Exchequer: Treasury of Receipt: Records of Loans to the Crown

E 34

1273-1628

The series contains formal documents and subsidiary papers relating to loans raised by the Crown which were originally stored in the Exchequer Treasury of Receipt.

The records largely consist of two types. The majority are pro-forma letters issued under the privy seal, signet or sign manual requesting that subjects lend money to the crown for specific emergencies. They cover the period from the late fourteenth century to the reign of Charles l. The other major type of documents are letters patent under the great seal relating to money loaned to the crown mainly by foreign bankers. There are also a number of subsidiary documents dealing with the administration of loans to the crown, to musters and to the suppression of rebellion under Henry Vlll.

Royal signets of the reigns of James I and Charles I, whose most likely provenance is this series are in

Public Record(s)

English

59 bundle(s)

The series contains many seals in a good state of preservation, as well as a number of signataures.

Topics

Conflict

Treason and rebellion

Banking

The records relating to privy seals for loans and some letters patent were held in the Chapel of the Pyx in 1610 and subsequently transferred to the Chapter House. Other letters patent for loans appear to have been part of a separate collection housed in the Chapel of the Pyx. Some of the miscellaneous papers may have come from the archive of Thomas Cromwell, which was seized by the crown in 1540.

The issue of Privy Seals for loans was based on the obligations of subjects to lend money to the crown in the event of an emergency such as war. Bulk deliveries of letters were issued to commissioners in the counties who forwarded them to named individuals. The letters set out the reasons for the loan and promised repayment, usually on the basis of taxation which had been granted, but not collected. Individuals had to negotiate the amount of their loans with the commissioners.