Royal Budget, England, 1307-1337.


These figures are partially guesstimated, as notions of accounting were pretty primitive in the Fourteenth Century.

Income                  Item                    Ducats                  Notes                   
                       Customs                  7,800.000              Range:                  
3,800,000-14,600,00
0 Taxes 9,600,000 c. 3.25 a head, but
not so levied Mining Fees 2,100,000 Cornwall c. 60%;
rest Devonshire. Misc. Fees 1,200,000 Not always levied Scutage 7,200,000 Clerical 10th 11,100,000 * Aquitaine 3,000,000 By right as Duke Loans Range:
7,200,000-12,000,00
0** Outgo Peace 18,000,000-21,000,00
0 War 30,000,000-48,000,00
0

* A 10th was granted by the Pope in 1327, 1334, 1336; a 20th in 1330, 1333. As the Popes were French during most of the war, no more church taxation was allowed for the duration. This had a lot to do with Henry VIII taking over control of the English church in the 16th century. It was money, not religious beliefs, that caused the most trouble in the medieval church.

**When Ed defaulted he owed c. 410 million ducats (i.e., 1.367 million florins or 683 thousand pounds. The Bardi & Peruzzi were capitalized at about four times that).


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