A form of tax in 17th Cent Britain that King Charles I abused to raise money for which his administration was always in desperate need.
Ship-money evolved from an original English custom in which coastal counties were required, especially during times of war, to supply a ship to the government as contribution to the nation's coastal defence. Money in lieu of an actual ship eventually became the norm. Charles, desperate for money, had already made himself odious by implementing a "forced loan" on the rich of the land (loans which, everybody knew, would never be repaid). In 1635, however, he extended the levy of ship-money to all the inland counties, at a time when there was no cause for thinking that the nation was at risk of another amarda. The act became reviled as one of the most notorious impositions of arbitrary rule, which added greatly to the bale of political straws that would eventually break the back of Charles's reign.
©ALBERITH
191117lch