284
Constitutional History.
[chap.
Novelty of
the expe-
dient.
Edward’s
financial
ability.
tion brought against Edward IV were true, or to suspect that,
among the many financial expedients adopted during the
Lancastrian troubles, he might have found something like a
precedent. Of this however there is no sufficient example forth-
coming, and, although a treasurer like the earl of Wiltshire may
not unreasonably be supposed to have now and then extorted
money by violence, the popularity of Henry VI and Margaret was
never so great as to enable them to become successful beggars.
Such evidence as exists shows us Edward IV canvassing by word
of mouth or by letter for direct gifts of money from his subjects1.
Henry III had thus begged for new year’s gifts. Edward IV
requested and extorted ζ freewill offeringsi from every one who
could not say no to the pleadings of such a king. He had a
wonderful memory too, and knew the name and the particular
property of every man in the country who was worth taxing in
this way. He had no excuse for such meanness ; for the estates
had shown themselves liberal, he was rich in forfeitures, and an
act of resumption, passed whenever the parliament met, was
enough to adjust the balance between income and necessary ex-
penditure. He grew richer still by private enterprise. Against
instructions to the same effect will be found in the Ordinances, v. 187 ;
cf. pp. 201, 414; vi. 46-49; 236 sq. ; 322 sq. But these cases, most
severely interpreted, involve only the sort of loans that were sanctioned
by parliament. Mr. Plummer (Portescue, p. 13} adduces a peremptory
letter of demand dated July 1453 (Ordinances, vi. 143), for the payment of
money promised. I cannot allow that the instances affect the general
conclusion.
1 See above, p. 219. In the York Becords (Davies, p. 130) of 1482 the
name of Benevolence is applied to the contingent of armed men furnished
for the Scottish expedition : i the benivelence graunted to the kynges
highnes in the last viage his higlxnes purposed in his most roiall person
to go ayanest his auncient enemyes the Scottes, that is to say a capitan
and six score archers;’ see also p. 286, note 2, below. The common form
in which a benevolence was demanded from the country in general, may
be seen in the letters patent of Henry VII, July 7, 1491 ; Bymer, χii.
446, 447. The commissioners were directed to communicate ‘ cum talibus
nostrorum Subditorum . . . prout vobis melius videbitur, eis nostrum
propositum et mentem plenariam de et in praemis⅛is et eorum singulis
intimantes, eos movendo exhortando et requirendo ut nobis in hoc tam
magno arduoque negotio, non solum nostrum Statumverum etiam et eorum
salutem concernente, juxta eorum faeultates assistant et орет in personis
et aliis mediis et modis, prout vobis et eis melius visum fuerit, conférant.’
The promises so obtained were, by the Act ɪɪ Hen. VII, c. io, enforced
by imprisonment ; Statutes, ii. 576.
XVIiI.] Contribvtwns of Men. 285
Richard III the case is equally strong, for although his exigencies Richard’s
were greater he acted, in collecting benevolences, in the teeth of ɪenees.
a law which bad been passed in his own parliament; and,
although in this respect he had probably to bear much of the
odium which ought to have fallen upon Edward, he had been the
strongest man in Edward’s councils. That the benevolences were A sign of
any great or widely felt hardship is improbable ; Edward could 'ɪʤ-,ver.
not have maintained his popularity if they had been. But they
were unconstitutional ; they were adopted with the view of
enabling the sovereign to rule without that reference to par-
liamentary supply and audit which had become the safeguard
of national liberty. A king with a life revenue and an un-
checked power of exacting money from the rich is substantially
an absolute sovereign : the nation, whether poor and exhausted
as in the earlier days, or devoting itself to trade instead of
politics, as in the last years of the dynasty, parts too readily
with its birthright and awakes too late to its loss.
The loss of records and the anarchy of the last years of the Mainte-
• n ττ -rττ 1 ∙ Ii nance of
reign 01 Henry γ 1 Jeave us in great doubt as to the means armed,
by which forces were raised to maintain order in the king’s
name throughout England, although we know that the king’s
name was freely used by both sides in the actual conflict.
Royal letters however, analogous to, if not identical with, the
commissions of array which received their final form in 1404,
were no doubt the most convenient expedient for reinforcing
the royal army1; whilst the rebel force, which the duke of
York and the Nevilles, until they got the upper hand, were
able to bring into the field, was largely composed of their
own tenants and the inhabitants of disaffected districts 2 serving
for pay, and probably organised in much the same way as they
ɪ See examples in Rymer, xii : a writ to collect the posse Comitatus
against the rebels, in 1457, p. 401 ; commission to the earl of Pembroke
to take levies in 1460, p. 445, &c.
2 The letter of the duke of York to the men of Shrewsbury in 1452 will
serve as an illustration : ‘I . . , am fully concluded to proceed in all haste
against him with the help of my kindred and friends . . . praying and
exhorting you to fortify, enforce, and assist me, and to come to me with
all diligence wheresoever I shall be or draw, with as many goodly and
likely men as ye may make to execute the entent aforesaid ; ’ White Rose,
pp. xli, xlii.