What was ship money tax

John Hampden — politician. Originally, an occasional sum of money paid by English seaports to the crown to meet the cost of supplying a ship to the Royal Navy. Charles I revived the tax in , while he was ruling without Parliament. In John Hampden was taken to court for refusing to pay and claimed that Charles needed Parliament's approval to levy such a regular tax.

The judges decided by seven to five in Charles's favour, but the narrowness of the victory encouraged widespread refusal to pay tax afterwards. The Long Parliament made ship money illegal in From: ship money in A Dictionary of World History ». View all reference entries ». View all related items in Oxford Reference ». Search for: 'ship money' in Oxford Reference ».

Hampden decided to use the Ship Tax as a means of challenging the king's power by failing to pay just one pound of what he owed.

In November, Hampden was prosecuted for refusing to pay the Ship Money on his lands in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The court case was a test of power between sovereign and subject. The judges voted seven against five in favour of conviction but the publicity surrounding the case made Hampton one of the most popular men in England. Oliver Cromwell , who was Hampden's cousin, was a strong opponent of the Ship Tax.

He argued that such a tax was "a prejudice to the liberties of the kingdom" and that there should be no taxation without the consent of Parliament. One of the critics of the tax said "he knew no law besides Parliament to persuade men to give away their own goods".

Cromwell agreed and said he was "a great stickler" against the tax. During this period Cromwell developed a local reputation among those opposed to Charles's government. Diane Purkiss , the author of The English Civil War: A People's History , has argued that by his actions, Hampden had successfully portrayed Charles as "a tyrant" and after the court case many people refused to pay the tax.

For the sheriffs and constables forced to collect small sums such as a penny from the poorest people, life became nearly unbearable. The struggle against the Ship Tax continued in the House of Commons. This was led by John Pym , a Puritan, who was a large landowner in Somerset. He was known for his anti-Catholic views and saw Parliament's role as safeguarding England against the influence of the Pope: "The high court of Parliament is the great eye of the kingdom, to find out offences and punish them".

However, he believed that the king, who had married Henrietta Maria , a Catholic, was an obstacle to this process: "we are not secure enough at home in respect of the enemy at home which grows by the suspending of the laws at home". Pym was a believer in a vast Catholic plot. Some historians agree with Pym's theory: "Like all successful statesmen, Pym was up to a point an opportunist but he was not a cynic; and self-delusion seems the likeliest explanation of this and his supporters' obsession.

That there was a real international Catholic campaign against Protestantism, a continuing determination to see heresy destroyed, is beyond dispute. Puritans and many other strongly committed Protestants were convinced that Archbishop William Laud and Thomas Wentworth , the Earl of Strafford, were the main figures behind this conspiracy.

They usually ran short of money and new taxes had to be approved by Parliament. However, Charles hated working with MPs. He tried to get the money he needed by collecting taxes like ship money and tallage a tax on landowners. Ship money was supposed to be paid by counties near the coast. It was supposed to be paid in times of emergency to raise money for the navy to protect the country.

However, from Charles I started collecting ship money every year. He also started collecting it from all counties, not just coastal counties. There was a lot of opposition to ship money and other taxes. Richard Strode was a long-term opponent of the tax.