rk together.

Sheriffs dealt directly with the king instead of through an earl.

>From 1150 to 1400, resistance was an ordinary remedy for political
disagreements. If a popular leader raised his standard in a
popular cause, an irregular army could be assembled in a day.
(There was no regular army, since England was protected by the sea
from invasion.) So misgovernment by a king would be quickly
restrained. Society recovered quickly from conflict and civil war
because the national wealth consisted chiefly in flocks and herds
and in the simple buildings inhabited by the people. In a week
after armed resistance, the agricultural worker was driving his
team. There was little furniture, stock of shops, manufactured
goods, or machinery that could be destroyed.

To support a war with France in 1353, the staple was reinstated by
statute of 1353 after an experiment without it in which profits of
a staple went to staples outside the nation. Wool exports were
inspected for quality and taxed through his officials only at the
designated staple ports. These officials included collectors,
controllers, searchers [inspectors], surveyors, clerks, weighers,
and crane-keepers. Wool, woolfells, leather, and lead sold for
export had to go through the staple town. The penalty was
forfeiture of lands, tenements, goods, and chattel. (The staple
statute remained basically unchanged for the next 200 years.) The
mayor and constables of the staple were elected annually by the
native and foreign merchants of the place. The mayor gave validity
to contracts for a set fee, by seal of his office. He and the
constables had jurisdiction over all persons and things touching
the staple, which was regulated by the Law Merchant in all matters
of contract, covenant, debt, and felonies against foreign
merchants. A hue and cry was required to be raised and followed
for anyone taking a cart of merchandise or slaying a merchant,
denizen [resident alien] or alien, or the town would answer for
the robbery and damage done. In 1363, Calais, a continental town
held by the English, became the staple town for lead, tin, cloth,
and wool and was placed under a group of London capitalists: the
Merchants of the Staple. All exports of these had to pass through
Calais, where customs tax was collected.

Guns and cannon were common by 1372. In the 1300s and 1400s, the
king relied on mercenaries hired directly or by contract with his
great nobles for foreign wars. The King