Introduction

Historical narratives focusing on the institutions and bureaucracy of the English state, together with some flawed but well-established fiscal texts, have obscured the origins, chronology and success of English land taxes. This book attempts to rehabilitate land taxes in the growth of the English state. Part of the answer to this challenge is to look in the right places. Central state records are sparse because land taxes were administered locally in counties, cities, towns and parishes. Three case studies were chosen because of the good survival of their local tax records and their heavy fiscal burdens: rural Kent and the cities of London and Bristol. England’s avoidance of significant military engagement for decades prior to the Civil War meant the state was sparsely funded by outdated and declining traditional taxes despite the country’s increasing wealth. A series of seventeenth-century military conflicts required new sources of funding, and fresh levies were designed to meet this demand. Land taxes, excise and reformed customs were deployed which could tap into the wealth of the developing English economy and successfully fund civil wars, trade wars and continental conflicts over the next 70 years.