Chapter 3: finance and attempts at financial reform

• Crown expenditure


  Rising, largely due to inflation (caused by the rising prices between 1502 and 1622)
• Crown's income


  Falling, mainly due to Elizabeth I's failure to reform the Crown's major sources of income
• Main consequences of the Crown's financial weakness


  • Increasingly difficult for the Crown to govern efficiently and conduct an aggressive foreign policy
  • Crown was forced to devise new means to raise money during wartime when forced loans were not approved by Parliament. Political Nation saw this as the Crown trying to destroy Parliament's right to raise taxes —> Crown's financial weakness could become a serious political problem
• Treaty of London: James I made peace with Spain, reducing Crown expenditure significantly as foreign policy + war were the greatest sources of expenditure previously


  1604
• Land of plenty


  How James I viewed England in comparison with his limited income as James VI of Scotland
• 1603-25 (under James I), court spending was double what it had been under Elizabeth
• In 1606, Parliament granted James three subsidies to help with his debts. Instead, he gifted £44,000 of the money to 3 of his Scottish friends
• Led to MPs thinking

  Reform was not needed if James I could afford to be so generous, and they worried he would simply give money away
• The ante-supper: one main example of court extravagance; two huge feasts would be prepared, one to simply be displayed then thrown away whilst the other was eaten
• 1621: one ante-supper cost around £3300
• Patronage

  Affected positively by James' expenditure, good because it maintained goodwill towards him
• In 1610, James I received a loan of £100,000 from the City of London but was still desperate for funds
• 1611-1621: James dissolved Parliament so he was forced to use a variety of methods to collect funds
• He overexploited the sale of honours and peerages devalued the amount for which they could be sold, further alienating the Political Nation
• Cockayne Project (1614): a plan to reorganise the cloth trade and prevent further building in London. It didn't help the Crown's finances as William Cockayne's scheme after being granted the monopoly failed, causing a slump in the English cloth trade as the Dutch refused to purchase finished cloth from England
• Royal debt 1617: was £726,000
• Royal debt 1620: was £900,000
• 1621 Parliament: granted James only 2 subsidies totalling £140,000
• Reluctancy of MPs to grant more

  Caused by the economic depression and wanting their grievances addressed before allowing James any more money (due to his dissolving of the 1611 Parliament causing more fears)
• 1621 monopolies: there were more than 100 monopolies granted by James
• Giles Mompesson: relative of Buckingham, was attacked by MPs for his abuse of his monopoly for the licensing of inns. He fled abroad after investigation opened into him
• Lionel Cranfield and Edward Coke: they used the examination of monopolies to get rid of their mutual rival, Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon, through their revival of impeachment (last used in 1450) where James sacrificed Bacon in order to protect Buckingham as his other relatives had also abused their monopolies
• Cranfield: impeached in 1624 on charges of corruption, causing further financial issues for the Crown, alongside the Subsidy Act and Statue of Monopolies
• Subsidy Act (1624): granted the Crown a subsidy of £300,000 for warfare. However, to gain the money, the Crown had to agree that the money would only be used for specific areas of foreign policy, supervised by parliamentary officials
• Statue of Monopolies (1624): limited the Crown's right to grant monopolies to individuals
• Charles I planned to participate in the Thirty Years War due to the failure of the Spanish Match and his marriage alliance with Henrietta Maria, princess of France, the main opponent of Spain
• Charles I wanted £1 million for his war expenditure
• Commons and 1625 Parliament: only granted Charles 2 subsides totalling £140,000 because he refused to explain his position or ask for a specific subsidy
• Tonnage and Poundage: the Commons only granted Charles this prerogative income for 1 year, rather than for life, which was typical for a new monarch
• Parliament saw this as a way to gain time to discuss reform of customs duties and other matters that concerned them

  Directed more at Buckingham, who was serving as Lord High Admiral, as tonnage and poundage contributed to naval protection, and some MPs wanted to make a point that Buckingham was failing in his responsibility due to his lack of success in foreign policy
• Charles' view: saw it as a direct attack on his prerogative and thought Parliament was too influenced by men he saw as radicals i.e. Edward Coke
• 1629: Charles I was £2 million in debt and had alienated large sections of the Political Nation
• 1608: Crown debt stood at £600,000
• November 1608: James I promised Robert Cecil, Lord Treasurer, that he would stop giving gifts of land. He failed to keep this promise
• 1609: James promised to not grant any gifts or pensions without Cecil's agreement. He failed to keep his promise
• Book of Bounty (1608): Cecil's attempt to strengthen royal finances by ordering a survey of Crown lands, as he was aiming to make more money from these lands by revising the leasing policy
• Cecil's resort: resorted to short term financial fixes, including the sale of Crown lands and deficit borrowing
• Bate's case (1606): refused to pay the imposition on currants because he believed that such impositions were illegal unless they had been approved by Parliament. Resulted in the court declaring that the Crown had an 'absolute' prerogative to issue import duties (impositions). Led to Cecil introducing the Book of Rates
• Book of Rates (July 1608): first major revision of custom duties since the 1550s. Based on current prices, it levied impositions on 1400 items
• Great Contract (1610): Cecil's attempt to negotiate with Parliament a major reform of the Crown's finances