‘Fruits of the Dissolution: the King’s Income from Somerset and Dorset 1605’, by Colin Brett
Synopsis of a paper given at the 2011 SDNQ symposium: County Connections – historic links between Somerset and Dorset, held on 1 October 2011 at Downside Abbey.
Synopsis published in SDNQ, vol.37, pp.169-170, September 2012.
In 1575 a boy was born into a London mercer’s family. When he was 21, he started trading on his own by exporting and importing cloths. The next that is heard of him was that he was knighted in 1613, quickly rose in court circles, and was rewarded by being made the first Earl of Middlesex. He was made Lord treasurer but was impeached in 1623 and fell from grace, and died in 1645. This man was Lionel Cranfield. The almost unknown fact about him was that he was Receiver-General for Somerset and Dorset from 1605 to 1613, collecting income for King James I and his Queen, Anne of Denmark.
The management of Tudor royal finances was traced starting with Henry VII’s reforms of the Exchequer, Cardinal Wolsey’s control on behalf of Henry VIII, the valuation of the monastic establishments in 1535 (the Valor Ecclesiasticus) and the setting up of the ‘Court of Augmentation of the Revenues of the Crown’ in 1536. Lionel Cranfield applied his own methods to the collection system but reporting the results had its faults. A warning was given that some Crown records may not be as truthful as they appear. Historians beware.
The sources of the royal income in 1605 stemmed largely from monastic sources. At the Dissolution, there had been 44 religious houses in Somerset and 24 in Dorset. Additionally, there were also 66 religious establishments in other counties that had properties in the two counties. By 1605 a large proportion of these sources of income were not available to the Crown but revenues were collected from lands of about half of the ex-religious houses.
Others sources of royal income included ex-Chantry lands, forfeited lands, jointures of the Queens Jane Seymour and Katherine Parr, concealed lands and profits from alum mines in Dorset.
Besides collecting money for the Crown money had to be paid out. In addition to fees and expenses of bailiffs, stewards and Exchequer officials, perhaps the most revealing of Lionel Cranfield’s entries were the following. Five named scholars at Oxford received exhibitions; payments were made to the captains of Portland and Sandsfoot castles; and alms were distributed in Somerset, but not in Dorset. Ecclesiastical pensions were honoured, including one to an ex-nun of Amesbury Priory, who was drawing her pension for the 67th time.
Lionel Cranfield’s records offer a unique insight into the way that the Royal revenues were collected. From many perspectives it was an imperfect system, but right from the start it was obvious that Cranfield was an enthusiastic servant of the Crown. He transferred his meticulous record-keeping from his own affairs to those of James I and employed his own servants in the collection and distribution of the royal revenues to his best ability.
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