These three, the royal lands, the contributions of the shires, and the Danegeld, were the sources of revenue which William the Conqueror found when he had secured his hold on England. Under him, or under the ministers of William Rufus, were introduced a number of new expedients for raising money, expedients which were made easy by the new doctrine of land tenure that had been brought in at the Conquest. The Norman kings did not commute the old for the new methods, but simply added the feudal burdens to the ancient national taxes. The Exchequer under Henry I., audited the national, or rather the royal, accounts; twice a year the sheriffs paid the “ferm”--that is, the composition or rent for the ancient dues of their counties--the Danegeld, and the fines arising from the local courts of law; but at the same times were paid the feudal incidents, the reliefs, the sums which the son paid to secure the inheritance of his father, the profits of marriages, of wardships, and the aids which the king as feudal lord of the whole land claimed as a right from his vassals. Henry I. had, in the beginning of his reign, promised to make these demands definite and reasonable, and he had done so; but they were heavy notwithstanding. Still nothing beyond these could, even on the feudal theory, be taken from the subject without the consent of the national council. When the king’s necessities were too great to be met by the ordinary means, the barons and bishops in council were asked for a grant; and the inferior classes received in the county courts an intimation of what they were expected to contribute. It is true that there was little liberty of refusing or chance of evading payment, but a certain form of consent on the part of the tax-payer was thus maintained. [Sidenote: Changes in the modes of taxation. ]