[1] Tacitus, Germania, cap. xv. “Mos est civitatibus ultro ac viritim conferre principibus vel armentorum vel frugum, quod pro honore acceptum etiam necessitatibus subvenit.”

[2] Vinogradoff, Growth of the Manor, 142, 143.

[3] The heriot, unlike the feudal incident known to the Normans as a relief, was a repayment to the king upon the death of a vassal, of the various accoutrements with which he had been endowed. The statute of Cnut II, § 72, fixes the heriot of an earl at eight horses, four suits of armor, and two hundred mancuses of gold. The heriot varied in amount according to the rank of the deceased vassal. The statute is given in Stubbs, Select Charters, 74.

[4] Florentii Wigorniensis, Chronicon ex Chronicis, a. 991, p. 149.

[5] “This tax was levied by reference to the hides into which in the various hundreds of the shire, land was divided for the purposes of taxation.” The hide was the equivalent of 100 or 120 acres. The rate was one to four shillings, as occasion required. 1 Dowell, History of Taxation and Taxes in England, 8.

[6] Amount in 1002, £24,000.—Flor. Wig. a. 1002, p. 155. Amount in 1007, £36,000.—Flor. Wig. a. 1007, p. 159. Amount in 1011 not stated.

[7] 1 Dowell, History of Taxation and Taxes in England, 10.

[8] 1 Roger of Hoveden, 110.

[9] Decretum est primum iam ut solveretur tributum Danicis viris, propter magnos horrores quos incusserunt incolis maritimis; in primis nempe, X milia librarum. Illud consilium constituit Siricus Archiepiscopus. Chron. Sax. a. 991.

[10] Tunc rex Aegelredus, procerum suorum consilio, ad eos legatos misit, promittens tributum et stipendium ea conventione illis se daturum, ut a sua crudelitate omnino desisterunt. Flor. Wig. 151, 152; a. 994.

[11] Flor. Wig. 155, 159, 163; a. 1002, 1007, 1011.

[12] Medley, English Constitutional History, 117, 118.

[13] 2 Kemble, Saxons in England, 204-240.

[14] At the great Gemôt of Salisbury, 1086, William put an end to the disrupting effects of subinfeudation by causing all holders of land, whether their tenure was mediate or immediate of him to swear primary allegiance to the king.

[15] 1 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 385, note.

[16] 2 Flor. Wig. 17, a. 1084; and 1 Rogeri de Hoveden, 139. “Rex Anglorum Willelmus de unaquaque hida per Angliam sex solidos accepit.” This rate of six shillings the hide was three times as great as the amount under the Saxons.

[17] 2 Roger of Wendover, 23, a. 1084. “Having extorted large sums of money from all ranks where he could find any cause just or unjust, he crossed the sea into Normandy.”

[18] Chron. Sax. a. 1083.

[19] 1 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 303.

[20] Aside from the reimposed Danegeld, William derived an annual income of £20,000 from the royal lands, and an amount difficult of estimation from the feudal dues and incidents.

[21] 2 Flor. Wig. 35, a. 1094.

[22] § 11. Militibus qui per loricas terras suas defendunt, terras dominicarum carrucarum suarum quietas ab omnibus gildis, et omni opere, proprio dono meo concedo, ut sicut tam magno allevamine alleviati sint, ita se equis et armis bene instruant ad servitium meum et ad defensionem regni mei. Stubbs, Select Charters, 101. The translation of the Charter is in Adams and Stephens, Select Documents of English Constitutional History, 4-6.

[23] Ego enim, quando voluero, faciam ea satis summonere propter mea dominica necessaria ad voluntatem meam. Stubbs, Select Charters, 104.

[24] Cf. 1 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 429.

[25] 2 Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, 113, quoted by 1 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 429, note 3, as follows: “H. rex Anglorum R. episcopo, et Herberto camerario et Hugoni de Boehelanda, salutem. Sciatis quod clamo quietas V hidas abbatis Faricii de Abendona de eleemosyna de Wrtha, de omnibus rebus, et nominatim de isto auxilio quod barones mihi dederunt.”

[26] The Saxon Chronicle upon Henry’s taxes:

A. 1103. This was a year of much distress from the manifold taxes.

A. 1104. It is not easy to describe the misery of this land, which it suffered at this time through the various and manifold oppressions and taxes that never ceased or slackened.

A. 1105. This was a year of great distress from the failure of the fruits, and from the manifold taxes which never ceased.

A. 1110. This was a year of much distress from the taxes which the king raised for his daughter’s dowry.

A. 1118. England paid dearly for all this (i. e., the Norman war) by the manifold taxes which ceased not all this year.

A. 1124. Full heavy a year was this; he who had any property was bereaved of it by heavy taxes and assessments, and he who had none, starved with hunger.

From the edition of J. A. Giles.

[27] Chron. Sax. a. 1137.

[28] Henry of Huntingdon’s Chronicle, a. 1135. Trans. by Thomas Forester, 264.

[29] Henry II was the first king since Edward the Confessor in whose veins ran the blood of the Saxon monarchs, being the grandson of Matilda, wife of Henry I. Matilda was great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, the son of Ethelred the Unready.

[30] 1 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 500.

[31] Grim, V. S. Thomæ, 21, 22, in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 129.

[32] Bishop Stubbs (1 Const. Hist. Eng. 500) believes this struggle between Henry II and Becket to have been the deathblow to the levy of the Danegeld, which is not noted in the Pipe Rolls after 1163. J. H. Round [Feudal England, 497-502, in the paper “The Alleged Dispute on Danegeld (1163)”], effectually establishes his contention that the tax in question was not the Danegeld, but the “auxilium vicecomitis” or “Sheriff’s aid,” which was a customary, variable charge paid over locally to the sheriffs in payment for their services.

[33] Round, Feudal England, 501.

[34] Baldwin, Scutage and Knight Service in England, 12.

[35] 1 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 491.

[36] H. W. C. Davis, England under the Normans and Angevins, 205.

[37] Miss Kate Norgate, Angevin Kings, 432.

[38] 1 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 494.

[39] Baldwin, Scutage and Knight Service in England, 5.

[40] 2 Stubbs, ed. Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi Benedicti Abbatis, preface xcv-xcvii, cites other instances of scutage in this reign: 1161, for debts incurred in the Welsh war; 1172, for the expedition into Ireland; 1186, for the expedition into Galloway against the Irish prince, Ronald.

[41] Gervas, c. 1381, in Stubbs, Select Charters, 129: Hoc anno (1159) rex Henricus scutagium sive scutagium de Anglia accepit, cujus summa fuit centum millia et quater viginti millia librarum argenti.

[42] Liber Rubeus de Scaccario, Hubert Hall, editor, 6, 16-18.

[43] John of Salisbury, ep. 128, noted by 1 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 492, note 1.

[44] Round, Feudal England, 274.

[45] The Danegeld disappears from the Rolls in 1163. It persists, probably, however, as a “donum” or an “auxilium.” The “carucage” of Richard I is the Danegeld under another name.

[46] 2 Benedict, 278. Also in Stubbs, Select Charters, 153.

[47] 2 Benedict, 33.

[48] Beside the instances of taxation noted above, the following are noteworthy: 1168, a regular feudal aid, pur fille marier of one mark on the knight’s fee; 1173, exchequer officers held courts and exacted at the same time a tallage throughout the country.

[49] The three auxilia are: For the ransom of the king, for the marriage of the king’s eldest daughter, and for the knighting of his eldest son.

[50] Other scutages in this reign were: 1189, 10s. on the knight’s fee for a pretended expedition into Wales; 1195, 20s. on the knight’s fee from those who did not follow the king to Normandy; 1196, 20s. for the same reason. 1 Dowell, Taxation and Taxes, 41.

[51] 3 Rogeri de Hoveden, Chronica, W. Stubbs, ed, 209-225.

[52] This carucage appears in the Rolls under the year 1194. It was demanded at the Council of Nottingham.

[53] Rogeri de Hoveden, preface to vol. IV, lxxxii-lxxxvii.

[54] The mark was the equivalent of two-thirds of a pound.

[55] Carucage, a land-tax based upon the carucate, “the quantity of land that could be ploughed by one plough, caruca, full team of eight oxen in a season.” 1 Dowell, Taxation and Taxes, p. 35. Roger of Hoveden sets down the equivalent of the carucate as being 100 acres,—iv. 47.

[56] 3 Rogeri de Hovoden, 242.

[57] 1 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 548.

[58] 4 Rogeri de Hoveden, 40.

[59] The implication in Vita Magna S. Hugonis is to this effect. Vid. Round. Feudal England, 528 et seq.

[60] Vita Magna S. Hugonis, 248, in Stubbs, Select Charters, 255.

[61] Beside the instances of taxation cited above, Richard exacted from the tenants of the royal demesne a tax upon movables known as tallage. It was semi-feudal in nature, being taken from the dwellers on land held immediately of the king, and consequently the authority of the tax for the time was far beyond question, save as the turbulent elements in the urban populations might assume it as a pretext for a riot. Henry II levied this tax in 1168, 1173; Richard in 1189 and 1194, and probably upon other occasions. These are the only references to tallages in the Rolls of these two reigns. The term appears frequently in later records.

[62] 4 Rogeri de Hoveden, 107.

[63] 4 Rogeri de Hoveden, 188, 189.

[64] Miss Kate Norgate, John Lackland, 123, note 1, gives a corrected version of the list of scutages given in 1 Liber Rubeus de Scaccario, 10-12:

[65] See McKechnie, Magna Carta, 91-93.

[66] Miss Norgate, John Lackland, 122.

[67] Miss Norgate, John Lackland, 123-124.

[68] Ann. Waverl, a. 1207, 258. In Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 273.

[69] In 1204 John “took” a seventh of movables. 3 Rogeri de Wendover, 173.

[70] 3 Rogeri de Wendover, 210.

[71] In Stubbs, Select Charters, 283.

[72] 1 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 566.

[73] 3 Rogeri de Wendover, 262.

[74] The writ is in Stubbs, Select Charters, 287.

[75] 2 Memoriale Walteri de Coventria, 217. “Dicentes se propter terras quas in Anglia tenent non debere regem extra regnum sequi nec ipsum euntem scutagio juvare.”

[76] See McKechnie, Magna Carta, 144-150.

[77] Chapter 12. No scutage or aid shall be imposed in our kingdom, except by the common council of our kingdom, except for the ransoming of our body, for the making of our oldest son a knight, and for once marrying our oldest daughter, and for these purposes it shall be only a reasonable aid; in the same way it shall be done concerning the aids of the city of London. Adams and Stephens, Select Documents of Eng. Const. Hist. 44. Latin text, Stubbs, Select Charters, 298.

[78] Below, 66.

[79] 1 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 573.

[80] Taswell-Langmead, Eng. Const. Hist. 101.

[81] See McKechnie, Magna Carta, 274, 284, 291-301.

[82] “Tallage was a tax levied at a feudal lord’s arbitrary will upon more or less servile dependants, who had neither power nor right to refuse.” McKechnie, Magna Carta, 228.

[83] Chapter 14, “And for holding a common council of the kingdom concerning the assessment of an aid otherwise than in the three cases mentioned above, or concerning the assessment of a scutage, we shall cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons by our letters individually; and besides we shall cause to be summoned generally, by our sheriffs and bailiffs all those who hold from us in chief, for a certain day, that is at the end of forty days at least, and for a certain place; and in all the letters of that summons, we will express the cause of the summons, and when the summons has thus been given the business shall proceed on the appointed day, on the advice of those who shall be present, even if not all of those who were summoned have come.” Adams and Stephens, Select Documents, 44. The Latin text is in Stubbs, Select Charters, 299.

[84] Cap. 42 of this reissue of the Charter states the promise of the king to return to the matter of the levying of scutages and aids, when the occasion should be more propitious. McKechnie, Magna Carta, 168-169.

[85] Cap. 44. Scutagium decetero capiatur sicut capi consuevit tempore, regis Henrici avi nostri. McKechnie, Magna Carta, 585, where also is the text of the entire reissue.

[86] McKechnie, Magna Carta, 173-174.

[87] 1 Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum, 349.

[88] 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 30, note 1. He bases his belief on the fact that “the orders for the collecting this scutage were issued Feb. 22, the same day on which the writs for proclaiming the charters are dated,” and cites 1 Rot. Claus. 377. In the same note he records the following instances of taxation:

“June 7, 1217, the king mentions a carucage, hidage and aid, ‘quod de præcepto nostro assisum est.’ 1 Rot. Claus. 310.”

“Jan. 9, 1218, Henry mentions a carucage and hidage, ‘quod assisum fuit per consilium regni nostri.’ 1 Rot. Claus. 348.

“Jan. 17, Henry mentions a scutage of two marks on the fee, ‘quod exegimus,’ and

“Jan. 24, ‘scutagium de omnibus feodis militum quæ de nobis tenent in capite, quod ultima assisum fuit per commune consilium regni nostri.’ 1 Rot. Claus. 349.”

[89] McKechnie, Magna Carta, 181, quotes Matthew Paris, 3 Chron. Maj. 76, “Libertates quas petitis quia violenter extortæ fuerunt, non debent de jure observari.”

[90] 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 37-38, notes the following taxes:

1. Carucage of 2 shillings, taken at the coronation of 1220. Ann. Wavereley, quoted in Stubbs, Select Charters, 321, gives no hint of the authority for the levy save that the king “accepit” it. The writ (Sel. Chart. 351) states that it was granted by the Council.

2. Scutage of 10 shillings after the capture of Biham, granted by the Council, 1221. 1 Rot. Claus. 458.

3. Scutage of 2 marks for Welsh War, 1223.

4. Scutage of 2 marks for siege of Bedford.

5. Contribution to crusade 1223, assented to by Council. 1 Rot. Claus. 516.

[91] 2 Matt. Par., Hist. Angl. 268-269.

[92] Stubbs, Select Charters, 354. “Pro hac autem concessione et donatione libertatum istarum et aliarum libertatum contentarum in carta nostra de libertatibus forestæ, archiepiscopi, episcopi, abbates, priores, comites, barones, milites, libere tenentes et omnes de regno nostro, dederunt nobis quintam decimam partem omnium mobilium suorum.”

[93] 1 Matt. Par. 339.

[94] Instances of recent taxation are:

1. Scutages 1229, 1230, 1231, each for military expeditions. 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 42, note 3.

2. A tenth of all property 1229. Refused by the barons and paid by the clergy. 2 Matt. Par. Hist. Angl. 316.

3. Tallages 1227, 1230, 1234. 1 Dowell, Taxation and Taxes, 52.

4. A fortieth of movables, 14 Sept., 1232, 24,712 marks granted by the Council. 2 Matt. Par. Hist. Angl. 345.

5. Two marks on the knight’s fee on occasion of the marriage of the king’s sister, 1235, granted by the Commune Concilium. 1 Madox, Hist. Ex. 593.

[95] 2 Matt. Par. Hist. Angl. 393-394.

[96] The writ is in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 366.

[97] 1 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. by J. A. Giles, 397-404.

[98] 2 Matt. Par. Hist. Angl. 466.

[99] Matthew Paris is not clear as to the time of year. 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 62, note 3, fixes the date as between 9th Sept. and 18th Nov.

[100] 2 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. Giles, 7-9.

[101] 2 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. Giles, 11-12.

[102] The following taxes and refusals are variously cited:

1245. Grant of an aid of 20 shillings “ad filiam maritandam.” 1 Madox, Hist. Ex. 594.

1246. Scutage of three marks on the fee. 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 65, note 5, citing Pipe Roll of 1246.

1248. Noted above.

1249. Appointment of justiciar, chancellor, and treasurer demanded. Failure. 2 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. Giles, 308-309.

1252. The Pope held Henry to his promise of a Crusade made in 1250, and authorized him to exact a tenth of the revenues of the clergy for three years. The clergy delayed. Henry turned to the barons and asked for a scutage; the barons answered that their reply would depend upon the prelates. 2 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. Giles, 518-527.

1253. Debate on the above. At last Henry obtained his tenth from the clergy and an aid of 3 marks from the tenants-in-chief for the knighting of his son. The condition was the confirmation of the Charters, and a great oath for his faithful observance of them. 3 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. Giles, 22-24.

[103] 2 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. Giles, 254-257, 266-267.

[104] 2 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. Giles, 287.

[105] One of the royal writs ran thus:

“Rex Vicecomiti Bedeford, et Bukingeham., salutem.... Tibi districte præcipimus, quod præter omnes prædictos venire facias coram consilio nostro apud Westmonasterium in quindena Paschæ proximo futuri, quatuor legales et discretos milites de comitatibus prædictis quos iidem comitatus ad hoc elgerint, vice omnium et singulorum eorundem comitatuum, videlicet duos de uno comitatu et duos de alio, ad providendum, una cum militibus aliorum comitatuum quos ad eundem diem vocari fecimus, quale auxilium nobis in tanta necessitate impendere voluerint. Et tu ipse militibus et aliis de comitatibus prædictis necessitatem nostram et tam urgens negotium nostrum diligenter exponas, et eos ad competens auxilium nobis ad præsens impendendum efficaciter inducas; ita quod prædicti quatuor milites præfato consilio nostro ad prædictum terminum præcise respondere possint super prædicto auxilio pro singulis comitatuum prædictorum.” Stubbs, Select Charters, 376. Translation in Adams and Stephens, Select Documents, 55.

[106] 3 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. Giles, 75.

[107] “To a general assembly of the barons at London in 1246, the name of Parliament, which had previously been indiscriminately ascribed to assemblies of various kinds, is for the first time given by a contemporary chronicler, Matthew Paris. Henceforth it became specially though not exclusively, the appellation of the National Council.” Taswell-Langmead, Eng. Const. Hist. 187.

[108] 3 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. Giles, 119.

[109] 3 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. Giles, 141-142.

[110] Cf. 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 70-73, and references there cited.

[111] 3 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. Giles, 267-268, 271-272.

[112] 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 76-80; Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 378 ff.; Taswell-Langmead, Eng. Const. Hist. 188-189; 3 Matt. Par. Chron. Maj. trans. Giles, 285-288.

[113] Stubbs, Select Charters, 382-387, especially caps. 22, 23.

[114] 1 Rymer, Foedera, part 2, 62.

[115] Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 405.

[116] Louis’s award was the so-called “Mise of Amiens.” Given in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 406. 1 Rymer, Foedera, part 2 83.

[117] Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 334; Chron. Rishanger, Camden Society, 37.

[118] 1 Rymer, Foedera, part 2, 88-89.

[119] This Parliament and the scheme of government which was drawn up at the session is the subject of considerable dispute. See 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 93-95; and Medley, Eng. Const. Hist. 133-134. The scheme itself is given in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 412 ff, and in 1 Rymer, Foedera, part 2, 89.

[120] The writ is in part as follows: “Item mandatum est singulis vicecomitibus per Angliam quod venire faciant duos milites de legalibus, probioribus, et discretioribus militibus singulorum comitatuum ad regem Londoniis in octavis prædictis in forma supradicta.

“Item in forma prædicta scribitur civibus Eboraci, civibus Lincolniæ, et ceteris burgis Angliæ, quod mittant in forma prædicta duos de discretioribus, legalioribus et probioribus tam civibus quam burgensibus.

“Item in forma prædicta mandatum est baronibus et probis hominibus Quinque Portuum....” Stubbs, Sel. Charters, 415; 1 Rymer, Foedera, part 2, 93.

[121] For a fuller discussion of this rather iconoclastic view of Simon de Montfort, see Medley, Eng. Const. Hist. 134.

[122] T. Wykes, Chron. a. 1269, 226-227, in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 337.

[123] Ann. Winton. a. 1273, 113; Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 429.

[124] Ann. Winton. a. 1275, 119; Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 430.

[125] Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 450.

[126] “... archiepiscopi, episcopi, et alii prælati regni Angliæ ac comites, barones, et nos (William, Earl of Pembroke) et communitate ejusdem regni ad instantiam et rogatum mercatorum pluribus de causis unanimiter concesserimus magnifico principi et domino nostro carissimo domino Edwardo Dei gratia regi Angliæ illustri, pro nobis et hæredibus nostris, dimidiam marcam de quolibet sacco lanæ et dimidiam marcam pro singulis trescentis pellibus lanutis quæ faciunt unum saccum, et unam marcam de quolibet lesta coriorum, exeuntibus regnum Angliæ....” Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 451; Adams and Stephens, Sel. Doc. 69, translation.

[127] See 1 Hubert Hall, Customs Revenue of England, 65-68; 2, 117-118; Medley, Eng. Const. Hist. 517-518.

[128] Wool, hides and leather formed the bulk of the early exports from England. Wine was the principal import. It was on these articles of merchandise, and such others as the merchants brought in and took out, that duties had been charged since early times. The taxes had become customary and were spoken of as “consuetudines,” or customs. The basis for the exaction was the understanding that the merchants, most of them foreigners, should be given protection by the king. The early prisage on wine amounted to one cask from every cargo of from ten to twenty casks, arriving at a port of England. From ships carrying more than twenty casks, two casks were exacted. Sometimes the duty instead of being made in wine was compounded for in money. The amount of the export tax on wool in the beginning is not known. In merchandise of other sorts, the payment amounted to a tenth or a fifteenth of the value of the goods.

Magna Carta abolished illegal exactions on goods retaining only the “ancient and lawful customs” above mentioned. Taxable commodities were wine, wool, and general merchandise. In many instances, in spite of the prohibitions in the Charter, the customs amounted to confiscation. Until the time of Edward I there was unending irregularity in the management of the customs. Merchant strangers, by Cap. 41 of the Great Charter were to have “safe and secure exit from England, and entry to England ... buying and selling by the ancient and right customs, quit from all evil Tolls.”

[129] “Edwardus Dei Gratia Rex Angliæ dominus Hiberniæ et dux Aquitanniæ vicecomiti Kanciæ salutem. Cum prælatis et magnatibus regni nostri mandaverimus ut ipsi parliamento nostro, quod apud Westmonasterium in quindena Sancti Michælis proxime futura tenebimus. Domino concedenti intersint ad tractandum nobiscum tam super statum regni nostri quam super quibusdam negotiis nostris quæ eis exponemus ibidem, et expediens sit quod duo milites de comitatu prædicto de discretioribus et legalioribus militibus ejusdem comitatus intersint eidem parliamento, ex causis prædictis tibi præcipimus quod in pleno comitatu tuo de assensu ejusdem comitatus eligi facias dictos duos militis et eos ad nos usque Westmonasterium pro communitate dicti comitatus venire facias ad dictum diem ad tractandum nobiscum et cum prædictis prælatis et magnatibus super negotiis prædictis. Et hoc non omittas....” 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 234, note 5.

[130] 1 Rotuli Parliamentorum, 224.

[131] Ann. T. Wykes, 274; Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 431.

[132] The statute of Gloucester, passed in 1278, provided for the regulation of territorial franchises. In accordance with it, the itinerant justices were to inquire by what warrant certain franchises were held, and the writ “quo warranto” was issued in each case. Stubbs, 2 Const. Hist. Eng. 114-115.

[133] Writ for distraint of knighthood. 1 Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 457.

[134] Letter of credence for a royal commissioner to raise an aid. Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 464.

[135] Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 465-468.

[136] Ann. Dunst. 294, in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 433.

[137] Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 460.

[138] 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 124, and authorities there cited.

[139] Cont. Flor. Wig. 235. The scutage was for forty shillings on the knights fee.

[140] Ann. Osney, 316, in Stubbs, Sel. Chart.. 434-435.

[141] 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 545.

[142] “.... magnates et proceres tunc in parliamento existentes, pro se et communitate totius regni quantum in ipsis est, concesserunt domino regi....” etc. Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 477; 1 Rot. Parl. 25.

[143] The boroughs and city of London paid this tax, though they were without special representation. The writ of summons is in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 477.

[144] Ann. Osney, 326, and Ann. Dunst. 362, in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 435.

[145] Cont. Flor. Wig. 243.

[146] 1 Rymer, Foedera, part 3, 80-81; Cont. Flor. Wig. 264.

[147] Cont. Flor. Wig. 266.

[148] Matth. Westmon. Flores, 421.

[149] So Bishop Stubbs conjectures, 2 Const. Hist. Eng. 131.

[150] Barth. Cotton, De Rege Edwardo I, 246.

[151] 2 Walt. de Hemingb. 53-54.

[152] 2 Walt. de Hemingb. 55-57.

[153] Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 479-482.

[154] Barth. Cotton, 254 et. seq.; 2 Walt. de Hemingb. 57.

[155] The character of this tax, indeed its very existence, is questioned. Matthew of Westminster (422), mentions a tax on the towns of “the sixth penny.” It may have been either a tallage or a tax by special negotiation, or it may have been granted by the shire representatives on the theory that the towns were included within their shires, though this is most unlikely. See Taswell-Langmead, Eng. Const. Hist. 199; 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 132; Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 480, 483-484.

[156] Stubbs. Sel. Chart. 482.

[157] “Sicut lex justissima, provida circumspectione sacrorum principum stabilita, hortatur et statuit ut quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbetur, sic et nimis evidenter ut communibus periculis per remedia provisa communiter obvietur.... Præmunientes priorem et capitulum ecclesiæ vestræ, archidiacones, totumque clerum vestræ diocesis, facientes quod iidem prior et archidiaconi in propriis personis suis, et dictum capitulum per unum, idemque clerus per duos procuratores idoneos, plenam et sufficientem potestatem ab ipsis capitulo et clero habentes ... ad tractandum, ordinandum et faciendum....” Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 484. Translation in Adams and Stephens, Sel. Doc. 82.

[158] The phrase occurs in the codes of Justinian. Cod. V, lix, 5; Taswell-Langmead, Eng. Const. Hist. 200, note 1.

[159] Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 485. Translation Adams and Stephens, Sel. Doc. 83.

[160] “... Tibi præcipimus firmiter injungentes quod de comitatu prædicto duos milites et de qualibet civitate ejusdem comitatus duos cives, et de quolibet burgo duos burgenses, de discretioribus et ad laboradum potentioribus, sine dilatione eligi, et eos ad nos ad prædictos diem et locum venire facias: ita quod dicti milites plenam et sufficientem potestatem pro se et communitate comitatus prædicti, et dicti cives et burgenses pro se et communitate civitatum et burgorum prædictorum divisim ab ipsis tunc ibidem habeant, ad faciendum quod tunc de communi consilio ordinabitur in præmissis; ita quod pro defectu hujusmodi potestatis negotium prædictum infectum non remaneant quoquo modo.” Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 486. Translation Adams and Stephens, Sel. Doc. 83.

[161] In the fourteenth century the clergy ceased to act in Parliament. They preferred to make their grants in separate convocations, and continued to do so until 1664 when they were merged with the other two estates. From the reign of Henry VIII, the grants of the clergy were subject to parliamentary confirmation. Taswell-Langmead, Eng. Const. Hist. 201-202.

[162] Barth. Cotton, 299.

[163] Barth. Cotton, 299.

[164] The bull “Clericis laicos,” published 24th February, 1296, by Boniface VIII, was levelled at the taxation of the clergy by temporal powers; it prohibited the clergy from paying and the secular powers from receiving contributions by way of taxes, under pain of excommunication. The bull is given in 1 Rymer, Foedera, part 3, p. 156, and in Adams and Stephens, Sel. Doc. 84, in translation.

[165] Barth. Cotton. 315, 317-319.

[166] Walt. de Hemingb., 121.

[167] Matt. Westm., 430, in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 441.

[168] 1 Rymer, Foedera, part 3, 179.

[169] 2 Walt, de Hemingb., 121, 122.

[170] Matt. Westm., 430, in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 441. The restitution of Winchelsey’s baronies occurred after this scene 19th July, according to Chron. Cant. Ang. Sac. noted in 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 141.

[171] Matt. Westm., 430, in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 441, 442.

[172] Barth. Cotton, 338; 1 Rot. Parl. 239.

[173] Barth. Cotton, 334.

[174] W. Rishanger, Chron. 175, in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 442, 443.

[175] Matt. Westm., 430; W. Rishanger, 178. Both in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 444.

[176] 1 Rymer, Foedera, part 3, 189.

[177] Barth. Cotton, 336.

[178] 1 Rymer, Foedera, part 3, 190.

[179] 2 Walt. de Hemingb. 147, 148.

[180] 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 147.

[181] “Clericis laicos,” it will be remembered, prohibited compliance by the clergy with demands by the crown for taxation. It is evident that a gift by the clergy for the defense of the realm, provided it be not a compliant, but an initial act, was not a contravention of the bull.

[182] Barth. Cotton, 339.

[183] “5. And for so much as divers people of our realm are in fear that the aids and tasks which they have given to us beforetime towards our wars and other business, of their own grant and good will, howsoever they were made, might turn to be a bondage to them and their heirs, because they might be at another time found in the rolls, and so likewise the prises taken throughout the realm by our ministers in our name; we have granted for us and our heirs, that we shall not draw such aids, tasks, nor prises into a custom, for anything that hath been done heretofore, or that may be found by roll or in any other manner.” Adams and Stephens, Sel. Doc. 87. Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 495 (French text) and 496 (translation). Original in 2 Walt. de Hemingb. 149.

[184] “6. Moreover we have granted for us and our heirs as well to archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, and other folk of holy Church, as also to earls, barons, and to all the commonalty of the land, that for no business from henceforth we shall take of our realm such manner of aids, tasks, nor prises, but by the common assent of all the realm, and for the common profit thereof, saving the ancient aids and prises due and accustomed.

“And for so much as the mere part of the commonalty of the realm find themselves sore grieved with the maletolt of wools, that is to wit, a toll of forty shillings for every sack of wool, and have made petition to us to release the same; we at their requests have clearly released it, and have granted that we will not take such thing nor any other without their common assent and good will; saving to us and our heirs the custom of wools, skins, and leather, granted before by the commonalty aforesaid. In witness of which things we have caused these our letters to be made patents.” Adams and Stephens, Sel. Doc. 87; Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 495 (French text), and 496 (translation).

[185] 2 Walt. de Hemingb. 152, 153.

[186] The statute is in Adams and Stephens, Sel. Doc. 88, translated. The Latin text is in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 497, 498.

[187] In this connection see McKechnie, Magna Carta, 281; 2 Stubbs, Const. Hist. Eng. 148-150, and Sel. Chart. 497; Medley, Eng. Const. Hist. 507, 508.

[188] Patent Rolls, 24th Oct., 1301, in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 446.