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Farmers in the tale of "The Cheeserollers"
© Mick Riley
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Wise men of Gotham |
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A grasping monarch?
When Norman King John succeeded his brother Richard in 1199, he wasted little time in upsetting his fellow Norman lords in France. A botched attempt to curb the powers of the increasingly powerful Luisignan family made war with the French King Phillip Augustus inevitable. John married the heiress Isabella of the Angouleme family, who had been betrothed to Hugh de Brun, Lord of Luisignan. To add insult to injury, John confiscated the La Marche region from Hugh, handing it to the Angouleme family, bitter rivals of the Luisignans. By 1202, John was at war with Phillip Augustus. Over the next decade, the disastrous war in France drained King John’s royal purse, forcing him to look to the English to finance his military failures.
King John’s financial embarrassment was exacerbated by the inflation that was affecting prices across the country. W. L. Warren in King John states that the daily rate for mercenaries had risen to two shillings in comparison with eight pence during under Henry II. Paying mercenaries to fight in France became a real headache for John. Although the cost of hiring mercenaries had increased, the fine paid by barons in lieu of providing knight service had not - this discrepancy intensified the John’s financial difficulties.
Farmer's wives in "The Cheeserollers"
© Mick Riley |
The various methods employed by John to squeeze money out of the country certainly hit the barony hard, but it is the general taxation that affected the common man which is most pertinent to understanding the origins of the ‘Wise men of Gotham’. Before King John’s reign, general taxation (or ‘gracious aids’ as they were known) was a rare occurrence, only used to raise money for matters of national importance. Henry II raised a tax to fund expeditions to the Holy Land, whilst John in his brother’s absence raised a tax to pay for his ransom. However, desperate to retain the French lands of the Angevin empire, John raised two taxes levied on movable property which were payable by all free men, the first was raised in 1203, the second in 1207.
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