History of the British peerage much more common. The peerage ceased to be associated with wealth or land ownership. At the beginning of the century, however, such associations remained for some time. In 1909, Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George proposed the introduction of a land tax, which the landowning peers opposed. The House of Lords rejected the budget. After the general election of January 1910, the returned government introduced the Parliament Bill, which sought to curtail the powers of the Lords. When the Lords attempted to block the bill, the prime minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, threatened to have the king create two hundred
Red Book of the Exchequer Prized by officials for its precedents, by antiquaries for its vast store of topographical and genealogical information, its well-thumbed pages have been scanned by twenty generations of students". The early part of the Red Book was compiled in about 1230 by Alexander de Swereford (d. 1246), a senior Exchequer clerk until about 1220 and a Baron of the Exchequer from 1234. However, entries continued to be added to it throughout the later Middle Ages, and even down to the 18th century. The Book contains nearly 300 separate records and texts, including "Charters, Statutes of the Realm, "Placita", or other public