Again, the monasteries were great hospitals, and most of them were obliged to relieve poor people every day. They served the same purposes of relieving the poor and strangers as the workhouses which originated in the reign of Queen Elizabeth did. When the monasteries were dissolved, and all their properties handed over as a free gift by Parliament to Henry VIII., to do with them as he pleased, there were no longer any places where the poor and strangers could be relieved. If all the monastic properties had then been placed under a Board of Commissioners to be utilized towards the relief of the poor, an annual income would now be at the command of such Commissioners as would be sufficient to cover the eight and a half millions per annum, the present cost of the relief of the poor of England and Wales, and thus the ratepayers of the kingdom would be relieved of the payment of poor rates. The annual value of all the property was £250,000, including the tithes possessed by the monastic bodies. If we take into account the valuable landed estates which the bishops and chapters were forced to exchange for the monastic appropriated tithes, firstfruits, and tenths, we shall get a revenue of at least £300,000 per annum, which, at the present time, would realize eight and a half millions per annum. To place such vast properties at the _free disposal_ of Henry VIII. and his successors on the throne, is the most convincing proof of the subservient and even slavish Parliaments of the Tudor sovereigns.[168] It is important to observe that we have no trustworthy record of any single event of English history previous to the arrival of Augustine. We have tradition, but nothing more. No great power of writing existed up to that period. But Augustine and his companions did more than introduce Christianity among the Saxons. They also introduced writing, annals, and other forms of Roman civilization. The first Anglo-Saxon charter is dated April 28, A.D. 604, by which Ethelbert, king of Kent, granted to the Cathedral church of Rochester, lands at Southgate. This charter was granted by the advice of Bishop Laurence and of all the king’s princes.[169] There are no signatures, but ends with “Amen.” The second charter, dated A.D. 605, granting land in Canterbury to found an abbey, is signed by King Ethelbert, Archbishop Augustine, Edbald the King’s son, Duke Hamigisil, Angemund referendarius, Hocca comes, Grafio comes (count or comites of the King), Tangilisil regis optimas, Pinca, and Geddi. The first charter is remarkable, in which Laurence is styled “bishop.” Augustine had not died until the 26th May, 605,[170] so he must have consecrated Laurence as Archbishop more than thirteen months before his death. Augustine signed the Charter dated 9th January, 605, as a member of the Witenagemót. POPULATION.