Wolsey in improving Royal Finance

Wolsey’s aims

Responsible for trying to improve royal finance to pay for Henry’s expenditures

Successes - Replaced fifteenths and tenths with a subsidy

Between 1513-1516 raised £170,000, raised a total of £322,099 in subsidies

Failures - Subsidy became unpopular

Parliament reluctant to grant it, 1523 demanded subsidy of £800,000, wasn’t granted, Crown’s commissioners collected less than a ¼ of the sum ~£150,000

Successes - Raised lots of money

£240,000 in clerical taxation and £260,000 in forced loans

Failures - Amicable Grant 1525

Led to an uprising of 10,000 men in Levenham, Henry’s faith in Wolsey starting to shatter

Failures - Wolsey is corrupt

Had the largest income in England, 10x richer than his nearest political rival, took bribes and personally enriched himself

Failures - War

Wolsey’s income was not enough to finance war against France