Maltolt or "bad tax" (in Norman-French) was the name given to the new

taxes A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...

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. ...

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 ...

of 1294–1297. Protests against the maltolt played their part in forcing the confirmation of the charters from the Crown.

Origin

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

had been granted a half-

mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...

(6s 8d) customs duty per sack on the export of wool by the Parliament of

1275 Year 1275 ( MCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Battle of Neopatras: Emperor Michael VIII (Palaiologos) assembles a Byzantine ...

. War with France in 1294 led to the royal seizure of all wool and leather in the realm, and its release only on a duty of 40

shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...

per sack. The old duty quickly became known as the "Ancient Custom", and was contrasted strongly with what

G. M. Trevelyan George Macaulay Trevelyan (16 February 1876 – 21 July 1962) was a British historian and academic. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1898 to 1903. He then spent more than twenty years as a full-time author. He returned to the ...

would call "These 'maltoltes' or 'ill takings' of wool".

Protests

Dislike of the maltolts (which had been repeated in the years 1295–1297) fed into the noble and clerical opposition to the Crown that culminated in the

Remonstrances The Remonstrances of 1297 (sometimes written in the original Anglo-Norman: Monstraunces) were a set of complaints presented by a group of nobles in 1297, against the government of King Edward I of England. Foremost among the nobles were Roger Big ...

of 1297. "Also the whole community feel that they are oppressed by the tax on wools, which is too heavy, namely at 40 shillings on the sack, and 7 marks the sack on broken wool; for the wool of England approaches the value of half of all the land". Among the six articles appended to the confirmation of the charters was, accordingly, a provision prohibiting the seizure of wool in future; to which the King responded by reserving to the crown “the custom on wool, skins and leather already granted by the commonalty of the realm”, so that it was only after a further struggle that the maltolt was finally laid to rest in 1301.

Reappearance

The maltolt reappeared in the reign of

Edward III of England Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring ...

, as a result of a bargain he made in 1337 offering rich merchants a

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

in exchange for a duty of 40s a sack. The Commons petitioned against the deal, either (as

Eileen Power Eileen Edna Le Poer Power (9 January 18898 August 1940) was a British economic historian and medievalist. Early life and education Eileen Power was the eldest daughter of a stockbroker and was born at Altrincham, Cheshire (now part of Great ...

thought) in the hope of abolishing it entirely, or simply to ensure their participation in the taxation process - something which they eventually achieved, if at the price of customs on wool continuing to fund the Crown throughout the Hundred Years War.

References

{{Reflist, 2}

External links

Tax clashes
13th century in England Taxation in medieval England 1297 in England Edward I of England

Origin

Protests

Reappearance

See also

References

External links