The governance of England: otherwise called The difference between an absolute and a limited monarchy. A rev. text edited with introd., notes, and appendices by Charles Plummer.

CHAPTER IV. HERE IS SHEWED HOW THE REUENUES OF FFRAUNCE BYN MADE GRETE.

SITHYN our kynge reignith vpon vs be lawes more fauerable and good to vs, þan be the lawes by the whiche þe Ffrench kynge rulith his peple, hit is reason þat we be to hym more good and more profitable than be the sugettes of the Ffrench kynge vnto hym; wich it wolde seme that we be not, con|siderynge þat his subiecttes yelden to hym more in a yere, than we do to owre soferayn lorde in ij yeres, how so be it þat thai do so ayenst thar willes. Neuer the lesse when it is considerid, how a kynges office stondith in ij thynges, on to defende his reaume ayen þair enemyes outwarde bi the swerde; an other that he defende his peple ayenst wronge doers inwarde bi justice, as hit apperith bi the said first boke of kynges; wich þe Ffrench kynge dothe not, though he kepe Justice be twene subiet and subget; sithin he oppressith thaim more hym self, than wolde haue done all the wronge doers of þe reaume, þough thai hade no kynge. And sithyn it is a synne to gyve no meyte, drynke, clothynge or other almes to hem that haue nede, as shal be de|clared in the day off dome; how muche a greter

synne is it to take from the pore man is meyte, is drinke, his clothynge, and all that he hath nede off. Wich werely doth the Ffrench kynge to mony a thowsande of his subiectes, as it is be fore openly declared. Wich thynge þough it be nowe colourid per jus regale, yet it is tyranne. Ffor, as Seynt Thomas saith, whan a kynge rulith his reaume only to his owne profite, and not to the good off is subiectes, he is a tyrant. Kynge Heroude reignid vppon þe Jues dominio regali; yet when he slowe the childeren off Israell, he was in that a tyrant, though the lawes seen, quod principi placuit, legis habet bigorem. Wherfore Acab, wich reigned vppon the childeren of Israell bi like lawe, and desired to haue hade Nabothe his subgectes vyne yerde, wolde not by that lawe take it ffrom hym, but proferid hym the value thereof. Ffor theys wordes seid to the pro|fete, predic eis jus regis, beth not ellis to say but, predic eis potestatem regis. Wher fore as ofte as such a kynge dothe any thynge ayenst the lawe of God, or ayenst þe lawe off nature, he dothe wronge, not with stondynge the said lawe declared by the prophete. And it is so, that the lawe off nature woll in this case, þat the kynge shulde do to his subgettes, has he wolde ben done to hym self, yff he were a subget; wich mey not be that he wolde be almost distroied as bith þe commons off Ffraunce. Wherfore, al be it that the Ffrench kynges reuenues ben by suche meanes moche gratter than be the revenues wich þe kynge owre souerayn lorde hath off vs, yet thai ben not goodly taken, and the myght of his reaume is nerehande distroyed ther by. By wich consideracion I wolde - nat that the kynges revenues of this reaume were made grette by any

such meane. And yet of necessite thai muste be gratter than thai bith at this day. And trewly it is veray necessarie that thay be alwey grete; and that the kynge haue habundantly wherewith his estate mey be honorably kepte ffor ryght mony causes, off wech some shall nowe be remenbred.