Loans from English provincial towns to the crown during the reigns of Edward II and Edward III*

Abstract

This article examines the origins and evolution of the English crown’s policy of requesting loans from towns to finance military campaigns between 1307 and 1377. By analysing the exchequer receipt rolls, it illustrates how Edward II experimented with urban loans from 1311 to circumvent the restrictions imposed by the ordinances. It subsequently examines when and why urban loans became a regular policy; how they were negotiated, collected and reimbursed; and why towns and their inhabitants contributed credit. Although they were of marginal financial value, these loans transformed the political relationship between the crown and towns in the later middle ages.