be drawn daily until he should pay. The Jew is said to have endured the pulling of seven, but then weakened and paid the fine.
Henry III was equally harsh and severe in his measures. He exacted all he could and then turned them over to the Earl of Cornwall. "The one flayed and the other emboweled." It is written in the chronicles of England, 1251 A.D., "By such usurers and licentious liurs as belong to him, the realme had alreadie become sore corrupted."
In the fourteenth century, under the three Edwards, the taking of interest was an indictable offence and Edward III made it a capital crime.
In the fifteenth century, under Henry VII, the penalty was fixed at one hundred pounds and the penalty of the church added, which was excommunication.
Attorney General Noy, in the reign of James I, thought the taking of money by usury was no better than taking a man's life. He said: "Usurers are well ranked with murderers."
In the sixteenth century, under Henry VIII, it was enacted that all interest above ten per cent. was unlawful. Less was not collectable by law, but was not a punishable offence.
Edward VI revived the old laws condemning all interest.
Mary I, next following, executed these laws with extreme severity.
Elizabeth restored the laws of Henry VIII, in which usury less than ten per cent. was not a punishable offence. This edict of Elizabeth adds: "In the interpretation of the law it shall be largely and strongly construed for the repression of usury."
This law of Henry VIII and Elizabeth, with the rate of interest reduced, was the statute law of England until 1854, when all the usury laws were repealed.