Finance

• How did the finacial system change?

  • Up until 1492 Henry used an outdated and inefficient Exchequer system yet after he transitioned to the chamber system of finance. F
  • This allowed Henry to see a direct oversight of royal accounts
  • This reform increased efficiency. The chamber dealt with the income from crown lands, feudal dues and also facilitated extraordinary revenue
• Crown lands

  • Ordinary Revenue was the regular income for the crown 👑
  • Crown lands increased due to the new system - £29,000 at the begging on his reign to £42,000 in the 1500s
  • Sir Thomas Lovell and Sir John Heron were Henry’s new effective treasurers f
  • Half of Henry income came from royal estates and he became the largest landowner for 500 years
• Custom duties

  • Henry’s custom duties provided 1/3 of the crowns ordinary revenue.
  • This rose from £33,000 to £40,000
• Legal system

  • He punished using profits of justice for criminals - these were punished by fines rather then imprisonment
  • Particularly seen among the nobility
• Feudal Dues

  • His annual profit from feudal dues e.g. from marriage or warship in 1487 was £350. This rose to £6000 in 1507
• French Pension

  • Extraordinary revenue was Money that came to the crown on paticular occasions with no regularity
  • The treaty of etaples in 1492 said that the king of France had to pay £5000 annually and to pay a total of £159,000
• The Church

  • Made some unfrequent contributions, mostly to help finance war against enemies of the pope
• Parlimentary Grants

  • Raised by means of taxes on movable property called ‘fifthteenths’ and ‘tenths’
  • These were used to raise money for the battle of stoke
  • However these were very unpopular
• Cheeky nuance for finance?

  • Henry’s reform were effective in stabilising his position and improving finance but some policies came at the expense of social unrest
  • Taxation and harsh fines for nobility