Tonnage and poundage to be one of the complaints of his Long Parliament. The refusal of and subsequent disputes about tonnage and poundage rights is seen as one of the many events bearing responsibility for the English Civil War. Tonnage and poundage Tonnage and Poundage were certain duties and taxes first levied in Edward II's reign on every tun (cask) of imported wine, which came mostly from Spain and Portugal, and on every pound weight of merchandise exported or imported. Traditionally tonnage and poundage was granted by Parliament to the king for life until the reign of Charles I. Tonnage and poundage were
Tonnage around 2,800 kg or 2.8 tonnes. The definition (and calculation) of the internal volume is complex; for instance, a ship's hold may be assessed for bulk grain (accounting for all the air space in the hold) or for bales (omitting the spaces into which bulk, but not baled cargo, would spill). Gross register tonnage was replaced by "gross tonnage" in 1982 under the Tonnage Measurement convention of 1969, with all ships measured in GRT either scrapped or re-measured in GT by 1994. Net register tonnage (NRT) is the volume of cargo the vessel can carry—that is, the gross register tonnage