How far do you agree that James I's extravagance was the most important cause of his financial problems?
Introduction/Context
Inherited Problems
Extravagance
Treasurers
When James came to the throne in 1603, he had been king of Scotland since 1567. England had much more wealth to offer than Scotland and James liked this, he had now joined two kingdoms and had their wealth.
It is the view of this essay that the most important problem that caused James' Financial problems was his extravagance.
The previous ruler Elizabeth I dealt very well with her spending, however, Elizabeth had a lot of crown lands (land owned by the monarch which they could sell to receive revenue) their main source of ordinary revenue. Elizabeth had sold most of her crown lands meaning James had less decreasing his amount of income.
James was also dealing with Inflation this meant James was not able to buy anywhere near as much as Elizabeth could of during her reign. James could only buy 1/5 of what Elizabeth could buy due to inflation which was up by 300%
When James came to the throne in 1603 he had inherited a geat amount of wealth but he had also inherited some issues that could cause him some financial problems if he was not careful with his spending and income.
England was also generally under taxed at the time. Some people were underpaying tax and some not paying at all. James could have easily fixed this problem by looking at who needs to pay what
You could say that James was at a disadvantage with having less land, Inflation, and a decline in subsidies, however, as a new monarch the amount of crown lands is going to decrease rapidly as monarchs pass through it. So James should have looked at his financial state and noticed that he needed to be frugal with his spending.
Subsidy had declined drastically in 1621 from £137,000 to £72,500
The UK was generally under taxed e.g. the Duke of Buckingham was under taxed bacuse he was an friend of James
Thomas Howard 1614-1618 ~ tried to increase the kings income by; The Cockaye Project ~ A Scheme to make profit from cloth exports / James forced to end scheme as Cockaye's aim was to seize the trade of merchant adventurers.
Lionel Cranfeild 1618-1624 ~ tried to manage James' revenue through; negotiating coustoms, cutting government expenditure & cutting military costs. Saved about 100,000 a year due to cuts in pensions and military.
Robert Cecil 1608-1612 ~ tried to increase revenue by; surveying crown lands ~ managed royal woods effectively this increased income, 1608 revised book of rates, 1610 The Great Contract ~ That parliament should pay off royal debt \ it failed & inflation continued to erode the value of income = no fund for emergencies, Sale of Titiles ~ titles were no longer given out they were sold to the highest bidder.
Thomas Sackville 1604-1608 ~ tried to increase the kings revenue through; The Great Farm of Customs 1604 ~ Sold to merchants for 7 year lease & farmers paid 120,000. By 1614 1/2 of James Revenue = customs duties, The new Book of Rates ~ higher charges and adjustments because of pattern of trade.
During James' reign, he had four financial advisors. One of these financial advisors was Thomas Howard. Howard was James' financial advisor from 1614-1618. During the time that Howard was James' financial advisor, James' debt doubled and the Cockayne Project failed massively. The Cockayne Project was a scheme to make a profit from cloth exports. However, James had to put a stop to the scheme as Cockayne's aim was to seize trade from merchant adventurers. Howard had also spent 80,000 on an Orderly house (his own property) Howard caused James more problems and financial debt than he had started with and was later impeached. Another one of James' advisors was Robert Cecil. Robert Cecil was the financial advisor of James from 1608-1612. He had created the Great Contract for James in 1610. The Great Contract was a chance for James to receive a clean slate and wipe out his financial debt. The contract believed that Parliament should pay off the royal debt and that James would get £200,000. The Contract failed because of James' belief in the Divine Right of Kings. Robert Cecil was also the advisor that made the book of bounty in 1608 but this also failed to keep James' spending under control. If James had agreed to the Great Contract in 1610 his financial problems would have been wiped out and he would have been able to start fresh. it also shows that James thought that 200,000 was not enough to support him and his extravagant lifestyle.
During his reign James' extravagance became a big issue; he spent extreme amounts of money on materialistic things. For example, James spent 185,000 on jewels and his wardrobe expenses quadrupled. Compared to Elizabeth, James spent 500,000 per annum while Elizabeth spends 300,000 per annum. On entertainment, Elizabeth spent 30,000 while James spent 80,000 per annum, James would hold extravagant/lavish masquerade balls and tournaments. This shows James' extravagance compared to Elizabeths spending, where Elizabeth was frugal James was extravagant and generous. James took his spending a step further when he gave rewards to his 'favorites' with; money, land, or other expensive, extravagant gifts. There were also no expenses spared when it came to family. James' daughter Elizabeth's wedding costing 116,000. This not only annoyed parliament massively but massively impacted his finances. James clearly liked very extravagant nice things and liked to treat his 'favorites' well. However, this caused him to use up an enormous amount of his subsidies. This backs up the view of the question that James' extravagance was the most important cause of his financial problems.
Conclusion
In Conclusion, I agree with the question that extravagance was the most important cause of James' financial problems. As he only needed his financial advisors because he could not control his spending. Even when he was offered a clean slate in 1610 with the Great Contract from Robert Cecil and between Parliament he still did not accept. Even though James had inherited problems from the start, it meant that he needed to be careful of his spending straight away but he did not do this.