James and Charles: Finance 1603-29

ORDINARY REVENUE:

• Crown lands and Monopolies.
• Fuedal rights:
• Purveyance (Right for King to decide cost of goods).
• Wardship (Right forKing to guard land of a diseased land owner who's son wasn't old enough to inherit).
• Royal prerogative, Marriage and justice.

CUSTOMS DUTIES:

• New impositions.
• Tunnage and poundage.

PARLIAMENTARY INCOME:

• Subsidies.
• Poll Tax.
• Ship money.

PROBLEMS:

• Told he had to rely on ordinary revenue.
• Had an expensive lifestyle.
• Had a family which he had to support.
• Was too extravagant.
• inherited £100,000 debt.
• Made £816,000 debt.
• Tax collection was outdated.
• Elizabeth sold crown lands.
• Inflation.
• Rising population.

BRIEF PROBLEMS BY PARLIAMENT:

• Parliament greed for power.
• Great contract 1610
• Parliament removing Tunnage and Poundage.
• Parliament failure at Cadiz.
• Being unrealistic and unsympathetic.

BRIEF PROBLEMS BY THE MONARCHS:

• Cockayne project failure of 1614.
• Too extravagant, e.g. gave £44,000 to Scottish friends.
• Misusing subsidies e.g. £67,000/90,000 to friends.
• Sold honours and titles.
• 1621, £3300 Ante-supper.
• Corrupt lord treasurers like Thomas Howard.
• Failure at La Rochelle.
• Charles going to War in 1624.
• Courtiers greed.

BOOK OF BOUNTY 1608:

• Record of properties and recommendations of what James could give people as a gift.
• Done to control his extravagance.

BOOK OF RATES 1608:

• Robert Cecil granted new impositions.
• Increased rate of payment on others, brought new prices.
• More tax on farming.
• John Bates challenged this
• Effected both Parliament and James Legal rights.

Great Contract of 1610:

• Proposed by Robert Cecil
• King prepared to give up feudal rights for annual income of £200,000 by Parliament.
• Parliament offered lower and both sides withdrew.
• This would make James Financially independent of Parliament.

Lord Treasurer Cranfeild 1618:

• Examined Crowns finances.
• Reduced Kings household expenses by 50%
• Overall he failed and showed complexity of Crown finances.
• Impeached by Parliament thanks to Buckingham

Factors that prevented reform:

• MPs were angry that James' problems were caused by his extravagance and courtiers greed.
• Lifestye cost too much.
• Use of impositions and monopolies caused friction with Parliament.