AQA AS Level History Unit 1B - Tudors (1483-1529):14th May 2013

There is little doubt that Henry VII was extremely successful in increasing the wealth of the crown over the course of his reign, something which cannot be demonstrated more clearly than with the fact that £10,000 of crown debt at the outset of his reign had become a surplus of £225,000 by the end. This was due to the prudence and even avariciousness of Henry VII as a king. There is some question however over whether he was entirely responsible for this success, and of course the revenues of the crown remained poor compared to the continental monarchies.

War, especially expeditionary war, was traditionally the shortest and most effective path to regal bankruptcy in English history. Henry VII not only refrained from large-scale war for most of his reign, he actually managed to turn this on its head, drawing a profit from the siege of Boulogne when he secured concessions from King Charles III of France who not only compensated Henry for the costs of the invasion but continued to pay £5000 annually in what is known as 'the French pension.'

Aside from limiting expenditure, and securing the French pension, Henry VII was also able to increase royal revenues. One area in which this occurred was in customs duties, with historians estimating that the crown's income from these rose from £33000 to £40000 during Henry's reign. Henry also sought out other means to increase crown revenue, for example by reviving defunct feudal prerogatives of the crown and by securing ransoms for the good behavior of his nobles, many of which were forfeit. The records testify to the intense personal commitment of the king to the managing of his finances, which he personally checked every day.

There are however a number of things that shed some doubt not on whether Henry was successful in this regard, but whether on the one hand he was primarily responsible for this success and on the other whether it was really as extraordinary as usually thought. As an example of the former, customs revenues benefited not only from Henry's policies but from the recovery in trade after the end of the late medieval depression. Likewise, Henry's failure to involve England in major continental wars may be counted partially as luck, for he committed England to assist Spain in any conflict with France, which luckily for Henry's purse did not materialise.

As to the latter, there were some holes in this success. For example smuggling, which dug into the revenue from customs and tariffs, remained rife through Henry's reign, and he was unable to deal with it. In addition, some money was saved by reducing the physical possessions of the crown. Though Edward IV had 16 ships during his reign, by the end of Henry's he had allowed this to fall to 5. Thus, while the crown's coffers were filled, in this area at least it was done at the expense of the crown's wealth in possessions.

Despite these reservations, is is clear that, from a financial perspective, Henry's reign was a rare success. His successors, especially his son, were quick to return the crown to perpetual debt and bankruptcy, something which was to be the driving force behind a significant number of the troubles that these monarchs were to face. Henry VII's careful financial management, and maybe a little luck, avoided that.