ABSTRACT
An unusually comprehensive picture can be given of Henry VP’s grants of crown lands because they were three times annulled by act of parliament between 1450 and 1456. The returns made by sheriffs and escheators to writs of inquiry sent out by the Exchequer in pursuance of the acts of resumption show what these grants were, who held them and on what terms. The pretentions of the exchequer man’s title belie the fact that his primary reason for writing was to defend the privileges of his office. The holders were those whom the Exchequer considered directly responsible to the king and his officers under the terms of the acts. In 1450 the king’s landed patrimony was thus distributed entirely through the Household. The amount of exchequer revenues derived from crown lands was thus a subsidiary consideration depending on the terms of bargains which were more often political than financial.
