(1) _Scutage._ The development of the system described by this name has been traced in the Historical Introduction.[462] Used at first as an expedient for substituting, in the Crown’s option, money payments for military service, it became, under John, a regular source of revenue, imposed almost every year on one pretext or another, while it was levied at an increased rate, and under conditions of a vexatious and burdensome nature. If any one cause contributed, more than the others, to the rebellion which culminated at Runnymede, it was John’s method of imposing scutages. This chapter, then, attempted to strike at the common root from which many grievances grew. The Crown was no longer to be left sole judge of the occasions on which a scutage might be demanded. “The common consent (or counsel) of the realm” must first be obtained. If this provision had been carried into practice, it would have removed the supreme control of the system of scutages from the Crown which received the money, to the Crown tenants who paid it. This truly radical remedy included the remedy of all minor abuses as well, since the collective body of barons who could refuse payment unconditionally, might _a fortiori_ make grants under such conditions as they chose. Henceforward it would lie with them to say, on each occasion, whether the old normal 20s. per knight’s fee should be superseded by some other rate, either higher or lower. This provision was never enforced, being omitted altogether from the reissue of 1216, while the clause substituted for it in the Charter of 1217 took an entirely different form.[463] ----- Footnote 462: See _supra_, 86–93. Footnote 463: See _supra_, 172–3. ----- (2) _Feudal aids._ It was recognized from an early date that in emergencies feudal vassals ought to contribute to their lord’s support in proportion to the extent of their holdings. Such payments were known as aids, and were originally supposed to be free-will offerings.[464] By John’s reign they had fallen into two groups—ordinary and extraordinary. The former, three in number, were only dealt with incidentally by the Charter.[465] It is with the “extraordinary” aids that this chapter specially occupies itself. These are placed in the same position as scutages: the Crown cannot exact either, “unless by common counsel of the realm.” ----- Footnote 464: Cf. _supra_, 80–2. Footnote 465: