the Royal Succession.

The period began with the parliamentary recognition of the claim to
the crown of Henry, Duke of Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt, Duke of
Lancaster, fourth son of Edward III. By this act the claim of Edmund
Mortimer, a descendant of Edward III by his third son, Lionel, Duke of
Clarence, was deliberately set aside, and this change in the order of
succession eventually furnished an excuse for civil war.[1]

[1] Before the accession of Henry III, Parliament made choice of any
one of the King's sons whom it considered best fitted to rule. After
hat time it was understood that the King's eldest son should be chosen
to succeed him; or incase of his death during the lifetime of his
father, the eldest son of the eldest son; and so forward in that
line. The action taken by Parliament in favor of Henry IV was a
departure from that principle, and a reassurtion of its ancient right
to choose and descendant of the royal family it deemed best. (See
Genealogical Table, p. 140.)

319. Disfranchisement of Electors; Benevolences.

Under Henry VI a property qualification was established by act of
Parliament which cut off all persons from voting for countyy members
of the House of Commons who did not have an income of forty shillings
(say 40 pounds, or $200, in modern money) from freehold land. County
elections, the statute said, had "of late been made by a very great,
outrageous, and excessive number of people...of which the most part
were people of small substance and of no value."

Later, candidates for the House of Commons from the counties were
required to be gentlemen by birth, and to have an income of not less
than 20 pounds (or say 400 pounds, or $2000, in modern money). Though
the tendency of such laws was to make the House of Commons represent
property holders more than the freemen as a body, yet no apparent
change seems to have taken place in the class of county members
chosen.

Eventually, however, these and other interferences with free elections
caused the rebellion of Jack Cade, in which the insurgents demanded
the right to choose such representatives as they saw fit. But the
movement appears to have had no practical result. During the civil
war which ensued, King Edward IV compelled wealthy subjects to lend
him large sums (seldom, if ever, repaid) called "benevolences."
Richard III abolished this obnoxious system, but afterward revived it,
and it became conspicuously hateful under his s