AS SEEN in the preceding chapters, Edward III's patronage programme was essentially demarcated by a mixture of the resources open to him at any given time, his ability to dictate how they were used, and the interests of his new men. But, though he had greater control than previous kings over the resources coming into his hands due to developments in land tenure and royal finance, as well as in administrative offices such as that of escheator, there was still a degree of chance as to what patronage was available to grant out at any particular moment. Indeed, while the increasingly efficient administration of forfeitures, entails, life grants and annuities all made it easier for the king to tailor patronage to his new men, the exact timing of the return of feudal incidents to royal possession was still mainly dependent upon circumstances outside the control of the king and his administrators – namely, the marriage and death of tenants-in-chief, forfeitures as a result of rebellions, wars, etc. Only with annuities could the king be relatively sure of an immediately available source of endowment – and even then, as seen in the last chapter, there could be problems. Not only was payment of the annuity dependent upon the health of the source from which it was granted, but it was also usually not feasible for Edward III to incur such obligations too freely – pressed, as he was, to finance the Scottish and French war efforts through an increasingly confident, and argumentative, parliament.