I06 ENFORCEMENT OF THE STATUTES OF LABOURERS 



penalties; in both instances the distribution is finally com- 

 pleted. The charges against de Northtoft previously re- 

 ferred to include also indictments for the year 1351;' he 

 is accused in several districts in Essex of exacting penalties 

 from labourers and, nevertheless, of levying the total amount 

 of the subsidy, evidentl}' not giving the taxpayer the benefit 

 of the " allowances." 



Although only a partial measure of success can be attrib- 

 uted to the council's attempt to lessen the pressure of taxa- 

 tion, the experiment had at least shown the commons where 

 hope of relief lay. When the next opportunity came, fore- 

 warned by the previous difiiculties, they were ready to re- 

 peat the experiment, with a completeness as to details which 

 left little room for failure. 



B. The tenth and fifteenth of i^^2 

 Within a few months the opportunity came. In the 

 second parliament of the 25th year, which met on 13 Janu- 

 ary, 1352," the chief-justice, on the ground of the war with 

 France, asked for another subsidy; in response, the com- 

 mons complained of their great impoverishment owing to 

 the late deadly pestilence and to the weight of past taxes. ^ 



(therefore after the enactment of the statute) the collectors against 

 whom this charge is brought had received the now familiar additional 

 instructions of the second ordinance: "Quod excessus salariorum 

 seruientum leuetur ad opus Regis," enrolled in Orig.. 25, m. 3. The 

 list of collectors here referred to is slightly different from that of the 

 previous summer; see supra, p. 100, note 3. 



' App., 267. The long process against him in the exchequer for failure 

 to account as collector contains no reference to the subject of the " ex- 

 cess." 



■^The session lasted till 11 Feb., thus running into the 26th year, see 

 list in app., 8. 



^ Rot. Pari., ii, 22,T, Jessopp, Coming of the Friars, 255-257, writes: 

 "The Commons were quite equal to making the most of any calamity 

 that occurred." 



