then proceeds to show that in Henry's famous expedition against Toulouse, the permission was extended to all inferior tenants in chief, and to almost all the subvassals who held by knight service. It was afterwards taken in like manner, not only for wars beyond the sea, but against Wales or Scotland: neither was it denied to the greater vassals of the crown, (as it had been at first,) unless by their summons they were expressly commanded to follow the King in person, or held some office by grand sargeantry, which required their attendance."

Thus was the whole constitution of a feudal army altered, and the greatest possible innovation effected in the system itself. Monarchs, as we shall see hereafter, soon learned to depend as much or more upon mercenary aid than upon the support of their feudal followers; and the great military tie was severed which bound the Sovereign and his Barons together. This change, however, greatly increased the revenues of the sovereign; and having here mentioned one of the sources which supplied money to carry on the various great enterprises of which I shall have to speak hereafter, I may as well notice some other branches of revenue in feudal times, that I may not have to interrupt the course of the narrative for the purpose of explanation hereafter.

The permanent sources of revenue varied very much in different reigns, some monarchs claiming what other sovereigns renounced; but we find that

the rents of the crown lands, which at first were paid in kind, were put upon another footing by Henry I.; and after some shameful exactions committed by his officers, were equitably settled on a pecuniary estimation. During a long period, a considerable revenue was derived from the shameful custom of selling the hands of heiresses and the ward of minors to the best bidders. Sometimes it would seem that an heiress ventured to select a husband for herself; but she had no chance of uniting her fate to his unless the price he could give was equal to that offered by another competitor, or that she herself purchased out of her inheritance the right of choice. Wealthy widows were also a subject of traffic with our Norman kings; and the ward of heirs, which conveyed the proceeds of their estates to the guardians during their minority, was another great source of revenue. The pretence upon which these exactions were founded, was, that the lord might not lose the advantages of his vassal's service either by the minority or sex of the heir. The claim thus established was magnified and extended by the ingenuity of feudal lawyers; but the real object was the profit accruing to the Sovereign and to his Barons.

Henry I., in his memorable charter, promised a reform of many abuses which had taken place in consequence of the law regarding the marriages of daughters; but we find the absolute sale of the hand of heiresses going on at a much later period.

The dues called reliefs formed another constant income. These were paid by the vassal to his lord on taking possession of his fief; and the relief, which actually means "the taking up" of a knight's fee, was fixed by William the Conqueror at one hundred shillings, a very considerable sum at the period of which we speak. The relief of a barony was supposed to be fixed by the number of knights' fees it contained; but was left vague, and was often oppressive.

Besides these sources of revenue, there were aids, some of which were appointed on certain defined occasions, as when the monarch made his eldest son a knight, or on the marriage of his eldest daughter, or on his falling into captivity. But aids or benevolences were called for on many other occasions; and would have been even more oppressive than they proved, had not the Barons and Clergy claimed the right of fixing the amount, and the manner of levying the tax. Customs and dues on bridges, fairs, imports and exports, also increased the royal finances, as did also various fines upon the granting or renewing of privileges to towns, guilds, and even individuals. Talliage, and various taxes upon certain classes of the people, and danegeld and other dues levied upon land, might be enumerated; but it would occupy too much time to enter into all the particulars of the royal revenue, some of which offer very obscure and difficult points. We must not fail to add, however, that the sale of public jus

tice upon a large and small scale, and the pecuniary amercements which the Norman law assigned to almost all offences, contributed greatly to the wealth of the sovereign.

These sources of income, and several others which are here omitted, placed vast riches at the disposal of any monarch of England who managed his expences reasonably; and at the period of the birth of Richard I. the sovereign might thence derive immense power. The ease with which mercenary troops of tried courage and skill were to be procured, the custom of employing them on various occasions without offence, the right established by kings of summoning such nobles as they pleased to accompany them in their warfare, and to permit others to compound for personal service by the payment of scutage, the differences and divisions which always existed between the Barons themselves, and the gradual tendency of the times to carry every cause into the King's court, had all contributed to counteract the dangerous power which the Norman leaders had acquired after the conquest. At the same time the growth of large towns, the immunities daily conceded to citizens, the increase of commerce, and the gradual enfranchisement of the servile population, was one of the chief causes of the augmentation of the royal authority, when considered in opposition to that of the nobles.

It may be needful here to say a few words in regard to the state of the towns and their inha

bitants, who have been looked upon by some writers as little better than serfs or villeins. Such, however, was not at all the case in England, and I cannot discover that it ever was the case. That the people of cities were talliable, does not at all prove that their state approached that of villeinage. All the demesne land of the crown was talliable; and the citizens of the boroughs held apparently as much in free soccage as any other tenants of the crown. No other land I believe was talliable, but land that either was actually, or once had been demesne; for though many towns were talliated by inferior lords, yet I suspect an investigation into the tenures would show that they had been demesne of the crown, and were granted with the right of talliage to the lords who held them. The great and increasing prosperity of the towns, likewise shows that no very oppressive jurisdiction was exercised over them; and that the freedom of the citizens themselves was well secured, we may infer from the fact that a lord lost all power over a serf who could prove that he had remained a year and a day unmolested in a free borough, so as to be received into a guild or corporation.

*

* Lord Lyttleton says, "Upon the whole, the condition of the citizens and burgesses holding of the crown in those days was never worse, and often better by divers privileges and favours granted to them, than that of all its other tenants in ancient demesne, who held by free soccage; and the same may be affirmed of those who belonged to private lords."