Finance caused significant problems for Elizabeth II

Although Elizabeth did have some issues with finance, I do not believe that any of the problems caused were that significant. She was able to completely clear her inherited deficit by 1574, and by 1600 she was only £48,000 in debt. She ended the Tudor tradition of only asking for parliamentary taxation for cases of emergency. Although the ministers were not always very pleased to have to give her such subsidies, they never refused her, as the money was vital for national defence. Without doubt, her largest expenses were war. She spent huge amounts on her foreign affairs and if anything did, this is what caused her problems.

In 1600, Elizabeth’s finances did not add up. The huge cost of her operations in Ireland meant that she was roughly £48,000 in debt. This demonstrates that regardless of other arguments pertaining to this subject, Elizabeth’s finances must have caused some issues or tensions for her. It would be impossible for anyone to run up a large debt and still keep spending as if they were entirely solvent. Elizabeth must have had to let her finances influence her decisions, which would have certainly caused at least some problems for her.

While Elizabeth did run up debt towards the end of her reign, the fact is that £48,000 isn’t really that much. When she inherited the throne, she also inherited a £277,000 debt. She worked hard to raise finances and was able to clear the deficit by 1574, nearly doubling her income in the process. This shows the Elizabeth clearly knew her way around her finances to be able to increase her income by such a significant amount. The fact that debts began to creep up again towards the end of her reign is only to be expected, considering how much she was spending at the time.

Although she was able to double her regular income, her spending was so great that she frequently had to ask for parliamentary taxation. Traditionally, parliamentary taxations were given only when the monarch needed money to help finance a campaign in Europe or other large, one-off expense. Elizabeth, however, ended this tradition. Her spending was so great that she very frequently had to ask for subsidies under the pretext of national defence. This shows that it was a struggle for her to avoid larger debts, and subsidies from the parliament were some of the only things keeping her from running up huge debts. This would have certainly caused tensions between her and her ministers, who would frequently complain that she was taxing the country too hard.

Although the complaints of her ministers would certainly have been annoying, I do not believe that they would have caused any significant problems. Despite their complaints, the ministers never refused Elizabeth a subsidy. So, in my opinion, this is evidence of Elizabeth avoiding problems, rather than them being caused by the taxations. Ultimately, there were no significant issues caused by Elizabeth asking for these subsidies, and they were an effective way to prevent other problems from arising.

By far, her largest expenses were for war. Elizabeth spent huge amounts of money on an assortment of expensive foreign affairs policies. In 1600, Elizabeth’s expenditure for war and foreign affairs (Treasurer of the Navy, Master of the Armoury, Lieutenant of the Artillery, Low Countries, Ireland) was over five times more than all of the other expenses combined. Having to pay so much for all of these wars and other aspects of foreign affairs must have influenced her decision making. It is hard to imagine that the financial cost of some of her decisions did not affect her actions. After all, Elizabeth was often a frugal spender and always liked to keep on top of her finances.

Although it is true that finance must have influenced almost all of Elizabeth’s decisions, pertaining to foreign affairs or not, I do not believe that she would have let it influence her to a significant degree. She may have altered the minor details of a particular operation in order to cut costs, she would not have made any significant changes or abandoned a particular plan because of a lack of finance. As such, I do not believe that even the massive expense of her foreign affairs efforts caused any significant financial problems for her.

If anything points to Elizabeth having problems with strained financial resources, it was her selling of crown lands. This was the practice of selling land that she owned to generate extra income. It saw the last of the monasteries seized under Henry VIII pass into private ownership. This is clear evidence that Elizabeth had problems with finance. Land would have been one of her best assets, and to sell it off seems almost like desperation. However, it did bring in a large amount of additional income.

Elizabeth had several more unpopular method of raising funds. One example of this would be ship money. This was a tax on ship owners, except it was assumed that everyone living in a coastal town owned a ship. Obviously, this was not the case, and so the tax was very unpopular. Possibly more unpopular, with both the ministers and the common populace, was the policies of selling monopolies. The act of “selling monopolies” was when Elizabeth would sell the rights to an entire market (be it playing cards or dice, or even more vital resources like vinegar, salt and starch) to one individual of company. The company who had bought the monopoly would then have complete control of that market, with no competition. They could charge whatever they wanted, and no one would be able to do anything about it. One MP said in 1601 that monopolies “bringeth the general profit into a private hand, and the end of all is beggary and bondage to the subject”. It is clear that the selling of monopolies caused some problems for Elizabeth, whilst solving others. However, the policy would have perhaps worked without flaw if the owners of the monopolies had used their rights less greedily.

In conclusion, whilst I acknowledge that finance did perhaps cause some issues for Elizabeth, none of these were “significant”. The issue of debt in 1600 is a major one in my opinion, when you consider everything else that money was being spent on. Likewise, the fact that she had to repeatedly ask for parliamentary taxation isn’t evidence of problems she was facing, but rather how she solved issues surrounding foreign affairs. Elizabeth is known to have been a careful spender, and she would have considered the financial aspects of most of her decisions. However, I do not think that she was ever in a situation where she was unable to do what she believed was best for lack of funds. Finally, the monopolies were perhaps one of the larger problems that Elizabeth faced. However, a speech at parliament was sufficient to calm down the ministers, and the monopolies remained in place into James I’s reign. None of these issues, in my own opinion, were significant. Admittedly, some of them were larger than others, but Elizabeth was able to solve most of the problems before they became large enough to be classed as significant.