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Exchequer of Ireland at work
This scene shows the Exchequer of Ireland at work in the 15th century. It comes from a collection of documents known as the Red Book of the Exchequer, dating from the 13th - 16th centuries.
A Court of the Exchequer was first set up in England in the 12th century during the reign of Henry I. Its original purpose was to audit money paid to the Crown. It later took on other functions, such as the collection of taxes, and acted as a court of law to decide what was legally owed to the Crown. The Exchequer was named after the chequered cloth on the table where the treasurer inspected the accounts of the sheriffs, the men responsible for the king's interests in the counties. A separate Exchequer was set up later in Ireland.
One treasurer, Richard Fitz Nigel, wrote 'The Dialogue of the Exchequer' in about 1179 to explain how it all worked. He described the Exchequer table as being like a chessboard measuring 10 feet by 5, with a ledge 'four fingers' high running around it. The squares on the table each stood for a value - in pence, shillings, pounds and higher amounts. The 'chessmen' on the table were the counters, showing how much money was owed, and the tally sticks, recording how much had been paid to the Crown. The Dialogue says: 'as in chess the battle is joined by kings, so in this it is chiefly between two men that the conflict takes place and the battle is waged, namely, the treasurer and the sheriff who sits there to render his account, while the others sit by like umpires to watch and judge the proceedings'.
In the scene shown here, three judges of the Exchequer court sit on the left hand side of the chequered table. On the table are tallies and counters representing sums of money. The Red Book is in the middle of the table next to a pouch containing writs and accounts. The sheriff, wearing a hood, sits at the foot of the table. On the right hand side are people presenting their case to the court. At the head of the table is the Clerk of the Pipe, an important official who wrote all documents during the audit process. He writes out a royal command beginning 'Henricus dei gratia'. (This means 'Henry by the grace of God' and was for Henry VI, who reigned from 1422-1469.) Next to the Clerk, the Chief Remembrancer, whose job was to make copies of documents, examines his pen.
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