james extravagance

A- On the face of it the sources seem to disagree on this issue. Sources ten and twelve seem to show that James’ extravagant giving was the cause of his financial problems however source eleven seems to show that it was not James’ extravagant giving that caused his financial problems. In source ten, ‘Matthew Hutton’ states that, “His Majesty’s subjects hear and fear that King James’ heroical and excellent nature is too inclined to giving” this can be a criticism as if it’s just hear and fear there is no real authority or reliability in the statement and that this will soon ‘exhaust the treasury of his kingdom’, thus implying that James’s extravagant nature was and will be the cause of his financial problems this because Elizabeth was not as generous to giving as she had more of realisation to the problems and so James must take this as his fault. This is further backed up by source twelve as it states that James ‘is very generous with his gifts’ and that ‘gifts to the scots are causing an incurable leak from the cistern, this is demonstrating how James’ extravagance is causing him financial trouble.
Whereas on the face of it source eleven seems to disagree with the other two sources as it demonstrates how it was not James’ extravagance that was causing him financial trouble. In this source it states that payments to the king, for example taxes are not paid or collected and also ‘The Earl of Dorset’ goes on to say that the fact James I has a family is another reason for his financial trouble and this is said in a way that its almost a good thing as its something Elizabeth could not deliver and so him and his family would have respect for this which could overshadow there extra cost even though its said that he only married to clear u questions of his sexuality. Furthermore as this this is a letter from the ‘Lord Treasurer’ to ‘The Chancellor of the Exchequer’ this is the most reliable source about whether it was James’ extravagance that was causing him financial