The Domestic Affairs Under James I

Start with the purple bubble, sorry it is so huge, there was a lot to fit on and categorise.

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  • The Domestic Affairs Under James I
    • Domestic Policies
      • Proposed union of England and Scotland (James tried unsuccess-fully to unite the 2). Parliament wasn't happy about the idea...
        • Their prejudice (didn't see that England would gain, but Scots would - they were poorer)
        • Scottish law was very different to English
        • Many Scots were unpopular in the King's court
    • James's Financial Situation
      • Extravagance led to financial problems
        • Why?
          • Conspicuous Consumption
          • Favourites
          • James had a wife and children, whereas Elizabeth had been single
        • Purveyance (the right for the King to buy goods for the royal household at a discount price)
          • Parliament petitioned to James against Purveyance - saw it as insulting given his extravagance
          • House of Commons attempted to replace the prerogative of Purveyance with a grant to the Crown of £20,000 p.a - James saw this as inadequate
        • Wardship (controlled by the House of Wards)
          • The royal prerogative to take over land if the owner died before his children reached 21.
          • Crown would sell a contract to the highest bidder who would look after the land until the child/heir became 21
          • Scheme was worth £60,000 p.a to the crown
          • Parliament tried to abolish the Court of Wards, but James refused
        • Religion
          • James was Protestant (he became involved in a war with Catholic Spain despite not wanting to)
          • Gunpowder plot - set up by Catholics to kill him and destroy his government (it failed)
          • Introduced the King James Bible - enabled Christianity to be accessed by more people in a standard way
      • Treasurers and their impact on relationship between crown and Parliament
        • Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset: 1603-1908
          • Incompetent,cost of royal household rose (gifts, wardrobe, pensions)
          • Introduced the Great Farm of Customs (the right to collect customs dues and taxes was sold) - treasury debt when he died was £597,337
          • PARLIAMENT NICKNAMED HIM "FILL-SACK" BECAUSE OF HIS CORRUPTION
        • Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury: 1608-1612
          • Reduced royal debt from £750,000 in 1606, to £280,000 in 1610
          • The Great Contract, 1610 - James would give up feudal taxes in return for fixed sum of money to be raised from taxation
          • PARLIAMENT DID GRANT SUBSIDIES FOR JAMES
          • JAMES DISLIKED HAVING TO BARGAIN WITH PARLIAMENT - FELT THE SUM WASN'T ENOUGH (WANTED IT DOUBLED); WHEN THEY REFUSED, HE DISSOLVED  THEM
        • Lord Suffolk: 1612-1618
          • Incompetent and dishonest - debts rose and didn't stop James's reckless spending
          • IN 1614, JAMES DISMISSED PARLIAMENT WITHOUT RECEIVING ANY SUPPLIES - KNOWN AS THE "ADDLED PARLIAMENT"
          • 1614, James was forces to call Parliament to vote for money. They complained about monopolies, favourites and impositions
          • Cockayne - cloth exports. Would provide James with £40,000 p.a in revenues if plan worked. The Dutch retaliated the import and resulted in Cockayne being abandoned by James
        • Run by a committee: 1618-1621
          • Cut back pensions to favourites - replaced them with patents of monopoly (control over certain products to set prices etc)
          • DAMAGED TRADE - RESENTED BY MERCHANTS  WHO HAD TO PAY HIGHER PRICES FOR GOODS
        • Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex: 1621-1624
          • Encouraged peaceful policy with Spain to avoid war costs
          • Advised James not to give gifts and titles
          • Gifts did get cut; gradually, King's debts were paid off; managed to get James to sign an agreement that he wouldn't give gifts etc without Treasury's approval
          • PARLIAMENT WERE WORRIED HE'D SUCCEED IN MAKING THE CROWN INDEPENDENT AND WOULD REDUCE NEED FOR RELIANCE ON THEM
          • WAS SACKED, FINED AND IMPRISONED - DAMAGED THE RELATIONS BETWEEN CROWN AND PARLIAMENT
      • James and his finances
        • Inherited an empty treasury and debt of over £400,000 from Elizabeth
        • Inflation was spreading and the cost of running the country was rising sharply.The fixed payments that Kings were paid were not lower in value - the people were being under-taxed.
        • The tax system was outdated and no longer working. Made worse by James's  extravagance-in Scotland he hadn't had the opportunity to spend as it was much poorer than England. Once in England, he spent a lot.
  • Policy (lower case) vs IMPACT ON RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CROWN AND PARLIAMENT (upper case)

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