1 62 TAXES AND CONTRIBUTIONS. 



stantial tax on the lands of the nobility and the lay estates 

 of the hierarchy. 



On Dec. 12, 1429, the Commons granted a fifteenth and 

 tenth, the old taxes on imports and exports ; and later on, the 

 subsidy on wool and woolfells for two years. It was in this 

 Parliament that the franchise in the counties was limited 

 to forty-shilling freeholders. On March 20, 1431, another 

 fifteenth and tenth is granted, and a third more of each, the 

 subsidies and taxes on wool and imports are renewed, and 

 a tax of twenty shillings on any knight's fee is imposed, and a 

 similar sum on freeholds of equal value which had been pur- 

 chased since the 2oth Edward I. In 1432, the Commons grant 

 half a fifteenth and half a tenth, and the old taxes. But the 

 tax of twenty shillings given the year before is remitted, on 

 the ground of the ambiguity of the grant and the grievance felt 

 at it. In 1433, they grant a fifteenth and tenth, .4000 being 

 deducted from the full sum, in consideration of certain towns, 

 cities, and boroughs which were decayed, of which we know 

 that two were Lincoln and Great Yarmouth. The old taxes 

 on wool, &c., and on imports and exports, are renewed. 



The revenues of the Crown, from ordinary and extraordinary 

 sources, its liabilities and debts, are set out in a document 

 presented by Ralph, Lord Cromwell, on October 18, 1433, and 

 preserved in the Rolls of Parliament (iv. 433 sqq.). From this 

 document we find that the gross revenue from grants for the 

 three years last past was, on an average, 30,722 $s. 7\d., 

 that the charges, fees, customary payments and annuities de- 

 ducted from this gross sum were 3756 2J. 1 1 \d., and that the 

 net revenue was 26,966 zs. io\d. The hereditary revenue, 

 exclusive of the Duchy of Lancaster, was 8990 175-. 6d. 



On the other hand, the charges of the household of Windsor 

 amount to 13,678 us. lid. Annuities charged on the royal 

 revenues amount to 11,152 12^., of which the queen dowager 

 receives 2124 i$s. \\d.\ Joan, widow of Henry IV, 500 

 marks; the Duke of Bedford 1000 marks; Humphrey Duke of 

 Gloucester 500 marks; Richard Duke of York 104 iqs. 4\<t- 



