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David Adesnik, a research analyst in Washington DC, received his doctorate in international relations from Oxford.
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How Appealing
# Posted 12:34 PM by Patrick Belton 
The more the sheriffs' renders were made in cash [in 1129-30 with the monetarisation of annual renders made by sheriffs to the treasury, heretofore, pre-Conquest, paid in kind], the greater the need for an easily followed but quick method of making calculations in pounds, shillings and pence. Thus the chequered table cloth (from which the word exchequer is derived) served as a simplified abacus on which the king's calculator did sums by moving counters from square to square like a croupier. The earliest reference to the exchequer dates from 1100.The implication for Mr Brown and New Labour is clear. (Actually, it isn't, but it's a neat fact nonetheless.) (2) opinions -- Add your opinion
