Series 3 > Miscellany of the Scottish History Society (Sixth volume)

10
BAGIMOND’S ROLL
He was again in England when, on 1st September 1289,
he received a safe-conduct for a year to go to Scotland.1
Edward himself had just returned from the Gascon wars,
which had occupied him from May 1286 till August 1289,
and was about to launch out on a vigorous Scottish policy.
At the same time, after tedious negotiations, Pope Nicholas
iv., the successor of Honorius, renewed the grant of the
Scottish tenth on 10th January 1290,2 and again, in revised
form, in the following year.3 A similar concession of the
English tenth ‘ was the occasion of the new and stringent
valuation known as the Taxation of Pope Nicholas,’ 4 and
the same thoroughness which was expended in England
was applied also in Scotland, where the English King was
no longer impeded by a national monarchy strong enough
to prohibit the export of gold. On the contrary, the little
Scottish Queen was his prospective daughter-in-law, and
after her death in the autumn of 1290 he continued to
hold a dominating position as arbitrator between the
claimants for the vacant throne. He had therefore the
means as well as the will to give effect to the papal grant
of the Scottish tenth. The task of his collectors, moreover,
was made easier by the wrork that had already been
accomplished by Bagimond.
That experienced tax-gatherer did not live to see the
fruit of his labours. He was dead before 16th September
1291, when his old rival, Master Geoffrey de Ve§ano, was
sent to settle accounts with his executors and to collect
arrears.5 His death, however, made little difference to the
trend of events. His work was vigorously carried on by
1 Cal. of Pat. Rolls, 321; Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, ii. No. 382,
P- 96.
2 Theiner, no. cccxxiii, pp. 146-8 ; C.P.R., i. 509 ; Lunt, ‘ Papal Taxa¬
tion in England ' (E.H.R., xxx. 412).
3 C.D.S., ii. no. 469, p. no ; C.P.R., i. 551 ; Foedera, i. 747-8, 750-1.
4 Stubbs, Constitutional History, ii. 119 n.
5 Rotuli Scotiae, i. p. 5.