"Legend sees him as a miser. Truth acquits him of this vice. Legend fostered the impression that at his death he bequeathed to his son vast sums of gold and silver. Even in his lifetime rumour said that it amounted to some £1,800,000. Truth denies that he left in chests such stores of silver and gold, but it adds that he left very considerable resources, largely in the form of papers. The qualification is important. Those papers were recognisances and obligations. They bore witness to transactions whereby subjects had been bound to the King to perform certain promises, default being followed by the forfeiture of heavy sums of money. Despite what has been said to the contrary, most of these pledges were not the result of extortionate practices on the part of the King or his agents. They were rather symbols of Henry’s devices for good government. They represent the means he adopted to gain a hold over lawless subjects who could not be adequately dealt with even by his re-shaped court of star chamber, which he was using to force the great nobles to keep the peace. They were a means of raking in money; but they were also a guarantee of security and peace."