James and Finance

• Elizabeth- surplus of £90,000, debt of £400,000 covered by outstanding debts
• Frugal so officials turned to bribery or extortion
• Not attempted to increase royal revenue so it kept pace with inflation- only long term solution
• Out of date assessments
• E.g 1587 a 50 year lease on some crown property was agreed at a rent of £68/year. Actual value of land was £1071/year
• Issue of ongoing war with Spain
• Inflation
• Radical overhaul of system needed but this required a huge political upheaval, making the new king less popular
• Minimising spending could help to solve problems
• Conrad Russel said problems were't solvable
• Economic depression- caused by bad harvests, doubling of price of wheat form 1594-1597, evidence of starvation in northern England, number of beggars increased, Poor Laws revised in 1598 and 1601
• Elizabeth had deferred expectations to James- he was expected to satisfy
• Crown expected to 'live off his own' and asking Parliament was a last resort for emergancies

Ordinary Revenue

• Most important crown lands at the beginning though Elizabeth had solf over £80,000 worth of estates. This ceased in 1640- most sold for quick profit.
• Customs revenue major source. By 1621 bringing in 3x as much as crown lands
• 1608 impositions introduced bringing £70,000/year after new Book of Rates
• By 1630 bringing in £300,000-£400,000/year
• Feudal tenures> relics of Middle Ages and largely lost justification. 
• Wardship. Could bring ruin to a family. In 1610 brought £65,000 to the crown
• Purveyance-court buy/sell resources at lower prices. Worth £40,000 to court. Angered merchants

Extraordinary Revenue

• 1st Parliament wary but not uncooperative - first session no supply because a loan granted to Elizabeth was still being paid out
• £400,000 after Gun.Plot- mislead James into believing they would always pay debts
• 1606-1621 only one grant of under £100,000
• Uncertainty of supply make active foreign p. difficult - need P. to maintain army
• Sometimes felt not worth his while. Value by 1628= £55,000 from£130,000 in 1500s

• Didn't appreciate that while England was richer than Scotland, mechanisms for tapping into wealth not available 
• 1603-1612 spent £185,000 on jewels
• Pensions given as rewards to courtiers rose by £50,00-£80,00/year
• Expenditure on the household doubled by 1610
• "too much inclined to giving" Archbishop of York 
• Went often into the pocket of the hated Scottish e.g Lord Hay who gage a banquet for the French ambassador costing £2,200 for the food alone
• Gave Scot Robert Carr £400,000
• Villiers showered with indulgences when he became the favourite
• 1603-1608 £600,000 on military garrison in Ireland
• £500,000 on household in 1614-made Parliament untrusting

• In 1609 as master of court of wards, Salisbury earned £1400 from a wardship that brought the crown £370
• Cranfield only taxed £150 when worht £90,000/year
• At the same time Salisbury was trying to improve finances through the Great Contract
• Too many had a vested interest
• Those liable to pay subsidy had to declare what they were worth but they usually 'underestimated'- Buckingham apparently only worth £400

• 1606 John Bates refused to pay impositions of currants, but when the case was taken to court the judge upheld the king's right to levy impositions
• Series of revised Book of Rates made them even more lucrative- £250,000 per anum by 1640
• Parliament in 1610 complained, worried the crown might become financially independant
• Purveyance open to gross abuse by corrupt officials 
• Parliament wanted to get rid of it but worried that any system of compensation would produce more abuses and there was no chance the king would get rid of it without a provision
• Calls for end to wardship but fear of losing powerful friends 

• Only fundamental reform attempt; Salisbury serious because would affect him
• 1610. Salisbury proposed Parliament should grant James a single payment of £600,000 and then £200,000 a year in return for James abolishing prerogative measures of wardship and purveyance
• James also hinted that he would add no new impositions
• Members instructed to consult their constituents during the Summer recess and negotiations would continue in November
• Offer decreased after this- no fixed sum of £600,000
• Why it failed:
• Doubts began to surface over the summer and when it resumed both sides raised their demands 
• Mps concerned an annual grant of £200,000, equiv. of three subsidies might weaken the position of P
• Worried he might think of new ways to raise money
• King felt grant not enough to compensate
• Felt let down and humilated
• Mistrust on both sides
• Never established how the money could be raised
• Feared Scots would be the major beneficiaries
• Customs only way crown revenue could be increased significantly 
• Attack on DROK
• Short term- easy to see why the king would be reluctant

• 1612-1618
• In 1611 title of baronet was created and sold at cost of £1095- brought in £90,000 by 1614 but then the market was saturated and by 1622 the price had fallen to £220. Short term
• When 1614 P gave no supply, James demanded a benevolence of £65,000 instead of the subsidy P would have supposedly voted
• Cockayne project-meant to raise £300,000/year. Persuaded the king to prohibit the export of unfinished cloth on the grounds that employment could be generated and customs could be generated.Resources weren't obtained and Dutch found new sources of cloth. Disaster
• Peerage and knighthood sold-£600,000 raised. Annoyed old nobility
• Thomas Howard Lord Treasurer. Corrupt. Sale of honours successful, £10,00 for an earldom. James gave much of the proceeds away- cheapened concept. Debt nearly doubled from £500,000 to £900,00 when in control.Dismissed in 1618 and convicted of embezzlement
• Scandals. Gluttony, drunkeness and sex. No sense of firection from 12-14 James didn't want a chief minister.  Did not appoint a new treasurer for two years after Salisbury's death
• Thomas Overbury poisoned- paved the way for Carr to marry

• 1618-1625
• James went to Scotland and racked up a debt of £900,000- embarassing
• Cranfield. Called a halt to borrowing and the indiscriminate sale of crown lands- tried to obtain as much as possible from existing crown lands
• Persuaded tax famrers to agree to £4000 increase in rent
• Cut payments of gifts and pensions-unpopular with court
• James still busy spending 
• Obtained declaration from James in October 1622 that no grants of lands, pensions or allowances would be made without Treasury support
• James kept making exceptions e.g Buckingham needed £30,000 for a new huse
• Cranfield opposed war and James turned against him 
• Cut household expenditure by 50%
• 1623 foreign policy expenditure Bohemian crisis- all Cranfield's savings ruined
• 1623 Charles and Buckingham went to Madrid £47,668
• Overall unsuccessful attempt and dismissed in 1624

• 1618-1625
• James went to Scotland and racked up a debt of £900,000- embarassing
• Cranfield. Called a halt to borrowing and the indiscriminate sale of crown lands- tried to obtain as much as possible from existing crown lands
• Persuaded tax famrers to agree to £4000 increase in rent
• Cut payments of gifts and pensions-unpopular with court
• James still busy spending 
• Obtained declaration from James in October 1622 that no grants of lands, pensions or allowances would be made without Treasury support
• James kept making exceptions e.g Buckingham needed £30,000 for a new huse
• Cranfield opposed war and James turned against him 
• Cut household expenditure by 50%
• 1623 foreign policy expenditure Bohemian crisis- all Cranfield's savings ruined
• 1623 Charles and Buckingham went to Madrid £47,668
• Overall unsuccessful attempt and dismissed in 1624