Zusammenfassung der Ressource
3 Henry VI: Debt
- The longer the war went on - the
greater the burden of taxes at home
- The noble + gentry taxpayers were reluctant to fund failure
- The loss of Normandy in 1450, and Gascony
1451 affected the incomes of a large number of
noble families
- It has been calculated that by 1450 - the Crown owed in the region of £370,000
- Richard, Duke of York was owed around £38,000
- The reg income enjoyed by the
Crown had fallen to £45,000 (a drop
of roughly £120,000) which was due
to a number of reasons:
- An increase in spending
on the war
- A reduction in income from
customs + taxes from a
general trade depression
- A reduction in income from Crown
lands due to inflation + rising arrears in
payments of rent
- An increase in loans + interest payments
from Italian bankers + merchants
- Henry was unable to offer the kind of
cash incentives that his nobility might
have accepted in lieu of land in
France
- This did not deter him from spending
money he did not have, or granting away
Crown lands in England that he could
ill-afford to lose
- This led to a collapse in royal
finances - meaning the crown
had an increased dependence
on the nobility
- By 1455 - the Lancastrian
dynasty was virtually
bankrupt