Abstract
‘The power of Parliament, and especially of the Commons has always depended in the last resort on control of taxation’.1 Professor Roskell’s judgement is not invalidated by the fact that Parliaments had always been concerned with many other issues, of which the most explosive were a recurring desire to influence the King’s choice of ministers, and an almost invariable desire to attack the clergy. Many members agreed with the opinion of Sir Robert Phelips in 1628 that ‘I never think that Parliament truly happy, that intends nothing but money’.2 Yet however much members’ sense of their dignity might make them want to feel that their advice was wanted as well as their cash, money remained the chief bargaining weapon with which they could induce the King to listen to their advice.
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Bibliography
There is no adequate general history of royal finance during this period. F. C. Dietz, English Public Finance 1558–1642 (1932) has not yet been superseded.
The best recent work is in G. E. Aylmer, The King’s Servants (1961)
and in Robert Ashton, The Crown and the Money Market (Oxford 1960), and ‘Deficit Finance in the Reign of James I’, echr (1957).
There is valuable information on some financial and political questions in Valerie Pearl, London and the Puritan Revolution (Oxford 1961).
Recent work is summarised in J. P. Cooper, ‘The Fall of the Stuart Monarchy’, in New Cambridge Modern History, iv (1971)
and Conrad Russell, The Crisis of Parliaments (Oxford 1971).
The related questions of patronage and administration have been admirably covered in J. Hurstfield, The Queen’s Wards (1958)
Penry Williams, The Council in the Marches of Wales (Cardiff 1958)
G. E. Aylmer, The King’s Servants (1961)
L. Stone, The Crisis of the Aristocracy, 1558–1642 (Oxford 1965).
On Parliamentary history, most of the best work has been done on editions of debates, of which the most notable are Elizabeth Read Foster (ed.), Parliamentary Debates in 1610, 2 vols (New Haven 1966)
W. Notestein, F. H. Relf and H. Simpson (eds), Commons’ Debates in 1621, 7 vols (New Haven 1935).
The best modern works are D. H. Willson, The Privy Councillors in Parliament (New York 1940)
Clayton Roberts, The Growth of Responsible Government (1966).
See also Robert E. Ruigh, The Parliament of 1624 (1971).
Christopher Thompson ‘The Origins of the Parliamentary Middle Group 1625–1629’ (Alexander Prize Essay 1971), Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (1972).
On the legal issues involved in royal finance, see W. J. Jones, Politics and the Bench (1972).
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© 1973 Conrad Russell, Michael Hawkins, L. M. Hill, Nicholas Tyacke, Robin Clifton, P. W. Thomas, Penelope Corfield, M. J. Mendle, J. H. Elliott
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Russell, C. (1973). Parliament and the King’s Finances. In: Russell, C. (eds) The Origins of the English Civil War. Problems in Focus Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15496-8_4
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