 In 1610–11, Cecil worked hard to persuade Parliament to enact the Great Contract, under which the King would give up all his feudal and customary sources of revenue (wardship and purveyance) in return for a fixed annual income of approximately £300,000.The rationale was that the king was spending extravagantly, exceeding his income by £140,000, and putting the kingdom into debt.By 1608, the debt was £1.4 million, although the Lord Treasurer managed to get that down to £300,000 by 1610.