Success of Henry VII in strengthening the financial position of the Crown Essay Example for Free

Success of Henry VII in strengthening the financial position of the Crown Essay Crown lands were the kings estates. There were many ways in which Henry increased the yield of his crown lands. * Henry gained a lot of land from the Battle of Bosworth by naming himself king before the day of the battle therefore making all his opponents traitors and had the right to attain them all. * He gained a lot of land partly by good fortune from York and Lancaster. * Henry was not as generous as pass kings e.g. Edward IV, and kept most of his lands to himself but with the exception with some people like his mother, his uncle Jasper. * Used escheats, which were a right for the king to have lands passed to him when men died without heirs. * Skilful workers that helped Henry increase yield of lands e.g. Duchy of Lancaster and Sir Reginald Bray. Effectiveness of policy. Income from crown lands was increased by 30 % generally during his reign and with the help of Sir Reginald Bray the annual income of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½650 increased 10 fold. Custom duties. Theses were levied on wool, leather, cloth and wine. It was a fee, which was needed to be paid for trading. Edward IV increased his income by increasing trade and cutting down on embezzlement at all levels. Henry did the same and followed what Edward IV did. Effectiveness of policy. The average annual receipts were à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½33,000 for the first 10 years of the reign and à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½40,000 thereafter, so there was not a great deal of raised income. Feudal dues. Feudal dues were paid be people who held land from the king in return for military service. Feudal dues included: * Wardship, in which the king took control in the estates of minors until they came an age. * Livery, the payment to recover lands out of wardship. * Marriage, right of crown to arrange marriages for unmarried heirs/heiresses. * Relief, payment made so that the crown recognised inheritance of land rather then reclaiming it to the throne. Effectiveness of policy. Initially the proceeds from wardship and marriage were small, amounting to only à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½350 in 1487, but after 1503 a special officer was appointed to supervise them and by 1507 the annual income was à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½6,000 a massive increase. Revenue through the operation of the judicial system. As monarch, Henry was head of the judicial system and was therefore entitled to its profits. Henry made the most of this by doing a number of things. * Fines: Henry was eager to exact fines rather then imprisonment or execution to increase his incomes. * Attainders: Method of punishment whereby the profits from the attained persons lands go to the crown. Effectiveness of policy. There were a lot of attainders e.g. Sir William Stanley had to payà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½9,000 and thenà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1,000 p.a. for his treason in 1495. The highest passed was 51, total of 140, a third reversed. Parliamentary grants. Extraordinary revenue was money which came to the crow on particular occasions and therefore with no regularity. It arose from the obligation of the kings subjects to help him when the national interest was threatened. It was received, by the king requesting for the parliamentary consent. The usual type of tax levied was a national assessment. Effectiveness of policy. Parliamentary grants were less successful as they restricted Henrys freedom of action in return for money. By 1485 the taxes raised had ossified into a fixed sum of about à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½29,000. Loans and benevolences. The king could rely on loans from his richer subjects in times of emergency by request, and was almost virtually impossible to decline. Effectiveness of policy. It was effective in the way it was quite successful as Henry had only asked modest amounts of money from his subjects and had always repaid back, probably to lessen the risk of rebellion of some sort. Feudal obligations. As feudal overlord Henry could demand money from his subjects for special occasions e.g. the knighting of his eldest son, marriage of his eldest daughter. Effectiveness of policy. Anyone who earned more then à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½40 p.a. had to become a knight, along with the financial burdens that it entailed in military service. So this would have made a lot of money to add to the kings income from the financial burdens. Clerical dues and other income from the church. Convocation usually offered money when the king was requesting it from the parliament grant e.g. in 1489 when à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½25,000 was raised for the French war. Effectiveness of policy. Due to a rash of deaths amongst the bishops in the last years of the reign, Henry received over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½6,000 per annum in this way.