=64. Complicity of feudal lords in robbery.=—The King of France tried in vain, in the thirteenth century, to make feudal lords responsible for crimes committed in their territories. The lords were often accomplices in the crimes; the King himself was not always above suspicion; and even dignitaries of the church or heroes of the crusades turned highway robbers on occasion. An indication of the conditions is given by a complaint of the English House of Commons in 1348. “Whereas it is notoriously known throughout all the shires of England that robbers, thieves, and other malefactors on foot and on horseback, go and ride on the highway through all the land in divers places, committing larcenies and robberies; may it please our lord the king to charge the nobility of the land that none such be maintained by them, privately nor openly; but that they help to arrest and take such bad fellows.” A century before, two merchants from the continent had been robbed in Hampshire; the culprits were arrested, but could not be convicted for a long time; finally more than sixty persons were executed for complicity in this and similar crimes, the number including many men of position, numerous royal officials and some even of the king’s household. Shakespeare’s story of Prince Hal’s exploits on the road may not be true, but it is not at all improbable. =65. Tolls imposed by feudal authorities.=—It would be a great mistake to suppose that the merchant’s expense comprised only the sums necessary to transport his goods over bad roads and to protect himself against robbers. In addition every merchant had to pay the feudal tolls: tolls for the repair of a road which was not kept up, and tolls for protection which he had to furnish himself. Feudal lords were everywhere, and every feudal lord tried to make money out of the movement of men and goods. As early as the time of Charlemagne (809) we find the central government attempting to keep the ways of commerce open. Charlemagne forbade the compelling of travelers to use bridges when there were short-cuts, or the building of bridges in dry places to extort passage money from travelers, or the stretching of ropes across streams to force ships to pay for the right of passage with money or wares. The attempt was vain. The power of the central government fell into the hands of local lords, and was exercised by them without regard to any but selfish and local interests.