It was during Merlawe’s first mayoralty that the citizens advanced to the king the sum of 7,000 marks,(743) to enable him to complete the reduction of Wales, which his son, the Prince of Wales, had already nearly accomplished. In 1412 they advanced a further sum of 10,000 marks.(744) At the beginning of that year a commission was addressed by Henry to Robert Chichele, the mayor, brother of the archbishop of the same name, to the sheriffs of the city, to Richard Whitington and Thomas Knolles, the late mayor, instructing them to make a return of the amount of land and tenements held in the city and suburbs, with the view of levying 6_s._ 8_d._ on every £20 annual rent by virtue of an act passed by the late parliament.(745) A return was made to the effect that it was very difficult to discover the true value of lands and tenements in the city and suburbs, owing to absence of tenants and dilapidations by fire and water, but that they had caused enquiry to be made, and the names of men, women and other persons (_hominum, feminarum et aliarum personarum_) mentioned in the commission were forwarded by them in the following a, b, c (_in sequenti a, b, c_). What lands and tenements the "men, women and other persons" had elsewhere they had no means of discovering.(746) The schedule, or "a, b, c," is not entered in the City Letter Book, but is to be found among the Exchequer Rolls, preserved at Her Majesty’s Public Record(747) Office. The gross rental was returned at £4,220, and the sum paid into the exchequer at 6_s._ 8_d._ for every £20, under the provisions of the act amounted to £70 6_s._ 8_d._ The mayor and commonalty of the city are credited as possessing lands, tenements and rents of an annual value of no more than £150 9_s._ 11_d._, whilst the Bridge House Estate was returned at £148 15_s._ 3_d._ Of the livery companies, the Goldsmiths appear as the owners of the largest property, their rental of city property amounting to £46 10_s._ 1/2_d._, the Merchant Tailors following them closely with £44 3_s._ 7_d._ The Mercers had but a rental of £13 18_s._ 4_d._ whilst the Skinners had £18 12_s._ 8_d._ Robert Chichele, the mayor, was already a rich man, with an annual rental of £42 19_s._ 2_d._, derived from city property, or nearly double the amount (£25) with which Richard Whitington was credited. (M396)