cess

cess was the Old English term for government exactions to maintain the vastly expanded garrison during the Tudor conquest. In addition to the lord deputy's normal household cess, which applied to the Pale only, general cesses of grain and meat were placed on the Pale and neighbouring districts at equal rates per ploughland. Every autumn cessors appointed for each county took up supplies at low fixed rates. Transport demands and troop billeting exacerbated the problem. Bribery, extortion, and intimidation were rife, the food supply was diminished, the market distorted, and government repayment slow. The largest cesses were in 1558, 1559, 1560, and again in 1575.

Although some well‐connected landowners had ‘freedoms’ from cess, Pale society united in ‘the country cause’ with tax strikes, petitions, and deputations of ‘commonwealthmen’ to court. In the late 1560s and early 1570s government attempts to import victuals from England using contractors failed. The Palesmen negotiated an end to cess at court in 1585, after Perrot tried to railroad them into a permanent composition.

A different type of cess, levied by grand juries on counties and baronies for the upkeep of roads and bridges and for other public purposes, was introduced in 1634.

Hiram Morgan