Sancti Stephani, et Sancti Johannis, ut unusquisque decimam praetaxatam infra purificationem Beatae Virginis penes se colligat, et sequenti die et deinceps, illis praesentibus qui dieti sunt, ad locum quo vocatus fuerit, unusquisque persolvat.-Benedictus Abbas, ii. 31; Hoveden, ii. 336.

APPENDIX II.

SOME PARTICULARS OF THE SCHEDULES OF ASSESSMENT FOR THE TAXES ON MOVEABLES. COLCHESTER, 1295 AND 1301.

I.

Assessment for the 7th in 1295. Burgus Colchester.

In the twenty-fourth year of the reign of king Edward, son of king Henry, an assessment was made within the precinct and liberty of the borough of Colchester, of the goods and chattels of every one, as possessed on Michaelmas Day last past, . for the grant to the said king Edward made for the defence of the kingdom, and as an aid for his war lately commenced against his enemies and the rebellious in France, by twelve burgesses of Colchester, that is to say (here follow their names), who say on their oath that—

Richard, prior of the church of St. Botolph at Colchester, had on Michaelmas Day last past:-10 quarters of wheat (siliginis, gros blé), at 5s. a quarter; 12 quarters of barley, at 48. a quarter; 8 quarters of oats, at 28. a quarter; 4 beasts of the plough, at 3s. a beast; 4 oxen, at half a mark (68. 8d.) an ox; 1 bull, value 5s.; 6 cows, at 5s. a cow; 32 sheep, at 8d. a sheep; and 7 lambs, at 6d. a lamb.—Total, 10l. 12s. 6d. The 7th of which 30s. 44d.'

The farthing (quadrans) was first made in 1278, the year in which the halfpenny (obolus) previously semicircular, as a penny cut in two in the middle, was made round. Walsingham, i. 19.

Master William Waryn (vicar, as we learn from the assessment for 1301) had, on the same day, chattels and goods to the amount of 16l. 98. 8d. In most particulars, this assessment resembles that of the prior, including a bull;' it includes also two poor horses and a cart, valued at 108.; 3 calves, at 12d. a calf; 12 pigs, at 12d. a pig; and hay, valued at 3s.

Following the items of assessment, we come, two items from the last, to a sea-coal dealer, Edward de Berneholte, who has-30 quarters of sea-coal, at 6d. a quarter; 122 quarters of salt, at 5s. a quarter; iron valued at 25s.; 2 cups of silver, valued at 128.; a cup of mazer,2 value 38.; a brass caldron, value 2s. 6d. ; and 4 silver spoons, at 10d. a spoon. The total of his assessment is 6l. 3s. 4d.

A little further on, in the assessment of Edward Talbe, a cart and horses, not stated to be poor, are valued at a mark, 13s. 4d.

The next item (the assessment of Henry Godyer) is the first that includes a bed; valued at 4s.

The next is the assessment of a tanner; who has besides wheat, barley, oats, pigs, &c., leather, bark, and utensils for his tannery, valued at 5 marks (3l. 6s. 8d.); garments (robam), at half a mark; three pounds of wool, at 28. per lb.; a piece of woollen cloth, 108.; and a stack of wood (talewoda 3 fagat), 5s.: his total is 7l. 8s. 10d. That of the next person, also

a tanner, is 8l. 18. 4d.

3.

Many of the succeeding items show an insignificant total:-8s. 8d.; 11s. 4d.; a peperer, 14s. 4d.; a miller (who has a pig, value 2s.), 78. 4d.; two dyers, one of whom has woollen cloth to the value of 15s.: his total is 28s. 4d. ;

1 The vicarial tithes included tithe of cattle.

2 Mazer, of maple, or some other hard wood. The drinking-cups, at this date, in this class of life were usually of horn or wood. The mazer cup was shaped like a bowl; the value, in these assessments, varies from 1s. to 3s.

3 Firewood cleft and cut into billets of a certain length. See 34 & 35 Hen. VIII. c. 3.