At the time when the subject was assigned, the power of the House of Commons over money bills had not been brought into question for more than two centuries, and the first drafts had been written and the prize awarded before the Asquith ministry was confronted with the problem of interference by the House of Lords. At this writing the question has not been settled. It has seemed advisable therefore to leave the essay within the bounds originally set for it, and what connection it has with the events of 1909 and 1910 consists chiefly in its consideration of the basic principles involved in that struggle. To the late Henry Loomis Nelson, David A. Wells Professor of Political Science in Williams College, I owe the interest I have had in the preparation of this book. It is an outgrowth of his course in English Constitutional history, and some of the interpretations placed upon events are his interpretations. His death intervened before the second draft of the book was made, and the revisory work had to be done without his suggestions. To my friend, Dr. Theodore Clarke Smith, Professor in Williams College, I am indebted for a painstaking examination of the manuscript and for much valuable advice in the work preliminary to publication. Acknowledgments in the footnotes to Bishop Stubbs, Mr. Medley, Mr. Taswell-Langmead and many others scarcely manifest my obligations. But the essay throughout is based upon original authorities. SHEPARD ASHMAN MORGAN. NEW YORK, December, 1910. CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE SAXONS: CUSTOMARY REVENUES AND EXTRAORDINARY CONTRIBUTIONS 1 Evolutionary character of the English Constitution--Early ideas of taxation amongst the Germans and Anglo-Saxons--Revenues of the Anglo-Saxon kings--The Danegeld and the authority for it--The Witenagemot and its powers. CHAPTER II FEUDAL AND ROYAL TAXATION: THE NORMAN AND THE ANGEVIN KINGS, 1066-1215 12 William the Conqueror--His National Council and its part in taxation--Domesday Survey--William Rufus--Henry I and his Charter--Question of assent to taxation in the shire moots and the National Council--Stephen--Henry II--His controversy with Becket over the Sheriff’s Aid--Scutage--Theobald’s complaint--Early step toward a tax on movables--The Saladin Tithe and its assessment by juries of inquest--Richard I--His ransom--The king the authority for taxes--Refusal of Hugh of Lincoln--John--His scutages a cause leading to Magna Carta--Inquest of Service--John’s demand for a thirteenth of movables--Council at St. Alban’s, 1213--Summons to Oxford--Magna Carta--Chapters 12 and 14--Advance toward Parliamentary taxation. CHAPTER III THE CUSTOM OF PARLIAMENTARY GRANTS, 1215-1272 71