50. Crown Income

Question 1

What were the main forms of ordinary income?

Answer 1

Customs duties, profits from feudal dues, and rents from crown land

Question 2

Where else had Elizabeth started putting money into?

Answer 2

Trading ventures

Question 3

What was bad about trading ventures?

Answer 3

Profits were extremely variable

Question 4

What was the main form of extraordinary income?

Answer 4

Parliamentary taxation

Question 5

What did elizabeth benefit from the revision of?

Answer 5

The book of rates

Question 6

What was the book of rates?

Answer 6

Governed the collection of customs duties that had taken place during Mary’s reign

Question 7

When did the new rates come into force?

Answer 7

May 1558

Question 8

What happened to imports?

Answer 8

More imports were now subject to tax and the tax substantially increased often by 100%

Question 9

How did customs revenue change from 1556-7 to 1558-9?

Answer 9

£29,000 in 1556-7 to £82,000 in 1558-9

Question 10

What happened to the increase in customs revenue?

Answer 10

It wasn’t maintained

Question 11

How much did customs bring in in the 1590s?

Answer 11

£91,000 which didn’t keep place with inflation

Question 12

How else did elizabeth increase customs?

Answer 12

Supported overseas trade

Question 13

What did elizabeth encourage?

Answer 13

The finishing of cloth so a greater share of profits would stay in the country

Question 14

What did most clothiers prefer to export?

Answer 14

Unfinished cloth

Question 15

What was an unintended consequence of the new book of rates?

Answer 15

The higher duties led to an increase in smuggling

Question 16

Why was Elizabeth’s new regulations against smuggling useless?

Answer 16

There wasn’t enough customs officers, and a good deal of corruption among those who did exist

Question 17

What happened to revenue from crown owned over her reign?

Answer 17

£86,000 to £110,000

Question 18

How were nobles adopting more agressive land management systems?

Answer 18

Used short term leases to increase rents

Question 19

What leases were crown land on?

Answer 19

Long leases

Question 20

How much money did Elizabeth raise by selling crown lands?

Answer 20

Over £600,000

Question 21

When did profits from feudal dues decrease until?

Answer 21

1599

Question 22

When did profits from feudal increase?

Answer 22

When Robert Cecil took over the court of wards

Question 23

How did the Queen derive income from the church?

Answer 23

First Fruits and Tenths

Question 24

What was First Fruits and Tenths?

Answer 24

A tax which had once gone to the pope but now goes to the crown

Question 25

What did elizabeth keep vacant to gain income?

Answer 25

Bishoprics

Question 26

What happened to recusancy fines as the reign progressed?

Answer 26

Increased

Question 27

What was bad about recusancy fines?

Answer 27

Collection could be sporadic, especially in counties where the Naps were sympathetic to Catholicism

Question 28

What forms were taxation granted in?

Answer 28

Fifteenths and tenths, and subsidies

Question 29

How much did taxation usually bring in?

Answer 29

£140,000

Question 30

What happened to assessments of how much tax people should pay?

Answer 30

Wealthy landowners were seriously under assessed

Question 31

Who was an example of someone who’s income was under assessed?

Answer 31

Burghley

Question 32

Why didn’t elizabeth rectify the problem of under assessed tax?

Answer 32

She didn’t want to alienate the gentry, and didn’t want to pay for a professional tax collecting service

Question 33

How did elizabeth reduce costs?

Answer 33

-cutting back court salaries -limited more extravagant menus -surplus royal palaces were sold -gifts of crown land and money were restricted to favorites -used unpaid officials -remodelled old ships -avoided war

Question 34

Who did Elizabeth rely on to administer her finances?

Answer 34

William Paulet

Question 35

What financial reforms did William paulet implement?

Answer 35

Revaluing crown lands and raising customs duties

Question 36

Who replaced paulet as Lord treasurer?

Answer 36

Cecil in 1572

Question 37

What other financier did elizabeth rely on?

Answer 37

Sir Thomas Gresham

Question 38

Who was Elizabeth’s most effective chancellor of the exchequer?

Answer 38

Sir Walter mildmay

Question 39

What did the finance committee of the privy council do?

Answer 39

Drew up a budget, looked at where cuts could be made, collected debts to the crown, and considered the sale of crown lands

Question 40

How many people did the exchequer employ?

Answer 40

80

Question 41

What improvement to financial administration did Mary make that benefited Elizabeth?

Answer 41

Three quarters of royal revenue was now collected in one place, the exchequer of receipt, so the crown had a better idea about royal finances

Question 42

What inefficient practice was paulet determined to end?

Answer 42

Storage of money in the homes of officials

Question 43

What did paulet do to end the storage of money in homes of officials?

Answer 43

Insisted on his own officials taking charge so he had a better control of cash flow

Question 44

What was bad about Paulet’s money storage policy?

Answer 44

The system deteriorated as his health wavered and the practice was never fully controlled

Question 45

Why were officials susceptible to bribes and corruption?

Answer 45

There were few pay rises and inflation eroded their salaries

Question 46

When was the Marian debt wiped out?

Answer 46

1584

Question 47

How much was the Marian debt?

Answer 47

£227,000

Question 48

How much surplus did elizabeth have in 1584?

Answer 48

£300,000