Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as List of English chief ministers, chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the kin ...

established the Court of Augmentations, also called Augmentation Court or simply The Augmentation in 1536, during the reign of King

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...

. It operated alongside three lesser courts (those of General Surveyors (1540-1547),

First Fruits and Tenths Annates ( or ; la, annatae, from ', "year") were a payment from the recipient of an ecclesiastical benefice to the ordaining authorities. Eventually, they consisted of half or the whole of the first year's profits of a benefice; after the appropr ...

(1540-1554), and Wards and Liveries (1540-1660)) following the dissolution of the monasteries (1536 onwards). The Court's primary function was to gain better control over the land and finances formerly held by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. On ...

. The Court of Augmentations was incorporated into the

Exchequer In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's '' current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government rev ...

in 1554 as the Augmentation Office.

History and structure

The Court of Augmentations was one of a number of financial courts established during Henry's reign. It was founded in 1536 to administer monastic properties and revenues confiscated by the crown at the dissolution of the monasteries. The court had its own chancellor, treasurer, lawyers, receivers and auditors. In 1547, the Court of Augmentations was amalgamated with the Court of General Surveyors, which had been established in 1542 to administer crown lands. In 1554, the roles of the Courts of Augmentations, General Surveyors, and First Fruits and Tenths were taken over by the Exchequer. In 1536, religious establishments with annual incomes of less than £200 per annum were dissolved. The attention of Henry and his chief minister

turned to the friaries in 1537, and thereafter to the rest of the religious houses. By 1540, they had all gone, the last to fall being Waltham Abbey in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. Their lands, properties and incomes went to the Crown. Some of the monastic buildings remained in religious use – Henry allowed some monasteries to be refounded as secular cathedrals served by dean and chapter instead of priors and monks, and in rare cases the church buildings, or parts of them, were bought by locals to act as the parish church. Generally, however, the properties and lands were simply sold off to wealthy lay people, with the Court of Augmentations set up to deal with the spoils. On the annexation of the Court of Augmentations to the Exchequer in 1554, the twelve receiverships of land revenues of the counties of England and Wales in the employment of the former were incorporated in the latter. Until the Restoration in 1660, appointments were made by the Crown by letters patent under the great seal. Unless otherwise indicated these were for life. While in some cases this practice was followed into the eighteenth century, appointments were increasingly made by other means, for example by letters patent under the seal of the Exchequer, by the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Procedures for sale of property

Particulars for the sale of a property that came to the Crown at the dissolution of the monasteries were produced by the auditors (who were appraisers) of the Court of Augmentations of the King's Revenue, created in 1536. The particulars would be produced in response to a warrant from the commissioners for the sale of Crown lands. A prospective purchaser of Crown land would return with the auditor's signed particular and have it rated (or reviewed and approved, sometimes with modifications) by the commissioners. The details of the rated particular would form the basis for the warrant authorizing the purchase. Particulars were usually prepared for the actual purchaser of the land. They described the nature of the land, its value, the purchase price and any restrictions on the sale.The National Archives , Palaeography interactive tutorial , About document 5
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List of officers

*Clerk 1536-1554: Richard Duke (c.1515-1572) *Auditor 1539-1552: Matthew Colthurst (d. 1559)

Notes

References

First Dissolution Act (1536)
* * *{{cite journal , title=The Market for Monastic Property, 1539–1603 , first=H.J. , last=Habakkuk , authorlink=John Habakkuk , journal=Economic History Review , series=n.s. , volume=10 , year=1958 , issue=3 , pages=362–380 , doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.1958.tb00012.x Dissolution of the Monasteries Former courts and tribunals in England and Wales 1536 establishments in England 1554 disestablishments The National Archives (United Kingdom) Courts and tribunals established in 1536 Courts and tribunals disestablished in 1554