same, “to hear and to do those things which we on our part will cause to be shown to them.”[135] The clergy also were summoned; the bishops were to bring their archdeacons, the heads of religious houses, and the proctors of the cathedral clergy. [They make grants of taxes] These irregular assemblies convened as they were bidden, the clergy and laity meeting separately. The knights and burgesses at Northampton made a grant of a thirtieth on condition that the barons do likewise;[136] the clergy refused to make any offering at all because the parochial clergy were not represented. At York, the knights and burgesses made the grant of a thirtieth without condition; the clergy made promises which they did not keep. When the collection was made, allowances were admitted for the sums which had been contributed upon private negotiation. Notwithstanding the irregular character of these Councils in view of later developments,--irregular in that the parochial clergy and the baronage were not represented and that the meeting was not in a single general assembly,--they marked the “transition from local to that of central assent to taxation.”[137] The king had discovered that it was easier to attain his end through a Parliament than by private solicitation,--that is, if he were to wait for the assent of the people at all. It was a step on the road; Edward had decided in favor of summoning a Parliament as against asking for money from individuals. It was more profitable. [Parliaments of 1289 and 1290] There is no further record of taxation until 1289, save that of a grant in 1288 from Nicholas IV, of an ecclesiastical tenth for six years in reward of Edward’s vow to undertake a crusade,[138] and a scutage in 1285 on account of the Welsh campaign of three years before.[139] Edward’s expenses, on the other hand, were heavy. The prosecution of his foreign interests in Gascony, where he had been in person for three years, was a heavy drain upon the exchequer. At the Parliament of 1289 the treasurer, John Kirkby, laid the royal needs before the barons, who responded that they would not pay “until they should see the king’s face in his own land.”[140] Kirkby began to tallage the cities and boroughs and the other demesne lands of the king, “imposing upon them an intolerable sum of money.” It is probable that this as well as other royal tallages applied only to such of the cities and boroughs as were included in the royal demesne. As a matter of fact, most of the boroughs were included in the demesnes of the king.[141]