ABSTRACT
The weakness of royal government in the mid-fifteenth century had sprung, in large part, from shortage of money. The first Lancastrian had enjoyed a revenue of some £90,000 annually, but by the closing years of Henry VI's reign this had diminished to £24,000 [34]. Edward realised that in order to make the crown strong again he would have to restore it to solvency, but this turned out to be a slow process. He could have called on Parliament for assistance, but Parliament had become a focus for opposition to the monarch during the Lancastrian period and he may well have thought that a break with the past implied a reduction in its role. He summoned only six Parliaments during a reign of twenty-three years, and he assured members in 1467 that 'I purpose to live upon mine own, and not to charge my subjects but in great and urgent causes concerning the weal of themselves and also the defence of them and of this my realm, rather than my own pleasure'. Edward was as good as his word, for although he received nearly £190,000 in parliamentary taxation during the course of his reign, he used this to meet the 'extraordinary' costs of suppressing rebellions at home and waging war abroad.
