Budgeting for famine in Tudor England, 1527–1528: social and policy perspectives

Abstract

This paper considers a unique budget document of the sixteenth century prepared for the Crown to facilitate decision-making and resource (re)allocation via the market in a period of dearth – specifically, the Corn Commissions instituted to cope with the East Anglian Famine of 1527–1528. The budgetary procedure is detailed, together with discussion of the economic, political, and social contexts, and the significance of the Commissions as the foundation for subsequent developments in English public welfare policy. The document and policy of the commissions are critically evaluated as mechanisms of political and social control, which produced adverse behavioural responses and social outcomes.