Problems

Options

Actions

War with France/ Scotland. Henry VIII had spent well over £2 million – and had borrowed LOADS as well.

Not a lot of choice here (national pride). How to fund it? a) borrow more; b) raise taxes. Neither was A Good Thing. 

Kept on with war.

Left considerably less land for the Crown.

Sale of Crown lands (including ex-monastic land)

Henry VIII had done a lot of this.

Ditto.

Sale of Chantries

Chantries Act, 1547:  dissolution of chantries, and confiscation and sale of their land and property. Plate was melted down to make coins. This injected unearnt money into the economy. 

Inevitably caused inflation. Henry VIII had debased the coinage in 1543; he’d also melted down plate (gold/ silver) from monasteries to make coins. 

Debasement

Somerset continued to debase the coinage, so that by 1551, the silver content was only 25%.

Rising population also caused inflation (owing to increased demand); it also caused vagrancy.

Not a lot of choice here

Proclamations against enclosures; laws to limit size of leaseholds; sheep tax. Vagrancy Act 1547. Ban on football (and other gatherings) 1548.

Poor harvest, 1549.

Not a lot of choice here (although reforming taxation might have helped…)