158 TAXES AND CONTRIBUTIONS. 



king should live of his own, and not trouble his subjects with 

 demands in Parliament for extraordinary grants. 



Chief Justice Thirning, who declared the cause for which 

 Parliament was summoned on Jan. 20, 1401, justified an appeal 

 to the Commons on the ground of the rebellion in North Wales, 

 the troubles on the Scotch borders, and the misconduct of 

 certain English nobles. The king had incurred considerable 

 debts in anticipation of a parliamentary aid, and therefore 

 candidly informed his subjects of the necessity he was under in 

 appealing to them. He was further bound to restore to the 

 young queen of Richard II (the late king had recently died) her 

 jewels and dowry, and to provide at serious cost for her 

 passage to France. Great expenses were incurred also for 

 guarding Calais, and the castles near it, and the French king 

 has latterly made his eldest son Duke of Guienne, an ancient 

 possession of the English Crown, and thereupon has provoked 

 war. Thirning hopes therefore that Parliament will provide 

 for the safety of the king and the whole realm. 



I have given this sketch of Thirning's speech as an illustra- 

 tion of the fact that extraordinary emergencies were the only 

 ground on which applications to Parliament for exceptional 

 help could be entertained. The Commons reply by the grant 

 of a fifteenth and a tenth in the customary manner, by which is 

 meant on the old assessment. The customs on wine, wool, 

 woolfells and hides are given on export and import, and a 

 similar custom on imported grain. It appears from the grant 

 that the two vills of Baledessy and Alderton near Gosford are, 

 and had been since the conquest of Calais, charged with the 

 duty of victualling that fortress, and these towns are to be 

 allowed to draw on the grant for the purpose of carrying out 

 their duties. Frauds on the revenue are to be punished by 

 doubling the charges. 



The same or nearly the same pleas were put forward in the 

 Parliament of 1402, summoned on the last day of September 

 by the Lord Chancellor, Edmund Stafford, Bishop of Exeter. 

 The Commons responded, it seems reluctantly (though they 



