Hello everyone and welcome back to the History of England, episode 1-100, Thetas of

War.

So last time, we'd got to the Christmas of 1337, France had effectively declared war by

confiscating Gascony, Edward was desperate to take up the challenge, but he faced problems.

He had grumpy scots just waiting for the chance to be revolting, and he didn't have the

money he needed for war.

So this week, let's talk a bit about money, the engine of war as it were, and how that

began to affect the way that Edward worked with Parliament.

Then we'll have a bit of a flyby of the political and geographical layout of the main theatres

of war and finish off by getting Edward over to the continent at last.

The finances of England had changed a bit since the growth of the wall trade, and through

the relationships between Parliament and Edward I and II.

The first change was good for England's monarch, the second was not so good.

So it's the good news first, customs revenues had steadily grown.

The 13th century king could pretty much rely on about £12,000 or more from the customs.

It's all a bit confused during the earlier years of Edward's reign since they mess about

with exemptions and so on.

So it's difficult to tell exactly what customs revenue would have been there for the king

and the early part of his reign, but by the early 1350s, which is incidentally after

the Black Death has decimated the population, Edward could be sure of £40,000 a year at

least.

In some years he could get over £100,000 of revenue.

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