The grants of subsidies by the burgesses in Parliament proved more profitable than the previous extortions of the Exchequer.

The proportions of their grant generally exceeded that of the other estates.

Their representatives too proved far more compliant with the royal will than the barons or knights of the shire; only on one occasion during Edward's reign did the burgesses waver from their general support of the Crown.
[Sidenote: Reluctance to attend] It was easy indeed to control them, for the selection of boroughs to be represented remained wholly in the king's hands, and their numbers could be increased or diminished at the king's pleasure.

The determination was left to the sheriff, and at a hint from the royal Council a sheriff of Wilts would cut down the number of represented boroughs in his shire from eleven to three, or a sheriff of Bucks declare he could find but a single borough, that of Wycombe, within the bounds of his county.

Nor was this exercise of the prerogative hampered by any anxiety on the part of the towns to claim representative privileges.