Court finances
The main sources of crown revenue:
- profits from crown estates either farmed, leased, or
sold*;
- feudal dues or privileges*;
- tithes formerly paid by the clergy to Rome;
- customs duties (such as Tunnage and Poundage), and
Ship
Money;
- fines imposed by law courts;
- payments for monopolies and licences*;
- forced loans;
- (as a last resort) parliamentary taxation.
Footnotes
-
Selling lands
Elizabeth often avoided resorting to parliamentary taxation by selling crown lands, but this naturally weakened the resource base of the monarchy inherited by her spendthrift successors.
-
Privileges
- 1) wardship
-
The Court of Wards and Liveries sold the wardships of
underage heirs and collected annual payments from their
guardians for the estates they managed.
- 2) purveyance
- The crown could purchase supplies for the court at a fixed price below their actual value, or collect a payment in lieu of supplies.
-
Licences
For example, the Earl of Essex held a monopoly on the sweet wine business; and acting companies needed to obtain licences in order to perform.