ENGLISH CHURCH AND LAY TAXES 223 



corporations which were taxed when tenths were granted by the clergy/ 

 These writs were issued for the protection of these bodies from the 

 assessors and collectors of the ninth, a new form of tax from which the 

 clergy evidently thought that they had something to fear. The last 

 statement is borne out by their petition to the crown in the parHament of 

 1341, in which they pray for a just statement of their position under the 

 ninth. =* In his answer to the petition the king simply states the existing 

 practice as it is known with respect to other taxes, that, if the clergy 

 have temporal possessions not taxed under the clerical tenths, they should 

 pay the ninth upon them, so that for goods for which they pay under 

 the one tax they will not have to pay under the other. ^ It is perfectly 

 clear why the exemplifications were so eagerly sought from the king at 

 this time, and why the clergy who wrote the chronicles raised no outcry 

 against this settlement. If there had been anything new in this inclusion 

 of certain of the temporal goods of the ecclesiastics within the property 

 taxable by parliament there would surely have been much complaint 

 against royal oppression. In after-years there are to be found occa- 

 sional exemplifications of a Uke nature and other references to the HabiUty 

 of the clergy to be taxed with the laity for personal property upon a part 

 of their landed possessions.'^ 



When the next new type of lay taxation, the parish tax of 137 1, was 

 to be levied according to the revised rating of 1 16 shillings to the parish, 

 it is noted on the rolls of parliament and also in the writs to the col- 

 lectors, that the county of Chester and the lands and possessions of 

 Holy Church, acquired before 20 Edward I, and taxed in the tenth, were 

 to be excepted from this levy.s As Chester never contributed to the 



' E. g., Calendar Patent Rolls, 1340-43, pp. 300, 343, 350, 371, 376-7, 421, 469, 520, etc. 



'Rot. Pari, Vol. II, p. 129. 



3 Rot. Pari., Vol. II, p. 130 o. In the year book for the year 1343 there is an interesting case, in which 

 the prior of Huntingdon is involved, which serves as a commentary upon this taxation. Year Book 17 Edward 

 III (Rolls Series), pp. 598-603. See also Calendar Patent Rolls, 1343-45, p. 565. 



* Calendar Patent Rolls, 1343-45, pp. 260, 565; Memorials of Ripon, Surtees Society, Vol. I, pp. 240-41, 

 where after an inquisition it is found that a hospital is not and has not been charged with lay taxes; Rogers, 

 Agriculture and Prices, Vol. II, p. 669; a petition of', the scholars of Merton College to be freed from 

 all lay taxes; cf., ibid., 155, 156; Rot. Pat., 21 Edward III, Part I, m. 3d, an inquisition as to the lands held 

 in Cambridge by the religious acquired since 20 Edward I, and as to what they paid to the king's taxes. 

 In Kent there are several references upon the rolls to the payment by the clergy of lay taxes. Exchequer 

 Lay Subsidies, 123/20, 123/27. 



s Rot. Pari., Vol. II, p. 304; Fine Roll, No. 172 (45 Edward III), m. 22. Cf. Stubbs, Constitutional 

 History of England (ed. 1896), Vol. II, p. 443. 



