rchants, profitable and frequent until merchant vessels began
sailing in groups for their mutual protection. The astrolabe was
used for navigation by the stars.

Consuls were appointed to assist English traders abroad.

Henry IV appointed the first admiral of the entire nation and
resolved to create a national fleet of warships instead of using
merchant ships. In 1417, the war navy had 27 ships. In 1421,
Portsmouth was fortified as a naval base. Henry V issued the
orders that formed the basic law of English admiralty and
appointed surgeons to the navy and army. He was the last true
warrior King.

For defense of the nation, especially the safeguard of the seas,
Parliament allotted the king for life, 3s. for every tun of wine
imported and an additional 3s. for every tun of sweet wine
imported. From about 1413, tunnage on wine and poundage on
merchandise were duties on goods of merchants which were regularly
granted by Parliament to the king for life for upkeep of the Navy.
Before this time, such duties had been sporadic and temporary.

The most common ailments were eye problems, aching teeth,
festering ears, joint swelling and sudden paralysis of the bowels.
Epidemics broke out occasionally in the towns in the summers. The
plague swept London in 1467 and the nation in 1407, 1445, and
1471. Leprosy disappeared.

Infirmaries were supported by a tax of the king levied on nearby
counties. The walls, ditches, gutters, sewers, and bridges on
waterways and the coast were kept in repair by laborers hired by
commissions appointed by the Chancellor. Those who benefited from
these waterways were taxed for the repairs in proportion to their
use thereof.

Alabaster was sculptured into tombs surmounted with a recumbent
effigy of the deceased, and effigies of mourners on the sides. Few
townsmen choose to face death alone and planned memorial masses to
be sung to lift his soul beyond Purgatory. Chantries were built by
wealthy men for this purpose.

Chemical experimentation was still thought to be akin to sorcery,
so was forbidden by King Henry IV in 1404.

Gold was minted into coins: noble, half noble, and farthing.

King Henry IV lost power to the Commons and the Lords because he
needed revenue from taxes and as a usurper King, he did not carry
the natural authority of a King. The Commons acquired the right to
elect its own speaker. The lords who helped the usurpation felt
they should share the natural power of the kingship