His Majesty may count upon over five hundred thousand ducats [£375,000] a year, divided as follows:—
| Ducats. | |
| From the Crown (Lands) | 190,000 |
| Customs | 150,000 |
| Vacant Benefices | 40,000 |
| Privy Seal | 10,000 |
| Rebels (Confiscations, etc.) | 50,000 |
| Lands on the Continent | 10,000 |
| Fines for Crimes | 25,000 |
| Royal Guards | 50,000 |
| Total | 525,000 |
I cannot tell exactly what he gets from taxes, but from information which I have endeavoured to obtain from grave and experienced persons, His Majesty exacts from his subjects about a million of ducats; for the six millions of ducats which he had inherited from his father were all spent in the wars with France, Flanders, and Scotland. His Majesty usually spends 425,000 ducats for his Court, which consists of five hundred men; namely, twenty-six chamberlains, of whom one is Treasurer of the Chamber [keeper of the privy purse?], one is a Majorduomo called a ‘Steward,’ his assistant, who carries a little white stick as a sign of his dignity; the Treasurer General, who pays all accounts; the accountant who distributes [the payments]; the ‘cofferers’ in charge of the said accounts; the Master of the Horse who has the management of the royal stables. There are three hundred horses, between Arabs, Turkish horses and racers, hackneys and others. His Majesty has also eight chaplains, of whom one distributes his charities, and there are many persons for his service of whom I do not speak in detail lest I should fatigue Your Serenity. His Majesty has always in his pay three hundred halberdiers who are on guard by tens at a time for the King’s person, and pass the night in the private antechamber.
His Majesty spends as follows:—
| Ducats. | |
| For the Maintenance of his Court | 100,000 |
| Presents | 120,000 |
| Horses | 20,000 |
| Parks, and Packs of Hounds | 50,000 |
| Soldiers who guard the Fortresses | 30,000 |
| His Majesty’s Chamber (Privy Purse) | 30,000 |
| Buildings | 10,000 |
| Charities | 10,000 |
| Embassies and King’s Messengers | 40,000 |
| Expenses of the Queen (Catharine of Aragon), and the Princess (Mary) | 30,000 |
| Total | 440,000 |
In case of war his Majesty could arm four thousand light horse and sixty thousand infantry. The latter would fight in the old-fashioned way, with bow, sword, shield, helmet, and with pikes of one or two points which are excellent against charges of cavalry. They are now beginning to use guns and artillery. The English do not fear death. As soon as the battle commences, they provoke the enemy and charge furiously; in very quick engagements they are generally victorious, but they often yield if the war drags on. They have not the slightest fear of Frenchmen, but they are much afraid of the Scotch.
During forty days they are obliged to serve in the army without receiving pay; after that time they receive three crowns and a half for a period of service determined beforehand. The fleet consists of one hundred and fifty vessels.
It now only remains for me to tell you who are the friends of the King, and what consequences his divorce might have, and I shall then add a few words on the most Reverend the Cardinal York.
Since the affair of the divorce has come up [Falier is writing in 1531, and Henry VIII. married Anne Boleyn the next year] the Pope [Clement VII.] is not in his Majesty’s good graces. If the Holy Father will not grant the King permission to divorce, the result will be a very great advantage for the English crown, and a great danger to the Roman Church, for the King will detach himself from the latter, and will seize all the revenues of the ecclesiastical benefices; this will yield the Crown more than six million ducats [£4,500,000].
Falier was not mistaken, unless, perhaps, in his figures. He proceeds to speak of the relations between England and all the other European states, after which he returns to the question of the divorce, expressing himself in a very singular way for a Catholic. It must be remembered, however, that he was a Venetian, and therefore a man of business first, and a baptized Christian afterward.