Tudor Subsidy Rolls

TUDOR SUBSIDY ROLLS 1525, 1544 & 1594

Extracted from “Dorset Tudor Subsidies Granted in 1523, 1543, 1593”, edited by T. L. STOATE, transcribed by Louise Haywood

In 1523 Parliament granted King Henry VIII a subsidy to finance the war in France, taxing everyone on lands, goods or wages down to a lower limit of £1, collected over a four-year period. In 1543 another widespread subsidy was granted to permit the King to assert his right to the title of ‘King of Scotland’, with a lower limit of £1 on land and £5 on goods, although this time wages were not taxed. Queen Elizabeth I’s subsidies tended to be constant as to amount, charging 4 shillings (/-) in the pound (£) on yearly income from land with a lower assessment limit of £1 and 2/8 in the £ on the capital value of goods with a lower limit of £3.

The assessments are expressed in pounds and fractions of pounds, with ‘L’ denoting land, ‘G’ denoting goods and ‘W’ denoting wages. People were taxed on one revenue stream only, being that which would yield the highest amount of tax to the Exchequer. The wealth of a married women formed part of her husband’s assessment, but widows and spinsters were taxed in their own right. Aliens and denizens (foreigners with the right of residence) were taxed double. They are usually denoted as “alien”, but occasionally their national origin is given (e.g. ‘Norman’, ‘Frensheman’, ‘Ducheman’, etc.).

1525
 

1544

1594