1510: Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley, tax collectors

ExecutedToday.com ^ | August 17, 2011 | Headsman

[CheshireTheCat]

On this date in 1510, the new king Henry VIII had his dad’s most hated tax collectors beheaded on Tower Hill.

When Henry Tudor conquered Bosworth Field to emerge from the War of the Roses as King Henry VII, he brought the baggage of being the son of some Welsh squire.

His shaky legitimacy exposed the newborn Tudor dynasty to existential threats from every quarter; even putative allies proved liable to turn against him.

Henry consequently looked for every opportunity to centralize power away from institutions that could check or threaten him and into his own hands — nowhere more notoriously so than in the realm of taxation.* Aggressive tax collection would not only regenerate the crown’s blasted treasury; it would widen his own scope of action....

[minnesota_bound]

We pay over 50% tax today. Where is Henry the 8th when we need him??

[hanamizu]

Henry VIII came up with a not-so-new way to raise money for his many wars and projects. He debased the currency. ‘Silver’ shillings and sixpences issued by Henry went from sterling (.925 to as low as 25%, the latter began to show the copper underneath after a little wear. Henry’s nose on the coins would turn copper-colored. Nero back in Roman times did the same thing.

Of course we went from 90% silver to 0% silver in 1965.

[SunkenCiv]

That's amusing, but of course, the monarch was the big spender who needed the taxes collected, and was only too happy to throw his daddy's tax collectors to the wolves, seize their estates, and hire new flunkys.

Liz I had the right idea -- privateers helped bankroll her Tudor police state. Francis Drake returned from circumnavigating the Earth with so much booty she used it to pay off her entire national debt and had a bunch left over. And yet, after great service, he suffered some defeats, and died in disgrace.