he had with Gervase de Hanton [m]; the men of Worcester paid one
hundred shillings, that they might have the liberty of selling and
buying dyed cloth as formerly [n]; several other towns paid for a like
liberty [o]. The commerce indeed of the kingdom was so much under
the control of the king, that he erected guilds, corporations, and
monopolies, wherever he pleased; and levied sums for these exclusive
privileges [p].
[FN [k] Id. p. 323. [l] Id. ibid. [m] Id. ibid. [n] Id. p. 324.
[o] Id. ibid. [p] Madox's Hist. of the Exch. p. 232, 233, &c.]

There were no profits so small as to be below the king's attention.
Henry, son of Arthur, gave ten dogs to have a recognition against the
Countess of Copland for one knight's fee [q]. Roger, son of Nicholas,
gave twenty lampreys and twenty shads for an inquest to find, whether
Gilbert, son of Alured, gave to Roger two hundred muttons to obtain
his confirmation for certain lands, or whether Roger took them from
him by violence [r]; Geoffrey Fitz-Pierre, the chief justiciary, gave
two good Norway hawks, that Walter le Madine might have leave to
export a hundred weight of cheese out of the king's dominions [s].
[FN [q] Id. p. 298. [r] Id. p. 305. [s] Id. p. 325.]

It is really amusing to remark the strange business in which the king
sometimes interfered, and never without a present. The wife of Hugh
de Neville gave the king two hundred hens, that she might lie with her
husband one night [t]; and she brought with her two sureties, who
answered each for a hundred hens. It is probable that her husband was
a prisoner, which debarred her from having access to him. The Abbot
of Rucford paid ten marks for leave to erect houses and place men upon
his land near Welhang, in order to secure his wood there from being
stolen [u]. Hugh, Archdeacon of Wells, gave one tun of wine for leave
to carry six hundred sums of corn whither he would [w]; Peter de
Peraris gave twenty marks for leave to salt fishes, as Peter Chevalier
used to do [x].
[FN [t] Id. p. 320. [u] Id. p. 326. [w] Id. p. 320. [x] Id. p.
326.]

It was usual to pay high fines, in order to gain the king's good-will,
or mitigate his anger. In the reign of Henry II., Gilbert, the son of
Fergus, fines in nine hundred and nineteen pounds, nine shillings, to
obtain that prince's favour; William de Chataignes, a thousand marks,
that he would remit his displeasure. In the reign of Henry III., the
city of London fines in no l