ABSTRACT
In February 1574, Elizabeth I addressed a short letter to the viceroy of her kingdom of Ireland, Sir William Fitzwilliam, and to several of the principal administrative officers serving under him in Dublin Castle. Like many of her missives about Ireland, it concerned finance. Tersely, she demanded the immediate reform of the Irish Court of Exchequer to bring its procedures into line with those prevailing in England. 2 Lest Fitzwilliam or his administrators wonder how this might be achieved, she had another document attached, drafted by the lord treasurer of England, William Cecil, Lord Burghley: ‘Orders, rules and ordinances for … our Receipts and Revenues of Ireland’. This item was thirty-seven pages long. It listed, under fifty-eight separate headings, the many and various procedures that henceforth should govern the assessment and collection of Irish crown income. Leaving little to chance, it described the specialized functions of every revenue official, from the chief baron of the exchequer to the minor tellers, and—especially important—it also outlined the various means of enforcement available to exchequer and other financial officers in the event of non-payment by the queen’s Irish subjects. 3
