Henry VII & His Financial Management

Insolvent at start - by 1509 it was solvent

Initial insolvency + expenses for marriage & coronation = difficult

Henry had 2 aims for finance -

1. fund ordinary & extraodinary expenses

2. Maintain power over realm

From 1485 used Exchequer system - but its slow

From 1493 used Chamber system - same as Richard III

Chamber used Court of General Surveyors (committee thats part of the royal household)

Court of General Surveyors = most trusted individuals - EG. Sir John Heron & Sir Thomas Lovell

Custom Duties - money from parliament

Feudal Dues - King = landowner, therefore gets the money from subjects who own land

Crown Lands - use of Acts of Attainder & Resumption ensure more money from crown lands

Profits of Justice - money from law enforcement (fines etc)

Parliamentary Subsidies - grant money towards ordinary expenses in difficult periods

Clerical Taxes - match parliamentary subsidies

Bonds & Recognisances - BOND = individual has to pay if conditions not met RECOGNISANCE = formal acknowledgement of debt

French Pension - 1475 Treaty under Edward IV guanateed money from France, renewed in Treaty of Estaples 1492

Loans - voluntary payment from richer subjects - Henry had to repay

Benevolences - threat to richer subjects for money - Henry didn't repay

Feudal Obilgations - landowners pay money towards the knighthood of Henry's sons and the marriage of Henry's daughters

Guy - Henry made the most of his sources of revenue, which is understandable considering what little money he had in exile in Brittany

Bacon - Henry's obsession with money affected his whole reign