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The Poll Tax of 1379 was granted to the King by the lords,
commoners A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...
and
clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
of
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in order to finance the Hundred Years' War. It was graduated according to each taxpayers rank or social position, thereby avoiding dissatisfaction based on inequality and unfairness. The schedule of charge for this tax therefore contained a classification of the taxpayers. This poll tax was expected to net over £50,000, but the revenue never reached half that sum.


Background

The fiscal exigencies of the Hundred Years' War compelled the
Bad Parliament The Bad Parliament sat in England between 27 January and 2 March 1377. The initial summons for the parliament went out on 1 December 1376, and the writ dissolving it was dated 2 March 1377. History The Bad Parliament was the last parliament of Ki ...
of 1377 to grant to the King a tax of four pence or a groat to be taken from the goods of each man and woman in the kingdom over fourteen, with the exception of real
beggar Begging (also panhandling) is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. A person doing such is called a beggar or panhandler. Beggars may operate in public plac ...
s. In addition the clergy granted a tax of 12 pence from every beneficed person, and a groat from every other religious person, with the exception of mendicant
friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...
s. Special commissions were appointed to collect the tax, and the county sheriffs were ordered to aid with the collection.Fenwyck 1998. p. xiv. The tax on laymen netted £22,607, 2 s., 6d. paid by 1,376, 442 persons, although the records of County Durham and Cheshire are missing.Dowell 1884, p. 104. The war continued with French attack on the southern coast of England, the towns of Dartmouth, Plymouth,
Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a small town in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. The ...
and others suffered. The first parliament of Richard II therefore in 1377 granted for two years a tax of two fifteenths on movables without cities and boroughs and two tenths within. In addition parliament added a grant of customs subsidy on
wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...
, woolfells and leather for three years. It also granted for one year six pence on the pound in goods imported and exported. The second parliament of Richard II granted in 1378 a tax of one fifteenth and a half on movables without cities and boroughs and one tenth and a half within. It also continued the previous customs on wool and merchandise a year longer. This grant did not produce the sum of money required for the war, and the third parliament of Richard II repealed in and replaced it with a poll tax that would be easier and faster to collect.


Poll Tax of 1379

The new poll tax of 1379 was graduated according to each taxpayer's rank or social position, thereby avoiding dissatisfaction based on inequality and unfairness. The schedule of charge for this tax therefore contained a classification of taxpayers.Mortimer 1764, p. 704. It is divided into four groups: the first is based on rank, the second on occupation (men of law), the third on civic hierarchy, and the fourth other men. Two commissions were appointed, one to assess, and the other to
collect The collect ( ) is a short general prayer of a particular structure used in Christian liturgy. Collects appear in the liturgies of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches, among othe ...
. Later in 1379 reassessment commissions were appointed. This poll tax was expected to net over £50,000, but the revenue never reached half that sum.Dowell 1884, p. 107. In 1379 the
Convocations of Canterbury and York The Convocations of Canterbury and York are the synodical assemblies of the bishops and clergy of each of the two provinces which comprise the Church of England. Their origins go back to the ecclesiastical reorganisation carried out under Arc ...
met and granted an almost identical poll tax for the clergy.Mackie 1998, p. 14.


Schedule


References


Citations

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Cited literature

* Byrne, Sandie (2020). ''Poetry and Class.'' Springer Switzerland. * Dowell, Stephen (1884). ''A History of Taxation and Taxes in England. Vol. 1. Taxation, from the earliest times to the Civil War.'' Longmand, Green & Co. * Fenwick, Carolyn C. (1998). ''The Poll Taxes of 1377, 1379, and 1381. Part 1. Bedfordshire-Leicestershire.'' Oxford University Press. * Mackie, Frederick Peter (1998). ''The clerical population of the Province of York: An edition of the clerical poll tax enrolments 1377-1381.'' Ph.D. thesis. Department of History. University of York. * Mortimer, Thomas (1764). ''A New History of England.'' J. Wilson & J. Fell, Paternoster-Row. Poll Tax of 1379 1379 in England