most of their servile works without money and paid them besides an annual Rent in corn and other houshold provisions was to quiet the ruined English and by intermarriages of them and the Normans and Forreigners and other establishments to assure what was gained to their posterities the plenty and abundance whereof continuing through the reigns of King Stephen and King Henry the Second who greatly inlarged his Dominions by the Dutchy of Aquitain Earldomes of Aniou Main Poictou Touraine and other Provinces and parts of France the Lands of Henry de Essex his Standard-bearer by inheritance forfeited for the treason of throwing it down and flying and reporting that he was slain the Earldome of Lincoln Earldomes being then and long after not without great Possessions and Revenues belonging to them the Lands of William Peverell Lord of Nottingham Conquest of Ireland and whole Counties and Provinces thereof comming to be the Kings Demeasnes and the forfeitures to Richard the First of many of his Nobility and others who had taken part with his Brother John in his usurpation of the Regall authority All which with the Escheats and Forfeitures of the Terra Normanorum in England upon the losse of Normandy by King John unto the French confiscated Lands of a great part of the English Nobility and Gentry after the misfortune of Henry the Third in the unquietness of many of his Barons and People his better fortune in the battel of Evesham and subduing them in the forty ninth year of his Reign the accession to the Crown of the Earledoms of Derby Leicester Salisbury and the County Palatine of Chester with the vast Territories and Estates which belonged unto them and many other lesser Escheats and Forfeitures the Forfeiture of Roger Bigod Earl of Norfolk and his Earldome and great Possessions with divers other Escheats and Forfeitures the Principality of Wales and the Conquest of Scotland in the Reign of King Edward the First confiscating of the lands of inheritance for from the making of the Statute de Donis or Entails in Anno 13. of Edward the first untill Anno 5 6 of Edward the sixth Lands entailed were not forfeited for Treason of Thomas Earl of Lancaster Lincoln and Derby Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex of the Lords Clifford Warrein Lisle Tutchet Cheney Mowbray Teyes Aldenham Badlesmere and Gifford and many other men of great note and eminencie to King Edward the second the lands of Mortimer Earl of March Edmund Earl of Kent and the Escheat of the great Estate and Inheritance of Hastings Earl of Pembroke to King Edward the third with several other confiscations and forfeitures and his Conquest of a great part of France the forfeitures of Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland Michael dela Pooli Earl of Suffolk of the Duke of Gloucester Earles of Arundel and Warwick and divers other great Inheritances to King R. 2. the marriage of John of Grant fourth son to King Ed. 3. to Blanch the sole daughter and heir of Henry Duke of Lancaster Earl of Derby Leicester and Lincoln making that of Lancaster to be as a Principality or little Kingdome which by Henry 4 5 6 and 7th Kings of England coming afterwards to attend the Royal Dignity accompanied by the forfeitures of the Dukes of Exeter and Albemarle Mowbray Earl Marshal Earles of Kent Salisbury Huntington Northumberland Stafford March and Worcester Owen Glendour Lords Hastings Despencer Falconbridge Bardolph and many others to King H. 4. and the lands of the Earldome of Oxford long detained by him confiscation of the lands of the Prior Aliens and all France conquered and in possession and many other great Estates coming to Hen. 5. by the Attainders of Richard Earl of Cambridge Earl of Northumberland Henry Lord Scroop the lands of Widevill Earl Rivers and divers other Barons the Dukedomes of Exeter and Somerset and Earldome of Devonshire and many other Lands and Inheritances forfeited to King Edward the Fourth the Lands and Estate of Henry Duke of Buckingham Earl of Stafford and Northampton and Lord of Brecknock and Holderness Henry Earl of Richmond and Jasper Earl of Penbroke with some other to King Richard the Third accumulated by the great and Princely Inheritance of Richard Duke of York and all the partakers of him and King Edward the fourth his brother with the Lands and great Inheritance of the Countess of Warwick gained by King H. 7. his fortune at Bosworth-field and the marriage and inheritance of the Royal and principall heir of the white Rose the confiscations of the lands of John Duke of Norfolk Earls of Surrey Warwick Lincoln Lords Lovel Welles Audley and divers others like many great rivers running into the Ocean of the Crown revenues made its Lands and Estate to be as vast in Demeasnes and Service as they were Princely and honourable Which being likewise abundantly enlarged by King Hen. 8. by the unprosperous dissolution of the Abbey and religious Lands which the envy of the Laity in the reign of King H. 4. had over and above as they said what would serve for the remaning Clergy computed to be sufficient and enough to maintain fifteen Earles which after the rate of Earls in those dayes and their grand revenues could not be a little fifteen hundred Knights six thousand two hundred Gentlemen and an hundred Hospitals besides twenty thousand pounds per annum to be given to the King which was then more then one hundred thousand pounds per annum is now and were at their dissolution six hundred forty and five Abbeys Priories and Nunneries ninety Colledges one hundred and ten Hospitals and two thousand three hundred seventy and four Chanteries and free Chappels then valued at one hundred-eighty six thousand fifteen pounds eight shillings penny farthing per annum And together with the forfeited Lands and Inheritance of Empson and Dudley George Lord Rochford Edmond de la Poole Duke of Suffolk the Duke of Buckingham Earl of Surrey Lord Dacres and divers others and the confiscation of his two great Favourites Wolsey and Cromwell the former of which left him the stately Palaces of Hampton-Court and Whitehall and the recontinuing of divers liberties withheld from the Crown by the Lords Marchers of Wales made so great an accession and increase as the Court of Exchequer was not thought to be comprehensive enough for the care and governance thereof without the short-lived Courts of the Survay and Augmentation and First-fruits erected by Act of Parliament for the separate management of the Ecclesiasticall Revenues By the dissolution whereof shortly after and not trusting the Exchequer with the better care thereof the regal revenues if Mr. Christopher Vernon a late antient and expert Officer of that Court hath not been mistaken or miscast it were not so little damnified as six hundred thousand pounds sterling or if plenty had not as it most commonly useth introduced profusion and carelesness might otherwise have been saved Which with the Lands and Inheritance of the Duke of
Northumberland Seymour Duke of Somerset Russell Earl of Bedford St. John Earl of Wiltshire Rich Willoughby Paget Sheffeild Barons his giving away great quantities of Ecclesiasticall and Chantry Lands Viscount Mountague Lord Howard of Effingham Lord North advanced by Queen Mary the Subsidie of four shillings in the pound for Lands and two shillings for Goods granted to King Edward the sixth in the last year of his Reign remitted by her and nine thousand two hundred pounds land per annum of the Crown given away paying at the same time twelve pound per cent Interest for twenty thousand pounds borrowed of the City of London and the greater charges and Expences of Queen Elizabeth in protecting the Neatherlands and United Provinces which cost her five hundred thirty four thousand pounds and four hundred thousand pounds in succouring King H. 4. of France besides what was disbursed for other Protestant Allies guarding the Back-door of Scotland relieving guarding the young King who was afterwards her Successor endeavouring to reduce Ireland to its former obedience which in a few years cost her as the Lord Treasurer Cecill Earl of Salisbury in the Reign of King James informed the Parliament nineteen hundred twenty and four thousand pounds and defending her self from the Assaults and machinations of the Pope King of Spain and other Catholick Princes advancing and enriching Cecil L. Burghley Sackvile L. Buckhurst Charles Blount Lord Mountjoy Knowles Wotton Sidney Carew Petre Compton Cheney Norris and Stanhop to be Barons and creating of the Earls of Essex Leicester Lincoln and Warwick Remission of a Subsidie granted to Q. Mary Farming of her Customs to Smyth but for thirteen thousand pounds per annum afterwards to forty two thousand pounds and raising them after that only to no more then fifty thousand pounds per annum five hundred thousand pounds spent by King James in a totall subduing of Ireland three hundred and fifty thousand pounds paid for Queen Elizabeth's debts to the City of London for which some of the Crown Lands were mortgaged and for debts to the Army Admiralty and Wardrobe and discharging the reckoning of brass money in Ireland with the same sums in silver his vast expences by Treaties and Ambassadours amounting in the seventh year of his Reign unto five hundred thousand pounds to keep us in our envied peace and plenty four hundred thousand pounds disbursed in relieving the Dutch besides what was spent in satisfying the greedy cravings of the Scottish Nation preferring and raising of the Duke of Richmond Ramsey Earl of Holderness Earls of Carlisle Kelley Morton and Dunbarre Howard Earl of Northampton Carr Earl of Somerset Herbert Earl of Montgomery Villers Duke of Buckingham Cranfeild Earl of Middlesex Cecill Earl of Salisbury Howard Earl of Suffolke Mountague Earl of Manchester Ley Earl of Marleborough and Digby Earl of Bristol All which and many more which might be here enumerated did not only as was usuall in the Reigns of our former Kings by necessary bounties encouraging of virtue and valour rewarding of merits and high deservings of Ministers of State and great Atchievements of men of warre through a successiion of ages accidents occasions and reasons of State draw and derive their honours from those fountains of Honour but large Revenues and Lands many times likewise to support and maintain their Dignities and sometimes upon the Petitions of the Commons in Parliament as to conferre upon John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the Dukedome of Acquitaine in the reign of King Edward the third to make John Holland the Kings half-Brother Earl of Huntington in the reign of King Richard the second and to preferre and advance the Lords John and Humphrey Sons of King Henry the fourth and sometimes great Pensions and Annuities were given for life untill Lands could be provided to support them in reward of virtue and their services done or to be done for the good of the Nation and to continue them and their posterities as props and pillars of the Royall Throne in a gratefull acknowledgment of the favours received from it And besides those former rewards and Ennoblishments puts it at this day for Creation money paid to the Dukes Marquesses and Earls to no less a charge then one thousand pounds per annum by which the people were in all ages no loosers when the Honour strength and defence of the Kingdome was maintained and increased by them and themselves kept in peace and plenty the manner of living in ancient and better times being with little money and small rents great services by the thankfull and ready duty and affections of Tenants to their Benefactors and mesne Lords not only made them great in power but enabled them to imitate their Princes as much as they could in great hospitalities deeds of charity and almes building and endowing of Churches Abbies Priories and Religious Houses and giving large Inheritances to their Servants Friends and Followers pro homagio servitio and other dependances Common of Estovers and of great quantities of Lands to severall Cities Towns and Villages and in such a plentifull manner distributed and gave their Lands as if the Lands in Capite by Knight Service Coppyhold Lands Commons which our King's Nobility and Gentry bestowed heretofore upon the inferiour sort of people and what they dedicated to God by giving to Churches Religious Houses Colleges Churches and Chappels should be surveyed and measured they would amount to no less then two parts in four of the Lands of the Kingdome The quondam lethargie sleepiness and unactivity of many of the Officers of the Exchequer who should be as the Argus eyes to guard the Royall Revenue the indulgence heretofore or neglect of some of her Officers and their not remembring that they were to be the Kings and his Treasurers Remembrancers respiting or nichiling of his debts upon feigned Petitions which can tell how to deceive the most carefull Barons or Judges of that Court when their Soveraign suffered in the mean time very great damage for want of the money the not duly estreating of all Fines and Amerciaments corrupt compounding for such as were estreated by under Officers at easie rates granting to the City of London their Fines and Amerciaments want of looking after as they doe in other Nations the execution of those multitudes of penall Lawes which otherwise will be to little purpose and assisting the collection of the Kings legall profits arising thereby the heretofore carelesness or corruption of some of our former Kings Officers who for fees of favour enlarged their Charters and Grants to bodies politique Cities Towns and Corporations and to as many private persons as would petition for them and decked them with the flowers of the Kings Crown which were not to be parted with so easily So as what by Grants or Prescription which in many cases is but the incroachment or filchings of liberties and priviledges concealed or not well looked after covered and drawn into a property by a time beyond
Somerset and others attainted added by King Edward the sixth the forfeitures of the Duke of Northumberland William Parr Marquess of Northampton John Earl of Warwick Sir Thomas Wyat and others to Queen Mary the Lands of the Duke of Norffolk Philip Earl of Arrundel the Earls of Westmerland Essex and Southampton Sir John Perrot Leonard Dacres and others in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and hers as well as King Edward the sixth's ill advised and unhappy clypping and lessening the Lands and Revenues of many Bishopricks Deans and Chapters forfeitures of the Lord Cobham Sir Walter Rawley and of Winter Grant and other the Gunpowder Traytors the great revenues of the Earles of Tyrone and Desmond and other large confiscated Escheats and forfeited Estates in Ireland which came to King James for before his reign and the subduing of Tyrone that Kingdome as to the publick was a greater charge then profit addition of Scotland and all the Appennages and Lands of the royal Brethren and Princes of the blood of England in their several times and ages falling into the Regal Revenues would have made a plentifull support for the Crown of England if they had tarried as they did not one for another and continued unwasted and unaliened CHAP. II. Supplies and Additions to the Royall Revenues and the many cares taken therein by Parliaments and otherwise WHich could not be prevented by a thousand sixty one pounds and three half pence per diem revenue ex justis reditibus which William the Conqueror had in daily revenue after his Knights Fees and his large gifts and rewards given to his friends and followers which in the now value of money and rates of provision would a great deal more then treble that summe as Ordericus vitalis who was born in his reign and died in the beginning of the reign of King Stephen hath informed us exceptis muneribus regiis reatum redemptionibus aliisque multiplicibus negotiis quae Regis Aerarium quotidie aduagebant besides Gifts Presents Confiscations and other things which did daily increase his riches nor by sixty thousand pounds sterling 〈◊〉 by him in his Treasury his Censas Nemorâ—m rents or profits of Woods Escheats and incidents of Tenures in Capite and by Knight service Hidage Danegeld Sponte oblata for all Grants or Favours which passed from him Cambium Regium or benefit of Exchanges rating of the Fees of the Officers of his Household to a certainty per diem taking accounts upon oath for all his monies issued out or imprest for repair of his Castles and Houses and fines for granting of Priviledges and Liberties Contributions to William Rufus towards the building of Westminster-Hall three shillings upon every hundred Acres or Hide of Land in England to King Hen. 1. and his providence in making every third year a survey of his Woods and Forrests changing of the penalites of mutilation of members into pecuniary mulcts turning of his rents which were formerly paid in corn and other houshold provisions into money and six pence overplus in every pound for any loss or abatement which might happen in the value of money which being then by reason of his often absence and residence in Normandy reckoned to be good husbandry proved shortly afterwards by the change of times dearer rates of provision to be the contrary and a great disadvantage to his Successors one hundred thousand pounds in money besides Plate and Jewels left by him in his Treasury and possest by King Stephen resumption of divers Lands aliened from the Royal Revenue reforming of the Exchequer by Hen. 2. revoking of all Grants of Lands aliened from the Crown of the Castles of Clebury Wigmore and Bridgnorth from 〈◊〉 Mortimer City of Gloucester and Lands belonging unto it from Roger Fitz Miles Earl of Hereford Castle of Scarborough from William Earl of Albemarle with many other Lands Towns and Castles and from William Earl of Mortain and Warren base Son to King Stephen the Castle of Pemsey and City of Norwich notwithstanding that himself had granted them to the said William Earl of Mortaign in his agreement with King Stephen alledging that they were of the Demeasnes of the Crown and could not be alienated calling of certain of his great Ministers of Estate to account and imposing a Tax of two pence upon every yoke of Oxen in Ireland and two pence in the pound by Act of Parliament of every mans Lands and goods in Normandy to be paid in the year 1166. and a penny in every pound to be paid for four years following for the relief of the Christians in the Holy warre enquiring by his Justices Itinerants and Articles in Eyre in England of the rights of his Crown and Exchequer taxing in the 32. year of his reign all his Dominions in France with the Tenth of the Revenues for that year of all as well Clergy as Laity but such as went in person to the Holy warre the tenth of all their moveables as well gold as silver and the tenth of the moveables of two hundred of the richest men in London and of one hundred in York banishment of William de Ipre Earl of Kent with his Countrymen and followers when they grew to be a burden to the Kingdome nine hundred thousand pounds in money besides Plate and Jewels inestimable left in the Treasury to his Son King Richard the first great summes of money gained by him by renewing Charters and Fines imposed upon Sheriffs and Accomptants and such as had taken part with his Brother John in his usurpations the tenth of all moveables granted to him and the City of London giving him a voluntary contribution towards his voyage into the Holy Land banishment of Otho Earl of York the Son of his Sister and all the Bavarians a fourth part given him by Parliament of all spirituall and temporall Revenues as much for moveables and twenty shillings for every Knights Fee resumption of many Grants of Lands and Annuities two shillings of every plough land taken for preparation of a journy to Normandy examination of the Accounts of his Exchequer Officers five shillings laid upon every plough land for another forrain voyage and a general survey made of his Lands and Profits Three shillings for every plough land granted by Parliament to King John for his affairs in Normandy one hundred thousand pounds taxed upon the Clergy towards his charges in Ireland a thirteenth of all Spirituall and Temporall mens goods twenty six shillings eight pence for every Knights Fee two shillings upon every plough land an Ayde of twenty six shillings and eight pence of every Knights fee towards his warres in Wales with Escauge of such as held of him besides Benevolences Escheats and Americiaments twenty shillings of every Knights see towards his charges in Normandy forty shillings at another time and an Ayde for the marriage of his Sister Isabel to the Emperor Frederick The fifteenth part of every mans moveables to King Henry the third for a confirmation of
of the Revenues BY reason of the great charges and expences which the Kings of England were at through their severall Generations to protect and defend themselves and their people though some of them as in all other conditions and sorts of men were sound to be less provident then others and more easie to the flatteries of Courtiers or the necessities or importunities of Favourites or Followers as King Edward the second and King Richard the second sixty thousand Knights Fees or maintenance for them given away by William the Conquerour of which the Religious Houses then or in the near succeeding times came to be possessed of 28115. the yearly value of which number of Knights Fees if now they should be estimated but at ten thousand and valued but at the rate of twenty pounds per annum as they seemed to be at the making of the Statute of 1 Ed. 2. would be worth two hundred thousand pounds per annum and if at three hundred pounds per annum which is now the least of the improvement Sir Edward Coke reckoning eight hundred and others six hundred and eighty acres to a Knights Fee and others at the least allowing a large proportion would make three millions per annum sterling two hundred and eighty Manors given to Godfry Bishop of Constance which he left to his Nephew Moubray the Isle of Wight Earldome of Devon and Honour of Plimpton given by Henry the first to Richard de Ripariis or Rivers Earldome of Gloucester to Robert Fitz Henry great possessions given away by King Stephen to purchase love and fidelity the great Estates in Land which Maud the Empress was inforced to grant and her Son King Henry the second afterwards to confirme to divers of the great men and Nobility as the Earldom of Oxford to Awbrey de vere Earldome of Arundel to William de Albeney Earldome of Hereford to Miles of Gloucester and of Essex to Jeofrey Magnauile to forsake the usurping King Stephen and the great charge which those twenty years warres expended the wars of King H. 2. in France and with his own Sons there and at home and of seven and forty thousand three hundred thirty three pounds six shillings eight pence expended and given towards the warres of the Holy land great somes of gold and silver sent to the Pope charges of the voyage or expedition which King Richard the first made in person into Asia and the Holy Land and his ransome the Earldomes of Mortaigne Cornwall Dorses Somerset Nottingham Derby and Lancaster with all their great possessions being a great part of the Crown Revenues given to his brother John and a great part of the remainder sold The troubles of King John with his boisterous Barons the Stanneries Castles and Honor of Barkhamstead and County of Cornwall granted by King Hen. 3. to his Brother Richard his great warres and turmoils in the Barons warres which drove him to such wants and perplexities as he and his Queen as Matthew Paris tells us were somtimes enforced to seek their daily and necessary sustenance from Monasteries charge of endeavoring at a great rate and price though unsuccesfully to make his Son Edmond King of Sicily and furnishing his Son Edward afterwards King E. 1. with an Army to Jerusalem that of King Ed. 1. in his wars against the Scots and subduing that Kingdom the raising and advancing the unhappy Favorites Gaveston and the two Spencers Father and Son by King Edward the Second and his troubles great expences of Edward the Third in his Conquering of France the Dukedom of Cornwal and Earldoms of Chester and Flint setled upon the Black Prince his Son and the eldest Sons and Heirs of the Kings of England successively preferring of Lionel Duke of Clarence and his many other Sons restoring of Don Pedro to the Kingdom of Castile by the aid of the Black Prince the Earldom of Salisbury Isle of Man Castle and Barony of Denbigh given to Mountacute and one Thousand Marks Lands per annum besides to him and his Heirs for taking Roger Mortimer Prisoner at Nottingham Castle one thousand pounds per annum with the Town and Castle of Cambridge to William Marquess of Juliers and the Heirs of his body Honor of Wallingford and Earldome of Cornwall escheated given to John of Eltham his Brother the penalties and fines of Labourers Artificers and Servants in anno 36. of his reign given to the Commons for three years to be distributed amongst them the maintaining and humoring of severall Factions of the great Nobility by King Richard the second his voyage into Ireland and after misfortunes raising of John Beaufort Earl of Somerset and John Holland his half-Brother to be Earl of Kent and Duke of Exeter dissentions and troubles in the Reign of King Henry the fourth preferring another of the Beauforts to be Earl of Dorset and his establishment as well as he could in his own usurpations Chirk and Chirk Lands in Wales given by King Henry the fifth to Edmond Beaufort second Son of John Beaufort Earl of Somerset the charge of his Conquest of France the seeking to preserve and keep it by Henry the sixth long and bloody Factions and Warres of York and Lancaster Kendal and other great possessions given to John de Foix a Frenchman in marriage with Margaret the Sister to William de la Poole Duke of Suffolk the Earldome of Shrowsbury to the high deserving Talbot the Isles of Guarnsay and Jersey and the Castle of Bristol to Henry Beauchamp Duke of Warwick the charge of King Edward the fourth in his getting the Crown the Earldome of Pembroke given by him to William Lord Herbert the making of friends and parties by King R. 3. pacifying of Interests by King Hen. 7. his gifts and grants to Stanley Earl of Derby and the dying the white Rose into the Red or uniting of them the voyages and warres of King H. 8. in France preferring of Charles Brandon to be Duke of Suffolk Seymour to be Earl of Hertford Ratcliffe Earl of Sussex Thomas Manors Earl of Rutland Sir Thomas Bolein to be Viscount Rochford and Earl of Wiltshire his contest with the Pope and other great Princes large and great quantities of Religious and Ecclesiasticall Lands given away to divers of his Nobility many of whom had been the former Donors thereof and to divers of the Gentry to corroborate what he had done bring them into a better liking of that action and to be the more unwilling to leave those Lands which he had given them a remission of all debts without schedule or limitation in anno 21. of his Reign endowing six Bishopricks and Cathedrall Churches Pensions for life to many which were turned out of their Cloisters a perpetuall maintenance to the Professors of the Greek and Hebrew Tongues Civill Law Divinity and Physick in both the Universities and to twelve poor Knights at Windsor the warres of King Edward the sixth in Scotland creating of John Dudley Earl of Warwick Duke of
the Clergy and three entire Subsidies and three Fifteenths and tenths and three hundred and fifty thousand pounds for Subsidies unpaid to Queen Elizabeth Anno 7. an Ayd to make his Son Prince Henry a Knight Anno 18. two Subsidies of the Laity and three of the Crergy Anno 21. three Subsidies and three fifteens of the Temporalty and some Subsidies of the Clergy Primo Car. primi three entire Subsides by the Spiritualty 3. Car. five entire Subsidies granted by the Spiritualty and as many by the Temporalty great sums of money raised by Ship-money and by an Act of Parliament for Poll-money pawning all his Jewels and the benefit for some years of Coynage of two hundred thousand pounds of Spanish Bullion and returning the value in English Commodities All which being great supplies and easements to the charges and burdens of our severall and successive Kings and Princes and were not without some charge in the collection would have been much greater if the people of England keeping close to a long custome of not only getting all that they can from their Kings and Common Parents but returning as little as they could of their Aydes or Thanks unto them would have permitted them to arrive to a just or true valuation or any more then a small part of what they should be content to rate one another at having by an Act of Parliament in 6. Ed. 3. obtained of the King that from henceforth all Aydes should be taxed after the old manner and not otherwise the Subsidies being most commonly rated but at two shillings eight pence in the pound for goods and four shillings in the pound for lands with consideration of debts and other diminishing circumstances and put in the Ballance and compared with that which was given to the people by the Confirmations of divers Kings and Queens of Letters Patents and Lands given therein Coronation Pardons the General Pardons of 21 Jac. those in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and of some of our later Kings and Princes for in the Reigns of many of the former they were not so frequent general or usuall The Act of Parliament of 21 Jacobi Regis for debarring the Kings Title to concealed Lands after sixty years possession where nothing within that time had been answered or paid to the Crown or was in super and the last all-surpassing Act of Indemnity and General Pardon granted by King Charles the second would be farre surmounted by those and many other beneficiall Acts of Parliament granted in every King and Princes reign of liberties and benefits to the people And were not enough or sufficient to repair the decayes of the Regal Revenues or keep them from a consumption occasioned by their vast charges of our Kings as well in times of warre as peace to keep their people in safety peace and plenty nor to cure the Revenue of a Hecticque Fever of almost 500 years continuance though some of our Kings and Princes took some parts of Trade into their own hands to supply their necessities as the Wool by King Ed. 1. Tinne by Ed. 3. that and corn by Hen. 6. and Beer transported by Queen Elizabeth and notwithstanding the care and provision of divers Parliaments to have the Crown Lands not alien'd or wasted and the care of the Laws of England that the grants of the King shall be void where he is deceived or not truly informed The Ordinance in the 21 of Richard the second that whatsoever should come to the King by Judgment Escheat Wardship or any otherwayes should not be given away That of primo King H. 4. ca. 6. that in a Petition to the King for Lands Offices or any Gift the value thereof shall be mentioned and of that also which they have had of the Kings gift or of other his Pregenitors or Predecessors before and in case it be not their Grants shall be void and repealed the Ordinance of 21 R. 2. that the Procurer of any gift should be punished continued untill 7 H. 4. untill the King should be out of debt under penalty of forfeiting the double value for moving or procuring any such suit The Statute of 4 of H. 4. cap. 4. that the King grant no Lands or other Commodities but to such as shall deserve them and if any make demand without desert he shall be punished by the Councell and not obtain his suit In 11 Hen. 4 That Petitions for any such Grants delivered to the King be examined by his Privy Councell lest the Kings wants should light upon the Commons and in 2 H. 6. That all the profits by Wards Marriages Reliefs Escheats and Forfeitures should be expended in helping to defray the charges of the Kings Houshold an account of the Kings Revenue in 1. Hen. 6. in England Ireland Wales and Aquitaine and of his charges and expences delivered into Parliament by Ralph Lord Cromwell Lord Treasurer of England and the Dukes of Bedford and Gloucester and divers of the Lords of the Kings Councell appointed to consider thereof the Acts of Parliament in 18 and 43 Eliz. That the Queen should be answered for the overplus of the value of Lands granted by her Letters Patents after the rate of threescore years purchase The abating in several Kings Reigns the expences of Houshold and of their Retinue Favourites Gifts and Rewards and lessening of charges in Warre by Tenures in Capite and Knight Service Aydes to make their eldest Sonnes Knights and for the marriage of their eldest Daughters Profit of Annum diem vastum Aides and Assistances by Grand and Petit Serjeanties Aurum Reginae or something presented to the Queen in former Kings Reigns upon Grants of Lands or Estate Licences to Trade with prohibited Merchandize raising their Customes and sometimes farming out their Ships Fines upon licences of Alienation or Pardons Espargne of the Royall Revenue by the Marriages of the Heirs of the Nobility and Gentry of great Estates and transplanting and inoculating of great and Noble Families and Estates into one another not only for their good and advancement but the peace and welfare of the Kingdome and the checque which King James gave to suits and importunities at Court after that he had given away too much of his English Crown Lands to his craving Countreymen of Scotland publickly declaring what kind of Suits or Requests might be demanded of him and what he would not grant his orders to have once in every quarter of a year Certificates or Accounts of moneys issued for his Houshold Wardrobe Jewel-house Chamber Navie and Stables and his care and advice with his Privie Councel for supplies of his Revenues and regulating his expences for that the Exitus was every year by affairs troubles and cares of State disturbances and accidents often happening a great deal more then the Introitus the disbursements farre exceeding the incomes the ordinary receipts coming farre short of the ordinary disbursements and the extraordinaries very much out-going the ordinaries CHAP. III. Ruine and Decay