Editing Exchequer (section)

==Etymology==
The Exchequer was named after a table used to perform calculations for taxes and goods in the medieval period.<ref>{{cite book | last = Noble | first = Thomas | title = The foundations of Western civilization | publisher = Teaching Co | location = Chantilly, VA | year = 2002 | chapter = 36 | isbn = 978-1565856370 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/foundationsofwes04nobl}}</ref> According to the ''[[Dialogus de Scaccario]]'' ('Dialogue concerning the Exchequer'),<ref name="Dialogue concerning the Exchequer" /> an early [[medieval]] work describing the practice of the Exchequer, the table was large, 10 feet by 5 feet with a raised edge or "lip" on all sides of about the height of four fingers to ensure that nothing fell off it, upon which [[Jeton|counters]] were placed representing various values. The name Exchequer referred to the resemblance of the table to a [[chess]] board (French: ''échiquier'') as it was covered by a black cloth bearing green stripes of about the breadth of a human hand in a [[check (pattern)|chequer-pattern]]. The spaces represented pounds, shillings and pence.<ref name="Dialogue concerning the Exchequer">[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/excheq1.html King John of England: Royal Licenses to Export and Import, 1205–1206 Dialogue concerning the Exchequer] Internet Medieval Sourcebook publ by Fordham University, New York. Source: Joseph Hunter, ed., Rotuli Selecti, (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1834), pp. 4–5, 11; reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, A Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936; reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), p.412</ref>

The term ''Exchequer'' then came to refer to the twice-yearly meetings held at [[Easter]] and [[Michaelmas]], at which government financial business was transacted and an audit held of [[sheriff]]s' returns.