What was the annual fee paid by the burgesses of Southampton for the rights of custom and toll laid out in the charter of 1199?
Southampton as a Port and city has had a long history of administrative independence of the surrounding County; as far back as the reign of King John the town and its port were removed from the writ of the King's Sheriff in Hampshire and the rights of custom and toll were granted by the King to the burgesses of Southampton over the port of Southampton and the Port of Portsmouth; this tax farm was granted for an annual fee of £200 in the charter dated at Orival on 29 June 1199.