Читать книгу Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John. With an Historical Introduction онлайн

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It is here maintained that John did make changes in all three directions; and, further, that the incidence of this increase in feudal burdens was rendered even more unendurable by two considerations:—because at his accession there remained unpaid (particularly from the fiefs of the northern knights) large arrears of the scutages imposed in his brother’s reign,^[132] and because in June, 1212, John drew the feudal chain tight by a drastic and galling measure. In that month he instituted a strict inquest into the amount of feudal service exigible from every estate in England, to prevent any dues escaping his wide net, and to revive all services and payments that had lapsed or were in danger of lapsing.

That he made the first two changes becomes a certainty from a glance at the table of scutages actually extorted during his reign, as these are here copied from a list compiled by a writer of authority who has no special theory to support,^[133] viz.:

First scutage of reign—1198-9—2marks per knight’s fee.Second""1200-12""Third""1201-22""Fourth""1202-32""Fifth""1203-42""Sixth""1204-52""Seventh""1205-620s."Eighth""1209-102marks"Ninth""1210-112""Tenth""1210-1120s."Eleventh""1213-143marks"

It will be seen that, in the very first year of his reign, John took a scutage, and that, too, at a rate above the established normal, at two marks per scutum (only once equalled, thirty years before, and then under special circumstances). Even one such exaction must have made the already sulky Crown tenants look askance.