TAXES AND CONTRIBUTIONS. 179 



that occurred in France during the summer. On Feb. n 

 letters patent were issued appointing John Tiptoft, Earl of 

 Worcester, the king's lieutenant. On Feb. 13 the king was 

 made to adjourn the Parliament from Reading to London, 

 and to appoint the Duke of York his lieutenant. It is probable 

 that the ill success of the English arms in France had led to a 

 palace revolution, which the queen was not strong enough to 

 resist. On March 22, Kemp, archbishop of Canterbury and 

 Lord Chancellor, died, and matters came to a crisis. The 

 Great Seal was obligatory in all public instruments, and the 

 appointment of a new Chancellor was a national necessity. 

 The appointment was in the king's hands, and he must be seen. 

 The story of the condition in which he was found is given 

 in the Rolls of Parliament. On March 15, the king's infant 

 son, born five months before, had been made Prince of Wales 

 in Parliament, and the letters patent were witnessed by the 

 two archbishops, seven bishops, two dukes, five earls, two 

 viscounts, the prior of St. John's, and three barons. The temper 

 of the House is pretty clearly shown at this time by re- 

 monstrance made about the heavy duties which they had 

 granted on wool, the consequent decline in the export trade, 

 and the great lowering of price which had ensued. 



The first Parliamentary grant which I find in the records of 

 Edward the Fourth's Parliaments is an aid of 37,000, less 

 6000, as before, in 1464. From this it appears that this sum 

 was equivalent to the fifteenths and tenths referred to so fre- 

 quently. The old tonnage and poundage, with the other dues, 

 at 33 s. 4d. the sack of wool, and 24^. woolfells, and 66s. %d. the 

 last of hides, from denizens, 66s. %d. for wool and woolfells, and 

 73^. ^d. on the last of hides, from aliens, were given for life. 

 In 7 and 8 Ed. IV, two whole fifteenths and two whole tenths 

 are granted with the deduction of 12,000, Lincoln and Yar- 

 mouth being mentioned among the excused towns. 



After Barnet and Tewkesbury, the shortlived restoration of 

 [enry and the total annihilation of the old Lancastrian party, 

 ie Parliament of 1472-3 granted on Oct. 8, 1472, the subsidy 



N 2 



