Series 1 > History of Greater Britain, as well England as Scotland

346
JOHN MAJOR’S HISTORY
[book VI.
Death of Henry Henry the Fifth died, in the thirty-sixth year of his reign1,
an is praise. ^ ^he wood of Vincennes, which is distant about one league
from Paris. As a warrior he gained the highest renown, and
must be ranked second to no one of the Edwards or Henrys
(of whom some had gained much glory in the field). He was
buried at London.
Henry the To the fifth Henry succeeded Henry the Sixth when he was
a child of one year; and for the present I say naught of him,
for I am about to deal with what had come to pass meanwhile
in Britain.
CHAP. X.—Of the restoration to his earldom of George earl of
March; of the destination of the castle of Jedburgh; and of the
dispute that arose as to the legality of the imposition of new taxes. Of
the battle at Harlam, and the men who there lost their lives. Of the
foundation of the University of Saint Andrew ; of the death of Robert
duke of Albany, and an estimate of his achievements.
Restoration of
George earl of
March.
The castle of
Jedburgh is
razed to the
ground.
The governor
shows respect to
the poor.
Whether new
taxes may be
legally imposed,
In the year of our Lord fourteen hundred and five George
earl of March was restored to his earldom and to the charge of
the castle of Dunbar: in such wise however that the earl
Douglas still held the castle of Lochmaben with the whole
domain of Annandale. In the same year was the castle of
Jedburgh taken by the common people of Teviotdale. But
inasmuch as this stronghold could not, save at great cost, be
razed to the ground, it was determined by a general council of
the Scots at Pertli that a contribution of two pence should be
made by every house for the destruction of the castle from top
to bottom. Now its governor opposed himself to this deter¬
mination, asserting that in all time of his governance no tax
had ever been levied, nor should now be levied, lest the poor
folk shall say evil things of himself as the man who had been
the first to bring in such an abuse; and he provided the cost
of the destruction of the castle out of the royal revenues.
The question of taxation in general seems here to offer
itself for discussion, and we will conduct the argument for
both sides. In the first place, as against the procedure of the
1 Major no doubt meant to write (with Caxton) ‘ in the thirty-sixth year of
his age.’ Henry v. died in the tenth year of his reign.