Tudor- Finances

• 1485:granted tonnage and poundage (custom revenues) brings in money 

• Henry VII used the 1486 Act of Resumption and attainders to increase Crown lands.

• 1487: parliament granted money to pay off mercenaries who fought lord lovells rising when they attempted to put lambert simnel on the throne. 

• 1489: parliament granted money to pay for a war in france during the breton crisis.

• 1496: grant from parliament to fight of scottish invasion

Council learned in law:

- founded in 1495 and led by Bray and then Empson and Dudley who were all lawyers.

- They had full authority and support from the king so didn't require the acts of parliament.

- They held both a financial and political role in controlling the nobility whilst making money for the king.

- The extent of the hate is evident in the fact that both empson and dudley were arrested when Henry VIII took the throne and executed just a year later.

Bonds- 46 bonds used by henry VII against noble families. Bonds were written contracts promoting good behaviour or the fulfilment of a certain task for the king.

Recognisances- the formal acknowledgement of an existing debt or other obligation to the king. Both bonds and recognisances were universally hated buy the nolbitly, as they were financial hostages.

In 1493 henry made £3,000 from the use of bonds and recognisances which increases after the creation of the council learned in law in 1495 to £35,000 in 1505 a year.

wardship and marriage profits increased from £300 in 1487 to £6,000 in 1504, crown land revenue increased from £29,000 to £42,000 and custom duties increased from £33,000 to £40,000

cloth trade was responsible for around 90% of English exports is increased by 60% during Henry VII reign; whereas raw wool exports decreased by 30%

1493: trade embargo with burgundy because of its support for the yorkist usurpers. Intercurus magnus signed in 1496 ended the embargo. 

Intercursus malus was forced to be signed by phillip when he shipwrecked in england. Very unfavourable to the burgundians and never recited by france, holy roman emperor or spain and so never went into action.

After the treaty of Etaples in 1492 the french made an annual payment to Henry of £5000 which is known as the french pension

The church payed clerical taxes £25,000 to help with the french campaign in 1491

Resentment of increased taxation and unEmployment increased because of the dissolution of the monasteries. Bad harvests led to temporary increases in food prices, doubling them across the reign. Real wages began to decline.Growing unemployment amongst rural labourers some of whom found work in rural industries such as weaving and mining or moved to towns and cities.

Assessment for subsidies indicated considerable urban poverty.The tudor subsidy refers to a grant issued by parliament to the sovereign for state needs; the 1523 subsidy imposed a tax of one shilling in the pound for land worth £50, and one shilling in the pound on personal savings and goods.

• Wolsey made a substantial change in the way the subsidy was collected, instead of using local commissioners to assess taxpayers wealth he set up a national committee, with direct and realistic assessments of wealth. This allowed wolsey to raise extraordinary revenue for the war with france.

• However this insufficient leading to the amicable grant of 1525 which was raised without parliament's permission.
  

Amicabble grant was a form of taxtaion called gifts to the King to fund his war with france. In 1522 – 1523 a huge loan of £250,000 had been forced upon the people and it had not yet been paid back. People claimed that they could not afford to pay the tax and that it was unconstitutional because it had not been approved by parliament, while the clergy protested as they had not agreed to such a tax.

Soon there were widespread rumblings in Essex, Kent, Norfolk, Warwickshire and Huntingdonshire.in Lavenham where around 4000 people gathered to protest against the grant. The King quickly sent the Dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk to try to deal with the protesters, who greatly outnumbered their own army. the tax was quickly and henry claimed he knew nothing oif it leading to wosleys downfall. 

• 70% of all cloth was from england.The supply to markets was dependent effectivenessm of the industry which operated in a domestic basis with children carding the wool, women spinning and men weaving. Then to more specialised treatment in dying. 

• West riding of yorkshire, east anglia and parts of the west country saw the largest boom in the cloth industry 

• Cloth entrepreneurs were able to move socially up like william stumper who moved up to an MP and high sheriff. 

• Mining increased but cornish tin remained a prize export, lead in pennines and coal mining grew more important with new castle supplying iron ore.
  

-The country was bankrupt and inflation was very high due to the debasement which was introduced under Henry VIII but effective reform would be very difficult and unpopular. 

-The sale of crown lands raised a lot of money but meant the government raised less from rents yearly. 

-war against scotland was very expensive and debasement was known to be causing damage to the economy.

-somerset didn't attempt any financial reforms as these would require cuts in expenditure and changes to the structure and efficiency of the crowns finance. 

-raising taxation might cause social unrest and would be had to justify as the country was not at war.

In 1549 we borrowed £132,000 from the Antwerp market as well as individual foreign merchants and by 1551 this had spiralled to £500,000, By 1553 the debt to the Antwerp market was down to £61,000 due to Gresham

He came up with a clever but underhand system to buy up currency and sell it back at an inflated price. In 1553 he bought Florrins at 16s and then sold them back at 19s. He fell out of favour under Mary but became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1577 and set up the Royal Exchange

Between 1510-1530 the cost of goods increased by 64%
By 1550 it was 154%
By 1570 it was 190%
And by 1590 it was 248%.

-Northumberland sought to improve administration of crown finances and set up commissions to investigate shortcomings of the system and recommend reforms.

-Mary attempted to exploit custom duties there were hundreds of commodities untaxed and existing rates had fallen behind inflation

-Because of the factionalism of Parliament asking them for subsidies carried political risk she secured subsidies from Parliament in 1555 but still needed to ask for what was called a Privy Seal loan on top of this.

-Declaring war with France in June 1557 was fiscally risky even though Philip was persuaded to pay £48,000 towards an expedition to the Netherlands.

• On 14 September prepared an inventory of the late King's wardrobe. Sixteen days later he was appointed a Commissioner to report upon the Crown revenues.

• In 1548 he acted on commissions for the sale of lands (March) and for the maintenance of grammar schools.
  

• In 1550 he was directed to examine the accounts of the King's mints, and in 1551 superintended the establishment of a new mint at York. In December 1551 he was a Commissioner to inspect the Courts which controlled the Crown lands, he was commissioned to levy the King's debts

• In December to audit the funds belonging to the king's officers; and he superintended the receipt by the crown of plate, jewels, bells, and surrendered by dissolved monasteries or chantries.

• 1555 Completely reorganised the administration and finance of the navy. Built 6 new ships built and financed the repair of many others. So by the end of the reign she had 21 men-at war available.

• 1558 Militia Act laid down a system of Commissioners of Muster with responsibility for organising the recruitment of regional militias in war time.

• 1558 Arms Act established better procedures for supplying weapons to the royal force.

• Crown finances budgeted peace time allocation of £14000 to navy, Elizabeth later reduced this. The System worked effectively with the Treasurer to to the Navy answering to Lord Treasurer Winchester

• Reforms laid the basis for organisation of the navy that was crucial for Elizabeth to defeat the Spanish Armada