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 successor in the next period.

Another great grievance was Purveyance.  By it the King’s purveyors had the right to seize provisions and means of transportation for the King and his hundreds of attendants whenever they journeyed through the country on a “royal progress.”  The price offered by the purveyors was always much below the real value of what was taken, and frequently even that was not paid.  Purveyance, which had existed from the earliest times, was not finally abolished until 1660.

II.  Religion

320.  Suppression of Heresy.

Under Henry IV the first act was passed by Lords and clergy, apparently with the assent of the House of Commons, for punishing heretics by burning at the stake, and the first martyr suffered in that reign.  Later, the Lollards, or followers of Wycliffe, who appear in many cases to have been socialists as well as religious reformers, were punished by imprisonment, and occasionally with death.  The whole number of martyrs, however, was small.

III.  Military Affairs

321.  Armor and Arms.

The armor of the period was made of steel plate, fitting and completely covering the body.  It was often inlaid with gold and elegantly ornamented.  Firearms had not yet superseded the old weapons.  Cannon were in use, to some degree, and also clumsy handguns fired with a match.

The long bow continued to be the chief arm of the foot soldiers, and was used with great dexterity and fatal effect.  Targets were set up by law in every parish, and the yeomen were required to practice frequently at contests in archery.  The principle wars were the civil wars and those with France.

IV.  Literature, Learning, and Art

322.  Introduction of Printing; Books.

The art of printing was introduced into England about 1477 by Caxton, a London merchant.  Up to that time all books had been written on either parchment or paper, at an average rate of about fifty cents per page in modern money.  The age was not favorable to literature, and produced no great writers; but Caxton edited and published a large number of works, many of which he translated from the French and Latin.