A tradition has been handed down from an early date, that these aids were in reality voluntary offerings made by the tenant as a mark of affection, and forming no part of his legal obligations.[112] ----- Footnote 112: Thus, the Abingdon version of the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ (II. 113) speaks of “auxilium quod barones michi dederunt”; while Bracton says (Book II. c. 16, s. 8): “Auxilia fiunt de gratia et non de jure; cum dependeant ex gratia tenentium, et non ad voluntatem dominorum.” This plainly became, however, a legal fiction, as regarded the aids acknowledged by customary law; the tenant dared not refuse to pay the recognized three. As regarded any further payments, it was by no means a fiction. When the Crown desired to exact contributions for any other reason, it required to obtain the consent of the _commune concilium_. This, for example, was done by Henry III. before taking an aid on the marriage of his eldest sister. The importance of the necessity for such consent can hardly be exaggerated in its bearing on the origin of the rights of Parliament. The Great Charter, while confirming the tacit compromise arrived at by custom, whereby only the three aids might be taken without consent of the baronage, left the _amount_ of such aids undefined, contenting itself with the extremely vague provision that they should be “reasonable.” Examples of such payments, both before and after the Charter, are readily found in the Exchequer Rolls. Thus, in the fourteenth year of Henry II., that king took one mark per knight’s fee on marrying his daughter Maud to the Duke of Saxony. Henry III. took 20s. and Edward I. 40s. for a similar purpose. For Richard’s ransom, 20s. had been exacted from each knight’s fee (save those owned by men actually serving in the field); and Henry III. took 40s. in his thirty-eighth year at the knighting of his son. Probably there existed, at an early date, some understanding as to the limits within which “reasonableness” should be reckoned, but the amount was never stated in black and white before the third year of Edward I. The Statute of Westminster I.[113] fixed the “reasonable” aid payable, not to the Crown but, to mesne lords at 20s. per knight’s fee, and 20s. for every estate in socage of £20 annual value. This rate, it will be observed, is one-fifth of the knight’s relief.[114] The Crown, in thus enforcing “reason” on mesne lords, seems never to have intended that the same limit should hamper its own dealings with Crown tenants, but continued to exact larger sums whenever it thought fit.[115] ----- Footnote 113: 3 Edward I. c. 36. Footnote 114: Fixed at 100s. by c. 2 of Magna Carta. Footnote 115: