On the other hand James was a very spendthrift King. He loved spending money to be popular and was a large spender when it came to the Royal Wardrobe. He had many “favourites”, who were supposedly his boyfriends and he spent a lot of money on them. Over the years James’ expenditure on his wardrobe increased fourfold. This was a significant amount, one that was not necessary, especially with his ever-mounting debt. In 1610 he admitted to parliament that he could not manage finances. This was quite like stating the obvious however due to his lavish ways and increasing debts. His favourites and chancellors also received a lot of money from James. One chancellor, Sir Howard Earl of Suffolk was appointed by James to manage his spending. Ironically he managed to build himself a palace by draining the financial resources. James was certainly not tight fisted when it came to money and this caused another financial problem for him, which was almost entirely his own fault.
One could argue that it was the Chancellor’s faults for not being strict enough with James about his finances, and for not teaching him how to manage them safely. He had many Chancellors throughout his reign. None of whom were able to cut his expenditure enough to break equilibrium with the debt. Each one had a different approach to the problem. One man called Salsbury, came up with the idea of the Great Contract. This was a contract between James and parliament that if signed by both sides, would allow James £200,000 yearly. To try and secure the contract James offered to do away with Wardship and Perveyance but parliament eventually declined the agreement, as it would mean they would lose control over James’ spending. Overall Salsbury tried to increase James income rather than telling him anything about controlling expenditure. With the contract failing James was left with an ever problematic debt. This was therefore not entirely James’ fault.
James was forever asking for subsidies from parliament to solve his financial problems. Subsidies were a short-term solution to James’ financial problems though as he soon acquired more debts. They were an old fashioned and inefficient system that worked by taxing a mans assessed income. These assessments were hugely out of date and were not enforced effectively by parliament. At the beginning of James’ reign one subsidy was £130,000 but by the end of his rule it had dropped to around £70,000. There was an actual decrease of 87% since James came to power. This was probably James’ fault for being so spendthrift with the subsidies, and for applying for them so often, however parliament are also to blame for the financial problems as they did not tax people effectively or correctly. For example some rich men were paying only a few pounds in taxation.
Another problem was the fact that inflation was rising and the value of customs had not risen with it. The value of customs had not been altered since Elizabeth’s reign, which meant that even though inflation was rising people were paying very low rates of customs. This provided James with yet another problem, that he was not earning as much money as he should have been. The crown lands value were not rising with inflation either, which meant that again he was not earning as much money as he should have been from them. However was this James’ fault? James had admitted to not being able to manage finance to parliament, yet they still expected him to notice and alter things like the book of rates, which to be honest, he probably had no idea about. Therefore I feel it was also parliaments fault for not aiding James enough. One of James’ chancellors Thomas Sackville, did eventually change the book of rates according to inflation but by this time James had lost a lot money due to the outdated system.
In conclusion I don’t think James was to blame fully for all the finance problems. I think he definitely contributed to them the most and did not do anything really to manage the debt. His spendthrift ways and complete lack of financial awareness were, I feel the main factor causing his financial problems. However I do feel that parliament were to blame as well, for not aiding him enough, and for not being efficient and effective in collecting taxes.
