England in 1558

-ruled from 1558-1603

-Confident and charismatic: won over subjects and parliament

-Resilient: accused of treason and spent time in tower, could cope with pressures

-Well educated: spoke Latin, Greek, French and Italian

-Excellent grasp of politics: able to use powers of patronage effectively

-Protestant: number of protestants growing, position more secure, could claim divine right

-Reinventing the role: Argued that she didn't need to marry and could rule alone

-Propaganda: Portrayed herself as 'Virgin Queen' married to England not a king/prince, reflected in paintings, show her as confident yet feminine monarch 

-Crown was £300,000 in debt, annual income of £286,667

-Over £100,000 of crown debts owed to foreign moneylenders, charged high interest rate at 14%

-Mary Tudor sold off Crown lands to pay for wars with france, less income from rent

-Liz needed money to reward supporters, and remain secure

-since 1540s, Crown had debased coinage, for more money to fight wars against France, resulted in inflation

-Rents and income from their Crown lands

-Taxes from trade: customs duties

-Subsidies: special additional taxes (had to be agreed by parliament)

-Profits of justice: fines, property or lands from people convicted of crimes

-Loans: sometimes forced, compulary and never repaid

What she coul have done:

Raise taxes to boost Crown's income

+Queen could convene parliament and ask for subsidies

-Unpopular with public, increase unrest

Improve quality of moey by increasing gold and silver content in the coinage

-would be traded alongside older less valuable coins, struggle to exchange old coins for new

What she did:

+didn't raise taxes, cut housebold expenses by 1/2, hoarded her icnome, sold crown lands (raising £120,000) Out of debt by 1574

Parlimentary grants : raised locally, landowners acted as Jps and Lord Lieutenants, pocketing some proceeds beforer sent to crown, ordinary people faced heavier financial burdens while the wealthy benefitted