Henry VII aims (financial policy)

?

DID HENRY MEET HIS AIMS? (FINANICAL POLICY)

To strengthen the monarchy and kingdom by improving state financies

The poor finances of the crown had been depleted by wars at home and abroad. At the start of his reign Henry lacked experience and tended to allow the Treasury and the Exchequer to take control. However after a few years Henry began to deal with financial matters more directly from his private rooms in the palace - the Chamber and the Privy Chamber.

He also introduced the role of the Surveyor of the King's Wards, who investigated money owed to the King from wardships. A Court of Audit was also established to monitor goverment spending.

Crown Lands

Henry inherited all the lands held by the Houses of York and Lancaster, the Earldoms of Richmond and Warwick, the Duchy of Lancaster and the Principality of Wales. These were further increased by attainders and escheats (the reversion of land to the King if a tenant died without an heir). Edward IV improved the administration of the Crown lands by introducing techniques of estate management. Sir Reginald Bray developed these further and applied them to other lands. Henry was less inclined to grant lands to friends and family, prefering to hold on to them to maximise both his influence and his income from leases and rent. In 1485 Henry used the Act of Resumption to reclaim all Crown lands that had been granted since the start of the Wars of the Roses but he did not always act on these claims. The potential threat to a noble family could be more useful to control them than actually pressing the demand for return of the land to the King.

Feudal Dues

Traditional rights held be the crown to demand money, deriving from the principle that the King was the sole owner of the entire kingdom's land and that others held it as his tenants.

The main types of payment that the King could demand from the nobility were:

Relief - paid by an heir when he recieves his inheritance

Marriage - the King's right to arrange marriages of the daughters of tenants for a profit

Wardship - control of the estates of heirs under adult age which allowed the King to manage these lands for his own profit

Livery - payment made

Comments

No comments have yet been made