TAXES AND CONTRIBUTIONS. 159 



were pleased with the battle of Homildon Hill), by the grant of 

 50^. on the sack of wool and bale of 240 woolfells to be paid by 

 denizen exporters, and iocs, on every last of hides, these sums 

 being raised in the case of aliens to 6os. and io6s. 8d. for three 

 years from Michaelmas immediately ensuing. They raised 

 the customs duties also from two to three shillings the tun of 

 wine, with a shilling on the pound on exports and imports, and 

 gave another fifteenth and tenth, but with a protest that these 

 grants should not be drawn into a precedent. These grants 

 were made on Nov. 24, and the Parliament was dissolved the 

 next day. 



On Jan. 14, 1404, Parliament was again summoned, and 

 their assistance requested by the Chancellor Henry Beaufort, 

 Bishop of Lincoln, and the king's brother, in consideration of 

 the rebellion of Henry Percy and the defeat of the rebels at 

 Shrewsbury. But no grant appears on the Rolls. On the 

 contrary, the Commons urge a reformation of the royal house- 

 hold, and particularly the removal of four persons, whom they 

 name, from residence in the king's company or neighbourhood. 



Another Parliament was summoned in the same year to 

 Coventry on Oct. 6, when Beaufort again stated the cause of 

 the summons. Coventry was a city always devoted to the 

 House of Lancaster. Here the Commons granted two fifteenths 

 and two tenths, the first two to be levied at Christmas, the 

 other two by moieties at Midsummer and St. Matthew's Day in 

 the following year. They reduce the tax on wool from 50^. to 

 435. 4d., and from 6os. to 53.$-. 4^., in the two cases of denizens 

 and aliens. But they retain the customs on exports and im- 

 ports granted in 1402. 



In 1406, on March i, another Parliament meets in London, 

 in which Thomas Longley, Lord Chancellor, addressed the 

 Lords and Commons, and obtained another fifteenth and tenth, 

 and the same taxes as were granted before, on the day after 

 the House met. On this occasion the five per cent, on im- 

 ports and exports, the wine duty, and a quarter of the wool 

 and hides duties were appropriated to the guard of the sea. 



