knight's service or some other tenure, or, if holden by knight's service, whether they were holden immediately of the king or of some other lord, or by how many knights' fees they were holden, and the like; and for these and other causes, it became almost necessary that scutage should be collected by the sheriffs of counties, who might make inquisition by the oath of jurors concerning these and such like articles proper to be inquired into. Thus it was that in 1243, under the direction of the common council of the kingdom, writs were issued to the sheriffs, ordering them to collect the scutage of Gascony.2 And in the writs the sheriffs were directed to make inquiry by the oath of twelve knights and freemen, through whom the truth might best be known, men of substance so as to be responsible to the king in case of default, and find what lands were holden of the king, or of others who held of the king in capite, &c., and to distrain the tenants of such fees to pay their scutage for the same.3 The confusion into which the records of the exchequer fell during the reign of Henry III., and the irregular manner in which the entries had been made, rendered it difficult, in the following reign, to discover the value of lands; while any attempt to do so would, under the circumstances of the time, have caused numberless disputes and much ill blood among the nobility. This Edward was anxious to avoid, and therefore, though he took a scutage in 1 Madox, p. 472. For a petition for apportionment of scutage, see Par. Rolls, i. 47, No. 20. 2 Ibid. p. 473. 3 Writ for Lincolnshire, Madox, p. 472. 1277, the sixth year of the reign, on his return from the expedition to Wales, at the rate of 40s. on the fee, and, in 128, another of the same amount for another expedition to Wales, his subsequent exactions were such as not to involve any collision with the baronstaxes on wool, levies in kind of all sorts, and general taxes on moveables. The heavy taxation from 1290 to 1297 touched the landowners only in regard to their crops and cattle. 6 Towards the close of the reign scutages appear to have been levied for the armies of Scotland in 1300, 1303, and 1306, but such was the difficulty in collecting them, that as late as 10 Edward II. writs had to be issued appointing commissioners to levy and collect these scutages in the county of York. The writs were headed Quod rebelles et inobedientes collectoribus scutagii amerciantur.' The rate to be enforced was 40s. on the fee.2 The commissioners were to inquire by the oath of freemen of the county what fees were held in capite of the king at the time of the armies for Scotland. The sheriff was to summon the freemen to appear before the commissioners to make inquisition touching the matters aforesaid, and the commissioners were to amerce severely all rebellious or disobedient jurors and bailiffs of the king or lords of liberties, who should neglect to attend and to assist and obey them, causing the estreats of the amercements to be sent into the exchequer, that the same might be levied for the king's use. 1 Ann. Dunstapl., Ann. Monast. iii. 317. In short, a tax on the fee was so difficult to collect and so insignificant in the yield that it was now practically abandoned. The last vestiges of scutage are to be found in the records of fines imposed for not serving in the army summoned to march against the Scots in 1322, after the victory at the battle of Boroughbridge and the execution of Lancaster had rendered Edward supreme. They were collected from the archbishops, bishops, clergy, widows and other women, who owed service in that army and were desirous to make fines for the same. CHAPTER II. THE TAX ON AGRICULTURAL LANDS TERMED CARUCAGE 1194-1224. Carucage taken by Richard I. in 1194 and 1198. New survey and assessment. Taken by John in 1200 and by Henry III. in 1220. Assessment and collection of the carucage of 1220. The Falkes de Breauté carucage in 1224. End of carucage. A TAX similar to the danegeld, which had been levied on the hyde, was, in 1194, levied on the carucate, or plough land, a carucate being the quantity of land that could be ploughed by one plough, caruca, in a season. This was taken by king Richard on his second visit to the kingdom, and the rate was 2s. the carucate.1 Another carucage was levied in 1198, at the increased rate of 5s.; and for this carucage a new survey was made of all the lands in the kingdom and the plan of assessment by jurors was adopted, as it already had been, ten years before this date, for the Saladin tithe. The assessment was to be made, in every shire, by the king's commissioners (a knight and a clerk), the sheriff, and knights to be chosen for the purpose and under oath for faithful performance of their duty; who summoned before them the stewards of the barons, and in every township, the lord or bailiff and the reeve and 1 At the Great Council at Nottingham, Hoveden, iii. 242. four men, free or villein, and two knights for every hundred in the county, who took oath that faithfully and without fraud they would state how many carucates were contained in every township (with certain other particulars), and assessed to tax accordingly. The assessments were registered in four rolls, of which the knight commissioner had one; the clerk, another ; the sheriff, a third; and the steward of every baron, so much of the fourth as related to his lord's land. The collection was in the hands of two knights and the bailiff in every hundred; and they accounted to the sheriff, who, in his turn, accounted to the exchequer. But every baron was required, with the aid of the sheriff, to collect the tax from his tenants, and, in default, the amount was chargeable on his demesne. Freemen and villeins alike if convicted of perjury were to render to the king the amount lost through the perjury; while, in addition to this, the villein forfeited to his lord the best ox of his plough team, and the freeman was at the mercy of the king. The carcucate, or quantity of land that could be ploughed by one plough or team in a season, was fixed at 100 acres.1 In 1200 king John returned from Normandy and took a carucage of 3s. In 1220 Henry III. received a carucage of 2s., the rate of Richard's carucage in 1194. It was assessed and collected by the sheriff and two knights of the shire chosen in the full assembly of the county court, who sent the proceeds, under their seals, to London; and the sheriffs were strongly exhorted to be diligent in the business. As you love yourself and 1 6 1 Hoveden, iv. 46. |