The approximate cost of such navy as was maintained by the Lancastrian kings may be estimated from the fact that during one quarter of the year 1410, the tonnage allowance paid to shipowners, together with the wages and rewards of the men-at-arms, masters, constables, and mariners amounted to £8240 17s. 6d. This would
FROM THE MS. LIFE OF RICHARD BEAUCHAMP, EARL OF WARWICK, BY JOHN ROUS, WHO DIED 1491.
(Cotton MSS., Julius E. iv. 6.)
be equivalent to about £33,000 a year, assuming fleets to be kept in commission for so long a period. In the same year, the safe guarding of the sea—which may have been expenditure under a different heading—cost £6241 17s. 6d. for one quarter and half a quarter. This was at the rate of about £16,700 a year. The total expenditure may possibly therefore have been as much as £50,000 or thereabouts
