1921 AND THE DUKE OF BEDFORD 193 the regent issued his orders, accompanied by the necessary in- formation, as to indenture for instance, to Bealknap the treasurer, with directions that Surreau the receiver should make payments accordingly. 1 When, however, he communicated on a subject of such major importance as the collection of a * taille ', he addressed the two officials jointly, 2 and they, acting together, sent orders to the ' vicomtes, prevots ', &c. 3 As his official title indicates, Surreau directed the machinery of receipt, but did so in the name of the treasurer- and governor-general. 4 It was he, too, who drew up the detailed account of the Norman finances which provides so much of our information for this period. 5 Bedford wisely adopted a modest military policy at the begin- ning of his rule, aiming merely to subdue the isolated Dauphinois strongholds in the north, to check or repulse hostile incursions into Normandy and towards Paris, and further to protect the frontiers by reducing such places as Ivry and Mont St. Michel, whose retention by the enemy was a standing menace. Such a plan was in the interests of Norman tranquillity and prosperity, things for which the duchy could reasonably be expected to pay. At the end of six months, therefore, in February 1423, the duke assembled the Norman estates at Vernon and asked them for 50,000 livres tournois and a clerical * dime ', to be collected before 1 August, and to be used in paying the army sent against Ivry, Mont St. Michel, and other places which threatened Normandy. 6 Orders to assess and collect this sum were issued as early as April. 7 At the same time Bedford was attempting to draw from France the costs of enterprises northward. A careful separation between the receipts and expenditures of the two regions is shown in an order to the treasurer to pay Salisbury for services in Normandy, Alencon, Maine, Champagne, and Brie, cest assavoir (sur) noz finances de Nor die de ce qui lui est ou fera deu a cause des charges quil a eues en Normendie et ou Maine et sur nos finances de France de ce qui lui est deu a cause des charges quil a eues esdiz pais de Champagne et de Brie. 8 1 Archives Nationales, K 62, nos. 6, 7M ; Bib. Nat., Fonds Francais, 25767, no. 22 ; S. Luce, Ckronique de Mont St. Michel, i. 147, xxxiv. 8 Stevenson, n. i. 10. 3 Bib. Nat., Fonds Francais, 26046, nos. 89, 90. 4 Receipt from 'grenetier' at Honfleur (5 August 1424) (Arch, de la Seine-Inf., Occupation Anglaise, I, Pieces melees). Receipts from ' grenetier ' and ' receveur ' at Caen (Arch, du Calvados F, Fonds Danquin, Serie Caen). 6 Bib. Nat., Fonds Francais, 4485, summarized along with Surreau's accounts for 1425 and 1429 by Beaurepaire. 8 Beaurepaire, Les Stats de Normandie sous leBegne de Charles VII. Precis Analy- tique des Travaux de V Acad, de Rouen (1875), p. 263. 7 Bulletin de VEistoire de Normandie, vii. 430 ; Bib. Nat., Fonds Francais, 26046, nos. 89, 90. 8 Ibid. 26047, no. 335. VOL. XXXVI. — NO. CXL11. O
