The king had an annual income of about £ 100,000 , but he needed much more in order to suppress rebellions and finance his foreign adventures . In 1533 , for example , military expenditures on the northern border cost £ 25,000 , while the 1534 rebellion in Ireland cost £ 38,000 . Suppressing the Pilgrimage of Grace cost £ 50,000 , and the king 's new palaces were expensive . Meanwhile , customs revenue was slipping . The Church had an annual revenue of about £ 300,000 ; a new tax of 10 % was imposed which brought in about £ 30,000 . To get even larger sums it was proposed to seize the lands owned by monasteries , some of which the monks farmed and most of which was leased to local gentry . Taking ownership meant the rents went to the king . Selling the land to the gentry at a bargain price brought in £ 1 million in one-time revenue and gave the gentry a stake in the administration . The clerical payments from First Fruits and Tenths , which previously went to the pope , now went to the king . Altogether , between 1536 and Henry 's death , his government collected £ 1.3 million ; this huge influx of money caused Cromwell to change the Crown 's financial system to manage the money . He created a new department of state and a new official to collect the proceeds of the dissolution and the First Fruits and Tenths . The Court of Augmentations and number of departments meant a growing number of officials , which made the management of revenue a major activity . Cromwell 's new system was highly efficient with far less corruption or secret payoffs or bribery than before . Its drawback was the multiplication of departments whose sole unifying agent was Cromwell ; his fall caused confusion and uncertainty ; the solution was even greater reliance on bureaucratic institutions and the new Privy Council
Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
Tudor period