king james - start of reign

What was the great chain of being and was it a strength or weakness

• natural hierarchy people believed in and society fell in which the king was the highest power of humans

• Strength: people owed loyalty and allegiance to the king , people could get rich and raise status

• Weakness: vagrants seen as a threat to the system

How was the population like - strengths

• James inherited wealthy country but between 1500-1650 population doubled to 5 million

• Weakness: agriculture production not kept up to pace causing inflation and unemployment, many underclass people depended on insecure work and were vulnerable

• poor git pooerer and rents rose - £418 1599 to £1440 1640

Who were jps

• kept peace in local area, usually gentry and judge minor crimes

• Often blocked royal policy they disagreed with ( against James ) corrupt despite being agents ti crown

How were common people in society a problem

• often riots held to stand against royal policy attacking buildings rather than people to draw attention such as tithe barn

• Pulled down fences and hedges of livestock

• Executed, fines, whipped

What was the kings role

• had rifle of “royal prerogative” - ruler of all

• Head of Protestant Church of England , foreign policy, trade , punishment

• Controversy arise when king after per ti change the religion if country

What was the court - weaknesses and strengths

• centre if power made up of kings advisors and favourited nobility

• Strengths: trustworthy to king and help deal with problems to make decisions (privy council)

• Weakness: “gentlemen if bedchamber” dominated influence over him as trusted most so easy persuasion

What was patronage

• Young men held patrons who they would buy gifts to kersuade them to speak to privy council to secure a higher job

• Patrons had lots of power such as Duke of Buckingham

Strengths if parliament

• king was seen as more powerful than parliament as he had right to dissolve it

• MOST MPS RESPECTED KING

Problems of parliament / MPS

• used parliamentary privileges such as freedom of speech and disobey kings will to have their say in policy

• Questioned kings policy

• Had power to grant extraordinary revenue only to raise taxes in time of emergency - problem as James in debt and didn’t have power to do this

• National and local gruvences iverlapped particularly due to many MPS were gentry who worked as jps

How was inflation a problem

• increased number of “forty shilling freeholders” and had right to vote p

• Problem as this meant more people could go against king and parliament when making new policies and had to please and listen to more people

• 40% males had right ti vote 1640

What was parliament made if

• House of Commons - gentry , mostly in control of finance so held more power due to financial issues arising this period

• House of Lords - nobility

How was finance a problem under Elizabeth

• left £400,000 in debt which soon arise to £816,000 in three years

• Uncovered by debt that parliament owed by France and Netherlands

Why was the crown facing financial problems

• sold off crown lands which impoverished crowns (worthless) meaning and fewer lands to raise rents from so less income for James

• Customs duties not been raised so goods well below worth

• Crown Kent out land for long leases , so during inflation they were leant out quickly and cheaply ( 50 year lease in Bermondsey agreed at £68 per year but soon to be found out to be worth £1071)

• All a problem as if James raised rents or custom duties he had a risk of losing good allies

How was religion a problem

Problem: little catholic population but still recusants and against James and Protestant religion - recusancy fines given

Puritans wanted reform and stricter measures (presbyterian) , some still in who involved with plots which were viewed as sus and associated with the devil

Many catholics hoped James would be more tolerant

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Benefits if religion

• James was willing to tolerate catholics as elixbath left middle way so partly peaceful religious settlement yet wanted to keep their numbers low

• Recusancy fines were a good form of income source

• James resistant to change anything of English church puritans wanted removal of showing power

Why did James have a financial problem in 1603

• crowns income was divided between “ordinary revenue” and “extraordinary revenue”

• Which was a problem as parliament only had possibility of granting extraordinary revenue or was only collected in wartime

What is ordinary revenue and the issue

The money that the king collected from his own lands or rights he had inherited

These rights included things like collecting money from estate owned by a nobles man who was it old enough to inherit yet

• issue as people expected James to live off his own and only draw from ordinary revenue but was in debt

How did James struggle financially

• Tudor monarchs including Elizabeth sold off crown lands to pay short term debts off meaning James had less income and this impoverished the crown , aswell as crown land rents were worth a lot more than king claimed

• Years if inflation meant money James would’ve had from ordinary revenue wasn’t enough

• James was extravagant - giving gifts ti favourites ti maintain popularity and gain favour in England

Why was James unable to solve his problems (Elizabeth 01)

• inheritance from Elizabeth: had him in debt by £400,000 which soon rose to over £800,000 in three years to come , inherited wars which were expensive , crown lands weren’t enough to live on

• Corruption: in system , good royal officers ciphered what they could

• Extravagance: even when reforms were a success they often failed to keep up with James spending habits

• Parliament opposition: parliament resentment was common and resented James ways of raising rebenue for crowns

What was extraordinary revenue and how was this an issue

• money granted by parliament or only used in wartime

• Issue as parliament kmew had privilege over this in James due to his debt so could use this as power bargaining

• James was extravagant and parliament u able to control this so didn’t trust his spending

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Why did parliament cause James to be unable to solve his finavmcd

• many in parliament (MPs) resented methods James tried to do to raise money for the crown

• Disliked monopolies (one person having control over creation/sale of good)

• Hated custom duties

• Many saw feudal dues king collected as outdated and reluctant ti help a king they did not trust

What was James strategies for reform under financial difficulties

• purveyance

• Ward ship

• Bates case 1606

• James expenditure

What was his strategy if purveyance

It was the right of the crown to buy goods for the royal household at discount well under market price

• this system was open to abuse and corruption as it was seen as unfair and had been widely attacked upon during Elizabeth reign by parliament , James promised to look into cases of corruption

• But was part of royal prerogative and kings reluctant to give up their rights

How did the lords react to purseveyance

• proposed the whole system to end un exchange for the crown ti be given &50k per year in compensation

• Commons believed should be dropped to 20k and some mps believed no exchange should be given as was corrupt

• 1604 ni agreement made

What was wardship

• if a landowner died before his kids reached 21, they became wards if the crown, meaning that the crown ran their estate and whoever became the guardian made profit if the wards estate until they reached 21

What was social reaction to ward system

• believed to be disliked and outdated as it out money in officers if court if wards and royal purse

• Was worth around £60k a year to the crown (so James benefitted)

• The commons proposed to buy out the right to wardship and abolish it however king saw as an attack on royal prerogative and sent sharp reply yo commons

What was the bates case and how did it relate to James

John bates, 1606 merchant refused to pay import duties which soon went to court which he lost

• resulted in the king had right to impose new custom duties used to issue new book of rates 1608

• This imposed new duties in goods and increased the rate of payment

• Bought £70,000 to crown and new 1400 items held tax

Attitudes towards import duties tax

Deeply resented by parliament as they viewed it as as “back door” tac they had no control over

James expenditure problem: what did he overestimate and what did he do

• he overestimated the wealth of the new kingdom and was consistently overgenerous to his favourites to the extent of being g financially irresponsible led to finically instability and parliament criticism

• He distributed gifts, patronage

• Mps complained he favoured scots

What did James do in 1606 to Scottish friends

• after parliament grated 3 subsides to settle his debts he gave 44k to three Scottish lords

• 1611 gave £90k with £67k going to Scottish men

• Clearly an issue as he had spent more than Elizabeth (she spent less than 300k in a year whilst he spent 400k and reached to a peak of £522k in 1614

How did parliament respond to his extravagance

Issues book of bounty 1608: prohibited the crown giving away major items such as land, customs but James gave away cash instead

James military expenses: how was this an issue

• 1603-1708 600k spent on the army

How was England still connected to the Netherlands and what did this mean for finance

Expenses to be spent to maintain garrison in the Netherlands as Liz had assisted to help Netherlands gain freedom from Spain particularly as it was England’s biggest trading partner

• these requests were ignored by parliament

Examples of corruption under finance

• 1609: earl of Salisbury gained £1400 from a wardship that earned the crown at £370 and instead of £434 profit he gained 7000

• Corruption effected parliament taxation such as lionel cranfield who became lord treasurer had his total wealth at £90k yet said to only taxes £150

• Buckingham who said to be richest man only taxed at £450 which oberlal resulted in less income to the crown due to landowners refusing to take tax responsibility

What was the grand contract

• 1610

• Idea by Robert Cecil , annual pay of £200,000 and one off pay of £600,000 clear of crowns debt James woukd abandon feudal rights including ward ships and purvayance

• After months of negotiations commons decided only £100,000 subsidy for crowns debt in return for James legalising impositions already granted ( bates case) but would prevent him issuing new ones without parliament consent

• Meant that kimg would not lose out as kept impositions

Why did the great contract begin to have doubts from parliament

• wasn’t sure James would accept their grant and continue to collect feudal revenues ( ward ships )

• Disliked idea of extravagant spending as be,I eve corrupt and he wouldn’t give it up for Scottish favourites and believed this would fund it

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Why did the crown doubt great contract

• calculated kimg would lose £115,000 a year from ending feudal duties leaving him with £85,000 yet to increase due to inflation

• Ending impositions would end kings most profitable income sources and leave him reliant on parliamentary funds

• Ending ward ships would mean James lose important source of patronage and James may lose means of gaining support from his followers