“Item in forma prædicta scribitur civibus Eboraci, civibus Lincolniæ, et ceteris burgis Angliæ, quod mittant in forma prædicta duos de discretioribus, legalioribus et probioribus tam civibus quam burgensibus.
“Item in forma prædicta mandatum est baronibus et probis hominibus Quinque Portuum....” Stubbs, Sel. Charters, 415; 1 Rymer, Foedera, part 2, 93.
[121] For a fuller discussion of this rather iconoclastic view of Simon de Montfort, see Medley, Eng. Const. Hist. 134.
[122] T. Wykes, Chron. a. 1269, 226-227, in Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 337.
[123] Ann. Winton. a. 1273, 113; Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 429.
[124] Ann. Winton. a. 1275, 119; Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 430.
[125] Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 450.
[126] “... archiepiscopi, episcopi, et alii prælati regni Angliæ ac comites, barones, et nos (William, Earl of Pembroke) et communitate ejusdem regni ad instantiam et rogatum mercatorum pluribus de causis unanimiter concesserimus magnifico principi et domino nostro carissimo domino Edwardo Dei gratia regi Angliæ illustri, pro nobis et hæredibus nostris, dimidiam marcam de quolibet sacco lanæ et dimidiam marcam pro singulis trescentis pellibus lanutis quæ faciunt unum saccum, et unam marcam de quolibet lesta coriorum, exeuntibus regnum Angliæ....” Stubbs, Sel. Chart. 451; Adams and Stephens, Sel. Doc. 69, translation.
[127] See 1 Hubert Hall, Customs Revenue of England, 65-68; 2, 117-118; Medley, Eng. Const. Hist. 517-518.
[128] Wool, hides and leather formed the bulk of the early exports from England. Wine was the principal import. It was on these articles of merchandise, and such others as the merchants brought in and took out, that duties had been charged since early times. The taxes had become customary and were spoken of as “consuetudines,” or customs. The basis for the exaction was the understanding that the merchants, most of them foreigners, should be given protection by the king. The early prisage on wine amounted to one cask from every cargo of from ten to twenty casks, arriving at a port of England. From ships carrying more than twenty casks, two casks were exacted. Sometimes the duty instead of being made in wine was compounded for in money. The amount of the export tax on wool in the beginning is not known. In merchandise of other sorts, the payment amounted to a tenth or a fifteenth of the value of the goods.