History of the British national debt both government borrowing and the national debt have risen dramatically, reaching around 70% of GDP by the end of 2012. The origins of the British national debt can be found during the reign of William III, who engaged a syndicate of City traders and merchants to offer for sale an issue of government debt. This syndicate soon evolved into the Bank of England, eventually financing the wars of the Duke of Marlborough and later Imperial conquests. The establishment of the bank was devised by Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, in 1694, to the plan which had been proposed by
Coronation of the British monarch was the second recension which was used by Edgar in 973 and by subsequent Anglo-Saxon and early Norman kings. A third recension was probably compiled during the reign of Henry I and was used at the coronation of his successor, Stephen, in 1135. While retaining the most important elements of the Anglo-Saxon rite, it borrowed heavily from the consecration of the Holy Roman Emperor from the "Pontificale Romano-Germanicum", a book of German liturgy compiled in Mainz in 961, thus bringing the English tradition into line with continental practice. It remained in use until the coronation of Edward II in 1308