A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



rebuilt at a cost of over >r5oo."' On the estuary of the Mersey he founded 

 (in 1 207) the new borough of Liverpool."' ' Bretesches ' and provisions 

 were despatched by the sheriff to the army in Ireland,"' and for the Welsh 

 campaigns of 1 211 great quantities of stores were sent from Lancaster to 

 Chester by way of Liverpool.^*" More than 600 men from Lancaster served 

 on that occasion,^" and 200 more were called up in the following year, but 

 the levy was dismissed without fighting.*** To the expenses thus incurred 

 (and others afterwards, less defensible) the county contributed directly by a 

 special aid towards the rebuilding of Lancaster Castle,"' and by its share in 

 the incessant scutages and tallages of the reign (the former augmented by 

 the new demand from military tenants and thegns alike of considerable sums 

 ne tramfretent)^^ and indirectly by the raising of farms and a great variety 

 of miscellaneous exactions. 



The financial management of the county no doubt required readjustment. 

 The ancient farm had been almost wiped out by deductions for grants out of 

 demesne, while the value of what remained had increased with the growth of 

 wealth and population in the county during the last half century. Richard 

 de Vernon, for whose appointment as sheriff (1200-4) the county proffered — 

 why is not obvious — to pay 100 marks, undertook to increase his farm by 

 that sum,'" and in i 204 the farming system was abandoned, the sheriff being 

 now appointed as custos, and expected to account for the whole revenue 

 coming into his hands. The fee farm rents of estates of ancient demesne 

 were raised, in one case nearly fifty per cent., in addition to the sums exacted 

 for confirmation of John's grants thereof when count of Mortain."' It may 

 be doubted whether the increase was always proportionate to an actual rise 

 in value. Estates held in serjeanty, thegnage, and drengage, which had been 

 alienated without good warrant since 11 54 were ordered in 1205 to be taken 

 into the king's hands. **^ Extortionate fines and amercements swelled the 

 royal revenue. The assizes of 1202—3 yielded over ^300,"' the abbot of 

 Furness was mulcted 500 marks for forest offences,*" two successive barons 

 of Newton had to pay 400 and 500 marks respectively to secure their 

 I inheritance,"" and Hugh Bussel, unable to pay a heavy fine inflicted for a 

 ' legal irregularity ten years old, was driven to relinquish the barony of 

 Penwortham to Roger de Lacy, already lord of Clitheroe and Widnes.*" It 

 is not surprising that all John's great tenants in Lancashire took active part 

 against him in 1215. John de Lacy (Roger's son), Roger de Montbegon of 

 Hornby, Robert Grelley of Manchester, William le Boteler of Warrington, 



'" L^r.cs. Pipe R. 234, 239. '" Ibid. 220, 225. "» Ibid. 228, 234.. 



'" Ibid. 243. 



'" Ibid. 242 ; Norgate, John Lackland, 158. 15 knights, 60 esquires with 2 horses apiece, 466 foot- 

 men and 96 carpenters, whose united wages amounted to j^l09 9/. 



^" Rot. Clam, i, 131 ; Wendover, f ^r. Hist, iii, 239. Lines, and Derby, both fiirnished 200, Notts. 

 300, Yorks. 730. 



'" Lanes. Pipe J?. 236. '" Ibid. 144-5. '« Ibid. 126, 135. 



"* Ibid. 119, 130, 137. Some of these rents may have been raised by Theobald Walter in the previous 

 reign. 



"' Rot. Claus. i, 55. The great inquest of 1212, which was not limited to the honour of Lancaster, had 

 a similar motive. It is printed in the Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 401 sqq. ; a translation of the Lanes. 

 entries in Lotus. Inq. i, 2-1 14. 



'" Lanes. Pipe R. 162. 



'" Afterwards reduced to 200 ; ibid. 204, 209. '" Ibid. 1 80, 246. 



'" Lanes. Pipe R. 152, 161. 



192 



