[III-1] J. Rossus, _Historia Regum Angliæ_ (ed. T. Hearne).
[III-2] 4 Hen. VII, c. 19; 6 Hen. VIII, c. 5; 7 Hen. VIII, c. 1; 25 Hen. VIII,
c. 13. For the Commission of 1517 see Leadam, _The Domesday of Enclosures_.
[III-3] For examples see J. S. Schapiro, _Social Reform and the Reformation_,
pp. 60-1, 65, 67, 70-1.
[III-4] More, _Utopia_, p. 32 (Pitt Press ed., 1879): “Noblemen and gentlemen,
yea and certeyne abbottes, holy men no doubt ... leave no grounde for tillage,
thei enclose al into pastures.” For a case of claiming a bondman see Selden
Society, vol. xvi, 1903, _Select Cases in the Court of Star Chamber_, pp.
cxxiii-cxxix, 118-29 (Carter _v._ the Abbott of Malmesbury); for conversion of
copyholds to tenancies at will, Selden Society, vol. xii, 1898, _Select Cases in
the Court of Requests_, pp. lix-lxv, 64-101 (Kent and other inhabitants of
Abbot’s Ripton _v._ St. John; the change was alleged to have been made in 1471).
[III-5] A. Savine, _English Monasteries on the Eve of the Dissolution_ (_Oxford
Studies in Social and Legal History_, ed. P. Vinogradoff, vol. i, 1909, p. 100),
estimates the net temporal income of English monasteries in 1535 at £109,736,
and the net income from all sources at £136,361. These figures require to be
multiplied by at least 12 to convert them into terms of modern money. An
estimate of the capital value which they represent can only be a guess, but it
can hardly have been less (in terms of modern money) than £20,000,000.
[III-6] For the status and payments of grantees, see the figures of Savine,
printed in H. A. L. Fisher, _The Political History of England, 1485-1547_, Appx.
ii: the low price paid by peers is particularly striking. The best study is that
of S. B. Liljegren, _The Fall of the Monasteries and the Social Changes in
England leading up to the Great Revolution_ (1924), which shows in detail (pp.
118-25) the activities of speculators.
[III-7] _Star Chamber Proc._, Hen. VIII, vol. vi, no. 181, printed in Tawney and
Power, _Tudor Economic Documents_, vol. i, pp. 19-29.
[III-8] Selden Society, _Select Cases in the Court of Requests_, pp. lviii-lxix,
198-200.
[III-9] Quoted by F. A. Gasquet, _Henry the Eighth and the English Monasteries_,
1920, pp. 227-8.
[III-10] See, _e.g._, _The Obedience of a Christian Man_ (in Tyndale’s
_Doctrinal Treatises_, Parker Society, 1848), p. 231, where the treatment of the
poor by the early Church is cited as an example; and _Policies to reduce this
Realme of Englande unto a Prosperus Wealthe and Estate_, 1549 (printed in Tawney
and Power, _Tudor Economic Documents_, vol. iii, pp. 311-45): “Like as we
suffered our selfes to be ignorant of the trewe worshipping of God, even so God
kepte from us the right knowledge how to reforme those inconveniences which we
did see before our eyes to tende unto the utter Desolation of the Realme. But
now that the trew worshepping of Gode is ... so purely and sincerely sett
forthe, it is likewise to be trusted that God ... will use the kinges maiestie
and your grace to be also his ministres in plucking up by the roots all the
cawses and occasions of this foresaid Decaye and Desolation.”
[III-11] Bucer, _De Regno Christi_.
[III-12] A. F. Leach, _The Schools of Mediæval England_, 1915, p. 331. He goes
on: “The contrasts between one grammar school to every 5,625 people, and that
presented by the Schools Inquiry Report in 1864 of one to every 23,750 people
... is not to the disadvantage of our pre-Reformation ancestors.” For details of
the Edwardian spoliation, see the same author’s _English Schools at the
Reformation, 1546-8_ (1896).
[III-13] See _Acts of the Privy Council_, vol. ii, pp. 193-5 (1548); in response
to protests from the members for Lynn and Coventry, the gild lands of those
cities are regranted to them.
[III-14] Crowley, _The Way to Wealth, in Select Works of Robert Crowley_, ed. J.
M. Cowper (Early English Text Society, 1872, pp. 129-150).
[III-15] Crowley, _op. cit._, and _Epigrams_ (in _ibid._, pp. 1-51).
[III-16] Becon, _The Jewel of Joy_, 1553: “They abhore the names of Monkes,
Friers, Chanons, Nonnes, etc., but their goodes they gredely gripe. And yet
where the cloysters kept hospitality, let out their fermes at a resonable price,
norished scholes, brought up youth in good letters, they do none of all these
thynges.”
[III-17] Thomas Lever, _Sermons_, 1550 (_English Reprints_, ed. E. Arber, 1895),
p. 32. The same charge is repeated in subsequent sermons.
[III-18] F. W. Russell, _Kett’s Rebellion in Norfolk_, 1859, p. 202. For
Somerset’s policy and the revolt of the gentry against it, see Tawney, _The
Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century_, pp. 365-70.
[III-19] Latimer, _Seven Sermons before Edward VI_ (_English Reprints_, ed. E.
Arber, 1895), pp. 84-6.
[III-20] _Pleasure and Pain_, in _Select Works of Robert Crowley_, ed. J. M.
Cowper, p. 116.
[III-21] _The Way to Wealth_, in _ibid._, p. 132.
[III-22] Lever, _op. cit._, p. 130.
[III-23] _A Prayer for Landlords_, from _A Book of Private Prayer set forth by
Order of King Edward VI._
[III-24] Bacon, _Of the True Greatness of the Kingdom of Britain_.
[III-25] For a discussion of the problem of credit as it affected the peasant
and small master, see my introduction to Wilson’s _Discourse upon Usury_, 1925,
pp. 17-30.
[III-26] See note 71 on Chapter I.
[III-27] D’Ewes, _Journals_, 1682, p. 173.
[III-28] _Calendar S.P.D. Eliz._, vol. cclxxxvi, nos. 19, 20.
[III-29] For examples see S. O. Addy, _Church and Manor_, 1913, chap. xv. The
best account of parish business and organization is given by S. L. Ware, _The
Elizabethan Parish in its Ecclesiastical and Financial Aspects_, 1908.
[III-30] Lever, _op. cit._, p. 130. See also Harrison, _The Description of
Britaine_, 1587 ed., bk. ii, chap. xviii.
[III-31] _A Godlie Treatise concerning the Lawful Use of Riches_, a translation
by Thos. Rogers from the Latin of Nicholas Heming, 1578, p. 8.
[III-32] Sandys, 2nd, 10th, 11th, and 12th of _Sermons_ (Parker Society, 1841);
Jewel, _Works_, pt. iv, pp. 1293-8 (Parker Society, 1850); Thos. Wilson, _A
Discourse upon Usury_, 1572; Miles Mosse, _The Arraignment and Conviction of
Usurie_, 1595; John Blaxton, _The English Usurer, or Usury Condemned by the Most
Learned and Famous Divines of the Church of England_, 1634.
[III-33] Heming, _op. cit._, pp. 16-17.
[III-34] Roger Fenton, _A Treatise of Usurie_, 1612, p. 59.
[III-35] Wilson, _op. cit._, 1925 ed., p. 281.
[III-36] Miles Mosse, _op. cit._
[III-37] _S.P.D. Eliz._, vol. lxxv, no. 54. (Printed in Tawney and Power, _Tudor
Economic Documents_, vol. iii, pp. 359-70).
[III-38] Heming, _op. cit._, p. 11.
[III-39] Maitland, _English Law and the Renaissance_, 1901.
[III-40] Quoted by Maitland, _op. cit._, pp. 49-50.
[III-41] Wilson, _op. cit._
[III-42] Jeremy Taylor, _Ductor Dubitantium_, 1660, bk. iii, ch. iii, par. 30.
[III-43] Mosse, _op. cit._, Dedication, p. 6.
[III-44] E. Cardwell, _Synodalia_, 1842, p. 436.
[III-45] Cardwell, _The Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws_, 1850, pp. 206,
323.
[III-46] _The Remains of Archbishop Grindal_, ed. Wm. Nicholson (Parker Soc.,
1843), p. 143.
[III-47] See, _e.g._, W. P. M. Kennedy, _Elizabethan Episcopal Administration_,
1924, vol. iii, p. 180 (Archdeacon Mullins’ Articles for the Archdeaconry of
London (1585): “Item, whether you do know that within your parish there is (or
are) any person or persons notoriously known or suspected by probable tokens or
common fame to be an usurer; or doth offend by any colour or means directly or
indirectly in the same”), and pp. 184, 233; Wilkins, _Concilia_, vol. iv, pp.
319, 337, 416.
[III-48] Cardwell, _Synodalia_, vol. i, pp. 144, 308; Wilkins, _Concilia_, vol.
iv, p. 509.
[III-49] Ware, _op. cit._ (see note 29 above), quotes several examples. See also
_Archæologia Cantiana_, vol. xxv, 1902, pp. 27, 48 (Visitations of the
Archdeacon of Canterbury).
[III-50] _Hist. MSS. Com., 13th Report_, 1892, Appx., pt. iv, pp. 333-4 (_MSS.
of the Borough of Hereford_).
[III-51] W. H. Hale, _A Series of Precedents and Proceedings in Criminal
Causes_, 1847, p. 166.
[III-52] _Yorkshire Arch. Journal_, vol. xviii, 1895, p. 331.
[III-53] _Commissary of London Correction Books, 1618-1625_ (H. 184, pp. 164,
192). I am indebted to Mr. Fincham of Somerset House (where the books are kept)
for kindly calling my attention to these cases. The shorter of them (p. 192)
runs as follows:
Sancti Botolphi extra Aldersgate Thomas Witham at the signe of the Unicorne
{ Detected for an usurer that taketh above the rate of x^{_li_} in the
{ 100^{_li_} and above the rate of 2_s._ in the pound for money by him lent
{ for a yeare, or more than after that rate for a lesse tyme ex fama prout in
{ rotula. Quo die comparuit, etc.
9_mo_ Maii 1620 coram domino officiali principali etc. et in eius camera etc.
comparuit dictus Witham et ei objecto ut supra allegavit that he is seldom at
home himselfe but leaves his man to deale in the business of his shop, and yf
any fault be committed he saith the fault is in his man and not in himselfe, and
he sayeth he will give charge and take care that no oppression shall be made nor
offence committed this way hereafter, humbly praying the judge for favour to be
dismissed, unde dominus monuit eum that thereafter neither by himselfe nor his
servant he offende in the lyke nor suffer any such oppression to be committed,
et cum hac monitione eum dimisit.
[III-54] _S.P.D. Eliz._, vol. lxxv, no. 54.
[III-55] For an account of these expedients see my introduction to Wilson’s
_Discourse upon Usury_, 1925, pp. 123-8.
[III-56] Richard Hooker, _The Laws of Ecclesiastical Policy_, bk. viii, chap. i,
par. 5.
[III-57] _Acts of the Privy Council_, vol. xxvii, 1597, p. 129.
[III-58] _The Stiffkey Papers_ (ed. H. W. Saunders, Royal Historical Society,
Camden Third Series, vol. xxvi, 1915), p. 140.
[III-59] Quoted by E. M. Leonard, _The Early History of English Poor Relief_,
1900, p. 148.
[III-60] For an account of the treatment of exchange business under Elizabeth,
see Wilson, _op. cit._, Introduction, pp. 146-54.
[III-61] For references see _ibid._, pp. 164-5; and _Les Reportes del Cases in
Camera Stellata, 1593-1609_, ed. W. P. Baildon, 1894, pp. 235-7. The latter book
contains several instances of intervention by the Star Chamber in cases of
engrossing of corn (pp. 71, 76-7, 78-9, 91) and of enclosure and depopulation
(pp. 49-52, 164-5, 192-3, 247, 346-7).
[III-62] _A Discourse of the Common Weal of this Realm of England_, ed. E.
Lamond, 1893, p. 14.
[III-63] _The Works of William Laud, D.D._, ed. Wm. Scott, vol. i, 1847, p. 6.
[III-64] _Ibid._, p. 64.
[III-65] _Ibid._, pp. 89, 138.
[III-66] _Ibid._, p. 167.
[III-67] _Ibid._, pp. 28-9.
[III-68] Gonner, _Common Land and Enclosure_, 1912, pp. 166-7. For the activity
of the Government from 1629 to 1640, see Tawney, _The Agrarian Problem in the
Sixteenth Century_, pp. 376, 391, and E. M. Leonard, _The Inclosure of Common
Fields in the Seventeenth Century_, in _Trans. Royal Hist. Soc._, N.S., vol.
xix, pp. 101 _seqq._
[III-69] Letter to Dr. Gilbert Sheldon, Warden of All Souls (in Laud’s _Works_,
vol. vi, pt. ii, p. 520): “One thing more I must tell you, that, though I did
you this favour, to make stay of the hearing till your return, yet for the
business itself, I can show you none; partly because I am a great hater of
depopulations in any kind, as being one of the greatest mischiefs in this
kingdom, and of very ill example from a college, or college tenant”; Clarendon,
_History of the Rebellion_, bk. i, par. 204.
[III-70] _S.P.D. Chas. I_, vol. ccccxcix, no. 10 (printed in Tawney, _The
Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century_, pp. 420-1); and _Lords’ Journals_,
vol. vi, p. 468_b_ (March 13, 1643-4), Articles against Laud: “Then Mr. Talbot
upon oath deposed how the Archbishop did oppose the law in the business of
inclosures and depopulations; how, when the law was desired to be pleaded for
the right of land, he bid them ‘Go plead law in inferior Courts, they should not
plead it before him’; and that the Archbishop did fine him for that business two
hundred pounds for using the property of his freehold, and would not suffer the
law to be pleaded.”
[III-71] Leonard, _The Early History of English Poor Relief_, pp. 150-64; Unwin,
_Industrial Organization in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_, 1904, pp.
142-7.
[III-72] R. R. Reid, _The King’s Council in the North_, 1921, pp. 412, 413 n.
[III-73] Camden Soc., N.S., vol. xxxix, 1886, _Cases in the Courts of Star
Chamber and High Commission_, ed. S. R. Gardiner, p. 46. For another case of
engrossing of corn, see _ibid._, pp. 82-9.
[III-74] Tawney, _The Assessment of Wages in England by the Justices of the
Peace_, in _Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirthschaftsgeschichte_, Bd. xi,
1913, pp. 551-4; Leonard, _op. cit._, p. 157.
[III-75] _The Works of William Laud_, ed. Wm. Scott, vol. vi, 1857, pt. i, p.
191. (Answer to Lord Saye and Sele’s speech upon the Bill about Bishops’ Powers
in Civil Affairs and Courts of Judicature.)
[III-76] _Ibid._, vol. i, pp. 5-6.
[III-77] Harrington, _Works_, 1700 ed., pp. 69 (_Oceana_) and 388-9 (_The Art of
Law-giving_).
[III-78] G. Malynes, _Lex Mercatoria_, 1622. The same simile had been used much
earlier in _A Discourse of the Common Weal of this Realm of England_, ed. E.
Lamond, p. 98.
[III-79] D’Ewes, _Journals_, p. 674; and 39 Eliz., c. 2.
[III-80] For criticisms of price control see Tawney and Power, _Tudor Economic
Documents_, vol. iii, pp. 339-41, and vol. ii, p. 188, and _Stiffkey Papers_
(see note 58 above), pp. 130-40.
[III-81] H. Ellis, _Original Letters_, 2nd series, vol. ii, 1827, letter
clxxxii, and J. W. Burgon, _The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham_, 1839,
vol. ii, p. 343.
[III-82] Wilson, _op. cit._ (see note 55 above), p. 249.
[III-83] _Commons’ Journals_, May 21, 1604, vol. i, p. 218.
[III-84] 13 Eliz., c. 8, repealing 5 and 6 Ed. VI, c. 20; D’Ewes, _Journals_,
pp. 171-4.
[III-85] Owen and Blakeway, _History of Shrewsbury_, 1825, vol. ii, pp. 364 n.,
412.
[III-86] _Hist. MSS. Com., Report on MSS. in various Collections_, vol. i, 1901,
p. 46 (_MSS. of Corporation of Burford_).
[III-87] Wilson, _op. cit._ (see note 55 above), p. 233.
[III-88] Coke, _Institutes_, pt. ii, 1797, pp. 601 _seqq._ (_Certain articles of
abuses which are desired to be reformed in granting of prohibitions, exhibited
by Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury._)
[III-89] Thomas Ridley, _A View of the Civile and Ecclesiastical Law, and
wherein the Practice of them is streitened and may be relieved within this
Land_, 1607, Dedication, p. 3.
[III-90] W. Huntley, _A Breviate of the Prelates’ intolerable Usurpation_, 1637,
pp. 183-4. The case referred to is that of Hinde, alleged to have been heard
Mich. 18 and 19 Eliz. For the controversy over prohibitions, see R. G. Usher,
_The Rise and Fall of the High Commission_, 1913, pp. 180 _seqq._
[III-91] D’Ewes, _Journals_, pp. 171, 173.
[III-92] See, _e.g._, Surtees Society, vol. xxxiv, 1858, _The Acts of the High
Commission Court within the Diocese of Durham_, Preface, which shows that
between 1626 and 1639 cases of contempt of the ordinary ecclesiastical
jurisdiction ran into hundreds.
[III-93] Penn, _No Cross, No Crown_, pt. i, ch. xii, par. 8.
[III-94] Sanderson, _De Obligatione Conscientiæ_, 1666; Taylor, _The Rule and
Exercises of Holy Living_, 1650, chap. iii, sect. iii (_Of Negotiation or Civil
Contracts, Rules and Measures of Justice in Bargaining_).
[III-95] Mandeville, _The Fable of the Bees_, ed. F. B. Kaye, 1924, pp. 193,
194. Similar sentiments with regard to the necessity of poverty were expressed
later by the Rev. J. Townsend, in his _Dissertation on the Poor Laws_ (1785),
and by Patrick Colquhoun in his _Treatise on the Wealth and Resources of the
British Empire_ (1814). Like Mandeville, both these writers argue that poverty
is essential to the prosperity, and, indeed, to the very existence, of
civilization. For a full collection of citations to the same effect from
eighteenth-century writers, see E. S. Furniss, _The Position of the Laborer in a
System of Nationalism_, 1920, chaps. iv-vi.
[III-96] _The Whole Duty of Man, laid down in a plain and familiar Way for the
Use of All_, 1658.