown debts were double what they were under Elizabeth due to his lavish and extravagant lifestyle.
1606 Parliamentary Subsidies
Parliament granted James 3 subsidies to help his debts and he immediately gave away £44,000 to his Scottish friends, which created distrust and tensions between Crown and Parliament.
1606 Bates’s Case
Merchant John Bates refused to pay a new duty that James levied on currants as he argued this illegal without parliamentary consent, however the court ruled in favour of the Crown and showed Bates was obligated to pay and the ruling extended the Crowns ability to impose these duties as a source of income.
1608 James’ promises to Cecil
James promised to stop giving gifts of land and pensions without agreement from Robert Cecil (Lord Treasurer) to decrease expenditure, however James failed to keep these.
1608 Book of Bounty
A device to reduce royal expenditure by ordering a surveyance of Crown lands and increase income by increasing the leases.
1608 Book of Rates
Cecil released a book that listed the official fixed values of the items that customs duties (tax on imported goods) as a result of the Bates case.
1610 Great Contract
Cecil negotiated with Parliament to reform Crown finance as he sought an annual subsidy from MP’s of £200,000 in exchange for some feudal rights of the King such as right to collect Wardship. However, this deemed unsuccessful due to the distrust between the Crown and Parliament, negotiations collapsed, and parliament was dissolved.
1614 Cockayne Project
A financial scheme that aimed to regulate cloth trade however failed when the monopoly of cloth was granted to William Cockayne and the Dutch refused to buy, leading to a slump in the trading of cloth and increasing royal debts.
1620 Royal Debts
Royal debt by 1620 stood at £900,000.
1621 Ante Supper
These feasts were prime examples of James’ extravagance as the preparation and presentation of them cost over £3,300 alone.
