The economic conditions prevailing in the fourteenth century were also in antagonism to the persistence and growth of castles in the land. Military feudalism was in its death-throes, and the laws passed in the reign of Edward I.--notably the statute of Quia Emptores--were undoubtedly responsible for it. The barons no longer held the same position as formerly when they dictated terms to their own sovereign, and although a recrudescence of the power of the military nobility occurred during the time of the Wars of the Roses, that struggle was in reality but duels upon a large scale between a number of nobles who had been successful in maintaining a semblance of their former power. The Statute of Winchester gave almost unlimited rights to the King, whereby he could summon the commons to arms if a baron proved recalcitrant. The baronial castle necessarily became an anachronism to a large extent, since its owner no longer had the power to fill it with numerous retainers, and also because the King, by his overwhelming numbers, could easily capture it. The art of war had also changed consequent chiefly upon the extraordinary efficiency displayed by the English archer, whereby he became supreme upon the field of battle: the development of this superb infantry was under the entire management of the Crown and, consequently, the King became immeasurably superior in striking strength to any individual baron. The advantage began to rest with him who could put the most efficient battalions in the field, and not as formerly with the one who owned the greatest number of castles. Combined with these conditions there was the indubitable fact that a castle had acquired the reputation of being connected with oppression of the people, resistance to lawful power, and a refuge from justice for the wrongdoer. This was entirely incompatible with the great reforms insisted upon by Edward I., and passed into law by parliament; law and order became the rule and not the exception, and the position of the castle grew anomalous. [Illustration: SKIPTON CASTLE, YORKSHIRE.] With the ascendancy of an efficient administration of justice came the desire for comfort and a display of luxury, and probably no one who has become acquainted with the internal disposition of an early castle will qualify the assertion that the acme of discomfort and inconvenience must have prevailed within them.