How Well Did the English Exchequer Function in the Twelfth Century? The English exchequer was the central board responsible for all in comings and out goings into the royal treasury. It arrived with the Normans and was the first system of centralized revenue extraction to appear that although crude was a direct predecessor to the modern one. The information on how the Exchequer functioned as a method of institutionalised revenue extraction is from the `The course of the Exchequer' written by Richard son of Nigel. The text provides a one sided argument into the merits of the Exchequer as Richard himself is the tr