ABSTRACT
Lists of payments in The Issues of the Exchequer in Henry VII’s reign show that while the permanent messenger service of the Court, Chancery and Ex chequer continued to carry routine letters and commissions, a considerable part of the royal mail was being taken by other men. In 1488, for example, the royal messengers went as usual with Commissions of Oyer and Terminer (which authorised judges to hear criminal cases) to 23 destinations, took commissions for gaol delivery to 51 places, and to others, such as one
to examine how many archers each is bound to find for the King’s army, and to take the musters of those archers preparatory to the expedition for the relief of Brittany.3
