Taxation Under the Early Tudors 1485 - 1547

Roger Schofield is a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Royal Statistical Society and the British Academy. He is Senior Research Associate of the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure. He was previously editor of the journal Population Studies and is the co-author of The Population History of England, 1541–1871 (1981) and English Population History from Family Reconstitution (1997).

• List of Tables and Figures. Preface.List of Abbreviations.1.Introduction.Scope of the Study.The General Nature and Incidence of the Taxes.Parliamentary Taxation and National Finance.Parliamentary Taxation and the Redress of Grievances.2.Parliament.Taxation and the Summons of Parliament.The Case for Taxation, the Preambles.Parliamentary Opposition.The Evolution of a Money Bill.Drafts and amendments.Commons and Lords.Indenture and statute: Assent.3.The Fifteenth and Tenth.The Historical Background.The Levying of the Tax.The Appointment of the Collectors.The Charges on the Vills.The Delegation of Powers within the Vills.Local Assessment.The Assessors.The Basis of Assessment.Liability through Residence.Local Relief through Bequests.Local Collection.The Collectors and the Problems of Collection.Opposition to Distress: Rescues.Opposition to Distress: Actions at Law.Collective Responsibility: Unhelpful Colleagues.The Costs of Collection.The Time Available for Collection.Unpopularity of Office: Limitations and Exemptions.Exemptions from Liability to the Fifteenth and Tenth.Exemption by Status.Exemption by Custom.Exemption by Statute.Exemption by Petition to the Barons of the Exchequer.Exemption by Prerogative Grant.Secular Communities.Religious Communities.Summary.4.The Evolution of the Directly Assessed Subsidy.The Fifteenth Century Background.The Poll Tax on Aliens of 1488.The Subsidy of 1489: Failure.The Compromise Forms of 1497 and 1504.The Attainment of the Final Form of the Directly Assessed Subsidy.The subsidy of 1513.The subsidies of 1514, 1515 and 1516.The subsidy act of 1523 and after.5.The Directly Assessed Subsidies 1513-1547.Special Commissions.Exemption and Division.Ministerial Control Over the Commissioners.Assessment.What was Assessed.Minimum Qualifications.Rates of Payment.Increased Rates of Payment.Exemptions from Liability to the Subsidies.Assessment Rules.The Procedure of Assessment.The Timing of the Assessments.Collection of the Money.Local Collection: the Petty Collectors.The High Collectors.The Time Allowed for Collection.Legal Tender.Transferred Liability to Payment.Liability ab initio.Liability Transferred Upon Default.Difficulties Arising during Collection.Certification.The Time Allowed for Levy of the Subsidies.The efficiency of the administration of the subsidies.Efficiency in the certification of assessments.The accuracy of the assessments.6.The procedure and the records of the Exchequer.The Exchequer of Receipt.Payment by Assignment.Exchequer Terms and Payment Dates.The Exchequer of Account.The Summons to Account.The Death of a Collector.Appearance at the Exchequer: Attorneys.The Procedure of Account.Debts upon Accounts.Enrolment of Debts upon the Pipe Rolls.7.The Yields of the Taxes:.8.The Efficiency of the Collection of the Taxes.Speed of Payment.Speed of Account at the Exchequer.Defaults by the Collectors.The Efficacy of the Forms of Process Out of the Exchequer.Popular Opposition to Parliamentary Taxation.9.Taxation and the Political Limits of the Tudor State.Appendix 1: Taxation Acts and Dates of Payment.Appendix 2: Chancery Enrolments of Commissions.Glossary.Bibliography.Index

"A truly remarkable piece of work. The book is authoritative and will never be bettered, and for this reason it deserves a place in the library of any institution in which Tudor history is taught or researched." Journal of Modern History "The scholarly world is greatly indebted to [Schofield's] decision to publish this important study on tudor taxation under Henry VII and Henry VIII." EH-Net Reviews "An invaluable guide to the parliamentary taxation of the period. All users of the tax records of the earlier Tudors will need to consult this lucid and informative monograph, an essential work of reference and guide to the records themselves." Northern Historian "This study provides a challenge for future scholars to use taxation as a source material to gain insight into how and why a society can coalesce to support public benefit over private gain- and, whenit fails, why." Renaissance Quarterly "A monumental study of abiding value that all those who use the early Tudor taxation returns will ignore at their peril." Local Populations Studies