The Acts. the apprehensions of Venice, whose great rival Florence was at this time. If Venetian merchants were forbidden to export wool by sea from this country, they said, they would have no motive for visiting these shores and the Flanders' Galleys would cease to bring spices and wines and other commodities, since England prohibited the export of gold and silver abroad. It meant, in fact, an end to all commercial intercourse between England and Venice 1. None the less the attitude of Venice remained unchanged, and Henry was driven to other measures of retaliation. The act of 1491 ordered alien importers of malmsey wine to pay eighteen shillings per butt increased duty, and the price of wine was fixed at four pounds the butt in order that the additional duty should not fall upon the consumer in this country 2. This measure seems to have attained its end, and Venice was compelled to moderate her tariffs. Another feature of Henry's commercial policy was his Navigation maintenance of the navy. The Tudors recognized the importance of the navy on grounds set forth in the act of 1540: "The navy of this realm in times past hath been and yet is very profitable, requisite, necessary and commodious as well for the intercourse and concourse of merchants transporting and conveying their wares and merchandises as is above said, and a great defence and surety of this realm in time of war as well to offend as defend, and also the maintenance of many masters, mariners and seamen, making them expert and cunning in the art and science of shipmen and sailing, and they, their wives and children, have had their livings of and by the same, and also hath been the chief maintenance and supportation of the cities, towns, villages, havens and creeks, near adjoining unto the sea coasts, and the king's subjects, bakers, brewers, butchers, smiths, ropers, shipwrights, tailors, shoemakers and other victuallers and handicraftsmen inhabiting and dwelling near unto the said coasts have also had by the same a great part of their living". In the very first year of Henry VII.'s reign an act was passed, the preamble of which lamented 1 Venetian State Papers, i. 185-186, Nos. 561, 562. of the “the great diminishing and decay that hath been now of late time of the navy", and it enacted that wines of Guienne and Gascony should be imported only in English, Irish or Welsh ships1. Three years later it was added that the masters and mariners must be English subjects 2. Bacon in commenting upon these acts praises Henry for "bowing the ancient policy of this realm from consideration of plenty to consideration of power: for that almost all the ancient statutes invite (by all means) merchant strangers to bring in all sorts of commodities; having for end cheapness, and not looking to the point of state concerning the naval power But the long line of Navigation Acts, which culminated in the famous acts of the Commonwealth and the Restoration, can be traced far beyond the reign of Henry VII.; the first 4 belongs to the reign of Richard II. (1381). As early as 1371 Complaints the decay of the navy was made the ground of complaint, decay of and the Commons affirmed the principal causes to be the navy. (1) that ships were arrested on the king's behalf long before they were needed for service, and during the period of waiting the owners had to bear the charges at their own cost both of the mariners and all appurtenances, without making any profit in the meantime to their undoing; (2) that merchants, the "nourishers of the navy" were often restrained by ordinances from their voyages and other affairs, whereby mariners were driven to seek other trades and livings; (3) the masters of the king's ships under pretext of their office made masters of other ships serve them, by which most of the ships lay still and the mariners were forced to take up new occupations 5. These complaints led Attempted to the act of 1381, which sought "to increase the navy of England which is now greatly diminished". It enacted that "none of the king's liege people do from henceforth ship any merchandise in going out or coming within the realm of England, in any port, but only in ships of the king's liegance". But the following year the proviso was added that the act was only to be valid, provided there were native ships "able and sufficient" to undertake the carrying 1 Statutes, ii. 502. 3 Works, vi. 96. 2 Ibid. ii. 535. 4 Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, i. 592. 5 Rot. Parl. ii. 307 a. remedies. trade 1; and the result must have been largely to frustrate the aim of Richard's measure. Henry IV. took other steps in an Ordinance of 1406, by which the safeguard of the seas was entrusted to English merchants themselves. It was agreed that they should furnish for part of the time two thousand men-at-arms and archers, and for the other part a thousand men, sometimes more and sometimes less, as need arose, and also a sufficient number of mariners to man the ships. In return they were to receive twelvepence for every pound of merchandise, three shillings for every tun of wine, the fourth part of the subsidy of wool granted in the last parliament, and all prizes they might take. They were to nominate two admirals, one for the south and the other for the north 2. Shortly afterwards, however, the king at their request granted the merchants their discharge from the safeguard of the seas. Subsequently (1454) “the safeguard and keeping of the sea" was entrusted to five lords, but they were discharged from the task the following year 5, and two years later Warwick the King-maker was appointed for the purpose. The navigation policy of earlier reigns-intermittent as it was-was continued, nominally at any rate 7, under the first two Tudors. We have already dealt with the acts of 1485 and 1488, and their subsequent history can be briefly outlined. They were confirmed by Henry VIII. in 1532 and 1540, but partly repealed by Edward VI. (1552) on the ground that their only result was to increase the price of wine without in any way benefiting the navy. At length Elizabeth abandoned the navigation policy, recognizing that laws forbidding the employment of foreign ships caused retaliatory measures to be adopted in other countries 8. 1 Statutes, ii. 28. In 1390 it was added that native shippers must "take reasonable gains": ibid. ii. 77. 2 Rot. Parl. iii. 569 b. The first article is given inaccurately in Cotton, Exact Abridgement of the Records, 452. 3 Rot. Parl. iii. 602 a. 4 Ibid. v. 244 a. 5 Ibid. v. 283 a. 6 Patent Rolls, 1452-1461, p. 413. 7 Williamson (Maritime Enterprise, 209) holds that the "importance [of the act of 1485] cannot be overestimated. It remained in full operation for more than sixty years producing a mercantile revival". But this view seems disproved (i.) by the grants of licences allowing the use of foreign ships; (ii.) by the preamble to the act of 1540 which declares that the navigation acts had been disregarded. 8 Statutes, iii. 374 (1532), 760 (1540); iv. part i. 154 (1552), 375 (1559). CHAPTER XI REVENUE AND EXCHEQUER Exchequer. THE central department of finance in England was known Organizaas the Exchequer, and an account of its administration in tion of the the twelfth century is contained in the Dialogus de Scaccario, written by Richard, Bishop of London, great-nephew of Roger of Salisbury. In its finished shape it consisted of two separate portions, each with its own staff, and a distinction must therefore be drawn between the Lower Exchequer called the Treasury of Receipt, and the Upper Exchequer or court of account. The Treasury of Receipt constituted the office where the money was paid and stored. At its head were nominally the treasurer and chamberlains, but the actual work was performed by their deputies. The clerk of the treasurer kept official records of receipts, and two knights, representing the chamberlains, supervised the tallies. Different functions were also assigned to the pesour1 who weighed the silver pennies, the four tellers who counted them and the melter who made the assay. The Upper Exchequer, which audited and controlled the accounts, consisted of the great officers of the king's household, who were known as the barons of Exchequer, though they did not always make an appearance in person but could act by deputy. The justiciar, who represented the king, presided over the court and dispensed the patronage. The chancellor embodied the equitable jurisdiction of the king's court and sealed the writs 2. The treasurer was burdened with the chief responsibility; he received the sheriff's accounts and dictated the entries on the pipe rolls. Other officers con 1 Madox, Exchequer, 197. 2 H. Hall, Introduction to the Pipe Rolls, in Pipe Roll Soc. Pub. iii. 38. The working of the cerned in the proceedings of the court, and with their places i At The working of the Exchequer system can best be illustrated by concentrating attention on three main points: Exchequer (1) the computation of money; (2) the methods of payment; (3) the issue of receipts. system: (i.) The computa tion of money. (1) The arithmetic employed at the Exchequer was a system of calculation based upon the abacus. A rectangular board was covered with a black cloth ruled with white lines a foot apart. The Dialogus only mentions the vertical lines running in columns, but it is clear that the board contained also horizontal lines 5. This division of the board Ibid. II. ii. p. 115. 1 Dialogus de Scaccario (Oxford ed. 1902), I. iv. p. 68. 2 Ibid. I. iii. p. 66. Under Henry II. the treasure was permanently stored at Winchester: Round, The Commune of London, 80. 3 Dialogus, Introd. 44. Ibid. I. i. p. 60. For the name Exchequer and the horizontal lines, see Madox, Exchequer, 109; Round, Commune, 74 (n. 2); Hall, Antiquities of the Exchequer (1898), 115; R. L. Poole, The Exchequer in the Twelfth Century (1912), 100; C. H. Haskins, "The Abacus and the King's Curia in English Hist. Review, xxvii. 101 (n. 2). Contrast Cunningham, English Industry, i. 156 (n. 3). |