TAXES AND CONTRIBUTIONS. l6l 



and another fifteenth and tenth. On the i6th March following, 

 they accelerate the payment of these property taxes, and on 

 Dec. 19, 1416, grant two entire fifteenths, and two entire tenths, 

 securing prompt payment by careful precautions. They make 

 a similar tax on Dec 7, 1417. A fifteenth and a third, a tenth 

 and a third are given on Nov. 3, 1419, a fifteenth and a tenth on 

 Dec. i, 1421. These are the taxes by the aid of which Henry 

 prepared for and achieved his conquest of France. 



On the accession of Henry VI, the Commons granted 33^. 4^. 

 a sack on all wool and every bundle of 240 woolfells shipped by 

 English merchants, 53 s. ^d. for similar quantities shipped by 

 aliens, and tunnage of 3^. on wine, and five per cent, on other 

 articles. But the taxes were granted for one year only. These 

 taxes were renewed in 1423, with a provision that if such mer- 

 chandise were lost by the capture of the enemy, the exportation 

 of the same amount should be free of tax. The question 

 whether these grants were continuous or not was raised in the 

 Parliament of 1425, and affirmed. But the grant was renewed. 



On Dec. 8, 1427, the Commons granted the king power to 

 make advances to the amount of 24,000 to the Earl of 

 Salisbury, on the security of the customs of subsidies and grants 

 made or to be made to the Crown, renewed the five per cent, 

 tax, exempted English merchants from the import duty on 

 wool, 6cc., and levied a property tax of 6j. 8d. on all goods in 

 any parish of ten inhabitants, where such inhabitants have 

 goods under the value of 6 i$s. 4^., and where the value of 

 goods exceeds 6135-. 4^., \$s.4 t d. The inhabitants of cities 

 and boroughs are to pay two shillings in the pound on their 

 goods if they exceed twenty shillings in value. The taxes on 

 knights" fees are to be only 6s. %d. and so proportionately to 

 portions of such fees, it being an understanding that the lords 

 spiritual and temporal will grant a whole tenth to the king from 

 their temporal possessions. These taxes appear to be an 

 attempt to introduce a new impost in the place of the old 

 valuation, and are singular because they suggest that, on this 



E'on at least, the Commons hesitated to impose a sub- 

 IV. M 



