82 OAT THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN ENGLAND, 



dead, but his widow was still in Henry the Seventh's power, 

 and was affianced, some circumstances cxcepted, to the king's 

 surviving son. At this time (1503) Henry bethought himself 

 of the two feudal aids which a sovereign might claim, those 

 namely on the knighting of his eldest son and the marriage 

 of his eldest daughter. There had been no opportunity of 

 making these claims for a century and a half, for no English 

 king had a son who might be fairly supposed to have reached 

 the age of knighthood since Edward the Third ; and Henry 

 the Fourth, whose son had been knighted by Richard the 

 Second, was not likely to make a claim on his baronage for his 

 eldest daughter's marriage with the Duke of Bavaria. 



Henry the Seventh, who missed no chance of getting money, 

 claimed in 1503 the two aids which were assured to the 

 crown by the Great Charter, but which had become almost, if 

 not entirely, obsolete. He informed his parliament that he 

 estimated the aids at 40,000. He states that he is willing 

 to remit 10,000, on the ground that the exaction would press 

 heavily on the poor. But the tax was to be paid by all persons 

 who had above twenty shillings a year in 'free charter lands,' 

 or above twenty-six shillings and eightpence in lands 'held 

 by will/ The latter is afterwards explained to mean copy- 

 hold 1 tenures. Cattle used for the plough, stock and imple- 

 ments for household use are excluded, but farm produce, corn 

 harvested, and stock-in-trade are declared rateable. A number 

 of commissioners are employed to assess the charge, and as 

 will be seen, are paid for their trouble, as are also the collectors, 

 the charges of assessment and collection being a little under 

 two per cent, on the whole. Henry it seems took care to 

 make his commissioners (who are some of the most consider- 

 able gentry in the counties) leave a margin, for the actual sum 

 realised, after all costs are deducted, is a little over 31,000. 

 The information however is exceedingly instructive, for the 



1 Nothing better illustrates the fact that these aids were the revival of what had 

 become obsolete and nearly forgotten, than Henry's claim to include copyholds, g< ods, 

 and stock in trade among the rateable elements of an aid. 



