James I: Finance Flashcards
What was the financial situation upon James’ accession?
He was unable to ‘live off his own’ - support himself from his own revenue through royal prerogatives, relying on plmt who were reluctant to grant money
What limited James from pursuing an aggressive foreign policy?
Give 3 points.
He had inherited a debt of £350,000.
Inflation made financing his reign all the more difficult - 1550-1650 wages rose only x3, while food prices rose x8.
Lack of fiscal reform under Elizabeth meant income was declining
Kishlansky on James’ spending:
He ‘had the financial acumen of a child in a sweetshop’
How was James particularly wasteful in his spending?
Give 3 examples
Doubled court expenditure over his reign
Spent £50,000 one year on jewels alone
Gave £44,000 of a plmt subsidy intended to help relieve the debt to 3 Scottish nobles
What were the ante-suppers?
2 versions of the feast would be cooked - one for viewing, the other for consumption
One in 1621 cost £3,300
What did James’ excessive generosity entail?
a) to his advantage
b) to his disadvantage
a) It bought him, a foreign monarch, goodwill in a new political system - easing the transition through support of political patronage
b) Damaged his own finances and relationship with plmt, who were more reluctant to grant subsidies - out of fear the Scots would enjoy more gifts and their unwillingness to reform
How did James attempt to finance himself after the Addled Plmt?
Give 2 means he resorted to.
James sold many honours, which devalued them and angered the PN
Profited on sale of monopolies
How many monopolies were there by 1621
Over 100
What was a particularly disastrous scheme James funded?
1614 Cockayne Project.
Commissioned Cockayne to hold the monopoly on the cloth industry - yet he lacked the capital to refine the cloth, which led to the Dutch halting half-finished cloth imports from Britain leading to a slump in the industry and the return of the charter to merchants in 1617
What was the royal debt like?
By 1617, it was at £726,000 - economy entering depression
BY 1620, nearly £900,000
What plmt statutes limited royal finance?
1624 Subsidy Act placed limits on monarch’s use of subsidy funds
1624 Statute of Monopolies limited the crown’s right to grant monopolies
What measures did James use to stay financially independent of plmt early in his reign?
Collected on customs, feudal dues, clerical taxation, recusancy fines and ‘farmed the customs’
Sold custom rights in 1605 for around £112,000 a year
How did James alleviate the potential burden on the economy?
‘Rex pacificus’
Signed 1604 Treaty of London with Spain and initially stayed out of 30 years war
How did James begin fiscal reform?
Appointed Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, Lord Treasurer in 1608
Salisbury placed impositions on customs after 1608 Bates’ Case - updating Book of Rates, also sold royal lands off for £680,000
How successful was Salisbury initially?
By 1610 he had halved the debt and decreased the average annual increase by a third.
He was also responsible for the Great Contract
