1 62, TAXES' AND CONTRIBUTIONS. 



people for its continuous popularity, and which is, by its 

 very constitution, in perpetual opposition to other social 

 forces, any forgetfulness of the conditions on which its repu- 

 tation is founded is sure to be followed by disaffection to 

 its teaching or its power, and in the end to be fatal to its 

 influence, perhaps destructive to its existence. Between the 

 last half of the thirteenth and the last half of the fourteenth 

 centuries the great churchmen were the true statesmen of 

 the age; in the last half of the fourteenth they began to be, 

 as with few exceptions they continued to be till the Refor- 

 mation, the timid and obsequious servants of the courts of 

 Edward and Richard. And thus, when the crown was be- 

 coming powerless during the usurpation of Henry the Fourth, 

 and, after the premature death of his son, during the per- 

 petual minority of Henry the Sixth, they were the mere scions 

 of noble houses, who had no hold on the nation. In the 

 meantime Wiklif denounced them, and the people despised 

 them, and Pecock defended them ; and they who, two hundred 

 years before, were the real guides and leaders of the nation, 

 became puppets during the factious wars of the rival houses 

 of Lancaster and York. 



There were certain taxes to which the tenants of ecclesi- 

 astical fees were liable in the Middle Ages, the incidence of 

 which was occasional, but exceedingly onerous. These were 

 the payments to the pope's agents, to the cardinals visiting 

 England, and to the pope's nuncios. 



There is only one instance in the accounts tabulated in 

 the second volume in which a payment is made to the pope. 

 This is a tithe paid from Gamlingay (p. 561. ii.) for six years. 

 I have not been able to trace the circumstances under which 

 this very considerable impost was levied. The taxes, how- 

 ever, paid for the support of cardinals, foreign bishops, and 

 nuncios are frequent and onerous. The rate is, as before, 

 some per-centage on the amount of tithe, and the proportion 

 is generally given. The last of these payments which the 

 accounts specify is made in 1375. 



