Even with increased use of extraordinary revenue the cost of war means Expenditure is >er than Revenue = Growing debt - (in the red again) Figure 14. A diagrammatic representation of how the government raised extraordinary revenue to finance the Spanish War. Monopolies Because financing the war was so expensive, Elizabeth increasingly used monopolies as a free form of patronage. S. Atkins defines a monopoly as a patent for the sole right of exporting, importing, manufacturing, or “royal distributing some particular article”. This meant that the monopolist could set prices without fear of competition. Unsurprisingly whilst monopolies were popular in Court, (where, for example, Raleigh had a monopoly on tavern licences, and the Earl of Essex had a monopoly on the import of sweet wines) they were hated in the country because they were often abused and damaged the economy. This resentment was most clearly seen in 1601, when Elizabeth and Robert Cecil lost control of Parliament. When a list of the monopolies created since 1597 was read out, one MP, interrupted, William Hakewill, "Is not bread there?" and to then add, "If order be not taken for these, bread will be there before the next Parliament." Another MP dubbed the monopolists the "bloodsuckers of the commonwealth." Robert Cecil dammed the behaviour as fit for a grammar school as a parliament house”. Elizabeth finally “more gave in, and had to address Parliament personally, giving her famous Golden Speech. She then cancelled twelve monopolies overnight, halted others in the works, and made monopolists answerable to the common law courts.
Even with increased use of extraordinary revenue the cost of war means Expenditure is >er than Revenue = Growing debt - (in the red again) Figure 14. A diagrammatic representation of how the government raised extraordinary revenue to finance the Spanish War. Monopolies Because financing the war was so expensive, Elizabeth increasingly used monopolies as a free form of patronage. S. Atkins defines a monopoly as a “royal patent for the sole right of exporting, importing, manufacturing, or distributing some particular article”. This meant that the monopolist could set prices without fear of competition. Unsurprisingly whilst monopolies were popular in Court, (where, for example, Raleigh had a monopoly on tavern licences, and the Earl of Essex had a monopoly on the import of sweet wines) they were hated in the country because they were often abused and damaged the economy. This resentment was most clearly seen in 1601, when Elizabeth and Robert Cecil lost control of Parliament. When a list of the monopolies created since 1597 was read out, one MP, William Hakewill, interrupted, "Is not bread there?" and to then add, "If order be not taken for these, bread will be there before the next Parliament." Another MP dubbed the monopolists the "bloodsuckers of the commonwealth." Robert Cecil dammed the behaviour as “more fit for a grammar school as a parliament house”. Elizabeth finally gave in, and had to address Parliament personally, giving her famous Golden Speech. She then cancelled twelve monopolies overnight, halted others in the works, and made monopolists answerable to the common law courts.
Topic-3-fin-econ-social.docx