parliament of Gloucester, and a sum of money to be levied upon divers persons of the realm in the following manner, as well within the royal franchises as without; that is to say, 14. The Duke of Lancaster and the Duke of Brittany, 4 pounds 40 s. Item, each widowed countess in England, the same as the earls Item, each bachelor and each esquire who by the statute ought to be knight.. Item, each widowed lady, wife of a bachelor or esquire, according to her condition Item, each esquire of less estate Item, each widow of such an esquire or merchant of sufficient means Item, the chief prior of the Hospital of St. John, as a baron 15. Item, each justice, as well of one bench as of the other, and those who have been justices of the same benches, and the chief baron of the exchequer, each Item, each sergeant and greater apprentice of the law. And all the aldermen of the large towns, and the great merchants of the realm, pay as bachelors Item, other merchants of sufficient means item, all the lesser merchants and artificers who have profit (6 s. 8 d., of the land, according to the condition of their estate 3 s. 4 d., Item, each sergeant and franklin of the country, according to his estate Item, the farmers of the manors, benefices, and granges, merchants of cattle and of other small merchandise, according to their 17. Item, all the advocates, notaries, and married solicitors pay as sergeants of the law, apprentices of the law, and attorneys, each according to his estate. Item, married pardoners, and summoners, each according to his estate Item, all the hostlers who do not belong to the estate of merchant, each according to his estate Item, each married man, for himself and his wife, who do not belong to the above named estates, above the age of sixteen, except veritable beggars And each single man and woman of such condition and above the said age Item, each foreign merchant, of whatsoever estate he may be, pays according to his condition as the other residents. And these payments above named shall be levied from no person except in the place where he is living and nowhere else. And be it remembered, that the sums above named which are not definitely determined shall be fixed at the discretion of the assessors and controllers appointed for this purpose. And that the collectors of this subsidy above named fix the days of their payment at the feast of St. John the Baptist next to come and at the feast of St. Peter ad vincula next ensuing after that. 88. The Poll-tax of 1380 (1380. French original, 3 R. P. 90. no. 15. Translation by Editors. 2 Stubbs, 470.) 15. FIRST, the lords and commons have agreed that there shall be given for the needs aforesaid, by each layman of the realm within the franchise or without, as well by the males as by the females, of whatsoever estate or condition they may be, who have passed the age of fifteen years, three groats, except the very beggars, who shall be charged nothing. Saving always that the levy be made in such order and form that each layman shall be charged fairly according to his condition and in the following manner that is to say, that for the whole sum assessed in each town the wealthy according to their condition shall aid the poorer; provided that the most wealthy shall not pay above the sum of sixty groats for himself and his wife, and no person less than one groat for himself and his wife: and that no person be charged to pay except in that place where he and his wife and children live or in the place where he lives in service. And that all artificers, laborers, servants, and other laymen as also all servants whatsoever living with prelates and lords temporal, abbots, priors of collegiate churches, clerks of the chancery, and in the common bench, the king's bench, the exchequer, the receipt and with all other officers, knights, esquires, merchants, citizens, burgesses, and with all other persons, that each of them be assessed and taxed according to the condition of his estate and in the said form. And that commissions be given to a sufficient number of persons, as well in the counties as in cities and boroughs, to be collectors and controllers of the sum aforesaid: and that they shall take an oath to discharge their duties well and loyally. And it is not the intention of the said commons to make this present grant for anything except only the sustenance of the earl of Buckingham and the other lords and men in his company in parts of Brittany and for the defense of the realm and safe-guard of the And that this present grant should not be made nor taken in the form nor after the manner of any levy of groats before this time, but should be levied solely on persons now living; provided the two divisions of the said payment be made on the fifteenth of St. Hilary next to come, and the third part at the Feast of Pentecost next ensuing thereafter: provided always that no one of the knights, citizens, and burgesses who have come to this present parliament be made collector or controller of the sums aforesaid. And that it pleases our lord the king and his council to ordain for the said levy, as well of the servants of the household of our lord the king as of the other lords in the realm, that they should be evenly charged, according to the purport of this grant. sea. And the commons pray, that during the war justices in eyre and of trailbaston shall not go on circuit among the said poor commons, but that the justice of the peace hold their courts according to the tenure of their commission. And the commons grant to our lord the king the subsidy on wools to last till the Feast of St. Martin next to come. 89. Merchants to use English Ships only. Charters granted the Peasants Annulled (May, 1382. French text and translation, 2 S. R. 17. 2 Stubbs, 482.) 3. ITEM, to increase the navy of England, which is now greatly diminished: it is assented and accorded, that none of the king's liege people do from henceforth ship any merchandise in going out or coming within the realm of England, anywhere, but only in ships of the king': liegeance; and every person of the said liegeance, which * do ship and merchandise in any other ships shall forfeit to the king all his merchandises shipped in other vessels, wheresoever they be found hereafter, or the value of the same; 6. Item, it is ordained, that all manner manumissions, obligations, releases, and other bonds made by compulsion, duress, and menace, in the time of this last rumor and riot against the laws of the land, and good faith, shall be wholly quashed, annulled and holden for void; and they that have done to be made, or do yet withhold such manumissions, obligations, releases, bonds, and other deeds so made by duress, shall be sent before the king and his council, thereof to answer there of their deed, and further shall be constrained to make delivery and restitution of the said deeds to them that made the same against their good will, with the copies of the same, if perchance they have thereof made any before, another time to use or renew the effect of the same if they may. And likewise it is accorded, that all entries made in lands or tenements, and also all feoffments made in the time of the same rumor by compulsion and menace, or otherwise with force of people, against the law, shall be void, and holden for none. And the king straitly defendeth to all manner of people, upon pain of as much as they may forfeit against him in body and goods, that none from henceforth make nor begin again, in any way, such riot and rumor, nor other like. And if any the same do, and that duly proved, it shall be done of him as of a traitor to the king and to his said realm. 8. Item, touching the charters, releases, obligations, and other deeds and muniments, burnt, destroyed, or otherwise eloined in the same rumor, it is assented, that they which thereof feel them grieved, shall put their petitions distinctly made upon their matters specially before the king and his council, betwixt this and the Nativity of Saint John Baptist next coming at the furthest, and there make sufficient proof of the said muniments so lost, and of the form and tenor of the same; and that done, such remedy shall thereof be provided for them at every man's complaint, as best shall seem in the case, saving the law. 90. An Act against Heretical Preaching (May, 1382. French text and translation, 2 S. R. 23. 2 Stubbs, 487.) 5. ITEM, forasmuch as it is openly known, that there be divers evil persons within the realm, going from county to county, and from town to town, in certain habits under dissimulation of great holiness, and without the licence of our holy father the pope, or of the ordinaries of the places or other sufficient authority, do preach daily, not only in churches and churchyards, but also in markets, fairs, and other open places, where a great congregation of people is, divers sermons containing heresies and notorious errors, to the great emblemishing of the Christian faith, and destruction of the laws, and of the estate of holy Church, to the great peril of the souls of the people, and of all the realm of England, as more plainly is found and sufficiently proved before the reverend father in God the archbishop of Canterbury, and the bishops and other prelates, and masters of divinity, and doctors of canon and of civil law, and a great part of the clergy of the said realm specially assembled for this cause; which persons do also preach divers matters of slander, to engender discord and dissension betwixt divers estates of the said realm, as well spiritual as temporal, in exciting of the people, to the great peril of all the realm: which preachers cited or summoned before the ordinaries of the places, there to answer of L |