by the former Princes of Wales, and freemen were not to be taxed unless the ordinary revenue was insufficient. The sons of freeman who wished to take holy orders had not been allowed to do so without obtaining a licence. Under the Ordinance of North Wales, where a freeman had two sons, one of them was allowed to take orders without a licence from the King or Justiciar. Freemen were allowed to sell and give lands to other free Welshmen, but not to prelates, religious persons, secular officers, who, under pretence of their office, had been able to coerce the people to make such sales or gifts.
A.D. 1353-4—In the reign of Edward the Third the Ordinances of the Staple (27 Edward 3, stat. 2. c. 18), prohibiting English merchants from exporting wool under pain of death, were promulgated (1353), and provision was made therein that the men of Ireland and Wales might take their wools and leathers for sale to the staple markets of England.
In 1353, certain statues were made at Westminster, the first of which confirmed Magna Charta and all statutes before made and used. The Second (28 Edward 3 c. 2) enacted that all the Lords Marchers of Wales should be perpetually attending and annexed to the Crown of England and not to the Principality of Wales, "in whose hands soever the same principality be or hereafter should come." Edward the third had two objects in securing this measure—firstly, to convince his arrogant nobles that he was entitled to their complete allegiance, and, secondly, to limit the power or possible pretensions of any Prince of Wales who might be heir to the throne.
The Coercion Period.
During the fourteenth century the Welsh people lived under wretched political conditions. The policy of English statesmen aimed at the extirpation of every vestige of Welsh patriotism and nationality. English officials, traders, and settlers came to the country under the protection of the
