164 History of the ^ 



towards the recovery of the Palatinate, "C) The list is copied from 

 the private MS. ledger of John Bridgman, D.D., Bishop of Chester. 

 Under the heading, " In Blackburn Deanery," the following entry 

 occurs : — 



li. s. d. 



Lect. de Rossendall Mr. Kershaw -2100 



The whole of the Deanery contributed the sum of ;^22 is. od., 

 and the contribution of Mr. Kershaw, who was at that time Incum- 

 bent of Newchurch, and in the last year of his incumbency, is the 

 largest in the list ; a circumstance that goes to prove the relative 

 importance of the Parish of Newchurch in those days. 



In the same volume is contained " The Assessment of the 

 Clergy of Lancashire for the Ship Money, 1635, "(.v) and under the 

 heading, " Blackburn Hundred, the Taxinge of the Ministry 

 towards the Shipp of Warr," is the entry as follows ; — 



Rossendale iiijs [4/-J. 



The Rev. \ViUiam Horrocks was Incumbent of Newchurch at 

 that time. 



(r) This has reference to the struggle to regain for Frederic, son-inlaw of 

 James I., the State on the Upper Rhine called the Palatinate. The daughter 

 of James I had married Frederic, the Prince of the Palatinate, in 1613. This 

 Prince, who was a Protestant, had been chosen King by the people of 

 Bohemia instead of their former King, Ferdinand, who was a Catholic. The 

 latter, however, raised an army and dethroned Frederic, driving him not 

 only out of Bohemia, but also out of the Palatinate. This war is called 

 "The Thirty Years War," as it lasted from 1618 to 1648, and it was in 

 prosecution of the attempt to win back the province for Frederic that the 

 special taxes above referred to were raised. 



(s) The " Ship Money," as the tax for the building and equipping ships of 

 war was called, as is well known, was one of those impositions made by 

 Charles I. upon the people at his pleasure, without the sanction of Parliament, 

 and the payment of which was resisted by John Hampden, as an illegal tax, 

 but which was eventually declared legal by place-hunting and servile judges, 

 to their eternal dishonour. 



