Crown Revenue and the Political Culture of Early Stuart England
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Deposit Guide Contact: email 1 Crown Revenue and the Political Culture of Early Stuart England Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of London by Simon Mark Healy of Birkbeck College, University of London 2015 2 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright of this thesis rests with the author, and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. 3 ABSTRACT Economic historians conventionally date the origins of the English fiscal state to the foundation of the Bank of England in 1694. By European standards this was a belated innovation; the Spanish, Dutch and French had developed effective methods of debt service around a century earlier, based upon high tax revenues and borrowing. This study will explore the reasons why the English lagged behind their rivals in developing a fiscal state. England was not a poor country, and the reasons for its low tax base and poor creditworthiness were largely political. However, political historians, accustomed to analysing texts, rarely appreciate the significance of figures. This study will use financial data to contextualise debates about Crown finances, showing that a significant proportion of the political nation was dissatisfied with important areas of domestic and foreign policy. However, a political culture which sought to establish a consensus encouraged them to subvert, rather than confront the regime; keeping the Crown underfunded was an effective way of achieving this goal. The 'power of the purse' is usually interpreted as Parliament's propensity to vote inadequate sums of direct taxation; but it included the ability to block attempts at financial reform, often portrayed as arbitrary government. When King Charles implemented significant reforms despite widespread criticism, he raised sufficient revenue to govern without recourse to Parliament. However, this undermined the consensus on which his regime relied, and became a key factor in its abrupt collapse in 1640. 4 CONTENTS Style and footnote conventions 6 Abbreviations 8 Sources for parliamentary debates 10 Graphs and tables 13 Conventions for graphs and tables 15 Acknowledgements 16 Introduction 17 The Financial Revolution in early modern Europe 22 Politics and Crown Finances in Early Modern England 24 The historiography of early Stuart England 30 Sources and Methodology 34 Chapter 1: The Quest for Capital 39 The Crown and the London Capital Market, 1575-1628 40 Sale of honours, 1603-29 54 Conclusion 74 Chapter 2: Crown Estates 76 Annual Rentals 79 Casual Revenues 86 Defective Titles 94 Land Sales 102 Conclusion 108 Chapter 3: Fiscal Feudalism 111 The Political Economy of Purveyance 113 The Political Economy of Wardship 121 The Great Contract, 1610 127 5 Reforms and Restructuring, 1611-40 141 Conclusion 153 Chapter 4: Direct Taxation 155 The social impact of direct taxation 156 Assessed Taxation 161 Quota Taxation 170 Extra-parliamentary Taxation 176 Conclusion 199 Chapter 5: Customs Revenues 201 The Reform of Customs, 1558-1606 203 The Impositions Controversy, 1608-24 213 Tunnage and Poundage Disputes, 1625-8 228 Confrontation and Compromise, 1628-40 241 Conclusion 256 Conclusions: Revenue and the Political Culture of Early Modern England 258 The Fiscal Conservatism of Elizabethan England 260 Reform and Vested Interests in Jacobean England 263 The Potential for Absolutism in Caroline England 266 Bibliography 275 Original Manuscripts and Archives 275 Contemporary Publications 281 Published Sources and Calendars 283 Secondary Books and Articles 287 Unpublished Theses 302 Websites 302 6 Style conventions: Dates are given in the Old Style (Julian) calendar, with the year beginning (according to modern usage) on 1 January rather than 25 March. Spelling and punctuation in quotations has been modernised and anglicised; translations are my own. Capitalisation: the royal Court is capitalised, to distinguish it from the lawcourts (although individual lawcourts, such as Chancery or Parliament, are capitalised). Some historical events are also capitalised, including the Reformation, the Armada, the Union (of England and Scotland), the Forced Loan of 1626-8, the 1628 Petition of Right and Ship Money of 1634-40. The Civil War(s) refers to the conflicts of 1642- 51. In a parliamentary context, ‘the House’ can signify either Lords or Commons. It can also be used as a shorthand for debates or reports ‘on the floor of the House’, as opposed to debates held in select committee, or in a committee of the Whole House. Individuals are generally referred to by the titles they used at the time, although the inflation of honours after 1603 creates confusion. To minimise this, Francis Bacon will be referred to as Bacon, Robert Cecil as Cecil or Salisbury, Lionel Cranfield as Cranfield, James Hay as Doncaster, Thomas Sackville as Buckhurst or Dorset, Richard Weston as Weston, and George Villiers as Buckingham, the favourite, or (from 1623) the Duke. 7 Footnote conventions: Printed works are cited in full at their first mention in the footnotes of each chapter, then abbreviated as follows: Volume title published source material Author, Volume title contemporary or modern book Author, 'Essay title' in Volume title article in a volume of essays Author, ‘Essay title’, Journal published journal essay Author thesis unpublished thesis Websites are cited as follows: [title] website, with full details of the address in the bibliography. 8 Abbreviations (full citations in bibliography) AHEW Agrarian History of England and Wales APC Acts of the Privy Council (+ dates) ed. J.A. Dasent et alii Bacon Letters Life and Letters of Francis Bacon ed. J. Spedding Bacon Papers Papers of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey ed. A. Hassell Smith et alii [BI]HR [Bulletin of the Institute of] Historical Research BL British Library Boderie Ambassades de Monsieur de la Boderie en Angleterre (5 volumes, no place, 1750) Bodleian Bodleian Library C&T James Court and Times of James I [ed. T. Birch] C&T Charles Court and Times of Charles I [ed. T. Birch] Chamberlain Letters Chamberlain Letters ed. N.E. McClure CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls (+ dates) ed. H.C. Maxwell Lyte et alii Crown Estates The Estates of the English Crown, 1558-1640 ed. R.W. Hoyle CSPD Calendar of State Papers, Domestic (+ dates) ed. R. Lemon et alii CSP Colonial EI Calendar of State Papers Colonial, East Indies (+ dates) ed. W.N. Sainsbury CSPV Calendar of State Papers, Venetian (+ dates) ed. R. Brown et alii CUL Cambridge University Library GL Guildhall Library HEHL Henry E. Huntington Library 9 HMC Historical Manuscripts Commission Holles Letters Letters of John Holles, 1587-1637 ed. P.R. Seddon HoP1604 House of Commons 1604-29 ed. A.D. Thrush and J.P. Ferris Kent HLC Kent History and Library Centre KHHC Kingston-upon-Hull History Centre Kyle thesis C.R. Kyle, ‘Lex Loquens: Legislation in the Parliament of 1624’ (Auckland PhD, 1993) LMA London Metropolitan Archives NLW National Library of Wales OHLE Oxford History of the Laws of England Outhwaite thesis R.B. Outhwaite, ‘Studies in Elizabethan government finance: royal borrowing and the sales of Crown lands, 1572-1603’ (Nottingham PhD, 1964) Proclamations Stuart Royal Proclamations ed. J.F. Larkin and I & II P.L. Hughes RO Record Office rot. rotulet Russell, PEP C. Russell, Parliaments and English Politics Russell, FBM C. Russell, The Fall of the British Monarchies sig. signature (for unpaginated books) SR Statutes of the Realm ed. T.E. Tomlins et alii TNA The National Archives TRP Tudor Royal Proclamations ed. P.L. Hughes and J.F. Larkin UL University Library Winwood Memorials of Affairs of State… from the original Memorials papers... of Sir Ralph Winwood ed. E. Sawyer 10 Sources for parliamentary debates CJ Commons’ Journal (many volumes, London, 1803 onwards) LJ Lords’ Journal (many volumes, London, 1846) D’Ewes Sir Simonds D’Ewes, Journal of all the Parliaments during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth (London, 1682) PPEliz Proceedings in the Parliaments of Elizabeth I ed. T.E. Hartley (3 volumes, London, 1981-1995) CD1604-7 ‘Commons Debates 1604-7’ ed. S.M. Healy in Parliaments, Politics and Elections, 1604-48 (Camden Society 5th series XIX) ed. C.R. Kyle (Cambridge, 2001) Bowyer Parliamentary Diary of Robert Bowyer, ed. D.H. Willson Diary (New York, NY, 1971) PD1610 Parliamentary Debates 1610, (Camden Society, original series LXXXI) ed. S.R. Gardiner (London, 1862) PP1610 Proceedings in Parliament 1610, ed. E.R. Foster (2 volumes, New Haven, CT, 1966) Paulet diary Hampshire RO, 44M69/F2/15/1, Sir Richard Paulet diary, 1610. T/S by Eric Lindquist, consulted at History of Parliament Trust (speeches cited by date) HMC Hastings Earl of Huntingdon’s journal of Lords’ proceedings, 1610 & 1614 PP1614 Proceedings in Parliament 1614 (House of Commons) ed. M. Jansson (Philadelphia, PA, 1988) CD1621 Common’ Debates 1621 ed. W. Notestein, R.H. Relf and H. Simpson (7 volumes, New Haven, CT, 1935) PD1621 [Edward Nicholas], Proceedings and Debates of the House of Commons in 1620 and 1621 (2 volumes, Oxford, 1766) LD1621-8 Lords’ Debates 1621, 1625 and 1628 (Camden Society 3rd 11 series, XLII) ed. R.H. Relf (London, 1929) Commons’ diaries for 1624 (speeches cited by date) NB manuscripts for all the Commons’ diaries for 1624 are now accessible on the History of Parliament Trust website. Erle diary BL, Add. 18597 Holland diary Bodleian, Tanner 392 and Rawlinson D1100 Holles diary BL, Harl.