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CHAPTER V.

FROM THE MEDIEVAL TO THE MODERN

WORLD.

(From Edward I. to the Tudors.)

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AND THE TOWNS.-THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY.

1. The Hundred Rolls date from Edward I. Towards the close of his reign William the Conqueror made that survey of his new dominions which is known by the name of Domesday. It has furnished, as we saw, information on the economic arrangements of the time and the nature of the manorial system. Two centuries later Edward I. ordered another 1274 inquiry, the surviving records of which supply some material for comparing the two periods, and noting the advance achieved. The Hundred Rolls are found in complete form for seven counties alone, while from the more comprehensive Domesday Survey the returns for a smaller number of counties are absent. But in its limited sphere the information of 1274 is more detailed than that of 1086. The object of the later inquiry was slightly different from that of the earlier, and the difference is significant of the economic policy of Edward. He wished to ascertain the exact nature

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and precise extent of the royal possessions, and to discover the excesses or shortcomings of the officers whose business it was to manage the property, fulfil the duties and maintain the rights of the Crown. The manors, which belonged then or before that time to the King, the tenants-in-chief holding directly from him, and the loss caused by grants of subordinate tenures, or subinfeudation" (as it was called), the free socmen on the royal demesne, the fee-farm-rents or ferms paid by boroughs and hundreds and shires, and the injury arising from their surrender or bestowal on others, the different claims and concessions made and allowed of royal rights and privileges, like the "assize" of bread or ale-all these particulars were recorded, together with the failings of officials in accepting bribes, in passing by misdeeds, in allowing castles or manors to fall out of repair, in extorting more than was properly due, in neglecting what was rightly forfeit.

2. They show the character of his economic policy.

The combination of a diligent regard for the privileges and property of the Crown with an active interest in the common welfare of his subjects, and a firm, prudent resolve to protect himself and them from the excesses and defects of royal officials, which is shown by the character of the information gained in the Hundred

Rolls, supplies the keynote of the policy of 1272-1307 Edward. It was thus that his reign opened

a new economic epoch. The nation as a whole took the place in his eyes which the town, or the gild in the town, had occupied before. National considerations had not been absent from the purposes and acts of earlier sovereigns, but on the whole they had

been fitfully pursued, and the nation itself was being formed. The altered conditions of the times permitted and required a change. The growing existence of Parliament was a sign, which could not be mistaken, that the period of "national formation" was closing, and with such assistance, Edward I. sought in economic affairs to substitute national interests for those local and sectional aims which had prevailed before.

3. This policy was followed by Edward III., but was afterwards reversed.

It is true that this policy consisted not so much in introducing a new as in copying in a bolder hand an approved pattern, and in extending to the wider area of the whole country regulations which had applied within the narrower circle of gild or town. It is true also that the policy did not prove to be lasting, and that, after an interval, the jealous opposition of disturbed privilege, entrenched once more against intrusion, baffled where it did not overcome more generous intentions. The catholic spirit animating Edward I. and

Edward III. was exchanged for the shift- 1327-1377 ing attitude of Richard II. in the earlier 1377-1399 portion of his reign, and in the later the

recovery of exclusive rights checked the further spread of liberal tendencies. In this reign we may trace the beginnings, not yet very distinct, of a new national policy. It was conceived in a different vein. It was the "Mercantile System," as it was afterwards called. Under the Tudors it reached conspicuous

prominence. In the century between the 1485-1603 struggle of the Houses of Lancaster and

York was the cause of much bloodshed in the Wars of the Roses, which disturbed the country during a score

or so of years. seems to have domestic peace

Yet that fierce, obstinate struggle interfered more seriously with the and the political power of the nobles than with the business transactions and industrial

affairs of the people. The goal of the mercantile system was national advantage; the particular object sought was the maintenance and increase of power and not the provision of plenty. The interests of the consumer, which had apparently exerted an important influence on the policy of Edward I. and his grandson, were placed below the interests of the producer; and the older conception was revived, four centuries later, in the ideas of freedom of trade. National power was insured by the development of shipping, the increase of treasure, and the growth of population. Such are the ideas which can be discerned beneath the surface before they gained open recognition.

4. The land laws of Edward I. combined a regard for the public interest with attention to that of the Crown.

Edward I. united a regard for national interests with a jealous custody of the rights and possessions of the Crown. This watchful keenness was shown in the 1279 legislation upon land passed in his reign. The

Statute of Mortmain checked its transfer to 1290 religious houses. The statute known by its opening words as "Quia Emptores" stopped the practice of "subinfeudation." It provided that in cases of sale the purchaser should be subject to the same feudal superior as the seller had been. In both statutes the object in view was the protection of feudal superiors, and among them the Crown, from the loss of their rights; for a nominal alienation to

ecclesiastical body, or to private individual, might be used to cover re-instatement of the original possessors, freed from their feudal obligations. By an irony of fate the statute of "Quia Emptores" encouraged that transfer of land which was certainly not intended, for it was now permitted, if only the condition was satisfied, that the rights of the feudal superior were protected. Thus a process, which preserved the interests of the Crown, did not fail to advance the position of its humbler subjects, to whom land might now be freely and securely granted.

5. This combination of objects was shown in the raising of the revenue.

The substitution of regular customs for irregular rights of prise may be traced to the desire of the King and his Parliament to protect themselves alike from defects and extortions of royal officials.* The "ancient custom" on wool and leather exported, which was paid by all, and the "new custom" taken in addition from foreigners on imports and exports of wool and other merchandise, were fixed in amount, and were collected in the ports, to which the trade was of necessity confined, by "customers," to whom belonged the duty of preventing smuggling. Special" subsidies" were also voted by Parliament on particular occasions, and these sometimes took the form of tunnage on every tun of wine, and poundage on every pound of merchandise. They were taken from English subjects and foreigners alike. The taxes on movables, introduced by Henry II., which had become a regular mode of raising revenue, in the form of a certain proportion-a tenth on the towns and a fifteenth on the

* Cf. Hall, "The Customs Revenue of England," vol. ii., chaps. v.-vii., and also Dowell, "History of Taxation."

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