finances

• What were the key regimes during the Interregnum?

  Commonwealth, Protectorate, Restoration crisis
• What were the key acts and financial measures during the Interregnum?

  • Abolition of monarchy and Lords (1649)
  • Sale of Crown and Church lands (1649–52)
  • Assessment Tax (1649 onwards)
  • Decimation Tax (1655)
  • Humble Petition and Advice (1657)
• What was the financial impact of the abolition of monarchy and Lords in 1649?

  Short-term saving but lost Crown lands
• How much money was raised from the sale of Crown and Church lands?

  ~£1.5–2 million
• What was the purpose of the Assessment Tax introduced in 1649?

  To fund the army based on property value
• How much did the Assessment Tax raise by the 1650s?

  £900,000/year
• What was the Decimation Tax and when was it introduced?

  10% tax on former royalists, introduced in 1655
• Why was the Decimation Tax abandoned in 1657?

  It was hugely unpopular among the public
• What was the Humble Petition and Advice of 1657?

  It offered Cromwell a Crown and new finance reforms
• What was the financial impact of the Irish Campaign from 1649 to 1653?

  Cost ~£2 million but justified by land seizures
• How much did the Scottish Campaign cost from 1650 to 1651?

  ~£1 million
• What was the financial outcome of the First Anglo-Dutch War?

  Cost ~£4 million, funded by taxes and loans
• How much did the Spanish War (Western Design) cost from 1655 to 1660?

  ~£2.5 million
• What were the main sources of income during the Interregnum?

  • Assessment Tax: reliable income for army
  • Sale of confiscated lands: raised ~£2 million
  • Excise Duties: taxes on goods
  • Forced loans/confiscations: unstable and resented
• What was the effectiveness of the Assessment Tax?

  Covered ~half of state costs reliably
• What were Excise Duties during the Interregnum?

  Taxes on goods like beer and salt
• What problem did the large standing army cause financially?

  Consumed over half the budget annually
• What was the estimated debt at the end of the Interregnum?

  ~£2 million by 1660
• What were the problems caused by finances during the Interregnum?

  • Reliance on taxation and land sales
  • Alienation of royalists and Presbyterians
  • Instability under Richard Cromwell
  • High debt worsened Restoration finances
• What were the financial reforms during the Interregnum and their outcomes?

  • Assessment Tax: successful but unpopular
  • Decimation Tax: failed and abandoned
  • Triers and Ejectors: financially neutral
  • Humble Petition and Advice: failed to stabilize finances
  • Western Design: mostly a failure, except Jamaica
• What was the overall financial situation during the Interregnum?

  • Militarily effective but financially fragile
  • High army costs and reliance on taxes
  • Major wars strained finances
  • No sustainable financial model emerged