| English governments of the 1640's and 1650's depended upon two general types of revenues: regular and irregular. The regular revenues were the Customs, Excise and Assessment, and the irregular revenues were all other sources of money which, like Sequestrations and the proceeds from the sale of crown and church properties, were one-time in nature. This dissertation studies the development, efficiency and importance of the Customs, Excise, and Assessment in great depth during the years 1642 to 1660 and summarizes the financial productivity and importance of the irregular revenues. These analyses reveal that the regular revenues provided significantly more money for the Parliamentary cause and Interregnum governments than did the irregular revenues, although the latter were important. In addition, the regular revenues improved in yield over time.; Detailed descriptions of the operation and efficiency of the Customs, Excise and Assessments are provided and indicate that specialized bureaucracies were created or evolved to operate the revenues during the civil war and Interregnum, and that the future lines of financial administration in English were established. The methods and organization of the three regular revenues were to be followed and built upon after the Glorious Revolution.;Then, in order to indicate the relative importance and success of the English financial achievements, and to indicate why the Interregnum governments went bankrupt, a comparison of England's income and expenditure is provided for the period 1649 to 1660. The Interregnum governments were bankrupted because they spent far more on war than they collected from all sources of taxation and revenue, and because no system of long term debt funding was developed.;Finally, the two most costly and important English military campaigns of the period are analyzed to determine how they were financially and logistically supported. These campaigns, Cromwell's conquests of Ireland and Scotland, were successful because of Cromwell's leadership and because they were adequately financed and supported by the regular revenues. However, because of the need to finance these two wars simultaneously, and to fight the Dutch shortly thereafter, the Commonwealth went bankrupt and the credit of the state was fatally undermined.;War created the need for greatly increased revenues. Greatly increased and improved revenue systems provided sufficient money for the creation of efficient military forces. But the financial appetite of the new military forces bled the state dry. |
