Ship Money

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

Domains

Legislation (Bills, Acts, Laws ...)

Dates

Date of occurrence 1634-10-20-1641

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Ship Money was a ploy by means of which Charles I hoped to circumvent Parliamentary restraints on his revenues. The tax had been originally levied on coastal cities in medieval times to fund the construction of warships for maritime defence. Parliament having been dismissed by Charles in 1629, he had limited ways of obtaining revenue, so in October 1634 he issued a writ to raise Ship Money against the prospect of a possible war. In 1635 the writ was reissued, and writs were issued successively until 1640, and applied to inland as well as to coastal towns, making it evident that Charles intended the tax as a general and non-parliamentary way of generating revenue.

In 1635 John Hampden, M. P. (1594-1643), refused to pay 20s in t…

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330 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Ship Money". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 November 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1622, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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Ship Money

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