ANNALS

OF

C O M M E .R C E,

MANUFACTURES, FISHERIES, AND NAVIGATION,

WITH

BRIEF NOTICES OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES CONNECTED WITH THEM.

CONTArNINC THIi

COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

BRITISH EMPIRE AND OTHER COUNTRIES,

FEOM THE EARLIEST ACCOUNTS TO THE MliETINCi OF THE UNION PAllLIAMENT IN JANUARY 1801 J

AND COMPRKUENDINC TUK MOST VAr.UABLF PART OF THE UTE Mn. AXULR'OVS HliTORY OF COMMERCE, VIZ. fHOM THt VSAP. 14W
TO THE END OP illt REIGN OF GEORGE II, RUNG OF GREAT BRITAIN, &c.

WITH A LARGE APPENDIX,

CONTAINING

CHBONOLOGICAL TABLES OF THE SOVEBEIGIVS OF EUROPE,
lABLFS OF THE ALTEKATIONS OF MONEY IN ENGLAND AND
SCOTLAND,

A CHK0N0L0GIC4L TABLE OF THE pniCES OF CORN, &C ami

A COMMEUriAL AND MANIFACTI RAL GAZETTEER OF THE

UNITED KINGDOM OF CREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND ;

AVITII A GENERAL CHllONOLOGICAL INDKX.

T/ie J>ititnt Part composed from the most authentic Orig'umI Historians and Piihlic "Records,

printed and in Manuscript ; and the Modern Part from Materials of viiquestionable

Autlientieitfi (most/i/ unpablislied) extracted from the Records of Parliament,

the Jccounts of the Lustom-hoiise, the Mint, the Board of Trade, the

Post-Oj/ice, the East-India Compani/, the Bank of £lnty land,

6)C. S^:c.

Btj DAVID MACPUERSON.

IN FOUR rOLUMES.

VOL. I.

PRINTED FOR

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I

THE FIRST VOLUME CONTAINS

(PART I)

The Commercial Transactions of the Antient Nations, and after-
wards more particularly of the Britisli Kingdoms, their Manufactures,
Fisheries, Navigations, Arts, &c. from the earliest Accounts to the
Discovery of America by Christopher Colon in the year 1493; com-
posed from the most authentic Original Historians, and Parliamen-
tary and other Public Records, published and in manuscript.

994

ECONOMICS

ANNALS

OF

COMMERCE,

C

lOMMERCE exchanges what we have to fpare for what we want,
in whatever part of the world it is produced ; and it enables agricultors,
labourers, manufadurers, feamen, and, in Ihort, every defcription of
induflrious people, to live comfortably and independently upon their
own acquifitions. The animation, which it gives to manufadures,
brings on a divifion of labour, whereby they are carried to a degree of
perfection, not otherways attainable, and makes the purchafe of every
article comparatively eafy to the individual, for whom a hundred thou-
fand hands, difperfed ■over the furface of the globe, are employed in
providing food, lodging, clothing, and other neceflaries, comforts, and
enjoyments. Without commerce every family mufl be agricultors for
themfelves, and for them/elves only : and they mufl alfo build their own
houfes, or rather huts, make their own furniture, their own clothes,
and every article, they Hand in need of. Some wretched nations in
this mofl abje6l flate of favage life exift, even at this time, in parts of
the world hitherto fcarcely ever viiited by navigation. In a country
deftitute of commerce fuperior talents are of little value, and induftry
would toil in vain : a redundance of produce is ufelefs ; a deficiency is
death. But wherever commerce extends its beneficial influence, every
country, which is acceflible, is in fome degree placed on a level with i^e-
fpeft to the fupply of provifions, the neceflaries, the comforts, and the
elegancies, of life.

The origin of commerce, if we comprehend under that name the
fimple exchanges, which took place, as foon as different taftes, or talents,
direded people to employ their induftry in different purfuits, muft un-
doubtedly be nearly co-eval with the creation of the world. As paflur-

VoL. I. A

[ ^ ]

age and agriculture were the only employments of the firft men, lb cat-
tle and flocks, and the fruits of the earth, were the only objects of the
firfl commerce, or, more properly fpeaking, of that fpecies of it known
by the name of barter. The invention of manufacT:ures enabled the
more ingenious and induftrious members of the community to add to
their own comfort and convenience ; and alfo, by difpofing of the pro-
du6tions of their labour and ingenuity, to acquire an addition to the
produce of their own fields, or their own flocks, which rendered them
comparatively rich. We are not fufficiently informed of the flate of
mankind in the earliefl; ages to know, wheth'er there were any, who be-
llowed their whole time and attention upon raanufadures, or, in other
words, followed trades or profefllons ; whether their exchanges v/ere
extended beyond the near neighbourhood of the actual producers, and
conducted by a clafs of people devoting their attention to fuch bufinefs,
whom we call merchants ; or whether any univerfal llandard or me-
dium, which we call money, was then invented.

We find, however, in the very brief hiftory, which we have, of tHe
ages preceding the flood, a few Ihort notices, which infer, that fome
proiivefs had been made in manutaftin-es during that period. The
building of a city, or village, by Cain, however mean the houies may
have been-, fuppoi'es the exiftence of fome mechanic knowlege. The
tnufical inflruments, as harps and organs, the works in brafs and in
iron (the moft difficult of all metals in the application of it to the fer-
vice of mankind) made by the following generations *, Ihew, that the
•arts were conliderably advanced : but above all the conflrudion of
Noah's airk, a Ihip of three decks, covered all-over with pitch, and vajft-
ly larger than any modern effort of naval architecfture, proves, that
many feparate trades were then carried on ; for it can by no means be
•luppoied, that Noah and his three fons could, colled and prepare the vail
quantity and variety of materials, and alio tools, neceflary for carrying
on fo flupendous a fabric, had there not been people, who made a trade
of fupplying them in exchange for commodities, or perhaps for money.

The enormous pile of building, called the Tower of Babel, was con-
flruded of bricks, the procefs of making which appears to have been
very well underllood f.

Some learned afironomers arc perfuaded that the celeflial obfervations
ot the Chinefe reach back to 2249 years before the commencement of
the Chrifl^ian jera |. And the celellial obfervations made at Babylon,

• Naamali, tlic fifttr of Tubal.caiii, is faiJ by injr that perhaps-imaginary princcfs, or gockkfs.

fotnc autlion to liavc iiivcnttd, or ]iiartifcd, wool. [Sec Limttmiiil IVi/fonl's Diferlii/ioti on S^minimis,

cardiiij', fpimiing, weaving, &c. but, I bclitvo, from the Hindu fatred books, in the /^iii/ic re-

-without any f.iffititnt aulhoidy. fearcha, V. iv.]

t I fay nothing of the wonderful building!), | The arguuiiiils for and ajj.iind tlic genuine-

/lcet.i, and armies, aftrlljcd to Sciniramis, bicaiifc nefsofthcfe obfervations are given by Monlucia,

it is impofiibic to know any thing ctilaiii concern- JJiJ!. dc mathcmaliqiies, V. \, p. 385.

C 3 ]

and contained in a calendar oi above nineteen centuries, which was tranf-
initied to Greece by Alexander, reach back to within fifteen years of
thofe afcribed to the Chinefe. The difcovery of this valuab'e fcicnce
was attributed by European writers to a deified king of Babylon, whom
they call Jupiter Eelus. {^Ariftot. de Ccelo, c. 12. * — Plin. Hijl. nat. L. vi,
c. 26.]

The Indians appear to have had obfervations fully as early as the Ba-
bylonians. [Baiily, Ajlronomie Indienne — Kohertjoti's Dijquifiiion on India,
p. 289, ed. 1794.]

So very antient among the oriental nations was the ftudy of astro-
nomy, a icience fo eflentially neceflary to navigation, that without it no
voyages can be undertaken upon the ocean. Whether any of thofe
nations learned aflronomy from either of the others, is a queflion,
which no man can prefume to determine.

Such of the defcendents of Noah as lived near the water, we may pre-
fume, made ufe of veflels built fomewhat in imitation of the ark, (fup-
pofing it to have been the firfl floating vefTel ever feen in the world)
and on a fmaller fcale adapted to the purpofe of crofling deep rivers.
In procefs of time the pofterity of his eldeft fon Japhet fettled them-
felves in ' the ifles of the Gentiles,' by which we muft underfland the
iflands at the eaft end of the Mediterranean fea, and thofe between
Afia-minor and Greece, whence their colonies fpread into Greece, Italy,
and other weftern lands f. \_GeneJis, c. 10.] This is the earheft account
of voyages performed upon the fea.

SiDON, which afterwards became fo illuftrious for the wonderful mer-
cantile exertions of its inhabitants, was founded about 2,200 years be-
fore the Chriftian aera. Seated in a barren and narrow country, con-
fined on one fide by the fea, and on the other by the range of moun-
tains called Lebanon, they had the fagacity to make thefe feemingly
inhofpitable boundaries the foundation of a naval power, which for ages
flood unequalled, and gave them the unrivalled command of the whole
commerce of the Mediterranean. The mountains being covered with
excellent cedars, which furnifli the very befl and mofl durable fliip
timber and plank:}:, they built great numbers of fliips, and exported the

* Epijenes, ?)erofiis, and Ciitodemus, as quot- full vigour of life for at lead a century, we fhall
cd by Piiny, [////?. nat. J., vii, c. 56] do not r.l- fee reafon to btlieve, that in about 2CO years the

Jow

lialf fo much antiquity to the Babylonian cb- pofterity of tln-ec couples might have greatly ex-

fervations. But, fuppofing the numbers in all to ceeded a million of people.

be equally genuine, (he authority of Ariftotle is :|; That the fliips of this country were built of

vallly fuperior to ail theirs. cedar in after ages alfo, appears from Piir.v [//^.

-]- According to the tables calculated by Wal- nat. L. xvi, c. 40] who Hiys, that it was iifcd for

lice, IDlfcriatio/i 0,1 the tiumii-n of nianlind, p. /[^.2 iimtitoffir, of which the Romans, from fcarcity

the pofterity of Noah, if lie had no children after of bet'tcr timber, or from ignorance, built their

the deluge, ftiould at this time fcarcely have ftiips, though, in the fame chapter, be remarks.

amounted to 600 perfons. But if we fuppofe a fo- that fome beams of cedar in a temple at Utica had

cicty of people exempted fiom the many clogs put Jaftcd 1 188 jears.

upon matrimony in modern times, and enjoying the

A

4 Before Chrifl; 2200 — 1859.

produce of the adjacent country, and the various articles produced by
the labours of their own ingenious and induftrious people, who excelled
in the manufadures of fine linen, embroidery, tapeftry, metals, glafs,
whereof they appear to have had almoft as many varieties as our mo-
dern manufacturers furnifli, fuch as coloured, figured by blowing, turn-
ed round by the lath, and cut or carved, and even mirrors. In fhort,
they were unrivalled, at leafl by the inhabitants of the Mediterranean
coafts, in works of tafte, elegance, and luxury. Their great and uni-
verfally-acknowleged pre-eminence procured to the Phoenicians, whofe
capital port was Sidon, the honour of being efteemed by the Greeks and
others the inventors of commerce, fliip-building, navigation, the appli-
cation of aftronomy to nautical purpofes, and particularly the difcovery
of feveral ftars nearer to the north pole than any that were known to
the other nations, naval war, writing, arithmetic, book-keeping, mea-
fures and weights ; to all which it is very probable that they might
have added money *. Some of thefe fciences however, particularly af-
tronomy and arithmetic, may be prefumed to have been received by
the Phoenicians from the Babylonians or Indians.

An obfervation of an eclipfe, which happened 2155 years before the
Chriftian aera, is fuppofed by fome to be the mofl antient of the Chi-
nefe obfervations, which can be received as authentic : but others credit
them for celeftial obfervations three centuries earlier, as already obferv-
ed. [Montucla, Hiji. de mathcmatiques, V. i. pp. 59, 385.]

2000 — It was probably about this time that the Titans made them-
felves mafters of Greece and other parts of Europe. Their hiftory is
overwhelmed with fable : and they are noticed here merely as an early
inftance of a number of people, fufficient to overrun, and even to fub-
due and occupy a great extent of thinly-inhabited country, being tranf-
ported by water ; and as a proof, that the navigation of thofe remote
ages was not quite fo defpicable, as fome authors endeavour to make us
believe f .

1920 — Egypt appears to have furpafi^ed all the neighbouring coun-
tries in agriculture, and particularly to have excelled in its plentiful
crops of corn. The fame of its fuperior fertility induced Abraham to
remove with his very numerous family into Egypt during a famine,
which alBided the land of Canaan, then the place of his refidence.
[^Gene/is, c. i 2.]

1859 — ^^^^ earlicft particular accounts of bargain and fale, which are
recorded, reach no higher than the time of Abraham. In the accounts

• Sec Gentfis, c. 10. — Homerl II. /,. xvili, r. \ The antient authors, who mention them,

289; L. xxiii, 1). 743 ; OtI'fJf. /.. xv, v. 115. — bring them from countries beyond the fca ; and

Herodol. L i, c. I. — Mela, L. i. c. 6. — S.rnlo, they extend tlieir conqudls, or colonies, to Italy,

L. xvi,/i. 1097, eJ. 1707. — Plinii HiJK nal. L. v, Spain, Africa, &c.
f. 19 ; L. xxxvi, c. 1(1.

Before Chrift 1859. 5

of two purchafes of landed property by him we have the amount of the
prices and the modes of the payments. The firfl may perhaps rather
be called an acknowlegement made to Abimelech, as king of the coun-
try, for having dug a well in his territory, than a real purchafe ; and
the payment was ieven ewe-lambs, befides a prefent, far more valuable,
of iheep and oxen. \Genefis, c. 21.] But the next is a fair and abfolute
purchafe of a field or piece of land, in the narrative of which we have
many circumftances well deferving our attention. Abraham, defirous
of burying his deceafed wife in ground which fhould be his own pro-
perty, applied to the people of the country for their intereft with Eph-
ron, the proprietor of the field, to induce him to difpofe of it. Ephron,
in the hearing of the people, politely offered him a prefent of the piece
of ground, and defired all the company to be witnefies of the donation.
Abraham, bowing refpedfully to all the people, declined the gift, but
defired to purchafe it at a fair price ; whereupon, after fome further
compliments, the value was fixed at ' four hundred fhekels of filver,
* current money with the merchant *.' The filver was immediately weigh-
ed (not counted), and paid to Ephron ; and the property of the field of
Machpela, with its cave or fepulchre, and all the trees belonging to it,
was warranted to Abraham in the prefence of all the people; The
whole tranfaftion appears to have been conducted with great candour
and politenefs on both fides. {Genefts, c. 23.] This contradl for the
regular transfer of landed property prefuppofes the various produdions
of the earth to have been for fome time the objeds of efliabliftied traf-
fic. We have reafon, however, to believe, that only inclofed and plant-
ed fields were property ; while the boundlefs common of the whole
world was the unappropriated pafl:ure ground of the patriarchs, who,
with their armies of children and fervants, and their innumerable herds
of cattle, ranged from place to place in fearch of frefli pafi:ure, as the
paftoral tribes of the Scythians and Arabians have done in all ages.
Abraham, who fed his flocks and herds at one time on the banks of the
Euphrates, and at another on thofe of the Nile, faid to his nephew Lot,
' Let us feparate in order to prevent fi:rife among our herdfmen. If
' you chufe to go to the left, I will go to the right. Is not the whole
' land before you ?'

From the hiftory of Abraham we learn, that money of denominations
and quality, fixed by public authority, or by the general confent of thofe
who were mofi: interefl;ed in the circulation of it, was then an efi:abliflied
flandard, or medium, in the tranfadions of mankind, and, together with

* This important word mkrqhant implies, only fay, that the money was generally or public-
that the llandard of money was fixed by ufage ly current, or approved : but in the original He-
among merchants, and confequently, that merchants brew the words, as literally tranflated for me by a
conftituted a numerous and refpeftable clafs of the learned orientaliil, (igTuij four hundred Jhehels ofji!-
' community. St. Jerom's, and fome other tranfla- ver current iv'ith the merchants ; fo that our mo-
tions of tlie Bible, omit the word merchant, and dern Englifli tranflation is one of the trucft. .

6 Before Chrift, about 1800.

cattle and flaves, conflituted the principal wealth of individuals. Abra-
ham had ' flocks and herds, and filver and gold, and men-fervants and
' maid-fervants *, and camels and afles.' Abimelech gave to Abraham
a thoufand pieces of filver, befides cattle and flaves.

Manufadures were by this time fo far advanced, that not only thofe
more immediately conneded with agriculture and pafturage, fuch as
flour ground from corn, wine, oil, and butter, andalfo the mofl; necef-
fary articles of clothing and furniture, but even thofe of luxury and
magnificence, were ufual ; as we learn by the ear-rings and bracelets,
jewels of gold, jewels of filver, and other pretious things, prefented by
Abraham's fteward to Rebekah, the intended bride of his young maf-
ter, and to her relations. \Gc7ie/is, cc. 9, 13, 18, 19, 20, 24.]

About this time Inachus, called by the Grecian poets of after ages
the fon of the Ocean, but probably a Phoenician f, arrived in Greece,
and founded the kingdom of Argos in the peninfula afterwards called
Peloponefus, and now the Morea. His daughter lo, while flic was pur-
chafing fome goods from a Phoenician veflel, which had been five or
fix days trading in Egyptian and Afl}^rian merchandize at Argos, then
the mofl flourifliing city of Greece, was, together with fome other young
women her attendants, feized by the crew, and carried to Egypt. \^He-
rodot. L.'\,c. I.]

It is the opinion of feveral learned commentators, that the converfa-
tions in the book of Job are tranflated from a work compofed by Job
himfelf, that his refidence was in Arabia, and that he was contemporary
with the fons of Abraham. That book throws a great deal of light up-
on the commerce, manufidures, and fcience, of the age and country
wherein he lived. Gold, iron, brafs, lead, chryflal, jewels, and other
luxuries, together with the art of weaving, are mentioned in cc. 7, 19,
28, 42 ; merchants in c. 41 ; gold brought from Ophir (wherever that
place was) which infers commerce with a country apparently re-
mote, and topazes from Ethiopia, c. 38 ; fliip-building, and that
fo far improved, that fome veflt;ls were conflruded fo as to be particu-
larly diftinguiflied for the velocity of their motion j:, r. 9 ; writing in

• Tlicfi- were not fcrvants in tl;c modern ac- c, i.] Jofcplius, who confulteJ many frood au-

ceptation <if tlic word, hut flnves, hispioperty, and thors, now loil, fays, that ii ciily tinies, tlie rhcE-

hoiight wiih liis money. See Cen.fts, c. I 7. nicians were the navi;rators wiio cnnvirycd tlie fiift

f There can be h'ttle rcafon to doubt, that tlie knowlcRe of the Egyptians and other nations

name of Jnachus (l»x;j-e-) is tlie f^mc word with lo the Greeks. [^Contia ^Ijiiwem, L. \.~\

Enak or /Innk, a Piia-niciaii liile of th'gnity. The % The commentators arc fat from agreeing tip.

learned liochart fcems with good rcafon to think, on the meaning of the words, trandiited ' fwift

that tlie genuine name of the Phccnicians was Bm • fiiips,' in the Englilh Bible. Jcroin trandates

yliink, (the foiis of Anak) of which the Greek them ' naves poma portantes,' fliips carrying ap-

word "I's/fik 1; is a corrupted contraiflion. ^Vc learn pics. The invcniion of rafts, the very firil rude

from V\a\\\\,3 \ Paiiu! nil. ^,/i. z'j that the Car- c (fay in navigation, was afcribcd to Ei^thras, a

thagiiiians, a rha'nieian colony, called their city (pcihaps imagir.ary) king of fome part of the

CA</^/rc-/^nrt/f, the rcfidcncc of the Anaks. [6'1/m- coad of the I'trfian gulf. \_Sli-abo, L, xvi, />.

lirlmid'i Stinconialho, j>. 2-1.— Bccharl, Chan.L. i, 1 125 Plin. llijl. nal. L. vii, t. 56.]

Before Clirift 1739 — 1728. 7

a book *, and engraving letters, or writing on plates of lead, and on
ftone, with iron pens, and alfo feal-engraving, rf. 19, 31, 38; fiflung
with hooks, and nets, and fpearsf, c. 41 ; mufical inftruments, parti-
cularly the harp and organ, c. n^o ; alTronomy, and names given to the
conftellations ; which proves that they mufl have made great profi-
ciency in arithmetic and geometry, the invention of which (long after
this time) is afcribed to Myrisking of Egypt :{:, cc. 9, 38. Thele various
important notices prove, that, though the patriarchal I'yllem of making
pallurage the principal objecl of attention was ftill kept up by many of
the chiefs of the country §, where the author of the book of Job lived,
the fciences were afliduoufly cultivated, the ufeful and ornamental arts
were in a very advanced Itate, and commerce was profecuted with vi-
gour and effedl:, at a time, when, if the chronology of Job be rightly
fettled, the arts and fciences were fcarcely fo far advanced in Egypt,
from which, and the other countries bordering upon the eaftern part of
the Mediterranean fea, they were afterwards Ilowly conveyed to
Greece 1|-

1^39 — Jacob, the grandfon of Abraham, bought a piece of grotmd
near Shalem in the land of Canaan, for which he paid an hundred kefi-
tas%. He was invited by the people of the country to fettle among
them, and to trade, or negotiate with them. \Genefis, cc. 't^i^, 34.]

1-728 ^llie inhabitants of Arabia, whofe great advances in the arts

and fciences havejuft been noticed, appear to have availed themfelves
in very early times of their mod advantageous fituation between the
two fertile and opulent countries of Egypt and India, and to have got
the entire and unrivaled polleflion of a very profitable carrying trade
between thofe countries. In this commerce navigation and land car-
riage were combined : and we find a clafs of people, who gave their

* The Englifli traiiflation has ' printed in a of Job was written, long before the Ifraelites be^

• book.' came a nation, very long before the Greeks were a

-|- According to the Englifli tranddtion, ' with civih'zed people, and many centuries indeed, before

• barbed irons,' or harpoons. the name of Roman was heard of.

J The Greeks learned geometry from the E- i^ ^ i i „v ^ nr

+ . , 1 r , ■^ 1 1- r Onandoque to:ius dormitat Jnomerus :

jrvptians, ana theretore cas'e tliem the credit oi ,7 ^- • } r ii i, r

o/*^. '. cc 1 T ■ n Vtriim opere in longo las elt obreperere lomnum.

. the invention, bee o/rap^, i^. xvi, />. 1090. i o 1

} Both the inventories of Job's ellatc t numerate «f The tranflators of the Englifh Bible have ren-

ftieep, camels, oxen, and affts, together with a very dered hefita ' pieces of money.' Others have

great lionfehold : but there is not a word of horfts, tranllated it by a word fignifying lands. Accord-

for which Arabia has long been famous, as com- ing to the learned Bochart, \^Hicrnzoicoit, L. ii, c.

poling a part of his property. 43-] 't mult have been a kind of money, fo called

II A very refpeftable author, to whofe exten- as being genuine, or of a juft Itandaid finenefs,

five rtfearches hiftory, and particularly oriental heftta ivim.i^'v\<g true ov gaiu'ine ; and he thinks it

hiftory, has been greatly indebted, has inadvertent- had 110 connection whatever with lambs. Some

ly afcribed tlie fuperior civilization of the Arabians fuppofe it a piece of money 'lamped with the

to the occafional vifits of Ifiaelite, Egyptian, figure of a lamb. If this opinion could be efta-

Grecian, and Roman, merchants. If io, the blilhed, it would be the earliell notice of coined*

fcholais have greatly furpaflcd all their mailers, money in the world. But it is believed, that there

But an iiitercourfe, fufficient to produce fuch an was no coined money among the Ifraehtes till after

effeft, mud have commenced long before the book the extindlion of their monarchy.
3

8

Before Chrift 17^8.

whole attention to merchandize as a regular and eflablifhed profeffion,
and travelled v^dth caravans (as pradifed in thofe countries to this day)
between Arabia and Egypt, carrying upon the backs of camels* the
fpiceries of India, together with the balm of Canaan, and the myrh pro-
duced in their own country, or perhaps imported of a fuperior quality
from the oppofite coafl of Abyfhnia ; articles which were in great de-
mand among 'the Egyptians for embalming the deadf , in the religious
ceremonies, and for adminiftering to the pleafures, of that fuperftitious,
rich, and luxurious, people. The merchants of one of thofe caravans,
confifling of Ifhmaelites and Midianites J, being alfo dealers in flaves,
made a purchafe of Jofeph from his brothers for twenty pieces of lilver,
or ;jr2 : 1 1 : 8 of modern fterling money §, and carried him with them
to Egypt. [Geiiefts, c. 37.]

The extent of the Arabian commerce ^ in thefe ages further appears
from the fpices, which mufl have been got diredly or circuitoufly from
Arabia, being joined with balm and other productions of Canaan in the
prefent deftined by Jacob for Jofeph. \Genefis, c. 43.] The Ifraelites
during their peregrination in the wildernefs poiTelled feveral oriental
fpices and aromatics in very conliderable quantities, which, whether

* The camel is wonderfully adapted by Nature
for the tranfportation of merchandize acrofs bar-
ren dcferts. Very little food is fufGcient for him,
and his ftomacli is fo formed that he can take in a
fupply of water, wherever it can be got, fufBcicnt
for the ufe of feveral days. He proceeds, under
the load of a thoufand pounds weight, with a (low,
but uniform, pace, wherein he perfeveres with un-
remitting patience to the end of a veiT long jour-
ney. Tliefe qualities render the camel fo eminent-
ly ufeful in Arabia, Africa, and other avid coun-
tries, that he is emphatically called the Jl?ip of the
tlifert.

f Pure myrh, cafia, and other odoriferous fub-
ftanccs, excepting frankincenfe, were ufcd in em-
balming the dead bodies of the rich in Egypt.
\_JItrodol. L. ii, c. 86.]

I In a few ages after this time we find the Mi-
dianites fo opulent, that the plunder of gold ear-
rings taken from tliem by the Ifraelites in one bat-
tle, weighed 1,700 (hekels, beftdes other orna-
ments and purple raiment, apparently from Sidoii :
and even their camels had chains of gold upon their
necks. [,^i"ls',u '• 8.]

$ I thought it proper to give this full inftance
of the price of a flavc in modern money, (as cal-
culated in yiduthiiot's Talks of ancient coins, fi.
204) to enable the reader to compare it with the
modern prices.' Wc know of no prices of provi-
fions caually anlicnt, whereby wc niigiit cllimate
the real value of llie price paid for Jofeph.

f The inttrcourfe between Arabia and India in
very early ages may be (jucllioned, as all tlie arti-
cles carried by the caravan who bought Jofepli,

are faid by fome authors to have been the produce
of Arabia. Thofe authors, feeing fuch goods
brought from Arabia, naturally fuppofed that they
were produced there ; and they neither knew nor
inquired concerning the exiilence of any countiy
beyond it. But it is known that iome of the fpi-
ceries could liave been brought only from India,
with which the intercourfe from Arabia was very
eafy by means of the monfbons, the periodical regu-
larity of wliich mud have been obfervcd, and taken
advantage of, many ages before the time of Hippa-
lus, whom the Egyptian Greeks fuppofed the firft
difcoverer of them. It may alfo be obfervcd, as a
ftrong prefuinption that the Arabs traded to more
remote parts of India than the Pcrfians or Alfyri-
ans, or any other nation with whom the weftern
parts of the world had intercourfe, that no fuch
fpices had ever been fecn in Jerufalem as thofe
>vhich were prcfented to Solomon by the queen of
Shcba, [// Chronicles^ c. 9] who, if a native of
Sabtea in Arabia Felix, received them from her
own fubjefts ; or, if a native of the country now
called Abyflinia (as the modern Abyffuiians allege)
mull have procured them from the merchants of
Muza (Mocha, or a place near it) in Arabia, as
we learn from the Perip/us rf the Erylhrsan fea.
[See alfo Straho, /,.xvii,/>. 1129] Theophralhis
i.1, if I midakc not, the oldell author, wiio knew
that cinnamon and other fpices and aromatics were
the produce of India. See L. ix, c. 7, and elfe-
where : and Strabo, who wrote feveral centuries
alter him, had heard a report to the fame purport.
[Z,. xvii, />. 1 1.29. J

Before Chrift 1728 — 1491- 9

they brought them out of Egypt, or procured them on their journey,
muft have been obtained from the fouthcrn Arabians, who imported
fome of them from India and Africa, and raifed others of them in their
own country. [Exodus, c. 30.]

From detached notices, coUeded at very diftant intervals of time, it
appears that the fouthern Arabs were eminent traders, and enjoyed at
all times a very confiderable proportion, but moft generally the entire
monopoly, of the trade between India and the weftern world from the
earliefl ages, till the antient fyftem of that moft important commerce
was totally overturned, when the Europeans found a dire6l route to In-
dia by the Cape of Good Hope.

17 1 5 — Jofeph, from being a flave and a prifoner, was advanced to
be the prime minifter of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Having laid up the
redundant corn produced in feven years of plenty in the royal granaries,
he afterwards fold it out to the people during feven years of famine,
whereby the whole money of the nation, afterwards the cattle, then the
lands, and at laft even the people themfelves, became the property of
the king. The fcarcity being general in all the neighbouring coun-
tries, Jofeph brought the whole of his father's family with all their nu-
merous retinue to fettle in Egypt.

I 707 — About this time we find inns eftabliflied for the accommoda-
tion of travelers in Egypt and in the northern parts of Arabia ; and,
we may prefume, the more civilized fouthern part of the peninfula could
not be deftitute of the fame accommodation. This fuppofes a confi-
derable intercourfe between diftant countries : and it may be prefumed,
that a great proportion of the travelers were traders. The inn-keepers
feem to have furniflied only houfe-room, and perhaps beds ; for we
find, even long after this time, that travelers carried their own provi-

fions with them, and alfo provender for their beafts. [Genefis, c. 42

Exodus, c. 4 — yudges, c. 19.] Herodotus afcribes the firft ufe of inns
or taverns to the Lydians. But the Greeks, even after the age of that
father of their hiftory, knew very little of the affairs of any country at a
confiderable diftance from their own.

1689 — Jacob (or Ifrael) in his dying benediction to his fons men-
tions ' an haven of JJj'ips' [Genejis^ c. 49.] The ufe of thefe words
in metaphorical language, and by a perlon who pafled his life at a
diftance from the fea, fliews, that navigation was much praclifed.
and familiarly known, in the eaftern parts of the Mediterranean.
Some Grecian poets in their inconfiftent fables have, however, af-
cribed the honour of the invention of navigation lo their own coun-
trymen.

1 706-1491 — During the refidence of the Ifraelites in Egypt, manu-
fadures of almoft every kind were carried on in that comparativclv-por

Vol. I. B ■

i o

Before Chriil 1706 — i49i.

lifned country to great perfection. Flax, fine linen *, garments of cot-
ton, rings and jewels of gold and filver, works in all kinds of metals,
iron, the moft difficult of all metals in the procefs of preparing it for
ufe, chariots for luxury, and chariots for war, occur in the hiftory of
this period, written by Mofes. Having no vines in their country, they
probably now, but certainly in the age of Herodotus, (L. ii, c. 76)
made a liquor from barley, which the Greeks, having no appropriate
name for it, called barley-wine. To tliefe may be added the great ma-
nufaftory of bricks, in which the Ifraelites are fuppofed to have been
chiefly employed during their fervltude in Egypt, and alfo their vaft
buildings, and gigantic ftatues, wherein ftupendous bulk, rather than
elegance of architecture or iculpture, feem to have been confidered as
the flandard of pertedion. [Gcfiejis, cc. 41, 44. — Exod. cc. 9, 11, 12,
14. — Num. c. -^^. — Bcut. cc. 4, 19.] Literature alfo appears to have
been in a very flourifliing flate among the Egyptians of thefe ages, at
leafl when compared with feme of the neighbouring nations : and
hence, in order to give a high idea of the accomplifhments of Mofes, it
is faid, that he was ' learned in all the wifdom of the Egyptians f .'
iAas, f. 7.]

1556 — ('ecrops, a native of Sais in Egypt, led a colony into Greece,
and having married the daughter of Adeus king of Attica, he became
his fuccefljc>r in the kingdom. He appears to have paid fome attention
to naval affairs, whereby he was enabled, when his fubjeds were diftrefs-
ed by famine, to import corn from Lydia, and alfo from Sicily, which
has in all ages been difl:ingui{hed for its extraordinary fertility, fo as to
be cfteemed by the poets the native country of Ceres the goddefs of
corn. Cecrops founded twelve villages, which afterwards coaleiced into
the one city of Athens ; and he perfuaded his roving and indolent fub-
jeds to fettle in and near them, in order to unite their forces againll the
Boeotian marauders and Carian pirates. He alfo pointed out to them the
benefits of induftry, and taught them the principles of agriculture.
Such was the origin of the antient and illuflirious city of Athens.

Cadmus arrived in Greece from Phccnicia, and is faid to have taught
the Greeks the ufe of letters:}:, and the art of working metals, both hi-

■* The fupcrior quality of the Egyptian linen, been rxtoUed nuicli beyond their real merit, bc-

which was univtrfally allowed by all the antitnts, caufe they appealed to great advantage in the cyc3

who fiiw it, and compared it with the mannfae- of the early Greeks and Ifraelites. Such menu-

lures of other countries, has been calkd in quef- mt nts of their art, as Hill remain to be compared

lion in modern times ; lecaufe the bandages of a with ihofe of later and modern times, oblige us to

iiuimmy examined by Dodlor Halliy were found wonder what the anticnts found in them worthy of

only equal to linen wortli 274 a yard So a phi- fo much admiration.

lolophtr of the thirtieth century, who (liall flnnjble \ Several learned men arc perfuaded that the ufe

upon a bit of oziiabnrg of the eighteenth, may of letters was at leaft in foine degree known to the

deir.onflrate that no belter linen was then ufed in Greeks before the arrival of Cadnnis. The ear-

Urilaln. Hell letters ufed in Greece were probably thofe,

f It mud be admitted, however, that the learn- which Plato calls Hyperborean (i. e. northern) and

ing and fcicnce of the Egyptbns liavc in all ages defcribes as different from the letters of his own

Before Chrifl; time uncertain. ii

therto unknown in that country. According to fome accounts, Cadmus
was fent by his father in quefl; of his fifter Europa, ftolen away by Cret-
an adventurers : others fay, that he eloped from the court of the king
of Sidon with Hermione, one of that king's female nuificians. [^tben.
L. xiv.]

In thefe ages alfo Danaus, another Egyptian adventurer, led a colony
into Greece in a great fliip with twenty-five oars on each fide, and, ex-
pelling Gelanor the hereditary king of Argos, reigned in his place.

Some time after, Pelops arrived in Greece from Phrygia, and brought
with him riches hitherto unknown in Europe *.

The arrival of thefe adventurers in Greece merits notice in commer-
cial hifi;ory only as fliewing, how common, and how eafy, the migration
of colonies by fea was in thofe ages, and how great an afcendant the
pofleffors of Ihipping and maritime power had over the more antient
inhabitants of Greece. Many other infiiances might be added ; but
thefe may fuffice.

14^0 — ^The Ifraelites under Jofhua began to expell the Canaanites or
Phoenicians from a great part of their territories ; and their progrefs
was attended with prodigious flaughter of that devoted people. One
confequence of their irruption was, that Sidon and the other uncon-
quered cities of Phoenicia not having room for all the refugees, who
efcaped the exterminating fword of the Ifraelites, many Phoenician co-
lonies were fent out to eftablifli fettlements in various parts of the Me-
diterranean, who all keeping up a commercial intercourfe with their
mother country, the trade of the whole weftern world was carried on
by Phoenician merchants ading as agents to each-other over all the ex-
tent of the Mediterranean, then the only fea known by the inhabitants
of its flaores.

Some Phoenician colonies in Greece have already been mentioned.
They alfo eftabliflied fettlements in Cyprus, Rhodes, and feveral of the
iflands fcattered in the /Egean fea : they penetrated into the Euxine or
Black fea ; and gradually fpreading weflward along the ihores of Sicily,
Sardinia, Gaul, Spain, and Africa, they everywhere efi:abliflied trading
pofl;s or fadiories, to which the wandering and favage inhabitants of the
adjoining regions, allured by the profped of advantage in trading with

age ; and, according to Diodorus Slculiis, Orpheus times confidcrably diftant from each other. The

ufcd Pelafgic letters, which were older than the hitlory of them is fo obfcured by fable, and per-

Greek. [v. Plato in Cratylo. — Dlod. Sic. L. iii. — plexed by contraditlions, that the learned have in

Paufan. in Attic. — Ihre Givfs. Sivio-Goth. pp. xxii, vain attempted to reduce them to regular chrono-

xxviii, and Origin and progrefs of writing, iy Mr. logy, as is evident from numerous inllances of im-

.<^/f, p. 66, note.'] Jofeph Scaligcr has a long poffible fynchronifms ; e.g. Perieres, the great-

diflertation on the derivation of the ancient Ionic grandfon of Deucalion, married a woman, the

Greek letters from the Phoenician. \_Animadver- eleventh in defcent from Inachus ; and his brother

Jiones in Eufehium, pp. \o<^, et feqq. Athamas married one, who is placed as the fixth

I have brought thefe feveral migrations toge- from the fame anceftor.

thcr, though it is probable, that they happened at

B 2

I J Before Chrift 1450 — 1350.

the new fettlers, quickly repaired, and foon learned how to procure, in
exchange for their hitherto-negle<fted and ufelefs native commodities,
articles of which nature or their own ignorance had denied them the
ufe, and even the knowlege. It is probably impoflible, and it is furely
unnecelTary, to particularize the names, and to reduce the dates of their
feveral fettlements to chronological order *. Some of the later ones,
whofe beginnings are better known, will be noted in their proper
places.

Here it is proper to obferve, that Tyre, which will make fuch
a diftinguiflied figure in the hiftory of antient commerce, is now for
the firft time mentioned, and m.erely as a ftrong or fortified city, while
Sidon is dignified with the appellation of G?rat-\-. [Jo/hua, c. 19.]

1350 — About this time Egypt was governed by Myris, or Moeris,
who is honoured with the title of the Philofopher. This philofophic
king is faid to have invented the principles of geometry, a fcience fo
effential to commerce, that no difiant voyage can be undertaken with-
out the afliftance of charts, in the confiiruction of which, as well as in
the art of navigation, or the meaiurement of a fhip's courfe upon the
tracklefs ocean, it is almofi: needlefs to inform the reader, that the
knowlege of geometry is the firll and mofl indifpenfible requifite.
Among the Egyptians, however, this art was entirely confined to the
menfuration of the land, the boundaries of which were frequently de-
llroyed or mifplaced by the inundations of the Nile ; and thence its
Yi2iTSi(i/\ni]iOXt\ng'\v). Gveek meafuremeiit of the earth. But, as it appears
that aftronomy, which requires a previous knowledge of geometry, was
well known feveral centuries before this time in the country where Job
lived, in Babylon, China, and India, wc mud believe that Herodotus,,
from whom we derive almofi all our knowlege of the early hiftory of
Egypt, has been impofed upon in this matter by the Egyptian priefts,
for the honour of their country, or that the fcience has been invented
in feveral countries.

Myris alio improved his country by forming canals, and an artificial
lake of ftupendous magnitude, calculated to receive the water of the

• Tlic reader, who is dcfirous to fee all, that of the mod aiiliciit lu'ilon'aiis in tlic world,

could be collected Ijy vad erudition and indcfatig- who menlion,'. it as a inoft antient city, inhabited

able indullry on the fiibjeifl of the I'liccnieian colo- by the fifth generation of mankind. h\ order to

nies, may confult Docharfs Cbannan. account for the various dates, perhaps it is only

•J- There is great difagrecment ainonp authors nccctTary to remember, that there were in Phocni-

conccrning the time wlien 'I'yrc was founded, cia at Icafl four cities of the name of Tyre, the

Jofcplius dates it 240 years before Soloman's moll antient of which was for many ages much

tinnplc, or about 1,250 before I he commencement inferior to Sidon in power and opulence. \_Sc!

of the Chrillian a'ra ; \^j'liit\q. L. viii, c. 2] and Rocliart, Chatiaan, col. 776.]

others make it llill later. 'I'liis paffage in Jofliua When Herodotus was at Tyre, the priefts told

appears fufiicicnt to prove it entitled to a much him, that it was 2,300 years liiice the foundation

higher antiquity; to which may he added the of tluir viiy. [//«•»(/»/.£. ii, f. 44. J
temmony of Sanconiatho, n Pliecuician, and one

Before Chrifl 1350 — 1300.

13

Nile, whenever it rofe too high, which bears his name. That his fub-
jeds, the fartheft removed from the river, might partake of its benefits,
as well as thofe living on its banks, he conflantly employed great num-
bers of people in ialting the fifh caught in thefe waters. This is- the firft
account of curing filh by fait ; a bufinefs which has greatly enriched
the naturally-poor country of Holland, and might alfo enrich the poor-
efl regions of the Britifh dominions.

Hitherto the Egyptians had avoided having any concern in maritime
affairs, being prejudiced againft the fea by their religious notions, and
their policy ; though they appear to have had a great paflive commerce
with the Arabians and Phoenicians, the later being the conflant carriers
of their merchandize upon the Mediterranean fea.

I •500 — Egypt was now governed by Sefoflris, a prince who forced
political, and even religious, prejudices, to give way to his ambitious
views of extending his dominions. Having built a fleet of four hundred
ihips on the Red fea *, (probably by means of Phoenician workmen) he
fubdued fome part of Arabia, fome iflands, by the Greek writers called
Cyclades, and perhaps fome of the neighbouring countries f . He after-

* The name of the Red fea, or Erythixan fea,
was given to the two gulfs on the caft and weft
fides of Arabia, and was alfo extended to the ocean
on its fouth fide. In this work the name will be
reftrifted to the gulf on the weft fide of Arabia.

f Thefe four hundred vefl'els, fnch as they were,
conftituted the greateft fleet that ever was fitted
out by the native kings of Egypt. But, as the
event falls in the dark period of Egyptian hillory,
and the number is not mentioned by Herodotus,
confiderablc allowance muft be made for exaggera^
tion. Some modern writers, however, have
amufed themfelves and their readers with a notion,
that the Egyptians were the moft antient navigat-
ors ; becaulc a nation fo wife could not be blind
to the advantages of commerce. We are morC'
over told, upon the fame authority of imagination,
that the glory of the difcoveries, hitherto afcribed
to the Phoenicians, • feems rather to belong to
' the Eg)'ptians ;' and alfo, that the Hebrews,
who were fo long among the Egyptians, could not
be ignorant of their trade to all the countries of
tiie Eaft, and that, after they got themfelves fettled
in the land of Canaan, they could not be fuppofed
deficient in nautical and commercial knowlege,
when the port of Sidon was fo near to them. Such
are the moikrn difcoveries of the trade and naviga-
tion of the Egyptians and Hebrews, which were
utterly unknown to the moft antient authors. — So
very far were the Egyptians from being great na-
vigators and difcoverers, that they abhorred the
fea, and all fiOi that were bred in it, becaufe the
dead body of their god Ofiris was thrown into it ;
and they would not fo much as fpeak to fcamen,
who were an abomination in their fight, becaufe

they gained their bread upon the fea. \_P!utarchi
Sympos. L. viii ; De I/'ide cl OJir.'] All antient au-
thors agree, that the Phoenicians were the earlieft
and the greateft traders and navigators in the weft-
ern world. \_Ifaiah, c. 23 — E^ekiel, cc. 26, 27, 28.
— Herodot. L. i, c. i; L. iii, c. 107. — Mela, L. i, c.
6. — Strabo, L. xvi,/i. 1097. — Vlin. Hi/}, nat. L. v,
c. 1 2. — fofeph. contra Apion. L. i, iffc. i3'c.'\ But,
for any merchant veflel belonging to the native
Egyptians having ever failed to any foreign port,
I believe no antient authority can be found. The
trade of the Egyptians was evidently conduced by
foreigners; and, if we may truft to Grecian writ-
ers, they were not very willing to admit them,
upon any account whatever, to enter into their
country. Before the reign of Pfammitichus all
Grangers (excepting, however, the Arabians and
Phoenicians — fee Genejis, c. 37 — Herodot. L, i, c. I.)
were prohibited from landing in Egypt : but the
Greeks, being notorious for their piracies, were
moft rigor-oufly debarred, (or were, perhaps in
truth, the only nation excluded) and thofe, who
had the misfortune to be driven by the winds upon
the coaft, were put to death, or made flaves ; and
from that favage cruelty, or fevere juftice, the
Grecian poets fabricated their fable of a king of
Egypt, called Bufiris, facrificing men upon his
altars. \Diod. Sicul. L. i, § 67 — Strabo, L. xvii,
pp. 1 142, 1154.J It may be objected to what I
have faid of the deteftation of feamen among the
Egyptians, that Herodotus [/,. ii, c. 164] men-
tions managers of vefiels as one of the orders, or
cafts, of that people. But from his defcription of
their vefTels, with hulls and mafts made of thorn
and fails made of paper, and sf their navigation,

14 Before Chrift, about 1300.

wards marched northward with his land forces, and conquered, or ra-
ther overran, the various nations in his way, tiU he crofled over into
Europe, and terminated his expedition in Thrace, the hardy natives of
which he was not able to bring under his yoke. In his return he fettl-
ed a colony of his Egyptians at Colchis, the country which was after-
wards rendered famous in poetry by the expedition of the Argonauts.
This colony retained the fwarthy complexion and crifped hair of the
Egyptians, and alfo the language and cuftoms, the arts and manufadures,
of Egypt, in the days of Herodotus, who particularly notices their art-
ful reprefentation of the figures of animals upon their clothes, the co-
lours of which remained as long as the fluff lafted ; and linen, a manu-
facture almoft peculiar to the Egyptians, retained its charader among
the Colchians even in the time of the emperor Tiberius. [Herod. L. i,
c. 203 ; ii, 103, 104 — Diod. Sic. L. i — Strabo, L. \\, p. 762.]

In every country which Sefoflris fubdued, he ereded monuments,
with infcriptions engraved upon them, relating his vidories, fome of
which, remaining in Syria, were feen by Herodotus. He alio fet up
other columns, which particularly deferve attention in the prefent
work, becaufe on them his artifts, improving upon the geometrical
knowlege introduced by Myris, engraved maps of the countries conquer-
ed by him. That which was at ^a, the capital of Colchis, is faid to
have exhibited not only the form of the land and the fea, but even the
very roads *. [Appolon. Rhod. Jrgonaitt. L. vi, v. 272.]

[/,. ii, cc. 96, 175] and from every pafTiige where- names ; whence this great king, who makes fo

in he has occafioii to fpeak of their managers of confpicuous a figure in hillory, does not appear at

veffels, it is fufficicntly evident, that they were not all in the catalogue of Egyptian kings made up by

fcafaring men, but mere frcih-water failors, or Eratolliicnes, which is with good reafon eileemed

boatmen, employed in working the numerous river- the moft corred with refpett to the chronology of

craft \ipon the Nile. As to the fuppofcd com- Egypt.

merce of the Hebrews, Jofephus, himfelf a Hebrew, After carefully confidering all that I could find

plainly atTcrts, that the autient Hebrews, being upon the fubjed, and collediug materials almoll

remole from the Jca, were content with the produce fufficient for an antieiit hillory of Egypt, that 1

of their own fertile foil, and did not go from home might come as near the truth as poffibk in the

in qucft of riches or conquerts. He adds, (in per- dale of the firft effays \\\ geography, (a fcience in

fcdt agreement with the very firll chapter of He- which I have taken pleafure almoll from my in-

rodotus) that in the early ages merchandize was fancy) I tefolvcd to abide by the tellimony of

carried to and from Egypt by the Phosnicians, Herodotus, who fays, [Z. ii, cc. 113 — 1 16] that

who ploughed the vaft fcas in their tnding voy- a king, whofe name in Greek was Proteus, who

ages, and that it was by their means that the reigned when Alexander (or Paris) carried off

Egyptians, and other nations, became known to Helen from Spaila, ajid alio when Meiielaus ar-

ihe Greeks. S^Jriftph. contra /ip'ion. L. i.] — Thefe rived in Egypt after the dcllruilion of Troy, was

unqutllionable antient authorities are furely fuffi- the immediate fuccedor of Phcron, (called by Stra-

cient to prove, tiiat the Egyptians were not navi- bo Pfammitichus) who was the fon and immediate

gator«, and (lill lefs the Hebrews, whofc naval en- fucceffor of Scfollris. Therefor Sefollris could

terprifcs never went beyond fifliing with a boat not be much above a century before the fall of

upon a lake, and who fcarcely ever poflefied a bit Troy, which is dated 1,184 yf^'"^ before Cliriil.

of fcacoaft. According to Apollonius Rhodius, the expedition

• Ciironologcrs differ many centuries in the of Scfollns was prior of that of the Argonauts,

zra of this renowned conqueror. 'I'lic difficulty the rnoft. probable a:ra of whieii is about 1,266.

is incrcafcd by the prodigious liberty takcji by Sefollris was pollcrior to Myris, or Mocris, whofc

anticut writers in tranllating and perverting death was not quite 9CO years before the journey

t

Before Chrift, about 1300. 15

<

This is the earliefl mention of geography, a foience which, as com-
prehending HYDROGRAi'HY, is of fuch prodigious importance to com-
merce, that without it voyages on the ocean are utterly impracticable.
And thus have the fciences, which enable the modern navigator to cir-
cumnavigate the globe, originally (hone out among a people who fcarce-
ly ever ufed the fea.

After his return from his expedition, Sefoftris became fenfible of the
deceitful fplendour and vanity of conqueft, and appears to have devoted
the remainder of his life to the real duties of fovercignty in confultin
the happinefs of the people under his charge. He interfered the coun
try with canals, which divided it into fquare portions, and extended the
benefits of fifheries, inland navigation, and wholefome drink, through
the whole of it. With the earth dug out of thofe canals he raifed the
furface of the towns, which, when the country was overwhelmed
by the periodical inundation of the Nile, thereby became detached,
iflands, in w^hich the people lived dry and comfortably. His vigorous
mind, which had remarked the prodigious variety of produdions in the
n:iany countries he had overrun, fully comprehended the great advan-
tages which would arife from an aftive commerce, whereby the com-
modities of the moft diflant parts of the known world might be aflem-
bled in his own dominions, to employ the induflry, and add to the hap-
pinefs of his fubjeds. It was, perhaps, with this view that he eftablifli-
ed the diflant colony of Colchis ; it was certainly with this view that he
conceived the great defign of opening a navigable canal of communica-
tion from the Nile to the Red fea. The work was accordingly begun,
but afterw'ards given up, from an apprehenfion that the furface of the
fea was higher than the land, and the country would be drowned, if it
was let in upon it. Whether the canal was begun by his fon after his
death, or by himfelf, for authors differ in their accounts, [See Strabo,

of Herodotus into Egypt. [£. ii, f. 13] Hero- But I do not know of any fatisfaftory proof of
dotus was born in 484, and in 446 he read his hif- the identity of Egyptus, the brother of Danaus,
tory to the Athenians. [Vojius ile Hiji. Gr£c. p. with Sefoftris, which feems to relt on no better
14.] Thus the death of Myris may be dated authority than that of the fabulous Manetho. He-
about 1,340, or 1,330. The expedition of Se- rodotus, vvho has occafion pretty often to mention
foftris, therefor, mull have taken place between Danaus, proves iiim indeed to be an Egyptian, of
1,340 and 1,226 years before Chrift, which is a the city of Chemmis ; but, though he mentions
proper aera for him to be contemporary with the the treachery of a namelefs brother of Sefoftris, he
grandfiuher of Proteus, who feems to have been pretty plainly proves, that the crime, imputed to
of a different race. It is to be obforved, however, Dannus, of violating th.e cliaftity of the queen,
that Herodotus marks a difference in the nuthen- while he was regent during the king's abfence,
ticity of the hiftory of Egypt, prior to the fettle- could not be committed by a brother of Sefoftris,
mentofthe Greeks at Naucratis in the reign of whofe wife appears to have accompanied him in
Amahs, (about 950 years before Chrift) and wiiat his expedition. [Z.. ii, cc. 91, 107.J The com-
is pofterlor to that event, the later period being, mon Grecian fable of the fifty fons-in-law of Da.
as he lays, much cleaver. naus being all, except Lynceu?, murdered by their
It is true, that the arrii-al of Danaus, who is wives, his fifty daughters, is alfo confuted by He-
called the brother of Sefoftris, in Greece is placed rodotus, [Z,. ii, c. 98] v,-ho mentions Archander,
much earlier that the time here ;ifiigncd to Sefoftris. a fon-iii-la'.r of Danaus. 4

i6 Before Chrift 1280 — 1234.

>

L. i, p. 65 ; L. xvii, p. 1 156] the plan was pretty certainly his ; and to
this royal father of geography the commercial world is alfo indebted
for the firfl idea of inland navigation, which is now fo highly im-
proved by the great abilities of our engineers, that not only level coun-
tries like Egypt, but even fuch as have great declivities, and other ob-
flacles, which not long ago were thought infuperable, are now traverfed
from fea to fea by veffels of confiderable burthen.

1280 — There is reafon to believe, that about this time the fpirit of
trade had fpread itfelf over the greatefl part of Afia proper, now called
the LelTer Afia. It has already been obferved, that Pelops carried great
riches with him into Greece from Phrygia. Another part of that coun-
try was governed by Midas, who is faid by the poets to have turned
every thing he touched into gold. The moil rational explanation of
this fable feems to be, that he encouraged his fubjeds to convert the
produce of their agriculture, and other branches of induftry, into money
by commerce, whence confiderable wealth flowed into his own treafury.
[Plin. Hijl. nat. L. xxxiii, c. 3.] This explanation will appear the more
probable, when it is remembered, that the invention of anchors for ftiips
is afcribed to this prince by Paufanias, and the invention of coining
money to his queen, by Julius Pollux ; though it is more likely, that
what the Greeks called the invention, was rather the introduction of
the knowlege of them from countries more advanced in civilization.
Strabo, however, afcribes the great wealth of Midas to mines *.

1234 — According to the authors followed by Appian, the firft found-
ation of Carthage by the Tyrians was fifty years before the defi;ruc-
tion of Troy. It is probable that it was for feveral ages a place of little
note f .

The extenfive and fertile ifland of Crete, centrically fituated between
Europe, Afia, and Africa, and called by Arifl;otle the emprefs of the fea,
was undoubtedly capable of commanding the commerce of the Mediter-
ranean, and of courfe j^olFefllng the naval empire of that fea, had it been
fully poflefled by the Phoenicians, who lecm not to have been very nu-
merous in it. Of the commercial efforts of the Cretans little or nothing
is known. Caflor Rhodius, as copied by Kufebius, has afcribed to them
the honour of being the firfl, who held the dominion of the fea. But
we mufl be careful not to affix modern ideas to antient terms. This
boafled dominion of the fea extended only to the fupprellion of the Ca-
rians and fome other pirates, who infefted the coafts, by a naval force
fitted out by Minos, the fecond king of that name in Crete; an expedi-
tion made by him to Athens in revenge for the murder of his fon, on

• Mida? appears to liavc been a family name certain if this one is placed in liis proper time ;
common to many of the Phrygian kings. There nor is it of much confcqucncc.
was one contemporary with Homer. I am not f Sec the year 868 before Chrift.

Before Chrlft 12 26 — 1194. 17

which occafion he fubjeded the Athenians to very humiliating condi-
tions of peace ; and another to Sicily, in which he loft his life.

1226 — Hitherto the Grecian failors had contented themfelves with
coafting along or crofling the numerous fmall bays of their own wind-
ing fliore. But now a very long voyage was proje^ed, to be carried on
by the combined efforts of all Greece. The young chiefs united them-
felves with Jafon, the fon of yEfon king of ThelTaly, in the famous expe-
dition to Colchis, the object of which was to obtain fome deiirable ob-
jed, concealed by the poets under the fabulous or enigmatical name of
the golden fleece. Ancgsus, king of Samos, a Phoenician or of Phoenician
parentage, was their aftronomer. The Argo *, according to the poets
their only vefTel, or, according to fome other authors the admiral of the
fleet, was the mofl capital fhip, that had ever failed, or rowed out of a
Grecian port, in fo much that the poets, nor being able to find a ftation
fufficiently honourable for her in this world, have tranfportedher to the
heavens, where they have made her a conftellation. This voyage, when
we make a due allowance for the comparatively-miferable condition of
the veflel, or vefTels, the want of inilruments, and of the fkill in pilotage
fo needful in a voyage of twelve or fourteen hundred miles, which may
be the diftance along the fhores from lolcos in Theffaly to /Ea at the eaft
end of the Black fea, was a more arduous undertaking to the ignorant
Grecian Argonauts (fo thefe adventurers were called) than a voyage
round the world, and even into the fouthern polar regions, is to our
modern ikilful navigators.

1 1 94. — In the following age the whole confederate force of Greece .
was engaged in a much greater maritime undertaking than that of the
Argonauts, though not fo diftant. Paris, the fon of Priam king of Troy,
having carried off" Helen, the wife of Menelaus king of Sparta, all the
princes of Greece refolved to revenge the affront : and uniting their ef-
forts, after ten years fpent in preparation, they muftered a fleet of 1,186
vefTels, onboard which they embarked an army of about 100, coo men,
led by all the petty princes of Greece under the fupreme commiand of
Agamemnon king of Argos, the brother of the injured hufband.

The Greeks, having eflfecSed their landing on the Trojan fhore, fpent ten
years more in hoftilities, though they never once attempted a regular fiege.
During this time, while their own fliips, hauled up on the dry beach,
muft have been ready to fall in pieces from the repeated drenching of
rains and parching of funfhine, their camp was fupplied with provliions
by the natives of Thrace and the iflands. [^Hom.ll. vii, v. 467 ; \x,v. 71.]

* Much hns been faiJ about ihe name of this eJ the uiodel of her cunftruflion, as v.xU as her
far-famed (liip. If we advert that the PhoEniciaus • name, which has fadly puzzled the modern Greek

called their warhke fh Ins flz-co, to diftingullh'them etymologills. [See Bochart, Ccog./acr. c&/. -j^ni

from their Ihips of burthen, which were built much K^/lus, vo. Gaiiius.'] Quere, if Noah's Aik and
broader, and therefor were called golin, we need be the Grecian x\rgo be not the fiiir.e name ?
at no lols to perceive, whence the Greeks borrow-

Vol. I. , C

1 8 Before Chrift 1 1 §4.

1 1 84 — At length, having gkitted their revenge by the deftrudion of
Troy, and their avarice by the pKmder of the wealth colleded in it, the
remains of the Greeks made the beft of their way to their long-deferted
homes, where, as might well be expeded, they found the moft dreadful
diforders in their families, and their territories ravaged by enemies, or
convulfed by inteftine commotions.

Such was the conclufion of the Trojan war, the mofl celebrated event
of antiquity, with which the real hiftory of Greece, hitherto overwhelm-
ed with fable, may, perhaps, be faid to commence*. It appears from
many paflages in Homer, that the Trojans were much fnperior to the
Greeks in civilization, and that they lived in comfort and elegance, till
they were difturbed by thofe invaders. Hence it is certain, that they
had made confiderable progrefs in the arts and fciences, and were poflelt
cd of fome commerce, for which their fituation on the ftrait between
the Euxine and yEgean feas, was exceedingly commodious. We even
find, that they had fkilful {hip-builders; and Homer has immortalized
the name, real or fiditious, of Harmonides, the builder of the vefTels,
which carried off the beautiful Helen from Sparta.

The great fleet got together for the Trojan war, was not provided nor
maintained by commerce, the only effedual fupport of a permanent na-
val power. It was the production of an extraordinary temporary exer-
tion urged by the fpirit of refentment and the hope of rich plunder,
natural to favages funk in floth and indolence. But v.'hen the fervour of
infanity, which incited the Greeks to ruin themfelves in order to deflroy
the Trojans, was cooled by the difaftrous confequences of their conqueft,
this mufliroom navy was annihilated ; and for feveral centuries we hear
no more of any confiderable naval expeditions undertaken by that people.
During thofe heroic ages of Greece, as they are called, the petty prin-
ces, who lived on the fea coafis, frequently fitted out velfels to go upon
piratical cruiles. We might thence fuppoie, that merchant fliips were
fo numerous upon the feas, as to afford many captures to thofe robbers.
But apparently that was not the cafe. They did not entirely depend
upon what plunder they could find at fea : they often landed, and pil-
laged the defencelefs villages, carrying off, not only all the goods and
cattle they could find, but even the people themfelves, whom they fold
forflaves. Thofe ])irates were fufficiently numerous to keep one-anothcr in
countenance ; and their rank and power made the ignorant people confi-
der their exploits as by no means difgraceful, but rather praife-worthy j

• TIic A rundtl, or Parian, marbles place t)ic dc- licifrr, or fufpicioiis cn'ticifm, of motkin times

flnifliori ofT roy Iwenty-fivc years earlier; an tr- niay, in rtfetitmcnt of the iiuuimcrablt impofitions

r.)r, wliich tlicy continue till the dlrtblifhrncnt of put upon us mukr tlie name of hillory, pofllbly go

the annual magiUracy at Athens. too far. It may, however, jull be obfcrved that

Of late it has been quellioneii, whether tlierc Dion Clnyfollom [_Oral. xi] long ago denied the

f ver was a Trojan war, or a eitv called Troy, fuch Trojan war. — Tlie examination of fuch a qucftion

ilk it is dcfcribed by Homer. The laudable fcep- would be quite uut of place in ihib work.

Before Chrlft 1 184. 19

as fimilar practices were in later times efleemed honourable among the
Scandinavian nations, and are in the prefent day among the inhabitants
of the northern coafl of Africa. It was therefor no affront, but a com-
mon queftion put to the commander of a velfel, whether he profefled
piracy or trade ; as we find in Homer, that exad: painter of manners,
who even introduces Menelaus king of Sparta boafting of the wealth he
had acquired by his piratical expeditions. {Odyjf. L. iii, vv. 72, 301 ;
xiv, V. 230.] Among the freebooters on the coafts of the iEgean lea the
Carians were the mofl eminent, till they were fupprefled by Minos, as
already related *.

After this fl-cetch of the naval hiftory of Greece in the early ages, it
may be proper to give the reader fome idea of their fliips. That of
Danaus, which was rowed by fifty oars, was a Phoenician veffel : and
there is reafon to believe that the Argo, thought built in Greece, was
the work of Phoenician carpenters. She was a long flender open boat,
which could carry fifty men, and could occafionally be carried by them
upon their flioulders. Of the vefTels, employed in tranfporting the Gre-
cian army to Troy, the fmalleft carried 50 men, and the largeft 120.
They were very flightly built ; and they were hauled on fliore after finifh-
ing a voyage. Thucydides fays, they were only large open boats ; where-
as Homer defcribes Ulyffes as covering his fhip with long planks f .
\Pdyff. L. V. V. 252.] It is probable, that fome of the larger ones had
at leaft half-decks in order to furnifh fome kind of lodging for the
people, and that the fpace occupied by the rowers was open, the
fides being connedled by flender beams or planks, on which the
rowers fat with their feet fet againfl the bottom timbers, or tranfverfe
pieces of wood near the bottom. They had but little depth, and feem
to have been very flat in the bottom, and confequently drew very little
water ; which is further probable from the lead-line being never men-
tioned by Homer, whence we may prefume, that the oars were found
fufhcient to found the depth of the water. They appear to have had
only one maft, which was ftruck when they finiflied the voyage, and one
fail-yard ; though Homer mentionsyrt/Yj- in the plural, which is perhaps
a poetical licence, as it is not probable, that they underflood the manage-
ment of what are now called fore-and-aft fails. But their main depend-
ence was upon their oars ; and their only diredion for their courfe was
the knowlege, which fome of the crew had previoufly acquired of the

* It appears from Tliucydiilea, that thofe fero- not exempted from thofe criminal pradices, which

cioiis and lawlefs depredations were ftill praftifed continued to be too clofcly connedled with com-

in liis time (about eight centuries after the Trojan mercial navigation ; almoil down to our own age,

war) by the wellern tribes of Greece, who even as will too plainly appear in the fequel of this work,
then retained the charafter and condition of fava- f liijt, quere, if thofe long planks formed the

ges. And it muft be acknowledged, that the more deck, or the bottom of the velfel ?
poliihed and commercial nations of later ages were

C 2

20 Before Chrift 1 1 84.

appearance of the (hore. "When that failed them, they mufl have land-
ed in order to obtain information *.

Cuflor of Rhodes, u writer contemporary with Julius Csefar, has
made up a kind of catalogue of the nations, v/ho fucceflively attained,
what he was pleafed to call, the empire of the fea ; by which is to be
underftood feme degree of pre-eminence in naval power on a very con-
fined fcale in, or near, the ^Egean fea. In partiality to the Greeks,
whofe maritime tranfaclions, with a very few exceptions, were fcarcely
worthy of notice, he feems to have almoft loft fight of the Phoenicians,
the only people, at leafl on the coafls of the Mediterranean, who in the
early ages knew any thing of extenfive voyages and the art of naviga-
tion. As Eufebius has copied this catalogue from Caflor, and feveral
chronologifts have done it the unmerited honour of tranfcribing it from
him, fome flight notice fhall be taken of each of the nations mentioned
in it, as they occur in order of time.

1 1 79 — ^The Lydians are the firfl people, after the Cretans under the
reign of Minos, who are honoured by him with the title oi Majlers of
the fea. They certainly had fome claim to a commercial character, but
not as navigators, unlefs the teflimonies of Caflor and Ilidore are to be
preferred to that of Herodotus, [L. i, c. 27.] The invention of mer-
chandize and of coin is afcribed to them by fome autliors ; and Ifidore
goes fo far as to call them the firfl builders of fhips, and inventors of
navigation. The Mteonians, who may be confidered as a part of the
Lydians, and the Carians, their neighbours, were pofTefTed of ivory,
whlcli muft have been imported, and they underflood the art of ma-
nufacturing it into toys and ornaments, and of flaining them with co-
lours, \^Hom.ll. L. iv, zj. 141 Herod. L. i, c. 94.] The Lydians are

faid to have fent a colony into Italy, who fettled on the wefl fide of the
Tiber among the Umbri and Pelafgi, and allumed the name ofTyrr-
heni, from Tyrrhenus their leader, \_Herodot. L. i, c. 94.] But the
date of the migration feems uncertain ; nor is the fa£l itfelf uncontro-
verted. For feveral learned men are of opinion, that the Etrurians pof-
■lefled all Italy many ages before the Trojan war ; and that the arts, fci-
ences, and commerce, were carried to great perfection among them

* As Homer is generally I)i.li'tved to have been into a good birth, or commodious fitiiation, then

.very corrcd in adapting his delcrlptions to the let go the anchors, (or whatever cll'e Ihould be iin-

times of which he wrote, the following paflagc dei flood by ttraj) and carried out ftcrn-fafts or per-

dtferves our notice. haps bent the cables to the ftern ; Vfu^»i;i £?>),-«»'.

Agamemnon launched a fafl-failing (liip to carry [^Iliud, L. i, iv. 308, 430 et fcqq.~\

Chryfeis home to her father. Btfidea Chryfeis, The truth of the few notices I have here col-

Ulylfea, and probably attendants, the veffel carried lefted does not depend upon tlie reality or falfe-

twenty chofen rowers, and a hecatomb for facrifice. hood of tiie long-rtceived hillory of the Trojan

When they got to their port, they took in \\\k jails, war. Tiiey at any rate (hew the (late of fociety

and llowcd them away in the hold. Then, eafing and of nautical knowlcge in the time of Homer, if

off the main ftay, they lowered the mad into its not in that afligncd to the war of Troy,
crutch or red. After this ihry rowed the velTel

Before Chrift 1179. 21

long before Greece or any other part of Europe emerged from bar-
barifm *.

About 1 1 00 — While the naval hiftory of Greece, if it may be fo
called, prefents nothing but petty piratical cruifes, and innumerable
emigrations and remigrations, occafioned partly by domeftic commo-
tions in the families of the chiefs, and partly by the hitherto-unfettled
condition and reftlefs difpofition of the people, the Phoenicians, infpir-
ed by the adive fpirit of commerce, and that thirft of knowlege which
diftinguiflies a cultivated people from a nation of favages, were extend-
ing their difcoveries along the whole of the north coaft of Africa and
the oppofite fh(jre of Spain ; and, no longer willing to let the inland or
Mediterranean fea fet bounds to their enterprifing difpofition, they
launched into the vafl Atlantic ocean, paffmg thofe fxmous head-lands,
which the Greeks for many ages afterwards efteemed the utmofl bound-
ary of the world, and celebrated under the poetical name of the TUlars
of Hercules \. Wherever they went, they appear to have eftablifhed
peaceful commercial fettlements, mutually beneficial to themfelves and
the natives of the country. The inhabitants of Baetica (now Anda-
lufia), when firfl vifited by the Phoenicians, poflefled abundance of gold,
filver, iron, copper, lead, tin, honey, wax, pitch, &c. Like the Ame-
ricans, when firft difcovered by the European adventurers, they made
their mofl common utenfils of the pretious metals, which they efteem-
ed fo little, that they gave in exchange for fome articles, of which no-
velty confiituted the principal value, fuch a quantity of filver, that there
is a fl;ory of one of the fhips being abfolutely fo overburthened with it,
that the Phoenicians were obliged to throw away the lead, with which
their zvooden anchors were loaded, to make room for a part of their fil-
ver, which they could not poflibly carry in any other manner. Befides
the abundance of metals of every kind, this highly-favoured region was
blefled with a fertile foil, producing all the neceflaries and comforts of
life in abundance, a delicious climate, and ferene air. In fiiort, it was
a country fo delightful in every refpeft, that the accounts given of it
by the Phoenician feamen are with good reafon believed to have fur-
niflied Homer with his defcription of the Elyfian fields. The Phoeni-

* Mazocchi makes the Etrurians, or Tyn-he- ment to co-operate with him, (which no man can

nians, of Phoenician origin. [_Symmach. DiJJ. V. ii] pretend to fay he did or did not) is of no weight.

And Mr. Bourget, {Sa^gi d'l D'ljfert. accadem. Neither is his proof from the dillimilariry of a few

Dijf. i] on comparing the Etrurian and Phoeni- vocables very llrong. In the courfe ot io many

cian alphabets, finds them nearly the fame. {Orlis ages the knowlege of a common origin would have

erudhi literatura a charadere Samarit. deduHa'] On little influence in oppofition to political interells ;

the other hand, Bochart,' the great inveftigator of and every one knows that language is continually

Phccnician colonization, denies that the Etrurians changing.

had any conneftion with the Phoenicians. But his f It is not certain whether the head-lands, fome

argument drawn from their not joining the Car- fmall iflands, two mountains, or the brafs columns

thaginians againft the Romans, and from Hanni- in the temple of Hercules at Gadir (Cadiz), were

bal not alleging their common origin as an induce- the columns of Hercules. [_Slrabo, L. iii, p. 258.]

22 Before Chrift iioo — 1046.

cians obfervlng fuch a happy combination of advantageous circum-
ftances for a trading fettlement, and that the country was moreover in-
terfecled by two great navigable rivers, the Baetis and the Anas (now
the Guadalquivir and the Guadiana), eftabUfhed the capital pofi for
their weflern trade on a fmall ifland in the Atlantic, within a furlong
of the main land, and at no great diflance from the mouths of the two
rivers, to which they gave the name of Gadir. The town, which they
built there, has in all ages maintained a fuperior rank as a trading lla-
tion ; and it is even now (with its name fomewhat varied by the Sara-
cens to Cadiz) the principal port of Spain, and the ftation of the gal-
leons, which import from America thofe pretious metals, which were
formerly exported from the fame harbour to the eaflern part of the
Mediterranean fea.

Of the other early weftern fettlements of the Phcenicians, the rnofl
celebrated were Carteia and Utica. The former, fituated on the Baetic
fhore at the narrowefl part of the ftrait, is by fome ■ authors efteemed
more antient than Gadir, the foundation of it being afcribed to Mel-
cartus (called alio the Phoenician Hercules), whence the town was alfo
called Melcarteia and Heraclea. The later was fituated on the coafi: of
Africa, in fight of Carthage, and built about eighty years after the de-
ftru(?!:ion of Troy, according to Velleius Paterculus, who fays, that Ga-
dir was founded a few years earlier. Matters of fuch high antiquity are
very uncertain ; and it is very probable, that augmentations of the co-
lonies were often taken for the original fettlements of them by hifto-
rians, (an example of which we feem to have in Carthage) and thence
the CO itradidory aeras may in fome degree be reconciled *.

IC58 — The dominion of the fea at this time is afcribed to thePelafgi.

1046 — David king of Ifrael, now in the height of his profperity,
having fubdued feveral of the neighbouring princes, employed a part
of the wealth acquired by his conquefts in purchafing cedar timber

• Not willing to lay hold of the highefl: anti- Timagenes, a Syrian Greek, [ap. Ammian. Mar-

quiiy, which is frequently carried far beyond the cellin. L. xv] for a colony of Dorians, (i. c. tlie

trath, I have affnmed the ycariioo, as being near people of Dor, a capital city on the Phanician

the probable date of theft antient Phoenician fettle- coall, and one of thofe which the Ifraelites were

incnts, clrcfly upon the authority of Strabo, [Z,. i, unable to reduce. Jqflma, c. 17 — Judges, c. l)

p- H^] Velleius J'atcrculus, [L. i, c. 2] and Pliny, who were led by the antient Hercules feveral cen-

\_Hijl nal. L. xvi, c, 40.] I do not, however, turics before the biith of the Greek licrculcs, as

mean to deny, that it is very probable that the far as the Bay of Bifcay, where they fettled on the

Phoenicians may have entered the Ocean 350 years Gallic (liore ; and the names of fome of the tribes

earlier, in the time of the invafion of their country there might warrant a fuppofition of their be'iug

by the Ifraelites. There is in favour of that date defcendtd of that Phoenician colony. To thefe

the tcftimony of Claudius Julius, an author indeed may be added the llory related by Procopius,

comparatively late, but who wrote expreisly upon [_Iicll. Vaiultil. L. il, c. 10] of two pillars in the

PlnEmcijn alTairs, and doiibtlefs tranlciibed from wellern extremity of Africa near the Sirail, with

antient writers : and he afcribes the foundation of Phoenician infcriplions upon them, importing that

Gadir to Aiihaleus, the fon of Phanix, who is they were fet up by a people «ho were driven

placed about the time of Jolhua the coniniander from their native country by a plunderer called

of the Ifraelites. There is alfo the telliniony of Jofliua the fon of Naue.

Before Chrlft 1046 — 975. 23:

from Hiram king of Tyre, with whom he kept up a friendly corre-
fpondence as long as he lived ; and he alfo hired Tyrian mafons and
carpenters for carrying on his works. Thus the wealth of a warlike
nation muft ever flow into the pockets of their more induflrious com-
mercial neighbours *.

This prince colleded for the building of the temple above eight hun-
dred millions of our money, as it is calculated by Arbuthnot ! [T'ables of
ancient coins, pp. 35, 208.]

1012-975 — Solomon, the fucceflbr of David, cultivated the arts of
peace, and he was thereby enabled to indulge his tafle for magnificence
and luxury more than his father could poflibly do. Being a wife man,
he knew, that, to preferve his kingdom in a fecure and honourable
peace, it was neceffary to keep up a refpeftable military force, fufficient
to reprefs any hoftile invafion. But, without fliewing that pufillanimous
anxiety to preferve peace, which, while it dreads, invites, the infults of
the neighbouring nations, he molefted none of them, and thereby en-
joyed a reign of almoft uninterrupted tranquillity. He employed the
vafi: wealth, amafled by his father, in works of architedure, and in
ftrengthening and polhhing his kingdom. The famous temple of Jeru-
falem, the fortifications of that capital, and many entire cities, among
which was the celebrated Tadmor or Palmyra, were built by him.
Finding his own fubjeds but little qualified for fuch undertakings, he
applied to Hiram king of Tyre, the fon of his ixither's friend Hiram f,
who furniflied him cedar and fir (or cyprefs) timbers, and large flones %,
all properly cut and made ready for building, which the Tyrians car-
ried by water to the moft convenient landing-place in Solomon's domi-
nions. Hiram alfo fent a great number of workmen to aflifl and in-
ftrud Solomon's people, none of whom had Ikill ' to hew timber like
' unto the Sidonians §.' Solomon in return furnifhed the Tyrians with
corn, wine, and oil ; and he even received a balance in gold. It is not
improbable, however, that the gold was the flipulated price for the cef-
lion of twenty towns to the Tyrians by Solomon, which Hiram, not lik-
ing them, afterwards returned to him.

* Eupolemus, an author quoted by Eafebius, the two kings, fays exprefsly, that the t;mple was
[_Praparat. evangel. L. ix] fays that I)avid built begun in the eleventh year of Hiram, and that
iliips in Arabia, wherein he fent men, fltillcd in Hiram inherited the friendly difpofition of his fa-
mines and metah, to the ifland of Ophir. Modern ther. Now it was thirty-four years after the elder
iuithors, improving upon this rather-fufpicious an- Hiram had fupplied David with building materials,
thority, have afcrlbed to David the honoirr of be- when the temple was begun. The confufion oF
ing the founder of a great Eall-India commerce. kings of the fame name is a frequent fource of

f See the letter of Hiram (or Huram) to So- chronological embarraifment. [Sec Jfeph. Antiq.

lomon, wherein he mentions his father of the fame Z. vlil, c. 2 ; Contra Apion. L. i.^
name. \_II Chron. c. 2] This clears up the diffi- \ According to Jofephus, {^Aniiq. L. xx, <r. 8j

ctilty, found by Petavius in the reign of Hiram, the ftones were thirty feet long and nine feet high

which he attempts to folve by affigning to it a a wonderful fize.

duration of 56 years, apparently comprehending J So they ftlU called the Tyrians, as being a-

the reign of two kings of that name. Moreover, colony from Sidon.
Jofephus, though be has not duely difcriminated 5

24 Before Chrift 1012-— 975.

The great intercourfe of trade and friendfiiip, which Solomon had
with the firrt commercial people in the vveftern world, infpired him
with a ftrong delire to participate in the advantages of trade. His fa-
ther's conquefts had extended his territories to the Red fea, and given
him the poITeffion of a good harbour, from which fhips might be dif-
patched to the rich countries of the South and the Eafl. But his own
fubjeds being totally ignorant of the arts of building and navigating
veflels *, he again had recourfe for advice and afliftance to his friend
Hiram. The king of Tyre, who wifted for an opening to the oriental
commerce, the articles of which his fubjects were obliged to receive at
fecond hand from the Arabians, as much as Solomon wanted nautical
afliftance, appears to have readily entered into his views, and to hav€
propofed a trading adventure on a large fcale to be carried on by the
two kings in partnerfliip, or at leaft in concert. Accordingly Tyrian
carpenters were fent to build veflels for both kings at Eziongeber, So-
lomon's port on the Red fea, whither Solomon himfelf alfo went to ani-
mate the workmen by his prefence.

Solomon's fliips, conducted by Tyrian navigators, failed in company
with thofe of Hiram to fome rich countries called Ophir and Tarfliifli,
upon the pofition of which the learned have multiplied conjectures to
very little purpofe f . The voyage required three years to accomplifti
it ; yet, notwithftanding the length of the time employed in it, the re-
turns in this new-found trade were prodigioufly great and profitable,
confifting of gold, filver, precious ftones, valuable woods, ivory, and
fome exotic animals, as apes and peacocks. We have no information
concernir,g the articles exported in this trade : but it cannot be doubt-
ed that the manufactures of the Tyrians, and probably the goods im-
ported by them from other countries, were aflbrted with the corn, wine,
balm, and oil, of Solomon's own dominions, in making up the outward

* See the note in />/). 13,1.}. gold, and returned home by the Mcih'tcrraiieaii.

-f Ophir has been fearehcd for in almoft every But, as the fliips appear to have been deftined to

part of Alia and Africa, and fome have let their continue in tlie fame y ade, like the modern Eaft-

fancy run fo wild as even to wander to Peru in India fliips, thofe authuis feem not to have well

South America, in the name of which they find a conlidered how tliey were to get them into the

rtfenr.blance ot Ophir ! They might have found Red fea again, after fniifiiing tlieir voyage at the

a much clofer refcmblance in that of Orphir in the tall end of the Mediterranean, in order to begin

Orkney iflands. The word was probab'y not the their next voyage. Bruce more rationally fup-

proper name of any country, but an appellative pofes Tarfliifli to have been on the cad coait: of

I'lgnitying gold mines ; and In th.at iignlfication it Africa, where he fays the name llil! remains ;

i» nov/ uftd ill Sumatra and Malacca, as we are which, though true, is no proof of its being the

told by the jihilofophi'c traveler Lc Poivrc. Many place vifitcil by thofe navigators. I fay nothing

arc quite certain, that the fouth part of Spain, of the improbability of the Tyrians, whatever

then abounding in gold, was Tarlhifli ; and they friendfliip their king might have for Solomon, per-

find their proof in the name of TartefTiis or Tar- initting him to get any footing in, or even know-

fi9, which properly belonged to the idand formed letfc of, their fettleineiits in Spain. See Purchas's

by the two mouti.a of the Bxtis, and was imprc- J'i/^riiiifs, Part /, BaoL i, c. I, § 8 — 12. — Bochart,

pcrly given by Grecian and Roman writers to C/juii. co/. 606. — Alan, ke /il/er. T. i:\x, p. ()0. —

Carteia and Ga.lir. There, fay they, Solomon's Biiicc''s Travels, V, i, p. 433.

(hips, having failed round all Africa, took in their 4

Before Chrift 1012 — 916. 25

cargoes ; and that his fliips, hke the Spaniih galleons of the prefent day,
imported the bullion, partly for the benefit of his induftrious and com-
.mercial neighbours. [I Kings, cc. 7, 9, 10 — U Chron. cc. 2, 8, g.]

Solomon alfo eflabliftied a commercial correfpondence with Egypt,
whence he received horfes, chariots, and linen yarn. The chariots coft
600, and the horfes 1 50, fhekels of filver each. [/ Kings, c. i o — 11 Chron.
cc. I, 9.3

1 003 — The Thracians at this time had the empire of the fea, as Caf-
tor alleges, and held it nineteen years. Of their power at fea, or of the
commerce neceflary to fupport it, we know little or nothing.

916 — The Rhodians now, and probably long before, made a cou'-
fiderable figure as a commercial people ; and it is probable that they
had carried on a flourifhing trade for fome centuries, being noted by
Homer as an opulent people in the time of the Trojan war. [Iliad, L. \i,
V. 668.] They excelled in Ihip-building, and their voyages extended to
the fartheft limits of the Mediterranean fea, at the wefl end of v.'hich,
according to Strabo, they eftabliflied colonies. It was perhaps firom
this refpectable appearance of their naval power that Caflor has inferted
them in his lift offovereigns of the fea : and we know from better au-
thority that they retained a command of the fea many ages afterwards.
\Strabo, L. i, p. 57. with Ju/iin, L. xxx, c. 4. for the date, 198 before Chri/l.l
What is, however, infinitely more to their honour, is, that they cleared
the fea of pirates, and compofed a code of maritime laws for the regula-
tion of trade and navigation, which were fo judicious and equitable,
that they were generally adopted by other nations, and held in the
higheft refpeft for many ages. The Rhodian regulations for the fliares
payable to the commander, officers, and feamen ; the rules to be ob-
ferved by freighters and paflengers while onboard ; the penalties on the
commander or feamen for goods injured by their neglect, by the want
ot fufficient tarpawlins and pumps, or by their careleirnefs or abfence
troni their ihips ; the penalties for barratry, for robbery of other fliips,
and for carelefsly running foul of other iliips ; the punifliment of the
commander for running away with the fliip ; the punifliment for plun-
dering a wreck ; the compenfation payable to the heirs of feamen who-
loft their lives in the fervice of their ftiip ; the regulations of charter-
parties, bills of loading, and contracts of partnerfliip or joint adventures,
the rules for bottomry, for average, falvage, the rates of falvage for re-
covering goods from the bottom in ly, 12, and 22^ feet water; and the
payment of demurrage, as enadcd in the Rhodian laws, were all copied
by the Roman emperors, and incorporated into the Roman law ; and
from it they were moftly aftlimed into the naval code, known by the
name ot the law of Oleron, which is in a great meafure in force to this
day. And thus the Rhodians have had the glory of regulating the mar-
VoL. I. D

26 Before Chrill 897—880.

itime and commercial tranfaclions of many nations through a long fuc-
ceflion of ages *.

897 — Jehofaphat king of Judah, in conjuncStion with Ahaziah king
of Ifrael, made an attempt to revive the commerce, which had flouriih-
ed fo greatly in the reign of Solomon. But the fhips, which they built
at Eziongeber, being wrecked in the harbour, the undertaking was
abandoned. We are not told, that they had any afliftance from the
Phoenicians in fitting out their fleet. [I Kings, c. 2 2 — II Chron. c. 20.J

Thus it appears, that the commercial fplendour of the Ifraelites was
a blazing meteor, which flione out and paffed away with the reign of
Solomon.

890 — At this time the dominion of the fea is afcribed to the Phry-
gians. The opulence of Pelops and Midas, princes of this country,
feveral centuries before this time has already been obferved.

880 It was probably about this time, that Homer flouriflied, whofe

inimitable poems laid the foundation of the literary pre-eminence uni-
verfally allowed to the Greeks in all fucceeding ages. But the prefent
work is only concerned with the many notices refpeding trade and ma-
nufactures to be found in his poems, fome of which have been remark-
ed in their proper places, and with his admirable geographical know-
lege. The ^gean fea with its iflands and both its fliores, the neigh-
bouring parts of the Mediterranean coafts, and Egypt, were well known
to him from his own judicious obfervations made during his voyages
and travels. He is faid to have made voyages as far as Spain and Tuf-
cany ; \Herodoti Vita Homeri~\ and the other weflern parts of the Medi-
terranean fea were known to him by converfation with Phoenician fea-
men. He even knew, that the land is everywhere furrounded by the
fea. In fliort, he is honoured with the title of Prince of geographers by
Strabo, one of the greatefl geographers of antiquity, from whofe work,
collated with Homer's own, the reader may obtain a proper idea of the
knowlege of this wonderful man f. Such, however, was the tardy pro-
grefs of information in thofe ages, that the great empires of the Eafl,
and even the commercial famx and opulence of Tyre, which had flou-

• Thcfc laws may with great probability claim taken the abflradl given in the text. The higii
the honour of a ftill higher antiquity, as the Rliod- rtfpedl in wliich the Rhodian Liw was held in the
ian3 were partly of Phoenician origin ; and no moll flouridiinn; ages of the Roman empire is well
<ioubt tlic cliief mcreliants were of the Phccnician illudrated by the emperor Antoninus, who, on a
race, and derived their culloms and mercantile re- complaint agalnil liie plunderers of a wreck, an-
gulations from their mother country. fwcred, ' I indeed am fovereign of the world, but

My refpeft for the karntd Prefident Goguet * tlie Rhodian law is fovereign of the fea, and by

makeii me wi(h that he had condefcended to give ' it your caufe mull be determined.'

hill reafons for queftioning the genin'iicnefs of the f The reader may alfo confult Black-weifi En-

Khodian laws, which have come down to us as ijuiry into the life and 'uiriiingi of Homer, feS, 9.

iicorporated in the Roman law, whence I have and 11. i

Before Chrift 868. 27

riffied in great fplendour for at leaft two centuries, were utterly un-
known to Homer, the moft knowing of all the Greeks *.

In the life of Homer, untruely afcribcd to Herodotus the great father
of hiftory, but perhaps compofed by another Herodotys of HalicarrialTus,
and undoubtedly a work of great antiquity, we are told, that Smyrna,
though but lately built, was a place of confiderable trade, and export-
ed great quantities of corn. Phemius, the (lepfather and preceptor of
Homer, taught letters and mufic to the youth of Smyrna, and received
wool in payment for his inftrudion.

868 — It is apparently about this time, that we ought to date the ar-
rival of Eliffaf (whom Virgil has overwhelmed with fabulous fame un-
der the name of Dido) at Carthage, which, if it was really built lb
early as 1,234 years before Chrift, feems to have remained a place of
but little confequence till now, that EliiTa built the citadel of Bofra:}: for
her own refidence, and enlarged the town with fuch a number of new
buildings, that ftie has mofl generally been reputed the foundrefs of it;
and it is at any rate from this time that the importance of Carthage in
hiftory, and more particularly in commercial hiftory, is to be dated.

Carthage was fituated on a fmall peninfula projeding into a bay,
which formed two excellent harbours. About equally diftant from
either end of the Mediterranean, and on that part of the African coaft,
which advances towards Sicily, Italy, and Greece, it might be faid to
be placed in the center of all the accelFible ftiores of the then known-
world ; while behind it lay an immenfe fertile concinent, which furnifli-
ed every thing neceflary for the fupport of the citizens, and a great va-
riety of valuable articles for exportation.

When we read the hiftory of the Carthaginians, we ought ever to

* Notwitliftanding the unrivaled powers of his fou to prefer any of them to that wliicli is handed

ailonifhing genius. Homer pafled his h'fe in fucli down to us, from the national records of the Ty-

perfonal oblcurity, that no circumftance of it, riaas, by Jofcpluis, viz. 143 years and 8 months

iianded down to us, can connect him with any after the foundation of Solomon's temple. {_'jofeph.

contemporary of fufficient eminence to have me- contra jipion. L. i-]

rited a place in hiftory. It is therefor abfolutely No reader, whole judgemeat is above the ftand-
impoffible to give a decided preference to any one ard of a fchool-boy's, needs be told, that the ad-
of the many iras affigned to him. In this uncer- ventures of a queen of Carthage, called Dido, with
tainty the opinion of the great Herodotus leems an imaginaiy Trojan refuirce, cilled yEiitas, arc
the belt defcrving of credit, becaufe he is the old- entirely f;>bulous. Thofe, wlio widi to fee all, tliat
r(l author who mentions him ; though his tradi- can be faid for and againlt the pretended voyage
ti.inal account be confufed (as all tiadilions are) of .£nea3 to Italy, may coniult the Eflay upon
by making him prior to Linus and Mclampus, who that fiibjeCl by the learned Bt-chart.
are mentioned in Homer's own poems. He fays |; Bofra in the Phoenician huiguage figaifies the
[L. ii, c. 53] that Homer and Hefiod lived 400 fortification. The Greeks thaiigcd ic to Bu^k
years before himfelf ; and he was born 484, and (Byrfa) lignifying in their language a hide; and
publicly read his hiftory at Athens 446 years be- thence a very iVlly fable ivas invented of a treacher-
fore Chrift. Euthymenes (quoted by Clemens of ous bargain with the natives for as much land as a
Alexandria, Strom. L. i) fays, that Homer was bull's hide would indole, which, by being cut in-
born in the illand of Chios, and (louriflied 200 to very narrow thongs, was made to inclofe a large
years after the Trojan war. piece of gi-ound. The fame fable has been tranf-

f After confidering the great variety of dif- planted 'mo the hiftory cf England.

cordant dates affigned to Elifta, I can fee tio-rea-

D -.

2.8 Before Chrift 868.

bear in remembrance, that almofl all, that we know of them, has come
to us by the information of their Greek and Roman enemies *. And,
even through the medium of fuch malignant information, we feel our-
ielves irrefiftibly drawn to prefer them to thole fivourites of the hiftoric
mufe in every purfuit of real utility. In fpite of mifreprefentation we
are compelled to admire the greatnefs of their power, founded ibiely
upon the bafis of trade, and the general wifdom of their condud, till,
departing from the charader of merchants, they were led away by the
mad ambition of being warriors and conquerors, which brought on the
ruin of their flourifliing ftate. From the fame fources of information,
when properly examined, we can draw a comparifon between the Phoe-
nician colonies and thofe of other nations, which in the early ages v/ere
lb frequently roving over the face of the earth. Almofl; every one of
thefe colonies may be confidered as a band of plunderers, confifting of
one or more chiefs fupported by a crowd of ignorant and miferable de-
pendents, driven out from their native country by domeftic convulfions,
and in their turn driving out, exterminating, or reducing to flavery,
thofe whom they could overpower, and, in fhort, fpreading mifery and
defolation wherever they went f . On the contrary, a Phoenician co-
lony was a fociety conlifting of opulent and intelligent merchants, in-
genious manufadurers, Ikilful artifans, and hardy feamen, leaving their
native country, which was too narrow to contain their increafing popu-
lation, with the bleffings and good wifhes of their parents and friends
in order to fettle in a diftant land, where they maintained a correfpond-
ence of friendfliip and mutual advantage with thofe who remained at
home, and with their brethren in the other colonies fprung from their
parent ftate ; where, by profecuting their own intereft, they effetlually
promoted the happinefs of the parent ftate, of the people among whom
they fettled, and of all thofe with whom they had any intercourfe ; and
where they formed the point of union, which conneded the oppofite
ends of the earth in the ftrong band of mutual benefits. Such is the
contraft between a colony of barbaric hunters, paftors, warriors, and
robbers, and a colony of civilized and mercantile people.

Some Greek writers fay, that Phidon king of Argos was the firft who
coined filver money, and invented weights and meafures. As the Greeks
had a good deal of intercourfe with the more enlightened nations of
Afia :{:, it is not probable that they could be without the ufe of money,

* If the works of any of the Carthaginian turc of the early ftate of Greece, as drawn by

writers had eome down to us, we migiit, between Thueydides in the bcijinning of liis Hiftoiy.
them and thofe of their enemies, have come pretty f We may be pretty furc that mcaUires, and

near to the trnth. I'hilinus a Sicihan Greek, wiio fcales and weights, were invented foon after the

lived with tlie great Hannibal, and jvrote a hillory creation of the world. Abraham, who lived looo

of liis wais, is mentioned refpei^fully by Polybius, years before Phidon, had fcales nice enough for

who balances his partiality againft the contrary weighing filver ; and, no doubt, fuch were in ufe

])artiality of the Roman hiilorian Fabius Piftor. long before his time.

f This dcfcription cjtaftly agrees with the pic-

Before Chrift 825 — 750. 29

and more efpecially of weights and meafures, till now : and we mufl
fuppofe that Phidon rather introduced Tome improvements hitherto un-
known in Greece, and has thence got the credit of being the inventor.
\_Marmo?- Par Strabo, L. viii, p. 549 — Flin. Hijl. nat. L. vii, c, 56.]

The invention of coin is by others afcribed (and probably on no bet-
ter foundation) to the people of ^Egina, a fmall i-ocky ifland in the bay
between Athens and Argos, who were among the firfl of the Greeks
that applied to commerce and navigation, whereby they made their
little territory the center of the trade of Greece.

825 — Caftor afcribes the fovereignty of the fea to the Phoenicians.
He feems not to have known, that they really poflefled it for ages be-
fore and after this time.

784 — He next compliments the Egyptians with the fame fupremacy
at fea ; and that at a time, when, there is good reafon to believe, they
did not poflefs a fingle veilel better than the miferable craft, which they
ufed upon the river.

753 — The Milefians are next reprefented as fupreme in naval power;
and they feem to have had fome title to commercial fame, if we may
eftimate their commerce by the number of their colonies, which, ac-
cording to Pliny \H'iJl. nat. L. v, c. 29] were above eighty (i. e. eighty
towns) chiefly on the fhores of the Propontis and the Euxine fea.

According to Varro, the proclamations of the emperors, and mofl of
the Roman writers, this year was diftinguiflied by the foimdation of
Rome *, which was deftined by Providence to combine under one go-
vernment, and unite in fome kind of commercial intercourfe, all the
countries on the coafts of the Mediterranean fea, together with fome of
thofe on the Atlantic ocean.

750 — Bochoris king of Egypt began to open his eyes to the mif-
taken policy of his predeceflbrs in regard to commerce, for the en-
couragement of which he made fome good regulations. One of the laws
enaded by him, or by his fucceflbr Afychis (if he was his fuccefl^br f )
empowered his fubjeds to borrow money by giving as a fecurity the

* There is every reafon to believe, that the date guftus there were twenty emperors in 244 years ;

of the foundation of Rome is as httle known as that and thofe emperors did not expofe their facred per-

of the other villages of Italy, which never emerg- fons to the dangers of war, as the chief of a o-ann-

ed from their original obfcurity ; and that moft of of robbers (for fuch was a king of Rome ) mult

the events, related in the firfl five or fix centuries continually have done. Pliny makes Rome about

of its fuppofed hiftory, have as little foundation in half a century older than Varro does : and of the

truth as the early hillory of fome nations now earlier authors, who mention the foundation of

exilling, which have been falfified in humble imi- Rome, fcarcely any two agree in the year, which

tation of it. Indeed the number of 244 years, is a clear proof that no one had ever tliought of a

afcribed to the reigns of feven kings of fo fmall a date for it, till the fplendour of their conqueils,

territory in fuch times of rapine and violence, and and confequent vanity, inlligatcd them to fearclx

thofe elective kings, none of whofe reigns could into, and fupply from invention, an origin and

commence in early youth, and of whom four are early hiftory of their city.

faid to have been killed and one expelled, is alone -f- There is fome reafon to believe, that thefc

fufficient to overthrow the whole traditional part are only two names of the fame prince,
of the Roman hiftory. From the acceffion of Au-

30 Before Chrift 734 — 713.

embalmed bodies of their deceafed parents, the moft facred depofit that
could be imagined : but he alio decreed, that the debtor, negleding to
redeem this pretious pledge, fhould himfclf be deprived of the high-
prized honours beftowed in Egypt upon the meritorious dead. Still
the Egyptians confined their ideas of commerce to home trade, or paf-
five foreign trade.

-734 The dominion of the fea is next afligned to the Carians, a

people formerly noted for their piracies ; and there feems no good rea-
fon to believe, that their prefent power was of any other nature; [Herod.
L. ii, c. 152] or that it ever was near fo great and extenfive, as that of
the buccaneers in later times was in the Weft-India feas.

'yiy — The commercial city of Tyre was attacked by Salmanafar king
of Aflyria, who brought againft it a fleet of fixty (or feventy) vefTels,
furnifhed and manned by fome of the Phoenicians, who had fubmitted
to his dominion. The Tyrians, then the only people of Phoenicia free
from the Aflyrian yoke, with twelve (hips completely defeated his fleet,
and took 500 prifoners. So vaftly fuperior were free men fighting for
themfelves and their families to flaves fighting for a mafter. [Annales
Tyrii in Menandri Chron. op. Jofeph. Antiq. L. ix, c. 14.] This, if I mif-
take not, is the moft antient naval battle, exprefsly recorded in any
hiftory.

713 — The firft fun-dial, mentioned in hiftory, was in the palace of
Hezekiah king of Judah, and it appears to have been eredted by his
predeceflbr, as it is called * the fun-dial of Ahaz.' [Ifaiah, c. 38.] Ac-
cording to Herodotus, the Greeks learned the ufe of dials from the Ba-
bylonians * ; and it is probable, that the Ifraelites had it from the fame
people, with whom they had frequent intercourfe of friendftiip or hof-
tiUty.

So defective is Caftor's lift of rulers of the fea, that he has entirely-
overlooked the Corinthians, who, there is good reafon to believe, were
the firft, and for a long time the only, nation of Greece, or indeed of
all Europe, who made any confiderable figure in naval tranfadions.
The Greeks, in all ages timorous feamen, preferred land-carriage to the
dangerous navigation (as they efteemed it) round the rocky and tem-
peftuous head-lands of the Pelopomiefusf , and thereby threw the whole
trade of their coimtry into the hands of the Corinthians, who, occupy-

• Though Herodotus [i, ii, c. IC9] fays that Miletus, he had Icarntd it from the Pcrfians ov

tlie Greeks learned the pole, the gnomon, and the Babylonians.

divifu,n of the day iiito twelve pans, from the Ba- f About 1800 years after the time now under

bylonians, the later Greek writers have afTumcd conl'ideration, vvhcii tlie Romans liad carried into

the honour of the invention of the gnomon in Greece all the military and naval knowlcge to he

tavour of Aiiaximander, who flourillicd about 170 had in the Mediterranean, an impciial fleet was

years after Ikzckiah, and who fet up the firrt dial cairicd over-land acrofs the lUliniiis of Corinth to

fccn in Greece at Lacedicmon. \^L)ii>g. Larrl. avoid the dreadful circumuavigatiun of the Pclopon-

i. ii.] It is poUible he might be an inventor of it i nefus. [^Gilion's Rom. /.'i/i. F. x, p. i -^8, etJ. iroi.l

but it is more probable, that, being a native of Q^ How larp;c were thofe imperial men-of-war ?

J^

»

I i

^1 fiirsf)cc/ui- I'uii- v/ /ui// of tJii iiu^u ti/ ,1/1 u/iHi/U »;n(iaUrv of five tires of oars . with anansversc sccli.on sfiPKina
rAe f'osition ot t/u: Of/icJie.r a/idoius.as c^fi/tiineJ by tiB.^ER^lt ^rtllLVIlLJC, F.H.S. and^i.S.

Dr^K iT.f, ii,.

ScaJr ,^f Fett.

I '^° "f-

2£

^ ti'Misversi' section »/" Ptolemy Philopator's double great ship with forty tires of oars. See p. 38.

rh^nv^lcm-mj. h^i.TArsi.'pingsidfs. Set t?,,- nor, Oip-f'P. '^.l^ne oMie uppa^ostoar^ s.arc>-2y .Uppin^f in the waf^^r. The t-lh^ oars are .^itt<,d . A..dL, Beams. t>rpa*ap^ dei^.n.
''"^' '" '/■!/€ irr/-uhh nMesjory tfpraent Ar ^uJe.t tr,m, tUl/iru} J.-nn f,- the Het^hf ofthemsehes. Ae benches, the men . muithe oars.

umeUi'v .It/i.

EU.vaiion , transverse secfion . anil horlzotvtul f^ lane , of an arttient round ship. See p. 179-

ruttuAed nftunJii^ tm ^leri^Hirhiimfnt- by J'.JLi)*nmi^Fi>ul)ryr^milfn--1fril n'lSoS.

•

Before Chrift 700. 31

ing the ifthmus between two inlets of the fca, whereby Greece is al-
moft cut afunder, poflefled a mofl: commanding fituation for fuch. a
trade. Indeed the obvious advantage of having harbours in two feas,
wliereby Italy and Afia were equally acceflible to them, appears to
have induced the Corinthians in very early times to turn their attention
to commerce and navigation ; for we learn from Thucydides, that foon
after the Trojan war they kept up fome naval force for protedling their
trade againft pirates : and there is reafon to believe, that they were dif-
tinguifhed by fome degree of opulence, even in that age, or at leaft in
Homer's time, as in his catalogue of the Grecian forces he bellows up-
on Corinth the epithet of the wealthy, which it retained through all the
viciHitudes of its fortune, at leafl till the firfl century of the Chriftian
sera. \_Strabo, L. v\n,p. 586.] Befides the profit of their own trade, the
Corinthians had a very conliderable advantage by landing goods in the
one harbour and re-fhipping them in the other, which, Strabo fays, was
a common pradlice : and they alfo levied a duty upon all goods carried
by land through their territories.

700 — The Corinthians have the credit of having introduced in Greece
a mofl important improvement in the conflrudion of fhips or gallies of
war, by fubftituting for the fmall, and very narrow vefTels with one tire
of oars on each fide, hitherto ufed, a larger and loftier kind, called
trieres or triremes, which were worked by three tires, or rows, of oars
on each fide *. It cannot be doubted, that this improvement in their

* The nature of the antient fliips or gallies, fifty decks, of wliich, even the miJdIe one, in or-

called triremes, quadriremes, quinqueremcs, isfc. has der to allow fufficient voom lor tlie lengtli and

exercifed the induftry of many learned men, who, fweep or revolution of the enormous oars in the

being genei?lly unacquainted with naval affairs, infide of the veflel, mufl have been vaftly higher

have run into fome very grofs abfurdities. than the topgallant mall of a modern tirft-ratc

The literal meaning of trirernii feems to be a fliip.

vefFel with three oars, or with three oars on each Another fuppofition has been, that the antient

fide : but no fuch interpretation is adniiffible ; be- gallies were called triremes from having three men

caufe it is known, that in very early times the to each oar, quadriremes from foiu', and fo on to

Phosnicians had veflels of fifty oars, in one of which the highell rate. In fupport of this hypothefis it

Inachus is faid to have arrived in Greece ; and be- may be alleged, that the famous quadraginlaremis

caufe the triremes, now firll conftruC^ed, or now firft of Ptolemy Philopator is thus accounted for by

introduced in Greece, by the Corinthians, mull fuppofing fifty oars with 40 men to each, which

have been veflels uiperior to all that had ever been thus require 2,000 men ; and a fecond fet, or

feen hitherto. watch, to relieve them, makes 4,000, the number

The mod general fuppofition has been, that the of rowers, which, according to Athenxus, ac-
triremts had three tires of oars, the tires being tually belonged to that great floating palace. The
perpendicularly above each other, like the three ordinei remorim raifed above each other, frequent-
tires of guns in a modern (liip of t'ne firfl rate, the ly mentioned by the Roman writers, are fuppofed
quadriremes four tires, and fo on. But, admitting to mean the railed benches, on which each rower,
(what perhaps no feaman will admit) the poflibi- according to his diftance from the fide, was ele-
lity of working three tires of oars fo placed, what vated above his next neighbour, agreeable to the
lliall we fay oi forty at ffty tires ? And (to fay angle formed by the oar with the furfacc of the
nothing of Pollux's hekatonteres, or Ihip of a hun- water.

dred tires, which is furely fabuhms) there was The folution of this Gordian knot appears to

certainly a quadragintaremis, and even, accordinor have been relerved for General Melville, governor-

to Pliny, [[Zr. vii, c. 56] a quinquagmiaremis, or, general of Grenada and the other ceded illands, a

agreeable to thin fuppofition, vefleU oi forty and gentleman, who, by having frequent occafion U)

3^

Before Chrift 700.

rnarine, added to their former naval fuperiority, mufl have thrown Into
their hands a temporary dominion of the Grecian feas.

Aminocles, whofe name is immortalized as the builder of the new
fhips, was alfo employed by the Samians, for whom he built four veflels.
Eufebius [N°. 1255] feems alfo to fay, that the Athenians had fome of
his fhips. But it is obfcurely expreifed ; and the time is too early by
many years for the age of Aminocles, according to Thucydides.

Moft of the maritime Grecian flates foon adopted the ufe of triremes;
and fucceeding ages varied and increafed the number of tires of oars, as
ambition, or as vanity, prompted, the rates of the vefTels being deno-
minated from the number of tires, as modern fhips of war are called
two-deckers, three-deckers, &c. from their tires of guns.

It is proper to obferve, that Damaftes, an author contemporary with
Herodotus, [<?/>. PU>i. Hijl. nat. L. vii, c. 56] fiys, that biiemes (veflels
with two tires of oars) were ufed by the Erythrseans or Arabians : and

crofs the ocean, was enabled to unite nautical
kiiowlege with acutcnefs of refcarch and great claf-
fical reading. He fuppofes, that the antient gal-
lies were very flat in the hottom, and that their
fides were raifed perpendicular to the height of
only three or four feet from the furface of the
water, above which they diverged with an angle
of about 45 degrees. Upon this fioping wall he
places the feats of the rowers, about two feet in
length, the rows or tires of them being raifed on-
ly about 15 inches in perpendicular height above
each other *, and the feats, as well as the row-
poits, being arranged in quincunx or checker-wife,
as the gun-ports of a modern firll-rate (liip. Thus
the upper tire of oars in a trin'mis is only about
30 inches, in a quadiiremis 45 inches, and in a
quinqufreniis 60 inches, in perpendicular hciglit
above the lower tire ; while the combination of
the quincunx arrangement and the oblique fide
gives eveiy rower perfect liberty to act, no one
being perpendicularly above his ncatell neighbour
in the tire below hin). Ijy thus applying a great-
er number of oars and the force of a greater num-
ber of men, than could poffibly aft in a vefl'el with
upright fides, they greatly increafed the velocity
or impetus, upon which in naval engagements they
placed their whole dependence for the fiiccefsful
performance of all their mantcuvrcs, and for bilg-
ing their enemy's veflels witli the iron or brafeu
rojlra affixed to the heads of their own. But it
mull be acknowleged, that the uppcrmutl oars in
gallics of above live rows, though valtly (hort of
the length ncceflary upon the fuppofition of the

fides being perpendicular, were ftill too long to be
worked with much elfett by one man, (nor docs it
appear that they ever employed more than onef )
and tiiat the angle they made with the water, be-
ing about 45 degrees, mull have produced an ef-
fect fomewhat between rowing and paddling, as
thefe terms are undcrltood by our modern feamen.

General Melville's ingenious difcovery is not on-
ly clear of all the difficulties attending the other
hypothefes, but it alio illuftrates, and is illuflrated
by, many paffages in antient writers, which are
otherways inexplicable. It is further confirmed by
antient fculptures at Rome, by a medallion of Gor-
dian at Naples, and by antient paintings at Portici,
fome of which, prelenting to view the ends of the
gallies, exhibit their floping fides with the oars
iffuing from them in exacl correfpondence with the
general's idea.

For the mofl valuable part of this note I am
indebted to the polite and liberal communications
of General Melville ; who for illuftrating the prin-
ciples, on which the gallies were conftruiSled, has
a model of tlie fifth part of the walle of a qu'tn-
qutiemis, which is a rcduiftion, on the fcale of a-
bout one inch to a foot, from one of the full lize,
formerly erected in the back-yard of his houfe in
Great Pulteiiey ftrect, whereon many gentlemen of
clafiical and nautical knowlegc faw tlic thirty oars
(tiie fifth part of one hundred and fifty, which was
tiic number of oars on one fide) atlualiy worked
by thirty men, free of every impediment or inter-
ference, which might be apprehended from their
crowded pofitioa.

• If we could depend on the text of OroCui, [L. v, r.
19] where he fay«, that Antony'n largeft drips, many of
which vcrc, nccordiiig to Moruh» of nine tires, l>tit accord-
ing 10 Dion CafTius ol ten tirei of oars, were only Iciifeet
altwe the ivater^ we Tiuft believe, that the lircs could not
he more than eight or nine inchci above each oibcr in j'cr-

pcndiciilar htiirht. But x feet muft fuixly lie an erroneous
reading fur xv or xx, the v or x bein;^ loil in tranlVribing.
f It 19 evident from the Taiitics of l.co \_c. 19] iluit there
was but one man to an oar in his vcfTcls, none of which, it
is true, feem to luve had more than two tires of oars.
4

Before Chrifl 676. 33

Clemens of Alexandria \ Stromal. L. i, e. 16] afcribes the invention of*
the triremes to the Siclonians. Indeed, it is not improbable, that an
imitation of the Sidonian vcffcls, introduced in Greece by the Corin-
thians, may have procured them the credit of the invention among the
Greeks, who were never very fcrupulous of flealing the honour of
fcience and invention from the barbarians *. Unfortunately no Sidonian
hiftorian has reached our times, to the very great lofs of hiftory in ge-
neral, and moft efpecially of commercial hiftory.

676 — The Lefbians are faid to have obtained the command of the
fea, of which they kept pofleffion no lefs than fixty-nine years.

670 — Piammitichus, whofe father was flain by Sabacus, an Ethio-
pian invader of Egypt, had pafled the early part of his life in Syria,
probably among the Phoenicians, who were as yet the only foreigners
permitted to land upon the Egyptian fhore. After his return to his na-
tive country he became one of twelve kings, who all reigned co-ordi-
nate at the fame time. Being expelled by his brother kings he agaiu
lived in exile among the marilies at the mouth of the river, where he
gave a kind reception to all traders, efpecially Greeks and Phoenicians,
and by exchanging the produce of his territory for the goods imported
by them, he acquired great riches. At length fome Ionian and Carian
pirates, accidentally landing on the coaft, together with fome forces le-
vied in Arabia, enabled him to revenge the atfront put upon him, and
even to make himfelf fole king of Egypt. From this time he (hewed
favour to the Greeks, and as, by living among ftrangers in a private
charader, he had acquired more liberal ideas, than were ufual among
the Egyptians, of the advantages arifing from a free intercourfe with
foreign nations, he encouraged them to trade, and even gave them fet-
tlements and a harbour f in his country. He alfo placed fome Egyp-
tian boys under their care to learn Greek, that they might aft as inter-
preters. [Herodot. L. ii, cc. 147-154 — Diod. 6ic?i/. L. i, § 66, 67] But
■ftill the Egyptians perfifted in neglecting the advantage beftowed upon
them by Nature in giving them the command of two feas, and had no
(hips of their own, except the craft for navigating the river.

* There is a kind of triremis (for 1 know of ftrufted their inremes, fome of which, going to

no Greek or Latin word for paddies) iifed now, Greece, might turnifli a model to the Corinthians

and prob.ibly many centuries ago in the iOands of for, what they called, tlieir invention. A defcrip-

■the Eall Indies, which has a niiinber of piojefting tion and view of the Indian veflels may be feen in

cruls bars or outriggers, fupporting at proper dlf- Stetl's LhmeiUs of '''g^mg and feamanjliip. See alfo

tances two long feats on each fide parallel to the Purckas's Pil^rimes, Book ii, p. 55 ; and f^oyaget

gunnels : and the vefTel is driven along with great to the Eaji-lnahs by S/aiioii.ius, K ii,//>. 306, 42 I,

Velocity by fix rows of paddlcrs, two of which fit Note, in the EnglUh tratijlation, where the names

withiii her fides, and four on the outfide feats over of quadr'iremes and triremes are adually applied to

the water. They have fometimes three rows on the vefi'cls called corrocorros by the natives of the

the ontfide of each gunnel ; and thefe may be call- Oriental iilsnds.

td iju.idriremes.- — Quere, if the Phaniciaiis, when f When Herodotus was in Egypt the houfes of

in tiie Indian ocean in company with Solomon's the Greeks, and their haibour, or dock, were ia

fleet, may have feen thefe vcfl'els, and, improving ruins. [_fferodo!. L. ii, c. 134. J
upon the multiplied force of the paddles, have coa-

Vol I. Z

^4 Before Clirifl: 664 — 607.

65^ — The firft naval battle known in Grecian hijlory was fought be-
tween the Corinthians and their own colonifts, who had fettled in Cor-
cyra. [fJljiicyd. L. i.]

641 — Among the Greek'traders, who availed themfelves of the in-
dulgence of Pfammitichus, was Coteus of Samos, who acquired a great
fortune, and the prefervation of his name in all fucceeding ages, by an
accident, which he muft have confidered at the time as the ruin of his
voyage. On his way to Egypt he met with a gale of wind from the
eaft, which continued fo long, that he was carried quite through the
paflage, now called the Straits of Gibraltar, to TarteiTus on the fouth-
weft coafl of Spain ; and thus he had the honour to be the firfl Greek,
who ever faw the Atlantic ocean *. In this market, fo unexpectedly
found, he united the profits, which had been divided between the
Greeks and the Phoenicians ; and the goods he purchafed, having never
before been diredly imported into any Grecian country, yielded a pro-
fit far furpaffing the moil lucrative voyage ever made by any Grecian
merchant, excepting Softrates of yEgina, of whom, I believe, nothing
elfe is known, but that his profperity in trade was unparalleled. From
a tenth part being preiented to Juno, we are luckily furnifhed with the
knowlege of the profits made in this extraordinary fortunate adven-
ture ; and they amounted to fixty talents, which, if they were Euboic
talents of filver, contained a quantity of that metal equal to ^//^f 1,625
flerling. \Herod. L. iv, c. 152] From the curious hiftory of this voyage
we alio know, what was reckoned a prodigious great fortune in the age
of Herodotus. The Greeks, however, appear not to have availed them-
felves of this accidental difcovery by continuing the trade f.

616 Pfammitichus king of Egypt was fucceeded by his fon Necos.

This prince, inheriting his father's defire to increafe the commerce of
his fubjeds, in order to open a trade with the rich countries of the Eafl,
rcfumed the grand defign (originally conceived by Sefoftris, and adual-
ly put in execution by him or his fon) of uniting the navigation of the
two feas by a great navigable canal. The conftrutTiion of canals, fo fi-
miliar to the prefent age, was fo little underflood in the time of Necos,
that the natural impediments were abfolutely infuperable by the fcience
of his engineers ; fo that the imdertaking was abandoned, after 120,000
workmen had loft their lives by the intolerable labour. [Harodot. L. ii,

607 — Necos, thus difappointcd of effedlng a jundion between the
»wo feas, eftabliflied ports, and built a fleet of fliips on each of them ;

* TI1C expedition, afcribetl to Herciilca, belongs they liavo enibellifhetl the motley tiiftory of thcii-

10 Milcurlufi, wlio \[\ alfo called tlic Tyrian Her- own dcmigoil.

ciilcs. The Grecian fabiilllls availtd ihcmfdvcs of f 'VUh will be explained in a note on the inia-

tlin identity to juh iiim of liio aitions, wlieiewith p;innry Greek tKidc to Britain, uiukr the year 550

j ^cfore Chrilt,

Before Chrift 607, 35

dnd thus he put his kingdom in a fair way of being the center of the
trade of the world, if he could have fubdued the hatred of his fubjecls
to the fea. Having fuppofed the probability of Africa benig furround-
ed by the fea, excepting the ifthmus whereby it is joined to Afia, he
projeded a voyage of difcovery to afcertain the trurh, and to explore
the coafts of that continent. For fuch an arduous naval undertaking
he engaged Phoenician navigators, who failed from the Red fea, and
coafting along the fliore of Africa, returned by the Mediterranean, and
in the third year from their departure arrived in the Nile. During this
voyage, when the proper feafon for fowing came on, they made a tem-
porary fettlement on the land, and fowed their corn. Then, after re-
pairing their fhips, and getting in their harveft, they proceeded on their
voyage. This circumftance fliows, that, though Egypt has in all ages
been one of the fineft corn countries in the world, neither the Egyp-
tians nor the Phoenicians underftood tlie method of preferving corn at
fea, or of preparing bread for long keeping. Another mofl important
circumftance is related by Herodotus, to whom we are indebted for the
knowlege of this voyage. He fays, that the feamen reported, they had
feen the fun on their right hand, that is on the north fide of them,
when they were in the fouth parts of Africa. This, he very honeflly
tells us, he does not believe : and fome lucceeding writers, on the
ftrength of his incredulity, which betrays the ignorance of one of the
moft knowing of the Greeks, have confidered the voyage as entirely
fabulous. But the very circumftance, urged againft the veracity of the
voyage, eftabliHies it beyond the poflibility of contradiction : for it may
well be doubted, whether even the Phoenicians were then fufficiently
acquainted with the fyftem of the univerfe to know from theory the
poliibility of going to the fouthward of the fun, or to be able to in-
vent fuch a ftory, had it not been true *. \Herodot. L. ii, c. 159 ; L. iv,
c. 42] And this was unqueftionably the very firft circumnavigation of
Africa recorded in hiftory, and the only well-authenticated one, till
Gama, above 2,000 years after, again afcertained, that Africa is not
joined to a fuppofed fouthern continent.

The brief narrative of this voyage leads to a conjedure, which may
almofl be received as a certain truth ; that the trade between Arabia
and Egypt was ftill carried on by caravans only, and that the Egyptians
liad no maritime intercourfe, either adive or paflive, with the Arabians.
If they had had any fuch intercourfe, they could not have been en-
tirely ignorant of their nautical fcience and voyages, and Necos would

• As the truth of tliia voyage has been called gins with the reign of Pfammitichus. See Hero-
in qncftion in antient and modotn times, it may be d'.t. L. u, c. 154. Some err as far on the other
proper to obferve, that, befijes the impofTibility fide, and fuppofe that Solomon's velTels were ia
of its being fabricated, it was performed in the the practice of circumnavigating Africa, and that
dear period of the Egyptian hiltory, which be- it evea became a common voyage.

£2

5 6 Before Clirift 607.

have applied to them for navigators rather than to the Piioenicians, who
could have no knovvlege of the navigation of the eaft coaft of Africa,
except what they might perhaps derive from the journals of the navi-
gators, who accompanied Solomon's vefTels almoft four centuries before.
But the Phoenicians appear to have been the only people known to the
Egyptians as navigators. To them, therefor, Necos applied, and they,
mindful of the advantages reaped by their anceftors from a participa-
tion with Solomon of the ufe of a harbour in the Red fea, gladly en-
gaged in an adventure, whereby they hoped to have an opportunity of
becoming acquainted with the rich countries, whence the Arabians ob-
tained the pretious commodities, which every year drew great fums of
money from them. But we may be afTured, that the Phoenician com-
mander did not negled to fhip onboard each of his veflels at lead two
Arabian pilots, acquainted with the navigation of the Red fea and a
confiderable extent of the eafl coaft of Afi-ica, and with the nature of
the tides (fo dreadful to the Mediterranean navigators), the prevailing
currents, and periodical winds.

The Greek colonies in Afia, by their intercourfe with the Phrygians,
Lydians, and other nations in their neighbourhood, who were in a more
advanced ftate of fociety than themfelves, but more particularly by their
commercial intercourfe with the Phoenicians and Egyptians, nations ftill
more civilized and enlightened, emerged from barbarifm long before
the European Greeks, and greatly outftripped them in the career of li-
terature and philofophy, as well as of commerce. And hence v\^e find,
that almoft all the early poets, hiftorians, and profeflors of natural and
moral philofophy, whofe great talents have raifed a monument of ever-
lafting fame to Greece, were in reality natives of the Afiatic coaft, or of
the adjacent iflands *. Among the earlieft of the Greek philofophei-s
was I'hales of Miletus, defcended of Phoenician parentage, who by tra-
vel and ftudy among the Egyptians, and no doubt, among his Phoeni-
cian relations, acquired fonie knowlege of geometry and aftronomy.
He pointed out to the Greeks the conftellation called tbe lejfer bea?-, by
which the Phoenicians fteered their courfe in the night ; and he impart-
ed to them the knowlege of the rotundity of the earth, the divifion of
it into five zones, and the Egyptian divifion of the year into 365 days ;■
notvv'ithftanding which they perfifted for hundreds of years after his
time in the erroneous calculation by 360 days. But, what chiefly com-
manded the admiration of an ignorant people, was his prediction of the
year (601) in which a remarkable eclipfe of the fun fhould happen, and
the accidental circumftance of two arniies, adually engaged in battle,,

feparating on account of the unufual darknefs. [flcrod. L. i, c. 74

Diog. Lnert. L. i] His predidion of the eclipfe, coming no nearer than

• A v:rcat ruml)cr of their names arc collcfted by BlackwcU in his Enquiry inlo'the, life and wrlt-^
ti'gi nf Homer, pj}. \i— \ ^, fourth cd. j

Before Chrift 594, 2i7

the jfrt/- in which it fliould happen, feems to infer, that his Egyptian
or Phoenician mafters had but a dark conception of the theory of ecUp-
fes, by the accuraie knowlege of which the modern geographer is
enabled to dehneate with precifion the furface of the earth, and the na-
vigator can afcertain his poiition, or direct his courfe through the
boundlefs oci\in with a much more aflured confidence, than the antients
could poflibly have in their recoUeclion of the appearance of the land,
while diredting their timid courfe along the winding Ihores of the Me-
diterranean.

5f),| — Apries, who fucceeded his father Pfammis as king of Egypt,
had a fleet upon the Mediterranean, with which he carried on a war
againfl: the maritime cities of Sidon and Tyre, and fought a naval bat-
tle with them, in which, if we may credit Diodorus Siculus, he obtained

the victory*. \^Herod. L. ii, c. 161 Diod. Sicul. L. i, p. 79. cd. Am-

Jlel 1746.]

588 — The very antient and long-flourifiiing commercial city of Si-
don appears to have been now eclipfed by the profperity of her mod
antient colony of Tyre, whofe commercial fplendour is thus delineated
by the prophet Ezekiel, \c. 27] who thereby gives us a brief {ketch of
the {late of commerce throughout a very con{iderable part of the then
known world.

The people of all the neighboui'ing countries were employed by the
Tyrians in building and navigating their (hips, which were magnificent-
ly adorned with ivory, purple, and fine linen ; and their naval com-
manders were among the moft refpectable of the citizens, every office,
and every line of duty, in tiie commercial departnients being eileemed
honourable. On the otlier hand the univerfal prediled:ion of the Ty-
rians for trade and navigation induced them to employ foreign mercena-
ries in their military efcablifhment f , oblervlng however the precaution
to colled them from a variety of nations, Perfians, Lydians, Africans,
&c. whofe diverfity of languages and interefls might render it difficult
for them to confpire againit the ftate. Though their own veflels were
very numerous, and they were fully fenfible of the great importance
and value of the carrying trade, they gave free permilfion to ' all the
* {hips of the fea with their mariners' to refort to their harbour, and to
buy and fell in their city.

The imports from the various nations were as follows : fine linens \.
from Egypt ; blue, and purple, from the ifles of Elilha ; filver, iron,

* Diodorus fays lie took Sidon, and reduced die ages, followed the fame fyftcm of policy in their

the other cities of Pliccnicia by the terror of his military eltablifliment. But no government can

arms. He beat the fleets of Phoenicia and Cyprus ever be affured of the fidelity of fuch mercenaries,
in a great naval battle, and returned, loaded with \ Or bvjfus, apparently tine flax, as a raw nia-

fpoil, to Egypt. terial. See the text of Ezekiel in Jerom's tranlla-

I The republic of Venice, the Tyre of the mid- tion, and Bochart, Geog.Jair. col. J55.

38

Before Chrift 588.

tin, and lead, from Tarfhifli, brought by the Carthaginians * ; {IciveS
and brazen veflels from Javan (or Greece), Tubal and Mefech ; horfes,
flaves bred to horfemanfhip, and mules", from Togormah ; emeralds,
purple, embroidery, fine linen f , corals, agates, from Syria, in exchange
for the manufactures of Tyre ; corn, balfam, honey, oil, and gums, from
the Ifraelites, who, we thus fee, were farmers, but not manufacturers ;
excellent wines, and fine wool, fromDamafcus ; polifhed ironware, pre-
ticus oils, and cinnamon, from Dan, Javan, and Mezo ; magnificent car-
pets (fuch as are fliU ufed in the eafliern countries for fitting upon) from
Dedan ; fheep and goats for flaughter from the paftoral tribes of Ara-
bia ; the moll: cofily fpices, fome of them apparently the produce of In-
dia t, pretious ftones, and gold, from the merchants of Sheba (or Sa-
biea) and Raamah (or Regma), countries in the fouth part of Arabia ;
blue cloths, embroidered work, rich apparel, in corded cedar chefi:s
(perhaps original Indian packages) and other goods, from Sheba, Afliur,
and Chilmad, and from Haran, Canneh, and Eden, apparently trading
ports on the fouth coaft of Arabia §. And here it is proper to remind
the reader, that the Arabians, who furniflied the greatefl and mofl va-
luable part of the articles enumerated ||, appear to have been the only
traders from the Wefi:, whofe voyages extended to India in the early
ages <^.

* Tarfhifh appears here to he tlie fouth part of
Spain. I have inferted the Cartliagiiiiaiis ou the
authority of Jcrom's tranflatlon.

■f Jerom's tranflation has alfo filk (' ferlcum').

J The Greeks beh'eved, that Arabia was the
■only conntiy which produced frankiiictnfe, inyrh,
cafia, cinnamon, and ledanum, which were carried
to Greece by tlic Phoenicians. \_Herodol. L. iii,
.-. IC7.]

J In the enumeration of places the firll Javan,
the name of Greece in the Bible, appears to be
difFticnt from the fccond Javan, which was proba-
bly in the fouth part of Arabia. And all the
places mentioned after it, except the paftoral part
of Arabia and Afluir, may be prefumed to have
been fituated in the fame commercial country,
whofe cxtenfive commerce with India and the
other oriental regions is defcribed by Ariftobulus,
Agatharchides, and the Ptriphis of the ]''.rythra;an
fea, many ages after, in a manner perfectly agree-
ing with the prtfcnt account. It is, moreover,
woithy of remark, how well Ezckicl's account of
the trade corrcfponds with the obftrvation of Aga-
tharciiides, that the Sahieans, the chief people of
llie fouth coall of Arabia, fupplied the Plucnici-
ano with tlie moll profital»c articles of their trade.

The reader, dilirous of information refpefting
tlie fevcral countries mentioned by K/.ckiel, may
confult Bochart, with the commentators on this
portion of \Svi iJiUle, and «n tlie icntli chapter of
Ccncfts.

II Strabo, [Z. xvi, ;!i. 1128] gives us the route
between Arabia and Phccnieia, as it was before the
oriental trade was in a great meafure engroffed by
the Greeks of Alexandria, viz. from Ltuke kome,
(White town), an emporium near the head of the
Red fea, to Petra the capital of the Nabatrean
tribe, and thenct to Rhinocolura (or Rhinocorura)
a port of the Mediterranean fea on the border of
Phccnieia adjoining to Egypt. And this appears
to have been the route by which the Tyrians re-
ceived the goods mentioned in the text, and the
greateft part of their India goods, which they
bought of the Arabians : for however high our
opinion may be of the mercantile and adventurous
fpirit of the Phoenicians, it is evident, that they
themfelves could not fail to India (nnlefs as paf-
fengers or charterers, which tlie Arabs probably
did not peimit) as they do not appear, from any
fuffieient authority, to have ever poifeifcd a firigle
harbour on the coall of the Ocean or any of its
gulfs, except tlie tenii)orary conjuntl ufe of one
in tlie reigii of Solomon king of Ifiael.

^ It would by no means be extravagant to fup-
po(e that they traded to Ceylon, or even to the
countries and illands far beyuiid it (as it feems
doubtful If tlie befl: cinnamon has been in all agee
a native of Ceylon) as early as the days of Solo-
mon ; for no fuch fpices were knowi\ (in Jerufa-
lem) as thofe, whieh theipieen of Sheba prclenled
to Solomon. [// Chrnti. c. 9.] It was not pof-
fible, that a people of fuch comineicial and nauti-

Before Chrifl; 585. 39

In this lively pidure we fee Tyre the center and the enlivening' foul
of a commerce, not lefs extenfive than the utmoll; limits of the then
known world, dircding and animating the operations of the merchants
and manufadurers in the rnofl diflant regions, and through their hands
difpenfmg to the induftrious, in every biifinefs and profellion through-
out the world, the bleflings of a comfortable and independent fuhfift-
ence for themfelves and their families ; or in a word, enriching all the
world by enriching herfelf, which is the grand and charaderilHcal dif-
ference between the acquifition of wealth by commerce, and the feizure
of it by conqueft.

Unhappily the vafl: wealth, which thus flowed into Tyre from all
quarters, brought along with it its too general confequence of extrava-
gant diflipation and diiToIutenefs of morals.

585 — The commercial prolperity of the Tyrians, hitherto almofl: un-
interrupted, now iuffered a fliort eclipfe. Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty
king of Babylon, fat down before the city with an innumerable army.
Though deprived of all fupplies from the adjacent country by the ene-
my, the command of the fea enabled the Tyrians to ftand out no lefs
than thirteen years againft a monarch, whole territories were at leafl a
thouiand times as extenfive as theirs. But feeing that it would be im-
poflible to repell fuch an unequal landed force from their walls, they
wifely availed themfelves of the fuperior value, which moveable pro-
perty in fuch an emergency has in the hands of a people poflefling the
command of the fea : and they came to the refolution of totally aban-
doning their city and territory on the continent, and eftablidiing them-
felves on a fmall iiland near the fliore. For this purpofe they kept up
the defence for many years, during which the new city was built, and
every valuable article removed to it. Then, after baffling the power of
the great conqueror of the Eaft during thirteen years, was the fiiell, or
carcale, of old Tyre abandoned to his exhaufled and difappointed army.
And from her alhes fprung up a new Tyre, which, like the imaginary
bird bearing her national name of Phoenix, was in all things the perfedl
refemblance of her parent, and with little or no interruption continued
in nearly the fame career of commercial profperity, till fhe in her turn
was fubjeded by the irreiiftible power of Alexander.

573 — The Egyptians difpleafed with the condud of their king
Apries, appointed Amafis to be king inftead of him. In his time Egypt
is laid to have contained 1,020 inhabited towns. Having more enlight-
ened ideas of commerce and maritime affairs than any of his predecef-
fors, he eftabliflied an emporium at Navicratis, a town on the weftern
or Canopic mouth of the Nile, to which he made traders of all nations
welcome, as the Chinele do now at Canton ; but, like his predecellor

cal knowlege and enterprise fliould fee the regu- availing themfelves of the advantages offered by
lar periodical changing of the monfoons without them to their navigation.

40 Before Chrift 573.

Pfammitichus, he fhewed efpecial favour to the. Greeks, whom he a!*
lowed to fettle in fome other parts of his kingdom, while the veflels of
other nations, though driven by contrary winds into any of the prohi-
bited mouths of the Nile, were compelled to go to Naucratis, in which
alone they were permitted to tranfad: any bufinefs. His fleet was fuf-
■ficientlv ftrong to extort a tribute from the Cyprians, though a mari-
time and commercial people. But as Egypt afforded no timber proper
for building any veflels better than thofe ufed in the inland navigation
of the Nile and the canals, the royal fleets of this king and his predecef-
fors muft have been built of imported timber, or more probably bought
ready-built from the Phoenicians. No eflforts, however, of the moft; en-
lightened of their kings could ever prevail upon the Egyptians to fub-
due their innate deteftation of the fea, and to take into their own hands
•the full pofleifion of the commercial benefits, to which they were invited
by their natural advantages, but which their unconquerable prejudices
threw into the hands of their wifer neighbours. Perhaps if they had
continued under their native kings, they would have feen the folly of
confining themfclves to a pallive commerce, when a mofl; extenfive ac-
tive commerce was fo very much in their power. But it was only in
the lafl ftage of their exiftence as an indq^endent nation, that they be-
gan to extend their views beyond their own country ; for foon after the
-death of Amafis, Egypt became a province of the Perfian empire ; and
from that time to the prefent day it has continued moftly under the do-
minion of foreigners.

In this age there flourlflied feveral philofophers, who eftabliflied regu-
lations which had an influence on the commerce, as well as on the po-
licy, of Greece, or who communicated to the Greeks, (from whom the
other nations of Europe received it) the firft knowlege of arts, which
by the improvements of later ages have facilitated navigation, and there-
by rendered efl~ential fervice to commerce.

The firfl; of thefe was Solon, the celebrated legiflator of Athens. That
commonv\'ealth was brought to the verge of ruin by the boundleis rapa-
city and cruelty of creditors, and the defpcration of debtors. By the
cxifting laws of Athens the former had a right to compell the fervices
of the later, and even to deprive them of their children, whom they ex-
ported as flaves. To thefe grofs enormities Solon put a flop by more
equitable laws, and he reduced the interefi: of money to tzvclve per cent*.
Tn confideration of the fuperior interefl:, which men of property have in
the national welfare, he decreed that the members of the fenate and the
arcopagus fliould be chofen from among fuch citizens as had eftates fuf-
ficient to make them independent, thus holding out to the induflrious

• It is. faiil lliat lie aifc rtllcvi.-il tlic Jcblors by crcditora fiifhiineil m) lofs. If Solon was fo im-
raifin^ t!ic nominal value of the mv.a from yj to prudent, it (hows that the priiiL-iplcs of mouey and
; o drachmas, by vrliith racafurc, it is added, the commcrct.' were totally uiiknovvii.

Before Chrlft 550. 41

the profpedt of obtaining honours above their prefent condition. The
value of trade began now to be known in Athens, as appears by one of
Solon's laws, whereby a fon, whofe father had ne;i,leded to teach him
any ufeful branch of induftry, was exempted from the obligation of
maintaining him when fuperannuated. Solon alfo introduced the
Egyptian law, which obliged all perfons to give an account every year,
how they acquired their livelihood, and he eftablifhed regulations againft
prodigality and idlenefs *.

Pythagoras, a native of the flourifhing ifland of Samos, pafTedthe ear-
ly part of his life in traveling for improvement. From the Chaldaeans
he learned aftronomy, from the Phoenicians arithmetic, and from the
Egyptians geometry. He taught the rotundity of the earth, and the
exiftence of the antipodes : and from fome hints, to be colled:ed from
Philolaus and fome others of his difciples, there is reafon to believe,
that he had obtained fome confufed idea of the real motion of the pla-
nets in our folar fyflem, as it was demonftrated in later ages by Coper-
nicus. But thefe notions of Pythagoras, or of his teachers, were only
the conjedures of ingenious men upon a fubjed: which engaged much
of their attention : they were far fhort of fcience founded upon experi-
ment and demonft ration. Deftitute of thefe only fupports of fcience,
and apparently contradided by the teftimony of the eyes, the true fyf-
tem of the univerfe, if it was indeed known, and faintly hinied to the
Greeks, by the Pythagorean philofophers, lay hid for many dark cen-
turies, during which, if any heaven-born genius happened to obtain a
glimpfe of the truth, the popes, who took upon themfelves to be the in-
fallible diredors of fcience as well as of religion, generally took care to
crufh in the bud every attempt to enlighten the human mind.

Anaximander, a Milefian and a difciple of Thales, firfl ihowed the
Greeks the ufe of the dial, and taught the dechnation of the ecliptic.
He exhibited in maps the form of the fea and the land ; and he even
conftruded a globe. Though thefe were great advances in the fcience
of geography, yet flill the progrefs of it among the Greeks was won-
derfully flow.

Nearly contemporary with thefe was Anacharfis, the celebrated Scy-
thian philofopher. Some authors afcribe to him the invention of the
potter's wheel, and of a fecond fluke for the anchor, hitherto made with
only one f . But the potter's wheel is mentioned long before this time
by Homer, and it is utterly incredible, that nautical improvements
fhould be invented by a man, who, from his fayings, recorded by Dio-

• How different was the anticommercial fyftem the two-fluked anchor, [bU.ntem) and to Ana-

of Sparta, whicli coiifined every man to the pro- charfis the harpagona, which is a hooked inflru-

feffion of his father, and configned agricukure, ment nf iome kind, but whether it may mean the

trade, and the ufeful arts, to the hands of flaves. grappling, vrhich boats have for an anchor, is un-

f Pliny [£. vii, c. J 6] afcribcs to Eupalamus certain.

Vol. I. F

^2 Before Chritt 550.

genes Laertius, profefled a great averfion to the fea j or that the Phoe-
nicians ihould not many ages ago have found out, that an anchor with
only one fluke had fcarcely a chance of taking hold of the ground.

550— THE BRITISH COMMERCE,

which in the prefent day animates the mofl diftaut quarters of the
o-lobe by the vaft extent of its operations, and covers the Ocean with
the innumerable multitude of its fliips, begins now to emerge from the
thick darknefs which had hitherto overwhelmed the tranfadions of the
Phoenicians and their colonifts with our iflands, by means of a faint
ray of light, proceeding from a poem upon the Argonautic expedition,
written by Onomacritus in the charader of Orpheus. This Grecian
poet leads his heroes over every part of the world known to him ; and,
in the courfe of their adventures in the Atlantic ocean, he makes them
pafs an ifland called lerne, which is apparently Ireland. The llory,
though ridiculoully abfurd, is a valuable document of the mofl: antient
commercial hiftory of Britain ; as it affords a flrong prefumption, that
Phoenician traders mufl have reforted to the Britifli iflands for a very
confiderable time, feeing that even the Greeks had obtained fome con-
futed idea of the exiftence of the mofl remote of the two principal Brit-
ifli iflands, which had tranfpired from fome of the Phoenicians of Gadir,
or the Carthaginians, the only Mediterranean navigators, by whom our
iflands could be vifited in early times *.

* The notion of an extenfive Iradi; carried on even in his time, 1[ three centuries after Herodotus)

with Britain by the Greeks in a very early age, though there was a coiifidcrrble trading intcr-

and of the Dritilli language being compoftd in a couifc with the people living on both fuies of the

great meafurc of words learned from tranfieiit Straits of Abydos, (now the Dardanelles) tliere

Grecian feamcn, (as if the Britons had till then were vciy tew who palfcd the Straits of Hercules ;

been deftitute of words to exprefs the moll com- there was little intercourfe with the nations living

mon objefts of nature) though taken up by fevetal in the extremities of Europe and Libya (or

authors of rcfpec^table abilities, in grateful parti- Africa) ; and the outer fea (the Atla.itie ocean)

ality to the Greeks, as tlic authors of feience and wasunknown, that istofay, unknowntotheGreeks,

literature to the other parts of Europe, appears to who knew the Straits of Abydos, for furely it was

be contradicted by Herodotus ; who, tliough he well known to tlie Phoenicians of Gadir. And

was the bell Grecian geographer of his age, and this obfcrvation of fo judicious and faithfid an a>i-

liad made every inquiry in his power, acknowleg- thor is a dccidve proof, that the trade to Tar-

<d, tliat he knew r^othing of the Caffiterides, (gc- teflus, fo accidentally Humbled upon by Cola'us,

ncrally agreed to have been I'.ic Sillcy ifles, or the was not kept up by the Greeks, and that there

fouth-wtll part of Britani) fuilher tlian that tin was no Grecian commerce ivith Britain. Strabo

was brought fiom them ; a clear proof that no alfo fays exprcfsly, [Z. \\\, p. 265] tiiat the Phcc-

Grceks had any dirid't intercourfe with them, nicians of Gadir monoj)ohzed the trade to the

Moreover he tcllV. us, that TartclTus, in the fouth Cafliterides, even after the Romans had vcffels on

part of Spain, near the weft entry of the Straits, the Ocean ; though he feenia therein to have lo!l

was an iintiicd and unknown emporium, when Co- fight of the trade carried on acrofs the Channel,

Ixusavrivedat it by accident 641 years beforeChrifl, which will be noticed in due tinic.

whicli it could fcarcely have been, if any Grecian Were it neceffary to add any further proof, it

vcliels had ever palfed it in the way to the Caffitcri- niiglit be obfervcd, that Timoflhcncs, Eratofthc-

dej, which, by every hypothefis, were fituated be- nes, and the wiitcrc before them, knew very little

yoiid the Straits. [HeroH. I., iii, c. 115 ; L. iv, of Spanifli or Gallic affairs, and ftill lefs of Ger-

0152.] Polybiusobfervee, [Z,. xvi, f.if.. I4]that, many, Britain, and the Gctic and Baftarnic na-

I

Before Chrift 550. 4^

It is impoflible to alTign a date to the commencement of the Britifli
commerce ; but the well-known adventurous fpirit of the Phocniciatas
may warrant a conjedure, that they made voyages to our iflands foon
after their fettlement at Gadir. As there was apparently no other coun-
try lying north or weft from Spain but the Britifh iflands, which pro-
duced tin, it has been generally allowed, that thofe which the Greeks,
in imitation of the Phoenicians, called the Kalfiterides, or Kattiterides,
{iflands of tin) were the iflands of Silley, or the fouth-weft extremity of
Britain. And thefe were firfl: difcovered by Midacritus*, a Phoenician
navigator, apparently of Gadir, whofe name this important difcovery
has immortalized. He found the iflands abounding in tin, an article
then fo very valuable, that his countrymen moft anxioufly concealed the
route to this new-found mine of wealth from all others ; and, for many
ages, they enjoyed the unrivaled and unknown monopoly of a very lu*
crative trade with the natives of the Tin-iflands, from whom they re-
ceived tin, lead, and hides, in exchange for earthen ware, brafen ware,
and fait f . [P///;. L. vii, c. 56 — Straho, L. in,p. 265.] From the cau-
tious fecrecy of the Phoenicians, it is very probable that the trade was
carried on for feveral centuries, before the moft diftant hint of the ex-
iftence of fuch a country could have reached any of the Greeks, who,
with their Roman tranfcribers, are unfortvmately the only authors now
remaining to condud; us through the deep obfcurity of antient Britifh
hiftoryj.

tions, as is obferved by Strabo. [Z. !!,/>. 149] authors, as the (late of the trade was much altered

Timollhenes was the commander of Ptolemy's before his time.

fleet, and wrote a book upon harbours ; and, it J In the early hiilory of Britain twa propofi-

may be fuppofed, he could know very little of tions have been aflumed as hillorie truths, which

thofe ill the Atlantic ocean. But Eratoftiienes ought previoufly to have been proved: — i) that the

was a man of extenfive learning and great in- tin ufed in all the countries adjacent to the Medi-

duftry ; and being librarian to Ptolemy Euergetes, terranean, was brought from no other part of the

he had the command of the grcatelt library in the vJorldhvA. the Cafliterides, which feems not to be

world, wiiich may well be prcfumcd to have con- true : — and, 2d) that the Caffitcridts were the

tained every Greek book worth tranfcribing. We iflands now called Siiiey, which, though much

may, therefor, be alTured, that, if any knowlege more probable than any other hypothells concern-

>)f the Britilli illands could have been found in the ing thofe iflands, flill is not abfolutely uncontro-

whole circle of Grecian literature, Eratolthenes vertible.

would neither have let it efcape him, nor negledl- The authority of Herodotus has been very un-

ed to make a proper ufe of it in a work profetTcd- fairly, or at leall very inadvertently, adduced, as

ly geographical. proving that all the tin ufed in the eaflera

* Buchart obfervcs, that Midacritus Is a Greek countries was carried from the Cafliterides. This

name ; and he fubflitutes for it the Phoenician name mifinterpretation of the words of Herodotus car-

i>f Melcartus : {_Geog. facra, L. i, c. 39] but, ries the commencement of the trade beyond the

granting this, the molt fanguine advocate for Brit- aera of Mofes, by whom tin is mentioned, [_Numb.

ifli antiqiu'ty cannot prefume to cany up the dif- c. 31] as it is alfo repeatedly by Homer. But fuch

covery of the Cafliterides to the age of that Mel- a fuppofition, totally unfupported by Herodotus,

cartus, or Hercules, who, according to the moft (See p. 42 note) is proved to be erroneous by feveral

antient Phoenician writer, Sanconiatho, lived in authors of good credit. Several parts of Spain pro-

the earlieft ages of the world. ducedtin and lead. \_Strabo, L. \\\, pp. 219, 22c—

t" Strabo mentions thefe exchanges in the pre- P/w./,. xxxiii, >:. 16 — Sttphan.Jeurb.'uo.TarteJJus.']

fent tei/fe. But, I believe, he copies from antient Tin was found among the Drangae, a people near

F2

44 Before Chrlfl 548.

^48 The Lydiar.s have already been remarked as a civilized people,

who paid fome attention to commerce ; but it was chiefly oi that paf-
five kind which prevails in countries pofTeliing rich mines, where the

the head of the Indus, and in the province oi Nan-
kin in Chin:;. \_S!ri.io, L. r.v, p. 1055 — -D"'-'- •5'•'''•
L ii, (J 56 — Thevenot, V. ii, /. 127.] 'I iitre was
alfo anifl?nd in the Indian fea, called Cafiitcia, tor
its abundance ot tin. [Sltpha^i. de Kri.J The
iflard oi" Banca, on the call iide of Sumatra, pro-
ducts great quantities of e>icellent tin, which af-
foids a confidcrable revenue to the Dutch.
[^S.'aunton\- Account of an cmbajfy lo Chiiin, V. \, p.
30J ] ^/f/v. If it is the Caihtera of Sttphnrii'; ?
Ti'e opinions refpcding llie pofition of th^ Caf-
fittrides, may be reduced to three : — t ) that they
were fome finall iflands adjacent to Spain: — 2)
that ;hey were thufe now called the Azores, or
Wcftern iflands: — 3) that they were the Siiley
iflands, or the fouth-w eft extremity of Britain, or
perhaps both of thcfe. — But, i) no iflands near
the weft ccall of Spain, (which includes the mo-
dern Portugal ! are of any confequence ; nor is
there the fligiiteft authority for fuppofmg, that an)
of them ever produced tin : thougf, Don Joleph
Cornide, and fome other Spanifh writers, have,
witli great labour and ingenuity, but in direct con-
tradidtion to Pofidonius, Diodoius Siculus, and
Strabo, endi avoured to prove, that the Cafliterldes
were the fmall iflands on the weft coall of Spain,
which feem to be thofe called by Pliny \_L. iv, c.
22] the fix iflands of the gods, and diflinguifhed
from the Cafiitcrides. — 2) The Azores being
fituated in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, above
600 geographical milts from Spain without any
intervening land, it was abfolutely impoffihlc for
the bell of the aniient Mediterranean navigators
to find the way to or from them : and no one,
who adverts to the timid creeping courfcs of the
antients in the Mediterranean, (fee yife^ow/;;/ //r-r
marUt'num) wiien., if they ventured to lland acrols
out o! IJgl't ot land, lliey were fure of falling in
■w\l\\ fome land on the oppofite cunliiient^ will lup-
pofe they would vcntuic to launch out in the
boundlefs ocean in fcarch of iflands, wliich if they
milTed, they would moft probably have been fwept
away by the trade-winds to the Weft-Indies.
E-'n modern navigators, witii all their fuperior
advantages of excellent inllrnnients, accurate cal-
culations, correal charts, and im). roved knowlege,
bcfi'lcs lofty malls which enable them to fee dif-
taiit lands, fometimcs mils iflands. How, then,
can we fuppole it podiblt, tnat tlie Azores could be
difcovered by the Romans, the moll ignorant and
awkward failors in the Mediterranean ; and they
were llill more ignorant and awkward in the Ocean,
as appears by their mifmanagement of Ca:far's
fl>ip» on the C'lft of Kent. Yet we know for
certain I'om Sfahi . [£ ' \, p. 275] that the Ro-
fr.an»,by perle/crin^ in repeated trials, which could

only be repeated coafting voyages in various direc-
tions, aftually difcovered the Caffiterides : and there
needs no better p:oof againll the identity'of the
CaiTiterides and the Azores, which, moreover, pro-
duce no tin, ncr have the hiialleft appearance of
havii-.g ever produced any. — 3) Though Herodo-
tus ri- iii) <■• lis] acknowltges his ignorance of
the iituation of the Caffiterides, yet he pretty evi-
dently claffes them with the unknown countries in
the northern parts of Europe. Pofidonius, an au-
thor copied by Strabo, [Z. iii, p. 219] and ap-
parently alfo by Diodorus Siculus, \_L. v, ^ 38J
fays, thut tin is produced in a country north of
Lufitania (Portugal), and in the Cafliterides, and
is alfo brought from the Britifli iflands to Maflilia.
— Diodurus \_L. v, i 2a] alio defcribes the peo-
pie near Belerium (Cape Cornwall) as the miners
and fellers of the tin, wherein he csattly agrees
with the defcription of the natives of the Caffiterides
in other authors. It is alfo worthy of remark, that
he gives them the charadler of being more civilized
than the other Briton;, in conftquencc of their in.
tercourfe with foreign merchants. — Dionyfius Pe-
riegetcs fays, \y. 561 j the wealthy fons of the il-
luftrious Iberians, dwc'l in the Helperides, the na-
tive country of tin, ( Hefperides, Oefti-ymnides,
and Cafliterides, appear to have been fometimes
ufed lynoiiymoufly. See Eiiflathii Commeni, in
Diony.t ) and he immediately palfcs to Britain and
Ireland. — Strabo [Z. ii, ^. i8i ; i. iii, p. 265]
defcribes tlie Caffiterides as producing cattle, tin,
and lead ; and i;e places them In the gieai ocean,
to the tiorlhxi-ard of the Artabrians, who occupied
the norih-well part ot Spain (now Gnllicia), and
in the fame climate, or latitude, with Britain.—
All thefe autliors wrote before the Ron-.ms began
to make any conquclls in Britain. — Pumponius
Meh [i. iii, c. i] places the Caffiterides in the
Celtic fea, which name can only apply to the fea
ailjacent to Gaul, BrI'.ain, and the north part of
Spain, tl'.e countries occupied by the Celtic nations.
— Feftus Rufus Avienus, in an account of the
Oeltrymnides, profefTedly taken from Himilco, the
Carthaginian difcoverer, is fo confufed and luigeo.
graphical, that it is impoffible to fix their fitua-
tioii. But the inention of the iflands of the Hi-
beriii, and Albiones, (apparently Ireland and Bil-
tain) as being near then , iheir mines ot tin and lead,
their leather boat?, the commercial fpirit of the
people, and the refovt of the Tartcll.ins, (Pheeni-
cians of Gai.ir) and ot the Carthagim.ms, aulwer fo
well to the dcleiiption.s of the Caffiterides by other
authors, and alio to the Sillcy iflinds, that we may
believe Richard of Cinicefto, (.ho, though a late
author, jet, wilting from Ron: an materials, may
be ranked among the antients) when lie fays,

Before Chrift 548 — 543.

45

fovereign and the nobles, or proprietors of the mines, are enormoufly
rich, and the people in general milerably poor. Though the riches of
Croefus, king of I.ydia, have become proverbial, his fubjeds were con-
tent with very timple houfes ; for, in the royal city of .Sardis, the few
which had biick walls were thatched with reeds, and the great bulk of
the houfes were built of them entirely. This aatient andopulenr king-
dom, was now reduced by Cyrus, king of Perfia, to be a province of his
growing empire. But ftill the great nobles were allowed to retam their
wealth ; and we find mention of a Lydian in the following age, called
Pythius, who was efleemed the richeft man in the world, next to the
king of Perfia. [Hc/od. L. i, c. 84 ; L. v, c. lOi ; L. vii, c. 27.]

543 — The inhabitants of Phocaa, a Grecian city on the Afiatic
coaft, were a commercial people, and the firft of the Greeks who traded
to remote countries, performing their voyages in long veffels of fi/ty

\_L. i, c. 6] that the Sygdiles (Si)ley iflands) were

called aho Oellrymnides, ayd Oaffiti.TiiW.'j More-
over, in Richard's map the Pyicntan moi'iitains
run far into the fea, (as dircribeJ by Mela in his
account of Spain) rxtending to within about lOO
miles of the fonth-weft pait of Britain, and only
abont 60 from the fouth part of Ireland ; and the
Caffiterides arc fcattered at about equal didanccs
from all the three.

From an attentive confiderdtion of all circum-
ftances, I believe, it will appear moll probable, that
the Tin-idand's, or Caffiterides, of the antients
were the iilaiids of Silley, or the fouth-wcft part of
Biitain, which, being deeply indented by arms of
the fea, mull have appeared like ifl.inds to the firft
difcovcrers : or, perhaps, both thefe were included
under the fame general name. The Caffitcridei
being delcribed by Diodorus Sjcuhij, Stvabo,
P;lny, Ptolemy, and Solinns, as ajipendages of
Spain, or oppofue to it, need rot furprife or ftag-
gerany one who is accuftomed to the irregularity
of the antient geographers, tliongh Ptolemy even
goes fo far as to fix them by their precife latitude
and longitude within a fmall dillancc of the north-
weft part of Gpain, wlien we conlider that the
fame great geographer defcribes the Ebuda; (Weft-
em iflands of Scotland) as appendages of Ireland,
and very far diftant from that part of Scotland,
from which they are feparated only by narrow
founds ; that Pomponius Mela places Thule (Shet-
land) clofe upon the coaft of the Belgac, or near
the mouths of the Rhine; and tl'.at Strabo, the
bcft of the ancient geographers, defcribes Britain,
Ireland, and Thii!^, as appendages of Gaul, to fay
nothing of greater errors in his geography of coun-
tries nearer to his own. Neither is it a very ma-
terial ohjcftion, that fomc authors mention both
the Caffiterides and Britain, as producing tin, and
as uncoimeflcd with each other. For it is reafon-
able to fuppofe, that the name of Caffiterides (or
Tin-iflands) became obfolete when.the real name of

the iflands was known, ?.nd when the Cafiiterides,
after the deftriiSion of Carthage and the con-
queft of Spain by the Roman;-., being no longer
the great qmpcrinm of the tin trade, were lofl
fight of by writers ; though they ilill retained
their fnppofed place in geographical dcfcriptions,
and v/ere copied by every fuccceding geographer ;
as Fr:/eland, another ifland of dlfputable pofition,
has been in later times. The pofition of the Caf-
fiterides by Pofidonius, Diodorus, and Strabo, an-
fwcrs to no other place fo well as the fouth-weft
part of Britain, or Silley ; for there is' no other
land producing tin and lead, fituated in the lati-
tude of Britain, and to the northward of the narth.
weft part of Spain, and divided from it by the
Ocean, a name not to be applied to the channels
between the maiii land of Spain and the petty
iflands adjacent to it. For thefe reafons, though
the accounts of the Caffiterides be obfcnre, as may
be expefted of a relation coming down to us from
hand to hand by means of the later Greek writ,
ers, iubje(5ls of Rome, wherein the only people
qualified to give information had found an inter,
eft in withholding or perverting it, I venture ta
confider it as almoft certain, that the modern Corn-
wall, and the Silley iflands were the ftaple of the
firft foreign trade of the Britilh iflands, and were
called by the Phoenicians, the Tin-iflands ; and by
the Greeks, as foon as they heard of them, Cafii-
terides, or rather Kaffilerides, and Kattiterides ;
and it may be oblVrved, that the word is not ge-
nuine Greek, but Piioenician. See Bocharl, Gear.
facr. col. 650.

AVe need not fuppofe it impoffible, that Corn-
wall fliould be called by a name inferring it to be
an ifland, or iflands, when we rtcolled the name
of Pelopoiniefus, (the ifland of Pclops) in antient
Greece, and the iflands of Thanet, Fnrbtck,
Portland, and Dogs, in modern England, none of
which ai-e, ftrictly fpeaking, iflands. .

46 Before Chrifl: 538.

oars, in the management of which they were very expert. Before this
time they had made voyages to both the coafts of Italy, to Kyrnos, (call-
ed by the natives, as now, Corfica) where they had lately fettled a co-
lony, to the fouth part of Gaul, and even to Spain. Encouraged by the
wonderfully-profperous voyage of Coloeus, they had even pafled the Pil-
lars of Hercules, and traded to Tarteflus, where they were received very
favourably by the king of the country, who, being defirous of bring-
ing a competition of traders to his dominions, and apprehending no
danger from ftrangers whofe only objedt was commerce, endeavoured
to attach the Phocseans by the offer of a tradl of land in his country.
This, however, they declined ; but, by the very advantageous trade, which
ihey carried on with the Tartcflians, their city flourifhed exceedingly,
till it was deflroyed by the army of Cyrus.

So determined were the Phocreans againft living imder fubjedion to
a foreign prince, that in the courfe of a day, which was g/anted them
by Harpagus, the Perfian general, to confider of a furrender, they em-
barked the whole of their families and all their property that was move-
able onboard their veflels, and left their empty city to be taken pollef-
lion of by the Perfians. Being difappointed by the jealoufy of the Chi-
ans of a fettlement in fome fmall iflands in the neighbourhood, they
again put to lea, and bound themfelves by an oath never to return to
their native country, till a large ftone, which they threw into the water,
fliould rife up and fwim upon the furface. In this fpirit they launched
out in the Mediterranean, and arrived at Corfica, where they fettled
among their countrymen, who had been eftabliflied there about twenty
years before. [^Hcrodot. L. i, cc. 163, 164, 165 'Jjijimi L. xliii, c. 3.]

538 — For above three centuries after the increal'e of their population
by the arrival of Elifla, the Carthaginians had advanced in a fteady,
quiet, and progreflive, augmentation of their commercial profperity, and
in that happy hiftorical obicurity, which infers, that they were not dif-
lurbed by wars of any confequence. The redundance of their popula-
tion during this period puflied abroad in peaceable commercial fettle-
ments*; and the illands of the Mediterranean, the north and fouth
fliores of all the weft part of that lea, and even the Ihores of the Ocean,
were overfpread and enlivened by Carthaginian colonies. From the
total deftrudlion of the Carthaginian records we are deprived of all know-
lege of the hiftory of thofe colonies, excepting fuch of them as happened
to come in coUifion with thole of the Greeks: and an inftance of that
kind now attrads the notice of hiftorians. The Phocaeans, who had lately
arrived in Corfica, became very troublefome neighbours to the former

• Tlie invitation of tilt Phocxans by the Tarttrf- they had, lie would have thereby been warned of

fian king to fettle in his ilominiiins fecms to infer, the danger to be apprehended from allowing fo-

that the Carllnginians had not begun to make any reigners to ellablilh tluinfelves too near him.
hoftile encroacUmcnts on the natives of Spain : if

Before Chrifl 538. 47

inhabitants, among whom there was a colony of Carthaginians, and an-
ther of Tyrrhenians. In order to fupprefs the piracies of the Phocreans,
the Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians provided a fleet, each of the allies
furnifhing fixty vefTels. The Phocjeans with a fleet, alfo of fixty veffcls,
met them in the Sardinian fea. In the engagement forty of the Pho-
caeans veflels were defl;royed or taken, and the remairiing twenty had
their roftra, or beaks, fliattered, and were rendered ufelefs. Notwith-
ftanding the original inferiority, and the almofl;-total defl;rudion of
the Phocaean fleet, the vidory is afcribed to them by Herodotus, (who
indeed calls it a Cadmean vidory) [Z. i, cc. 163-167] and fecmingly
alfo by Thucydides. [L. i.] But with all our veneration for the two oldeft
and mofl: refpedable of the Grecian hifliorians, it is impoflible for the
mofl: inattentive reader not to be ftruck with the grofs inconfiflencies of
this narrative. We are not told of any lofs fufl:ained by the allied fleet ;
and yet one hundred and twenty vefl^els were vanquiflied by the remain-
ing twenty Phoctean wrecks ! I fay nothing of the fuperiority, which
every thinking perfon will fuppofe, that the Carthaginians efpecially
mufl; have poflliflred in the conftrudion of their velfels, and in their
naval tadics, nor of the utter improbability of their being fo fliamefully
vanqulflied on their own element : neither do I lay any ftrefs upon the
fufpicious circumftance of three fleets, of fixty vefTels each, being fitted
out at the fame time, as if by a general agreement* ; but proceed to
confider the confequence of the battle, which was, that the furviving
Phocceans and their families with their remaining veflels abandoned the
ifland entirely, and found fettlements near the fouih end of Italy. This
is an inconteftible proof that the Phoca:ans were completely defeated ;
which, if it needs any corroboration, has the tefl:imony of Diodorus Si-
culus, who fays exprefsly, [L. v, § 13] that the Phocsans, after occupy-
ing the ifland for Ibme time, were expelled by the Tyrrhenians.

A colony of PhociEans, who, according to fome authors, were a de-
tachment of thofe who were expelled from Corfica, failed to the fouth
coafl; of Gaul, where they founded Maflilia {Marfeille), a city, which
has in all ages kept up a high charader as the leat of fcience, commerce,
and naval power f. [Strabo, L. iv, p. 270 — Mela, L. ii, c. 3 — 'Jj'Jlini L.
xliii, c. 3.]

The Tyrrhenians, Etrurians, Etrufcans, or Tufcans, appear, from the
hints to be found in antient autliors, to have poflTefl^d the greateft part, if

* Neither have I troubkd the reader with the that it was built by a Phocian colony in ir.ore an-

miracle, which followed as a luitable appendage to tier.t times, as related by Jullin, and that the refu-

this wonderful vi3ory, which in its circumltances is gees from Corfica made fo confiderable an additiott

very like a ftory extracted from Philinus by Poly- to the original colony, that their arrival was after-

bius as a glaring inftance of partiality. wards confidered as the commencement of the

•)- Eufebius, probably following Timxus, dates ftatc, which appears to have been alfo the cafe

the foundation of this flourifhing commercial city with fome other communities. Herodotus, though

in the forty-fifth olympiad, or, about 600 years willing to do all the honour in his power to tlit

before the Chviftiijn a^ra. It is indeed probable PliQCxans, has not a word of Maflilia.

48 Before Chrift538.

not the whole, of Italy before the Trojan war. They fent colonies into the
neighbouring iflands, and were fovereigns of the fea in a very early age.
[Diod. Sicul. L. i, § 68 — Liv. Hijl. L. v, c. ^t,.^ The cities of Pifa, and
Labron or Liburn-um, which retain their original names, with little or
no variation, to the prefent day, the later being now called Livorno
(and by ns Leghorn) and which were among the moft profperous
trading communities in the middle ages, were two of the many flourifh-
ing cities founded by them in very remote times. Their alphabet is
thought by fome learned men to be the mod antient ofallthoie where-
of ipecimens have come down to us. The arts and fciences were culti-
vated to an aftonifliing degree of perfedion among them, as appears by
innumerable fpecim^ens, flill remaining in many cabinets in Italy and
elfewhere*. And as it is known that they were powerful at fea and had
many colonies, it is at leaft probable that they carried on a. confide i able
commerce f. It w^as from them that the Romans learned the art of
war, and, in fliort, all the knowlege that they acquired previous to their
conquefl of Greece.

The kingdom of Babylon had flouriflied for fome centuries in
great fplendour and opulence ; but, from want of records, the fources
of its wealth are unknown to us. It vfas now fubjeded by Cyrus, whofe
dominions were more extenfive, and his power much greater, thanthofe
of any monarch who had ever lived before him. The only action of
his life, falling within the plan of this work, was an eftablifhment fimi-
lar to the modern poft, whereby the moft fpeedy intelligence was con-
veyed throughout the whole extent of his vaft empire. It is probable,
that the goodnefs of the roads, and the houfes of accommodation for
travelers at convenient diftances, \vere owing to this inftitution of Cy-
rus. Of thefe houfes, which are, perhaps, the fam.e which are now call-
ed carvanferais, there were one lumdred and eleven between Sardis, the
capital of Lydia, and Sufa, the refidence of the Perfian kings, on a road
of 450 parafangs, or 13,400 Greek ftadiaj, which are nearly equal to
1,340 geographical miles. [Herod. L. v, c. 52.]

• A very great varieiy of fpecimens of their Roman writers, vvlio have tranfiiiitted to us a few

fculpiure and pottery may l)C tctn in the mimcrous fragments of their hillory, tikcn from Etrurian au-

jilntis of Dempder's Eiruria regulis and Gori's thors or from tradition, what httle wc know of it

Mifium Eirujcum. A moll magnificent difplay of is totally dellitute of chronology. Every thing

the Etrufcan art^ from the niufeum of Sir William tiiat could be colleifud concerning this extiaordi-

Hamillon has fincc been publiflied by Mr. D'Han- nary people may be iouud in DeinpHci's elaborate

carville. And improved copies of many Etrufcan work De F.tniria regali.

Tafe», &c. iiave lately been made in England by f Homer is laid to have vifited the coalls of

Mr. Wedgwood. Spain and Etruria in a Grecian trading veiTcl.

The very remarkable proficiency of the Etruri- \_lier(Hhli I'lia Homeri.'\ It was a cullom in E-

ans in almoll all the arts at a time when the light of truria to Inbjedl bankiupts to the feorn of the

fclence was but dawning in Greece, and every boys, who, ran after them witli empty purfcs in

ollur part of Europe was fuiik in barbariftii, gives tlieir hands. \_litriic/iil. Punt. ap. Alhcn.~\ Such

oonfidcrablc probability to the opinion of tlieir a cullom mull have been aii excellent remedy

Afialic origin, whether the J^ydians, or the Phoe- againll voluntary bankruptcy.

nicians, or bolii, were their ancedors. As llicir \ Tiieft numbers arc the totals as given by Ple-

cmpire declined long before the age ©fany of the rodotus. Owing to tirors of tranfcribers there is

Before Chrlfl; 524. 49

524 The conquefls of Cyrus having reduced Tyre and the neigh-
bouring Phoenician communities to a ftate of vaflalage, the whole of
their fhipping was thenceforth hable to be preffedintQ the fervice of the
Perfians, who had no naval force, but what they obtained from thfeir
vaffals and allies, Cambyfes, the fon and fucceflbr of Cyrus, having
conquered Egypt, and thinking himfelf capable of governing the whole
world, ordered the Phoenicians to proceed to Carthage, and to reduce it
under his obedience. But they, though his vaflals and tributaries, had
the courage to refufe obedience to his order, alleging how impious it
would be in them to attack their own colony : and Cambyfes did not
venture to provoke the refentment of thofe in whofe hands his only na-
val ftrength lay, by infixing upon their compliance. Thus were the
Carthaginians refcued from the calamities of war, perhaps from ruin, by
the only confiderable naval force in the world, befides their own, being
in the hands of their friends. Happy would it have been for thePerfian
land forces, if they alfo had been incapacitated from undertaking the ex-
peditions commanded by their frantic fovereign. The main divifion of his
army, with a mofl aftonifliing perfeverance of obedience, attended him
in an expedition againft Ethiopia, till they were driven to the dreadful
necelTity of devouring a tenth part of their own number. The other
part of the army, being ordered to deftroy the temple of Jupiter Am-
mon, penetrated into the defert on the weft fide of Egypt, and were
never more heard of; the probable fuppofition being, that they were
all, to the number of fifty thouiand men, buried alive under the drifting
fands.

The Carthaginians, happily fituated beyond the reach of the defolat-
ihg fwords of the conquerors, who fuccellively overturned the empires
ofAfia, had probably, during fome ages, enjoyed a ftate of general
tranquillity and commercial profperity *. Here, therefor, I propofe to
colled fuch notices of their manufa6lures, commerce, and nautical dif-
coveries, as I have been able to glean from the authors of antiquity,
though I cannot pretend to place them in chronological order.

It is reafonable to believe, that moft, if not all, of the manufactures
of Sidon and Tyre were tranfplanted to Carthage : and even the fcanty
and malicious notices of their eiiemies univerfally acknowlege the fuper-
iority of the Carthaginians in works of tafte and elegance. Their coins,
fome of vv^hich are preferved in cabinets and copied in engravings, are
the only fpecimens of their workmanfliip, which the preient age can

a difagrecment between them and the particulars, civil wars, and that, to appeafe tlie offended deities,

which has puzzled the commentators. Some of they had lecourfe to the abominable wickednefsof

the ftages are evidently omitted. odering human facrjtices, not Iparing even their

* At lead fo we may infer from the filence of own children. But all Roman caluir.nics upon

the Greek and Roman authors, who thought no- Carthage mull be read uith dillruli : and Jiiftin's

thing worthy of being recorded but war and ilaugh- civil wars are apparently c<;atradii"ted by ihe fu-

ter. Jullin, indeed, fays [i. xviii, r, 7] that the perior authority of Arillotle. {_De repub. L, ii,

Carthaginians were afflitled with the pcltilence and c. 1 1.]

Vol. I. G

50 Before Chrift 524.

polTibly fee ; and they are equal to be the beft produdions of the Greek
and Roman mints, when they had attained the higheft degree of perfec-
tion in fculpture and pidlurefque reprefentation.

The women of that part of the Carthaginian territory, which was
near the lake Tritonis, wore goat-llvins ftained red. Perhaps the beau-
tiful leather, which we call Morocco, is a continuation of the fame ma-
nufaclure *. The Zygantes, another African nation, beiides having
plenty of the honey prepared by bees, had a much greater quantity made
by the hands of men, which mufl have been fugar (perhaps not brought
to a grain) prepared from the liquor of the fugar-cane ; [Herod. L. iv,
cc. 189, 194] and this is, I believe, the very firft notice of fugar to be
found in hiftory f .

We know few particulars of the fhips of the Carthaginians, which, we
may, however, be affiired, could be nothing inferior to the very beft then
in the Mediterranean fea ; as they were acknowleged by Polybius [L. i,
cc. 7, 16, 20] to be poflell'ed of hereditary pre-eminence in nautical
fcience, and the undifputed dominion of the fea. Their ftiips carried
carved figures on their heads or their fterns, as fliips do now, and as pro-
bably the {hips of other nations did then. According to Ariftotle, they
were the firft who raifed their fhips of war from three to four rows of oars.

They appointed two commanders to every fhip, the fecond being to
fucceed the principal in cafe of death. This fecond officer feems an-
fwerable to the mates in our merchant fliips, or the fecond captains of
the French. The appointment being noted as a fingularity of the Car-
thaginians by ^lian, {Va?: hijl. L. ix, c. 40] it may be prefumed, that
other nations had no fuch eftablifhment for fecuring afucceflion of com-
mand, and, indeed, there is no fuch fecond officer mentioned in that
part of the Rhodian law (even when aflumed in later times into the Ro-
man code) which affigns the fliare, or pay, of each man onboard a fhip,
the pilot being therein rated next after the commander.

The Carthaginians were well acquainted with the advantages of con-
ftrudling harbours, or wet docks, completely flickered from the violence
and ravages of the fea, by digging them entirely out of the main land,

* The maiuifai^iire of Morocco leather in tliofe was no other than fugar, is pretty ccitaiii from the

parts of Africa was noticed in the early part of the uniform ptaftice of the Greek and Roman writers,

fourteenth century by Abulfeda, and in the com- who had no other word than honey to exprefs

menccrrcnt of the lixteejith by Leo Africanus ; fugar, till they got the gcmiine name of faccbar

and alfo in modern times in the Proceedings of the from the lialt. The learned Cafaiibon, in his note

/Ifrican ajjbcialion, and in PnrPs Travels. on the padagc of Strabo, [Z. xv, p. 10163 where

■\ This information, being undoubtedly derived Neaichus iji quoted, has collected a variety of in-
to Herodotus from the Carthaginians, may be fair- ilances of the name of honey being applied to fugar,
ly prefumed to carry the fadl to at leaft 500 years when it is exprefsly faid to be made from canes: and
before the Chrillian a.ra, and is therefor above the canes thenifelves were called honey canes (' can-
200 years older than the mention of fugar by na; mellis') by the writers of the middle ages, when
Ncaichus, or that by Theophralliis, which is fome- they were beginning tobc cultivated in Euiope. See
times adduced as the catlieil notice of it. Falcandi liijl. SictiL col. 2jS, up. Muratori Script.

That the fubftance, mentioned by Herodotus, /' vii.

Before Chrifl 524. 51

and fecuring them by walls, quays, or keys, for their veflels to He at
wiien loading and difcharging : and they called fuch harbours by an ap-
pellation, which has come dovvn to us under the hellenized name of Ko-
thon or Cothon *. \Strabo, L. xvii, />. 1190, ed. 1707 — Servius in Virg.
JEn. L. i, V. 431.]

Wc are told by the orator Ariflides, who lived fo late as the fecond
century of the Chriftian aera, that the Carthaginians had a kind of mo-
ney made of leather. As they furely were not in want of the pretious
metals, I'uch leather money mud have been a kind of promilTory tickets
or notes, fomewhat of the nature of modern bank notes.

The Carthaginian territory, which comprehended the north front of
Africa from the Straits to the border of Cyrenaica, a province of the
Macedonian kingdom of Egypt, was remarkably fertile ; and we may be
fure that the cultivation of it was not neglededf . The produce otibmc
parts of this extenfive coafl was fo luxuriant, that the Carthaginians
jealoufly prohibited ftrangers from landing, left the fight of fo delightful
a country fhould allure them to attempt making fettlements on it. Ee-
lides furnifhing corn and other proviiions for the capital city of Car-
thage, and many other great towns on or near the coaft, this rich coun-
try fupplied corn and other articles in great abundance for exportation.
South froni it lay the boundlefs interior country of Africa, which ap-
pears to have been better known to the Carthaginians, than it is now to
us amidft the blaze of difcoveries, of written and of printed informa-
tion : and there can be little doubt, that they carried on an extenfive,
and mutually-beneficial, trade with the fwarthy inhabitants of thofe vaft
regions if.

* The conftruflion of wet doekshas been revived have fome mutilated tranflations or fragments,

in the prefent age ; and it is one of the antient arts, Phih'nus, CHtomachus, Eumachus, Proclcs, and

of which the moderns have afi'iimed the lionour of the great Hannibal. The works of Charon, a

being the original inventors. It is, however, very Cartiiaginian hiftorinn, who, we are told by Suidas,

probable, that the method of locking in the water dcfcribcd the tyrants of Europe and Afia, and

by gates is a modern improvement, and a very ca- wrote the lives of ilhiftrious men and women, if

pital one, on the Carthaginian wee duck. they had come down to us, would have been a

■f Mago, a Carthaginian author, wrote a tre atife moil valuable addition to our ftock of antient hif-

on agriculture, wliich was thought worthy of be- tory, efpecially as an antic'ote to Grecian and Ro-

jng preferved, when all the other books found in man miiVeprcfentation. The excellent comic poet-

the libraries of Carthage were prefented to the Af- Terence, though ranked among Roman writers,

rican princes, and being tranflated into Latin un- was a native of Carthage.

der the authority of the Roman fenate. He is It cannot be thought foreign to the plan of this

quoted by Varro, Columella, and Pliny. Leo Af- work juft barely to obferve here, that the coniti-

licanus defcribes a book, extant in his time (A. D. tution of Carthage was eftecmed one of the moll

1506) in Barbary, called the Thcfnurtis of agricul- perfett in the world by fo great a mailer in the

ture, which had been tranllated from the Latin fcience of politics as Arillotle ; who remarks, that

when Manfor was king of Granata. \_Leo Jlfri- there had never been any commotion fo violent as

canus, p. 80, ed. El%. 1632.] Qiierc, if this might materially to didurb the public tranquillity, or to

be the work of Mago, returned to Africa, where enable any tyrant to fupprtfs the hberty of the peo-

it would be more ufeful than in Italy? pie, and ellablilh arbitrary povv-er. \^Arifl. de repub.

Some of the other Carthaginian writers, whofe Z. ii, c. II.]

names only have efcaped the wreck of time, were, % We may prefume, that they had commercial

^elides Hanno and Himilco of whofe works we jntcrcourfe with the Negroes, before th.eyemploved-

3 G 2

f 2 Before Chrift 524.

With refpect to the commerce of the Mediterranean, which the other
Phoenician communities, the Greeks and their colonies, the Tyrrhen-
ians, and the reft of the inferior trading nations, fliared with them, we
know few or no particulars, further than that after the decline of Tyre
the greateft part of it was in the hands of the Carthaginians. The
fliores and iflands of the weftern half of that fea had been in a great
meafure fettled by their own colonies, or thofe of their Tyrian ancef-
rors, before the Greeks began to extend their navigation and colonies to
Sicily and the fouth part of Italy.

We learn from Strabo, [X. iii, p, 265] that the Phcenicians of Gadir
were the firft who traded to the Cafiiterides, and that they carefully
concealed the route to them from all other navigators. It follows of
courfe, that thofe iilands were unknown to the Carthaginians for at
leaft fome time. The Carthaginians, vexed to fee themfelves outdone
in any point of commercial knowlege or enterprife, defirous of (baring
in the advantageous trade of the Cafliterides, and eager to difcover the
whole extent of the world, ordered two voyages of difcovery to be un-
dertaken at the fame time. They feem to have known nothing of the
fituation of the country they wiflied to find, except that it was beyond
the Straits in the Ocean ; but as all iflands, acceflible to the antient na-
vigators, muft have been in fight of other lands, they concluded, that by
exploring the coaft of the Ocean both northward and fouthward, it muft
certainly be difcovered. Therefor they ordered Himilco to direct his
courfe northward from the Straits, and Hanno to purfue the oppofite
courfe along the weftern ftiore of Africa. Both commanders executed
their orders ; and both publifiied accounts of their difcoveries. That of
Himilco was extant in the fifth century, when fome extradls of it were
inferted in a geographical poem by Rufus Feftus Avienus, from which
we learn that he arrived in rather lefs than four months at the iflands
of the Oeftrymnides (which were two days fail from the large facred
ifland inhabited by the Hibernians^ near to which was the ifland of the

them as mercenai-)' foldicrs ; and they had them in nor vvhcrefor, to explore the defert, is quite im-

ihat capacity in their army in Sicily about 480 probable ; whereas, if we compare it with the

years before Chrill. \^Fronlir.i Htral. L. i, c. 11.] knowlege, which, it appears from Herodotus and

Herodotus [_L. ii, c. 32] deferibcs a great river other antient authors, the Carthaginians had of the

on the fouth (ide of the African defert, running continent of Africa, we need not htfitate to afcribe

from "wcjl to cojl, and a city on its banks inhabited tlie difcovery of the River Niger to their trading

by Negroes. This river we now know to be the caravans It mutt be obfcrvcd, that this great ri-

Nigcr. But its courfe was rcvtrfed by fncceeding ver is ca'led Nil-ilabeed, and that the Mauritanian

writers, who affirmed that it ran ivejl to the At- prince Juba, as quoted by Ammianus Maicellinns,

lantic ocean ; and it remained a fubjcrt of doubt fixes the head of the Ni e on the authority of Phac-

and ditputc, till the late laborious and dangerons nuian informatwn, in the wclk part of Africa, as

journey of Mr. Park added a new proof of the fu- Ptol i-.iy aifo does tho(e of two rivers, which he

perit>rity of the information conveyed to us by the calls GIr and Nigir. The Gir, lie obferves, is faid

venerable tather of hillory, which, tiicrc can be to he abforbed at the caflcrn extremity of its

little doubt, canie to iiim from the Carthaginians: couil- ; but he fays nothing of the termination of

for the (lory, received by him through a long fe- the Nigii. His two riveis ruiining t(j the eaft aie

ties of rrlatora of various nations and languages, of apparently taken from diffirvnt accounts of the

five rcUlefs young iqin having fet out from the one grefit inland river of Africa.

country of the Nafamoiict, they knew not whither 4

Before Chrift 524.

53

Albions) where they found copious mines of tin and lead, and an high-
fpirited and commercial people, who ufed boats covered with leather.
This defcription, though the pofition of the iflands is defcribed in a
manner remarkably obfcure, anfwers to no other country io well as
our Britif}) iflands ; and it is extremely probable, that Himilco eftablifh-
ed a Carthaginian colony, and fettled the firfl commercial intercourfe
between Britain and Carthage *.

The objedl of Hanno's voyage being to make difcoveries.and eflablifh
colonies, on the weft coafl of Africa, 30,000 people embarked with him
in 60 fhips of 50 oars each f. On various parts of the coafl he founded
at leaft feven towns, or trading pofts, whereof the fartheft, reckoned as
many days' courfe beyond the Straits as Carthage was within them, was
on a fmall ifland lying in a bay, to which he gave the name of Kerne
(or Cerne), and apparently that which is now called Mogadore %. From

* DIonyfius Periegetes [y. 563I defcribes the
iflands of the Hefperides (which he feemiiigly
places near to Britain) as ' the native country of
' tin, inhabited by the wealthy Ions (or defcend-
' ents) of the illullrious Iberians,' who were ap-
parently the people defcribed by Skylax and Avi-
enus, as living near Gadir, befide the lefTer river
Iberus, now Rio Tinto in Andaluiia. From the
antient Iberians Tacitns conjeftures the Silures
(the old inhabitants of South Wales) to be de-
fcended. \_Fit. Agric. c. II.] The cin'ef ifland of
the duller near the fouth-well extremity of Bri-
tain is called Sigdells in Antonine's Maritime Iti-
nerary, Silura by Solinus, \j. z\\ Sillins by Sul-
picius Severus, [/.. iij and is now called tJilley.
Avienus fays, \Ora maritima, v. 113] that the
Tartefians ( fo he calls the people of Gadir) were
accuitomed to trade to tlie Oeilrymnidcs, and he
then adds, that the huftjandmen or planters (' co-
' /oni') and people of Carthage alfo went to them,
which icems to infer the edablifliment of a per-
manent colony. It appears extremely probable,
that Hefperides, Oeftrymnidcs, and Caifiterides,
are but different names of the fame duller of
iflands, the chief one of which got the name of
Silura, Silleni, or Silley, which name now com-
prehends the whole : and, if fo, Avienus perfetlly
agrees with Strabo, who fays that the firtl voyages
were made to thefe iflands from Gadir.

The Icltlement of a colony of farmers mull have
required a more extenfive territoiy than the Silley
iflands, tliough they may perhaps have been much
largei- formerly than now. [See IVhitiikcr's Hij}.
of Manchefltr, pp. 385, elfeqq, where in p. 392 by
' one tadam water' we mull underlland one fathom
oi depth, and not oi breadth.'} The probability of
Inch a lettlement corroborates the fuppofltion, that
the Phcenidans of Gadir and Carthage confidered
the extremity of the main land of Britain as a part
of the iflauds. [See above, p. 45, Note.]

Ocampo, a Spanifli author, has compofed a

Routlere of Himilco's voyage : but, as his only
foundation is the obfcure and mutilated work of
Avienus, it is almoll needlefs to fay, that it can
only contain ingenious conjefture in place of fatis-
fadtory elucidation.

f Of Hanno's voyage we have only a Greek
tranflation, or rather abridgement. We may
therefor fufpedl the number of people to be erro-
neous, as it is not probable that fo many would
embark before the coafl; was explored, the fl;ations
for the new coionifts chofen, and the plan of the
emigration and fettlement ducly arranged. As
the numbers Hand, the veflels mufl; have carried
500 perlons each, befidcs provifions, materials for
building, and other bulky llores. Mr. Le Roy
endeavours to account for the great number of
pallengers in each fliip by obferving, that not many
days elapfed before the number was lefTened by the
fettlement of Thyniiaterium, that in a fliort time
all the propofed fettlers were landed, and that, as
they undoubtedly failed in the finefl; feafon of the
year, the people would find no Incovenlence in liv-
ing upon deck. \_Navim des anciens, p. 192.]

\ Polybius, who failed along the coall, defcribes
Kerne \_np. Plin. L. vi, c. 31] as oppofite to
Mount Atlas, and about a mile from the main
land ; and wltli him Ptolemy nearly agrees, who
plainly places Kerne north from tlie Fortunate
iflands or Canaries. Thefe marks, and the con-
fideration, that the Carthaginians would probably
not make as much real dillance on an unknown,
as on a known, coaft, may almofl: fix the much-
contelled pofition of Kerne, which can anfwer to
no other place fo well as the little ifland of Moga-
dore, the harbour of which is a fmall bay between
it and the cor^il of Morocco. It is wonderful, tiiat
men of learning, with the clear evidence of Poly-
bius and Ptolemy, and fome other antient anthors,
before their eyes, (hould let their fancy run fo wild,
as to take the confiderable ifland of St. Thomas,
almoll under the equinoftial line, or Madeira, alfo

^4 Before Chrift 524.

Kerne Hanno proceeded fouthward along the coaft inhabited by the Ne-
groes for twenty-lix days, during which, according to the computation
of a day's courfe by Herodotus, he may have run i ,820 miles, or i ,300,
as Skylax calculates the courfe. In his way he difcovered lome iflands,
two days' courfe from the continent, called Gorillas by Hanno's inter-
preters, and by later writers Gorgades, and apparently the fame which
have been alfo called the Hefperides, the Fortunate iflands, and Cana-
ries *, being the only iflands of any confequence vifible from the main
land of Africa f .

an ifland of fomc extent and too far from the coaft
to be reached by the anticnt navigators, or even
the vaft ifland of Madagafcar on the cajl fide of
Africa, for Kerne, a fmall ifland of a few furlongs
in circumference on the wejl lide of that continent.
But, unfortunately men of great learning are fonie-
times very bad geographers. — In the year 1765
the emperor of Morocco appointed Mogadore to
be the port for the foreign trade of his dominions.

* Some modern authors fnppole the Biffago, or
Biflao, iflands near the Rio Grande, and others,
the ifland of St. Thomas, to be the Gorillas.

f Several attempts have been made to fix the
ira of the voyages of Himilco and Hanno, which,
proceeding upon erroneous principles, muft have
erroneous conclufions. Becaufe Hanno and Hi-
milco are mentioned together as Carthaginian ge-
nerals in the time of Agathocles, a Sicilian king
about 32G years beforeClirift, thcfe naval command-
ers muft be the lame. Becaufe Pliny has faid, that
thefc voyages were performed, when the Cartha-
ginians were in great profpcrity, and the Cartha-
ginians had fomc fuccefs in a war againil Agatho-
cles, that muft furely be the time. Tlie obvious
objcftion to the firft argument is, that Hanno and
Himilco were names as common in Carthage as
John and Tiiomas arc in this country ; and to the
fccond, that the Carthaginians enjoyed great prof-
pcrity for feveral centuries, before they were known
to the writers of Home, in wliofe ideas profptrity
confilled in working the milery of millions.

The account of Hanno's voyage is quoted in the
work upon mari'el/ous things, afcribcd to Ariftotle,
but with more probability believed to be the com-
poGtion of his pupil Theophralhis, who flouriflicd
about 300 years before the Chriftian irra. — From
Herodotus we learn, that the Carthaginians car-
ried on a trade with the natives of the weft coaft of
Africa (which will be noticed prefently) apparent-
ly founded upon the difcoveries of Hanno, wiiich
mnrt: liave thus been before the age of Herodotus.
— Si-veral of ihe towns built by Hanno, and fomc
particulars of the trade carried on with the Negroes,
apparently at thofc towns, arc mentioned in the
geographical work, which we have under the name
of Skylax. If it v ere certain tliat thofc parts of
the work were the ijcnuinc compofition of that
bkylax, who wa's in tlie fcrvice of Dariu? Hyft.if-

pes, the voyages of Hanno and Himilco muft have
been performed at lealt 500 years before Chrift. —
It is very probable, that the name of lerne, men-
tioned by Onomacritus about 550 years before
Chrift, (fee above, p. 42) was derived from an ac-
count of Himilco's voyage ; as we may believe,
that the Carthaginians were more frequently in the
harbours of Greece and the Grecian part of Sicily
than any other Phoenician navigators, to whom the
Britifli iflands were known. A pafTage of Strabo
[X.i,/i.83] feems to carry Hanno's difcovtry feveral
centuries higher, for, fays he, • People talk of
' Minos's command of the fea, and the navigation
' of the Phoenicians, whoyoo« after the Trojan war
' proceeded even beyond the Pillars of Hercules,
• and built towns there and on the middle of the
' coaft of Africa.' As he clafles thefe voyages
with thofe of Bacchus, Hercules, Jafon, &c. for an-
tiquity and dillance, the towns muft apparently be
uuderftood to have been on the exterior (or
oceanic) coaft of Africa, whereof Hanno was cer-
tainly thefirjl difcoverer h\ navigation from the Me-
diterranean ; and thence it follows, that he mult
have flourifhcd at Icaft i,cco years before the
Chriftian xra. And, if there be any truth in the
ftory of the Atlantic ifland having been heard of
in Egypt feveral centuries before the age of Solon,
the difcovcry of it, or the idea of its exiftence, real
or fabulous, muft apparently have been poftcrlor to
Hanno's voyage, which is thus carried up to an
antiquity fully equal to that inferred from Strabo.
Notwithftanding all the abfuidities in the llory of
that ifland, it may have been one of the iflands on
the Weft coaft of Africa, perhaps one of the Cana-
ries, or Madeira. Neither is it Impollible, that a
ftorm nu'ght have carried a veflel far out of fight
of land, and thrown her upon an unknown part of
fome of our Britifli iflands, from winch flie could
return home by coafting along the fliores of Gaifl,
Spain, &c. . The ftory of its immcnfc extent,
greater than Afia and Africa together, is not to be
minded ; for the magnitude of a country cannot
i)e known from a tranlient viflt. Tiity, who fup-
pofc it to have been fome part of America, are not
aware of the iinpoflibility of returning acrofs the
great ocean without a conipafs, and failing in dl-
left oppofition to the perpetual trade winds.
Vclalqucz, a Sp.ir.ifli author, fixes the voyage o£

Before Chrift 524. ^^

According to authors quoted by Strabo, [L. xvii, />/;. 1182, 1 185]
the Tyrians (i. e. Carthaginians) had planted colonies along the weftern
fliore of Africa to the extent of thirty days' courfe ; and there were 300
of their towns on tliat coaft, a definite number being ufed for an inde-
finite one, which infers that there were very many ; though 100 trad-
ing pofls would be abundantly fufficient for fuch an extent of coaft *.

When the Carthaginians arrived at Kerne, their cuftom was to land
their goods, and flore them in tents on the beach, whence they carried
them over to the African fiiore in boats or fmall craft. They ex-
changed wine, the ointments of Egypt, the earthen ware and tiles of
Athens, and other manufadures, for hides of cattle, deer, lions, ele-
phants, and other wnld animals, which abound in that country, tor ivory,
and probably, though not mentioned, for gold or gold dufl:. A part at
leaft of this trade was carried on at a great city of the Africans, to which
the Carthaginians navigated. ISkjlax.l

There was another branch of the African trade, apparently more re-
mote, which I fliall relate in the words of the father of hifi:ory. — ' The
' Carthaginians report, that there is a country in Africa beyond the Pil-
' lars of Hercules, in which, when they arrive, they land their merchan-
' dize, and range it along the fhore. Then returning onboard their
' fhips, they announce their arrival to the natives by making a fmoke.
' Thefe immediately repair to the beach, and having laid down a quan-
' tiry of gold befide the goods, they retire a little way back from the
' fliore. The Carthaginians then land, and examining the gold, if they
' think it a fatisfadlory price, they carry it off: if not, they return on-
' board, and the natives add to the gold, till the fellers are fatisfied.
' Neither party offers the leafi; injury to the other, nor will the Afri-
' cans touch the goods, till the Carthaginians declare their fatisfadion
' in the price by receiving the gold.' [Herod. L. iv, c. 196.] This
narrative of fo honourable a commercial intercourfe, which feems to be
continued down to the prefent age f , from an author, far fuperior for

Hanno 4C0 years before Clirift. The opinions of ence. [_Strabo, L. i, />. 82 ; L. xvii, pp. 1181,

feveral other Spanifh writers are collefted by Cam- 1 182-]

pomanes In the prologue to his /Inliguidnd marilima f I'he fame filent trade is ftill carried on by the

de Cartago. Mr. de Bougainville is of opinion Moors of the weft coall of Afiica with the Ne-

that the voyage was performed 703, 570, or 510, giocs on the River Niger, perhaps the defcendents

years before Chrill ; and of the three dates he of thofe with whom the Carthaginians traded ;

thinks 570 the moft probable. [_Memotres ik I'aca- and the fame commercial honour and flriiil integrl-

demie des infcript. -v. xxvii, J 4.] Mr. Le Roy ty on both fides ftill regulate their intercourfe.

dates it 610 years before Chrift. [^Miirine des an- At a fixed time a large caravan of Moors arrive at

ciem peuples, p. 201.] Such minute accuracy is the appointed place of the trade, where they find

evidently unattainable. gold duft l.iid down in feparate heaps. Befide

* In the time of Strabo (at the commencement each of ihefe they lay down fuch quantities of cut-

of the Chriftian asra) alnioft the whole of thofe fet- lery and trinkets as they think equivalent, and next

tlemcnts were deftroyed, and the celebrated ifiand morning they find their goods carried off, if ap-

of Kerne was forgotten, or at leaft unknown to proved, or elfe a diminution of the quantity of

him. Some of the trading pofts on the African gold duft. [.S'A^aiV Travels, p. 302. — Cadamojlt

coaft near the Straits, however, were ftill in exift- in Purchas's Pilgrimage, p. 810-] The relatioat

^6 Before Chrift 524.

authenticity and impartiality to any of the Roman writers, may ferve as
an antidote againft their wretched cakimnies of Carthaginian perfidy,
Carthaginian falfehood, treachery, &c. continually repeated by them,
and inconfiderately echoed by many modern writers.

The trade carried on upon the weft coafl of Africa, of which we can
only glean thefe few hints, was undoubtedly the fruit of Hanno's difco-
very. We muft regret, that the intercourfe with the countries dif-
covered by Himilco, with which the moft antient hiftory of our own
ifland is apparently very clofely connected, is buried in ftill deeper ob-
fcurity. But it is very evident, that thefe two voyages on the Atlantic
ocean added almoft a new world to the commerce of the Carthaginians,
which was the more lucrative, that they had the trade almoft free from
foreign competition : and the fouthern branch of it, which may be pre-
fumed to have been entirely without a rival, appears to have been affi-
duoufly cultivated, and long perfevered in *.

Such is the poor account, which I have been able to collefk from an-
tient authors of the greateft commerce, that ever was carried on by any
nation of the weftern world from the dawn of hiftory till times com-
paratively modern ; a commerce, which, by the unrivaled extent, and
the judicious management, of it, relieved all nations of their fuperflui-
ties, fupplied all their wants, and everywhere difpenfed plenty and com-
fort ; whereby, through the good oi^ices of thofe univerfal agents and
carriers, the Indian, the Ethiopian, the Negro, the Briton, and the Scy-
thian, living in the extremities of the world, and ignorant of each-other's
exiftence, contributed to each-other's felicity by increafmg their own f .

524 — At this time commerce with its ufual fupporters, the arts and
fciences, appears to have made confiderable progreis among the Greeks,
and particularly among thofe of Afia and the iflands, who were in ge-
neral opulent and powerful at fea ; at leaft, we may confider them as
fuch, if compared with their anceftors. Polycrates, who, from a private
ftation, had raifed himfclf, by means of the wealth inherited from his
father, to the fovereignty of Samos, a confiderable ifland near the coaft
of Afia, pofil-fted luch a naval force, that, befides his ufual fleet of one
hundred vcflels of fifty oars each, he fitted out forty triremes, which he
fent to aflift Cambyfes in his expedition againft Egypt, not as a vafllil,

of tlitfe authors afford a noble confirmation of the ticnt authors have written upon Carthage, has next

veracity of IL-rodotus and his Carthaginian in- to nothing upon the moll important fuLjcds of the

formers. Another fimilar trade carried on in nianufafturcs and commerce of the Carthaginians ;

Ethiopia is mentioned by Cofmas Indicopleudcs. and nothing upon their navigation and colonics,

• It is remarkable that Ptolemy's latitudes of except a ptomife (not performed) of proving, that

places on that part of the weft eoad of Africa, to Amcrua was mojlly peopL-d from Carl/jai;c. Hanno

which the Carthagiin'ans traded, are more correCl is only named ; Himilco not at all ; and not a word

than in moll other parts of his work ; a proof, of the trade at Kerne. — Campomancs, a Spanidj

among others,' of the fuperiority of the nautical writer, has colledcd feveral detached incidental no-

fcicncc of the Carthaginians. ticcs of particular articles of the Carthaginian com-

t Chriftniihcr Hcudreich, in a work entitled merce in a work entitled Aiiliguidad marilima ile

Ciirthai^o, wherein he profed'es to collcft what an- Carla^o, p. 40. ct fcqq.

Before Chrift 524. 57

but as an independent ally. Herodotus, whofe teflimony, in all mat-
ters wherein only Greeks are concerned, outweighs an hundred of fuch
authors as Caftor Rhodius, fays exprefsly, [L. iii, c. 39] that, to the befl
of his knowlege, Polycrates was the firft of the Greeks, after Minos,
who conceived the defign of eftablifhing a naval force, fufficiently re-
fpedable to command the fea, by which the ^gaean fea mufl. undoubted-
ly be underflood *: and the fovereignty mufl as certainly be reftrided
to a fuperiority over the other Grecian ftates ; for he could never pre-
tend to come in competition with the Phoenicians, who, though de-
preffed by their fubjecftion to the Perfian empire, pofTeffed more com-
merce and fliipping than all the Greeks taken together.

The Samians were famous for their manufadlures of gold and filver
ware f , and fine earthen-ware, which, like the china or porcelain of
modern times, was in high requeft for the fervice of the table many
ages after this time at Rome %. A particular earth of Samos, fuppofed
to pofTefs fome medicinal virtues, was alfo exported. [Plin. L. xxxv,
cc. 12, 16.] Thefe, with their corn and fruit, which were abundant,
formed the cargoes, which the Samian merchants exported as far as
Egypt, and, at lead once, even as far as Tarteffus. (See above, p. 34.)
With refped; to the progrefs of the mechanic arts in this ifland, it will
fcarcely appear credible, that the engineers of Samos were capable of
perforating a high mountain with a tunnel of eight feet in height, and
as much in breadth, and of the length of feven furlongs, containing an
aquedud, which fupphed the town with excellent water. They alfo
conftruded a mole of great height, which ran out a quarter of a mile
in the fea, to proted their harbour |{. In fuch works the Samian ar tills,
whom I fhall have further occafion to mention, excelled all the refl: of
the Greeks. [Herod. L. iii, c. 60.]

The people of Chios had fome trade and Shipping ; and it was the
apprehenfion of fufFering by the too near neighbourhood of rival trad-
ers, which made them rejed the propofal of the Phoca;ans, when they
abandoned their own city, for the purchafe of fome fmall iflands be-
longing to them. The art of inlaying iron was invented by Glaucu an
artifl; of this ifland.

The natives of yEgina had been a commercial people fome cen-
turies ago, as has been already obfervcd ; and they lUll retained
that charader. According to Caftor they became fovereigns of the fea

* If the tellimony of Herodotus needs to be J Pliny [i. xxxv, c 12] afcribcs to Euchir

fuppoited againft Caftor, Thucydldes and Strabo and Eugrammu?, two Samian artills, the honour

may be adduced. of introducing in Etruria the manufacture of the

f Theodorus, a Samian goldfmlth, was fo fam- beautiful earthen-ware, for which that ccuntry was

ous, that a golden goblet, made by him, was fo famous.

reckoned one of the moll pretious articles in the || The remains of thofe wonders of antient art

palace of the kings of Perfia. {^Chares, ap, Athcn. are ftiU vifible, and agree with the defcription of

eum, L- xii.] them by Herodotus.

Vol. I. H

58 Before Chrift 514-

509 years before the Chriftian aera. Moft of the other iflands had at this
time fome {hipping and trade.

514 Darius king of Perfia, defirous of an opportunity to difplay his

warHke prowefs, refolved to invade the Scythians of Europe, in order,
as the Greeks tell the ftory, to revenge upon them an invafion of Afia
by their anceftors about one hundred and twenty years before. For this
purpofe he collected a fleet of fix hundred veflels, furniflied by his mari-
time vaflals of Phoenicia, Ionia, and the iflands : but the tranfportation
of his army was effeded by the ingenuity of Mandrocles, a Samian en-
gineer, who conflirucked a bridge connecting the European and Afiatic
Ihores of the Thracian Bofphorus. The wile conduct of the Scythians,
who defeated Darius without fighting him, made him next look to the
eaftward for an extenfion of his empire Previous to his expedition
he fitted out fome veflels at Caipatyrus (a town on the River Indus, orSind)
under the command of Skylax of Caryandia, whom he directed to explore
the banks of that river and the maritime country weftward from its
mouth. He performed his voyage in two years and a half, and con-
cluded it (a". 506) in that part of the Red fea, whence the Phoenicians
in the fervice of Necos king of Egypt had fet out in the circumnaviga-
tion of Africa. This Skylax is believed to have been the original au-
thor of a geographical work, fl:ill extant, which if really his, is older by
fome centuries than any other work profefledly upon geography, which
has come down to our times *. The report made by Skylax ftimulated
the ambition and the avarice of Darius, who made himfelf maflier of the
whole fertile and populous country fouth-eaft of Perfia to the Ocean, and
apparently as far as the Indus. The territory acquired in this expedi-
tion conftituted the richefl: province of the Perfian empire. {Herod,
L. iv, c. 44, 84, 87 ; L. iii, c. 94.]

Darius feems to have undertaken the conquefl: of the Indian terri-
tories adjacent to Perfia, partly with a view to promote the comm.erce
of his fubjedts, and to facilitate their intercourfe with a country, which
has in all ages been a principal object of commercial attention, as well
as of military depredation. This appears the more probable from his
refuming the undertaking of a navigable canal between the Nile and
the Red fea, The canal, originally planned by Sefo(Tris or his fon, was
afterwards carried on by Necos, but abandoned, as already related. It
branched off from the eaflern mouth of the Nile a little below the fe-
paration of its flrcam, and following the level of the country, terminated
in the Red lea about forty miles below the head of its weftern branch.

* Tills work, which is cjuotcJ with the name of others have afcribeil it to another Skylax of Cat) -

Skylax by Arillotle, [Po/ilic. L. \\\, c. 14] has andia who lived about 35c years later: but this

had the misfortune to be lo much corrupted by opinion rells chiefly upon the latencfs of fome naf-

thc interpolations of tranfcribcrs, that its authenti- fagcs, which are probably inteq)olations.
city has been (jueftloned by fome critics ; and

Before Chrift 506. 59

Its breadth permitted two triremes to pafs each other, and its length re-
quired four days to navigate it *.

If the Phoenicians ever had any colonies in the iflands of the Perfian
gulf, as is fuppofed by fome authors, the fettlement of them may be
perhaps placed about this time, when Darius king of Perfia, who was
fovereign of Phoenicia, and the north coafi: of that gulf, with the adja-
cent coafl as far as the Indus, appears to have been defirous of eftablifh-
ing an extenfive commerce in his dominions, for the management of
which he could find none fo proper as the Phoenician merchants. The
exiflence of Phoenician colonies in the Perfian gulf appears to be found-
ed chiefly upon two iflands in it being called Tyrus or Tylus, and Ara-
dus, as is fuppofed, from Tyrus and Aradus on the Phoenician coafl, and
upon the ruins of fome temples, faid to be built in the Phoenician man-
ner, being found upon them. Strabo, however, fays, the people of thofe
iflands reverfed the fliory, and claimed the honour of being the ancef-
tors of the Tyrians and Aradians of the Mediterranean coafl:. [Strabo,
L. xvi, p. mo — andjee Bochart^Geog. facr. col. 689]. But it mufl: be
acknowleged, that there is no very good authority for any connedion
between the Phoenicians and any people in the Perfian gulf.

Tylus appears to have been rather occupied by the Arabians, as it is
called an Arabian ifland by an antient author ; and its inhabitants were
a commercial, or at leafl; a maritime, people, who built vefl^els of a kind
of wood (perhaps the teek of India) fo durable, that, after remaining
above two hundred years in the water, they were perfedtly found and
undecayed. {/Theophraftus, L. v, c. 6,]

Some idea of the value of money in thofe days may be obtained from
the amount of the revenue of the Perfian empire under Darius. It was
then almofl: at the zenith of its power. It extended from the Ocean on
the fouth to the Scythian deferts on the north ; and from the banks of
the Indus it fl;retched weft to the ^gtean and Euxine feas, and to the
confines of the Carthaginian territories in Africa. The twenty depend-
ent fatrapies or governments, into which the countries conquered by
the Perfians were divided, yielded a revenue amounting to 14,560 Eu-
boic talents of filver, which, together with fome payments in kind,
fcarcely exceeded three millions of our money ; a funi not equal to the
annual fubfidy, which in our own times has been given to a foreign
prince for the pay of his mercenary troops by an ifland, inferior in po-
pulation and excent to fome of the fatrapies of the Perfian empire. It
is evident, that the neceflaries of life could be purchaled for avery fmall

* Such is the account of this famous canal, as him, that the water of the Red fea was higher

tlcfcribed by Heiodotus, [Z. ii, c. 138; Z. iv, than the land of Egypt; and they give the ho-

r. 393 who very probably faw it, with velTels go- nour of corr.pleting the work to the Ptolemys,

ing from fea to lea upon it. But Diodorus Sici:- who probably c'.ear.ed out the foil depofitcd in i'

lus and Strabo affirm, that Darius did not com- by the Nile,
plete the work, being terriiied by fome, who told

I H 2

6o Before Chrift 508.

■quantity of filver, when fuch a revenue not only fufficed to the fovereign
of one of the greateft empires known in antient hiftory for the purpofes
of government, the maintenance of a {landing army, the indulgence of
luxury, and the difplay of unrivaled magnificence, but alfo enabled
him to lay up vaft treafures. This account is furniflied by Herodotus,
[L. iii, c. 89] apparently from an authentic record. He alfo informs
us, that the proportional value of gold and filver was as one to thir-
teen.

508 From the affairs of the Eaft our attention is now called to the

Weft by the firft intercourfe recorded in hiftory between the Romans
and Carthaginians. A treaty of friendfliip, or, as far as a covenant
with fuch a people, as the Romans then were, could be fo called, a
<:ommercial treaty, was concluded in the time of Brutus and Horatius *,
whofe names ftand in the firft year of the Roman lift of confuls. As
it is the moft antient commercial treaty now extant, and alfo the moft
antient authentic monument of Roman or Carthaginian hiftory, and is
•not a hundredth part of the length of a modern treaty, it undoubtedly
merits to be inferted entire in commercial hiftory. Polybius has given
us the words of it, which he copied, as exadly as the then oblblete
ftate of the language would permit, from the plate of brafs, on which
it was preferved in the Capitol. InEnglifti it is as follows :

* Let there be friendfliip between the Romans together with their
•' allies and the Carthaginians together with their allies, on the foUow-
' ing terms and conditions. Let not tl^te Romans nor their allies navi-
' gate beyond the Fair promontory f . If they be driven by ftorms, or

* According to Livy, Horatius was \\\t fuc- ed charaflers of the caily Roman liiftory. (Sec
ccjfor of Spurius Lucretius, who fucccedcd Bru- a colIeAion of inttances of laudable poverty by
tus, or of Brutus himRlf j for he leaves it uncer- Valerius Maximus, Z-. iv, c. 4.) About fifty
tain. Unlefs we will charge a wilful falfehood up- years after this time, when the Romans had col-
on Polybius, who flout iflied about 150 years be- lecled the plunder of feveral of the neighbouring
fore Livy, and is b'.yond comparifon more au- towns, we are told, that the fenate in a confulta-
thentic, we muft believe, that Brutus and Horatius tion fixed the bail to be given by the fon of the
were in ju'int authority at the conclufion of tiie famous Cincinnatus, when acculcd of no lefs a
treaty witli the Carthaguiians, and at the confe- crime than murder, at 3,coo afies of brafs, and
cration of tlie temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. Yet obliged ten of his friends to be fecuiitics for the
Livy, and Dionyfius of Hahcarnaffup, a writer even payment of fo large a fum, which, taking it at
more romantic than I>ivy, arc the authors gtneial- the higheft calculation, was but a few pounds over
ly followed by later compilers of Kouian hillory. a tun of brafs. \_L'iv. L. iii, c. 13.] Innumer-
On fuch authiM'Ity we arc told, that Collatinus was able inllances of luch inconfillcucles might be
lewarded for his voluntary refignatlon of the con- pointed out in the romantic part of the Roman
fullhip with a prefeiit of twenty talents out of the hillory.

public treafury and five talents out of the private f The point of Africa ncaiefl to Sicily, called
purfe of Brutus, being together ncar^frc llioufnnd alfo the Promontory of Mercury, and now Cape
founds of our money ; a greater fum than tlie Bon, as is evident from the remark, of Polybius
whole Roman treafury of that time can b" ration- upon this treaty. Dodor Shaw, if lie had con-
ally fuppofed to have contained. If this (lory were fulted Polybius iullead of Livy, need not have
credible, it would deferve a place in the text, as been milled by the fuppofed identity of Candidum
throwing fome liglit on the value of money. But and K«A«» to place this promontory on the well, in-
It Is utterly inco'-fiftent with tlie fimpllclty of life Head of the call, fide of tiie bay of Carthage,
and general poverty afcrlbcd to the moil dillinguifli- [^Travels in Barinry, (jfc. p. 14Z.]

Before Chrift 508. 61

chafed by enemies, beyond it, let them not buy or receive any thing,
but what is neceflary for repairing their vefiels, and for facrifice ; and
let them depart within five days from the time of tlieir landing. Who-
ever fliall come on the bufinefs of merchandize, let him pay no duties
but the fees of the broker and clerk. Let the public faith be fecu-
rity to the feller for whatever is fold in prefence of thofe officers ; that
is to fay, whatever is fold in Africa or Sardinia. If any Romans come
to that part of Sicily, which is fubjedt to Carthage, let them have im-
partial juflice. Let not the Carthaginians do any injury to the people
of Ardea, Antium, Laurentum, Circaeium, Tarracina, nor any of the
Latins who fliall be fubjed; to Rome. Let them not attack the free
towns of the Latins. If they fliall take any of them, let them de-
liver it to the Romans free of any damage. Let them build no fort
in the land of the Latins. If they make a hoftile landing in the
country, let them not remain all night in it.' [Polyb. L. iii, c. 22.]
It appears from this treaty, that the Carthaginians, as the fuperior
people, had didated the terms of it ; and it is probable, that it was
merely their mercantile jealoufy, which prompted them to prohibit the
Romans from trading to the rich countries lying around the bay of the
Leffer Syrtis, which for their extraordinary fertility were called the Em-
poria, or the markets, though the Romans may not then have had any
notion of attempting fuch diflant voyages *. This genuine monument
of antiquity alfo informs us, that the Carthaginians had fome time be-
fore departed from the fimplicity of their commercial fyftem, and con-
verted their mercantile polls into military garrifons for enflaving the
people with whom they traded ; and that Sardinia (of which Corfica,
or a part of it, feems to have been an appendage) and alfo a part of
Sicily, were reduced under their dominion. Their fuccefs in thofe en-
croachments brought on a thirft for conquefl: ; and that brought on their
ruin. But thefe matters will be more properly introduced afterwards.
I now return to the Eaft f .

At this time the attention of the Grecian hiflorians is engrofTed by
the war between the Greeks and Perfians, which continued, with inter-
vals of infincere pacification, till the Perfian empire was entirely fub-

* About a dozen of years afier this treaty a of bread, in order to keep the populace in fub-

coUcge of merchants is mentioned, as then efta- jedion.

hlifhed at Rome : but we have no other authority Both thefe events are placed in an age wherein

for it than Livy, [L. ii, c. 27] who has perhaps Rome knew nothing of trade, had no hiltorian of

antedated an inllitution efteemed antient in his own her own, and had not attracted the notice of any

time. foreign writer, at kail, not of any one who has

On fimilar authority we are told, that a great come down to our times, for lier moft important

quantity of corn, bought with money drawn from events.

the Roman treafury, was imported from Sicily, f At this time accordiug to Plutarch, in his

on which occafion the celebrated general Coriola- life of Valerius Poplicola, in Rome a flieep was

nus and fome others propofed holding up the price worth ten oboli, and an ox an hundred oboli, which

4 lall fum is equal to about half a guinea.

62 Before Chrift 502 — 497.

verted by the aftonifhing fuccefs of Alexander. The torch of war was
kindled by the revolt of the lonians, who difpatched Ariftagoras as
their ambaflador to folicit the alliftance of the European Greeks.

502 — The wonderful proficiency of the Babylonians in aflronomy
in a very early age has already been noticed. The application of the
fame principles to the furface of the earth conflitutes the fcience of
geography, which defcribes the figure and extent of the various coun-
tries, iflands, rivers, feas, &c. The artifiis of Babylon were probably
thofe, whom the Perfian monarchs employed to conftruft the maps en-
graved on plates of brafs, which the governors or fatraps appear to have
received along with their commiffions, and which contained the Per-
fian dominions, or, as Herodotus exprelTes it, [L. v, c. 49] all the lands,
feas, and rivers, in the world. Ariftagoras, who before the revolt was
vaflal king or governor of Miletus, carried his brafen map with him to
Sparta in order to explain the facility with which the Greeks might
make themfelves raafi:ers of the Perfian empire. But the Spartans,
whofe fingular confi:itution rejected what they efteemed fuperfluous
knowlege, as well as fuperfluous wealth and luxury, paid no attention
to his geographical demonfl: ration, nor would they lifi:en to a propofal,
which was to carry them a three-months journey from home *. Arif-
tagoras had better fuccefs with the other ft:ates of Greece, and the Athe-
nians in particular determined to afllft the lonians with twenty fhips ;
and thofe fliips, Herodotus obferves, proved the fource of the calami-
ties, which afterwards fell upon both Greeks and Perfians.

500 — In a naval engagement on the coafl: of Cyprus, we are told,
that the Phoenician fleet was defeated by that of the lonians, among
whom the Samians made the mofl diftinguilhed figure. Nor need we
wonder, that the Phoenicians, no longer the invincible fovereigns of
the fea, but degraded to the condition of vaflids of Perfia, fliould be
found inferior, even on their own element, to the Greeks, now fafl:
rifing to the character of an enlightened, free, and commercial, people.

497 — The lonians and their allies of the iflands direded all their ex-
ertions to the improvement of their maritime power, on which they
placed their principal dependence in their attempt to fliake off the Per-
fian yoke. They accordingly coUeded a fleet of 353 warlike vefl^els,
whereof 100 were furniflied by the ifland of Chios, 70 by LcAdos, and
60 by Samos. Thefe were oppofed by 600 fliips belonging to the ma-
ritime vafliils of Perfia, and chiefly under the diredion of the Phoeni-
cians. It is probable, that, if the commanders of the Grecian fleet

• When Herodotus [Z,. viii, c. 132] icpafciits tans, vvliofc king Lcutychides was tlicn commandt;'

the Greeks a few years alter this time as ignorant of the (Ireciaii fleet. It could not apply to the

of eveiy eountrv hcyoiid Delos, and believing that rell of the Gieeks, who were in general acqiiaint-

Samo« was as diflant as the Pillais of Hereules, ed with the fea ; and it is difficult to conceive that

the rcflctlion mull furely be conhned to the Spar- even the Spaitans could be fo exceflivcly ignorant.

Before Chrill 481. 6^

had adled with unanimity, they would have been vidlorious. But cor-
ruption and difcord ruined their fleet. The Greeks were defeated (a°.
496), chiefly by means of the Phoenician naval forces ; and the Perfian
fetters were riveted upon the Ionian ftates more firmly than before.
[Herod. L. vi, cc. 6-4.2.]

Darius, having fupprefl^d the Ionian rebellion, determined to take
vengeance upon the Greeks, and particularly the Athenians for their
interference. The expedition condudted by his fon-in-law Mardonius
was defeated by a fl:orm, which daflied 300 of his fhips and 20,000 of
his foldiers againft the rocks of Mount Athos (a° 494). The next at-
tempt was flill more unfortunate. The battle of Marathon (a° 490),
which raifed the glory of Athens to the fkies, and rendered the power
of Perfia contemptible in the eyes of Greece, is known to every reader
of hiftory.

The Athenians are now entitled by their attention to commerce and
navigation to be confidered as a naval power. By the advice of The-
mifl:ocles, who ufed to fay, that the war with Perfia was not ended, but
only beginning, they applied the produce of their lllver mines to the
improvement of their marine efl:ablifliment. Being more defirous of
military, than of commercial, pre-eminence, they took upon them to
revenge the caufe of Greece upon fuch of the iflands as had yielded to
the Perfians. ^gina, though but a fmall rocky ifland, had long main-
tained a commercial and naval fuperiority over the other ftates of Greece.
It had fubmitted to the Perfians; and being thus obnoxious to the Athen-
ians as an enemy as well as a rival, it was fubdued by their fleet. They
next fupprefled the Corcyreans, a people, who, uniting merchandize
with piracy, had long infulted the neighbouring fhores of Greece, Italy,
and Sicily, with impunity. [Plutarch, in Themifl;. — Corn. Nep. in The-
mifi.]

The Athenians, in expedlation of the ftorm which was to burft upon
them from the Eafl:, perfevered in the improvement of their fleet.
They built two hundred vefi!els of a burthen fuperior to any hitherto
ever feen in Greece ; and their fhips, and the valour of their foldiers
and failors, were, humanly fpeaking, the prefervation of Greece from
Perfian flavery.

481 — Xerxes, the mighty monarch of Perfia and of a great part of
Afia, the heir of his father's revenge as well as of his crown, could not
enjoy his felicity, while he faw the fmall ftates of Greece independent
of his overgrown empire. Having fpent fome years in preparation, he
led feveral millions * of his devoted fubjeds of all ranks, fexes, and

* Herodotus [L. vii, cc. i86, 187] calculates tion could be made. Perhaps a large allowance

the whole number of the men whom Xerxes drr.g- ought to be made for Grecian exaggeration in this

ged along with him to be 15,283,220, befides wo- account,
men, and ennuchs, of whofe numbers no calcula-

64 Before Chrill 480.

ages, to take polTeflion of that country. His navy confifted of 1,207
triremes, or (liips of war carrying three tires of oars, and 3,000 tran-
fports, which were all furnifhed by the nations bordering on the eaft
part of the Mediterranean and yEgsean feas and the fouth fhore of the
Euxine fea, all of whom were fubjcdl to him. Of the triremes the Phoe-
nicians furnifhed 300, diflinguiflied from the reft of the fleet by their
velocity ; and among them the Sidonian veiTels were the beft. Five
vefTels, furniftied, and commanded in perfon, by Artemifia queen of
Caria, were efteemed next to thofe of the Sidonians. The quota of the
Egyptians was 200 lliips ; but it is realbnable to believe, that, on being
taxed with that number, their money was employed in procuring them
from the commercial people of Phoenicia or Carthage. Smaller num-
bers were provided by the other fubjed ftates according to their abili-
ties. [Herodot. L. vii, cc. 89-99, and 23.] The innumerable multitudes
dragged after the ftandard of the Perfian monarch, better calculated to
fettle an hundred populous colonies than to effed one conqueft, were
almoft totally deftroyed by famine, by the rigour of the feafons, by the
winds, by their ignorance of the country which they invaded, and
partly by the wife conduct and wonderful valour of the Greeks. About
one third of the formidable armada, which the ^gsean fea was fcarcely
fpacious enough to contain, was wrecked on the coaft of Theflaly; and
moft of the remaining fhips were deftroyed or taken in repeated en-
gagements with the Greeks, among whom the chief praife was due to
the Athenians, who on this occafion placed their whole dependence on
their wooden walls*, and, as their city was deftroyed, were very pro-
perly confidered by Themiftocles their general, as a floating nation.

480 — The event of this memorable expedition was the very reverfe
of what Xerxes and his venal flatterers predided, Greece remained free ;
and the empire, which he fought to extend, after being devoured by
his innumerable army, and debilitated throughout its vaft extent by
the lofs of its beft men, was curtailed by the independence of the Gre-
cian colonies in Afia.

This was incomparably the moft brilliant period of the Grecian
hiftory, and the time, when the Greeks might with confiderable pro-
priety have afcribed to themfelves the dominion of the fea. About
this time alfo they attained, and for a confiderable time fupported, that
high rank in literature, that fuperiority in the fine arts, and that ard-
ent love of liberty, which have ennobled the Grecian character, and
rendered it the objedl of refped and admiration in all fucceeding ages.

* The Athenians, having confultcd the oracle tiyn of liis own opinion) convinced them, that their

.It Delphi, were told, that they nuift fly from their fhips vvere the vjoodfit walls, to which they were

houfcs, and feck refuge within their iiiooiUn "wtilli. to owe their prefervation. \_HeroiL L. vii, cc.

They were miicli puzzled about the meaning of 140-143.] This was apparently the tirft occa»

the refponfc, ti!'. Themifloclcs (whofe money had, fion on which our favourite metaphorical appella-

no douht, procured the imaginary-divine apptuba- tiun for a naval force was ufed.

Before Chrift 477. 65

At the fame time that Xerxes with the colleded force of Afia fuf-
fered fuch ignominious defeats from the valour of Greece, the Cartha-
ginians were feduced from their proper fphere of mercantile activity,
and tempted to enter into plans of conqueft, either by the entreaties
of a fugitive prince expelled from one of the fmall Sicilian territories,
as ftated by Herodotus, or by a treaty with Xerxes, as aflerted by Dio-
dorus Siculus, or by the co-operation of both caufes. According to
Herodotus, Amilcar, the Carthaginian general, invaded Sicily with an
army of 300,000 men coUedted from the various nations of Africa,
Iberia (or Spain), Liguria, Sardinia and Corfica (or Kyrnos), with a pro-
portional fleet. The Grecian accounts, (and unfortunately we have no
other) though differing widely in the particulars, agree in aflerting that
the Carthaginians were as unluccefsful as the Perfians ; that their whole
fleet was burnt by a ftratagem of Gelon king of Syracufe ; and every
man of them either killed, or referved to be the flaves of the Sicilian
Greeks.

According to the fpeech which Herodotus puts into the mouth of
Gelon, he poflefled a very confiderable maritime power ; and he offer-
ed, on condition of being invefted with the fupreme command of the
allied forces, or at leafl: of the combined fleet, to join the Greeks with
two hundred triremes and a great land army, and alfo to fupply the
whole united armies with corn during the Perflan war. He at the lame
time referred to fome advantages he had obtained in a former war
againft the Carthaginians. This mufl give us a high idea of the fertil-
ity and refources of the Syracufian territories. \_HerQd. L. vii, cc. 158,
160.]

477 — The Athenians, whofe maritime gallantry and conduct had
been the chief caufe of tlie defeat of Xerxes, ftill perievered in their
attention to their marine. They improved their harbour called the Pi-
raeus, fo as to be capable of containing a large fleet within its fortifica-
tions ; and they were henceforth regarded as the moft powerful ftate in
Greece. But it mufl be acknowleged, that their views were more di-
reded to naval pre-eminence for the fake of conquefls, than for the ex-
tenflon of commerce.

474 — The confederated Greeks of Europe, Afia or Ionia, and the
Iflands, feeing the neceflity of a joint flock to be employed for the ge-
neral fervice in providing, vidualling, and arming, their fleets, refolved
that a contribution fliould be levied from each community. To adjuft
the due proportion, payable by every flate, they unanimoufly chofe
Ariftides, an Athenian general, who for his integrity was honoured
with the title of the '^ujl ; a title infinitely more glorious than the fre-
quently-profliiuted one of Great : and he, with the fatisfadion of all con-
cerned, fixed the whole fum at 460 talents, which is fomewhat lets than

Vol. I. I

66 Before Chrift 471 — 446.

;^90,ooo fterling *. {Tbucyd. L. i. — Corn. Nep in Arift.] Such was the
fum which the free ftates of Greece found fufficient, under the prudent
and economical diredion of Ariftides f , to defray the annual expenfe
of a fuccefsful war againft the fovereign of the greateft empire in the
world.

Some time in the reign of Xerxes (who was murdered by one of his
courtiers) a voyage of difcovery was undertaken, to the command of
whichSatafpes, a noble Perlian, was appointed, as a punifhment for a
crime committed by him. The voyage being intended to reverfe the
route of that performed by order of Necos, king of Egypt, Satafpes
departed from the Nile, and pafling the Pillars of Hercules, coafted
along the fhore of Africa, till he came to a people, whom he defcribed
as of very diminutive ftature, and clothed in red garments, or Phoeni-
cian garments, or garments made from the palm tree %. But Satafpes,
difliking his employment, returned home by the fame way he had gone
out, and was crucified for his reward. No better event could be ex-
peded of an enterprife, the command of which was efteemed, not an
honour, but a difgrace. How very oppofite were the Perfian and the
Phoenician ideas of naval command ! {^Herod. L. iv, c. 43.]

4yi — Cimon, the Athenian commander, with the confederate fleet
of Greece, was everywhere vidorious. He expelled the Perfian garri-
fons from all the maritime towns of the vEgaean fea. Extending his
vidorious progrefs along the fouth fhore of the Afiatic peninfula be-
yond the fettlements of the Grecian colonies, he with 250 fhips belong-
ing to the Athenians and their allies encountered the Perfian fleet, and
took or deflroyed almoft the whole of them, whereby he made a pro-
digious addition to his fleet. On the very fame day by a fuccefsful flra-
tagem, wherein he employed his prize fliips, he alfo defeated the land
army of the Perfians at the mouth of the river Eurymedon (a". 470.)

449 The Athenians continued to be in general fuccefsful in many

naval battles with the Perfians : and at laft that triumphant republic
didated to the ambafladors of Artaxerxes, the no-longer-haughty mo-
narch of Perfia, the terms of a pacification, whereby he became bound
never to fend a veifel into the ^Egaean fea, and to acknowlege the inde-
pendence of the Greek colonies in Afia.

446 — The Athenians having become the greateft maritime power of

* This fum diii not, as fome fiippofe, iiitlmle and the Allieniaiis beftowcd 3,000 diacliniR

jiay for the Gix-cian allied army. ' Pay was not (;^9'5 1 '7 = 2) on liis two dauglitcis for thtir j)or-

* yd introduced into the Grecian feivice, bfcaiifc tions. \_Plut. in Aiijl.']

' the charai'tir of fi.l.lur was not fcparatcd from J The Greek word ^o(v(x>i('i! bears ail thefe mcan-

' that of citizen.' [^Gillies's HiJI. of Grcfct, r. ii, ings. The natives of Congo on the well coall of

/i. 63. fil, 1792.J Cut very foon after this war it Africa ufe cloth made of the palm tree. [^Pur-

was ini reduced. chas's Pil^iimes, L. vii, c. 4, § 7.] And Captain

f This honed (latefrnan, wtio for fome years Cook found fome nations in the South fea dicfled

inBTia^rtd the joint Ireafury of the whole Grecian with cloth made of j)ahiieto leaves.
conffdcracy, left not wliercwith to bury lu'mf»lf :

Before Chrift 445. 67

Greece, and, if we may trufl the uncontradided evidence of Greek
writers, of the whole world, without neglecting their warlike eflablifh-
ment, now turned their attention to commerce. Their merchant fliips
are faid to have covered the fea, and traded to every port, while their
fliips of war rode triumphant in the yEgjean and neighboiu'ing feas.
The voluntary contribution, which the allies had charged upon them-
felves for fupporting the Perfian war, was flill kept up, and even aug-
mented, though the original caufe no longer exifted, and was paid to
Athens, as a confideration for her prote6tion, by the ftates of Ionia,
and the iflands, which were now rather the fubjeds than the allies of
the Athenians. The tribute thus extorted, and the produce of their
filver mines, together with the fpoils of the unfortunate vafTals of Perfia,
may be fairly prefumed to have been the chief fources of the luxury,
which from this time prevailed among them. For, as their narrow ter-
ritory could not poffibly produce many articles for exportation, and we
have no authority to fay that they were manufadlurers, or that they
undeflood the bufinefs of carrying the redundant productions of one
country to fupply the defeats of another, they could not be much en-
riched by their commerce, which feems to have confifted of little more
than the importation of luxuries from the different ports of the Medi-
terranean. One article of Grecian exportation, and apparently the prin-
cipal one, was wine, of which they carried great quantities, put up in
earthen jars, twice a year to Egypt. [Herod. L. iii, c. 6.]

445 — Herodotus, the father of Grecian hiftory, read his v/ork, or
fome part of it, to a public aflembly of the Athenians, who were fo
delighted with it, that they conferred on him a gift of ten talents
C;^i,937 : 10 fterling) out of the public treafury ; [Plut. de Herodoti nia-
lignitate, in 0pp. ed. Xylandri, 1599, p. 862] a prodigious fortune, when
about twopence of our money was fufficient for a perfon's dayly fup-
port, and fevenpence was an ample and honourable allowance for the
expenfes of thofe of fuperior rank. {Wallace on the numbers of mankind,
p. 125.] Herodotus is not only valuable as the oldeft Grecian hiftorian
extant, but alfo as a geographer, his work containing an account of all
the countries then known by any of the Greeks. In his geography he
is frequently more accurate than writers, who lived in times valtly more
enlightened, and wrote exprefsly upon geography *. He faw with his

* Tha defcription of the Cafpian fea by He- munication with the Northern ocean : Ptolemy,
rodotus is a remarkable inftance of his geographi- though he mifplaces it, yet truely calls it a lake.
cal fuperiority. He fays, that it is an inland fea Herodotus had fome knowlege of the black na-
or lake, which has no communication with any tives in the fouth parts of Hindooftan, and of
other ; that its length would require fifteen days, their manufatlures from cotton which he truely
and its greateft breadth eight days for a vefTel with defcribes as growing upon trees. He alfo de-
oars to traverfe it ; each day's courfe being 700 fcribes, from information obtained from natives of
fladia, or about 70 geographical miles. [_Herodot. Africa, a great river in the heart of that continent,
L. i, c. 203, L. iv, c. 86.] Strabo, Mela, Diony- Jluiving from iveji to eajl, on the banks of which
fius, Pliny, and Arrian, all aflert, that it has a com- there was a city inhabited by black people. This

I 2

68 Before Chnll 431.

o\\'n eyes many of the countries, which he defcribes ; and he was ai:
great pains to obtain the bell: information : yet he acknowleges, that he
could not difcover the fituation of the iflands called Caffiterides from
which tin was brought, nor that of the country, which produced the
amber : a pretty clear proof, that the Greeks had no commerce, or in-
tercourfe with either of them. The cenfure thrown upon Herodotus
as a fabulifl proceeds only from fuperticiality and ignorance ; and his
general veracity is acknowleged and refpeded by the mofl judicious and
critical writers.

431 An interval of petty hoftilities among the Greeks was fucceed-

ed by the Peloponnellan war, wherein the Lacedeemonians and their
allies, fupported by the wealth of the Perfian empire *, exerted them-
felves to wreft from the Athenians the fovereignty, which they had af-
fumed over the maritime flates of Ionia, the iflands, and the whole of
the neighbouring coalls. This was moflly a naval war ; yet the events
of it had no other connedion with commerce, than the ufual conle-
quence of interrupting and diftreffing it. It prefled with particular
hardlhip upon the Phcenicians, who, as the principal maritime fubjeds
of Perfia, were obliged to furnifh mofl of the naval armaments, w^here-
by their fliipping was in a great meafure drawn off from its own proper
defliination to be fubfervient to the ambition of Perfia and Lacedeemon.
The war, after raging for twenty-feven years, was concluded (a". 404).
by the deftrudion of Athens. The Lacedoemonians immediately af-
fumed the fame power over the maritime flates, the abufe of whi-ch by
the Athenians had been the pretence for the war : and they exercifed it:
with fuch rigour, that the governments of the Pcrlians and of the
Athenians were thought very mild by thole, who now groaned under
their tyranny.

From the very imperfcd knowlege, we have of the more valuable
pacific and commercial tranfadions of the Carthaginians, we may ven-
ture to affign the prefent time as the sera of their greatefl: commercial
fplendour. Their mother country was deprefled by its fubjedion to
Perfia. The Athenians, alter havirrg->^xpelled the Perfians, and the
Phcenicians as being their fubjeds, from the Grecian feas, and having
reigned triumphant for leventy-two years, during which they engrofled
the commerce of the ^Egaean fea, but with a more anxious folicitude

important geographical faft, wherein lie is fup- the nccowit of Mr. Part's liwvds in j1fii:a, pp. 2^,

ported by the teftimony of Ph'iiy and Ptolemy, has 53.]

been coiuradidted in later ages, even down to the * The Lacedaemonians raifed the pay of their

very time that Mr. Park was abfolutely engaged failors from three oboli (not quite ^d) to four

in exploring the courfe of this famous river, the oboh (about 5}</). But tin's was not conhdertd

Nii-il-abeed, Joliba, or Niger, who li;;3 unqnef- as nccclFaiy for their fiipport, or as an e(juivaltnt

lion.ib!y alcertained the coneftnefs of the iiifor- compenlalion fur their fervice: it was a mere walle

mat 'ii i^i^'cn us by Herodotus. \_L. W, cc. 32133. of the Peifiaii treafure, calculated to corrupt the

'—Plinii H'lft. nat. L. v, f. 9 ; L. viii, c, z\.~~Stc failors of their Athenian rivals, and to entice theiu

to dtfert.

\

Before Clirill 394. — 37c. 69

exercifed a dominion of avaricious tyranny over the nations bordering
on it, were now humbled by the numerous enemies, whom the info-
lence and tyranny of their profperity had raifed up againft them. ITie
Spartans, who had fucceeded to the dominion of the ^ga:an fea on the
downfall of the Athenians, were ignorant of the commercial advan-
tages, which a more enlightened people might have derived from it.
Therefor now the Carthaginians feem to have had no rivals in the Me-
diterranean, and their fhips might fail v/ithout interruption, or even
competition, to every port in it.

394 The naval battle at Cnidos deprived the Spartans of the fove-

reignty of the Greciaa feas : and, if we confider the obflinacy of their
anticommercial prejudices, and their late ignorance of every branch of
nautical kriowlege, we mufl think it wonderful, that their valour could,
maintain the fuperiority fo long.

370 — About this time flourifhed Plato, one of the mofl: celebrated
of the Grecian philofophers. Like other Greeks defirous of knowlege,
he traveled into Egypt * ; where he and Eudoxus, who became a fam-
ous aftronomer, having by an initiation of thirteen years acquired the
confidence and goodwill of the priefls of On, or Heliopolis, they im-
parted to them, as a fpecial favour and a great inyftery, the difcovery,
(apparently new to themfelves f, though long before known to the Ba-
bylonians) that the true period of the annual revolution was about fix
hours more than 365 days. Dionyfius king of Syracufe invited Plato
to his court ; but foon after, being offended that he did not flatter him,
he fold him for a Have at the price of five minge, or about fixteen
pounds fterling. Kotwithftanding this rough treatment, Plato ventured
to accept an invitation from Dionyfius the younger, who received him
on his landing with the moft; diftinguiflied honours, and for fome time
regulated his condudt by his advice. So highly fenfible was he of his
happinefs in having fuch a counfellor, that, according to Diogenes Laer-
tius, he prefented him with a fum of money exceeding eighty talents
(about ^^15, 500 fierling). Thus we fee, how very differently the fame
man was valued as a Have and ps a philofopher. But fome authors fay,
that Plato refufed to accept the gift.

* Plutarch in the Life of Solon relates a report, ing the improvements' afcribed to Cleoftiatiis and
that Plato's chief errand to Egypt was to dilpofe Melon, perhlled fur ages in a calculation of years,
of a quantity of oil. But that Itory does not very which required the frequent interpofilion of inter-
well corrclpond with a relidt nee of thirteen years ; calary' months to bring them near to the true
and rtiU worfe with his plan of a wcll-regulattd courie of the fun and the moon. \_Hirod. L. \,
commonwealth, from which he excluded commer- c. 32, (in which the numerals are corrupted) L.
cial purfuits and maritime power. {^Plalo de Lg. ii, f. 4. — Shabo, L. xvii, p. ii6o.] It is alfo
L- iv.] worthy of remark, that the Greek language in the

f The Egyptians, from whom Herodotus learn- time of Herodotus had not a word to txprcfs an

ed what he knew of aflronomy, had in his time eclipfe ; or he would not have been obliged to de-

apparently come no nearer to the exaft length of fcribe it [L. i, c. 74] by faying, that the day be-

the year than 365 days. The Greeks in general came night,

did not come fo near; moft of them, notwithftand- 1

»jQ Before Chrift 351 — 348.

About the fame time Eudoxus, the fellow traveler and fellow fludent
of Plato, improved fcience in Greece by the introduction of the ce-
leftial fphere, by a reformation of the erroneous calculation of the year,
(which however feems to have been little attended to) and by his writ-
ings upon aftronomy, geometry, and geography.

351 — The Sidonians, provoked by the intolerable tyranny of the
Perfian governors, confpired with the Egyptians to throw off the yoke.
Their defection drew upon them the innumerable army of Perfia, led
on by the great king in perfon, to whom the city was betrayed by the
treachery of one of the commanders of their mercenary allies, and,
what is more furprifing, by their own king. The conduct of the Sidon-
ians on this occafion was the very reverfe of the wifdom of the Tyr-
ians when befieged by Nebuchadnezar, and the determined refolution
of the Phocceans when they found themfelves unable to refifl the army
of Cyrus. In order to prevent any perfon from withdrawing from the
defence of the city, they burnt the whole of their fhips, (an adion
fcarcely credible of a maritime and commercial people) by which rafli
condud, and their infuperable averfion to Perfian flavery, they were
driven to the defperate refolution of fetting fire to their own houfes,
and facrificing themfelves, their wives, and their children on the great
altar of liberty compofed of their whole city. Thus fell the great Si-
don, after it had been, during a long fucceffion of ages, the commercial
capital of the Eaft : and even its aflies, which contained great quanti-
ties of melted gold and filver, afforded a valuable prize to the enemy.
It was afterwards rebuilt by fuch of its citizens as, by being abfent on
voyages, happened to eicape the felf-devoted extermination. But it
never recovered its former fplendour, and was more celebrated in after
ages for its manufadures of glafs, than for commercial enterprife or
profperity.

348 — The Romans and their allies, who arc not named, entered in-
to a fccond treaty with the Carthaginians and their allies, of whom the
Tyrians and Uticans are named. In this the navigation of the Romans
was reftrided to more confined limits than in the former treaty, they
being only permitted to trade to the port of Carthage and the Cartha-
ginian territories in Sicily, and prohibited from landing in any other
part of Africa, or in Sardinia, unlefs compelled by neceflity, in which
cafe their flay was not to exceed five days. The Carthaginians were to
enjoy an equal liberty of trade in Rome ; and if they fliould take any
Latin city, not fubjed to Rome, they were not to keep poffeffion of it,
but reft latisfied with the plunder and prifoners *.

* Pol)bius, [//. ii!, c. 24] gives tlic words of and alliance of the Romans ; a mode of applica-

this tiiaty, hut without tlic date. It mull be the tion rather at variance with the tenor of the treaty,

fame whicli Livy [A. vii, c. 27] dates 348 before Orofius [Z/- iii, c. 7] cnoneouny calls it the full

Chtift. Livy fays, tliat the Carthaginians fcnl treaty.
ambalTadors to Rome to petition tlic frieiidfhip i

Before Chrifl: 338 — 333. 71

338 — The Romans, having fubdued the Latins, got poflellion of fix
warlike gallies, which formed the navy of Antium*, a maritime town,
and the capital of that people. Part of them they carried into their
own harbour ; and part they burnt, and with their armed beaks, or
roftra, they adorned their tribunal in the forum. So little did they
know what to do with fhips ! This circumflance, if truely related, might
induce us to believe, that the Carthaginians had not yet feen any rea-
Ibn to be very jealous of the maritime power of the Romans. [Liv. L.
viii, c. 14 — F/or. L. i, c. 11.]

223 The commerce of the eafi: end of the Mediterranean, after

flouriftiing for ages in the hands of the Phoenicians and their colonifts,
had fuffered for two centuries under the tyranny and commercial igno-
rance of the Perfian fatraps, when Alexander arofe, whofe immoderate
ambition and aftonifhing fuccefs were deftined to change the face of the
eaftern world. That conqueror, fenfible, that if he left the maritime
provinces in the allegiance of Perfia, he fhould run a rifk of his com-
munication with Greece being intercepted, his army and himfelf being
cut off, or the war being transferred to his own country, inftead of
puftiing forward after the battle of Iffus for the capital of Perfia, turn-
ed his march fouthward along the fliore of Phoenicia. The poor re-
mains of the Sidonians and the other towns on the coafl fubmitted
without refiflance, and even joined his forces againft their own coun-
trymen. But he met with a very different reception from the Tyrians,
who offered to be his friends, but firmly refufed to be his fubjeds.
Alexander, afiioniflied at fuch boldnefs in a community of merchants,
threatened to defl:roy their city. The Tyrians on the other hand made
every preparation for a brave defence, and (hipped off great numbers
of their women and children, configning them to the care of the Car-
thaginians, who were prevented by lome domefliic commotions from
furnifhing affiftance to their parent Hate. In order to get at the fea-
girt city, Alexander, effeded what none but Alexander would have con-
ceived the idea of undertaking. With the ruins of old Tyre and the
timber of Lebanon he conflruded a caufeway, or mole, acrofs the rapid
ftrait of half a mile in breadth, which divided the ifland from the con-
tinent, notwithftanding the fl;renuous oppofition of the Tyrians, who
omitted nothing, that valour, affiiled by fcience and ingenuity, could
perform. They employed divers to cut the cables of Alexander's fliips ;
and they defi:royed his works and his people by a fire-fliip f , by flam-
ing arrows, by balls of red-hot iron, by hooked poles, by nets, and by
three-forked Ipears with lines, fuch as are ufed for ftriking fifh : and,

* Antium appears from the firft treaty between f This, if I miftake not, is the earlicR notice

Carthage and Romt; to have been fubjeft to the of that engine of dcllruction. For a particular .

later 170 years before this time. Sec above, p. defcriptlon of it fee Anion, L. ii.
61.

72 Before Chrift 333.

when the Macedonians fcaled the walls, they poured down upon them
fhowers of burnmg land, which penetrated to the bone with excruciat-
ing torture. But after a gallant defence of feven months Tyre funk
under the coUeded maritime power of Ihe Eaft, and the attack of an
enemy, who afpired to the conqueft of the world : the city was deftroy-
ed, and the citizens were butchered or enflaved, except a few, who
took refuge in a temple, and, according to Curtius, fifteen thoufand,
who were carried off by the Sidonians, repenting, but too late, of the
part they had taken in the deftruclion of their friends (a". 3^2).

Thus fell Tyre, ' the renowned city, which was ftrong in the fea,'
' wiiofe merchants were princes, whofe traflSckers were the honourable
' of the earth,' after oppofing to the conqueror of the Eaft, a more vi-
gorous refiftance than he experienced from the whole power of Perfia.
And it muft be allowed, that her fall was more glorious to the vanquifhed
than to the conquerors; and that Alexander, with all his military con-
dud:, and perfevering valour, could icarcely have accomplifhed the de-
ftruclion of Tyre, if the other maritime flates, inftead of confpiring
againfl; her, and depriving her of the dominion of the fea, had united
to repell the invader, and fecure their own independence.

53-2 — From Phoenicia Alexander marched intoEgypt, wdiich fubmitted
to him without a blow. Though then but a very young man, his judge-
ment perceived at once, what the highly-extolled wifdom of Egypt had
for fo many years been blind to, that that country was formed by nature
to command and unite the commerce of the whole world. No one of
the many mouths of the Nile * was capable of being formed into a har-
bour, fit to receive the fhipping expeded to frequent the deftined port.
But on a part of the fliore, wefl: of all the mouths, and almoft uninhabit-
ed, where the Egyptian kings had built a fort to repell the pirates of
antient Greece, he found a harbour, protefted by the ifland of Pharos,
and formed by nature for the fituation of the commercial capital of the
world. On this fpot he immediately ereded a city, which was carried
on with a regularity of plan, and beauty of execution, hitherto unequal-
ed, under the direclion of Dinocrates, a mathematician and archited,
who had been employed to rebuild the temple of Diana at Ephefus.
Canals conneded it with the Nile, and with the lake of Maroea, or
Mareotis, which afforded inland navigation to fo great an extent of
country, that Strabo thought the port on this inland lea more wealthy
than that on the great one. Though the new city, which was called
Alexandria, was foon deprived of the advantages flowing from the fa-
vour of its founder by his death ; yet, by the foftering care of his fuc-

* The general deptli of tlic main cliamicl of Hvcn tlic Cnnopic mouth, the largeft of the wholf,

the Nile, Is only from ttirec to ei^ht cuhlis. The is remarkably cncumbortd witli flioals. [Z)W.

boats of I'tolcmy LagU3 eroded the Pchifinc S/'ru/. 0/ym/>. Ii8. — Shniv's Trnvr/s, />. ^^^ ; ar\d

branch, by felting with polc-j a;;ain(l the iiottom, fupp/micut, /: 47. — Purduis^s Fil^rimes, /,. vi, /.

wliieh, ill many places, lias not three ftct of water. i/Oi.j

\

Before Chrift 33 1 — 326, 73

ceflbrs, but much more by the advantages mfeparable from its fituation,
it became, in time, the principal mart of the Eafi:. And it continued,
notwith {landing the convulfions of empire, to be for many centuries
the point of union between the remoteft regions of the eaflern and wefl-
ern worlds.

331 — Alexander, freed of all apprehenfion from maritime enemies,
by the defolation of Tyre, and the fubmiflion of the other Phcenician
communities, together with Cyprus, Rhodes, and the neighbouring
Hates, met with fcarcely any oppofition in his great defign of fubvert-
ing the Perfian empire, which the decilive battle of Gaugamela effeded.
In the capital cities he found gold and filver to the value of thirty mil-
lions of pounds fterling. This fum, amounting to the revenue of many
years, fhows, that the Perfian monarchs, with all their magnificence and
profufion, were really economifts, and that their expenditure was greatly
within their income *.

327 — Alexander, having overrun almoft the whole extent of the Perf-
ian empire, attacked and ravaged the country watered by the branches
of the Indus, which is called the Panjab. Having defeated fome of the
Indian kings in battle, he difplayed his generofity, by permitting them
to retain their own dominions, which he probably faw the impollibility
of keeping in fubjedion to himfelf. Such condud, however criminal
in the eye of reafon, was prodirtlive of fome advantage, by conveying
to the weftern world, in the works of feveral writers who attended Alex-
ander, the earliefi: knowlege of many particulars of the fiHce of that rich
and populous country, wherein the arts and fciences had flourifhed for
many centuries before they began to dawn upon Europe.

326 — It was probably with a view to commerce, as well as to con-
queft, that Alexander undertook in perfon a voyage of dilcovery down
the great river Indus. At the head of the Delta of that river, he built
a fort at Pattala, and alfo conllruded a harbour, or naval arienal.
[yirrian, L. vii ; — Agatharchides, L. v, r. 51.] This place was apparent-
ly the modern Tatta, four miles below the head of the Delta ; and hav-
ing the advantage of a vaft inland navigation through a rich and popul-
ous country, together with eafy accefs to the Ocean, and thereby to In-

* Having now gone throsgh the liiftory of the ceived identity of Corefli, the great friend of the
Perfian race of kings, it is proper to obferve, that Jews, with Kyros or Cyrns, tlie great hero of
I have been obh'ged to 'oUovv the Grecian writers, Grecian hillory, and of Grecian and modern ro-
the acconnt given by the modem Perfian hiilorians niance, is attended with great difficulties. The
beliig fo totally different, that it is utterly inipof- name of Ahafuerus lias been given to at leaft three
fible to connect any event in it with the received of the Perfian kings of Grecian hillory. Neither
hiUories of other nations, if we only except the have the names or actions mentioned in the Bible
conqueft of the country by Elcander, for fo they any greater agreement with thoie related by the
call Alexander. The incidental notices of Perfian Perfian hiftorians. The fuppofition of Mr. Rich-
affairs in the Bible, have terribly diftreffed the aTdfon, that titles have been lometimes fubilituted
critics and chronologers, in attempting to reconcile for names, fcems the only poffible way to get out
them with Grecian hillory. The generally-re- of the labyrinth.

Vol. T. K

74 Before Chrift 326.

dia, Perfia, and Arabia, it became a celebrated emporium, and remain-
ed a place of confiderable commerce, till the modern compendious voy-
ages to the farther parts of India carried moil of the trade away from
it.

When Alexander arrived at the Ocean, he ordered Nearchus, a Cret-
an officer, to take the command of the fleet, and proceed wellward,
along the fhore, to the head of the Perfian gulf. The voyage was ac-
cordingly performed, and accounts of it, and of the countries and peo-
ple difcovered in it, were written by Nearchus, and by Oneficritus, alfo
an officer in the fleet.

Alexander propofed to difpatch Nearchus on a fecond voyage round
the coafl of Arabia and up the Red fea, that he might obtain more
ample knowlege of the coafts of the Indian, or Erythraean, fea, for the
purpofes of commerce and government. But that expedition, together
with all the ambitious projedls, and alfo, as there is good reafon to be-
lieve, the many commercial fchemes of Alexander, were interrupted by
his death, in the thirty-third year of his age (a°. 324) *. This extraor-
dinary man, who was neither fo perfeft a charader as his panegyrifls
make him, nor fuch a mere madman as others have ralhly called him,
appears to have been feniible of the great importance of commerce. It
was impofllble for him not refled, that the vaft and populous empire of
Perfia, and all the nations he had ever attacked, either in Europe or in
Afia, had funk under his power with lefs oppofition than he had met
with from the fingle mercantile city of Tyre. The reflection could not
fail to imprefs him with a very high idea of the refources to be derived
from a flourifhing and well-diredled commerce ; and of the great exer-
tions, even of military force, which a community of merchants were
capable of making, when compelled to employ their money, the finews
of trade, and alio of war, in the defence of their native country. The
foundation of Alexandria has been already related : and many others of
his actions fliow, that, amid ft all his plans of war and conqueft, he never
loft fight of a grand defign of making the commerce of his fubjeds ftill
more extenfive than his empire. With this view he built about feventy
towns in fituations well adapted for commercial intercourfe. With this
view he opened the navigation of the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Eu-
loeus, which were faid to have been obftruded by the blind policy of pre-

* Among the weftern nations who font congia- Livy, has amufcd liiniTclf [Z. ix, c. 17] with
tiilatory, or adulatory, addrefTts to Alexander, making up a lill of Roman licrots contemporary
were the Romaui, according to Clitcirchus, an with Alexander, who would have conquered him,
hiftnrian who attended him in his expedition, and, if he liad prcfumed to come in their way. Livy
by Pliny's account, the fecond Greek writer who did not know, or was willing to forget, tliat the
mentioned the Romans; the firll being Theopom- Romans were repeatedly defeated, not by Alex-
pus, who only recorded the capture of Rome by andir, but by Alexander's veteran warriors, 7,000
the Gauls. [P/;'h. Z. iii, r. 5.] Neither of thefe of whom were in the army of Pyrrhus king of
notices was *ery flattering to the pride of the Epirus.
coDJjucrors of the world, whofc ronui.tic hiRorian,

Before Chrift 324. 75

ceding Ibvereigns, in order to prevent the ai-rival of foreign veflels*. He
had two veflels of five tires of oars, three of four, twelve of three, and
thirty veflels of thirty oars each, built by the Phoenicians, and after-
wards taken afunder, carried over-land to Thapfacus on the Euphrates,
there fet up, launched on the river, and floated down to Babylon : and .
he built a fleet of veflels of the cyprefs wood of Babylonia, having pro-
cured carpenters, feafaring people, and people acquainted with the cap-
ture of the purple fliell-flfh, from Phoenicia and Syria. He alfo con-
flrud:ed a harbour, capable of containing a thoufand veflels, at the in-
land city of Babylon. He moreover ordered by his will, that harbours,
and yards for fliip-building, fliould be made in proper places through-
out his empire ; and that a great road fliould be extended along the
north fliore of Africa from Egypt to the Ocean, in which plan the con-
queft of the Carthaginian territories was to be included.

Alexander's voyages, the menfuration of all his marches made by
the beft artifts he could procure, and the information obtained by the
men of fcience in his army, were the foundation of what knowlege the
Greeks had of the geography of Afia, and probably alfo of general geo-
graphy. His preceptor, Ariflotle, in his work upon the heavens, [L. ii,
c. 1 4] proves the earth, which we inhabit, to be a globe, the circumfer-
ence of which was reckoned by mathematicians 400,000 ftadia (about
40,000 miles). He alfo fays, there is nothing improbable ill the opi-
nion of thofe who believe, that there is only one ocean, and that the
Columns of Hercules (or the Straits of Gibraltar) are very near to India.
— Behold the earlieft dawn, at leaft the earlieft known to us, of that
geographical fcience which, after a lapfe of about eighteen centuries,
ftirred up in Chriftopher Colon the ambition of being the leader ot
European navigators to India by a weflern courfe f.

In the important fcience of aftronomy Alexander poured a copious
flream of new light upon Greece by tranfmitting to Ariflotle an exadl
copy of the celeflial obfervations, which had been made at Babylon
during the courfe of above Jii?ieieen cetituries.

From the knowlege conveyed to Europe by the hiflorians and artifts
in the fervice of himfelf and his fuccelfors, correded and afllfted by
fome very antient monuments of the literature and fcience of India,
which have lately been acquired, we are enabled to form lome idea of
the antient flate of that country.

* Such is the motive afllgned for tlie obftnic- Terr.L-r, F. i, p. 227 — Voyages de Kiduhr, V. ii,

tion of the llreams by the hillonaiis of Alexander, pp. 198, 307.]

\_Arr\aii, L. vii — Slralo, L. xvi, p. 107S.] But, -f The pailage of Ariftotle here quoted, which

as fucli obltruftions are ftill kept up on the Eu- fliows that fome others had alfo turned their at-

phratcs and Ti>Tris for tiie purpofe of fprcading tention to fuch lubjecls, is affigned as one of the

the water over the adjacent level country, it is rea- chief foundations ot Colon's belief of the pratiica-

fonable to fuppofe, that the antient dikes were bility of a weftern voyage to India, in the feventh

conllrufted for the fame ufeful piirpofe. [See Ta- chapter of his hiilory, written by his fon.

K 2

76 Before Chrlft. 324.

At rhe time of Alexander's invafion the jurifprudence and police of
India were regulated with admirable wifdom, matured by the accumu-
lated experience of many centuries of civiUzation and eftabliflied govern-
ment. The large extent of the Hates or kingdoms, the perfedion of
their agriculture and manufaftures, and the very flourifhing ftate of the
arts and fciences, afford evident proofs of this truth *. Their fertile
fields, and their judicious cultivation, produced annually two crops of
grain of various forts, whereof rice conilituted the chief article of their
fubfiflence. From rice they extraded a fpiritous liquor, as well as from
the fugar-cane ; from which they alfo made fugar, which Nearchus
[ap. Strab. L. xv, /». iot6] calls honey of canes, its proper Indian name
of facchar {(Toi.x,yaf) being yet unknown to the Greeks. The rent of
land was generally one fourth part of the produce. The cultivators of
the earth, together with their lands and their produAions, were exempted
from the toils, the dangers, and the ravages, of war. The valuable cotton
Ihrub fupplied them with clothing, which was chiefly calico, either pure
white, or adorned with figures of various colours, fuch as is now worn by
women of all ranks in this country, in imitation of the productions of the
Indian looms. Their drefs was alfo ornamented with gold and jewels.
They ufed umbrellas, a iimple and elegant defence from the fun and the
rain, which we havejufl: begun to enjoy, after it has beenfome thoufands
of years common in the Eaft. Their roads were carefully kept in repair,
and regularly furniflied with mile-fl:ones. Houfes of reception for tra-
velers (called choultries at prefent, and probably then alfo) were efta-
blifhed at proper dillances. The interefl; of money was regulated by
law, as was alfo the rate, or premium, due for the advance of money
upon bottomry ; circumfl:ances which fiiow, that commerce was well
und.erftood, and had long flourifliedf. Their fculptures on the hardefl
gems, many of which are of very high antiquity and great elegance,
and their ingenious works in various metals, and in ivory, were admired
by the Greeks \. Their architedture, military and religious, was on fuch
a large fcale, as could only be executed by great communities, living
under regular governments. Their literary compofitions, in the earlieft
ages to which our imperfeft information extends, but many centuries
prior to the irruption of Alexander, appear, by the fpecimens we have
lately been favoured with, to be fuch as could only be produced among

• Do£lor Robertfon alfo confidcis the diftribu- Cliarles I. How many centuries we were behind

tion of the people into dillinil hereditary cads, the Indians in commercial policy !
who were bound by thcit religion invariably to f The prefent age may alfo fee and admire the

follow the profeflions or trades of their aneeilors, gems in the great trcafury of them, coUetlcd by

as a proof of very a;itient civilization ; \^IIijlorical Mr. TatTic of Leiceller fqnarc. The legends on

Jifijuifuiim, p. 230, ed, 1794] though the wifdom them arc in the Sanflirect, which, ihougli antient-

of filch a policy feems at leall verj- doubtful. ly the univerfal language of a great part of Afia,

f In this commercial nation contrafls for bot- has long been known only to llie moll learned of

lomry weic not regularly legal till the reign of the Brahmins.

Before Chrift 324. 77

a people of elegant manners, and cultivated tafte, improved by ages of
refinement. In moral and natural piiilofopby they are acknowleged
to have been the maflers of the Grecian fages, the greateft of whom,
notwithftunding the vaft length and labour of the journey, traveled to
India, that they might drink the dreams of wifdom and learning pure
at the fountain. In the eminently-ufeful and moft perfed: fcience of
ARITHMETIC the ufcd the fimple and comprehenfive fyftem of nine
figures and a cypher, now common among us, which is fo infinitely fu-
perior to the tedious and clumfy numerical notation of the Greeks and
Romans by letters *. They alfo underfi:ood that more abftrufe fpecies of
arithmetic, called algebra, which they appear to have communicated to
the reft of the world. The rotundity of the earth was known to them.
Their aftronomical calculations, which include the moft profound know-
lege of arithmetic and trigonometry, rife up to a height of antiquity,
which may ftagger credibility, and which, if infallibly proved to be ge-
nuine, (and they have ftood the teft of very ftri6l examination by fome
great aftronomers) go far to overturn the authenticity of our generally-
received moft antient chronology ; for they exceed the antiquity of the
Babylonian calculations by alnioft nine centuries. (See above, page 3.)
And here it is proper to obferve, that the fanciful figures, alligned to
the twelve divifions of the zodiak, appear, from recent difcoveries .of
very antient monuments, to have been copied by the Greeks, or their
authors, from the Indian aftronomers ; though we have all along fup-
pofed them fprung from the fabulous mythology of Greece f.

* ' According to a new though probable no- ninth century, who fays, that the Arabs have re-

' tion, maintained by M. de Villoifon, {^Aiiecdula tained the Greek numerals, Iniving no charaSas in

' Grteca, torn, n, p. 152 — 157) our cyphers are not their own language for marking numbers. \_Huetiana,

•of Indian or Arabic invention. They were a;7. 48.] And lo we are to believe, on the authority

' ufed by the Greek and Latin arithmeticians long of Thcophanes, (' the father of many a lie,' Gibbon,

' before the age of Boethius. After the extinc- V.\\,p. 253) that the Arabian merchants, who ap-

' tion of fcience in the Weft, they were adopted by pear from the books of Genefis and Job, from Aga-

' the Arabic verfions from the original MSS. and tharchides, the Peiiplus of the Erythrsan fea, Stra-

* rejlorcd to the Latins about the xith century.' bo, Pliny, S:c. to have been the firll, and, for ieveral ■

{Gibbon's Hijlory of the Roman empire, ed. 1 79 1, thoufands of years, the greateft importers of Indian

V, y., p. ?i, nole.~\ goods, and the band of connection between the

The celebrated Huet had nearly the fame notion eaftern and weftcrn parts of the world, were def-

with Villoifon. He fays, that, though it is the titute of figures to keep their accounts, till they

opinion of all learned men, that the numeral figures learned them from the Greeks !
now in ufe were brought into Spain by the Moors, ♦ The Arabians, not long after their fettlement

who had them from the Arabs, who had them ' in Spain, introduced this mode of notation into

from the Indians; and, though he agrees that ' Europe, and were candid enough to acknowledge,

the Spaniards learned them from the Moors, ' that they derived the knowledge of it from the

and they from the Arabs, he maintains, that ' Indians.' {Rohertfon' s Difquifition, p. 288, ed.

the Indians learned them from the Arabs, and 1794 — Vindise Montucia, Hiji. de mathematiques,V,

the Arabs from the Greeks, from whom they i,/>. 360.]

alfo derived all their learning : but they had fo "I- There is a curious paflage in Ammlanus
much altered the forms of the figures from thofe Marcellinus, [Z. xxiii] wherein he fays, that
of the Greek numeral letters, that they can fcarcc- Hyftafpes, the father of Darius, traveled into In-
ly be recognized in their imitations of them (which, dia, and was inllrucled by the Erachmans (or
to be fure, is no wonder, for there is no likenefs). Bramins) in the knowlcge of the mundane fyftem
And for all this he adduces the authority of and the motions of the liars, as well as the pure
Theophanes, a Conftantinopolitan writer of the rites of religion. 4

78 Before Chrift 324.

With all thefe high acquifitions in philofophy, literature, arts,
fciences, and manufadures ; in fliort, with every requifite of national
grandeur and felicity, they carried the pacific virtues to fuch an excefs,
and confequently were fo ignorant of the art of war, that in all ages
e%-ery adventurous plunderer, who could colled: fifty or a hundred thou-
fand robbers under his command, and could furmount the natural ob-
flruclions of rugged mountains and great rivers, has found it an eafy
matter to feize the wealth of an induftrious and gentle, but effeminate,
people. Yet, notwithflanding the frequent repetition of thofe robberies,
the Indians, by the fertility of their foil, the frugality of their expenfes,
particularly in their fubfiilence, and above all, by the unrivaled excel-
lence of their manufadures, and the greatnefs of their trade, though ge-
nerally a pafTive one, have in ail ages quickly recovered from the effeds
of the depredations, and foon become more vvcalthy than their plunder-
ers *.

Such were the people, whom the comparatively rude and ignorant
Greeks infolently termed barbarians ; in which they are followed by
too many of the Europeans, even of the prefent day, who confider, as
creatures of an inferior fpecies, the defcendents of artifts and fages, who
were unqueflionably the teachers of thofe, from whom we derive our
firft knowlege of arts, fcience, philofophy, and letters.

Though the Greeks cannot fland a comparifon with the people of
the Eafl in the depth of fcience, and far lei's in the perfedion of manu-
fadures, yet, till the redudion of their country by the Romans, they
preferved a diftinguifhed pre-eminence above all the nations of Europe,
(unlefs the Etrurians ought to be excepted) in literature and fcience ;
while in the fine arts, and in mofl: works of tafte, they attained a de-
gree of excellence, furpailing that of the oriental nations f.

At this time, and probably for many centuries before j;, the fouthern

• National indulliy is a gentle, regular, and lake, or a branch of the ocean. £See Herod. L. i,

never-failing Itrcam, piodncing a gradual and cer- c. 203 ; L. ii, c. II ; L. iv, c. 44.]
tain accumulation of wealth , whereas the horridly- For the hiftory of Alexander, I have moflly fol-

fplendid acqiiifition of conciiielt, is an inundation, lowed Arrian. The iketch of the antient Hate of

which, after fuddcnly crtiitiiig an ocean of fupcr- India is chiefly compiled from Arrian, Strabo,

abundance, leaves behind it a ruined and barren Pliny, &:c. who have preferved fragments of tl.c

defert. works of Ncarchus, Oncficritns, Megatthenes, and

f It cannot, however, be denied, that the other writers of Alexander's age ; and I am in-

Gretks of Alexander's age wx-re wonderfully igno- dcbted for the mod of the recently-obtained in-

rant of many things, which they might have known formation, to Doftor Robertfon's elaborate ap-

from Herodotus. Had they attended to the in- pendix U->\\\% Difquifition on ancient India, to which

foimation Iranfmitted by him, they need not have the reader may apply for more ample information,

fuppofcd, that Alexander was the firft, who, after and for the authorities.

their fabulous Bicchus and Hercules, reached the J ' The labour of Egypt, and merchandize of

River Indus: they need not have fuppofcd that ' Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of flat ure,' were

rivtr to be the Nile, becaufe they faw crocodiles noted by Ifaiah, {j . 45] who lived 800 years

in it, nor have been tirrllied by the tides at the before the Chrillian a;ia ; and Agatharchides, 650

mouth of it ; nor would Alexander have been in years after him, dcfcribtd the Sabeans as remarkably

doubt, whether the Cafpian fea was an inland ilout men, and the grcateil merchants in the wuild.

Before Chrift 324. 79

Arabians, whofe great proficiency in manufadures, fcience, and com-
merce, in the early ages has been ah-eady noticed, were the merchants
who managed the commercial intercourfe between the weflern parts of
the world and India. * Hitherto no one had ever failed from. India to Egypt,
' neither had any perfon from Egypt ever ventured as far as India,'' the utmofl
extent of their navigation being the port called Arabia the Blefled, or
the Happy, in the country of the Sabeans, a little way beyond the Itrait
or mouth of the Red fea, wherein all the rich produdlions and manu-
fadures of India, and all thofe which were carried from Egypt, as well
as the fpices, aromatics, and other produce of the adjacent country,
were colleded and exchanged ; that port being then, what Alexandria
became in after ages, the commercial center of the eaftern and weftern
worlds*. [Periphis Maris Erythrai, p. 156, ed. Blancardi.'\

The Gerrhaeans, a Babylonian colony fettled in that part of Arabia
which lies on the fouth coafl of the Perfian gulf, were engaged in the
fame trade, and carried their merchandize in boats up the Euphrates to
Babylon, and alfo as far as Thapfacus, 240 miles higher up the river in
the Palmyrenian territory, where they were landed, and thence difpenf-
ed by land carriage through all the neighbouring countries, \^Ariftohnlus
ap. Strabo, L. xvi, p. mo — Agatharchides , L. v, c. 50, ap. Photiiwi] and
probably, by means of the Palmyrenian merchants, into Europe.

The foundation of the commercial city of Maffilia by a colony of
Afiatic Greeks from Phocsea in the time of Cyrus has already been no-
ticed. There is little or no mention of the early commercial tranfac-
tions of the Maflilians in any hiftory now extant ; but it is probable that
they went on in a peaceful career of commercial profperity. It was
about this time, or perhaps before it, that, emulous of the fame, and
defirous of participating in the advantageous trade, of the Phoenicians
of Gadir, and perhaps of the Carthaginians, in the remote countries un-
known to the other Mediterranean nations, they determined, with a
fpirit worthy of a great commercial flate. to fend perfons properly qua-
lified to make difcoveries in the Ocean to the fouthward and northward
of the Stfaits. Of the fouthern voyage we know nothing but the name
of Euthymenes f the commander. The condu6l of the more arduous
northern expedition was committed to their illuftrious citizen, Pytheas,
a philofopher and difcoverer, whofe works, if extant, would throw great *

* I have placed this important notice of the the boafted oriental trade of Egypt under ihe Pto-

commercial pre-eminence of Arabia Felix only co- lemies extended no farther than Arabia about 170

eval with the infancy of Alexandria. It unquef- years after the foundation of Alexandria, and that

tionably includes the time preceding the eftablifh- there is even no good hilloric proof of any direS

ment of that city ; and the modern fancies of great intercourfe between Egypt and India prior to the

ccmmerclal intercourfe beliueen antient Egypt and In- fubjeftion of the former to the R.omans.

dia nianiflj lefore it. The judicious reader will per- f This is probably the fame Euthymenes who

haps think that it might with propriety have been is mentioned by Plutarch, Seneca, and Artemido-

carried fome centuries higher, on the authority of rus of Ephefus, as a geographical writer.

Ifaiah ; and we (liall foon fee rcafon to believe that 4

8o Before Chrift 324.

light on the early hiftory of Britifh commerce *. From the imperfed:,
difguifed, and mifreprefented, quotations of them to be found in feve-
ral antierit authors f , we learn, that he coafted along the whole of the
fhore of Britain, where he remarked the extraordinary rife of the flood
tides X- From Britain he pafled in fix days to Thule, which is evident-
ly Shetland ; and there he obierved the great length of the days in fum-
mer, when the fun rofe in three hours after his fetting, as he actually
does in the north part of Shetland §. He even penetrated into the Bal-
tic fea to the country of the Guttones, now called Guddai, and the
ifland called Abalus and Baltia, (apparently the peninfula now called
Samland) the fliores of which produced amber, an article of luxury
highly efteemed by the antients, among whom many fables were cur-
rent concerning the country where it was found, and the mode of ob-
taining it. He alfo defcribed the abundance of honey, for which that
country is ftill remarkable, and the pradice, ftill common in it, of
making drink from honey and from corn. He was the firft man of
Grecian origin who could nearly afcertain the place of the north pole
in the heavens : and fuch was his aftronomical accuracy, that his ob-
fervation of the latitude of Maflilia was proved, by that of the great
philofopher Gaflendl in 1636, to be ivithin one mile of the truth ; a differ-
ence which might be effeded by the change of the buildings of the city
in the courfe of ages. His theory of the tides, the very exiftence of
which was fcarcely known to any of the Greeks, appears, through the

* Pytheas could not well lie later than he is fcntcd by antient ignorance in detracting from the
here placed, becaiife his work was quoted by Di- extent of it, and by modern ignorance in enlarging
ccarchus, who flourilhed about 310 years before it beyond the bounds of poiiibility. Beqaufe he
Chrift. [Ar^io, i. ii, />. 163.] He might be ear- faid that he failed in fix days from Britain to
Her, for the account of the Northern ocean by Tlude, it has been fuppofed in later times that
Hccatsens of Abdcra, a writer contemporary with Thule muft have been Iceland ; to which a mo-
Alexander, is probably copied from him. The dern navigator, furniflicd with a compafs and other
confiifed ftory of an ifland north of Gaul, not lifs inftrnments, and having a previous knowlegc of
ihan Sicily, (the greatcit of all tlie iilands known the cour'e and didance, may fail from the north
to the Greeks) might perhaps be an cmbellifh- pait of Britain in about fix days and nights.
meiit by HecatKUS of the account of Britain by Thofe critics did not confider, how many davs
Pytheas. [P/fn. /////. nut. L. iv, c. 13. — JEl'mni would be neceflary to creep through the utterly-
h'lft. antm. L. xi, c. I. — Diod. Skul. L. li.] See unknown and dangert-us channels of the Orkneys,
alfo Bougainville, [^Mem. de Ihleralure, V. xix, p. and from thence to Fare ifle and Shetland. Thev
148] who thinks he nuill have lived before Aril'- did not confider, that, though he could proceed
totlc. from MalTilia to the northern extremity of Shet-

f EraloJIhenes, Pnlybiiis, Sirabo, Pliny, Plutarch, land with land contlantly in fight, ire could not

Clcomedes, H'tpparchin ad Arnlum, yitheiiicus, Geml- polfibly go any farther. They were not aware,

nils, /Ippollimil [choliajles, Arlemldorus, &c. tliat a voyage to Iceland, which is fcveral hun-

\ Eighty cubits, as copied from Pytheas by drcds of miles from the nearell European land,
Pliny, according to the editions. \_Hlfl. mil. L. ii, was an ahfolute impojpbi/ily to a Mediterranean na-
c. 97.] This being evidently erroneous, Doclor vigator before the invention of the compafs. And,
For Iter, with great probability, fnppofes, that in- what was, if poffible, a greater negled than all
ftcad of ijf!o7eni.! cu'itis (tighty cubits), (he true thcfe, they did not attend to what is faid by Py-
reading ought to be oflo •vicfuis ctibilit (twenty- tlieas himfelf, who, in one of the plainefl quota-
eight cubits), or 42 feet, the height to which the lions given from him by Strabo, [L. ii, />. 175]
fpring tides aftually rife at Brillol. calls ' "Thuli the m'Jl northerly of the Britijlo i/lands.'

§ The voyage of rylheas has been mifreprc-

Before Chrift 314* 81

disfigured accounts of it tranfmitted to us by the ignorance of fucceed-
ing writers, to have been perfedly juft.

Such were the philofophical, geographical, and commercial, difco-
veries of Pytheas, whofe voyage, even when diverted of the imaginary
extenfion of it to Iceland by modern authors, if we duely confider the
flate of geography, aflronomy, and navigation, in that age, may with-
out hefitation be pronounced equal for enterprife and conducSt to any
of the circumnavigations of our own age, not even excepting the voyage
of Captain Cook into the inhofpitable and forbidding regions of the
Antardlic ocean *.

We know little or nothing of the advantages derived from the difco-
veries of Pytheas by the Maflilians. It is, however, very probable, that
they were the foundation of the great trade in tin, which they after-
wards carried on with Britain.

314 — Tyre, notwithftanding the ruin brought upon her by Alexan-
der, again lifted up her head : again the little ifland was covered with
buildings, which, to accommodate the crowded population, were reared
aloft in the air to a prodigious height f. The merchants, who in their
childhood had been faved from the butchery of Alexander's army at
Carthage and Sidon, recovered the commerce of their fathers, and Tyre
refumed its rank as the firft mercantile city in the eaflern part of the
Mediterranean. It had recovered fuch a fhare of the Oriental trade,
(or rather the trade with the fouth part of Arabia) which was condudl-
ed by means of land carriage from Rhinocorura on the confines of
Egypt and Phoenicia to the Elanitic branch of the Red fea, and thence
by a navigation of feventy days to the mouth of that fea, that it actual-
ly fupported a competition with Alexandria, though reared and nourifh-
ed by the foftering hands of viftorious fovereigns, and fed with the
plunder of the Eafl : fo difficult is it to turn afide the ftream of com-

* This great philofopher and difcoverer has cifm and philofophical fcrutiny of the prefent age.
horn an ample fhare of the malevolence and de- And it will not be thought out of place to ob-
traftion ufually attendant on real merit. He has ferve here, that ' the academy of Marfeille, deriv-
been accufed of grofs and intentional falfification * ing a worthy pride from this fpirit of enterprife
by Strabo and forr ■ other antient writers of great ♦ in their ancellors, animated with a liberality and
abilities, merely becaufe tlie fafts, which he truely ' noblenefs of fentiment which nothing but an in-
related, were incompreheniible to their very limit- ' ward confcioufnefs of kindred merit could give,
ed knowlege of the laws of nature and the uni- 'have this year, (1787) in a manner that does
verfe. But, on the other hand, Eratofthenes, one ' them great honour, propofed, as a fubjeft for a
of the moil judicious and accurate writers of anti- ' prize, the euloge of the Britifli navigator Cook.'
quity, confidered the work of Pytheas as an oracle: [_Governor Po-wnal's Notices of the Provincia Ro-
and even Strabo reluftantly does him the juftice to maim of Gaul, 1787.]

credit his account of the northern nations, of the The befl account of Pytheas that I have fees

truth of which, by the bye, he was no competent is in Fofler's Voyages in the North, B. i, c. 2.
judge. It is little to the credit of fomc modern f According to Strabo, [Z,. xvi, p. 1C98] the

writers that they have implicitly followed thofe houfes of Tyre were faid to be higher in his time

antient authors in abufing the Captain Cook of an- than thofe of Rome ; and there it was neceffary

liquity. His charafter, and the mercantile enter- to reftrain builders by law from exceeding the

prifing fpirit of his countrymen, are worthy of a height of I'eventy feet. See Gibbon, V, v, JB. 287,

reftoration to due honour by the hiftorical criti- ed. 1792.

Vol. I. L

82 Before Chrift 3 H'

merce from the channel in which it has been accuftomed to flow. But
now the frefli calamity of another fiege by Antigonus, one of the moft
powerful of Alexander's fucceffors, again reduced the queen of the fea
almoft to ruin ; and the Tyrians, after fuflaining a fiege of fifteen
months, were obliged to fubmit to the controul and infult of a garrifon
placed in their city by Antigonus (a". 313). [Diod. Sicul. L. xix — Strabo,
L. xvi, pp. 1098, 1113, 1128.]

304 — Antigonus was not equally fuccefsful in his attempt to fubjugate
the Rhodians. Thofe commercial people, who were famous for the wif-
Gom of their laws and police, the ftrength, beauty, and convenience, of
their city and harbour, the extent of their trade, and the greatnefs of
their naval power, had preferved a llridl neutrality with all the con-
tending princes, who were then tearing the empire of Alexander in
pieces, and employed their ftiips of war only againft pirates, the general
enemies of all mankind. Antigonus, having demanded their afllfiance
againft Ptolemy king of Egypt, was fo incenfed at their refufal, that he
immediately fent a fleet to block up their harbour, and to feize all vef-
fels bound to Egypt. This did not, however, prevent the Rhodians from
difpatching their veflels for Egypt as ufual ; but they had the precau-
tion to fend a fuflficient convoy of warlike fliips, which beat off the hof-
tile fleet, and faw their merchant vefllels fafe into Egypt. Antigonus
now fent againft the Rhodians a more formidable fleet and a great army,
under the command of his warlike fon Demetrius, who was renowned
for his ingenuity in conftruding vefl^els of war, and engines for the de-
flruction of fortifications. The naval forces of Demetrius were aug-
mented by the accelTion of moft of the pirates of the Mediterranean fea,
eager to revenge upon the Rhodians the fevere reftraint they had iuffer-
ed from their fleets, and alfo longing to fliare the plunder of a com-
munity, whofe induftry, prudence, and commercial fpirit, had enabled
them to amafs great wealth during a long continuance ot tranquillity.
But, notwithftanding his great niilitary talents, Demetrius was com-
pletely baffled by the Rhodians, who bravely repulfed him in every at-
tempt he made to enter their city, and deftroyed feverals of the moft
formidable of his engines, the conftrudion of which had coft him in-
credible labour and expenfe. At laft, after an unavailing fiege of a
whole year, Antigonus directed his fon to make peace with the Rhodi-
ans -. and on this occafion Demetrius made them a prefent of all the
ftupendous engines he had uied for their deftrudion. The materials
of them fold for three hundred talents (/^58,i25 of modern fterling
money) ; and with that money, and fome addition to it, they made
their famous brafen ftatue of Apollo, 70 cubits (105 feet) in height,
which they fet up at the entrance of their harbour, where it was fo
placed, that veflels pafiTed between the legs of it in coming in or going
out. [Diod. Sicul. L. xx — Fltit. in Dcmet?-. — Strabo, L. xiv, p. 964 — Plin.
L. xxxiv, c. 7.]

Before Chrift 3 1 1 — 302.

83

311 — According to Livy [L. ix, c. 30] the Romans appointed two
new officers, called duumviri navales, (or lords of the admiralty) whofc
duty it was to fupcrintend the equipment and repair of their fleets *.

302 — Seleucus, one of Alexander's officers, who obtained Syria, Ba-
bylonia, and Periia, as his fhare of the empire, had fome intercourfc
with India. He fent Megafthenes as his ambaflixdor to Chandragupta,
called by the Greeks Sandracottus, king of the Prafii, whofe capital was
Pataliputra, which the Greeks call Palibothra, on the Ganges f. Me-
gafthenes appears to have penetrated farther into the Eaft than any Eu-
ropean ever did before him ; and he publiflied an account of his travels
and difcoveries, which, containing many things incomprehenfible to the
Europeans, and being afterwa^-ds vitiated by tranfcribers, met with fe-
verer treatment from Strabo and fome other learned men than it pro-
bably deferved ; for in his geography of India he was much more ac-
curate than the fucceeding geographers, except thofe who copied from
him ; and it is chiefly to the fragments of his work, tvanfcribed by later
writers, that we are indebted for what little we know of the antient flate
of India. Allitrochadas, the fon of Chandragupta, (or Sandracottus)
i^eceived another ambafllidor, called Daimachus, from Seleucus, or his
fon Antiochus, who alfo fent Patrocles on a voyage of difcovery to the
eaftward. Both thefe travelers wrote accounts of their difcoveries, of
which we know next to nothing. After this the intercourfe between

* It is evident that Livy lias antedated the
creation of an office fuppofed antient in his own
time ; for Polybius, the eailieft and mod impartial
writer of Roman hiftory now extant, fays very ex-
prefsly and repeatedly, that the Romans had no
fleet before their firll war with Carthage. It may
be inferred, however, from their treaties with the
Carthaginians, that they, or rather their conquer-
ed fubjefts, had fome trading vefFels ; but their
traders, as we fliall frequently have occailon to ob-
ferve, attrafled very httle of the attention of go-
vernment.

It is proper, however, here to introduce a llory
from a refpeftable author, which, if it were given
by him as authentic, might infer that the Roman*
had probably fome veffels about this time : I fay
frobdhly, becaiife they might have boiTowed veffels
then, as wc know for certain they did long after,
when they wanted to ferry their army over to Si-
cily. Theophrallus, who was a pupil of Arillotle,
and died 288 years before Chriil, relates in his
Hiftory of phnts, [L. v, c. 9] that, ' though the
' largell and moft beautiful of the Italian pines
* and firs grow in Latium, they are nothing in
' comparifon with thofe of Corfica. For the Ro-
' mans, when they went with twenty-iive veffels in
' order to build a town in that iiland, are f aid to
' have fallen in with a place where the trees were
' fo ptodigioudy large, and their branches fo clofe
' together, that the mafts of the veffels were broken

' to pieces by them in fome bays and harbours ;

• and, as they favv that the whole idand was thick
' fet, and quite wild and crowded with trees, they
' are/aid to have defifted from their purpole of
' building a town ; but fome of them going afliore,
' cut down in a fmall fpace of ground timber fuf-
' ficient to build a ftiip which was to carry fifcy

• lails, which, they moreover fay, peridred in the
' fea.' They were certainly very right to put it
out of fight. A veffel with Jifly fails indeed ! (not
a numeral letter N for 50, but TmrviKoiTx iri«i5 in
plain words). Who ever faw or heard of a (hip
cai-rying fifty fails, even in the modern fyftem of
malls over mafts, ftudding-fail booms added to the
yards, and ftay-fails extended between the mafts I
Perhaps the reporters of the ftory mi^ook fails tor
oars ; and, if the Romans in that age built a velFel
of fifty oars, it might certainly have been fome-
thing to boaft of. It is fcarcely worth while to
notice the leffer abfurdity of the bays and harbours
being fo narrow, that (hips were obhged to brufli
through the trees. It appears, however, from this
hearfay ilorj', that the Romans had made an at-
tempt upon Corfica, which is unknown to their
own writers, and alfo to thofe modern writers who
have correfted the faithful Polybius from the ro-
mantic Livy.

f See the yt/iatic rtfearches, V, iv, p. 10. But
the pofition of this famous city is not unqueftion
ably afcertained.

L2

84 Before Chrift 302.

Syria and India was almofl entirely given up, though the Syrian kings
poflefled the fhores of the Perfian gulf, famous for the fifliery of pearls,
with the ifland of Maceta at the mouth of it, and Diridotis at the mouth
of the Euphrates, which were two eftablifhed emporia for the fpice
trade. [Jrriam Indica.'] From thefe they could very conveniently have
difpatched fhips to India, the cargoes of which could be carried into the
heart of their dominions by the two great navigable rivers, the Euphra-
tes and Tigris, efpecially by the former, which has a longer courfe and
a more gentle ftream than the later : and they could be difperfed through
the weftern and northern regions by the Euxine and the Cafpian feas
with their great tributary rivers, by the help of fhort carriages over
land. It is proper, however, to obferve, that Seleucus appears to have
conceived the defign of fuch an exteniive inland trade, as he intended
to open a navigable communication between the Cimmerian Bofphorus
and the Cafpian fea *. And he is probably the fame King Seleucus who
brought plants of the amomum and nard, or fpikenard, from India by
fea, in hopes to cultivate them in his own dominions, wherein, how-
ever, he was difappointed, as they could not bear the change. [/"//«. L.
svi, f. 32.]

Ptolemy, who in the partition of Alexander's empire had obtained
Egypt for his fliare, fixed his refidence at the new city of Alexandria,
and carefully followed the plans laid down by Alexander for attrading
the commerce of the world to that favoured port. Partly by force,
partly by perfuafion and encouragement, but principally by the juftice
of his governmtnt, he drew great numbers of people to fettle in his ca-
piial. For the benefit of navigation, the firfl; Ptolemy, or his fon Pto-
lemy Philadelphus, (for authors vary) ereded a light-houfe on a fmall
ifland, called Pharos, before the harbour, which was built of white
marble in a mort magnificent manner at the expenfe of Moo talents,
(about ;^ 1 5,500 of modern Britifh money) under the diredion of Sof-
tratus, an archited of Cnidos (a". 284.) It was efleemed one of the
feven wonders of the world ; and its name of Pharos has been extended
to all fucceeding ligiu-houfes. Its light was feen at the difiance of 300.
fladia, or about 30 ge .graphical miles.

Ptolemy Philadelphus, in purfuance of his father's commercial plans,
refl;ored, or completed, the canal between the Nile and the weftern
branch of the Red fea, and thereby eflfeded a navigable communication
between his capital and the Indian ocean, of which the native and Per-
fian fovereigns of Egypt feem fcarcely ever to have conceived an idea
for any commercial purpofe. The canal was one hundred cubits ia

• So wc are told ob tlic aiithority of ilie cm- to tiie Cafpian was navigated by tlie orders of Se-

pcror Claudius by Piiny. [_HijL mil. L. <i\, c, n.l^ Icucus and Antigonus, wliicli, hciug impofTibW,

Pliny has bfiii mi(li-d by fomi.' prcci lii.g writer to inuft be falfc.
fiiv, [L ii, c. ''17] that ihc Iiuiisc fea Ibctching

Before Chrift, about 280. 85

breadth, and had fufVicient depth for what were then efteemed large
veflels. There was a lock conftruded upon it, which, the antient writ-
ers fay, was intended to prevent tlic fait water of the Red fea from
fpoiling the water of the river, or to prevent the Red fea from over-
flowing the land, which, they ftrangely thought, was lower than the
furface of that fea *. [S/raio, L. xvii, p. 1156 — FUn. L. vi, c. 29.]

In. this infant Hate of the trade of Egypt, Heroopolis at the head of
the weftern branch of the Red fea was the port from which veflels fail-
ed, and Sabsea was the country to which they went to procure frank-
incenfe, myrh, cafia, cinnamon, &c. \ftheophraJli Hiji. plant. L. ix, c. 4.]

Owing to the dangerous and difficult navigation of the Red fea, or to
feme other caufes unknown to us, the canal, the work of fo many ages,
was found not fo ufeful or advantageous as was expedled. Ptolemy
therefor founded a town called Berenice, about 300 miles lower on the
Red fea, to which the flaple of the eaflern trade was removed. The
Egyptian, or, to fpeak more corre6lly, the Grecian, merchants, failed
from Berenice down the Red fea, near the mouth of which, in the
country of the Sabaeans, there were feveral good trading ports, and par-
ticularly that called Arabia Felix, about 120 miles beyond the Straits,
where they found a general aflbrtment of the fpices, aromatics, and
other productions, of Arabia and Ethiopia, and alfo thofe of India,
which the long experience of the Sabaeans in the nature of the periodi-
cal winds called monfoons, of the feas, and of the various ports of In-
dia, enabled them to furnifli to the merchants of Egypt cheaper than
they could have procured them themfelves, if they had coafted the
whole way to India in their own fmall veffels f. On their return they

* The obvioH3 reafon was to preferve the water Sabasa, as jufl noticed. — No Indian voyages from
upon a level at the lower end of the canal, and to Egypt are mentioned by Agatharchides when de-
let the veflels down to, or raife them up from, the fcribing the oriental commerce abont 170 years
ica. I (iO not, however, mean to fay, that the after the ellabliniment of the Ptolemies! n Egypt. —
head of the Red fea, which has a tidt, may not And Strabo, befides relating the ftory of a voyage
be highct at high nvater than the Mediterranean, from Egypt to India by Eudoxus, [Z,. ii, />. 155]
which never rifes more than nine or ten inches which, whether true or falfe, clearly proves that
above its ufual level. But the canal was drawn the Greeks of Egypt had not then attempted any
off from the rivers/ the head of the Delia, where voyages to India, fays, [L. xvii, p. 1 149] that
its water was probably 30 or 40 feet above the the trade of Egypt with India and the country of
level of the Mediterranean. Indeed the country the Troglodytes was nczv in his own time. — It is
mull have been very near level, if, allowing for a true that Pliny [L. vi, f. 23] cxpreffes his intcn-
very gentle declivity from the head to the mouth tion of defcribing the paflage of Alexander's fleet
of the canal, a fingle lock was fufficient to flrift from the Indus to the head of the Perfian gulf,
the veflels out of, or into, the fea.— Quere, if this ' and afterwards that navigation, which, being dif-
was the firll lock ever conflrufted upon a canal ? ♦ covered at that time, is kept up to this day.'

\ It has lately been fuppofed, that voyages But it is not too prefumptuous to fay, that tiie

were made dircft from Egypt to India from the authority of Pliny, who wrote from the works or

commencement of the Macedonian dominion in reports of others, and was particularly defciilive in

Egypt ; but there does not appear to be any fuf- oriental aflaiis, if it were even exprefs and pointed,

ficient foundation for fuch a fuppofition. Theo~ as it is not, ouglit not to be fet againil the afler-

phraftus, an author contemporary with Alexander tion, or even the fdence, of Theophrallus, Aga-

and the full of the Ptolemie.-, has not a word of tharchides, or Strabo, who wrote from their own

voyages to India, though he mentions voyages to perfona! knowlege. The

S6 Before Chrift, about 280.

landed their goods at Berenice, whence they were carried over land
upon a road, which Philadelphus opened with his array, and provided
with water and hoiifes of refrefhment, to Coptos, and thence by inland
navigation to Alexandria. \_Strabo, L. xvii, p. 1169 — Feriplus Maris
Erythrm.']

With a view to engrofs the whole of this very lucrative trade to his
own fubjects, Ptolemy maintained a powerful fleet in the Red fea, and
another in the Mediterranean. No naval force had ever yet appeared
in the world equal to his navy, in which there were two veifels of thirty
tires of oars, and one hundred and ten from tweiaty to five tires, befides
quadriremes, triremes, and inferior i-ates, almoft innumerable. \^Athe-
nceus, L. v.] Thefe prodigious fleets of obfervation, or of jealoufy, be-
ing vaiT:ly beyond any force that might have been neceflary to overawe
the pirates of Arabia Petrcea and thofe of the Mediterranean, appear to
have been chiefly intended to crufh the competition of the ftill-furviv-
ing, but almoft-expiring, commerce of Tyre on both feas.

The decided fuperiority which the merchants of Alexandria thus ob-
tained over the Tyrians, added to the difl:refl!es brought upon them by
Antigonus, when they were jufl: recovering from the deftruciion of their
city by Alexander, was more than fufficient to overwhelm a community
fo circumftanced. And in truth we after this hear but little of Tyre as
a capital commercial city, though it long retained fome little portion
of the Arabian commerce, and continued to have a confiderable trade
in the celebrated purple known by its name, fome manufadures of filk
and other fine goods, and a profitable fifliery. [Stral>o, L. xvi, p. 1098.]

It was probably with a view to eftablifli a dired intercourfe with In-
dia that Ptolemy fent Dionyfius as his ambafllidor to that country ; but
we know nothing of any confequences produced by that embafly.
[P/i/i. L. vi, c. 17.]

Ptolemy Philadelphus has been defervedly praifed as a patron of fai-
ence and literature ; and his library, which contained all that was valu-
able in Grecian literature, and alfo a tranflation of the books of Mofes,
or the whole of the Old teflament, (for authors differ as to the number
of the books), has been famous in all ages.

A great proportion of the mofl: civilized parts of Europe, Afia, and
Africa, being now by conquefl; or colonization fubje^t to the Greeks,
there was a freer communication of knowkge and the arts than could

The judicious D.inifli traveller Nicbuhr lias liibit any vcfill from India from proceeding beyond

fleered clear of the error into which fome of our Jidda, an Arabian poit about halt way up tlie Red

modern great authors have fallen. He informs us, fea, and that vcflfels go between the Arabian ports

that, though the difeovcry of the route to India and Egypt with Indian mcrcliandize even now, as

by the Cape of Good Hope has deprived the South they did in the remotert. ages. [Vuya^es de Nicbuhr,

Arabiaiisofthat monopoly of tiiclndiantradewhieh V. i, p. 224; V. ii, p'ljjiii'.l Purclias \_B. iii, pp.

their anccilors enjoyed, they Hill preferve the com- 230, 261] alfo defcribes Mocha, an Arabian porf,

mand of it with tefpcdt to Egypt, fo far as to pio- as a principal entrepot between India and Egypt.

Before Chrift, about 280. 87

be obtained in former times ; and thence this age was pecuHarly diftin-
guifhed by eminent writers and philofophers, among whom there were
feverals who improved geography and the other fciences connedcd with
commerce, particularly Timocharis and Dionyfius, eminent aflronomers,
whofe obfervations on the ftars have been prclerved in the works of Pto-
lemy the allronomer and geographer ; Timoflhenes, Ptolemy's admiral,
who wrote a defcription of harbours; FAiclid, who even now retains the
firft rank among the writers on geometry ; Dicearchus, (perhaps dead
before this reign) a natural philofopher, geographer, and hiftorian, who
was a follower of Pytheas in his defcription of Britain ; and, contempo-
rary with thefe philofophers, (though perhaps younger than them) Cle-
anthes of Samos, who was accufed by Ariftarchus of violating the reli-
gious creed of the age, and overturning the whole fyftem of the uni-
verfe, becaufe he taught that the heavens remained immoveable, and
that the earth was carried round in an oblique orbit, revolving in the
meantime round its own axis. [^Plut. de facie in orhe lunce.~\ Thus Clean-
thes had the honour, of all who lived in the weftern world after Pythag-
oras, and before Cardinal Cufa *, to approach the nearefl to the true
fyftem of the uiiiverfe, as it was explained in later times by Copernicus,
and afterwards demonflrated by the ufe of the telefcope.

Beddes Dicearchus, fome other writers of this age have thrown fome
faint glimmerings of light upon the hiftory oi BritiJJj counnerce, particU'
larly Timseus, a Sicilian, and a follower of Pytheas, whofe account of
the tin trade will be prefently noticed ; and Ifidorus, who feems alfo to
have derived his information from the fame great difcoverer. Our ifland
was alfo noticed in the work upon the world, afcribed to Ariftotle, but
more probably of this age, and by Sotacus, an author feemingly as early
as the others, who thought amber a diftillation from trees growing in
Britain f. [P/w. L. iv, c. 16 ; L. xxxvii, c. 2.]

The Britiih commerce, hitherto engrofled by the Phoenicians of

* Ariftarchus flourifhed about 260 years before of Gadir or Carthage, the Grecian authors were,
the commencement of the Chriftian xra, and Cufa till a late period, the only ones from whom he
in the middle of the fifteenth century. could poffibly obtain any account of Britain ; for
-j- Thefe were all Gieeks, and they were fome Rome does not appear to have had any writers in
of the writers who induced Pliny to fay in his veiy the times now under our confideration. But I
brief defcription of Britain, [L. iv, c, 16] that it know of no warrant in hiftory for a belief that
was renowned in Grecian and Roman records, any native cf Greece ever landed on the coaft cf
(' clara Grscts noftrifque monumentis.') And this Britain before the Roman invafion, far Icfs carried
claufe is with fome modern writers a fufficient on a long-continued intcrcourfc, fufRcient, if any
proof that the Greeks had fo great an intercourfe furh inlercourfe could e-vcr be fujficieni, to change the
with this ifland as to introduce their language and language and manners of the people, as has been '
manners. fuppofed. Pytheas, a Maifiiian, was of very re-
It is natural to fuppofe that the remote and al- mote Greek anceftry : but his intercourfe with
moft-unknown ifland of Britain would be frequent- Britain was not near fo much as that of Captain
ly mentioned, after the difcovery of it by Pytheas, Cook with Otahelte in his repeated vifits to that
by the Grecian writers, ever fond of the marvel- ifland ; and yet the people ot Otahcite do not
ous : and as Pliny probably had not read, or per- fpcak Englifh.
haps could not read, any of the Phcenician writers 4

88 Before Chrift 280.

Gadir, (unlefs their brethren of Carthage participated in it) and car-
ried on at the weftern extremity of the country, or the Silley iflands,
feems now to have been alfo fhared by fome other people fettled on the
north coaft of Gaul, who, we may prefume, were conneded with, or
agents of, the Maffilians. The flaple of this new commerce was there-
upon eftablifhed at Midis *, (one of the iflands on the fouth coafl:) to
which the tin was carried by the Britons in their leather boats, as we
learn from the contemporary teftimony of Timseus. [ap. Plin. L. v, c.
16 — Biod. Sicul. L. V, § 22.] And the change of the flaple, and prefer-
ence of inland navigation by the principal rivers of Gaul , or of land car-
riage, appear to have been owing to the apprehenfion of meeting with
the fliips of the Phoenicians, whofe naval fuperiority was univerfally ac-
knowleged, if they fliould venture to coaft along the fliores of Gaul and
Spain, or perhaps merely to the averfion of the Maflilian navigators to
fo long a circuit by fea. It is reafonable to fuppofe that thefe new ar-
rangements were effeded by the negotiations of Pytheas with the Bri-
tons.

The repeated calamities of Tyre, among which may be reckoned the
eftablifliment of Alexandria, muft have greatly deranged the commerce
of the Phoenicians. The oriental trade, which, by the afliftance of land
carriage acrofs the ifthmus between Africa and Afia, they had enjoyed
exclufively during many centuries, (for the tranfient participation of it
by the Ifraelites was only for their own confumption, and lafted but a
few years) was in a great meafure transferred to that new emporium,
where it could not fail to take root and flourifli by the favour and pro-
tedion of the Macedonian kings of Egypt, who had powerful fleets in

* There can be little doubt that Mic\is was the bay in Wight, it has feven fathom and a half at
fame ifland which was afterwards called litis by low water. Though the many changes made by
Diodoriis Siciilus. [L. v, { 21. ed. ylm/lel. 1746.] the fea on this part of the coall render it not irr.-
By the moderns it has been fuppofed Silley, or pojjllk that the anticnt Miftis or Iftis and the mo-
Wight : the former, bccanfe Timxns, as copied deni Wight may be the fame, yet the iflands of
by Pliny, reprefents it as producing tin ; and the Portland and Purbeck, wiiicli, though now pcnin-
later, apparently for no better reafon than the flip- fulas, are conftantly called iflands, probably in me-
pofcd relemblance of the name, which is fuither mory of having formerly been fiich, (asTlianet on
faid to remain with little variation to this day the coall of Kent alfo is) tlie fmail illands in Poole
among the Welfli, who call it Guith ; and perhaps bay, and alfo Portfey and Haling, may all compete
alio bccaufe it is the principal ifland on the fouth for the name of Mic\is or litis with more proba-
coalt, and moft confpicnous on the map. But bility than Silley or Wight. But of the whole
Timxus mnft have had his information from fea- Portland anfwers bell to the defcriptlon of Dio-
men, with whom it is iifiial to call every article dorus.

the production of the place where they take it in : The error of placing Midis at the didance (jf

and Diodorus, from later, and apparently better, fix days' fail from Britain need not be wondered

information, defcribes litis as the port to which at in Timxns, a Sicilian Greek, who wrote of this

tlie tin was brought from the place of its produc- trade when it was in its infancy. Perhaps the au-

tion in order to be Ihipped. — litis was fcparated thor of his information underllood it to be fix days'

from the main by a channel fordablc at low water j fail from that part of Britain which was nearcll to

but the channel between Wight and the main has the continent ; and that is the only explanation

a depth of above thirty fathom where it is nar- which can make it apply to any ifland conneited

rowell at Hurl' calUe, and, where it is Ihallowell with Britain, or indeed to any ifland whatever.

between Bcauly river in Hamp-fliirc and Gurnard 1

Before Chrift 280 — 271. 89

the Mediterranean and Red feas. The univerfal ufe of the Greek lan-
guage among the fuperior people of almoft every part of the Mediter-
ranean coaft, as flir wefl as Sicily on the one hand and Cyrenaica on
the other, alfo contributed to give the merchants of Alexandria a very
great advantage over the Phoenicians in every port throughout thofe
rich and extenfive trails of coaft. Thefe great difcouragements, co-
operating with the infalts of the foldiers placed among tliem by Anti-
gonus, muft have compelled many of the merchants, rnanufadturers,
and other inhabitants, of Tyre and the neighbouring towns, to remove
their families, their capitals, and as much as poffible of their commerce,
to Carthage, where they could enjoy liberty among a free people of kin-
dred manners and fpeech. Such an acceflion of wealthy and induftrious
inhabitants was fufficient to raife Carthage in the fcale of commercial
profperity and naval fuperiority beyond any degree of competition
which could be attempted (except in the one branch of trade with Ara-
bia) by the new-eftabliflied port of Alexandria, by Syracufe, by Co-
rinth, or by any other port in the Mediterranean lea. And this reafon-
ing, highly probable from the natural confequence of known hiftoric
events, receives clear confirmation from the pofitive and unqueftion-
able teftimony of Polybius, who repeatedly informs us that the Cartha-
ginians were at this time the acknowleged fovereigns of the fea, and in
every refped at the zenith of their profperity.

280 — At this time the invafion of Italy by Pyrrhus, a valiant and
turbulent king of Epirus, obliged the Romans to court the friendfhip
of the Carthaginians, to fecure their powerful afliftance, if neceflary,
againft the moft formidable enemy they had ever encountered. A third
treaty between the two republics was accordingly concluded, wherein
they contraded, that each (hould aflift the other, if invaded ; the fliips
in either cafe to be furnilhed by the Carthaginians, and the troops to
be paid by the ftate requiring their afliftance. [Poijl?. L. iii, c. 25.]

271 — When the Carthaginians, by an unremitting attention to com-
merce, had raifed themfelves, with the general good will of the neigh-
bouring nations, to a height of wealth and profperity, which Appian
compares to the empire of the Macedonians for power, and to that of
the Perfians for opulence, the Romans, by an equally-unremitting at-
tention to war and plunder^ had now extended their dominion over al-
moft all the peninlular part of Italy ; and their ambition now afpired
to the empire of the v.'orld.

A band of Campanian banditti had treacheroufly got into the city of
Meffana in Sicily, where they murdered the citizens, raviftied their
wives, and feized their property. They afterwards intefted the Cartha-
ginian and Grecian colonies in Sicily with frequent plundering excur-
fions, wherein they were aflifted by a fimilar gang of ruffians, who, by
a fimilar villany, had feized on Rhegium upon the oppolite fide of the

Vol. T. M

go Before Chrift 264 — 260.

ftrait in Italy, till they were exterminated by the Romans, who were at
that time defirous of fhowing to the world their great abhorrence of
treachery.

The Campanian robbers of MaiTana, who aflumed the name of Ma-
mertini (Warriors, or fons of Mars) were thereupon obliged to furrend-
er their citadel to a Carthaginian garrifon. Some of them, however,
who were difcontented with this meafure, applied to the Romans for af-
fiftance: and in favour of allies, fo worthy of their protedion, the Ro-
mans, who were exceedingly glad of any pretence for intei'fering in the
affairs of Sicily, engaged in a war againfl the Carthaginians and Syra-
cufians ; but they foon concluded a feparate peace with the later, that
they might have only one enemy to c-intend with.

264 — ^In order to tranfport their army to Sicily, the Romans borrow-
ed veffels from the Tarentines, Eleates, Locrians, and Neapolitans ; for
their repubhc did not poflefs a iingle veffel of any kind, even for fo trif-
ling a navigation as to ferry their troops over the ftrait of Meflana *.

At the beginning of the war the Carthaginians, who were abfolute
maflers of the fea, diftrelTed the whole coaft of Italy with prsedatory in-
curfions, while their ovrn country, inacceffible to the Romans, almofl
enjoyed the comforts of peace. The Romans therefor refolved to ella-
blifli a naval force, though they had neither fliip-carpenters to build,
nor feamen to man, a fleet : and this is one of many inftances of the
perfevering intrepidity and refolution by which they obtained the em-
pire of the Vvorld. In palling the Strait of Meflana they had got poflef-
fion of a Carthaginian quhiqueremes, which was ftranded. In imitation
of this veffel their carpenters conllruded 1 00 quhiqueremes ; and they al-
io built 20 triremes, of which kind they had already feen fome in Italy.
This fleet, if Phny \^H'i/i. nat. L. xvi, c. 39] was truely informed, was
ready for fea in fixty days, reckoning from the time of cutting down the
trees f .

26'5 — The firfl: naval eflay of the Romans, as might be expedted, was

* The ten Roman fliips of war al Tarcntum a that fuch difpatcli was fcarcely credible. ^Ve

few years before tin's time, and alfo the Roman mull remember, that Polybius received the inate-

duunwirt navales, or lords of the ntlinlralty, in an rials for the early part of his liillory from the Ro-

earlier age, mull vanlili befoie this unqueltionable mans ; and indeed he remarks [i. i, c. 64] from his

truth, which is exprefsiy, formally, and repeatedly, own ohfervnllot!, ihat the Romans though much

nlfiriixd by Polybius, one of die bed informed and more powcrfnl after the dellni>^!on of Carthage,

mo(k impartial writers of antiqnity. [L.'\,c. 20. J could fit ont no fuch fleets in his time.

•) Florus [Z. ii, c. 2] Rels tiiis maivelonsdifpateh When the experience of almoll fix centuries,

rather too flrong an cmbellilhnienl, even for his and the colleiled fcienee of the wliolc wcilern

florid hidory, and feems defnons to cfcape from the world, had greatly improved the Roman marine,

ablurdity under the (hclter of a miraculous meta- feveral years were emidoyed in getting icady a fleet

morphofis of trees into (hips. Polybius fays no- againfl the Britilh emperor Caraufius. And this

thing of the time employed in gettinij ready this unque(lit>nablc fact renders fuch wonderfid difpatch

iirft of the R iman fletts : but, when he tells us in the very infancy of tlic Roman navigation iit-

[L. i, (. ■^S] that another fleet built by the Romans, tcrly incredible to every pcrfcn who chufes to t>C-

aftcr their carpenters had gnt fix years' experience, amine what he reads,

was ready for fea in thicc months, he remarks, 4

Before Chrift 260. ^t

unfortunate. Seventeen fhips were blocked up in the harbour of Lipara
by the Carthaginians, whereupon the Roman failors fled to the land, and
left their conful and their fhips a prey to the enemy. Soon after fifry
Carthaginian fliips unexpededly found themfelves in the midfl: of the
whole Roman fleet, and a confiderable part of them were taken. The
next engagement was a general one, wherein the Romans were for the
firfl; time to have a fair trial of their valour upon an unknown element.
The anxiety, infeparable from the novelty of the danger, put their in-
vention on the rack to difcover fome means of making up for the great
fuperiority of their enemies in the conflrudion of their fliips, their ma-
rine difcipline, and naval tadtics. The mind, unfettered by precedents,
often fl:rikes out new thoughts, which the experienced veterans do not
venture to conceive, but endeavour to conceal the fterility of their own
brains under an affected contempt of the untaught genius of others. So
it happened with the Carthaginian lords of the fea : they laughed to
fcorn the grapling crows and boarding ftages ereded upon the clumfy
fliips of the Roman landfmen, and the natural confequence of defpifing
an enemy neceflarily followed. They were defeated by Duilius, a com-
mander ignorant of the fea, whofe name is immortalized by the adion,
while that of the inventor of the crows, which effeded the vidory, is
imknown*. [Polyb. L. i, cc. 21-23.]

In the courfe of this war the Romans, notwithflanding the vaft infe-
riority of their vefl^els and of their feamanfliip, which fubjeded them to
prodigious lofl^es byfliormsf, as well as by battles, were feveral times
vidorious at fea; and by the general fuperiority of their military dif-
cipline they got pofl^eflion of the greateft part of the Carthaginian ter-
ritory in Sicily. They even carried the war into Africa (a". 256), where
the favage and arrogant conful Regulus, after ravaging the country al-
mofl; to the gates of Carthage, was made prifoner; an event, which has
furniflied a foundation for ample fiditious embelUfliments. A remark-
ably fmft galley, having got aground in the night, fell into the hands of
the Romans, who, by means of her, got pofl^eflion of another very faft-go-
ing veflTel, which had repeatedly run through the Roman fleet in defiance.
The Roman treafury was now exhaufl:ed ; but the citizens at their own ex-
penfe furniflied two hundred quinqueremes, built in exad imitation of the
two fwift Carthaginian vefl^els (a°. 242) : and with them the Romans, now
conliderably improved in nautical knowlege, gained a complete vidory

* Grappling irons, invented by Nicias, were ed, through the obllinate ignorance of the confuh,

ufed by the Athenians in their engagements with who defpifed the advice of their pilots. Another

the Syracufians 413 years before Chrift. But the ftorm made a total deftrufkion of the Roman fleet,

Romans cannot be fuppofed to have known any leaving not fo much as a plank of it unbroken,

thing of that invention. The Carthaginian fleet, which was at fea at the

■\ In one ftorm 384 of their ftiips were wrecked fame time, got into a good harbour, and was ner-

or foundered, and almoft every foul onboard perifli- fedlly fafe.

M 2

5 2 Before Chrifl: 240.

over the Carchaginians, M'ho were obliged to fue for peace, which they
obtained on the hard terms of refigning all their territory in Sicily and
the iflands on the north fide of it, and paying to the Romans three thou-
fand two hundred Euboic talents, which contained as much filver as
would make fix hundred and twenty thoufand pounds of modern Britifli
filver money. And fuch, notwithftanding the acknowleged fuperior ta-
lents of the Carthaginian commanders by land as well as by fea, was the
end of the Sicilian war, called by later writers the firft Punic war.

At this time the modius (a fmall fradion more than a peck) of corn
(far) was fold at Rome for an as, which then contained two ounces of
iDrafs. The fame money might purchafe a congius (7^ pints) of wine,
thirty p07ido of dried figs, ttn pondo of oil, or twelve pon do of butcher
meat. \Varro, ap Pliii. Hiji. nat. L. xviii, c. 3.] N. B. The pondo isfome-

what leis than our pound troye If fuch were the prices in the time of

an exhaufting war, what might they have been, had the Romans ever
been at peace ?

Immediately after the peace the Carthaginians experienced the dread-
ful confequences of trufting their arms (agreeable to the erroneous max-
ims of their Tyrian ancefiors) almofl: entirely in the hands of mercena-
ries. Thofe foldiers, who had no regard for Carthage, oflfended at fome
imprudent, or inevitable, delay in difcharging their pay, took advantage
of the reduced fi;ate of the republic, and drew in almoft all the neigh-
bouring fiates of Africa to affifl: them to ruin Carthage, The dreadfvil
atrocities of this war, which are unparalleled in the hiflory of human
crimes and calamities, were at lafi: terminated (a". 238) by the condudl of
Amilcar.

During this war Italian merchants fupplied Carthage with neceflaries,
by permiflion of the Romans, who prohibited them from carrying any
to the revolted mercenaries.

The Sardinians had taken the opportunity of the troubles of Carthage
to fliake off their dependence upon that republic ; and the Romans,
though for fome time they had fhcwn an appearance of adhering with
the ftrideft honour to the treaty of peace, made themfelves mafters of
the noble ifland of Sardinia in a manner, which even Livy \L xxi, f. i]
acknowleges to be fraudulent, and Polybius \L. iii, c. 28] execrates
with the warm refentment, which an honeft man feels at the perpetra-
tion of a bale fraud. Not contented with robbing the Carthaginians
of the ifland, they even prefumed fo far on their diftrefled fituation as
to extort twelve hundred talents in name of re-imburfement for the ex-
penle of the robbery.

About this time a banker (r^xTs^iT)i() of Sicyon, a city of Peloponnefus,
is mentioned by Plutarch in his Life of Aratus. His bufineis feems to
have confif\ed in exchanging one fpecies of money for another.

240 — Aradus, or Arvad, was a fmall rocky ifland, which the Sidoniaits

Before Chrlft 240. 9j

had occupied in former ages. Tt became a little independent kingdom
or community of merchants and feamen ; and it was fo populous, that
the houfes covered the whole of the rock, and were raifed aloft in the
air to the height of feveral ftories, each a feparate habitation. About
this time, in confideration of afliflance given to Seleucus Callinicus king
of Syria, they got an afFurance from him, that he would never attempt
to force any perfon from them who fhould take refuge in their city, in
confequence of which much treafure was poured in upon them by weal-
thy criminals flying from juftice, as we learn from Strabo. [L. xvu,p.
1094.] He alio remarks, what is much more to their honour, that, be-
ing merchants and navigators, they never concerned themfelves with pi-
racy, like their neighbours the Cilicians.

At this time Ptolemy Euergetes was king of Egypt. He imitated his
father and grandfather in their attention to the commerce and profperity
of the country, and in their tafte for literature and colleding books,
which he ufed to procure at a vafl expenfe from all countries, in order
to be tranfcribed for his library. Having borrowed the works of So-
phocles, Euripides, and ^fchylus, from the Athenians, with whom he
depofited fifteen talents (£2,^06 : 5 fterling) as a fecurity for their fafe
return, he fent them, inftead of the old books, new copies of them mag-
nificently executed, and at the fame time requefled their acceptance of
the fifteen talents. Such was the premium which he gave for the loan
of three books *.

Euergetes was fo happy as to have his library under the care of Era-

* Varro, as quoted by Pliny, fays, that the mod c. 29.] The variations, and the grofs abfurdities,

valuable and important art of making paper from prove the whole of them to be bungling fiftions.
an aquatic plant, produced in the lower part of Thefe are fume of the many inllanccs of the an-

Egypt, was not invented till after the foundation tients falling into grofs blunders from not confult-

of Alexandria ; and he afcribcs the invention of ing Herodotus, who would have let them know,

parchment or vellum for writing upon to an emula- [£. v, c. ^S^ that in times, which h^ thought an-

tion between Ptolemy and Eumenes king of Perga- tient, both paper and ilcins were commonly ufed

mus about their libraries, the former of whom hav- fur writing upon.

ing invidioufly prohibited the exportation of paper, A fiflion is often of fume ufe, though generally

the later had rccourfe to the fliins of animals as a very different from the intention of the contriver of

fubftitute for it. it. The fable of Numa's books demonftrates, that

PUny, not fatisfied with the a;ra affigned to the Hemina and the other Roman writers quoted by

invention of paper by Varro, quotes an hiftorian Pliny and Livy, were totally ignorant of hiftory,

called Hemina for a ftory of fome paper books and that the Romans of their times had not yet

found (181 years before Chrift) in a coffin with determined what duration they Ihould aflign to

the body of King Numa, wherein they had lain un- their city. It is alfo worthy of obfervatiun, that

corrupted 535 years, as he reckons, thereby adding Pliny calls Hemina, who could not be above two

about half a century to the Roman chronology of centuries older than himfelf, a moft antient annal-

later times. According to Hemina thofe books ift (' vetulliflimus autor annalium') : and the fame

contained the philofophy of Pythagoras, ('•who Pliny in the preceding chapter talks of manufcripts

Jlourifhed about two centuries after the fuppofrd age of 200 years old as monuments of very remote anti-

iVumd^ and they were burnt by the prKtor, ia.7!^ quity ('jlonginqua monumenta'). Do not thefe

they contained philofophy. Pliny then quotes fome circumftances afford rather more than a ftrong

other authors, who relate the itory with many va- prefumption, that the generally-received pompous

nations; and Livy differs from all of them. \_Pi'm. hiflory of the Roman republic for the firft fix f«p-

Hift. nal, L, xiii, ce. 11, i^.—Liv. HiJI. L. xl, pofed centuries is mere romance ?

t)4 Before ChTill 229.

tofthencs, a man of an almofl uni%^erfal genius, of vafl erudition and in-
defatigable induftry. The accuracy of his hiftorical and chronological
refearches have 'entitled him to the appellation o^ father of chronology.
But he chiefly excelled in aflronomy and geography ; and in his geo-
graphical writings and his maps he followed Pytheas in defcribing our
Britifh jflands ; but the inoll of the exterior coaft of Europe, from Spain
northward, was then but very imperfectly knowai to the greatefl geo-
grapher that had ever yet appeared in the world. He obferved the obli-
quity of the ecliptic to be 23°, 51', 20": and from his obfervations on
the projedion of fhadows he calculated the equatorial circumference of
the earth to be 252,000 ftadia, equal to about 24,990 geographical miles ;
which, being only about 3,390 too much, if we confider the imperfeftion
of inftruments in his age, mufl be allowed to be wonderfully near the
truth *. From his knowlege of the nature of the globe, he declared
that the vaft extant of the Atlantic ocean was the only obftacle to the
navigation between Spain and India by going due weft : the very fame
idea, which with the help of the compafs fet Chriftopher Columbus on
the fcheme of fearching for India by the fame courfef . \Straho, L. i, p.
113 et pajfim — TUn. Hifl. nat. L. ii, r. 18 ; L. vi, c. 29 et pojfim.']

Some fliips belonging to Italian merchants had been taken by the
pirates of Illyria, a country on the eaft fide of the Adriatic fea. It is
probable that thefe merchants, as well as thofe who had fupplied Car-
thage with neceflliries during the revolt of the mercenaries, were of Etru-
ria or Campania, the later of whom, Polybius \L. iii, f. 91] fays, had
commerce with almoft every part of the world (by which maybe under-
ftoodthe greateft part of the Mediterranean fea) ; and, as a confequence
of their commerce, their towns were handfomer than any others in Italy.

229 — The Romans paid little attention to the complaints of the mer-
chants, a clafs of people, who were in 110 great eftimation in their eyes,
till now that they wanted a pretence for making war upon the Illyrians.
They accordingly demanded fatisfadlion, which being refufed, they fitted
out a fleet of two hundred gallies, wherewith they fubdued the coun-
try. \folyh. L. ii, c. 2. £t feqq.'\

The Carthaginians were compelled by the Roman luft of univcrfal
dominion to deviate from their peaceful commercial fyftem, and in
emulation of that republic to eftablifli a regular and permanent mili-
tary force, which might oppofe the Romans in their evident defire to
enflave the world. But the condition of the republics differed widely.

* Hippiichus, endcavo
tliene

f 111 thi3 idea, as well as in the meafuic of the philoiopliers thought the Columns of Hercules (in

circumference of the globe, he improved very much Spain and Africa )_/o/nfrf to thofe places which are

upon the geography of Ariilotlc, who contracted near to India,
the bounds of tic ocean fo much as to reprcfcnt In-

Before Chrift 229 — 222, 95

The fole bufinefs of the Romans was war : by war they could not ori-
ginally lofe any thing ; and by war they had acquired every thing they
poiTefled. By a fuccefsful war the Carthaginians could fcarcely gain
any thing, their trade muft be diflrefled, and the attention of their
people drawn off from its proper objecfi: : and from an unfuccefsful war
they might dread abfolute ruin. Infligated however by refentment
againft Rome, and goaded on by the eagernefs of the generals, whom
the late wars had formed to military fcience, and raifed to power and
popularity, the Carthaginian fenate refolved, that their fliips, inilead of
carrying goods to Spain for fale, fhould tranfport an army to that coun-
try to effecfb the conqueft of it. The intention of the fenate, or, to
fpeak more correftly, of Amilcar their general, was to get poffeffion of
the rich mines and other wealth of Spain, in order to recruit and fup-
port the armies necelTary to carry on the contefl: with the Romans, and
to make amends for the lols of Sicily, out of which the Romans had
beaten them, and Sardinia, which they had treacheroully robbed them
of.

Amilcar, after having reduced a great part of Spain to the Cartha-
ginian yoke, fell in battle, and was fucceeded in the command by his
fon-in-law Afdrubal, who immediately built a new capital city, which,
perhaps from the refemblance of its fituation and its harbour, obtained
the name of New Carthage, or Carthagena. This general is accufed of
corrupting the morals of the Carthaginians by introducing bribery
among them : [C. Nep. Vit. Hamilc. c. 3] and he was lufped:ed of a de-
fign to make himfelf fovereign of Spain. When he had commanded
eight years, and greatly extended the dominion of Carthage in Spain,
he was murdered by a Gaul, whom he had offended (a". 222). The
fupreme command was then conferred upon Hannibal, the fon of Amil-
car, the greateft general that ever was oppofed to the Romans, and who
never for a moment loft light of his father's injunftion, to keep up an
invincible enmity to Rome, and to make it the bufinefs of his life.

The Carthaginians had now alTumed the charader of a v/arlike na-
tion. A great part of the citizens had exchanged agriculture, manu-
taftures, and commercial purfuits, for a military life. The gradual ac-
quilition of wealth by patient indnftry appeared contemptible, when
compared with the feizure of it by war and plunder. The people be-
came intoxicated by conqueft; their judgement was perverted, and their
avarice excited, by the example of the Romans, whom they faw proiper-
ing by a perpetual violation of juftice. The national virtue was relax-
ed ; and the military fuccefles, v/hich filled the city with exultation, laid
the foundation of its ruin.

The Romans, who thought all acquifitions of territory by other na-
tions encroachments upon what they already confidered as their own,
could not fail to look upon the warlike progrefs of the Carth.aginians

gG Before Chrift 222.

with an evil eye : but being at prefent threatened with an invafion from
rhe Gauls, the defcendents of their antient conquerors, they were
obliged to difTemble, and to propofe a treaty, whereby the river Iberus
in the north-eafl part of Spain was agreed to be the frontier of the
Carthaginian territories, exempting however from their dominion the
city of Saguntum, which being on the Carthaginian fide of that river,
would eafily fnrnifh either of the parties with a pretence for war, when
they fhould find it convenient to engage in ir.

About this time, we are told, a law was pafled at Rome, prohibiting
the fenators from being owners of any veflels exceeding the burthen of
300 amphora (about 2,000 gallons). Such boats were thought fuffi-
cient to bring home the produce of their farms : and all kind of trade
was thought unbecoming the higher ranks. Many of the fenators how-
ever allowed their avarice fo far to get the better of their pride, that
they wifiied to partake of the profits of trade, and were iriuch enraged
at the promoters of the law. [Liv. Hijl. L. xxi, c. 63.] Hence it ap-
pears, that fome trade was now carried on by the Romans, but that the
exercife of it was rather difreputable ; a clear proof that the Roman
trade was on a very trifling fcale.

The diftincflion between foldiers and feamen was another proof of the
low eftimation in which commerce was held among the Romans. While
the military fervice was the road to every preferment, feamen were de-
fpifed, and drawn from the meanefl; cLifs of the populace, confifiing of
men whofe whole property did not amount to 400 Grecian drachmae,
(about £'] : 10 fl:erling) and who were therefor fuppofed not fufficiently
interefted in the profperity of the commonwealth to be intru ed wit i
arms. [Folyl/. L.\\,c. 17.] The fame notions were retained in the
mofl flourifhing ages of Rome, as we fhall have occafion to obferve in
due time. How widely different from Tyre and Carthage, where na-
vigators and feamen were held in deferved efteem !

About this time a great earthquake threw down the famous coloilus
of Rhodes, and defi:royed the naval arfenals, with a great part of the
city. The general good will of the other Itates of Grecian origin, with
all of whom the Rhodians were connected in the friendly band of com-
mercial intercourfe, turned this accident much to their advantage : for
the Grecian kings and dates of Europe, Afia, and Egypt, drove who
fliould be moft liberal in contributing corn and other provifions, fliips,
timber, and naval (lores, and alfo money to a great amount, for repair-
ing their damages, and particularly for renewing their colofllis *. On
this occafion liicro^ king oi Syracufe, and fome other princes, moreover
cxcnipted the Rhodians from paying any duties in their ports. And

• Tlic Rliiidlaiis, prob;il)ly thiiiking tlic coIofTus funds, dfllimd for llint piiipofc hy tht' libcitilily
nn idle cxptiifc, uoi il;c oracle of Dclpli! to ])u)- of their friends, to olticr ufes.
liibit the rcftoration of it, and applied the ample 4

Before Chrift 2 22 — 219. 97

thus a calamity, which would have encouraged the neighbouring flates
to complete the ruin of a turbulent and warlike community, was the
means of raifing the Rhodians to greater profperity, than they had ever
enjoyed before : and we find them immediately after this event the pre-
dominant power in the eaftern part of the Mediterranean. \_Polyb. L.
V, cc. 88 et/eqq.]

Ptolemy Euergetes, king of Egypt, in the later part of his reign
over-ran a great part of the Macedonian empire in Afia, and on his re-
turn fubdued many African tribes in the neighbourhood of Egypt. Of
this expedition he is himfelf almoft the only hiftorian, having infcribed
a pompous narrative of his conquefts upon a marble chair dedicated to
Mars, which was remaining at Aduli on the coait of the Red fea in the
fixth century, when Cofmas Indicopleuftes copied the infcription, which
has thereby come down to us. The only notice concerning commerce,
to be found in it, is, that, having by his fleet reduced fome tribes of the
Arabs on the eafl fide of the Red fea *, he charged them to guard the
roads from robbers and the feas from pirates.

Byzantium (afterwards called Confiantinople) was a city founded by
a Grecian colony on the European fide of the fi;rait, which feparates
Europe from Afia. The Byzantines imported from the countries lying
around the Pontus, or Euxine fea, flaves, hides, falted provifions, honey,
wax, and corn, which, with vaft quantities of tunnies caught and cured
by themfelves, they exported to every part of Greece. Their territory
was very fertile, but very fmall ; and they found it neceffary to pur-
chafe the friendfliip, or rather the forbearance, of their neighbours by
a heavy annual tribute of eighty talents (;^i 5,500 fierling). Unable or
unwilling to raife fo large a fum among themfelves, and being abfolute
mafters of the flrait, not only by its fmall breadth of half a mile, but
alfo by the nature of the current, which fets in upon their fliore, and
forces every veflel clofe under their walls, they thought of renewing an
impoft, formerly exacted by the Athenia-ns, when they were mafi:ers of
Byzantium, in the time of Alcibiades ; and they accordingly compelled
all ftrangers, whom they perhaps confidered as interlopers, to pay a toll
for permiflion to pafs into the Euxine (a". 219). The trade mufl have
been very great indeed, if a moderate fum from each fhip belonging to
llrangers coald be equal to fuch a fubfidy ; or the fum extorted from
caA velTel muft have been intolerably great.

The later feems to have been the cafe ; for, though a fimilar demand
is complied with by the mofl powerful of the maritime and commercial

* He fays, he fubdacd the whole coafl from were independent, when Ptolemy Philometor wai

Leuke kome to Sabsa. It may be piefumed, that king of Egypt ; and Diodorus Siculus, a later

he does not include the opulent and commercial author, adds [L, iii, § 47] that they had pre-

nation of the Sabseans in the number of his con- ferved that happinels unimpaired during many agee.
quells ; as we know' from Agatharchides, that they

Vol I. N

gb' Before Chrift 219.

nations of modern Europe, the impoft was loudly complained of by
all the ftates who traded to the Euxine. The Rhodians, as the people
principally aggrieved, (for the Grecian voyages, as we learn from Po-
lyblus, feldom extended fo far) and as the firft maritime power of the
Eaft, after inefFecT:ual negotiation, made war upon the Byzantines, who
were foon obliged to allow the paflage of the ft rait to be free to all na-
tions *. [^Polyb. L. iv, cc. 38 et feqq.^

A kind of rage for building iliips, vaflly exceeding every purpofe of
utility in enormous bulk and extravagant ornament, infeded fome of
the opulent kings of this age. One of thefe was Hiero, king of Syra-
cufe, whom the Romans, not yet ready for the redudion of his king-
dom, had detached from his alliance with Carthage, and permitted to
pafs a long life in a kind of dependent and tributary alliance with them.
His fubjeds were thereby almoft exempted from war ; and their mer-
cantile induftry, wherein they were perhaps next to the Carthaginians,
together with the great fertility of the country, made the people, and
confequently the king, very wealthy. By the affiftance of the famous
mechanic philofopher Archimedes, Hiero conftruded a galley of twenty
tires of oars, fheathed with lead, and carrying three malls f , which no
veflel had hitherto done ; and fhe is faid to have had all the accommo-
dations and embellifliments of a palace, together with the fortifications
and warlike flores of a caftle. Though fhe was launched before her
upperworks were built, it was neceflary, in order to get her into the
water, for Archimedes to invent a machine called a helice, which feems
to have been a large jack-fcrew.

Ptolemy Philopator, kiiig of Egypt, built two huge fliips. One of
them, faid to be intended for the fea, was 420 feet long, and only 57
feet broad, furniflied with two heads and two flerns, whence we may
fuppoie, that the lower part confifted of two long flat vefTels united by
one deck, like the warlike canoes of the South-fea iflands. She carried
4,000 oars difpofed in 40 tires. Befides 4,000 rowers, fhe carried 2,850
foidiers, and an innumerable mob of couks, fervants, &c. This fhip*
could not be launched, owing to her prodigious bulk ; and fhe muil
have remained, a monument of folly, upon the dry land, if a Phoeni-

* According to Herodian [L. iii] the impoft kep; in Inverncfs-rtiire. There can be little reafon

was again cxadted by the Byzantines in his own to doubt, that the maft was cut in the celebrated

time, bef'jrc tlieir city was dedroycd by the army fir wood extending 700 ftadia in Brettia or Cru-

of Scverus. tium, \_Slraho, L. vi, p. 400] whence it could be

+ The learned and judicious Camden has been very ealily towed acrols the llrait, and aloii<T the

mifled ill one place by an error proceeding from fliore to Syracufe ; whereas to tranfport fo large a

llic fimilarily ot Bfirna (Brutiuni in the fouthern tree from Britain would fcarcely have been pof.

extremity of Italy) and BfiTrawxii (Britain) to fible. [^BiilDmiia, eJ. 1607,/!. 21; and fee/). 24,

iiippofe, that the main maft for Hiero's ftupendous where he is alnioft inclined lo give the maft to its

fliip was carried from Britain: and Speed [/////aWc own native country.] Even a niiftake of fuch an

»f Bntaiiie, p. 9] has fo far improved upon the author as Camden is entitled to notice, and to a

idea, as almoft to condefcend upon the very fpot candid examination,
where the tree grew, viz. the banks of Loch Ar-

Before Chrift 219. 99,

clan had not .taught them to dig a canal to bring the water to her *.
The other one, intended only for the river, was about 300 feet long,
and above 45 feet broad, and had alfo a double bottom. But this was
not properly a Ihip, of which it had not even the form, but rather a
floating ifland, or pleafure palace, conllrudled upon two very large
fcows, probably fuch as the coal-barges on the Thames, which was con-
ceived by luxurious idlenefs, and executed by fuperabundant wealth.

Though a peace had been concluded between Rome and Carthage, it
was not the intention of either party to keep it any longer than till it
fhould be convenient to renew the war. The Carthaginians were inlli-
gated by revenge for the unfair advantages' taken of them. It was a
maxim of the Romans never to be truely at peace with any nation, who
did not become fubjedl to them, even though poor ; and of all nations
the Carthaginians could beft pay for the labour of deftroying them.
The Romans, in fhort, were a people, whom it was neceflary to extermi-
nate, or to fubmit to. But this alternative, the only one they allowed
to the nations of the earth, though fo evident to every attentive reader
of hiflory, does not appear to have been fufficiently attended to by any
of the nations of antiquity, nor even by any individual whofe name is
recorded in hiflory, except the great Carthaginian general Amilcar, and
his fon, the greater Hannibal f.

Since the conclufion of the firft war with Rome, the armies of Car-
thage had been confhantly exercifed for above twenty years in all the
duties and hardfhips of war ; and were in all refpeds fuperior to thofe
of Rome. Their dominions at this time extended along the fhores of
the Mediterranean from the confines of Cyrenaica, fubjed: to the kings
of Egypt, weftward to the Straits, and thence northward almoft to the
Pyrenaean mountains, and comprehended the iflands between Spain and
Africa, and thofe between Sicily and Africa. Now therefor Hannibal
thought it was the proper time to be revenged of the Romans; and hav-
ing taken Saguntum in order to begin the quarrel, he immediately

* According to the allowance made by General mod 120 feet afunder ; a prodigious breadth aloft,

Melville for the perpendicular height between the to be fupported upon only 57 feet of breadth at

tires of oars, the uppermoll row-ports of this en- the water-line. [See above, p. 31, Note, and the

ormous Ihip could not be Icfs than 52 feet from place.]

the water. But with fuch a height the length of Pliny raifes Philopator's (hip to fifty tires of
the uppermoft oars, being only ^^{^ feet, allows oars ; and he afcribes one of forty to his grand-
nothing either for immerfioii in the water, or for father Pliiladelphus. But the authority of Cal-
the neceffary angle with the furface of it. It is lixenus and Mofepion, as handed down to us by
therefor pretty certain, that the great number of AtlieuKus, from wliom I have taken the account
the tires was intended merely for idle parade, and of thefe three fliips, appears to be preferable,
that it was effe6led, as the great length of the (liip f To thefe might be added Hcrennius, who fa-
would eafily permit, by placing them not quite ten gacioufly advifed his Ion Pontius, the general of
inches in perpendicular height above each-other, the Samnites, either to malTacre a Roman army.
And even with that height, and the uppermoft who were totally in his power, or generoufly to fet
oars fcarcely dipping in the water, the gunnels, them at liberty ; if the ilory were within the li-
as I find by a drawing made from a fcale, mull mils of authentic hiftory. \_Li'v. HlJ]. L.'i'X.,c. ^.'\

have been about 38 feet above the water, and al-

N 2

loo Before Chrifl 2 1 8 — 201.

made his famous paffage over the Alps, and rulhed hke a torrent upon
Italy with an army of only twenty thoufand foot and fix thoufand horfe
(a°. 218); but they were moflly approved veterans, trained to war under
three fucceflive great generals. Ai'my after army of the Romans was
defeated, and almoft all Italy was delivered from the Roman yoke by
Hannibal, who if envy had not prevented him from being properly
fupported from Carthage, would probably, in fpite of the determined
perfeverance of the Romans, have extinguilhed their power, and prevent-
ed their eagles from taking the wide flights over the world, which they
did, as foon as they were delivered from the oppofition of Carthage.
But in the courfe of fifteen years the vigour of his army, he having al-
moft no refources for recruiting or fupporting it, but what he drew
from his conquefts in Italy, was exhaufl:ed, while that of the Romans
was dayly improving. By the influence of the fame envious fadion the
Carthaginian army in Spain was left to fi:ruggle againft the power of the
Romans and the fluduating diliiffedion of the natives. New Carthage,
Saguntum, and every other pofl: in that extenfive country, fell under the
Roman dominion. Emboldened bythefe fuccefles, the Romans carried the
war into Africa (a". 204), and Hannibal was obliged to abandon Italy in or-
der to defendCarthage* (a°. 203). AtZama that great generalwas defeated
by the great Roman general Scipio (a". 202) : and that battle, which, Poly-
bius fays, conferred upon the Romans the fovereignty of the world, com-
pelled the Carthaginians to fue for peace (a". 201). One of the articles of
the peace obliged them to pay to the Romans ten thoufand Euboic talents
(jC^ ,937,500 fterling) in fifty years. But perhaps the mofi mortifying
article was that, which obliged them to referve only ten triremes, and
to deliver the reft of their fhips of war to the Romans, all which, to the
number of five hundred as we are told, Scipio burnt in their fight ; a
condud not very eafily to be accounted for, (as the Romans might now
be luppofed to know the value of fiiips) and which feems even to go
beyond the madnefs of Alexander in burning his own palace at Perfe-
polis. The Carthaginians are faid to have been in great diftrefs on fee-
ing the deftrudion of their fleet ; but they would have had much more
caufe for lamentation, if Scipio had made a more rational ufe of them
by carrying them home and ftationing them in the ports of Italy.
Some other articles were contrived by the Romans to afford a fubjedt of
perpetual quarrels between the princes of Africa in dependent alliance
with them and the Carthaginians, in order to furnifli a pretence for re-

• If Hanno's party liad been defeated Iji their of iiidudrioiis farmers, nianufafturers, merchants,

envious obftruflions of Hannibal's meafiirts, it is and navigators, conferring mutual benefits upon

more tlian probable, tliat the Roman republic each-other, while they were enriching and polilh-

would have been cxtingiiiflied : that portion of the ing the world ; mariy centuries would have been

inhabitants of tiie eartli, which was afterwards ex- added to the authentic hillory of aftive commerce,

iihingly called the Roman lunrld, inilead of a fo- which would have been illuRrated by the genuine

ciety compofed of one tyrant and many millions of records of the Carthaginians, and nlfo of their

flavcs, would have conltituted many communities Phceiiician anccflors.

Before Chrift 201. 10 1

newing the war : fo that this treaty of peace was in all refpeds worfe
than a total fubjugation.

Such was the calamitous termination of the war of Hannibal, which
later writers, willing to forget the fraudulent declaration of war and
adual hoftilities of the Romans foon after the firft peace, call the fe-
cotid* Punic war ; a war, which being carried on mofllyby land, would
be quite foreign to the plan of this work, if any other but the greateft
commercial community of the antient world had been engaged in it f .

At the commencement of Hannibal's war his brother Mago made
himfelf mafter of Genua. [Liv. L. xxxviii, c 46.] This, if I miftake
not, is the earlieft notice of this famous city, which Strabo, whenever he
has occafion to mention it, calls the emporium of the Ligurians, and
which afterwards rofe to fuch diftinguilhed commercial pre-emience
in the middle ages.

In the fcale of commercial dignity Syracufe might perhaps contend
with Corinth or Alexandria for the rank next to Carthage. This opu-
lent city, which, during the life of its obfequious king, Hiero, had
been fpared by the Romans, was reduced during the war of Hanni-
bal. What is deferving of notice in the hiftory of its fiege, is the de-
fence made by the wonderful abilities of Archimedes, who, himfelf,
more powerful than an army, baffled every attempt of the Roman fleet
and army. He dafhed their fhips and mofl formidable engines in pieces
by diicharging from the lofty walls ftones of between 500 and 600
pounds weight upon them. Some he lifted by their heads, keeping
their fterns dipping in the water, and, after fufpending them for fome
time, fuddenly let them go, whereby they were filled with water, over-
fet, or deftroyed. On the land fide he overwhelmed the Roman army
with fhowers of fi:ones and darts, and feizing the foldiers with hooks,
hoifted them aloft in the air, as a terror to their ailoniihed companions,
who were more difmayed by the fcience of this one man than by the
force of great armies. \_Polyh. L. viii, cc. 5 et feqq.\ -After a fiege of
eight months,' Syracufe, wafted by plague and famine, and betrayed by
one of its own governors, was taken by the Romans (a''. 211). Though
Marcellus, who happened to be a man of fome humanity, as well as po-
licy, had given Arid: orders to preferve Archimedes, he was maflacred
by a foldier, who miftook his box of inftruments for a golden treafure.

Archimedes did not confine the benefit of his inventions to Sicily :
the fcrew-pump, known by his name, wherein water rifes by defcend-

* It was the third war between the Romans and be : but unfortunately we are deprived of the mofl:

Carthaginians. valuable part of his works, the thirty-five books,

f For the wars of the Carthaginians with the which contained the hiftory of his own times, of

Romans I have generally followed Polybius, who which we pofTefs only a few detached fragments,

13 much older than any other writer upon the fub- which are, however, of very great ufe in confirming

jeft now extant, and as faithful as a writer, receiv- or correfting the accounts of later writers.
ing his materials from the Romans, can poffibly i

I o z Before Chrift, 201.

ing, was contrived by him for draining the hollow grounds of Egypt af-
ter the recefs of the Nile. He was apparently the firft who dil'covered
the propriety of balancing the aftion of the wind upon a fliip by three
mafts The combination of puUies is alfo believed to be an invention
of his. Thefe improvements, though the leaft noticed by hiftorians, are
alone fufficient to immortalize his name in commercial and nautical
hiflory. (See above, p. 98.) He gave a fublime idea of his confidence
in the powers of mechanics, vvhen_ he faid to King Hiero, ' Give me
' but a place to ftand upon, and I will remove the world.' His great
knowlege of aflronomy appeared in the conflirudion of a fphere of
glafs, which by means of machinery exhibited the motions of the plan-
ets ; and feems by the defcriptions of it to have come very near to what
is now called the orrery. [Cic. Tufcul. qucejl. L. i. — Clnndiajii Epigr. lO.]
He compofed many geometrical and aftronomical works, of which, to
the great lofs of fcience, onlv a few are now extant *.

203 — We are told, that during thefe wars gold was for the firft time coin-
ed at Rome, which had not even any filver coin till a little before the com-
mencement of the Sicilian war (a". 265). The gold coin was called fimply
aureus (golden), and was nearly of the fame weight with our guinea. The
filver coins were the denarius, viBoriatus \, ^ndfejieitius. The denarius
palled for ten a/Jes of brafs, till the Roman government, being greatly
diftrcfled for money in the war of Hannibal, gave it the nominal value
of fixteen affes, whereby they defrauded their creditors of fix in every
lixteen. But the pay was llill iiTued at the old currency to the army,
whom they did not dare to offend. [Plin. H'ljl. nat. L. xxxiii, c. 3.]

Previous to the introduction of filver coin the current money of the
Romans was brafs reckoned by the ^vj', which, from containing original-
ly a pound of brafs, was by feveral ftages of depretiation reduced to half
an ounce. As foon as they got acquainted with the Greeks fettled in
Italy, they reckoned large funis in Grecian money of account.

The long continuarxe of brafs money, the grofs violation of the pro-
portion between the denarius and the os, and the adoption of foreign de-
nominations for large funis, afford a clear demonftration, that hitherto
the Romans had fcarcely had any intercourl'e with the more enlighten-
ed nations, and that their dealings were on too trifling a fcale to be dig-
nified with the name of commerce.

• The mirrors, wlitrcvvith Arcln'medcs is faid j- According to Pliny the •v'tdorialus was firft

to have burnt the Roman fleet, have employed the brought from lllyricum, which might thus be fup-

fpcciilations of many of the pliilofophers of modern pofcd to have paid a balance in trade to the

times. The ftory probably fprung from the cxag- merchants of Italy.

geration, which ufually follows wiiat is in itfelf The frequent variations in the value of the Ro-
furptlfing and extraordinary. Polyb'us has not a man money form a very intricate, and a moll un-
word of it, though jiretty full in his dcfcription of fatisfattory, (ludy. The bell guide to it is pro-
thc artilleiy of Archimedes ; nor even Livy or bably tho elaborate work of Dr. Arbuthnot, en-
Plutarch, though both rather fond of the marvel- titled Tables of ancient coins, lueightt, and mca-
ous. liut they arc mentioned by Diodorus, as qiiot- furcs.
cd by Tzet/.cs, and by Dion, as quoted byZonaras. 4

Before Chriil 200 — 170. 103

200 to T 49 — The Romans, no longer apprehending any oppofition from
Carthage, fet no bounds to their ambition, cruelty, and contempt of na-
tional faith. They interfered in the moft infolent and arbitrary manner
in the affairs of all nations, and took upon them to regulate, or rather to
pervert.thefucceflion of kings. Perfeus kingof Macedonia, Antiochus king
of Syria, and a multitude of fmaller kings and ftates, including all the Gal-
lic part of Italy and almoft the whole peninfula of Spain, were fubjecled
to the dominion of Rome. Antiochus, and feveral others of the Afiatic
princes, were permitted to retain a nominal royalty. But they were
merely deputed magiftrates, effectually deprived of fovereign power, and
particularly of their naval force : and, after affifling in the redudion of
their neighboui-s, wherein they gratified their refentments without con-
fidering that they were thereby accelerating their own deftrucT:ion, they
were flripped of their tolerated fhadow of power, and had only the com-
fort, which, according to the fable, Polyphemus promifed to UlyiFes, of
being laft devoured. Such is the brief hiftory of the Romans for about
half a century, as colleded from their own writers and the romanized

Greeks What would it be, if the hiftorians of other nations were alio

extant to tell the tale ?

According to Appian, the commerce of the Carthaginians began to
fpring up with renewed vigour almofi: iinmediately after the conclufion
of the difaftrous v^ar with Rome, noiwithftanding their lofs of territory,
the deftruction of their warlike (hips, and the heavy burthen of two
hundred talents paid every year to the Romans. A clear proof, that
commerce needs not the fupport of power or of laws to bind markets to
it, and that the mercantile fpirit of Carthage was capable of rifing fu-
perior to every difficulty. And fuch is the vigorous nature of a judici-
oufly-conduded trade, that they would have furmounted all their hard-
fhips, and long continued to flourifli, had it been pollible for any mer-
cantile nation to flourifh within the grafp of Rome.

About 170 — Secure as yet -beyond the fartheft reach of Roman inva-
fion, commerce fiourifhed in tranquillity among the inhabitants of the
fouth coaft of Arabia*. We are indebted to Agatharchides, an author
who fiourifhed in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor, for a fplendid and
interefting defcription of their commercial profperity, and of their trade
with India and other oriental countries, which I give, as nearly as a
tranflated abridgement can be, in his own words.

The Sabseans, who poffels the fouthern extremity of Arabia, are the

* It does not appear that the Romans ever of this land of frankincenfe and perfumes. [P^n.
made any confiderable or lafting acquifitlons in the L. vl, c. 28 — Sirabo, L. xvi, ^. 1 12S.] The com-
fouth part of Arabia. When Ph'ny was employ- plcte conqiielt of Arabia, and particularly the de-
ed upon his Natural hiftory (about the 75th year llruttion of the noble commercial city of Arabia
of the Chriftian sera) no Roman general had ever Felix, has been afcribed to Trajan, but contrary to
led an army into Arabia, except /Elius Gallus, authority,
whofe fartheft progrefswas two day's journey fliott

104 Before Chrifl about 170.

greatefl of the Arabian nations, and enjoy every kind of felicity. Their
herds of cattle are innumerable. Their country produces, in the mofl;
luxuriant abundance, myrh, frankincenfe, balfam, cinnamon, and cafia.
They have alfo an odoriferous fruit, called in their own language larym-
na, and a fragrant incenfe, by which the vigour of the body is reftored.
The whole country abounds with every thing delightful ; and the very
ocean is perfumed by the fragrance of their fpices and odours *.

Near the main land there are fome iflands, where their veflels are fta-
tioned. Moft of them trade to the port, which Alexander eilabliflied at
the mouth of the Indus f ; and many alfo trade to Perfia, Carmania,
and all other parts of the adjoining continent. Their coafting trade is
partly conduded upon large rafts :};, by which they bring in the larymna
and other aromatic fruits from diflant parts of the country : and they
alfo ufe boats made of leather.

No people in the world have acquired greater opulence by commerce
than the Sabaeans, and Gerrhaeans : for, being in pofTeflion of the car-
rying trade between the eaft and weft parts of the world (' Afia and
Europe') they command the commerce of both. They convey their
pretious merchandize by land carriage j] as far as Syria and Mefopota-
mia : they have filled the dominions of Ptolemy with gold ; and they
have provided the moft profitable employment, and a thoufand other
advantages, to the induftry of the Phoenicians. They have alfo eftablifh-
ed feveral colonies in other countries §.

Thus enriched by their profperous commerce, they are profufe in
their expenfes for ornamental plate, and admirable fculptures, a variety
of cups and vafes of gold and filver, and fumptuous beds and tripods.
The columns of their houfes are covered with gold, or made entirely of
filver ; and even the doors and cielings are adorned with gold, filver,
ivory, gems, and pretious ftones. In fliort, whatever is to be feen of
rich or elegant furniture, difperfed in other countries, is here afl!embled
in the greateft abundance and variety in the magnificent houfes of the
Sabaeans, many of whom rival kings in their expenditure.

It is happy for thefe opulent people, that they are far removed from

• Agatharcliidcs probably vifittJ till:; delightful f See ^4rriarr, L. \\. Diodonis Siculus calls
country. He is quite in raptures in tiis dcfcrip- tlie port I'otaiia.

tion of the luxuries produced in it. His deferip- | Strabo, [Z,. xvi, A. IM4] alfo notices the

tion fecms to have fuggcfled to Mi'.ton the follow- carriage by rafts (' <r^iiiitii') among the iilands in

ing beautiful fimilc. the Straits.

' As when to them who fall || Strnbo, [/.. xvi,/i. 1 127] compares thegieat

' Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are pall multitude of men and camels in a caravan, travcl-

' Mozambic, olf at fca north-call winds blow ing fecurcly from llonc to (lone acrofs the dcfcrt,

' Sabcan odours from the fplcy fliore to an army.

' Of Araby the Blell : with fuch delay § A curious and iiUcrcfting inftatice of their co-

* Well plcas'd they flack their courfe, and many Ionization, confirming the account of Agatharchi-
' a league, des, will be given from the Periplus of the Eryth-

•• ChearM with the grateful fmell, old Ocean rjean fea. See below at A. D. 73.
* fmiles.'

Before Chrift 170 — 149. 105

thofe Ibvereigns, who conftantly keep on foot great armies ready to in-
vade every country ; or, inftead of being the principals, and having the
command of the commerce between the eallern and weftern worlds,
they would foon be reduced to the condition of agents, and be compell-
ed to condud the trade for the emolument of others. \^Agatharchides,
L. V, cc. 50, 51, ap. Photii Bibl — See alfo Diod. Sic. L. iii, § 46, 47 —
Strabo, L. xvi, p. 1 1 24.]

This defcription of the happy condition of the Sabaeans, which is
much more copious than thofe ufually given by antient writers upon
fimilar fubjefts (and it is even prolix in fome parts of the original) does
not appear to give any fupport to the fuppoiition of an active trade from
Egypt to India. Surely an author, who was in the fervice of the king
of Egypt, would not have negleded to mention fuch a trade, if it had at
all exifted, when he particularizes the various countries, to which the
Sabaean veffels made their voyages. It feems even probable, that the
Sabaeans failed to the ports of Egypt, and that it was by the agency and
duties paid on their trade there, that the merchants of Egypt and their
fovereign were enriched. And it is certain, that the Sabaeans, and the
Gerrhaeans, who feem to have been conneded with them in commerce,
enjoyed a monopoly of the commerce with India, and thereby acquired
the opulence which has ever attended thofe who have obtained the
command of that univerfally-coveted trade.

168 — Sulpicius Gallus was the firft of the Romans who could fore-
tell an eclipfe. Previous to a lunar one he made a fpeech to the army,
alTuring them that it was a natural event, and noway portentous. \_Plin.
Hiji. nat. L. i, c. 12. — Fronthii Stratag. L. i, c. 12.]

161 — Some years afterwards they got the firll fun-dial conftruded for
the latitude of Rome, after having for about a century had nothing bet-
ter than a dial, made for the latitude of Sicily, to regulate their time.
A few years after (a". 158) Scipio Nafica, obferving the defedivenefs of
the dial in cloudy weather and in the night-time, introduced the clep-
fydra, an inftrument for meafuring time by the running of water.
[Plin. Hi/i. nat. L. vii, c. 40.]

Such, by the account of one of the bed of their own writers, was the
tardy progrefs of fcience among the Romans, whom many fuppofe to
have been at this time a very polifhed and enlightened people.

149 — Fifty years were required to pay up the whole of the tribute
exacted from Carthage by the Romans : and that time being now elapf-
ed, they were defirous of renewing .the operations of plunder. With
that view they had encouraged Mafinifla, a king of Numidia, whom they
kept in a flate of dependent alliance, to harafs the Carthaginians with
perpetual quarrels, which they carefully prevented from ever being
fully accommodated, and in vrhich they continually interfered with the

Vol. I O

io6 Before Chrift 149 — 146.

moft glaring partiality in favour of their tool, Mafinifla * : and at
length, with fcarcely the (hadow of a pretence, they declared war againll
Carthage.

The Carthaginians, now convinced that war mufl: be the ruin of com-
merce, made great conceffions to avert it. They even offered to be-
come fubjeds to the Romans. But thofe relentlefs barbarians, whom
nothing could fatisfy but their deftrucTiion, after manygrofs and perfidi-
ous abufes of their patience, had the infolence to propole as the condi-
tions of peace, (or, more truely fpeaking, of a precarious temporary for-
bearance) that they fhould give up their city to deftrudhon, abandon
their maritime fituation, and remove to a new and defencelefs city to
be built at a diftance from the fea. Such conditions it was impoffible
for a mercantile people to comply with : and the confequences were
what the Romans had forefeen, and delired. The Carthaginians were
driven to defperation, and though previoully deprived of all their arms
and engines of defence by a bafe trick of the Roman confuls, yet, by
the aftonifhing exertion and perfeverance of all the men, women, and
bigger children, in the city, they inftantaneoufiy provided new arms and
engines, and made a noble ftand againft their inveterate enemies, whom
they feveral times defeated with confiderable flaughter. When even
fhut up within their city by lines drawn acrofs the neck of land behind
it, when the one harbour was completely blocked up by the Roman
fleet, and the other was rendered ufelefs by a mole formed with prodi-
gious labour by the enemy, they in a few days created a new harbour,
and a new fleet of fifty triremes, with which they engaged their ene-
mies. At another time they deftroyed their engines, and put them to
flight, though armed only with lighted torches. But it was impolfible
for an exhaufted and diminiflied community, however courageous, to
refifl: the frefh and vigorous armies of Rome. The city, when it had
held out four years after the time that the Romans thought they had
only to take pofTefllon of it, was utterly deftroyed ; the inhabitants of
both fexes and all ages, excepting a few, who were referved for the more
bitter d- ath of flavery, were butchered ; and Rome triumphed over the
afhes of Carthage (a". 146) f.

Tims, after having for many ages animated and civilized the weftern
parts of the world by the vaft extent of her commerce, and by her
Icience, after having eclipfed the moft brilliant period in the hiftory of

* ' Huic bono focioque rcgl favcbalur.' Fkr. (and lie was then romanized) as well as a veiy

/,. ii, c, 15. faitlilul hiilorian.

f The account of this waf, or rather carnage, The moft. genuine remains of the Carthaginian

is chiefly from Appian, with fomc alTillancc from people and language now exiiling are fuppoTed to

the fragments of Folybius, who was prcfent at tiie be in Malta. \_Sl:ylax, Stcphanus, Wf. ap. Bocbart.

dtftruttion of Carthage, and contributed to it by Chaiman, I., i, c. 26. — Purchai, B. vi, p. 916.3

hiB advice : for he was a warrior and a confunimatc Mr. Eton, who has lived at Malta, told me that

|>olitician in ihc cationalfelfifh ftnfe^pf the word the Maltrfc call their language Punic, and he finde

1 it much akin to the Arabic.

Before Chrifl 146. 107

Tyre, her mother country, and after havmg rivaled even in miUtary
prowefs the haughty Roman repubUc, whofe fole and unremitting pur-
suit was the aggrandizement of her dominions by war and conqueft,
and whom ihe brought to tremble on the brink of deflrudion, fell the
mofl; illuftrious of the republics of antiquity. In her fall commerce re-
ceived a wound, under which it languilhed (at leaft in the weftern world)
during many dark centuries of Roman oppreflion, and of fubfequent
ignorance, brought upon the civilized part of the world by the nations,
whom Providence in due time raifed up to revenge upon Rome the in-
juries of Carthage, of commerce, and of mankind.

The Romans, as if determined upon the total abolition of commerce,
in this fame year alfo deftroyed the mercantile city of Corinth, which
till now had retained the epithet of wealthy, bellowed upon it fo many
ages before by the father of Grecian poetry. In confequence of its
opulence and tafte it had long been the repofitory of the mofl admired
produdions of Grecian art. But now the mofl capital paintings were
made tables for the Roman favages to play at dice upon : and fo utter-
ly ignorant was the conful Mummius, that, when a picture of Bachus
by Ariflides, (faid to be the firll painter who reprefented the paffions of
the foul in his figures) which had been got out of the hands of the
foldiers by giving them a more convenient table, was bought by Attains
king of Pergamus at the price of fix thoufand fellertium, he, aflonifhed
at the greatnefs of the fum, and concluding that the pidlure muft pof^
fefs lome myflerious or magic virtue, refufed to let him have it, and
fent it to Rome. He gave another fpecimen of his grofs ignorance,
when he (hipped the mofl capital ftatues of the Grecian fculptors, by-
threatening to make the mailers of the veflels, if they loft any of them,
find others at their own coft. This importation introduced the firfl ru-
diments of tafle for the fine arts among the Romans, who had hitherto
feen nothing fuperior to the paltry performance of their own imitators
of the Etrulcan painters and flatuaries. \Folyb. * ap. Strabo, L. viii,
p. 584 — Vel. Paterc. L. i, c. 13 — Flin. Hi/}, nat. L. xxxv, c. 4.]

The few merchants, who were now left alive in the countries liable
to be infefled by the Romans, fled for refuge from the fword of oppref-
fion or extermination to the fhelter of fuperftition. They eflablilhed
themfelves at Delos, a fmall illand of the ^Egaean fea, which, with every
perfon and thing in it being under the protedion of Apollo, was
efleemed fo facred, that hitherto it had never been violated either by-
Greeks or foreigners ; and it foon became a noted emporium, where
merchants of various nations met in tranquillity, even when their coun-
tries were engaged in hoflilities. But it is a melancholy confideration,

* Polybius went from the ruins of Carthage to cities in the weftern world: and he faw with his own
Corinth, and thus in a few months witnefTed tiie eyes the profanation of Ariltidcs's pifture by thf
total deftruftion of two of the mofl flourifliing dice-players.

O2

io8 Before Chriil: 146 — 138.

that human creatures formed the principal article of fale, of whom
fometimes ten thoufand were brought in, or fliipped off, in one day.
\_Strabo, L. x, p. 744 ; L. xiv, p. 985.] The trade of Delos, however,
had it been for commodities or mariufadures prepared by induftry, in-
Head of flaves procured by the defolations of war, was not capable of
making amends to the world for that of Corinth, and was a mere no-
thing if compar.ed to the commerce of Carthage.

The deftruclion at the fame time of thefe two mercantile republics
made a complete revolution in the affairs of every part of the world,
which had any connexion with the Mediterranean fea. General in-
duftry, plenty, tranquillity, and felicity, no longer blefled the nations ;
bu' rapine, want, tumults, and mifery everywhere prevailed. The
millions of induftrious people, who had been fet to work, in every coun-
try they traded with, by the merchants of Carthage and Corinth, de-
prived of their accuflomed fources of honourable and independent fub-
fidence, were compelled to look for other refources, generally difficult
to be found, often not to be found at all. Thofe who had been bred
to the fea, no longer employed in carrying on the beneficial intercourfe,
which binds diflant nations together by the ftrong ties of friendfhip and
intereft, no longer permitted to be the ufeful fervants, were driven by
defperation to become the enqmies, of mankind in the charader of pi-
rates. Neither were the Ron^ians themfelves exempted from feeling a
fliare of the diflrefs they brought upon the world. The fudden accel-
lion of fo many hundred thoufands of" indignant flaves (as in thofe times
to be a prifoner of war was to be a flave) was a matter of mofi: formid-
able apprehcnfion to the conquerors : for the right of one nian to the
unrequited fcrvices of another, being founded only in power, rnuft of
neceflity be reverfed the moment the flave becomes fenfible that the
balance of power is in his own hands.

The people of Spain, who perhaps of all others mofl feverely fuffered.
by the abolition of the Carthaginian trade, flew to arms under the con-
dud of Viriathus, who for thirteen years (152 — 140) fupported the in-
dependence of his country, and fhowed the world, that the Roman
armies could be defeated by inferior numbers fighting for their liberty.
The Romans at lafl fubmitted to acknowledge the great fuperiority of
his military talents by bribing traitors to murder him (a". 140). Such^
and fo difgracef ul to his enemies, was the end of this true patriot hero,
whom'Florus, thinking to do him honour, calls the Romulus of Spain,,
but worthy to be compared to the great Hannibal. The army, of
which he was the fbul, after a noble flruggle, in which even the women
fought bravely for their liberty, was traniplanted to Valentia (a\ 138),,
where they became a colony of farmers, fubjed to the power of Rome.
The defper?.tely-brave citizens of Numantia, after dilplaying their owti-
generofity and Roman perfidy in the mofl ftriking colours, and after

Before Chrili 134 or 133. 109:

fending many thoufands -of their enemies out of the world before t-hern,
at laft reduced their city, and every thing dear to them, together with
themfelves, to a heap of aflies (a". 1 t^^). Their deftrudioh was effeded
by the fame Scipio, who had completed tlie ruin of Carthage, and who,
for the butchery oftwo communities, infinitely more valuable than the
den of robbers from which he fprung, has been the theme of much
prodituted praife to the writers of fuccceding ages. j

While the Spanifh wars were drawing to a conclufiorv, feveral infLrri*
redionsof the flaves broke out in Sicily. Under the command of their
elected king Eunus, or Antiochus, they frequently defeated the Roman
armies with great daughter. But all their attempts to emancipate them-
felves were finally frufirated. In the courfe of fix ye.ars many thoufands
of thofe unfortunate people, and a pwsporti'onal number of their oppref-
fors, were flain, before they were finally fupprefled, or exterrninated
(a". 132). Similar commotions of the flaves took place about this time,
and afterwards, in Sicily and other countries, and particularly in Dclos,
which has jufl: been noted as a gi-eat flave -market.

134 or 133 — It was -apparently when Scipio palled through Gaul in
going to, or returning from, Spain, that he had fome conferences with
the merchants of Maflilia, Narbo, and Gorbilo, then the principal cities
of Gaul, wherein he endeavoured to draw froin them fome account of
Britain. But' they, knowing that no good could arife to their com-
merce from the interference of the Romans, prudently declined giving
him any information. We hereby learn from the mofi; refpecftable au-
thority, \_Polyb. ap. Sfrab. L. iv, p. 289] that a part, perhaps the greatefi:
part, of the Britifh trade was now in the hands of the Gallic merchants,
and idfo (from this notice of Polybius compared with fubfequent autho-
rities to be produced in the'ir proper time) that it was carried on over
land by inland^ navigation and land carriage, for which mode of con-
veyance the large rivers in Gaul are remarkably convenient. The ruin
of Carthage and the fubjection of Gadir to the Romans about feventy
years before this time, were circumfi:ances exceedingly favourable to the
commerce of the Gallic merchants *.

* Polybius in his Hiilory [/,. iii, c. 57] expreffes mear.inc; of tlie pafTage \_PoIyb. L. in,c. 38] quoc-

an intention of ilefcribing the ocean beyond the ed by Camden, as appears from the context, is.

Straits, the British is^ANns. with the manner of that, as it was unknown, Whether Ethiopia was

preparing 'le tin, the Spanilli mines, &c. in a fe- furrounded by the fea on the fouth, or joined to a

parate work; which- he appears to have accom- foiithern continent ; fo that part of Europe l)ing.

phflied, as may be iuferrt'd from a palTage of I'Stra- to the northward i>i iiaxho [Nar bonne) and the

bo, ^L. ii, p. 163] apparenfly taken' from it, Tanats, was hitherto imexplored. Thai is to fay,

wherein Polybius criticizes the accounts of Britain he knew not, whether it had fea to the northward

by Dicearchus, Eratoithenes, and Pytheas; It is or not. Any otlier interpretation makes Poly-

thus evident, that Polybius has made mentipu of bias inconfiilent with himfclf ; for he not only

Britain in at leail two places, which had cfoaped knew of the exiftence of Britain, which 13 far to

the refcarch of the indullriuus Camden, or he the northward of Narbo, but he alfo cleaily knew,

would not have faid, that this part of the world that it was an ifland, and had other iilands adja-

was not at all known to that p^reathiftorian. The ccntto it. The-

no Before Chrift 130— 127,

130 — VelleiusPaterculus [-^.ii.r. 1] remarks, that the firllScipio iliewed
'the Romans the way to power, and the fecond, to luxury. But, how-
ever rich the pubUc treafury might be with the fpoils of induftrious na-
tions, individuals were not yet arrived at any great degree of opulence :
and the houfes of the greateft of the Romans at this time, though fub-
ftantial, were by no means elegant. They were all eclipfed by a houfe
built by Lepidus about fifty years after, which, in the progrefs of luxury,
was exceeded in magnificence by above a hundred houfes in thirty-five
years more. [/*/?>/. L. xvii, c. 1 ; L. xxxvi, c. 15.]

The marriage portions of women may be reckoned a pretty good
flandard of the general wealth of a nation. The fenate of Rome, as a
mark of their refped for Scipio, then commanding their army in Spain,
gave his daughter a portion of 1 1,000 affes {£,2S '• ^° • 5) fterling : and
it was a greater fortune than that of Tatia the daughter of Ceefo, whofe
portion of 1 0,000 afles (^^32 : 5 : 10) was efleemed very great. Megul-
lia, indeed, greatly exceeded both of them, for Ihe had 50,000 afles
(;,^322 : 1 8 : 4), and in confideration of fuch extraordinary wealth fhe was
furnamed the Fortune (' Dotata'). [Valer. Max. L. iv, c. 4.]

The fecond Scipio does not appear to have been luxurious, avari-
cious, nor rich ; for at his death he left only 32 pounds of filver and 2~
pounds of gold * ; a fmall fortune for one who had commanded at the
deftrudion and plunder of the richefl; city in the weftern world. \_Sext,
All r el. Victor de viris i//i//?r.]

About this time the pay of the Roman foldiers was two obeli (about
27d) a day, of the centurions four oboli, and of the horfemen a drachma
or fix oboli (j^d). In the north part of Italy, afterwards called Lom-
bardy, the medimnus (about a bufhel and a half) of wheat was fold for
four oboli ; barley at half that price ; and wine was exchanged for bar-
ley, meafure for meafure. Polybius, [L. n,c. 15 ; Z,. vi, c. 37] to whom
we are indebted for thefe rates of pay and prices, by remarking the ex-
traordinary cheapnefs in the north part of Italy, fhows us, that provifions
were then higher in Rome. But though they had coft there even the
double of thefe prices, a foldier could fl:ill purchafe a peck and a half of
wheat with his day's pay, which of courfe mud be confidered as very
high : or, in other words, the Romans paid the defl:royers of mankind
at a much higher rate than their feeders.

The 127th year before the Chriflian aera is diftinguifhed by the laft
obfervation made by Hipparchus, a Bithynian Greek, who is with rea-
fon called the prince of aflronomers. He calculated the eclipfes of the

The ovctfight of the prince of Rritifli gcograpli- Necos king of Egypt had demoiiftrated, that the

ers and antiquaries is kept in countenance by an ioulh part of it was furrounded by the ocean.—

ovcrfight of Polybius liimfclf in the vciy paffage See above, p. 35.

quoted ; wlio nilght have learned from Herodotus * The Roman pound waj equal to twelve ounces

.that the circumravigation of Africa in the reign of 01 our avoirdupois weight.

Before Chrift 1 1 8 — loo. rii

fun and the moon for fix hundred years, ' as if he had aififted at the
councils of Nature,' fays Pliny, who adds, that his predidions were ve-
rified by time. He undertook the arduous tafk of making a catalogue
of the ftars, and defer ibing the pofuion and magnitude of each. He
alfo wrote feveral aflronomical treatifes ; and he was the firft, who ap-
plied the principles of aftronomy to geography. In his geography he
often differed from Eratofthenes, for which he is reprehended by Stra-
bo. Inflead of correding the error of Eratofthenes in the circumfer-
ence of the earth, he augmented it by about 25,000 ftadia. Indeed the
geographical knowlege of Eratofthenes was fuch, that his calculations
could not well be correded without the aid of inftruments of fuperior
accuracy. [Plin. Hi/i. nat. L. ii, cc. 18, 32, 26. — Ptolem. LI. iij, v.]

1 1 8 — A Roman colony was fettled at Narbo in Gaul ; [Vel. Paterc,
L. i, c. 15] whence it has been fuppofed that it was only founded now.
We have juft feen, from Polybius, that it was a trading town in his
time, and apparently engaged in the Britifh trade.

105 Jugurtha king of Numidia, who had learned the arts of war

and perfidy in the camp of the Romans at Numantia, was now con-
quered by them after a refiftance of about feven years, 3,700 pounds
of gold, 5,775 pounds of filver in bars, and a great quantity in coin,
conftituted part of the plunder carried to Rome. Numidia muft have
been a very opulent country to afford fo much wealth, after being drain-
ed by the war, and by very great bribes profufely fcattered among the
Romans and Mauritanians by Jugurtha.

100 — About this time flourifhed Artemidorus, an Ephefian Greek,
who is quoted by Strabo, [i^. iv, p. 304] as mentioning an ifland near
Britain, wherein the flime religious ceremonies were performed, which
were eftabliflied in Samothrace. It is very probable, that in both iflands
the fame ceremonies were introduced by the Phoenicians. [See Bocharto
Chatiaan, coll. 394, 650.]

Strabo repeats a ftory of a veffel being found in the Red fea vvith on-
ly one man, almoft dead, onboard, who reported, that he was from In-
dia, and that all his ftiipmates had died of famine. He undertook to pilot
a veffel to India ; and Ptolemy Euergetes II, king of Egypt, thereupon
fent Eudoxus, who made the voyage, and returned with aromaiics and
pretious ftones. This is, I believe, the onlyantient account of a voyage
made to India from Egypt during the Macedonian dominion in that
country « and the fabrication of fuch a ftory (for it has every appear-
tmce of a fidion) is of itfelf a ftrong prefumption againft the previous ex-
iftence of an India trade. The fame Eudoxus is alfo faid to have af-
terwards explored the coaft of Africa, which he pretended that he cir-
cumnavigated, though not in one voyage. His firft departure was from
the Red fea ; and his fecond was from Gadir, whence he ftretched along
the weft coaft, till he reached, or fuppofed, or pretended, he reached,

^j^ . .Before Chrift loO' — 87.

the fartheft nation he had vifited m his former voyage *. [Strabo^ L. ii,
p. 155 — Pli/i. L. ii, c. 67.]

^ The celebrated Mithridates, king of Pontus, built a palace, a water
mill, and fome other conveniencies, : in his city of Cabira. This, I be-
lieve, "is the earliefl: notice we have of a water mill, an engine fo ufeful
'in preparing the mofl: valuable article of our dayiy fubfiflence ; and
from its being mentioned along with the palace, it may be prefumed to
have been tli/en a recent difcovery f. \Strabo, L. xii, p. 834.]
. After the depreflion of Tyre, and tlie dellrudion of Carthage, the
only trading community of the Phoenicians, remaining in any degree of
profperity, feems to have been that of Gadir. They have already been
noted as the original difcoverers of the Cafliterides. They alfo carried
on a great fidiery on the weft coaft of Africa, at a place which has been
long after noted for the great abundance of fifh : and they appear to
have traded to the two Fortunate iflands, which are defcribed as fepa-
rated from each other by a narrow channel, and as blefied with a de-
lightful climate and a fertile foil, yielding fpontaneoufly every thing ne-
ceflary to the fubliftence of mankind \.

I have already obferved, that after the deftrudion of Carthage the
feafaring people were driven by neceffity or defpair, to become free-
booters and pirates. But as the languifhing ftate, to which commerce
was now reduced, afforded them few prizes upon the fea, their plunder
was chiefly collected by ravaging the coafts ; and they had every reafon to
make the Romans tlje principal objects of their hoftility and revenge.
In time they became mafters of the Mediterranean fea from end to
end, and alfo of feveral hundreds of towns upon its coafts : but Cilicia, the
Balearic iflands, and Crete, were their principal ftations. Mithridates
king of Pontus, being at war with the Romans (a' . 87), was fenfible
how much it was his intereft to cultivate the friendfliip of thofe nlafters
of the fea, who poflefled a thoufand warlike vefl"els, and fcarcely permit-
ted a cargo of corn to proceed to Rome, or a Roman governor to go by
water to his province. Long they rode triumphant in the Mediterran-

* Strabo, after relating the voyages of Eudoxus could be no other than the Canaries, the only con-
nives feveial arguments proving the whole to be fidcrablc idands vifible from the coaft of Africa-,
fabuloue, vvhicli, however, arc more captious than The innacuracy in the number of the iflands is
folid. eafily explained from the account being given by

■}■ Papcirolhis, who feems not to have read Strabo fcamcn to Sertorius, who, Plutarch fays, had fome

er Vitruvius, fuppofes, that Bclifarius con(lru£lcd thoughts of retiring to thofe happy iflands to pais

the firll water mills, wlien he was befieged in Rome the remainder of his life in bliistul cafe, free from

by the Goths. The mills he means were couflruflcd the alarms and the fatigues of war. Florus goes

in barges moored in the Tiber, and weredcviftd by fo far as to fay, that he afliially arrived at them ;

that great general ssfiiLJlilula for the vfual 'water but from the relation of Plutarch, and from the

mjV/j-, bccanfe the fmall dreams were tlicn in the very bufy life of that commander, there is iiafon

power of tlie enemy. to believe, that he never put his defign in execu-

X So ihefe iflan Is are defcribed by Plutarch in lion, fo far as even to vifit them. If he had, wii

the Life of Sertorius. He adds, that they were fluuild probably have known inpre oJF .them than

ten thoufand lladia from Libya, which mull be un- wc do. • 4 • •' ''

fltrftood as meaning from the Straits : for they ilil ,/!>;■ .

. Before Chrift 67. 11^

can, and ftill rofe fuperior to every attack, till the Romans, who thought
themfelves entitled to the exclufive privilege of plundering the world, at
lad determined to exert their utmoft force againfl this formidable aflb-
ciation of enemies, or rivals. Pompey, whofe warlike atchievements
had already procured him a great name, was appointed to condudt the
war, and inverted with unlimited power to command all the kings and
ftates within 400 ftadia of the whole Mediterranean fhore ; and 120,000
foot, 5,000 horfe, and 500 fliips, with a treafury of 6,000 Attic talents,
were put under his command. The Rhodians alfo, a mercantile peo-
ple, and confequently no friends to freebooters, joined their forces with
the Romans.

67 — Pompey diftributed his fleet in thirteen divifions, to each of which
he appointed a portion of the fea as a ftation. In confequence of this
difpofition the exiles were everywhere attacked at once, and had no
place of fafety to retire to. Pompey himfelf attacked them in their
head-quarters in Cilicia, beat the principal divifion of their forces in a
naval battle, and aflaulted the caflles, in which they had fhut themfelves
up. Having in a fhort time taken 400 * of their fliips, with 1 20 of
their towns, and (if it can be believed) not lofing a fmgle fliip of his
own, he put an end to the war. Then, in order to detach them from a
maritime life, and remove them from all temptation to refume their for-
mer occupation, he impofed upon them the terms which had been pre-
fcribed to the Carthaginians, and obliged them to occupy towns and lands
which he afligned to them at a diftance from the fea.

The victory having put Pompey in polTeffion of the wealth accumu-
lated by the independent corfairs, he bellowed upon every one of his
foldiers a fum equal to ;^48 18:9 of our money f , and brought into
the public treafury ;Cr93?75°- Among the wonders of eaftern magni-
ficence carried in Pompey's triumphal proceflion, there was a mufeum
of pearls, on the top of which was a horologium, [P/in. Z,. xxxvii, c. 2.]
which appears, from the defcription of fuch inftruments by Vitruvius,
to have been merely a dial embelliflied by oriental ingenuity and opu-
lence. It was a Angularity in his triumph, that none of the captives
were put to death at it.

The Romans being now mailers of the fovereignty of the fea without
a competitor, and having deftroyed almoft all the mercantile nations,
were under a neceflity to befl:ow at lead fo much attention upon com-
merce, as to provide for the importation of the articles, neceflary for the
confumption of their crowded metropolis, from their difl:ant provinces.

* 846 according to Pliny. [_Hi/l. nat. L. vii, cc. 2j, 26.]

f This funi, when compared with the price of food, the only real ftandard of the value of money,
xvas at leaft equal to /^ 1,500 at this time.

Vol. I. P

114 -Before Chrift 66.

It was refolved that the budnefs of providing corn iliould be put under
the direction of ibme man of high rank, who might be called in modern
language comviijfary-general : and we find Pompey himfelf foon after the
reduction of the maritime community appointed to that office. The
Romans having adorned their city with the works of the Grecian artifts,
they henceforth began to cultivate a tafte for the fine arts ; and from
this time they began to be a civilized, but at the lame time, a very cor-
rupted, people, even thofe of the firfl rank being ready to commit every
crime for money. That extended felfifhuefs which they called patriot-
ifm or love of their country, but which was merely a lull of domineer-
ing over other nations, became in the minds of their great men iecond-
ary to the ambition of domineering over their countrymen. And this
ambitious fpirit, which broke out foon after the deflrudion of Carthage,
never was extinguiflied, till it finally abolifhed the republican form of
government.

66 — LucuUus returning from Afi-a, brought with him a number of
books (part of his plunder), the ufe of which he allowed to the public.
This was the fecond library in Rome, the firft being brought by Paulas
yEmilius from the plunder of Perfeus king of Macedonia. [Pint, in Lu-
ciillo Ifidor.i Orig. L. ^y, c. =f.'] Lucullus is alfo confidered as the, au-
thor of luxury in buildings, furniture, and entertainments, among the
Romans. {Vel Taterc. L. ii, c ■^'^^^ Reintroduced the culture of cher-
ry trees in Italy from Pontus. And many other fruits were alfo intro-
duced from the Eaft, e. g. quinces from Crete ; damfons from Damaf-
cus -, peaches from Perfia ; lemons from Media ; figs from Egypt and
Cyprus; walnuts from Pontus and: Perfia ; chefnuts from Sardes : but
mofl of them were imported iiTiniediately from Greece, which had got
them from their native countries. The particular time, when each of
thefe were firfl planted in Italy is not accurately known. {PUn. Hljl. tiat.
L. XV, prij/it//-]

57 — Ptolemy king of Cyprus was very rich. He had alfo aftroijted
a profligate Roman patrician called Clodius, by offering only two talents
(£^^y : lo) to raniom him from the Cilician corfairs.. The Roman
treafiu-y at this time was poor. For all thefe reafons a decree was paflL-
ed at Rome, declaring that he had forfeited his kingdom. Florus [L. iii,
c. 9] fays, ' So great was the fame of his riches, (nor was it groundlefs)
' that that people, who were the conquerors of nations and accuftomed
' to give away kingdoms, at the infiigation of Publius Clodius, a tribune,
' commanded the confifcation of an allied king in his Hfetime. And he
' truely on hearing of it anticipated iiis fate by poifon. Moreover Por-
' cius Cato [that model of virtue] brought the wealth of Cyprus in Li-
* burnian gallics into the mouth of the Tiber, This tranfadion enrich-
' cd the t;eafury of the Romans more than any of their triumphs.' The

Before Chrift 57- ^^$

aRiount of the plunder, fo honourably obtained, was near 7,000 talents,
-or £1 ,356,250 fterling *. _

The Veneti, faid by Strabo [L. iv, p. 297] to be a Belgic nation fet-
tled near the north-weft extremity of Gaul, were diftinguiflied by their
nautical fcience and experience. They had great numbers of vefTels,
and carried on a confiderable trade with Britain, though we are not in-
formed of any particulars of it, unlefs that brafs was then an article im-
ported into Britain. Their dominion extended over a confiderable part
of the coalT: ; and they even levied a cuflom, or tranfit duty, upon ftran-
gers ufmg their feas ; a circumftance which infers the poffcflion of a
warlike fleet. Their veilels were built entirely of oak, ftrongly bolted,
and their feams calked with fea-weed. They were fo fubftantially
built, that their fides were impenetrable by the roftra, or beaks, of the
Roman gallies. They were calculated to take the ground, were high
fore and aft, and were upon the whole excellent fea-boats. Their fails
were made of leather ; and, their fhore being very rocky, they ufed iron
chains inftead of cables f. With a fleet of about 220 of fuch veflels they
encountered the Roman fleet of twice or thrice that number ; and in the
engagement they had greatly the advantage of the Romans, by pouring
down upon them a fliower of miflile weapons from their lofty fl:ems,
which were higher than the towers raifed upon the decks of the Roman
gallies. But the Veneti, notwithftanding their acknowleged fuperiori-
ty, were defeated by a contrivance of the Romans, who obferving the
advantage they had over them in manoeuvring (as it is now called) with
their fails, fixed fcythes upon long poles, with which, attacking each fhip
\vith two or three of their own, they cut the haulyards of the Venetic
veffels, whereupon the fails came down upon the decks, and their fleet
was rendered unmanageable. The lofs of time occafioned by this dif-
afl:er was irretrievable, for, though they might have flung their yards a-
new, a dead calm, which enfued immediately after, threw the balance of
nautical adivity entirely into the hands of the Romans : for the Veneti
ieem to have defpifed the freih-water failors' expedient of oars ; and per-

* Ammianus Marcellliius, who wrote above tinefs of their decks, which gave tliem fuch an ad-
four centuries after this time, acknowleges, that vantage over the low gallics of the Romans, af-
avarice prevailed ov€r juftice iu the feii^ure of Cyp- fords a clear proof, that the Mediterranean gallies
rus. of feveral rows of oars, were not, as moll people

f I have been thus ample in defcribing the fliips have fuppofed, of fo many (lories or decks in

of the Veneti, — ij becaufe they are the full vef- height.

fcls, of which we have any knowlege, built and It is worthy of remark, that the defcription of

navigated by the hardy fons of the North, who have thcfe antient Belgic fliips applies in fome rcfpeftn

rn all ages been remarkable as intiepid and ikilful tolerably well to tliofe ot the modern Belgium, the

feamen : — 2) becaufe, from the furprife of the Ro- natives of which are remarkable for their attach-

mans at their roltra making no impreffion upon the ment to the manners and culloms of their anceilors.

fides of their fhips, they appear to have been fu- Some account of the iTiipping and naval affaire

perior in llrength to any velfcls ever encountered of the Roman empire will be found uadcr the year

by them in the Mediterranean, even thofe of the 73 of the Ciiriflian xra.
Caithaginians net excepted;— 3) becaufe the lof-

J P 2

ii6 Before Chrift 55.

haps, like the Carthagmians in their firft naval battle againft the Romans,
they allowed a confidence in their own naval fuperiority to throw them
too much off their guard. The confequence was, that almofl the whole
fleer, containing all the fighting men of the country, fell into the hands
of the Romans ; the Veneti, deprived of every means of defence by one
decifive battle, furrendered themfelves and all their property to the mer-
cy of Cgefar, who mafTacred the whole fenate, and fold all the people for
liaves. And thus a nation, who, of all thofe on the weft coaft of Eu-
rope, appear to have been next to the citizens of Gadir in comrriercial
importance, were totally fwept away from the face of the earth. Such
was the revenge taken by Caefar for the detention of his commiflaries of
.provifions, whom he pretends to dignify with the name and inviolabi-
lity of ambafladors. [Ci^s. Bell. Gall. L. iii, cc. 7-16 ; L. v, r.-^2.]

5 j; The commerce of the Britons muft have fuffered greatly by the

deftrudion of the Veneti. But Caefar was preparing to bring greater
calamities upon them : for, on pretence that they had affifted the Ve-
neti, he refolved to invade this ifland, the very exiftence of which was
hitherto fcarcely heard of at Rome. The Gallic merchants, whom he
examined, in order to procure intelligence of the country, and particu-
larly of the harbours, profeffed total ignorance. Notwiihftanding, after
fending one of his officers to explore the coaft, he embarked his army
and landed in Kent, where he met with a warm reception from the
Britons. From the flight notices of other writers, compared with his
own, when duely confidered, it is evident that he added nothing to his
mihtary fame by the trial he made of the Britilh valour ; and, indeed,
he himfelf acknowleges, that he retreated to the continent in the night
time.

5^4 — Next year, in order to wipe off the difcredit brought upon his-
arms by the former repulle, he collected above eight hundred fliips, in
which he embarked no lefs than five legions *, befides a fupernumerary
body of horfe. In this expedition, he fays, he fubdued a great many
kings, four of whom were in Kent ; and, having ordered them to pay
a tribute to the Romans, he departed, without leaving either an army,
or a fort, to maintain the conquefts he alleges he had made.

In each of his expeditions, Caefar loft a great many of his fliips, owing
to his feamen being totally ignorant of the nature of the tides in the
Ocean.

We may more fafely truft to Cfefar, in his account of the ftate of
Britain, which is very valuable, as being more particular and accurate
than any preceding accotint which has come down to our times.

He diftinguiflies an original, and an adventitious, people in Britain.

* In the time of Polybiiis, each legion confiC- foot. The numbers were afterwards increafcd ;
ed of 4,200 foot, and '3C0 horfe, at the lowcft and a boily uf auxiliaries, as numerous as itfelf,
«ftabU(hrarnt : and they were fomeliinea 5,000 was generally attached tn each of the legions.

Before Chriit 54* 117'

The former he places in the interior part of the country, (whereby we
muft underftand tlie part mofl diftant from his landing place) and he
defcribes them as ni a paftoral ftate, living on flelli and milk, clothed
with the (kins of their beads, and generally negledful of agriculture.
The later people, who occupied the maritime parts, (or rather thofe
neareft to Kent) were of the Belgic race, who, having firfl: invaded the
country for the lake of plunder, (which (hows, that the aboriginal Bri-
tons, in their fimpleft ftate, poflefled fomething to invite the depreda-
tions of foreigners) had, in procefs of time, made themfelves mafters of
part of it. They were in a more advanced ftate of fociety than the ori-
ginal inhabitants : they cultivated the ground, had great abundance of
corn, as well as cattle, and built houfes like thofe of their brethren on
the oppofite coaft of Gaul. Their money was paid by weight, and con- ■
filled of brafs and iron, the former 0/ which was imported, and the lat-
er found in their own mines : and it argues no fmall degree of know-
lege in metallurgy, that they underftood the procefs of making iron,
which is at once the moll valuable, and the moll difficult of all metals
in preparing it for ufe. Caefar fays, that there was an infinite multitude
of the people : but this part of his information is very fufpicious, even
with refped: to the Belgic colonies ; and, if applied to the aborigines,
it is manifeftly contradicted by his defcription of their manner of living.
He adds, that the people of the maritime county of Kent, (thofe whom he
knew bell) very much refembled thofe of Gaul in their manners, and were
far more civilized than any of the other communities. Tin, the great
flaple of Britain, was, according to his account, produced in the inland
part of the country *: but moft of the fliips from Gaul arrived in Kent ;
which, perhaps, he erroneoully extends as far well as the ifland, which,
from the account of Timaeus, compared with that of Diodorus Siculus,
feems at this time to have been the flation of the tin trade. {CctJ. Bel.
Gal. L.. iii, cc 8, 9 ; L. iv, cc. 28, etfeqq. — Strabo, L. iv, p, 305. — Diod.
Sic. L. V — TviKEus ap. Plin. Hijl. nat. L. iv, c. 16. — '21?^:. Ann. L. xii, c.
34; Vit. Agric. c. 13 — Dion. Cajf. LI. xxxix, xl f.]

It does not appear, that the Romans ever . got one penny of the tri-
bute, which, Caefar fays, he ordered the Britains to pay ; unlefs the
duties levied in Gaul upon their imports and exports, which any na-
tion may levy in their own ports upon the fubjeds of any other nation,
can be called a tribute : for after this time the Romans, or rather their
Gallic fubjeds, had fome commercial intercourfe with Britain, {Strabo,
L. iv, />. 306] which will be more fully narrated in the general view to
be taken of the flate of trade under the Roman empire.

•

This is another iiiftance of calh'ng the moft f To the fe may be added the poetical autho-

diftant parts of the ifland the interior parts of it. rity of Propcrtius, Horace, Lucan, &c. and th^

Cornwall, the tin country, is even more maritime fomewhat-fiifpicious authority of Nennius. .
than Kent, 1

I r8 Before Chrill 54.

Contemporary with Caefar was Diodorus, a Sicilian Greek, who
wrote a general hiftory. In a fliort defcription which he gives of Bri-
tain, [L. V, § 21] it is remarkable that he mentions the name of Orkas,
the headland, which, he fays, forms the northern extremity of the illand.
Thus the moil remote corner of the country, now called Scotland, is
the very firft part of it mentioned by any antient author now extant.
As there is no reafon to believe, that ever any Greek navigator went fo
far north, except Pytheas, it is almofl certain, that the information con-
cerning Orkas, tranfmitted to us by Diodorus, is extraded from the
works of that great Maflilian difcoverer, and is of courfe fome centuries
older than Diodorus.

.At this time Lutecia, the capital of a Gallic nation called the Pari-
fii, was entirely contained in the little ifland of the River Sequana,
(Seine) which is now fo fmall a part of the great city of Paris *. [C\e/ar.
Bell. Gall. L. vi, c. 3 ; L. vii, c. 57.]

CrafTus, a Roman general, plundered the temple of Jerufalem of
gold to the value, as we are told, of ten thoufand talents. Jofephus,
\Antiq. L. xiv, c. I 2] aware of being doubted on account of the great-
nefs of the fum, produces the authority of Strabo, in an hiftorical work
of his, now loft f .

Qelar \s chiefly indebted for his fime to his extraordinary military
talents, his numerous vidtories, wherein the cut-throats under his com-
mand butchered above a million of their fellow creatures, and his be-
ing the firft of the Roman emperors. But Caefar was alfo a man of
faience ; and that left renowned, but more meritorious, part of his cha-
rafter is what alone concerns this work. He obfcrved, that the year
had run totally into confufion, (the firil day of the month called Jan-
uary, being in reality that which ought to have been the thirteenth of
October) and, with the help of Sofigenes, a celebrated Grecian aftrono-
mer of Alexandria, he correded the calendar. Letting the current year
run on, till it had 445 days, he inflituted a year of 365 days, to com-
mence on the firft day of the enfuing January ; and he ordered, that
every fourth year ftiould confift of 366 days, which came very near to
the truth +. But the ftupidity of thole, whofe bufniefs it was to regu-

* I liave infcrtcd this earliefl. notice of Paris, wliofc time, however, agreeable to the ciiilom of
fliough Its inland litiialion on a river, not capable that age, the national name of Parihi, had alniolt
of carrying large velfcls up to it, prevents it frnni fiipLrlcdcd the old name, which is afterwards only-
being a city ot great foreign trade, partly bccaufe ukd, 1 believe, by writers who affeft clalTic names.
it ii.is become the capital of a great nation ; but, \ Snrcly Jofephus ought to have known more
(Chiefly, that I might not feem to detraft from its of the niatler liimfclf tliaii Strabo. So, in modern
antiquity, as fome writers have done, who, by a times, De Witt, a Dutcti auliior, cjnotes Raleigh,
itrange inadvertency, have fuppofcd the iirll no- an Knglilhman, for a fplendid account of the
ficc of it t<) be, when Julian hxed iiis refidence in Dntcii liihtry.

it above four hniuhcd years afterwards. Its ori- % Tiieir calculation exceeded the truth by 1 1

ginal name is varioully written ; Lukotokia by minutes and 14-^ feconds in a year, which make a

iSltabo ; Lutecia, and I.uticia, in Antoninc's Iti- day in 333 years. The accunuilation of tiiis etior

nerary ; and Lcuketia by the emperor Julian, in gave occalloii to Pope Gregory, in the year 1582,

Before Chrift 43. ricj

late the intercalary days, repeated the leap-years every third year ; and
the error ran on after the death of Caefar, till it was reformed in the
reign of Auguftus. [P/i?i. Hift. nat. L. xviii, c. 25 — Sucton. in "Jul. c. 40 ;
Oclav. f. 31. — Dion Cciffl L. x\xd — ,Cenforin. c. 8.] Cafar firll planned
a general furvey of the whole empire, and committed the execution of
it to three Grecian geographers, to each of whom was alligned a por-
tion of the Roman world : and 25 years i month and 10 days elapfcd
before the laft part of this vafl: furvey was completed, which, with the
fupplementary fvirveys of new provinces, when they were conquered,
formed the chief ground-work of Ptolemy's fyftem, which was till lately

the univerfal ftandard of geographical fcience. {^JEthici Cofmographia

Veget. de re inilit. L. iii, c. 6. J In one year (44) he rellored the two
commercial cities of Carthage * and Corinth, which had been deftroyed
in one year by his predeceflbrs. Both recovered Ibme (hare of their
antient importance ; and in about half a century Carthage became as
populous as any city on the north coafl of Africa. [Sfral/o, L. v'ni, p.
585 ; L. xvn,p. 1 190.] Thefe adions fliow, that Caefar, Hke Alexan-
der, had a foul capable of the ufeful virtues, and might have been as
beneficent as illuftrious, if the folly of mankind did not bellow greater
applaufe upon their deftroyers than their benefadors.

43 — Cicero, who at this time fell a facrifice to the rage of civil war,
obferves, that thofe. who afcribe the creation of the world to the fortui-
tous concourfe of matter, might as well iuppofe, that innumerable forms
of the twenty-one letters, made of gold or any other material, if jum-
bled together, and then fhaken out upon the ground, could produce a
copy of the Annals of Ennius. And he elfewhere talks of imprinting the
notes, or marks, of letters upon wax f . [De nat. deor. L. ii ; Part, orat :j:.]
From thefe notices it feems probable, that the antients knew how to
print letters : but we may be allured, that they knew nothing of a per-
manent colouring matter, or ink, nor of a prefs, as their forms (or types)
do not appear to have been ever appUed to the valuable purpofe of mul-
tiplying the copies of books.

Luxury, or rather profufion, being introduced in Rome by the con-
quell of the wealthy and enervated kingdoms of Alia, had now made
iuch progrefs, thai there were this year above an hundred houfes, more

to matce a new regulation, vviiich is now adopted deiitly have approached to the nature of modern

in every part of Europe, and the European co- types. For feveral paffages of antient authors,

lonies, excepting RulCa and Turkey. coiicerii^ng their letters, writing, &c. fee Hugo de

* Gracchus attempted to rebuild Carthr.ge foon faihci'.diorig.c. lO.

after its deftrudlon ; but the enterprife feems to \ The chapters, or fedions, in the various edi-

have been foon abandoned. tions of Cicero are very difcordantly numbered.

_ t Quintilian \_De tnjl. i^nit. L. i, c. Il] men- That containing the paflage here quot-.-d from

tions ivory letters, iii commonly put into the hands Natura deorum is numbered 20, 37, and 95. The

of children to affill them in learning to read. But other from the Pflr//V;V>nfj I have found numbered

thofe letters, wherewith impreflions were made up- 7 and 26 in two editions I have examined.
on tables or plates covered with wax, muft evi-

I20 Before Chrift 31'

magnificent than that of M. ^milius Lepidus, which, in his confulate,
thirty-five years before, was the fineft houfe in Rome*. [Plin. Hiji. nat.
L. xxxvi, c. 15.]

31 — The naval battle of Adium gave the laft blow to the republican
form of government in Rome by throwing the whole undivided power
into the hands of Odavianus, the grandfon of Caefar's fifter, who after-
wards affumed the furname, or title, of Auguftus.

29 — The great influx of money from the conquered provinces re-
duced the rate of intereft at Rome from ten to four per cent.

25 — AmballL dors are faid to have been fent from India, and, accord-
ing to 1: lores, s'.fo from the Scythians, Sarmatians, and even the Seres,
to court the friendfliip of Augufiius, who was then in Spain. We are
told, that thofe of India were four years upon their journey ; and if fo,
they fet out two years after the battle of Adtium, which fcarcely allows
fufl^cient time for thofe very diftant nations to have received intelligence
of the good fortune and eflablifhed power of Auguftus f. [Florus^ L.
iv, c. 1 2. — Siietonin 0£lav.']

23 — Auguftus, having reduced Egypt to the condition of a province
of Rome, and being informed of the great opulence of the Arabians,
wifli'^d either to make ufe of them as wealthy friends, or to levy heavy
tributes from them as rich fubjeds. The army he fent into their coun-
try was wafted by famine, thirft, and difeafe, more than by battle ; and,
after having penetrated within two days journey, as they were told, of
the land of aromatics and frankincenfe, the rich objedl of their expedi-
tion, the remainder of them were glad to get back to Egypt. [Strabo,
L.xvi,p. 1 1 28.] That this invafion did not afFed the tranquillity, or
the commerce, of the Sabaeans, is evident from Diodorus Siculus, (who
wrote after this time) who fays, [Z. iii, § 47] that they had preferved
their liberty unimpared by any conqueft during many ages ; and, from
Pliny [L. vi, c. 28] we know, that no other Roman army had ever
marched into Arabia, when he wrote, about the 75th year of the Chrift-
ian aera.

The Romans at the fame time made an expedition againft the Ethiop-
ians above Egypt, and reduced them to the neceflity of begging for

* It may asjuftly be faid of the city of Edin- expedition of Trajan, lii/l. Je I'acarffmie royale, V,

(lurgh, lliat many, which miyhtbe eftceiiied capital xxii) fufpcfts, that fuch embaflies were fometimes

hoiifcs i.i it in the year 1 760, were cch'pfed by above mere farces, performed by lome foreign merchants,

an hundred better ones in 1 790; a (lill fliorter who wanted to obtain favours from the emperors,

period for fo great a clianj^e in the llilc of building. It is alfo probable, that the Romans of that age had

It is Hill more to the honour of our Scottifli me- not any very accurate idea of what part of the

iropolis, that the wealtli, by which ' the poor arc world was to be underrtood by the name of India,

« cloath'd, the hungry fed, Health to himltlf, and and that fuch (lories were mere puffs. In modern

' to his infants bread, The lab'rer bears,' in the times, and in the clear light fprcad over the world

conftruclion of thofe beautiful and durable edifices, by the art of piiiiting, we are told, that ambafla-

was not acquired, like that of the Romans, by the dors from Japan arrived in Holland in the year

jilunder of the world. 1609, in order to negotiate a treaty of commerce

\ Mr. Frcret (in a differlation on the caflcrn with the Dutch.

Before Chrift 20. 121

peace. The Ethiopian ambafladors were fent by Petronius, the Roman
general, to Auguftus, then in the ifland of Samos, who remitted the tri-
bute demanded by his general, the colledion of which he probably
thought impradicable : but he feems to have retained fome kind of
fuperiority, at leaft upon the coaft, as we not only find that the mer-
chants of Egypt immediately opened a new trade with the Troglodytes,
an Ethiopian nation, occupying the weft coafl of the Red fea ; {^Strabo,
L. xvn,pp. 1 149, 1176] but alfo, that the Romans, at leaft foon after
this time, levied a cuftom duty on the coaft of the Red fea, as far as the
Ocean, [P/i/i. L. vi, c. 22] which may be prefumed to be on the weft
fide of it, in confequence of the treaty concluded with the Ethiopian
ambaftadors at Samos, as the fruftrated expedition againft the rich com-
mercial part of Arabia fhows, that it could not be (as fome have fup-
pofed) on the fliore of that country.

20 — An Indian prince, called Porus, is faid to have fent amballlidors
to Auguftus, who received them in the ifland of Samos. This is fup-
pofed to be a fecond embafly from the fame prince, who had fent thofe
who traveled to Spain. [Nicol. Damafcen ap. Strah. L. xv, p. 1 047 ; and
fee p. 1006.]

19 — Virgil, the chief of the Roman poets, had flattered Auguftus fo
fuccefsfully, that, according to his commentator and biographer, Servius,
he died worth £%o,'j2^ of our modern fterling money. Was there ever
any other poet half as rich }

13 — Auguftus raifed the dayly pay of the Roman foldiers to five
pence of our modern money : but thole who guarded the facred perfon
of the emperor were rewarded with twelve pence. About the fame
time wheat coft from i/i i to 2/6 a buftiel, as appears from one of Ci-
cero's fpeeches againft Verres.

A. D. 14 — The remarkably-long reign of Auguftus was terminated
by a natural death ; a termination which fell to the lot of Icarcely any
other emperor before the elevation of the Flavian family. After he
found himfelf eftablifhed fole monarch of the Roman empire by the
deftrudion of all his competitors and their adherents, he endeavoured
to make the people forget his ufurpation by an affected moderation in
the ufe of his power, and by aipecious appearance of attention to their
happinefs in every thing which did not interfere with his own fuprem-
acy. The embellifliment of Rome in his reign is exprefled by a well
known faying of his, that ' he found it a city of brick, and Ihould leave
' it a city of marble.' He may be called the father of the Roman im-
perial navy ; for which he appointed Ravenna, in the Adriatic fea, as
the principal ftation of the eaftern fquadron, and Milenum, in the Gulf
of Naples, of the weftern. Somefmaller divifions were alfo ftationed in
the Euxine fea, on the fouth coaft of Gaul, and between the north
coaft of Gaul and Britain. It muft be acknowleged, that his navy was

Vol. I. (^

122 A. D. 14.

not very formidable, either for the number or ilrength of the velfels :
but then he had not one enemy in the whole extent of the Mediterranean
to contend with. Having obferved the diladvantage of Antony's unweildy
fhips at the battle of A(fHum, he built no very large veffels : and, after
this time, we hear no more of flilps with very numerous tires of oars *.

In the reign of Auguflus, fome Roman navigators explored the coafl
of the North fea, as far as the promontory of the Cimbri (the north
point of Denmark, called the Scaw). [Plin. Hift. nat. L. ii, c, 67.] The
voyage, however, was not intended to be fubfervient to trade, but to
conquefl: ; for the emperor then flattered himfelf, that all Germany
was to be reduced under his yoke by Tiberius, who fucceeded him in the
empire. But, to the Romans, the Ocean was flill an objedl of terror,
which they endeavoured to difguife, under the pretence of religious
awe f , and it was feldom encountered by any veflels from the Roman
dominions \. 1 he Mediterranean fea was the proper fphere of their
navigation ; and the whole extent of its fhores, with all its iflands, the
mofl: infignificant not excepted, being now fubjed to their dominion,
there was no receptacle for pirates. Had there been any confiderable
mercantile community remaining among the fubjeds of Rome, there
was now a fair opportunity of carrying on an extenfive and undi-
fturbed commerce among the great variety of nations, who enjoyed a
flavidi tranquillity from foreign wars, under the oppreflion of the go-
vernors appointed by one fovereign. And during the reign of an em-
peror, who was convinced, that his dominions needed no extenfion, and
that he had more to fear than to hope from war, commerce mud have
been as flourifliing as it could be, in the fituation to which the world
was reduced by the deftrudion of the commercial flates. This, there-
for, is the time which I think mofl proper for laying before the reader
a concife account of the Roman trade, or rather importation, together
with fome commercial notices of the various countries, which could not
fo conveniently be introduced elfewhere §.

* About t'.ir year 390 Vcgctius was almod \ To prevent the iiifurtion of quotations at

apprcliei:fivc tliat he fliould not be believed, when every claiifc, and ahiioll at every word, the reader

he fald, tliat fome veficls had carried live tires of will plenfc to obferve, that the following account

aars. \_Vegtt. L. iv, c. 37] And Zofinuis, a is eoileded and digefted, fron\ notices difpcrfcd

tew years later than Vegctius, talks of vclTels of through the great geographical work of Strabo,

fix, and even of three, tires of oars, as the works the woiks of Cicero, and tlie Univerfal hittorical

t>f antient times, of which he feems to have had library of Diodorus Siculus, who were all contem-

\\o char idea. [/,. v, p. 319, ed. Oxon. 1679.] porary with Angullus : and it is fupplied and cor-

f For this remark 1 am indebted to Mr. Gib- reded from the hillorians, poets, and other au-

kon. [^, I, p. 29.] thors, nearly conteiiiporaiy, cfpecially from the

I • Adverfus oceanus raro ab orbc noflro navi- vail (lore of Pliny's Natural hillory.

'bus aditur.' \_Taati Gam. c. i.] If I may The reader will not expett, that every article

prefumc to fay fo of fo gieat a critic, Lipfius has imported from every country (hould be infcrted.

found a difficulty in the word adverfus, where It is fulfieienc to mention thofe vvhicli were dillin-

llicre feems to be none, the plain meaning being, guillicd for their excellence, or, as being the llaple,

that the Ocean was lioftile, or adverfr, the very being reniaikably plenty, or being peculiar to thf

(iimc word naturalized in Englifti^ eountries from which they were inipoited.

A. D. 14. 12^

The principal trade of the Roman world, was the conveyance of corn,
and other provifions, to the all-devouring capital ; and this mofl im-
portant concern was under the immediate dire6tion of the emperor him-
felf, one of his many titles or offices, being that of commiflary-general
of corn.

Italy, cultivated to the highefl degree of perfedion, produced abun-
dance of corn and cattle to fupply itfelf, if Rome had been the capital
of Italy only.

The northern part of Italy, called Cifalpine Gaul, furniflied a quan-
tity of fait pork almoft fufficient for the whole confumption of Rome ;
magnificent tapeftry, and woollen drapery, the manufadture of Patavia
(Padua) ; and wools of various qualities, whereof thofe of Mutina {Mo-
dena) and Altinura, were remarked as the beft ; many fpecies of mar-
bles, the produce of the Alps, for the conveyance of which vefTels were
conftruded on purpofe ; good fleel, made at Comum (Como), where the
water was of fuch a quality, as to. give a peculiar hardnefs to the metal ;
excellent chryftal ; ice, the ufe of which in the burning fummers of
Italy, could fcarcely be called an extravagant luxury ; and cheefe, for
which thofe mountainous regions ilill preferve their reputation, by their
parmefan.

Liguria fent from its port of Genua large wood, fome trees being
eight feet in diameter ; fliip timber ; wood, nothing inferior to the
thya wood for making tables ; cattle ; hides ; honey ; and a coarfe
kind of wool, which ferved to make clothing for the flaves. Etruria
produced large timber ; marble, efteemed not inferior to the Parian ;
and huge blocks of flone, for capital buildings, fliipped at the ports of
Pifa and Luna, which later was remarkable for its cheefe, of the aflonifh-
ing weight of a thoufand pondo, and for its wines, efteemed the beft
in Etruria. The Sabine country fent in excellent oil and wine. La-
tium, and Campania, where Bachus and Ceres are poetically faid to
have ftriven which of them fliould be moft profufe in their favours to
the happy foil, furniftied the beft wheat, rice, barley, and wines, of
which leveral particular growths were in high requeft with the epicures
of Rome, efpecially the Falernian, which has been rendered famous by
the immortal lines of Horace. Apulia excelled in the quality of its
wool ; and Brutium abounded in fir trees of great fize, together with
pitch and tar, the produce of them.

In Rome itfelf, feveral manufactures were carried on, chiefly by the
knowlege and induftry of the flaves, the captives, or defcendents of the
captives, carried off by the Romans from all the induftrious nations
with whom they had been at war. But manufactures are fcarcely fcen
or heard of in the buftle of a great capital ; and they are totally over-
looked by hiftorians, only concerned with the deftrudion of mankind,
and the fucceftlon of their deftrovers.

3 ' Ct2

124 -^^ ^' H*

Corsica fupplled timber for {hip-building.

Sardinia had feme mines of filver ; tmd it had corn and cattle to
fpare for the ufe of the capital.

Sicily, which the poets thought proper to make the birth-place and
refidence of Ceres, their goddefs of agriculture, and which Cicero calls
the granary and treafury of the empire, furnhhed Rome with vaft quan-
tities of wine, honey, whereof that of Hybla was eminently famous, fait,
faffron, cheefe, cattle, hides, pigeons, (for the Romans were great
pigeon-fanciers *) corals, and emeralds. But all thefe were trifling, if
compared to the prodigious quantities of wheat exported from this
noble ifland, which, before it fell under the dominion of Rome, has,
upon fome occafions, even fupplied the temporary deficiency of corn,
in fo fertile a country as Egypt.

The inhabitants of Melita, (Mali a) who weve a Carthaginian colony,
carried on a confiderable manufadure of very fine white cloth, called
linen, by fome authors, and woollen, by others. As the Romans called
cotton the wool of trees, and the ifland produces cotton of a mofl
excellent quality in the prefent day, there can be little doubt that
thefe fine cloths were calicos, or muflins. The houfes of Melita were
difl:inguiflied by their elegance, the comfortable fruits of fuccefsful
indufl:ry.

Greece furniflied honey, and particularly a remarkably fine kind
from Attica. Lacedsemon fent its beautiful green marble, and the dye
of the purple fliell-fifti ; and Elis furniftied its fine fl:uflr called byflinus,
probably of the nature of cambric, which ufed to fell for its weight in
gold f .

Many of the Grecian islands produced excellent marble : Paros was
particularly celebrated for the kind fo well known by its name, and fo
valuable to statuaries, for its pure and uniform white colour, and its ex-
emption from the fparkles, which, by giving a falfe light, injure the ef-
fect in fl:atues made of other marbles. Samos fl:ill excelled in manufac-
tures of fine earthen-ware. Lemnos furniflied the befl; vermilion, (fino-
}Ms) which fold at Rome for thirteen denarii (8/4-|- fl:erling) a pound.
Cos manufadured an inferior kind of filk, faid to be produced by worms
of a fpecies different from the genuine filk-worms, which, from the
cenfures on its indecent tranfparency, feems to have been like the mo-
dern farcenets, or perfians.

From Thrace were imported great quantities of corn, and faked tun-
nies, which abound in the Euxine fea.

Colchis produced wool of an excellent quality, and far more valuable
than the golden fleece, which Jafon and his companions are faid to have

• Alius, r Roman knijjlit, fold a pair of pijreons for four hundred denarii, equal to ^12 : 18:4
ftcrling. [^ytibulhnol't Tables sf ancient coins, tsfc. p. 129.J

■j i>ec an attempt to explain the nature of byflinui, fen'cum, &c. ander tke year 73.

A. D. 14. 125

carried off from that country ; alfo hemp, wax, and pitch ; and it ftill kept
up its credit for the manufacture of fine linens of the Egyptian fabric,
fuch as were adduced by Herodotus as an argument for the truth of
an Egyptian colony having fettled there. Goods, brought over-land
from India, were fliipped at Phafis for the ports of Europe.

The article chiefly noted as imported from Galatia and Cappa-
DociA *, was vermilion, called Sinopis, from the port at which it was
{hipped.

Of the cheefe, brought to Rome from any confiderable diftance, the
befl was from Bithynia.

Phrygia farnifhed large columns and flabs of a beautiful flone like
alabafter, dug in the quarries of Synnada, an inland town, about two
hundred miles from the Euxine, and as many from the Mediterranean.
The country about Laodicea produced excellent wool, fome of which was
naturally as black as jet.

Clazomenc in Ionia furniflied the befl of all the foreign wines which
were carried to Rome.

Miletus in Caria poflelled a breed of Iheep, the wool of which was
very generally preferred to all others. There was alfo a confiderable
manufafture of woollen goods, of which thofe dyed with Tyrian purple
■were highly efteemed.

The moft remarkable produ6lions of Cyprus were pretious ftones,
among which there was an inferior kind of diamonds. Copper was im-
ported from this ifland in confiderable quantities ; and alfo the befl
refin, and a fweet oil, made from a fhrub called by the name of the
ifland.

Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, furniflied cedar, gums,balfam, and
alabafter. Sidon and Tyre, names fo illuftrious in the earlieft hiftory
of commerce, were now chiefly noted for the glafs manufaftures and
embroidery of the former, and for the purple dye and fifhery of the
later f . The goods, brought from India, over-land, by the merchants
of Palmyra, were fliipped for Rome from the ports of Syria : and fome
were probably ftill brought from Arabia by the way of the Red fea by
fome few merchants remaining in Tyre.

Egypt was called by the antients the granary of the world ; and it
fupplied Rome with corn fufficient, if we can credit Jofephus, for one
third of its whole confumption. Its other exports were flax ; linens of
all qualities, for which it was famous from the earlieft ages ; cotton

* In order to fave trouble to the critics, if any f In nautical knowlege the Phoenicians were

of them (hall condefccnd to examine the body of ftill acknowleged fuperior to all the fcamen of the

this work, I acknowlege, that I do not pvofefs to Mediterranean, after the extermination of the

be minutely accurate in the chronology of the Carthaginians. It was to them that the great Mi-

provinciation of each countiy, and that feveral de- thridatcs applied for feamen proper to command

pendent nominal kingdoms, e. g. Cappadocia, and navigate the fleet he fitted ctit againll tke

Judca, Mauritania, &c. are here confidcred as Remans,
parts of the empire. 4

126 A. D. 14.

goods, made from cotton produced in the upper Egypt; coflly oint-
ments; marble; alabafter; lalt ; alum of the very beft quality j gums;
paper, the general ufe of which, Pliny finely remarks, polidies and im-
mortalizes man ; alfo the rufli called papyrus, froni which paper was
likeways manufactured at Rome. Paper varied in its qualities and
fizes, from the wrapping Emporetica for the fhops, of fix inches in
breadth, to the Augufla, Liviana, and Kieratica, as they were called at
Rome, which were of thirteen inches *. Glafs ware was alfo Ihipped from
Alexandria, which rivaled Sidon in that manufadture f . The Egyptians
had a procefs, which, as defcribed by Pliny, [L. xxxv, f. 1 1] had, at leafl:
in its effect, fome refemblance to the modern art of printing upon cot-
ton, linen, &c. They drew figures upon cloth with various colourlefs
materials, which, when the cloth was plunged into a cauldron of hot
dye-ftuff, in a moment aflumed various colours fuitable to the figures,
which were fo flrongly fixed, that no wafhing could efface them.

Egypt was alio the entrepot of the principal trade carried on between
the Oriental countries and Rome, which will be defcribed under the
head of India.

Alexandria, the port at which all the produce and manufadures of
Egypt, and all the goods carried through it, were fhipped, was a large
and beautiful city, when it was the capital of the Macedonian kings of
Egypt, and the feat of the Egyptian commerce. Being now not only
the feat of the Roman government, but alfo of a commerce greatly ex-
tended by the confumption of the Roman world, and proteded by the
Roman power, it almofl inflantaneoufly increafed to an extent and po-
pulation, which yielded only to the imperial city itfelf, containing, ac-
cording to Diodorus Siculus, three hundred thoufand free people, whence
its whole population may be fiirly fuppofed above a million. It is,
therefor, chieliy from the reign of Auguftus, that Alexandria is entitled
to the rank of the commercial capital of the Mediterranean, or, as Stra^
bo exprefles it, the greateft emporium of the whole world.

Though Egypt was a Roman province, the whole of the commerce .
continued now, and afterwards in its more extended ffate, in the hands
«f the Greeks, the haughty Romans, thinking commercial concerns

* Tlie Augufta proving too traiifparent, a paper the paper is taken.] A fpecimen, wliicli is in tlic

of a thicker quality, and greater breadth, being Mnfcum, is about nine feet long, and twelve or

eighteen inches, was iiitioduced in the reign of thirteen inches broad. It contains a donation by.

Claudius, which of courfe was called Claudia, a pious lady, dated in the twenty-feventh year of

Each fhect of the aiitient paper was double, the Juftinian, i. c. A. D. 553.

principal fide being the largell dice that could be f The Ethiopians to the fouthward of Egypt

got, of uniform breadth, in the whole length of preferved their dead bihde them in tianfparcnt

the papyrus, which was covered, or lined, with coffins, nade of fofllle glafs, or ehrydal. [IlcroJ,

fiiorter pieces, faflened on with the glutinous water /,. iii, c. 24.] Such a cofiin Ptolemy Coctus fub-

of the Nile, or with paltc. The longitudinal fibres llituted for the golden one, wherein the body of

of the plant, crofTing each other, gave the paper Alexander the Great had been preferred at Alex-

the appearance of linen. [P/in. llijl. nat. L. xiii, andria.
(C. II, n; whence the iiifonnalion concerning

A, D. 14. 127

beneath their dignity, and the aboriginal Egyptians, a poor deprefled
race, not being admitted to a participation of it, and, probably, ftill re-
ftrided by their fuperflitious prejudices from going upon fait water in
any capacity *.

Africa proper, the antient territory of the Carthaginians, was a
country remarkably fertile. It furnifhed Rome with great quantities
of corn; honey; drugs of various forts; marble; the feathers and eggs of
the oflrich ; alfo living oflriches, elephants, and lions, for the fanguin-
ary fports of the Romans, whofe game laws did not permit the poor
African to kill a lion, even in his own defence. But fuch a prepofterpus
law may be prefumed to have have been enacted by one of the lefs
prudent tyrants, who came after Auguflus.

Mauritania furnifhed fine, and very large, timber, called cedar, but,
by its charaderiftics, apparently mahogany, whereof very large tables
were made, which fold for fuch enormous prices, that the Roman ladies
thought their extravagance in pearls fully kept in countenance by the
rage of their hufbands for purchafing thofe tables. Some trading fettle-
ments, in the weft part of this country upon the Ocean, appear to have
been ftill inhabited by Phoenicians.

The natural advantages of Spain were fo great and fo various, that
Pliny reckons it next to Italy ; which, from an Italian, may be confider-
cd as an acknowlegement, that it was efteemed for foil, climate, and pro-
dudions of every kind, the very firft country in Europe. The whole
country abounded with mines of lead, iron, copper, filver, and gold,
and alio with marble. But each province had peculiar advantages ;
and they muft, therefor, be confidered diftinctly.

The fouth part of Spain, called Bsetica or Turdetania, had the appear-
ance of a vaft garden, interfered with many navigable rivers, the very
iflands of which were highly cultivated, and adorned with buildings.
This delightful region, apparently the Elyllan fields of antient fable, and
comprehending Andalufia and moft of Granada with part of Portugal in
modern geography, was occupied by the Turdetani, Turtutani, or Tur-
tuli, who were probably the defcendents, or mixed with the defcend-
ents, of fome very antient colonies of the Phoenicians. They v\'ere dif-
tinguifhed from the other nations of Spain by fuperior civihzation and
learning ; and they boafted of pofi^efling records and poems of prodigi-
ous antiquity. Their numerous population, befides fully cultivating
the rich fields, working the mines, and attending the fifheries, had filled
two hundred opulent trading towns fpread along the fea coaft and the

* In the Pcriplus of the Erythraan fea, and fixth century from the work of Cofmas Indico-

in the works of Ptolemy, efpecially in the later, pleulles. The only exception I liave found is

the names of many merchants and navigators oc- Firmus, a merchant of Egypt, who kt up for an

cur ; and they are all Greek— no Roman— no emperor in the third century.
Egyptian. The fame may be obferyed in the

128 A. D. 14.

banks of the navigable rivers. The chief of thefe were Corduba (Cor-
dova), Malaca (Malaga), lUpa (Penaflor), HifpaUs (Seville), with many-
others, which after being colonized by the Romans, who thereupon fre-
quently affumed the credit of being their founders, retain to this day
fome fliare of fplendour, and eveii, when compared with fome parts of
modern Spain, a portion of the induflry, derived from their Phoenician
founders through the revolutions of thirty centuries. But the chief of
the whole for commercial dignity, as already obferved, was Gadir (call-
ed by the Romans Gadcs, and at this day Cadiz), which was now be-
come the greateft emporium in the weftern world, the rival of Alexan-
dria in commerce, and by fome fuppoied inferior only to Rome in the
number of its inhabitants, many of whom, not able to find houfe-room
on the fmall ifland whereon the town was built, lived entirely upon the
water. The Turtuli exported great quantities of corn, and wine ; ex-
cellent oil, but in fmall quantity ; honey, and wax ; pitch ; much fear-
let dye {zoKzoi), and vermilion (p'?tro;), which the Romans obliged them
to bring in a rude ftate, to be refined at Rome ; fait ; faked provifions
of a fuperior quality ; wool of fo e::cellent a kind, that a talent (^193 :
i5yfl;erling) was an ufual price for a good breeding ram. They had
formerly exported confiderable quantities of woollen drapery ; but they
were now apparently obliged to give up that manufacture, and to carry
their raw wool to the Romans, who probably put the manufadure into
the hands of their own domeftic Haves. Befides their agriculture, ma-
nufadtures, and commerce, they were enriched by a great fifliery, which
they carried on, not only in the feas adjacent to their own coail, which
fwarmed with great variety of ufcful fifli of a fuperior quality and fize,
but alio on the coaft of Africa to a confiderable diftance : and before
they fell under a foreign dominion, they had had the produce of their
own very rich mines, which were now the property of the conquerors.
So extenfive a commerce and fifhery employed a quantity of fliipping
fcarcely inferior to that employed in the whole of the African trade;
and all their veflx;Is were built of timber produced in the country. The
merchaiats of Gadir in particular had fliips of very great burthen, where-
with they traded in the Mediterranean and alfo in the Ocean, as far at
lead as the Fortunate iflands (the Canaries), and probably alfo to the re-
mote fettlements and trading poflis, which the Carthaginians had efl:ab-
liflicd on the weft coaft of Africa. There is alio reafon to believe, that
they ftill poflefied a fliare of the Britifti tin trade in the antient channel
of diredl importation from the Cafiiterides.

The eaft coaft of the northern province of Spain, called Tarraconen-
fis, aUb contained many good trading towns. The firft and the beft of
thefe was New Carthage, called alio Carthago fpartaria from the great
abundance of fpartum produced in the fields adjacent to it, (and now
Carthagcna), which ftill retained fome of the mercantile genius of its

A. D. 14. 129

Carthaginian founders, and furnifhed the commodities of diftant lands
to an extenfiveback country in return for faked provifions, and cordage
made of the plant called fpartum, which were carried chiefly to Rome,
along with the filver of the mines. Saguntuin (Morviedro), was celebrated
for its manufadure of earthen-ware : and Tarracon (Tarragona), for its
linens, remarkable for their fliining whitenefs and the wonderful thin-
nefs of their fabric. Some of the bell fleel in Europe was made at Bil-
bilis (Xiloca), and in its neighbourhood, the waters in that part of the
country having a peculiar virtue in hardening the metal. •

Strabo remarks, that the people of the mountainous country in the
well part of this province, bordering on the Ocean, were homely and un-
cultivated by reafon of their remote fituation, and little commerce or
intercourfe with flrangers. The trade among themfelves was nothing
but barter, and they adjufled their bargain by paying the balance with
a piece cut off from a fheet of filver. They had alfo fome little inter-
courfe with foreigners, who purchafed their lead and tin. Their boats
were made of leather, a very few excepted, which they had lately learn-
ed to build of wood. The men were all drefled in black clothes, and
moil of them wore mantles or plaids, in which they alfo fleeped upon
beds made of herbs. Th6 drefs of the women was adorned with figures
of flowers. They had plenty of cattle and goats ; and they made much
butter, which, Strabo fays, they ufed as -x fuhjlitute for oil. Though far
from being wealthy, they were very hofpitable, and delighted in making
entertainments for their friends, afligning the mofl; honourable feats to
age and dignity. On thefe occafions they treated with ale, their ufual
beverage, and with the little wine they had, the whole vintage being
ufually exhauflied at one feafl:. The entertainments were accompanied
with dancing to the mufic of the pipe and trumpet. Their other amufe-
ments were manly and warlike exercifes. Their agility, their martial
temper, and their talent for ftratagem, had made them in pafl; times very
formidable neighbo^urs to the fubjeds of the Romans : but they were
now enlifted in their legions Is this the pidlure of the mountain-
eers in the north-wefl; part of Spain, or of thofe in the north-well; part
of Scotland in the lafl: age, which Strabo has been drawing ? The fl:rik-
ing likenefs will, I prefume, apologize with aBritifli reader for inferting
fome traits of it, which may belong more properly to the hifl;ory of
manners than to that of commerce.

The wefl: coafl; of Spain appears to have been but little known to the
Romans.

The Balearic islands furniflied fome wine, efteemed equal to any
of the growth of Italy.

Gaul was alfo a very opulent province, the government of
which was efl:eemed by the Romans as profitable as that of Syria.
That part of the coafl;, which bordered upon the Mediterranean, con-
tained the only ports, with which Rome had any dired intercourfe.

Vol. I. R

^^3'

A. D. 14.

The chief of thefe were Maffilia (Marfeilk), Arelate (Aries), and
Narbo (Narhonne), from which laft, being a Roman colony, the name
of Narbonenfis was extended to a large province, including the modern
di^afions of Languedoc, Proveiice, and Daiiphine. . By the favour of the
Romans Narbo became the mofl populous city in Gaul, and it alfo had
the greareft trade, which, according to the poetical authority of Aufoni-
us, extended to the eaftern fea, Spain, Africa, Sicily, and the whole
world. The antient Phoccean colony of Maflilia had now declined
very much from its former opulence in confequence of the partiality of
the Romans to Narbo, which was at this time efleemed the chief em-
porium of the v^hole country. The Romans received from Gaul, be-
lides the tributary metals of gold, filver, iron, &c. dug from the mines
of the province, linens, which were made in every part of the country,
corn; cheefe; excellent faked pork, and plaids, which two articles Belgic
Gaul fupplied in great quantities. Great flocks of geefe from the coun-
try of the Morini oppofite to Britain formed an article of importation ;
if they could be faid to be imported, which required no carriage, but
performed the long journey of 1,254 miles to Rome upon their own
feet. But our information concerning the imports from Gaul is very
defedive, though there is good reafon to believe, that they were very
confiderable.

The chief trading ports of Gaul upon the Ocean were Burdigala (Bour^
deaux), fituated on a noble sefliuary or firth at the mouth of the Garum-
na (Garonne), in the country of the Bituriges, a Gallic or Celtic nation
(occupying the modern Guienne proper) among the Aquitani, who
were of Spanifh origin ; Corbilo upon the Ligeris (Loire), which in the
time of Polybius had been a confiderable emporium, and one of the
three beft towns then in Gaul, (the others being Maflilia and Narbo)
but now declined ; the port of the Veneti, if not deferted after the ruin
of the people by Caefar ; a port of the Lexobii at the mouth of the Se-
quana (Seine); and the Portus Itius, concerning the pofltion of which
the learned differ in their opinions. All thefe feem to have had fome
intercourfe with Britain, and probably with other countries, of which
we have no information.

Gaul was a country peculiarly favoured in the convenience of inland
navigation, being everywhere interfered by navigable rivers running
in very oppofite diredions ; fo that goods could be carried between the
Mediterranean and the Ocean with very little aflift:ance of land carriage.
From Narbo, above which the Atax (Jiude) was feldom navigable, they
were carried a few miles over-land, and refliipped on the Garumna,
which carried them to Burdigala. The Ligeris, the Sequana, and the
Rhtnus (Rhine) afforded water carriage to the very heart of the coun-
try, and all of them to the neighbourhood of the Rhodanus (Rhone) or
■•its great navigable branches, which completed the inland water carriage

A. D. 14. 131

between the Mediterranean and the whole of the weft and north ftiores
of Gaul ; while almoft every other part of the country was acceflible by
the navigable branches of thole great rivers, to the great advantage of
the community, as well as the emolument of the proprietors of the lands
adjacent to the rivers before the Roman conqueft, who ufed to levy a
toll or tranfit duty on the boats palling through their territories. In
the very center of all this inland conveyance, at the jundion of the Rho-
danus with the Arar (Sonne), a river of a longer courfe and gentler cur-
rent than itfelf, and within an eafy diftance of the other navigable
rivers which flowed in the oppofite diredion, flood the great inland em-
porium of Lugdunum (Lions), a Gallic city, fo greatly augmented by a
Roman colony, the relidence of a Roman governor, and the eftablifli-
ment of a mint for gold and filver money, that for population it exceed-
ed every other city in Gaul except Narbo. With thefe advantages it
neceflarily became the general depofit of all the inland trade of the
country, and the great thoroughfare of the inland navigation; for even
thofe, who, on account of the rapidity of the Rhodanus, preferred land
carriage for the fpace between Lugdunum and the coaft, brought their
goods to that city to be further forwarded by water or by land. [Stra-
bo, L. iv, pp. 268, 288, 292, 294, 295, 318.] Even before the lettle-
meiit of the Romans in it, it mufl have been a place of great trade and
intercourfe, enlivening the whole of the river below it, which was cover-
ed with canoes and fmall veflels, employed in the carrying trade, as ear-
ly as the famous pafTage of the great Hannibal over the Alps. \_Polyb.
L. iii, c. 42.}

The only vines in Gaul were on the fouth coaft : but fo fond were
the inland people of wine, that the Italian merchants, who carried it up
the Rhodanus, frequently exchanged a vefl^el of it containing about
eighteen gallons for a young flave. Their ufual liquor was extracted
from barley, or prepared by mixing honey with water.

Having now completed the circuit of the Roman provinces, as they
lay extended on both fides of the Mediterranean, it only remains to ob-
ferve that almoft all thofe countries poured their wines into the capital ;
which alfo received corn from every province, that had any to ipare,
befides the more regular fupplies from thofe, which were pecuUarly not-
ed for their abundance.

But all this importation was merely for fupplying the vaft confump-
tion of an all-devouring capital. There was Icarcely any exportation ;
there was no reciprocation of good offices ; their was no commerce *.

• The carriage of necefTaries and luxuries for the come defirous of partaking of the fame comforts

ufe of tl'.e Roman governors and their rttinucs fet- and kixuries, what was at fir'! the carriage of pri-

tled in the provinces does not come under the de- vate baggage, would gradually fwcll into commer-

fcription of commercial exportation. But as the cial importance.
provincials, in imitation of the Romans, would be-

+ R 2^ ^

132 A. D. 14.

The payments were made with the tributes extorted from the conquered
provinces ; and thus the money given for produce and manufadures
preferved fome degree of balance between induflry and rapine, without
which the later mufl in a fhort time have drained the fprings, from
which its infatiable appetite was fed : or in other words, the farmers
and manufadurers were paid with their own money. But let us hear
from a Roman author, what Rome beftowed upon the world. ' Italy
' [or rather Rome] is the nurfe and mother of all countries, chofen by
* divine providence to make the heavens themfelves more bright, to col-
' ledl into one point the fcattered jurifdidions, and to polifh the rude
' cuftoms of other countries, to unite by intercourfe and converfation
' the difcordant and favage languages of lo many nations, to civilize
' mankind, and, in a word, is deftined to become the one mother-coun-
' try of all the nations upon the face of the earth.' [P/in. Hijl. nat. L.
iii, c. 5.]

But luxury and fuperabundant wealth could not be fatisfied with the
produdions of nature and art within the Roman empire, however plen-
tiful and various, while there were other gratifications to be found in
remoter countries. In order to relieve the wealthy Roman from the
load of his fuperfluous riches, the induflrious natives of the moit dif-
tant parts of the world were employed in preparing and tranfmitting
articles, which were of no real utility, and which, for that very reafon,
are mofl eagerly fought after by thofe who want nothing.

In the review of what may be called the foreign trade of Rome, our
own ifland of Britain prefents itfelf firft to our notice, as being con-
neded by vicinity and intercourfe with Gaul, the country which con-
cluded the furvey of the home trade of that great empire. We luckily
pofTefs the materials for a more ample detail of the Britifh trade ; and
in a work intended for Britifh readers, a more particular attention to
the antient commerce of our own ifland, will not, I prefume, need any
apology.

The commercial and friendly intercourfe between the Britons and
Gauls, which had fubfifl;ed before the invafion of Julius Caefar, flill
continued, and was probably increafed in confequence of the greater
aflortment of goods now in the hands of the Romanized Gallic mer-
chants. But the trade appears to have been entirely paffive on the part
of the Britons No antient author has mentioned any other kind of
veflels belonging to them than boats, of which the keel and principal
timbers were made of light wood, and the bottom and fides of a kind
of bafket work of ofiers, the whole being covered with hides. [T'inueus
ap. Plin. L. iv, c. 16 — C<^f. Bell. civ. L. i, c. 54 Solin. c. 24 and ap-
parently Ruf. Fejl. ylvien. Or a mar. v. 105] At this time the Ibuthern
mouth of the Rhcnus, or, more properly fpcaking, the fliore of the
Morini (antient inhabitants of Ficardy and Flanders) in whofe terri-

A. D. 14, 133

' tory was the celebrated Portus Itius, the mouths of the Sequana, the
Ligeris, and the Garumna, were the principal ports for the communi-
cation and trade between Britain and Gaul, after the Veneti were de-
ftroyed by Ca^far. [Strah, L. iv, p. 305.]

The tin, which was ftill the chief article of Britifh commerce, after
being cafl into cubic mafles, was carried in carts at the time of low
water acrofs the narrow channel between the main land and the ifland
of Idtis (apparently the fame with the Midlis of Timseus already men-
tioned, p. 88.) That ifland ftill remained the general ftaple of the
Britifli trade ; and there the Gallic merchants met the Britilh traders
and miners or their agents, from whom they received the tin ; and
along with it alfo lead ; fome corn ; cattle ; hides, under the defcription
of which perhaps wool is included ; gold ; filver ; iron ; ornaments for
bridles, and other toys, made of a fubftance, which the Romans called
ivory, but more probably the bone of fome large fifh * ; ornamental
chains ; veflels made of amber and of glafs f ; with fome other trifling
articles: alfo pretious ftones and pearls J ; flaves, who were captives
taken in the wars carried on by the tribes againfl: each other ; dogs of
various fpecies, all excellent in their kinds, which were highly valued
by the Roman connoiflxiurs in hunting, and by the Gauls, who ufed
them, not only againfl wild animals in the chafe, but alfo againfl their
enemies in the field of battle ; and bears § for the fanguinary fports of
the Roman circus, though probably not fo early as the age of Auguftus.

[Diod. Sicul. L. v, § 21 Strabo^ L. i'v, pp. 305, 307 Mela^ L. iii, c. 3

Ma ft talis SpeSl. 9.]

Of the goods imported into Britain we know but very little. Brafs,
brafen utenfils, eartiien-ware, and lalt, are all that we find any mention
of: neither is it certain, that they belong to fo late a period of our
hiftory, as that now under confideration. [Strabo, L. iv, pp. 305-307.]

* Solinus fa^'s, that in his time the fine gentle- and tbey thence appear to have been an objeft of

men in Ireland had thtir fword-iiandles adorned commerce. If it be true, that none of the rivers

with the teeth of lilhes poh'fhcd as bright as ivory : farther fouth than the Solway firth produced any,

and the fame kind of ornament continued in re- and that they were only found in confiderable quan-

queft at Icall till the fix:h century, .as appears from tities in thofe north of the Firth of Forth, we

the biographers of fome of the Irifli faints. mud believe, that the commercial intercourfe of

\ The bridle ornaments, chains, airber, and the Britifh nations with each-other was much more
glafs ware, are tncntioned by Strabo [L. iv, p. confiderable than has been fuppofed. Cxfar col-
3073 in a manner which leaves it almoft doubtful, lecled a large quantity of Britilh pearls, and dedi-
whether they were imported into Britain, or ex- cateJ a breaft-plate compofed of them to the god-
ported from it. That they vine, imported, is the dels Venus. [_Sueton. in Jul. c. /^"j ."—P/in. L. ix,
opinion of the annotator on the paffige, and of c. 35.]

Doftor Henry. \_HiJl. of Drlt. V. ii, /. 227, ed. ^ The exiflencc of bears in Britain has becB

1788.] But the contrary opinion is held by al- queftioned, becaufe there are none now : but we

mod all others, who have had occafion to confider know from the undoubted teftimony of Domef-

the fubjeft. day book, that the city of Norwich was bound to

X Julius Csfsr is faid to have been ftimulated furnilh one bear, and fix dogs for baiting him, to

to the invafiou of Britain by the fight of the pearls King Edward the Confeflbr.
brought from it. Thefe he probably faw in Gaul; i

134 A. D. 14.

From this enumeration of the exports and imports of the Britons,
and from the notices to be found in antient authors, it appears, that,
beiides pafturage and agriculture, they underflood the arts of extracfting
tin and lead, and even gold, lilver, and iron, from their mines *, the
manufadure of glafs and amber, and alio fome works merely orna-
mental. For their own ufe they had manufadures of arms, the objedl
of the firfl attention to every warlike people, and which were by no
means fo contemptible, as fome modern writers have reprefented them.
Beiides carts for carrying their tin and other heavy burthens, they had
chariots f , fometimes armed with fchythes for mowing down the enemy,
which were ufed in battle, from the coaft of Kent in the louth to the
Gram.pian mountain in the north. \Ccef. Bell. Gall. L. iv, c. 2,2,- — 'Tac.
Vit. Agric. cc. 12, 35.] Their chief drink was ale, which they made
from barley and fometimes from wheat. [Diofcorides, L. ii, c. yS.] They
had a manufadure of fome kind of drapery, as appears from Caefar's
obfervation, that the diftant and lefs civilized Britons were clothed in
fkins, which proves, that the nearer and more civilized Britons had
clothing of a better and more comfortable kind ; and that could fcarce-
ly be any other than woollen cloth, which in its improved flate has
long been the great and favourite ftaple manufadure of England \.

The Britiih goods, deftined for Rome or any part of the Mediterra-
nean coafls, after their arrival in Gaul were put into river-craft and
conveyed to Narbo and Maffilia by the inland navigation, which I have
already defcribed, chiefly on account of its great connedion with the

* Mr. Whitaker fuppofcs, that coal was ufed ufeful animals, becaufe no antient author has men-
as fuel by the Britons before the arrival of the tioned them. \^Biiti/h %oolngy, V. i, />. 23, ec^.
Romans: and Mr. Pennant fays, that a flint axe, 1768.] But againil this negative argument may
an inllrument of the aboriginal Biitons, was found we not fet the queftion, What author has men-
flicking in a vein of coal, expofed to day, at tioned thejir/l importation of them ? Is it not rea-
Craig-) -park in Monmouth-fliirc. But it does not fonable to fuppofe, that, if the primitive or in-
clearly appear, tliat the coal was ufed as fuel, land Britons were dcilitute of fheep, they would
Nor can the coal cinders, found among the ruins be imported along with the Belgic colonies ? Nay,
of the Roman llation at Caervorran in Northum- it is mod probable, that even among the inland
berland, be admitted as a proof, that the Romans inhabitants flicep were a part of the animals, on
ufed coal for fuel. '1 hat town may have had the flefh and milk of which they fubfilled, as we
many revolutions unnoted in liillory j and many arc told by Casfar, who exprefsly mentions flocks
fires of coal may liave been in houfes tiow buried '(' pecoiis') in CalTivcUaun's (or CafTibelin's) town:
in ruins, though built many ceniuiics after the de- \_BeU. Gall. 1,. v, c 11] and ^»5x>i^«T« (a word
parture of tlie Romans. \_See Whitaker'' s Hifl. of including flocks and herds, and apparently rather
Manchcjlir, p. .^02. — Pennant's Tour in IVales, p. appropriated to the former) are repeatedly men-
Ifj. — IVai'tis's Ni/l. of Nort/jumlier/antl, f^.i, p. lic). tioned by Strabo in his defcription of Britain.
— a/fm ^rnol's hifl. of Ei:inlurgh, p. 82. j The But no antient author mentions woollen cloths
fuppofed notice of coal in the year 852 will be among the articles im/i«r/(v/ »n/o Britain. Befide?,
confidered in its proper lime. the panegyric upon Conflaiitius exprefsly mentions

•j" tjncli war-chariots were ufed by the Par- flocks loaded with wool (' pecora onulla velleri-

thians, and by the Perfiana in the time of Alex- ' bus') as natives of Britain : and the Britifli

ander the Great, and alio in the time of Alexan- names of the animal, as given by Mr. Pennant,

der Severus emperor of Rome. have no rcfemblancc to the Latin, to warrant even

X I liave I'vrc prefumed, that at lead the more a fufpicion, that tlicy were introduced by the Ro-

poliflied Biitons had Iheep ; though llic great na- mans,
turalift, Mr. Pennant, thinks they had not thofe

A. D. 14.

35

Britifh trade, pretty fully, in the account of the commerce of Gaul ;
or they were carried quite acrofs the country in carts or upon the backs
of horfes, which mode of conveyance required thirty days to traverfe
the country from the Ocean to the mouth of the Rhodanus *, where
Arelate flood on the main channel of the river, with which Mallilia
was connedled by a canal, made in the preceding age by Marius. [^Diod.
Sic. L. V, § 22. — Fofidonius ap. Strab. L. iii, p. 1 19. — Strab. L. ii, p. 190 ;
jL. iv,pp. '2.']g, 318.] With the charge of fuch a multiphcity of car-
riages the Britilh tin cofl in Rome four fliillings and ten pence of our
money a pound. [P//«. L. xxxiv, c. 17,]

The duties paid in Gaul upon the imports and exports of Britain
conflituted the only fpecies of revenue derived from it by the Romans,
according to the exprefs teftimony of Strabo ; [L. ii, p. 176; L. iv, p.
306] who thus proves, that the tribute, which Caefar alleges he ordered
the Britons to pay, was a mere flourifh. Strabo indeed afFeds to fay,
that any tribute, which could be levied on the ifland, would be too
trifling to bear the expenfe of the garrifons neceflary to enforce it,
which would require at leafl one legion and fome additional cavalry.
But the Roman emperors of fucceeding ages thought very differently
from him in that refpedt, when they employed four, or more, legions
in the conquefl of this country, and to garrifon it after it was fub-
dued f .

* Diodorus, to whom we are indebted for this
information, leaves us ignorant, whether the jour-
ney of thirty days was from Burdigala acrofs the
narrow part of Gaul ; from the mouth of the Li-
geris ; or from the coaft oppofite to Britain, and
through the whole extent of the country. Mr.
Melot has endeavoured to fupply that defect in an
elaborate eflay on the antient commerce of Britain
in the Memoires tie Vacademie royale, V. xvi, in-
tended chiefly to confute the fancy of a very ear-
ly intercourfe of the Greeks with this country :
but as he has not made the journey commence from
any of the four ports noted by Strabo as the fta-
tions for pafiing over to Britain, I doubt we arc
ftill as much to feek as ever.

f Some have fuppofed, that this country was
kept in fubjeclion by a fmaller force than four le-
gions. But Agrippa in a fpeech to the Jews,
wherein he magnifies the Roman valour, and (hows,
that the very reputation of it was fufiicient to keep
the world in awe, tells them, that all Spain was
commanded by only one legion, Egypt by two,
and all tlic reil of Africa by one ; and that Bri-
tain, almoft as large as all the reft of the world,
luhofe lualls -were the Ocean, yet was kept by only
four legions. [_J"feph. BcU. Jud. L. ii, c. 16.]
This fpeech has been often quoted ; but it has not
been fufficiently obferved, that the aim of the
fpeaker was to extenuate the force neceflary to
keep greater provinces than Judaea in fubjeftion.

It ought therefor to be received as proof, that the
number of legions in Britain was at leajl four. But
to leave flowers of rhetoric, we have the clear hif-
torical evidence of Tacitus for the fecond, ninth,
fourteenth, and tiuent'teth, legions being in Britain
under Paulinus in the reign of Nero ; and there
may have been more. ^JTac. Annnl. L. xiv, cc.
32, 34, 37 ; Hijl. L. iii, c. 4J.] There is alfo
the authority of Ptolemy, the Itinerary, and Dion
Caflius, for the refidence of ti\e Jixth -viSor ous, and
apparently good authority for that of vhefeventh
Claud'mn, the ninth, and the tenth legions in Bri-
tain. But it does not follow, that there were
eight legions in it at once ; and we know, that the
fourteenth was for fome time drawn off by Vitel-
lius, and that during his reign one of thcjlxth le-
gions (for there were often feverals of the fame
number) and the frventh Claudian were alfo upon
the continent. It is, however, probable, that there
were generally more than four ; for Agricola had
three, if not four, legions with him at the battle
of the Grampian hill ; and the flendereft garrifons,
he could leave in the conquered country, would
require at leaft two legions. There was alio a
fleet of armed veffels with a proper eftablifliment
of marine forces conitantly kept up in the different
ports. So important in the eyes of the Roman
emperors was Britain : and its importance is, I
hope, a fufiicient apology for this rather uncom-
mercial note.

1^6 A. D. 14.

During the long and peaceful reign of Auguflus the Britifh princes
courted his friendfhip by embaflies and prefents : and the Britons by
their long-continued friendly intercourfe with the Romanized Gauls
became acquainted with the Romans, and in fome degree with their
arts and fciences. Even before Caefar vifited this ifland, their own
knowlege of agriculture was by no means contemptible, as appears from
their long experience in the ufe of a variety of marles enumerated by-
Pliny*, [L. xvii, cc. 6, 7, 8] and their plentiful crops, which now (and
perhaps before now) enabled them to fpare fome corn for exportation.
They had now alfo adopted many improvements from their Gallic neigh-
bours, and were fo generally induflrious, that a negligent management
of the dairy, or the want of a garden, came to be noted as marks of
inferior talents or flothfulnefs in fome few individuals. [Strabo, L. iv.

It was, no doubt, in this interval of tranquillity and advancing pro-
fperity, that Cunobelin, king of the countries lying between the Thames
and the Nen, eflabliflied his inint at Camulodunum [Colchejler), and
coined money of gold, filver, and brafs ; ot all which at leaft forty dif-
ferent fpecimensf have reached our times. And thus, inflead of dwell-
ing fome centuries upon brafen money, and then flowly creeping to
liiver, and at laft to gold, like the Romans, did the firfi: effort of the
Britifh coinage at once comprehend all the ufeful varieties of current
money %. Camulodunum by means of its^ mint has the advantage of
being the firft Britifli town, which is authentically known by its ge-
nuine antient name ; as it is alfo the very firfl that is mentioned by any

* Pliny [/,.xvii,(-. 8] obfcrves, that the ftrength with fome Yanations of fpelh'ng, on many of thofe

of the Britifli chalk marie (the pits of which he coins, which moft of our antiquaries (though

defcrihes exaftly as they are now to be feen in Dodor Pettingall almoll Humbled upon the truth

Kent) laftcd eighty years, and that there was no in a Diffcrtatiou written exprefsly on the fcnfe of

inftance of any man ufing it twice in his life time that word) have ftrangely interpreted tax, or tri-

on the fame land. Ste this fubjeft more largely bute, payable to the Romans, at a time when

liandled in Wh'itaker^i Hjjlory of Manchffler, B. i, they had no dominion in this idand ; but which,

(h. 7, \ 3. according to his interpretation, fignifies leader or

It appears from an infcription found in Zeland, i'nf, as, indeed, variations of the worcf do in the

that the Britifli chalk was exported to improve the Gaelic languages to this day. — That the Britons

mardiy groimds of that country by people, who ponclfed and wrought mines of gold and filver be-

werc called Britifli chalk-merchants, and the poly- fore the Roman conqueft, appears unquellionably

theiftic fpirit of the Romans created a new god- from Strabo, and may be inferred from Tacitus ;

dcfs to prefide over this mw trade, the date of though Cicero, writing when Julius Cxfar was in

which is unknown, but is apparently older than Britain, and fcarcely any thing was known of it

Varro (who died A. U. 27) as he was in fome in Rome, had faid, that there was no gold or filver

diftridts on the banks of the Rhine, where the in the ifland. \_Slrnbo, L. iv, p. 305. — Tac. Vit.

lands were manured with chalk (' Candida foffitia yf^ric. c. 12.— Cic. adfamil. L. vii, ep. 7 ; ad jit'

* crcta'). \_Varro de re rujliea, L. i, c. 9. — Caw's tic. L. iv, cp. 15.]
ylntonine, p. 43, tor the infcription.] \ Some have fuppofed, that the Britons had the

f Prints of them may be fcen in Speed's H'ljlorie, ufe of money befurc Ca:far's iiivalion. But the

Camden's Brilnnnin, i'eg^e^s Ceins of Cunobelin, fuppolition is founded oil an explanation, apparent-

IVhilaker's Ilijlury rif Mmchrjler, Uc. Mr. Whit- ly erroneous, of a paflagc of Casfar, [A//. Gall.

aker, in his fecond edition, has apparently given L. v, c. 12] which is conteilcd, and fecms to be

the true explanation of the word Tojc, occurring, corrupted.

A. D. 14. f37

writer now extant. [P/h. Hijl. nat. L. ii, c. 75.] It is reafonable to
fuppofe that this town, the refidence of CunobeUn, was better built
than the fenced colledions of huts, defcribed by Caefar as the towns of
the Britons : for we find, that their architeftural (kill was even equal to
the tafk of building a bridge over the Thames. [Dion. L. Ix.] But the
improvements, which the Britons may be fuppofed to have made in
building, were unknown to Strabo, the geographer of this age, whofe
defcription of their houfes appears to be copied from Caefar's.

Ireland was fometimes vifited by navigators from Gaul, and they
knew, that there were other iflands adjacent to Britain ; but we have
no account of their tranfadions or dealings. Strabo acknowleges his
ignorance of Ireland, the people of which, be bad beard, were very
favage, ate human flefh, &c. the character ufually given to the moil
remote and unknown nations, which he judicioufly cenfures as un-
worthy of credit *. [Strabo, L. iv, p. 307.]

The nations to the northward of Gaul were as yet but little known
to the Romans. The Bruderi were defeated by Drufus in a naval battle
on the River Amafia (Ems), whence it appears that the people of thofe
coafts poilelled fome kind of veffels, probably no other than the long-
canoes made of fingle trees, and capable of carrying thirty men each,
defcribed by Pliny [/.. xvi, c. 40] as ufed by the pirates of Germany.
In the following age the Suiones, a nation occupying an ifland in the
Baltic fea, according to Tacitus, [Germania} were powerful by their
fleets, and fenfible of the advantages of opulence. He adds, that the
ufe of arms was not general among them, as among the other German
nations, becaufe tbey were defended from Jiidden invnfions by tbe furrounding
ocean. It is probable, that at this time their circumftances were nearly
the fame, and that their opulence was as much the produce of rapine
as of induftry. We have very little pofitive authority for any com-
mercial tranfadions of the Germans, except in two articles. The
feathers of the German geefe were preferred to all others at Rome : and
amber was bought up for the Romans with fuch avidity from the yEftii,
a nation in the modern Pruffia, whofe language refembled that of the
Britons, that they were utterly afloniftied at the prices, which they re-
ceived for an article of no real utility, which they had been accuftom-
ed to leave unnoticed on the beach, where the fea threw it up on the
coafl of Auftravia, an ifland (or perhaps now a peninfula, the Abalus
or Baltia of Pytheas) called Gleflarium by the Romans from the great
abundance of amber, the genuine name of which, according to Pliny

* The charadler of the natives of Ireland, given that the manners of the people were totally iin-

by Strabo as a ftory unworthy of credit, has been known to them. For cannibalifm, promifcuous

carelefsly or malicioufly brought forward by fome concubinage, and fuch enormities, have in all ages

modern writers, in order to prove that the an- been the charafterillics afcribed by ignorance to

ceflors of the Iridi were the vileft favages in the unknown nations ; and they have been gradually

world; whereas it only proves, that the Gallic removed farther an J farther, as difcovcry advanced,
flrangcrs had fo little intercourfe with tlie country,

Vol. I. ' S

n^

A. D. i4«

and Tacitus, wz*, gleOum 01: glefum. Unlefs when the Romans fent mef^
fengers on purpofe to procure the amber, it was carried acrofs the con-
tinent through Pannonia, where it was received by the Veneti (the an-
ceftors of the Venetians), who forwarded it to Rome ; and thence arofe
the fable of its being produced on the banks of the Padus or Eridanus

{Po).

ScYTHiA the vaft unknown country beyond Germany, fupplied fome

vakiable furs.

Media, Parthia, and Bactria, were too remote, or too far inland,
to furnifh Rome with any articles, but fuch as were of great value and
little bulk ; and we accordingly hear of Uttie elfe but pretious Hones,
brought from thole countries.

The Seres, the moft remote people of Afia known even by report
to the Europeans, were, according to Florus, among the nations, who
fent ambafladors to Auguftus. But the Romans do not appear to have
learned any thing from the amballlidors concerning the lituation, the
produce, or the trade, of the nation. Strabo [L. xv, p. 1028] knew
only their name, and a report that the people hved to the age of 200
years; and he mentions, I think only once, [L. xv, p. 1016] tXiQ/eri-
£um, or filk, (and that from fo old an author as Nearchus the admiral
of Alexander's fleet) which he confounds with cotton. Dionyfius the
geographer, whom Auguftus had fent to compile an account of the
oriental regions, about this time informed the people of Europe, that
pretious garments were manufactured by tha Seres from threads, finer
than thofe of the fpider, which they combed from flowers. [^PeriegeT.
Z'. 752.] This pretious manufadure found its way to Rome : but com-
ing from a people who had the monopoly of it in their own hands, by
a long fucceffion of tedious and dangerous carriages by land and water,
through the territories of various nations, and perhaps through the
hands of fome monopohfts, and moreover in very fmall quantities *,
it was fold at a moft; enormous price, fo that the ufe of it was reftri(5ted
to a few women of the greateft fortunes f . [Seneea de beneficiis, L. vii.]

Persia and Babylonia alfo furniflied pretious ftones and pearls. The

» \Vc are told by Dion Cafiiiis [Z. xliil] that
Julius Cncfar, whoii he treated the Romans with
magnificent fptftacles, covered the amphitheatre
with awnings oi Jiricum to Ihclter them from the
fun. 13ut it may well be doubted, if a quantity
of filk, fufficicnt for fuch a purpcifc, could have
been collected In all the countiies to the wcftvvard
of India ii: the age of Jiiliu;'. : and Pliny, [Z. xix,
c. i] dcfcribing apparently the fame awninjr, fays,
it was of linen (ciirbafiis) ; and lie is furely an evi-
dence preferable to Dion, who lived fo many ages
'.atcr. Silk could not be plenty in Rome, when
the ladies wttc obliged to content thcmfelves with
.1 ftimfy ftuff made by undoing the fubilantial
Oriental filks, and tt-wcaving them again, as wc

learn from Puhllns Syrus, an author contemporary
with C;efar, and many others after him.

■f- What the price of fiik was on its firft appear-
ance in Rome, we are not informed. I5ut it mud
have been enormoufly high ; for, even in the later
part of the third century, the imperor Aurelian,
when his wife begged of him to let her have but
one fmgle gown of pm-ple filk, refufcd it, faying,
he would not buy it at the price of guld. f /'/-
plfius iiiAuirl. c. 45.] And wc find by the Rliodian
naval laws, piefeived in the eleventli book of the
Digejls, that unmixed filk. goods, when (lilpwreck-
td, if they were faved free irom wet, were to pay
a falvagc of ten per cent, as being equal to gold in
value.

(^

A. D. 14. 1^5

Babylonia*!! tricrviaria or tricliniaria (coftly furniture of the eating room,
varioufly tranflated, quilts, carpets, and curtains), and the incenfe of
Perfia, were highly efteemed.

But the moft important of all the foreign trades was that which Avas
carried on with the Oriental countries by the way of Egypt and the
Red fea. The commencement of this trade in the reign of the firfl, or
rather the fecond, Ptolemy, and the removal of it from Heroopolis at
the end of the canal to Berenice, are already related. The trade does
not appear to have ever increafed, and there is veafon to believe, thgt
after the reigns of the three firfl Ptolemies it was rather in a progreflive
decay, till the extindion of the Macedonian fovereignty in Egypt, when
it had dwindled down to fcarcely twenty fmall veflels in a year * : and
they feldom went beyond the mouth of the Red fea, where, on the Ara-
bian coaft, they found aflbrtments of merchandize fully fufficient for
their demand. But when Strabo was in Egypt, very foon after thefub-
jugation of the kingdom by the Romans, he learned that fleets of one
hundred and twenty veflels went from Myos Hormos (then the chief
port of the Egyptian trade in the Red fea, which he calls a great port,
protected by iflands before it, and a winding entrance through them)
and proceeded as far as India and the moft remote known parts of Ethi-
opia, from which they imported into Egypt the moft pretious mer-
chandize. But the veflels were fmall, and their timid coafting voyages
feem as yet to have extended no farther than Pattalaf, a port in the
delta, or ifland, formed by the branches of the river Sind, or Indus : and
there is reafon to believe, that many of then, completed their cargoes at
the port of Arabia Felix. A few of the traders from Egypt appear,
however, to have penetrated into India as far as the Ganges : but it is
moft probable, that they traveled over-land upon the magnificient royal
high way extending acrofs the country from the Indus to the Ganges %.

* Mr. Browne fays, that duly tliirty-feveii vef- pjives the names of two ports and two or three na-

fels are now (1792) employed in the Red fea by tions beyor/<l it on the well coaft, lie does it with

perfons refiding in Egypt ; and that the feamen fome degree of exultation, that they were not to be

are fo unflvilful, that continual building barely found in any preceding author. It is true, he

keeps up the number. [Travels in E^ypt, l^fc. mentions a more diftant port called Perimula as the

p. 75.] moft famous emporium of India, iltuated on the

\ Strabo does not inform us what port or ports caft coaft and near the fouthcrn extremity of it,

they failed to : and, indeed, he appears not to have and he notes the abundance of pearls found there,

known a finglc fea port of India j for though he [L. ii, c. 73; L. vi, cc. 20, 23; Z,. ix, r. 35.]

defcribes Pattalena as a delta of the Indus, con- 13ut as no fuch place is mentioned in the Periplu*

laining the famous city of Pattala, he does not call of the Erythrxan fea, and as Ptolemy, from later

that city an emporium or port ; and lic immediately information, wiiicli in geographical matters is pre-

takes a prodigious flcip from it to Taprobanc. In ferable, places Perimula in India beyond the Gan-

ihort, his knowlege of India is founded entirely up- gcs, we have reafon to fulpcfl Pliny's inforroation

on the information of Alexander's officers. [L. xv, concerning it, as well as other parts of India, to be

pp. loii, 1012, 1026. J Phny, who wrote, when confufed and erroneous, and alio to beheve tliat the

the Oriental trade had been carried on a whole cen- merchants of Egypt were not willing to impart

tury by the Egyptian-Greek fubjefts of Rome, their knowlege to their Roman mafters.

lecms to make Pattala the only port reforted to J The navigation of the Ganges from the fea up

by them, even after the difcovery of the monfoon, to Palibothra, as niiticed by Strabo, [^L. xv, p.

which will be noticed afterwards ; and when he loioj nppenri pretty clearly to have been per-

3 2 formed

■140 A, D. 14.

3trabo gives us incidentally the important information, that the trade to
'•India and Ethiopia (or the country of the Troglodytes) was a new accef-
fion to the commerce of Egypt, which took place after the commence-
ment of the Roman dominion in that country. [Strabo, L. ii, />. 179;
L. XY, pp. 1006, 1 010; L.xwi,p. 1 1 14; L. xvii,/>. 1149 Pcriplus Ma-
ris Erythriti, p. 174, ed. Blanc ard.'\

The commodities imported from Arabia, India, and Ethiopia, were
landed at Myos Hormos, and thence carried by camels upon the road
made acrofs the defertby Ptolemy Philadelphus to Coptos, a town jointly
occupied by Egyptian and Arabian inhabitants, which was the general
emporium of the upper part of Egypt. From Coptos the goods were
conveyed by a canal of three miles to the Nile, the llream of which
floated them down to the canal leading into the Lake of Maraea, whence
they proceeded by another canal to the interior harbour of Alexandria ;
and from the exterior or fea harbour they were refliipped for every part
of the Mediterranean by the merchants of that city, who hadalmofl: the
whole of the trade in their own hands, and thereby acquired prodigious
great fortunes. [Straio, L. xv'i, p. 1128; L. xw'n, pp. 1169, 1170.]
( The revenue of Egypt was now alfo raifed far beyond what it had
ever been in the days of the Macedonian fovereigns *, partly by a more
ilridl: and vigorous management, but chiefly by the vaft increafe of the
■commerce of the country, the exports from Egypt being enlarged by
the great and increafing demand of almoft the whole Roman empire for
Orieiital luxuries, all which paid duties, both upon importation and ex-
portation, and the duties were particularly heavy upon the pretious ar-
ticles. [Stral>o, L. ii, p. 179; L. xvii, p. 1149.]

The pretious articles of India were alfo bi'ought, partly by fea and
river navigation, and partly over land, to Palmyra, a flouriftiing com-
mercial repubhc, feated in a fertile fpot furrounded by a fandy defert,
which, being found beneficial to the world in general by its fpirited
adive commerce, had the Angular good fortune to remain independent
of the great empires of Rome and Parthia, though fituated on the con-
fines of both. The goods from Palmyra were forwarded to Rome and
other weflern countries by the ports of Syria or Phoenicia, [yippiarii
Bell. civ. L. V. — Pli/i. L. v, c. 25.]

formed by the natives of India : and even in a later it den'ved from liis father's (liare of the phinder of

H^c the Pcriphis of the Krythrxan fea gives us the Perfian empire, is beyond all boinids of credi-

reafon to believe, that the voyages of the Greeks bility. According to a loft fpcech of Cicero,

of Egypt had not extended to any part of the eaft (cjuoted by Strabo, L. xvii, />. 1 149) Ptolemy

coall of India. Aiiletes, one of the moft diffolute of the degcne-

* The accounts of the wealth and icvtnuc of rate Ptolemies, had an annual revenue of 12,300

the Ptolemies fc< m to be much exaggerated. Wc talents (equal to y^2, 421,875 (Icrling). But what-

are told by Appian, that Ptolemy Philadelphus at ever the revenue of Egyj't may have been, it i$

his death left in his treafury 740,000 talents, cq\ial not fair to derive it entirely from commerce,

in weight of metal to ^191,166,666 : 13 : 4 of mo- There can lie no doubt, that a great part, per-

dern fterliiig money, (as reckoned by Arbuthnot, liaps the moft of it, arofe from the very produftive

f>. 192) which, though wc fliould fuppofe moft ot agriculture of the fertile foil.

A. D. 14. 141

Indian goods were alfo conveyed from a diftrift in the north part of
India, within feven days' jnurney of Badria, through that country,
and thence down the River Oxus, and acrofs the Cafpian (ea, whence
they were carried up the River Cyrus, and, after a land carriage of five
days, refliipped on the Phafis, a river of Colchis, running into the eaft
end of the Euxine fea, at the mouth of which there was a town of the
fame name, whence they were difperfed to the weftern countries. [Plin.
L. vi, c. 17.] We may be pretty certain, that the valuable merchandize
of the Seres was alfo conveyed by the fame route.

Arabia furnifhed the traders from Egypt with various aromatics ;
pretious ointments ; fmall diamonds and other gems ; pearls ; frankin-
cenfe; the beft myrh, and other pretious drugs; and fugar of a quali-
ty inferior to that of India. The Arabs alfo re-exported, or fold to fo-
reign traders, the goods they imported from the Eaft, among which
were fome aromatics fuperior in quality to any produced in their o^vll
country : and they took in exchange fome European goods, one article
of which was tin, probably the produce of the BritiJIj ?nijies and deflined
for India ; but they were chiefly paid in money. Thus, participating
largely in the increafed commerce of Egypt, and having the balance of
a brilk, conflant, and well-conduded, adive trade greatly in their favour,
they abounded in riches and plenty of all things. [Strabo, L. i, p. 67.]
Pliny fays [L. vi, c. 28] that they took no goods in exchange, and that
they fold their plunder (for fome of the nations comprehended under
the exteniive name of Arabia acquired goods by piracy and robbery)
to the Romans and Parthians for money only, whereby a great part of
the cafli of both empires refted with them. It is almoft needlefs to ob-
ferve, that the commercial nations of Arabia were not the perpetrators,
but the viftims, of the depredations committed by the roving Arabs.
[See Strabo L. xv'i, p. 1097.}

From Ethiopia were imported cinnamon; marble; gems; ivory;
the horns of the rhinoceros ; turtle, and turtle-fhell *.

Getulia, the country on the fouth fide of Mauritania, furniflied no-
thing, that I can difcover, except the dye-fi:uff extradled from the
purple fhell-fifli, found in great abundance on the fliore of the Atlantic
ocean.

After this fecond circuit of the Roman trade it is proper to obferve, as.
an exception from the general terror of the Ocean among the Romans,
that fome vefl^els of theirs had before this time ventured to navigate the
Atlantic. The firfl we know of was one, which, we are told, followed
the track of a Phoenician bound to the Cafliterides, in order to difcover
the fecret, where that mine of wealth was fituated. The Phoenician

* As the feveral branches of trade carried on from the Red fea were apparently much increafed
after this time, the confideration of them will be refimied with more ample, and better authenticated,
materials than could be obtained in the liitherto-infant Hate of the trade. 4

142 A. D. 14'

commander (wh0m modern writers generally fuppofe to have been of
Carthage, but who, I think, muft rather have been of Gadir, and pofte-
rior to the deftrudion of Carthage) led his follower into deflrudion by
running his own vefTel upon a Ihoal. The fkilful Phoenician, who
knew the nature of the ground and of the tides, got off by throwing
part of his cargo overboard, and was recompenfed by the public for the
damage, which he had fo patriotically incurred. The Romans, how-
ever, flill perlifted in their trials, and at lafl P. CralTus difcovered the
place, and fhowed the way to others. [Straho, L. iii, p. 265.] We have
no knowlege of the time, when any of thefe voyages were made: nor is
there any particular acc6unt, I believe, of any other Roman vellels upon
the Atlantic ocean, except on the bufinefs of war, whereof we have an
inftance in the voyages of Polybius the hiftorian along the coafls of
Africa, Spain, and Gaul, till Britain became a Roman province ; though
Pliny fays in general that in his time the weftern coafls of Spain and
Gaul were navigated, but without telling by what nation, or for what
purpofe. [Hi/i. nat. L. ii, c. 67.]

After much inveftigation I muft acknowlege, that I can find nothing
fatisfadory concerning the rate of the cuftoras paid at the Roman ports
upon the importation of goods in the reign ofAuguftus*; nor upon
the proportion of the value of gold to filver f .

Notwithftanding the pompous, but fuperficial and unfounded, ac-
counts, given by fome modern writers, of a flourifliing commerce car-
ried on by the Romans, it is evident that the trade was entirely con-
duced by their fubjefts. It is not proper, fays Cicero, that the fame
people fliould be the commanders, and the carriers, of the world. Ac-
cordingly we find, that among the Romans the charader of a merchant,
inftead of being efteemed honourable, as it was among the wife Phceni-
cians, was held in contempt, and clafl'ed in their eftimation with buf-
foons, gladiators, flaves, and ftrumpets. And certainly no profefllon,
that is difreputable, can ever be in a flourifhing or profperous condition.

Cicero, writing to his fon upon the fubjed of profeflions, condemns
iill retail trade as vile and fordid, which can thrive only by means of

* A French tu-atifc on the Roman revenue, was, according to \.\\c\Pei-iplus of the Erythraan ft-a,

written at the Jelli.- if Mr. Culbrrt, has- notliii/^ one quarter of the tarj^o : but that was after the

to the purpjfc : neither han Burman, in his work age of Augiiilus. When Cappadocia was made a

De vefiigalidus papuli Romanifhctn able to afcer- Roman province, Til)erius reduced the inland duty,

tain the rate of tiic duty upon any particular ar- or excife, levied upon all falcs, from one to one half

tides of mcrcliandi/c. Arbuthnot (apparently per cent, but it was loon railed again to one. \^Dio

from a pah.ifje of Velleius Paterculus, but without Ciiffius, L. lix.]

any chi'ouology ) rates the duties from 2 to 50 per f The great quar»tity of plundered gold brought

cent. And even Gibbon, whofe refearches are in by Julius Ca-fur is faid to have lowered the va-

Kcncrally fo accurate, has contented himfelf with luc of it to nine times its weight in filvsr. Sue/on.

ikating them widely at from 2 (to 12-^ per cent, in Jii/io, c. ^4, whh y^iiulhiiol'sTtiHes, />. ^[^.^^int

■[Decllnr cf the R'jman empire, F. i, p. 261.] The that price was only temporary; and one to ten

fluty taUcti by the Romans at their port of Leukc feenis rather to have been the ufual proportion in

kumh ( Wbiv: town) near the head of the Red fea, this age.

A. D. 14* 143

much lying. Merchandize, if not carried to a great extent, is, in his
opinion, no better. But the merchant, wlio imports from every quarter
great quantities of goods, and diflributes them to the pubUc without
falfehood, is not very much to be blamed : and if, after making a for-
tune, he retires from trade to the country, he may with great propriety
even be praifed *. Such were the fentiments of one of the mofl en-
Ughtened of the Romans upon the merit and dignity of commerce : and
no evidence of an author, writing exprefsly for the pubhc, can be com-
pared with this work of Cicero, addreifed to his own fon, for a genuine
reprefentation of the low eflimation, in which trade was held by the
Romans. It may alfo be obferved, that Pliny, who in his univerfal
work expatiates in the juft praifes of agriculture and gardening, of me-
dicine, painting, and ftatuary ; and alfo pays due attention to works in
gold, filver, brafs, jewels, v^^ood, &c. yet has not a word upon merchan-
dize, except juft obferving, that it was invented by the Phoenicians.
The proud fenators, however, with all their contempt for fair trade, had
from the earlieft ages of their republic made a practice of increafing
their wealth by a bafe and extortionate trade of ufury.

The citizens of Rome thought themfelves fuperior to all kings f ;
and feveral commanders of armies and governors of provinces, whofe
rank entitled them to large dividends of the plunder of the world, pof-
fefled greater quantities of gold and filver, than fome fovereign princes
can command, even in the prefent depretiated flate of the pretious
metals.

The Romans, glutted with the fpoils of the earth, fet no bounds to
their extravagance. Whatever was very expenfive became the object of
their defire ; and the moft enormous (or even incredible) prices were
given for things of little or no real ufe. Silk, and a fine fpecies of linen
called byflinus, fold for their weight in gold. The value of pretious
ftones and pearls, being merely imaginary, can be rated only by the re-
dundant wealth, or folly, of the buyer. We are told by Pliny, that he

* ' SordiJi enim putandi, qui meivantur a mer- order to prove the Romans to have been a com-

' catoribus quod llatlm vendunt : nihil enini profi- inercial people, liave elevated the alFociatious of

' ciunt, nlli admodum mentiantur : nee vero quid- river boatmen, and the fullers of the Roman camps,

' quam ell turpins vanitate. Mercatura au- into tlie charailer of mercantile compaaies.

' tern, fi tenuis ell, fordida putanda eft. Sin mag- f The noble Romans wcie prohib'ted from dc-

* na et copiofa, multa undlquc apportans, multifque gyad'm^ themfelves by marrying into royal faniihes:
' fine vanitate impartiens, iion ejt achnodum I'ltvper- and thence Berenice, a Jewifh princefs, was obliged
' anda : atque etiam, li fatiata qiiaellu, vel conten- to be content with the rank of concubine to the
' ta polius, utfxpe ex alto in portum, ex ipfo portu emperor Titus ; ar.d even Cleopatra, the fovereign
' fe in agros poirelTionefque contulerit, videtur jure queen of the rich and populous kingdom of Egypt,

• Optimo poiTe laudan,' Cicero de o£ic. I., i, rt. was only the concubine of Antony. But Felix,
150, 151. the procurator of Judxa, Samaria, and Gallilee,

In this paffage there is not a word of exports- mentioned in the Aib of the apoftles, who had beea

tion : and indeed it is evident, that the Romans a flave, was of fulBcient quahty to be the hulband

had little or no idea of any thing in the charailer of three fucceflive queens, \Sueton in Claud, e. 28j

of a merchant beyond that of a purveyor of fubfift- or rather princelTcs, one o: whom was a grand--

cnce and luxuries. But fome modern writers, in daughter of the celebrated Cleopatra,

144 ^^' ■^' ^ -I-

faw I^oUia Paulina at a moderate entertainment (not a folemn occafion)
drefied in jewels which coft /?322,9i6: 13 : 4. of our modern fterling

money *. \HiJI. nat. L. ix, c. ;^^ jrlrriatii Indica, p. 525, ed. Blancard —

Arbuthnot's I'ables, p. 141.] No antient author, T believe, fays any thing
of the price of diamonds at Rome; but Julius Caeflir gave /^48,437 : 10
for a pearl, which he prefented to one of his miftrelles : and he gave
^15,500 for a picture. A ftatue of Apollo fold for above /Tag.ooo. For
the kinds of fifli, which happened to be in fafhion (for one kind fre-
quently drove out another) they gave the moft extravagant prices ;
£6\ was the price of a mullet (' muUus') ; and the mursena (fuppofed
to be the lamprey) was too pretious in the eftimation of fome epicures
to be fold for money. The price of fat thrufhes was about two fhillings
each ; and a white nightingale fold for ^^48 : 8 : 9. [See Arbiithnofs
l'ables.'\

But, though the Romans went fo prodigioully beyond the moderns in
extravagant expenfes, they appear to have had much lefs tafte ; or lea-
ther, inftead of tafte, they had only a rage for luxuries, many of which
had nothing but their monftrous expenfe to recommend them. Indeed,
from Pliny it is evident, that, even in his time, when a fucceflion of
three or four mad emperors had given the imperial fanction to the ex-
cefs of profufion, luxury was new, and, as we may fay, unformed, in
Rome.

While the rich Romans were giving the wealth of a province for a
fingle article of frantic luxury, bread and butcher meat appear to have
beeii fold as low, as their moft moderate prices have been with us in
times of peace for forty or fifty years paft : fo that the luxury of the
rich was hitherto harmlefs to the great body of the people, at leaft
with refped to thofe eflentially-necelTary articles of dayly confumption.
But it was very different with refped to houfe rent. The ample fpaces
occupied by the pleafure grounds, attached to the fpacious palaces of the
rich \, left very little room within the walls for houfes to accommodate
people of middling or fmall incomes. Hence they were obliged to
raile them aloft in the air to the inconvenient height of above feventy
feet X ; and each floor was let to a feparate family at annual rents equal
to the complete purchafe of a moderate houfe and garden in other
towns of Italy, if we may truft to the poetical and fatyrical information

• Pliny adds thnt lier grandfather M. Lollius, ' fufficient lodging room in houl'ts, which occupy

from whom fne inherited her fortinie, became fo ' more ground than the Dictator Cii cinnatus had

infamous for his extortions, that he withdrew from ' in his wliole ellate.' [_Fale>: Max. L. iv, c, 4.]
the difgracc by poifoning himfclf. But, in the J Auguitus made a law that houfes fhould not

progrcfs of corruption, extortion was no longer exceed feventy feet in height. But the law was

branded with infamy ; and even the manumitted eluded, or overlooked, zt appears by its being re-

flaves of the emperors amatfed fortunes of fome peattd by fucceeding emperors. [See Lipfins de

millions of fterling money. magnitudmc Rom. L. iii, c. 4.J

•)• • They nowadays complain that they have not

A. D. 14. 145

of Juvenal. l^Sat. ili,] The rent of an i/ifi/la or houfe fo divided, was in
the age of Auguftus forty thoufand feflerccs, or/?322 : 18 : 4 fterling.

An inquiry, whether the antlents poflelfed the mod ul'eful art of
BOOK-KEEPING as now pra6lifed, may be properly connected with the
general view of the trade of the antient world. Upon this occafion we
muft again regret the total lofs of the literary monuments of all the
antient mercantile communities, which obliges us to feek our informa-
tion from the writings of one of the mod uncommercial nations of an-
tiquity.

It is plain from the works of Cicero and fome other authors, that the
Romans kept their accounts {rationes) in a book, which they called Co-
dex accept! et expenfi (the book of received and paid away), which ap-
pears to me to have contained the various accounts titled with each per-
fon's name, called tabula accepti et expcnfi, into which were polled (rela-
ta) from the culvejjaria, at lead once a month, the various tranfadions
of debit and credit, which it was incumbent on every upright account-
ant to date fxirly and pundtually, for ' as it was bale to charge what was
' not judly due, fo was it villainous to omit entering what was owing to
' others.' It was alfo a fufpicious circumdance, if any article was al-
lowed to lie in the adverjaria unpoded beyond a proper time. The Codex
(book) containing, as I think, the various tabula or rationes (accounts)
with their proper names or titles, was carefully prepared, and accurate-
ly written ; and every tranfadion was duely transferred (or poded) in
it for perpetual prefervation, that it might be produced upon occafions
of dif]5ute ; and it was admitted as evidence in courts of judice, where
the accounts (tabula) were publicly read. In each tabula there were
apparently two columns or pages ; one for the acceptuui (debit), and the
other for the cxpenjum (credit), as in our modern ledgers.

The Adverjaria were only temporary notes, hadily written, with al-
terations or blottings ; and they were thrown away or dedroyed, and
new ones were begun every month. They were not admitted as evi-
dence in the courts *.

* ' QuemadiTiodum turpe eft fcribere, quod non ' omnes, qui tabulas conficiunt, menflruas peiie

• dcbeatur ; iic improbum eft non referre quod de- ' rationes in tabulas transferant, tu hoc nomcn

• beas : xquc enim tabula: coiidemnantur tjus, qui ' triennium amplius in adverfariis jacere paten's ?

• verum non rctulitjCt ejus, qui faliumpcrlcriplit.' — ' Utrum cetera nomina in codiccm accepti ct ex-
' Q_iiid eft quod negligenter fcribamus adverfatia ? ' penli digefta babes, ?.n non ? Si non, qnomodo
' quid eft, quod diligcnter conSciamus tabulas ? ' tabulas conficis ? fi ttiam, quamobicm, cum ce-
' qua de ciufa ? Quia bxc funt menftrua ; illtt funt ' tera nomina in ordinem refercbas, hoc nomen
' xterna; : lixc delentur ftacim ; iilae fervantur ' triennio amplius, quod erat iiiprimis magnum, in

• fandl^ : h;EC parvi temporis memoriam ; il!.e per- ' adverfariis relinquebas ?' \_Cuironis Ornt. iii, cc.
' petua; exiftimationis iidem et rcligionem amplcc- i, z, 3.] The whofe of the oration ought to be

• tuntur : bxc funt dejciTtje ; ilia: iii ordinem con- peruled, being in defence of Rofcius, (the cele-

• feftx. Itaque adverfaria in judicium protulit brated aClor) for money claimed by Fannius, for
' nemo : codicem protulit ; tabulas recitavit.' — which he had not even raifed an account in his co-
' Cur tamdiu jacet hoc nomen in adverfariis ? Quid aVx rtccf^/i f/ fx/'cn/?, but pretended, that he ought
' fi tandem amplius triennium eft ? Q_uomodo, cum to recover it upon the authority of a note in his

adverfaria ;

Vol. I. T

1^6

A. D. 14.

From thefe defcrlptions we may almofl: prefume to fay, that the ^d-
veffaria were what the Romans had in place of our Waste-book, or
Blotter, as fome call it. But they were far inferior to it in accuracy
and authenticity ; and they differed very materially from it in not be-
ing thought worthy of prefervation. — They ieem to have had nothing
equivalent to our Journal, which is only a different modification of the
Waffe-book, and is even omitted by fome book-keepers. — The Codex
nccepti et expenfi anfwers to our Ledger, and the Tabulce, with their two
pages or columns * to the particular accounts.

I believe, there is nothing extant, which can inform us, whether they
raifed accounts for the feveral articles of merchandize in their books,
or whether each tranfadion was entered in two accounts ; or, in other
words, whether they underftood any thing of double entry.

As book-keeping is an art fo effentially neceffary to commerce, and
fo fimple in its principles, it cannot be fuppofcd, that the Phoenicians,
or indeed any nation carrying on trade, and underflanding arithmetic,
could be deftitute of it. With the Phoenician colonies it may have
fpread into Rhodes, Crete, Thebes in Greece, and other places, where
they were mixed with the Greeks : and from the Greeks, it is mofl pro-
bable, that the Romans received it along with the other branches of
their knowlege.

20 — Soon after the death of Auguflus Strabo flnifhed his great and
valuable geographical work ; wherein he lays down the globofity, and

^dverfaria ; ' non liahere fe Iioc nomen in codice
accepti ct expeiiil rtlatum confitetm ; fed in ad-
• verfariis patcre comendit.' — The learned Fr.
Hotman, in liis Commentary on this oration, has
never once conceived an idea of any refemblance to
the modern books of accounts.

Aulus Gclh'us [L. xiv, c. 2] gives an account of
a caufe tried before himfelf for money faid to be
owing, but ' neque tabuh's nequc ttftibus ;' and
he alfo notices the want of the chirogniph or hand
writing and figning of the tabuU. This feems to
lead to an inquiry, wlictlur the debtor figned the
account in the creditor's books ; or wliether tlie
tahuU in this cafe may mean a bond : for the po-
verty of the Latin language, wherein many very
different meanings are cxpreffed by the one word
tabula, leaves iis m obfcurity.

• We might almoil take it for granted from the
reafon of the thing, iliat every titbiila 01 account
had two pages, or ratlicr columns ; for the books
of the ancients were not like ours, which are bound
together by the inner fides of the leaves, but were
long rolls containing divifions cvWui^ fia^itm, which
we call columns. But we have apparently the au-
thority of I'liny, \_L. ii, c. 7] who fays allcgorically
ofForlunc, ' Huic omnia f.v/>tn/a, huic omnia /ir-
« runtiir auefa ; et iu tola ratione mortalium fola
* iilran.qiie pj^'mam Tacit.' I mull tlierefor pre-

fume to differ from the learned Scaliger, who, hav-
ing occafion incidentally to touch upon ad-verfaria,
&c. fuppofes the account of what is given or paid
away to have been on the face of the paper, and
that of what is received, on the back of it ; which
would be a very awkward and inconvenient ar-
rangement. {_Scali^cr in Gui/iinJiuiim, Opiifc. p.
48.]

In thefe two notes I have given the quotation!
thus at large, contrary to my ufual cuftom, in or-
der to fave trouble to the reader, and becaufe they
arc particularly nfeful in ilhiflrating a very curious
point of commercial antiquity : and they are fc-
Ictted, as mod to the purpole, from a large col-
leftion of paffages of Cicero and other authors.
To do jullice lo the fubjcft, an ample diflertation,
or rather a whole volume, ought to be devoted to
it. And fucli a work, entitled, Lii'ic dc comple de.
prince a la manitrc d'Jtnlis en domains ti finance ordi-
naire.— conlenant cc in quoi s\xerce it Ires-illuflre el
trts-excclleni prince ct feigneur Maurice prince
d'Orange, l^c. par Simon Slevin, Leyden, 1602, fo-
lio, is quoted by Mr. Anderfon \_l^. i, p. 409] af
being in his own polTeffion. I have never been able
to obtain a fight of this fyftem of princely book-
keeping, though I have applied at every place,
where there feeraed to be any probability of find-
ing it.

A. D. 20. lAj

the centripetal force or gravitation, of the earth, as fundamental princi-
ples of geography ; and he gives rules for conftrudling globes, which,
he fays, ought not to be lefs than ten feet in diameter, and alfo for maps.
But he has injudicioufly negleited the great and important improvement
of fixing the pofitions of places by their latitude and longitude, which
was introduced by Hipparchus. Strabo traveled over mofl of the
countries between Armenia in the eafl and Etruria in the weft, and
from the Ihore of the Euxine fea (near which at Amafia he was born)
as far fouth as the borders of Ethiopia. In defcribing the countries
which he had feen, he is generally very accurate ; but in thofe beyond
his own knowlege he is frequently very erroneous. And it muft be
acknowleged, that he is too conceited of his own opinions ; whence he
is betrayed into frequent and even indecent abufe of fome authors, who
appear to have been at lead not inferior to himfelf in accuracy of in-
formation, particularly Herodotus, Pytheas, Megafthenes, and Eratof-
thenes ; wherein he has been implicitly followed by many, who lived
in later ages, when the veracity of thofe great men, and the errors of
Strabo, have been demonflrated by experimental philofophy and new
difcoveries. But, fetting afide thefe defeds, his work, upon the v;hole,.
as it is one of the oldeft, is alfo in many refpeds the beft, general fyf-
tem of ancient geography, which has come down to our times * : and I
have to acknowlege many and great obligations to it in the courfe of
this work.

30 — There were bankers or exchangers in Judaea, who made a trade
of receiving money in depofit, and paying intereft for it. \^Malbew, c.
25.] I have not d.'covered any inftance of fuch a profeflion in Greece
or Rome, where the borrowers upon intereft were apparently only thofe
who wanted money for their own occafions. The Roman nummularii
feem to have been only exchangers of one fpecies of money for another,
and perhaps they were employed to pay the public money. [See S.ictoru -
in Galba, <r. 9.]

41 — The firil knowlege of the exiftence of the ifland of Taprobane
(Seylan or Ceylon) was conveyed to Europe by the writings of Onefi-
critiis, one of the commanders of Alexander's fleet ; and his account of
its magnitude was not near fo much exaggerated as thofe of fucceeding
writers, who even made it a feparate world. It was known before this
time, that ivory, turtle-fliell, and other merchandize, were carried from..
it to the ports of India ; that the navigators of thofe feas ventured to ■•
go out of fight of land, and, like the northern Europeans in the middle
ages, ufed birds to point out the land they wanted to go to, whereby
they in fome meafure made up for the want of a compafs j and that

* The works of Pytheas, Megafthenes, Eratofthenes, and many other antient geographers, are only
known to us by quotations from ihcm preferved by Strabo, Pliny, and forae »tLcr writers.

T2

148

A. D. 41.

their veflels were alike at both ends, and could change their covirfc
without going about, being probably the fame which are now called
proas. [Stra5o, L. ii, p. 124 ; L. xv, p. 1012. — P/in. L.vi, c. 22.] But
in the reign of the emperor Claudius the Europeans, by means of an
accident, acquired fome further knowlege of that celebrated ifland *.
A veflel belonging to Plocamus, the Roman farmer of the cuftoms in the
Red fea, being blown off the coaft of Arabia by ftrong north-eaft winds,
(' aquilonibus :' quere, if not rather north-weft ?) and being driven by
them in the Ocean for fifteen days, was carried beyond Carmania, and
arrived at the port of Hippuros in Taprobane f . The king of that part
of the ifland entertained the officer hofpitably during fix months, (be-
ing probably the time neceflary to wait for the commencement of the
monfoon proper for his return) and being informed of the greatnefs
and power of the Roman emperor, he fent ambafladors to him. As it
cannot be fuppofed, that the cuftom-farmer's feamen were capable of
finding their way back to the Red Tea through the Ocean, we muft be-
lieve, that the ambafllidors failed, either in a vefi^el belonging to their
own country, or in a foreign trading veflel, which would moft likely be
an Arabian one %. They informed the emperor, that their country con-

* DIodorus Siculus, who wrote in the reign of
Augiilliu;, relates a (Irange ftory [i. ii, § 55-60]
of one lambulus being turned adrift in a boat, with
only one companion, by the people of Ethiopia,
with orders, diclattd by an oracle, to fteer due
fouth, and of his arrival in four months at a large
ifland, not named by him, bnt fuppofed by moft
modern writers to be Taprobane, though Mada-
gafcar anfwcrs better to the courfe fteercd. He
wrote an account of his voyages and difcoveries,
containing fome probabilities mixed with many
falfclioods. It appears from Sttabo, \_L. xv, p.
loizj that this pretended difcovcrer, or romancer,
was unk.nown to, or difregarded by, iiim.

•|- To reach the loutli part of Ceylon in fifteen
days the vciicl mull have drifted about 140 geo-
graphical miles every day, even if fiie kept in a
ilraight courfe for it, which, after making every
allowance for the ftrong cunent generally running
to the eaftwaid in that Ra, is a very gveat drift.
Yet fome people endeavour to pcifuade us that
Taprobane was not Ceylon, but Sumatra, which
is about 7C0 miles farther. If the wind which
V;lew her off was really north-eaft, or noith-north-
eaft, ^aqui/o ; bnt it is impoffible to adjuft the
/■zi-e/ve, or c/j//, winds of the antitnts, concerning
the diieflion of which they do not agree among
themfelvcs, to the modern points of tile compafs^
flic could never have got near the coall of Carma-
nia, and mull have made good a courfe within
cigiit points of the wind, allowing it to be north-
north-caft, which is fully as much as moll modern
vcfTcls can do in a hard gale of wind. It might

therefor be fuppofed, that flie would rather have
gone to Madagalcar, or fome of the other iflands
on the eaft fide of Africa. But the name of Ta-
probane, unqueftionably proved by the Periplus of
the Erythrsan fea and Cofmas Indicopleullcs, and
alfo by its polition near the fuuth part of India, to
be the fame with the modern Ceylon, will by no
means admit of fuch a fuppolition ; and wc mull
fuppofe, that Pliny, in the ambiguity of the Latin
names of the winds, has applied aquilo to any of
the northerly winds.

\ The ambafladors are faid to liave defcribed
the religious woilhip of their country as refembling
that of the Arabs, while their king worfhipped
Baehus the Greek god of wine, not one drop of
whieli was produced in his dominions. If the in-
formation co\ild be depended upon, it would infer
a very ftrong connettion indeed between Arabia
and Taprobane, and alfo prefent a very curious
coincidence in the antient and modern hiftory of
religion in Ceylon, the piefent principal king of
the ifland being of the Hindu leligion, while the
hulk of his fubjefts are worflrippers of Boodh, as
we learn from Captain Mackenzie's /intiquiiies of
Ctylon in the fixtli volume of the Afuittc refcarches.
But the relation of fuch abftrufe matters, received
through the medium of feveral interpreters fcarcely
knowing each-other's languages and the reports of
others after the lirft hearers, has very probiibly been
mifrcprefented to Pliny ; and therefor no cllimate
of the Arabian commercial intercourfc with Ta-
probane can fafely be founded upon it.

A. D. 42.

149

tained five hundred towns, was very opulent, and abounded with gold,
filver, and pearls ; a piece of intelligence, which, if it had been within
the reach of a Roman invafion, might have proved fatal to it. The na-
tion they belonged to ufed to trade with a neighbouring nation, whom
they called the Seres, without the ufe of fpeech, each party laying down
their wares, and making the exchange, when the quantities were adjuft-
ed to mutual fatisfadion *. They are alfo faid to have related many
things very wonderful, and fome abfolutely impoffible, if they were not
rather mifreprefented by the hearers or reporters. [Plin.L. vi, c. 22.]
It is worthy of remark, that all the writers of antiquity, and among
the reft Cofmas Indicopleuftes, who profefles to write chiefly from his
own knowlege, appear not to have known any thing of cinnamon be-
ing produced in that illand, though it is the moft remarkable and valu-
able of its produdions f .

42 — We are not informed, that the embafly from Taprobane gave
birth to any commercial intercourfe between that ifland and the Ro-
man fubjeds in Egypt. But it feems very probable, that the involun-
tary drift of the cuftom-firmer's vefTel acrofs the Ocean led the way to
the important diicovery, or application, of the regular winds called the
monfoons, by the Greek navigators of Egypt, which took place very
foon, or more probably immediately, after the return of Plocamus's of-
ficer with the ambafllidors of Taprobane. The firft Grecian command-
er, who availed himfelf of the periodical regularity of the winds in the
Indian ocean, was Hippalus ; and he was therefor, according to the

* The Seres arc generally fuppofed the anceftors
of the people now called by us the Chinefc. But
Pliny fays, that thefe Seres were in fight of the
country, from which the ambalTadors came, and he
appears even to infer that they were divided from
it only by a river. Moreover they are defcribed
as men of large ftaturc, with reddirfi hair and blue
eyes, and fpeaking a language unintelligible to tlie
people of Hippuros. Thefe charafterillics anfwer
to a Scythian or Gothic people. Quere, if a co-
lony of the Scythians, who occupied the banks of
the Indus, have made a fcltlemeiit on the ifland,
and if it was from them that it has received the
name of Seren-dib, the laft part of which differs
nothing from div, the ufual termination of the
names of iflands in that part of the Indian ocean.
It was alfo called Sclan-div, which, when divefttd
of the termination, is the modern name, by which
we call it. — China, fo far from being vifible in
Ceylon, as the country of the Seres was, is by
coalting navigatian at leall five thoufand miles from
it ; fo that it is rather improbable, that there was
any intercourfe at all between them iu tiiofe days.
Some learned men, however, on the ftrength of
this paffage of Pliny, and another in the 17th

chapter of the fame book, have perfuaded them-
felves, that they have found the fame cautious or
jealous policy among them, which regulates the
conduft of their fuppofed defcendents, the Chi-
nefe, in their intercourle with the Europeans. But
the Seres of the tyth chapter are evidently a con-
tinental people ; though Pliny himfelf feems in fome
refpefts to confound them with the Seres men-
tioned in tlie defcription of Taprobane.

f Quere, if the cinnamon has been imported In-
to and naturalized in Ceylon, as cloves were in
Amboyna. See Siavorinus's Voyages, V. ii, p. 330,
En^liJJ} tranjlation.

L,inlchotcu [^yoyagcs, p. 112] names feveral
places in India producing cinnamon, but none equal
to that of Ceylon, which, he fays, is thrice the
value of any other. Since his time the Dutch are
faid to have extirpated the bell cinnamon in all
parts of India fubjeift to tlieir powtr, except Cey-
lon, that they might there enjoy a monopoly of it.
But fome alTert that the real genuine cinnamon
never grew iu any other part of the world than
Ceylon. See Boyd's embq^'y to Ceykn in the jdfia^
lie Anr.ual rcgijlcr for 1799.

i^o A. D. 42.

ufual practice of the Greeks, called the difcoverer of it *. This judici-
ous navigator, having a good idea (and perhaps a rude kind of chart) of
the form of the coaft, and fituation of the ports, inftead of going up the
fouth fide of the entry of the Perfian gulf till he could fee the oppofite
fhore, then going down it, and coafting along Carmania and Gadrofia,
and every bay and creek of the coaft, as all his predeceffors had done,
obferved the proper feafon of the monfoon, launched out at once in the
Ocean, and committing his vefiel to the fure and regular impulfe of the
fouth-vveft wind (Libonotus) fleered as ftraight a courfe as he could for
his port. And in commemoration of this grand improvement, which
forms a new and very important 3?ra in the hiftory of the commercial
intercourfe between India and Europe, the Greeks immortalized the
name of Hippalus by coiiferring it upon the fouth-weft monfoon, which
he firft taught them to avail themfelves of in their voyages to India f .
{Feriplus Maris Erytbrai. — Flin, L. vi, c. 23.]

Previous to the new fyftem of navigation introduced by Hippalus,
the traders from Egypt coafted in fmall vefiels to the mouth of the Ind-
us, and alfo to Barygaza, Mufiris, and Barake, feemingly in about 12
degrees north latitude J, the trade of all which will be afterwards given
more at large. [Feriplus Maris Erythrai.'\

Hitherto the corn fhips from Alexandria and elfewhere appear to
have difcharged their cargoes at Puteoli, a port about feventy-five miles
from Rome, which being found very inconvenient, the emperor Clau-
dius, in purfuance of a plan projected by Julius Csefar, made an artifi-
cial harbour in the mouth of the Tiber at Oftia, by digging a fpacious
bafin in the main land, which was defended by a pier on each fide, and

• I have all along prefumed, that the monfoons found. This feries of improvements infers a confi-

were known, and applied to the purpofes of navi- derable length of time between the firft nie of the

gation, by the Oiicntal nations, and efpeeially by wind Hippalus and the compofition of Pliny's

the Arabs. As we know, that they were navigat- work, which he finilhtd in the year 7^. Therefor,

ors in the earlicft ages, and we are fure they muft in order to allow for all thofe impiovemcnts as

have obferved the periodical regularity and l^eady much time as poflible, confiftent with tlie prefump-

continuation of thofe winds, we may be equally tion that the ufe of the monfoons in navigation

fure, that they were not fo mad as to attempt fail- was \inknown to the Egyptian Greeks till the ar-

ing in oppofition to them, or to neglett the olivi- rival of the Taprobanian ambaOadors, we muil be-

ous advantage of falling before them, and that they licve that they arrived in the very beginniiig of the

aadc their voyages accoidingly. reign of Claudius, Avhich commenced in January

\ Unfortunately the date of Hippalus's firft 41, the cullom-farmer's veflcl having diifted to
voyage to India by the monfoc<ns cannot be afcer- Taprobane in that of his prcdeccfibr, and that the
laincd with the prccifion due to its importance. It firft oceanic voyage of Hippalus took place with
was certainly not fo early as Strabo's vifit to Kgypt the return of the proper monloon in the year 42.
about 28 years before Cluift : and, as it was un- J Pliny makes Patala at the mouth ot the In-
known to that author, it was apparently not be- dus the farthcft extent of their voyages for a cun-
fore he finiflied In's great work, wliieh was about fidcrablc time after they began to iail with the
the 20th year of the Chiiftian ocra. Pliny [i. vi, wind Hippalus. But Pliny's information was ex-
c. 23] mentions the courfe for Patala by the wind ccedlngly defeflivc in Oriental ailairs, as I have al-
Hippalus, and a nearer and fafer courfe ftecred in ready had oceafion to obferve, and is nothing when
ihc age "which followed (' fecuta Ktat') which was fet againft the Periplus of the lirythirean fca.
long ufcd, and afiavjards ftill (hotter routes were

A. D. 43. -

^5i

a mole or little ifland before It, on which was erected n light houfe In
imitation of the Pharos at Alexandria.

The importation of corn being the branch of trafic which engaged
the mofl general attention among the Romans, CLiuuius, during a time
of fcarcity, did every thing in his power to perfuade the merchants to
import it even in the winter, when it was cuftomary to lay up the (hips.
He took upon himfelf all lofles and accidents which might arife from the
inclemency of the feafon, and he alfo made the importers fare of a cer-
tain rate of profit*. He moreover gave large premiums for building
fhips. ISueton. in Claud, cc. 18, 20. — Dion. Cajs. L. Ix.]

43 — The U'anquiUity of the Britons, and their friendly intercourfe
with the Romans and their Gallic iubjeds, were now interrupted.
Claudius the Roman emperor, on pretence of reinftating a Britifli refu-
gee prince called Beric, fent an army into our ifland ; and Plautius the
Roman commander, having conquered fome of the fouth part of t-he
country, fent notice of it to the emperor, that he might by his prefence
alfume the honour of the conqueft. In the mean time he pofl:ed his ar-
my on the fouth bank of the Thames in a flation, which Gale [Antotiim
Iter Britanniarum, p. 64] fuppofes to have been near the Horfe-ferry at
Lambeth ; and he thinks, that thence the great and flourifliing city of
London had its commencement f . The Roman army, with the em-

• It was an improvement upon the premium of
two nummi (almoft four pence (lerling) upon the
inoilius (about a peck) of corn, allowed to the
mercliants by Tiberius. [ Taciti yinna/i's, L. ii,
c. 87.] And this feems the only foundation for an
affertiun, that Claudius was the inventor of infur-
ance upon fl-u'ps.

N. B. Thefe regulations did not take place
till the year 5 I. But I have introduced them here
as fomewhat connefted with the preceding para-
graph, and to avoid breaking the connexion of
Britifh affairs in the fubfequent years.

f The arguments of Gale, Salmon, and fome
others, for London being originally on the fouth
fide of the river, are, i ) The Roman road from
Verulam is faid by Ralph Higden [_Polychroniroii,
p. 196, ed. Ga/f] to have paCfed to the well ward of
the i)rcfent city, and to have crofftd the river at
the Horfe-ferr)' near Lambeth, vi'here there are
iome remains of Roman works ; and another road,
of which Oxford llreet and Old ftrect are parts,
ilretched from call to weft, alfo quite away from
the prcfent city, int-o which it was afterwards bent.
— 2) Ptolemy long after this lime pofitively places
l,ondon in the province of Kent, which he extends
laithcr weft than its modern limits. The people
of Kent, being comparatively an enlightened and
commercial nation, eftabliflied an emporium at the
extremity of their country in order to enjoy the
■Trade of the inland tribes by the navigation of the
Thames. When both fides of the river fell under

the Roman dominion, an appendage of the town
was built on the north bank of the river, which by
its more healthy and pleafant fituation attradled the
Roman magiftrates, merchants, and principal people,
and in proc-efs of time eclipfed the original town.
Now, Ptolemy, who accufes Marinus of Tyre of
placing London erroneoufly, muft have furely been
very careful not to fall into an error himfelf.-»-
3) The monk of Ravenna, who hved feveral cen-
turies after Ptolemy, has Londini along with fome
places on the fouth fide of the Thames ; and he
afterwards has Londinium Augufla along with
others on the north fide of that river : and, as it
is not to be fuppof;;d, that he mentions the fame
place twice, there muft have been then a London
on C3ch fide of the river.

To thefe it may be anfwered, — i ) There Is rea-
fon to believe that the Roman road, which is faid
to have croHed the river at the Horfe-ferry, is ima-
ginar)' ; the works, which are adduced to fupport
the confufed account of Higden, being not Ro-
man, nor even aiitient, but raifed by the parliament
in the year 1643. And it is as probable that
Stane ftreet (or Stone ftreet) in Southwark it the
road conntftcd with th.e Roman fmy. [See
Maitliini's Hij'hr^ of London, pp. 10, I l.j-^-z) It
muft be remembered, that, when the country was
in a ftat* of nature, the low grounds on the banki
of the Thames were overflowed every tide to a
great extent ; and indeed it is doubtful, if there
was any part of its banks oppofite to the modern
^- ■'"'■■ Londoa

152 A. D. 52.

peror at their iiead, cTolTed the Thames, and took the cky of Carnulo-
dunum. And Claudius, having reinftated Plautius in the fupreme
command, after a ftay of fixteen days in Britain, returned to Rome.

52 The noble Britifli prince Caradacus,Caradauc, or Cearatic*, af-
ter a gallant oppolition during nine years, which rendered his name
famous throughout the Roman empire, at laft funk under the fuperior
difcipline of the invaders, and the treachery of his flepmother, the
queen of the Brigantes, and was carried prifoner to Rome.

Camulodunum (Colchefter), apparently the principal city at this time
In Britain, was made a Roman colony ; as appears by a coin of Clau-
dius, dated in the twelfth year of his reign : and Verulam ("near St. Al-
bans) was made a municipium f . It is highly probable that the Ro-
mans alfo began to inhabit London about this time.

£;4 ' Wherever the Roman conquers, he inhabits.' [Senecev Confol. ad

Helviam, c. 6.] The fecurity of the government and the interefl: of indi-
viduals co-operated in feizing on the flrongeft, or the mofl fertile, fitua-
tions for the eflablifhment of colonies to be occupied by Romans or
their conciliated fubjeds, who, in the capacities of foldiers, farmers, and
traders, reaped the greateft advantages, which could be derived from
the property of the foil in the conquered territories, while the original
proprietors were compelled to cultivate their own lands for the emolu-
ment of their new lords. As foon as the colonifls were eftabhfhed in
their new fettlements, they immediately introduced a new fyftem ot
agriculture, building, and other arts and manufadures ; one inftance of
which is, that we find cherries were cultivated in this country in eleven
years after their firfl landing in it : \Fl'in. H'l/i. nat. L. xv, c. 25] and
Kent, which being their firft conquefl:, was probably firfl: planted with
c-herry-trecs, retains a charader for that fruit to this day %.

London or Wellminftcr fit for the habitation of founded on the word novane or notanit ; but
man. Tlie furfacc of the ground, even on the the conneilion between it and London can only be
iiorth fide of the river, was tlien about twenty feet fnggeltcd by Geffrey's vile fable of his Troy-
lower, than it is now, as appears by Roman llrects novantum or New Troy. The Grecian coin
and buildings having been difcovcred at that depth, has not the (hadow of a conneftion with Biitilh
The argument for Ptolemy's accuracy fronr his affairs.

cenfurc of Marinus is of no weight : for we have • The name of Cearatic (pronounced Keaia-

often fecn thofc, who are the fliarpcft in rcpre- tic) appears on a Britifli coin, probably of this,

bending others^ the readied to fall into nnftakes.— prince.

3) The monk of Raveiuia, who has been mofl un- •}• A brief explanation of the nature of colonies,

defervedly honoured with the appellation of the municipia, and other Roman diflinftions of towns>

^^'f»fr/2/iicr of Ravenna, is fo irregular and eironeous, will be given along with an account of Roman

that it it really a fluune to quote him. Hit un- Britain in its mofl nourifliing flatc about the year

connedlcd catalogue of blundered namet, if it can I 70.

prore any thing, proves too much ; for he has J Many other fruits, trees, &c. were introduced

three, if not four, names, which may ;dl be taken by the Roman fcttlers, fcveial fpecics ot whicli aie

loi- London, vii. Londinis, Londini, Londinium pointed out by Mr. Whilaker, their Roman-like

Augulla, asd Lugundino. names being his chief guide ; in which kind of

Some antiquaries think they have found London proof, though often very fallacious, I believe,

before the reign of Claudius in the infcriptions on he is generally vigiit. \_lJi'l- "f Maiichcfler, j>.

fomc Britifli coins, and, what is wonderful indeed, 313. J
on a Roman-Grecian one. The firfl notion in

A. D. 6i.

^53

61 — In the reign of Nero we have the firft undoubted mention of
London, which had for fome time been a Roman fettlement. It was at
this time very much celebrated as the refidcnce of a great number of
fuch dealers, as the Romans called merchants ; and it contained great
{lores of provifions. We cannot doubt that the fagacity of the Romans
foon marked its convenient fituation for water carriage, and eftablifhed
a military magazine of provifions and ftores in it. Tacitus, the author
who firft mentions this city, adds, that it was not diftinguifhed by the
name of a colony; a Roman honour, which, however, was afterwards
conferred upon it *.

* ' Londinium perrexit, cognomento quidem
coloniie non iiifigne, led copia negotiatonim et
' commeatuum maxime celebrc' [^Taciti Anna/,
L. xiv, c. 33.] Tbefe few plain words have been
varnidied over with falfe glofles, in order to make
a great and magnificent city of London at the very
commencement of its hiftory. [See in particular
Burton's Comment, on Antonhie, p. 154.] But
London, like moft communities or individuals, who
owe their dignity to intrinfic merit, has the real
honour to be indebted to no fplendid origin or ad-
ventitious helps, (except being the feat of govern-
ment) but has rifen to the firll rank among the
commercial cities of the world, by the advantage
of its fituation, and the indefatigable iuduflry and
commercial fpirit of its inhabitants.

Much fttidy has been employed in tracing the
origin of the name of London. Though this is
not a work proper for the difcuflion of etymologi-
cal or antiquarian fubjefts, and though I am fully
aware, that etymology is a fource of information fo
fallacious, that thole, who are bell qualified to
judge of it, will place the fmallefl dependence upon
it ; yet, as fuch a city deferves the moll careful re-
fearch into its antiquity, and as I think, that fome
degree of light upon the origin of London may be
ftruck out of what feems to me to be the genuine
name of it, I beg leave for this once to fubmit to
the reader fome etymological obfervations.

The name, being evidently not Roman, affords
a prclumption, that, before the Romans took pof-
felTion of this fpot, there cxilled upon it a town,
village, or colleftion of houfes, known to the inha-
bitants and neighbouring people by a name, which
the Romans, adapting it to the genius of their own
language, have called Londinium, and Lundonium,
or Lundinium. It was in the country of the Belgic
Britons, and molt probably firft built by them
on an elevated fpot, which on account of its being
almoft furrountled every tide by the river, (not
then, as now, confined by artificial banks and the
elevation of the foil) had been neglected by them,
when they firft cleared and cultivated the adjacent
country. [' Agros colere coeperunt.' Cars. Bell.
Gall. L. v, c. 12.] The Belgic Britons were a
•:o!ony of the Belgic Gauls, who were a mixed race

Vol. I.

of Germans and Gauls, the grtateft number of
them, however, being of German dcfcent : confe-
quently in their language tlie German was predo-
minant. [' Reperiebat, plerofque Belgas effe ortos
• ab Germanis, Rhenumque antiquitus tranfdudlos,
' propter loci fertilitatem ibi confediffe ; Gallofque,
' qui ea loca incolerent, expulifTe.' That is to lay,
they expelled thofe Gauls, who would not be fub-
jeft to them : for if all were expelled, then not the
moft [plerofque) but the whole of the inhabitants
of that part of the country muft thenceforth have
been Germans. Ci^s. Bell. Gall. L. ii, c. 4.J Cz-
far tells us, that the towns of the Belgic Britons
(the only Britons known to him) were built in the
midft of thick woods, and fortified with ramparts
and ditches. [' Oppidum antem Britanni vocant,
' quum filvas impeditas vallo atque foffa munie-
' runt.' Bell. Gall. L.M,c. 21.^ The ground,
where St. Paul's church ftands, (even now higher
than moft of the adjacent grounds, though they
have acquired in fome places about twenty feet of
adventitious height) was probably called Lund, or
the -wood, as ftill retaining its native trees, when
the reft of the country was tolerably well cleared.
Such an elevated fpot would be preferred to the
adjacent marfhy or Ilimy grounds for the fituation
of a new village or town, which would naturally
get the name of Lund-duyn or Lund-dun, the hill,
or fortified hill, of the wood, or Lund-tun, the in-
clofnre, or town of the wood, as the names of new
foundations muft undoubtedly be in the language
of the predominant people, and their language muft
have continued for fome time diftinft from that of
the aboriginal Britons. See theDidllonaries of the
Icelandic, Saxon, German, and Dutch, languages,
which are all kindred branches of the Gothic ;
and alfo of the WeKh language, wherein, if I mif-
take not, much of the Belgic is preferved.

To this fuppofition, or hypothefis, it will be ob-
jected, that the name is not Li/ndan but London.
But the objedlion will not be made by any, who
have read the Saxon and old Engliih authors, or
even all the Roman writers who have mentioned
the place : and fome of thcfe I fhall lay before the
reader for his fatisfaction.

Tacitus, the father of the hiftory of I^onJon,

u

154 A. D. 6i.

Euabliiliments founded in rapine and injuftice mufl; be in conflan
dread from the revenge of the oppreUed. During the reign of Nero
the infolence of the ioldiery, and the extortions of the procurator and
his fubordinate tax-gatherers, were carried to a pitch beyond all pofli-
bility of endurance. Prafutag, king of the Iceni, an opulent prince,
endeavoured to purchafe the forbearance and pi-otedion of the Roman
government, with the fafe pofTeflion of a moderate fortune, for his two
daughters, by the facrifice of one half of his kingdom and property,
which he left by his will to the emperor. But he had not read the hif-
tory of Egypt or Afia, to know what kind of guardians the Romans
were to princes in their minority. Immediately after his death, inflead
of the prote6tion his family hoped for, his kingdom, and even his houfe,
were feized upon, his relations were treated like flaves, the virgin prin-
ceffes were made the vidims of brutal lull, and Boadicia, the queen,
was ignominioufly fcourged like the vileft criminal. Such atrocities
excited the warmeft refentment in a people not inured to llavery : the
Britifh fpirit was roufed : and a great army was foon in the field under
the command of the injured queen, who, taking advantage of the ab-
fence of the Roman governor in the weft, immediately burnt Camulo-
dunum and Verulam, and facrificed to her revenge every Roman in
them, and all thofe who had not abandoned London. She alfo engag-
ed, and cut to 'pieces the moft of, the ninth legion ; a legion deftined to
fufFer by Britifli valour in both ends of the illand. But at laft the fpirit
of this noble heroine, and the undifciplined valour of her army, were
found unable to contend with two other Roman legions under the com-
mand of the experienced Paulinus. Her death foon after put an end to
the war, in which near tv/o hundred thoufand of Bricifli and Roman

calls it Zij^iAWam, as does alfo the Itinerary of An- times writes it with o) William of Ncwburgh,

toniniis. Ptolemy has Londitiion, wherein the on- Roger Hovcdeii, Ralph Diceto (who was dean of

ly difTercnce is the Greek termination. Heddius Lundon), and feveral other Englifii hillorians who

and Bedc (in foine editions, for others have Lnn- wrote in Latin, all iiave Liirii/ in the beginning of

donia) the oldcil of the Anglo-Saxon writers, in the name. And the old Scottilh writers alfo wrote

their Latin works call it Lont/onia, in imitation of it in the fame manner, as appears in the Chronicle

the Romans, moll of whom followed Tacitus, of Melros and Wyntown's Chronicle. Since tlic

And a few of the coins of the Anglo-Saxon kings revival of literature the fpclling of London has

have Land (ox the initial part of tlie name. On been fupported by the gnat elalTical authority of

the other hand, Ammianus Marc-llinus, a Roman Tacitus, and by Bcde, alfo and ilefcrvcdly a great

author, writes Lund'jitium and Lundinium. The authority ; though every body pronounces Lun-

greatell part of the Anglo-Saxon coins (prints of dun, in perfeCl conformity to what I conceive to

which may be fctn in Hickes's Thefaurus) and be the genuine original name.

fome editions of Bcde have Lund for the initial. As to the fabulous name of Troynovaiitum, if it

The Saxon Clironicle, written by different Ijands had any foundation at all, it may have been Tr^

in fucctlTive ages, lias Luntlenc, Lundone, Lundunc, Novant, llgnifying in Welfli ihi town of the No-

l.uiiden-byrig, Lundtn-burh, and Luiukn-ivic. •y<7«/fj', whofe capital it may have. become ^ftcr the

Kin-T Alfred writes it Lunihn-ccn/Ier. Nennius, dellruflion of Camulodunum : for there is no fuf-

an antient Welfh writer, has Cair-I.unden ; and the ficient authority for the ad'ertion of fome modern

preftnt Wclflt write Llundain. Ethelwerd, l'1o- writers, that London was dtlhoyed or burnt by

renee, Eadmcr, William of Malmlbury, Henry of Boadicia.
Huntington, Simeon of Durham (who alfo fome-

A. D. 6i.

'55

lives were facrificed to the rapine, luft, and extortion, of the Roman op-
preflors. And this was the laftconfiderablc flruggle made by the Brit-
ons of the fouth for their independence, of which we have any particu-
lar account. [Trtr. /Innal. L. xiv, cc. 31-37 — Dion. Ca[f. L. Ixii.]

The portrait of the Britifh heroine, as drawn by Bion Caflius, ferves
to give us fomeideaof the manufadures and drefs of the Britons. Bun-
duika (fo he calls her) was tall and elegantly formed, with a modell
countenance, a clear voice, and long yellow hair. She wore a large gold
chain, and a flowing party-coloured robe, which was covered with a
thick cloak : and in her hand flie bore a fpear, the emblem of her com-
mand. He alfo fays, that the war was entirely conducted by her, and
that {he fupported her authority with great dignity and with mafculine
valour*.

y2 The Romans, who conquered many other countries almofl as

foon as they marched into them, gained their ground in Britain by
inches. For though Vefpafian, who was afterwards emperor, had been
engaged in thirty battles, while he was a fubordinate officer in Britain,
and fubdued two great nations with above twenty towns, together with
the ifland of Veda (Wight), and though the fpirit of liberty, roufed by
Boadicia, feems to have been completely cruflied ; yet they had about
this time eflabliflied their dominion no farther north than the neigh-
bourhood of Northampton, or the banks of the Severn and the Nen f :

* Gildas, who feems to regret, that he was born
too late to be a ilave of Rome, execrates the noble
llruggle made by Boadicia in defence of Britifh li-
berty and the rights of human nature, and from
his ample ilore of bombafl; and foul language he
abufes, or dignifies, her with the epithet of a
treacherous lionefs.

\ We have the authority of Pliny to fay, that
in almoft thirty years from the firfl invafion the
Roman arms had penetrated no farther than the
neighbourhood of the Calidonian (or Caledonian)
wood. [Hijl- nat. L. iv, c. 1 6.] But where was
it ? Some pretend to fay, that there was no Cale-
donian wood, but in the Highlands of Scotland ;
and Richard of Cirencefter, a writer whofe name,
notwithftanding fome fpecks of the darknefs of
the age he Uved in, will ever be refpefted by all
who lludy the antient'hiftory and geography of Brit-
ain, has been abufed for ignorantly planting a Cale-
donian wood in Kent, and another in Lincoln-fliire.
But his Caledonian wood in Kent, and the adjacent
country, has the authority of Floras, [Z. iii, c. lo]
and apparently that of Lucari. [i. vi.] The next
Calgilunian wood, which has probably left its name
in Calcdon near Coventry, and overfpread not only
Lincoln-fliire, but the whole of the wide-extended
nation of the Coritani or Coitani (i. e. woodland-
men, a name afterwards exaftly tranflated by the
Saxons to Myrce, Myrcas, and Myrcwara) was
that, which now bounded the Roman conquefts.

according to Pliny. And here muft have been the
Calydonian fields, where Vettius Bolanns gave
laws, and in fight of which were the watch-towers
and caftles, which he fortified with ditches, being
apparently thofe originally built by Oftorius Sca-
pula along the Severn and the Antona or Aufona
(probably the Nen), and the boundary now allud-
ed to by Pliny. [Tflc. Annal. L. xii, c. ^t, with
Ric. Corin. L. i, ^j 8, 30, 52. — Statii Silv. L. v.]
Nay, fo widely extended w.is the Caledonian-name,
that the fca between Gaul and Britain was called
the Caledonian ocean by Valerius Flaccus, and the
Caledonian fea by Aufonius. Now, Lucan and
Pliny were dead, and Vettius Bolanus was fuper-
feded in his command in Britain, before any Ro-
man army had approached the Scottith Caledonian
wood, and before any Roman writer can be ration-
ally fuppofed to know of its exiftence. Hedor
Boyfc, in !i-ed, in his romance, which he prefumes
to call The Hiftory of the Scots, pretends to quote
fome national records, wherein Julius Caefar, as if
he had not dune hnnfelf fufficient honour, is faid
to have pens-trated to the Caledonian wood, and
deftroyed Camelodunum, which he has tranfported
from Ed'ex to the banks of the Carroii : for in-
ventors of hiftory find no difficulty in removing
mountains, towns, and whole nations. There is
fome nonfenfe of the fame fort alfo in Fordun,
though not fo circumftantial. Butfuch ignorance

was

U 2

156 A, D. 73.

for the ifland of Mon (Anglefey)^ and the country of the Ordovices
{North Wales), though over-run by PauUnus, retained their Uberty, till
they were reduced by Agricola feveral years after.

The fouth-eafl part of the country feems to have now funk into a
contented fubje6lion to the Roman yoke : and the trade, formerly car-
ried on between Britain and Rome by the way of Gaul, may be pre-
fumed to have gradually increafed. But the only additional articles, that
I find any account of, were very trifling in a commercial view, viz. a
kind of fowl called cheneros, fuppofed by Mr. Whitaker to have been
the goofander ; and oyfters from the coaft of Kent, which, though after
fo long a carriage they muft have been in a very bad condition, were
admired by the epicures of Rome. [Plin. L. ix. c. 54 ; L. x, c. 22. — Ju-
venal. Sat. 4.]

73 — There is reafon to believe, that Hippalus, who taught the Greek
traders of Egypt to abridge the navigation to India by trufting their vef-
fels in fome degree to the guidance of the monfoons, flretched no farth-
er to fea in his firfl: voyage out of fight of land than jufl crofling the
wideft part of the entry of the Perfian gulf*. But improvements of real
utility are generally carried far beyond the firfl views of the projedor.
Succeeding Grecian navigators, having their eyes opened to the many
advantages of a fpeedy pafTage, ventured to take their departure from
Cane, on the coaft of Arabia, or the promontory of Aromata (Cape Gar-
dafui) the eafternmoft point of Africa, and fleer a dired courfe for the
more diftant ports on the weft coaft of India. The improvement in
their courfe, which exempted them in a great meafure from the danger
of rocks and ftioals, and the ftill-increafing demand for Oriental luxuries
in the Roman empire, encouraged the merchants to enlarge the fize of
their vefTels, which, by carrying cargoes of greater value, enabled them
to fliip a band of archers in each veil'el to beat off the pirates f, who in-
fefted feveral parts of the coaft of India, and to bear the expenfe of the
prefents, which the fupercargo of every vefTel was obliged to make to
the fovereigns, in order to bribe them to permit their fubjeds to enjoy
the advantages of trade. [Perip/us Maris Erythr^i. — Plhi. L. vi, c. 23.]

Though almoft all the ports on the weft coaft of India had been re-
forted to by vefTels from Egypt, even before the improvement introduc-

was much more excufable in their ages than io Gat, the eaftern extremity of Arabia) to Patala at

ours. the mouth of the Indus.

The authorities adduced In this note might be •)■ The dcfcendcnts of thofe antient pirates ftiU

greatly enlarged and reinforced : but I wifh to bo continue to infeft the navigation on the ucll coaft

45 brief at jK.fiible, whenever it is neceffary to in- of India ; and other piratical tribes, called Sanga-

troducc any antiquarian difcufTion. rians or Sangarits, and the Kulis, and fome Arab

• So we may infer from Pliny, who fays, [Z. tribes, commit depredations at the mouths of the

vi, f. 2j] tint the courfe ftccred at firft by the Indus, and other parts of the coall. {Nichuhr,V.

wind Hippalus (the fouth-well monfoon) was from ii,/>. 5. — Rcnnell^ Memoir of a Map of HindooJIan,

fhc Promontory of Ryagros (apparently Ras-al- /'. z^l-'^

A. D. 73. 157

ed by Hippalus, [Periplus, p. 174] yet till about this time Patala was the
only Indian port heard of at Rome; and now the names of two or three
ports beyond it were for the firfl time announced to the Romans by
Pliny [L. vi, c. 23.] The fome author has given us the following cir-
cumftantial account of the inland navigation and land carriage in Egypt,
by which the adventure from Alexandria commenced.

From Juliopolis, a kind of fuburb of Alexandria, they failed 303 Ro-
man miles up the Nile to Coptos, the emporium of the trade in Upper
Egypt, by favour of the etefian winds in twelve days *, From Coptos
the goods were carried by camels 258 miles acrofs the defert to Bere-
nice upon a road which had been furnifhed with proper refting places
by the attention of the Ptolemies : and this journey performed, accord-
ing to the cuflom of thofe climates, moftly in the night-time on account
of the heat, took up other twelve days f . At Berenice or Myos Hormos,
a port farther up the coaft, they embarked with their goods for their
various voyages. Thofe bound for India took their departure (in modern
nautical language) from Okelis on the fouth coafl of Arabia, and arrived
in forty days at Muziris on the weft coaft of India. The homeward
paflage was begun in December, or early in January, with the north-eaft
monfoon (which Pliny erroneoufly calls Vulturnus, a wind about eaft-
fouth-eaft) by which they were carried to the entrance of the Red fea,
where they generally met with foutherly winds, which carried them up
to their port. Of their various voyages, and the outward and home-
ward cargoes, I fhall now have an opportunity of giving an account from
better materials thaa were known to Pliny.

Very unfortunately the age of the author of the Periplus % of the
ERYTHRiEAN SEA, a work, which, for approved accuracy of geographical,
nautical, and commercial, information, ftands unrivaled by any produc-
tion of antiquity which has come down to our times, cannot be fettled
fo near as, whether he lived about the middle of the firft, or the middle
of the fecond, century §. In this uncertainty I here introduce an ex-
tradb of the commercial information contained in this pretious relique. .

* Agatharchides [£. v, c. 32] fays, that vef- harbours, and trade, as far as Nelkynda near the

fels could eafily fail in ten days from Alexandria foutheni extremity of India, are given from his

to Ethiopia, the neareft part of which is far above own judicious obfervations, the plain narrative of

Coptos. an honeft man, teliing what he faw and knew. His

•j- In S.rabo's time they went from Coptos to account of tlie eall fide of India, though far inferi-

Myos Hormos, a journey of fix or feven days, or indeed, is the narrative of the fame honeft man,

^Strata, L. \\\\, p. 11 70.] . ufing his bell endeavour to convey inftruclion to his

X Periphis, faih'ng round, or circumnavigation. countrymen, but frequently mifled by the ignorance

J The Periplus not being quoted or mentioned or roguery of thofe, whom his tliirft of knowlege

by any antient writer, we can have no knowlege urged him to apply to in every port for information

of the author, but what we can derive from him- refpefting their native countries, or thofe they had

feir. And from himfe'.f we know, that he was an traveled to. He mentions the names of feveral

Egyptian Greek, a merchant, and a navigator upon kings reigning when lie wrote, and embaffies fent

the Erythraean fea ; and, indeed, it is eafy to fee, by Charibael, king of the Homerites and Sabxans

that all the very accurate dcfcriptions of the coafts, to the Roman emperors. Some of the fame kingj
I, ar».

158

A. D. 73.

Under the name of the Erythraanjea the author comprehends that part
of the Ocean, which is between Africa and India, and apparently aHb the
Gulf of Bengal. He obferves, that the unexplored ocean extends to the font h-
ivard till it joins the Atlantic ; a moft capital and important piece of geo-
graphical and commercial knowlege, which had lain concealed from al-
moh the whole world from the age of Necos king of Egypt (about fix
hundred years before the Chriftian tera) till the re-difcovery of the Cape of
Good Hope by the Portuguefe : for Herodotus, though he recorded the
circumnavigation of Africa by the Phoenicians in the reign of Necos,
appears not to have believed it himfelf : and no other Greek or Roman
writer, to the beft of my knowlege, unlefs the Mauritanian prince Ju-
ba * may be reckoned among them, had the fmallefl idea of the true

are mentioned by Pliny as his contemporaries ; and
he alfo notices ambaffadovs from Arabia, evidently
fi-om the fouth part of it (perhaps thofe fent by
Charibael) who were in Rome in his time. \_Plin.
L. vi, c. 23 ; L. xii, c. 14.] It is thence not im-
probable, that our author and Pliny lived at the
fame time. But it mull be acknowleged, that fome
kings of the fame names are alfo mentioned by
Ptolemy, who was near a century later than Pliny;
though he might copy them from older documents,
or the names might be preferved in the families, or
be permanent titles rather than names of individu-
als. Our author alfo fays that the city of Arabia
Felix was deftroyed a httle before his own time by
Cos far, that is, the Roman emperor. But the de-
flruftion of the city not being mentioned by any
other author extant, it affords us no aflillance in
finding his age. It has been afcribed to Trajan,
for no other reafon than becaufe that emperor was
in Arabia, and did a grot deal of mifchief in his
progrefs : for the aflertions of Eutropius and Ru-
fus r"cllus, that Trajan reduced Ai'abia to the con-
dition of a province, are contradidled by the fubfe-
quent hiftory of Adrian ; and a hyperbolical paf-
fage in the Philopatris, a dialogue afcribed to Lu-
cian, ie mere rodomontade and prophecy. Trajan
marched, indeed, from Ctcfiphon a^rMnft the Aga-
rcncs, an Arabian nation bordering upon Judaa,
and above a thoufand miles from the city of Arabia
Felix, from whom lie was obliged to retreat witli
great lofs. But a proper chronological attention
to all the ciicumftances of his eallern expedition
might Ihow, that he could not poffibly have ever
gone near the fouth part of Arabia, and confe-
quently could not be the deflroyer of the city of
Arabia Felix ; though the mod learned Dodwell,
who might be fuppofcd to have examined the hif-
tory of the later years of Trajan with the moll fcru-
pnlous attention, when compofing his ledlurcs on
the life of Adrian the fuccelTor of Trajan, has af-
cribed the dellrudlion of it to him, and has made
our author contemporary with the joint emperors
Marcus Antoninus and Verus, becaufe he fays that

Charibael ' fends frequent embaflies and prefents to
' our emperors,' by which plural word, he thinks,
we muft underftand a conjundlion of emperors,
though there feems no reaioii why the embaf[ies,bc-
'ya<g frequent, might not be to a fucceffion of emper-
ors : or, if there muft be a conjunftion of emperors,
let us not forget, that Titus was afibciated with his
father in the imperial dignity long before the age
of Antoninus. But it is very clear, that the dc-
ftruftion of that city was neither the work of Tra-
jan, nor of any other Roman emperor in perfon.
If we could tell exaAly, when anchors began to be
made of iron, it might perhaps help to fix our au-
thor's Kra, which was prior to that moft important
improvement. (See below in the nautical notices
under this fame year.) But, after much refearch,
I am inclined to believe, that neither the date of
the deftru£tion of Arabia Felix, nor that of the in-
troduftion of iron anchors, can be afcertained, how-
ever defirable_j^they may be, as helping to fix the
chronology of the Periplus, and alfo on account of
their own importance in commercial hillory.

The name of this valuable author, and his coun-
try, are alfo mifreprefented. The work is com-
monly afcribed to Arriau, a Bithynian Greek,
and governor of Cappadocia under the emperor
Adrian, who wrote the Hiftory of Alexander the
Great ; though it is not in the lift of his works
given by Pholius, who tlouiiftied in the ninth cen-
tury, and though it contains fome miftakes con-
cerning Alexander, which Artian could not poffi-
bly have fallen into. The only reafon feems to be,
that Arrian alfo wrote a Periplus, which, iiotwith-
ftanding his acknowleged fuperior literary merit,
is as far inferior in interefting informaiion to our
author's Periplus, as flie Euxine fea, Arrian's fub-
jcft, is inferior to the Indian ocean.

* Juba, as quoted by Pliny, [i. vi, c. 29] had
fome idea of the communication of the Indian and
Atlantic oceans ; for he extends the later as far as
tlie MolTyllite promontory (Cape Guardafui),
which other writers call the Aromatic promon-
tory.

A. D. Ti^.

'59

geography of the fouth part of Africa, though feverals of them have fa-
bulous ftories of wonderful adventures on fome of its coafls. He alone,
of all the writers of antiquity, truely defcribes the coaft of India as
trending from north to fouth as far as Colchos ("Travancore), where, he
fays, the fhore bends to the eaft, and afterwards to the north, and then
more eafterly to the Ganges, the greateft river of India, which increafes
and decreafes like the Nile. He is alfo, if I miftake not, the only ex-
tant antient writer, who knew the true name of the great fouthern divi-
fion of India, which he calls Dachinabades, becaufe ' the South is there
called Bachan-Qs^ a word differing only by the adjundt Greek termina-
tion from Deccan, ftill the general name of all the country fouth from
Baroach, the very limit ftated by our accurate author.

He defcribes Myos Hormos as the firfl: port of Egypt on the Red fea *;
and from it and Berenice the Grecian traders failed down for their va-
rious deftinations. Thofe who were only bound to the ports within the
Red fea failed any time from January to September, though moil
feafonably in September : but July was the time for commencing voy-
ages to all parts beyond the Straits, whether to the eaft coaft of Africa,
the fouth coaft of Arabia, or the weft coaft of India.

The firft confiderable trading port on the weft fide of the Red fea was
Aduli in the country now called Abyflinia, fubjed: to Zofcales, a prince
diftinguiftied as fuperior to his neighbours in probity and liberality, and
alfo acquainted with the Greek language, a circumftance feemingly in-
ferring a confiderable refort of the Grecian traders to his dominions.
This was an eftabliftied port, to which were brought from the inland
markets of Coloe and Axomite (or Axuma) all the ivory coUeded in
the interior country on both fides of the Nile, and the turtle-fhell from
a neighbouring nation, called by the Greeks Ichthyophagi (eaters of
fifh).

Into this port the Greeks imported

Coarfe cloths unmilled, manufadur-
ed in Egypt for this market ;

Robes, made at Arfinoe ;

Abollas f (cloaks) of counterfeit or
baftard colour ^

Linens ;

Fringed mantles ;

Glafs, and murrhi;ie :j: vefTels of all
forts, made at Diofpolis ;

Orichalcum, a kind of metal, of
which the natives of the country
made ornamental trinkets, and
alio coined money ;

Brafs veflels for cooking, which the
women of the place fometimes
broke into fmall pieces to make
bracelets, and ornaments for their
legs;

Heroopolis, at the veiy head of the gulf, was him his life, the tyrant Caligula, perhaps, thinkinr

-now apparently deferted. it an affeftation of foverL-ignty. IMartial. L. viii,

t The bed abollas were dyed with the Tyrian ep. 46. — Suet. Ca/ig. c. ii,f\

purple. The rich colour of one worn by Ptolemy, ^l The murrhine vtlTcls were In fuch eftcem in

the fon of the learned African prince Juba, coll 4 Rome

i6o

A. D. 73.

Iron, to make fpears for hunting,
and for war ;

Swords, edge-tools, and other iron-
mongery ;

Large round cups or bowls of brafs;

Wine of Laodicea and Italy in
fmall quantities ;

Oil, alfo in fmall quantities ; and

Roman coins (denarii) for the ufe

of the foreigners, whom com-
merce brought together in the
port:

and alfo, as a tribute to the king,

Veflels of gold and filver made af-
ter the fafliion of the country .;

Abollas ; and

A few plain coverlets.

There were likeways imported from Arabia

Safhes ;

Coverlets ; and
Lack for colouring *.

Indian iron and fteel ;
Indian calicoes, and other cotton
goods, of a variety of kinds ;

From this port the only exports noted are

Ivory ; | The horns of the rhinoceros.

On the fouth fliore of the Straits of Babelmandeb (or Babelmandel)
was the fmall port of Avalites, into which they went with rafts and boats.
To this place the Greeks imported

Corn ;

Wine ; and

Tin in fmall quantities.

Veflels of glafs and ftone, afl"orted ;
Unripe grapes from Diofpolis ;
Cloths, milled and finifhed for this
particular market, aflbrted ;

The natives, a rude and favage race, traded with their rafts to Okelis
and Muza on the coafl of Arabia, to which they carried aromatics, a

Rome, that two of them were bought by a confiil
and an emperor at the price of 3C0 fellcrtium
(^2,42 1 : I 7 : 6 lleth'ng) fur each. [ /'//'«. /,. xxxvii,
r. 2, with ArbuthnoC s Tables of ancient coim, (b'c.'}
The nature of them is much contefted, fome avert-
ing that they were the porcelain of China, and
others maintaining that they were made of a foflile
fubftance; and llic later opinion fecras fuppoited
by Pliny. [£. ^y.xw, frotem ; L. xxxv, c. 12 ; L.
sxxvii, c. 2.] It is certain from the Pcriplus,
that they were made at Diofpolis in Egypt : and
there is no un((uc(lionabIe authority for the real
porcelain of China being heard of in Europe till
many centuries after this time. — C^i. What might
be the nature of the three muiline, or perhaps ra-
ther murrine, cups belonging to Roger archbifliop
of York in tlie twelfth century ? \_M. Paris, p.
140, ed. 164c.]

• AH thefe articles, imported from Arabia, are
Indian manufaclures : and they furnilh an addition-
al proof of the extent of the Indian commerce in the
hands of the Southern Arabians, who Hill retained

their trade with their old cuftomers, who were in-
dependent of tlie Roman empire.

The ilecl was probably what Pliny [Z. xxxiv,
c. 14] calls iron from the country of the Stres of a
quality much fuperior to all othtr kinds (he has
not throughout liis whole work any word equiva-
lent to the Englilli word fteel) ; and he add;^, that
the Parthian (probably that called here Indian)
iron was next to it. The country at the mouth of
the Indus was now fubjed to Parthia : and there
probably both the Scric and Parthian metals were
fliipped for iVrabia, from which, or from Aduli, by
the agency of the merchants of Alexandria, they
found their way to Rome, as appears by Pliny's
knowlegc of them : and they mull have been ex-
cellent indeed to bear the expenfe of fucli a fuccef-
fion of land and water carriages. It is worthy of
remark, that Marco Polo, many centuries after our
author and Pliny, mentions oitiliinicwn, a molt ex-
cellent kind of Heel, the produce of a country in
the call part of Afia. See ForJler''s Voyages and dij-
coviries, pp. 135, 242, Etiglijh tranjl.

A. D. 73.

i6r

fmall quantity of Ivory, turtle-fhell, and myrh in very fmall quantities,
but of the very beft quality *

Eaflward from Avalites there was a better emporium, though a very
indifferent harbour, called Malao, and inhabited by a more civilized peo-
ple.

The imports to this place were

All the articles carried to Avalites ;
Tunics, or jackets, in great quanti-

ties

Cloaks (faga) of Arfinoe, milled and
dyed ;

Drinking cups or bowls ;
Meliephtha, an unknown article ;
Iron ;

Gold and filver Roman coins ir
fmall quantities.

The exports, which feem to have been to Arabia, were

Cancamus, fuppofed

gurn ;
Makeir J, fuppofed mace ;
Slaves, but very few.

a kind of

Myrh ;

Peratic frankincenfe in fmall quan-

ties ;
Cinnamon of feveral forts, and of

inferior qualities f ;

Farther along the coaft was Mundus, an emporium with a better har-
bour, the imports and exports of which were the fame with thofe of
Malao, with the addition to the later of thymiama mokroton §, believed
to be a kind of incenfe. The people of Mundus, though rude and un-
cultivated, were attentive to commerce.

The next emporium to the eaftward was Mofyllon, to which were car-
ried

All the articles noted as carried to Iron in fmall quantities ;

the others ; Pretious ftones.

Silver veffels ;

The exports were

Cafia, or baftard cinnamon || in [ fels were employed in the trade
fuch abundance, that larger vei- ] of this port ;

* The fame primitive rude floating craft are men-
tioned in the fame place by Agatharchides and Stra-
ho See above, p. 104. Ph'ny [Z. xii, cc. 15,
ig] alfo notices the trade by rafts from this fhorc
to Okeh's (which lie calls Ocila) whence the Afri-
cans carried home utcnfils of glafs and brafs, and
clothing, together with buckles or clafps, bracelet;/^
and necklaces ; trinkets, which have in all ages
been acceptable to nations in a favage ilate.

|- Thefe were the produiRions of that part of the
country.

X Pliny [Z. xii, c. 8] fays, macir comes from
India ; and he prtfcntly adds, that the nature of it
is unknown to him. He knows nothing of an

Vol. I.

African fpecies, which, however, 13 known to Di-
ofcorides an earlier author : and macis is meucioncd
by Plautus, long before either of them.

§ .See Sahnalius in Solin. p. 500.

II Strabo \L. xvi, p. 1 1 19] notes the growth of
pfeudu-cafia (baftard cafia) as \vell as cinnamon,
frankincenfe, and myrh, in this country. The
abundance of thele produftions gave the name of
Aromatic, with the Greeks, to the whole country,
and particularly to the town and promontory at the
eallcrn extremity of it. — Pliny \_L. vi, c. 29 j marks
Molyiion as the market to which cinnamon was
brought, which may infer, that it was imported
thither from India ; and fuch inference feems fup-

ported

X

l62

A. D. ri'

Peratic frankincenfe ;

Ivoi-y ;

Myrh, a fcarce article here.

Other odoriferous and aromatic ar-
ticles ;

Mokroton, inferior to the Munditic
growth ;

At the mofl eaflerly point of Africa there was an emporium with a
very open, and fonietimes dangerous, anchorage, of which we know no
other name than the Greek word Aromata, by which the adjacent point
or promontory (Cape Guardafui) was alio called ; and fouth from it was
another promontory, and alfo a trading port, both called Tabs. To
thefe the articles, carried to the other ports on this coaft, were alfo car-
ried. The produce of this part of the country confifted of cafia, gizir,
afyphe, magla, moto, all apparently of the cinnamon fpecies j alfo frank-
incenfe, and feveral kinds of aromatics.

South from Tabae lay Opone, the trade of v.'hich included all the ar-
ticles of import and export in the preceding ports. And from it there
were alfo exported fome of the beft flaves, who were moftly carried to
Egypt, and turtle-fliell of the very beft quality in great abundance.

The ports beyond the Red fea had an eJlahliJJjed trade with Ariakc and
Barygaza, both on the weft coaft of India, from which they received

Corn ; Cotton goods of various kinds ;

Rice ; Safties ;

Butter ; Cane honey, called fugar *
Oil of fefame ;

Some of the veflels from India failed for thofe ports on purpofe ; and
others only called at them, and, after taking onboard fuch articles as
they found ready, proceeded to their deftined ports. This trade appears
to have been entirely unconnefted with that of the Egyptian Greeks,
except as it may have fuppUed them with Indian goods in thofe ports j

ported by Diofcorides, who'[Z. i, c . 13] cJiftin-
guilhes the cinnamon of Mofyllon as of the beft
quality. He adds, that the beft cafia is called
Daphiiitic at Akxandiia (from Daphnon a place
on this coaft noted by our author), and that /igir,
ufyphenon, citto, and dacar, are Inferior fpecits of
it. I would not, however, be pofalvc that Pliny
did not mean merely that the produce of the adja-
cent country was carried to Mofyllon to be (hippvd,
■IS myih is faid, three lines higher in the fame chap-
ter, tr) be carried to a port called Ifis.

* Our word fugar is from the Greek ^Kxp^aj,
which is exaftlythe Indian word facar, {^Linfcho-
Icn's Voyages, p. 104-3 The Pcripius gives a clear
proof, of what I have faid already, that fugar was
i;alled honey by the Greeks, till they got the ge-
nuine ndme of it from the Eaft : and that the ge-
nuine name was but very lately known, may be in-
ferred from the author thinking it necelfary to prc-
ierve the old name (cane honey) as an explanation.

It ia rather furj.rifing, that fugar does not ap-

pear in the Ptriplus among the direct imports from
any part of India to Egypt. We know that Ind-
ian fugar found its way to Rome at tliis time, ap-
parently through the hands of the mtichants oii
the eaft coaft of Africa, as Pliny [Z. xii, e. 8] dif-
tin^Tuilhes it from Arabian fugar by its fupcrior
quality. He fays, it was fcarce, being ufcd only
in medicine : and he defctibes it as a white gum,
brittle, and in pieces not larger than a filbert nut.
This defcrlptiou aniwers to the Indian, or perhaps
rather Chinefe, white fugar-candy, which Is com-
pared to diamonds for clearnefs and hardnefs. And
I fuppofe, the Indian ftone, defcribed by Megaf-
thcnca [ii/. Sirob. L, xv,p. 1028] as fwecter thaa
figs and honey, was the fame hard fugar-candy.
[See alfo DoHor Mofcky's Trcjiifeon Stigcii; p. jj,
I'econd ttl.] The Ipirltous or inebriating liquor,
made from the iiigar-btaring cane, mentioned by
Nearchus, [<;/). Slmb. L. xv, />. 1016]) was probably
alfo carried to Rome, though there is no mention
of it in I'ljny or the Peiipluj,

A. D.

73'

63

and it feeras to have commenced before they began to make any voy-
ages out of the Red fea, but how long before, nobody can prefume to
conjedlure, as the eaft coafl of Africa was totally unknown to the Greeks
and Romans, and mofl probably alfo to the Egyptians, till a little before
this time *.

Though our author has many nautical and topographical remarks on
the coaft of Africa beyond Opone, he has not one trading port till he
comes to Rhapta, fo called by the Greeks, becaufe the natives ufed ca-
noes with raifed fides, which wei'e not nailed, but fewed to the bottom f .
The natives are faid to be very tall, but he fays not a word of their co^
lour, which mud have been black. Though every diftricl had its own
chief, all of them had long been fubjed: to the king of Mapharitis in the
fouth part of Arabia. The country was alfo tributary to the merchants
of Muza who fent their veflels thither under the care of Arabian com-
manders and fupercargoes, connected with the natives by intercourfe and
affinity, and well acquainted with their language, and with the naviga-
tion of the coaft J.

The imports at Rhapta confifted of

Awls ;

Giafs veflels- of all forts ;

Laiices, or fpears, made at Muzaj

Axes ;

Cutlafles, or knives ;

and alfo corn and wine, not for fale, but for treating the uncivilized na-
tives of fome parts of the coaft.

The exports were

Ivory in great abundance, but in-
ferior to that of Aduli ;
The horns of the rhinoceros ;

* The fame trade has been kept up ever fince ;
and the fame kind of cargoes have been carried
from the neighbourhood of theZinde, or Indus, to
thofe parts of Africa. [See Piirchas, B. iii, p.
307 ; B. h,pf,. 347, 350, 351, 352.3

f Vcfrra, to few, or join together. The Greeks
furely could not be ignorant of the indigenous name
of the place, to which they traded. But this is one
of the innumerable inftances of the licence they
took in perverting the names of places, whereby
they have introduced much confufion and uncer-
tainty in geography, Ptolemy places Rhapta be-
tween eight and nine degrees fouth of the line,
which anfvrers pretty well to the fituation of Qui-
loa, which the Portuguefc dil'coverers fuppofed
Rhapta ; and there the fame fewed boats are ftill
uled.

J If the merchants were fo powerful as to exer-
cifc fuch an a6t of fovereignty at the ex»dlioB wf »

Turtle-fhell, the beft of any, next to

that of India ;
Nauplius §, a fmall quantity.

tribute, they muft hare been afTociated in a great
body, like a modern Eaft-India company. But
perhaps the tribute, for which the Greeks faw them
fend their veflels, was the produce of plantations
fettled on that coaft by the merchants of Mura, as
many Weft-India plantations are now fettled and
owned by Britifli merchants.

Agatharchides, at leaft two hundred years older
than our author, informs us, that the commercial
Arabians eftabliftied colonies in foreign countries ;
(fee above, p. 104) and the coaft on which Rhapta
was fituated is occupied to this day by Arabians,
who ftill retain the mercantile fpirit of the antient
founders of their colony. V/hen the Portuguefc
arrived on this coaft in their firft voyages of difcov-
ery, they found it frequented by veffels of various
nations.

{ Nauplius, an article unknown. Pliny [_L. is,
c. 30^ has a defcription of a Ihell-fifh oi that name,

which

X 2

164 A. D. 73.

Beyond Rhapta the coaft was unknown in the days of our author.
He therefor returns to the Red fea, and goes down the eaft fhore of it,
beginning at Leuke kome (or White town) a port and caftle in the pof-
feffion of the Romans, which was frequented by fmall vefleis from the
cpnfiderable trading ports in the fouth, loaded with merchandize for the
fupply of the neighbouring country and for the merchants of Tyre, upon
which a duty of twenty-five t:)ercent was exacted by a Roman centurion,
ftationed there with a competent miUtary force for that purpofe.

From Leuke kome down as far as the Burnt ifland the navigation was
very dangerous, and the coaft befet with rocks and without any har-
bours* ; and therefor the navigators were very careful never to approach
it. This inhofpitable coaft was occupied by various barbarous tribes,
differing in manners and in language, of whom fome fubfifted by fifh-
ing and others by pafturage : but they Avere all pirates, and plundered
the vefleis which came near their coaft, or were wrecked, and made
flaves of the people. The kings of the neighbouring induilrious nations
vs'cre therefor continually exerting themfelves to fupprefs thofe general
enemies, and carry them into captivity.

The country below the Burnt ifland was poffefl^ed by a more civilized
people, employed in breeding cattle and camels, the later, no doubt, for
the fervice of the caravans.

In the fartheft bay of the eaft coaft of the Red fea, about thirty miles
from the Straits, ftood Muza f , an eftabliflied emporium, inhabited by
experienced feamen, and numerous capital merchants, who, befides deal-
ing in the native commodities, traded to Barygaza and other foreign
countries J.

The articles imported from Egypt were

The fineft purple cloths in great
quantities ;

Arabian garments with and with-
out fleeves, adorned with gold in
various manners ;

Saft'ron ;

Cyperus, or galingal ;

Mullins (or perhaps rather fine

cotton fluffs of Egyptian nianu-

fadure) ;
Abollas or cloaks ;
Coverlets, a few ;

which anfwers fo well to the nautilus, dcfciibcd by f Muza is defcribed in the Periphis as having no

him in the preceding chapter, that it feems the harbour, but only a landy fhore, near which the

fame animal, taken from a difFcrent author. But vefTels lay at anchor in tlic bay. There is now a

the (hell of it, though very beauiilul, fecms rather poor village called Muza, with good water, a great

too trifling to be ranked among eilabliihcd articles objert in thofe countries, which is four miles from

of trade. the fhore at Mokha, apparently the fame place>

* If this coaft had been occupied by a commcr- though now become inland in confeijuence of the

cial people, there would have been no want of bar- conilant gradual rcceflion of the water, by which

hours. It would be eafy to enumerate many : but the whole of the flat bolder called tlie Tehama

Jidda, about mid -way between the two ends of the feems to have been formed. Mokha, built about

Red fea, is at preient the principal port, beyond four centuries ago, may be prcfurmd to have arifen

which YefTcla from India are not allowed to pa(s ; on the decline of Muza. Sec I^^kbuhr, V. i, p.

and it in capable of r.ceiving large vtlFcls, which 297.

refort to it from our Eall-Iudia fettlemcnts. [A'fV- \ Pliny was misinformed in rcfpeft to Muza,

huhr, V. I, p. 224.J wliicli, lie fays [Z. vi, c. 23J had no India trade.

A. D. 7^.

165

Safhes ;

Ointment of a middling quality ;

Corn and wine in fmall quantities,
fome of both being produced in
the country ;

Money fufficient to fettle the ba-
lances.

The exports, confifling of native

Myrh of the choicefl quality ;
Stade, or tears of myrh, of the
mofl excellent quality % ■\

The merchants alfo prefented to

the king

Horfes ; *

Mules for burthen ;

Veffels of gold and filver plate and

of brafs ;
Magnificent drefies.

productions, were

Lygdus, a fine kind of alabafter,
of which boxes were made ;

Alfo all the articles exported from
Aduli.

At iio great dlftance from Muza refided Cokebus king of Mapharitis,
and, as already obferved, fovereign of the diflant country adjacent to
Rhapta on the African coafi: ; and fomewhat farther inland was the feat
of Charibael king of the Homerites and Sabseans, who alfo extended his
fway over a part of Azania on the eaft coaft of Africa. This prince
cultivated the friendfhip of the Roman emperors by fending frequent
embaffies and gifts to them.

Fading Okelis, which was juft without the Straits, and only a water-
ing place and harbour for inward-bound veflels, our author proceeds
about 120 miles eaflward along the fliore to the port of Arabia Felix.
This city long flouriflied the greateft emporium on all the fhores of the
Erythrtean fea (or Indian ocean) wefiward from the River Indus. From
it Egypt and the other countries of Africa, the merchants of Phoenicia
and Carthage, and through them all the countries bordering upon the
Mediterranean, and even thofe on the Atlantic ocean, including per-
haps our own Britifli iflands, and, by the caravans, all the wefiern coun-
tries of Afia, were fupplied with Oriental produce and manufadures in
exchange for their own commodities. And in this happy ftate of ap-
parently-uninterrupted commercial profperity it continued till the

* Horfes impoited from Egypt into Arabia,
and into that part of it which is mod celebrated
for the fuperiority of its horfes ! Is it certain that
Arabia has been famons for its breed of horfes
ever fince the days of Ifhmael, as alleged by hifto-
rians quoted by Leo Africanus ? Or have horfes,
as well as coffee, (another article mentioned by no
antient Greek or Roman author, and believed to
be a native of Abyffinia) been introduced into
Arabia in the darknefs of the middle ages? — Horfes
are not mentioned in either of the two enumera-
tions of Job's property, though camels and other
animals are. — Solomon imported horfes from Egypt
and from other countries, but Arabia is not parti-
cularized.— In Ezekiel's account of the commerce

of Tyre, horfes are brought from Togormah,
(Cappadocia, the country which fupplied the Per-
Can kiiigs with horfes, a breed celebrated by many
antient authors) but only fheep and goats from
Arabia, which alfo furniihed the fame kinds of
animals, as we find by II Chron. c. 1 7, to Jehofo-
phat king of Judah. — The learned and indefa-
tigable Bochart has not a word of an Arabian
breed in all the palfagcs concerning horfes which
he has coUefted in his Hiero%nicon. — This fubjefl
will be touched upon again under the year 345.

\ 'Zray.X'n (riiv^txix, or perhaps rather Xtkatk
aeiigiKif«?a, myrh of the bed quality produced in
the country of the Minxi. See Bochart, Cso".
facr. snl, up.

1 66 A. D. 73.

Greeks of Egypt, fupported and encouraged by the power and wealth
of the Roman empire, began to repair to India for the goods they had
hitherto received from the Arabian merchants. But the Romans, per-
haps not content with what their fubjeds could abflradl from the com-
merce of Arabia Felix by a fair competition, fuppofed, that, if they
could deftroy the commerce of an independent people, whom they had
in vain attempted to fubdue, (fee above, p. 120) it would devolve upon
their own fvibjects. Whether in confequence of fuch a fyllem of op-
preffive confidence in their own fuperior power, which they might pre-
tend to call a patriotic attention to the, commercial rights of their fub-
jeds, (for fovereigns in all ages have too often made power the llandard
of right) or in confequence of any quarrel, for which they were never
at a lofs to find a pretence, this mofl flourifhing commercial city was
deftroyed by the Romans a fiiort time before our author was born. We
may, however, be aflured, that the confequence would not be what the
Romans may be fuppofed to have expedled. The merchants would
transfer their commerce, with whatever they could fave of their pro-
perty, to other ports of Arabia more remote from the Roman domi-
nions, and to the Arabian colonies on the diftant coafts of Africa, which
would thereby be ftrengthened and enriched. And to fuch a forced
emigration was probably owing a great part of the trade between Africa
and India, noted by our author.

Arabia Felix was now fo far recovered from its afhes as to have the
appearance of a village, but we do not find that it had any commerce ;
and it was only reforted to on account of having a more convenient
harbour and better water than Okelis.

The next emporium was Cane, about 200 miles eaft from Arabia Fe-
lix, in the territory of Eleazus, the country producing frankincenfe,
which was brought to this emporium, fome by land carriage upon ca-
mels, and fome by water in veflels and upon rafts made of hides filled
with air. The'merchants of this port traded to Barygaza, Scythia (the
country of the Indo-Scythians at the mouth of the Indus), Omana, and
other places in the neighbourhood of Perfia.

The merchants of Egypt imported thither

Corn and wine, in fmall quantities,

as in Muza ;
Arabian clothing, common and

plain, and moftly counterfeit ;

Brafs ;
Tin; *
Coral ; f
Styrax,orilorax,anodoriferousgum;

• It is very probable, that .ill the tin mention^ f As the Arabs had corals in great abundance

rd here and in other ports, was the produce of the on the fliores of their own country, that which

Brililh mines, and dclllned for India. The mcr- was carried from Europe muR have been the fu-

chants of Gac'T (or Cadiz), I prefumc, fupplicd pcrior fort found on the Gallic coafl. near Mafliha,

ihofc of Alexandria with it. and in the fca adjacent to Sicily. It was »ppar-

A. D. 73.

167

And all the articles carried to Muza:

They alfo carried for the king
Silver veffels engraved or chafed ;
Money ;

The exports were

Frankincenfe 7 native commodi-
Aloes \ ties ;

Statues ;
Horfes ;
Magnificent and plain drefles.

The merchandize imported into
Muza from other ports.

Between Arabia and Africa, biu nearer to the former, and fubjed to
the fame king Eleazus, was Diofcorides, a large, defert, marfhy illand,
with many rivers, and abounding with crocodiles, vipers, and very large
lizards, the flelh of which was good to eat, and the fat for making
oil *. It alfo produced turtle of the genuine, the land fpecies, the white,
and the mountain, kind. They were remarkable for the largenefs of
their (hell, but efpecially the mountain kind, the ihell of which was of
prodigious lize and thicknefs. Of thefe fhells were made chefts, cafk-
ets, writing tables, and other ornamental articles f. The land produced
neither corn nor wine, and nothing of value, except cinnabar of the
Indian fpecies, a gum dropping from trees. A few Arabians and Ind-
ians, and fome Greek merchants, fettled there for the fake of trade,
who lived on the north fhore facing the continent. The merchants of
Muza had fonie dealings with it, and veffels in the India trade fome-
times called at it, and fupplied the inhabitants with rice, corn, Indian
linen, and fometimes female flaves, in exchange for turtle -fliell, (or
turtle) of which they got enough to load their velfels iji.

Beyond the vaft promontory of Syagros (apparently Ras al Gat §) was
the port of Mofcha {Majk.d), a great emporium for the frankincenfe
produced in the adjacent Sachalitic country. Velfels from Cane traded
to this port : and thole from Limyrica and Barygaza in India, when

ftitly deftined by the Arabian merchants for In-
dia, where, Pliny fays, the men were as fond of
the berries ot coral as the women of Rome were
of the Indian pearls ; and thence the demand for
India made them to fcarce in the place of their
growth, that the Gauls could not now, as former-
ly, indulge in the luxury of adorning their fwords, •
fliields, and helmets, with them. [f/in. L. xxxii,

* This appears to be the animal called the guana
m the Weft-Indies.

■{• The Romans were exceedingly fond of turtle-
Hitll. Btfidcs the ufcs of it mentioned in the Pe-
fiplus, they Tidorned their bedftends, and vaneered
wood, with It. \_Plln. L. Ix, f . 1 1 ; L. xvi, c. 43.]

:f It is generally agreed that Socotora is the
Diofcorides cf the antients. As our author's de-
fcription of it by no means anfwers to Socotora,
which is rocky and dry, I have bi-en fomewhat
fuller in extrafting it, that thofe who ar* better
informed of the nature of the ifland may ascertain

whether Socotor.i, or fome of the iflands nearer
the Arabian ihore, has been the antient Diofcori-
des. Neither our author, nor Pliny in his account
of Diofcorides, mentions aloes as the produce of
it, which are now the ftaple of Socotora : and as
they wete an eftablifhed article in the commerce of
the Egyptian Greeks, our author's filence may be
admitted as a full proof that none grew on the
ifland of Diofcorides in his time. Diofcorides
[L. iii, c. 23] fays the Indian aloe is the befl, but
has not a word of any coming fronx the idand of •
his own name.

J Syagros is faid by Harris \_Collcilion of voyages,
y. \, p. 431, eJ- 1744] to be beyond controverfy
Cape Farcack ; but that does not correfpond with
our author's geography, nor with Pliny's. I ob-
ferve, that even in Ptolemy's time it was dlfputed
which headland was Syagros. Our author's de-
fcription of it, ' the grcateft promontory in the ■
« world,' may help to decide the qucftisn.

i68

A. D. T2>'

too late for accomplifliing their voyages, ufed to pafs the winter here,
and exchange their calicoes, corn, and oil, for frankincenfe, the fale of
which the king moft rigoroufly monopolized in his own hands *.

Apologus, an eftablilhed and celebrated emporium at the mouth of
the River Euphrates, and Omana on the coaft of Perfia, (or rather of
Carmania) were frequented by large veffels from Barygaza with cargoes
of brafs and woods of various kinds, and they received frankincenfe
from Cane. The exports from them to Barygaza and Arabia were

Wine ;

Palm, or perhaps palm wine, (jpohil)

in great quantities j
Gold ;
Slaves.

Pearls, found near the mouth of
the Perfian gulf, inferior in qua-
lity to the Indian, in great quan-
tities ;

Purple drapery, manufactured in
Perlia ;

And boats, called madaratce, joined together by fewing, were carried

from Omana to Arabia.

The tiril trading port in India, is called in the Periplus the Barbaric

emporium f, fituated on the principal llream of the Sinthus, (Sindi,

* This monopolizing fpirit is general among
the fovereigns of many of the Oriental countries to
tliis day.

AH the Bntient authors, from Herodotus down-
ward, who have had occalion to treat of Arabia,
have given us a number of labulous ftories ot won-
derful hardlhips and dangers incurred in coUefting
frankincenfe, cinnamon, Sec. from the mortal bite
of flying fer.pents, which infelled the frankincenlc
groves, terrible bats which flew at the eyes of thofe
who gathered calia, and cinnamon only to be ob-
tained from the nells of birds, which brought it
from the country vvlieie Bachus was born. Ac-
cording to Theophratlus, \_H\jL plant. L. ix, c. 4]
there was a report, that all the niyrii and frankin-
cenfe produced in Sabxa was dcpofited in the tem-
ple of the Sun, each proprietor placing a note ot
the quantity and price upoti his own parcel. The
merchant!-, having chofcn their parcels, carried
them away, leaving the fpecilied fums of money in
their places. Tiien came the prieft, who took a
third part of the money for the god, and the re-
mainder was facredly prtferved for the proprietor.
Pel haps tills is a mytliological way of telling us
that there was a public hall, where the cultivators
configned their produce to proper agents to be
fold for thcni, and paid a heavy duty to the priclh.
The author ol the i'ciiplus has no flying ferpcnts,
no bat ■, no birds importing cinnamon ; but he
fays, that the frankincenfe trees infcdled the ai>-
With pellilcnlial vapours, and that the gathering
was a talk impofeJ upon condemned crimi)ii»ls> to
whom it was certain death, lie adds, tliat it need-
ed nobody to j'uaid it, the goda taking that charge
upon thcinfclvcs, fu that if any perion cariicd a

Tingle grain of it onboard his veflel ivithout the
ling's pcrmijjtoii, it would be impoflible for her to
get out of the harbour unlefs by the particular inter-
vcntion of the deity. We find by Pliny [L. xii, c.
14] that thofe very vigilant gods were quite ne-
glectful of the frankincenfe after it was out of their
own country ; for in Alexandria the moll fcvere
rellriclions were not fuflicient to prevent the em-
bez'/lemcnt of it. Pliny fays, that the Arabian
ambalfadors who were at Rome gave fuch anfwtrs
to thofe who made inquiries concerning the nature
of frankincenfe, as left them more at a lofs than
ever refpefting it ; and he very jullly remarks, that
the wonderful ftories were circulated in order to
raife the prices. [Z. sii, cc. 14, ly.] They alfo
fcrved to prevent the Phcenicians and other fo-
reigners from attempting to difcover the places
where fome of thofe pretious articles, which were
not natives of Arabia, were produced. Jull fo the
Portuguefe in the fixteenth century fpread terrible
reports of the wonderful dangers and hardfliips of
navigating the Indian ocean.

\ It is not improbable that this emporium, af-
feiflcdly called Barbaric by the Greeks, was that
to which the Arabians traded in the time of Aga-
tharchidcs, and the Giceks at the commencement
of their India trade, (fee above, pp. 104, 157) which
Pliny calls Patala, a name which appears from Dio-
nyfius Periegetes and .Airian to be indigenous.
Ptolemy, indeed^ has both Uarbari aiul Patala on
branches of the Indus : but his Minagara is on a
river far diftant from tlie Indus, in dirccl contra-
diftion to the Periplus, which is finely fupcrior
auihority.

A. D. 73.

169

Zind, or Indus) in the country occupied by a Scythian nation *, and
at this time fubjed to the Parthian empire. All the commodities
brought into this port by the veflels of various countries were fent up
the river to the king at Minnagara. The imports coniifted of

Frankincenfe ;

Glafs veflels ;

Silver plate ;

Money ;

Wine in fmall quantities.

Skins from the country of the Seres;
Silk thread, or raw filk f, from the

fame;
Calicoes ;
Indigo. :}:

Drapery, moflly plain, fome coun-
terfeit ;
Chryfolithes ;
Corals ;
Storax ;

The exports were

Coftus, an aromatic root ;
Bdellium, a fragrant gum ;
Lycium, a drug or dye fluff;
Callien ftone (perhaps found in the

River Callien at Goa) ;
Sapphires ;

The next, and a much greater, emporium, was Barygaza, which by
many marks appears to be the modern Baroach, Broatch, or Broot-
Chia, on the Nerbuddah. On account of the great trade of this port,
the extraordinary tides, the danger attending the fpring tides, the bore,
and the difficult pilotage of the river, are defcribed with the moil mi-
nute attention ; though the native fifliermen were accuflomed to cruife a
good way offin their long veflels, called in their own language trappaga and
htymha, in order to meet veflels, and carry them up to the city. The love-
reign of the country, refolving to concentrate all the foreign trade in this
favourite port, fhut his ports of Acabarus, Uppara, and Calliena, againft
the Greek traders from Egypt, who, if they happened to put into any
of them, were fent with a guard to Barygaza. There the merchants
found all the various productions of a very extenfive inland country,
inhabited by a variety of induftrious manutaduring nations, together
with the merchandize of Bengal, and even of the country of the Seres,

* Thefe were the people called Indo-Scythce
by other authors. We learn from Herodotus
[Z/. vii, c. 64] that the Perfians gave all the Scy-
thians the name of 5<;/-ai, or Sah : and Scih, the
modern name of the people who occupy the coun-
try adjacent to the Indus, and bordering on the
call fide of Perfia, is probably a very flight varia-
tion of the fame word.

f ' Nii,Ki» ni^ixov,' ftriftly firic t/jiyad or yarn
(»?K(!£, from Hu, tofpin). But a Greek could find
no better name for -raw fdk fpun only by the filk-
worm ; and, notwithllanding the confufion of an-
tient authors upon the fubjetfl of /Jr/Vum, there ap-
pears to he no doubt that it was filk.

\ ' I»Jixo» fii>Mt,' whicli I have trandated huligo,

Vol. I.

becaufe there is a great exportation of that article
from the country near the mouths of the Indus.
The inilkum of Pliny, [//. -xxxv, c. 6] however,
which he claffes with ivory black, fee. among
painters' colours, feems to be the Indian ink,
which we ufe in drawing ; and the addition of
fii>Mv, hlach, might feem to infer that the ItJoiov of
the Periplus was the fame, but for the confidera-
tion that indigo mull have become an article of
great importance in commerce as foon as it was
known, and that Indian ink muft have been too
trifling to be enumerated among eftabhlhsd arti-
cles. The authority of liidore, fuch as it is, is
alfo in favour of indkuni being indigo.

I7<3

A. D. 73.

brought by land carriage over the Bala-gaut mountains *, and alfo the
produce of every coafl:, from Africa to the farthefl Eaft, imported by
the veffels of the country. And fuch was the difpatch in tranfa6ting
bufinefs in this great mart, that a vefTel's cargo could be fold, and a new
cargo put onboard in three days ; whereby we learn that the merchants
of Barygaza were numerous, and that they had large capitals, and were
extenfiive dealers f .

The imports from Egypt were

Wine of Italy, Laodicea, and Ara-
bia;

Brafs ;

Tin ;

Lead;

Coral ;

Chryfolithes ;

Garments, plain and counterfeit,
of all kinds ;

Safhes made of many threads, per-
haps net- work ;

Storax ;

Melilot ;

White glafs ;

Sandarak ;

Stimmi, or ftibium, (perhaps black
lead) ;
The exports were

Spikenard of various kinds, brought

from Proclais ;
Coftus ;
Bdellium ;
Ivory ; §
Onyx flones from Plithana and

Ozene (believed to be Ougein) ;

Ointment of ordinary quality, and
in fmall quantity ;

Money of gold and filver, in ex-
changing which wiih the money
of the country there was a con-
liderable profit ; :j:

And there were prefented to the
king, in name of tribute or cuf-
tom,

Pretious filver veffels ;

Mufical inflruments ;

Beautiful virgins for the feragllo ;

Wine of the firfl quality ;

Plain dreffes of the fineft fabric ;

The moft pretious ointments.

• See Lieutenant Wilford in the Aftat'ic re-
fiarcha, K i, p. 370.

f It is very common for tlie native merchants
of India to buy wliolc cargoes by tlic invoice : and
that there were many mcrcliants at IJarygaza who
did the fame in tliofe days, and alfo had Hocks of
){Oods ready in their warelioufes fulficient to load
tlie vcfTcls immediately with the articles wanted, is
evident from the difpatch. The author adds, that
the fame difpatch was given in Scythia, meaning,
1 fiippofe, the Barbaric emporium ; but as the
goods were to be fent up the river to the king, it
.'5 not clear from what time the three days could
Nc reckoned there.

\ Roman coins, prybably thofc cnrricd from

Murrhlne flones from Ozenc ;

Myrh ;

Lycium ;

Muflins {livhovii Xv'^iKou) from Ta-
gara and Ozene ;

Calicoes of all iorts (or perhaps fi-
gured) ;

Egypt in tliis trade, .ind alfo Greek coins, are dill
met with at Surat, about thirty miles fouth from
Baroach, where foine of both kinds were collect-
ed by the Dutch navigator Stuvovinus. (See his
(Voyages, F. n, p. II, Englijh trjnjl.) The Greek
ones were perhaps thofe oi Apollodotus and Men-
ander, fovereigns of fome ot the eaiUru part of
Alexander's conquells, which were current at Ba-
ryga/a in cur author's time. We may obferve,
tliat every writer of veracity, who has gone over
the fame ground with the author of the Periplus,
illuflrales the accuracy of his llatenients.

§ Pliny repeatedly obfervcs tliat the largeil ivory
was got from India. [L. viii, cc. 3, ii.^

A. D. 73.

171

Silk fluffs ;

Moloch inum (fuppofed cotton cloth

of the colour of mallows) from

Ozene ;
Silk thread, or raw filk ;

Long pepper;

Calicoes of inferior quality *,
brought in great quantities from
Minnagara and Tagara ;

with many other articles.

To the fouthward of Barygaza there were Acabarus, Uppara, and
Calliena, already mentioned, and alfo Semylla, Mandagora, Patepatma,
Melizigara, Byzantium Toparon, and Tyrannoboas, ports only fre-
quented by the vefTels of the country. Beyond thefe were fome iflands
occupied by pirates, probably the anceftors of thofe by whom the fame
part of the coaft is infefted in the prefent day. Then followed Naura
and Tyndis, fituated on the Ocean, and Muziris on a river, which were
all ports of Limyrica, the kingdom of Ceprobotus, uied by the country
traders ; but Muziris only is noted as reforted to by Grecian velTels j
and we arc not informed of the particular articles of its trade.

Pandion was fovereign of the next kingdom, comprehending the
fouth point of India, wherein the firft port was Nelkynda, about twelve
miles up a river, at the mouth of which was Barakc f , where the vef-
fels, whereof there were very great numbers, attraded by the fuperior
quality and abundance of the pepper and malabathrum, lay at anchor
to receive their cargoes.

The goods imported by the Grecian traders were

Chryfolithes ;

Plain clothing in fmall quantities ;

Stimmi ;

Corals ;

White glafs ;

Brafs ;

Tin ;

Lead;

Wine in fmall quantities ;

Sandarak ;

Arfenic ;

Confiderable fums of money to

make up the purchafe of their

homeward cargoes.

There were carried thither from the other ports of India

Pepper of Cottonara ^ in very great

abundance ;
Excellent pearls in great numbers ;

* Coarfe dungarees, as tranflated by Mr. Wil-
ford. \_p. 369.] But, to moft readers out of In-
dia, dungarees needs to be tranflated at lead as
much as i^iii^ii p^v'SaTm. If we are uncertain of
the application of thefe genuine Greek words to
Indian manufadlures, we mull be ilil! more at a
lofs with fcvcial names of articles in the Periplus,
which are apparently Indian words imported with
the goods, juft as we now ufe jacanet, cojfae, mid-
n;ul, for denominations of Indian fabrics. Thcre-

Ivory ;

Silk fluffs ;

Spikenard from the Ganges ;

for fome of them, which were apparently ufed only
in mercantile language, an;5 arc found nowhere but
in the Periplus, may perliaps be improperly tranf-
lated, notwithftanding all my endeavours to get at
their real meaning.

f Pliny calls it Becare ; and he fcems alfo to
write Necanidon inftead of Nelkynda.

\ This is the black pepper of Malabar, reck-
oned the beft in India. White pepper was alfo
imported, a we leaj^n from Phny. [L, xii, c. 7.3

Y2

A. D. 73.

from the interior

Turtle-rhell, of a kind called Chry-
fonetiotic (from a golden ifland),
and alfo from the iflands oppo-
fite to Limyrica.

172

Malabathrum
country ;

Diamonds *, hyacinths, and a va-
riety of other pellucid gems ;

The inveftments of the Grecian traders, which our author has not
fpecified, undoubtedly confifted of all the articles, native and imported,
found in the place.

Balita, Comar, Colchi, (near which was the principal fifhery for pearls,
performed entirely by condemned criminals) Camara, Poduke, and So-
patma, were ports in the fouth part of India which do not appear to
have been frequented by the Egyptian Greeks. But a great coafting
trade was carried on in them, partly by veflels belonging to other parts
'^ India, and partly by their own. From Limyrica, and other northern
pii'r b of India, they received the various articles imported from Egypt,
ti.^'^ether with the native productions and manufodures. Some of their
Vcifjls, confining of large canoes joined together, were cMed fangara j
and Qt^hers, called kolandlophofitn, which were of the largefl fize, were
uled in the trade with the River Ganges and the countries beyond it f .

The produclions of the large ifland near the fouth end of India, for-
merly called Taprobane, but at this time Palaefimundi, were pearls,
gems, turtle-fliell, and muflins J.

On the continent oppofite to this ifland was Argali, a country pro-
ducing a kind of muflin called ebargaritid, and pofl^efling a pearl fifli-
cry ; Mafalia, ftretching into the interior, where much muflin was ma-
nufactured ; and, adjacent to it, Defarene, a country abounding with
elephants of the fpecies called bofare.

Though our author's account of the countries beyond the fouth point
of India, being all from report, is much inferior to the refl: of his work,

* Pliny fays [L. xxxvii, c. 4] that the anlients
knew of no diamonds larger than cucumer feeds,
but in his time there were fome even as large as
the kernel of a filbert nut ; a proof that no very
large diamonds had yet been carried to Rome.
Arbutlmot, fjy a curious overlight, tianfiates eivcl-
lana walnut, inllead of filbert.

f I here recapitulate the names of the feveral
kinds of Oriental vclTels noted by our author, viz.
madarat^, fmall velTels joined together by fewing,
in the IVrfian gulf ; tni^'piiga and kolymba, long
veffcls, ufcd by the fifliermen and pilots of Bary-
gaza ; fangara, (whence the pirates called Sangar-
lans perhaps took their name) feemingly like the
double canoes of the South-fea iflands defcrlbed
by Captain Cook ; and kolamri'jphnnta, of whicli
there is no other dcfcription than their great bur-
then, and capacity to perform dillant voyages ; in
hopes that thofc who arc acquainted with the
Eaflcrn fcas may perhaps be able to trace the
names in the language of the prefent race of a

people, among whom manners, laws, religion, and
language, have ever been, in fpite of conqueds,
pcrfccutions, and devailations, fo much more lla-
tionary than in our quarter of the world.

\ Not a woid of cinnamon (fee above, p. 149)
as a produftion of this ifland. The name of it, if
we may trull entirely to Grecian information, was
remarkably fluctuating. Tiiprobanc, the name un-
der which it was firll announced to the wcltern
world by Oneficiitus, had now given place to Pa-
helimundi, whicli in Ptolemy's time was fuperl'eded
by Sa/iie, and by Seria, the name given to it by
Panfanias, an author of the fame age. \^Eliac. L. ii.J
But libout the beginning of the fixth century Ta-
probane was again reflored, at leail among the
Greeks, as we learn from Cofmas Indicopleufles,
who adds, that the genuine name was Siele-iiiba,
{^Silc-iliv, the ifland oi Scle) a flight pcrverfion of
which produced the Sal'tke of Ptolemy, and alfo
Ceylaii, Ceylon, isfr. the names now given to it by
the Etuopeani.

A. D. 73. 173

and even wanders into the marvelous, which has in all ages vitiated and
charaderized the defcriptions of unknown parts of the world, he has
obtained a pretty accurate account of the nature of the flxmous River
Ganges, as already oblerved : and fo well was he informed of the trade
and manutaftures of that diftant region, that he remarks the fuperior
excellence of the Bengal muflins *, which took their name, at leafl
among the Grecian traders, from the river, or a town of the fame name
on its banks. From that port were alfo (hipped malabathrum, Gangetic
fpikenard, and pearls. Near the mouth of the Ganges he places an
ifland called Chryfe, the eaftern extremity of the world, and producing
the befl turtle-fhell in all the Indian ocean. And farther north, where
the fea terminates in the country of the Sina; f , he has a very great in-
land city called Thina, from which wool, (perhaps the remarkably-fine
wool of Thibet) thread (which muft be filk in a raw or fpun ftate) and
filk fluffs J, were carried over land through Badria as far as Barygaza.
But in his attempt to defcribe the fituation of Thina, the route of the
trade from it, the inhabitants, and their manner of obtaining three
kinds of malabathrum from offall leaves left behind them by a neigh-
bouring favage nation, he is confuted and embar railed, at which we
need not wonder, confidering how very far it was beyond the utmoft
limits of Grecian voyages or travels.

I have now finiflied my extracts from the very valuable Periplus of
the Erythrcean fea, which has never yet received the fame due to its lin-
gular merit : a negled: perhaps owing in fome degree to the fmall fize
of the book, but probably more to the abfence of battles and llaughters
init§.

It is worthy of remark, that the fubjeds of Rome, in all their eager-
nefs for purchafing fpices and other luxuries, appear to have known no-
thing as yet of nutmegs and cloves ||, and fcarcely any thing of mace ^ ;
and that cinnamon and fugar were hitherto imported by the Greek

* ' avSoKEs a/ ^i»(p<i^iiraTxi, ou ruyyirtx.xi MycyA' tleman poffefTing, along with claflical learning, a

v«ii' at once a noble telUmony of the long-tlla- competent knowlege ot the languages, topogra-

bhnicd charafter of the Bengal muilins, and of the phy, navigati.in, and trade, of the countries be-

vcracity of the Periplus. tween the Red lea and Ceylon, affilhd by a good

f Quere, if the Chinele ? — or Siam : — or Pegu, manufcript to correct iome errors of tranlcribers

antiently called Cheeu, as we learn from the Ayecn in numbers, points of the com.pafs, anJ. omiffioas,

Akhtry, V. i, p. 7. The editions of Blancard and it would be a very great aequilitiou to literature in

Stuckius, and the Italian tranflation of Ramutlo, general. The edition of the Periplus by Stuckius,

vary in the names of this nation or city ; and uu- with a multitude of pedantic and trifling notes, is

fortunately we know of no manufcript to appeal no exception to what I have faid in the text : nei-

to. ther does Dodwell's profulion of erudition throw

J ' Oiiiiit TO c-^uiat.' — O()o«o» is properly linen much light even upon the itra ot it, the principal

cloth, but I liave tranflated it calico, when applied objecl of his diflertation.

to Indian manufactures ; and with the addition of || Pliny [Z/. xii, c. 73 has an Indian fruit called

mjixa* (fliken) we can fcarcely conceive it to be gariophyllon, like a pepper-coin, but larger und

any other than ulken Huff. more brittle, which was imported for the lake of

J If an edition of the Periplus, with proper il- the fcent. This deiciiptiou is very unlike cloves,
luftrative accompaniments, were executed by a gen- «j[ Sec aboxe, p. 161, note J.. 4

174 A. D. 73-

traders, not directly from India, but through the medium of the mer-
chants of Arabia or the eaft coafl of Africa. Could the Greek mer-
chants, who frequented the ports of India, pofTibly be ignoi-ant that
thofe articles were to be had in the greatefl perfedion in that country,
-when Alexander's officers knew that cinnamon, fpikenard, and other
aromatics, were produced in the fouth parts of it ? \_Strabo, L. xv,
p. 1018.]

We may be well affured that the demand throughout the wide extent
of the Roman empire, and, what ^as in a great meafure a confequence
of that, the demand in the Oriental regions, made the manufactures of
Egypt more flouriflaing at this time than they ever were in any former
age, and that they continued to profper while the Oriental commerce
continued to flow in a full tide, which it probably did as long as the
empire retained its vigour *.

Of all the merchandize imported into Egypt by the Red fea, the
greatefl: part was re-iliipped at the bufy port of Alexandria for the vari-
ous fhores of the Mediterranean ; and a great proportion of the whole,
as they confifled mofl;ly of articles of luxury, went to the imperial city,
where, for one infl^ance, cinnamon and calia were to be found in fuch
abundance, that Nero is faid to have confumed more than a whole
year's growth of them at the funeral of his wife Poppaea, or in embalm-
ing her f. [P//«. L. xii, c. 18 — T'ac. Ann. L. xvi, c. 6.]

The natives of India, deriving all the neceflaries and enjoyments of
life from their fertile foil and their own indufl:ry, cared very little for
the productions of the Wefl:. The Grecian merchants were therefor
obliged to lay in their cargoes chiefly with money ; and we are told by
Pliny, [L. vi, c. 23] that, at the loweft computation, five hundred fef-
tertia (reckoned by Arbuthnot [p. 193] eqtial to ^403,645 : 16 : 8 of
modern fl;erling money) were every year fent out of the Roman empire
to India in payment for goods, which were fold in Rome at an advance
of an hundred for one J. But that muft; furely be a mifl;ake, as we
have no reafon to believe that there was any monopoly in Alexandria
or Rome, or that there could be a combination of the fellers in either
place iufficiently powerful to command Tale at fuch enormous prices.

Nor were the natives of India the only foreigners, who received a

1

* Wc fliall have an opportunity of ffcing the And we even fiiul many kinds of Oriental fpices

decHnin^ Hate of the Oriental trade in the lixth and perfumes mentioned in the comedies of Plau-

ccntury, when tlic Roman world was reduced to tus, who died aliovc a century before Sylla.
the empire of Conllantinople. J ' Merces [Indicx] quit apud nos centupli-

f Before the Romans liad obtained the fove- cato vencant.' — In the improved edition of ffar-

rcignty of Egypt, and when t)ie commerce of that rii's Vcfai;t!, V. \, p. 431, tlie author has reduced

country witli Arabia may be fuppofed to have this munftrous and incredible advance to cent per

been in a declining Hate, prodigious quantities of cent, which I iuppofe would not be fufficient to

friinkincenfe, _iiinamon, and other Ipiccs, were con- cover the heavy charges upon the complex convey-

funied at the funeral of Sylla, [_Plii/. in Fila 6j7/.rj ance from India to Rome,
about a century and a half before that of Poppwu.

A. D. 73. ^75-

large balance in money from the Roman empire. The fouthern Arab-
ians, notwithftanding the deftrudion of the city of Arabia Fehx, appar-
ently the principal leat of their commerce, ftill preferved a commercial
rank, wherein, if they were in any refped inferior to the merchants of
Alexandria*, it was entirely owing to the treafure of fo large a portion
of the world being in the hands of the Romans, and fo confiderable a
part of it being conveyed to that city to pay for the corn and other pro-
dudions of the fertile foil of Egypr, and the luxuries of theEafl:, for the
later of which a confiderable part of the Roman wealth found its way
into the hands of the Arabian merchants, the money annually paid to
them and the Seres f being together eftimated equal to that remitted to
India. Pliny feverely reprehends fo vafl an expenditure (the whole
amounting to/^807,291 : 13 : 4 of our money) for articles of mere luxury
and female vanity : [P/in. L. xii, c. 18, — and fee "Tac. Ann. L. iii, c. 53]
and it mud be acknowleged, that, as mofl of the merchandize import-
ed from the Eaft very juflly came under that defcription, as there were
no raw materials for manufaflures, except fome iron and fteel, and a fmall
quantity of the very extravagant article of raw filk, and as there could
fcarcely be any re-exportation to foreign territories, the trade was un-
doubtedly prejudicial not only in a moral view, but alfo upon the prin-
cijjle of gold and filver being the mofl valuable poffefTions.

But gold and filver being valuable to their poireflbrs, merely as they
enable them to obtain whatever they need or defire, thole, who pofleff-
ed redundant maffes of the pretious metals, might think diamonds and
pearls more valuable, and therefore defire to have them in exchange for
their fuperfiuous money. Thofe trinkets, though of no real value, were
very durable, and nothing the worfe for being ufed, or exhibited. But
filk, though liable to be deftroyed by accident, and certain to be worn
out by ufing, being fupplied very fparingly from the Eaft, ftill kept up
fo extravagant a price, that it was cuiiomary to decompofe the moft ex-
penfive kind, called the Aflyrian bombycina %, untwift the threads, there-
by reducing the fiuff to a raw material, and then re-fpin it very fmall
and re-weave it of fo thin a fabric (probably like the modern flight filks
called perfians) that it was too tranfparent to conceal what was under it.

* The judicious reader, who has attended to \ Ph'iiy fays, [L. xi, c. 22] that it was made of

the anicles of import and expoit in the trade of filk produced by filk-worms (^omi'jcw) nativesofAf-

the Egyptian Greeks with Arabia, Afiica, and fyria. But he mufl affurcdly have been misinformed ; .

India, mull have obferved feveral inftances of the and his Adyrian ii5/«ijr/«a mud have been the ma-

fuperior tomir.ercial knowlege of the Arabian nufatture of a more dillant eountry, procured by

merchants. But the Greeks were probably fupe- the a'^ency of the Affyrians : for we fliall after-

rior to them in the extent of their deahngs. wards fee, that two Perfian monks clandcllinely

f Perliaps the money paid to the Seres, in Pli- brought the eggs of the filk-worm from the couu-

iiy's eftimate, was diilincl from that paid for Seric try of the Seres to the Roman emperor at Con-

mcrchandizc in the ports of India, and was the ftantinople, which would not have been neceflary, .

coll of the goods carried through the heart of Afia if the genuine filk-worms had already been in Af-

by caravans and inland navigation to the Euxine fyiia, a province on the confines gf the Romau and

fea. See above, p. 141. Perfian empires.

17^

A. D. 73.

[PUn. L. vi, c. ij ; L. xi, c. 22.] For upwards of a century the moralifls
and fatyrifts of Rome had execrated and ridiculed the indecent expofure
of the perfon by fuch gowns of glafs, fuch tranfparent clothing, ' if in-
deed it might be called clothing,' fays Seneca, ' when a woman drefled
' in it could fcarcely fweai- that fhe was not naked ;' and yet it ftill kept
its ground *.

There was another kind of filk of an inferior quality, faid to be pro-
duced by a fpecies of filk worms in the ifland of Cos, which fome of the
fine gentlemen of Rome wore in fummer, though the ufe of fuch effe-
minate drefs was difapproved by the graver people, and had adually
been forbidden by the fenate in the reign of Tiberius. [P/in. L. xi,

c. 23 'Tac. ylnn. L. ii, c. 32, where, however it is called Jericum.'\ But

the Aflyrian homhycina was refigned to thofe ladies, who could afford to
purchafe it : and thofe, whofe fortunes were not equal to their vanity,
\^'oxe.fubfericum, a fabric of filk with a mixture of cheaper materials f ,
in the ufe of which the men afterwards began to indulge %.

* If we may truft to the teftimony of Publtus
Syrus, a dramatic writer contemporar)' with Julius
Casfar, and after him Varro, TlbuUus, Propertius,
Horace, Seneca, Ph'iiy, and Juvenal, fome of the
T^oman ladies really did wear drefTes fo exceffively
thin, that their llvins adlually appeared through
tiicm : and that could fcarcely be an idle ground-
lefs tale, (like the modern news-paper (lories of
naked ladies in the llreets of London) which was
kept up 130 years. We mult fuppofe from thofe
authors, that the Roman ladies had no other
clothing under their thin (llks. Certainly a modern
lady, drefled in a gown of miiflin, which is fufii-
ciently tranfparent, would abftvaft little or nothing,
cither from the warmth or the chaftity of lier drefs,
by divcfting herfelf entirely of her gown.

•j- I am not certain, that ih'ifulferkum was in ufe
fo early as this time.

J Commentators have frequently confoimded
the ly^mum, the bombycina, and \.\\e fer'uum, of the
antienls. Some have fuppofed the hjffiiium a cot-
ton ftufF; fome make it tlic fame with iheftricum;
and others, a very fme linen. It was made from a
plant called byjfus, which grew in Egypt, Judaea,
India, and Elis, the only diilridl of Greece which
produced it. \^E%fLtel, c. 27 in Jerom'i tranjlalion.
— P iiifinn.is in Etiaiis L. i.] From the fcvcral de-
fcrij)tions of byffus by Paufanias, [;'« Ellac. et in
Achaiac.'\ from its growing in Eg'ypt, which has
in all ages been famous for the fuperior quality of
its flax, and from the certainty that the Greeks
had neither cotton nor filk, we may be alnioll af-
furcd that it was a very line kind of flux ; and, if
ncctfiary, we nsay add the pufnive aflevtion of Ifi-
dore, [Orig. L. xix, c. 27] that it was an exceed-
ing white and foft kind of flax ; tiiough, like a
carelefs comjiilLr, lie elfe where calls bylJus coaife
flax. Conftquently the byjjinum mull have been

a very fine flaxen fabric, probably like the modern
cambric. Herodotus [Z. ii, c. 86] fays, the dead
bodies of the rich in Egypt, after being embalmed,
were wrapt in bandages oi bvffinejiinlon (' e-ji'?«o;
6u(ri7i»)5'), which could fcarcely be any other than
fine hnen made of byjjus, and the fame with the fine
Egyptian JinJun mentioned by Julius Pollux \_L.
vii, c. 17] and Clemens of Alexandria. [5//-s;n. i.]
Of the byflTus there was alfo made a fine kind of
net-work, perhaps like the modern lace, by the
manufafture of which, and of the fine byfiine cloth,
many women in Achaia, the diftridl next to Elis,
fupporttd thcmfelves. [Paufan. in Achiiic.'\ Pliny
fays, [i. xix, r. i j that the ladies were veiy fond
of lyjfinum, and uled to buy it for its weight in
gold, which, I believe, would not even now be a
very extravagant price for lace or the fineil cam-
bric. The Itrange defcription of I'vffiis produced
from trees, and worn by the iupcrioi ranks on the
banks of the River Indus, while the reil of the
people wore linen, given by Philollratus in his Life
of J4pollonius, need not be minded, as his work is
not hi(lor)' but romance. — There was another plant
called amor^is (from Aniorgu?, an ifland of the
uEgrcan fca, where it grew) apparently a fpecies
of flax (till finer than the byffiis, for which, and the
ihiff" made of it, with the authorities, fee Bochiirl,
Cenf^. fdcr. col. :^-\^.

1'lie bomhvcina was generally underftood to be
made from the threads fpun by an infeft called
bnmlyx. The fericum was fuppofed to be made
from wool, or from a woolly or downy fubllancc
found upon the leaves of trees, and it was alfo con-
founded with tlie homhydv.a, which came nearer to
the truth, the name 01 I'v^yiinn being evidently
derived from the animal i^: x.liofe fpoils the ftufi"
was made, ani firiciim, unqui llionably filkcn llufi^,
fiom the Seres, the people from whom it was got

A, D. 73.

177

As a proper appendage to what has been faid of the commerce, pro-
duce, and manufaftures, of the Oriental countries, I annex a fpecimen

in a finiftied ftate, who long enjoyed a monopoly of
the pretious infeft producing the filk, and who
even now, by pofTeffing a better kind of filk-worms,
or of the mulberry trees wlierewith they are fed,
or by better management, and the experience of
thoufands of years, command the market for the
mod brilliant iilk.

Silk does not appear to have been known to
Homer, nor even to Herodotus, tliough he liim-
felf, and the Greeks of his age, liad much intcr-
courfe with the Egyptians, Phcenicians, and Per-
fians, opulent and luxurious nations, but who, per-
haps had not obtained any knowlege of it in his
time. Ariftotle, though the moil antient natu-
raliit extant, gives the bed account of the filk-
worm to be found in antiquity. He dtfcribes it
as a horned worm, which he calls bombyx, (a name
given by him to other infefts) and fays, that it
palTes through feveral transformations fn the courffe
of fix months, and that bombyhia is produced from
it. He adds, that fome women decompoftd the
bombyhia and le-fpun and rt-wove it, Pamphila, a
woman of Cos (an ifiand near the coaft of Caria)
being faid to have firft praftifcd that kind of weav-
ing. \_Hijl. anhn. L. v, c. 19.] He fays nothing
of the native country of the bombyx. — Pliny,
though he makes AfTyiia the native country of the
lombyx, from the ivcb of which the bumhycina was
made, tranfplants Pamphila, and her manufaiSure
of a delicate clothing for women, to Ceos, an ifland
on the oppofite fide of the iEgo^an fea near the coaft
of Attica, being apparently milled by Varro ; and
he immediately adds, that the bombyx was alfo ri-
porled to be a native of the ifland of Cos. He
elfevvhere fays, that the llufF (he never ufes the
word ferlcum) which the women of Rome undid
and wove anew, was made from a white woolly or
downy fubftance, coinbed by the Seres from the
leaves of trees, which were different from the
wool-bearing trees (cotton) of the ifland of Tylos
iii the Perfian gulf, and that the drapery (of that
kind) v.'as imported liom the Seres, along witii
their excellent iron, and furs or fliins. 1 have now
extrafted the fubftance of all that Pliny has
throughout his great work [L. iv, ,;. iz ; vi, 17 ;
xi, 22, 23 ; xii, 10; xxxiv, i^] any way con-
iiefted witli filk-worms or filk. — Moft of the other
writers afttr Ariftotle, particularly Nearchus, Ari-
ftobulus, Theophraftus, Virgil, (who has mifledhis
commentator Servius, and others) Dionyfius Perie-
getes, Mela, Seneca, Arrian, Rolinus, Ammianus
Marcellinus, Claudlan, Jerom, See. including a peri-
od of nine centuries, fuppofed that/JnVK/H was made
from fleeces growing upon trees, from the barks of
trees, or from flowers, and, with the confufion of
ideas, which is a necefTary confequence of attempt-
ing to defcribe what they did not know, mingling
I'.'hat they had heard of lllk-worms feeding on the

Vol. I.

leaves of trees, of cotton growing on treet, of flax,
and of the coir, or inner rind, of the coco-nut, in an
unintelligible jumble. And Ifidorus biftrop of Hif-
palis in Spain, though he lived a century after the
introdudlion of fdk-worms and the manufafture of
{ilk in Greece, was as ignorant as any of them, and
fervilely copied Pliny. [0;-4'./,. xix, a. 17,22,27.]
So tardy was the progrefs of information, even to
learned men in public ftations, in thofe ages. But,
what is more furprifing, Harrifon, wlio may be
called a modern author, has perverted the words of
Dionyfius Periegetes, defcribing the maiiufafturc
of the Seres, which, he fays was fpun finer than
the work of the fpider, to yarn made of the luocl
of Britain, a country at the oppofite extremity of
the earth. \_Dionys. v. 757. — Defcriplion of Bri-
tain prefixed to Hohri/lied's Chronicle, V. i, p. 221,
ed. 1586.]

But whatever doubts or errors the autliors, who
wrote before filk-worms were brought to Europe,
might fall into, it was clearly afcertained that filk,
fericum, or Median drapery, was made of the flcnd-
er threads (fttrctl<x) fpun by worms in tlie country
of the Seres, by Procopitts, Gothic. L. iv, c. 17 —
TheophiladiSimocatta: Hiji .L.^\\\,c . g,andtheextraft
in Photii. Bibl.p. 93 — Theophancs in Pljulii Bibl. p.
79 — Suidas, "vo. Sh^e;, Sh^ocji — Zonaras, V. iii. p.
50, ed. Baftl. 1557 — And by all the writers of tlie
middle ages, who have occafion to mention filk,
and efpecially Otho Frifingenfis \_GeJl. Friderici I,
ap. Muratori Script. V. vi, col. 66S] when relating
the tranfportation of the filk- weavers (' opifices qui
fericos pannos icxcre folent') from Greece, the on-
ly Chriftian country where the manufsfture was
known, to Sicily. Suidas, in particular, fays ex-
prefsly, \.\\M. fericum, called by fome wf/a.va, is pro-
duced by a worm in the country of the Seres, and
therefor the ftuff made of the metaxa which was
formerly called Median, was afterwards called _/}/■;-
cum. — With fo many pofitive evidences before
them, it is really furprifing, that any doubt con-
cerning the application of thofe names fhould have
exifted among the learned of modern times.

With ref[)eft to the filk reported to have been
produced in Cos, not Ceos, it muft have been of a
very bad quality, or in very minute quantities, if
the women, polTeffing it, would fubmit to the te-
dious and laborious operation of making raw ma-
terials out of foreign finiftied goods for their own
manufafture. But it feems to be a miftake to fay,
that there were any filk-worms, or bombyces, in
that ifland : and it may be prefumed, that what-
ever manufafture of filk-goods was cariicd on
there, was, Uke thofe of Tyre and Berytiis (to be
mentioned afterwards), fupplied with raw-filk im-
ported from the Eaft, which may be luppofed of a
quality inferior to that retained by the original pro-
prietors for their own mannfafture, and thence the

different

178

A. D. 73.

of the prices of feveral Oriental commodities in Roman ^ew^zm and their
tenth parts, called ajfes, and alfo in modern pounds, {hillings, and pence,
fterling *, as they were fold about this time in Rome by the Roman
pound, equal to twelve ounces of our avoirdupois weight f .

Roman. |

Britilh. 1

Roman. |

Britifli.

d.

a.

£•

J*.

d.

d

a.

£•

s. d ■

Sandarak

0

5

0

0

4

Long pepper

15

0

0

9 8t

Cinnabar -

12

5

0

8

I

White pepper

7

0

0

4 H

Ladanum, the

Black pepper

4

0

0

2 7

beft

4

0

0

2

7

Coftus

16

0

0

10 4

Bdellium, ge-

Indian fpike

-

nuine

3

0

0

I

"t

nard from

30

0

0

19 4i

Myrh, from

13

0

0

8

41

to

100

0

3

4 7

to

22

0

0

14

2i

Cinnamon

Stade, tears of

wood

20

0

0

12 II

myrh, from

6

0

0

3

10^

Cinnamon oil,

to

50

0

I

12

3i

formerly i

,000

0

32

5 10

Frankincenfe,

now X I

,500

0

48

8 9

from

14

0

0

9

Oy

Malabathrum,

to

16

0

0

10

4

from

I

0

0

0 71

Ginger,

6

0

0

3

10^

to

300

0

9

13 9

Cardamomum,

12

0

0

7

9

Malabathrum

Myrobalans,

2

0

0

I

3?

oil

60

0

I

18 9

Storax, the beft

19

0

0

12

3t

As the nautical fcience of the Greeks and Romans, or, to fpeak more
rbrredlly, of the Egyptian Greeks fubjedl to Rome, was probably now
brought to its higheft degree of improvement, I have thought this a
proper place to throw together a few detached hints of the naval affairs
of the Roman empire in thefe ages.

The Romans were apparently the moft awkward feamen in their own
empire ; and they knew nothing of the tides, or of the management of
vefl'els in the Ocean, as is evident from the damage fuftered by Caefar's

oJfFtrent eftimation of the Coan and Oriental fa-
brics at Rome: for wt are alTurcd Ly Theophaiies
and Zoiiaras, tliat, before filk-worms were brought
to Coiillantiiiople in the middle of the fi.\th cen-
tury, no perfon in that capital knew that filk was
produced by a worm ; a pretty (Irong evidence tliat
jhcrc were 110 filk worms of any kind in an ifland
lo near to Conltantinople as Co-; is.

* The Roman ilcnarlus is rated at fevcn pence
three larlhingi Iterling, reckoning the ounce of
Uandard fi'ver at five rtiillings. Sec Arluthnut' s
Tallcs,p. ij.

f ; V 11 the articles are cxtraf^cd from the great
thtfauius of Pliny ; and all, except the two fifft.

from his twelfth book. Moft of them are alfo in-
ferted in Arbuthnot's ninth cliapter. But the
doftor's copy of Pliny mull have differed very
nuich from my two, which I find agree exatllv in
all the numbers.

\ Tile price was fo high as 1,000 denarii In con-
fequence of the article being nionopoli/ed by the
king of the Gebanites (or Catabcni j : and the (Hl'»
higlier price was occafioned by the trees being wi!^
fully burnt down. Pliny has nowhere given uj
the price of the bark of cinnamon, the n oft pretl.
0U8 part ; but we may judge of it from the i)r!( c
of the wood : or -Qu. did he call the bark wood i

A. D. 73* 179

fleet on the coaft of Britain, and the wreck of that of Drufus on the
coaft of Germany. What Uttle nautical knowlege they had was merely
fubfervient to the purpofes of war : for com.merce, as beneath tlie dig-
nity of the conquerors of the world, was abandoned to their fubjects of
Gadir, New Carthage, Maflilia, Rhodes, Phoenicia, Egypt, &c. Their
own veflels were of two kinds, the one adapted for battle, and the other
for tranfporting their armies. Their fhips intended for battle, though
they carried feveral tires of oars, drew very little water *. They were
very long in proportion to their breadth ; and probably their bottoms
were fiat, or fo nearly fo, that they could be conveniently hauled up
upon the beach f , and their fides parallel to each other, being according
to the be ft judgement I can form of them, in the conftrudion of their
bodies, much more like the coal barges on the River Thames than fhips
fit to go upon fait water. They were called long fhips to diftinguilh them
from others, which, having their bottom timbers fomewhat rounded,,
and their fides bending in to the ftem and ftern-pofl, were called round
JhipsX' Their tranfports, or fliips of burthen, which Caefar calls great
fhips, and fays, they required (comparatively) deep water, drew in facl
fo little water, that the foldiers leaped over their fides, and walked
onfhore, as failors do from a fhip's long-boat.

The natives of Greece appear to have been even now but very indif-
ferent feamen. Polybius, about a century and a half before the Chriftian
»ra, had obferved, that in his time very few of them ventured fo far
from home as Byzantium ; a voyage not half fo long as that afcribed to
the Argonauts in the fabulous ages. If we may truft to the poetical
authority of Ovid, they ftill perfifted in the grofs ftupidity of preferring
the greater bear to the lefTer one as their mark for the north pole in the
enlightened age of Auguftus. And Lucian, contemporary with the
emperor Antoninus the Philofopher and his fon Commodus, reprefents
the whole city of Athens as flruck with, aftonifhment at the fight of a
very large fliip. It may be obferved, however, that moft of the names
ufed by the Roman writers to diftinguifh the different kind of velTels,
were received by them from the Greeks §.

* The Llbuniians decoyed their enemies, pro- out of the water required flat bottoms : and Lucf-

babty Romans, who were onboard a tn'remis, into an's fiction (in his "True hijlory) of his vefiel going

fiiallow water, which, by cronching down in it, upon the ice infers, that ihe could .land upright

they made to have the appearance iti 3, deep ica. without being I'upported by the water, and with-

(' alti marls'), wherein men's heads only could be out the additional keels given to the ice boats in

4ecn abos'c the water. The trtrtmis got aground, America.

and was taken. [_Frontini Stratii^anata, L. ii, c. % Some have fuppofed, that thofe veflels were

5.] How many feet, or rather how many inches, literally circular, or, in other words, that people

of water did this ihip of war require to float her \ went to fea in tubs. See a reprefentatiun of a

— Paulus Emilias went up the Tiber (which, if I round vefie] in the plate at p. 31.
am rightly infarracd, has fcarcely four feet of wa- J" A lift of the various kinds of veflels may be

ter) to Rome in a veflel ai fintccn tires of oars, found in Aulus Gellius. ^NoU. Att. L. x, c. 25. j

taken from the king of Macedonia. [Z/f/i Hiji. But as it only contains bare names, it would bs

L. xlv, c. 35.] ufekfs to tranfcribe it.

f The common praiSice of hauling their vctTtls

Z 2

i8o A. D. 73.

The Greeks of Egypt were now by far the beft navigators of the
Roman empire, having apparently fucceeded to the nautical knowlege,
as well as to the commerce, of the Phcenicians : and they poflelFed the
important advantages, which the others fcarcely ever had, of a free na-
vigation in the Oriental feas as well as in the Mediterranean, and of
having a conflant, great, and ready, market for their merchandize in
the wealthy capital of the Roman world. Their induftry and ingenuity,
thus cheriflied and encouraged, were further ftimulated by the example
of the Arabians, as far as we know, the oldell, and apparently the beft,
navigators upon the Indian ocean, or Erythraean fea, with whom they had
much intercourfe. And we may prefume, that they had acquired a con-
fiderable degree of proficiency in the theory and pradice of navigation
by the aflbciation of great numbers of Phoenician feamen, who, on the
decline of trade in their own ports, would undoubtedly refort to Alex-
andria : for feamen are a clafs of people, who feel lefs inconvenience in
expatriating themfelves than thoie of any other profeflion ; and they
muft ever follow the footfteps of commerce, with which they are fo
clofely and fo infeparably conneded. As to the natives of the old
Egyptian race, they do not appear in any age to have had the fmalleft
concern in maritime affairs or a6tive foreign commerce.

The antient feamen trufted chiefly to their oars for making way, nei-
ther the hulls of their veflels nor their fails being calculated for going
to windward : and thence, as the motion of the veflel through the water
was pretty uniform, we find the diftances of places generally noted by
fo many days' courfes, a kind of menfuration, which, however prepofter-
ous it would be in modern times, was then tolerably accurate, efpecial-
ly when applied to paflages which had been often repeated. When the
wind was fair, they hoifted their fails, which appear from medals and
fculptures, the only kinds of information we poifefs, to have been very
imall, and went before it. And they alfo knew how to trim their fails
by ropes anfwering apparently to the Iheets and tacks, and perhaps alfo
to the braces, in modern veflels, fo as to avail themfelves of any wind,
which was not before the beam, as we find antient authors mention vef-
fels going oppofite courfes with the fame wind when moderate*, or, in
modern fea language, failing with the wind upon the beam f . In
the runs between the Red fea and the coaft of India they never had the

* ' The wind Argeftes (about we(l-nortli-\ve(l) oars; and alfo with v. 289, where the fail is

*• is gcntlf, and equally coiivcni<^nt for goin^ and fqiiared by the tacks or flitcts, (' Una onincs fe-

' returning.' [AVrtcr. ^irjl. vat. L. v, c. 16.] ' cere pedeni' wliich word Servius explains as

+ Compare Pliny, L. ii, c. 47, where ' prolalis meaning the rope, by whieh the fail is llretched

' (jcdibus' ftcms to mean />au/ing fofzvarJ t/je tacit, out) and one of the /ifly yard-arms ir- hauled in^

with Virgil, JEnrid. I,, v, v. 16, where the wind while the ollu-r is eafed off, which could only be

being northerly when the Trojans arc bound from done by braces ; the oars are laid in ; the rowers

Carthage to I.aly, but firll to make Sicily, the gone to deep on their benches ; and the fleet if^

tliU. are trimmed to the wind, aud helped by the gliding through the water before a pleafanthrcc/''.

A. D. 73, 181

monfoons right aft ; and fometimes they mufl have had them almoft
barely upon the beam.

The maritime part of the Itinerary of Antoninus, which was com-
piled by imperial authority, feemingly not long after this time, gives us
a good pidure of the timid practice of the Mediterranean feamen in
creeping into almoft every bay on the coaft. It begins with diredling
what ports are to be touched at in making a paflage from Achaia in
Greece to Africa, of which there are no fewer than twenty, and fome ot
them at the heads of bays on the coafts of Greece, Epirus, Italy, within
the Sicilian Jiraits as far as Mcffana, then along the eaft and fouth fides of
Sicily to the weft point of it, whence to the Maritime ifland, and from
it a long run, rated at nine hundred ftadia (about ninety miles) to the
coaft of Africa.

Though the general practice was to keep clofe to the fhore, or at leaft
to have it conftantly in fight, yet, as they were fure of an extenfive
range of coaft for their land-fall, they fometimes ventured to depart
from that dilatory and dangerous timidity, when they could depend
upon a fair wind by the regular return of the etefians in the Mediter--
ranean, or the monfoons in the Indian ocean. We have feveral inftan-
ces of what they called the co?npendious paffage, among which I ftiall in-
ftance the following runs to Alexandria. Agrippa went from Rome to
Puteoli, where he found a veflel belonging to Alexandria ready to fail,
and he arrived in that port in a few days, [fofeph. Antiq. L. xviii, c. 8.]
Galerius was conveyed to Alexandria in the feventh, and Babilius in the
fixth, day from the Sicilian ftraits. \_PHn. L. xix,/>/-o^OT.] Thefe might
be reckoned pretty good paffages even in modern times *.

In the Mediterranean, during the winter, mild as it is in that fea-,
and ftaort as the nights are, compared with thofe of our more northern
climate, all navigation was fufpended, as well now as in the. age of the
antient Greek poet Hefiod, unlefs upon fome very extraordinary and
urgent occafions, or when avarice, as Pliny fays, overcame that cautious
regulation. Even the Phcenicians ufually finiftied their voyages for
the year about the end of autumn, and laid up their veflels during
the winter. \_ASs of the apoftles, cc. 27, 28. — Flin. L. ii, c. 47. — Sueton. in
Claud, c. 18. — Veget. L.iv,c. 39. — Lticiaui Dial. 'Toxaiis.'] We muft,
however, remember, that the owners of veflels or goods had not the op-
portunity of guarding againft the ruinous confequences of fliipwreck, ,
by paying a moderate premium of infurance f: and, indeed, the fame

* Piiny [i- XV, c. i8] tells a ftory of the fire- Cato's aflertion mutl have been falfe with refpedl

brand Cato, ' burning with deadly hatred to Car- to the time, the paffage to Rome being at Icait 500

• thage,' fliowing a fig to the Roma.i fenate, miles, which alone was more than fufficicnt to take

which, he faid, had been pulled only three days up three days.

before at Carthage, as an argument againft per- f It has been fuppofcd, that infurance upon vef-

njitting- a powerful city fo near them to exill ; and fels was introduced by the emperor Claudius, but ■

ht adds, with fome flowers of rhetoric, th.it that without any authority, as 1 have already obfervid..

fingle apple (he makes figs a fpecies of apple) was p. i^ i note,
-ihe. caufe of the de(lru'''\ion of Carthage. But

•i82 A. D. 75.

caution, and even legal reftridions againft winter navigations, have
continued in late ages.

As their coafting navigation neceflarily brought them among fhoals
and rocks, it was often neceflary to pafs the whole night lying at anchor.
But in crofling well-known bays, or in making a run to the oppofite
fide of the Mediterranean, they often ventured to proceed in the night-
time, {leering their courfe by the ftars, of which they had more know-
lege than is to be found among the untaught part of our modern fea-
men, vvhofe compafs diredls their courfe in the darkeft nights with cer-
tainty and confidence.

The navigators of the Erythraean fea were probably fuperior to thofe,
who confined their practice to the Mediterranean. We know that they
failed in the night, even in their coafting voyages along the African
fhore * : and we have at leaft one inftance of great knowlege of the
theory of the tides, of the knowlege of the polar ftar, of the nature of
the fpring tides, and even the difference of night tides, of the indica-
tions of the approach to land, and of the pilotage of the various har-
bours, in that judicious merchant and navigator, who wrote the Periplus
of the Erythrsean fea.

They liill preferred fir, and other timber of a fimilar nature, as the
Greeks did in the age of Theophraftus, for building their veflels, which
they bolted with brafs in preference to iron. They covered the bot-
toms with wax, which was at leaft fometimes mixed with pitch. [Theo-
phrajl. L. v, c. 8 — Flin. L. xvi, cc, 10, 12. — Artiani Teripl. Font. Eux.
p. 117, ed. Blancardi. — Veget. de re mil. L. iv, c. 34.] An inftance of ex-
traordinary attention to the prefervation of the bottom appeared in a
veflx;!, laid to have belonged to Trajan, which was dug up in the fifteenth
century from the Lake Nemorefe, or Lake of Aricia. It was doubly
planked with pine and cyprefs, over which there was a coat of pitch, to
which a covering of linen was faftened, and over all a ftieathing of flieet
lead (' chartam plumbeam') faftened with nails of brafs f. \_Leoms Bapt.
Alherti de re adificatoria L. v, c, 12.]

The mafts and yards were made of fir on account of its lightnefs.
[Plin. L. xvi,t:. 39.] The ufe of three mafts, introduced by Archimedes
in Hiero's great fliip, [fee above, p. 98J does not appear to have become
general ; for I find but one inftance (in Julius Pollux) of a ftiip of three

• Marinus, as quoted by Ptolemy [/-. i, c. 7] be admitted as very fuffitient evidence of their

quotes Diodoriis Saniiiis, as faying, that the navi- iinftuinal navigation, though it is bUuidtrcd iu

jjators in tlie Indian ocean, when p;oing ftom In- palling throuc;li fo many hands; fornofeanianciuld

dia to Limyrica (which, however, is a part of In- be fo ignorant as to think, tliat the liars would

dia) kept the conlltllation called the Bull in the bear on the fame part of his veffel through the

middle of the fl:y, and the Pleiades upon the mid- whole night.

(lie of the yards ; and thofe who failed from f The French Kncyclopedic [a;V. Dculltigc des

Arabia for Azania on tlic eafl coaft of Africa vaijfiau.v] has Girfi pitch, and nail? < f cc/>^a-, in-

Heercd by the liar Canopus. This account may (lead of Wacif pitch and nails of /r./jr.

A. D. 73- i^3

niaf>s. belonging to Antigonus, which was remarkable on that account ;
a pr^^y pfood evidence that fuch vefTcls were uncommon. Even the
largeli vefiels feem to have had but one maft, and that fcarcely fo lofty
as the lower mafts of modern fhips, with the addition of poles fet up at
the head and ftern to carry fmall fails. Moft ot the mafts were raifed
and lowered occafionally, like thofe of modern fmall craft, which go
UT^der bridges. U'^rg. JEn. L. v, v. 287. — Frontiiii Stratag. L. ii, c. 5.]
But the Alexandrian fliips appear to have had proper (landing mafts.

Pliny fays [L. xix, procevi.'\ that in addition to the larger fails, of
which each veflel appears to have carried but one, and that, according
to our modern ideas of fails, a very fmall one, they had lately introduc-
ed othei"s above them, befides fails in the prow and others in the ftem * ;
* and by fo many ways did they challenge death.' The fails were made
of flax, and of a fabric much too flight for ftanding a gale of wind, if
we may judge from the fame names being applied to them, which ex-
prefled the kind of linen ufed for clothing. But we know, that the
large fliips of Alexandria (to be defcribed prefently) and alfo thofe of
the Veneti in Gaul (already defcribed, p. 115) carried fails made of
leather f .

The fails, beftdes their principal ufe in impelling the vefl!el by the
force of the wind, ferved alfo for fignals.and for diftinguifliingtheveflels
of a fleet, by means of the colours wherewith they were ftained. The
ftory of the fatal miftake in the colour of Thefeus's fail is known to every
fchool-boy. Various colours of the fails for diftinguifliing the divifions
of the fleet feem to have been introduced by Alexander the Great : and
we find Cleopatra's royal galley diftinguiflied by a purple fail in the fam-
ous battle of Allium. In the night time the veflels were dilHnguifli-
ed by lights : Scipio's own galley carried three lights, each tranfport,

two, and every warlike veflel in his fleet, one. {Plm. Hi/}. L. xix, c. i

Flori Hifi. L. iv, c. 11 Livii H'ljl. L. xxix, c. 25 — and fee Pclyani Stratag.

L. \i, c. II.] We learn from Procopius, that the fame diftindions by
fails and lights were ufed in the fleet of Belifarius in the fixth century,
and they appear to have continued through the middle ages, till the dif-
tinguifliing colour was removed from the fails to the flags fixed more
confpicuoufly on the heads of the mafts, or the ftern.

The gubernactilaX, or fteering paddles, of which each veflel carried
two §, had palms, or blades, much broader than thofe of the oars ; and

* There is an incredible ftory of a Roman (hip prcfentations, that they bore no refemblance to

intended to caMyJifty fails, already noticed, p. 83 modern rudders.

note. jj A learned commentator recommends the ufe

f Pliny has not a word of any kind of cloth be- of two rudders on the quarters of modern (hips —

Jug made of hemp, which, he only fays, [Z,. xix, becaufe the ftrcam of water paffing the (hip mufl

€. 9] is ufeful for making cordage ; though the be ftrongcr there than at the llern-poft.— Did he

Tliracians, as we learn from Herodotus, had made fuppofc a (hip formed like a chert ? The ve(rels of

cloth of hemp many ages before his time. his country, to-be-fuie, come nearer to that form

X Thefe are ufually tranflated rudders. But we than thofe of any other in Eiiope.
Biay be fatisfi«d from coins and other antient re-

184

A. D. 73.

they feem to have been worked on the quarters much In the fame man ■
ner that failors fometimes fleer a fmall boat with an oar *, except that
the handles were brought withm-board through little ports or pigeon-
holes, and that they were fixed by ropes, which during engagements
were fometimes cut afunder, or rendered unmanageable, by fkilful
divers going under the quarters. Befides the people of Tapbrobane,
already mentioned, [p. 148] the Suiones a German nation, the Byzant-
ines, and upon fome occafions the Romans, had vefTels, which fleered at
both ends, fo that, either end being the head, they never needed to go
about, [y^liani Hlft. var. L. ix, c. 40. — T'ac. Ann. L. ii, c. 6; Germ —
Veget. L. iv, c. 46. — Dion. Cajf. L. Ixxiv.]

Each vefTel carried two or more anchors, the largefl of which was
called the facred anchor, and, like the flieet anchor of modern feamen,
was referved for the greateft neceflity. Though the propriety of mak-
ing anchors of iron feems to be obvious, yet the old pradlice of making
them of fome weaker fubflance feems ftill to have been kept up. But
in the following age iron anchors became general f.

The vefTels employed in the corn trade between Egypt and Rome
were apparently the largefl: of any upon the Mediterranean fea, which
was perhaps a confequence of the corn bounty given by Tiberius. Two
of the three fliips, in which the apoftle Paul made his palTige from Judaea
to Italy, were of Alexandria ; and one of them carried two hundred and
feventy-fix people, befides her cargo of corn. It is probable, that the
vefTel, wherein Jofephus, the jewifli hiftorian, was call away on his pafT-
age to Rome, which carried fix hundred people, was alfo of Alexandria.
But thefe are nothing to the aftonifhing magnitude of the Ifis of
Alexandria, which, if the dimenfions of her, as defcribed by Lucian :{:,
in his dialogue called the Ship, be correal, mufl have meafured qhout four

* The coiTocorios of India, vvliicli were perhaps, Barak.e and Baiygaza. But iathe reign of Adrian

through the medium of the Arabians or Tyrlans, we lind, that the anchors were made of iron ; for

the models of the naval conflruftion ofthe Greeks, Arrlan, ia his Periplus of the Eiixine fea addrtfTed

are to this day fleered by two broad paddles; to that emperor, [/>. 120, ed. Blancarcl'i\ fays,

lSlavrjrinus''s yoyages, V. ii,/. ^cf) of Ev^iijh tran- that the people of Colchis pretended to polfcfs an

flaliorT] as was alio the galley wherein Captain Fo- anchor belonging to the (hip Argo, which, fava he,

reft made his voyage of difcovevy to New-Guinea, ' cannot be genuijic, l^fCiiiiF! it if mailc cf iron,

though he generally found one fufficient. ' though otherways fomewhat different from the

f I believe, no aniicnt author has told us, when ' anchors of our times.' He alfo faw at the fame

anchors were firll made of iron. In the early ages place the fragments of a very anticiit anchor made

of Mediterranean navigation the Phoenicians of Hone. — Now, of what material were the anchors

had anchors of wood loaded with lead. And of the Grecian vefTels in the Indian ocean eonipof-

in the ages now under confideration the Phcc- cd ? W^ere tliey of wood loaded with Hones, fuch

nicians, and alfo the Arabians, navigators at as arc flill ufcd inllead of graplings for fmall craft

leafl not inferior to the Pliucnicians, may be and boats in fome remote ])laces ? And were an-

prefumcd to have flill had their anchors of no chors of iron introduced fo late as between the age

better materials; feeing that the Egyptian Greeks, of the anihor of the Periplus of the Erythr;van fea

who had the example of both thofe maritime and that of Arrian, and t!ie pretcndedlyautient one

nations before their eyes, had anchors, which, ftiewn to Arrian, one of the firR rude edays ?

as wc learn from the Periplus of the Erythra:an % Though Luclan flouriflied in the later part of

Tea, were cut to pieces ami ground away by ihe the fecond century, his defcriptlon of the Ifis is in-'

.'^arp points of the rocky bottom in llie bays of fcrted here for the fake of connexion.

A. D, 73, 185

thouf and tuns ^ or about twice the burthen of one of our firft-rate {hips of war.
As there is nowhere elfe fo complete a pidlure of an antient merchant
fhip, I have extraded the following defcription of this ftupendous vefTel,
with an account of her tedious paflage, wherein we have a good view of
the navigation of the beft of the Mediterranean feamen of thofe days.

Heron, the commander of the Ifis, failed from the Pharos of Alexan-
dria with a moderate breeze, and on the feventh day got fight of Aca-
mas, the weft point of Cyprus, where he met with a gale of wind from
the weft, which drove him out of his courfe as far as Sidon. Thence
he proceeded with a heavy gale through the channel between Cyprus
and the continent, and in ten days reached the Chelidonian iflands on
the coaft of Pamphylia, where there never fails to be a heavy fea when
the wind is at fouth-fouth-weft. There they were in great danger of
being loft, till feeing a hght upon the coaft of Lycia, they thereby knew
where they were : and at the fame time a bright ftar, one of the Diol-
curi (Caftor and Pollux), fettling upon the top (or maft-head) pointed
the way out to fea, when they were almoft aground. Thence failing
through the yEgjean fea, they put into the Pirseus, the port of Athens,
on the feventieth day after their departure from Egypt. Had they been
able to keep their proper courfe to the fouthward of Crete and the Pe-
loponnefus, they fliould have been in Italy long before that time.

One of the many Athenians, who went to gaze upon this wonderful
fhip, got the following account of her from her carpenter. She was one
hundred and twenty cubits (i 80 feet) long, her breadth above the fourth
part of her length, and her depth from the upper deck to the loweft
part of the hold at the pump-well, twenty-nine cubits *. The reft of the
defcription, which is without meafurement, is all in the language of ad-
miration at the prodigious maft and yard (no mention of more than one
of either) the number of hides over one another in the fail, a failor go-
ing up the ropes and running out to the yard-arm. Upon the upper
part of the ftern there was a golden figure of a goofe ; and where the
prow (or head) ftretched out, there was on each fide a figure of the
goddels Ifis. The ornaments, the paintings, the flame-coloured parafion
of the fail, the anchors, the engines for turning round (feemingly an-
fwerable to the winlafs and capftan in modern ftiips) and the lodging
rooms, or cabins, at the ftern, all ftruck the viiitors with aftonifhment,
who compared the number of people onboard her to an army. They
were moreover told, that her cargo of wheat would be fufficient to feed
all the people of Attica for a whole year, (but that muft be merely
failor's rodomontade) and that the annual profit made by her owner was
about twelve Attic talents, or ^2,325 fterlingf.

* Here the carpenter has exaggerated in what f Some farther notices concerning the (hipping
the flrangers could not fee, for the honour of his of the ?iitient Greeks and Romans mjy be found
{hip : and it is from this exaggerated dimenfion in Ifidort Orig. L. xis, cc I, 2, 3. — Non. Marcel,
that her burthen comes to ie about 4,000 tuns. J: proprktate fermonunt, c. 1 ^.—Fu/gcn/ius tk prij'co

Jermime.

Vol. I. A a

1 86 A. D. 73.

If from the fubjeds of the Roman empire we pafs to the free nations
of the northern parts of Europe, we fhall find, indeed, very few materi-
als for naval hiftory, but thofe few very honourable to their nautical
knowlege and enterprife. Without the aid of afTured periodical fair
winds and fmooth water, without the certainty of a nightly anchorage,
or of a land-fall on the oppofite coaft of an inland fea, but trufting to
the appearance of the ftars, with probably the affiftancc derived from
the flight of birds carried with them for the purpofe*, they committed
themfelves to the boimdlefs and flormy Northern ocean, and held their
fearlefs courfe from Nerigon (luppofed to be Norway) to Thule ; [P//«.
L. iv, c. 16] which by the moft moderate and probable hypothefis was
Shetland. Thofe who mfift upon making it Iceland, lengthen the voy-
age, and exalt without, however, exaggerating, the fcience and intrepid-
ity, of the navigators of the North. The Suiones, a people of the Bal-
tic fea, are faid by Tacitus [Germania] to have had powerful fleets. Their
vefl^els, as already obferved, were conftruded fo as to reverfe their courfe
without the operation of going about ; and their oars were not fixed to
the row-ports, like thofe of the Mediterranean vefi'els, but loofe, and
ready to be fliifted or laid in, like thofe of modern boats. They made
no ufe of fails. - (See above, pp. 137, 184.)

77 — Pliny finifhed his great work, entitled Natural hijiory, in thirty-
feven books f. The firft fix, after the preliminary one, contain, in very
comprefled language, a complete fyftem of cofmography and geography,
as they were then underftood ; and the remaining thirty contain dc-
fcriptions of every article in the animal, vegetable, and mineral, clafi~es,
or kingdoms, and alfo all the works of art, together with fyftems of
agriculture and medicine ; the whole work containing, according to his
own prefatorv, or dedicatory, letter to the emperor Titus Vefpafian, twen-
ty thoufand things worthy of obfervation, extraded from about two
thoufand volumes, many of which were fcarcely ever read, even by the
lludious, and exhibiting a copious pidure of the univerfal fcience of the
age. This work, which has furniftied about half of the materials for the
view of the trade of the Roman world, and to which I have on fo many
other occafions been indebted, fully deferves the charader, given of it
by his nephew, of being ' copious, learned, and no lefs diverfified than
' Nature herfelf ;' and it is undoubtedly one of the moil fignal monu-
ments of indefatigable induflry and univerfal knowlege that was ever

J'crmone. Put they were all mere gran^marians, f Though they are numbered, and quoted, as

who knew no more of the fubjitt, upon which they thirty-fcvcn books, they are in truth only thirty-fix,

have undertaken to inilrucl others, than what they wliat is called the fird book being merely a table

collciftcd from the old Roman poets and hlllorians, of contents, with catalogues of the authors cjuoted

■who lived many centuries before them, and were or followed, who are niolUy Greeks. Winy him-

perhaps almofl as ignorant as thcmfclvet- Mar- felf calls them thirty-lix books. Hi« nephew how-

cellus fays, the yards are held fad by the anchors ! ever, in the enumeration of his finiflicd works,

* For the mcihod of lleering by the flight of icakcs them thirtyfeveii.

birds fee below under the year 890. 3

A. D. 77. 187

produced by one man, and can be equaled by no other work, that ever
was produced in the world before the Encyclopedias of modern times,
which are compiled by the united labours of many colledors : and, what
is ftill more furprifing, it was but a part of many works compofed by
liim* before he completed the fifty-iixth year of a life, devoted not on-
ly to literature, but alfo to public bufmefs and ofRcial duties f .

When Pliny wrote, Rome was in its mofl flourifhing ftate under the
prudent and vigorous government of Vefpafian. Grecian literature was
highly efteemed, the fciences were afliduoufly cultivated, and the arts
were encouraged by men of liberal education and ample fortune. The
periods of the revolutions of the planets were known ; and the theory
of eclipfes was underftood, or at leafl: received from the tables conftrud-
ed by Hipparchus. The earth was known to be of a fpherical form ;
though its pofition was erroneoufly fixed in the center of the univerfe.
But even profefled geographers, Hipparchus alone excepted, had not yet
difcovered, that the application of latitude and longitude to the pofition
of places was the very life and foul of their fcience. [Strobo, L. ii, p.
194 B.] And the following furprifing inftancc of ignorance in one of
the befl-informed of the Romans gives room for a fufpicion, that what
they knew of the fyfiem of the univerfe was implicitly received from
more enlightened nations ; and not real fcience deduced from experi-
ments, and founded upon rational principles. An Egyptian obeliflc had
been fet up at Rome by Auguflius, with tables engraved on brafs, affix-
ed to it, containing rules for knowing the hours by the length of the
fliadow. For about thirty years before Pliny wrote, thefe rules had
been found erroneous ; which he, as great a philofopher as he was, en-
deavoured to account for by earthquakes, inundations of the river, the
earth having moved from its center, or even the fun itfelf having wan-
dered out of its place ; in fhort, by any thing rather than by the obvious
refledion, that there might have been an error in the original calcula-
tion of the tables. \_Hi/l. nat. L. xxxvi, c. 10.]

* Befides his finifhed works in one hundred and ftudy for youth, not lefs picafant, and Infinitely

two books, there were one hundred and fixty com- more ufeful, than the abfurdities, to call them ne

mon -place books of ftletlions, which he left to his worfe, of Ovid and Virgil.

nephew. Tiiey were written upon both fides of the -|- The firft eruption of Vefuvius, recorded In

paper, and very fiiiatl and clofe, lo that they were hillory, which deftroyed the cities of Herculaneum

not iuinjfome library books, nor, indeed, books at and Pompeii, was alfo fatal to Pliny, whofe curi-

all, but niaterlals for compofing from. Befoie ofity to examine tlie nature of that awful phaeno-

they became fo numerous, he was offered 4,000 menon carried him fo near to It, that he was found

nummi (^"3,229 = 3:4) for them. [P/inii £pi/loU, dead, fuffocated, as was fuppofed, by the fulphur :

L. Hi, cp. 5.] Sucli was tlie value, even of collec- and fo his valuable life fell a facrifice to that ardent

tions ol m^iterliils judicloufiy chofen. In thofe days, third of knowlege, which has rendered his name

when, for want of printing, learning was confined immortal. [^P/inii Epiji. L. \\, ep. 16.] It ap-

to the few, whom heaven had bleffcd with a tafte pears from Condaminc's Tour in linly, that the

for it, along with the enjoyment of a plentiful for- foundations of the houf^s in Herculaneum confiR

tune. of volcanic lava, which proves, that th^ eruption of

Seledions from Pliny's Natural hillory, efpecl- Vefuvius, which overwhelmed that city, wa$ not,

ally if they were accompanied with the judicious as is ufually fuppofed, the firft.
i-emarks of an enlightened teacher, would form a

A a 2

i8$ A. D. 77.

Their knov/Iege of the furface of the earth was more defective than
could be fuppofed poflible, if we had not the mofl convincing proofs of
it. Even Strabo and PUny beheved, that the two temperate zones were
the only habitable portions of the earth ; and Pliny, like the poets, af-
ferts, that there can be no communication between them on account of
the intolerable fcorching heat of the intermediate torrid zone. Not-
with (landing this aflertion he names feveral places within the tropic,
where he obferves that the fun for iome time projeds fliadows fouth-
ward ; and he even mentions a mountain of India called Maleus, which,
as he defcribes it, having the fun for fix months on its north, and other
fix on its fouth, fide, ought to be on the equinoclial line *. [Strabo. L. ii,
p. 171. — PUn. L. ii, cc. 68, 73, L. vi, cc. 19, 29 et pajfwi.'] The antient
geographers, however, allowed lefs than its true breadth to the torrid
zone. They were ftill ignorant of the Cafpian fea being an inland lake.
Pliny fays, that Arabia is of the fame figure, and fize, and precifely in
the fame latitude as Italy ; with which it has nothing in common, ex-
cept being a peninfula and flretching to the fouth- eafl. After examin-
ing the accounts of Polybius, Agrippa and Artemidorus, he gives the
following comparative view of the magnitude of the great divifions of
the earth, viz. Europe fomewhat above a third, Afia abotit a fourth,
and Africa about a fifth, of the whole. [Hi/l. nat. L. ii, 67; L. \'\,cc. 13,
28, -^-^P^ Such was the knowlege obtained of the diflant parts of the
world by the beft-informed of the Romans, in the extended ftate of the
Roman empire, and the fun-ihine of Roman fcience !

79 — Agricola, the father-in-law of Tacitus the hiflorian, was now
the Roman commander in Britain. Having already ferved in it under
Suetonius Paulinus, he was acquainted with the nature of the country,
and of the people ; and he employed foothing arts, as much as force, to
eftablifli the Roman authority : for, at the fame time that he was erect-
ing forts, and extending military ways, through the country, he enticed
the Britons to alTemble in towns, and to adopt the arts and the luxuries
of the Romans. After reducing the Ordovices and Mona {North-Wales
and Anglefe}'), he marched northward, along the weftern fhore, and led
the firft Roman army into that part of the ifland now called Scotland
(a". 80), iubduing the tribes who lay in the line of his march, and making
an excurfion as far as the river Tay, whence he returned (a". 81) to the
iflhmus between the Forth and the Clyde, which he guarded with a
chain of forts : and next year he reduced the fouth-weil part of the
country, afterwards called Galloway.

83 — Britifli liberty furvived now only on the north fide of the Forth ;

«♦ For this Pliny quotes Bcton, an artiil employ- tial line. Surely, the anticnts, when, thoy fpokc

.'d by Alexander the Great as a furvcyor, who of fouthcrly fli.ulows, mull have only meant Iha-

jnoft certair.ly never faw, and can fcarcely be fup- dows not piojedinjj fo far north at noon as thefc

pofed to have heard of, any place on the equinoc- in their own countri-.'s.

A. D. 83. 189

and there Agricola determined utterly to extirpate it. He crofTed the
Forth, and marched along the coaft of Fife, his fleet attending and
fupporting him all the way ; a meafure which the event fhewed to be
abfolutely neceflary ; for the Caledonians watched him clofely, attacked
his forts, and almofl: drove him to the refolution of repafTmg the Forth.
The ninth legion, recruited, after being nearly exterminated iDy Eoadicia,
M^as again almofl totally cut to pieces by the Caledonians, who were,
however, afterwards repelled by the reft of the Roman army.

84 — The Caledonians, next fpring, raifed an army, confifting, by
Agncola's account, of above thirty thoufand men, under the command
of the brave Galgacus, who, we are told, were utterly defeated at the
Grampian mountain, and the Roman allies (for the legions were not
engaged) loft only three hundred and forty men. The confequence of
this vidory was, that Agricola abandoned the ground for which he
fought, and retreated into the country of the Horefti, a tribe on the
fouth fide of the Tay, who had fubmitted to him ; fo that it very much
refembled the vidory pretended to have been gained by the Phocseaiis,
over the united fleets of the Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians, after which
Corfica, the objecfl of their contention, was totally abandoned by the
pretended conquerors. (See above, p. 47.)

Agricola, having received hoftagesfrom the nations who had fubmit-
ted to him, ordered his fleet to fail round the whole country, though
the fummer was far Ipent : and fuch a voyage of difcovery and danger,
would need the whole of a fummer, even if conduded by the ableft
I'eamen. Thefe navigators alleged, that they firft difcovered the Ork-
neys, and that they firft; made it certain that Britain was an ifland ; dif-
coveries, which were made by Pytheas many centuries before, and no-
ticed by many authors after him, of whom I fliall mention only Csefar
and Pliny, whofe writings ought at this time to have been well known
in Rome*. [T'aciti Vjtn ^'^gricolcr,']

■ Tacitus alfo informs us, that at this time the harbours of Ireland, which,
he fays, lies half way between Britain and Spain, were better known to

* Every unprejudiced, or unroman:zed, reader, fliall we believe, that above 30,000 warriors could
wbo penifes the Life of Agricola by Tacitus with be raifed in Caledonia only ? for all the fouth part
due attention, inuft perceive, that it is not fo much of modern Scotland, as far as the Tay, was fub-
hiilory, as poetical pancgytic (' tiler honor! ^Igri- jedl to the Romans : and it is very probable, that
* cms face ri met dejl'inatus'). It may be proved, the weitern tribes of Caledonia were not concern-
that the Roman army was not outnumbered by ed in this war.

tin; Caledonian, even if it did confiil of 30,000 It is worthy of obfervation, that Agjricola,
men, which however is utterly improbable- Kinjj who makes fo great a figure iu the works of mo-
David I, when poileired of all Scotland and Cum- dern writers, is not fo much as mentioned by any
berland, could not raife 27,000 men, though he writer of general Roman hiftory now extant, ex-
had Englid), Normans, and Germans, befides his cept once, very (lightly, by Dion Callius. Nor
own fubjv'tis, in his army. King Robert I, when does his name appear in ten familiar letters from
liis crown and life depended on the event of a the younger Pliny to Tacitus, though the fubjedts
fingle battle, could not, with the exertion of feven of fonie of them feem to give a fair opportunity o£
months, colled 31,000 fighting men. How then introducing it.

190 A. D. 98-— 117,

the merchants, by means of their commerce, than thofe of Britain. [^/^/,
^gric. c. 24.] Whether his geographical and his commercial infor-
mations were equally corred, I fliall not pretend to judge.

p8-ii7 — The emperor Trajan was a great conqueror. He added
Dacia, a large province beyond the Danube, to the Roman empire.
He undertook an expedition into the Eaft, and there alfo he carried the
Roman arms far beyond the limits of the empire, into Armenia, Mefo-
potamia, and Aflyria, which he reduced to the condition of provinces. But
his conquefts, rapid and deftructive as a whirlwind, ferved no purpofe,
but to exhauft the blood of his fubjefts, and of the nations who had the
misfortune to lie in the track of his career : for, as foon as the ftorm
was paft, they refumed their independence *. Trajan alfo poflefTed fe-
veral of the more valuable qualifications of a fovereign. He adorned
Rome with elegant buildings, and brought water to thofe parts of it,
which were deftitute of that accommodation ; he eftablifhed great libra-
ries ; he encouraged learning by proteding learned men ; he naade
good roads from one end of the empire to the other ; he conflructed a
convenient harbour at Centum cellae, (now Civita vecchia) and another
at Ancona, on the Adriatic fea ; and he apparently repaired, or renew-
ed, the Egyptian canal between the Nile and the Red fea f .

Adrian, the next einperor, adorned not only Rome, but the whole
empire, with magnificent buildings, which were executed under his
own eye ; for his whole reign was a continual peregrination. As the
Britons were not yet reconciled to the Roman yoke, he vifited this ifland
in one of his journies, and reformed feveral abufes in it (a°. 121). Giving
up all thoughts of completing the conqueflofit, he conflruded a wall of
about eighty miles in length, between the rivers Tine and Eden, in order
to cut off all communication between the Barbarians and the Romans, or
rather the Romanized Britons. And this kind of fortification by a con-
tinued wall, of which he fet the firft example, was repeatedly ufed in the
fucceeding ages of the Roman domination in this ifland. Adrian, for
ihcfe adions, obtained the title of Reflorer of Britain.

In the beginning of the reign of Antoninus Pius the Roman terri-
tories in Britain were under the government of Lollius Urbicus, who
has not obtained his due fliare of the fame ufually beflowed upon con-
querors. He quelled fome commotions in the conquered country (a". 140),
and built a fccond wall, which extended between the Firths of Forth
and Clyde ; the fanie which in later times has been called Gramis dyke,
i. e. warriors dyke. He alfo carried the Roman eagles as far as the
aeltuary of the river Varar, (now called the Farar, or Beulie) founded

• Modern commcutntors have extended his f I believe Ptolemy's mention of the Trajan'uxn

ia\a(;t» to the fouth coail of Arahia, and made nwr in his defcription of Egypt, is the only an-

hini the deflroyci- of tiie city of Arabia Felix, but ticnt authority we have for tliis work of Trajan,
without any aii'.hority. See above, p. 157, Note ij.

A. D. 140. 191

Roman towns *, which he connedted by miUtary roads ; and, in fhort,
provinciated a traft of country, moftly unknown to former Roman com-
manders, extending from the wall and the Firth of Forth northward
to the Moray Firth ; and from the Ocean weflward to Loch Long, or,
perhaps, Loch Fyne, the great ridge of mountains called Drumalban,
and Loch Nefs. The new province was called Vefpafiana, a name given,
or continued, by the modeily of Antoninus, in honour of Vefpafian, in
whofe reign the command of the Roman forces in Britain was delegated
to Agricola, who, under the two fucceeding emperors, brought a fmall
portion of this province, on the fouth fide of the Tay, under a moment-
ary fubjedion to Rome. [_yid. CapitoUn. Ant, Pii Vit Ricard. Corinenr.

L. i, c. 6, § 2, 43, 50.]

It was apparently during the adminiftration of Lollius, and probably
under the diredlion of Seius Saturninus, who, as Jabolenus and Richard
of Cirenceiler inform us, was then commander of a fleet ftationed on
the coall of Britain, that the maritime furvey, or rather two partial fur-
veys, of the north part of Britain, were performed, from which the geo-
graphy of that part of the ifland was compiled by Ptolemy. The more
accurate furveys of the fouthern part of the ifland, muft be prefumed
to have kept pace with the gradual extenfion of the Roman conquefls.

137-160 — The emperor Antoninus, adorned Rome and many other
cities with public buildings, and repaired or renewed harbours, light-
houfes, bridges, and aqueduds. He favoured virtuous and learned men.
He fold forae of the fuperfluous property, attached to the imperial office,
for the benefit of the public, and defrayed many public expenfes out
of his private fortune. Under his adminiftration all the provinces of
the empire flourifhed. His virtues deferved the furnarae of Pius, which,
though it was afterwards proftituted to many imperial monfters, was
truely honourable to him, becaufe it was given by the unanimous con-
f ent of his contemporaries, and confirmed to him by the impartial fuf-
frage of pofterity.

161 — The worthy emperor, Antoninus Pius, was fucceeded by Mar-
cus Aurelius Antoninus, ufually called the Philosopher, who was no-
thing inferior to him in every virtue. The reigns of thefe two excel-
lent princes gave the Roman world above forty years of the felicity
flowing from a government, whofe only objed was the good of the
fubjeds ; a period not to be equaled in the hiflory of the Romans ; and,
indeed, not frequently occurring in that of any other people.

He was the author of many good laws, one of which direcfted, that
fhipwrecked merchandize fhould belong entirely to the lawful owners,

• The names and pofitions of the towns, or diftanccs, compiled by Richard of Cirenccfter from

ftations, as given by Ptolemy, who wrote foon af- ajitient Roman authorities, contain all the inform-

ter the conquefts of Urbicus, and the more copi- ation we poffefs refpefting this fartheft acquifi^

ous enumeration of them, with the intermediate tion of the Romans in Britain.

192

A. D. 161.

without any interference of the officers of the exchequer : and he or-
dered, that thofe who were guilty of plundering wrecks fhould be fe-
verely puniihed. Thefe laws he borrowed from the Rhodian code,
which he made the ftandand of his condud: in maritime affairs. When
Eudaemon, a merchant of Nicomedia, complained to him, that, after
fuffering fhipwreck, he had been plundered in the Cyclades by the im-
perial officers, he replied, that he indeed was lord of the earth, but that
the fea was governed by the Rhodian laws, and that his caufe flaould be
determined by them.

The emperor Antoninus alfo attended carefully to the respiration of the
roads ; and thence it is exceedingly probable, that the work defcribing all
the roads with their ftages, and intermediate diftances, and alfo the mari-
time ftations for veflels, throughout the Roman empire, which is fo well
known to the learned, under the name of the Itinerary of Antoninus, and
is fo ufeful in illuflrating antient geography, was compiled under his
authority, if not under that of his predeceffor, and has been occafional-
ly renewed, with alterations adapted to the times, though ftill bearing
the original name of Antoninus, juil as almanacks, and other modern
periodical compilations, retain the names of the original undertakers of
them through all their renovations *.

From this Itinerary, and alfo from the more copious Itinerary of Bri-
tain, drawn up by a Roman commander in this ifland, and happily ref-
cued from oblivion by Richard of Cirencefter, London appears to have
been already the moft important city in the ifland, as it is the center
of a greater number of roads than any other.

In the reign of the emperor Marcus Antoninus, flouriflied Ptolemy,
a Grecian native of Egypt, the moft celebrated aftronomer and geogra-
pher of antiquity, and, after Hipparchus, whofe works are loft, the firft
who applied graduation to maps, and reduced geography to fome de-
gree of regularity : fo that his works were defervedly entitled to the
pre-eminent rank they held for fourteen centuries as the ftandard in
thofe fciences. The copies of them abound in errors, as may be ex-
pedled from the frequent tranfcription of a work much in requeft, con-
lifting almoft entirely of tables of names and numbers. But, if ex-
amined with due care, and proper allowances, they will be foimd not
fo inaccurate or deftitute of information, as fome have rather raflily
pronounced them. The moft confpicuous of his errors are in the Brit-

• It was a part of the duty of a Roman gene-
ral to have accurate furvcys made of all the roads
in the country under his command, with particu-
lar dcfcriptions and maps. \_y'gct. de re mllitari,
/.. iii, c. 6.3 Ae a thing done of courfe, it is
only mentioned by hiftorianB, when an uncom-
monly great, or univcrfal, furvey or reparation of
the roade was made : and fuch a great work was

undertaken by Trajan ; [Aurel. Vi^or de Cas. —
Galen. L. ix, c. 8 j and it is probable, that tiie
finifliinjr hand was put to it in the reign of Mar-
cus. [See Jul. Capitol, in M. yfnton.J Another
meafurement of the provinces of the world was
made by order of Tiieodofuis. \_Duuil, quoted
in IVare't Hilerma,p. 101.]

A. D. i6t. 19 j

iih iflands, with which he begins his geographical tables, and ni India.
In joining the ieveral Britifli iiirveys, which muft have been in a great
meafure, if not wholely, deftitute of celeilial obfervations, he has made
the north part of Britain projed: to the eaft, inftead of the north ; and
he has ranged the Weftern iilands eaft and weft, along the north fliore
of Ireland, inftead of north and fouth, along the weft coaft of the north
part. of Britain, the weft being the true north point in them, as the
eaft is in his north part of the main land. Inftead of delineating India
as a triangular figure, projeding from the mouths oi" the Indus and the
Ganges, he makes it almoft a right line, running from weft to eaft, and
but a little to the fouthward of a line drawn between thofe rivers. He
had fome information of the names of places beyond the Bay of Ben-
gal, but exceflively confufed and erroneous ; and be makes the Indian
ocean a vaft lake *, though he muft have poflefied the better informa-
tion of Herodotus and Megafthenes, fandioned by the corred judgement
of Eratofthenes f. The total ignorance of the antients refpeding the
northern parts of Europe, which no Grecian or Roman navigator, and
perhaps no one from any of the Phoenician ports had ever viiited, is al-
moft as little to be wondered at as their total ignorance of America:}:.

The geographical knowlege of the Roman fubjeds in Egypt appears
to have advanced between the age of the author of the Periplus of the
Erythraean fea and that of Ptolemy. The later, I have juft obferved,
had obtained the names of fome places beyond India, and he had alfo
the names of fome of the Oriental iilands with their pofitions, though
exceffively erroneous. Marinus, a geographer of Tyre, who wrote a
little while before Ptolemy, and is frequently quoted by him, was ac-
quainted with at leaft the name of Prafuni, a place on the Atrican coaft
feveral degrees beyond Rhapta, the fartheft place known to the author
of the Periplus. Thefe circumftances give reafon to believe, that their
commerce was alfo increafing.

It is due to the antient commercial pre-eminence of the city of Ara-
bia Felix, to obferve, that, though it was reduced to the condition of a

* The notion of a vail continent, the fouthern Periplus of the ErythrKan fca, but that his age is

bounddry of Ptolemy's great lake, was kept up, diiputcd.

after voyages quite round the globe deftroyed the X Egypt, which in the reign of Sefoltris pro-
belief of the lake, every illand fecn in a fouthern duced the very tir.ft geograpliical maps known in
latitude being fuppofed a part of die Terra au/Iral- hirtory, alfo in after ages produced iour of the
if. Even in tlie eighteenth century, men of the greatcll geographers of antiquity, Agalharchides,
firft geographical abilities, maintained the />/'_[y;c«/ Eratofthenes, the author of the periplus of the
wtf^/)' of a correfponding niafs of earth near the Erytlnjean fca, and Ptolemy. But our vcncra-
fouth pole, to balance the gr>.at proportion of land tion for the wifdom of Egypt mull not make us
in the northern hemifphere. The fuppofed fouth- forget, that thefe great men were all Greeks, and
ern continent has been gradually abridged in its that Agatharchides, Eratoflh«nes, and Ptolemy,
extent by the difcoveries of modern navigators ; acquired the moll of their knowlege in the Ccie-
and, at length, it is totally annihilated by thofe brarcd academy of Alexandria, founded and fup-
of Captain Cook. piivud by the Giecian fov^reigiiS of Egypt.

t To thefe might be added the author of the

Vol. I. B b

194 -A* ^' ^^^•

village, and a mere watering place for fhipping, in tlie time of the au-
thor of the Periplus of the Erythrsean fea, it had already fo far recover^
ed from the ruin brought upon it by the Romans, as to be again a trad-
ing emporium ; and it is defcribed under that chara6ter by Ptolemy.

The natives of India now extended their voyages beyond their for-
mer limits, and took an aftive fliare in the trade with Egypt. As it ap-
pears probable from Agatharchidcs, and certain from the Periplus, that
they traded to Arabia, probably from the moil remote ages ; fo we
know from Ptolemy [L. i, c. 17] that they no\v failed up the Red fea
as far as Egypt, where he converfed with ibme of them, who were from
Timula, an emporium on the weft fide of India, called Symylla by the
Greeks *. "

1 66 — The Parthians , in confequence of an embafly to Chang-ti, emperor
of China (who died a". 88) had carried on a commercial intercourfe with-
that empire, of which (according to the Chinefe writers) they were fo
jealous, that they would never permit any foreigners to pafs through
their territories to China. The Roman emperor, Marcus Antoninus ^
confidering the demand for filk, which was. produced in no other part
of the world than China, and the exorbitant price of it in Rome, deter-
mined to fend ambaffadors to negotiate a more direcl: commercial in-
tercourfe with that country than the fubjeds of Rome had yet been abk
to accomplifh. His ambaffadors proceeded by the way of Egypt and
India, arrived in China, and prefented lome ivory, rhinoceros's horns, and
pretious ftones, to the emperor Ouon-ti, who, being, perhaps, informed
of the general charader of the Roiiians, received them very coolly.
After this firfl known communication of any European government
with that of China, the Romans began, according ta the Chinefe hiftor-
ians, to have a more dired intercourfe with that empire f^ But, if their
intercourfe was by fea, there is not the fmalleft hint of it in any Greek
or Roman author now extant. It is more probable, that it was effeded
by caravans, who traverfed the continent of Afia beyond the northern
boundary of the Parthian empire ; and perhaps the flation in 43° north
latitude, noted by Ptolemy [^Jla, tab. vii] as a refting place for the mer-
chants who traveled to the Seres (as thofe merchants may be prefumed
to have been fubjeds of Rome) was eftablifhed on that occalion : " and
caravans may alio have traveled to China from the weft coaft of India.

• It waf probably the port called Semylk 1f\ toun, the king of the people of the Wcftcni ocean..

'.lie Periplus, and noted as having only a coailiii^ The reception of the Roman anibafladors at the

trade. It now fent vefTclr. to Egypt, and received Chinefe court obliges us to fuppofc, either that

JIgyptian velTtls. the Scrcf, who are faiJ to liavt lent cnibanics to

f We a^c indebted to the Chinefe hiilorian, folicit the favour of Auguftus, and other Roman

Vcn-hien-tong Kao, and to the Oriental literature emperors, and even of this fame empeiur Aiitoniii-

.iiid rcfcarch of Mr. dc Guigncs, \^Reflcxions fur us, were a people totally diifereiit from the Chi-

./■/ liaifons dis Romains uvt: Ics Tarlares tt let Chi- nefe, or that the Roman writcis fomclimes fpokc

noil, in Memuita dt litttraturc, V. xxxii, />. 355^ at random of the diftant countries from which they

for thefe fa^ls refprifting the embady frym An- received embaffie?.

A. D. 1 70.

'95

1 70 — The Roman empire in Britain having been carried by the con-
quefls of Lollius Urbicus in the north to a height which it never ex-
ceeded, but from which about this time it declined, never again to re-
cover, it feems proper here to take a view of the principal Roman towns
now in this ifland, which, according to the Itinerary of Antoninus, the
geography of Ptolemy, and the valuable and curious geographical com-
mentaries of Richard of Cirenceller, were the following *.

now Rof-chejler or Rocheflet\

^ J- B M, s Canterbury.

Cantiopolis, \ -^

Rhutupis, c, the ftation of that T

divilion of the Roman fleet, > Richburgb near Sandwich.

which guarded the North fea, j

DuROBROViE, s
DUROVERNUM Or

noviomagus, b m
Caleba, b m

ViNDOMUM, BM, S

Clausentum,

Venta Belgarum, b u, s

sorbiodunum, l

THERMiE, or AqIJJE SOUS, (

DuRiNUM or 7

DURNOVARIA, ) '

IscA Damnoniorum, b m, s

Venta Silurum, b m, s

IscA Silurum, c, the quarters of

the fecond Auguftan legion,
muridunum, bm, s
Segontium, s
Uriconium, bm
Deva, c, the quarters of the 7

twentieth victorious legion, 3
corinium, bm, l
Glevum Claudia, c
Verulamium, m

LUNDINUM, B M, C f

Camulodunum, c, the quarters of
the twin Martian legion.

1

}

fome place in Surry.

Silchejler in Hampfliirc.

uncertain,

Southampton,

IVint-cheJler.

Old Sarum.

Bath. ^

Dor-chejier.

Ex-cejler, or Exeter.
Caer-Went.

Caer-Leion.

Caer-Marthen.

Caer-Segont near Carnarvon.

Wrehen-cajler^ or Wroxeter,

Chejler.

Ciren-ce/ler.
Glo-ceflcr.
St. Albans.
London.

Gol-chejler,

* The BritilTi part of the Itinerary of Anton-
inus, has been illuftrated by the labours of Talbot,
C'amden, Burton, Gale, Horfeley, Scukeley, and
the topographical hiftorlans of almoll every lliirc.
Even the incoherent and blundering catalogue of
llations in Britain, afcribed to a monk of Ravenna,
h»j been laboured upon by Horfeley and Baxter,

But no commentary has yet been ^ui/i^W upon
the more valuable Itinerary contained in the work
of Richard.

f Lundinum wae made a colony, with the name
of Augulla, after the time of the hillorian Taci-
tus ; but the exact time is u-.iknown. See below
A. D. ^60, 368.

B b 2

196

DURNOMAGUS, L

A. D. 170.

Venta Icenorum, b m, s

Camboricum, c

Race, or rather Ratte, b m, s

LlNDUM COLONIA, C

isurium, b m

Cambodunum, l

Cataracton, l

Eboracum, c, afterwards m, the

quarters of the fixth vidorious

legion,
coccium, l
Mancunium,
Luguballium, l
Curia Otadinorum. b m
Bremenium, s
Trimontium,
lucopibia, bi\i

Vanduara,
Victoria, l

Orrea, bm
Devana, b m
Ptoroton, l

Alcluith (afterwards Theodo-

SIA,

and l)

}

Befides Rhutupis, noted as a flat
Lundinum, a confiderable trading
of fome note, viz.

• Camden, llic prince of Britifli geographers,
pofTcfTcd no furvcys, and had very little topo-
graphical information, of the northern parts of
the ifland ; and he has been oblif;ed to depend too
often upon a fuppofed refemhiance of names.
Thence the firft pait of the name of Lucopihi.i
is fuppofed lo be the Greek word MvKti white (a-,
if Britifli tov ns could liavt Greek, names) and to
he the fame with the firll part of the name of
White-hern ; and, in confcquenec of this iniagin-

probably the town on the Nen,
called Kair-Dorjn, and noted, as
totally ruined, by Henry of Hunt-
ingdon, f. 171 b.

feems Ca/ler near Norwich.

feems Attlebiirgh in Norfolk.

Leicejler.

Litid-coln, or JJncoln.

Aidd'burgh in York-fhire.

Slack near Huddersfield.

Thornhaugb at Catterick.

Yori.

Blackrode in Lancaftiire.

Manchejier.

Car-lile.

Melros on the Tweed.

probably 'Rifingham on the Reed.

perhaps Middlehy in Anandale.

fome place on the eaft fide of Wig-
ton bay *. ' .

perhaps Pojley.

perhaps the ruins at the mouth of
the Earn ; perhaps Abernethy,

Scone, or near it.

Aber-deen.

perhaps the old caftle of Nairn, now
overwhelmed by the fea ; per-
haps Inveniefs.

Dunbarton.

ion for the government veflels, and
port, there were feveral other ports

ary identity he is obliged to remove Lucopibia
from the eaft fide of Wigtoa bay, where Ptolemy
placed it, to the ivcft fide. Trimontium is in like
manner removed from the well, to the ead, fide of
the country, becaufe a hill near Melros has three
fiinimits. As Camden has been implicitly follow-
ed by moll of our great antiquaries, to whom in-
crealing knowlegc offered better lights, I have
thought it necelTary in thefe two infiances to hinr
my reafons for prcfuming to differ from them.

A. D. 170. 197

PoRTUS FELIX, the profperous har- 1 C feems Filey bay in York-{hire,near

bour, or bay of the Gabran- > < wliich is Flix-towii, apparently

tuiki, 3 L preferving the Roman name.

DuBRit, Dover.

PoRTUS Lemanus, apparentlyZ./V«^",though now inland.

New HARBOUR, feemingly after- 7 „ -.

wards called Anderida, j -^ -^ J- in Suflex.

PoRTUS Adurni, the mouth of the Adur

Magnus portus, or Great harbour, Fort-chefter.

Menapia, the port for Ireland, St. Davids.

PoRTUS SeTANTIORUM, or SlSTUN- 7 ,1 n. r T n--

> on the coalt or Lancalhire ;

TIORUM, J '

befides fome noted only as ferrying places.

There were alfo about one hundred and forty ixiore towns or places,
the names of which are mentioned in geographical lifts and itineraries ;
but we know nothing further of their condition. Some of them un-
doubtedly were conftderable, and others appear to have been noted
merely as being ftages or refting places for the army or travelers, as
fingle inns appear along with towns in modern books of the roads.

Of the above towns the two marked m were Municipia. In virtue of
that diftindion they were invefted with the privilege of enacting laws
for the regulation of their own affairs, and they were exempted from
being fubjed to thofe of the empire. The inhabitants, without being
diverted of the citizenfhip of their native towns, were alfo citizens of
Rome.

The ten marked c were Colonies. Towns of this clafs were occupied
by. Romans, and moftly by the legionary foldiers, who received por-
tions of land in the neighbourhood as a reward for their fervices, and
as an encouragement to be vigilant in fupprefling any attempts of the
natives to recover their liberty. Their conftitutions, their courts of
juftice, and all their offices were copied from Rome ; and the inhabit-
ants were Roman citizens, and governed by Roman laws.

The ten marked l were invefted with Lat'ian privileges. They were
exempted from the ordinary jurifdidtion of the prsetor, and were per-
mitted to chute their magiftrates among themfelves ; and thofe magif-
trates were invefted with the rank and privileges of Roman citizens.

The twelve Stipendiary towns marked s were governed by officers de-
puted by the praetor *.

B M affixed to a town mark it as the metropolis of a Britifti nation.

Several towns in Ireland were now known to geographers, which in-
fers, that there was fome trading intercourfe with that ifland, though

* In this brief account of tlic nature of munklpla, &c. 1 have followed Mr. Whitaker [_Hift. of
Manchejler, B. i, c. 8J who may he confulted for the authorities. *

198 A. D. 170.

the nature of it is unknown. The following feem to have been the

moft conliderable of them.

Nagnata, diftinguifhed by Pto- 7 ^^ ^^^ ^,^^ ^^^^^

lemy as a ramous towii, 3

Manapia, oppofite to, and pro-^

bably a colony from, Menapia

in Britain.
Eblana, Dublin.

and feven inland towns, noted by Ptolemy, and by Richard, who has
alfo feveral others unknown to Ptolemy.

Some commotions broke out in Britain ; and Calphurnius Agricola
was fent to fupprefs them : but of his fuccefs the Roman writers are
entirely filent *. {Capitoliiii M. Ant. Philos.']

175 — The Romans being again threatened with war by the Britons,
or, to fpeak more corredly, the Caledonians, the emperor fent over a
large body of lazygian horfemen to reinforce his legions.

183 — The war with the Britons of Caledonia was the moft formidable
of all thofe in which the Romans were now eiigaged. The Caledonians,
not fatisfied with the recovery of that part of their own country, which
had for fome years been a Roman province under the name of Vefpa-
fiana, broke down the wall ereded by LoUius Urbicus, ravaged the
country, flew the Roman general, and cut his army in pieces. Mar-
cellus, the next Roman commander, repulfed them with fome lofs : but
the Romans never recovered their loft province of Vefpafiana. This,
if I miftake not, is the very firft province of their empire, from which

the Romans were driven out by the natives f . \_Dio7u Cajf. L. Ixxii

Lamp rid. in Com mod.']

193 — It is perhaps rather beneath the dignity of commercial hiftory
to relate, that the ruffians of the praetorian guard, whole duty it was
to defend the perfon of the emperor, after murdering Pertinax, becaufe
he was too virtuous to tolerate their abufes, had the infolence to pro-
claim an auftion of the imperial title to the higheft bidder. Didius
Julian became the purchafer at the price of above two hundj-ed pounds
fterling to each man, the total fum being between three and four mil-
lions llerling ; probably the largeft purchafe ever made by an indivi-
dual. In return for fuch an enormous fum of money he enjoyed the

* Cicero obfcrvif, that it was a common prac- man tluonulopy to tlie years of the world he has

t'tcc with the Roman writer; to pafs over their Je- nejjlefted the names of the coiiluls, and as in

feats in filence. £Oiut. pro If^e Manil.'] events of known date lie fomctimes differs a few

■f Richard of Circnctfter \_p. 32] dates the ex- years from the truth, I wonld not be pofitivc, that

piilfion of the Romans from Vefpafiana in the year tlie txpulfion from tliat part of tlic country took

of the world 4170 or A. D. 170 ; and the fliort pl.icc fo early. At any rate we arc certain, that

hints V.'- have of two wars in IJritain during the it was now (183) entirely delivered fram the Ro-

rcipfn of AntoninuG the Philofophcr favour his man yoke,
rhroiso'ogy. ijowcvrr, a: in adapting the Ro-

A. D. 198. 199

rgnomlnious and dangerous elevation fixty-fix days, and then was exe-
cuted as a criminal in his own palace,

198 — The Romans began now to employ their money, the finews of
war as well as of trade, in purchafing from the braver barbarians, as
their arrogance ftiled all the free nations in the world, a temporary for-
bearance of hoflilities, thereby enabling, as well as alluring, them to
renew their invafions with augmented vigour : and henceforth this hu-
miliating mode of making peace was often reforted to by the makers
of the world. Such a tribute was now paid by Lupus, the governor of the
north part of Roman Britain, to the Caledonians. [Digcji. L. xxviii, tit. 6.]

208 — Severus, now fole mafter of the Roman empire, conld not reft
fatisfied with having conquered three rival emperors, deftroyed the un-
commonly ftro-ng and commercial city of Byzantium, and fubdued fe-
veral eaftern nations, unlefs by the total conquefl of Britaiii he could
add to his other titles that of Britannicus. He therefore tranfported
himfelf and his two fons with a prodigious army mto Britain, and next
year marched againft the Caledonians and Mge.i.ae, who wifely avoided
coming to a pitched battle, but led him into fo many fnares and diffi-
culties, that fifty, or according to others feventy, thoufand of his men
perifhed in ambufcades and Ikirmifhes, and by the multiplied hardfliips
of their march to fome part of the coimtry, which the writers of that
age call the extremity of Britain, The Caledonians, however, to get
rid of the enemy, confented to yield to him fome part, either of their
own country, or of iheir conquefts. Severus thereupon returned to
Eboraeum {TorK), now. apparently the chief city of Britain, and there
fixed his refidence, while his army v;as employed in building a new
wall acrofs the ifland (a". 210),

The Caledonians foon after, refumed the pofleflion of the dift:ri<Sl,
which had been extorted from them ; whereupon Severus was fo pro-
voked, that he ordered Baffianus Antoninus, his oldeft fon, to march
into their country, and to flaughter every niian, woman, and child in
it. But the emperor dying foon after, his fon, more intent upon de-
ftroying his hated brother than the Caledonians, purchafed a peace from
them with the refignation of the lands in difpute. Bremenium (ap-
parently Rifingbam in Northumberland) on the eaft, and Blatum Eul-
gium, twelve * miles beyond Lugubalhum {Carltle) on the weft, fide of
the country, appear to have been fixed upon on this occafion as the
frontier pofts of the Roman empire in this ifland.

It is very furpriling, that the knowlege of the Romans concerning .
Britain feems to have diminiftied in proportion as their opportunities of
knowing it increafed. Although it was alTuredly known to be an ifland

* Twenty-four, according to Tome copies ; which ad<l to the difficulties attending one of the ob-
fcurcft parts of the Itinerary, fofar a« it cenccrns Britain.

200 A. D, 200«

ever fince the difcoveries of Pytheas ; though Ariflotle, or the autlior
of the book upon the world afcribed to him, Caefar, who was a man of
fcience as well as a foldier, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo a profefTed geo-
grapher, Pliny, &c. had exprefsly and repeatedly called it an ifland ;
though Tacitus had faid, that his father-in-law's fleet had confirmed
(what they pretended was doubtful) its being an ifland ; and though
Ptolemy the geographer, who flouriflied only about forty years before
the invafion of Severus, had defcribed the whole circuit of the coaft,
and alfo a number of iflands beyond it ; we are informed by Dion Caf-
lius, that a queftion, whether the north part of it was joined to the con-
tinent, was now agitated, and became a frequent fubjeft of difquifition,
among their philofophers, who in the thick mift of their ignorance
wrote many volumes on both fides of the queftion, which have all had
the good fortune to fink into the quiet grave of due oblivion. Even
after the expedition of Severus had in fome meafure cleared up this al-
moft incredible doubt, it was believed in Rome, that the unconquered
part of the ifland, which furniflied fuch armies as could baffle the moft
ftrenuous exertions of the conquerors of the world, muft be more ex-
tenCve than the part fubjecft to them ; though it was in truth not equal
to one third of it in extent, and ftill more inferior to it in fertility and
population. Can we believe from thefe fymptoms of a retrogradation
of knowlege among the Romans, that the works of the celebrated au-
thors above mentioned were unknown to them, or are we to fuppofe,
that their government, for fome reafons of ftate, thought proper to
fpread a veil of ignorance and myftery over the geography of the un-
conquerable ISLAND ?

211 It is worthy of obfervation, that the great abundance of fifli,

which fwarmed on the northern fhores of Britain, was known to Dion
Caflius, who aUb remarks the negle6l of that blefling by the natives,
who, perhaps from motives of fuperftition, even abftained from tafting
fifli. This is the earlieft notice of the fuperior advantage, which Scot-
land might in all ages have enjoyed in carrying on a moft extenfive
fifliery. But Solinus who lived at the fame time with, or immediately-
after, Dion *, fays, that the people of the Htebudes (JVeJlern {[lands of
Scotland) derived a principal part of their fubfiftence from fifliing. Both
accounts may be true : the fifliery might be negleded on the eaft coaft,
which was beft known to the Romans ; and it might be attended to by
the natives ot the weft coaft and the iflands.

214 — The Romans again had recourfe to the wretched expedient of
purchaflng treaties of peace ; and the Catti, Alemanni, and other na-
tions of Germany, who had much valour and little money, were in-
duced bv all-powerful gold to permit the Roman emperor to retire from

* Sec DoJwdl on the aera of Ifidorus Characenus, ap. Hudfoiu Geograph. vet. Grac

A. D. 214. 201

their country, and to make peace with him. Such tributes foon ex-
haufted his ill-managed treafury ; and he was driven to the tyrannical
(hift of creating a fiditious kind of money, made of gilded copper and
lead plated with filver, which, as he could not pay his allies in fuch
coin, he compelled his unhappy fubjeds to receive and circulate among
themfelves. [Dion. Cajf. L, Ixxvii.]

216 — The fanguinary monfler, to whofe frantic and arbitrary com-
mands the many millioTis of people compofing the Roman empire tame-
ly fubmitted the difpofal of their lives and fortunes, thought proper to
amufe himfelf with the fpecflacle of a general maflacre of the citizens
and flrangers in Alexandria, whereby he very nearly depopulated that
, hitherto flourifliing city, almofl the only feat of commerce within the
grafp of their power, which had been preferved from dellrudion by the
Romans.

The ruin of almoil every commercial ftate, which fell under the do-
minion of Rome, neceffarily reduces the materials for commercial hif-
tory in thefe ages to a very narrow compafs, and in a manner obliges
me, in order to preferve fome degree of chronological connexion, to
deviate a little into the general hiftory of our own ifland, deftined to
make fo important a figure in the commercial hiftory of fucceeding
ages.

230 — The emperor Alexander Severus made fome regulations in the
cuftoms, which, being flill extant, (hew that the Oriental trade was then
nearly in the fame flate as it is delcribed by the author of the Periplus
of the Erythraean fea. In order to induce merchants to refort to Rome,
he favoured them with feveral immunities. He reduced the rate of in-
tereft to four per cent (' ad trientes penfiones'). And he encouraged li-
terature and learned men.

272 — The commercial republic of Palmyra, after maintaining its in-
dependence for ages, had been Iwallowed up in the vaftnefs of the Ro-
man empire. The merchants of Palmyra being found ufeful as com-
petitors with thofe of Alexandria for conveying the rich merchandize
of the eail to Rome, their commerce was not crufhed, but appears even
to have increafed during their fubjedion to Rome. In the confufions,
•which now announced the approaching downfall of the Roman empire,
the citizens of Palmyra, under the iovereignty of Odenathus and his
heroic widow Zenobia, afpired to conquelt and dominion, and acTiuaily
formed a new empire confifting of moll of the Aliatic provinces and
Egypt, all which they had rent from tue dominions of Rome. But
merchants never profper as conquerors ; nor do the imaginary advan-
tages of victory by any means compeul'ate the real calamities of even a
luccefsful war, which at the expenl'e of the blood and treafure of the
community only elevates individuals to a lupremacy over their fellow

Vol. I. ' Co

.202 A. D. 272.

citizens, and often to be their fcourge, while the fplendid delufion of
their conquefts feduces their minds, and abftrads their capitals from
their proper objects of laudable commercial activity ; whereas the whole
community is overwhelmed in irretrievable ruin upon a reverfe of for-
tune. Such was the fate of the illuftrious commercial republic of Car-
thage ; and fuch was the more fudden fate of Palmyra : for Aurelian,
who during a (hort reign revived the military fuperiority of Rome, eager
to wipe off the difgrace of a captive emperor languifhing in Perfian
chains, and of the fineft provinces of the empire being withheld from
Rome by a woman, led his forces into the Eaft, and fpeedily recovered
the provinces which formed the Palmyrene empire. The city of Pal-
myra, after a refiflance, which does great honour to the military fcience
of its defenders, who affailed the Romans with every engine then known
in the art of war, fome of which darted artificial fire, being betrayed
by their mercenary allies, furrendered to the Roman emperor, who was
fo merciful as only to plunder the inhabitants of all their property, in-
cluding, befides gold and filver, great ftores of jewels, filk, and other
rich merchandize of Arabia and India (ji". 273).

The citizens of Palmyra having made an attempt to recover their h-
berty, their city was de'ftroyed, and all the people found in it, not ex-
cepting helplefs age and infancy, were mafllicred by Aurelian ; who fooii
after, regreting the lofs of the trade of Palmyra, gave permiifion to
fome few of the inhabitants, who had efcaped the general flaughter, to
rebuild their city, and reftore their commerce. But commerce does not
fiart into exiftence at the command of a tyrant, though any favage, in-
vefted with power, may deftroy in one day the accumulated labours of
ages of fcience and induilry. The defolation of Palmyra was complete
and irretrievable : and, though it was afterwards made the ftation of a
band of Roman foldiers, and even fortified and fuppUed with water by
the emperor Juftinian, it has in all fucceeding ages been only the re-
treat of a few miferable families, whofe wretched huts deform the ftill-
fplendid remains of antient magnificence.

Firmus, an opulent merchant of Egypt, was largely concerned in
trade with India, with the Blemyes an Ethiopian nation, and with the
Saracens of Arabia, and feems to have alfo carried on very extenfive
manufadures of paper and glue, fince he boafted, that he could main-
tain an army with the produce of thofe articles. Unfortunately for
himfelf he preferred the perilous fituation of a pretender to fovereign
power to the calm felicity of a profperous merchant. Perfuading the
people of Egypt, that he was able, by his wealth and his foreign con-
nexions, to deliver them from the dominion of Rome, he affumed the
title of emperor, lliled himfelf the ally of Zcnobia, made himfelf maf-
ter of Alexandria, and prevented the ufual fupplies of corn from being

A. D. 272. 20^

{hipped for Rome. His deftrudion was the confequence of his miftaken
Ambition *.

282 — The emperor Probus is faid to have granted permiflion to the
people of Gaul and Pannonia, and alfo, according to Vopifcus, to the
Britons, to cultivate vines and make wine, which had been prohibited
by a decree of Domitian.

284 — The Perfians, who had recovered the fovereignty of their coun-
try from the Parthians, were no lefs careful than they had been to ex-
clude the Romans from a participation in the trade with Serica, or
China. There was moreover at this time a war between the two em-
pires ; and the Romans, finding the intercourfe with China by the way
of India too tedious and expensive, had allowed the trade to fall off al-
moft to nothing. For thefe reafons a fecond embalTy was diipatched
from Rome to China f ; and probably fome new arrangements were
then fettled, which may have produced the caravan trade, whereof the
route by the way of the Stone tower will be noticed under the year

353-

285 — The Franks and other German nations, fituated near the mouth

of the Rhine, ufed to infefl the adjacent coafts with piratical incurfions.
In order to reprefs thofe fea rovers, the emperor Maximian built a fleet
of fhips, the command of which he gave to Caraufius, an officer of
great experience in naval and military affairs, appointing Geflbriacum
(Boulogne) in Gaul for their principal ftation. The new admiral was
foon accufed of retaining for himfelf the prizes he retook, inftead of
delivering them to the owners, or to the imperial treafury ; and orders
were already given to put him to death. But Caraufius, having the
people in the fleet ftrongly attached to him, prevented his fate by fail-
ing over to Britain, where he perfuaded the military forces alfo to join
his fl:andard, and aflumed the title of emperor (a\ 286), his dominions

* As an inftance of the opulence and luxury of of the antient authors, gives roum to fuppofe him

Firmus, it is faid that he had fqiiares of glafs fix- equally ignorant of the ui'e of window gUus, tiiough

ed wiih bitumen in his lioule ; and, though Vo- common in moil parts of Europe in his time,

pifcus, the author who mentions the circumitance. In the rinlofof-hkal IrjrfaHions, V. \, part 2, isnd

[^tila Ftrml, c. 3] has not a word of windows, V. Hi, part I, there are two papers by Mr. Nixcr.

this has been fuppoled the earlicft ialtance of win- on the ule of plate glafs among the antients, oc-

dows furnillied with glafs. However, Laclantius, cafioned by a piece of plnte glafs being found in

an author contemporary with Firmus, fpeaks of the ruins of Herculaneum, which was overwhelm-

glafs in a manner that infers, that it and the more ed by the lava from Mount Vefuvius in the year 79.

antient thin plates of an almoll-tranfparent kind of Mr. Valois [-ffi/?. ile racad. ties inf.ripl. V. V\

ilone-were both ufed in windows ill his tune ;' per fuppofes the laph fpecularts of the antients the

' feneftras lucente vitro aut fpcculari lapide.' \_De fame with the modem talc of Ruffia. This later

ipifido Del, c. 5.] is a fulule fubftance called marienglas : it fplits in-

Pliny, who defcribes the manufaflure and the to lamina:' like fheets of paper, quite tranfparent,

various ufes -of glafs, [£. xxxvi, c. 26] appc*:-3 and is ufed for windows and lanterns all over Ruffia,

to have been ignorant of the molt valuable appli- ha\ing this advantage over glafs, that it is not Labie

cation of it in admitting the light into, and ex- to break by the explofion of cannon,

eluding the cold and the rain from, our houfes. f For tiie knowlege of the fecond embalTy, as

And Polydore Vergil, in his compilation upon In- well as the firft. We are indebted to the Chinefe

vcntions, by merely tranfcribing the moll comrr.on Juftoriau-; and Mr. de Guignes. See above, p. 194..

C C 2

204 -A. D. 285.

comprehending the Roman part of Britain, with a confiderable diftri^t
Dn the o])pofite coaft of Gaul.

Caraufius knew, that a naval force, which had conferred the fove-
reignty upon him, could alone maintain him in it againft the power of
the Roman emperors. He therefor beftowed the greateft attention on
that mofl important objed : and he encouraged foreign feamen and art-
ifts of every defcription to refort to his dominions. A fleet, which
Maximian, after long preparation, had fitted out againfl him, was com-
pletely defeated by his experienced feamen ; and the joint emperors of
Rome found themfelves under the neceflity of acknowleging the inde-
pendent fovereignty of the Britifh emperor (a". 289).

Britain feems to have flourifhed under the government of Caraufius.
The general opulence, and the flourifhing fl.ate of the arts are atteft:ed
by the number and elegance of his coins, three hundred of which, all
different, have been publiflied by his biographer, Dodlor Stukely. He
firfl: repelled, and then lived in friendfhip with, the Caledonians. His
fleets for feveral years rode triumphant in the narrow feas, and even
gave laws to the Atlantic ocean as far as the African fliore : and now
for the firfl time Britannia ruixd the waves.

The Roman emperors could not fit down contented with the depriva-
tion of Britain, the value of which they feem to have been more fen-
fible of from the vyant of it. In order to depofe Caraufius, a great naval
and military force was colleciled under the command of Conftantius
Csefar, whofe firfl attempt was againil Gefl!briacum, which after an ob-
flinate defence fell into his hands, together with a part of the fleet
(a". 292).

294 — While the Romans were carrying on their preparations for in-
vading the Britifli emperor, he was treacheroufly murdered by Aledlus,
one of his officers, who immediately ufurped the dangerous pre-emin-
ence, and, with very inferior talents, expofed himfelf to be the firfl ob-
ject of the vengeance of the Roman empire.

296 — At length Conftantius put to fea with the fleet, which he had
been about four years * employed in getting ready ; and the w^onderful
courage of the Romans, who ventured out with a fide wind, and in
weather fomewhat boiflerous, was thought worthy of panegyrical cele-
bration. They furely had no Phoenician or Alexandrian navigators in
their fleet. Conftantius effeded his landing in two divifions ; and Alec-
tus, hated and deferted by his involuntary fubjeds, who were moreover
harafl!ed with a long march from London, was flain in battle on the
fouth coaft near the ifle of Wight. »

* Thefc feveral Roman fleets, and the time cm- of tlieir navnl undertakings, and without the af-

ploycd ill prtparinf; them, may he compared with fiftance of any people experienced in maritime af-

thofe, wliicli the Romans, when mailers of only fairs. See the judicious remark of 'Gibbon, /W.

ihc pcninftilar part of Italy, are faid to liavc fitted vi, p. I 79. AW, ed. 1792.
out completely in a few days, ia the very infancy 4

A. D. 296. 205

A body of Franks, who had efcaped, or withdrawn, from the battle,
haftened to London, intending to pillage it, and then to retreat to their
own country with the plunder by feizing the vefTels in the Thames.
But a part of the Roman fleet, which had been driven into the river,
came very opportunely to protect the city, and drove off the intended
plunderers with great flaughter.

Thus a fingle battle, fimilar in feveral of its circumftances, and in
its decifive confequence, to that which was fought near the fame place
between Harold king of England and William duke of Normandy
fevcn hundred and feventy years afterwards, reunited the Britifli domi-
nions of Caraufius to the Roman empire, after a feparation of about
ten years.

It is remarked by Eutnenius in his panegyric upon Conftantius, that
Britain produced fuch abundance of corn, that it was fufficient to fup-
ply not only bread, but alfo a drink which was comparable to wine *.
He alfo remarks the innumerable multitude of tame animals, fome with
their udders diflended with milk, and others loaded with fleeces of
wool. From him alfo we learn, that the artificers of Britain in the
reign of Caraufius were efteemed excellent in their profeflions, and were
therefor employed by Conftantius, in preference to thofe on the con-
tinent, in rebuilding the city of Auguflodunum in Gaul.

At the fame time Diocletian re-annexed Egypt to the empire, and we
may believe, that the commerce of that country with India muft have
fuffered upon the occalion ; for he almoft depopulated Alexandria, which
fl:ood a fiege of eight months ; and he totally deftroyed Coptos, the
town at which the Oriental goods were unloaded from the backs of the
camels, and fhipped in boats on the Nile for Alexandria.

The Egyptian expedition of Diocletian furniflies the earlieft notice of
the pretended fcience of alchymy. He found in Egypt books, faid to
be antient, which profefled to teach the wonderful art of making gold
and filver. The emperor, who appears to have formed a very proper
judgement of the delufion and its dangerous confequence, committed
the whole of them to the flames.

306 — The emperor Conftantius, having made an expedition againft
the Caledonians, took up his refidence, and foon after died, in the im-
perial palace at Eboracum (Tbri), which was thus a fecond time diftin-
guiftied by the refidence, death, and deification of a Roman emperor.
His fon Conftantine there alfo took upon him the title of emperor as
colleague with Galerius. He afterwards became fo'e emperor, made
Chriftianity the eftabliftied religion of the Roman empire, and removed
the feat of the imperial government from Rome to Conftantinople.

314 — York, London, and Colchefter, were apparently the principal cities

» <

Segetum tanta fxcunditas, ut munerlbus utrifque fufficiat, et Cereiis et Liberi,

2o6 A. D. 314.

of Roman Britain at this time; for we find three bifiiops taking their titles
from them at the council, or fynod, of bifiiops held at Arelate in Gaul.
On this, as on former occafions, York (or Eboracum) appears to have
had the firfl: rank among the Ronian-Britifli cities, and London had,
probably by means of its advantageous lituation for trade, nov/ rifen to
the lecond rank, Colchefler, which feems to have been once the mofl
confiderable, as the earlieil Roman colony, having funk to the third
place *.

323 — The fleets colledled by Conftantine and Licinius, when they
contended for the monarchy of the Roman world, furnifh a pretty juft
comparative eftimate of the opulence, commerce, and fliipping, of the
•feveral countries bordering on the Mediterranean fea at this time. Con-
ftantine, emperor of the Weft, appears to have got no Ihips of war
from Italy. The fleets appointed by the policy of Augufl;us to be per-
manent and ftationary at Miienum and Ravenna, had gone to ruin for
want of commerce to fupport and man them. His force confifl:ed of
only two hundred fniall warlike vefTels, furniflied by Greece, which, ac-
cording to Zofimus, carried only thirty oars each, and above two thou-
fand tranfports, of the fize of which we have no information. Lici-
nius, the fovereign of the Eafl:, ifllied his orders to his fubjects to pro-
vide vefl!els proper for war ; and they amounted to three hundred and
fifty, as enumerated by Zofimus, viz. eighty trirernes furnifhed by Egypt,
eighty by Phoinicia, iixty by Ionia and Doria, thirty by Cyprus, twenty
by Caria, thirty by Bithynia, and fifty by Africa. Though thefe feem
.to be all ranked as triremes, yet from a fubfequent paflage of Zofimus
it appears, that fome of them were only vefiels of fifty oars in fingle
tires. [Zofim. L. ii, pp. 94, 95, 98, ed. Oxon. 1679.] Sluinqiiereines and
other larger fhips were now unknown ; and foon after this time they
were almofl; forgotten among the Romans. {Vegct. L. iv, c, 37.]

If from this view of the naval power of the Mediterranean countries
we turn the flightefl: glance to their profperous flate, before the Ro-
man empire arofc, what a prodigious diflference fliall we find ! Phoenicia
alone, when even reduced to a province of Perfia, furnifhed three hun-

* III the lid of ecglcfiaftics, who attended the chejier) ; or perhaps Lindenfium [the inhabitants of

fynod of Artlate, the three Briti/li bifiiops are Lincoln) ; and the former feems the moll probable,

placed alter the eiglit billirips of Gaul, and before The corrupted name has no rtfeinblance to any

the one bifliop and feveral prefbytcrs of Spain, as other of the Roman colonies. [^Uffcrii Jhitann.

follows. _ ecdcf. antiq. pp. 98, 195 and 6c, ci'l. 1639 Spel-

Eboriiis cpifcopns, de civltate Eboraceiili, jiro- nuinConcil. Brilann. p. 42, cd. 1639.]

vincia britannia. I'he critics in ccclcliallical hilloiy dilfer wic'ely

Rellitutns cpifcopns, de civltate Lotditienfi, pro- in the date of this fyuod. I'hc profound rcfearchcs

vineia iiiprafcrlpta. and erudition of tlie two authors, I have quoted,

Adelfius cpifcopus, de civitate Colonia Londin- v.arrant me in fullowinif them in what appears tb

cnfuim. be the earlieil genuine notice of Brltilh bilhops, as

The hifl word is crroneotidy written. It ought denoting the pre-eminence of Britifli cities.

to be Camulodimenfium {the inhabitants of Col- 4

A. D. 323. 207

dred warlike fliips ; about one quarter of the armada, with which Xerxes
invaded Greece. The ifland of Samos, without drawing any from its
own fleet, could [pare forty triremes as a gratuitous afll (lance to Cam-
byfes. But now the fleets of both the rival emperors, who had the ab-
folute command of the wealth of the Roman world, though they had
been joined together, were far from being equal to fome of thofe,
which were equipped by the Angle city of Athens, when in its free and
flourifliing flate : nor have we any reafon to believe that the inferiority
in number was compenfated by any improvement, either in the lize or
force of the vefl^els.

324-334 * — The imperial refidence and feat of the Roman govern-
ment, which for about forty years had flu6tuated between Rome, Me-
diolanum (Milan), and Nicomedia (Cofnidia), was finally fixed by Con-
flantine at Byzantium, which thenceforth obtained the name of Con-
ftantinopolis. It is almoft unnecefll^ry to add, that the favoured capital,
tfeough it had repeatedly been befieged and ruined, foon grew up to be
a large and beautiful city.

Before the invention of the compafs rendered the mofl: difl;ant parts
of the Ocean pervious to the fkilful navigator, no fpot in the weftern
world could be more happily chofen for the capital of a great com-
mercial people than that, which was chofen by Conftantine for the ca-
pital of a military government. Situated on a peninfula projecting in-
to the narrow channel, which divides Ei;rope from Afia, and the Medi-
terranean from the Euxine fea, it invited, and could almofl: command,
the trade of every country bordering on the Mediterranean. A branch
from the main channel,- of feven imiles in length, and only five hun-
dred yards in breadth at the entrance, formed its harbour, and had
water fuflicient to enable large fliips to lay their fides to the quays : and
befides affording fuch convenience for fhipping, it moreover fed and
enriched the inhabitants with innumerable annual flioles of a kind of
fifli called pelamides (or tunnies), the copious captures of which had
for many ages enriched the Byzantines.

It is well known to every reader of hiftory, that the new arrange-
ments, which took place in confequence of the removal of the imperial
refidence, accelerated the fall of the weftern divifion of the declining
empire of Rome : but then it may with juftice be called the principal
fupport of the eaftern empire.

306-337 — Since the reign of Severus the Roman part of Britain had
been divided into two provinces, superior and inferior. The further

* The building and dedication of Conftantinople, content myfelf with following the learned and in-
fo important in the hiftory of the empire, cannot defatigable Gibbon, who dates the firft defion of
be reduced to certain chronology, though they the new capital in 324, and the completion of it
have employed the acute inveftigations of feveral about ten years after,
hiftorical critics. In fuch an uncertainty I may

2o8 A. D. 306 — 337.

divifion into four provinces is believed to have taken place in the reign
of Conftantine; and they were as follows. Britannia ^rima compre-
hended the country fouth of the Thamefis {Thames) and the Sabrina
{Severn) ; and Rhutupis {Richburgb in Kent) was the capital. Britannia
SECUNDA was bounded by the Sabrina and the Deva {Dee) on the eaft,
and on the other fides by the Trifli fea, Ifca Silurum {Caerkion) being
the capital. Flavia C^sariensis * was bounded on the fouth by the
Thamefis ; on the weft by the oabrina, the Deva, and the Infli fea ;
on the north by the Seteia {Merfea), the Danus {Don), and the Abus
{Huviber) \ and on the eaft by the German fea. The capital is not cer-
tainly known, but may be prefumed to have been the antient colony
of Camulodunum {Colchejler), or perhaps rather the now more flourifti-
ing city of Lundinum {London). Maxima f comprehended all the re-
maining part of the conquered country, which, while the Romans were
able to preferve the limits fixed by the treaty between the emperor ^
Antoninus Baflianus (or Caracalla) and the Caledonians, feems to have
extended as far north as the Cheviot hills and the range of mountains
dividing Galloway (in its largeft extent) irom Tiviotdale. Tweeddale, and
Clydefdale. Eboracum {York) was the capital of this province, and, at
leaft occafionally, of the whole of the Roman dominions in Britain :
and all thefe capital cities were Roman colonies. \Sexti Rufi Breviarium.
— Ric.Corin. L.\,c.6.'\

About this time the Romans, perhaps dropping the ufe of their own
money of account c^Wtil fejiertiu?n, and of the Greek or Oriental talent,
feem to have reckoned their large fums by pounds of gold ; at leaft we
find the falaries of their great officers of ftate, bilhops, &c. fo reckon-
ed :j:. '

The Roman pound of gold, which may be reckoned equal to forty
pounds of our modern fterling money, was exchanged at this time for
fourteen pounds eight ounces of filver.

About 345 — From the circumftance of an embafly being fent by the
emperor Conftantius to the king of the Homerites, (formerly called Sa-
b^eans) in order to convert him to the Chriftian religion, and probably
alfo to engage him to harafs the coaft of Perfia with naval invafions §,
we learn that that king now extended his fway over all the fouth coaft
of Arabia, which the Greeks called the Great Arabia and the Happy

* Apparently fo called from tlic prxiiomcn of tions, being lefs opulent, counted pounds oijiher

Flavlus, iiffumcd by Conltantii/t, aiui after him by iiillcad of pounds of gold,
inany of the 'uccceding emperors. J Tliat tlie Roman emperors kept up alliances

f Perhaps fo called, as being crroneoufly fnp- with the Homerites and the Axiimites, a people

pofed the largeft of the whole (whereas it was not on the well coall of t!;c Red lea, in the year 356,

near fo extenlive as Flavia) ; or as pretending that and alfo in the reigns of Jullin and Judiuian, ap-

ihe unconciuercd country was a part of it. pears from an older cuueeining the e.xpenles of

\ Probablj the numeration of money by pounds, thole who were fcr.t to them, from Noi.nofus, am-

wliicli became general among all the nations of £u- ballador to Axuma, \_ap. Photii Bibliothcc. cod. iii}

rope, was copied from them; but the other na- and from Procopius, IPcrJic, L. i, c, 19, 20.]

A. D. 353. 209

Arabia ; and that one of his fea ports, fituated in the diflridt of Adane
on the Ocean, was called the Roman emporium *, and another, at the mouth
of the Perfian giilf, the Perjian emporium, from the fubjedls of the Roman
and Perfian empires trading to them. Among the prefents fent by the
Roman emperor to the king of the Homerites there were two hundred
horfes of the noblefl: breed of Cappadocia, conveyed in veffels conftru6l-
ed for the purpofe f . [Philojiorgii Hijl. cedes. L. iii, c. 4.]

353 — It was cullomary now (and how long before we know not) to
hold an annual fair about the beginning of September at Batnae, a town
of Macedonian origin, lying eafl from Antioch, and near the banks of
the Euphrates. It was attended by great multitudes, for the purpofe of
dealing with the opulent merchants of the place, and others aflembled
from all quarters, in goods brought from India and other countries by
land and by water %, as we learn from Ammianus Marcellinus, [Z,. xiv]
who mentions an attempt of the Perfians to plunder it.

That diligent and judicious writer, who deferves to be called a geo-
grapher as well as an hillorian, gives a defcription of the countries be-
yond the eaftern limits of the Roman empire in his twenty-third book,
wherein he informs us, that the long route of the merchants trading to
the famous nation of the Seres lay through a village called Lithinos-
Pyrgos (the tower of ftone), and along the ranges of mountains called
Afcanimia and Comedus §. He does not tell us of what country thefe
merchants were, but it is probable that they were fubjefts of the Roman
empire. Eaft from the River laxartes (Sibon), fays Ammianus, and
furrounded by a vafl: circuit of lofty mountains, lies the extenfive and
fertile country of the Seres, bounded on the weft by the Scythians, on
the north and eafl: by deferts covered with fnow, and on the fouth by
India and the Ganges ||. He proceeds to defcribe the Seres as a fedate

* This is fiippofed the emporliim called Arabia chart's Geog. facr. col. 175, Z'n^ Hicro%o'icon, col.

Felix in the Periplus of the Erythraean fea, but I IC9, and in Gothofred's Dijfertatton on Plnlojhrgms.

know not whether the identity is futiiciently ella- \ ' Terra mariqiie,' hy land and by fni. But the

blilhed. town is far from the Mediterranean, the neareft

•j- It may be an inquiry worth the inveftigation fea : nor is it clofe upon the Euphrates, which,

of the naturalift, whether thefe Cappadocian horfes however, is the only navigable channel by which

were the progenitors of the famous Arabian breed. Indian goods could be conveyed to it. The land

It is pretty evident that Arabia was not dillinguifh- conveyance was probably by the caravans of rner-

ed for the qnahty of its horfes in eaily times. See chants, of whofe route in the centra] part of Afia

above, p. 165 note, where I have obfcrved that the he gives us a flight notice in his geography of that

horfes of Cappadocia were highly elleemed in Tyre continent.

and Perfia. They were no lels pretious in the eyes J' Thefe feem the ranges now called Hindoo-

of the Roman emperors, who did not permit even kho and Cuttore. See RnncU's Map of the court'

confuls to poffefs * the divine animals'' of the firll tries befaven the Ganges and the Cajpianfea.

quality, or pureft breed, of Cappadocia. In Ihort, || This defcription anfwers that part of Tartaiy

they were then, what the Arabian horfes of the containing the country now called Little Bucbaria

tnonaki Jhaduhi breed, purer than milk, are in the or Mognllftan. [|See R nnell's Map as above, and

prefent day, the very bell of their kind. The many the third J'eBion of Im Memoir, p. 198.] The fitua-

quotations in fupport of the fupetior excellence of tion alio agrees tolerably well, making due allow-

tlie antient Cappadocian horfes, which it would be ance for the imperfeftion of antient geography,

improper to introduce here, may be feen in Bo- with the great city of Thina in the Petiplus of the

Erythijjjn

Vol. I. D d

aio A. D. 353.

and gentle people, who never quarrel with their neighbours, arc ex-
empted from the alarms of war, and are even without the ufe of arms.
Eleiled with a fertile foil, and a delicious and falubrious climate, they
pafs their happy days in perfect tranquillity amid fhady groves, which
are fanned by gentle breezes, and produce fleeces of wool, which, after
being fprinkled with water, is combed off in the fined threads, and
woven into fcrictim *. The Seres, fatisfied with the happinefs of their
own condition, are very fliy of having any intercourfe with th^^ reft of
mankind ; and when. foreigners have pafled a river to buy thread (feem-
ingly raw filk) or other goods, they confider the price offered in filence,
and tranfad their bufinefs without exchanging a word. And as the pro-
dudions of their own country are fufficient to fupply all their wants,
and fatisfy all their wiflies, they receive nothing in exchange from the
flrangers but hard money. Such is the befl account which Ammianus
could obtain of the country, from which, through the agency of a great
many hands, the Romans obtained the luxurious drefs called fericum,
which, though formerly confined to the nobles, was now indifcriminate-
ly ufed by all claffes of people, not only in clothing, but alfo in cover-
lets for their beds f.

357 — Paris, firft mentioned by Julius Csefar under the name of Lu-
tecia or Lutetia, was now the refidence of Julian, who, with the rank
of Ccefar, governed the weftern provinces of the empire. It appears to
have been fiill confined within the fmall ifland in the river, and to have
been confidered rather as a fortified poll or cafl:le than as a town.

359 — When Julian was occupied in confiirudling a chain of fortified
towns on the banks of the Rhine, he found that the adjacent country,
neglected and exhaufted by the calamities of war, was incapable of fup-
porting the garrifons and inhabitants of his new fettlements. He im-
mediately conftruded fix hundred :j: velTels with the wood growing on

Erythraean fea, and the Sera metro])(ilis of Ptole- f Some parts of tliis defeription may feem to

my, which the learned geographer D'Anville makes be copied fiom Ph'iiy. [_Hi/h iiat. L. vi, cc. 17,

the fame with the modem city ot Kan-tche>i-foo, 22.] Three or four ceiitiiricii had not made tlie

fituated in that divifion of Taiigut, whitli is inchid- fmalleft addition to the knowlcgc of the nature of

ed in the province of Shcn-fec, in the north-weft ytr.v«») among the Romans, beyond what they pof-

part of tlie empire. \_Iii'cl.>erclie3 fur In Scrique des itflld in the days of Virgil or Pliny.

eincicns, in Mem. de lllleralure, V. xxxii, p. 579. j % Such is the number by Julian's own account

This pofition of the Sftes agrees pretty well with in his Letter to the Athenians. Zofimus fays, there

tlie iiillory, or tradition, of the origin of the Chi- were eight hundred fliips larger than lembi (' vXtiK

iicfe, fuppofing them the defcendents of the Seres, ftfi|5»a /!,«£«»') ; and he has been often referred

that their lirll fettlements were in the north-wefl to, not quoted, to prove that Britain exported ci'er'\)

parts of the prefent empire of China, as it was year corn fufficient to load eight hundred large

pointed out by a well-informed Pandit to Sir VVil- (hips ; whereas, without affirming or denying that

liani Jones. [Sec his Difcourfe on the origin of the Britain could fpare an equal quantity every year,

Chinrfe, in the /Ifiatic refearches, V. ii.] he only fays that fuch an exportation took place

* Perliaps the Seres were themfelves the invent- on that occailon. Of the burthen of the velTcls

ors of this llory, whicii ftemcd to render it impof- we can form no accurate judgment, unlefs we knew

fiblc for any other nation to obtain a participation the ordinary fize of lembi, which, if we may trull

in the filk harvell, jull as fimilar fables were pro- to fuch guides as Ifidore, Nonius Marcellus, and

pagated rtfpe6ting the production of fpices. FulgeiUius, were fmall vcffcls or fjfliing boats ; and

A. D. 359. itr

the banks of the river, and fent them to Britam, whence each of them
carried feveral cargoes of corn, which fuppUed the wants of the fettlers
till their own lands were capable of fupporting them with corn raifed
from the Britifh feed : and he alfo ereded granaries in place of thofe
which had been burnt down, for the reception of the corn nfually im-
ported from Britain. \^idiani Oral, ad Athen. — Amm. Marcellln. L. xviii.
— Zofimus, L. iii.] This authentic fadl furnifhes an unqueflionable proof
of the fertility of Britain, and alfo of the flourifhing ftate of agriculture
in it. And the vaft fums paid by the Anglo-Saxons in after ages to the
northern invaders, afford a ftrong prefumption, that Britain, while un-
der the Roman government, was enriched by a great and long-conti-
nued favourable balance of trade, and thereby poflelTed a very great
quantity of money at the final abdication of the Romans.

360 — The Roman fubjeds in Britain were miferably harafTed by the
incurfions of the Scots and Pichts *, two fierce nations, ' who, breaking
' the terms of the pacification, ravaged the frontiers, and fpread terror
' through the Roman provinces, ftill exhaufted by the calamities of
' their former invafions.' Julian difpatched Lupicinus againfl them
with an army from Gaul, who landed at Rhutupiae, and marched to
Lundinium (London), whence he was to proceed againft the invaders.
What his fuccefs was, we are not told ; but his flay in the ifland was not
above three or four months. Rhutupiae or Rhutupis (Richburgh on the
eafl coafl of Kent) was now the principal landing place froni the conti-
nent ; and Lundinium may be prefumed to be a place of confiderable
importance, where the Roman general was to concert the operations of
the campaign with the provincial governor. \_Amm. Marc ell. L. xx.]

364 — The Saxons, a nation of Germany, who aftonifhed and terrified
the Romans and their fubjeds by the daring intrepidity with which they

Procopuis tells us, [Gothic. L. ii, c. ij] that the undertook an expedition againft them in the year
lemhi belonging to a Roman fleet were carried upon 343, referred to by Ammianus Marcelh'nus, as re-
carts from Genoa to the River Po. Perhaps we Jated in the early part of his work, which is un-
(hall not greatly err, if we eftimate Julian's river- fortunately loft. If we could truft to rhetorical
built veflels rather under than above fifty tuns, flourifli, both thofe nations might be faid to have
which, inftead of being called large Jli'ips, would frequently fought againft the Britons of the foutli
not now be honoured widi the name ofyZ;;)ij-. But in the age of Julius Ccefar ; but we cannot with
our antiquiries, if they had duely attended to Zo- any degree of propriety venture to extraft hifto-
fimus, who (ays, that the veflels r-iade feveral voy- rical facts from the hyperbolical adulation of pane-
ages, and ti Marcellinus, who has ' annona a Brit- gyric, cfpecially in this age, when the emperors
' mhfueia transftn-i,' might have very fairly ere- ufed to arrogate to themfelves the adual merit of
dited Britain for at leaft two thoufand cargots of victories in battles which they never faw, ana even
corn. Part of the corn carried from Gaul to had the prepoftcrous impudence to afl"ume the titles
Rome in the year 398, when Gildo withheld the of conquerors of nations who had in reahty defeat-
African fupplits, may with great prob.ibility be cd their armies. The name of the Scots occurs in
prefum^ed to have been the produce of Britain. a quotation from Porphyry, who lived about a cen-
* This is the earlieft unqucftionable extant au- tnry before Ammianus ; but it is doubted by fome,
thority for thefe new names of the invaders of the whether Jerom, who makes the quotation, be not
Romanized part of Britain, but they were appa- himfelf the original author of it.
rently known bv the fame name before Conftans

D d 2

±11 A. D. 364^

fklmmed over the roughefl feas in. boats made of leather, and by the
fuddennefs of their plundering incurfions, now invaded the Roman pro-
vinces in Britain, (wherein their grandfons were to obtain fuch ample
poffeflions) in conjundion with the Pichts, the Scots, and the Attacots,
a warlike nation, who now for the fi.rfl time ftart into hifloric notice.
[Anim. Mar cell L. xxvi,]

3^5~3^^ — The provincials of Britain, accuflcmed to look for pro-
tedion from their Roman fovereigns, and not daring, perhaps not being
permitted, to take arms in their own defence, were ruined by the con-
tinual irruptions of thefe tremendous enemies, and by the gangs of fol-
diers, cheated of their pay by their officers, who infefted the highways
as robbers, and extorted provifions from the natives. The count of the
fea coaft, an officer appointed to repell the piracies of the Saxons, was
flain in battle ; and the duke of Britain, to whom the defence of the
northern frontier was committed, was outgeneraled by the military
pohcy of the barbarians. The fucceeding Roman commanders appear
to have had no better fuccefs, till Theodofius was fent with a powerful-
reinforcement.

367 — That general, when he landed at Rhutupise, found that the
Pichts, the Attacots, and the Scots, were roving at large through the
whole country, and that fome parties of them, almoft clofe upon him,
were driving before them the captive people with their cattle and other
property. But the undifciplined valour of the invaders was unable to
contend with the military fcience of the Roman general and the tried
courage of his numerous veteran troops. Theodofius, having recovered
all the plunder, made a triumphal entry into Lundonium (now called
Augufta, and a colony, as all towns of that name were *), which was
faved from ruin or pillage by his feafonable arrival. \_Amm. Mar cell. L-
xxvii. — Liban. Oral, parent, c. 39.]

369 — Theodofius, having reformed the abufes in the army, and re-
ftored the cities and frontier ports in Britain, reconquered all the coun-
try occupied by the northern nations as far as the wall between the
Forth and the Clyde, which he erected into a fifth province, bounded
by the north and fouth walls, and gave it the name of Valentia iiv
honour of the reigning emperors. [Amm. Marcell. L. xxvii.]

383 — The mofi of the Roman forces, and a very great part of the
Britifh youth, being carried over to the continent by Maxim us to fup-
port his pretenfions to the empire, the defencelefs provinces were every

f Stillingflcet [_Orig. Brilan. p. 196] fuppofes * of the provinces.' Perhaps a better arfjument

that Augufta was the capital of all Roman Britain, for its fupremacy may be derived from tlie trcafiirc

and he quotes the opinion of Vtlfcrus, [Ar. Vin- of the province bting ilcpofited in it, as we Icarn

/irl. L. vj that all towns dignified with that appcl- from tiic Nolilui imperii,
l.«tion * were capita gentium, the chief mctropolcs

A. D. 388 — ^400. f'rj

year overrun by the two cruel tranfmarinc nations, the Scots from the
north-wefl, and the Pichts from the north *. [^Gildas de excidio Britan-
nice, c. xi.]

388 — The weft coafts of Britam were alfo infulted with frequent
praedatory incurfions by the Scots of Ireland, probably accompanied by
the aboriginal Irifh. One of the beft atiefted of the expeditions of thefe
coriairs was that in which they failed up the Clyde as high as Dunbar-
ton (apparently then called Theodolia}, and carried oflf a great number
of prifoners, whom they fold for flaves. Among their captives was Pa-
tric, a youth in his fixteenth year, the fon of Calpornius, a deacon of
the church, and apparently a Roman, who afterwards became fo very
famous as the patron faint of Ireland. This fad we learn from the
works of Patric himfelf, the oldeft native or inhabitant of the Britifh
iflands, whofe writings have come down to our times f .

396 — An army, fent into Britain by Stilico the regent of the weftern
empire, reprefled the invaders ; and a legion was quartered on the north
frontier of the empire in Britain : but it was recalled very foon after.
[Claudian. Laud. Stilic. L. ii ; Bel/. Get.^

400 — About this time the Noiiiia, or Court calendar ij:, of the two
Roman empires, feems to have been compiled. Among the great offi-
cers upon the Britifh eftablifhment the following appear to have been
the principal.

The VicARius Brit A NNi ARUM, who was fo called, as being the imme-
diate deputy of the Pr^fectus prjetorio of Gaul, whofe almoft-impe-
rial fway extended over Gaul, Spain, and Britain. The vicarius had un-
der him

the CONSULAR GOVERNORS of Maxima Ccejarienfis ^

and of Valentia;
and the presidents of Britannia prima,

Britannia fecunda,
and Flavia Ccefarienjis.
Thefe great officers, who in modern language might be called the go-
vernor-general and lieutenant-governors, had in their hands the civil

* Bede, after tranfciibing thefe words from Gil- ' clofe upon a river of that name.' \_HJl. cedes,

das, in Older to prevent his readers from being mif- Z, i, c. 12.]

led, immediately adds, ' Now, we ciJl thefe nations f Of late the very exiftence of Patric, and cor.-

* tranfmaiirc, not as being lituated out of Britain, fequently of the work which goes under his name,
' but as bung divided from the country of the has been denied. 1 cannot at prefent enter into
' [Romanized] Britons by the intervention of two the merits of fuch a queftion, nor would, perhaps,

* arms of the fea, which lun fsr into the land on any reader of this woik tliank me for attempting
' the call and weft fides ot Britain. In the middle it. I may, however, obferve, that the narrative of
' of the caftern one is tlie town of Guidi (on/n/Zi. Patric throws light upon, and is itfelf fupported
' Kieth, or perhaps Injlj-Garvy'). On the nght by, the poetical flourilhes of Claudian, and alfo il-
' fide of the wellern one is the town of Alcluith lullrates the obfcurity of Nennius.

* {Duntartoii), the name of which fignifies in their % It differs from a court calendar in having only

* language t/:e rod of Cluith {Clyde) ; for it Hands the names of the offices without thofe of the per >

fons who held them.

2 14 ■^' ^* 4-00.

adminiflration of the five provinces. The miUtary force was under the
command of three great officers, viz.

Comes limitum Britanniarum, whofe diftrid is not exprefled ;

Comes littoris Saxonici *, who had under his command nine mari-
time garrifons on the eaft and fouth coafts, his particular duty being
the defence of the country againft the Saxon freebooters ;

Dux LiMiTUM Britanniarum, who commanded the garrifons of four-
teen towns in the province of Maxima, and twenty-three parties of fol-
diers, Rationed at fortified pofls on, or near, the fouth wall.

Thefe three military commanders had under them 19,200 foot and
1 ,700 horfe ; a great redudion from, the army fiationed in Britain in
former ages. But the Romans, whofe wars were now not for conquefl:,
but for defence, found it necefiary to draw their forces homeward ; and
the provincial Britons were fully reconciled to the Roman dominion,
and the towns were in a great meafure peopled by the defcendents of
Roman foldiers and colonifts.

There were alfo the following revenue officers, who in modern lan-
guage may be called

the receivei'- general of the Britifli revenue;

the receiver of the emperor's private demefne rents ;

the comraifiloner of the treafury at Augufia f (London) ;

and the fuperintendant of a public manufacture carried on by women
at Ventaij: (Winchejler, or perhaps CaJIer near Norwich).

About this time an epifcopal church built of ftone, a kind of fliruc-
ture unufal among the Britons, was erected by Ninian, a Britifli prieft,
in a fmall ifland on the coaft of the Novantes {Gal/otvay), which, from
the white appearance of the building, obtained the name of Whit-hern
(or in Latin Candida cafa) §.

Bells are faid by fome to have been invented by Paulinus, bifliop of

* He is called hy Ammiamis comes of the fea be pofitivc of the cxiftence of the manufaftiire ; for

coaft ; anil the warden of the Cinque ports is fup- various readings have Vcntenfis (belonging to, or

pofed to have been appointed in imitation of his at, Venta), and Bentejifxs (meaning iniknown, if

office. any) ; gyuKcii (manufactory conduced by \vomen)j

I have given thefe titles in the original Latin, and cynegii (dog^kenntl). Therefor they have

becaufe we have not flriftly any coirefpondlng gone much too far who have adduced thefe words

terms in Englilh. The reader may confult Se/dcn's as a proof of the antient fuperiority of Britifli

Villes 0/ honour, part ii, c. I. wool.

f The office of the treafury was probably in § This was by far the moft antient birtioprick

the fame fpot where the Tower Hands, and it is in the ■;ou!itry fince called Scotland : but York,

likely that there wa« alfo a mint in the fame place, and th'j ^)thet old iiritilli billiopriiks in the Rom-

An ingot of filvcr, infcribed ' Ex officio Honorii,' an part of the ifland, if ttie notice concerning

was found, with fome gold coins of Arcadius and ilu-m be affurcdly authentic, were about a century

llonorius, in the old foundation of the ordinance earlier, which I did not advert to, when, tiufliiig

office in the Tower in the year 1777. \_ylrchitoh- too implicitly tu Bfde and William of Mainillniry,

gia, V. v, p, 291.] who have totally omitted the Britifli billiops of

\ Though Camden has fixed this mannfafture York, &c. I fiid [.n Cc grnphicnl iUnfti-aiivits of

at Winchtller, as being the nioft confiderablc of ScnuiJ}) hiflory, vo. ^ihii-hentl ti1.1t tl'is was the

the three towns in Britain called Venta, we hnre mod antient bllliopin.k on the north lide of the

110 certain knowlegc of the place, nor can we i.Tcn Hunibcr. 4

A. D. 400-^—422. 215

Nola in Campania * : but it could only be an improvement upon the
bells adapted to churches ; for bells of gold, which founded, are men-
tioned in the book of Exodus [c. 28.] Every claflical reader knows,
that inftruments of brafs, which feem to have been bells, were found-
ed in Rome, to give notice to the people, when the public baths were
ready f .

409 — ^The Britons, abandoned to the ravages of the Saxons, Pichts,
Scots, and Attacots, by the degenerate emperor Honorius, who did not
dare to venture his perfon on the outfide of the walls of Ravenna, re-
fumed their independence ; and, trufting to their own courage and ex-
ertions, they found that thefe were fufficient, without any foreign aid,
to deliver their country from the invaders. If their feceffion could de-
rive any validity from tiae confcnt or approbation of fuch a fovereign
as Honorius, that was alfo beftowed in letters v/hich he addreffed to the
cities or ftates of Britain, wherein he exhorted them to take the ma-
nagement of their aflfliirs into their own hands. The example of the
Britons was foon followed by their neighbours on the nearell coafl: of
Gaul, who alio withdrew their allegiance from a mafter incapable of
affording them any protedion. YLofimi Hiji. L. iv.]

410 — Alaric, the great king of the Goths, after having humbled
Rome by exadling a tribute of 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pounds of
filver, 4,000 garments of filk (or fericum), 3,000 fl<ins, or fleeces, of a
purple, fcarlet, or crimfon, colour, and 3,000 pounds of pepper 'J:, by
three fieges, and the creation and degradation of a vaflal emperor, took,
pofleffion of the no-longer-proud and infulting capital, gave his foldiers
permiflion to feize the accumulated plunder of eight hundred years (for
fo long was it lince the city had been taken by the Gauls), and in fome
degree avenged upon Rome the caufe of mankind. {Zojimi HiJi. L. v.]

419 — Theodolius, the emperor of the Eaft, was fo fenlible of the im-
portance of a naval force, that he prohibited his fubjeds, under pain of
death, from teaching the art of fhip-building to the barbarians, i. e. na-
tions not fubjed: to the Roman empire. [Cod. T'heod. L. ii, tit. 40.]

422 — It might be fuppofed, that the Britons, pofTefled of independ-
ence, and improved in agriculture, arts, fcience, and manufadures, by

* Thefe bells are called nolis and catnpaiKs in the the money without melting down the (latues of

Latin of the fiicceeding ages. feveral gold and filver deities, among which Zofi-

f Bells (tintinabula) are mentioned by Plautus, mus particularly regrets the goddefs Virtus or Va—

\_Trinum. ci&. iv, fc. 3] and by Varro, as quoted lour, the deftuiilion of which, he fays, was the

by Pliny, [i. xxxvi, c. 13] authors who lived about extinftion of the laft fpark of fortitude and viitue

hvc hundred years before Paulinus. Jofephus \_/in- among the Romans.— The meaning of the words

tiq. L. iii, c. II, 12, or 13, as numbered in the i>a- y.oxy.coapii ^i^fiara is uncertain: the lirll was a very

rious cdilions} fays, tliat the wide end of the trum- expenfive colour, but whether purple, fcarlet, or

pets, made in the camp of Mofes, was in the form nf crimfon, is unknown : the fecond is tranflated by

a bell, which inferi that the form ef them was the Mr. Gibbon pieces of Jitie cloth. It appears from

fame in his days as at prefent. Pliny [Z. viii, c. 48] that they had a method of

I Rome, now a fubordinate city, could not raifc dying the wool upon the living fheep.

^i6 A. D. 4*2.

almofl four centuries of Roman inftrudion, would immediately have
ihone out a great and flourifhing people ; that the abundance of their
produce and manufad:ures would have fupplied the materials of a very
extenfive commerce ; and that they would have availed themfelves of
their infular fituation, and their knowlege of the Latin language, (then
generally underflood in the weftern parts of Europe) to carry on a great
adive trade to at leafl all the neighbouring countries *. The very re-
verfe was the truth. Weakened by many and great levies of Britifh
foldiers repeatedly drawn off, not only by the pretenders to the empire,
but alfo for regular garrifons in diftant provinces f ; accuftomed to look
up to Rome for prote6lion as well as government ; and probably de-
prived by death, or envy, of the fuperior talents which had given life
to their fpirited condudl in the year 410, they funk into dejedion and
inadivity. Finding themfelves incapable of conduding their own af-
fairs, they difpatched ambaffadors to the Roman court, begging permif-
lion to return to their former allegiance, and imploring afliftance againfl
their enemies. A legion was accordingly fent to their relief, the whole
Roman part of the ifland was recovered, and the wall of Lollius Urbi-

cus was rebuilt, though in a very imperfed manner. [Gild. c. 12

Bed. H'lft. cedes. L. i, c. 12. — Paul. Diacon. L. xiv.J

The Roman legion being again withdrawn, the northern invaders,
without taking the trouble of attacking the ufelefs wall, croffed the firths
in their boats, and repeated their cuftomary ravages. A Roman legion
was again granted to the prayers of the Britons, and the invaders, who
were driving off their annual prey, were attacked, and repelled beyond
the firths (a", 426). But the Roman commander, exhorting the Britons
to apply to the art of war, and depend on their own valour for their
protedion, gave them notice that no more afliftance could be afforded
them in future. Before leaving them he gave them diredions and af-
fiftance in rebuilding the fouth wall in a fubflantial manner, whereby
the province of Valentia was abandoned, and it was immediately occu-
pied by the Pichts. The Romans alfo affifted in ereding watch-towers
along the fouth coafl of the ifland, to give notice of, and afford fome
defence againll, the incurfions of the Saxon rovers ; and having accom-
plifhed thefe works, they took leave of Britain for ever. [Gild. c. 14. —
Sigeherli Chi'on. ad an. 426.]

441 — The attention of Theodofius to his marine has been already
obferved. In order to prevent the deflrudion of the weftern empire,
threatened by the formidable fleets ot Genleric, the Vandal fovereign

• Glldas, in his florid dcfcription of Britain, fiiys th.it the hixurics (dclilijc) of foreign countries
were imported into the mouth* of tlie Thames and tlic iijcvern in timca preceding his own. [G'ddt
hift.c.u]

f Sec the Notitia imperii for the ftationnry troops, or Camden {^Brllann. p. Co, cJ. 1607] for the
ttIioIc of them coUcited in one vicvr.

A. D. 446. 217

of Africa, he equipped eleven hundred large fliips, with a proportional
army, to ad in conjundion with the weftern forces. But this prodigious
armament only proceeded as far as Sicily, and performed nothing.

446 — Though the unfortunate Britons had almoft a certainty of be-
ing refufed, they were again driven by the cruel oppreflion of their
northern neighbours to implore the pi-oteclion of ^tius, who then go-
verned the weftern empire in the name of Valentinian. But the Ro-
mans, who at this time dreaded the lofs of Italy itfelf, had given up all
pretenfions to the protedion of diftant fubjeds or allies.

449 — In a few years (for the precife date is uncertain *) the affift-
ance, which the Romans were incapable of giving, was afforded by a
party of Yutes, or Geats, who, arriving on the coaft of Kent in a fleet,
confifting of only three long fliips, under the command of two brothers
called Hengift and Horfa, and immediately joining the Britons, march-
ed againft the invaders, whom they encountered and defeated (accord-
ing to the old Englifli authors, at Stanford in the fouth corner of Lin-
coln-fliire). The feafonable relief was rewarded with a grant of the
ifland of Thanet, wherein the Yutes fettled. They immediately tranf-
mitted a flattering account of their fuccefs to their friends on the con-
tinent, which procured a reinforcement of five thoufand men in feven-
teen fliips f .

So great an acceflion of followers enabled Hengift to become the
mafter, inftead of the mercenary ally, of the unhappy Britons. He
foon found an opportunity of quarreling with them, and, ftriking up
a peace with the Pichts, bent his whole force againft his late friends.
He and his fucceflbrs, and the chiefs of the numerous fwarms of the
Saxons, whom Zofimus diftinguifties as the braveft of the Germans, with
other bold adventurers from the continent, who, with their wives and
children, crowded over to fliare the fertile lands of Britain, in the courfe
of about a century and a half made themfelves mafters of the beft part
of the country from the Channel on the fouth to the Firth of Forth on
the north. Such of the furviving natives of the conquered country as
did not fubniit to live under them, were obliged to retire before them
to the weft fide of the ifland, of which, from the Lands-end to the Firths
of Clyde and Forth, they maintained the poflellion for many ages, till
they were gradually fubdued, and annexed to the more powerful mo-
narchies of England and Scotland.

* It is impoffible to fix the piecife date of the f If thefe numbers are nearly accurate, (for tlic

memorable arrival of Hengift and Horfa. Beds different accounts vary from fixteen to eigj-.teen

afTnmcs the year 449, as appears by King Alfred's fliips) the German rovers, befides their leather

Saxon tranllation, as well as the Latin original ; boats and large canoes, muft have had very re-

and he is followed by the Saxon Chronicle and the fpeclable vefiVls, properly and ftrongly conllruci-

fueceeding writers. But the various dates and facts ed, to be capable of carrying about three iumdred

ftated by Camden rBrilaiinia, p. 94, ed. 1607] men each, btfides women and children, even for a

deftrrve the attention of the critical reader. fliort paflage.

Vol. I. ' E e

2i8 A. D. 450.

450 — If we may truft to Joceline, one of the many biographers of
St. Patric, the Irifh town called Eblana by the geographers of the Ro-
man empire, called at this time Ath-cliath by the Irifli, and afterwards
Difflin, Dufelin, Duvelin, and Dublin, was ' a noble city, famoub for
• its commerce, and furrounded by woods of oaks and dens of wild
' beads.' But the later part of this defcription does not very well agree
with a populous or commercial city.

452 — The invafion of Italy by Attila, king of the Huns, with his tre-
mendous army, confifting of a vafl number of nations aflembled under
his vidorious flandard, gave birth to a new city, which in time rofe to
fuch commercial eminence, as to rival the antient fame of Tyre and
Carthage, and the more recent pre-eminence of Alexandria. The Ve-
NETi, a very antient nation, refembling the Gauls in their manners,
but of a different language, pofTelled the fertile country w^atered by the
Padus {Po), from the confines of the Kenomani (or Cenomani) down
to the head of the Adriatic gulf. Their name was famous in the tragic,
and in the fabulous, poetry of antiquity : but the firfl hiftoric notice of
them, according to Livy, [L. v, c. ^^^^ is their maintaining their pofTef-
fions, when all the neighbouring country was over-run by the Tyrrheni-
ans, or Tufcans. Many ages afterwards, in the abfence of their neigh-
bours the Gauls on their expedition againfl the Romans, wherein, after
defeating them and their allies, and chafing them for three days toge-
ther, they followed them into Rome, v/hich they took pofl^elfion of,
(390 years before the Chriftian sera) the Veneti made an irruption into
their country, which was a happy circumftance to the Romans, as it
obliged the Gauls to abandon Rome, in order to march to the defence
of their own territories. [Poijb. Hift. L. ii, cc. 17, 18.] The Veneti,
being afterwards iwallowed up in the Roman empire, had a fubordinate
fhare of its proiperity ; and they had now an abundant fhare of its mi-
fery. Their property was pillaged, their towns were leveled with the
ground, and thole who efcaped from the fword were compelled to fly
from their native country. Moft of them fled to a numerous clufter of
fmall muddy iflands, ieparated from each other only by narrow chan-
nels, wherein they found an obfcure and fafe retreat, proteded from
the attacks of land forces by a fea, probably then about ten miles
broad *, too fliallow and intricate to be navigated by vefle;ls of any
force, but too deep to be forded, and fecured againfl naval attacks by
a chain of long narrow iflands, which line the coaft for many miles,
and render the approach of a hoftile fleet almofl impoilible. There the

• It 13 not near fo broad now. Everywhere centuries been covered with trees, and is called

upon this coad the fea has retired conliderably C/;;'(7^, a corruption of the Latin word <,7.^'^x, the

from the laid Ravenna is now four miles from name of the fubinb adjacent to the harbour, I'c

the fea, and its liarbonr, in which Auguftus kept called as being the llation of the fleets, cla/fes.
t\vo hundred and lifty fliips of war, has for mauy

A. D. 452. 219

miferable remains of the Veneti, the noble and the plebeian reduced to
the common level of poverty, conftrufted fome poor huts, and fupport-
ed themfelves by fifhing, and by making fait, the lirft article of their
trade, which they carried in their boats to the neighbouring coafts, and
even into the interior regions, by means of the rivers ; and they receiv-
ed in exchange corn and other neceflaries ; for their own iflands afford-
ed them nothing at all but room for their huts. Such was the humble
and diflrefsful origin of the illuftrious commercial city of Venice.

455 — Carthage, after being rebuilt by the Romans, was confidered
as the firft city of Africa *. But in every refpe6l it was far inferior to
its antient condition ; and in a commercial view the Roman Carthage
fcarcely deferved to be called the fhadow of the Phoenician Carthage,
Of its manufadures we know no more than that one of the gyn^tcia, or
factories wherein women were employed, had been eftabliihed in it
[Notitia imperii, § 42] ; and that its trade confifted in colleding the corn
from the induftrious farmers of Africa, and tranfporting it for the fup-
port of their idle Roman mafters. Genferic, the king of the Vandals,
was now mafter of Africa and Carthage ; and a numerous and power-
ful fleet was once more cbnduded out of its harbour to flrike terror
into Rome. Whatever the citizens of Rome had acquired during a re-
pofe of forty-five years, whatever the piety, the mercy, or the hafte, of
Alaric had fpared, was deliberately collefted in a fearch of fourteen days
by the Vandals, and, together with many thoufands of the wretched
Romans, was conveyed onboard the fleet, and landed in Carthage, the
fl:reets of which exhibited on this occafion the fpoils of the heathen and
Chrifl:ian temples of Rome, and thole of the temple of Jerufalem, which
had been carried off by Titus Vefpafian. Thus did Genferic in a fmall
meafure revenge the deflrudion of Carthage upon Rome.

468 — Leo, the emperor of the Eafl:, fitted out a fleet of eleven hun-
dred and thirteen fliips f , carrying above one hundred thoufand men.
The expenfe of the expedition, which was no lefs than one hundred and
thirty thoufand pounds of gold, (above five millions fterling) exhaufled
the revenue, and ruined many of the cities. It was an effort difpropor-
tioned to the weak ftate of the empire, not yet recovered from the heavy
expenfe of the ufelefs fleet of Theodofius ; and it ended in ruin and dif-
grace. Genferic became the fovereign of the Mediterranean fea, and
as the poffeflion of the iflands mufl ever follow the dominion of the fea,
Sicily, Sardinia, &c. were added to the African dominions of Genferic,
and the weftern Roman empire was almofl flirunk to Italy.

472 — Rome was taken and lacked by the Gothic chief Ricomer, the
mighty maker and deftroyer of many emperors of the Weft ; and in a

* In ihofe days the name of Africa did not extend to Egypt.

t This number, which is furely not too fmall, is enlarged by fome writers to a hundred thoufand
fliips. •

E e 2

220 A. D. 472.

few years it was taken pofleflion of by Odoacer, who finally extinguish-
ed the weftern Roman empire, which had for fo many ages given laws
to a great portion of mankind, Odoacer, in contemptuous mercy, per-
niitted Romulus, who was the lafl nominally-Roman emperor of Rome,
to retire to a delightful and magnificent villa in Campania, and even
allowed him an annual penfion of fix thoufand pieces of gold. Italy
(for the other provinces were all by this time alienated from it) now
became fubjed to a fovereign who fcorned to affume the name of Ro-
man or emperor, or to permit an ufelefs and expenfive phantom to con-
vey his commands to his fubjeds, as the mafl;ers of the nominal empe-
rors for fome time had done.

4^2 — By the defeat and death of Odoacer the fovereignty of Italy
was transferred to Theodoric, the chief or king of the Oftro-Goths.
Under the peaceable reign of this benevolent conqueror Italy again be-
gan to flourifli. A fleet of a thoufand armed boats was eftabliflied to
protect the coafl;s from the piratical invafions of the African Vandals
and the eaftern Romans. Large tradls of marfliy land, which had be-
come ufelefs by negled:, were reclaimed and cultivated ; the exertions
of protefted induftry reftored the country to its natural fertility ; and
Rome no longer depended for fubfiftence upon Carthage or Alexandria.
As a proof of the abundance of the harveflis, we are told that wheat was
fold at the rate of five fliillings andfixpence of fiierling money a quarter,
and wine at lefs than three farthings a gallon. \^Frag?>i. Valefian.^ By the
munificent attention of Theodoric, an ample fund in money and mate-
rials, under the care of a profefled archited and proper guardians, was
affigned for the prefervation of the public buildings and other monu-
ments of antient art*, and new buildings for ufe or embellifhment were
ereded. The Italians (or Romans, as they chofe to call themfelves) re-
covered from the defolation of the preceding ages. They ■ acquired
wealth, and they were not afraid to enjoy it. Italy, which in its mofl:
favage ftate before the age of Homer had furniflied fome commodities
which attracted the vifits of the indufl:rious Phoenicians, was again re-
forted to by foreign merchants ; and feveral fairs were appointed for
exchanging its redundant produce with the merchandize of other coun-
tries. About this time (a'. 500) many rich Jews, attra(fl:ed by the flatter-
ing profpect of commerce in a country apparently rifing into profperity,
and where religious perfecution was prohibited by the wifdom and the
power of the fovereign, eflabliflied themfelves in the principal cities of
Italy ; and it is very probable 'that the mofl: of the trade of it pafl"ed
through their hands. But it was a trade more refembling the firft ef-
forts of an infant colony, or of a nation jufl emerging from barbarifm,
than what might have been expected from a great country, which by

* Apd yet the dcftruftion of the monuments of antient art is generally, but moft ignorantly, im-
puted to the Goths. 4

A. D. 500. 221

its advinfages of climate, foil, and fituation, to fay nothing of its un-
tien' railiiary fupeviority, might have commanded at leaft the com-
merce of everv coafl: of the Mediterranean fea, if it had been in the
hands of au in'dufcrious and mercantile people.

At the conclufion of the fifiii century of the Chriftian aera the weft-
em Roman empire, which had included the moft temperate and fertile,
the moft populous, and the beft cultivated, regions of Europe, and at
leaft an equal ftiare of the moft fertile part of y^.frica, was divided as
follows. Theodoric, king of the Goths and of Italy, poflefled, along
with it and Sicily, that part of Gaul which lies eaft of the Rhone, the
provinces of Rhsetia, Noricum, Pannonia, and Dalraatia, the Danube
forming the northern boundary of his ample dominions, which com-
prehended the moft valuable part of the late WeftexTi empire. The
African provinces were fubjed: to the Vandals. Spain was divided be-
tween the Goths and Swevians. Gaul, except what lay eaft from the
Rhone, was occupied by the Franks, the Burgundians, and a colony of
Britons.

The Eaftern empire was ftill entire, if it could properly be called fo,
when not only the frontier provinces on the lov.^er Danube, but even
the whole country to the very gates of Conftantinople, and to the fouth-
ern extremity of Greece, were frequently pillaged with impunity, and
fometimes taken pofleflion of, by roving nations, who, whether they
profefled hoftility or fubjection to the empire, were almoft equally
dreadful to the unhappy fubjects, whom they fweeped before them in
war, or exhaufted by heavy tributes in peace. Such was generally the
condition of the Eaftern, Roman, Conftantinopolitan, or Greek, empire,
which dragged out a feeble exiftence of many centuries, till it was final-
ly fubdued by the Turks, in whofe hands it continues to this day.

It muft be evident to every attentive reader of the preceding pages,
that, if we except the Oriental regions, the tranfactions of which are un-
fortunately almoft unknown to us, there was very little of real com-
merce in the world after the deftruftion of the illuftrious commercial
city of Carthage. The conveyance to Rome, and afterwards to Con-
ftantinople, of the corn and other provifions, the manufactures of all
parts of the empire, and the luxuries of the Eaft by the agency of the
merchants of Alexandria and thofe concerned in the over-land trade,
was all that remained to the fabjects of the Roman empire in place of
the active commerce by which industry had been created, animated,
and fupported, in every country which had the happinefs of being con-
nected with the MERCHANTS of SiDON, of Tyre, and of Carthage.

The Britons, who had long ago been left to themfelves by the Ro-
mans, were ftruggling for their lives and liberties againft fierce invaders
on every fide. The Yutes, who fliowed the way to the other German
nations, had eftabliflied themfelves in their fmall kingdom of Kent, un-

222 A. D. 500.

der the fovereignty of Hengift and his family. The kingdom of the
South-Saxons, comprehending the modern (hires of Surrey and SufTex,
was alfo eftabliflied. And Cerdic, whofe pofterity were deflined to
fway the fceptre of all the Britifh iflands, had jufl laid the foundation of
his more extenfive kingdom of the Weft-Saxons. As yet no Angles (or
Englifh) had arrived, at leaft not in fuch numbers as to form eftablifti-
ments in their own name. All thefe nations, together with the leffer
bands of Frifians, Rugians, Danes, &c. have in fucceeding ages been
known under the general names of Saxons *, Anglo-Saxon, Angles, and
Englifh.

The northern part of the late Roman provinces in Britain, except a
fmall kingdom of the Britons in the fouth-weft part of ScotLmd, was
occupied by the Pichts, who extended their dominion at leaft as far
fouth as the wall between the Tine and the Solway firth.

A colony of Scots (or Dalreudini, as Bede calls them from their lead-
er Reuda, or Riada) had palTedover from Ireland, probably in the third
century, and occupied Argyle-fhire, with fome of the adjacent lands,
and, apparently, the neighbouring iflands. About the end of the fifth
century, they were reinforced by another colony of the fame race,
under the command of three brothers, called Lorn, ^ngus, and Fer-
gus, the later of whom appears to have fucceeded to the dominions of
one or both of his brothers (a". 503") ; and he is generally reckoned the
firftof the Scottifli kings, and the anceftorof the kings of Scotland, and
of thofe of Great Britain.

Ireland at this time contained, befides the tribes enumerated by Ptole-
my, a colony of the Pichts, and a nation called Scots, who appear from
the works of St. Patric to have been the ruling people. It is is probable,
and we can have nothing better than probability, that all the tribes, or
nations of Ireland, migrated at different times from the weftern fliores
of Britain f .

Such were about this time the nations, whofe pofterity, with a mix-
ture of Norwegians, Danes, and Norman-French, conftitute the popula-
tion of the Britifh iflands. And, though migrations and conquefts do
not in ftrid propriety belong to commercial hiftory, I have thought it
incumbent upon me to give at leaft a very brief account of events,
which gave almoft an entire new population to thefe iflands, which were
deftmed by Providence to furpafs the commercial fame of all the na-
tions of antiquity, to extend their commercial enterprifes to every port
upon the furface of the globe, and to cover the ocean with their innu-
merable fails.

• The Wclfli ;iiiJ the Highlanders of Soot- Davids in Wales ; and it is but fixtcen miles from

land to this day fcarc.ly know the Englidi by the Mull of Galloway, and only ten fiom the Mull

any oiher name than Snjfitnach. of Kenlirc, in ijcotlaiid.

\ Ireland is vifiljlc in clear weather from St.

A. D. 500. 223

The Romanized Britons were much fuperior to all their invaders in
the arts and faiences, except the art of war. But the faint light of learn-
ing and knowlege remaining in the idand, was almofl extinguifhed by
the long continued and bloody wars, which during feveral dark cen-
turies depopulated the country, and defolated the cities of Britain.

The following particulars of the manners, manufadures, &c. of the
inhabitants of the Britifh iflands beyond the limits of the Roman con-
quefts (to whom I have fcarcely had an opportunity of paying any at-
tention hitherto), are chiefly colleded from the antient biographers of
the faints, almofl the only writers of the weflern world in the dark ages,
and brought together as throwing fome glimmering of light upon the
fmall portion of arts, manufadures, trade, and navigation, exifling in
thefe remote regions about this time *.

The Irifli ftill retained the cuflom, noted by SoHnus, of adorning
their fwords and daggers with the poliflied teeth of animals. [Adamnani
Vita Columbce, MS. Bib. Reg. 8, d, ix. L. iii, c. 39.] The manufadture of
fwords and other weapons was in very early times pradifed in every
part of the Britifli iflands.

The luxury of riding in chariots was common in Britain and Ireland.
IPatricii Synod, can. 9. — Cogitofi Vita Brigita, ap. MeJJingham, cc. 6, 7, 1 1.
— Adamn. L. i, c. qq ; L. ii, c. 43.]

A common article of drefs was a cloak or plaid (peplum, pallium,
fagum) adorned with a variety of colours, which was probably of home
manufadure. \^Adamn. L. iii, c. i.] They had fine Unen, which, with
other articles of fumptuous drefs, may be prefumed to have been im-
ported. The bodies of the dead, at leaft thofe of eminent rank, were
wrapped in fine linen. IPatricii Synod, can. 9 — Cogitos. c. 11. — Adamn.
L. iii, c. 26.] Decency of drefs Vv^as recommended to all, but particu-
larly to clergyiTien and their wives. [Patrlcii Synod, can. 6.]

In the churches and abbays there were bells, which the pious and in-
duftrious abbats fometimes made with their own hands. [Fita Gilda
quoted in U//erii Brit, eccles. antiq. p. 905, cd. 1639.! — Adamn. L. i, £•. H ;
L. iii, c. 23.]

Water mills were introduced in Britain by the Romans, as appears
by the remains of a Roman mill lately difcovered at Mancheft;er : [JVbit-
akcr's Hiji. of Manchejier, p. 315] and as they are frequently mentioned
during the Saxon period, we may be aflured, that an engine fo very ufe-
ful, and alfoof fuch limple confl:rudion, was never allowed to go out
of ufe. About this time they were alfo ufed in Ireland. \_Cogitos.-

^- 13-]

Veflels made of glafs for drinking out of were ufed even in the ex-

* Patric flourifhed from A. D. 432, the year td were written very foon after their own time,,
of his mlffion, to 493 : Brigit, about 500 : and and may be trufted to in every thing but thee
Columba, from 522 to J97. The lives here quot- miracles. 3

2 24 -^' ^' 5°^*

trernity of Britain by the northern Pichts * ; but whether they were
nnnufadured by themfelves, or imported, we are not told. [Adamn.
L. ii, c. 32 ] We have reafon to believe that the art of manufaduring
glafs was known to the fouthern Britons before the invafion of the Ro-
mans.

Ale was a common drink, and made at home. Wine was alfo ufed

upon fome occafions, and moil probably imported. ICo^itos. c. 4

Adamn. L.'\\,c.\.'\

The natives of Ireland, and the north-weft coaft of Britain, and the
adjacent iflands, caught falmon, and other fifh with nets. [Adamn. L.
ii, cc. 17, 18; L. iii, c. 25.] So it appears that they had no averfion to
fiih, VN^hatever their anceftors may have had. (See above, p. 200.) But
they knew nothing of the vaft advantage to be derived from an exten-
live fiihery, and only caught fifli for their own vife.

Though the leather boats of the Britons chiefly attraded the attention
of foreigners, as being unufual with them, we mufi; not fuppofe they
had no others. They certainly learned to build vefTels of wood while
under the Roman dominion, if they had them not before. About this
time, even in the remote Weflern iflands, they had long velTels built ot
oak planks ; and they all carried at leafl one fail. Some of the veflels
covered with leather, were fufficient to go long voyages ; at leafl as far
as from Ireland to Orkney, and even to advance as far into the North-
ern ocean as a run of fourteen days with full fail before a fouth wind f.
[Adamn. L. i,c. F ; L. ii, cc. 42, 45.]

I may here alfo obierve, that inftruments and trinkets made of gold,
fome of them of coniiderable weight, were by no means uncommon in
Ireland, as appears from the great numbers of them found in various
parts of the country, though they probably belong to ages prior to any
authentic hiflory %. As civilized nations do not carry the prctious merals
to countries in an inferior flate of civilization, it ieems more probable
that the gold was found in mines, of which there are flill fome veftiges
in Ireland, than that it was imported, though we fhould even f ppofe
with Tacitus (lee above, p. 189), that Ireland had a greater foreign
trade than Britain.

* It is proper to ohfci"ve, tliat Cumin, who fociety) had adlually failed to Iceland, whrre they

died ill the year 669, and was the original writer fettled, it being moil probably impofliiile f^i them

oi the Life of Columba, has not a word of the to lind their way back again ; and their hooks in

llorv Containing the notice of the drinking glafs. tlie Iiilh language, bells, okc. were found there by

It is tjot known in what year Adamnan wrote his the full colonills from Norway. [_/Iili Schcda dc

greatly-enlarged copy of Cuniiii'a Life of Coluni- JJlatidia, c. 2.]

ba. The mannfaiSure of glafs was introduced \ Sic y4rchieolo^ia Britann. V. ii, ip. 3; V. iii,

among the Erigliih of Northumberland in the year p. 55 q — (^aHmicry's CoUeBanca de rebus Hibcruicis,

•674. n°. xlii. One gold Hhula of ten ounces (rtprcfent-

-j- It appears, , that fome wrong-headed monks, ed in plate vi, 11°. 2) was fold to a goldt'nitli, who

^:.i,,.. I,,, ■, r. ,1 ..... .tijp,.^ Of hy dtfigijj (for the informed Colonel Vallanccy, that he had melted

fiij/pofed to confill in down feveral of that form, one of which weighed

-1.1 111^ UH.U.. i.tj iiicieis by withdrawing from fixttcn ounces.

A, D, 517—522. 225

517 — ^The Danes made their firfl appearance under that name in hif-
tory, when an army of them landed in Gaul, and ravaged the country
between the Macfe and the Rhine. In their retreat they were attacked
by the Franks, who recovered all the plunder from them. [Greyer.
'Turofi. L. iii, c. 3.]

522 — The Oriental commerce of the Red fea appears to have made
a regular progrefs down the well coafl of it. The earlieft port I find
mentioned is Heroopolis, at the very head of the weft branch, or on a
canal drawn from the Nile to it *. Myos-hormos and Berenice, after-
wards became the feats of the trade. And we find, from the w^orks
of Cofmas Indicopleuftes f , that it had now quite deferted the Roman
dominions, probably in confequence of the calamities brought upon
Egypt by Caracalla and Diocletian, and fettled at Aduli, a port of Ethi-
opia, (or Abyflinia) near the mouth of the Red fea, and far beyond the
utmoft limits of the empire. That port was now frequented by the
merchants of Alexandria, by Cofmas, and his neighbours (who refided
in fome other part of Egypt), and by the merchants of Aela, an Arabian
port belonging to the Roman at the head of the eaftern branch, where,
in an earlier age, Solomon had his harbour of Eziongeber ; and from it
fuch of the Egyptian Greeks, as defired to adventure upon the Ocean,
embarked, apparently as charterers or freighters, onboard the veflels of
the port. The aromatics, incence, and fpiceries, the ivory, and the
emeralds, of Ethiopia, were coUeded in the'port of Aduli, and fhipped
by the merchants of the place onboard their own veflels, which they
fent to India, Perfia, South Arabia, and the Roman empire, the only
parts of which, acceflible by their veflTels, were Egypt and the north
part of Arabia.

The great illand of Siele-div (or Ceylon), again called Taprobane by
the Greeks ij;, was now the chief feat of the commerce of the Indian
ocean. Its ports were frequented by vefl!els from India, Perfia, Ethio-
pia, South Arabia, Tzinitza § (or China), and other eaftern countries;
and the merchants of Siele-div carried on a great adive trade in their

* The pofition of it cannot be precifcly afcer- —This defcription makes it clear, that the dolphin

tained. of the antients is very different from the modern

f Indicopleuftes fignifies navi-^alor of India, dolphin : and it anfwers very well to the porpus,

He was a merchant ; and he founds his narrative, the form of which alfo comes near to the antient

he tells us, upon his own kuowlcge, aflilled by in- reprefentations of the dolphin. But his compari-

quiries made in every place to which he traded, fon of turtle to mutton mull be allowed to be in-

In his old age he became a monk, as did alfo an- accurate ; and the connoifeurs in eating will think

other Greek merchant of his acquaintance. ' Egypt, meanly of his taile, in putting the dolphin (or por-

« the fruitful parent of fuperltition, afforded the pus) on a level with the turtle.

• firft example of the monalh'c life,' in the early J See above, p. 132, note for the revolutions of

part of the fourth century. names of this ifland.

A paffagc of Cofmas may through fome light § Whether the Sinae, mentioned at the end of

on the quellion tefpefting the dolphin of the an- the Periplus of the Eiythrxaii fea, (fee above, p.

tienta. He fays, ' the flefh of tiie turtle is liko 133), were the Cliincfe or not, there can be little

' mutton : that of the dophin is like pork, tender, doubt that the Tzinitza of Cofmas is the empire

' and nearly as agreeable to the tafte as the turtle.' of China.

Vol. I. F f

226 A. D. 522.

o\vn veflels to all thofe countries. They received from Tzinitza lilk,
now called by the new name of metaxa, aloes, cloves, the wood of cloves,
fandal wood, and other articles ; from Male {Malabar) they imported
pepper; from Calliena *, now a place of great trade, copper, wood of
fefame like ebony, and a variety of (luffs ; and from Sindu, mu/k, cailo-
reum, and Ipikenard. All thele articles, together with fome fpiceries f,
and the hyacinths, for which the ifland was famous, were exported to
every fhore of the Indian ocean.

The Perfian traders to Siele-div appear to have been very numerous,
fince there was a church erected for them, the clergy of which received
ordination in Perfia. A principal part of their cargoes confided of Per-
fian hories for the ule of the king.

The chief ports of the mainland of India at this time were Sindu:}:
on the River Sind or Indus, Orotha, Calliena, Sibor, Male famous for
pepper, as were alio the five ports of Parti, Mangaruth, Salopatana, Na-
lopatana, and Pudapatana §.

Tzinitza, which is exprefsly noted as the country producing the filk,
is, according to Cofmas, as far beyond Siele-div, as Siele-div is from the
head of the Perfian gulf; and it is bounded by the Ocean, there being
no inhabited country beyond it. The fhort land carriage between
Tzinitza and Perfia, (which, however, he elfewhere calls a journey of a
hundred and fifty days) is affigned as the reafon of the great abundance
of filk in the later.

Cofmas alfo defcribes a trade conducted by caravans, fent by Elef-
baan||, the king of the Axumites on the eafl coafl of Africa, who ex-
changed iron, fait, and cattle, for pieces of gold, with an inland nation
in the fame filent manner that the Carthaginians carried on a trade on
the wefl coafl of Africa, defcribed by Herodotus many centuries before
Cofmas, and by Cadamofto and Dodor Shaw, many centuries after
him f .

From the view of the Oriental trade given by Cofmas, we fee that
the Roman province of Egypt had now the fmalleft concern in it, and
that only by the medium of a foreign port ; and the Perfians and Ethi-
opians of this age appear to have been more largely engaged in it than

• Calliena was one of the ports formerly (hut § The names of places found fomewhat more

againfl the Egyjitian Greeks, in order to force Indian-like in Cofmas than in the Periphis. I'he

all the trade to go to Barygaza. See above, p. Greeks were very tardy in adopting tlie genuine

169. names of the foreign places they liad occafion to

f Cofmas has not a word of cinnamon as the mention,
produce of Siclediv, or indeed of any of the Ori- ]: When Cofmas was at Aduli, Elefbaan, call-

tntal countries. He fccms to confme the growth cd alfo HclliiUixus and Calcd, was preparing to

of it to Ethiopia, in a country near the ocean of make an expedition againll the Homerites of Ara-

Zingion, which "is probably the name now called bia Felix, which is mentioned by fcveral other au-

Zanguc-bar. » thors.

J Perhaps Pata!a, or the Barbaric emporium f Sec above, p. 55.
•f the Periplus. 4

A. D. 522. 227

the Arabians, unlefs the later, in confequence of his having no tranfac-
tions with them, have been neglecfted in his narrative.

From the writings of Cofmas we may alfo learn the deplorable decay
of fcience fmce the age of Pliny. The chief intent of his work, which
he calls Chrijlian topography, was to confute the heretical opinion of the
earth being a globe, together with the pagan aflertion that there was a
temperate zone on the fouth fide of the torrid zone ; and to inform his
readers, that, according to the true orthodox fyftem of cofmography, it
was a quandrangular plane, extending four hundred courfes, or days
journeys, from eaft to wefl, and exadlly half as much from north to
fouth*, inclofed by lofty walls, upon which the canopy or vault of the
firmament refl:cd ; that a huge mountain on the north fide of the earth,
by intercepting the light of the fun, produced the viciflitudes of day
and night ; and that the plane of the earth had a declivity from north
to fouth, by reafon of which the Euphrates, Tigris, and other rivers
running fouth, are rapid, whereas the Nile, having to run up hill,
hasneceflarily a very flow current. \CoJmas, 'Topog. Chrijl. — Procop. Per-
fic. L. i, c. 20.]

523 — The Venetians, who efcaped the deftroying fword of Attila in
the year 452, appear to have now eflabliflied a regular internal govern-
ment or police. Their boats were enlarged to vefTels capable of vifiting
every part of the Adriatic gulf, and worthy of the attention of the fu-
preme government, now in the hands of the Gothic king of Italy, whofe
minifter, Cafliodorus, addrefl~ed a letter to the maritime tribimes of Ve-
nice, requiring them to tranfport the public ftores of wine and oil from
Iftria to Ravenna f .

After difpatching his official bufinefs, Cafliodorus, very fortunately
for the caufe of genuine hiftory, runs out in a kind of poetical, but ap-
parently a true, defcription of the celebrated city of Venice, (' Venetise
' praedicabiles') which he compares to the Cyclades, as he does their
houfes to the nefts of aquatic fowls, fet upon ground not provided by
nature, but made by human induftry, and confolidated by means of
flender fences made of twifted ofiers (fuch as the Dutch call_y?^^<"^ and
rijs'). The diflinflion of rich and poor was ftill unknown in Venice :
all the houfes were alike : all the citizens lived on the iame fifli diet.
Their only emulation was in the manuflidure of fait, an article, which,
as he obferves to the comfort of the Venetians, is more indifpenfibly

* The antient Chinefe believed the earth to ance of which has remained entire in V'enice. The

be a perfeft fquare. \_Staunton's Emhajfy, V. ii, reqiiifition of Theodoric, by the letter of his mi-

p. ■X^2\. fecund cdr^ nittcr, fliows that he at Icafl thought otherways,

f When individuals or coinmunitics become and reckoned tiiem in the number of his fubjefts :

profperous, their vanity requires to be flattered and it is not likely, that they ventured to dilputc

with the imaginary dignity of their ancellors. his claim to their allegiance. It is alfo certain.

The Venetians have accordingly pretended, that that they afterwards acknowleged themfelves va''-

their (late Is the only true and legitimate offspring fals of both the Eaflern and Weftern empires fo-

of the Roman republic, the freedom and indcpend- fome sges.

Ff 2

228 A. D. 523.

neceflary than gold. Cafliodorus remarks their cuflom of tying their
boats to their walls, as people tye their horfes and cows in other places ;
their navigation through their country, or city; their fafe and pleafant
voyages upon the rivers of the adjacent continent, wherein their vefTels
appear to a fpedator, who does not fea the water, to be gliding through
the meadows, and the mariner, exempted from all danger of fliipwreck,
inftead of being carried by his veffel, drags it along with a rope, while
he walks upon the dry land. [CaJJiodori Var. L. xii, epiji. 24.]

533 — The profperity of Europe and Africa was interrupted by the
weak ambition, or avarice, of Juflinian, who, being defirous to recover
the Weflern empire from the barbarians, fent againft Africa a fleet con-
fifting of five hundred tranfports, from thirty to five hundred tuns,
which carried thirty-five thoufand men, five thoufand horfes, warlike
ftores, provifions, &c. and thefe were proteded by ninety-two dromones,
or warlike fhips. This fleet, not half fo numerous as thofe which had
been fitted out by the preceding emperors for the fame purpofe, com-
pletely broke the power of the Vandals, and added the African provin-
ces, Sardinia, and Corfica, to the eaftern Roman empire. But it was
conduced by Belifarius : and fuch was the eflfed of the fuperior talents
of one man.

c^'^^ — The fame vidlorious general was employed to wrefl: Sicily from
the Goths : and their government being at this time in fome confufion,
that fertile ifland fubmitted to Belifarius, almofl; without oppofition.
He next attacked Italy, and he even got pofl^eflion of Rome, (a°. 536), the
inhabitants of which rejoiced in being again fubjed to a fovereign, who
had the name of a /?o;7Zrt« emperor. The great talentsof Belifarius, who,
though a native of Thrace, and living in a degenerate age, mayjuftly
be called one of the beft, and the laft, of the Roman generals, were emi-
nently diiplayed in fuftaining a fiege of above a year by a very great,
but ill-conduded, army of the Goths.

537 Rome being in want of flour during the fiege, and the fmall

ftreams, by which the mills were turned, being in the pofleflion of the
Goths, the provident genius of BeUfarius contrived to moor barges in
the flream of the Tiber, and on them he conftruded mills, which ground
corn for the fupport of the people, as long as the fiege continued.
\Froc'jp. Gothic. L. i, c. 19,]

538 — Belifarius, having repelled the enemy from Rome, purfued his
advantages, till he brought the kingdom of the Goths in Italy to the
brink of ruin, and fent their king Vitiges a prifoner to Conftantinople.

At the commencement of this war the Goths ceded the cities of Are-
late (Aries), and Maflllia (Marfeille) the antient colony of the Phocteans^
with the adjacent territories, to the Franks, who were already mafters of
almoft all the refl: of Gaul and a confiderable part of Germany, and now
by the pofleflion of the fouth coaft of Gaul acquired the command of

A. D. 538. 229

the adjacent Tea. Upon this occafion the fovereign of the Franks ac-
cepted from Juftinian a refignation of the right, which he, as emperor
of Rome, might claim to thofe territories, and to the allegiance of the
fubjeds. The Roman, or rather Grecian, hiftorian adds, that the kings
of the Franks were permitted to coin money made of Gallic gold, and to
mark it with their own portrait inftead of the emperor's ; a privilege
denied even to the kings of Perlia, who could put their own heads only
upon filver coins, as gold coins with any other head than the emperor's
would not be accepted even among the barbarous nations, that is to fay,
nations not fubjed to the Roman, or Conftantinopolitan, empire *.
{Procop. Gothic. L. iii, c 33.]

539 The folly of Juftinian, who now flattered himfelf, that he was

mafter of the Roman empire in its antient greateft extent, while he was
in fa(5l, in fpite of his long wall and other vain fortifications, a tributary
to all the nations bordering on the Danube, to the Perfians, and to the
Turks (who in his reign firft: appear in European hiflory) accelerated
the ruin of his own empire by calling off the Goths from the Danube
to the defence of Italy, and plunged that country again into the mifery
and oppreffion from which it had been refcued by the prudent and be-
neficent government of Theodoric.

546 — From the oppreffion and mifcondu6l of Juftinian's officers and
tax-gatherers Italy was delivered by the valour and virtue of Totila the
king of the Goths, who punifhed the defedion of Rome by banifhing
the fenators, and giving the city to be plundered by his army ; after
which he abandoned the antient capital of the world, as unworthy of
his attention. It was immediately taken pofTeflion of by Belifarius.
But that great general was drawn off by the imprudence, or the envy, of
Jufi:inian (a°. 548) ; and the fluduating dominion of Italy and the adjacent
iflands was refiored to the Goths, and foon torn from them again (ao. 553)
by the military condud of Narfes, who, though an eunuch, was more
worthy than any other fubjed of Jufiinian to be the fucceflor of Belifarius.
The Gothic empire in Italy was now finally ex tinguiflied : and Narfes
was appointed, with the title of exarch, to govern the miferable coun-
try, depopulated and ravaged by a war of twenty years. The feat of
government was hereupon fixed at Ravenna ; and Rome became they^--
cond city of Italy (a°. 554).

* How the powerful fovereigns of Perfia, to fomely engraved ; whereas the Perfian was oi.ly

whom the emperors of Conftantinople were fie- of filver, and of inferior execution. — ^Was there

qutntly tributary, fliould be prohibited from coin- really a general confent of nations to prefer the

iiig whatever kind of money they might think pro- gold coins bearing the heads of the Roman era-

per, it is not veiy eafy to conceive. Yet there perors, and has it efcaped the attention of the

is a (lory told by Cofnias Indlcopleuftes, of a con- learned ? — Or are we to undcrftand the emperor's

left for the dignity of the Perfian and Roman em- permiflion to fignify a ftipulation, that the Frank-

pires, in the prefcnce of the king of Siele-div, be- idi gold coins Ihould be received as current money

ing decided by the fuperiority of the Roman coin, in the dominions of the emperor ?
which was of gold, with the emperor's head hand-

1^0 A. D. 529.

529 — The incomprebenfible mafs of the innumerable Roman laws
was in fome degree methodized, and abridged in twelve books, called
the Code of Jtijlinian. The opinions and comments of the moft cele-
brated lawyers, contained in two thoufand treatifes, were compreffed in-
to fifty, which were called the PandeBs (a''. $33)- Another colledion was
made of the Injlitutes of the Roman law. And thefe compilations,
fanclioned by the authority and the fignature of the emperor, were or-
dained to be the ftandard for all legal proceedings in fucceeding ages.
Though a correSied edition of the Code was publifhed foon after by Juf-
tinian, and many new and contradidory laws w^re added during his
long reign, the colledion of which was called the Novels (a''. 565), his fyf-
tem of law has been in a great meafure adopted in the jurifprudencc-
of feveral nations of Europe, and has confequently had great influence
in the regulation of commercial contrads, and the decifion of commer-
cial difputes, long after the total extindion of the empire for which they
xvere enaded.

527-565 — Juftinian delighted much in building; and during his long
reign innumerable forts were ereded to proted, or confefs the weak-
nefs of, the frontiers. The moft capital of all his edifices was the ca-
thedral of Saint Sophia, which remains to this day, a fuperb monument"
of the bell tafte of an age, in which all the fine arts were rapidly de-
clining.

Eut the interefl:s of commerce were facrificed to his rage for conquefts
and exhaufting wars. He ftationed an officer at the port of Conftantin-.
ople, who compelled the commanders of velfels to pay enormous duties,
or to commute them by the carriage of cargoes for the emperor to Afri-
ca or Italy, which exadions were found fo intolerable, that many vefl^els
were adually burnt, or abandoned, by their owners : and thofe merch-
ants, who did pay the duties, were obliged to advance the prices of their
goods in a proportion, that was ruinous to themfelves and to the con-
fumers. His money-changers, inftead of giving 210 foles for the golden
ftater, gave only 1 80. And every branch of commerce, except the
clothing trades, was fettered and opprefled by monopolies. [P/ocop.
Aiiecd. c. 25.]

The legal rate of intereft was eftablifhed at7?r per cent ; but perfons
of rank were not permitted to take more than four ; while eight was al-
lowed for the convenience of merchants and manufadurers, and twelve
upon the rifle of bottomry. [Pandc6f. L. xxii, ///. 1,2; Cod. L. iv, ///.

32, 33-]

The merchants of Egypt were no longer capable of conduding the

Oriental trade, as their predeceflbrs had done. Their voyages did not

often extend beyond AduJi or the port of Aden in Arabia Felix. Many

of them removed their refi'Jence to Aduli, and confequently transferred

their allegiance to the fovercign of Axuma (or Abyiliuia), and ii fome

A. 0.527-565- 231

of them traded to Siele-dlv or any other part of India, they failed in
veflels belonging to the port of Aduli ; and thus the commerce, which
for feveral centuries rendered Kgypt the repofitory of the wealth of
the weftern world, was lofl to that country and to the Roman empire.
\?hUQj}orgu H'ljl.eccl. L. iii, c. 4 — Cojm. Indicopl. — Procop. Perfic.L.i,
cc. 19, 20.]

Silk, which had never been worn by any Roman man before the
reign of the worthlefs and effeminate Elagabalus, had now come into
general ufe among the rich; and, notwithftanding the very high price of
it, it was fought after with aftonifhin^ eagernefs by the opulent and
luxurious inhabitants of Conflantinople. Confequently it formed at all
times a very coxdiderable part, at leall in value, of the imports from the
Eaft.

The manufadure of filk goods from raw filk imported from the Eaft
had long been carried on in the antient Phoenician cities of Tyre and
Berytus, whence the weftern world ufed to be fupplied. But the en-
hanced prices the manufadurers were obliged to pay to the Perfians
(the caufe of v/hich will prefently be explained) made it impoilible for
them to furnifli their goods at the former prices, efpecially in the Ro-
man territories, where they were fubjedl to a duty of ten per cent.
The emperor, however, ordered that filk fhould be fold at the rate of
eight pieces of gold * for the pound (twelve ounces of our avoirdupois
w'eight) on penalty of the forfeiture of the whole property of the of-
fender. The dealers immediately gave up their bufinefs, and clandef-
tinely difpofed of their flock on hand in the beft way they could ; where-
upon Theodora, whom, from a common proftitute, Juftinian had made
his concubine, his wife, and at lad his aifociated partner in the imperial
power, feized all the filks, and fined the proprietors a hundred pieces
of gold. By thefe tyrannical proceedings the fcarcity was immediately
converted to abiolute want.

Juftinian, defpairing, or carelefs, of the re-eftablifliment of the com-
merce of Egypt, fent JuKan as his ambafTador to Elafbaan (or Hellif-
thgeus) king of Axuma, requefting that, for the fake of their commu-
nion in religion, he would allift him in his war againft Perfia, and di-
red his fubjeds to purchafe filks f in India, in order to fell them to the
Romans, whereby the Axumites would acquire great wealth, and the
Romans would have the iatisfadion of paying their gold into the hands
of their friends inftead of enriching their Perfian enemies. Julian alfo
proceeded on the fame errand to Efimiphgeus, who was king of the Ho-

* Alemanus, in his notes on this paflage of called Median among the Greek? ; and the fame

Procopius, makes a pound of gold contain a hun- remark is made by Suldas, (vo. SijjiK») who adds,

dred anrei ; and at that rate eight aurci amounted tliat the emperor wiihtd the Axumites to impoit

to about ^3 : 4 : o of our modern money. the filk in a raw (late, (^iza^x), whence it appears, -

f Procopius, or the emperor, remarks, that the that he was fenfibte of the benefit of having the

iluff now called Smc ^filk) had formerly been manufaflure in his own dotninions.

-232 A. D. 527—5^5-

merites in Arabia Felix, now under vaflalage to the fovereign of Axu-
ma *. Both kings promifed to comply with Juftinian's requeft ; but
neither of them was able to perform what he promifed.

I have obferved, that about the commencement of the Chriflian aera,
if not earlier, the merchants of India had taken a {hare of the carrying
trade to the weftward into their own hands f ; and they appear to have
tjow made themfelves mafters of the greatefl part of it. In their out-
ward voyages they generally called in at the ports of Perfia for the
chance of a nearer market, and they fcarcely ever failed of having their
whole cargoes bought up by the Perfian merchants. By this pre-
emption, and by having the command of the land carriage from the
country of the Seres, which could not eafily be conduced by any other
route than through their territories, there was almoft a monopoly, with
refpecl to the weftern nations, of India commodities and manufadures,
but more efpecially of filk, thrown into the hands of the Perfian merch-
ants, who fupplied the remoter nations at their own prices. Such being
the flate of the trade, the Axumites, who found themfelves generally
difappointed in obtaining filks, foon defifted from a fruitlefs competi-
tion; and the luxurious Romans of Conftantinople were obliged to live
without filk, or to comply with the exorbitant demands of their Perfian
enemies.

From this difiirefs, which, though it would have provoked the laughter
and the contempt of their ancefiiors, was felt and lamented as a real mis-
fortune by the fenators of the Roman empire, they were relieved in a
very extraordinary and unexpeded manner. Two Perfian monks, in-
fpired by religious zeal or curiofity, had traveled to Serinda %, the
country of the Seres, and lived in it long enough to make themfelves
mafi;ers of the whole procefs of the filk manufadare. On their return
to the weftward, inflead of communicating the knowlege to their own
countrymen, they proceeded to Conftantinople, induced perhaps by the
famenefs of their religion, and imparted to the emperor the fecret, hi-
therto fo well preferved by the Seres, that Ji/l was produced by a [pedes
ofzvorms, the eggs of which miglit be traniported with fafety, and pro-
pagated in his dominions. By the promife of a great reward they were
engaged to return to Serinda, whence they adlually brought off a quan-
tity of the filk-worms' eggs concealed in a hollow cane, and conveyed
them fafely to Conftantinople (a^. 552). The pretiouseggs were hatched
in the proper feafon by the warmth of a dunghill, and the worms pro-
duced from them were fed with the leaves of the mulberry tree, fpun

• Nonnofus was alfo f-nt on a Cmilar errand to f A name apparently compounded of Seres and

the Axumites, Homeritis, and Saracens. His Indi, the later of vvhirli was !;ivcn by tht Greeks

own accoui.t of liis embalTy is abridged by Plio- and Romans to remote nations vvitli as httle pre-

tiiis in Ills Dlblioiljeci:, p. 6, cil. i6i2. clfiun as Indian is _;ivi."i by modern Europeans.

f Sec above, p. 194. 3

A. D. 527.565. 233

their filk, and propagated their race under the diredlion of the monks,
who alfo taught the Romans the whole myftery of the manufadure.
[Procop. Gothic. L. iv, c. 17. — Theophan. Byzant. ap. Pbotiuni. — Theophy-
laB. L. viii, et ap. Pbotium. — Zonaras, V. \n, p. 50, ed. 1557.] The im-
portant infeds, fo happily produced, were the progenitors of all the filk-
worms in Europe * and the weftern parts of Alia ; and a caneful of the
eggs of an Oriental infed became the means of eflablifliing a manufac-
ture, which luxury and fafliion rendered important, and of laving many
millions of money to Europe f .

The infant manufadure was conduded under the aufpices of the em-
peror and the management of his treafurer. The filk-weavers, appar-
ently thofe of Tyre and Berytus as well as thofe inflruded by the monks,
were compelled to work for the imperial manufadure, which, for at leafl
fome years, mufl have depended on fupplies of raw filk from the Eall.
When Procopius wrote his Anecdotes, the imperial treafurer fold filks
at prices prodigioufly beyond thofe which had formerly been prohibited
as exorbitant, thofe of common colours being charged at fix pieces of
gold for the ounce., and thofe which were tinged with the royal colour,
at twenty-four and upwards.

The imperial monopoly of the filk trade was feverely felt by the in-
habitants of the antient cities of Tyre and Berytus, who had long de-
pended almoft entirely upon their manufadures ; and many of them
emigrated to the Perfian dominions, where the acceilion bf fuch valu-
able fubjeds probably compenfated the diminution in the fales of filk
to the Roman empire. {Procop. Anecd. c. 25,]

The weftern parts of Europe were nov/ very little known in the eaft- ,
ern Roman empire, as appears from feveral paflages in the works of Pro-
copius, who was a man of bufinefs as well as literature, being fecretary
to Belifarius the commander in chief of the imperial army. He de-

* De Witt fays, that the Italians got fome feed fion of knowlege by printing, (whether by fingle

of filk-vvorms from China and Perfia, by means of moveable types, or by wiiole pages cut upon

their trade to the Levant. \JntereJl of Holland, blocks, as praftifed in China) might have fooner

part\,c.\\.'\ But as we can trace the migrations ioftened the ferocity of the invaders, and have

of the filk-worm from Conftantinople to Greece, averted the daik cloud of barbarifm which vvaj

Sicily, and Italy, I apprehend that great author now gathering over Europe, and which debafed

has made a miftake in a matter which the nature the human faculties during many dark centuries

of his work did not requires ftritt invcftigntion of. of papal dominion over the rcafon and property

f Suppofing it true, as is alleged, that the Chin- of mankind. Antient hiftory would have come

efe polTened in very remote ages the knowlege of down to us more full and correft than we now

the compafs and the art of printing, the monks have it. We might have polTcfled the entire

would have conferred a more important favour works of Polybius, Tacitus, and Ammianus Mar-

upon the weftern world, if they had brought thofe echinus; and, to come nearer home, we mio-ht

moft valuable improvements with them. The im- have had defcriptions of antient Biitain, with ac-

provement and extenfion of navigation by the counts of Britifti commerce, by Pytheas and Hi-

compafs might have opened new fields for com- niilco. I fay nothing «f the lofl decads of Livy,

mercial enterprife, and have furnifhcd fafe re- though it is cuitomary to deplore the want of

treats from the exterminating fwords of Scythian theni as the only valuable dipirclita of antiquity,
and Arabian invaders. And the univcrfal diffu-

VoL. I. G g

234 A. D. 527-565-

livers a kind of a fairy tale of an ifland called Brittia, lying beyond
Gnul and between Britain and Thule *, inhabited by the Angles (or
AngiU), Frifons, and Britons ; divided in two parts by a wall built in
antient times, which was the boundary between a fertile and populous
country on the eafl fide and the receptacle of ferpents and other
poifonous animals on the weft fide. He had alfo heard, that Brittia was
the land of departed fpirits ; and he gives a ftrange account of the man-
ner of ferrying them over to their ifland f .

The reign of Juftinian may be clofed by obferving, that during the
period of it the number of mankind was greatly diminifhed, and their
miferies greatly increafed, by earthquakes, plagues, religious perfecu-
tions, and the accumulated calamities of perpetual wars with their con-
comitant evils, negled of agriculture and famine %.

547 — The north part of the antient Roman dominions in Britain,
after lying almoft uncultivated for fome time as an untenable frontier,
had ever fince the abdication of the Romans been thinly fettled by the
Pichts along with the remains of the moft antient inhabitants. It was
now invaded and occupied by the Angles, or Englifh, a branch of that
great divifion of the Germans called the Suevians, whofe military val-
our, as the Ufipetes and Tenchtheri told Julius Caefar, not even the
immortal gods could refift. Ida, their chief, fixed his refidence in the
caftle of Bebbanburgh §, and laid the foundation of the great and flour-
ifhing kingdom of Northumberland, [Ccff. Bell. Gall. L. iv, c. 7. — Tac.

Germ. c. 40. — Gildas, cc. 15, 19 — Bedce Hijl. eccL L. i, c. 15 Chron. i'^x.]

which his i'ucceflbrs extended fouthward to the Humber, the Don, and
the Merfee, and northward to the Forth and the Dune, thus compre-
hending the two Roman provinces of Maxima, and Valentia, except the
fmall Britifh kingdom of Strathcluyd, which, though Northumberland
was generally the moft powerful kingdom in Britain, refifted all its at-
tacks, and even furvived it as a kingdom. Succeeding colonies of the
Angles extended themfelves fouthward, till they interfered with the
conquefls of the Saxons, and occupied almoft all the country from the
Thames to the Forth, except the fmall kingdom of the Eaft Saxons.

* Tlie Thule of Procopius is unqui.(lloiiably den has inferteJ the begiiuiiiig of the llory as hif-

iScandimvin, which, he fays, is an iflaiui ten times toi')', and the ghoHs and tlieir ferry-boats, with

as larcje as Britain, ai d lying northward from the feme other ftrajige ilorics, as fables, in his Br'ttati'

eunntry of the Danes, having the fun above the nia, pp. 94, 849, eil. 1607.]

liori/on forty days in funimcr, and poncffed by the % Tlie events of the long reign of Juftinian,

Scrit-firmi, Gauti, and other nations. \_Gothic. L. which I have thouglit it neceffiiry to notice as me-

ii, c. It.] diately or immediately afTccfting t)ie little commerce

-j- Notwithftanding the name of Brittia, the ac- now cxifiing in the welKrn worlil, which have no

count iif thib (Irange country fccms moie applic- partieulir references, are chiefly taken from the

able to Denmark, or ihe adjacent iflands, than to works of Proeopius, a contem]>orary writer.

Brit.iln. The Ead Angles and Merkian Angles, § Now called Bambnrgli, and well known to

bad not arr'vcd in Britain in the age of Proco- the coalling mariner, and tor the holpitabic recep-

pius, and the ariival of the firft Angles in fo re- lion afforded to the fliipwrccked by cpifcopal mii-

n>ote a country as Northumberland, and fo late as niliccncc.

54.7, was moft probably unknown to him. Cam- 3

A. D. 5 64.

^35

564 — When Gildas who is, next to Patric, the mofl antient Britiflr
writer extant, wrote his lamentable hiflory of the ruin, or excifion
(' excidium') of Britain, Conftantine, Aurelius, Vortipor, Cuneglas, and
Maglocun, were kings of fome tribes or communities of the Britons. It
feems probable from their names, that the two firft were of Roman
origin, and perhaps Conftantine was of the family of that Conftantine,
who was eleded emperor by the army in Britain in the beginning of
the fifth century. [Gilda Epi/iola.']

Gildas fays, [_Hi/i. c. i] that there were twenty-eight cities in Britain,
befides fome caftles flrongly fortified. An authentic lift of the principal
cities or towns of Britain in the fixth century would be curious, and
would throw much important light on the ftate of the country. But
Gildas, who delights in declamation, is very fparing of fads, and total-
ly negledful of geography. Nennius, the next oldeft Britifti author, or
more probably his continuator, in a work which ufed to pafs under the
name of Gildas, has given a bare lift of cities, which, being much cor-
rupted by tranfcribers, affords very little information. However, as
there is no other, after the Romans, equally antient, I fliall here gitQ
it, as extraded from two very old manufcripts by Archbifhop Ufher,
with the modern names agreeable to the fame learned writer : and I
fliall fet oppofite to it the Britifti names handed down to us by Henry
of Huntingdon, together with his modern names, as being the oldeft and
fuUeft lift after that of Nennius.

Carlile.

Cities from Nennius, by Uftier,
Cair-Guntuig, Wiriwik in Lanca-

fliire.
Cair-Municip, F'erulam at St. Al-
bans.
Cair-Lualid, or 7
Ligualid, 3
Cair-Meguaid, 1 Meivod in Mont-

or Meiguod, ^ gomery.
Cair-Colon, Colchejler.

Cair-Ebrauc, York.

Cair-Cufteint, Cair-Seiont near

Carnarvon *.
Cair-Caratauc

Cities from Henry of Huntingdon.

Kair-Mercipit.

Kair-Lion,

Kair-Meguaid.

Kair-CoUon,
Kair-Ebranc,

Kair-Cucerat.

C/irlile.

Colchejler.
York.

* The Britilh monk« in the dark ages having
d'lfcovered, that Conftantine, the firll Chriftian em-
peror, was of Britifh birth and parentage, and
prcfuming that othert were as ignorant as them-
ielves, they refolved alfo to provide a burying place
for him, or his fatiier Conftantius, near Carnarvon,
where in the year 1283 they even found his body.

{_UJfirni Brit, ecclef. atitlq. p. 6c.'\ But, as thefe
are very grofs fiftions, it is at lead as probable,
that Conftanton in Cornwall near Falmouth, which
in the time of Gildas was fubjeiS to Conftantine,
a Britilh petty king (not a Roman emperor) is
the place here called Cair-Cufteint.

Gg2

136

A. D. 564.

Cities from Nennius, by Ufher.
Cair-Grant, Grantchejier near

Cambridge.
Cair-Mauchguid.
Cair-Lundein, London.
Cair-Guorthigirn.
Cair-Ceint, Canterbury.

Cair-Guorangon, Worcejler.
Cair-Peris, Fortchefter.

Cair-Daun, ' Doncqfler.
Cair-Legion, Chefter.

Cair-Guorichon, Warwick.

Cair-Segeinc,

Cair-Legion-

guar-Uiic,

Cair-Guenr,

Cair-Seiont.

Cairleion on XJJk.
Wint chefter ; or
C air-Went in
Monmouth-
Ihire.
[Dunbarton.^
Leici'Jler.

Draiton in Shrop-
lliire.

Cair-Penfavelcoit,Pfz;fff/tj.
Cair-Urnach, Wroxeter.

Cair-Celemion, Crtwa/^/ in Somer-

fet.
Cair-Luit-coyt, Lincoln.

Cair-Brithon,
Cair-Lirion,

Cair-Drauon *,

Cities from Henry of Huntingdon.
Kair-Grant, Cambridge.

Kair-Meguaid.
Kair-Lundene, Lundoti.
Kair-Guortigern.
Kair-Chent, Canterbury.

Kair-Gorangon, Worcejler.

Kair-Peris,

Kair-Guorcon.
Kair-Segent,

Kair-Legion,

Porichejier.

Silchejler.
Cairleion on U/k^

Kair-Lirion,
Kair-Draiton.

Kair-Urnac.

Leice/ler.

Kair-Loitchoit, Lincoln.

Some places mentioned by Nennius are omitted by Henry, who has
the following, not found in the earlier lift.

Kair-Glou,
Kair-Cei,
Kair-Briftou,
Kair-Ceri,

Glouccjler.
Cicejler.
Bri/lol.
Cirencejler.

Kair-Dauri,
Kair-Dorm,
Kair-Merdin,
Kair-Licelid.

Dorche/ler.

ruins on the Nen.

Carmarthen.

And Alfred of Beverly, whofe lift contains only twenty names, has
Caer-Badun, Bath; and Caer-Palodour, Shajtjbury\.

Thefe lifts being evidently corrupt and imperfed, and moreover of
an uncertain age, it would be idle to draw any conclufions from them
refpeding the antient ftate of the towns Juppofed to be mentioned in
them. Indeed, I fear, fome readers will think the page occupied by
them ill beftowed : but I did not think myfelf at liberty to i'upprefs

• This has much tlie appearance of an Eiigli(h name.

I iJunic of tlie modern names giren by Aliicd and Henry are evidently erroneous, c. g. Silchefter,

A. D. 564. 237

what has been repeatedly adduced as a complete view of the ftate of
the country in the fixth century.

The eftabliflimtnt of the Turkifh power in Afia about the middle of
the fixth century, together with the fubfequent wars, had interrupted
the communication by caravans between China (or Serica) and Perfia.
On the return of peace the Sogdians, who had the greateft intereft in
the revival of the trade, perfuaded the Turkifh fovereign, to whom they
were now fubjedt, to fend an embafly to Chofroes, or Nufliirvan, king of
Perfia : and Maniak, a Sogdian prince who was appointed ambaflador,
was inftruded to requeft permifliou for the Sogdians to fupply the Per-
fian empire with filk. But Chofroes, who found the conveyance by fea
to the Perfian gulf more advantageous to his fubjeds, bought up the
whole of a parcel of filk the ambafllidor had carried with him, and
then, to fhow how little he valued it, immediately fet fire to it. After
this the Perfian and Chinefe empires confederated againft the Turks,
who thereupon made an alliance with Juftin the emperor of Conftan-
tinople (a°. 569). Maniak, who was alio employed as ambafiador to ne-
gotiate the aUiance, and his aflociates, were aftonifhed and difappointed
upon feeing filk-worms and manufadures of filk at Conftantinople ; and
they acknowleged, perhaps with overfl:raincd compliment, that the Ro-
mans were fully equal to the Chinefe in the management of the worms-,
and the manufadure of their filk. This firft intercourfe of the Turks
with Europe, however, produced a revival of the inland trade, which,
by a route to the northward of the Cafpian fea, extended from China
to Conftantinople, and furniihed the later with great quantities of Chin-
efe merchandize, being, I prefume, chiefly condudcd by the Sogdi-
ans. [Mejia7ider, Excerp. legnt. p. 107 — T'heophanes, p. 204.]

584 The laft kingdom eftabliflied by the Angles in Britain was call-
ed Myrcna-ric (latinized Mercia*); and it comprehended all the middle
part of modern England, extending from the Humber as far fouth in
fome parts as the Thames.

590 — The ancient city of Maflilia (or Marfeille) fi;ill preferved a por-
tion of its original induilry and commercial fpirit, as appears from
Sulpicius Severus, [Dial, i] from Agathias, IHi/i. L. xiii] and from fe-
veral pafl'ages of Gregory of Tours, writers of this, and the preceding,
age, who fliow, that there was a confiderable commercial intercourfe
between the eaftern countries and this city, which probably fupplied the
nations of the north-weft; parts of Europe with the few Oriental luxuries,
which they were able to purchafe.

604 — The church of St. Paul in London was built by Ethelbert,

* We are generally told, tbat Merc'ia fignifies agrees very clofely with CojVanJ, the latinized name

the march or frontin; a fignification peculiarly im- of the old Britilh inhabitants, fignifying 'weodlanJ

proper for a central country. Myrcna-ric in the men ox forejlers.
Anglo-Saxon fignifies the lueadland kingdom, which 4;

238 A. D. 604.

king of Ken: and monarch of all the country on the fouth fide of the
Humber. {Bed. Hijl. ecclef. L. ii, c. 3.] Sabereth, nephew of Ethel-
bert, and the immediate king of the Eaft-Saxons, whofe capital London
was, is faid to have allb founded a church at Thorney on the weft fide
of London in honour of St. Peter, which, from its fituation, afterwards
obtained the name of Weftminfter, a name fince extended to a large
city, which has arifen between the church of St. Peter and London.
l^ilred, col. 385. — Gervaf. Cant. col. 1633.]

628 — Hitherto all the churches, and moft probably all the houfes
alfo, in England were built of wood, or of wattles. A church of flone,
apparently the fecond in Britain, (fee above, p. 214) was founded at
York by Edwin, king of Northumberland, and the moft powerful of
all the Englifh kings at this time, who did not live to finifh it. About
the fame time a church of flone was alfo built at Lincoln : and in the
following age Bilhop Wilfrid reflored or completed that which Edwin
had begun at York, covering the roof with lead, and filling the win-
dows with glafs *, ' which, while it excluded the birds and the rain,
* admitted light into the church.' Wilfrid built another church of po-
lifhed flone at Rippon, which was furnifhed with columns and porticoes,
and adorned with gold, lilver, and purple. Among the donations to
the church of Rippon by this magnificent prelate, there was one, which
was thought a wonderful work ; the four gofpels written in letters of
gold upon purple vellum, with a cafe of pure gold fet v/ith gems for
preferving the pretious volume. Unfortunately we are not told, whe-
ther this fuperb book and cai'e were executed in England, or imported ;
though the words ' he gave orders to write' and the like, may feem
rather to infer, that the work was performed at home. The fame great
bifhop built a third church at Hexham in the fame manner, which was
fo long and fo lofty, that his biographer thought, that no building on
this fide of the Alps could be compared to it. \_Eddi Vita Wilfridi, cc. 16,
17, 22. — Bedtt HiJl. ecclef. L. ii, cc. 14, 16.]

674 — The tafte for ecclefiaftical magnificence being now introduced
in the Northumbrian kingdom, Benedid: Bifcop built an abbay at the
mouth of the River Were with flone in the Roman manner. For this
work he brought mafons from the continent, and alfo glafs-makers,
who taught the Englilh the art of making window-glais, and lamps,
vefTels for drinking, &c. of glafs : and thus was the elegant and ufeful
art of making glafs, an art fo eflential to our comfortable lodging in
thefe cold northern climates, introduced in England f . Benedidl made

* Tilt f;lafs for the church of York muft have pofing it to remain among their pofterity, it does

been imported, as appears from the fubfequcut pa- not follow, that they would impart the knowlcge

rjgraph. N. B. Kddius, the biographer of Wil- of it to their Englidi enemies. According to

i'tid, lired before Bcde. Adamnan the ufe of glafs was known to the re-

f Strabo feems to fay, that the antient Britons mote Northern Pichts before this time. (See aboTC

jmdcrllood the manufailure of glafs. But, fup- pp. 133, 223.)

A. D. 674. 239

many journies to Rome, whence he imported a prodigious number of
flatues, reliques, books, and pidures of fcripture hiftory, wherewith he
adorned, and almoft filled, his church. [Bedcv H'lft. ahbat Wer£miitbi\

710 — From Northumberland the tafte for fine churches fpread into
the neighbouring kingdom of the Pichts, where a church of ftone in
the Roman flile was built by workmen fent from Weremouih at the
requeft of King Nechton the fon of Dereli. {Eeda Hijl. ecclef. L. v,

C. 22.]

About 630 — King Edwin, who began the building of the church at
York, feems to have been alfo the founder of the caflle of Edwynefburg *
{^Edhiburgli), fituated on a precipitous rock in the north part of his do-
minions. We have not the fmalleft information of the nature of the
architedure of this caflle, which communicated its name to the town,
built upon the Hoping ridge of the hill adjacent to the eaft lide of it,
which in after ages became the capital city of Scotland.

A filver penny, coined at Eoferwic {Tork), and marked with the name
of Edwin, is believed to be the earliefl extant fpecimen of coinage in this
ifland after the abdication of the Romans, unlefs that of Ethelbert king
of Kent belong to the firfl king of that name, who died in the year pre-
ceding the accefhon of Edwin f .

I have here thrown together fome notices of the progrefs of eccle-
fiaftical and military architedure, and of fome of the other arts in
Britain, which as yet furnifhes but fcanty materials for commercial-
hiflory. Our attention is now recalled to the EalL

616 — Alexandria, though greatly reduced in the general decay of the
Eaflern empire, and by the removal of mofl of the Oriental trade to
Perfia, was flill the commercial capital of the Mediterranean. That city,
with the fertile country of Egypt, was now wrefled from the fuccefTors
of Auguflus and Coni^antine by Chofroes, the vidlorious king of Perfia.
Conflantinople, deprived of the ufual fupply of eight millions of modii
of corn J, the annual importation from Egypt, was ready to perifh for
want of food ; and the miferable emperor was reduced to the neceffity
of figning a treaty (a°. 621), binding himfelf to pay annually to the Pex-
fian monarch a tribute of 1000 talents of gold, looo talents of filver,
1000 robes of filk, 1000 horfes, and, moll ignominious of all, 1000
virgins. Perhaps (for the writers of the age have left us to conjedlure)
it was impoffible for an exhaufled empire to pay the tribute. Whatever

* So the name is fpellej in a diarter of King foundation of a foolifh fable. [See Geographical

David I, tlie molt antient writing in which it is illujlralions of Scottijh hijiory, vo. Edinburgh, Puel-

mentioned ; and the name of Edwin is alfo pre- Lirum,'\

ferved, as it is fpelled by Simeon of Durham and f Ethelbert's coin, being, I apprehend, of un-

in the Chronicle of Lanercoll, which expvefsly certain age, will be mentioned in a note under the

calls him the builder of the calile, and alfo gives year 1066.

the ftory of his feven daughters being preferved io \ The Roman modius being 3 fmall matter more ■

it ; which ftory, together with its other name of than the Englifh peck, the fupply from Egypt '.va:

Maydyn caftle, has furniQied Hedor Boyfe the above two millions of bullicls.

240 A. D. 616.

was the caufe, a mofl marvelous change took place, and the unfleady
and pufillanimous emperor Heraclius became all at once a vigorous and
intrepid hero. As the lands were defolated, and commerce ruined, it
was as impoflible to raii'e funds for carrying on a war as for purchafing
a peace. But Heraclius flill poflefled a fleet of gallies, to which the
unemployed merchant fhips were added ; and in his abfolute want he
prefumed to feize the hoarded wealth of the churches, promifing, however,
to return it with large intereft (a". 622). By a wonderful feries of vidories
the circumftances of the two empires were completely reverfed : the Ro-
man arms were carried into Perfia ; the haughty Chofroes adually be-
took himfelf to flight and concealment, and was foon after depofed.
Heraclius recovered Egypt and the other provinces wrefted from his
empire by the Perfians (a". 628); and he had the wifdom not to demand
any acceflion of territory from them, which would at once have weak-
ened himfelf and fown the feeds of future wars. But the arts, fcience,
and commerce, never recovered. The fplendid vidories of Heraclius
were the lafl bright gleam of the militai-y glory of the Roman, or Gre-
cian, empire, againft which there was now fpringing up in the deferts
of Arabia a new, and fl:ill more formidable, enemy, deftined with rapid
ftrides to fpread over the eaftern, and a great part of the weftern, world,
and to eftablifh a new empire, and a new religion, upon the ruins of
thofe of Conflantinople.

It has already been obferved, that a great portion of the Oriental
commerce, which formerly enriched the Roman fubjeds in Egypt, had
pafl^ed into the hands of the Perfians, who appear to have eclipfed the
Arabians in the extent and adivity of their commerce : But when the
later in the rapid career of their conquefts reached the Euphrates, they
immediately perceived the advantages to be derived from an emporium
fituatcd upon a river, which opened on the one hand a fliorter route to
India than they had hitherto had, and on the other an extenfive inland
navigation through a wealthy country ; and Baflx)ra which they built on
the wefl: bank of the river (a". 6^6), foon became a great commercial city,
artd entirely cut off" the independent part of Perfla from the Oriental
trade. The Arabian merchants of Baflbra, extended their difcoveries to
the eaftward far beyond the trads of all preceding navigators, and im-
ported diredly from the places of their growth many Indian articles,
hitherto procured at fecond hand in Ceylon, which they furnifhed on
their own terms to the nations of the Wefl;.

640 — The vidorious Arabs had now deprived Heraclius, who after
his Perfian triumph had relapfed into his former lethargy, of the wealthy,
and in fome degree commercial, province of Syria. The little com-
merce, now remaining to the Roman empire, alfo fell into their hands
with the city of Alexandria and the province of Egypt ; and the road

A. D. 640. 841

from Egypt to Medina was covered by a long train of camels loaded
with the corn, which ufed to feed Conftantinople *.

645 — The antient canal between the Nile and the Red fea is faid to
have been cleared out, and again rendered navigable, by Amrou, the
Arabian conqueror and governor of Egypt, in order to furnifh a (horter
and cheaper conveyance for the corn and other bulky produce of that
country f .

The Arabian, or Saracen, armies, enflamed by fanaticifm, ambition,
and avarice, proceeded with a rapid and irrefiflible torrent of vidories,
unexampled in the hiftory of mankind, till they became mafters of the
fineft provinces of the world, extending eaftward to the confines of
China, and weftward to the Atlantic ocean. Their vidtories enlarged
their commerce, as well as their empire ; and almoft the whole trade of
the world fell into their hands.

660 — The lofs of Jerufalem having rendered its holy places more
pretious than ever in the eyes of the Chriflians, pilgrimages to it were:
now become very frequent : and in thefe commerce was united with
devotion, which was probably the reafon that they were tolerated, and
even encouraged, by the Saracens, who allowed a fair to be annually held
on the 15'" of September, as Adamnan, abbat of Hyona, on the au-
thority of St. Arculf, relates in his book on the holy places, honourably
inentioned by Bede. It is probable, that the trade, thus carried on at
Jerufalem, was in a great meafure for goods brought from the Eafl by
the conveyance of Bafl()ra, the River Euphrates, and the caravans.
IBeda Hijl. ecclef. L. v, cc. 16 et feqq. — De Guignes, Mem. de litteratiire, V.
xxxvii, /. 475.]

668 — ^The Saracens, whofe fleets now rode triumphant in the Medi-
terranean, had already taken pofTeilion of Cyprus, Rhodes, and many
others of the Grecian iflands. The imperial city of Conftantinople was
now for the firft time befieged by the followers of Mohamed, who came
againft it with a great fleet and army. During feven years they annual-
ly renewed their attacks, which were finally baffled (a". 674). After lofing
thirty thouiand men, and moft of their fhips, the Saracens gave up all
hopes of taking the city; and the calif even fubmitted to the humiliating
terms of paying an annual tribute of 3,000 pieces of gold, 50 horfes,
and 50 flaves, to the Roman emperor during a truce of thirty years.

The repulfe at Conftaiuinople threw a temporary cloud over the mi-
litary glory of the Saracens, and flied a faint ray of light upon the ex-
piring reputation of the Greeks, or Romans. But the whole praife was

* Literally fow/W, if the foremofl; of the train Butier. [See Ochky's Hiflory of the Saracens, p.

reached Medina before the lalt of them got out of 362. — Phillips's HiP.jry of inland navigation, p. y.

Egypt, as Ockley fays. — Browne's Travels in Africa, p. 94, who copies

f This celebrated canal was again flopped up from Cardonne's Hfl. de I' Afrique, i^c. compiled

at the end next the Red fea in the year 775. In from Arabic manufcripts in the royal library of

I 707 the end next the Nik was difcovercd by Mr. France,

Vol. I. H h .

242 A. D. 668.

due to the ingenuity of an individual. Conftantinople and the remainder
of the empire owed their prefervation to a new and wonderful inven-
tion of Callinicus, a Syrian or Egyptian Greek, whofe fcience on this
occafion, like that of Archimedes in the fiege of Syracufe, was infinite-
ly more valuable than the ftrength and courage of the greateft armies.
This invention was the famous Greek fire, a fubftance or preparation,
which communicated unextinguifhable fire to every thing it came in
contadl with, and which could be launched from the military engines,
{hot through a tube, and conveyed in every diredion, even water itfelf
being no impediment, but rather giving additional vigour to its opera-
tion. The fecret of preparing this aftonifhing engine of deftrudion, or
defence, was preferved with the ftrideft vigilance by the Roman (or
Grecian) government above four hundred years, after which the Sara-
cens got pofleffion of the art. It continued to be ufed in war, till it
was fuperfeded by the invention of gun-powder, and then even the
knowlege of it was loft.

690 — Benedid Bifcop, who made fo many journies to Rome, and im-
ported fo much church furniture to Northumberland, as already relat-
ed, fold a book upon cofmography to Aldfrid, his fovereign, for eight
hides of land. At that rate fcarcely any but a king could afford to have
a book ; and even in the very higheft ranks there were then but few
in Britain, who could read. Indeed, as books were almoft inacceilible,
reading could be of little ufe.

694 — ^The kingdom of Kent is faid to have paid a fine of thirty thou-
fand pounds of ftlver to Ine, king of the Weft-Saxons, for the flaughter
of his brother. \Cbr. Sax. ad an.'\ Notwithftanding the refpedable au-
thority of the Saxon chronicle, it is difficult to conceive how fo fmall a
country (for the kingdom of Kent contained only the prefent fhire of
that name) could in thofe days raife a fum, equal, as appears by the
laws of the fame King Ine, to the value of 1,440,000 fheep with as
many young lambs, reckoning 48 {hillings in the money pound, and
one fhilling as the price of a fheep with her lamb, as rated in King
Tne's laws *.

The feventieth law of Ine fixes the quantity of the various articles to
be paid annually by the pofTeflbr of a farm of ten hides of land, or as
much as required ten ploughs : but we are not informed, whether it v;as
■,\ regulation for the farms of the king's own property, like the farming
laws of Charlemagne, or was generally binding upon the land-holders

* William Tliorni-, [cjA 1770 ap. Tivyfilcn\ gold. The conjtftiire of Dodor Henry \_Hij}. of

though comparatively a late writer, (ccms to coim: L'lilain, F. iv, p. 280 cd. 1788] that pounds have

nearrr the truth, when he rates the fine at three cript into the text iiiilcad of pennies, 30,000 pcn-

thoii/and pounJs, which lie, being a monk of Can- iiies being the full wtrcgeld of a king, is cxtremc-

trrbiiry, may have taken from an authentic record. ly probable.
WiUiau; of Mtliiifbury raifes it to ^0,000 marks of ^

A. D. 694. 243

and farmers throughout the kingdom of the Well-Saxons. The ar-
ticles were

10 fats of honey, 20 hens,

300 loaves, locheefes,

12 ambers * of Welfh ale, i amber of butter,

30 hluttres f , 6 falmon,

2 full-grown oxen or 10 wethers, 20 pound weight of fodder f,
10 geefe, 100 eels.

Though we find the payment of falmon and eels, both indeed river
fifh, ordered by law among the Weft-Saxons, we are told that the Saxons
at Bofenham on the very confines of the Weft-Saxon and South-Saxon
kingdoms, did not know, that fifti could be caught in the lea, till Wil-
frid, a Northumbrian bifhop, taught them to make a leine by joining
their eel nets together (a°. 678), whereby they caught 300 fifti in the Tea
at the firft haul §. [Beda Hi/}, ecckf. L. iv, c 13.]

698 — The remains of the epifcopal, rather than commercial, city of
Carthage were utterly deftroyed by the Saracens. Its antient com-
mercial fplendour may entitle its afhes to this brief notice in commer-
cial hiftory.

710 — All the provinces formerly belonging to the Roman empire in
Africa being now fubjed to the Saracens, except only the fort of Ceuta
on the fouth fliore of the Strait, they were invited into Europe by Ju-
lian, the commander of that fort and of the oppofite coaft of Spain,
who took that method of revenging an injury done to him by his fo-
vereign ||. They were alfo encouraged by promifes of afllftance from
the Jews of Spain, who were unable to live under the bigotted perfe-
curion of the Gothic clergy. The fuccefsful inroad of a ftnall party,
who returned loaded with fpoil, enflamed the ambition and the avarice
of the Saracens to make a total conqueft of that rich country. A more
numerous army landed on the rock, fince called from their leader Gebel
al Tarik, now corrupted to Gibraltar, marched to Xerxes, and fought
the Gothic army, which was totally defeated (a". 711). In a few months

* Spelman fubftitutes for amber the Roman J Dodlor Henry fufpefts a miftake in this very

meafure amphora, and gives the Roman explana- trifling quantity of fodder.

tion of the quantity contained in it. \_GloJf. -vo. § That the defcendents of thofe Saxons who for

Firma.2 Arbuthnot [Table of coins'] makes the feveral ages were the moll experienced and intrepid

amphora above feven gallons of Englilh wine mea- feamen in the Northern ocean, and muft be pre-

fure. Lambard, makes the amber nearly the fame fumed to have alfo been good filhermen, fhould

with the modern firkin, and fays, the word is not have already loft the knowlege of catching fifh in

quite obfolete : and his explanation is tranfcribed the fea, v.'hich was juft befide them at Bofenham,

by Wheloc. But it is very doubtful whether the is rather too wonderful : and, with all our venera-

8axon meafure had any connexion with the Roman, tion for the hillorical integrity of Bede, we muft

f Lambard, Spelman, and Wheloc make /;/a«rcx remember, that the ftory is connetted with a mi-
weaker ale ; but Bromton, who lived much nearer raclc.

the Saxon times than any of them, has left it un- || The common ftory of the violation of Julian's

tranflated. The word is an adjeftive fignifying daughter by King Roderic feems to have Little cr

lucid, pure, fimpk, no foundation.

Hh2

244 ' A. D. yii.

the whole of that great peninfula, which for two centuries withftood the
attacks of Rome when in the zenith of her miUtary glory, fell under
the power of the Saracens, excepting the mountains of Afturia, where
a few unconquerable fpirits flill preferved their independence ; and
whence ia after ages they defcended to recover the fovereignty of their
country from the pofterity of the Saracen conquerors, then called
Moors.

yi6 — A fecond and more formidable attack upon Conftantinople was
made by the Saracens under the command of Moflemah, the brother of
Soliman the calif. Belides a great army, who marched by land to the
Hellefpont, they had a fleet, faid to confifl of eighteen hundred veflels,
twenty of which, capable of carrying a hundred foldiers each, were
efteemed large fhips ; whence it appears, that the reft were very fmall.
The Greek fire, conveyed among them by means of fire-fhips, totally
deftroyed this very numerous fleet, which, being crowded together in
fo narrow a channel, had no poflibility of efcaping from the flames.
A reinforcement of fhips and provifions from Egypt and Africa in the
following year fcarcely efcaped the fame defl:ru61:ion. The Saracens at
lafl: gave up the imdertaking as hopelefs : and Conftantinople was a fe-
cond time faved by the invention of Callinicus.

It is worthy of remark, that the mountains of Libanus, which fur-
niftied timber for building the fliips of Sidon in the infancy of navi-
gation, were ftill the great nurfery for ftiip timbers, vaft fl;ores of which
were colleded on the coaft of Phoenicia by the Saracens for building
their fleets.

718, September 4''' The earlieft naval battle recorded in Britifli

hiftory was fought at a place called Ardanefs (apparently on the weft
coaft of Scotland) between Duncha-beg, king of Kentire, and Celvac
(or Selvac), king of Lorn, the fovereigns of two divifions or tribes of
the Scots. [J/i/i. Ult. MS. in MuJ. Biitan. Cat. Ayfc. N". 4,795.]

About 730 — Now, and probably long before (for the notice is con-
nected by Bede with events of the year 604) London, though the ca-
pital of one of the fmalleft kingdoms in England, by its happy fituation
on the bank of the noble navigable River Thames, was an emporium
for many nations repairing to it by land and by fea *. This undoubted
teftimony of the trade of London fliows us, that the commerce of
England, which now anjmates the induftry of all the world, was then
chiefly, or entirely, of the paflive kind, and carried on by ftrangers.

Bede, to whom we are indebted for this earlieft commercial notice of

• ' Lomloiiia civitas eft, fupcr ripam prxf.iti ' ccaftfi' — ' and fco is moiiisjra folcc ccnp (tow.'

' fliimlnis \_TI.Himefis'\ pofita, ct ipfa miiltoriim cm- Ceap (low (incicliaiuUzc pl.ice) will explain the

' poriiim prpiilo.um terra mariquc vemcniiwn.' modern name of one of the principal trading ihccts

[Beilx Hijl. ecchf. L. ii, c. 3.] King Alfred, in liis of the city,
tranflation of this paffage, calU the city ' Lunden- o

A. D. 730.

245

London after the abdication of Britain by the Romans, flourifhed at
this time. He is allowed, by the impartial voice of all fucceeding ages
and of every nation, to have been the greateft ornament, not only of
Northumberland and of England, but of all the weftern world, and
the moft illuftrious mathematician and aftronomer, as well as the great-
efl fcholar, of the middle ages. Almoft the whole circle of the fciences
of antient Greece and Rome was known to him ; and it particularly
deferves our notice, that he aflerted the rotundity of the earth, [Beda
Opera, V. i, p. 376; V. ii, p. 125, ed. Colon. 161 2] and that he was not
condemned as a heretic for his knowlege *.

732 — The Saracens from Spain had now penetrated into the center
of France. It was but another flep to Britain. But the valour of
Charles Martel, the founder of a dynafty of kings of France, repelled
the torrent. The Saracen army was defeated with prodigious llaughter
in a battle, which lafled a whole week ; and France and the countries
beyond it were for ever preferved from Arabian conqueft.

Notwithftanding this check, the Saracens continued the moft power-
ful people in the world. They were the undoubted, and the unrivaled,
fovereigns of the fea, and almoft the only traders, upon the Mediter-
ranean, and on the Indian ocean. But the Chriftians of Europe were
excluded from almoft every channel, by which the pretious goods of
the Eaft had formerly been conveyed to them f . An inveterate anti-
pathy, excited by mutual flaughters, and inflamed by religious bigotry,
which made the Chriftians conlider the Mohamedans as difciples of an

* The wonderful pi-oficicncy of Bede in ftudy
could only be equaled by his induftry in corriniu-
nicating to others the treafures of his knowlege,
which he did in a prodigious number of compoli-
tions, one hundred and thirty-nine of which, ilill ex-
tant, and collefted in eight folio volumes, may be
confidered as a complete body of the learning and
fcience, as well as the theology, of the middle ages.
Befides his knowlege of the rotundity of the earth,
the following may be noted as fpecimens of his in-
ftruflions in the fciences connected with commerce.

V- i, />. 103 Multiplication tables, which he
calls Pythagoric tables. (They are in figures, but
that is a liberty, and a very improper one, taken
by the editor.)

p. 135 Arithmetical cafes for the exercife of
learners, many of which are ftill retained in our
modern books of arithmetic. One of them (hows
that 20 (hillings made a pound, at lead in weight,
in the Northumbrian kingdom ; ' Eil difcus qui
*- penfat libras 30 five folidos 6co ;' and the folu-
tion of this queftion proves that the pound confill-
ed of i2 otuices. Another fuppofes a man leaving
30 glafs bottles (' ampullas vitreas') to his fons :
this, unlefs it was copied from a work compofed
in a more civilized country, may feem to infer that
glafs bottles were common in Northumbcrlaud..

p. 163 The circumference of the earth 252,000
ftadia ; copied from Eratofthenes. See above, p.
94.

p. 387 The revolution of Saturn in 30 years,
Jupiter in 12, Mars in 2, the fun in 365I days ;
wherein he follows the antients.

p. 463 Rules for conilrufting dials, and aftro-
labes.

f It has been fuppofed, that, after the Saracens
got poffefllon of Egypt, the communication be-
tween India and Euiope through Alexandria ftill
continued as before ; and I thought fo myfelf, till
upon examination I found no authority whatever
for any intercourfe of the Chriilians with Alexan-
dria before the beginning of the ninth century. In
the almoft-total darknefs of hiilory in thefe be-
nighted ages probable prcfumptions muft be re-
ceived for want of better evidence : and we find,.,
that before Egypt fell into the hands of the Sara-
cens, writings of importance in Europe were exe-
cuted upon the Egyptian papyrus ; but after that
period they ate upon parchment. This amountt
almoft to a proof, that the trade with Egypt, the
only country producing the papyrus, was interrupt-
ed. [See Muratori Antiq. ltd. V. iii, col. %iz et
pajim.'}

i^6 A. D. 732.

impoftor (or of the devil), pagans, and enemies of God *, while they
on the other hand abhorred the Chriftians as idolaters and enemies of
God, was an almoft infuperable bar to commercial intercourfe. But
the mutual alienation produced little or no inconvenience to the Sara-
cens, who found an ample fcope for commercial enterprife within the
vafl extent of their own dominions. The fcanty fupply of Oriental goods
from the fairs of Jerufalem, and perhaps a few other privileged places,
being very inadequate to the demand, fome merchants were tempted
by the increafed price to traverfe the vafl extent of Afia in a latitude
beyond the northern boundary of the Saracen power, and to import by
caravans the filks of China, and the valuable fpices of India, which,
with the expenfe and rifk of fuch a land carriage, muft have coft a moft
enormous price, when they reached Conftantinople, where they were,
notwithftanding, eagerly purchafed by the luxurious and wealthy cour-
tiers, whofe demands for filks the manufactures of Greece were not
capable of fupplying to their full extent.

Next to thofe of Conflantinople, the citizens of Venice appear to
have been in this age the moft diftinguifhed among the Chriftians of
Europe for commercial efforts. The origin and dawning profperity of
this city have been already noticed. The total want of territory di-
reded their attention and their hopes to the fea, which was at once
their frontier, their fortification, and the only field to be ploughed by
their induftry. The perpetual wars, and the rapid fucceffion of con-
querors, which had for feveral ages convulfed Italy, drove into the
rifing city a gradual and conftant accellion of free-fpirited, induftrious,
and wealthy, inhabitants, the trueft fource of the profperity of any
ftate. Their vefTels now ventured beyond the limits of the Adriatic
gulf; they doubled the fouthern extremity of Greece, and made voyages
to Conflantinople and other places. They carried home valuable car-
goes of filks, and all the rich produce of the Eaft, the magnificent
purple drapery of Tyre, and the furs of ermines and other northern
animals ; all which they fold with prodigious profit to the nations of
the north and weft parts of Europe. It is a melancholy confideration,
that human creatures, the produce of the wars, formed alfo a principal
article of their trade : and it is much to the credit of Pope Zacharia,
that he purchafed, and gave liberty to, a number of flaves of both
fexes, whom the Venetian traders were going to carry over to the coaft
of Africa to be fold to the Saracens. [Monacb. Smigall. de reh. Car. Mag.
ap. Miiratori Ant'tq. V. ii, col. 409 ; Vita Zacharia, ib. col. 883.]

* This iiariow-miiidtil and ignorant mifrtpre- • cens and Turks worniip (jod tlic Creator, cftecnl-

fcnlalion coutimud for many agts to difgrace the ' ing Malumitt not a god, but the projiliet of

pagts of llie Chrilliau writers, with the exception « God.' [6V//. rf^. y^nf/./. 43 bj M.-11 hew Paris

of a very few; among whom William of Malmf- [/i. 426] alfo fays, that the Saracens believe in

bury defervcs to be noliced, who, with his ufual one God, the creator of all things, and deleft

fuperiority of judgment, obfcncs, that ' the Sara- idola.

A. D. 732. 247

After feeing the deplorable decay of fcience among theGreeksand Rom-
ans, as it appears in the work of Cofmas, &c. it is not a little furprifmg,
that fuch remote countries as Britain and Ireland fhould produce fome
geniufes, who foared above the darknefs of their age, and ventured to
alFert, that the earth, which we inhabit, is a globe, and that there are
people on the oppofite fide of it. Virgil, bifhop of Sultzburg in Ger-
many, for maintaining thefe truths was condemned as a heretic by the
philanthropic Pope Zacharia, who was greatly alarmed at fuch dan-
gerous dodirine. In the ftrange revolutions, which often took place in
the affairs of the clergy, the heretical philofopher was afterwards can-
onized as a faint, I know not for what merit, but furely not for his
fcience. Ireland has the honour of having produced this enlightened
faint *.

75 3 — The Saxons and their affociates, who make their firff appear-
ance in hiftory as the tremendous mafters of the Ocean, and the dread
of all the maritime provinces of the weilern Roman empire, feem, after
their complete fettlement in Britain, and their converlion to the Chrifl-
ian religion, to have entirely changed their national character. The
ufe of arms was generally abandoned ; all thoughts of naval affairs were
given up ; and their ftiips, the chief inffrument of their conquefts, as
no longer of any ufe, were allowed to rot upon the beach. Vaft num-
bers of people of all ranks, kings and queens not excepted, perfuaded
that a life of retirement from fecular cares and bufmefs was the moft
pleafing to the Deity, renounced the world, and fhut themfelves up in
monafteries f . The event was fuch as feems to have been almoft pre-
dided by Bede. \_H?Ji. cedes. L. v, c. 23 ; Epifi. ad Egberd.'] The mi-
feries which the nations had fuffered from their anceftors were now as
fully inflided upon them by the ferocious roving warriors defcended of
their own remote anceflors, who, under the names of Danes, Norwe-
gians, or Normans, fucceeded to the naval dominion of the Northern
ocean. The firft outrage of thofe plunderers, which is recorded, was
upon the coaft of Thanet. [Chronol. Aiigujlin. ap. T^zvyjden, col. 2,236.]
Succeeding incurfions harafled and ruined England, till the invaders
effeded ft-ttlements for themfelves in the eaft part of the country ; and
at laffc a dynafty of Danifli kings were for a fhort time feated upon the
throne of England.

* We have feen the rotundity of the earth con- ' were in this kingdom more monks than miUtary-

demned as herely two hundred years before this ' men ; and to this bad policy fome have not .

time by Cofmas, an Egyptian Greek,. and now by ' fcrupled to attribute the fiiccefs of the Danes in ,

the infalh'ble head of the Roman church. But ' their feveral vifitations.' \Ha'U>k'ini's Hi/}, of mn-

Photiiis, the patriarch of Conllantinople in the Jic, F. ii, />. 261.] That Scotland was not alfo

ninth century, was more enlightened, for he repre- conquered by the northern invaders, may with

hcnds a namelefs author, apparently Cofmas, for great probability be afcribed to the fmaller influ-

denying that the earth is a globe. \_BlbliDtheca, ence of monaftic fuperftition in that lefs opulent

cod. 36.] _ country.

f ' It is faid, that in the ninth century there

248 A. D. 795.

795 — ^We now find the firft certain accounts of the northern piratical
rovers, called Normans, Norwegians, Danes, or Oftmen, landing in Ire-
land and the iflands on the north fide of it, many of which were fettled
■by monks, mofi; of whom they drove from their monafl:eries. [^nn. Ult.
ad an. 794, with VJJerii Brit, ecclef. antiq. p. 958.] There is no reafon
to fuppofe that the north part of Britain could efcape their ravages,
though there is no certain account of any invafion of it by them till
> about forty years after this time.

796 — The commerce of Britain, which fince the time of the Roman
•dominion in the ifland had been almofi: totally extmguifhed, appears to
have begun to revive about this time. Some Englifh traders reforted
to the continent ; and they even went as far as Rome, and perhaps Ve-
nice. Some of them, in order to evade payment of the cuftoms exa6l-
-ed from them in their tranfit through France, pretended to be pilgrims
on their journey to Rome,, the baggage of all fuch being exempted from
duties. The Englifh goods, which were of fuch value in refpedl to their
bulk as to admit of being fmuggled in a traveler's baggage, were pro-
bably nice works in gold and filver, in making which the Anglo-Saxon
artifts appear to have been eminently fkilful*. Reliques, images, of faints,
pretious ftones, books, pidures for churches, and drefl^es for priefls, were
probably the chief articles of the homeward cargoes. The French col-
ledors of the cuftoms, difcovering the deception of the pretended pil-
grims, obliged them to pay the duties upon their goods ; whereupon
they complained to Offa, the moft powerful of the Englifh kings, in
confequence of which an embargo was laid upon the Ihipping on both
fides for fome time. But when Offa had compelled all the other Eng-
lifli and Saxon kings to acknowlege his fuperiority, Charles the Great
became willing to enter into friendfhip with him, without, however,
giving up his claim to the cuftomary duties on merchandize. I have
already (p. 60) given a tranflation of the oldeft commercial treaty in
the world ; and the reader, I dare fiiy, will be pleafed to fee a tranfla-
tion of Charles's letter to Offa, then in effed the monarch of England,
as far as it relates to commercial objeds, as it is, properly fpeaking, the
very firft of the many commercial treaties between England and the
other countries of Europe. It begins thus :

' Charles, by the grace of God king of the Franks and Lombards,
* and patrician of the Romans, to our venerable and moft dear brother,
' Ofta, king of the Merkians, greeting. Firft, we give thanks to all-
' mighty God for the fincere catholic faith which we fee fo laudably
' exprcitdd in your letters. Concerning the ftrangers, who, for the love
' of God and the falvation of their fouls, wifli to repair to the threftiolds
' of the blefied apoftles, let them travel in peace without any trouble.

* The Englifh works in gold and filver in thefc ages were famous even in Italy. [^Muralori ylnliq.

y. V, Co/. 12.] ■ '

A. D. 796. 249

* Neverthclefs, if any are found among them not in the fervice of reh-
' gion, but in the purfuit of gain, let them pay the eftabUfhed duties at

* the proper places. We alfo will, that merchants fhall have lawful pro-

* tedion in our kingdom according to our command ; and if they are
' in any place unjuflly aggrieved, let them apply to us or our judges,

* and we fliall take care that ample juftice be done to them.' — After
fome ecclefiaflical particulars, he concludes, by informing Offli, that he
had fent him a prefent of a belt, a Hunnifh fword, and two robes of
filk * f. [M. Paris Vit. Offcs, p. 20.— or Will. Mahnjb. f. 17.]

The kingdom of Northumberland appears to have furpafled the other
divifions of Britain in wealth, as well as in learning and fcience. There
is even reafon to believe that the Jews, a race of people, who, ever fmce
the deftrudlion of their capital city by the Romans, have fpread them-
felves into every wealthy country, had before this time penetrated into
this remote kingdom, as we may infer from a foreign canon being
tranfcribed by Egbert archbifhop of York into his Excerpts X, which pro-
hibits Chriilians from imitating the manners of the Jews, or partaking
of their feafts. [Spelman. Concil. p. 275.] The fame prelate eftabhlhed
a noble library at York, the capital city of Northumberland, to which
Alcuin propofed, with the approbation of the emperor Charles, to fend
the youth of France for improvement. \]¥ill. Mahnjb. f. 153 a.]

800 Charles the Great (or Charlemagne), in confequence of his ex-

tenfive conquefts and great power, and the policy of the pope, was
crowned at Rome by the title of emperor of the Romans ; a title ftill
kept up by the emperors of Germany as his fucceflbrs. Some time af-

• This treaty was brought about chiefly by the the great embelh'lher of Scottifli hillory, liaving

condudl of Alcuin, one of the ambafFadors fent by given the fanaion of his authority to the ilory, it

Offa to Charles. That great monarch was fo de- was almult uiiiverfally believed till lately. Mr.

lighted with the talents and learning of Alcuin, Anderfon, carried away by the tide of eftabliflied

that he entreated him to remain with him in order prejudice, which had carried away Su' George

to inftruft his fubjefts. And to this learned na- Mackenzie, Sir James Dalrymple, Sir Robert Sib-

tive of the Northumbrian kingdom, who flione, af- bald, Thomas Ruddiman, and other writers, whofr

ter Bede, the brighteft luminary of the benighted profefled line of ftudy led them to a more critical

wellern world, the French are in a great meafure inveftigation of Scottilh hiltory, has noticed this

indebted for the origin of learning and fcience in league in his work. It would be eafy to Ihew that

their country. there is no authority to fay that any luch league

The hillorians of England have taken but little ever exilled, but it would lead me into a diflerta-

notice of Charles's letter, which is an authentic tion very foreign to the nature of this work,

treaty of friendfhip and commerce. But Fordun f Mathew Paris remarks, probably from tradi-

and the later Scottifh hiftorians, thinking it high- tional report, that Vulli;;, abbat of St. Albans, a

ly honourable for their country that it fhould have favourite, and perhaps a relation, of King Offa,

attradled the nolice of fo great a prince as Charles, affetled great magniticence, and was clothed in

have wrcfted a paffage, wherein Eginhart mentions lilk. \_Vittc abbatum, p. 37.] Perhaps the po.T.p-

Ihe kings [' regei') of the Scots (unquellionably ous abbat had filks imported on purpofe tor hi»

the Scots of Ireland) as the humble fervants of own ufe ; for we cannot fuppofc, that what was a

Charles, into a proof of an alliance between him proper prefent from the greateft fovercign on the

and Achaius, king of the Scots in Argyle. Wyn- continent to the greateft fovercign in Britain, was

town, a writer contemporary with Fordun, knew common in the wcftern parts of the world,

nothing of the alliance, nor of any one event of % Spelman thinks that the Excerpts of Egbert

the reign of Achaius or Eokal ; [See his Orygynale may have been written about the year 750. Ho

Ci-onyiil of Scotland, B. vl, c. 4] but Hcftor Bovfc, pofTeffed the fee of York from 735 to 766.

Vol. I. ' I i

250

A. D. 800.

ter two dukes of Venice *, and a duke of ladera in Dalmatia, are faid
to have received at his hands a contirmation of their dignities.

Amidft the devaftations and flaughters of a reign of forty -feven years,
pafled in perpetual warfare, Charles paid fome attention to learning and
icience, and apparently alfo to commerce, though he Ihowed grenft ig-
norance of the principles of it, when he allowed the priefts to make a
canon, declaring all intereil for the nfe of money to be finful. The
fairs of Aquifgranum (Aix la Chapelle) and Troye were frequented
during his reign by traders from mod parts of Europe : and the weight
ufed at the later has been generally adopted, and is now ufed by us for
weighing gold and filver. He colleded what was then efleemed a great
library, and he founded the univerlities of Paris and Pavia, which fet
the example to fimilar inftitutions, wherein the lamp of fcience, though
it burnt but very dimly during feveral dark ages, was at lead preferved
from utter extindion. He ftudied aftronomy under the Englifh philo-
fopher and poet Alcuin ; and his tafte for geography may be prefumed
from his three filver plates, on one of which was engraved a map of
Conftantinople, on another Rome, and on the third and largefl the three
parts of the world, viz. Europe, Afia, and Africa, each inclofed in a
circle. To curb the maritime depredations of the Normans and Sara-
cens he kept fome fhips on the Ocean and the Mediterranean ; and he
reftored the light-houfe at Bononia {Boulogne), that it might dired his
fliips in the night. His attempts to join the Meufe with the Saone, and
the Rhine with the Danube, though intended only for the purpofes of
war, if they could have been rendered efFedual and permanent, would
have been ufeful to inland navigation. {^Eginharti Vita Caroli magni. —
Aimon. Gejl. Franc. L. iv, cc. 68-102.]

808 — Charlemagne, having fubdued the remains of the old Saxons
on the north fide of the Elbe, ereded two callles on the banks of that
river to curb the Slavi and other hoflile tribes. In two years after, one
of them, called Hochbuchi, Hocburi, or Hamburgh, was taken and de-
ftroyed, and next year it was rebuilt. \_Eginha?-ti Aruiales ad an — Alberti
Stadcnfis Chron. ad «//.] After many tmimportant revolutions of de-
flrudion and renovation, the caftle gave birth to a town, which has
grown up to be the celebrated and important commercial city of Ham-
burgh f .

813 — In- the later end of the reign of Charlemagne the merchants
of Lyons, Marfcille, and Avignon, confiding in the power and tame of
their fovereign, and the friendfhip fubfifting between him and Harun
al Rafhid, the powerful and famous fovereign of the Eafl, joined in fit-

* They are called Willcrus and Beatiis by Ai- f Hamburgli, like oilier cities which have ac-

monius. [/,. iv, c. 94.] But I fee no fuch names, quired fame and opulence, has fome fables of an

'.or any conjunft dukes, in the catalogue of the earlier origin than what can be warranted by hif-

rfukcE or doges of Venice. tory, 4

A. D. 813. 251

ting out veflels twice a year for Alexandria, to which no Chriflians, that
we know of, had failed, fmce it belonged to the Saracens. The fpiceries
of India and the perfumes of Arabia were conveyed by thofe nnerchants
up the Rhone and the Saone, and re-embarked on the Mofelle, which
carried them to the Rhine ; and by means of that river they were dif-
perfed through Germany and the northern countries. And thus the
French, while in the zenith of their military glory, appear to have alfo
taken the lead as the general merchants for the Chriftian nations in the
weftern part of Europe *. A Jewifh merchant, who was a favourite
with Charlemagne, alfo made frequent voyages to Paleftine, and return-
ed with pretious merchandize, hitherto unknown in the Weft. [Monncb.
Sangall. L. i, c. 18, ap. Muratori Antiq. V. i, col. 895.]

823 — The Saracens, now the only maritime power in the Mediter-
ranean, after plundering mofk of the Grecian iflands, took pofTcffion of
Crete, which, from the town wherein they fixed their chief refidence,
thenceforth got the name of Candax, afterwards corrupted to Candia.
This illand, fo happily fituated for commerce, is equally well fituated
for prffidatory naval war ; and it was in that way that its new mafters
chiefly employed their talents, to the unfpeakable diftrefs of the wretch-
ed fubjeds of the Greek empire and the other Chriftian ftates border-
ing on the Mediterranean.

813-833 — During the reign of the calif Almamon, who went beyond
all his predeceflbrs in the encouragement of learning and tlie fciences,
two menfurations of a degree were made, one on the plain of Sinaar,
and the other on that of Cufa.

It is worthy of remark, that the light of literature and fcicnce fhone
out with the brighteft luftre among the Saracens, and particularly among
thofe of Spain, when all-over the Chriftian part of Europe the human
faculties were debafed by the moft; wretched fuperftition, the belief of
the moft prepofterous miracles, and the idolatrous worfliip of images.
Chymiftry, a fcience fo important in our modern manufadures, which
had been pradifed in Egypt from the earlieft ages with ftationary im-
perfedion, is indebted to the ingenuity of the Saracens for many of its
moft valuable improvements. The alembic for diftillation is believed
to be of their invention. The nature of acids and alkalis was afcertaiia-
ed by them. To them we are obliged for the introduction, or, as moft
people think, the invention, of the Ample and comprehenfive fet of fi-
gures now univerfally ufed in arithmetic, which is one of the moft im-
portant improvements that ever was made in any of the fciences con-
neded with commerce. In fliort, the very names of alembic, alkali,
almanack, algebra, alchymy, elixir, zenith, nadir, azimuth, cipher, &c.
remain perpetual monuments of the Arabic derivation, or conveyance

* This curious and important notice reds on the authority of Poullin de Lumina, ^H'lfl. de Lyons,
/>. 31] who has negleded to produce his vouchers. [See Mem. de litterature, V. xsxvli,/. 483.]

I i 2

252 A. D. 813-833.

to us, of feveral branches of our fcience. It mufl: be acknowleged that
their fludies were often perverted to the abfurd purfuits of aftrology,
the philofopher's ftone, or tranfmutation of the bafer metals into gold,
and the elixir of health, which was fuppofed to confer a perpetual re-
novation of youth and vigour. But fcientific refearches, notwithftand-
ing the partial abufe or wrong direction of them, muft ultimately tend
to the increafe of human knowlege, and thereby add to the felicity of
mankind. During the five darkefl centuries of European barbarifm
the Saracens were the only enlightened people in the weftern world.
There are indeed a few individual inflances of heaven-born geniufes
among the Chriftians, who, furmounting the difficulty of an unknown
language, and defying the terrors of excommunication, ventured to
learfi fcience among the Saracens, and to dilTeminate fome fparks of it
among their rude and benighted countrymen, who in return treated
them as conjurers and articled fervants of the devil. To their intrepid
thirfl; of knowlege Europe is in a great meafure indebted for the revival
of fcience, which, as it increafed among the Chriftians, fell off and lan-
guifhed among the Saracens, who are not now diflinguiflied by any
ftrong attachment to fludy.

825 — About this time there was prefented to the emperor Louis a
prefbyter called George, who undertook to conflruft organs, hitherto
fcarcely known in France *, as they were made in Greece. [^/>w«. de
gejlis Franc. L. iv, c. 114.]

827 — Egbert, king of the Weft Saxons, who had pafled his youth in
exile, and learned the arts of war and government under Charles, the
greateft prince in Europe, was recalled to his paternal dominions in the
year 800. In twenty-feven years he fubdued, or reduced to a (late of
dependence, all the other Englifh and Saxon kings on the fouth fide of
the Humber ; and he is thenceforth ufually accounted (though not with
ftricl propriety) the firft monarch of England.

This fame year, according to the annals of Ulfter, there was ' a dread-
' ful invufion of Ireland by the Englifli,' which, if I miftake not, is omit-
ted by all the Englifh hiftorians.

828 — Ten Venetian fliips went to Alexandria in violation of a law of
the ftate ; and they were, for ought that appears, the firfl that ever
went from Venice to that port. The moft noted part of their home-
ward cargo was the (fuppol'ed) body of St. Mark, which they furrepti-
tioufly carried off with them. [Cbron. Atid. DanduU diicis Fend. dp. Mii-
ratori, Script. V. xii, col. 170.] This notice, though in other refpeds

* An organ had been fent from Conftantinople organ, tlicn a wondcifnl thing in England, was

to Pepin king of France by the emperor Conftan- prilcnttd to the chnrch of Malmlbury by Dunf-

tme Copronymus. {^Marian. Scot, nd an. 757.— tan. [H^ill. AJ^i/ni/i. up. Giilr, p. 366.] Organs,

Hep'ulanni Chron. ad an. 754, ap. Goldajl. — Ahnon. if there is no millake in the name, were in Ireland

L. iv, c. 64.] In the reign of King Edgar an bcfoie the year 814. \_^Ann. Uh. ad an. 814.]

A. D. 828. 253

of little confequeuce, may be confidered as a pretty good proof that the
commerce between Venice and Alexandria had not, as has been aflert-
ed, been carried on to a great extent for fome ages before this time.

Amalfi, Genoa, and Pifa, maritime cities on the weft fide of Italy,
followed the example of Venice in trading to Alexandria ; but their
trade never became very confiderable, till the frenzy of the holy wars
placed in their hands the treafures of the Weft, and gave a vaft addi-
tional fpring to their carrying trade, their manufadures, commerce, and
general profperity. [Muratori Antiq. V. ii, col. 905.]

836 — ' Some writers fpeak of the Netherlanders reforting to Scot-

* land as early as about the year 836, for the buying of faked fifli of
' the Scotifh fiftiermen, which they then carried home merely for the

* fuftenance of their people, whereby the Scots were greatly enriched.
' But it is alledged, that the Scots afterward putting fome hardfliips on
' thofe Dutch purchafers, the latter learning the manner of catching

* and faking the fifli themfelves, not only left dealing with the former
' (to their impoverilhing), but flruck into the fupplying of other na-

* tions with fifli caught on the Britifli coafts *.'

838 — The firft invafion upon record of the country of the Pichts in
the north part of Britain by the Norwegian or Danilh rovers is dated
in the year 838. \^Ann. Ult.\

843 — Keneth,. after, reigning two years in the Scottifh kingdom of
Dalrieta in the weft, acquired the moft valuable part of the country of
the Pichts ; and henceforth the kings of the Scots (fometimes called al-
fo kings of the Pichts), were, next to thofe of the Englifti, the moft
pov^^erful fovereigns in Britain.

848 — Turges, or Thorgils, the leader or king of the northern adven-
turers, who had opprefled Ireland about thirty years by praedatory in-
curfions, by feizing on large trads of the country, and by exacting griev-
ous tributes, was taken prifoner by Maolfechlin, the Inpreme king ot
Ireland, and drowned in Loch-Vair f . His countrymen, however,

* Thefe are the words of Mr. Anderfon, ?.nd fufpeft tliat the ftory has oiiginally proceeded from

they have been repeated, n\ more pofitive language no other fountain than the ' beautiful genius and

than he ufed, by feverals who have had occafion ' fine fancy' of Heftor Boyfe, that copious mine

to write upon the fubjeft of the filheries, though of falfifications in Scottifh hiftory, [_Scotorum Hijl.

without quoting him, as he has alfo neglefted to f. 29 b] and has got a few improvements from

adduce his authority, which ought by no means to fome later embeUillier.

be omitted in a matter of fnch importance as the f Snorro Sturlefon fays, that Thorgils and Fro-

firfl notice of a Britifh fifhcry as a commercial ob- da, the fons of Harold Harfagur, king of Norway,

jeft. If the people of the Netherlands aflually plundered the coafts of Scotland, Wales, and Irt-

bought fifh upon our north coall in that age land, and were the firil Norwegians who potTefTed

(which, after a great deal of relearch, I have not Uyfflin (or Dublin) ; that Froda was polfoned,

been able to verify), the name of the Pichts, the and Thorgils, after leigning long in DyiBIn, was

people on the eail fide of the country, to which circumvented a id flain by tlie Irifh. With all my

they had the eafieft accefs, ought fiirely to be fub- refpetl for the venerable Herodotus of the Nortli,

ftituted for that of the Scots, whofe dominion was I apprehend he Is here confounding two perfoiii

at this time reilrifted to Dalrieta, nearly the fame of the fame or fimilar names, as there Is leafon to

with the prefent fhire of Argyle. But I much believe that this event was recorded in the Iriiii

4 AnnaJs

254 A. D. 848.

though they were driven out of the reft of the ifland, were fo well efta-
blifhed m Dublin, that they fortified it, and held it out againft the Irifli ;
and new colonies of them afterwards took, poffeffion of almoft all the
maritime parts of the ifland. They improved the fortifications of Dub-
lin ; they built or fortified Waterford, Limerik, and other cities : and
Olaf, the moft powerful chief among them, afiliming the title of king
of Ireland and -the Ifles, compelled the Irifh to pay him tribute. Hence-
forth the native Irifli were almoft flnit up in the central part of the
country, while the Norwegians and Danes, under the names of Oftmen
(i. e. Eaftern men), Gaols, Gentiles, Pagans, &c. v/ere the chief, or ra-
tlier the only, commercial people in Ireland, and continued for feveral
centuries to carry on trade with their mother countries and other places
on the weft coafts of Europe from their Irifli fettlements. [^fin. Ult. ad
an. 844, 852 — Girald. Cambr. T'op. Hib. L. iii, cc. 40 et feqq. — and fee
Ufferii Brit, eccles. antiq. pp. 860, 717, for other authorities.]

849 — Amalfi, Naples, and Gaeta, maritime cities of Italy, were now
in fad independent, though profefllng a flight acknowlegement of al-
legiance to the Greek empire. Their pofl^lTion of ftiipping prefumes
that they had fome commerce ; for in thefe times the Italians do not
appear to have had any vefl^ls calculated folely for the purpofes of war.
Their ftiips were now employed in defending Rome from the attack of
a formidable army of Saracens, whofe numerous fleet, by the feafonable
intervention of a fudden fquall of wind, was completely deftroyed : and
the pontifical, and once imperial, city of Rome, was laved from the do-
minion and the religion of the Saracens by the merchants of thole ci~
ties.

But the beneficial effedls of the induftry and profperity of thofe cities,
and of Venice, extended as yet but a very little way beyond their own
boundaries. The greateft part of Italy had lain wafte during feveral
centuries ; the cities were ruined and depopulated, and the wild beafts
had refumed the pofleflion of the uncultivated country, which was co-
vered with woods, and deluged with ftagnant waters. Such was now
the condition of Italy, once the moft highly cultivated country in Eu-
rope ; and fuch it continued throughout the ninth century. [Murafori
Script. V. ii, part ii, col. 691 — and fee other authorities colledted in his
jhitiq. V. ii, coll. 149, 153, 163.] The defolation of the other parts of
Europe, though not fo amply attefted, appears from the few writers of
thofe dark ages to have been ftill more extenfive.

While fuch was the general ftate of Europe, the commerce of thofe
which w'crc efteemed commercial communities could only be confider-

Annals many years before any foil of Harold Har- from that of Alexander^ the fon of Amyntas king

fagtir was born. of Macedonia, who cut off the I'erlian ambiifTadorc

Later Irifli writers have embelh'flied the dcatji by means of young men in women's drefs.
of Turgcs with a ilralagcm, perhaps borrowed

A, D. 849. 255

able by companion with the total want of it among their neighbours:
and that the commercial intercourfe, or intercourfe of any kind, in Ita-
ly, was not very confiderable, is evident from the want of inns for the
reception of travelers upon the roads, and even in fome of the principal
cities of that country *.

The decline of the Grecian empire, and the conqucll of Perfia, re-
ftored to the victorious Arabians the antient m.aritime commerce of In-
dia with a very great augmentation. But the principal feat of the trade
had long been removed from the fouth coaft of Arabia to the Perfian
eulf, as we learn from the Chinefe annals of the feventli and eighth
centuries f, and more particularly from an account written by SoUman,
an Arabian merchant, which, as a valuable monument of Oriental com-
mercial hiftory, deferves, even in the mutilated flate wherein we receive
it, to be ranked next to the Periplus of the Erythraean fea.

851 — From Soliman's relation we learn that the Arabian merchants
had now extended their commerce and their difcoveries in the Eaft far
beyond the utmoft knowlege of their own anceflors, the Greek mer-
chants of Egypt, or the Ethiopian merchants ofAduli, which in the
time of Cofmas Indicopleuftes (and we have no particvilar account of
any later date) had never gone beyond Siele-div (or Ceylon) J. Their
vefTels now traded to every part of the continent as far as the fouth coaft
of China, and to many of the iflands, of all which he gives defcriptions,
whereof very few can be reconciled to our ideas or appellations of Ori-
ental geography. The very exiftence of China being hitherto almoft
unknown in the weftern parts of the world, he gives a pretty ample ac-
covuit of it, from which I extradt the following particulars, illuftrative
of the commercial hiftory of that lingular empire.

When foreign vellels arrive at Can-fu (luppofed to be Canton §) the
Chinefe take poifenion of their cargoes, and ftore them in warehoufes
till the arrival of all the other Ihips which are expected, whereby they
are fometimes detained fix months. They then levy a duty of thirty

* In the year 840, fome merchants of Amalfi, the fecond century. (See above, p. 194, or Mr. De

being at Tarcntum, were invited by the keepers Guignes, as quoted in the preceding note). But

ol the prifon to lodge in it, tlicre being tio inn in we know no particulars of their route or their

the city. The merchants were glad to accept their trade : and, with fubmidion, I may obfcrve, that

offei', and gave them money to purcliafe vidluals as their navigation extended no farther than Cey-

and wine for them, \_j4nonymus Siilerriitaniis, ap. Ion in the fixth century, and even that under a

Muratori Script. V. ii, part ii, p. 221 — and fee foreign flag (to borrow a modern phrafe), any ac-

Muralori's 37 th dijfcrtation in Antiq. V. iii, ch hof- count of earlier navigations to more diilant ports

pitalibus peregrinorum.'} would need to be iupported by very ftrong au-

f For the information derived from thofe an- thority._

nals we are indebted to the erudition and induilry § Caa-fu does not appear among the old names

of Mr. De Guignes. {^Reflexions fur ks liaifons des of Quangcheu or Canton, given by Martin Mar-

Romains a-vec les Tarlarei et Chiiioii, in Mem. de tinius in Thevenot's Foyages curieux, V. ii, p. 167.

litterature, V. xxxii, p. 367.] In Sir George Staunton's Emhijfy to China the

\ Some fubjedls of the Roman empire are fup- name is Quang-Tchoo-Foo.
pofed to have traded to China by fea as early as

256 A. D. 851.

per cent on the goods in kind, and reftore the remainder to the mer-
chants. The emperor has a right of pre-emption ; but his officers fair-
ly, and immediately, pay for what he takes at the higheft price of the
articles.

Can-fu is a place of great trade, to which all foreign merchants refort.
The Mohamedans are fo numerous in it, that a cadi, or judge, of their
own religion, is allowed to prelide over them, under the authority of
the emperor.

Chinefe fhips trade to Siraf in the Perfian gulf, and there take in
goods brought from Baflbra, Oman, and other places, to which they do
not venture to proceed on account of the frequent ftorms and other
dangers in that fea *. From the account of their route, which is con-
flantly along the fhore, the Chinefe of this age appear to be rather more
timid navigators than the Arabs and Egyptian Greeks were many cen-
turies before f.

China is more populous than India, and the cities are numerous and
■well fortified. The only coined money among the Chinefe is of cop-
per. They confider gold and filver, which they have in great abund-
ance, merely as merchandize, in the fame manner as pearls, filks, or
other goods. The Chinefe of all ranks drefs in iilk, in fummer and in
winter. They have no wine, but inftead of it a fpiritous liquor made
from rice (which we now call arrak). Their general drink is an in-
fufion of the leaves of fah (tea), the duty upon which brings in a vaft
revenue to the fovereign. They have an excellent kind of earth, where-
with they make all forts of veflels for the table, of equal finenefs with
glafs, and equally tranfparent. For meafuring time they have dials and
clocks with weights. There is no land tax in China. Every male child
is regiftered when born ; at the age of eighteen he begins to pay a ca-
pitation tax, and at eighty he becomes entitled to a penfion J.

• Father Michfl Boym, wlio rtfided fo long in not indeed fail fo far now ; but tliat might pro-
China as ahiioft to forget the Itahan language, in hably be at leafl as much owing to the jealous po-
a narrative drawii up in the year 1652, agrees re- Ucy of their government as to want of knowlege
markably with Soliman. He fays, that informer or ability, till their knowlege fell off from want of
limes the Chinefe took in cinnamon at Ceylon, and praftice. The authenticity of Soliman's relation
carried it to Ormus in the Perfian gulf, whence was fufpedlcd, when it was firft publilhed in a
other merchants conveyed it to Aleppo and Greece. French tranflation by Eufebius Renaudot in the
Sometimes there were four hundred Chinefe vefTela year 1718 ; but Mr. De Gnignes has fince remov-
together in the Perfian gulf, loaded with gold, ed eveiy (hadow of doubt.by attelling (In the yoa;--
filks, pretious flones, mu(k, porcelain, copper, nal dcs Savaris, Nov. 1764, and in the Memoires
alum, nutmegs, cloves, and cinnamon, an article Je Utteralure, V. xxxvii, p, 477) that he had found
of which they carried large quantities. \ILlal\nns the original Arabic manufcript in the king's libra-
de la Chine, in Thcvenot's Voyages curieux, V. ii, ry at Paris. Independent of that fupport, its crc-
/i. 25 of Lift f cries 'f pi'ges.'^ dit feems to he abundantly clear from the artlefs

f We may thence conclude that the fuppofi- ajid genuine appearance of the narrative ; and it is

lion of the mariner's compafs being known to highly valuable, were it only for conveying to us

them long before this time is deftitutc of founda- the e:\rlicll notice of clocks, tea, and china-ware,

tion. articles now fo common in every houfe. The mag-

X It has been doubted whether the Ciiinefc nificent piece of mcclumifm prefented to Charlc-

evcr failed as far as the Perfian gulf. They do magne by Harun al Ralhild was evidently not a

clock.

A. D. 852. 257

852 — Some fuppoie coals to have been ufed as fuel in England at
this time, twelve cart-loads of them, with fixty loads of wood, and fix
loads of turf (or peat) being enumerated among the articles conftitut-
ing the rent of Sempringham, an eftate belonging to the abbay of Me-
delhamftede (Peterburgh), in the -Saxon Chronicle, as tranflated by
Dodor Gibfon *.

877 — Baichu, a rebel, made himfelf mafter of moft of the empire of
China. When Can-fu (Canton), the port for all the Arabian merchants,
fell into his hands, he maflacred all the inhabitants, among whom there
are faid to have been one hundred and twenty thoufand foreign mer-
chants, confining of Mohamedans, Jews, Chriftians, and Perfees. This
favage cut down all the mulberry trees, which fed the filk-worms, and
confequently abolifhed the filk trade during his reign. To complete
the ruin of the country, he pradlifed fuch extortions upon foreign mer-
chants, that they "gave up trading to China f.

The weft fide of the Red fea appears to have been now deprived of
all foreign trade : the vefl^els from Siraf in the Perfian gulf (and we
hear of none from India) delivered their cargoes at Judda, or Jidda, an
Arabian port, feemingly not ufed when the Periplus of the Erythrsean
fea was written ; and thence the goods deftined for Egypt, Europe, and
Africa, were forwarded in vefi^els conduded by people acquainted with
the navigation of the Red fea, the many dangers of which deterred the
foreign navigators from proceeding any farther in it. We are told that
the Red-fea coafters carried the goods to Cairo, which had now fuper-
feded Coptos as the general depofit of merchandize upon the Nile ; and
if that is fl;ridly true, the vefi^els muft have proceeded through the
canal, which was reftored by Amrou the Arabian conqueror of Egypt %.
And thus we find the trade of the Red fea nearly fallen back to the
ftate in which it was under the firft Ptolemies, and alfo, if we except

deck, but a clepfydia, or water time-meafurer : other fubftance dug out of the ground as wd] as

\_AmQn. Gejl. Franc. L.iv, c. 95] and that, which coal ; and indeed it may as well be turf, which is

his father Pepin received froni Pope Paul I, was alfo dug out of the ground, though not fo deep,

probably on the fame principle, though I have not unlefs it appeared that Sempringham produced

iTiet with any particular account of it. For the coal, which, I believe, it does not. It may be ob-

antient murrhine vefllls, fuppofed by fome to have jccled, that gearda muft be turf; and if tlic fofGle

bceu the porcelain of China, fee above, p. fubftance (grasfan) were coal, that interpretation

* The words in the original Anglo-Saxon are would be apparently right. Its various meanings

' fixtiga fothva wuda, and twaelf fotliur grsefan, are earth, th; ivorU, a yard or inchfure. The

'' and fex futhur gearda.' — As it is not ufual tranfaiSion is entirely omitted in Wheloc's edition

with me to depend on the infallibility of any of the Saxou chronicle.

.perfon, I cannoc help having fome ■ doubt as to f Baichu feems the fame, who is called the rob-

the propriety cf Doftor Gibfon's trauilation ; ber Hiam-ciao in the Hifloria Sinka in The'vemt,

and I lubmit it to thofe, who imderftand the K. n, p. 52.

Anglo-Saxon belter than myfclf, whether grsefau % Thele two articles of Oriental information are

can, without any better warrant, be tranflated conveyed to us by Abu Zeid al Haftan, a mer-

coal (' carbonum foffilium') feeing that grab- chant of Siraf, whofe work, in a great meafure, a

an, graf-a, graf-an, fignify in Moefo Gothic, Ice- comment upon that of Soliman, was publillieH

landic, and Anglo-Saxon, to dig, ccrvi, grave along with it by Mr. Renaudot.
or engrc-uc, and confequently may apply to any

Voi. T. K k

258

A. D. 877.

the conveyance by the canal, nearly in the fame ftate that it is in the
prefent age *.

878 — Syracufe, formerly great in commerce and naval power, had
fuffered a gradual, but continual, decline from the time when it fell
under the Roman dominion till now, that it was contraded to its origi-
nal limits in the fmall ifland of Ortygia, and dwindled into a village.
Neverthelefs, its infular iituation enabled it to refill the power of the
Saracens, who had begun the conqueft of Sicily in the year 827, for
above half a century, when at laft the redudlion of that obflinate little
city completed their conqueft of the largeft and mofl fertile of the Me-
diterranean iflands (21'' May 878). [Chron. Sic. ap. Muratori Script. V.
i,part. ii, pp. 2^4., 24.$.}

Sugar-canes appear to have been cultivated, and their juice made in-
to fugar, in the louthern countries of Afia, and fome parts of Africa, in
the earliefl ages. But they were probably unknown in Europe, till the
Saracens introduced them in Sicily, the fertile foil, and warm climate,
of w^hich were favourable to their production. In procefs of time the
canes were tranfplanted from Sicily to the fouthern provinces of Spain,
whence the cultivation of them is faid to have extended to Madeira and
the Canaries, and finally to Brafil and the Weft-India iflands, if they
were not indigenous in the later f .

Notwithftanding the pious endeavours of Pope Zacharia, and an ex-
prefs law of the fi:ate of Venice pafiTed in the year 864 againft the flave

* Though the modern Arabs do not permit fo-
reign vefTels to go higher than Jidda, fome Brit-
i(h navigators, in fpite of the prohibition and the
increafing fhallownefs of the Red fea, have failed
quite to the head of it in veflels drawing more wa-
ter than any that the antient Arabians, Greeks, or
Ethiopians, had upon it.

f The champions of the crofs found fiigar-canes
in Paleftine, Egypt, Cyprus, Rhodes, &c. But,
though the defcription of fugar-canes (or honey-
canes, ' canna: meUie') gixjwing near Panormus in
Sicily, given by the Sicilian author Falcandus [a^.
Muratori Script, vol. vii, col. 258], who wrote in
1189 or 1 190, is perfeftly jult and accurate, the
accounts of the procefs of making fugar {' zucare,
or 7-uchara') given by Jacobus de Vitriaco \_H\fl.
•Orient, ic. 53, 86], who wrote about 1200, and
thofe by the other hidon'ans of the holy war, arc
very dcfcdlive and confufed, as defcribing a thing
little known. Indeed, we mull fuppofe, that the
fugar >n Paleftine was of very bad quality, or very
trifling in quantity, as we find fngar one of the ar-
ticles brought to that country along with cinna-
mon, pepper, Sec. from Babylon by a caravan,
which was plundered by Richard I king of Eng-
land. [6'. i'.c Vinifauf,ap.Gale, V. ii,/. 407.]
»-• I have not been able to afcertain the date of the
jmroduition of the fugar-can. in Sicily by the Sa-

racens. According to Raynal \W'ijl. fhll. et pol.
V. vi, p. i^j,cd. 1782J it was not till about the
middle of the twelfth century. But he never
quotes authorities : and the Saracens had loft the
dominion of the ifland long before that time. That
fugar-canes were firft planted by the Saracens in
Sicily, is generally allowed ; and they probably
introduced them, foon after they got poffcflion of
the ifland. See Gibbon [K x, p. iii, eJ. 1 1 9*3
who, very contraiy to his general prattice, has
ncglefted quoting his authority : but his profound
refearch and approved accuracy entitle him, be-
yond moft writers, to be credited for the fidelity
of his aflcrtion. — Along with the authors here
quoted, fee Albertus Aqiienjls, Fulcherius Carnoten-
Jis, and JViUlelmus Tyrius, all in the Gf/la Dei per
Francos.— De Cui^ncs in Mem. de I'acaJemie, y.
xxxvii,/. ^0^.— Edwards's Hijl. of the IVeJl-Jndie],
V. ii, p. ig.—Mofe/cy's Hifl. of fugar.

It is not improper to obferve here, that the cul-
tivation of the fugar-canc is now neglcdlcd in Si-
cily, owing (as Biydone in his Tuur in Sicily in-
forms us) to the enormous duties impofcd upon it :
and certain it is, that that moft fertile ifland, per-
haps the mother of all the fugar-canes in the weft-
ern world, now receives fugar from Britain and
other countric' .

A. D. 878, 259

trade, it was found neceflary to enforce the prohibition by a new and
ftridler law, which made it criminal for any Venetian to permit any
flaves to be received onboard his veflel. [DanduU Chron. ap. Muratori
Script. Kxii, col. 883.]

Alfred, at his acceflion to the crown had found England almoft
entirely over-run by the Danes, and had been even obliged to abandon
his kingdom to their rage, and to conceal himfelf, with the few faithful
fubjeds who had not deferted him, from their puriuit. Emerging fud-
denly from his concealment, he now gained a great and decilive viclory
over the Danes, fecure in the belief that the Englifh could no longer
prefume to make head againfl them. The confequence was, that Al-
fred recovered poffeflion of nearly a half of England, the Danilh king
Godrun being by treaty reftrided to the eaflern part of the country,
and profeffing himfelf a Chriftian, By this treaty there was a new na-
tion fettled as inhabitants of Britain *.

886 — Paris, though the capital feat of the French kings, was ftill a
fmall town, contained in the little ifland of the river Seine, jufl as it
was when Julius Ccefar gave the fir ft hiftoric notice of it. [Afferii Vita
JElfredi,p. 51, ed. 1722.]

London, which appears to have been almoft totally deftroyedand de-
populated by the Danes, was reftored by king Alfred in the nobleft
manner, and foon after filled with inhabitants, who had been driven
into exile, or kept in captivity by the Danes. \^A[fer. p. 51.]

890 — About this time the iilands adjacent to the north part of Bri-
tain were occupied by a colony of Norwegians, who, unwilling to fub-
mit to Harold Harfigur, the firft fole king of all Norway, had put to
fea in queft of independent fettlements. Thefe fugitives frequently
harafi^ed the coaft of Norway with praedatory invafions, which provoked
Harold to follow them to their iflands with a powerful fleet. Having
fubdued the Orkneys and Hialtland (Shetland), he beftowed them on
one of his nobles, as an earldom to be held of the crown of Norwary f.

The iflands on the weft fide of Scotland, which had been often vifit-
ed by the Normans in their voyages to Ireland, were now in a great
meafure peopled by them ; and, as being more foutherly than Shetland
and Orkney, they were called in their language by the general nam.e of
Sudureyar (i. e. the fouthern iflands). Harold lent Ketil, a nobleman
whofe ample eftates in Norway he wiflied for an opportunity to feize
upon, to reduce thofe iflands, and to govern them as his lieutenant.

* This treaty of partition may be fecn among pendence upon, the foversigns of the adjacent

tlie laws of Alfred. main land, it was probably very flender. The

f We know from Adamnan's Life of Colnniba, fucceeding earls of Orkney feized upon Catnefs,

tliat in the fixth ccntuiy the Orkneys conlb'tutcd (then including the (hire of Sutherland) and for

a petty kingdom, which acknawleged the fuprem- it their fucceilors acknowleged themfelves vaffals

acy of the neighbouring kingdom of the Pichts. of the crown of Scotland.
But, if they had now any conpeclion with, or de-

Kk2

i6o A. D. 890.

But Keti], when he got himfelf eftabUfhed m his government, and had
conciliated the afFeilions of the chiefs by intermarriages with his fstf
mily, fet up for an independent fovereign ; and from him the kings
and lords of the Ifles are defcended. Thus were the Norwegians addl-
ed to the nations inhabiting the Britifh iflands.

The arts ai:id manufadlures flouriflied in fome degree in thofe remote
iflands ; and the drapery of the Sudureyans was even famous in the
northern parts of Europe *. They very foon became fo populous, that
they fent out colonies to the Foeroes, to Iceland, and even to France.
This laft colony joined a band led by the famous Hrolf or Rollo, the
firft duke of Normandy, a fon of the firft earl of Orkney, and the an-
ceftor of the Norman kings of England.

The ufurpation or conquefts of Harold alfo gave birth to other fet-
tlements in the northern extremity of the world, which was hitherto in
a great raeafure unoccupied f. Of thefe the moil diflinguifhed was Ice-
land, which had been accidentally difcovered in the year 861, revifited
in 864, 865, and 874, and began to be fettled in 878. It now received)
a conliderable colony, which fpread over all the extent of the illand :
and this, unlefs we may perhaps except fome of thofe of the antient
Greeks, is the only colony in the world, prior to the recent European
fettlements in America, of which we have an accurate and regular hif-
tory from its commencement. About the beginning of the tenth cen-
tury the Icelanders eftabliflied a colony in Greenland, which increafed
and profpered for near four hundred years, after which the intercourfe
between Greenland and the refl of the world was interrupted by the
increafing rigoiu: of the wmter in that inholpitable climate, by which
in all probability the colony periflied. We fhall alfo have occafion to
notice the Icelanders as the firft European difcoverers of America about
the year 1000.

Navigators accuftomed to depend on the almoft-infallible ffifta nee
of the compafs and quadrant, and of arithmetical and aftronomical
tables ready conftruded by men of eminence in the various depart-

* A northern poet defcriblng the magnificent particularizes the names of feverul provinces of

Jrefs of a hero of the fcventh century fays, it was Scandinavia, wblcli were now for the iirll time

fpun by the Sudurey is. See Johnrtonc's Note cleared and inhabited by people retiring from the

on S'. XV of his Lodlrotar-quiJa. Tlie faft may country conquered by Hai'oUl.— Thele unqucf-

be true, though it is certainly antedated. tionable tcllimonics (how, th;it the notion of the

f We learn from Procopius, [^Be!l. Golh'ie. L. antient redundant population of the great nortlicrn

li, c, 15] that about the middle of the fixth ccn- peninfula, called by the general name of Scandina-

tury a confiderable body of the Heruli migrated via, has no foundation in truth, but, like many

northward, parted the country of the Danes, and other generally-received opinions, has pafTed with-

ftttled in Scandinavia, called by him Thule, the out examination upon the credit of being frequent.

i')habitant8 allowipg them to occupy a part of ly repeated. Its foundation is a foolidi expreliion

rheir lands. See above p. 234, note • .— of Jornandcs, who calls Scandia (or Scandinavia)

Ohther, in his narrative prefcrved by King Alfred, officina ^cnlium, the warehoufe, or worklhop, of na-

alTures us, that the northern part of Norway was tions.
unmhabiied in his time. And Snorro Sturlcfon 3

A. D. 890. 261

ments of fcience, will be aftonifhed, when they refledl on the intrepid
fpirit of thofe advenrurous fons of the Northern ocean, who, alTuredly
deflitute of the eompafs, for wliich they fubflituted the flight of birds "*,
and with very poor fubftitutes for the other guides, dared to commit
their barks for feveral days, perhaps often weeks, to a boundlefs cx-
panfe of ocean, and trufl their lives to the chance of feeing the fun and
the ftars.

During feveral centuries the free and independent inhabitants of
Iceland drove a confiderable carrying trade in the Northern feas, their
{hips vifiting Britain, Ireland, and the adjacent iflands, France, Ger-
many, and all the northern parts of Europe. In that fequefl:ered cor-
ner of the world liberty, induftry, commerce, and learning, flouriflied
in the dark ages ; and they continued to embellilh and to dignify that
poor illand, till it fell under the dominion of Norway in the year i 262.
Even in the prefent day its literary eminence remains to confole it in
fome degree for the lofs of its other advantages.

897 — Alfred was the firft of the Englifli kings, who had the judge-
ment to perceive,' that an ifland without a maritime force mufi: ever be
at the mercy of every piratical plunderer, and that a maritime invader
could only be repulfed by a v;e]l-appointed navy, the braved and bed
difciplined army being of but little avail againft an enemy, who by his
naval fuperiority could chufe and vary his points of attack at pleafure.
He therefor determined to meet the invaders upon their own ele-
ment ; and the very earlieft of his naval efforts were crowned with fuc-
cefs. His fuperior genius did not merely imitate the vefiels of the
Danes or Frifons, but conceived a new model of conftrudion with im-
provemeiats upon theirs. His gallies were almoil twice as long as thofe
of the enemy, and carried fixty oars f , fome of them even more ; they
made better way, and were lefs crank or lels apt to roll p By an unre-

* Anigrim Jonas tells us, that when Flok, a expedient when (klmming along the tranquil Air-
famous Norwegian navigator, was going to fet face of tlie Indian ocean. [_FIinu Hi/i- nat. L.
out from Shetland for Iceland, then called Gar- vi, c. 2 3.]

darfholm, he took on board fome crows, lecaiifs \ Henry of Huntingdon and Brounton fay forty

the mariner's eompafs ii'as not yel in ufe. When he or more oars. The tianfpofition of L and X

thought he had made a confiderable part of his m.akes the difference.

way, he threw up one of his crows, which feeing J The Saxon Chronicle, Florence of Worcefter,

]andaftern,flew toil; whence Flok, concluding that Simeon of Durham, and the Chronicle of Melros,

he was nearer to Shetland (perhaps rather Foeroe) add, that the vefftls were loftier than thofe of the

than any other land, kept on his courfe for fome old conllnadlion, in which there feems a miltake ;

time, and then fent out another crow, which, feeing for greater height mull have made them crankcr,

no land at all, returned to the vefiTel. At laft hav- unlefs the r.dditional length was accompanied with

ing run the grcateft part of his way, another crow fufficient additional breath, which in row-gallies

was fent out by him, which, feeing land ahead, im- they probably did not attend to.
mediately flew for it; and Flok, following his guide, ' The form of the Saxon ftips at the end of the

fell in with the eaft end of the ifland. Such was • eight century, or the beginning of the ninth, is

the fimple mode of keeping their reckoning and ' happily preferved in fome of the ancient manu-

ftecring their courfe, praftifed by thofe bold navi- ' fcripts of that date : they were fcarcely more

gators of ihe ftormy North.ern ocean. The an- ' than a very large boat, and feem to be built of

lient natives of Taprobane (Ceylon) ufed the fame ' ftout planks, laid one over the other, in the man-

' ner

^6,1 A. D. 897.

mitting attention to his fleet this illuftrious prince, who may with great
propriety be called f be father of the Britijl) navy, protedled his fhores from
frefh invafions ; and he alfo kept his Danifli allies of the eaftern parts
of England more quiet, than their own inclinations led them to be.

871-900 — At the acceflion of Alfred, England, owing to the long-
continued ravages of the Danes, had fallen into a flate of degeneracy,
rather below barbarifm. Scarcely a nobleman could read, and there
was not, by Alfred's own account, one perfon on the fouth fide of the
Thames capable of tranflating a common prayer from Latin into Eng-
lifli. Alfred himfelf, though he was fent to Rome (which was, next to
Conftantinople, the feat of what little learning remained in the Chrif-
tian world) when he was five years of age, returned to England without
learning to read, and continued ignorant till his twelfth year. His
great proficiency in learning and fcience, though he had the advantage
of not being heir apparent to the crown till his eighteenth year, is
truely wonderful, considering the grofs darknefs of the age, and the tur-
bulent fi:ate of the country His literary works alone, which are ftili
extant, are fufficient, independent of all his other excellencies, to im-
mortalize the name of their author.

When the treaty of partition with Godrun gave the miferable coun-
try fome refpite from the horrors and devaftations of war, Alfred, ever
intent upon augmenting the knowlege and the happinefs of his people,
applied to thofe very countries, which had formerly been enlightened
by the learning of England, for teachers to reclaim his fubjefts from
ignorance ; fo that by his paternal care the youth were at leafl taught
to read. It has been a matter of fierce contefl:, whether the imiverfity
of Oxford is of higher antiquity, or owes its foundation to Alfred. He
kept up a frequent correfpondence with the pope, and alfo with Abel
the patriarch of Jerufalem, who fent him feveral valuable prefents of
(Jriental commodities.

Alfred was the firfi; native of Britain, that we know of, who made
any attempt to extend the fcience of geography beyond the bounds of

' ncr as Is done in the prefent time ; their heads fail to be trimmed by its clues (or lower corners)

« and (lerns arc very ercA,'and rift high out of the fo as to go with the wind on the beam, if not even

' water, ornamented at top with fome uncouth nearer, thoiigli the yard has no braces. The malt:

' head of an animal, rudely cut ; they have but one has two flirouds leading to ihe gunnels, one fore

« niaft, the top of which is alfo decorated with a flay to the head, and two back ilays to the ttcrn.

' bird, the head of a bird, or fome fuch device ; If I were not aware, that the iigurcs of men are

' to this mad is made fail a large fail, which from generally made much too large, in proportion to

* its nature and conftruftion could only be ufeful, other objects, by the artills of the dark ages, thefc
' when the vefTel went before the wind : the fliip boats might be faid to be not above ten or twelve

* was (leered by a large oar with a flat end very teet long. The bird on tlic mad-head turned on

• broad, paffing by the fide cf the ilcrn ; and this a fpindle to (how the wind, as appears from the

♦ was managed by the pilot, who fat in the (Icrn, defeription of Cnut's fleet in tlie Encomium of
' and thence ifTucd his orders to the mariners.' Emma, \_ap. Dit Chefne,p. 166] which exhibits the

The above are the wonia of Mr. Strult. \_Chron- appearance of warlike (hips, but in language ra-
icle of England, y. \, p. ^Ti'] ."^ From his engraved thcr too pompous.
copy of the drawings, I fee nothing to hinder tlic

A. D. 871-900. 263

Ptolemy's knowlege ; and he obtained from Ohther and Wulfftan fuch
information of the Baltic fea with the adjacent countries, and of the ex-
treme northern regions of Europe, as far exceeded that ofprofefTed geo-
graphers, either before or after his time *, till the route of Ohther was
retraced in the year 1553 by the Englifh navigator Chancellor, who
was fuppofed the original difcoverer of the northern pafTage to Ruflia.
The royal author has himfelf preferved the account of the voyages per-
formed by thofe navigators. Ohther, a Norwegian, coafled along the
country of the Fins, now called Lapland, palled the North cape, and pe-
netrated into the great bay (Quen fe, or White fea) where Archangel
now iiands. From his relation we learn, that in that age the northern
people were accuftomed to catch whales and feals, of the fkins of which
they made ropes of all fizes, and alfo horfe-whales, the teeth of which
were valuable as well as their fkins, which were likeways ufed for mak-
ing ropes. Whales of forty-eight and fifty elns (72 and 75 feet) were
fo numerous on the coafl; of Norway, that Ohther with the help of five
men could kill fixty of them in two days. Ohther alfo made a voyage
up the Baltic. And Wulfftan likeways navigated the Baltic as far as
the country now called Pruflia. He remarked, that the people of that
country brewed no ale, becaufe they had fuch plenty of honey (noted
many centuries before by Pytheas) that mead was the common drink
of the meanell of the people, wliile the rich drank mare's milk, or per
haps rather a fpiritous liquor prepared from it.

Perhaps the letters f of the patriarch of Jerufalem and his'prefents
may have fuggefted to Alfred the defign of fending reHef to the Chrif-
tians of St. Thomas in India, and attempting to ellablifh a commercial
intercourfe with that country. We are told by William of Malmf-
bury, that Sighelm bilhop of Shireburn was fent by the king with m.any
gifts to St. Thomas, that he accomplifhed his expedition profperoufly,
and, which was thought very wonderful, penetrated even to India,
from which he brought aromatic liquors, or oils, and fplendid jewels,
fome of which were ftill remaining in the treafury of the church, when
he wrote J. \GeJl. reg. Atiglf. ^\ ^-y Geji. pontif.f. i^\ 2..'] This import^

* Scbaflian Munfter [^Giographia -vetus et nova, Diccto, the only other relaters of it, are ftill more
Rafilidc 1540] makes Norway, Greenland, and barren of circumftances. It is much to be regret-
Newfoundland (or the land of cods), all one con- ted, that the king himfelf has not left us any ac-
tinent. Such was the retrograde progrefs of geo- count of Sigheim's travels by land and water,
graphical knowlege in Eutope, even in the lix- which, if he really reached India, were nnich more
teenth century. worthy of being recorded than the voyages of Oh-

f It is a pity that AITer, who faw thofe letters, ther and Wulfltan, which he has related with a de-
has not favoured us with any extrafts from them, gree of minuttncfs. The filence of Alfred, of
They were probably much more interefling than Afler his contemporar)- biographer, and of moil of
the bulk of the unmeaning or incomprehenfible rub- t!ie other hiftorian?, has induced a fufpicion, that
bifh of letters of thofe ages, which have been tranf- the whole is fabulous. But the early writers, who
mitted to us. have Recorded it, had neither motive nor capacity

X Such is the meagre account we have of fo f:.>r Inventing fuch a ftory, though it may perhaps

important an event as an Englidi expedition to not be lliidly true in its fullell extent. Sighelm

Lndia : and the Saxon chronicle, and Radulf de went from England to Rome in the year 8S3, and

probably

264 A. D. 871-900.

ation probably furniihed the prefent made by Alfred to Afler his bio-
grapher, which confifted of a very pretious robe of filk, and as much
incenfe as a flrong man was able to carry. [^Jerii Vita jEIfredi, p. 50,
e4. 1722.]

All foreigners, who excelled in any ufeful branch of knowlege or in
manual trades, were fure of a welcome reception and liberal encourage-
ment from Alfred. By their help he rebuilt the towns, which were
generally in a ruinous condition ; and he took that opportunity to in-
ti'oduce a fafer and more elegant flile of building by fubflituting Hone
or brick for timber, which hitherto had been almofl the only material
ufed in building.

Although glafs for windows was introduced in Northumberland fo
long ago as the year 628, and amanufa6iory of glafs was even eftablifh-
ed in that kingdom by the care of Benedid Bifcop in 674, as already
obferved, the ufe of that noble convenience had either not extended in-
to the fouth parts of England, or was now loft in the convullions of the
Daniih invafions. So it was, that the churches in King Alfred's domi-
nions were deftitute of glafs windows ; and the wax candles, which he
burnt day and night for meafuring the time, were expofed to the wind,
which made them burn irregularly. He therefor invented lanterns,
which he furniflied with plates of horn fcraped fo thin as to be pellu-
cid, glafs being apparently inaccellible, though it could not be unknown
to him *.

For the more fpeedy and equal diftribution of juftice, Alfred divided
the whole of his kingdom into diftrids called hundreds, and each of
thefe into ten tithings. He is alio fuppofed the author of the divifion
into fhires or counties ; but thefe appear to have been as antient in his
hereditary kingdom of Weflex as King Ine, if we may depend on the
genuinenefs of the laws of that monarch f. Alfred may perhaps have
extended that kind of divifion to the other parts of England fubjed: to
him. He ordered a general furvey of his kingdom, the particulars of
which were recorded with the greateft accuracy in the book of Win-
chefter, which appears to have furnifhed the model of the celebrated
Domefday book of William the Conqueror. He revifed the laws of
the Anglo-Saxons, and feleding the beft of them, and thofe of other

probably got a pafTage from feme of tlie Italian the nature of glafs, for he compares horn to it for

ports to Altxaiidria or Pliccnicia. It is not im- lianfpavcncy.

pofliblt (tiiough very diificuk for a Chrillian) that Lanterns are fuppofed to be alluded to by

lit may have made his way to the fouth coall of Plautus, who niintions carrying fire in a horn.

Arabia, or to Baffora, and have pioccedcd even But their being known in antient Rome does not

to India. But if he purthafed Oriental commodi- hinder them from being alfo a new invention of

tics in Alexandria, Arabia, or Ballora, any of AJfted's.

thefe placet would be confounded with India by f In the 3gth law of King Inc we find • feirc'

his countrymen, who were ignorant of the geo- as a divilion of the kingdom, and in the 36" it is

giapliy ol tountrics much nearer to them. mtntiojicd as the dillricl or province of an ' ealdor-

• His bio^r»phcr Aifcr wa» atqunintcd with man,' apparently the fame kind of officer, \\lic i»

, culled fcirman (or fhirrcf) in the 8'".

A. D. 871-900.

265

nations, he compofed a code for the regulation of his fubjeds. He is
believed by feme to be the firll, who eftablidied in England the trial
by a jury of twelve men of fair charader, and of rank as nearly as pof-
fible equal with that of the party, whofe life or property was the iub-
jeft of the trial ; while others, apparently with good reafon, carry the
ufe of that mode of trial in England to the earlieft ages of the govern-
ment of the Angles, Saxons, &c. and fuppofe, it was brought over with
them from Germany *.

If England had but little commerce in the reign of Alfred, and
the polTeffion of jewels, fillcen robes, and incenfe, proves that there
was at leaft fome, his improvements of {hipping, reftoration of de-
cayed towns, encouragement of arts and fcience, and unremitting at-
tention to the diftribution of juftice, at leaft paved the way to the ex-
tenfion of commerce X-

It may be prefumed, that Alfred was the richefi; man in England ;
yet fo high was the value of money, that he left only five hundred
pounds of fdver, together with lands, to each of his two fons, and one
hundred pounds, with fome lands, to each of his three daughters; and,
from his will, which is fortunately extant, his whole flock of ready mo-
ney cannot be fuppofed to have exceeded three thoufand pounds, equal
in weight to about nine thoufand pounds of modern money. But Al-
fred was a good flaepherd, more intent upon feeding, than upon fleec-
ing, his flock. He is almoft the only charader in hiftory, whom no
writer has charged with any crime or weaknefs : and the whole bright
aflemblage of his virtues and talents prefents a pleafing and fplendid
pidure of a heaven-born genius riling out of the darknefs of one of the
darkell ages, and diflinguiflies this truely great prince from the crowd

* The trial by jury, and even by a jury of
twelve, fcenis to be as antient as the days of Gre-
lian fable, which reports, that Mars, the god of
war, was tried for murder by a jury of twelve gods.
For examples of the general ufe of trial by jury in
the middle ages fee Speiman^s Glojfury, 110. jfurnta.

\ Late writers have gone fo far as to fay, that
England had a moft wonderfully-extenfivc trade
m the reign of Alfred. They affert that he fent
(hips, or even fleets, to India. — Were they aware,
that thofe fhips or fleets mufi have doubled the
Cape of Goud Hope I TJiey add, that he built
nthcr fliips for trade as well as for war, and lent
:hem, together with competent fums of money,
lo merchants, who, thus royally fupported, traded
to Alexandria, and even to India ! following, no
doubt, the tratl of the king's fleet. They alfo
tell us, that the voyages of Ohther and Wulfftan,
were undertaken at Alfred's defire, with a view to
the extenfion of commerce. Bat Alfred himfelf,
a far better authority, tells uj they were perform-

Vol.!.

ed before thofe navigators came to his court : and
liis inquiries evidently proceeded from the thivft of
knowlege natural to a man of learning and fci-
ence.— The thirtieth of Alfred's laws fhows, that
merchant Ihips fometimes arrived in England ; but
the regulation refpctts the pafTengcrs and not the
cargo. — The only notice I can find of any ex-
portation in the time of Alfred, if it may be call-
ed exportation, is a prefcnt of the famous Britifti
dogs to Folk, archbirtiop of Rlieims in France.
Upon the whole it mull be acknowleged, that a
fenfe of the importance of comracrce, of which no
Chriilian nation out of Italy liad then any idea,
does riot appear to have formed any part of the
great and fcliacquircd knowlege of Alfred, whofe
illuftrious character ftands in no need of any fidi-
tious embellilhments.

What I have faid of Alfred is extrafted from
his own works, and that of his contemporary bio-
grapher Afler, with fome ailllliiuce from tbe earli-
eft of the fut-cecding writers.

LI

266 A. D. 871-900.

of kings, whofe names are of no ufe in hiftory, but to mark the revolu-
tion of dark or languinary years.

912 — Hrolf, or RoUo, after long infefting the coafts of France and the
adjacent countries with piratical invalions, now by a treaty with Charles
the Simple, king of France, eilablifned himfelf and his followers in the
province of Neullria, which from them has obtained the name of Nor-
mandy ; and he became the father of a race of dukes of Normandy,
whofe ducal title in the fifth generation was adorned with the fuperior
fplendour of that of king of England.

900-925 — King Edward gradually recovered the dominion of the
country, which had been ceded to Godrun. He clofely followed the
example of his father Alfred in his attention to his fleet, and in reftor-
ing and fortifying the ruined towns, particularly in Cheihire, the Peak-
land of Derby, and Nottingham-fliire, which bordered on the Northum-
brian kingdom, then pofTeiTed by the Danes ; and he even feized and
fortified Manigeceafter (fuppofed Manchefter) within the limits of that
kingdom.

About 930 — King Athelftan enaded, that the money fhould be the
fame through all his dominions, and that no money fhould be coined but
in towns, of which the following lifl: (hows which were then the places of
chief importance in the kingdom, and alfo lets us know, that the clergy
of the fuperior ranks fhared with the king in the prerogative of coin-
ing.

Cantwarabyrig {Canterbury), to have feven coiners, viz. four for the

king, two for the archbifhop, and one for the abbat,
Hrofeceaftre {Rochefter'),i\\xt.^; two for the king, and one for the bifhop.
Lundenbyrig [London')^ eight coiners.
"Winteceaftre {JVincheJler), fix.
Lewes, two.

Haeftingaceaftre {Ha/lines'), one.
Cyfleceallre {Chlchcjler), one.
Hamtun {^Southampton'), two.
Werham {Wareham), two.
Eaxanceaftre {Exeter), two.
Sceaftfbyrig {Shaftjhury), two.
Other burghs, not named, one each.

It follows of courfe, that there were artificers at every one of the
above towns capable of working in filver, and engraving the dies ufed
in coining.

Even in the more remote kingdom of Scotland, we find at this time
a cafe for containing the gofpel at St. Andrews, which was covered with
filver, nioft probably by a native artificer, and had two Latin verfes in-

A. D. 930. 267

fcribed upon it by a Scottifli engraver. \Wyntoivn*i Cronykil. V. i, p.

About this time many fhips from the adjacent parts of Norway, and
«lfo from Denmark and Saxony, frequented Tunfberg, a port of Nor-
way, at the head of the bay oppofiteto Yutland. Biorn, viceroy of this
part of Norway under his father Harold, declining his ufual occupation
of piracy, employed his fhips in trading voyages. \_Stwrro, Hijl. Har.

938 — Athelflan having taken advantage of the death of his brother-
in-law Sitrik, the Danifh king of Northumberland, to feize upon his
dominions, Aulaf *, the fon of Sitrik by his firft marriage, in order to
recover his heritage, procured a very general confederacy of the neigh-
bouring kings, among whom was Conftantine king of Scotland, the
Britiih king of Cumberland, and the Danifh and Norwegian kings of
Ireland and the Ifles. The allies entered the Humber with a fleet, faid
to confift of no lefs than fix hundred and fifteen fliips f, and proceeded
to Brunanburh, (probably Burn in Lincoln-fhire) where they were met
by Athelftan ; and there enfued one of the mofl obftinate, and mod
celebrated, battles recorded in antient Englifli hiftory, which began in the
morning, and continued till the evening, when Athelflan remained
mafter of the field. Five kings, and leven great officers, were flain on
the fide of the allies ; and Aulaf and Conftantine efcaped to their fhips.
Athelflan does not feem to have had any fleet to oppofe to that of his
enemies, which appears to have retired unbroken ; and we afterwards
find Aulaf and his nephew Regnald joint kings of Northumberland.

The fame of this great battle is faid to have fpread all-over Europe,
the feveral kings of which courted the alliance and friendfhip of Athel-
flan, by embalfies and prefents. The king of Norway fent on this oc-
cafion a magnificent fhip, with gilded beaks, or roftra, and a purple fail,
her fides being guarded all round with gilded fhields %. The German
emperor fent aromatics, fuch as had never been feen in England, gems,
running horfes, a vefFel of oynx with figures carved upon it with won-
derful art, the fword of Conftantine, the lance of Charlemagne, a crowTi
made of gold and pretious ftones, fome fuperftitious reliques, &c.

Athelftan, who appears to have had a higher idea of the importance
of commerce, than could be expedled in an age wherein only the cleri-

• So he appears to have been called on his own Harold Harfagur. He fays, the rofli a of the

coins. I believe his name oiiglit rather to be fhip were of gold ; but that muft be taken with

Olaf, as the northern writers i'pell it. In thofe allowance. To be able to gild upon metal, ( foi-

ages uniformity of fpelling was not at all attended we cannot fuppofe the rollra to have confided of

so. maflt's of folid gold) fo as to refift the corrolion

f Some authors make the number of Ihips of the fait water, may be confidcred a£ a mark of

much greater. very great progrefs made in that art, efpecially if

I William of Malmfbury [_GtJl. reg. jingl. f. we attend to the remotenefs of Norway fiom thofe

aS a] calls the king of Norway Harold ; but the countries which were then cileemed the iroft civtI-

chronology anfwers better to one of the fons of i/.cd.

LI 2

268 A. D. 938.

cal and military profeflions were thought honourable in Europe, allured
his fubjeds to engage in it by a law, which conferred the rank of a
thane on every merchant, who made three voyages over the fea with a
veflel and cargo of his own. The premium, thus held out to commer-
cial enterprife, was very judicioufly chofen, as, by rendering it the path
to rank as well as to wealth, it operated upon the two mod powerful
paffions of the human breafl. It proves, however, that there murt have
been but very few merchants in the kingdom, who were capable of
thus raifing themfelves to the order of nobility.

c)4.y — India, from Caflimere to Cape Comori.;, was now pretty well
known by the Arabs, and is deicribed by Maffoudi, with its divifion into
feveral potent kingdoms, as follows. The kingdom of Sind, adjacent to
the River Sind, or Indus. Canodge, or Bourouh, near the Ganges.
Calhmere, a country full of towns and villages, and entirely furround-
ed by a ftupendous wall of impafliible mountains, the only entry of
which is clofed by a gate *. The dominions of the great Balhara, ( a
permanent title like Pharaoh or Auguftusf) or the king of kings,
whofe capital is called Mankir, or the great Houfa. The Arabians were
much favoured by the Balhara, (doubtlefs for the advantage of their
commerce) and were permitted to build mofques for the performance
of their religious worlhip. Moultan, between Canodge and the Ara-
bian or Saracen dominions in Perlia. Manfura, alfo near the Indus.
To the fouthward of all thefe is the kingdom of Zanedge, or Zindge,.
governed by the Mehrage, or great raja ; and beyond it the kingdom
ofComar (or Comorin).

This delcription gives reafon to believe, that the commerce from
the Weft ftill continued to be chiefly upon the weftern fide of India ;
and it is valuable, as giving a view of the progrefs of geography, a
fcience fo infeparably conneded with commerce.

From India, our author proceeds to China. Canton had now recover-
ed from the calamities, which, he obferves, it had fuffered vmder Bai-
chu, and it was again reforted to by many Arabian merchants from
Baflbra, Siraf, and Oman, and alfo by veflels from India, the iflands of
Zanedge, Senef, and other places. He fays, that traders went to China
not only by fea, but alio by land, through Korafan, Thibet, and Ileftan,
which laft is a country mentioned perhaps by no other author, and fup^
poled to be inhabited by a colony from Perfia.

He next gives an account of Africa, which, though brief, is in fome

* Tlil'J finguhir country, the paradifc of India, p. \ci, and the map. .See alfo tlie map of the

IS not fo compli-tcly locked up as Matl'oudi was tliijd fiitlon tonxdtcd, wliicti exhibits levcn lo.ida

iiiadc to believe ; for in 1783, Mr. Fordcr enter- thioii^h tlic mountainous boundary of Caflimcte.
c<l Callinierc at the upper part of it, .nnd following + 'I'he name and fupremacy of the Balhara were

llie courfe of a navigable river, the txiftencc of noticed by Solinian, ihc Arabian merchant, about

which Maffoudi was not appn'/ed of, went out at a century before Maflbudi.
til* lower part of it. Sec Major Rcr.ucll's Memoir,

A. D. 947. 269

refpec^s beyond our prefent knowlege of it. The Arabian merchants
from Oman and Siraf traded to Sofala, which produced abundance of
gold, and to an ifland called Phanbalou, or Caniclou (perhaps Madagaf-
car), where they had even eflablifhed colonies. \_Ma[pnidi's Meadows
of ^f; old and mines of pretiousjlones, in Notices des manufcripts du roi, V. i, pp.

Ebn Haukal, an Arabian traveler of the fame age *, compofed a geo-
graphical account of all the countries occupied by the Mohamedans. In
his time, as in the preceding century, Siraf was the chief port of Ferfia,
and abounded with the commodities of the Eaft, which were diftributed
to all quarters of the world by the merchants of the place, many of
whom pofTefled fortunes of four millions of dinars, and fome ftill more f .
Hormuz was the emporium of Kerman (or Carmaiiiii) : the people of
that country cultivat^ fugar, and were noted for induftry and probity.
In Daibul, the port of Sind, there were merchants who traded in all
places. The countries adjacent to the Cafpian fea produced great quan-
tities of filk, whereof that of Meru in Khoraflm was moft ffteemed^
the eggs of the filk-worms being carried thence to other places. In
thofe countries there were great raanufadures of filk, wool, hair, and
gold ftuffs. The Armenians excelled in hangings and carpets, and they
poflefled the beautiful colour called kermez, which the author underftood
to be a worm or infcft. The paper made at Samarcand was the beft in
the world. Khozr (a country on the north-weft coaft of the Cafpian
fea) contained two nations, the one of a dark colour and refembling
the Hindoos, and the other white people, who made a pradice of felling
their children. There were many veflels trading between the feverai
ports of the Cafpian fea, or fea of Khozr. Trabzoun (or Trebifond on
the Black fea) was much frequented by merchants. In Antakiah (An-
tioch), and many other cities of Afia, the water, an objecl: of the firil
atcention to an Arabian obferver, was made to flow through the flreets,
and into the chief buildings. Efkanderia (Alexandria in Egypt), though
frequently mentioned, is not noticed as a place of trade : three hundred
houles, built of marble, contained all the inhabitants. In Bajeh, a.
country adjacent to Upper Egypt, there were the richeft gold nunes in
the world ; and thence Egypt was furnifhed with flaves. A community
of white people fettled in Zingbar (or Ethiopia) imported articles of
food and clothing into that country. The author notes the great ex-
tent of the laud of the Blacks, bordering on the Ocean (apparently the
Gulf of Guinea) on the fouth, and bounded by deferts on the north,

♦ Sir Wiiliam Oufcley, in his preface, mak.es f He elfewhere Hates thtir furtur.cs at fiity

it app;irent, that Ebn Haukal lived l)ctvveen A. 1). mil. ions of direms. I am not acquainted wiijj ths

go2 and 968; ;iuJ that Edrifil, Ebn Kordadbali, anticnt val.ie cf thofe monies of accoiUit,
and other witer-j of higli ceputaxio.'i, wai copi'jrs
from hirr. » j

ayo A. D. 947.

which fituation obliged all that was brought to them to come in on the
weft fide of their country *. Their fkins were obferved to be of a finer
and deeper black than thofe of the Habefhis (Abyfllnians) or Zingians
(Ethiopians). In Andalus (Spain) there were feveral mines of gold
and filver. [Oriental geography of Ebn Haiikal, tranjlated by Sir William
Oufelcy.\

950 — In the book of Tadics, written by the emperor Leo, and tran-
fcribed by his fon Conftantine Porphyrogenitus, the gallies of the im-
perial navy are directed to be of due length, and to carry two tires of
oars, one above and another below. On this reduced fcale, we fliall find
the antient conftrudion of the gallies retained in the Mediterranean, at
leaft to the end of the twelfth century.

Among the laws of Conftantine, entitled the Bafilics, there is an ab-
folute prohibition of taking intereft for the ufe of money ; a fufficient
proof, that the value of money, and the principles of commerce, were
as utterly unknown in the Greek empire, as they were in the weftern
parts of Europe, where a canon of fimilar import, pafled in the reign of
Charlemagne, was fo managed by the priefts, that they made themfelves
the arbiters of every bargain between man and man.

960 — About this time, or perhaps fomewhat earlier, the woollen raa-
nufaclure of Flanders commenced, which continued flouriftiing and in-
ereafing for feveral centuries, during which the chief part of the cloth-
ing trade of Europe was in the hands of the Flemings. At firft the fales
were moftly to the French, whofe fertile and comparatively well-cultiv-
ated foil, enabled them to purchafe fine woollen cloths from their in-
duftrious Flemilh neighbours. On account of the fcarcity of money
the trade was carried on moftly by barter, to facilitate which Baldwin,
earl of Flanders, who feems to have exceeded moft of the fovereigns of
his age in difcerning the real intereft of himfelf and his fubjeds, fet up
weekly markets, and eftabliflied regular fairs at Bruges, Ccurtray, Tor-
hout, and Mont-Cafel, at all which he exempted the goods fold, or ex-
changed, from paying any duties on being brought in or carried out.
\_Meyeri Ann. Flandr.J. i8 b — De Witt's Interejl of Hullana-\, p. 47. EngL
tranjl.'\

* The trade with the Negroes was mod pro- biifiiiefs of weaving is familiar, and, as It were, pe-

bahly entirely managed by the Moorifli caravans, culiar to the Flemings : and Ralph de Diccto

iinlcis the fcamen of Moroceo ventured to double {coL 528] marks ihem as a manufacluring nation,

the ftormy capes, whieli in alter ages io long con- — The hi^;h value of wool in England (which will

tinued bugbears to tlie Portugutfe navigators. be noted under the year 1066) feems to infer that

■\ It m\i(l be acknowlegcd, that the authority it was exported ; and Flanders was apparently the

of De Witt, though very rcfpectable, is much too only country that could have a demand for it, and,

modern for an event of the tenth eentury. But being adjacent to the River Rhine, was apparently

it is corroborated by that of Giraldus Cambrenfis, the country which lent filver by that river to pur-

\_llm. Camhiix, L- ii, c. 2] who alcribes :;reat (lull chafe ' the moll prctious wool,' and other articles

in the woolln maiuifafture to a colony of Flemings, of Englilh produce, as we are told by Henry of

who fettled in England in the enfuing centurj-. — Huntingdon, in the beginning of his hillory. —

Gervafc of Canterbury [co/. J 349] fays, that the The epithet of the weaver, twice given to Flan.

den

A. D. 963. 271

563 Among many other donations and privileges granted by King

Edgar to the abbay of Medefliamftede (afterwards called Peterburgh)
there was the right of having a mint at Stanford with one coiner. [^Chr.
Sax. ad. an.\ None of the towns, named as coining places in Athelftan's
law, were near fo far north as this one.

964 — According to a pompous charter, afcribed to Edgar, ' the great-
' eft part of Ireland, with its moft noble city Dublin,' was fubjed to
him. But the Irifh conquefts, achieved for Edgar by the monks, are
unknown to the fober hiflorians of England, as well as to thofe of Ire-
land. The later relate, that for fome years before this time Dublin
was taken and retaken almoft every year by the native Irifh and Oft-
men ; and that their perpetual wars with the Oftmen, and among them-
felves, had reduced the Irifli, a people deftitute of commerce, to fuch a
tremendous excefs of mifery, that ' the father fold his fon and daughter
• for meat.' \Spelmaii,Concil. p. 432. — Warcei Ant'tq. Hihern. p. iii. — An.
Uit. ad. an. 964.]

968 The emperor Otto firft opened the filver mines in the Hercy-

nian mountains, which have greatly enriched Germany ; and he built
the town of Goflar near them, whence they are now called the mines
of Goflar, [Spencr HiJi.Germ. pragmat. V. i, p. 35 1 — Cluverii Hijl. miin-
di, p. 450.] Some think the filver mines of Chemnitz in Hungary more
antient than thofe of Goflar.

969 — According to the contemporary teftimony of Liutprand, bifliop
of Cremona, and ambalfador from the Weilern to the Eaftern Roman
empire, the trade andnavigationof Amalfiat this time emulated thofe of
Venice. The Amalfians, though poflefling a very narrow trait of country,
acquired wealth, and fupportcd liberty, by their foreign commerce,
which extended to the oppoiite coaft of Africa, to Conftantinople, and
to fome of the ports in the eafl: end of the Mediterranean : and they,
together with t^ie Venetians fupplied Italy and other parts of Europe,
with the pretious produce and rich manufaduresof the Eafl:. [Muraiori,
Script. V. \\,p. 487 ; Ant'tq. V. ii, p. 884.]

970 — But the commerce of the Saracens in the Mediterranean was
much more extenfive than that of the Chriftians ; and they were alfo
fuperior to them in naval power, and particularly in the fize of their
veffels. Abdirraman, the Saracen fultan, or calif, of the greateil part
of Spain, built a vefTel larger than had ever been feen before, and load-
ed her with innumerable articles of merchandize, to be fold in the eaft-
ern regions. On her way fhe met with a fhip carrying difpatches from

ders in GcftVey Vinifauf's pot-m, [i?ii:^arfl'/'_5'/f, o^. though a later writer, as he introduces a perfon

Gale, p. 433] might refer equally to woollen, addreffing himfclf to England, [/. 396] and fay-

or any other, goods made in t.!i^- loom. — All thefe ing of former times, ' Flanders, thy weaver made

authors flouriihed about the vear 1 200. And to ' pretious clothing for tiicc from thy ov.'n raate-

them may be added MatLcw of Weftminfter, ' rials.'

272 A. D. 970.

the amir of Sicily to Almoez, a fovereign on the African coaft, and pil-
laged her. Almoez, who was alfo fovereign of Sicily, which he govern-
ed by an amir, or viceroy, fitted out a fleet, which took the great Span-
iih fliip returning from Alexandria, loaded with rich wares for Abdir-
raman's own ufe, and particularly beautiful flaves, among whom were
fome women very fkilful in mufic. \_Hi/i. Saracen, ap. Muratori Script.
V. i, part ii, p. 252.] We fliall afterwards meet with feveral other great
fhips built by the Saracens in various places. It was probably in imi-
tation of thofe built in Spain, that the Chrixlian Spaniards introduced
the ufe of large fhips, for which tbey were diflinguifhed at leaft down
to the age of Philip II, whofe invincible armada confided of fhips much
larger than the Englifh veflt;Is oppofed to them.

The moft illuftrious charader of the tenth century was undoubtedly
Gerbert, a native of France, and a monk of Fleury. Born in an age,
which is juftly reprobated by hiftorians as overwhelmed with the deep-
efi: fliade of that mental darknefs, wherein Europe was buried for lb
many centuries, this heaven-born philofopher furmounted the prejudices
of education, and, in defiance of ecclefiaftical cenfures, withdrew from
teachers who could add nothing to his ftock of knowlege, to feek from
the profelTors of a different religion the treafures of fcience, for which
lie fo ardently thirfted, and which they alone of all the people of Eu-
rope then pofi^efl'ed *. At Seville in Spain he learned the language of
the Arabs, and foon made himfelf maiier of their fuperior knowlege in
aftronomy, geometry, mechanics, and apparently arithmetic. On his
return to France in the year 970 he liberally imparted to his country-
men the fruits of his ftudies. His mufic, his hydraulic organs, his me-
chanic horologe, &c. 1 fay nothing of, as not fo immediately connected
with commerce ; but that part of his imported ftock of knowlege, which
moft; eminently entitles him to the gratitude of the Europeans in all
fucceeding ages, and efpecially of every merchant, was the glorious fci-
ence of ARITHMETIC, as now pradifcd by means of the numeral figures,
which the Arabs had brought with them from the Eafl. It was thought
a moft: wonderful thing by the French, that the fame figure could ex-
prefs one, one hundred, one thoufand, 8cc. and the rules of arithmetic,
which he publiflied, could fcarcely be comprehended by the mofl: labor-
ious fludents, even in the twelfth century f. It is, however, not impro-

* Sclden quotes (from memory) fome author ly withheld fiom the piibh'c Gcrbcrt's trcatife up-

of thofe ages, who calls the ftudy of natural phi- on arithmetic, liitnigh he acknovvlcgcs he had it

lofophy and the arts iJ/wiyid S'arjcff/iiraTO. \_Tules of in his poficlTion, and at the end of the 160'''

honour, preface.'}^ fpIUle, whicli was prefixed to it, even gives a fpc-

■}• ' Abaeumcertc primus a Saraccnis rapicns, re- cimcn of it as follows.

♦ gulas dedit, quae a fudantibus abaciflis vix intelli- ' De fimplicc.

' guntur.' [_IV. Miilvijb.f. ■i,C>3i.'] Whether that ' Si nuiltiplicavcris fmgularcni niimerum per

was owing to the want of compi thenlion in the ' fingularcm, dabis unicuique digito fuigularem, ct

lludcnts, or to the imperfetlion of the rules, it is ini- • omni articulo decern, difcrte ct converCm, &c.'—

pofiibk for 113 to know, as MaiFon has inyfl ftrangc- and

A. D. 973.

'^IZ

bable, that, within five years after Gerbert's return from Spain, fome
native of England had learned at leaft as much of the new arithmetic,
as to combine the figures 975, which are fuppofed to be infcribcd upon
an antient portal of Saxon architedurc at Worcefiier *.

By the favour of Robert king of France, and Otto emperor of Ger-
many, who had both been his pupils, Gerbert was promoted fucceflive-
ly to the fees of Rheims, Ravenna, and at lafl: Rome itfelf under the
name of Silvefier 11. The ignorant vulgar and the envious pretenders
to fcience agreed in afcribing the wonders of his fuperior knowlege to
a compadl with the devil ; and a number of extravagant fictions were
invented to fupport the flander ; whereupon William of Malmfbury,
though not entirely above aflenting to the abfurdity, obferves, that it
was common to afperfe the fame of learned men, and to afcribe their
pre-eminence to intercourfe with the devil f . Such is too often the un-
grateful return made by mankind to their beft benefadors j and fuch

and fo lie concliidca liis edition of Gerbert's Epiilles.
[Vide Prff.etp.ult.-\

Do6lor North {^^rchiiologui, V. x] has adduced
many arguments to proYC, that the Arabians were
not yet niaftera of that kind of numeration by
figures, to which we give their name. Without
prefuming to determine on either fide of fo difficult
a queftion, I may be permitted to obferve, that his
poiitive eviderci! reds chiefly upon the authority of
Theophanes, ' the father of many a lie,' \_Gibbon,
I''. ix,p. 253] and that his other arguments are of*
the negative kind. It ia not at all fingular, that
the evidences of Gerbert's introduftion of this moft
important fcience into Chriftendora are but flight,
when we advert to the extraordinary darknefs
of the age, in which he flione a folitary ftar : but,
ns there is not equal evidence of the introdudlion
of it by auy other perfon, and it war introduced
by fomebcdy, the balance of evidence is in favour
of Gerbert. The benevoleiit inventors of arts or
improvements, which add to the happinefs of man-
kind, have fcarcely ever received their due praife,
though fame has in all ages been lavifhed upon the
deftroyers and fcourges of the human lace. When
not one of a thoufand could read, and flill fewer
concerned themfelves with arithmetic of any kind,
we need not wonder that the knowlege of it ftould
fpread very flowly : and, indeed, the progrefs of
any improvement muft have been very tardy, be-
fore the propagation of knowlege was facilitated
by the art of printing. I have already obferved,
that the introduction of filk-worms in Europe was
unknown to Ifidore, bi(hop of Hifpalis in Spain,
when manufaftures from their filk had been efta-
bliftied a hundred years in Greece. — It mull be ac-
knowleged, that Bzovius, in his treatife, entitled
♦ Sil-veflcr II a calumniis iiindlcatus,'' has not a word
of arithmetic : but fuch a matter wras of little con-

Vol. I.

fequence to an author, who fets out with deducing
the parentage of his hero from Hercules, and la-
bours to vindicate him from the guilt of acquiring
fcience from the Saracens of Spain — his chief
glory, and probably the caufc of his exaltation.

* The time when numeral figures were intro-
duced in this country has been much difputed by
the learned ; and, confequently, the genuinenef*
of this date is denied by thofe who do not allow
tiiem to be fo antient ; as is alfo that of 1090,
fuppofed to be remaining on the fill of a window
at Colchefter, and fome others even later. [See
Philofophical tranfaBions, V. yi.yi\, p 2Sj, and DoSor
North' s EJfay abonie mcntinned.1 But nothing can
be concluded on cither fide of the queftion from
fuppofed numbers, which require conjefture to read
them, and which, if they v/ere perfeclly plain,
might be only renovations of more antient fculp-
tures. — The introduftiou of our numeral figures
is a fubjeft well worthy of inveftigation in a judi-
cious treatife.

•f- William of Malmfbury confounds Gerbert
(or Silvefter II) with John XV, between whom
and Gerbert there were no fewer than four popes,
Sergius, who fucceeded to the papal chair in one
year after the death of Gerbert, infcribcd on his
monument an epitaph, containing an excellent cha-
raiffer of him. The continuator of Airaonius,
who wrote in France about the fame time that
Malmlbnry wrote in England, calls Gerbert fimply
a philofophcr, and fays, that his elevation to the
popedom was at the unanimous defire of the whole
people of Rome. But neither lie, nor any of the
writers of the age immediately after that of Ger-
bert, has one word of devils, or any thing fuper-
natural. — Marvelous ftories improre prodigioufly
by tcmotenefs of time and place.

M na

274 ^' ^' 972«

was the method contrived by maUce and ignorance to atteft tiieir invol-
untary admiration of this iUuftrious charafter.

gj2 — Tlie filver mines of Rammelfberg in Germany are foid to have
been difcovered at this time. They feem to have been exhauftrd in
about forty years. [Rimius's Mefiiui/s of the houfe of Bninfimck, p. 258.]

973 — The monks in their great zeal to extoll their creature and pa-
tron, King Edgar, have turned his hiflory into romance. The fimplc
and unimportant facl, that he afTerabled his fleet at Chefter immediate-
ly after the ceremony of a coronation, or confecration, at Bath, and
that fix kings (mod probably all of Wales *) met him there, and enter-
ed into an alliance with him, [CZv. Sax. ad. (77/.] has been diftorted by
the grofs impudence of monkilli exaggeration for various purpofes, one
of which was to fliow what a prodigious fleet he had; for the different
writers reckon it from three to four thoufand iliips : and thence, among
other ridiculous pretenfions, it lias been inferred, that this founder and
fupporter of forty-eight monafteries, was fovereign ot the fea f .

0)^5 — It does more real honour to Edgar that he made a law for an
tuiiformity of money throughout all his kingdom, and for the general
ufe of the Winchefter meafure. \_Edga?'i leges, c. 8.]

9-78 — At this time the herring fifhery was very plentiful on the coafl
of Norway ; and it appears from feveral paffages of Snorro, the Hero-
dotus of the North, to have been confidered as an important object of
attention. But whether the Norwegians only ufed the herrings for im-
mediate home confumption, or falted and exported them, we are not
certainly informed, though the later feems very probable. One circum-
ftance, well deferving our attention, is, that thS abund;mce of herrings
an,d corn is marked as the charaderiftic of a beneficent reign, which
proves that the wifefl of their kings were careful to encourage the fifh-
eries and agriculture. [^Sjiorro, Hi/t. Olafi 'Tngv. c. 16; Hiji. Olafi Saudi,
c. 22.] And this, if I miftake not, is the earliefi: undoubted account of
a herring fiOiery.

* Tbe apparently-real fubmifliDi) of a great trained to tlic proper management of vtflels in

number, perliaps the wliole, of the WclHi kings to Edgar's reign. [Chron. Hax. iiiJ. ami. ico8,

Alfred, is recorded by Afler, liimfclf a Welih- IC09.]
man. [K;Vrt /ElJ'rvdi, pp. 47,49, cJ. Oxoii. l'22.1 Edgar'sftnpendousflcet is completely outdone by

f A llrong prefumplion that Edgar's fleet mull the thirty thonfand (liips, and nine million of men,

have been very incoiiUderablc, is,, that tlic fleet, bronglit by the king of tlie Huns againll Frotlil

which liis fou Ethelred raifed by a requilition up- hin Fredegod, an antc-hilloi ical king of Denmark,

on all the lands of the kingdom, and which is ex- who defeated the king of the Huns, and Hew every

prefsly fald to have been l/jc mofi niimeroui that ever one of his men. The bafikus of the Englith, and

iiHis fccn in En^laiul, was found infufTicicnt to re- emperor of all the kings of the iflands in the

pell the northern invaders, or even to guard the Ocean, was alfo fiupafFed in titles by Frothi hin

entrance of the Tiiamet ; and a great part of it Fredegod, king of Denmark, Sweden, Britain,

was dalhed to pieces in a llorm, which would not iScolland, Norway, Saxony, Frifia, Ungary, and

have happened, at leall not to fo great an extent, if all the countries of the Eall as far as Greece,

it had been built by carpenters acquainted with It is eafy to muller fliips and men, and even vaflal

their bufincfs, and manned by experienced icamen, kings, upon paper ; and titles coll nothing.

A. D. 993. 275

993 — The flourifhing commerce of Venice li;\d long ago created its
natural attendant and fafeguard, a powerful fleet, the firfl effort of which,
recorded in hiftory, was the fuppreflion of the piracies of the Dalmatians
in the year 823. [C/jron. yliid. Datiduli, np. Muratori Scriptorcs, V. xii,
col. 175.] But as thofe reftlefs corfairs continued to infeft the Venetian
trade, the republic now equipped a refpeftable fleet, which took many
veflels belonging to the pirates, defl:royed Narenta their chief port, and
fubdued the whole province of Dalmatia, to which they foon after add-
ed Croatia, another piratical fl:ate. Having now acquired an ample ter-
ritory, and the unrivaled fovereignty of the Adriatic gulf, the Venetians
conferred upon their chief magiftrate, the doge or duke, the additional
titles of duke of Dalmatia and Croatia. They had lately obtained from
the Greek emperors a favourable grant of liberties and immunities for
their navigators and merchants throughout the whole empire ; and they
alio obtained from Otto, the emperor of Germany, a confirmation of fe-
veral privileges in his dominions granted to them by his father, and a
difcharge from the obligation of delivering a pallium, which had been
claimed by his predeceflbrs as fovereigns of Italy (a". 998) *. {Dandidi
Chron. coll. 223, 225, 227, 231.]

The Chriftians of the northern and mountainous parts of Spain, who
had preferved themfelves from the yoke of the Saracens, were now re-
covering a part of the territory of their anceftors ; and they alfo refum-
ed the iron and fteel manufactures, for which their country had been
famous before it fell under the dominion of the Romans. About the
end of the tenth century they began to carry on fome foreign trade,
chiefly from their port of Bilboa f . But they were very far from being
comparable to the Saracens of Spain for cultivation, opulence, or civi-
lization.

In the long and difaftrous reign of Ethelred, which is reckoned from
the year 978 to 1016, the Englifli were opprefled by a continual re-
petition of miferies, greatly exceeding the meafure of their former ca-
lamities. The Danifli and Norwegian robbers, now united, and led by
Swein king of Denmark and Olaf Trygvafon, who afterwards became
king of Norway, fpread the horrors of flaughter, captivity, and defola-
tion, over all the country. After wafting the lands, and" utterly extin-
guifliing all cultivation and induftry, they compelled the miferable peo-
ple to bring in provifions for their fubfiftence ; and they moreover ex-
torted, in the name of tribute or the price of peace, but in reality the
premium for invafion, the enormous fums of ten thoufand pounds of

* Hitherto the Venetians had profeffed a flight emperois renounced their claim to the fovereignty

divided allegiance to both empires, which with re- of Dalmatia and Croatia.

fpe6t to that of Conftantinople was perhaps never f I have taken this notice of the trade of Bil-

formally extinguilhed, bnt mull have been cancel- boa from Mr. Anderfon, thongh I have not found

led when the Venetians became mafters of that em- his authority for it.
pire. It was not till the year 1085 that the Greek

M m 2

276 A. D. 978-1016.

filver in the year 991, fixteen thoufand pounds in 994, twenty-four'
thoufand pounds in 1002, thirty thoufand pounds in 1007, and forty -
eight thoufand * pounds in 1012 ; after which the greatefl part of the
country funk under the power of the Danes, whofe king Swein died in
the year 10 14 in England, of which he had been for fome time the real
and abfolute fovereign.

Hiflorians attempt to account for thefe uninterrupted calamities by
laying the blame on wicked, incapable, and treacherous, minifters and
generals, to whom the weak king entrufted the conduit of government
and the defence of the country. Certain it is that the Enghfli armies
appear to have been totally enervated throughout this reign, and that
the fleet raifed by a requifition upon all the lands of the kingdom,
which was more numerous than that of any preceding king of England,
anfwered no purpofe but exhaufring the ftrength and treafure of the
country, and encouraging the enemy.

The city of London was burnt in 982 or 983. Stow \^Annales, p. 114,
cd. 1600] copying from Rudburn, an unedited writer of the fifteenth
century, fays, that the greatefl; part of the houfes were then on the wefl;
fide of Ludgate, and only fome fcattering houfes where the heart of the
city now is ; and that Canterbury, York, and fome other citigfs in Eng-
land, then furpaflTed London in building. The fea contributed to the
diftrefs of the times by an extraordinary inundation in the year 1014,
which fwept away feveral towns and a prodigious number of people.
To complete the general calamity of England, it was harafl^ed by civil
diflienfions, and affhdled by contagious diforders, which deftroyed both
man and beaft, the neceflliry confequence of famine and unwholefome
food.

London foon recovered from the conflagration ; and the citizens dif-
tinguiflied thcmfelves as the only people in England who made any
flrenuous or eftedual oppofition to the enemy. In the year 994, when,
Olaf and Swein came up the river with nitiety-four fliips, and attempt-
ed to burn the city, they were repulfed with more bravery than they
fuppofed any citizens were capable of. This perhaps inclined Okif more
readily to accept Ethelred's propofal for buying him off" from the con-
federacy : and it is remarked, that he honourably adhered to the terms
of the treaty, his piracies being thenceforth exercifed in Northumber-
land, Scotland, the Iflands, Ireland, and France. The Danes were fruf-
trated in all their attempts upon the city in 1008, and in 1013 they-
were again repulfed with their king Swein. It is upon this occafion ihac

* The Saxon Chronicle has only eight tliou- repeat, their dcftriidivc vilit:; by an cxhaufted

fand ; but Florence, Simeon, &c. have tiunfciibed cuiiiitry, pofTcfling iu> mines of iilvcr, tliat we kno>r.

from copies wherein the number Hood 48,000, of, and Icarcely any commerce, may ftajjgcr cre-

which accords with tlie progrctTivc augmentation dibility, though vmiclicd liy the rcfpcitable aii-

sf the extorfion. The fiims thus paid to induce thority of the Saxon Chronicle and the oldcil Eng-

ihc Northern inTadera to defift from, or rather to liili hiflorians.

A. D. 978-1016. 277

we have the earlieil certahi notice of London bridge ; for we are told,
that in coming from WinchelT:er to London many of the Danes were
drowned in the Thames, becaufc they negleded the bridge *,

Amidfl the delolations of this unhappy reign, but mofl probably in
the early part of it, fome attention was paid to regulations for internal
and coafting trade, both of which were apparently on a fmall fcale for
articles of fubfillence ; and England had even fome paflive foreign trade,
as appears from the twenty-third chapter of the laws ena<5ted by Ethel-
red and his wife men at Vcnetyng or Wanating {IVantnge in Berk-fhire),
according to whicii every boat arriving at Bilynggefgate paid for toll
or cuftom one halfpenny ; a larger boat with fails, one penny ; a keel
or hulk, four pennies ; a veflel with wood, one piece of wood ; a boat
with fifh coming to the bridge, one halfpenny, or one penny, according
to her fize. The men of Rouen, who brought wine and large fifli -(-,
thofe of Flanders, Ponthieu, Normandy, and France, fliowed their goods,
and cleared the duties % ; as did alfo thofe of Hegge §, Liege, and Nivell.
The emperor's men who came with their Ihips were deemed worthy of
good (or favourable) laws ; but they were not to foreftall the market to
the prejudice of the citizens, and they were to pay their duties. At
Chriftmas thofe German merchants paid two grey cloths and one brown
one, ten pounds of pepper, five pair of men's gloves, and two vefTels |[
of vinegar. The fame dues were alfo levied from them at Eafter.
[Bromton, col. 897.]

The merchants, called in this hi^N x\\t emperor'' s men, are fuppofed to
have been the predeceffors of thofe who were afterwards called the Mer-
chants oj'ihe T'euionic gUdhall. ^^. . . :

AtJ the- iame time the number; Qf coiners in England was reduced to
three for every principal port,- or towr^,' and one for every fmaller one,
who fliQuld be anfwerable for their \yprkmen as to the quality and juft
weight of the money. The mark.et \yeights were slfo ordered to be uni-
form with. that of the moneys viz., (fifteen, c/-^ (a Danifh denomination)
to each pound. {Bromton, coL.i<^^\\'

* A bridge at I.oirdon is mentioned in a Ihw of ' of wllicli i:i remarked to have been fiifficicnt for two

Ethelred of uncertain date, but fuppofed by Spcl- carnages) Oiaf made fall his (liips at liigli water

mail \_Concilia, p. J32] to be prior to his treaty to ttit wooden piles of it, and then, rowing them

with 0!af in 994. Stow [Survey of London, p. 1^%, vigoroitfly dbwir the river with the ebb tide, he

«/. lOiS!] dates this firft notice of the bridge in <hook down the bridge, and London thereupon

994, but the SasLon Chronicle exprefsly in I013. fubmitted to EtKehed. [////?. Olqfi Snnai, c. 1 1.]

WilHani of Malmibury [/. 38 b] feems to have This (Iratagem, I bth'eve, is Act mentioned by any

confounded the two fieges of London by Swein, of the Englilh hiilorians. ^

and thus milled Stow. We may however prcfume, f « Crafpifce.' See the Gloffary to the Scrlp-

from fundry notices in Domefday book, that bridges tores decern, in vo. Crafpifcis.

had long been common even in the inland and re- J ' Monftrabant res fuas, el extolneabant.'

mote parts of England. J So it is printed in Bromton's Chronicle. This

Snotro Sturlefon relates that Olaf Haraldfon law is not publirtied by Lambard, Wheloc, SpeU-

aflifted Ethelred to recover London from the Dan- man, or Wilkins.

ifh king Cnnt, the foiv of Swein. Meeting with || • Duos cabillinos colennos,' the meaning of-

an obllrurtion from London bridge (the breadth which the glofiarift is unable to explain.

27S A. D. 978-1016.

A council held by the wife men of England and the counfelors of
Wales, for regulating- the intercourfc between the two nations, during
this reign as is fuppofed, fcarcely deferves notice in commercial hiftory.
By it fix Englifh and fix Welfh law-men (or men fkilled in the law)
were appointed to fettle all difputes between individuals of the two na-
tions ; and the rates of compenfation for flaves, cattle, &c. were afcer-
tained. {Lninbanli Archoiommia, f. 90, ed. 1568.]

996-1 000 — Olaf Trygvafon, having by his piratical expeditions acquir-
ed fome knowlege of the produdions and the wants of various countries,
after his acceffion to the crown of Norway endeavoured to encourage
commerce in his own country. With this view he founded Nidaros
(i. e. Nid's motith), and appointed it to be an emporium for trade, as
it ftill remains under the name of Drontheim. {Snorro^ Hiji. Olafi Tryg.
c. 77.]

King Olaf went beyond all his predeceflbrs in his attention to mari-
time affairs ; and he built fome fhips of war larger than had ever been
feen iti the northern feas. One of thefe, called the Dreki (or Dragon),
was feventy-four elns * by the keel ; fhe had thirty-four benches for the
rowers ; her fides are faid to have been as lofty as thofe of fhips of bur-
then ; and her head and ftern were finely adorned with carving and
gilding by an artift, whofe name was Thorberg Skaff hog.

The battles of the northern nations were moft frequently fought up-
on the water. Their warlike fhips, or gallies, were long, narrow, and.
low ; and they were adorned with figure heads, the ule of which ap-
pears to have come down from the earlieft ages. Befides fwords, bows
and arrows, and pikes, they took onboard a quantity of ftones to throw
into their enemy's veflels. A parapet, or breafl-work, compofed of
fiiields, was fet up around the fides of the fhips f. Like the antient
naval combatants of the Mediterranean, they drove the beaks of their
gallies by the force of the oars againfl; the fides of the enemy, and the
battle was fupported chiefly on the fore part of the deck. It was a great
object to have the heads and flerns lofty for the fake of pouring dowTi
flones, darts, &c. on the enemy's deck. They generally endeavoured
to grapple their enemy, and board him. Sometimes by mutual confent
the hoflile fliips were bound to each other, and the men fought hand to
hand, till one of the fifips was overpowered. [Snorro, HiJl. Olafi T'ryg.
cc. 124-128 ; liyi. Olafi Sa?i8i, c. 47 ; HiJl. Haraldi Hardrad, c. 2. — l'o?fa:i
O trades, L. i, cc. 14, 22, 39.J

That foreign articles of elegant drefs and ornament were not un-

* The tin of Norway is equal to a foot and a fiircd I 1 1 feet, which is equal to the length of our
Ivalf of our moafurc, as 1 was informed by Do6tor larjje modeiri frigates of 32 or 36 guns.
Tliorkelln, the learned l:ecper of the Danifli royal f The (liicldc, &e. foniotiiiieB now painted upon

h'brary. The keel of the Dragon therefor mea- the quartcr-cl'.iilis, Icein to be a vcftige or memo-
rial of this ciillom.

A. D. 996-1000. 279

known iu thole remote regions, appears from the following defcription.
Sigurd Syr, the ftepfathcr of King Olaf the Saint, who is noted as a
plain man, a good farmer, and a lover of peace, could on extraordinary
occafjons drefs in breeches, or troufers, of Cordovan leather, and clothes
made of filk, with a fcarlet cloak over them. His fword was richly
adorned with carving in gold, and his helmet and Ipurs were gilded.
His horle had a faddle embelliflied with golden ornaments, and a bridle
fliining with gold and gems. Thofe articles of finery were not, how-
ever, fo often acquired by fair trade as by piracy, then the chief trade
of all the northern nations ; for, though fome of the Vikveriar (people
of the fouth part of Norway) are faid to have been confiderable traders
(according to the eftimation of their age and country) to England, Ire-
land, Saxony, Flanders, and Denmark, yet their attachment to trade did
not prevent them from fometimes amuling themfelves with piracy when
they found an opportunity, and taking free winter quarters in the coun-
tries of the Cbriftians *. ISnorro, HiJL Qlafi Saricti, cc. 31, 32, 62.]

About this time periodical public markets, or feirs, were eflabliflied
in feveral towns of Germany and the northern kingdoms ; and a prin-
cipal part of the merchandize brought to them in thefe days of rapine
confifted of flaves taken in the wars, which were indeed often made
merely for the purpofe of carrying off captives^ Helmold relates that
he fow feven thoufand Danilli flaves at one time expofed to fale in the
market at Meklenburg. The common price of ordinary flaves of either
fex was about a mark (or eight ounces) of filver ; but fome female flaves,
for their beauty or qualifications, were rated as high as three marks.
Ifthorkeliji's EJfay on the Jltive t?-ade, pp. 4-9.]

1000 or 1 00 1— -It was in the lafl: year of the tenth century, or the firfl
year of the eleventh, that the adventurous fpirit of the northern navigators
of Iceland carried them to a country fituated fouth-weft from Greenland,,
and having in the fliortefl: day the fan eight hours above the horizon,
which infers that it was about the forty-ninth degree of latitude. The
fertile foil was covered with wood, whence they called the country Merk-
land ; but having difcovered that it produced grapes fpontaneoufly, they
altered the name to Winland. The rivers were well fl:ored with fifti, and
efpecially with Large falmon. The natives, whom the Icelanders never"
faw till the third year of their voyages to the country, were a diminu-
tive race, who ufed boats covered with leather, and fought with bows
and arrows. Thefe people, after having a flsiirmifli with the Icelanders,
traded with them, giving them fine furs in exchange for their goods.

Several of the fhips, which failed from Iceland for this new-found land,
carried a number of families in order to eftabliili a permanent fettle-
ment, which appears to have fubfifted at leaft above a century, as we

_ * For the fake of conneding the detached parts of Norwegian commercial hillory, this paragraph is
introduced a few years earlier than its proper date. .

•28o A. D. 1000 or looi.

find that a bifhop went from Greenland in the year 1 1 2 1 to convert the
colonifts of Winland to the Chriftian religion. After that time there
is no further certain account of the colony, and the connexion between
•Iceland and Winland feems to have been entirely dropt *. But if there
is, as has been alTerted, a tribe of people in the interior part of New-
foundland who differ in perfon and manners from the Efkimaux of the
north end of the ifland, they may not improbably be fuppofed the re-
mains of the Icelandic colony -)-.

Winland was evidently fome part of the continent at the mouth of
the River St. Laurence, or Newfoundland, more probably the later ; and
the vagrant natives, called by the Icelanders Skrelingur, were apparent-
ly the Eflvimaux.

The accidental difcoverer of this weflern land was Biorn, the fon of
Heriolf ; and Lief, the fon of Erik Raud, fitted out the firft veflel whicli
failed purpofely for it. Snorro, the fon of Torfin, was the firft perfon
of European parentage born on the weft fide of the Atlantic ocean ; and
from him defcended a family, which long flourifhed, and probably fl;ill
flourifhes, in Iceland.

As the difcovery of Ar.iERicA by the Icelanders, though an event ex-
tremely curious and interefling in the hiftory of mankind, is not fo ge-
nerally known as it ought to be (even fome of thofe who have profefl-
edly written upon the difcovery of that continent being ignorant of it),
it is proper to obferve, that it is moft unqueftionably authenticated by
the teflimony of contemporary authors, and others who lived foon after ;
all of them long before the generally-fuppofed firft difcovery by Colon,
or Columbus J. Therefor, without detrad:ing in the fmalleft degree
from the merit of that illuftrious navigator, who fet out upon fcientific
principles, and with fome previous afllirances colleded from the acci-
dental difcoveries of preceding navigators, to fearch for a weftern route

• According to Doftor Foifter's expofition of as. IC98: he flourifhed about i\\o.~-SnorroSiur-

the geography of Zeno's royage, Winland vvas af- lefrm, ti'tfl. Ohifi Trygv. cc. 105-11 1 : he was the

terwards called Ellotlland, and it was in a flourifli- earlicfl gtneial liKlorian of the North, and was rc-

ing condition in the fourteenth century. See For- pcatedly cliitf magiftrate of Iceland, A. D. 1215-

Jier's Difcoveries in the North, pp. 188, 203, Engl. 1232. — The Flaleyan vianufcript in the ting of Den-

tranjl. and below under the year 1360. mark's library, which was finiflud in 1394. — 1 fay

+ Whether thofe people are of Norwegian or!- nothing of Arngrim Jonas, Torfacus, and other

gin or not, may be very eafily afcertaincd by their northern writers, who have flourifhed after the age

lant^uage, which to a proper judge muft appear, of Columbus.

through all the tluffuations of eight centuries, to Forller in his Uijlory of Voyages, tf}c. in the

be radically Norwegian, if tliey are the remains of North, and Mallet in his Introdudion to the hifiory

a Norwegian colony, though they may have loft of Denmark, have given accounts at fome length

;ill traditional knowlegc of their ancellors, if any of the difcovery and colonization of Winland : yet

perfon in Newfoundland, properly qualified, would though Englifh tranflations of both thefe works

take the trouble to make the inquiry. Such an have been publinicd, it is furpriling how many

inquiry I have myfelf fet on foot, but hitherto people there are, even among thofe of general

without fucccfs. reading, who believe that no European CTer fet a

X Ailiwi Bremen/is defitu Danid, p. 36, ed. 1629 : foot in America before Columbus,
h* died in 1076. — Orderici Vitalis Hiji. tctUf. ad

A. D. 1000 or rooi. 281

to India, we muft acknowlege that the reputation of the firft difcovery
of lands in the weflern hemifphere unqueftionably belongs to Biorn.

SUUM CUIQUE.

1000-1024 — From the regions of the North-weft, where commerce
was yet in its infancy, our attention is now called to the Eaft by the revo-
lutions of, probably, the firft civilized country in the world, where manu-
fadures, commerce, and fcience, had attained to maturity many centuries
before any human footftep had penetrated the Britifh woods, or prefled the
Norwegian fnows. The great, rich, and populous, country of Baratta *,
called by the Europeans India or Hindooftan, had never, that we know
of, fufFered to any great extent the violation of a foreign conqueftf, till
it was invaded by Mahmood, the Turkifh prince or fultan of Ga^na,
who in twelve expeditions fubdued the greateft part of the northern
provinces (or of the proper Hindooftan), as far eaft as the Ganges, and
as far fouth as the Nerbudda. This delightful country has ever fince
been fubjedl to various dynafties of princes, all of foreign extradion.

1013 — From the accounts written by two Arabian merchants we
have feen that the Chinefe were a more commercial and enterprifing
people in the ninth century than in the eighteenth. About this time,
if we may depend on the information, perhaps traditional, obtained by
Hugo Grotius ij:, [y^««. de reb, Belg. L. xv, p. 702] they extended their
conquefts throughout the Indian feas, and, with confiderable expcnfe of
blood and treafure, made themfelves mafters of Ternate, Tidor, Motiel
(or Motir), Makiam, and Bakiam, iflands celebrated for the produdion
of fpices, efpecially cloves, and kept pofleflion of them about fixty years.
The iflands were next occupied by a colony of Malays, whom the Arabs,
aftlfted by the Perfians, drove out, and eftabliflied themfelves firnily in
their place §.

Hamburgh, which had been feveral times deftroyed by its turbulent
neighbours, was now rebuilt with wood in a more magnificent manner
than before, and was foon repeopled by its difperfed citizens and an ac-
ceffion of new inhabitants. [Original authors, op. Lambecii Orig. Hamburg.

P- 43-]

1 01 6 — The filver mines of Rammelflierg no longer anfwering the ex-
pectation of the proprietdrs, new ones were fearched for and difcovered

* For this genuine name I am indebted to Ma- Quicquid Gnecia mendas

jor Rennell's Memoir of a map of Himhnflan. Q£. Audet in hilloriis.

is not Maralta the fame name ? But it may per- :j: There is no account of any fuch conqueft at
haps be doubted whether fo large a country ever this time In the Hifloria Sinica ap. T.hevcnot, V. ii.
was comprehended under one indigenous general But the commercial enterprife of the Chinefe re-
name, mained in full vigour in the thirteenth century,

t The impreflion made by Alexander on the when Marco Polo was in their country.

wellern border of India was neither extenfive nor J Grotius obfcrvcs that Molucco, the general

permanent. The more antient conquefts afcribed name by which thofe iflands are known to us, and

to Bachus, Ofiris, &c. feem to be little better than fultan, the title of the fovereign, are Arabic words,
fidions of romantic Greece ;

Vol. I. * Nn

aSa A. D. 1016.

in the Upper Hartz (the Hercynian forefl of antient geography). They
were worked till the year 1 1 8 1 , when they were ruined by war, and ne-
glected till the emperor Otto again worked them in the year 1 208, when
another war again involved them in ruin, from which they were reco-
vered in the fixteenth century by Erneft prince of Grubenhagen, who
gave great encouragement to all who would engage in working them,
and built a town for the accommodation of the labourers. Thefe mines
ilill yield a confiderable revenue to the houfe of Brunfwick. IR/mius^s
Mem. of the houfe of Brunfwick, p. 258.]

The citizens of London were now of fuch confequence, that they, in
conjunction with the nobles who were in the city, chofe a king for the
whole Englifli nation. The objett of their choice was Edmund Iron-
fide, the fon of the late king Ethelred, who, after a brave flruggle,
wherein he was well fupported by the city of London, at laft funk un-
der the fuperior power of Cnut, who had fuccecded his father Swein in
the command of the Danifli army, and had been chofen king by the
Danes and a great part of the Englifh.

During the war between Edmund and Cnut, the later, in order to get
his fleet above the bridge to befiege the city of London, dug a ditch, or
canal, fufficient to carry the fhips, on the fouth fide of the river, by
which he pafled the bridge, and kept the city clofely inverted, till it was
relieved by the arrival of Edmund.

1 01 8 — Cnut, now the acknowleged fovereign of all England, in order
to reward his Danes, and induce them to return quietly home, levied
eleven thoufand pounds of filver from the city of London *, and feven-
ty-two thoufand from the reft of the kingdom ; a moft wonderful fum
to be collected in a country already fo drained by the great and fre-
quent extorfions of his father. Of all his forces Cnut retained only forty
Danifli fliips ; fo well was he fatisfied of the good will of the Englifh.

1020 — The citizens of Amalfi, whofe fpirited commereuil exertions
have already been repeatedly noticed, were now in very great favour
with the rulers and people of the Mohamedan countries in the Eaft,
' bccaufe they imported many articles of merchandize hitherto un-
* known in thofe countries.' They had already obtained permiflion to
eftablifh houfes, or fadories, in the maritime towns ; and, becaufe they
had no houie in Jerufalem, the calif of Egypt gave them a letter to the
prefident of that city, who afligned them fufficient ground for building
upon. The merchants immediately built two monafteries and an hof-
pital for travelers, whereupon many Chriftians repaired to the holy city
on account of religion as well as of trade. An hofpital for men, dedi-
cated to St. John, and anodier for women, dedicated to St. Mary Mag-
dalen, were afterwards added. The keepers of the former became fam-

• ilorence of Worcefter makes the fum paid by London fifteen thoufand pound*-

A. D. I020.

283

ous in hiflory by the title of Hofpitalers and Johannites, which in the
changes of their fortune gave place to that of knights of Rhodes ; and

now they are called knights of Malta. [Willielm. Tyr. L. xviii, c. 4

Brencman. de rep. Amalf. § 8.]

1028 — So far was Cnut from entertaining any apprehenfions of an
inclination to revolt among the Englifli, that he made frequent voyages
to the continent, where he enlarged his dominions by the conqueft of
Norway. This acquifition, which united all the maritime nations of
the North under one fovereign, was effeded chiefly by Englifh Ihips,
and by the help of his Englifh fubjeits, whofe courage revived under
the condudt of a general capable of direding it.

Some of the fhips of Cnut's fleet (but whether built in England or
Denmark, we are not told) exceeded in magnitude the largeft fhip built
by Olaf Trygvafon king of Norway, or any other fliips hitherto feen
upon the Weftern ocean. \S710rro., Hijl. Olafi Sandi, c. 158.]

1 03 1 — Cnut alfo made a journey to Rome, * becaufe he was told by
' wife men that St. Peter kept the key of the celeftial kingdom,' where
he fpent a great deal of money. There he met with the emperor Cun-
rad and other princes, from whom he obtained for all his fubjeds, whe-
ther merchants or pilgrims, a complete exemption from the heavy tolls
ufually exadled on their journey to Rome. [See Cnut's own letter ap.
Will. Malmjh.f. 41 b.]

Cnut is believed to have eftablilhed, or authorized, mints at a greater
number of places than any other king of England; and the following
modernized lift of the names, found upon money coined in his reign,
fhows that at leafl: thirty-feven cities and towns had that privilege.

Briftol,

Cambridge,

Canterbury,

Chefter,

Colchefter,

Crookhorn,

Derby,

Dorchefter,

Dover,

Exeter,

Gloucefter,

Haftings,

Hereford,

Hertford,

Hythe,

Huntingdon,

Ipfwich,

Leicefter,

Lincoln,

London,

Manchefler,

Norwich,

Nottingham,

Oxford,

Rochefter,

Sarum,

Shaftfbury,

Shrewfljury,

Southampton,

Southwark,

Stamford,

Sudbury,

Tamworth,

Thetford,

Wells,

Winchefter,

York *.

1036 — On the death of Cnut the citizens f of London were again a

• This lift is extraftcd from a Catalogue of the
coins of Canute king of Denmark and England, 410,
1777, publifhed in coiil'equence of a great variety
of his coins beinij found in the year 1774 in a
■peat mofs near Kiikwall in Orkney, whither they
mijrht be conveyed either by trade or by piracy,
in thofe ages the chief trade of the Norwegian in-
habitants of the Orkney iflands, which were fub-
jed to the crown of Norway till the year J468.

f The Saxon Chronicle calls them feamen or
navigators (' liths-men'). They were probably
merchants who went in their own vcffels. William
of Malnifbury on this occafion obferves, that the
citizens of London, by their great intercourfe with
the Danes, vihom he calls barbarians, refenibleJ
them very much in their manners.

N n 2

-284 A. D. 1036.

confiderable part of the electors, by whom his natural fon Harold was
made king of England.

1 037-1 054 — Scotland was at this time governed by King Macbeth,
whom the flatterers of the pofterity of King Malcolm Kenmor have re-
prei'ented as a tyrant and an ufurper, whole hiflory Boyfe has turned
into a fairy tale, and Shakfpeare into a dramatic romance. The little
we know of him, which is rather more than we know of mofl: of his
predecefTors, entitles him to fome notice in this work. The original
part of the Latin Elegiac chronicle of the Scottifh kings fays, that Scot-
land enjoyed plentiful feafons during his reign ; and Wyntown, copy-
ing from it and fome other impartial antient record, fays, that
' All hys tyme wes gret plente
' Abowndand, bath on land and fe.'

{IVyritown's Cronykil of Scotland, B. vi, c. 18, //. 47, 408.]

The only influence a king of Scotland could pollibly have in pro-
ducing plenty by land and fea muft have been by mild and judicious
government, -by giving encouragement to agriculture, the prime fource
of wealth in every country, and to the fifhery, that inexhauftible fecond-
ary fund of wealth, wherewith bountiful Nature has furrounded Scot-
land. That Macbeth's government was beneficent, and eftablifhed in
the affedions of his people, notwithflanding the claims and efforts of
the rival family, appears from the comparatively-long duration and
tranquillity of his reign, and from his venturing to delegate his power
in order to make a journey to Rome in the year 1050. As an addition-
al proof of his merit I may adduce the abfurd obloquy thrown upon his
memory. That Scotland in his reign enjoyed fome foreign commerce,
the bafis of which was probably the fifliery, and that a balance of cafh
was even paid by the neighbouring nations, is fufficiently evident from
the great expenfe of his journey to Rome, where his charity to the poor
was confpicuous even in that general refort of wealthy pilgrims. [^Mari-
ani Chron. ad an. 1050.]

1050 — About the middle of the eleventh century Sliafwig {Slefwik),
or Heithebu, is defcribed as a port of the Barbaric, Baltic, or Scythic, fea,
from which fhips failed to Slavonia, Semland, and even to Greece, by
which name we are furely to underfland Ruflia *. Ripa was a port on
the oppofite fide of Yutland, whence veflels failed to Frefia, Saxony,
and England. Arhufen, on the eaft fide of Yutland, was the port ot
departure for Fionia or Seland, Sconia, and Norway. \_Adami Bremens.
Lib. defitii Dani(e, p. 2, ed. 1629.]

At this time, if Adam of Bremen [p. 17] was rightly informed, Swe-
den was full of foreign merchandize : but this account may be taken
with large allowance.

• ' The name of Greeks was applied to the Ruflians even before tlicir converrtyn.' [_Ciilion, V. x>
f. 226, Note, where the original authors arc quoted. J ■♦

A. D. 1050. 285

Adam of Bpemen and fome other old German writers fpeak in drains
of high admiration of the populoufnefs and wealth of the great commer-
cial cities of Winet and Julin, both at the mouth of the River Oder on
the fouth fide of the Baltic fea. But as all things are great or fmall by
comparifon, and as it is difficult to conceive how any port of the Baltic
fea could pollibly have a very great trade at that time, and more efpe-
cially two adjacent ports, we mull believe that thofe accounts arc pro-
digioufly exaggerated *.

The rotundity of the earth and the theory of the inequality of the
length of the day were known by Adam of Bremen ; and we do not
hear of his being excommunicated or reprehended for his knowlege.

1052 — Pefenefea, Rumenea, Hythe, Folces-ftane, Dofra, and Sand-
wic f , are noted as ports having (hips, which were all feized and carried
off by Earl Godwin, after his fon-in-law King Edward had driven him
out of the kingdom.

1063 — The commercial republic of Pifa on the weft fide of Italy was
now in a flourifhing flate. The Pifans, defpifing the narrow didates of
religious bigotry, made frequent voyages to Panormus (or Palermo) in
Sicily, where they traded with the Saracen inhabitants. They alfo trad-
ed to the coaft of Africa, where, fome time after this, conceiving them-
fclves on fome occafion to be injured, they led an army againft the royal
city of Tunis, of which they made themfelves maflers, except one ftrong
tower, in which the Saracen king or chief was obliged to fhut himfelf
up. {Galfr'idi Mnlaterrce Hijl. Sicul. L. ii, c. 34; L. iv, c. 3.]

1064 — About the fame time the Genoefe appear to have had a con^^
fiderable fhare of the trade to the Levant, or eaft end of the Mediter-
ranean. A fleet of their fliips, which arrived at Joppa, after the mer-
chants had bartered their goods among the maritime cities, and paid
their adorations to the holy places, brought off the remains of a conir-
pany, or rather an army, of pilgrims, who had traveled over land from
France and Germany, as we learn from Ingulf, an Englifli hiftorian^
[/». 74, ed. Gale] who was one of the number.

1065 — The church of Weflminfl:er, which was founded, or refound-
ed on a larger fcale, by King Edward, was the iirfl fpecimen in Eng-
land of a kind of architedure, which, according to William of Malmf-
bury, [f. 52 b] afterwards became very general. It may be prefumed
to have been that which is generally, but feemingly improperly, deno-
minated the Gothic X-

* Helmold, the author of the Chronicle of the -j- Now called Pevenfey, Rumney, Hyth, Folk-

Slavi, who wrote about the end of the twelfth fton, Dover, Sandwich.

centun-, fays, that the reports of the wonderful + If the Gothic architefture was not introduced
wealth of Winet are incredilile. It was the greateft in England till the reign of Henry II, as is gene-
city in Europe — and it was reported that it was to- rally fuppofcd, what kind was this ?
tally deftroyed by fome namelefs king of Denmark.
[C/;/o«. Slav. L, i, c. 2.]

286 A. D. 1065.

In the reign of Edward the Confeffor the Engllfh recovered their mi-
litary and naval character, chiefly under the condu6l of his brother-in-
law Harold ; for the king himfelf was much better qualified to perform
the offices of a monk than to difcharge the duties of a fovereign. On
the death of Edward without ilTue, his nephew, Edgar Atheling, who
■was under age, was fet afide, and Harold was chofen king (a". 1066).
He appears to have been, after Alfred, the greateft of the Saxon princes ;
and like him he was fenlible that a well-appointed navy was the natural
fafeguard of England *. As foon as he became king, he was threaten-
ed with an invafion by William duke of Normandy, who alleged that
the late king had promifed to appoint him his fuccellbr. Knowing the
great power and military talents of the duke, he provided a fleet of
above feven hundred fhips, which he ftationed on the coafl; oppofite to
France. Unfortunately a part of it was called oflf by the unexped:ed at-
tack of the fleets of Norway and Orkney, led by Harold Hardrad f, king
of Norway, whofe life paid the forfeit of his unprovoked hoihlity. And
William, who landed on the fouth coafl; almofl: at the fame time, would
probably in like manner have expiated his unprovoked attack of a people
who had never injured him, had not Harold been flain by a random fhot
of an arrow, after fupporting with his army, fatigued by their march
from Stanford to the coafl of Suflex, a battle of a whole day with great
courage and conduft, if we except his mifcondud: in fighting at all. But
the prudence of allowing an invader to wafte his ftrength and the ar-
dour of his troops by delay was unknown in the art of war of that age.

Even after the difafter of Harold's death the fleet of England was
fuperior to that of the invaders, which it kept blocked up in the ports
of Pevenfev and Haftings. The fleet of William and his allies is moft
difcordantly numbered, from feven hundred to three thouiand fhips, by
the various writers upon that famous expedition.

Soon after the death of Harold, the Englith, finding themfelves with-
out a leader, and influenced by the clergy, fubmitted to Williani, who
on the 25''' day of December was crowned as king of England in Wefl:-
minfter abbay.

The acceflion of William conflitutes a new ara in the hiftory of
England, which is thenceforth much more fully known than in the
preceding ages, its aflfairs being now much connected with thofe of the
continent, and illuftrated by a continued fucceflion of good hiftorians,
domeftic and foreign. The materials for commercial hiflory, and par-
ticularly of that of this ifland, will confequeutly be more ample in the

• The fiipprcflion of tlic Wclfli In the reign of -f Tlic nnmc of H;iro!tl Harfogiir, given to this

Edward \v;i9 cfiected by Harold, chiefly by means king by moll writers, is one of the many inilances

of a licet ot (hips, wliercwith he failed from Brif- of the a6lions of iefs celebrated characters being

tol. The army and fleet of Northumberland, transferred to more famous perfonages of the fame

whicii alTilkd Malcolm ])rincc of Scotland againft name.

Matbctlij «a at. : DaniHi than Englifh. 3

A. D. 1066. 287

fucceeding ages than in the paft ; and the labour of the writer will not,
as in the preceding part of this work, confift chiefly in fearching for
materials, but in feleding thofe which are moll worthy of being laid
before the reader.

Before proceeding to what may comparatively be called the modern
hiftory of commerce, it will be proper to introduce fome notices con-
cerning the trade of the Anglo-Saxons, which could not conveniently
be referred to any particular dates.

Before the eftabhfliment of the feudal fyflem in this country, which
the bed antiquaries feem agreed in afcribing to the Norman kings,
[See Spclman^ Glojf. vo. Feodum] landed property was more abfolutely at
the difpofal of the proprietors, than when all eftates were held by feudal
tenures. From the hiftories of churches and abbays, (of which many
are extant in manufcript, and alfo feverals publifhed) we have numerous
accounts of fales of eftates *. We find five hides of land at Holland, on
the coafl; of EfTex, fold for twenty pounds of filver ; [H't/l. Ellens, ap. Gale,
p. 48 1] and it appears, that the price fcarcely ever exceeded five pounds
of filver for a hide of land, even of the befl: quality f. So low a price
of land affords the clearefl: demonfiration, that the country was very
thinly peopled, and that few of the people were in opulent circum-
fi:ances.

Agriculture, which was in fuch a flourifhing fiate in Britain when
under the Roman government, was much negledled during the long
wars between the Britons and the Saxons, Angles, &c. and it never re-
covered its former degree of perfection during the whole period of the
Anglo-Saxon government. There is not, I believe, any authority to fay,
that one cargo of corn was ever fhipped from England in all that long
fucceffion of ages. It is unneceflliry to add, that a bad harvefl: brought
on univerfal diftrefs %.

* See efpecially the Hiilories of Ramfey and ing. In the reign of Edward the ConfefTor

Ely, ap. Gait, Scriptorcs, V. i, 1691. The later Lieofftaii, abbat of St. Albans, cut down the trees

in particular is full of fuch purchafes, many of adjoining to the great road called Watling-llreet,

which, even by the account of a monk of the beginning at the Chiltern, and proceeding almoft

abbay, appear to have been fiauduleiit. to London, that travelers might be lefs expofed

\ There is great diiFcrence of opinion concern- to the depredations of robbers, who haunted the

ing the quantity of land contained in a hide, which wood, which was alfo occupied by wolves, boars,

appears to h.ive varied from 96 to 160 acres, wild bulls, and deer. And he gave a grant of the

The average price of an acre of good land may, manor of Flamllead to Thurnoth, on condition

therefvjr, be Hated at about half an ounce of filver. that he fliould clear the wood of noxious animals

In the reign of Cnut two niilis were purchafed and robbers, and make good the lofs fullained by

for two marks of gold ; but I know not it it was any perfon robbed within his dillrift. The wood,

a fair price, for tlie eftate to which they belonged however, was not fufliciently cleared, or thinned,

was acquired by a fwindlJng tiick. [f/y?. Ramf. between St. Alban's and London ; for we find,

p. 442.3 tluit Frederic, the next abbat, gave the manor of

J The languid condition of agriculture is evi* Aldcnham on the fame terms to the abbat of

dent from a great part of the country having re- Wcllminfter. After tiie conqueil many of the

verted to the natural ftate of an uncultivated foreft, Englilh fled from the oppieffion of the Normans

which was only ufeful for feeding hogs and wild to the woods, where they fupported themfelves

animals, and furnilhing fuel and timber for build- by plunder. \_M, Paris Vit. abbatum,pp. 45, 46.] '

Whru .

288 A. D. 1066.

The fertile and extenfive paflures of the Britifli iflands, exempted,
by the changeable nature of our climate, from the long-continued
parching droughts, which frequently deftroy the grafs in other coun-
tries, have, from the earlieft ages that we have any account of, nourifh-
ed innumerable herds and flocks, from which the natives derived the
principal part of their food, their clothing, bedding, armour, and even
their boats. The flvins alfo furniflied an article of the rude commerce
of the Britons, before they became fubject to the Romans. And,
though there is not, I believe, any pofitive authority to eftablifli the
fa6t, there can be little doubt, that the Flemings, the great manufactur-
ers of fine woollen goods for the whole of Europe, carried great quan-
tities of wool from this country in the period now under our confider-
ation, as, we know for certain, they did in the following ages : [M.
Wejlm. p. 396] and we may thereby account for the difproportionate
price of the fleece, which feems to be valued at two pennies in the 68''^
law of Ine, king of the Weft Saxons, whereas the value of a fheep with
her lamb, by the ^di'^ law of the fame king, was only one fliilling, i. e.
either five or four pennies. By the S'*" law of King Edgar, the higheft
price which could be taken for a weigh of wool, was fixed at half a
pound of filver, being, if the weigh contained then as now, 182 pounds
of wool, near three fourths of a penny for a pound ; a price which, as
far as we are enabled to compare it with the prices of other articles,
may be thought high.

We know that lead was frequently ufed for the roofs of churches and
other buildings ; and we know from Domefday book, that in the neigh-
bourhood of Gloucefter, there were iron works in the time of Edward
the ConfefFor, which had probably been kept up fince before the invafion
of the Romans. Though there is no account of the exportation of any
metals in the ages now under our confideration, it. is reafonable to fup-
pofe, that the demand from other countries muft at all times have pre-
vented the owners of the mines from negleding them ; and we may
prefume, that at leaft lead and tin *, if not iron, formed a confiderable
part of the few exports during the Anglo-Saxon period.

It may be prefumed, that horfes had been fometimes exported, as
King Athelftan made a law againft carrying any out of the kingdom,
unlefs they were to be given as prefents.

When the couutiy was alnwd covered with wood in the times of the Anglo-Saxons ; and he fays,

fo near the capital, the remoter dillrifts mull af- the exhaufted mines arc called in Corni(h Attal

furcdly have l)cen in a dill lower degree of culti- Surifin, which he interprets the Ua-viiigi of the Sa-

vation. f which indeed many poiitive proofs might racens.

be adduced, if it were ncceflary. Raynal [_Hi/l. phil. et polit. V. ii, p. 177, eJ.

* Mathew Paris \_Hil}. p. 570] fays, errone- 1782] fays, that in the fevcnth century the Sax-

oufly, tl.at fiom ihe creation of tiie world to the ons carried thtir tin and lead to the fairs cdablilh-

year 12^1 :;o tin had ever been found anywhere cd in France by Dagolitrt. It is a pity that that

, but in Cor. '.'•all Camden \_Briian. p. i34Jfup- valuable author never produces his authorities.
pofes, that the Saracens worked the Cornilh mines

A. D. 1066. 289

It will found ftrange to the ears of many, that human creatures, not
Africans of a different colour, but white people, natives of Britain, con-
ftituted an article of trade in thofe days. The people of Briftol were
great dealers in Haves, whom they generally exported to Ireland. \_W.
Malmjhur. Vit. Uljiani, in Augl'ia facra, V. ii, p. 258 — Gir. Camhr. Hib.
exp. L. i, c. 18.] Some Northumbrian flaves were carried as far as
Rome, where, being expofed to fale in the flave-market, their handfome
figure fo engaged the compaflion of a monk called Gregory, that he
afterwards, v/hen he was pope, fcnt Augufline to convert their nation
to the Chriftian religion, who, inflead of proceeding to Northumber-
land, took up his refidence at Canterbury. {Bedx Hiji. ecclef. L. ii.

The foreign trade appears to have been chiefly carried on by ftran-
gers, and was therefor a paflive trade on the part of England. The at-
tempt of Athelftan to allure his fubjeds to avail themfelves of the na-
tural advantages of their infular fituation would not have been either
neceffary or proper, if many Englifh merchants had traded to foreign
countries, or if many of them had been capable of fitting out and load-
ing a velTel.

The internal trade of England muft alfo have been on a very dimi-
nutive fcale, when the prefence of two or more witnefles, of the chief
niagiftrate, the liiirref, the prieft, or the lord of the manor, was necef-
fary to give validity to a bargain of more than twenty pennies. If we
may place any dependence on the laws afcribed to Edward the ConfcfT-
or, the clergy were entitled to draw their tenths even from the profits,
of trade, which was a fafe and good trade for them.

The inland trade was aflifted not only by the many navigable rivers,
which interfed England, but alfo apparently by artificial canals, where
the ground was level. Abbo of Fleury defcribes the kingdom of the
Eafl-Angles us bounded on the weft by a rampart and ditch. {^See
Camdeni Brit an. in Cambridge-JJjire, where feveral Juch are noted.} A canal
in Huntington-fhire, called Kingsdelf, is at leaft as old as the year 963.
[Chron. Sav. ad an. — Hi/i. Ra?nes. ap. Gale, p. 457.] It is not impolTible,
that thefe canals may be of ftill higher antiquity, and may owe their
origin to Roman policy and Britifli labour.

Though the fubjedion of the Englifh by the Danes was fatal to fome
great families, it muft be acknowleged that it was highly advantageous
to the great bulk of the people, and more efpecially to fuch of them as
were engaged in any kind of commerce. The merchants of all the
northern countries of Europe, poftefling any quantity of fliipping, being
iellow-fubjedls in the reign of Cmtt, navigation was perfectly free from
the danger of pirates, and trade was fafe. The fubjeds of fo great a.
king were alio, upon his account, more refpeded and favoured in other-
parts of Europe, as we have already had occafion to obferve.

Vol. I. O o

2^0 A. D. 10 66.

Concerning the manufadures of this country, the meagre chronicles
of the times now under confideration afford Httle addition to what has
been already faid upon the introdudion of the art of making glafs in
Northumberland ; except in a department, which might be fuppofed
to belong to a flate of fociety vaflly more advanced in refinement than
the Englifh then were. We have undoubted proof that the Englifli
jewelers and workers in gold and filver were eminent in their profell-
ions, and that probably as early as the beginning of the feventh cen-
tury (fee above, p. 238) ; and certainly as early as the time of Alfred.
A piece of ornamental work in gold, with an infcription Ihowing that
it was made by the order of that great prince, is preferved in the Aili-
molean mufeum, and engravings of it have been repeatedly publifhed.
Though the drawing of the figure upon It proves that the arts of deflgn
were in a very low flate indeed, yet the nice fculpture of the goldfmith's
tools has been greatly admired. [See Hickefn 'thejaiir. Angl. Sax. V. i,
pp. 142, 173 — AJJerii Vit. JElfredi, pp. 43, 171, ed. 1722 — Philof.
tranfaB. n°. 247.] So great was the demand for highly-finifhcd trinkets
of gold and filver, that the mofl capital artifls of Germany reforted to
England ; and, moreover, the mofl pretious fpecimens of foreign work-
manfhip were imported by the merchants. The women of England
were fo famous for their tafle and fkill in embroidering with fdk of
various colours, and with threads oPgold and filver, that embroidery
was now called Euglijh work, as in antient times it was called Phrygian.
William the Conqueror fent to his patron, Pope Alexander II, the ban-
ner of King Harold, wliich contained the figure of an armed man in
pure gold, and along with it feveral other ornamental works, ' which
might be greatly admired even at Conflantinople.* The prefents fent
by the f\me conqueror to the church of Caen in Normandy, were ' fuch
' as Grangers of the highefl rank, who had feen the treafures of many
* noble churches, might look upon with delight ; and even the natives
' of Greece or Arabia, if they were to travel thither, would be equally
' charmed with them.' What renders thefe praifes of the Englifh male
and female artifts the more valuable, is, that it is bellowed by foreign-
ers *. \GuL Pi£lav. ap. Du Chefne Script. Norm. pp. 206, 211. — Muratori
Antiq. V. ii, coll. 404, 405.]

The imports of England in thofe ages comprehended filk, and other
expcnfive articles of drefs for the great, pretious flones, perfumes, and
other Oriental luxuries, purchafed in the ports of Italy, and probably
fometimes at Marfeille. To thefe may be added books, and alfo, what
will appear furpriling to a modern proteftant reader, dead carcafes, legs,
arms, fingers, toes, and old rags, fuppofed to have belonged to the can-
onized faints.

* See alfo the account of Matildis, a woman very fl<ilfiil in the art of dying purple, and adorn-
ing the drcfTcs of the rich ,\vlth gold, gems, pidures, and flowers, by Ailrcd, a natire writer.
\Col. 409, ap. Tivyfden.'] 4

A. D. 1066, 291

With fucli flender refources as the foreign trade of England appears
to have furniflied, it may be afked, how the country could raife fuch
fums as were repeatedly paid to procure the forbearance, or to allure
the invafioiis, of the Danes ; to fay nothing of the permanent taxes of
Dane-geld and Peter-pence, the later of which, with the innumerable
pilgrimages, made a perpetual drain of money to Rome. As we can
fee no reafon to fuppofe that the little trade then carried on produced
any regular or lafting balance in cafh, we mufl believe, that thofe heavy
demands were fupplied, either from mines of the pretious metals, though
unnoticed by any hiftorian fince the beginning of the Roman dominion
in the ifland, except Bede, \_HiJl. ecclef. L. i, c. i] or from the remainder
of the vaft treafure, which the fertile fields, the copious mines of tin
and lead, and the other valuable productions of Britain, long continued
to draw from Rome and the provinces of the empire in former ages.
That all thofe heavy drains did not exhauft the flock of the pretious me-
tals in England, is abundantly evident from many fads to be found in
antient writers, which fliow, that the kings, the clergy, and the nobles,
were ftill very rich. King Cnut expended vaft fums in his pilgrimage
to Rome, as already obferved. Edward the ConfelTor built Weftminf-
ter and other churches at an uncommon expenfe. The great quantity
of money, found in Harold's treafury, enabled William to be incredibly
liberal to the church of Rome, as his biographer exprefles it *. Egel-
noth, archbifliop of Canterbury, being on his return from Rome, made
a purchafe at Pavia of an arm of S^ Auguftine (or of fome other body)
for one hundred talents of filver and one talent of gold f ; an excellent
bargain — for the knavifli feller. \}V. Malmjb. f. 42 a.] But, what was
at leaft equally aftonifhing, we are told, that Elfsig, abbat of Peterburgh,
in the year 1013, in the very midft of the convuUions, gave five thou-
fand pounds of filver for a headlefs carcafe. \Chron. Sax. ad a/i.'\ Of
the opulence of the nobles I fliall fele6l only one example, which, after
making a large dedudtion for the exaggeration of tradition, Ihows that
they were very rich, and the court very venal. Earl Godwin appeafed
the wrath of King Hardacnut by a prefent of a galley with golden (or
gilded) roftra, carrying eighty foldiers, each of whom had two bracelets
on each hand containing fixteen ounces of gold, being in all 320 brace-
lets, and 5,120 ounces of gold; a fum equal in real eftedive value to at
leaft two hundred thoufand pounds of our modern money. We are fur-

* ' Peciiniam in auro atque argento, ampliorem ftood to be mere monkiiTi rant. \^JV. Malmjb, ap,

' quam didu credibile fit.' \_Gul. Pidav. ap. Du Gfl/°, />. 3 1 o. 3
Chefne, p. 206.] •[- As the writers of the middle ages often affedl-

In^ king of the Weft Saxons is faid to have ed claflical words, when veiy improper for their

ffiven near three thoufand pounds of filver, and fiibjeft, it is probable that this impoitant purchafe

about three hundred pounds of gold, to adorn a was tranfatled in more modern money. Surely

chapel at Glaftonbury. But this mult be under- 100 pounds of filver and one pound of gold was noti

too fmall a price for a rotten arm.

Oo 2

29.2 'A. D. 1066.

•ther told that even the battle-axes, fpears, &c. of thefe fplendid foldieri
were completely covered with gold. [Pl^. Malvijb. f. 43 a.] Of the
wealth of the great body of the people nothing is recorded ; and there
was moft probably nothing to be recorded, except that they were de-
voured by the unconfcionable avarice of their fupcriors. \j\^. Malmjh,

£' 57 b.]

Slaves and cattle conflituted that kind of property, ufually transferred
with the foil, which is often mentioned by the early Englifh writers
under the name of living money ; whereas money made of metal was
called dead money.

It feems agreed upon by the learned, that, during the Anglo-Saxon
period of our hiflory, the nominal pound in money was a real pound of
filver in weight ; and that weight may, with great appearance of truth,
be prefumed to have been brought from Germany *. Authors agree,
that the pound was coined into 240 pennies ; but they vary greatly as
to the number of fhillings of account contained in the pound, fome
reckoning forty-eight fhillings of five pennies each, fome fixty, and fome
only twenty. The fliortefl abridgement that could be made of the ar-
guments and proofs in fupport ot the various opinions would be too
tedious to be admitted in this work, and would ftill be unfatisfadory to
thofe who wifh to invefligate the matter. I fhall only fuggeft, that it
is very probable, that in different parts of England, or in different ages,
the kings, who did not think of introducing a depretiated nominal
pound, divided the pound of filver, the only metal generally ufed for
current money, into a greater or leffer number of parts, which ftill re-
tained the fame names of pennies and fiiillings, though the later was
probably not a real coin till many ages after. The mark was alfo
not a real coin, but a denomination for two thirds of a pound, and was
apparently introduced by the Danes in the time of Alfred. The man-
cus, according to SXixic, \Grommat. p. 52] contained tliirty pennies,
and is fuppofed to have been a gold coin f , a little better than a third
part of our guinea. The thrymfa, ora, fceata, and the brafs ftyca, were
coins, or denominations of money, concerning which the learned are
not at all agreed.

The proportion of filver to gold, in the Anglo-Saxon times, is gener-
ally believed to have been twelve to one.

The Yutes, Saxons, and Angles, appear to have furpaffed the people
of the northern countries of Europe, whence they themfelves came, in

* The oUl Saxon pound contained 5,400 grains Tables of Englip) coins. — C'arle on coins. — Tleel-

of Ttoyc weight, or 1 2 ounces of 450 grains each, •wood's Chroiiicon prec'wfum, £s*r.

The ftandard ounce of Cologne and Strafbiirg con- f This fuppofition is agaiiill the general belief,

tains at prefent 451. ^(8 grains ; a rcfemblancc, or that no gold was coined in England iiefure the

rather identity, not to be afcribed to accident. year 1344. See Pfggc''s DiJJertation on Angln^

For the nature of the Saxon money, the readc Haxon remains.
aiay confult Hickefii Difcrtatio epiJiolaris.—Folket't

A. D. 1066. 293

coining money ; an important point in tbe progrefs of civilization,
which the Scandinavians had not attained in the tenth century *. Spe-
cimens of the coins of the various kingdoms in England, from the be-
ginning of the feventh century f , and alfo of the monarchs of all Eng-
land, are preferved in cabinets ; and engravings of them have been
repeatedly publiflied.

No Scotti{h coins have hitherto been difcovered of any king preced-
ing Alexander I ; if thofe afcribed to him are indeed his; for the total
want of numbers and dates, renders the difcrimination of the antient
coins of kings of the fame name almofl impoflible. [See Anderfon^s Di-
plomata et Numifmata Scotice, tab. clvii, ivitb Rudd'wian^s judicious Preface,

PP- 57' 97-]

From the unqueftionable authority of Domefday book :j: the follow-
ing particulars are feleded, as illuftrative of the condition of fome of
the ports and trading towns, and as containing hints of the ftate of com-
merce in England, in the time of Edward the Confeifor.

Dovere paid to the king and the earl £1^. The burgefTes were
bound to find twenty fliips, carrying twenty-one men each, for fifteen
days in a year ; and they were therefor exempted from fac and foe, and
were free from toll throughout all England.

In the city of Cantuaria (Canterbury) the king had 51 burgeflcs pay-
ing rent or cuftoms (*■ gablum ), and 212 liable to fac and foe; and
three mills of 40 fhillings rent.

The city of Roveceftre (Rochejler) paid 100 fhillings.

The burgh of Sanwic (Sandwich) paid ^15, and rendered the fame
fervices to the king as Dover.

In the burgh of Pevenfel (Pevenfey) there were 24 burgefles in the
king's demefne, who paid feveralfmall fums for rent, toll, port-dues, &c.
There were other burgefles fubje6t to the bifhops, the priefts, &c.

The city of Cicefire (Chichejier) paid 100 fliillings, wanting one
penny.

The burgh of Lewes paid £6 14: i ^ ; and the king had 1 27 burgeflTes
in his demefne, who colle6led 20 fliillings for marine fervice.

* In the tenth century, when Hofkold bought king of Denmark to fuperintend his works in gold,
a beautiful female (lave at the great fair in Brcn- and be the keeper of his mone}', and chief banker,
ncyar near Gothenburg, he iveigh^d three marks or money-changer (' trapezita'}. He h'ved feven
of filvet, which he paid for her to Gilli, a rich years in Denmark, and very probably coined mo-
merchant of Rufria. \_LaxJicla faga, AIS. in mufeo ney there. \_M. Paris, Vit. alhat. p. 59.]
Brit. Cat. Ayfc. 4861 ; unc of the Icelandic manu- f Camden \^Remains p. 181, ed. 16J7] fays,
feripts prcfented ly Sir JoftphBanis.^ he had feen a coin of Ethelbcrc, the firll Chrilliau

The piece marked with three crowns, and king of Kent, who died in the year 616. It

afcribed to Olaf, king of Sweden about the year might however belong to one of his fuccellor* of

800, \_Br£nm,-i Thefaur. numm. SucG-Goth. tab. ij the fame name.

is of very doubtful age. Tiie earlieft undoubted J It was called the looh of Winchejler {^ "VJ^ex

Swedifh coins are of the twelfth century. About ' de Wintoiiia') by the compilers of it: but

the beginning of that century Anketll, a very ZJowf/iAzji j^co^- has afterwards become the cltablill'.-

ingenious Englifh goldfmith, was inTJted by tlic ed name.

294

A. D. 1066.

Gildeford paid ;^ 1 8 : o : 3.

In Sudwerche (Southivark) the king had a duty upon fhips coming
into a dock (' aquge fludus,' — ' exitus aquas') and a toll on the ftrand.

In the burgh of Walingeford the king drew ^11 of rent or cuftom
'(' gabhim'), with fome fervices. There was one coiner.

In Doreceftre (Dorche/Ier) there were 172 houfes, which paid the
geld often hides of land, viz. one mark of filver for the king's houfe-
hold. There were two coiners, who paid one mark, and alio 20 {hil-
lings each.

In Brideport there were 120 houfes, paying, as for five hides, half a
mark to the houfehold. There was one coiner, who paid as thofe of
Doreceftre.

In Warham there were 143 houfes in the king's demefne, paying one
mark as Doreceftre ; alfo two coiners, who paid as thofe of Doreceftre.

In the burgh of Scepteftjerie f^'Z'fl/iy^'tf/jJ there were 104 houfes in
the king's demefne ; and they paid to the houfehold two marks, as for
twenty hides. The abbefs had 153 houfes in her diftridl. Three coin-
ers here paid as thofe of Doreceftre.

The burgh of Bade (Bath) gelded as for twenty hides, when the
fhire gelded. The king had 64 burgeffes paying ^^4 ; and other fupe-
riors had 90 burgeftes paying 60 fliillings. This burgh, with Eftone,
paid £60 by tale, and one mark of gold. It alfo paid ^^30 to the queen.
Moreover, the coiners paid xoo fliillings.

The city of Exonia (Exeter) paid no geld, except when London,
York, and Winchefter, paid, and then half a mark for the army, with
the military fervices due from five hides of land. Twelve carucates of
land near the city paid no cuftom but to it.

The burgh of Totnais fTo/«^J belonged to the king. It contained
95 burgeftes ; and it paid;(^3, the filver of which was proved by the fire
and the fcale. This burgh performed the fame fervices as Exeter ; and
fo did Barneftaple and Lideford, both belonging to the king in demefne.

The burgh of Hertforde was rated as ten hides. There were 146
burgeftes in the king's foe.

Bochingheham (Buckingham), together with Bortone, paid as one
hide, the whole of its dues, amounting to /^lo by tale. There were
26 liurgefles.

The burgh of Oxeneford (Oxford) paid >C30, ''ind fix ' fextaria' * of
honey, together with the military fervice of twenty of the burgeftes
when the king was on an expedition, or /^20 in lieu of it.

The city of Gloweceftre paid ^^36 by tale, and 12 ' fextaria' of honey

,♦

Sixlar'ium is generally traiiflated gallon. From widow Tliova paid annually to the abliay of St.

the commutation paid for the honey due by War- Albans one frxlarium of honey, containing thirty.

wick, it appears to have been a much larger mea- two ounces, in the reign of Edward the Confeffor.

lure. Bui there were alfo fmaller/pr/flz-w. The IMalh. Puiis,Vit. dkitum, p. j^^.'^

A. D. 1066. 295

of the meafure of the burgh, 36 dicres of iron, and 100 iron rods for
nails (or bolts) to the king's fhips, together with fome other petty cuf-
toms *.

The burgh of Wincclcumbe (lVinchcot7ib) paid £G of firm, or farm.

The city of Wireceflre (Worcejler) paid to the king and the earl
^18 ; and when the county paid geld, it was rated at fifteen hides. It
paid the king no other dues, except the rents of his houfes. The coin-
ers paid 20 fliillings each on receiving their dies at London. In Wor-
cefler-fhire the king had {hares in the fait works, or duties from them.

In the city of Hereford the king had 103 tenants, (fome of them
without the wall) who performed certain fervices inftead of rents, as
did alfo fix blackfmiths. Seven coiners gave 18 {hillings each for their
dies, and a duty of 20 {hillings. The provoft (' praepofitus') farmed the
cu{loms for £,\2 paid to the king, and £<S to the earl.

The burgh of Grentebrige (Carnbridge) was divided into ten wards,
and was rated as a hundred.

The burgh of Huntedun (Huntington) had 256 burgefl^es paying cuf-
toms and geld to the king; and it paid £10 of ground-rent (' land-
' gable'). There were three coiners in it.

In Northantone (Northampton) there were 60 burge{res, and as many
houfes in the king's demefne.

The city of Ledeceftre (Leicejler) paid ^30 and 15 * fextaria' of
honey. Twelve of the burgefi^es attended the king's army; and, for a
maritime expedition they fent four horfes as far as London to carry
arms, 8cc.

The burgh of Warwic, with the {hire and the royal manors, paid
£6$, and ^6 ' fextaria' of honey, or £24. ; 8 : o in{lead of the honey.
Ten burgeffes of Warwic went to the king's army; and for maritime
fervice the burgh provided four * batfueins' or failors, or ^^4 inftead of
them.

The city of Scirope{berie (Shrewjbury) paid geld as for one hundred
hides. There were 252 houfes, and as many burgefl^es, paying annually
;;^7 : 16 : 8 of rent (' gablum'). The fervices and cuftoms due to the
king were very numerous. He had a tax upon marriages, of 10 {liillings
from every maid, and 20 {hillings from every widow. There were
three coiners paying 20 {hillings each to the king. The whole duties,
&c. paid by this city, amounted to £2P annually. V

The city of Ceftre (Chejler) , with its dependencies, paid geld as fifty *^
hides of land. The king had the geld of 431 houfes, and the bi{liop,
of 56, in the city. The city paid ten marks and a half, befides a farm,
or firm, of/^45, and three timbres of martin's {kins ; and it was liable
to a great many cuftoms and penalties. If a fliip arrived or failed with-

• The copious mines of iron near Glouceller arc noted in the following century by Giraldu*
Cambrenfis, Itin, Camhris, L. i, c. 5.

296 A. D. 1066.

out the king's leave, fhe was fubjed to a fine of 40 fhillings for every
man in her : if a fhip came in againft the king's will, fhe, her cargo, and
her men, became forfeited to the king and the earl. Ships coming in
with the king's permiffion might difpofe of their cargoes, paying at
their departure four pennies for every laft. Thofe who brought mar-
tin's fkins * were bound, under a penalty of 40 fhillings, to fliow them
firfl to an officer, who might buy for the king what he wanted of them.
There were feven coiners in this city, who paid £;] to the king and the
earl ; and there were twelve judges chofen from the vaflals of the king,
the bifhop, and the earl.

In the burgh of Snotingeham (Nottingham) there were 173 burgefles,
and it paid £\ 8. Two coiners paid 40 fhillings. The navigation of
the Trent and the FofTe, and the road to Yoi-k, were carefully preferved.
The fifhing of the Trent belonged to the burgelfes.

The burgh of Derby f contained 143 burgefTes. There were 14
mills belonging to it. The burgh and the mills paid in all £2^.

In the city of Eboracum, or Eurvic (Tork), there were fix divifions
or wards (' fcyras'), five of which contained 1,418 inhabited houfes, and
the archbifhop's divifion contained 189. The burgefTes of this city
were exempted from paying reliefs %•

In the city of Lincol (Lincoln) there were 1,150 inhabited houfes,
and twelve law-men (or judges) having fac and foe.

The king's burgh of Stanford was charged as twelve hundreds and a
half in the rates for the army, the fleet, and Dane-geld, and paid a firm,
or farm, of ;^i 5. It had fix wards, five in Lincole-fhire, containing
141 houfes, and the fixth beyond the bridge in the fhire of Hantun
(Northampton), which paid all cuftoms along with the other five, except
the rent and toll due to the abbay of Burg (Peterburgh). There were
twelve law-men invefted with feveral privileges.

Torchefey (Torkjey) was rated at/^i8. There were in it 213 bur-
o-efTes, whofe cufloms were generally the fame with thofe of Lincol :
but they enjoyed fome immunities, in confideration of being bound to
convey the king's meffengers in their boats from their own town to

York.

Melduna (Maldon) paid altogether ^^13.

In Colecefira ( Colchejier ) the king's burgefTes paid two marks of fil-
ver, and alio, as a compofition for the rent of fix pennies on every houfe,
£15:5:4, of which £^ was paid by the coiners.

In Norwic (Norwich) there were 1,320 burgefles. It paid, on vari-

* Maitiii's fl<infi ave mcntioncJ iii tlic LiUl of f Derby is mentioned in Snotingeham-ftiire as

Yngljl police, pviblidied by Hakluy t, [ Voiages, V. i, a part of it.

i'. 199, td. 1598] among tlie commodities of Ire- J The other towns of York.fhire, now fo opu-

land, from which tlicy were no doubt imported to lent with their ,' jurifliliig manufactures, are only

Cheller. Perhaps fome were alfo brought from noted as farming villages.
Germany. See below, under the year 1156. j

A. D. 1066. 297

ous accounts, £31 : 1 ■.4, and 6 ' fextaria' of honey ; it alfo provided a
bear, and fix dogs for the bear.

Gernemua (Tarmouth) had 70 burgefles, and paid £2"] by tale to the
king and the earl.

The burgh of Tetford (Tbetford) contained 943 burgefles, paying all
cufl:oms to the king. The king and the earl drew jTzo by tale. The
king alfo received 4 fextaria of honey, and 40 pennies, with ro hides of
goats, and four hides of oxen.

In the burgh of Gepefwiz {Ipfivicb) there were 808 burgeffes paying
cuftom to the king, 41 under Robert the fon of Wimarc, and 4 under
Roger de Ramis. The coiners paid ^4.

Dunewic (Dunwich) had 120 burgefles, and paid £\o*.

London and Winchefler are entirely omitted in Domefday book ;
but it feems probable that they, together with York and Exeter, enjoy-
ed exemptions from fome taxations payable by the other cities of the
kingdom, which, with refped to London, will further appear from the
charter of William I to that city. [See above in Exeter.]

From Domefday book, compared with the charter of Edward I in
the year 1278 to the Cinque ports, there is reafon to believe that the
fervice of fliips and men was required of thofe ports (certainly of Do-
ver, and apparently of Sandwich) in the time of Edward the ConfefTor,
and perhaps earlier, and that the privileges granted in return for thofe
fervices are of the fime antiquity. It is probable that the numbers of
fhips, &c. was changed from time to time according to the condition of
the towns, efpecially if Sandwich, which afterwards furniflied only five
fhips, furniflied twenty in Edward's time f . [See Charters of the Cinque
ports^ is'c. by Samuel yeakes.l

All the cities and burghs of England appear to have been the pro-
perty of the king, or other patrons or over-lords, to whom the inhabit-
ants looked up for protedion, and whofe fuperiorlty they acknowleged
by payment of a rent or burgh-mail. Every city and burgh had its
own particular conflitution, and was governed by one or more magif-
trates under the controul of the over-lord. In the firft or fecond year
of Edward the Confeffor the city of London appears to have had one
chief magiftrate, called "a. port-geref (i. e. ruler of the city), whofe name
was Wolfgar. Between the year 1051 and the end of his reign we find
the name of Swetman, alfo a fingle port-geref : and in his laft year
there were two port-gerefs, leemingly co-ordinate, called Leofftane and
Alffie. \Charters quoted in St civ's Survey, pp. 847, 913, ed. 161 8.] It

* In thefe extrails from Domerday book I have are evidently not the genuine, but tlie affefted

been careful to preferve the diftinftion of city, Latin, appellations ufcd by the writers of the age.
burgh, Sec. as they (land in the ovig'nal. The f The fervices due by Sandwich are not clearly

fpelling of the names is alfo exatlly follovced, cxprefled in Domefday book,
though fomc of them, as Cantuaria, Exonia, &c.

Vol. I. P P

298

A. D. 1066.

appears from the charter of "WilHam the Conqueror, that London en-
joyed feme privileges fuperior to thofe of other cities : and it fecms' prob-
able that the fupremacy or confervancy of the river was veiled in the
city at this time, or earlier. (See below under the year 1070.) The in-
habitants, or burgeffes, alfo enjoyed the highly-prized privilege of hunt-
ing in the extenlive chaces of Chiltern, Middlefex, and Surry, as we
learn from the confirmation of it contained in the charter of Henry I to
the city.

There feems no reafon to believe that in thofe times there was any
town in Scotland, or in Wales, which would now be called a good vil-
lage, though, in the eftimation of the laft writer of the Pichtifli Chron-
icle (one of the mo ft antient extant monuments of Scottifh hiftory,
which was finifhed in or about the year 972), Brechin was a great city.
It is now but a village with the rank of a burgh ; and there is not, I
believe, any reafon to fuppofe that it ever was much larger, though it
has been a bifhop's fee.

To the gleanings of the commercial hiftory of the Anglo-Saxons it
may not be improper to add a ftiort account of their manners, from the
obfervations of a judicious hiftorian, who, living immediately after the
conquefl, had an opportunity of marking the features which diftinguifh-
ed the Anglo-Saxon from the Norman charader, before they were obli-
terated by long-continued intercourie.

Before the conqueft learning appears to have been almoft at as low
an ebb in England, as it was at the commencement of the reign of Al-
fred. Few of the clergy could repeat the offices of religion ; and a cler-
gyman who was mafler of grammar was efteemed a prodigy of learn-
ing. The nobles abandoned themfelves to the exceifes of gluttony,
drunkennefs, and promifcuous concubinage, not fcruphng to confign
the objeds of their lull, and even their own offspring, to the miieries
of flavery for a little money. They expended their whole revenues in
riotous entertainments, without any degree of elegance or tafte, their
houfes being fmall and mean. Their upper garments reached only half-
way down to the knee. They cut their hair, and fliaved their beards,
except upon the upper lip. Their arms were loaded with weighty gold-
en (or gilded) bracelets. And their fkins were marked with painted fi-
gures *. But the hiftorian candidly requefts his readers not to a})ply
this unfavourable character univerfally to the Enghfh. He himlelf knew
many exceptions to it, as well among the laity as among the clergy.

* TViis ciidom ot paiuting ttic fliin, tlic trutli of of tlie iflaiid tlio moll remote from ttic countrj' of

which caiitiot be qutlHoiied, nill fecni flranfrc to the Pichts, who, we arc generally, but crroneoul'-

many p.oplc. Tiie jirai^lice had been prohibited ly, told, were called PiSi (pa'nilid jitople) by the

in the 19th canon, or chapter, of n council held in Romans, bccanfe they alone letained tliC tudom of

the prcfct.ce of the king of Northumberland in the painting their ftin-!, after it was given up by the

year 787. [^Sj>e/r/yw, Cc/ncil. Brilann. />. Zfj^)."] But other nations of Britain.

ve ftc ilia', it ftill prevailed, and even in that part 3

A. D» 1066. 299

[Will. Malmjh. f. 57.] We muft, indeed, fay, that a very different na-
tional charader might have been expeded ia the long-continued reign
of a king thought worthy of a place in the calendar of the faints.

About the fame time that the duke of Normandy got polTeflion of
the crown of England, Godred Crovan, an adventurer from Iceland,
ufurped the maritime kingdom of Mann and the Ifles. He afterwards
reduced Dublin and a great part of Leinfter under his dominion : and
he is faid to have kept the Scots of Ireland in fuch a ftate of depreffion,
that he did not permit any of them to poffefs a veifel or boat with more
than three nails in it. [Cbron. Mannia ap. Camdeni Britaun. p. 840.]
This, if at all credible, muft furely be underllood only of the wicker
boats covered with hides ; and indeed it does not appear that the native
Irifh, or Scots, who were now flmt up in the interior part of the illand,
could have any occafion for fea veflels, unlefs fome of them lived in the
maritime towns under fubjedion to the Ortmen.

1068— Spain, after being fully conquered (except the mountainous
diftridts on the north coaft) by the Saracens, and colonized by the na-
tives of Syria, Perfia, and Arabia, among whom were the defcendents
of the moft antient commercial nation of the Saba;ans, long continued
to flourilh in fcience, manufadures, and commerce, beyond any coun-
try in the weftem part of the world. The port of Barchinona (now-
called Barcelona) became the principal flation of the intercourfe with
the eaftern countries bordering on the Mediterranean fea : and the ma-
nufacturing and commercial importance which very foon diftinguifhed
that city, and have in fome degree continued to diftinguifh it down to
the prefent day, feem to infer that its inhabitants may boafl of the real
honour of deriving their blood from the moft enlightened of the weft-
em nations of Alia, with probably fome fmall mixture of that of their
Carthaginian founders *.

The defcendents of the fmall remainder of the Goths, who had taken
refuge among the mountains of Afturia, made frequent, and often fuc-
cefsful, attacks upon the Saracens, and gradually, though fcarcely in as
few centuries as thefe employed months in the conqueft, recovered the

• Barcelona is faid to liave been founded by prcdeccfTors : and probably his countrymen of Ca-

Haniilcar, the father of tlie great Hannibal, who talonia, as the moll commercial people in Spain,

Irom his tamily name, Barca, called it Barcino. may have retained more Arabian vocables than

Though few of the modern Spaniards, who thofe of the other provinces. Algodoii, <:o/;on, al-

reckon it an indelible difgrace to have any mixture miray, admiral^ alfondech, the original name of the

of Arabian (or iVIooritli) blood, will be willing to exchanp-e of Barcelona, (which tfience appears to

acknou'lege tliemfclves indebted to infidels for aay have been an Arabian foundation) figaifying gene-

acquifitions in fcience or civilization, Don Anto- rally a place ivhsre merchants tranfaS their bufincfs

nio de Capmany, led by his reftarches to fee the (called/«n(//V-aj by the Latin writers of the middle

truth, and to h<ive more liberal ideas, owns [f. i, ages), azucar, fugar, arc a few of the many words

Com. p. 26] that many of their commercial and that a Spaniard, defirous of the honour of deduc-^

maritime terms are derived from the Arabian Ian- ing his gci-.ealogy from the molt enlightened iia-

guage, or, in other words, that they acquired com- tions of aiitiquity, might adduce as proofs,
mercial and maritime knowlcge from their Arabian

300 A. D. 1068.

whole peninfula out of their hands. Charlemagne, the mighty fove-
reign of France, Germany, and Italy, alfo found an opportunity of in-
terfering in the affairs of Spain, and conquered a confiderable part of
the country adjacent to the Pyrensean mountains, the governor of which
he appointed to refide in Barcelona. About the year 900 the governor
of Barcelona made himfelf independent of Charles the Simple, king of
France. His fuccefTors, the counts of Barcelona, appear to have wifely
attended to the manufaduring and commercial intercfls of their fub-
jects ; and their country confequently became profperous and opulent.

In the year 1068 the ufages or cuftomary laws of Barcelona were col-
lected into a code (' el codigo de los ufages Barcelonefes'), under the au-
thority of the national alTembly, in. which Raymundo Berenguer I,
count of Barcelona, prefided. By the law, n°. Iviii, ufually known by
its firfl words, ' Omnes quippe naves^ all veflels arriving at, or failing
from, Barcelona are alfured of friendly treatment ; and they are de-
clared to be under the protedion of the prince as long as they are upon
the coaft of Catalonia *. This judicious and hofpitable law was confirm-
ed and amplified by his faccelTors, the kings of Aragon f , in the years
1283, 1289, and 1299 ; and the code is to this day the bafis of the con-
fhtution of the province of Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital.
By the wife and liberal policy of admitting the commerce of all nations
without regarding difference of religion, and the fagacity of the fove-
reigns in relaxing the rigour of the feudal government, Barcelona, after
it fell under the dominion of the Chriftians, continued to be the chief
trading port on the weft coaft of the Mediterranean fea, and diftributed
the rich merchandize of the Oriental regions to the other Chriftian pro-
vinces of Spain. \Capmany, Memorins hifloricas de Barcelona, V. i. Com.

pp. 21, 23, 25, 221 ; V. ii, Notas, p. 5 B^'U- Tudel. in Purcbas's Pil-

grimes, B. ix, p. 1438.]

1070 — William, now king of England, being fenfible of the great
importance of the city of London, endeavoured to conciliate the good
will of the inhabitants by a charter confirming their privileges ; and, in
order to render it the more agreeable to them, he made it be written in
their own language, though he is faid to have had an averfion to it, and
to have done all in his power to abolifh it. The charter, tranflated iiito
modern Englifli, is as follows.

' William the king greets William the bifhop and Godfred the port-
' geref, and all the burgefies in London, French and Englifli, in a friend-
' ly manner. And I make known to you, that it is my will, that you be

* Is there any cailit-r notice than this of the count ot" Barctlona, nianicd the infant daughter

piotectlon which a vtfl'cl enjoys by biing within and heirefs of Ramiro i<ing of Aragon. and thtnce-

the jurifdiftipn, or under the gun», of a neutral forth I'-ueelona and the province of Catalonia have

power? l)cen ui>iled to that kingdom.

[ In the year 1137 Raymundo Berenguer IV,

A. D. 1070. 301

* all law-worthy *, as you- were in the days of King Edward. And it is
' my will, that every child be his father's heir after his death f. And
' I will not fuffer any man to do you any injury. God keep you.'

Though I do not find the commencement of the jurifdidlion which
the corporation of London have over the River Thames as their har-
bour, they appear to have poflefled it about this time : and they alfo
feem to have but recently obtained it ; for the limits of it were not pre-
cifely aicertained, as appears by a difpute in vv'hich they were engaged
(A. D. 1090) with the abbay of St. Auguftine at Canterbury for the
fuperiority of Stonore, Stanore, or Eftanore, a village near Sandwich,
which they claimed as belonging to the port f)f London. But it was
awarded to the abbay by King William II: [Thorn, Chron. op. Twyfden,
col. 1793] and indeed it is far beyond Yendal or Yenhmd, which has
been the eaftern boundary of the city's jurifdidion for many ages by-
pafl.

About this time the city of Bergen was founded by Olaf the Peace-
able, king of Norway. The fafety and commodioufnefs of its harbour
have rendered it in all fucceeding ages the principal emporium of that
kingdom. \Torfcvi Hjjl. Norzucg. V. iv, p. 71.]

1077 — At a time when Europe was only beginning to emerge from
the darkefl night of ignorance, the light of fcience flione out in Afia,
even among the Turks, under the aulpices of the fultan Gjelaleddin
Melicfliah, who aiTembled the aftronomers of the Eaft in order to redi-
fy the diforder of the antient Perfian calendar. The refult of their la-
bours was a computation more corredl than the Julian calendar, and
nearly equal to the Gregorian. [Hyde, Hi/}. reVig. vet. Per/, pp. 196-21 1.]

1080 — King William fent an army againfl Scotland under the com*
mand of his fon Robert, who, after palling the border, immediately re-
treated to the banks of the Tine, and founded a nezv cajlle at the antient
village of Munekeceaflre, which has given origin and name to the po-
pulous, adive, and wealthy, trading town of Ncwcaftle, [Sim. Dunelm.
ap. TzvyfdeTi. col. 211.]

1082 — William, defirous of putting his kingdom in the mofl refped-
able ftate of defence, and confidering the caftle of Dover as the key of
England, gave the charge of the adjacent coaft, with the Ihipping be-
longing to it, to the conftable of Dover caftle, \Tith the title oi warden
of the cinque ports ; an office refembling that of count of the Saxon coad

* Men of fcrvile condition,, efpccially fiich as Confeflbr, the property of a perfon who died with-

were in demi.fne (' dominio'), were not law-wor- out a will is direfted to be divided equally among

thy, or entitled to the protection of the genei;.! his children, without a word of eitlier the church

l.iw, but were judged by their lords, as is obferved or the over-lord. \_I'eges Ed-jj. c. 24, in Svhkti's

by Dcftor Brady \_Trcjtife nf luivh^, p. 16] in his eltt'wn of Eadmer, p. 184.] But the inhabitants

remarks on this charter, or protettiou as he chufes of moft tov.i.s held thdr property at the will of

to call it. an over-lord ; and London was diftiuguilhed by

t In the laws afcribed to King Edward ttie being exempted from that fluvilli condilion.

6

1/
02 A. D. 1082.

(comes littoris Saxonici) in the decline of the Roman power in this ifland-
The five ports, according to Bradon, an eminent lawyer in the reign
of Henry III, were Haltings, Hyth, Romney, Dover, and Sandwich, to
which Winchellea and Rye have afterwards been added as principals,
together with fome fmaller .ports as dependent members. Thefe towns
were bound to furnifh and man {hips for the defence of the kingdom
npon forty days' notice, in proportion, as may be prefumed, to their
opulence and commerce ; but for the quotas we muft wait for the more
copious information of later times *.

1084 — The Venetians were now fo powerful in fhipping, that their
alliance (for there was no longer any pretenfion made to their allegi-
ance) was earneftly folicited by the Greek emperor to proted: his weft-
em coaft from the invafion of th-e formidable Norman chief, Robert
Guifcard ; and their fleet (in the year 1081) poftponed, though it could
not prevent, the furrender of Durazzo. In 1084 the Venetian fleet,
nine vefl^els of which were remarkable for their great fize and ftrength,
in conjundion with the emperor's own fleet, difputed the command of
the Adriatic fea with Guifcard : and in return the eniptror beftowed
on the Venetians a number of warehoufes in ConlVantinople, with many
commercial advantages over other nations in his ports, together with a
folemn renunciation of his claim to the fovereignty of Dalmatia and
Croatia.

1086 — King William, that he might know the exadl: value of his de-
mefne lands throughout all England, and alfo the value of every other
eftate, whether belonging to the church, to incorporated cities or burghs,
or to private perfons, ordered a general furvey of the whole kingdom
to be made. This great work, which was probably an imitation of the
furvey made in the reign of Alfred, took up feveral years in the execu-
tion, and was not completed till the laft year of his reign, if indeed it
was at all completed, for the fliires of Northumberland, Cumberland,
Weftmcrland, Durham, with the greateft part of Lancafter, are omit-

* Tlie date 1082 is here given upon the faitli lliips, and enjoyed privileges, in tlie time of the

of Jcakes, the editor of The Charters of the Cinque Confeffor (See above, p. 293), though it is pro-

ports, •with annotations. Sec. who lays, that, when bablc that the name of Cinque ports (evidently of

William the Cuncjucror deprived his maternal bio- Norman origin) was not then iiied. In the Saxon

thtr of the cuftody of Dover caftle, lie iiivelled times we find aflociations of five towns and feviii

John Fynes with the olFice of conllahle of Dover towns under the colleftive names of fif-bnrgaa and

callle and warden of the Cinque ports. But as fcofon-buigas. See Chron. Sax. ac/ an. 1015.

the oldelt ch;iiter ext;int is that of Edward I in Lord Coke \_lnJUlutes, B. iv, ch. 42] fays, that

127S, and hiltorians afford no fati.sfatlory informa- Dover, Sandwich, and Romney, were the ports of

tion, it does not appear that the origin of the pri- fpecial note before the conqucif, that William the

vilcges of the Cinque ports can be traced with any Conqueror added Hallings and Hyth, and that

degree of certainty. Edward's cliarter refers to the antient townii of Winchelfea and Rye were af-

iibcrties enjoyed by them in the reigns of Edward tervvards Annexed. But a charter of the (eventh

the Confeflor, William I, William II, Henry W, year of King John refers to freedoms enjoyed by

Richard I, John, and Henry III, all whofe ehar- Hyth in the times of luUvaid, William I, Wil-

ters are loll. Erom Domefday book we are fure liam II, and Hcnry I. [Sec JcaLiijpp. 47, 121.J
that Dover, and apparently Sandwich, furuifhed

A. D. 1086. 303

ted. But of all the other parts of England there is an accurate and
minute regifter, excepting only the capital cities of London and Win-
chefler *.

From this authentic record, known by the name of Domefday book,
I have already given the condition of feveral cities and towns, as they
were in the reign of Edward the Confeflbr ; and I fhall now give a view
of the fume, as they were at the end of William's reign.

Dovere was burnt on the arrival of King William in England. It is
however rated at ^^54. The Ihips are greatly incommoded by the agi-
tation of the water, occafioned by a mill at the entry of the harbour,
which was not there in the time of King Edward.

The city of Cantuaria {Canterbury) contains 212 burgefies under the
king's fic and foe. The three mills pay 108 fhillings, and 68 fhilUngs
of toll.

The burgh of Roveceftre {Rochejler) is valued at £io ; but he who
has it pays £^0.

The burgh of Sanwic {Sandzvich) pays ^^50 of firm (or farm), and
forty thoufand herrings for the ufe of the monks. The houfes are in-
creafed to the number of 383 (or rather 393).

In the burgh of Pevenfel the earl of Moriton has fixty burgefies, and
feveral other fuperiors have eight, two, one, &c.

The city of Ciceflire is increafcd by 60 houfes, and it is now rated at
^25, but pays £2S-

The burgh of Lewes pays 38 fliillings more than formerly. The
coiners pay 20 {hillings each, when the money is called in. One half-
penny is paid for every ox, and four pennies for every man (flave), fold
within the rape.

Gildeford is rated at £,^0, but pays ^^32.

In Sudwerche {Southwark) the king's income is rated at £16.

The burgh of Walingeford pays the fame cuftoms as formerly. The
coiner has his tenement free while he is employed.

In Dorecefire there are 88 houfes, befides 100 which are totally de-
fliroyed.

In Brideport there are 100 houfes, befides 20, fo much damaged that
the tenants pay no geld.

In Warham there are 135 houfes, and 150 totally defi:royed.

In the burgh of Sceptefberie {Shaft/bury) there are 66 houfes remain-
ing, and 38 deftroyed in ,';he king's demefne. The abbefs has 1 1 1

* This antient Ilatiftical accourrt of England, a prodigious fund of information, not only upon

wliicli well dtferves the charafter, given to it by the (late of the country and of the towns, but alfo

fome of our grtatf ft ant!(iuaiii^s, of the nnoft an- upon the condition of the people, the manners and

tient and venerable record thaf this or any other cuftoms, to fay nothing of authentic family liif-

country can boalt of, [Ste Sp.-'tman's Gloffurv, -vo. tory, and affords ample materials for the refleClion

JDomefJd. — Aylujf}'s Cahndar, p. xviiij though in- and invedigation of thole who wi(h to dig in the.,

tended chiefly as a ftandard of ta.xation, contains copious mine of Englilli antiquities.

.3P4

A. D. 1086.

houfes remaining, and 42 totally deftroyed, in her diftrift. She has alfo
151 burgefles ; and fhe has 20 unoccupied manlions..

The burgh of Bade {Bath) belongs to the king. (Some other notices
concerning it are rather obfcure.)

Briflovv pays to the king 1 10 marks of filver, and to the bifliop 23
marks, with one mark of gold.

In the city of Exonia {Exeter) the king has 315 houfes paying cuf-
tom. There are 48 houfes laid wafte fince the arrival of King "William
in England. The city pays /^ 18.

The burgh of Totnais has 49 burgefles, 9 of whom live without the
burgh. It pays/^8 by tale.

The burgh of Barneftaple has alfo 49 burgefles, and 9 of them with-
out the burgh. They pay 40 fliillings by weight to the king, and 20
Ihillings by tale to the bifliop of Conftance. Since the king's arrival in
England 23 houfes have been laid wafte.

The burgh of Lideford has 69 burgefl^es, 41 of whom are without the
burgh. They pay 60 fliillings by weight. There are 40 houfes laid
wafl:e fince the king's arrival in England.

Thefe three laft burghs are bound to the fame military fervices by
land or by fea.

The burgh of Hertford, which paid geld as ten hides in the time of
King Edward, does not now.

Bochingheham now pays £16 of white filver. In other refpeds it re-
mains as before.

The burgh of Oxeneford {Oxford) pays £60. In this town there are
243 houfes paying geld, and 478 not in a condition to pay any. Many
other payments are exacted from Oxeneford, moft of which are paid
along with the county.

The city of Gloweceftre pays to the king £60 of twenty in the ora
(' Ix lib. de XX in ora') * ; and he has alfo ;i(^20 in coined money (' mo-
' neta'), together with fome, other dues.

The burgh of Wincelcumbe, with three hundreds joined to it, pays
£28.

In the city of Wireceftre {Worcejler) the king has what formerly the
king and the earl had. It pays £2^ : 5 : o by weight, and many other
dues. The king has alfo taken the falt-works which the earl had.

The city of Hereford is poflefled by the king in demeine. The Eng-
lifli burgefles retain their former cuftoms. The French burgefl'es for
1 2 pennies are free from all claims, except forfeitures for the breach of
the peace, heinfare, and foreftell f . The city pays to the king £60 of
white money by tale. It and 18 manors, which pay their firms in it,
are computed at £2,33 : 18 : o.

• For the meaning of ora fee Spelman's G/offaiy, vo. Lll/rn y^nglo-Nonnannica.

t Heinfare, defertion f.om the m ifter' s fcrvicc. — Forc&eW, firtj/a/ling. I

A. D. 1086. 305

In the burgh of Grentebrige {Cambridge) 28 houies were pulled down
to build a caftle. The cuftoms are £,>] annually, and the ground-rent
(' landgablum') is fomewhat above £'j.

In the burgh of Huntedun there are now no coiners.

In Northanton there are 14 houfes now laid wafte, and there are 46
remaining. There are now alfo 40 burgefles in the king's demefne in
the new burgh.

The city of Ledeceftre {Leicejiet-) pays along with the flure/^42 : 10 : c
by weight ; alfo ^^lo by tale for a hawk, and 20 fhillings for a fumpter
horfe. The king has ^20 from the coiners.

In the burgh of Warwic the king has 113 houfes in his demefne,
and the king's barons have 1 12, from all which the king draws geld.

In the city of Sciropefberie {Shrew/bury) the Englilh burgefles com-
plain that they are compelled to pay the whole geld paid in King Ed-
ward's time, though there are 51 houfes (' mafurae') deftroyed for the
earl's caftle, 50 others lying wafte, 43 occupied by French burgefles,
and 39 given by the earl to an abbay, being in all 183, which contri-
bute nothing to the geld.

In the city of Ceftre {Chejier) there were 205 houfes lying wafte when
it came into the poUeflion of Earl Hugh ; and it was worth only £s^.
It has now recovered, and is farmed from the earl for;(^7oand one mark
of gold.

The burgh of Snotingeham {Not ting hatti) now pays ^-^o. The bur-
gefles complain of being deprived of their right of filhing in the Trent.

The burgh of Derby has now only 10 mills. The burgh, the mills,
and the village of Ludecherche, pay £^0. The burgefl^es alfo pay at
Martinmas 12 thraves (' trabes') of corn.

In the city of Eboracum {Tork) one of the divifions, or wards, is laid
wafte for building the caftles. Of the houfes in other four wards, 400
are fo much decayed as to pay only one penny each, or even lefs ; 540
houfes, which are quite wafte, pay nothing ; and 145 are occupied by
Frenchmen. In the archbifliop's ward 100 houfes, befides his own
court and the houfes of the canons, are occupied.

In the city of Lincol {Lincoln) there are 900 burgefl^es. 1 66 houfes
are laid wafte for building the caftle, and other 74 are lying wafte, not
by the oppreflion of the fliirref, but by the misfortunes of poverty and
fire.

The king's burgh of Stanford payS;^5o of firm or farm. The whole
of the king's cuftoms amount to/^28.

Torchefey has now only 102 burgefl^es. It is rated at ;^30.
In Melduna {Maldon) the king has 1 80 houfes occupied by the bur-
gefles, and 18 lying wafte. It pays;^i6 by weight. '

At Raganeia in the hundred of Rochfort there is a vineyard contain-
ing fix arpents, which, when it thrives, yields 20 jnodii of wine.
Vol. I. Q.q

3o6 A. D. 1086.

In Norwic there are 665 Englifh burgeffes paying cuftoms, and 480
* hordarii *,' who are too poor to pay any thing. It pays £'^0 by weight
to the king, and 1 00 (hillings of gerfum to the queen, and a gofhawk f
(' nflurconem') and;(^2i to the earl. In the new burgh there were 36
French and 6 Englifh burgeffes, each paying one penny of cuflom year-
ly. There are now 41 French burgeffes in the king's and earl's de-
mefnes. Roger Bigot has 50 burgeffes, and fome other fuperiors have
fmaller numbers. The bifhop may have one coiner if he pleafes.

Gernemua {Yarmouth) pays/^17 : 16 : 4 of white money to the king»
befides payments to the earl, fhirref, &c. Twenty-four fifhermen living
in this town belong to Gorlefton, a manor on the fouth iide of the River
Yare.

In the burgh of Tetford there are 720 burgeffes, and 224 empty
houfes. It payS;i(^50 by weight to the king, and ;^20 of white money
with /^6 by tale to the earl. The king has alfo £\o from the coinage.

In the burgh of Gipefwiz {Ipjwkh) there are no burgeffes paying
cuftoms, and 100 poor burgeffes unable to pay any geld to the king,
except one penny each for their heads. There are 328 houfes now
wafte, which yielded geld in the time of King Edward. The coiners
are now rated at/^20; but in the four laft years they have only paid
^27 in all.

Dunwic contains 236 burgeffes and 178 poor men. It is rated upon
the whole at ;^5o, and fixty thoufand herrings as a gift.

From thefe extrads, compared with thofe of the reign of Edward, it
appears, that, though the towns were generally reduced in their build-
ings and population, moft: of them were charged with rents, cuftoms,
and other payments, vaftly higher than in the preceding period ; and
that the king was glaringly partial to his French fubjeds.

The king poffeffed 1,422 manors enumerated in Domefday book,
and many detached farms, befides what he may have had in the north-
ern {hires, which are not inferted in Domefday book. From all thefe
he received his rents in the real produdions of the land. He had alfo
quit-rents from his vaffals, danegeld from the whole kingdom, rents,
dues, and perquifites of many denominations, from the towns, the cuf-
toms upon trade, the caiualties of wards, reliefs, forfeitures, efcheats,
fines, fees in courts of juftice, &c. which altogether made up a very
ample revenue. Hence, notwithftandlng his wars in France, and his
profufe gifts to the clergy, abroad as well as in England, William left in
his treafury a quantity of filver, which, when taken pofl'eHion of by his
fon, was found to weigh fixty thoufand pounds, befides gold, gems, and
very many other royal jewels. \li)gulpb^ p. 106, ed. Ga/e.]

The wiiole lands of England were divided into 60,215 knight's fees,

■ The antiquaries arc uncertain of tlic meaning of lori/iirii.

f See Bkuni's anticht tcnurn, art. Peckliain. It 13 elfcwliere explained an Aftuiian liorfe.

A. D, ro86. 307

whereof the clergy poliefled 28,115, ahnoft a half of the country; and
as 1,422 belonged to the king, the whole of the barons had 30,678.
There were 45,01 1 parifli churches, and 62,080 villages, at this time in
England *.

Of the ads of William for the benefit or the hurt of commerce we
know very little with certainty. The numerous fleet brought over by
him, when not engaged in ferrying himfelf and his armies to and from
the continent, was probably employed in trading between his old and
new territories and the adjacent coafls of France and Flanders, which
were all now conneded with the new mafters of England. Hence it
might be fuppofed, that, after the fhock occafioned by the conqueft was
got over, the trade of England muft have been greatly enlarged in this
reign : and we are told by William of Poidou, that he invited the refort
of foreign merchants by aflurances of fecurity and protedion. But un-
lefs the trade was all in the port of London, concerning the flate of
which in his time we have little or no information, we have juft feen
niofl unqueftionable proof that almofl all the other ports, and in gene-
ral all the towns, in England had declined very much from the condi-
tion they were in previous to his ufurpation.

We may judge of the turbulent flate of the country from the law
which direded that m.arkets ihould be held nowhere but within burghs,
walled towns, caftles, and fafe places, where the king's culloms and laws
could be fecured from violation, the caftles, burghs, and cities, being
founded for the defence of the kingdom and the protedion of the peo-
ple. And they were indeed a moll valuable protedion to one clafs of
the people ; for in England, as well as on the continent, a flave, if he
efcaped from his mailer, and lived unclaimed during a year and a day
in any of the king's cities, burghs, or caftles, thereby became a free
man for ever. [Le^es Ediv. et Will. cc. 61, d^^ in Selderis ed. of Eadmer,
pp. 191, 193.] And the name of free-men, by which the members of
thofe corporations are diftinguiftied, appears to be a permanent memo-
rial of the once-unfree condition, and fubfequent emancipation, of a
great proportion of their predeceflbrs.

I might be charged with negled if I were to fay nothing of the flrft
appearance of the word Jlerli?/^, as a diftinguifliing appellation of ftandard
money, which has been much contefted, as has alfo the etymology of ft.
Inftead of the money of England being firft fo called from an improve-
ment made in the reign of Richard I or John upon the coinage by arti-
ficers from the Eaft country, or Germany, called LfterUngs, as has been

* Tliefe numbers are taken from Thomas Sprot, of England in the rei'gn of William I. But tlie

a monk of St. AugulHne in Canterbury, as quoted opinions of our antiquaries upon both thofe points

by Spelman in his Glojfary, vo. Feodum. are fo very difcordant, that I dare not pretend to

If we knew the value of the rehef of a knight's adopt any one of them. They are collected and

fee, and the proportion between it and the annual compared by I,ord Lyttleton in his notes to the

value of the tftate, we might afcertain the rental feeond book of his Hi/lory of Henry II.

4

Q.q2

3o8 A. D. 1086.

fuppofed, it is certain that it was c^Wtdi Jlerlwg in the reign of the Con •
queror, as appears from the unqueftionable teftimony of Ordericus Vi-
talis, an author contemporary with that king *.

In the year 1086 mofl of the principal ports of England were de-
flroyed by fire. The greatefl and mofl pleafant part of London was
confumed, together with the cathedral church of St. Paul's. In order
to guard againft fuch misfortunes in time coming, Maurice, the bifhop
of London, began to rebuild his cathedral upon arches with flones im-
ported from Caen in Normandy, but upon fo vafl and magnificent a
plan, that it was not completed when the Chronicle, which comes down
to the end of the year 1199, under the name of John Bromton, was fi-
nifhed. [Cbron. Sax. ad an — M^. Mahnjh. Gefl. pont. f. 134 b — B?-omton,
col. 979 Stow'' s Survey, p. 613, ed. 16 18.]

1090 — Sicily had now been above two centuries under the dominion
of the Saracens, when, after a war of thirty years, it was completely
fubdued by Roger, a Norman knight, who became the father of a race
of kings of Sicily. With a liberality, far above the general flandard
of the age, he permitted the Saracens to enjoy their property and their
religion, by which judicious conduct he retained as his willing fubjedls
a race of people, who were capable of inftrud:ing his own followers in
fcience, manufadlures, and commerce. [Malaterra ap. Muratori Script.
V. V, coll. 574, 595.]

1091 — The account of the polTeffions of the abbay of Croyland at
this time prefents a pleafing pidure of the dawning of fcience and li-
terature in England. They confifled of a library of above three hun-
dx'ed original volumes, and above four hundred lefTer volumes (perhaps
tranflations) : alfo a wonderful machine reprefenting the fun and the
planets, the zodiak, the colurcs, &c. all in appropriate metals. There
was not fuch another ' nader' in all England f as this one, which had
been prefented by a king of France to a former abbat. Unfortunately
all this flore of intelledual wealth was confumed by a fire occafioned
by the carelefTnefs of iome workmen : and without that difafter we
fhould, perhaps, never have known of its exiftence. \Iugiilph, p. 98,
id. Gale.'\

1 093- — ^The commercial hillory of Scotland, whereof we fee the firft
dawn in the reign of Macbeth, may be faintly traced during that of
Malcolm Kenmore in the encouragement he gave to merchants to im-
port many articles of rich drefs of various colours, and other foreign
luxuries hitherto unknown, which were bought by his courtiers, who

* See the learned Somner's Glqffctry to Tivyf- whicli derives tlie name from the Eaft-country or

dtn's Siripljrc4 decern, vo. EJIerlingiis, v.liere fcveral Ellerh'ng coiners feenis tlic moll natural, though

inftancco of ihe ufe of the vion]Jhi/in^ hcfoie tlie gcncr<illy mifduted.

age of Richard are produced. As for the ctymo- f Are we to Aippofe from this cxpreflion, that

logics, fome of which are foolilh enough, that there were many naders in England ? 3

A. D. 1093, 3°9

were refined and polifhed by the example of Margaret his queen, the
granddaughter of Edmund Ironfide king of England, who was born on
the continent of Europe, and bred up, partly there, and partly in Eng-
land. [Vita Margareta in Bollandi Adafanclorum, Junii, V. ii, p. 330.]
The trade may be prefumed to have been entirely paflive on the fide of
the Scots, who, however, mufi; have had native produce fufficient at
leafi: to pay for the goods imported ; as we cannot fuppofe, that the
foreign importers were entirely paid from the annual fum of ninety-fix
ounces of gold, received from the king of England agreeable to the
treaty of 1091, [5'///?. Dun. col. 216] which was probably never paid
above once or twice *.

1095 — The Chrifiians of the Wefl:, enflamed by the frantic zeal of
an enthufiafl: called Peter the Hermit, and the artifices of the popes,
now undertook to drive the Saracens, or rather the Turks, out of Jcru-
falem and Paleftine ; and as they fuppofed themfelves engaged in the
fervice of God againfi; his enemies, they dignified their enterprife with
the name of the holy ivar. The tranfadions of it no further concern
this work, than merely to obferve occafionally, how the population,
wealth, and commerce, of Europe wei^e aifeded by it. As no rank, fex,
nor age, was exempted from the perfuafion that paradife was the certain
reward of fighting againfi: the enemies of God, the armies, or mobs, that
emigrated from every part of Europe, were innumerable. The quan-
tity of treafure, which they exported from their own poor countries to
add to the wealth of the richer countries they pafl^ed through, and of
the Turks, was only limited by the utmoft ftretch of the abilities of
the individuals ; for all the princes and barons carried with them every
penny they could pofiibly raife by any means, however opprefllve to
their vafials, or ruinous to their own fortunes and families ; and their
example was followed by the inferior adventurers. Thofe who remain-
ed at home were no lefs eager to have the merit of contributing to the.
expenfe of the expedition.

From this wonderful perverfion of reafon, wealth, and military en-
terprile, the over-ruling providence of God brought out fuch advant-
ages to the great body of the people, and particularly to the opprefled
inhabitants of the cities and towns in mofl: parts of Europe, as in h
great meafure made amends for the depopulation occafioned by it.

The powers and prerogatives, ufurped, or claimed and exerciied, by

* Kobert de Bruniie, in his poetical paraphrafe author, the monftrous greatnefs of tlie fum would

of Langtofl's Chronicle, [/>. 88] reverfes the pay- fufficieiitly pro've it to be utterly incredible. The

ment, and makes Malcolm pay to William no lefs lum, found in the treafury of William the Con-

than_/i/r/y thotifand pounds, a ium equal in efficacy queror, which was thought wondcifuily great to

to at lealt live millions of modern money, which, he accumulated from the revenues of ^/jj /««</, dur-

il it were true, would give a very magnificent idea ing the whole of his oppreffive reign, was but /^.-s/v

indeed of the commerce of Scotland. But, inde- thou/and pounds. Great furas are cahly raifcd upon-

pendent of its being in coutradiftion to a better paper. ,

316 A. D. 1095.

the nobles in every feudal kingdom of Europe, had reduced the autho-
rity of the fovereign to a mere fhadow, and the condition of the great
body of the people to the mofi: abject humiliation and mifery. Of the
condition of the fovereign, and thofe clafles of the people who lived in
the country, it is not neceflary at prefent to fay any thing. Every city
and town, or burgh, had a fuperior lord, to whom the inhabitants were
bound in fidelity or allegiance, and to whom they looked up for pro-
tection from the oppreflions of other lords. But for that protecSlion,
which the vveaknefs, or want, of government rendered neceflary, they
paid a flipulated rent, and performed many galling fervices (of which
every place mentioned in Domefday book furniflies an example) befides
fubmitting to the privation of rights, which ought upon no account
whatever to be alienable. They could not pretend to be mafters of
their otv^n property ; nor could they even call their children their own,
for without the confent of their lord they durfl not difpofe of them in
marriage, appoint guardians to them, or leave any thing to them at
their death *. Such a conflitution, by crufliing, or annihilating, the
native energy of the mind, effectually prevented any wifh or attempt to
make the fmalleft progrefs in fcience or commerce : for the citizen, (if
the name may be applied to fuch abjedt characters) no more than the
farmer, had any inducement to improve the property, which was en-
tirely at the mercy of his lord. Such was the ftate of almoft all the
cities and burghs of the Chriftian part of Europe, a few in Italy ex-
cepted, when the frenzy of the holy war broke out. Then many of
the princes and barons, in their eagernefs to raife money for their equip-
ment, fold their fuperiority over their vafTal towns, fome to other lords,
fome to the clergy, but mofl to the community of the inhabitants them-
felves. By fuch fales the exorbitant power of the great lords was much
lowered, while that of the fovereign was proportionally exalted ; and
the inhabitants, freed from the flavifh fubjedion to a ftibjeCt, generally
applied to the fovereign for charters, which he gladly granted, em-

* In many places the fiiperiors were not fatis- children, felling their wine and fait, and making

fied with having a negative voice iii the difpofal of tlitir wills : \_Failera ^ngl'ri, V. i, pp. 105, in,

their vafials' children in marriage, the moll im- 112] and Richard earl of Cornwall, when acling

portant event in tiie life of the individual, but ac- as emperor of Germany, gratioufly renounced in

tually bedowed them according to their own in- favour of the burgefies of Frankfort his preroga-

tcreft or caprice, without paying any more atten- tive of difpofing of their daughters without their

tion to the wiflics of the parents or the inclina- confent. [_Pf^i:l Ahrc^e de I'hijl et droit d'Alk-

tion of the parties to be married, tlian a farmer magne, p. 373, ed. 1758.J And to come home to

pays to thofe of his cattle, when he couples them England, King John, in his charter to Dunwich,

for propagation,' or when he fells, or {laughters, permits his burgeffcs of that town to difpofe of

their calves or foiils. Any relaxation of the rigour their children as they think proper, within his

of the lord's prerogative was granted as a Iponta- dominion-,, and to give or fell ihcir lands andhoufes

ncous favour (though generally well paid for) and In the town. He alfo allows t'.c ^vidovvs to marry

by no means as the retloration of an inherent right, by the advice of their friends. For this charter.

Thus Otto, AUenura, and her fon Jnhn king of and renovations of it, the burgefTes paid large fums

England, as princes of Aquitalne, granted to their to King JohH. [CbiirU in Brady on burghs, ap-

mcu of Olcrou the liberty of difpofing of their pend. pp. ic, II.^

A, D, 1095. 311

powering them to eled their own magiflrates, and to make laws for
their internal government ; and alfo conferring on them feveral excluf-
ive privileges with refpeft to their trade or manufadures, which might,
perhaps, be proper at the time, but which the progrefs of knowlege
and liberality has in many inftances quietly fuftered to fink into oblivion,
or at leall difufe. The inhabitants of cities and towns, reflored to the
condition of men, ventured to acquire property ; their numbers were
augmented by the acceffion of many refpedable perfons from the coun-
try ; and in procefs of time towns, inftead of being defpifed, as the re-
ceptacle of the meaneft and rudefl clafles of the people, were diftin-
guifhed from the upland, or landward, villages, as the leats of fcience
and urbanity, as well as of commerce.

In the trading cities of Italy navigation, and all the arts and manu-
fadures conneded with it, were already confiderably improved. As it
was from them that the warriors of the weftern nations generally took
their pailage for the Holy land, they were greatly enriched by the fums
paid for the tranfportation of fo many myriads of men, women, and
children, horfes, and baggage, and for the fupplies of provifions and all
kinds of military ftores and neceflliries, which they alone furnifhed to
the crufaders. By thefe profitable employments, which continued for
about two centuries, a very confiderable part of the treafure of the cru^
faders centered in thofe cities, and invigorated their induftry and com-
mercial exertions : and by their example, together with the circulation
of their wealth, the indultry of the reit of Italy was aroufed, and called
into profitable employment. Such were the beneficial effeds of the
holy wars to thofe cities, which continued to manage the greateft part
of the commerce of Europe, till the difcovery of America and a dired
route to India placed the weftern nations, till then at the extremity of
the world, in the moft favourable pofition for the commerce of both
hemifpheres, and Italy, from being the center of the adive commerce
of the weftern world, came to be almoft in the fituation of an inland
country, unconneded with, and out of the track of, the moft important
navigation.

Even the countries which furnifhed the moft numerous armies for the
holy wars, and confequently fuffered moft from depopulation and im.-
poverifhment, were, in time, roufed from the lethargy, into which they
had fallen almoft immediately after their governments were eftabliflied
upon the fubverfion of the Roman dominion. The powers of the hu-
man mind, though funk into the loweft abyfs of ignorance and bigotry,
could not fail to be ftimulated by the fight of countries, comparatively
enlightened, and enjoying many of the comforts derived from know-
lege and induftry. The weftern pilgrims faw with furprife the refine-
ments and opulence of the commercial cities of Italy, and were utterly
aftoniflied, when they beheld the magnificence and fplendour of Con-

312 ' A. D. 1095.

ftantinople, where they moreover faw manufadures unknown m the
refl of Europe, and a confiderable commerce. Nor did the mutual
r.verfion entirely prevent them from perceiving how much their Moha-
medan enemies were fuperior to their own countrymen in fcience and
manufadures. The few, who returned home with expanded minds and
improved tafte, carried with them new arts and nianufadtures, and new
plants and animals, which were naturalized in their own countries,
where they wifhed ftill to enjoy the conveniencies and luxuries they had
been accuflomed to when abroad. By their example the tafte for fuch
enjoyments v/as communicated to their neighbours ; and as it became
necefiary to improve and increafe the native produce in order to anfwer
the increafed demand for foreign merchandize, the numbers of veflels
and feamen, and alfo of manufadurers and merchants, at leaft in the
free ftates of Italy, were greatly augmented.

For all thefe, and many other improvements in the condition of man-
kind, the weftern world is indebted to the mofl frantic enterprile that
ever was undertaken by a number of independent nations in conjunc-
tion, and which was intended only to promote the interell of prieftcraft
and the deluiion and deflruction of mankind *.

Before the pradice of infurance reduced the hazard of the fea to
arithmetical certainty, it was more neceffary than now for the owners
of veflels to divide their rifk by holding fhares of feverals, rather than
embarking too much of their capital in one bottom. Accordingly
about this time, when infurance was certainly unknown in England,
and perhaps even in the commercial ftates bordering on the Mediter-
ranean fea, we find a half fhare of one veflel, and a quarter of another,
belonging to Godric, a native of Walpole in Norfolk, who, after fol-
lowing the bufinefs of a merchant fixteen years, became a famous faint,
and was honoured with a vifit of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene.
[M. Paris, pp. 64, 117.]

1098 — Magnus Berfoetta (the Barefooted), king of Norway, made fome
expeditions among the Britifli iflands, the moft important of which
feems to have been about this time. Landing in Orkney, he depofed
the two conjunft earls, and then proceeded to the Sudureyar (Weftern
iflands), Mann, and Anglefey, plundering every one of them, except
Hyona, the fandity of which he refpeded. Next direding his hoftili-
ties againft Scotland, a peace was concluded upon condition that the
king of Scotland fliould refign all pretenfions to every ifland, between
which and the main land a veflel could fteer with a rudder. Magnus
availed himfelf of the diftindion, which feems to have been intended

• It imil be ackiiowlcgcd, lliat Sllvcder II (or clnircli of Jcnifalcm, tlic fruit of which was a little

Gerbcrt) one of the moft enlightened of the popes, pieliminary cnifadc, undertaken in the year (J99 by

fowed the firft feeds of tliia frenzy by a letter ad- a fleet from the commercial city of Pifa. \_Plt.

drcffed to all Chriftiaiis in the name of the dillreflVd Ponlif. up. Miiralori Script. V. Hi, part i, p. 400O

A. D. 1098. 313

to except the little pendicles of the fliore infulated only at high water,
and got a light veflel, wherein he fat with the helm in liis hand, drag-
ged acrofs the narrow neck (Tarbat), which feparates Kentire from the
main part of Argyle-fliire : and the Scottifli king, not finding it pru-
dent to difpute Magnus's logic, was thereby tricked out of that fine
peninfida, which, Snorro properly obferves, was more valuable than
any of the iflands, except Mann. Thus were almoft all the lefler Bi-it-
ifh iflands, with a part of the main land, completely detached from
the fovereignty of the country they naturally belong to, and made a
province of a diflant kingdom *.

In the laft of his weftern expeditions Magnus made himfelf mafter
of Dublin, and loft his life by a fudden attack of the Irifli. [Snorro,
Hijl. Magni Berfcettn, cc. 9-27.]

1099 — On the firft day of the new moon of November in the year
1099 the tide rofe fo high, that it drowned fome towns and villages, and
fwept away vaft numbers of cattle and fheep. \Chron. Sax. and Flor.
Wig. ad an.] The part of the coaft, where this inundation happened,
ij not told. But the fhort account of it has apparently given rife to the
tradition of the origin of the Godwin fands, which, we are told, com-
pofed a part of the eftate of Earl Godwin on the main land of Kent.
But it cannot be fuppofed, that the water continued at the extraordi-
nary height to which the fpring tide, with undoubtedly the concur-
rence of a high wind, raifed it : and it is more rational to believe, that
the Godwin fands owed their formation, or rather their appearance
above water, to the fubliding of the fea, which is certainly known to
have receded, or, in other words, become Jlmllower, on the adjacent
coafts of Kent.

II 01, Auguft 15'^ — On the death of William II, his brother Henry,
the youngeft fon of William the Conqueror, fenfible that he could have
no title to the crown, if his elder brother Robert, then abfent in the
Holy land, was alive, and being very eager to recommend himfelf to
the favour of both nations, made magnificent promifes of redreffing
the grievances of the preceding reign, if he fhould be king. But the

* The northern writers have not accurately diftin- till then fuLjeft to Scotland. But the Chronicles

giiidied the two, or perhaps rather three, expedi- of Haly-rud, of Melros, and of Mann (a Nor-

tions of Magnus. Snorro fays, that the king of wegian colony), Fordun and Wyntown, the ear-

.Scotland, with whom Magnus made the treaty, licit geneial hiftorians of Scotland, and even Boyfe,

was Malcolm, which, if the firft of his expeditions fond as he is of fable, have not a woid of any fuch

is rightly dated in IC96, is impofiible ; for no hif- agreement.

loric event is better afcertained, than that Malcolm The Chronicle of Mann, Florence of Worcefter,
fell in battle on the 13"' of November 1093. Lefly William of Malmdniry, Simeon of Duiham, and
and Buchanan, late Scottifh writers, improving up- Wyntown, agree in placing the conqueft of the
on a blundering interpolation of Bower's, have idands by Magnus in the reign of Edgar ; who
made a flory of Donald, the brother of Malcolm, feems to have been a weak prince, as he is corn-
bribing Magnus to affifthim in ufurping the crown pared by a writer of that age to the monkllli king
<if Scotland, for which fervice, they fay, he gave of England, Edward the ConfefTor. [^Ethtlred,
him all ihe iflands, which, they fuppofed, were ap. Tw\/J(n, cal. 367.3

Vol. I. ■ R r

314 A. D. 1 10 1.

clergv and people, knowing that his father and brother had paid no at-
tention to their verbal promifes, defired him to expreis his good inten-
tions in writing. He accordingly executed a charter, wherein, in order
to pleafo his Englifh lubjeils, he engaged to reftore the Saxon laws of
Edward the Confeflbr, as they had been amended by his father ; and
to his Norman luhjeiis he proraiied an alleviation of fome ot the moft
galling of the feudal prerogatives of the crown. But, if this charter
had been obferved, as it was not, the only article of it, which could
have meliorated the condition of the great body of the people, is a
charge, or recommendation, to the barons to make a proportional alle-
viation in the feudal burthens of their vaffals. No fuch words as com-
merce or merchant are to be found in the charter *.

The city of London appears to have now rifen to fuch confequence,
that the new king thought it proper to give a particular charter ' to
' his citizens f of London,' wherein he grants them the firm of the
county of Middlefex to be held for an annual payment of ^^300, with
power to appoint a fhirref and a jufliciary out of their own body. The
citizens are exempted from anfwering any fuits beyond the walls of the
city, and releafed from the payment of fchot, danegeld, and murder X,
and from the trial by duel §. They are delivered from the oppreffion
of the king's retinue and others taking lodgings in their houfes by force.
They and their property of every kind are exempted from paying toll,
paflage, laftage, and other cuftoms, throughout all England and in all
the fea-ports. The churches, the barons ||, and citizens, are fecured in

* This charter was the foundation and model London'were freed by the cliarter. See Brady on.

•f the more famous one extorted from King John burghs, append, p. 25.

by the barons. [Mat. Parts, p. 253. — Spdmanni § ' NuUus eorum faciat belhim.' In the Latin
Glo/f. vo. Magna cbarta,'] And it proves, that the of the middle ages biUum, befuies war, its claflical
priTileges, which John was compelled to grant, meaning, fignifies more ficquently a haltle, and
were not nciu encroachments upon the royal prero- even a combat between two indhnrlimb, or a duel.
^ative, as fome have pretended, but reftorations of Tliat the later is the meaning here, appears from
the rights of the barons (not of the people) vvhijh the word ' duellum' being fublliliited in the re-
had been ufurped by the crown. neivcd charter granted by Henry II, for ' bellum'

■j- The term nilizcn begins now to be ufcd in in this one.

England. In the charter of William I to London || Spelman \GlrilJ. "ao. Baro~\ underftands ' ba^

thc'^inhabitants are called ' burhwaru', Imrghcrs, ' rones' in this charter as meaning the principal

or burgcfles. There is, I believe, no fucli word as men of the community, uho were empowered to

citizen in Domcfday book, the inhabitants of the hold courts, as diilinguiflicd from the reft of the

places called cities being ililed ' burgenfes,' bur- citizens (' cives') : and he adduces, as a fimilar ac^

gefles, as well as of thole called^urj/i/. ceptation ot" the word, a brief of Henry I, direft-

t It may fcen furprifuig that a king fliould cd to Fulcher (apparently tliC chief magillratc),

grant a general pardon for fo atrocious a crime as linftace the fhirref, and all the barons of London,

murder. But the vvord ' murdrum' ilgnifics not defiring that the abbat of Ramfay may hold his

only murder, but alfo the fine payable for murder ; lands of the city of London. He obfcrves, that

for in thofe days every man's price, or the fine to the title of baron was alfo given to citizens of

be paid for murdering him, was ftttled by law ac- York and Cliclkr, and burgciles of Warwick and

tording to his rank. The community, in whofe Faverfliam, and in Fiance to the citizens of Bour-

diftricl the murder happened, were liable for the ges.— But Mathcw Paris \_pp. 749, 863, 974] ap-

jjcnalty, if the criminal could not be found : and pears to give the title to a much greater number,

it mull be from thii liability that the citizens of or lathcr to the whole, of the citizens ; and parti-
cularly

A. D. I loi. 315

the peaceable enjoyment of their jurifdictions with all their cuftoms ;
and it is declared, that no citizen fhall ever be amerced in any fum
above a hundred fliillings, that being the amount of his -were *. They
are direded to hold the court called hujlitig f every Monday. And their
right of hunting (a diflinguifhed and highly-valued privilege in thofe
times) in the Chiltern, Middlefex, and Surry, was confirmed to them
as amply as their anceftors had enjoyed it. — The charter alio contains
feveral other privileges very favourable to the citizens with refped to
the recovery of their debts, and a power to recover tolls and cuftoms
unlawfully exadled from them in any burgh or town. \Wilkhis, Leg.
Atiglo-Sax. p. 235.]

1 1 02 — In the beginning of the twelfth century (and how long, be-
fore we know not X) paper made of cotton was commonly ufed for books
and other writings. A charter, dated in the year 1102, is exprefsly
faid to have been written upon cotton paper (' charta cuttunea' §) in a
renovation of it by Roger king of Sicily in the year 1 145. This paper,
which had now become common in the Eaftern empire, in a great mea-
fure fuperfeded, or rather made up for the want of, the Egyptian pa-
pyrus and parchment. It is perhaps to the invention of it that we owe
the prefervation of fuch of the authors of antiquity as have come down
to us, as the fcarcity and high price of parchment had been the de-
ftrudion of many of them ; for the monkilh librarians never fcrupled
to erafe the writing of the moft valuable claflic author, in order to cover
the fame parchment with the more pretious miracles of a favourite
faint. The cotton paper, however, was found not fufficiently flout
and durable for important writings ; and therefor the emperor Frederic
II, in his Sicilian conftitutions in the year 1221, ordered that public
writings and fecurities fhould be written on parchment only. Still,
however, the cotton paper maintained its ground for other purpofes, till
it was in its turn fuperfeded by the invention of a better kind, made
of linen rags. [^Montfaucon, EJ'aifur le papyrus in Mem. de litterature, V.
y\, p. 605 ||. — Schwandneri Specimen linecE charta antiqiiijfimce , p. 6.]

cularly in the year 1258 he calls all the citizens, China i6co years ago, according to Raynal. \_H\fi.

affembled in Gildliall, barons. The infcription ph'dof. et polil. F. m, p. ii^6, ed. i']82.'\

• Sigillum baronium Londoniarum', on the city's § It was alfo called charla hombycina, the word

feal, appended to a leafe in the year 1373, {_Stotu's bombycina being in thofe ages extended to cotton,

fur-vey of London, p. 586, ed. 1618] does not clear which is ftill called bambaccta by the Italians, from

the doubt. ^ whom we probably got the word bombqft (now on-

* JVere, the price of a man, or fum payable ly known in its metaphorical fciife) for cotton,

for killing him. See above, p. 314, note |. and bombajline for a lUiif made of cotton, feeming-

f Hujl'mg (not huttings) is compounded of the ly the fame which was called afterwards i^/w and

Anglo-Saxon words hus, bnufe, and tlu'ng, legijla- fuJTian.

ti-ve, ov judicial, affembly. The two words have the || Montfaucon carries the ufe of cotton paper

fame meanmg in the Icelandic language, and with as high as the ninth century, and that of linen

little, or oftner no, variation of fpelling, in all the paper as high as the twelfth. For the later he

i)tlier Gothic languages. quotes Petrus Mauricius [Contra jfudaos) who

t The art of making paper has been known in wrote about the year 1140, and fays, that booki

R r 2 •re

316 A. D. 1 102.

The earlieft certain notice of a gild, fraternity, company, or corpora-
tion, of tradefmen in England occurs in the record of a payment of fix-
teen pounds into the exchequer, made by Robert the fon of Leueftan
for the gild of weavers of London in the reign of Henry I, the year
uncertain. In the reign of Henry II they paid annually two marks (fix-
teen ounces) of gold, or twelve pounds of filver, the value of the later
being to the former as nine to one. \_Madox.f Finna burgi, p. iC)i,for
the authorities. '\

1 108 King Henry I enaded fevere laws againft the frauds of coin-
ers. And becaufe the money, which was bent or broken, was general-
ly refufed, he ordered, that no perfon fhould refufe any penny, or half-
penny (which he alfo ordered to be made round, inftead of femicircu-
lar) or even a farthing, if it was entire. \^R. Hoveden,/. 270 a*.] He
alfo direded that the meafure of the eln or yard fhould be of uniform
length throughout his kingdom; and he made the length of his own
arm the llandard of itf. [Knig/jton, col. 2375.]

nil — A vafh number of Flemings, driven out of their own country
by an extraordinary encroachment of the fea, had come to England in
the reign of William the Conqueror, hoping for fettlements and pro-
tedion from the influence of the queen, who was of their countiy.
William, glad of fuch an acceffion of foreigners, ftationed great num-
bers of them upon the northern frontier, chiefly about Carlile, and
others throughout the refl; of the country. King Henry, now finding
that the Flemings did not well agree with his other fubjeds, tranfplant-
cd the whole of them to a diflrid taken from the Wclfli, called Ros
(now a part of Pembroke-fliire) where their pofl:erity can be diflinguilh-
ed from their Welfli neighbours to this day. They were a brave and
hardy people, equally qualified to handle the plough and the fword;
and they were alfo ikilful in the woollen manufadure, the great ftaple

are made of tlic flcins of various animals, of an centuries the largeft filvcr coin'in Britain, .tnd was

Oriental plant (the papyrus), and ofyivvi/)i«^'is/c/i/ equivalent in real value to at leaft ten IhiUings of

doli (' ex rafuris vcterum pannornm'), which, modern money. (See the prices of corn, &c. about

Montfaucon fays, muft ajfiii-edty mean paper made this time in the Appendix.) It had on one fide a

of linen rags ; a concluCon, which does not feem crofs fo deeply indented, that it could tliercby be

necefTarily to follow from the words of that author, eafily broken into halves and quarters; and fuch

Might not the rags of old cotton cloth be then broJccn pieces appear to have been the only money

employed in the manufacture of paper, as well as fmaller than pennies, till now that Henry coined

r.e w cotton ? The fame words of Mauricius are alfo halfpennies. The fii il coinage of round halfpennies

quoted by Muratori [A//c/. V. ili, cr,l. 871] and and farthings of lilvcr is aferihed to Edward I; but

others, and have led feveral writers to believe, that wc fee the coinage of round halfpennies by Henry I

paper made of linen rags is as old as the twelfth related by Florence, Simeon, and Hoveden, who

century, of which, I believe, no fatisfadlory proof all tlouriilicd before Edward was born. Copper

has yet appeared. See below at the year 1 243. coins were not introduced till feveral centuries after

• The older authors, Florence, Simeon, &c. as this time,

publiihed, arc unintelligible upon this fubjeft, from f 'i'''e ftandard mull have been very uncertain,

the want of two words, to be found only in Hove- even though there had been a mark on the king's

den. The penny, containing the two-hundred-and- flioulder to afcertain the point from which the mca-

fcitietb part of a pound of lilver, was for feveral fure Ihould commence.

A. D. Ill I.

^^7

oi" their country, and in general commerce : fo that in every refped
they were a moll vaUuible colony, whether confidered as a barrier
againll an enemy, or as tlic firfl founders ot the manufadure of fine

woollen goods in England*, [i^^/or. Wig. p. 655. — W. Mnlinjh.f. 89 b

Gir. Cambr. p. 848, ed. Camd.']

May 22' — Henry V, emperor of Gennany, being at Verona, gave
the duke of Venice a charter, alcertaining the dominions of the republic
on the main land of Italy, and difcriminating them from his own Italian
territories, among which he reckons Luca, Pifa, and Genoa, though
ihefe cities had generally a(51ed as independent fovereign republics long-
before. He prohibits his fubjeds from diftrefling any Venetian veflel
branded or wrecked on any part of his coafts, or from harbouring fu-
gitive flaves belonging to the Venetians. He gives them liberty of tra-
veling by land or on the rivers in all his dominions, and in return re-
quires for his own fubjeds only the liberty of the lea and the mouths of
the rivers in the Venetian territories. The charter (which is very long
for that age) contains many other privileges granted to the Venetians,
fuch as the unmolefted property of eflates, liberty of pallurage, cutting
wood, &c. in his dominions. [^Re/pub. Vend. p. 440.]

1 1 1 5— If we may believe the exaggerated flander (for fuch he intend-
ed it) of Donizo, \Vita Matildis comitijjce, c. 20. ap. Muratori Script. V. iv}
Pifa was now polluted by the relort of Pagans, Turks, Libyans, Par-
ihians, and Chakkeans. It is one of the few pleafmg circumllances oc-
curring in the hiftory of mankind, that fo much focial and beneficial
intercourfe fubfifted at this time to offend this tefi;y monk.

The citizens of Pilli had their full Ikare of the advantages derived by
the trading communities of Italy from the Holy war. Tancred prince
of Antioch in the year 1108 engaged, in confideration of the afliftance
furniflied by the Pilans in fubduing the Greeks of Laodicea, to give
them a place in that city, and a ftreet in Antioch, and to grant immu-
nity from cuftom to their fliipping with liberty to come and go at their
pleafure. The fucceeding princes of Antioch, the kings of Jerufalera,
and other Chriftian princes who had acquired, or expected to acquire,
territories in Alia, gave many charters to the Pifans, between the years
1 108 and 1 216, containing iimilar grants of very ample privileges and
payments, made or promifed. [Original charters in MuratorPs Antiq. V.
ii, coll. 905-918.]

1 1 20 — But the Pifans were not without their fhare of the calamities
of the times. Their city was laid in afhes, and their illands of Sar-
dinia and Corfica taken from them, by the Saracens. The illands were
recovered by the affiftance of the Genoefe. But the divifion of the
conqueft, with probably the exafperation of commercial jealoufy, im-

* This was the laft colony of any coiifequence fettled in Great Britain, till the bigotry of Louis XIV
fent over the colony of French proteilant filk-weavers in the year 1685. 4.

318 A. D. 1 1 20.

mediately kindled a war between the allies, in which the Genoefe, with
.a fleet of eighty gallies and four great fhips carrying warlike engines,
befieged the harbour of the Pifans, and obliged them to fubmit to their
pleafure refpeding Corfica (September 14'''). The peace was almoft
immediately broken, and a fanguinary war, fometimes interrupted by
infincere pacifications or truces, continued to diftrefs the two neigh-
bouring and rival republics for almoft two centuries. [^Stell^ Ann. Gen.
and Chron. Pifan. ap. Muratori Script. V. vi.]

1 1 13 — A cathedral church was founded near the north bank of the
River Clyde by David, earl or prince of Cumberland, and afterwards
king of Scotland *. The foundation of this church is entitled to no-
tice in commercial hiftory, becaufe it gave birth to the city of Glafgow,
which, after flumbering through feveral dull centuries of monkifli fioth
as a bilhop's burgh, has in later times ftione out as the center o!" the
moft vigorous commerce and the moft extenfive manufactures in Scot-
land.

1 120 — The pearls found in feveral of the rivers of Scotland were at
this time in great requeft. King Alexander 1'^ is faid to have exceeded
all men in that fpecies of riches ; and his peai"ls, on account of their
large fize and fuperior brightnefs, were celtbrated and coveted in diftant
countries. [Nicolai EpiJI. in Anglia facra^ V. ii, />• 236.]

1 1 21 — Scotland mull have had confiderable intercourfe with foreign-
ers, and alfo poffefled fome degree of opulence, when even the king of
fo remote a country could enjoy the foreign luxuries of an Arabian
horfe, velvet furniture, and Turkifli armour. All thefe articles, toge-
ther with other valuable trinkets, and a large eftate in land, were ))ie-
fented by King Alexander to the church of St. Andrews. {Regijhr of

St. Andrews, a venerable contemporary record. Wyntowns Chronicle, V. i,

p. 28r..]

Henry king of England made a navigable canal of feven miles in
length from the Trent at Torkfey to the Witham at Lincoln, into which
he introduced the water of the Trent f . \iiim. Dun. col. 243.]

1 1 26, September (f" The popes were very eager to fupprefs the

practice of lending money at an equitable rate of intereft, which, like
all other branches of trade, muft naturally find its proper price in a fair
and open competiiion, in order to engrofs to their own fecret agents
and creatures a moft opprcffive trade of lending money at exorbitant in-
tereft. In a council of the clergy of England, held at Weftminfter un-

* The church mud liave been founded in the cffltr, p. 25] fuppofcs, that the Trent on'oiiially

year 11 13, if not carh'cr; for Jtihn birtiop of Gl.if- ran call to the fea (as it aftually appears in Rich-

gow appears in the foundation charter of the abbay ard's very curious map of Roman Britain) and

of Selkirk, which in tliat year was (locked with that it was carried nortliward into the Huniber by

monks of Tyron. [^Dalrymple's Colled, p. 404. — Caraufnis for the benefit of inhiiid navigation. If

Sim. Dun. col. 236.] Stuktly is right, Henry's work was a rclloration

f Y)<j&.ov 5i\iki:\y [^ylccounf of Richard of C'ircn- of tlic river to a part of its antient channel.

A. D. 1 126. 319

der the direction, of the pope's legate, all clergymen were ordered
to abflain from mtereft and bafe lucre *, on pain of degradation.
[^Sim. Dun. ap. Twyfden, col. 254.] Under the operation of fo injudicious
a rellridion, the clergy, who could not engage in trade themfelves f ,
were obliged to keep their money dead befide them, as few would chufe
to run any rifk of lofs or inconvenience by lending it, when they could
derive no emolument from it. But fome laws are fo prepoflerous, that
they become void by a tacit general confent without being formally re-
pealed : and that fuch was the fate of this one, may be inferred from a
more rigid renovation of it in a fubfequent council of the clergy held
at V/eftniinfter (13'' December 1138) under the direction of another
papal legate. [Ric. Hagujlald. col. 327.]

1 1 30— The Venetians obtained a charter from Baldwin II, king of
Jerufalem, conveying to them the moft ample powers, privileges, and
immunities, in all cities fubjeft to himfelf and his barons ; together
with the property of the third part of the cities of Tyre and Afcalon,
when he fhould take them from the Saracens by their help. [Chart, in
Muratori Jnt'ia. V. it, col. 919.] We liave already feen fimilar grants
made to the Piians, {above, p. 317) and many fuch were obtained from
time to tiir.e by the commercial flates of Italy, who, leaving to the
weftern nations the glory of being the principals in the frenzy of ruin-
ing themfelves for the aggrandizement of the popes, wilely drew to
themielves the profits i negleded indeed by their weftern allies) of trad-
ing under the protection of the armies of the crofs.

The melanc'oly conlequence of wooden buildings being crowded to-
gether-was fatally experienced in the city of London in two dreadful
conflagrations. In ihe firil (a . 1132) almoffc the whole of the city was
burnt down. The fecond (a°. 1135) began at London bridge, and ex-
tending weftward as far as the church of the Danes (now St. Clement
Danes), conRimed every thing in its progrefs, and among the reft: the
cathedral church of St. Paul. \_Mat. Weft m. pp. 241, 242.]

King Henry about the later end of his reign was induced, by the
complaints of the tenants of his demefne lands, to convert the rents,
formerly paid entirely, or almofl; entirely, in the real produce of the
foil, to a fixed rate in money ; whereby the tenants were relieved from
the inconvenience, expenfe, and opprelfion, they often fuftered in con-

* « Ufuvam et turpe lucrum.' — As t't contriv- follo'w'mg the inJlUutes of the fathers, prohibited

ers of tliofe canons made no aifferencc b^^trt'een the monks and cicrcrj-men, under tlie pain of anathema,

moft m.odcrate and tlie moft ex irbitant inteicft, the from trading for profit. \_Spelman ConcU. V. u,

name of ufury (in modern lanjjuage rcftritted, p. IC3.3 There are in the councils many other

t'aough rather improperly, to the later) was indif- prohibitions againft the clergy engaging in trade,

criminatcly applied to any allowance or compspfa- one of the reafons afligned being, becaufe btitin^

tion given for the ufe (ufura) of money ; and it is and felling cannot be tranfaded tvi hout fin. \_p. 288.1

here joined with bale or difgraceful lucre in order to They did not think it any fin for idle drones I*

jnake it appear equally criminal. confuDie tlie produce of other men's indultry.

f The council held at Weftminller in 11751

320 A. D. 1 130.

veying the king's part of their crops, animals, &c. to diftant places ; and
the king obtained a revenue, more convenient, and more eafily applic-
able to every purpofe whatever. [Dialog, dc fcaccai-'io, L. i, c. '7.]

1 136, 1 158 — The commercial city of Amalfi, and four neighbouring
cities, fubjed: to, or allied with, it, were twice taken and deftroyed, or
pillaged, by the forces of the rival commercial city of Pifa, which for
fome years paft had repeatedly triumphed over the Saracens of Africa,
Spain, and the Balearic iflands. \Cbron. Pifan. and Breviariufn Hift. Pifan.
in Murnturi Script. V. vi.] But Amalfi recovered in fome meafure from
thefe difafters, and ftill poflelled fome degree of commercial and nauti-
cal eminence.

The maritime laws of Amalfi were adopted in the kingdom of Naples,
according to Freccia, a Neapolitan author of the fixteenth century, who
fays, that in his time maritime controverfies continued to be determin-
ed by the 'Table of Amalfi in preference to the Rhodian law. [See Brenc-
vian Dijf. de rep. Amalphitana, § 18.] I believe, the time when thefe
laws were enafted cannot be accurately afcertained.

An antient and authentic copy of Juftinian's Pandeds, difcovered at
Amalfi, w^hen it was taken by the Pifans, has been generally fuppofed
the original of all the copies now extant in Europe. Though the Pan-
dects were undoubtedly known in France before this time (as appeal's
by quotations taken from them by Ivo de Chartres, who died in the
year 1 1 17) the difcovery of the Araalfitan copy, and the numerous tran-
fcripts made from it, gave a new fpring to the ftudy of the Roman civil
law, which quickly fpread from Italy over the reft of Europe. [See
Breticman Hijl. Patidecl.] The Pandeds were known in England at leaft
as early as the year 1 140, [Selden ad Fletam, c. 7] and in the courfe of
the twelfth century, they were ftudied in every part of Europe ; and
henceforth property became more fecure, and the ftate of fociety was
improved. [See Robertforis HiJl. of Cba. V., V. i, p. 381, cd. 1792, S-z^o.]

1 139 — Though the commercial ftates of Italy regulated their govern-
ments, eleded their magiftrates, made war and peace, and aded in all
refpeds as independent fovereigns, yet all of them, except Venice,
acknowleged the fupremacy of the king, or emperor, of Germany in
his charader of emperor of the Romans. In that charader Conrad
gave the Genoefe a charter, empowering them to coin money of gold
or other metals, having on one fide the crofs, the ftandard of Genoa,
with the words ' Conradiis rex Romanorum^ and on the other lide the
word ' faniia^ for the name of the city. \Stelhe An. Gen. ap. Muratori
'Script. V. xvii, col. 974. J

About the year 11 30 the Genoefe, being profperous and opulent, be-
gan to think of enlarging their territories, and obliged the people of
feveral neighbouring towns, or little fi;ates (for almofl; every town had
a dependent diftrid) to fwear allegiance to them. Without enumerat-

A. D. 1 139. 321

ing the petty dates incorporated with Genoa by conqueft or purchafe,
but moft frequently by the later, it may be fufficicnt to obferve, that
all the counts, marquifcs, lords of caflles, and alfo many cities, which
had acquired independence of the emperors or other fuperiors by pur-
chafe, or by taking advantage of the convulfions of the times, through-
out the whole extent of the Ligurian coaft, became, one after another,
fubjed to the powerful city of Genoa, upon fuch terms as they could
make for themfelves *. {Caffari Ann, Gen. L. i, ap. Muratori Script. V,
vi. — Muratori Antiq. V. iv, col. 16!.]

What is here faid of Genoa holds equally true, though on a fmallec
fcale, with refpedl to Pifa, and the other chief cities of Italy.

1 1 40 — Adolphus earl of Nordalbing, having acquired the province
of Wagreland, then almoft depopulated by the expulfion and flaughter
of the Slavi, and finding the ruins of a town on a peninfula formed by
the jundtion of the rivers Trave and Wochniz, which he thought an ex-
cellent fituation for a harbour, built a city there, and gave it the name
of Lubeck. The adjacent country was foon occupied and cultivated by
induflrious people, whom he invited, and encouraged by grants of lands,
to remove from Flanders, Holland, Frifeland, 8t.c. and Lubeck, fituated
in a country naturally fertile and interfeded by navigable rivers, foon
became a celebrated emporium, having many vefTels belonging to the
inhabitants. The trade of the neighbouring cities was fo much eclipfed
by it, that Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, who appears to have been
over-lord of the country, demanded of Adolphus one half of his new
city as a compenfation for the lofs he fuftained by the diminution of the
trade of his city of Lunenburg, and, on his refufal, prohibited the fale
of any kind of merchandize at Lubeck, except articles of food. He
alfo fhut up the fountains of fait at Thodeflo, in order to promote the
fale of the fait of Lunenburg, and ordered the feat of the trade to be
transferred to Bardwik. A conflagration, which happened in the year
1 158, would have ruined the city irrecoverably, if Adolphus had not
then refigned it to Henry, who, to induceahe citizens to rebuild their
houfes, immediately revoked the prohibition of trade, eflabliihed a mint
and a cuflom-houfe, and fent mefTengers to all the countries of the
North to invite the merchants to trade with Lubeck. Thus fupported,
the city immediately fprung up out of its afhes, and the number of in-
habitants dayly increafing, it foon became more profperous than before.
\yita Adolphi ex Helmoldi Ann. — Bertii Rer. Germ. L. iii, p. 177.]

1 1 46 — Greece, or rather the Roman empire in Europe (at this time
nearly the fame in extent with the modern European Turkey), even in
its degenerate fl:ate continued to excell all the reft of Europe in the qua-
lity and variety of its manufadures, and in the ingenuity of its work-

* It has already been obferved, that the Genoefe and Pifans contefted the fovereignty of Sardinia
and Corfica.

Vol. I. S s

322 A. D. 1 146.

men and artiHs. That country alone, at leafl of all the Chriflian coun-
tries of Europe, pofleffed the valuable flock of filk-worms, which had
been tranlplanted from the remotcfl; extremities of the Eaft about four
hundred years before ; and the Greeks were the only Chriftians of Eu-
rope, who manufadured the ftill pretious and coftly articles of luxury
fabricated from the fpoils of the filk-worm. But now the time was ar-
rived, when that manufadure was to be more widely difperfed. Roger,
the Norman king of Sicily, invaded Greece with a fleet of feventy gal-
lies, and carried off the wealth of Athens, Thebes, and Corinth. But,
what was infinitely the moft valuable part of the prize, and what pecu-
liarly diftinguifhed this Vv'ar from all others, which have no other con-
fequences than the exaltation of one individual, the depreffion of an-
other, and the mifery of millions, was the capture of a great number
of filk weavers, whom he carried off from thofe cities, and fettled in
Palermo, his capital city. By the king's order the Grecian prifoners
taught his Sicilian fubjeds to raife and feed filk-worms, and to weave all
the varieties of filk fluffs. And fo well did the Sicilian pupils profit by
their inflruclions, that the filk fobrics of Sicily, about twenty years af-
ter the tranfplantation of the manufadure, are defcribed as excelling in
variety of patterns and colours ; fome with gold intermixed, and adorn-
ed wuth figures or pidures, and others embelliflied with pearls. [Otto
Frifing. ds gejl. Friderici, L. i, c. 1,;^^ op. Muratori Script. V. vi, col. 668. —
Falcandi H'ljl. Sicul. praf. op. Murotori Script. V. vii, col. 256.]

Though all the Chriflian part of Europe, except Greece, had been
ignorant till now of the art of managing the filk-worm and the produce
of its induflry, the Saracens had before this time obtamed the know-
lege of the various operations of the filk manufadure, and fpread it
over all their wide-extended dominions. Lifljon and Almeria, two Sa-
racen cities of Spain, were particularly famous for their manufadures
of filk : and the iflands of Majorca and Ivica paid their tributes to the
king of Aragon in filks of Almeria, or more probably in filks made in
imitation of thole of Almeria. \Otto Frifing. ap. Muratori Antiq. V. ii,
col. 408. — Hovcden, f. 382 a, b.]

By thefe means was the important manufidure of filk laid open to
the ingenuity of the weftern nations.

1 147 — Liflion was taken from the Saracens by Alfonfo, the fovereign
of the ncwly-eredcd kingdom of Portugal, chiefly by the afllftance of
a company of about fourteen thoufand adventurers, confifling moftly
of Englifli, with fome Normans, Flemings, and others, bound to the
Holy land *. \Chron. Norm, ad on. — Vit. Pont. Rom. op. Murotori Script.
V. ill, part, i, p. 438. — Iletir. Uunt.f. 226 a.] The Saracens of Almeria

• The Wi therlandcrs rla!m x\\e fuh merit of tliis opportune afTiftaricc, in confcqucnce of which tlity
enjoy certain piivilegca in Poruigiil, conferr'.d upon tl;cm by the gratitude of tlic fo.irt-ljjn. [_Lin-
fcholen's Fdyagci, p. 460, Eiigi. tratijl.']

A. D. 1 147. 323

being exceedingly troublefome to the Chriflians, the Genoefe, at the
requeft of the pope, fitted out a fleet of 73 galUes and 163 other vef-
fels, wherewith they attacked that city, which, with the affiftance of
the count of Barcelona, and (according to our Englifh hiftorians) of the
above-mentioned adventurers, they reduced. The Genoefe, after pafT-
ing the winter in Barcelona, in the enfuing furamer aflifted the count
in taking Tortofa, for which they had one third of the plunder, [Stellcc
An. Gen. ap. Muratori Script. V. xvii, ro/. 982.]

Norwich, which William of Malmfliury \GeJla pontif. f. 136 a] calls
a populous village (' vicum') remarkable for its merchandize, was now
rebuilt, made a corporation (' communitas'), and given by King Stephen
as an appanage to his fon William. \_Membran. ant. ap. Camd. Brit. p.
422, ed. i6co.]

1 1 53 — The Scots lofl their good king David, under whofe equitable
and aufpicious government the commerce of the country had begun to
flourifh. He was the youngefl: of King Malcolm's fix fons by Queen
Margaret ; and he pafTed his early youth at the court of England under
the eye of the queen his fifler, who was a patronefs of learning and the
arts. Having thereby acquired feveral branches of fcience hitherto un-
known in his own lefs civilized country, he made great improvements
in the agriculture, horticulture, and architedure, of Scotland after his
acceffion to the crown. He alfo made foreign merchandize abound in
his harbours, exchanging the produce of Scotland for the wealth of
other kingdoms ; and he gratioufly attended to the applications of all
perfons, whether clergy or laymen, Grangers, merchants, or farmers.
\Ailred* ap. Tordun., pp. 465, 473 ed. Hearne ; or ed. Goodall, V. ii, pp.
302, 305.] We have alfo very good reafon to believe, that he intro-
duced new manufactures in his kingdom : for, as we know, that about
twenty years after his death the towns and burghs of Scotland were
chiefly occupied by Englvfli inhabitants, [JV. Nezvbrig. L. ii, c. 34] their
fettlement may with the greateft probability be afcribed to David, who
would doubtlefs wifli to eftablifli in his own country the arts and manu-
fadures he faw pradifed in England in a comparatively-improved ftate
during his long refidcnce in that kingdom. His laws, containing regu-
lations for the manufadurcrs, dyers, and drefl^ers, of woollen cloth, (re-
ferred to in the charter given by his grandfon William to Perth f) were
apparently intended for the regulation and encouragement of thofe va-

• It mufl be remembered, ihat Ai'.red, ElreJ, thniiGiUc, V.n,p.6. The negleft of my applica-

or Ethelred, the alithov of this information, though tion for a copy of the original (and it is not lone)

inofcflcdly writing the praifes of David in the work by a perfon who had it in his power to oblige mt

here quoted, was an eye witnefs of what he relates, with it, was one of three inllances of fuch conduct,

and a writer of refpttlable authority. I have met with in the courfe of colkilino- mate-

\ A tranflation (apparently a veiy bad one) of haIs for this work.
the charter of Perth may be feen in Canfs Mi.fu

4 S S 2

324 A. D. 1 153.

luable new fubjeds, by whofe inftrudlion and example he hoped to ren-
der the natives of Scotland more induftrious and civilized than they had
hitherto been : and it is alfo probable that fome of the new towns, erecfl-
ed by him, [Ailred, op. Fordun, p. 473] were deflincd for the reception
of thofe new inhabitants. Several laws for the regulation of weights
and meafures were enaded by him. \^Ads, James I, c. 80, or 70 of Mur^
ray''s ed?^ And, though the book, generally known by the name of Re-
giam majejlatem, and profefling to contain the antient laws of Scotland,
colieded, as was fuppofed, by order of King David, is now generally
abandoned as an ill-conduded forgery, there feems reafon to believe,
that the laws a?id cujloms of the burghs of Scotland were really collected
and committed to writing, and moft of them, probably enaded, in his
reign *. By thefe laws

c. 10) All goods brought by fea were to be landed prior to their fale,
except fait and herrings, which might be fold onboard the vefTels.
c. 17) The vallld of an earl or baron, who bought a burgage, and re-
mained a year and a day in a burgh without being molefted or claimed
by his lord, was declared a free man for ever f .

c. 18) Foreign merchants were not permitted to buy wool, hides, or
other goods from any but burgeffes.

c. 22) None but burgeffes wei'e permitted to buy wool for dying or
makinganto cloth, or to cut cloth for fale. But the owners of Iheep
were allowed the free ufe of their own wool.

From c. 48 it appears that fome of the merchants of Scotland traded
to foreign countries ; and their lands were declared exempt from feizure
for any claim whatever during their abfence, unlefs they appeared to
abfent themfelves on purpofe to evade juftice.

c. 52) The burgefl'es were required to have their meafures of length
and capacity, and their weights, marked with the feal of the burgh.

A filver mine (' argentaria'), which King David worked in his pro-
vince of Cumberland, \J. Haguflald. col. 280] is the earliefl in Britain,

* It mud be acknowlegcd that fcveral chapters greatcft part of them, are as old as the reign of
of tlie I.ega lurgrtrum, wherein provofts and bailies David I. A charter of his grandfon, King Wil-
appe.ir as the only magillratcs of the towns in b'am, requires a'l perfons reforting to the fair at
Scotland, wliich long after David's reign were ge- Glafgow to obferve the ajjije of h'u burghs : [G/i-
ncrally goveriicd by aldermen, were evidently in- /on''j H'Jl. "f Glafgow, p. 301] and the laws and
tcrpoldttd after the fuurteenth century. Neither f(//^omj o/"//'? iurj/6j undoubtedly conftituted a part
are the words ' (laiuta burgornm,' which induced of the eftablifhed law of the land before the death
a late learned and wurlhy judge, and alfo a learn- of Alexander III, as appears from an antient re-
ed keeper of the records of Scotland, to fay that cord prefervcd in Aylojfe's CaUndars, p. n^, and
tliofe laws arc mentioned by Baldrcd (lathcr Ailred in pleadings of the year 1291, publldied by Ryley.
or Ethtlred) a contemporary writer, any proof; \_Pla:. pari. p. 14". J And no one can fuppofe
for they are interpolated by Bowar in his continua- that they were enadtcd in the turbulent period of
• ion of Fordun, and are not in the works of Ailred the regency.

«r Fordun. But, tliongh fome parts of the laws of \ This regulation, and fome others in the Scot-

thc burghs, as publifhcd by Skene along with his tifh burgh laws, are copied from the Englifh laws

Jirgium maj'flatem, have been inferted in later ages, afcribed to King Edw.ird the Confeflbr. See

•■t is imdcfiiable that other pant, probably the above, p. 307. J

A. D.I 153- 325

of which I have found any particular or certain notice fmce the time of
the Romans, or at leaft of Bede *.

It is of more importance to obferve, that in his reign the Firth of
Forth was frequently covered with boats manned by EngUfh, Scottifli,
and Belgic, fifhermen, who were attraded by the great abundance of fifhi
(mofl probably herrings) in the neighbourhood of the ifland of May.
[A contemporory zvriter, MS, Bib. Cott. Tit. a, xix, /. 78 b.] This, ifl
miltake not, is the very firfl: authentic and pofitive notice of a fifhery,
having any claim to confideration as a commercial objecl, upon the
North-Britifli coafl f .

1 1 35-1 1 54 — The miferies of civil war were felt in the greatell extrem-
ity in England during the unhappy reign of Stephen. The vafl trea-
fures left by his predeceflbr were exhaufled in Supporting the foreign
mercenaries, whom he was obliged to employ to refift the claim of the
lawful heirs of Henry I, and to crufli the difcontents of the people :
and he was driven to the wretched expedient of corrupting and dimin-
ifhing the coin, which, however, was afterwards reflored to its due pur-
ity and weight. In this difaftrous reign 1,115 new caflles were built
in England by the earls and barons ; and there were as many petty ty-
rants, as there were caflles, every one of whom exercifed the powers of
fovereignty, carried on war, opprefTed the people, and- iflued money of
his own coinage. In a word, the miferable people were utterly ruined.
\W. Malmjb.f. 105 a. — R. Diceto, col. 528. — W. Newbrig. L. i, c. 22.]

From the general calamities of England the country north of the
Teefe was exempted by being under the mild and prudent adminiftra-
tion of David king of Scotland. {Bromton, col, 1036.]

1 1 54 — Henry II, the new fovereign of England, by his marriage with
Eleanor duchefs of Aquitaine (the divorced queen of Louis the Young,
king of France) which took place about two years before his acceflion,
acquired the bell wine country in France. By that addition to his he-
reditary dominions he became nvifter of all the weft fide of that king-
dom from the Pyrenaean mountains to Picardy : and confequently, after

* There feems to have been at Itaft an expefla- have made appear in Geographical lUuJlratioiis of

tion of finding gold in Fife: for King David gave Scotlj/lj hi/iory, under the articles jingli, Loutlnan,

a erant to the abbay of Dunfermline of all the Norlhymbra-land, Scotland. — Perhaps this almoft-

tithes of gold which might accrue to him from unknown paflage may alfo give the people of the

Fife and Fothiif (or rather Foithrcv, the upper Netherlands the moft anticnt authentic informatioa

part of the peninfula). \_Chart. qu. in DalrympleU of a diftant fifhery rcforted to by their Bclgic an-

Annals, V. i, p. ^97.] But, that any gold wr.s ceftors, the fteady and prudent prcfecution of

ever obtained from a mine in that part of the which made them high and mighty among the na-

country, does not, I beheve, anywhere appear. tions of Europe.

f Quere, if it is not alfo the earlicft notice of An account of a Scottifli fifliery, apparently un-

Englifh filhermen going fo far from their own founded, has already been infeitcd (^. 253) from,

ports en a fifliing voyage, if they were, indeed, Mr. Anderfon, whofe author I have endeavoured

fubjefts of England ; for in the age of the writer to difcover. A fifliery in the reign of King Mac-

here quoted the Scottifli fubjeds on the fnuth fide beth has alfo been prcfumtd (/. 284) upon prob^

of the Firth of Forth were called Englifh, as I able grounds.

326

A. D. 1 154.

his accefllon to the crown of England, the merchants of all the Prench
ports on the Ocean, except Boulogne and Calais, were fellow-fubjeds
with thofe of England; a circumftance, which mufl: certainly have been
very favourable to the commercial interefts of both countries.

But Henrv, far from being fatisfied with the pofTeffion of England
and about a third part of France, very foon caft his eyes upon Ireland
as a convenient addition to his dominions. He had no pretext of a quar-
rel with the Irifli : but he propoled to reform their religion and their
morals ; and for fuch a pious undertaking it was thought proper to fo-
licit the approbation of the infallible head of the church. His ambaf-
fador was inftruded to reprefent to the pope his zeal for enlarging the
bounds of the church, inftrudting the ignorant, and extirpating vice,
by bringing Ireland under his own dominion : and, as all iflands belong
to the holy fee, he defired to be advifed and authorized by the pope ;
and he took care to promife an annual payment to St. Peter of one penny
out of every houfe in Ireland, and engaged to fupport the rights of the
church in that ifland.

The chair of St. Peter was at this time filled by Adrian IV, the only
Englifliman who ever attained that fummit of ecclefiaftical ambition.
But the partiality of the pope, if he had any, for the fovereign of his
native country, could be but one of his motives for promoting Henry's
ambitious views. The king had acknowleged his right to the fovereign-
ty of all the iflands of the fea, (is Great Britain not an ifland ?) and
he had promifed a large increafe of the papal revenues. Moreover, the
Irifh were very undutiful fons of the church : for, though it is well
known, that, when the Englifli (or Saxons) were funk in the groffeft: ig-
norance, the Irifti poiTefled fo great a fliare of what were efteemed re-
ligion and fcience in thofe days, that their coimtry was called the ifland
of faints, and many parts of Britain were indebted to them for the firfl:
rudiments of religion and literature, they were afterwards far behind
the refl: of Europe in conforming to the innovations, and fubmitting to
the encroachments of the fee of Rome. They were accufed of marry-
ing within the degrees of confanguinity, forbidden by the church of
Rome, without purchafing ecclefiafl:ical difpenfations ; their clergymen,
and even billiops, were married ; they fcarcely ever admitted palls from
Rome ; they neglected the payment of tithes and firft-fruits ; and in
fome parts of the country they ate flefli in lent. Thefe were crimes
futficient to draw upon them the difpleafure of the pope, who fent
the king a bull encouraging him to proceed in the conqueft: and con-
verfion of Ireland *, together with a gold ring, by which he appeared
to afTume the right of befl;owing the inveftiture of the ifland as a vaflal

* The pope's bull, or comminion, may be fccn raldi Camlrcns. Hlb. expiignala, which alfo con-
in Rjmer's Ftcdera Angl'id, V. I, p. 15, and in l.iins the origin and progvi-fs of the conqutfl of
molt of the Engiiih hillorians, particularly in Ci- Ireland.

A. D. 1 154. 327

kingdom. The bull and the ring were both laid up in the archives at
Winchefter, to be produced whenever a favourable opportunity fhould
offer. And this was the firfl; Hep towards the union of Great Britain
and Ireland.

At this time Scherif [al Edrifli, a Saracen fubjed of Roger king of
Sicily, wrote his Geographical amufevients, which he prefentcd to that
prince. He follows Ptolemy in connecSting the fouth part of Africa with
the eafl part of Afia; and, if we may judge from the Latin tranflation
of his work, he knew little more of the north parts of Europe than that
antient geographer did. He relates, that fome of the Saracens of Spain
had ventured out upon the Ocean, in order to diicovcr the extremity
of the world, and, after eleven days faihng, had turned to the fouthward,
and landed in the Canaries, where they learned that a king of one of
thofe iflands had alfo been out on a voyage of difcovery, and, after be-
ing a month at fea, had lately returned home *. [See Mem. de Vacade-
mie, V. xxviii, ^. 524.}

1 155 — The arrival of the emperor Frederic in Italy ftruck fuch ter-
ror into the Gcnoefe, that they fortified their city with unremitting ex-
ertion, and even the women and children laboured in conftruding the
walls. The remains of thefe walls, far within thofe eredled in the years
1327 and 1347, fhow how fmall the city then was in comparifon of the
extent it afterwards attained. [Ste/iiz A?i. Gen. ap. Muratori, Script. V.
xvii, col. 974-]

While the Genoefe dreaded a contcfl with the military forces of the
emperor of the Weft, whofe dominions were invulnerable by their naval
power, the emperor of the Eafl, the fucceflbr of the Roman fovereigns
of the world, was courting their friendlhip by a treaty, binding him to
pay for ever an annual penfion of two hundred perpers f and two palls
(rich robes) to the community, and another of fixty perpers and one
pall to the archbifhop, of Genoa, and alfo to give them a factory or
comptoir (' fundicum' if), and a church, in his capital city of Conftantin-

* Can tills be true : Had the Saracens the ufe antient Greece is known with tolerable certainty,
of tlie compafs ? Could the Canary king, who that of the Grecian coins of thefe later dark ages
finely had no compafs, ever find his own iiTand is, I believe, totally unknown. From the pay-
after being a month at fea ? This curious inform- ment of the arrears of a IJmilar tribute to Pifa, in
atlon fhows, however, that the notion of the ex- the year 1 172 (which fee), there feems reafon to
illence of vveftern lands prevailed in thofe ages in believe, that perperi and byzantii were the fame,
feveral countries : and to the fame notion, probab- X ^'^ ^^^ principal commercial citits, fuch as
ly, the land called Cokaigne, far in the fea be-weft Conllantinople and Alexandria, the merchants of
Spain, owes its imaginary exiftence, as it is de- each trading nation had their own appropriate
fcribed in an Englifli poem of the twelfth century, fundicus (called by the Italians y<?n/if(7j;, and by the
prefcrved in Hickc's 'Thefaurus linguarum f,picn- Catalans alfuiJtch, the name being apparently
Iriona/iiim. Arabic), i;i which they lived and ftorcd their

■j- Perf>;rl, or hypcrperi, were gold coins (Iruck goods, every individuiil paying a rent for his ac-

by the emperors of Conftanlinople in this age ; commodatlon. Such, in England, were the Teu-

[Dii Cange GluJf.Lat. vo. Hyperperus'\ 3.ni\ they tonic gild hall, and, in later times, the Steelyard,

had alfo other coins called hyxaiUii, Jlyj'mi, and in London, occupied by the merchants of Ger-

muhakli. But, though the value of the coins of jr.any ; and, in Scotland, the Red hall in Berwick,

occupied

328 A. D. 1 155.

ople, and to reduce the cuftoms upon their merchandize, from a tenth
to a twenty-fifth, or from ten to four per cent. William, king of Sicily,
alfo endeavoured to gratify the commercial jealoufy of the Genoefe by
a treaty, engaging to expell the merchants of Provence and France from
his territories (a", ii 56). Thus were the political events of the neigh-
bouring nations made to promote the commercial interefts of the Ge-
noefe. Neither did they confine their friendly intercourfe and connec-
tions to Chriftian ftates, nor were they fuch bigots as to fuppofe that
difference of belief in matters of religion had any concern with com-
mercial connexions, but entered into treaties of friendfhip and com-
merce with the Saracen kings of Spain and Morocco in the year 1161 *.
[Ccffari Annales Gen. ap, Muratori, Script. F. vi, coll. 265-277.]

1 156, January 6''* — The maritime kingdom of Mann, founded by
Ketil about the year 890, as already obferved, comprehended Mann,
and all the iflands on the weft fide of Scotland, and fiourifhed in confi-
derable power, being frequently formidable to the adjacent coafls of
England, Scotland, and Ireland. But King Godred, the fon of Olaf,
having lofl the affedions of Ibme of the chiefs by his tyranny, they fet
up Dugal, the fon of Somerled, lord of Argyle, by a daughter of Olaf,
as king againft him ; and after a bloody naval battle, the iflands were
now divided between the rivals by a treaty, which, the chronicler of
Mann fays, proved the ruin of the kingdom.

1 1 56 — From the confiderable number of Englifli hiftorians who
flourilhed in the twelfth century, with fome help from other writers,
and from charters, &c. we have a pretty good account of feveral
of the towns of England, and even of fome of thofe of Scotland, about
this time.

London being now eflabliflied as the capital of the kingdom, mod
of the nobles and bilhops had handfome houfes f in or near the city :
but the houfes of the citizens were generally built of wood, and thatch*
ed with ftraw ; and thence the city was liable to frequent fires. Fitz-
Stephen, a writer of this age, fays, that the citizens were remarkable
for their politenefs, the elegance of their drefs, and the magnificence of
their tables, and that their wives excelled in every virtue. The citizens

occupied by tliofc of Flanders. And they paid pope for trading with infidels, as the Portuguef*

rents to communities or to individuals. The mei- repeatedly did in later times.

chants of the Steelyard priid ^-jo : 3 : 4 fterling f The ftone houfe of a citizen of London is

to the city of London ISlcw'r Survey cf/.ontJon, fi. mentioned hy Bcncdid us Albas-, V. i, />. 197.-*-

433, ed. 1 61 8] ; and the widow of Robert Guif- Geffrey Martcl in ^the reign of Henry II fold a

card, duke of Apulia, gave the rents oi 3. funil'iait piece of land with a ftone houfc in I^ondon. [A/j-

in Ainalfi to the nionallery of Monte Cafino. dox's Formulare, p. 178,] — The houfes of feme

\Chran. Caftn. L. \\\, c. 56. — See alfo HaUuvt's Jews in London, appear to have been of ilone in

yoiagrt, y.\\, p. 199, where the /</n/fi/'/ at Alex- the year I 2 15. [Rcid. CogJha/1, qu. in Slow'j jin-

andria is explained to be ' an houfe of traliqtie aa niiLs,p. 258.'] Thence it may be prelnnied, that

the Stilyard.'] the houfes of the nobles and hidiops were not of

* I have not inquired, whether they thought it inferior iiiateiialf, though thofe of the middle and

worth their while to purehafe a licence from the inferior ranks were of wood.

A. D. 1 156. 329

were diflinguilhcd from thofe of moft of the fmaller towns by the ap-
pellation of barons *. With a pardonable partiality, Fitz-Stephen fays,
that no city in the world exports its merchandize to fuch a diftance :
but he has unluckily neglected to inform us of the fpecies of goods ex-
ported, or the countries to which they were carried, none of which
were very diftant, according to our modern enlarged ideas of naviga-
tion. Among the imports he enumerates gold, fpices, frankincenfe
from Arabia ; pretious ftones from Egypt ; purple drapery from India ;
palm-oil from Bagdad ; all which he might, perhaps with more ftrid
propriety, have derived immediately from the trading cities of Italy.
Furs of various kinds, he fays, are brought from Norway and Ruffia ;
arms from Scythia ; and wine from France. The venders of the vari-
ous commodities, and labourers of every kind, are dayly to be found in
their appropriate and diflin6t places f ; and every Friday a market is
held in Smithfield for horfes, cows, hogs, &c. The city, with the fub-
urbs, contains 13 large conventual churches, and 126 parochial ones.
According to our author, no fewer than 60,000 foot and 20,000 horfe
iflued from the city in the reign of King Stephen t. The ciry is ftrong-
ly fortified with caftles and turrets, and furrounded by a wall with feven
gates, except on the fouth fide, where the river has undermined the an-
tient wall, which the protedion of the palatine tower at the eaft end of
the" city now renders unneceflliry. The king's palace at Wefiminfiier is
two miles from the city § ; and the intermediate fpace is almofi; filled
up with the houfes and gardens of the citizens ||. On the north tide
are open fields of corn and grafs, and a lake %, with feveral dreams turn-
ing mills ; and beyond thefe there is a forefl:, wherein the citizens take
the diverfion of hunting. [Stephanidis Vita Thomcs Cant.']

William of Malmfbury, an author of the fame age, fays, London is a
noble city, renowned for the opulence of its citizens, who, on account

* Whether all the citizens of London, or only 40,000. But as it is now known from the fub-
thofe who poflefled fome civic pre-eminence, were fidy roUof the year 1377, difcovercd by Mr. Top-
called hai-ons, has been difputed, and, I fuppofe, ham, that the taxable perfons of both fexes above
cannot be clearly determined by any fufficient au- fourteen years of age in London, were then only
thority. See above, p. 314. 23,314, it is not probable that the number of thofc

f The authority of Fitz-Stephen has been under fourteen, the clergy, and thofe living on

ftrangely adduced to prove, that the Steelyard, charity, would altogether bring the number even

Vintry, &c. were the appropriated wharfs of the up to 40,000 : and it may be prefumcd, notwith-

various nations trading to London in his time, ftanding the ravages of the peftilence in the year

He fays no fuch thing. The eftabbdiment of the 1348, that London was not more populous in the

Vintry in particular will be accounted for in the twelfth than in the fourteenth century,
year 1300. § Ludgate was then the wellern boi^ndary of

\ The copy of our author, from which Leland the city,
made his excerpts, had only 40,000 foot. \_Col- |j 1'hefe were the country villas of the citizens,

Icdauea, V. iv,/>. 241.] Either of the numbers is to which they retired from the noife and crowd of

moft enormonfly exaggerated, if it is meant that the city. The fame ground is now covered with

London alone furniflied fo many fighting men of ftreets almoft as much crowded as any of thofe in

its own inhabitants. Peter of Blois, arch-deacon of the city.

London, an author of the fame age, \_EpiJi. ad In- «J Now Moorfields, part of which has been late-

noctnl. papam-l ftates the whole population of ly adorned with the elegant buildings of Finfbury

London, men, women, and children, to be only fquare.

Vol. I. T t

2 JO A. D. II 5 6.

of the greatnefs of the city, are confidered as people of the firfl: quality
and noblemen (' optimates et proceres') of the kingdom. It is filled
with merchandize, brought by the merchants of all countries ; but
chiefly thofe of Germany : and, in cafe of fcarcity of corn in other
parts of England, it is a granary, where it may be bought cheaper than
anywhere elfe. [Novell./. 107 a ; Gejla pontif. f. 133 b.]

Another circuraflance, tending to Ihow that London was compartively
an opulent and commercial city at this time, is, that it was the head-
quarters of all the Jews in England ; a people who have never failed to
follow wealth and commerce, and who have generally contributed
largely to the advancement of both wherever they fettled. One of the
many hardfhips, impofed upon that race of people, was an obligation to
carry their dead from all parts of England, to be interred in one gener-
al cemetery appointed for them in Red-crofs flreet in London, till the
year 1177, when Henry II gave them permiflion to purchafe burying
grounds in other parts of the kingdom. \Bromton, col. 1 129. — Blow's
London, p. 553, cd. 161 8.]

Nothing particularly illuflrative of the ftate of the Cinque ports about
this time has occurred to me.

William of Malmfbury [GeJla regum,f. 28 a] fays, that Exefter, which
was fortified with towers and walls of hewn ftone by King Athelftan,
though it was deftroyed by the Danes in the year 1003, [Chroti. Sax. ad-
wi.} and though the country around it is fi:ill in fo poor a ftate of cul-
tivation, that it can fcarcely produce a crop of the moft indifferent
kind of oats, has now become a magnificent city, filled with opulent
citizens ; and being the principal port tor the mineral produdions of
the adjacent country, [H. Huntind. J. iji a] it is fo much reforted to
by foreign merchants, that every thing, that can be defired, may be
purchaied there in abundance.

Briftow, according to William of Malmfbury, \GeJiapont.f. 161 a] is
a celebrated town, and a port for veflels coming from Ireland, Norway,
and other foreign countries. Henry II, in the eleventh year of his
reign, gave the burgefl^cs a charter, exempting them from tolls and.
fome other impofitions in England, Wales, and Normandy.

Gloucefter, according to William, [/ 161 a] is a city fituated in a
▼ajiey remarkably fertile, and particularly famous for abundance of
excellent apples *, which keep good through the whole year. It alfo
excells all England in the abundance and pleafant tafte of its grapes ;
and the wine made from them is entirely free from harflinefs and four-
nefs, and very little inferior to the wines of France.

• When jiralfiDg the apples of Gloiiccftcrfhlrc, t'nuhn.f. 210 a] ami in lii's own time the farmer of

lie hn3 not a word of cider, tliongli it is nicmion- Windfor was allowcil fix flillliiigs and eight pennies

cda-. being provided long Ik fore his time along with for wine, perry, and eider, for the ufe of King

wine, mead, ale, pigment, and morat, at Hertford Henry H. {Maihx's liifi. of the ixchcq. c. x, J i 2.]

(to this day the center of the cider country) for Probably cider and perry were rare, and only iifed

the ufe of King Edward the CunfefTor ; [//. Hun- by people of the highell ranks.

.A. D.I 156. 331

Winchefter, however, appears to have been confidered by another au-
thor of this age, as the moll famous place in England for wine *. [//,
Huntind.f. 171 a.]

Chefter is, according to William, \f. 164 b] fituated in a poor
country, producing fcarcely any wheat : but there is abundance of cattle
and fifli : the poor live on milk and butter, the rich on flelh ; and bread
made of barley or rye f is thought a dainty. Some ti-ade with Ireland
fupplies the place with fuch neceflaries as Nature has denied to it.

A more flattering pidure of Chefler is drawn by a monk of the fame
age, caried Lucian, who fiys, that it is enriched and adorned by its river,
and that fhips come to it from Aquitaine, Spain, Ireland, and Germany,
whereby the citizens are furnifhed with all good things, and are enabled
to drink wine frequently, plentifully, and profufely. \^ap, Canid. Brit,

P' 459-]

Donewic {Dunwich) is called by William of Newburgh [L. ii, c. 30]
a fixmous fea-port town, llored with various kinds of riches ^.

Norwic is called by William of Malmfbury [f. 136 a] a populous
town, famous for its commerce.

Linn is defcribed by William of Newburgh [L. iv, c. 7] as a city
(' urbs') diftinguifhed for commerce and abundance, the refidence of
many wealthy Jews, and reforted to by foreign veflels.

Lincoln is celebrated by Alexander Necham, a poet of this century,
[rt/i. Camd. Brit. p. 404] as the fupport of the adjacent country, and
ftored with good things. The canal made by Henry I (fee above, p. 318)
iTfiade this city, though far from the fea, acceflible to foreign veflels, and
gave it the command of an extenfive inland navigation, whereby it be-
came one of the mofl populous feats of home and foreign trade in Eng-
land. [IV: Malmjb. Gcfta porit. f. 1 65 b.]

Grimfby is noted by the Norwegian (or Icelandic) writers as an em-
porium reforted to by merchants from Norway, Scotland, Orkney, and
the Weftern iflands. \Orkneyvigafaga, p. 152.]

York had been repeatedly deftroyed, by the furies of war, by the ven-
geance of William the Conqueror, and lailly by a cafual conflagration

* Many proofs mi^bt be adduced to fhow, that f In the original, _/7//^o ; a word not in the die-
vines were cultivated to a greater extent in feveral tioiiarics orgloffaries, and which Fleetwood {^Chron.
parts of this country formerly than now, and that preciof. prices for 13S7] fays, he knows not. But
confiderable quantities of wine were made from a former proprietor of niv copy of Flvtwocd ob-
thcm. See the extratl from Domefday book, fervcs, in a manufcrlpt note, that he finds /f/it-o
above,. p. 305, a:id more inllances from the fame generally ufed by the writers of thofe ages for
record, colic. ftcd by Spehnan. [^Gloff'. vo. Arpen- rye.

r.is. — Bctla H'lji. ecclej. L. \, c. I.] In the reign \ la the reign of Kingjolin, Dunwich paid

of Henry III the bilhops of Lincoln and Bath about twice as much rent to the king as any other

had vineyaidb ; and in that of Edward III the town upon the neighbouring coall. [Brady on

earl of Lancafter had vineyards in the neighbour- burghs, Ap/ieriJ. p. 11.] But it would be too

)u)od of Leiccfter. [3/,.-//;..-cV Hi/i. of the cxchcq. ra(h to infer from that circumllance, that it was

c. xi, § 2. — Kny^htcn, col. 2554.] twice as opulent.

Tt 2

332 A, D. 1 156.

in the reign of Stephen. Yet it flill retained fome marks of Roman
elegance, and is defcribed by Wilham of Malmfbury, [/. 14-7 a] as a
large metropolitan city, lying on both iides of the Oufe, and receiving
in the middle of it vefTels from Germany and Ireland.

Whitby, Hartlepool, and fome other towns on the eafl coaft, podefr-
ed veffels and other property, of which they were robbed by Efleyn
king of Norway, about the year 11 53. [Stiorro Hijl. Magni Blinda,
c. 20.]

Berwik, a noble town at the mouth of the Tuid {T^zveed), belonging
to the king of Scotland, [1¥. Newb. L. v, c. 2;,] is at this time diftin-
guiflied as having more foreign commerce than any other port in Scot-
land, and many fhips. One of them belonging to a citizen called Knut
the Opulent, and having his wife onboard, being about this time taken
by Erlend earl of Orkney, Knut hired fourteen veflels, with a com-
petent number of men, for one hundred marks of filver, and went in
chafe of the pirates, who had anchored for the night at one of the ad-
jacent iflands. \Turfcei Orcades, L. '\,c. 32.]

Invyrlyth is merely noted as having a harbour befide it, mentioned
in a charter granted by King David to the abbay of Haly-rud. [^Hay^s
Vindication of EU%. More.^ In later times it has been called Leith, and
is the port of Edinburgh.

Strivelin {Stirling) had fome veffels and trade, part of the duty
(' canum') of the veffels, with a falt-work, and fome other branches of
the royal revenue, being given by the fame king to the abbays of Cam-
bufkenneth and Dunfermline. [^Chart. in Ninwid's Hi/l. of Stirling, p.
508 ; and in DalrympWs ColleEl. p. 386.]

Part of the duties levied in the port of Perth were afligned in the
fame manner. \Chart. in Dalrymple, p. 386.] Necham, the Englifh
poet already quoted, fays, ' that the kingdom is fupported by the opii-
' lence of this city:' [«/>. Camd. Brit. p. 708] and it was at this time,
properly fpeaking, the capital of Scotland.

Abirdene was known in Norway as a trading town. Efleyn, one of
the joint kings of that coimtry, being on a pirating cruiie along
the Britifh coafl about the year 1153, landed and pillaged it. [^Snorro,
H'lft. Magni Blinda, c. 20.] But it loon recovered from that misfortune,
and was a royal refidence in a few years after.

Abirdon {Old Aberdeen) had a port, the tenth of the duties of the
fhips being granted by King David to its newly-ereded bifhoprick. [Chart.
in Bib. topog. Brit. N". \u, p. 3.]

Duffeyras (perhaps Banf) on the fhore of the Moray firth, is merely
mentioned as a commercial port and town. [Orkneyinga faga, p. 323.] *

• All the charters and books, quoted for this except the works of Bromton and Torfacus ; and
»icw of the trading towns of Britain, were written they were careful compilers from authentic records.
in the twelfth, or early in the tliirtecnth, century,

A. D.I 156. ^^^

I find no certain account of any trading ports on the weft fide of
Scotland in this age ; which is no wonder, as we know of but two on
the weft fide of England f.

From feveral notices difperfed through the authors quoted for this
view of the chief commercial ports of Britain at this time, it is evident
that the foreign trade was almoft entirely conducted by foreign mer-
chants.

Concerning the trade and ports of Ireland before the Englifti con-
queft, little can be added to what has been already faid [p. 254] of the
Oftraen in that ifland, and of its intercourfe with fome of the Englifli
harbours, juft mentioned J. The Irifti made fome cloth from the wool
of the black ftieep, that being the moft general colour of their flocks,
by which means they obtained a durable colour without the labour or
expenfe of dying. They had alfo cloth of other colours, with which
they made party-coloured ornaments for their hoods : and they ufed
woollen fluffs (' phalingis laneis') for their cloaks or plaids, and alfo for
their trowfers, and thefe were dyed. If to thefe we add lances, javelins,
and battle-axes, excellently tempered, we complete the catalogue, as far as
we have materials, of the manufadures of the Irifh, who were a paftoral
people, not yet generally advanced into the flate of agricultors, and far
lefs of manufacturers. Some foreign merchants brought gold to Ireland :
but we are not told, what the Iriih (w4io, Giraldus Cambrenfis fays,
thirfled for it like Spaniards) gave the foreigners in exchange for it ;
nor what the people of Wexford gave in return for the wheat and wine
imported from Bretagne. [Gir. Camir. Topogr. Hib. dift. \\\,c. 10 ; Hlh,
eixpug. L. i, c. 3.]

It appears, however, that there were greater flores of the pretious
metals in Ireland than could well be fuppofed. Large fums of gold and
filver v/ere frequently given for the ranfom of men of rank taken in
battle : and duties or rents, paid in gold or filver to ecclefiaftical efta-
blifhments, occur very often in the Irifli annals. At the confecratioa
of a church in the ye^sr 1 157 Murha 0-Loghlin king of Ireland gave a
town, 150 cows, and 60 ounces of gold, to God and the clergy ; a chief
called O-Carrol gave a Ub 60 ounces of gold; and Tiernan O-Ruark's
wife gave as much § ; donations which would have been efteemed very
great in that age in England or upon the continent. What fuperfti-

■(■ Many other ports of England probably had he himfclf fays [/. 164 b] of the city of Cheftct

feme trade and (liipping at this time ; but, for want depending upon Ireland for a iiipply of the neccl-

of paiticularand contemporary authority, they can- faries of life.
not be particulaiized. § Several inftances of thefe ways of laying out

X Tliongh Giraldus Cambrenfis wrote a fopo- money occur in the Annals of Ulj}er, (never yet

graphy of Irdand and a Hijlory of the conquefi of printed) particularly at the years IC04, 1029,

IriLnid, he gives very little information of the 1 106, ii57) 1161 ; and fee Ware's ^ntlq. H.bun.

ilale of its trade, or of its potts. What William p. I2ii,e,'/. 1654, for fome inftances belonging to

of Maln.fljui-y fays [/". 91 aj of the diftrefs the years left blank in the manufcript belonging to the

Iriih would fufFer, if they were deprived of their Btitifli mufeum, from which I mads my extracts,
trade with England, fcems contradidcd by what

334 ^' ^' ^^5^'

tlon fo liberally gave, fome fpecies of induflry mufl have acquired ; and
that was moft probably the pafturage of cattle, an employment to which
the foil and climate of Ireland have in all ages been extremely favour-
able, and which was moft fuitable to the unfettled ftate of fociety then
exifting in that country ; unlefs we will fuppofe that the mines of Ire-
land, which, though unnoticed by any writer, feem to have been at
fome time very produftive, were ftill capable of fupplying the fums col-
leded in the cofters of the chiefs and the clergy.

During the civil war between King Stephen and the emprefs, the
current money of England had been very much debafed, partly by the
frauds of the coiners taking advantage of the convulfed ftate of the king-
dom, but chiefly by almoft every baron ufurping the prerogative of
iflliing money coined by his own authority *. In order to put an effedt-
ual ftop to fo great an evil. King Henry made an entire new coinage
of the money of the kingdom ; and, as foon as it was completed (which
was in two years) he prohibited the currency of any other than his own
new money f. [R. Hoveden,f. a8i b. — M. Paris, p. 97. — Aim. Waver I.
ap. Gale, p. 159.]

Several of the bifliops and abbats of England had a right to coin
money. [See above, pp. 266, 271, 306. — Fasdera, V. iii, />. 81; V. v,p.
755, — and all the hooks upon Englijlj coins ^ T fuppofe, the king did not
prefume to deprive them of any of their rights or privileges.

In Scotland, at leaft the biftiop of St. Andrews had the right of coin-
ing money. \\'Vyntown^s Chronicle of Scotland, V. i, /». 396. J

About this time the proportion of filver to gold was nine for one.
{J^ladox's Hijl. of the excheq. c. 9, § 2.]

1 157 — Now, and alfo at other times, Henry raifed money by requiring
gfts from the ftiires, burghs, biftiops, barons, and others. The opulence
of the city of London appears from the largeiiefs ot its gift on this occa-
fion, which was no lefs than ^1,043 (equivalent to above ^{^30,000 of
modern money) and exceeded the joint contributions of the fhires of
Lincoln, Somerfet, Eflcx, and Kent, together with thofe of the biOiop
of Bath and the abbat of St. Albans. [^Aiadox's Hiji. of the excheq. c. 17,

Frederic emperor of Germany fent ambafladors to the king of Eng-
land with prefents, and a letter defiring to have a treaty of friendfliip

* The great lords on the continent affumed, or the beginning of his Ilidory, that the money of

were indulged in, tlie privilege of coining money. England was made of pure fdver : hut he mult be

In France they could not coin gold or filver with- underllood to mean filver of the legal (landard, as

out the king's exprefs permifTion, an inllance of oppofed to the adulterated filver ot the precding

wliich we have in a diploma granted by Lewis XI reign, and perhaps alfo to the coins of otlitr coun-

iii October 1465 to the qucns (earl) of Brctagnc, tries, fome of which were now made of filver much

permitting him to coin money of^ gold. [/Ju inferior to the Englilh (tandard. The money of

Conge^ Glofi. Lit. V. iv, cul. 87 1.] France, in particular, was fo much debafed about

f Henry ot Huntingdon, who probably wrote this time, that only a half of it was filver. [L»

foou after the reformation of the money, fays in lUnnc, Traitc ties munayes, p. xviii.J

A. D.I 157- 335

with him. Henry made a fuitable return of prefents, and in his anfwer
thankfully accepted the emperor's alliance, which, he hoped, among
other benefits, would promote the fecurity and freedom of commerce
between their territories. [^Radevic. Frijing. Gejla F/iderici, L. i, c. 7.]

1 160 — The friendfhip of Henry was courted, not only by the Chrif-
tian princes of Europe *, but alfo by the Mohamedans. The king of
Valencia and Murcia in Spain foon after fent him an embaffy with mag-
nificent prefents, confiding of the rare and rich productions of the Eaft ;
and a proper return was made by Henry. [Chron. Norm. p. 998.] But
whether any commercial arrangements were produced by this firfl
friendly intercourfe of a king of England with a difciple of Mohrjmed,
we are not informed. If there were any, they mofl probably concerned
only Henry's fubjedts in the fouthern provinces of France.

The following hints are collected from the narrative of Benjamin, a
Jew of Tudela in Spain, whofe travels over a great part of the known
world, begun in the year 1 160 and continued to the year 1173, afford
more information concerning the llate of the commercial part of the
world, than can eafilybe collected from all the other writers of the age.

Barchinona {Barcelona in Spain) is an emporium frequented by the
Greeks, Pifans, Genoefe, Sicilians, Egyptians of Alexandria, and the
people of the land of Ifrael (Palefline). — Montpelier is a place of great
trade, whither, by means of the Genoefe and Pifans, people of all na-
tions, Saracens and Chriftians, and among the reft, the Englifli f, reibrt

for traffick Genoa, an independent city, governed by magiftrates chofen

by the citizens. — In Thebes there are 2,000 Jews, workers in fcarlet and
purple. — Conftantinople is a city abounding in wealth, and fuperior to
all others in the world, except Bagdad. The people are enervated by
luxury and dillipation, and too lazy to carry on an a6live commerce ;
and therefor merchants from every part of the world refort to it by
land and by fea \. About 2,000 Jewifli merchants, manufacturers of
filk, &c. and tradefmen, many of them very opulent, live in the fub-
urb called Pera, not being permitted to refide in the city. — In Antioch
the houles of the nobles are ferved with water conveyed in wooden

* The ambaflaJors of Manuel emperor of Con- f We fiiould certainly deceive ourfelves, i^ we

/lantinople, Frederic emperor of Germany, the were to fuppofe that Englifli traders got to Mont-

arclibifhop of Triers, the Juke of Saxony, and the peher by failing through tlie Straits of Gibi altar.

carl of Flanders, and alfo the advocates or ambaf- The nature of their traffic is perhaps fuffiei'ently

fadors of the kings of Callile and Navarre, who defcribed by faying, it was conducted by means of

came to fubniit a controverfy between their lo- the Genoefe and Pilans.

verei'ins to the arbitration of King Henry, were \ Not to interrupt Benjamin's narrative, I here

.nil at Weilmiufter in November 1177. \_M. Pa- obferve [from Guiuhtri Hj/L C n/l. c. 8 J that the

r'ls, p. 1-^2.] Asinthofe ages ambalTadors were fifliing veflels (they are called Ihips) belonging to

never fent but upon extraordinary occafions, the Coiitlantinople were no fewer than fixteen hun-

aflemblage of fo many in one court nuifl have had dred ; and the multitude of wailike and mercantile

a wonderful eft'ecl in impreffing the Englilli with veiTels, afTcnibled in its moil fecure harbour, was

liigh ideas of the wifdom and power of their own innumerable. There is reafon to believe that very

fovereign, and, by increahng his reputation, make few of the mercantile veffels belonged to citizens

a real increafe of his power. • of Conftantinople.

^^6 A. D. I i6o.

pipes from a mountain in the neighbourhood *. — Damafcus is alfo fup-
plied with water by pipes. — New Tyre, a place of confiderable traffick,
with a mofi: commodious and fecure harbour, ftills keeps up its mofl
antient pre-eminence in manufactures of glafs-ware, and is alio famous
for excellent fugar f . — The ifland of Nikrokis J in the Perfian gulf is a
flore-houfe for Indian goods and the produce of Perlia, Sinaar, Arabia,
&c. the inhabitants being faftors for the variety of flrangers concerned
in the exteniive commerce of which it is the center.

Some of the countries beyond Nikrokis, vifited by Benjamin, are not
Aery eafily to be afcertained. In the ifland of Cheverag he was informed
that Sin (fuppofed to be China) was at the diftance of forty days failing
in the Eafl ; and that beyond it there was a frozen fea, and fuch as
ventured upon it were killed by the cold. In Egypt he remarks the
abundant population, but has fcarcely a word of the trade of Alexan-
dria. Pafling over into Europe, he traveled as far as Ruilia, a country
covered with woods, and producing animals called weiwerges and zeb-
linatz, fuppofed to be grey foxes or grey fquirrels, and fables §.

The city of Keflin being deftroyed by Henry the Lion duke of Sax-
ony, the materials of its ruins wei^e employed by Pribiflaus, the laft
king of the Heruli, to inclofe a neighbouring village called Roftock,
the foundation of which is carried up by tradition to the year 329.
Being thereby rendered more fecure, it foon affumed the appearance of
a city, and became a place of confiderable commercial importance.

1 1 62, June 5''' — The Genoefe, having come to an agreement with
the emperor Frederic, received from him a dipl >ma, which, in a pomp-
ous preamble, fets forth his defire of cherifliing and protedling all his
faithful fubjeds, efpecially thofe from whom he expecfts the moft va-
luable fervices and devotion to the empire. And therefor, becaufe he
had heard that the Genoefe from the firfl foundation of their city had
raifed there heads above all other maritime ftates, and he fhould have
occafion to make ufe of their fervice, efpecially in naval war, he makes
known to all the fubjedls of the empire, that he grants to the confuls
and community of Genoa, as a fief, the power of levying military forces
between Monaco and Porto Venere, whenever they fhould have occafion
to raife any, laving, however, their fealty to the empire. He grants

* Ebn Hauka), an author at lead a century the trade on the dcchne of Siraf, which was the

tarh'er than Bcnjami:i, obfcrves that ' the water chief emporium in the ninth century : and it, in its

flows through the ftreets and amidft the chief build- turn, was echpled by Ormuz. [Sec Mc-m. de I'uter-

ings' of Antakiah, or Antioch. [5/r IViUiam alure V. xxxvii,/i/i. 476, 508.]

Oujclcy's travjlalion, p. 44..] He alfo notices the ^ The veracity of Benjamin has been much

fame accommodation in many otlicr towns of Afia. quellioned ; and in liiftory he certainly wanders

f Sufjar WES, however, one of the articles ^ro«j/i/ widely from the truth: but what, he fays, he faw,

to Pal'tflinc from Babylon by the caravan plunder- fcems to be worthy of credit. Perhaps his greateft

cd by King Richard. fault is being a jew. He is very careful in noting

\ This fcems the fame ifland, which is called the number ot Jews in every place vifitcd by him ;

Kif-ben-Omira by Abulfeda, and Chifi (or Kifi) and it is obfervable, that a great proportion of

by Marco Pulo. It fcems to have fuccecded to them were dyers of wool.

A. D. 1 162. 337

them the power of chufing their confuls, difpenfing juftlce, and punifli-
ing crimes, within their diftridt. He confirms to them all their poffef-
fions at home and beyond fea, particularly Syracufe with a tradl of land
adjacent to it. He moreover grants them a ftreet convenient for their
merchants, together with a church, a bath, a fadory (' fundicus'), and a
bake-houfe, in every maritime city, which he may hereafter fubdue,
and alfo an exemption from duties and feveral charges in every country,
which they Ihall aflift him to conquer. He alfo grants them one half
of the gold, filver money, and filk, which they fhall take, the other half
being for himfelf ; and a quarter of all the gold and jewels, which fhall
be furrendered to him. He gives them the power of appointing one or
more of their citizens to refide in every country to which they trade,
in order to difpenfe juftice according to his laws and good cufloms.
And (what was perhaps the mofl agreeable of the whole, if indeed he
had the right, or the power, to make it eifedual) he authorizes them to
prevent the French from failing to Sicily and the coaffc of Calabria ; and
he fubjects the Venetians to the fame reftridions, unlefs they (hall con-
ciliate his flivour. [Diploma ap. Muratori Antiq. V. iv, col. 253.]

The delegation of the command of the fea by a prince, who, with a
founding title, poflefled no maritime power himfelf, probably encou-
raged the Genoefe in their pretenfions to a fovereign jurifdidlion upon
the fea, which they already exercifed by granting licences to the merch-
ants of other nations for trading by fea, whereof their encomiaftic
hiftorian, Baptifla Burgus, has adduced feveral examples which feem to
red upon very llender authority, and alfo fome which appear to be
more authentic, viz. In the year

1 1 54 — the citizens of Luca were permitted to trade upon the Genoefe
fea with merchandize allowed by the laws of Genoa ;

1156 — Azolino of Placentia was permitted to fend a veflel annually
to any port he thought proper with merchandize to the value of j^i5o ;

1 1 84 — Drogo de Confilio and his brothers were permitted to fend a
vefTel annually to any port with a cargo of the value of jr400, as citizens
of Genoa ;

1 1 89 — Cenlio Romano was permitted to go in, or to fend, a veflel
anywhere upon the fea of Genoa, free of any exaction, and carrying a
cargo amounting to ^^'200, whether belonging to himfelf or to others.

For thefe his authorities are the records of the city : and his being
able to find ib lew in the courfe of fo many years fhows, that they were
but feldom applied for.

II 65 — Axel (or Abfolon) bifhop of Lunden, having conflruded a
fort at an excellent harbour on the eafl fide of Zeland (or Seeland) in
order to proted the merchant Ihips from pirates, fome filhermen built a
few cottages befide it ; and an inn being alfo built for the accommoda-
tion of flrangers, the name of the place was changed from Axel-hus to

Vox. I. U u

338 A. D. 1165:

Kiopmans haven (the merchants' harbour, which we, after the Germans,
call Copenhagen), and it grew up in time to be a confiderable commerc-
ial city and the capital of Denmark. [Bertii Rer. Germ. L. iii. /). 139.]

We have feen the herring fifhery on the coaft of Norway an objeft
of confiderable importance in the tenth century : and it is probable,
though we have no certain information of it, that they then proceeded
up the Laltic, and were taken by the nations bordering upon that fea.
Ab <ut this time we have the firft exprefs notice of a fifliery for herrings
wjfhin the Baltic, which was at the ifland of Rugen, and fo confiderable,
when the flormy winds of November * drove them out of the Ocean to
take {belter in the narrow channels of the Baltic, that great numbers of
vefl^els from various foreign countries ufed to repair thither to load with
herrings. \_Hebnoldi Chron. Slav. L. ii, c. 12.]

About the fame time the Dutch date the commencement of the her-
ring fiihcry on their coaft. The people of Ziriczee caught herrings on
the coaft of Briel (or Voorn), an ifland at the mouth of the Maefe (or
IVlLufe"); and their example was followed by thofe of Zeland, Holland,
and Weft Frifeland, who fitted out fmall veflels called yhZ-rtr^j- f, with
•which they repaired to the fame fifliing ground in the proper feafon.
Thofe of Ziriczee are alfo faid to have been the firft (of the Low-coun-
try people) who packed herrings in barrels ; but they were very defi-
cient in the manner of curing them. \y. F. Petit, Chron. de Hollande, i^c.
V.'\, p. 184.] The Netherland writers have loft fight of their earlier
fiftiery in the Firth of Forth. (See above, p. 325.)

The City of Lubeck, though founded fo late as the year 1 140 [Bertii
Rer. Germ. L. iii, p. 177], had already, by means of its happy fituation
near the entrance of the Baltic fea, attained fo much commercial con-
fequence, as to attradt the notice of the powerful commercial republic
of Genoa, who courted the citizens of Lubeck to confederate with them
againft the Pifans, by a promife of carrying them upon the fea on terms
of equality with their own citizens, together with a gift of two houfes
in Porto Venere and the tower of Motrone. In confequence of this
alliance we foon after find merchants of Lubeck trading in the Medi-
terranean onboard Genoefe veflels, one of which was taken on her re-
turn from Sicily by the Pifans in the year 1171. [Brev. Hijl. Pif. ap.
Muratori Script. V. vi, coll. 179, 182.]

At this time the fultan of Egypt granted the Chriftians of Jerufalem
a free trade in his dominions j but that fubftantial advantage was almoft

* The movements of the hcnings are very ca- guft. Since that time their arrival has gradually

pricions, both willi refpeft to time and place, been later and later; and in tlie year 1780 it was

About the year 1 ";oo they ufed to fct iu upon the in November, as in the age of Heimold. \_An-

<;<>a(ls of Gothland and Schonen in the beginning derfoii's Account of the Hebrides ( Wijlern ijlands )

ofharveft, as we learn from Olaus Magnus, L. xx. />. 451-]

In the year 1752, after having long defcrted thofe f Martin Schook calls them Slalhacrts. {D'ljjert.

toads, they appeared upon them m July and An- de harcngis, $ 34-] 3

A. D. n65. 339

immediately loft by the inordinate luft for dominion of Amalric king
of Jerufalem. [GuI. T'yr. LI. xix, xx.]

Dermit king of Leinfter in Ireland, being driven out of his dominions
for his wickednefs and tyranny, implored the aid of Henry king of Eng-
land to reftore him to his kingdom, which he offered to hold of him as
his volTal. Henry, feeing fo favourable an opportunity of availing him-
felf of the pope's commillion for the conqueft of Ireland, which he had
hitherto allowed to lie dormant, very willingly received Dermit's oath
of fealty. But declining to take upon himfelf the trouble and expenfe
of the war, he put into Dermit's hands his letters patent, authorifmg his
fubjeds to allift in reftoring him as his valTal king of Leinfter, by means
of which, and the promife of great rewards, Dermit prevailed on the
earl of Pembroke and fome others to engage in his caufe. About the
beginning of May 1169 the firft detachment of the Englifti adventurers
landed in Ireland, and foon re-eftabUftied Dermit in his kingdom, a
large portion of which was immediately allotted to them for their good
fervices. In the following year Dermit, according to agreement, gave
his daughter in marriage, together with the right of fucceflion to his
kingdom, to the earl of Pembroke.

The king of England, now finding that his fubjeds were making more
progrefs in the conqueft of Ireland than he expeded or wiftied, thought
it was time for him to interfere. He iftiied an edidl, prohibiting all
his fubjedls from failing, or carrying any thing whatever, to Ireland,
and ftridly enjoining all who were in that ifland to return before the
enfuing Eafter, under penalty of forfeiture. But being foothed by a
letter of the earl of Pembroke, fubmitting all his acquiiitions. as made
under the royal aufpices, to his pleafure, he allowed him and his aflb-
ciates to retain all the lands they had acquired in Ireland, except Dub-
lin and the other maritime towns, which he referved to be kept in his
own hands.

1 171 — In order more fully to fecure to himfelf the advantages of the
conqueft, he went over to Ireland with a fufficient force ; and foon after
his arrival he received the homage of raoft of the inferior kings, and
alfo of Roderic, the fupreme king of Ireland. \Gtr. Cambr. Hib. exp.
L. i Annales Hib. ap. Camd Isc.^

Thus was that great and fertile ifland apparently fubjeded to the
crown of England. But it is eafier to effed a rapid conqueft of a coun-
try than to retain it. Henry's attention being immediately called to
his continental territories, and all the fucceeding kings of England be-
ing almoft conftantly engaged in foreign wars or civil commotions, the
ifland was fcarcely ever completely fubjeded to the Englifli power, till
the deliverance from continental dominions, and the union of the Britifti
crowns, enabled the government to ad with more vigour than before.

During the invafion of Ireland many of the principal citizens of Dub-

Uu 2

340 A. D. II 71.

lin, who were Oftmen, left the place with their mofl valuable effects,
and, after inefFecftual attempts to recover it by the afliftance of fliips and
men obtained from their countrymen of Orkney and Mann, the great-
eft number of them retired to thofe illands. [^Hib. exp. L. i, c. 17, et
Jeqq.~\ The city being thus deprived of its moft valuable inhabitants,
King Henry, by a charter, now extant in the archives of Dublin, dated
in the year 1272, gave his city of Divelin {Duhlhi) to be inhabited by
his 7nen of Briftow {BriJIol), who had long carried on a commerce with
Ireland. Though no notice is taken by the authors of that age of any
colonies going over in confequence of the king's grant, it may be pre-
fumed that Dublin was foon repeopled, and in a flourifliing condition ;
for William of Newburgh, a contemporary writer, [L. ii, c. 26J calls
Divelin a noble maritime city, the metropolis of Ireland, and almoft
the rival of London for the commerce and abundance in its port. A
fubfequent charter of the fame king to his butjcjjcs of Dublin (not Di-
velin) grants them a free trade, with exemption trom tolls, pontage, &c.
in England, Normandy, Wales, and Ireland. [Chart, in Append, it. i , 2
of Lvtiktori's Henry II, B. v.] Camden fays, that from that time Dublin
continued in a flourifliing condition, and that the citizens gave fignal
proofs of their attachment to the kings of England on many trying oc-
cafions ; \^Brit. />. 571] whence it may be prefumed that they were moft-
ly Englilh *.

About this time the difcovery and population of America by the
Welfh is fuppofed by fome late writers to have taken place. Accord^
ing to Doftor Powel, [Htji. of Wales, p. 227] a Wclfh prince called Ma-
doc ' left the land in contention between his brethren, and prepared
* certain fliips with men and munition, and fought adventures by lea,
' failing weft, and leaving the coaft of Ireland fo far to the north, that
' he came to a land unknown, where he law many ftrange things,' in
the year 11 70. He ' left moft of his people there, and returning back
' for more of his own nation, acquaintance, and h-iends, to inhabit that
' fair and large country, went thither again with ten fails :' and he adds,
' as I find it noted by Giitryn Owen.''

Much has been written upon this Wclfti colony, which was fuppofed
to confer upon Britain an unqucftionable right to the fovereignty of
America. But, independent of the phyfical impollibility of copper-
coloured Indians being defcended from wliite Britons, and of the moral
impollibility of Madoc returning from any country lying fouth-wcft
from Ireland, and finding his way to Britain by fteering a covn-fe, with-
out a compafs, acrofs the broadeft part of the Atlantic ocean, even fup-
pofnig his new country to have been to the northward of the trade

• It appears that confiderable numbers of Oil- it is piohable tbat llicre were many of tlicm alfo
men remained in the other principal ports of Ire- in Dubh'ii. [Stc li'aii-^s Aiitiq. llib. p. 126, cd.
land in fubjccllon to the Englifh government, and 1654.] 5

A. D. 1171. 341

winds, it is pretty evident that the ftory muft have been invented after
voyages to and from America, and fettlcments of colonies in that con-
tinent, were common, and had become ufual fubjedls of converl'aiion,
even in the uncommercial country of Wales *.

The Grecian emperor Manuel, having quarreled with the republic
of Venice, feized the perfons and effeds of all the Venetian merchants
he could find in his dominions. But Venetian merchants were not to
be infulted with impunity. The outrage was immediately chaftiicd by
a Venetian fleet of a hundred gallies, which compelled Manuel to lub-
mit to terms of peace very humiliating to the pride of empire. This
event, the fecond within a few years which exhibits the Roman-Grecian
empire inferior in military force and political importance to the com-
naercial ftates of Italy, is introduced here, chiefly on account of its be-
ing conneded with the origin of the Bank of Venice. For the 'repub-
lic being opprefled by the charges of the war againfl: the emperor of
the Eafl:, and at the fame time involved in hofl:ilities with the emperor
of the Wefl:, the duke, Vitale Michel II, after having exhaufted every
other financial refource, was obliged to have recourfe to a forced loan
trom the moft opulent citizens, each being required to contribute ac-
cording to his ability. On this occafion, and by the determination of
the great council, the chamber of loans (' la camera degl' imprefliti') was
eftabliflied ; and the contributors to the loan were made creditors of the
chamber, from which they were to receive an annual intereft of four
per cent f . \_Saniito, Vite de duche di Venezia, ap. Muratori Script. V. xxii,
col. 502.} It may be prefumed that the rate of intereft, ftf very far be-
low the ufual ftandard of the age, was compulfive, as well as the loan
itfelf, and efteemed a hardlhip upon the creditors.

* Gutryn Owen, the alleged author of the ftory American tribes very remote from each-other. So

of Madoc's voyages and colony, is faid to have h'v- the childilh ftory of Whittin'jjton and his cat may

ed in the reign ot Edward IV ; and the anthority be -ocrlficd by a ilone, actually inCtribed with his

of a manufcript, really lurittcn hcj.jye the cUfcovery name, Handing at the lide of the road between

nf Awierica by Columbus, would be ftrong indeed. Idington and Highgate, and fet up, one would

But as G-utiyn's manufcript does not appear, nor thijik, with an intention to ftainp the appearance

even Lhiyd's trandatlon of it into Englifli, except of veracity upon fable. — Colonel Vallancey [Ct/-

.is edited nvith aJil}ttons, eorreiJ'wm, and improve- kLlariea, n'-. x, />. l6S2 has found a way of accouiit-

mtnti, by I'owel in the year 15S4, he nuill, for iiig for the identity of names and cnftoms in Ame-

ought we fee to the contrary, (land for the origin- rica (even as far fouth as Peru) with thofe of Ire-

al author. Giraldus Cambrenfis, a Welfh author, land, founded on a conjeAure of Varenius that the '

v.'ho wrote an account of Wales about the end of north part of America once adhered to Ireland,

the twelfth century (edited by the fame Powcl), and the difcovery of a bank extending from Ire-

lias not a word of the ('cry, thoiigli fnfRciently land to Newfoundland. And fo the population of

fond of the marvelous. But the Britilli origin of America, that perplexing fubject of difquihtion,

the Americans has obtained fome imaginai-j- hip- appears to have been from Ireland. — I iiave feen

port from the cafuil, perhaps llrained, refcmblance an account of the population of IrelandyVom Ame-

of fome American words to the WeHh, icmaiked rica.

by Wafer in his voyage to Darien, and by fome + ' A raggione del quattro per cento di pro.'^

others in other part:, of America : and, as fables, If it was fo expreffed in the original record from

like fnowballs, ir:creale by rolling along, the au- which Sanuto cxtratled his account, it is an ear-

thor of tlie Turkifli fpy [^V. viii, fi. 159] Jifcover- lier indance of the calculation per cent than 1 t

ed, that the tomb of Madoc is ilill to be feen in found in the Venetian laws, to be notice

the country of the Tufcoraras and Doegs, two the year 1242.

34^ A. D. 1171.

It is prefumable (for no authentic documents, capable of afcertaining
the fa<fts with indifputable certainty, are, I beheve, anywhere to be
found) that the creditors, after continuing for fome time no other way
conneded than by the fimilarity of their fituation with refped to the
repubHc, were incorporated as a company, in order to manage their
joint concerns, and that fucceflive improvements upon their fyflem of
management, and new ideas fuggefted by the vaft increafe of the Ve-
netian commerce, gradually produced the bank of Venice, which is
generally acknowleged to be the moll antient eflablifhment of the kind
in the world *, and to have been, in a greater or lefs degree, the model
of all the banks, which were fet up, firfl in fome other commercial ci-
ties on the coafl of the Mediterranean fea, and in procefs of time in al-
molt every city and town in Europe. This bank was eftablifhed on
fuch judicious principles, and has been conduded through the revolu-
tion of many centuries with fuch prudence, that, though the govern-
ment have twice, fince its ellablifhment, made free with its funds, its
credit has remained inviolate and unimpeached. Payments are made
in it by transfers, or writing off the fum to be paid from the account
of the payer to that of the receiver, without having the trouble of
weighing gold or filver. If I miflake not, this bank is alfo the moft
antient eflablifhment of a permanent national debt, or the funding fyf-
tem, which is now carried to fuch a height in almofl every country of
Europe.

1 172 — ThePifans fent ambafladors to the emperor of Conilantinople,
who renewed the alliance made with the emperor's father, and obtained
from him the reftoration of the wharfs or landing places f they had for-
merly pofTefl'ed in Conilantinople, permiflion for the Pifans, whom he
liad banifhed, to return, and payment of the arrears for fifteen years of
the annual fum of 500 byzants and two palls (rich robes or cloaks) due
to the I'epublic, and 50 byzants and one pall to the archbifliop, the
whole being 8,040 byzanis and 45 palls. Three ambaffadors from the
emperor, with three imperial galUes, went to Pifa, where the treaty was
confirmed in full parliament (' in publico parlamento'). [Brev. Hijl.
Pif. ap. Muratori Script. V. vi, col. 186.] Thus was the humiliation of
the Greek empire difplayed in tranfadions with each of the three prin-
cipal commercial Hates of Italy.

King Henry revived a law of his grandfather's, abolifhing the right,
formerly afl'umed by fovcreigns and proprietors of the land, of feizing
the property of vellels wrecked upon their fhores, and declaring, that,

• Uiuier llic year 1401 we fliall fee that Bar- nations bordering on the Mediterranean, give the

-celona claims tlic honour of having tllabhihcd tlie name of efchfllc or fiala to any port in the Levant

firft bank of cxeliangc and dcpofil. where a coniul is ellabhihed. But fueh a meaning

•j- ' Scalas.' — •! am not certain of having right- cannot be applied here, tfpccially as the word i»

Vj irar.flatcd the word, 'i'he Trench, aud other in tire phrial.

A. D. 1172. 343

whenever any veflel fliould be wrecked upon the coafl of England, Poic-
tou, Gafcoigne, or the illand of Oleron, if any one human creature, or
even a bcafl:, belonging to her, were found alive, the property fhould
be preferved for the owners, who fhould be allowed three months to
make their claim ; failifig which, the wreck fhould belong to the king.
[^F^edern Angl'ue, V. i, p. ^^J]

It is not unworthy of remark, that in this equitable proceeding, which
was a revival of the Rhodian law and the law of the good Roman em-
peror Antoninus, Henry fet an example, which was followed by the
Greek emperor Andronicus and the Roman pontiff Alexander III.

1 1 75 — About this time William king of Scotland made the village
adjacent to the cathedral church of Glafgow a burgh fubjedt to the
bifhop. In the charter there is no mention of a gild, or any mercantile
privileges, or of any trade whatever, except the liberty of having a mar-
ket on the Thurfdays. A fubfequent charter of the fame king grants
the biihop the privilege of holding an annual fair. [C/jart. in Gid/on's
Hijl. of Glafgow, pp. 299, 302.] Such was the infant flate of the great
and flourifhing commercial city of Glafgow.

1 176 — A new bridge of ftone was begun on the weft fide of the old
wooden bridge of London *. It appears to have had a wooden draw-
bridge f at each end for allowing vcflels to pafs up the river to Edrcd's
hithe, or Queen-hithe, which was then, and long after, a principal land-
ing-place, where the velTels of the Cinque ports and others dil'charged
their cargoes of corn, fifh, fait, fuel, &c. and to the other wharfs or
landing-places above the bridge. In thofe days the art of conflrud;ing
piers in the water was not known, and therefor the river was turned
into a new channel, fuppofed to have been drawn between Batterfea
and RedrifFe, during the building, which was not finiflied till the year

1209. \^An. Waverl. ap. Gale, p. 161 Stow's Survey, pp. 50, 52, 682,

ed. 1 61 8.]

1 1 77 — The vanity of Venice and the arrogance of the church of
Rome were gratiiied by the duke accepting a ring from Pope Alexan-
der III, whom the republic had aflifled in his war againft the emperor
and the rival popes, as an emblem of the marriage of the republic to
the Adriatic fea, which his holinefs, in imitation of his predeceffors
(who had lately made gifts of the iflands of Sardinia, Corfica, Sicily^

* Fabyan \_Cronycle, f. xv b] fays, the wooden port of London, fays, that \.\\t prefenl bridge ftands

bridge was under the management of a fraternity on the original bottom, though it was very unfci-

or college of priefts, and the ftone building was entifically conftruded. {Third Report of the com-

undertaken by the great aid of the citizens and miltee, (sfc. />. 29.]

others paffing the bridge. He dates the com- f The draw-bridge was cut down in the year

mencement of the building in 1210. But the au- 1553 to prevent Wyat from entering the city.,

thority of annals, apparently contemporary, is fure- But it was rebuilt ; and Stow defcribes it as exill-

ly preferable, unlefs contradicted by any record re- ing in his own time, {^nnaks, p. 1046 ; Survey,.

inaining in the archives of the city. Mr. Mylne, p. 53.]
in his Report to the committee for regulating the

344 A. D. 1 177.

and Ireland), gave to the republic, as a wife to be under the dominion
and protedion of her hufband *. From that time the dukes of Venice
have annually renewed the ceremony of the marriage, by throwing a
gold ring into the bofom of their fpoufe from the deck of a fuperb vef-
lel called the Bucentaur. •

1180 — Notwithftanding the attention of Henry I! to the ftate of the
current money in the beginning of his reign, it was now again fo much
debafed, that he was under the neceflity of making another entire new
coinage of round money. Though the goldfmiths and filverfmiths of
England were famous throughout Europe, Henry on this occafion chofe
to bring an artift, called Philip Aymari, from Tours (a city in his pater-
nal territories on the continent, which gives its name to the current
money of France) to execute his coinage. But Aymari, being found
guilty of debafing the llandard of the coin, was difmifled with difgrace ;
and the Englifh coiners, whofe frauds had produced the neceffity of the

recoinage, were punifhed. \_R. de Diccto, col. 611 Gerv. Dorob. col. 1457.

— Hoveden, f. 341 a.]

1 181 — King Henry, in his Affife of arms, flrictly commanded that no
one fhould buy or fell any fhip to be carried out of England, or engage
any feaman (' maireman') to go into foreign fervice. \Hoveden,f. 350 b.]
As the order was merely a military precaution, it feems going too far
to infer from it that Englifti-buik veflels were efteemed fuperior to
thofe of other nations, or were coveted by foreigners. England needs
not claim any doubtful naval renown. But Henry's attention to that
befl; fafeguard of his kingdom muft alfo, though unintentionally, have
been beneficial to the commerce of England.

1 189 — There is good reafon to believe that England was in a prof-
perous condition, and that its manufadlures and commerce were in a
progredive ftate of improvement during the long reign of Henry II.
Heni-y of Huntingdon, who wrote in the early part of his reign, begins
his Hiftory with a florid defcription of Britain, or England, (for with
him thefe names are fynonymous) wherein he fays, that mines of cop-
]ier, iron, tin, and lead, are abundant, and that there are fome, though
but few, mines of filver f . Silver, however, is brought from Germany
by way of the River Rhine fof our wonderful plenty of flefh and filh
(tlie abundance of herrings and oyfters is particularly noted), our moll
pretious wool, our milk (probably converted into butter and cheele),

* His holinefs maJe a tad Lliiiider with rcfpeft of filvcr in England. Biit it would be mucli moit

to the fexcs of the parties. An aiuiciit poet would important and iatisfaftory, were there not reafon

have married tiie god Hadria, the fon of Neptune, to apprehend that he writes, not from his own

to the nymph Venctia, the daughter of tlie river knowlege, but from Bede. At tliis lime tliere was

god Medoaeuo. In claflleal or poetical language a rich lilver mine in Wales between Lanelwy (J/.

Hadria, the name of that fea, is niafculinc, and all David's) and Balingwerk. [G'/V. Cunilr. Itin.

republics are of the feminine gender. CambrU, L. ii, f. lo. J I have already, unucr the

f This affertion of Henry may be alleged againft year 1 153, notiei.d a lilvcr mine in Cumberland,

thofe writers who affirm thai there were no mines belonging to David king of Scotland.

A. D. 1 1 89. 345

and cattle innumerable ; fo that filver is even more plenty in England
than in Germany ; and all the money of England is made of pure filver.

In this brief enumeration of goods exported there is no mention of
corn ; and indeed there is no reafon to believe that the agriculture of
the country was fo far advanced as often to produce more than was ne-
ceflary for the home confumption. Some exportation of corn, however,
there was ; for in the year ii8r a fine was paid to the king for licence
to fhip corn from Norfolk and Suffolk for Norway : but without a li-
cence and payment for it, which feems equivalent to a cuftom duty, it
appears that it could not be exported. [Madox's H'tjl. of the exchequer,
r. 13, § 3, note k; c. 14, § 7, note r, § 15, notes 0, p.'\

Lead was exported in great quantities to all parts of Europe, the roof^
of the principal churches, palaces, and caftles, being generally covered
with it. [Madox, c. 14, § 15 H?^. lit. del a France, Kix, p. 221.] The ex-
portation of tin was alio very confiderable, the mines of Cornwall and
Devon-fhire, which for many ages fupplied all Europe, affording a large
proportion of the royal revenue. [M. Paris, p. 570. — Foedera, V. i,
p. 243.]

It has been prefumed, with a probability approaching very near to
certainty, that wool was a principal article of the exports of this countrv
before the Norman conqueft : (See above, p. 288) and the exportation
of it appears to have been flill very confiderable, though the home ma-
nufadure midoubtedly worked up large quantities of it ; for, according
to an hyperbolical account of the commerce of the country, introduced
by Mathew of Wefl:minfl:er in his Hifl:ory, [p. 396, ed. 1601] all the
nations of the world ufed to be kept warm by the wool of England,
which was made into cloth by the Flemifli manufadurers.

Though I have found no exprefs mention in any Englifh author of
the exportation of woollen cloth in this age, there can be little doubt
that the Flemings fettled in Wales, who are faid to have poffefled the
knowlege of commerce as well as manufactures, exported fome of the
cloths they made. The hifl:orian of the Orkneys informs us, that two
merchant fliips from England bound for Dublin, loaded with Englijh
cloths (probably the manufadure of the Flemings) and other goods of
great value, were taken near Dublin, before the conquefi: of Ireland by
the Englifli, by an Orkney pirate called Swein *, who on his return
home covered his fails with the fcarlet cloths, and therefor called that
his fcarlet cruife. {T^orfcei Orcades, L. i, c. 37.]

The exportation of flaves, notvvithfi:anding feveral laws or canons

* That man wanted only a more exteniive field nefs and ingratitude fcarctly Iirferior t.) Auguftus ;

of aAion, and to have his exploits recorded by an- and in letting up, and depofing, his liege lords, the

thors more generally known, to be as illuftrious a earls of Oikney, he may be compared to the ceb-

ruffian as ever figured in hiftory. In llratageni and brated king-maker, the earl of Wsrwick.
cunning he was fully equal to Ulyiits ; in wicked-

Vol. I. X X

^^6 A. D. 1 1 89.

made againfl it, particularly in the council of Weftminfler in the
year 11 02, lEadmer, p. 68] was not entirely given up in the reign of
Henry II. Merchants, but apparently more frequently robbers and pi-
rates, exported flaves, who were partly trepanned, and were partly child-
ren bought of wretched parents, who were in great want. In the year
1 172 the refolution of the Irifli, who had hitherto been great purchafers
of Englifh flaves, to buy no more, and to fet at liberty thofe they had,
[Giraldi Camhr. Hib. exp. L. i, f. 18] gave a great check to that inhuman
trade. After that time, though there occur frequent notices of flaves
transferred from one proprietor to another *, and of the prices paid for
them, we do not, I believe, find them any longer mentioned as articles
of foreign trade.

The other articles exported from England at this time, fuch as honey,
wax, cheefe, falmon, &c. were apparently trifling in quantity and value.

Of the imports of England at this time, wine, produced in the king's
French dominions, formed a very conliderable part. Some woad for
dying, together with fpiceries, jewels, filks, furs, and other luxuries f ,
confl:ituted the remainder. In years of fcarcity corn was alfo imported ;
and the flores of it colleded in London made that city be called the
granary of the whole kingdom. [W. Malmjb. Gejla pont. J^ 133 b.]

All the goods imported into England, except wine, woad, and occa-
honally corn, were in demand only among the fuperior ranks ; and,
though they were fold at very high prices, they amounted to but an in-
confiderable fum upon the whole. On the other hand, the goods ex-
ported, being adapted to the wants of all the claflTes of mankind, were
in great and general demand : and thence there was a large balance in
fivour of England, which produced the abundance of filver remarked
by Henry of Huntingdon. But there is reafon to apprehend that much
of the money brought in by the commerce of the country was foon
taken out of the circulation of produdive induftry, and locked up in
die dead hoards of the great clergy and fome of the nobles. Roger
archbifliop of York died in 1181, poflefled of 11,000 pounds of filver
and 300 pieces of gold (' aurei'), befides a gold cup and a confiderable
quantity of filver plate. [A/. Paris, p. 140.]

The great wealth of the kingdom, though perhaps very ill divided,
together with the policy of converting the king's fliare of the produce
of the crown lands, formerly paid in kind, into money rents, and the
great length of his reign, enabled Henry II to amafs fo much treafure,
that he could bequeath above forty thoufand marks of filver, and five

* In the year 1195 tlic arclibidiop of Canter- f Of tliefe fomc fpccification may be found in

bury gave ten flaves, as part of the' price of tlie Fitz-Stephen's defcription of London in thij reign,

manor of Lambetli, to the prior of Rocheller. Sec above, p. 329.
IFadera, V. i, p. 89.]

A. D. 1 189. 347

hundred marks of gold to, what he fuppofed, religious and charitable
purpofes *.

At this time the woollen manufadure was very widely extended over
the country : for, befides the colony of Flemifh weavers in Wales, who
were probably the inftrudors of all the reft, and the company, or gild,
of weavers eftablifhed in London, it appears, that there were fimilar
companies of the fame trade in Oxford, York, Nottingham, Hunting-
don, Lincoln, and Winchefler; and all of them, agreeable to the policy
of the age, paid fines to the king for the privilege of carrying on their
manufadure exclufive of all others in their towns. [Madox^s Hijl. of the
exchcq. c. lo, § 5.] But there were alfo dealers in Bedford, Beverley
and other towns of York-fhire, Norwich, Huntingdon, Northampton,
Gloucefler, Nottingham, Newcaftle upon Tine, Lincoln, Stanford,
Grimfby, Barton, LafFord, S'. Albans, Baldock, Berkhamftead, and
Chefterfield, who paid fines to the king, that they might freely buy and
fell dyed cloths ; fome of their licences alfo containing a permiflion to
fell cloths of any breadth whatever. As the Englilh had not yet attain-
ed any confiderable degree of proficiency in the art of dying, and as
foreigners were not bound by the Englifh regulations for the breadth
of cloths, it may be apprehended, that the cloths fold by thole woollen
drapers were the fine coloured goods of the manufacture of Flanders :
and the red, fcarlet, and green, cloths, enumerated among the articles in
the wardrobe of King Henry IT, were mofl probably of the fame foreign
manufacture. [See Madox's Hiji. of the excheq. c. 10, § 12 ; c. 13, § 3.]

Henry 11, in the 31" year of his reign, gave the weavers of London
a confirmation of their gild with all the freedoms they enjoyed in the
reign of Henry I ; and in the patent he direded, that, if any weaver
mixed Spanifh wool with Englifh in making cloth, the chief magiftrate
of London fhould burn it. [^Stow^s Survey of London, p. 515, ed. 1618.]
From fuch a regulation it feems probal^le, that Englifh wool was then
fuperior to that of Spain, which in later times has obtained the firfl
charader f .

The Englifh goldfmiths ftill preferved the reputation acquired by

* The 500 marks of gold were to make mar- fourteen or fifteen millions of modern money), I

riage portions for women of free (or genteel) con- fufpett that nongenta (nine hundred) has crept

dition, who were in need of affiilance ; a laudable into the text for nonaginta (ninety), the number

and noble bequeft. All the reft was for the flip- according to Benediclus Abbas ; and pcffibly

port of the holy war, and the maintenance of drones pounds have alfo been inadvertently fubftituted for

of both fexes in convents. (]See the will in Fadera, marks.

^i, />. 37.] The whole amount of his treafuie f The ' lans pretiofiflimae' (moft pretious

is ftated by Hoveden \_f. 374 a] at above a hun- wool) of Henry of Huntingdon, [/. 170 a] an

dred ihoufand marks, which is increaled by Mathew author of this age, if we may give full credit to

Paris [/). 152, ed. 1640] to above nine hundred his fuperlative language, feems to countenance the

thouf and pounds, befides valuable utenfds, jewels, belief of the fuperiority of Englifh wool, which

and pretious ftones. But the later fum being in- will be further lUullrated by facts, to be narrated

credibly great (in faA not lefs in real value than in the fubftquent part of this work.

XX2

348 A. D. 1 1 89.

their predeceflbrs. Anketil, a monk of S'. Albans, about the begin-
ning of the twelfth century, was lb famous for his works in gold, filver,
gilding, and jewelery, that he was invited by the king of Denmark to
fuperintend his works in gold, and to be his banker, or money-changer.
A pair of candlefticks made of filver and gold, and prefented by Ro-
bert, abbat of S'. Albans, to Pope Adrian IV, were fo much efleemed
for their exquifite workmanfhip, that they were confecrated to S'. Peter,
and were the principal means of obtaining high ecclefiaftical diftind;ions
for the abbay. Neither were the Englifh ladies of this age lefs famous
for their works in embroidery than thofe of the Anglo-Saxon race.
The fame abbat alio fent the pope a prefent of mitres and fandals mofl
wonderfully embroidered by the hands of Chriftina, priorefs of Margate.
{M. Paris, Vita, pp. 59, 71, 73.] More examples of the fuperiority of
the Englifh m.ale and female artifis in thofe branches might be produced,
if it were neceffary.

As flax and hemp are enumerated by the council of Weflminfler in
the year 1175, along with corn, wine, the increafe of animals, wool,
cheefe, and all other things annually reproduced, as iubjed to the pay-
ment of tithes, it appears that fome flax and hemp were cultivated,
which could only be for the purpofe of making cloth and cordage.
[Gervas. Dorob. col. 1431.] The cultivation of them was probably in-
troduced, or at leafl became fo general as to attrad the notice of the
clergy, after the conqueft ; for they are not included in the lift of tith-
able articles made out in the fourth year of William the Conqueror :
but, on the other hand, the profits made by mills and by merchandize
(' negotialionibus'), which are charged then, \_Knyghton, col. 2356] are
now omitted.

May 7"' — Frederic emperor of Germany, at the requeft of Adol-
phus earl of Schowenborch, gave a charter to his (Adolphus's} citizens
of Hamborch, granting them a free paffage for their fliips and men from
the fea to their city, without paying any toll or ungelt, or any impofition
whatever in coming or returning ; but with a condition, that the goods
of ftrangers, brought in their vefTels, fhould pay duty to the emperor at
his city of Stade*. He grants them an exemption from all exadions in
the whole diftricl belonging to the earl, and the right of preventing any
perfon from building a caftle within two miles of their city, with the
right of fifhing in the Elbe two miles above, and two miles below, the
city. Alio any perfon, delirous of exchanging money in the city, might
do it in any place moft convenient, except before the money-houfe :
and the community had authority to examine the weight and ftandard
of the money ifllied by the coiners f. The charter alfo exempts the

* StaHe is fuuated at the moutli of a fmall as liigh as this town. \_Helmoli!i Chr. Slavorum,

river running into the foulh-weft fide of the Elbe, L. i, c. 15.]

below Hamburgh. About the year I coo, the f That 1 n-iay not be accufed of negledling fo

Danidi pirates plundered the banks of the Elbe important an objeft in commercial hiitory as the

* f'Ji

A. D. 1 189. 349

citizens from expeditions, and bellows feveral other privileges agree-
able to the manners of the age. [Chcirta in Lambecii Orig. Hamb. p. 83.]
After the Norman conquefl: London appears to have been governed
for fome time by a portgeref and a provoft conjundly *. The emprefs
Matilda, as queen of ILngland, appointed Godfrey Magnaville to be port-
geref and lliirref of London and Middlefex. In the reign of her fon.
King Henry II, we fee 110 more provofls, but find the names of feveral
portgerefs, or portgraves, who feem to have remained in office many
years, perhaps for life. In fome records the principal magiflrates of
London are alfo called fhirrefs (vicecomites), domefmen, and aldermen:
but it is not, I believe, known, whether thofe titles fucceeded each other
as belonging to the fime office of magiftracy, or belonged to co-exift-
ing offices. In thefirft year of King Richard, the oldeft furviving fon
of Henry II, the city began to have two fhirrefs, or bailifs, and a mayor,
who was the chief magiflrate. This year, at Michaelmas, Henry Fitz-
Alwin was appointed by the king to be the firft mayor, and he retain-
ed the office above twenty-four years. {Stow's Survey of London, pp. 914,

Immediately after the commencement of Fitz-Alwin's mayorality, an
excellent regulation for the fafety of the lives and properties of the in-
habitants of London took place. The houfes being built of timber,
with roofs of ft raw or reeds, fires were very frequent : and, in order to
prevent fuch calamities, it was ordered, that the houfes in the city fhould
thenceforth be built of ftone up to a certain height, and covered with
flate or tile. That fafe and lubftantial mode of building was generally
perfevered in for about two hundred years, after which timber build-
mgs again came in ufe. \_Maniifcripts quoted by Stow, Survey^ pp. 131,

533-]

In the reign of Henry II the Jews had met with fome relaxation of

the rigorous treatment to which they had formerly been iubje6led. De-
firous of conciliating the favour of the new king by valuable gifts, fome
of the chief men among them, aflembled from various parts of the king-
dom, went to prefent their offerings on the day of the coronation (Sep-
tember 3''), but were rudely repulfed by the guards, who alleged the
king's order for excluding them. The rabble fomehow got a notion

Jirjl notice of bills of exchange, I muft here give a ' have been a confidcrable place of commerce, fince

part of the charter in the original words. — ' Ar- ' biUsof exchange, or moneysremitted by exchange,

' gentum quoqiie in ipfa civitate fi quis cambiare ' were very neiu at this time in Europe, and were

' voluerit, in quocunque loco fuerit opportmnim, ' then in ufe only in the moil confiderable cities

' cambiat, nlfi fuerit ante domum monetas. Po- ' of commerce.' — Domus monet<c, which I have

' teftatem etiam liabeant examinandi denarios mo- clofely tranflated tie money-houfe, feems to be the

' netariorum in pondere et puritate.' From thefe mint.

words Mr. Anderfon, by a ftrange inadvertency, * Some hints concerning the magiftracy, &c.

concludes, that the emperor gave the Hamburgh- of London before the conqneft, may be feen in p.

ers 'liberty to negociate money by exchange, &c. 297.
' which lall privilege Ihews, that Hamburg muft

35© A. D. 1189.

that the king had given orders to kill the Jews, and being eager to imi-
tate the zeal of their fovereign, and to ferve God by deflroying that de-
voted race, whom, as well as the Saracens, they called God's enemies, a
dreadful carnage enfued, which was continued through the whole day
in defiance of the king's command for the mob to difperfe, fent by fome
of his principal courtiers, and was followed by a conflagration of the
houfes, and pillage of the property, of all the Jews in London.

1 1 90— The king's wrath for the difgrace brought upon the folemni-
ty of his coronation feftival, and the contempt of his authority, together
with his protedtion publicly granted to the furviving Jews, reftrained
the malice of the people againfl them, while he remained in England.
But, as foon as he left the kingdom, the fury broke out anew after his
departure ; and the maflacres and enormities of London were repeated
upon the Jews of Lynne, Norwich, Stanford, Lincoln, S'. Edmundfbury,
and York.

At the later city the tragedy was begun by burning the houfe, which
contained the widow and children of one of the principal martyrs to the
fury of the London mob. Thereupon about five hundred Jews fhut them-
felves up in the caftle, by'the permiflionof the governor, with their families
and their moft valuable and portable effedls*, and there fuftained a fiege,
till their provifions were expended, and they were driven to the fhocking
extremity of murdering with their own hands their wives and children,
and then themfelves, after fetting fire to the buildings in order to de-
flroy their property as much as poflible, and to involve fome timid
apoftates in the general deftrudion f . After this dreadful cataflrophe,
the befiegers, in order to deprive the unhappy heirs of the vidims, if
any remained, of their property, went to the cathedral, where the bonds
for their debts were preferved, which they forced from the keepers, and
folemnly committed to the flames in the middle of the church : and
then many of them, who had engaged themfelves to go to the holy war,
deliberately fet out upon their expedition. Such was the event of the
perfecution which the Jews fuffered, not for their religion, but for their
wealth, to which the mob were fpurred on, as confefled by William of
Newburgh, a contemporary writer, by the debtors of the Jews, and alfo
by fome of the clergy, and a hot-headed hermit. [lA^. Neivbrig. L. iv,
cc. I, 7-1 1 M. Paris, p. 157.] But thefe horrid deeds afford a me-

* The governor thought it his duty to protcft determined, when they found they could hold out

the Jews, or at leall their [jroperty, ' taiujuani no longer, to put their wives, their children, and

' gazas regias.' — ' Fifeo enini competit, quietiuid themfelves, to death, and to fet fire to the fort,

' Judiei, quos focneratores conftat tffe regies, in which they actually executed : and only two wo-

' bonis habere vidtntur.' \_IV. Ncwbii^. L. iv, men and a few children, who had Ihrunk from the

cf. 9, II.] general carnage and hid themfelves, were left to

f After the deflruftion of Jcrufaleni, Eleazar jjife the Romans an account of the lacrifice of the

and his aflotiatcs, who had defended the calllc of lelf devoted garrifon. \_'J'>ffpl'i' Bell, Juil. L, vii,

MalTada againlt the Romans, iu the like manner c, 28.]

A. D. 1 190. ^^i

lancholy proof of the profperity of the towns wherein they were per-
petrated ; for Jews are never found but in opulent places.

Richard, almofl immediately after he was crowned king of England,
refolved to defert his kingdom in order to accompany the king of France
on an expedition for the recovery of the Holy land from the Mohamcd-
ans : and he was perhaps the mofi: ardently-zealous champion, that ever
religious frenzy tranfported to Afia. To that holy warfare the great
treafures left by his father, amounting by the mod moderate account to
about a hundred thouiand marks, were confecrated, and alfo all the mo-
ney he could fcrew out of his fubjeds, and all that he could fcrape to-
gether by the fale of every thing that he could poflibly fell* [IV. Nezvbrig.
L. iv, c. 5. — Hovede?i,f. 2,']6 a, 377 b, 378 b.] One happy efFe6l to both
the Britifli kingdoms of his eagernefs for amafling money was the re-
ftoration of the caflles of Rokefburgh and Berwick to William king of
Scotland, together with a refignation of the acknowlegement of fuperi-
ority extorted from him by Henry II, in confequence of his being fur-
prifed and made prifoner by the barons of York- (hire ; for which recov-
ery of his own rights William paid him ten thoufand marks, [Fa-
dera, V, i, p. 64] a fum greatly exceeding in real value a million of mo-
dern moneyf . This large fum X was raifed by William from his fub-
jefts, not without an exertion of royal authority ; and even the clergy

were not exempted from the contribution. \JV. Nezvbrig, L. iv, c. 5.

Chart. Scon, quoted in Dalrymple's Annals of Scotland, V. i,p. 132.]

As Richard's expedition to the Holy land is unconnedted with com-
mercial hiftory, it will be fufficient to notice his fleet and his naval oper-
ations. His {hips, colleded from all the ports of England and the weft
coaft of France, which was entirely fubjed to him and his mother, form-
ed the fineft fleet, that had ever been under the command of a king of
England. The number is varioufly fl:ated by the different authors, and
Geffrey de Vinifauf §, who was in the expedition, only fays, that the
people of Mellana in Sicily, at which port the Englifh and French fleets
had their rendezvous, never faw, nor ever will fee, on their coafl: fo great
and fo fine a fleet as that of England. According to other authors of
good credit, there were 1 3 veffels, larger than the reft, called bufles||,

* An author of that age remarks, that, if all the f The much larger fum of£ico,oco, faid to

obligations exaded by Richard within four months have been paid by William to Henry II for his

were difcharged in the following year, he furpaifed ranfom, appears to have been advanced by Heftor

all his predeccITors in wealth. \_R. dc Dueto, col. Boyfe out of the inexhaullibie treafury of his own

650.3 invention.

•f- The value of money has fluiiluated fo much, § From his very copious account of Richard's

or rather been lo much deprelTed, in the courfe of expedition '^ap. Gale, Script. An;^l. V. ii.J I have

compofing this work, that I may have ufed differ- extraCled all the naval information of this period,

ent ftandards in converting antient monc\j into mo- except that for which other authors are particular-

dcrn. The ilandavd, fixed by Lord Lyttlcton in ly quoted.

his Life of Henry H, of ten modern pounds for one || Vinifauf calls the largeft of Richard's vclfels

mark of the age of Henry (or fifteen for one) was dnmons (or dromunds), and fays, he appointed one

certainly much too low, even when he wrote. of them to carry his bride and his fiiler, the queen

I dowager

35

A. D, 1 190,

failed with a triple fpread of fails *, about 50 armed gallies, and 100
tranfports or veffels of burthen. Befides thefe, there were 106 veflels,
which had afTembled at Lifbon, coafled round Spain as far as Marfeille,
and thence took a departure for Syria, without touching at any other
land. [HoveJen,/. 382 a.]

All thefe veflels rowed and alfo failed. The gallies were adorned with
innumerable pencils (or pennants) waving in the wind, and banners, or
ftandards, (' fignis') fixed in graceful order on the tops of the fpears.
The rojlra, or beaks, were diftinguiflied by the variety of their paintings
or figures ; and the prows of the veffels Ihone with the light refleded
from the fhields fixed upon them. Modern veffels, fays Vinifauf, have
greatly fallen off from the magnificence of antient times, when the gal-
lies carried three, four, five, and even fix, tires of oars, whereas now they
rarely exceed two tires. The gallies, antiently called Liburna, are long,
{lender, and low, with a beam of wood fortified with iron, commonly
called a fpur, projecfting from the head, for piercing the fides of the ene-
my. There are alfo fmall gallies, called galeons, which being fliorter
and lighter; fleer better, and are fitter for throwing fire.

Ships fometimes ventured, at leaft in the Mediterranean, to lofe fight

of land; but gallies never left the flioref. \Hoveden,f. 38a b, 404 a

Bromton^ col 1 2 1 7.] In order to keep the fleet from difperfing in the
night-time, a lantern was carried aloft by the king's veflel, which led
the way to the whole fleet.

dowager of Sicily. The fame vefTel he elfcvvheie
calls a ^;//} ('biiza'): io hrfs ^\\i dromon, or Jrc
mund, appear, at leaft fometimes, to have been
ufed promifcuoufly. [Compare Viiiifiiuf, pp. 316,
320 — R. ds D'lceto, col. 661. — M. Paris, p. 162.—
Bromton, col. 1201.]

The commentators, carried away by Greek
ctymologv, tell us that the droniund was a light
faft-failing vtfTel, fo called from S^eftoj, a race. It
is more than probable, that the word is Arabic :
and the examples quoted by Spclman, \_Archi!:oL
vo. Dromtinda'] who has therein condefcended to
copy Ifidore, are rather at variance with his defini-
tion and etymology. Vinifauf repeatedly charac-
terizes the dromons ;\$ heavy and dull-failing vcficls.

* ' Triplici vclorum expanfionc velificatas.' \_M.
Parts, p. 162.] They feem to have had three
marts, each carrying only one fail. We are not
told, I believe, how many mafts the gallies had.
In eighty years after we find fomc of the veffels
belonging to an afTociation of cnifading kings,
which are remarked as very large, carrying two
fails each. \_Hemlngford, L. iii, c. 34 ]

f Vinifauf exprtlsly fays [/). 274J that the kind
of veffel, which the antients called a Uburna, was
in his time (the iwelfth century) called a^a/lcy, in
L,3Un galea, which word is ufed on every occaiion
of mentioning fuch veifels by all the writers of the

middle ages. Yet Stella, a Genoefe clironlcler of
the fifteenth century, is very angry with his con-
temporaries for ufing the word galea, which he
takes every opportunity of iligmatizing as a cor-
ruption of language lately introduced by idiots.
See particularly his Chronicle at A. D. 1146,
141 6, ap. Muralori Script, V. xvii.

Flying firties, which the pilgrims had feen near
Sardinia, were now firft heard of in England : and
Hoveden [/. 383 a] feems apprehenfivc, that he
ftould fcarcely obtain credit for the exigence of
fuch wonderful animals. I find flying filhcs appro-
pi iated to the tropical feas of the welleni hemi-
fphere by lome writers of the prefcnt age, e. g. Mrs.
Piozzi; and, what is more furptifing, Mr. Ed-
wards, the hiftorian of the Weft- Indies, fuppofes
\_y. I, p. 12, wo/ir] that Columbus, a Mediterrane-
an navigator, had never ften a flying fifh, till he
was on the voyage wherein he difcovered the Weft-
ern world. The flying filh is defcribed, but very
briefly, by Pliny [L. ix, c. 36J under the name of
hirundo, or fwallow-fiflij and its flight, or leap,
has certainly fome refemblance to the (liimming
flight of the fwallow. Flying fiflics are common
in the A'.lantic ocean as far nortli as the coaft of
Portugal ; and we leai'ii from Mr. Pennant [^Bril.
Zoology, y. HI, /I. 292, 4'" edil.'\ tliat at leatt one
has been found on the cvall of South- Wales.

A. D.I 190. ^^^

In fea engagements they ftill preferved the antient femicircular line
of battle, ftationing the ftrongeil vefTels in the wings, or points, with a
view to inclofe the enemy as in a net. The foldiers, ftationed on the
upper deck, (or on the raifed platform or forecaftle, ' fuperioribus tabu-
latis') made a clofe bulwark, of their (hields ; and, to give them free
room to fight, the rowers fat together below. When the hoflile fleets
approached, the found of the trumpets and the fhouts of the men gave
the fignal for the engagement, which commenced with a difcharge of
miflile weapons on both fides : the fliarp beaks, or fpurs, were forcibly
dafhed againfl: the enemy's fides : the oars were entangled : and the hos-
tile veflels being grappled together, a clofe fight enfued, while the en-
gineers endeavoured to burn their enemy's fhips with the Greek fire,
which was now in common ufe with the Turks and Saracens, as well as
the Chriftians.

1 191 — During the fiege of Aeon a battle was fought between the
Chriftians and the Turks upon the fea. In one galley the Turks got
poflefllon of the upper tire of oars, and the Chriftians retaining the low-
er tire, they pulled the vefl^el different ways *.

While Richard was on his paflage from Cyprus to Paleftine, he fell in
with a, very large fhip loaded with warlike ftores and provifions, and hav-
ing onboard, according to the moft moderate and probable account,
eight hundred foldiers for the relief of the garrifon of Aeon. She car-
ried three very lofty mafts ; but her fails were of little avail to her, for
it was almoft calm, and flie was too heavy to make much way with her
oars. Richard's Hght gallies, by the ufe of their oars, moved round her
with the greateft agility, and attacked her furioufly in every diredion :
but the great ftrength and loftinefs of her fides gave her fuch a fuperi-
ority over them, that ftie baffled all their efforts, till Richard in a rage
threatened to crucify every man in the fleet, if fhe Ihould efcape. Then

* This curious circumftance, which affords a Donatus Jannotius ^Refp. Venet. p. 257] fays,

clear demonftration that the antient gallies carried there are biremes, triremes, and qulnqueremcs in the

their oars in tires above each-other in the manner arfenalat Venice : but unlefs he means gallies with

defcribed in the early part of this work, has not two, three, and five, men to an oar, I fiifpeft he

been fo much obferved by writers, as it ought to has facrificed accuracy of dcfcription, to, what he

be ; and it is the more worthy of attention, if it be, fuppofes, fine language ; and fome judicious tra-

as I believe it is, the latefl certain notice of veflels velers, who have vifited the arfcnal, tell me that my

carrying more than one tire of oars. Vinifauf's fufpicion is well founded. The fame mifapplica-

defcription of the gallies gives room to believe, that tion of the word appears on fome of the medaU

there were fome even with three tires ; but I find of Louis XIV. — 15aptifta Burgus, who publifhed

no particular mention of any one fuch ve(fel in his his panegyrical hiilory of Genoa in the year 1 641,

very circumflantial work, and indeed none, which evidently ufes biremes and triremes to denote the dif-

can be depended on, in any other ; though feveral ferent Czes of gallies ; and he denies that there can

writers of that and the fucceeding ages, in their af- polTibly be any more than one tire of oars. — \ ma-

feftation of clafTical latinity, have obfcured their nufcript of the Cotton library [_Titus, A, xxvi, 3]

narratives by applying the term triremes to gallies promifes, according to the catalogue, fome iiiform-

of every kind, and alfo to the great fhips of the alion, illuftrated with drawings, concerning tri-

Saracens, [e. g. IV. Newbrig. L. i, c. ZO R. de rcmes and other naval affairs. I5ut the drawings,

Diceto,eol.b6l. — M.Paris, p. 1 62. — Ottonis Frifing. which are very bad, have no galliea with more thaa

Gejl. Frid. ap. Muratori Script. F. vi, col. 668.] one tire of oars.

Vol. I. Y y

354 A. D.I 191.

fome of the Englifh feamen, diving under the bottom of the great fhip,
hampered her rudders, (or whatever fhe ufed for fleering, ' gubernacu-
la') with ropes, fo that fhe could fcarcely move, while the reft attempted
to board her, which they effeded, but were repulfed by the Turks with
prodigious flaughter. At length they drove the iron beaks of the gal-
lies furioufly'againft her, and opened feveral breaches in her fides, fo
that fhe filled with water. The Turks, finding their fhip going down,
leaped onboard their enemies to fave their lives : but all the crew were
deliberately butchered or drowned by the orders of Richard, except fe-
ven officers of high rank, and twenty-eight engineers, whom he referv-
ed for the value of their ranfom, or their fkill in conftruding warlike
machines, and to be a trophy of his great achievement *. [Vimjauf, p.
328.]

A fimilar great fhip was taken by the French fleet near Tyre. \P.
JEmyl. p. 177.] t

The Germans and Danes, while they were lying before Aeon, pro-
bably feeing that they would need but few veflels to carry them home,
broke up their fhips for fire-wood. About the fame time five hundred
fhips and bufles, with fome gallies and other veffels, returned to Italy to
take in frefh cargoes of men and provifions to be confumed in Paleftine.
Thefe, I fuppofe, belonged to the people of the free ftates of Italy, who
knew better what to do with their fhips than the Germans and Danes,
and turned the enthufiafm of their wefiern neighbours to the advantage
of their commerce and navigation. [Hoveden,/. 376 b.]

The enumeration of the articles, belonging to one of the caravans
traveling from Babylon to Paleftine, which was plundered by King Rich-
ard, gives us fome idea of the nature of the Oriental trade, as conduc-
ed at that time by the way of the Perfian gulf. They confifted of a
great quantity of gold and filver (which muft have been bullion, as mo-
ney is alfo mentioned) robes of filk, pvirple, round gowns (' ciclades'),
purple dye, a variety of ornaments for drefs, arms and weapons of vari-
ous kinds, fewed coats of mail of the kind called gafingan%, embroidered
cufhions, fumptuous pavilions and tents, bifcuit, wheat, barley, and flour,
eleduaries and other medicines, bafins, bottles, bags or perhaps purfes
('fcaccaria'), filver pots and candlefticks, pepper, cinnamon, and other
choice fpices of various kinds, fugar and wax, with a prodigious quan-
tity of money. The whole value of the plunder was faid to be much

* Tlie later wrilers fay, that a diver bored a with their axes, through whicli tlicy boarded licr,

hole ill lur bottom, which iuiik her; and that King and after a dreadful carnage got iioffcflion of her,

Richard faved 200 prlfoners, and diowned 1300. and found her a very rich prize. They tlien mur-

f Another great dromund was taken many years dercd all tiie people, except tlie commander, and

before by a company of pilgrims in nine Hiips un- burnt the fliip, by which they loft much of the

tier the command of Rognvald earl of Oikncy. trcafurc. Such were the laws and practices of that

Oncof the Orkney veflels creeping clofe ill toiler fnle holy warfare. \^Smrro, H'ljl. Si^urdi, l^c. c. 17.—

nr.dct the range of the engines, they opened a port Turfxi Oicudis, L. i, c. 31.]

A. D. 1 191. 355

beyond what had ever been taken in any one battle : and we may form
fome judgement of it from the number of cattle employed to carry the
merchandize, when, befides very many that efcaped, the camels and dro-
medaries taken were eflimated at 4,700, and the mules and affes taken
were faid to be innumerable. [V'inifauf, p. 400.] We may here remark,
that fuch articles as filver pots and candlefticks and fome kinds of drape-
ry ufed to be carried from Egypt to the Eaft in the firft century, and
alfo money, the balance of trade being then very great in favour of the
Oriental merchants ; whereas now a large balance in money and bullion
appears to have been brought y>-o?« the Eaft.

We have already feen the citizens of London have a principal fhare
in the eleftion of King Edmund Ironfide and Harold the fon of Cnut ;
and other fimilar inftances might be adduced, if neceilary. We now
find them joined with John the brother of the abfent king, the bifhops,
earls, and barons, in depofing one viceroy, and appointing another, who,
together with his aflbciatesin the adminiftration, gave the citizens anew
charter of their incorporation or communty (' communa') *. [^Hoveden,

/ 399 b.]

1 192 — King Richard, whofe prodigies of perfonal valour in Paleftine
have ranked him among the heroes of romance, had the misfortune to
be trepanned in his way home by the duke of Auftria, who fold him to
the emperor of Germany : and he was accordingly tranfported by his
new proprietor from Vienna to Mentz and other places, where he was
generally kept in a rigorous confinement, till a treaty was concluded,
whereby the emperor extorted from him, or rather from the people of
England, one hundred thoufand marks of filver of the weight of Co-
logne, to be paid in advance, together with an obligation, to be fecured
by the delivery of fixty-feven hoftages, for fifty thoufand marks, to be
paid, if fome fecret engagements concerning the duke of Saxony were
not performed : and the emperor, in return for fo much folid treafure,
made him a prefent of an imaginary kingdom of Provence. The king
thereupon wrote to his mother and the jufticiaries of England (April
19'"), defiring them to coUedl as much money as poflible by contribu-
tions and loans, and alfo to receive all the gold and filver belonging to
the churches, and to give their oaths to the clergy for the reftoration of
them. The king feems to have expected, that the money might be
raifed by voluntary contributions and loans ; but fo heavy a demand,
coming before the country had recovered fro'm the effeds of the drain

* The learned Somner {GloJ. ad Script, decern^ porated community, appears evidently from feveral

confiders communa on this occafion as lignifying a charters of King John, granting to his towns in

covenant of confederacy witli the bifliops, earls, Normandy their communa. Set Madox's Hijl. of the

and barons, for their joint fecurity. But, that the essheq. f. 13, J 13 ; and Firma burgl,p. 35.

word expreffed the rights or privileges of aa incor

I

Yy 2

356 A. D. 1 192.

made by the preparations for his late expedition, was found fo diftrei!^
ful, that the moft rigorous exertions throughout all England and his
continental territories were infufficient to raife the fum required, though
all exemptions claimed in confequence of privileges, dignities, or eccle-
liaftical orders, were difregarded, though even the plate and other trea-
fures of the churches were taken, and the Ciftercian monks, who had
never before been fubjefted to any royal exaction, were compelled to
give the wool of their fheep, which was almofl their only income ; and
a fecond, and even a third, colledion was made before the whole fum
could be completed. William, king of Scotland, contributed two thou-
fand marks, which, I prefume, was the fcutage due from his eftates
in England. At laft, the money being raifed and tranfported to Ger-
many at the expenfe and rifk of England, the fordid and rapacious em-
peror difmiffed his captive (4'" February, 11 94)*. [Foedera, V.i, pp.
80-84. — Chroii. Melros, ad an. 1193. — W. Newbrig. L. iv, cc. 38, 41. —
Hoveden., f- A-'^6 b. — Madox's Hiji. of the excheq. c. 15, § 4.]

As only the noblemen (magnates) and the churches are particularly
mentioned in the king's letter, as expeded to contribute to his ranfom,
it has been concluded, that the great mafs of the people were too poor
to bear any part in the contribution. But we ought to remember, that
the ranfom of the fuperior from captivity was one of the chief duties
incumbent upon every perfon who held land by the terms of the feudal
fyftem : and therefor it was not the duty of fuch citizens and burgefles
as had no lands to pay any thing for the fovereign's ranfom. Thence,
though the citizens of London contributed on this occafion a gift and
aid (' dono' ' et auxiho') of 1,500 marks, [Madox's HiJi. of the excheq. c.
1 5 , § 4] we may account for the envied difplay of opulence made by
them in their zeal to do honour to their admired fovereign in his pro-
ceflion through the city, which fo dazzled the eyes of fome German no-
blemen, who were with him, and who fuppofed that there could be
nothing valuable remaining in England, that one of them faid to him,
' Truely, if the emperor had known how rich England is, he would
' have made you pay a much larger fum for your ranfom.' \W. New-
brig. L. iv, c. 42.]

1 1 95 — King William made a new coinage of the money of Scotland,
which was debafed, apparently in confequence of the great drain of the
payments he had made to King Richard. [Chron. Melros, ad an. 11 95.
— Wyniown^s Chronykil, V. i, p. 342.]

* In the prcfent day the national dtbt, and its fum with the price of provifions at the time, we

ntccfTary confequence, the dcprctiation of the real may judge of the grcatncfs of Richard's ranfom

value of money, have accuftomed us to talk, fo fa- in the opinion of foreigners from Otto dc St. Bias,

miliarly of millions, that wc are apt to think luni- who fays in his Clironiclc, {jip. Muratori Script. V.

dreds of thunfands mere trifles in a national ac- vi,^. 895] that he mull not venture to mention the

count. But, independent of a coniparifon of the fum, as he lliould not cxpeft to be believed.

A, D. 1196. 357

1 196, July 14'" — It was tifual to make kidels, or wears, in the River
Thames for catching fifh, and the keeper of the Tower drew an annual
rent from them, apparently for account of the king. But the citizens
of London having reprefented to King Richard, that fuch obftrudions
in the river were great nuifances to the city and the whole kingdom,
he ordered that they fliould be all removed *. [Cbart. in Brady on burghs,
App. p. 29.]

1 197, November 20'" King Richard palTed a law for the uniformity

of weights and meafures throughout the kingdom, ordering the mea-
fures of length to be made of iron, and thofe of capacity to have rims
of the fame metal, and that ftandard weights and meafures of every
kind fliould be kept by the fliirrefs and magiftrates of towns. It was
alfo enaded, that, wherever woollen cloths were made, they fhould mea-
fure two ells in breadth within the lifts f , and ihould be equally good
in the middle and at the fides. All cloths made contrary to law were
to be immediately burnt, and all artifices to impofe upon the buyer in
the fale of cloths were ftridly prohibited. Dye-ftufFs, except black,
were to be fold only in the cities and capital burghs, to which alfo the
bufinefs of dying, except in black, was reftrided. To the great relief
of the people, who had been diftreifed by the variety of coins, he
ordered, that only one kind of money fhould be current. Chriftians
were not allowed to take any intereft for the ufe of money. He pro-
hibited fecret bargains between Chriftians and Jews, and ordered that
three copies ftiould be made of every agreement, one of which ftiould
be preferved in a public repofitory %. He ordered the jufticiaries to do
impartial juftice to all perfons. But thefe regulations were obferved on-
ly during the fliort remainder of his reign §. \_Hoveden, f. 440 b. M.

Paris, p. 191, ed. 1640 — 'triveti Annal. p. 127. — Bromton, col. 1258.]

Another law of King Richard (in the year 11 94) againft the exporta-
tion of corn, ' that England might not fuffer from the want of its own
' abundance,' was probably only temporary during the time of fcarcity.
Richard, having found fome veflels in St. Valeray, a French port, which
were loaded with com for the king of France in defiance of this law,
he burnt the town and the veflels, hanged the feamen, deftroyed the

»

The prohibition of the kidels was h'ttle at- § The affife of King Richard is dated by Trivet

tended to, as appears from the frequent renewals and Bromton in the year 1 194. But Mathew

of it by fucceeding kings. Paris, an earlier, and a faithful and well-informed

f The licences granted by Henry II to fell hillorian, is fo particular in the date, St. Ed-
cloths of any breadth whatever, as an exception mund's day in 1197 at Weftminftcr, that there can
from a general rule, fhow that this was only a re- be no doubt of his fuperior accuracy. Thefe re-
newal of an older law. See above, p. 347. It was gulations, together with many other well-authen-
alfo renewed by John and Henry III. ticated faAs, already noticed, (Tiow how grofsly

X From the account of the infamous riot and they midake, who fuppofe the colony of weavers,

malTacre at York in the beginning of Richard's introduced fiom the Netherlands by Edward III,

reign, it appears, that the bonds belonging to the the original founders of the woollen maniifachncs

Jews were preferved in the cathedral of that city of England,
in the reign of Henry II.

358

A. D. 1 197.

monks concerned in the bufinefs, and gave the corn to the poor. [M.
Paris, ^.191.]

The famous maritime laws of Oleron (which is an ifland adjacent to
the coaft of France) are ufually afcribed to Richard I, though none of
the many writers, who have had occafion to mention them, have been
able to find any contemporary authority, or even any antient fatisfac-
tory warrant for affixing his name to them *. They confifl of forty-
feven fhort regulations for average, falvage, wreck, &c. copied from
the antient Rhodian maritime laws, or perhaps more immediately from
thofe of Barcelona.

1 1 98 In the laft year of Richard there occurs an inftance of a land-
ed eftate being mortgaged to a Jew for the payment of one hundred
marks with intereft (or ufury as the payment for the ufe of money was
then called) at the rate of ten per cent annually. [Madox, Formulare
Anglic, p. 77.] It may be prefumed that the tranfadion was confidered
as legal, the canons againft taking intereft not extending to the Jews,
and that ten per cent was below the cuftomary rate of intereft.

From the earlieft mention I have found of Hull f , it feems to have
been a fhipping port for the wool of the neighbouring country, whereof

* The bed warrant, thai could he found by the
keen relVarch of Selden, when writing under royal
'authority, was a bundle of papers upon the fove-
reignty of the fea, preferved in the Tower, and
apparently written in the time of Edward III,
the firft king of England who claimed the crown
of France ; wherein it is fald, that ' The laws and
' ftatutes were correfted, interpreted, and declar-
' ed, by the lord Richard, formerly king of Eng-
' land, on his return from the Holy land, and
• made public in the idand of Oleron.' \_Mare
claufum, L. ii, c. 24.] But Selden very foon after
obferves, thst fome printed copies of thofe laws
date them in 1266; and Camden, without faying
a word of Richard, dates them in that year. {Brit-
annia, p. 859, ed. 1607.3 As no point in hiftory
is better afccrtained, than that Richard never went
near Oleron on his return from the Holy lane/, it is
poffible, that his order for the regulation of his
fleet when at fea, or his renewal of the law of
fienry I and Henry H refpefting wrecks, when
he was at MclTana in Sicily on his nueiy to the Holy
land, \_Hoveden, f. ■3,-jC) b, 386 b] may have been
tlie foundation of the belitf that he was tlie author
'A the maritime laws of Oleron.

Cleirac, an advocate of Boutdcaux, in a work,
intitlcd Us el coufiumes deln mer, publifhed in 1621,
afcribes the laws of Oleron to Eleonora duchefs of
Guienne and queen of England, who, he fays, en-
arted them in tiic year 1266 on her return from the
Holy land, to which (lie had accompanied her huf-
hand. It feems, a return from the Holy land mull
be conncdlcd with thofe laws. But this author
feems to confound Eleonora duchefs of Aquitaine

(of which Guienne is a part) the queen of Henry II,
with Eleonora of Cailile, the wife of Edward
prince of England, who, indeed, accompanied her
hufband to the Holy land ; but they did not fet
out till the year 1269. The fame author, with
rather more probability, fuppofes the laws of Oleron
were copied from the maritime code of Barcelona.

There are charters of Otho duke of Aquitaine,
of Eleonora duchefs of Aquitaine and queen dow-
ager of England, and of John king of England
dated in 119S and 1199, and alfo of Henry III
king of England dated in 1230, confirming to the
men of Oleron their former privileges, and further
giving them liberty to fell their wine and fait, to
difpofe of their children in marriage, and to make
their wills : but not a word of any maritime laws-
\^Firdera, y. i, />/>. 105, III, 112, SH-]

It may be thought that I have beltowed more
attention upon thcfe laws than they defeivc. But
the commercial importance, which has been afcrib-
ed to them, and their fame, whether well or ill
founded, feemed to rcijuire fome difcui^lon of their
fuppofed connexion ulih England.

Godolphin has p\ib!ilhed them, ' rendered into
' Engllih out of Garfias, alias Ferrand,' in the ap-
pendix to his fiezii of the admiral jurifJif'ion. The
conveyance of lavvt;, afcribed to an Englilli king,
to Englilh readers by means of a Spanilh writer,
i.; one of the llrange circumllance". attending the
bws of Oleron. They have alio been publillied
by Pofllethwayt and others.

t The gcncrally-recciv'_-(l belief, that the town
of Hull did not cxill till the year 129^), will be
noticed under the year 1298.

A. D. 1 198. 359

forty-five facks were this year feized for being (hipped without licence,
and fold on account of the king for 225 marks, 01^/^3:6:8 each.
[Madox's Hiji. of the excheq. c. 18, § 4.] "

The forty-five facks feized at Hull may be prefumed to have been
but a very fmall part of the wool fhipped at that port ; and fimilar feiz-
ures made at other ports (as appears by the fame record) fliow, that the
exportation of wool was very confiderable. And as an order of King
Henry II, mentioned above, [p. 347] gives reafon to believe, that the
wool of England was at this time fuperior to that of Spain, the avidity,
wherewith it was bought up for the Flemifh fine manufa6tures, need not .
furprife us. Indeed it was not only the principal article of Englifh ex-
ports in point of magnitude, but alfo the moft commanding one fiar a
fure and ready fale. Accordingly, when King Richard was at Sluys in
Flanders on his return from captivity, and wanted to raife money, he
found wool the moft acceptable thing he could offer, and he adually
received a fum of money from the naerchants on his promife of de-
livering to them the wool of the enfuing year's growth belonging to the
Ciftercian monks of England, with whofe property he made free on the
occafion. \Hemingford, L. ii, c. 72.] We have feen [above, p. 345] an
Englifh writer go fo far as to fay, that about this time all the nations in
the world were clothed with Englifh wool made into cloth in Flanders :
but, independent of rhetorical flourifh, we know from the fober and
undeniable authority of the records of the exchequer, that wool, wool-
fells (fheep-fkins with the wool on them), and woollen yarn (filetum),
were exported, on paying for licences, which mode of raifing money
upon the exportation of merchandize feems to have been equivalent to
the cuftom duties of modern times. [Madox's HiJl. of the excheq. c. 18,

In the feventh and eighth years of Richard's reign the fines and dif-
mes (or tenths) paid on tin and other merchandize in London, apparent-
ly exported, amounted to ;^379 : i ; 6 ; and in the fame years the duties
upon woad imported in London amounted to £^^ : 6 : 8. \Madox, c. 18,
§ 4.] If London alone imported woad to an extent, that could bear
fuch a payment, (and it will afterwards appear that but a fmall part of
the whole woad imported arrived in London) the woollen manufadure,
in which it was apparently moftly confumed, muft have been fomewhat
confiderable.

But there is reafon to believe, that but few /?/?^ woollen goods were
made in England, and that the Flemings, who were famous at this time
for their fuperior fkili in the woollen manufadure, as is evident from the
teftimony of feveral of the Englifh hiftorians of this age *, continued

* See them adduced in a note in p. 270, and add to tliem Mathcw Paris, [^. 8863 a refpeclabls
hiRorian, who flouvifhed in the reign of Henry III,

360 A. D. J 198.

for a feries of ages to fupply moft of the weftern parts of Europe, and
even fome of the Mediterranean countries, with fine cloths, which the
Italians called French cloths, either as reckoning Flanders a part of
France (as indeed, in feudal language, it was) or becaufe they received
them from the ports of the fouth coaft of that country.

1 1 99 — King John in the beginning of his reign addrefTed a letter to
the mayor and community of London, whereby he promifed, that for-
eign merchants of every country fhould have fafe condudt for them-
felves and their merchandize in coming into, and going out of, England,
agreeable to the due, right, and ufual, cuftoms, and fhould meet with
the fame treatment (' eandem habeant pacem') in England, that the
Englifh merchants met with in the countries they came from.

Similar letters were at the fame time fent to the fhirref of Suflex, the
mayor and community of Winchefler, the bailif of Southampton, the
bailif of Lynne, the bailif (or fhirref) of Kent, the fhirref of Nor-
folk and Suffolk, the fhirref of Dorfet and Somerfet, the barons of the
Cinque ports, the fhirref of Hampfhire, the fhirref of Hertford and
EfTex, and the fhirref of Cornwall and Devon * ; whence it appears that
the fouth coafl, and the eafl coaft only as far north as Norfolk, were
efteemed the whole, or at leaft the chief, of the commercial part of the
country, though we fhall foon fee that Bofton, beyond thefe limits, was
little inferior to London in commercial importance, and fome ports flill
farther north had their fhare of the trade of the country.

1 200 — The bufinefs of lending money at interefl, however moderate,
being prohibited to the Chriftians by law, the Jews, who in all ages,
fince the abolition of their government as a diflinft nation by the Ro-
mans, have eftablilhed themfelves as brokers and dealers in money in
every country, wherein there was any commerce or money, were there-
by put in polTeflion of a monopoly of the trade of lending money up-
on interefl. It is feldom that monopolifls are fatisfied with a reafonable
profit ; and the Jews in England appear to have fometimes carried their
extortions to a moft fcandalous height. Such condud was fufEcient, in-
dependent of the violent religious prejudices of the age, to render them
odious to the people, who were continually crying out to the kings for
the punifhment and expulfion, or rather extermination, of the Jews.
The kings, who did not think it for their intereft to expell them, took
a method, very convenient for themfelves, of punifhing them by heavy
fines. This proceeding proved to the Jews, that their extortions would
be not only tolerated, but even encouraged, if they were well paid for :
and it at the fame time compelled them to rife in their demands upon

• Tin's faft conduft is publiflicd from tlie re- firft year of lils reign : but the fgure fccms rrro-

cords in th'- Tower by Hakluyt ^^Voiagct, V. '\, p. neous, for fuch ;in art of favour would probably

ijy] and, I believe, by no other. It is dated tlie take place very foon afti r his acceflion.
j"' day of April, which was the lalt day of the 4

A. D. 1200. 361

the unfortunate people, who were obliged to apply to them for the ufc
of money, that they might be enabled to fatisfy the king and his mi-
nifters. And thus a fyftem of ufurious oppreflion was at the fame time
prohibited by law, and fandioned by the pradice of the fovereign, who
ufed the Jews as his inftruments to fleece the people, in order to fill his
own coffers. The kings even went fo far as to claim the whole proper-
ty of the Jews, as belonging to themfelves, thus extending to that un-
fortunate race the principle of the laws of flavery, which declare, that
a flave can have no property, all his pofFeflions of every kind belonging
to his mafter *. And fo great was the revenue extorted by the kings
from thofe people, that there was a particular office eftabliftied for the
management of it, called the exchequer of the Jews, under the diredion
of officers called the keepers, ov Jii/lices, of the 'Jews, who in the more
antient times were Chriftians and Jews joined together, but afterwards
for the moft part Chriftians only. \^Madox''s Hi/i. of the excheq. c. 7.]

The Engliih writers are full of complaints againft William II for his
favours to the Jews. Henry I, and his grandfon Henry IT, conferred
feveral privileges on them, and permitted them to be owners of land ;
but the later extorted from them a fourth part of their property ; not-
withftanding which, the Jews appear to have thought themfelves favour-
ably treated in his reign. This year King John, for the fum of four
thoufand marks, gave the Jews of England and Normandy a charter
confirming to them the privileges granted by his predeceflLrs, and permit-
ting them to live freely and honourably in his dominions, and to hold
property in lands, &c. and authorizing them to purchafe every thing
brought to them, except what belonged to the church, and bloody
cloth f ; and to fell every thing pledged or pawned with them, if not
redeemed within a year and a day. [^Madox's Hfi. of the excheq. c. 7,
§ 8, note {e).-]

The Magnet or Lodestone, the moft pretious of all ftones (except
the flint which kindles our dayly fire) and infinitely more valuable than
all the diamonds in the world, was known to the philofophers of antient
Greece for its quality of attrading iron ; and in later ages the few, who
underftood the fecret, were enabled to perform a number of ingenious

• In tlie laws afcrlbed to Edward the Con- f ' Panno fanguinolento,' which Tovey \_Aiiglia

fefTor, [c. 29] the Jews and all their goods are jfiijaica, p. 62] believes to be deep red or crimfoa

declared to be the property of the king. William cloth: and he quotes Kcnriei's Parochial antlquit'n:,

of Newburgh \_L. iv, c. 11] fays that King Rich- p. 576, for the abbat of Burcefter clothing his

ard was greatly enraged at the flanghter of the fervants ' blodeo panno,' which to-be-fure could

Jews, on account of the affront to his royal nna- nut be cloth flained with blood, but mull have

jefty by the contempt of his prottftion, and alfo been cloth of a blood-red colour. See alfo ' bio-

for the great lofs to his exchequer ; ' for what- ' dio velvet' and, blodio panno' in Foedera, V, ix,

' ever property is found in polTcflion of the Jews, p. 276. But why the Jews fliould have been par-

' -who are well inotvn to he the royal ufurers, be- ticularly debarred from buying either red cloth or

' longs to the exchequer.' — Was not that the bloody cloth, I fuppofe, nobody can now tell,
true reafon that Chriftians were prohibited from
lending money uoon intereft ?

Vol. I, ' Z z

362

A. D. 1200.

tricks with it, to the great amazement of the ignorant, who afcribed
the wonders they faw^ to the power of magic. But till about the end
of the twelfth century we find no good authority to fhow, that the more
valuable property of the magnet, its polarity, or that power, (I had
almoft faid inftind) by which one point of it, or even of a needle or
bar of iron or fleel touched with it, turns to the north pole, and the
oppofite point to the fouth, was known, at leafl in the weftern parts of
the world.

About the conclufion of the twelfth century the earlieft notice, I be-
lieve, to be found of the polarity of the magnet appears in the poetic-
al works of Hngues de Bercy, called alfo Guiot de Provins, who fays,
' This (polar) ftar does not move. They (the feamen) have an art,
' which cannot deceive, by virtue of the manete, an ill-looking brownifh

* flone, to which iron fpontaneoufly adheres. They fearch for the right
' point, and when they have touched a needle on it, and fixed it on a
' isit of ftraw, they lay it on the water, and the ftraw keeps it afloat.

* Then the point infallibly turns toward the ftar ; and when the night
' is dark and gloomy, and neither fhar nor moon is vifible, they fet a
' light befide the needle, and they can be affured, that the ftar is op-
' pofite to the point ; and thereby the maiiner is direded in his courfe.
' This is an art, which cannot deceive *.' \Guiot, op. Fauchet, Recueil
de la langue et poefie FranfaiJ'e, p. 555.]

Jacques de Vitry (or Jacobus de Vitriaco) who alfo flourifhed at this
time, and was bifliop of Aeon in Paleftine, wrote three books of the
hiftory of the Eaft and the Weft, wherein he employs ten chapters [L.
i, cc. 84-93] ^"^ gi'^i^g "^"^ account of the natural produdions of the Holy
land and other Oriental countries ; and his defcriptions, compared with
thofe of Pliny, exhibit a deplorable proof of the decay of fcience in
Europe during the courfe of eleven centuries. In his account of the
pretious ftones of the Eaft [L. i, f. 91] he confounds the adamant or
diamond with the magnet as follows. ' The adamant is of a light iron
' colour, about as big as the kernel of a filbert nut ; and though it is
' fo hard as to refift the force of any metal, it may be broken by the

* frefh blood of a ram-goat. Fire does not make it hot. It attrads
' iron to it by fome hidden quality. An iron needle, after it has touch-
' ed the adamant, conftantly turns to the north ftar, which, as the axis

* of the firmament, remains immoveable while all the others revolve

* around it ; and thence it is indifpenfihly necejfary to all thofe who fail on
' the/ea. If placed near a magnet, which has attraded a piece of iron,

* The old French of the original is varioudy veiicc for my lale worthy friend Do£lor Lorimer,

corrupted in the manufcripts and the edition. Tlie and is inferted in his Cvitcij'e cffay on mtignttifm, ?

bed literal tranflation, which I have nearly follow- work publiflied after his death,
cd, is that, which was made by a native of Pre-

A. D. 1200.

3^3

'' it fnatches the iron from it *. It is moreover faid to be an antidote
■' againft poifon, and a charm againft magic arts. It drives away noc-

* turnal apparitions and vain dreams j and the touch of it is of great
' fervice to the infane. The magnet is alfo an Indian flone of an iron
' colour, which attrads iron fo as to form feveral rings into a chain.

* Tiie magicians ufe it in their tricks ; and it is good againft the dropfy

* and burnings.'

Thefe two defcriptions, which, I thought, deferved to be given in
the words of their authors, are exceedingly curious and valuable : for,
while they prove that the polarity of the magnet was known in the age
of thofe two French writers, they alfo prove that the knowlege of it
was only in its infancy, at leaft among the Chriftians of Europe : and
I have not been able to difcover that it was known to the Chinefe or
the Saracens fooner than to the Chriftians, as fome learned men have
fuppofed f .

In defiance of the above unqueftionable authorities, the Italian writ-

* The power of the adamant in attrafting iron
Was believed after this time. Mathew Paris fays,
[/). 723] that the papal legate, fent to Scotland in
the year 1247, drew the money of the Scots to
himfelf as ftrongly as tlie adamant does iron.

f Several authors ftrenuoufly aflert, that the
Chinefe have known the polarity of the magnet,
and had the ufe of the compafs a great many cen-
turies before it was known in Europe.

Duhalde, in his H'ljlory c,f China, mentions a
chariot of the emperor floangti, which fhowed
the four cardinal points. He alfo fays, that Tcheou
Kong gave fome foreign ambaffadors an inftru-
ment, which pointed to the north and the fouth,
that they might be direiled on their way home
better than they had been in coming to China.
This inftrument was called Tchi Nan, which is the
very fame name by which the Chinefe now call
the compafs : and thence it is inferred, that the
Chinefe had the ufe of the compafs in the reign
of Tcheou Kong, which is placed 1040 years be-
fore the commencement of the Chriftian aera. As
this is a point, which is likely to remain for ever
in the province of conjcftnre, it may be fufficient
to remark, that, if the Chinefe had the compafs,
they appear from th.e relation of Soliman, an Ara-
bian merchant (See above, p. 256) not to have
known its moll valuable ufe in condufting a fliip
acrofs the ocean; as in liis time (A. D. S51)
they crept along the coall as timoroufly as the
Roman or Grecian navigators of antiquity ufcd to
do. And even at this day, with the ufe of the
compafs, which, according to Sir George Staun-
ton, thty call lin-van-cIAn^, (not tchi-naii) they are
not willing to lofe fight of land, if by a longer
coafting circuit they can avoid it. IStJuntoti's Em-
hajfy to China, V. i, p. 445, 81)0 ed.']

Ifaac VoffiU! \_Obfervalioncs gtmraks, e. ia] af-

ferts, that the Seres (or Ch'mefe) have known the
polarity of the magnet about 2,800 years ; and
that the Saracens had undoubtedly learned it from
them, -when they met them at Taprobane {Ceylor),
and had ufcd it 500 years, as is tdliried by Jacobus
de Vitriaco (or V^itry) ; and that the .Chriftians
had learned the ufe of it from them about 300
years ago, i. e. about the year 1385.

If it can be proved, that the Chinefe had the
compafs in antient times, the conveyance of it to
the Chriftians by the Saracens is extremely proba-
ble : but probabilities are often very different from
fafts. I have traveled not only through the two
books of Vitry's Hiftory pubhihed by tiiemfelves,
but alfo through his third book, and his epillles,
as publifhed by Martenne in his great TLefaurui
anectlotorum, and by Bongarfius in his coUedion
nititled Gejia Dei per Francos ; and I have not dif-
covered any other paflage concerning the magnet,
but the one I have tranflated in the text, whidi
has not a word concerning the Saracens, but clear-
ly proves that the Chrillians have known the ppl-
arity of the magnet about two centuries before
the date afligned by Voffius, who quotes no other
authority for the nautical ufe of the magnet among'
the Chinefe.

I fliould be accufed of omifTion, if in this place
I fliould take no notice of Marco Polo, the cele-
brated Venetian traveler, who, according to fome
authors, flrft brought the compafs from China in
the year 1295, or, according to others, carried
the knowlege of it from Europe to China. Of
thefe contradiftory opinions, or aflcrcions, the firft
is evidently erroneous, and the fecond has verr
little piobability.

I do not pretend to any knowlege of the autho-
rities, upon which the antediluvian* arc faid t»
have pofltfTed the compafs.

Z Z 2

^64 A. D. 1200.

ers claim the honour of the invention of the compafs for John Goia,
or Flavio Gioia, a citizen of the commercial city of Amalfi, who, they
fay, firfi; ufed it in the year 1302, or 1320 : and, as a proof, they ad-
duce a line of Antony of Palermo, a Sicilian poet, wherein he fays,
' Prima dedit nautis ufum magnetis Amalfi.'
(Amalfi firfl: to feamen did impart
The fkill to fleer by the magnetic art.)

But this line, perhaps a poetical flourifli, gives us no date : and we
have already feen from better authority, that the inventor, or importer
of the invention from the Eaft, whether he lived in Amalfi or elfe-
where, muft have lived above a century before the age afiigned to Goia
or Gioia.

From the fimple contrivance of laying the magnetic needle on a float-
ing ftraw, as defcribed by Guiot, navigators, by gradual improvements
in the courle of time, came to add the ufe of a circular card aflfixed to
the needle, and traverfing with it, on which were drawn lines repre-
fenting the various winds. It is probable, (and in this cafe we can
have no better than probability) that Gioia of Amalfi was the firft, who
thought of ufing a card, and that only eight winds, or points, were
drawn upon it *.

The French, the Venetians, the Germans, and the Scandinavians (or
people of Norway and Denmark), have all difputed with the Amalfitans,
and with each-other, the honour of being the original difcoverers of
this moft noble inftrumcnt. It would be too tedious to adduce the ar-
guments of each ; and we may fatisfy ourfelves with fuppofing, that
fome praife is due to every one of them, and, as is generally allowed,
alfo to the Englifh, for improvements made upon the original inven-
tion. It may, however, be obferved, that the two French writers, from
whom we have the earliefl: knowlege of the appUcation of the magnet
to the fervice of navigation, have not a fingle word to fupport their
countrymen, or indeed any other nation, in pretending to the honour
of the difcovery.

In the year 1263 the compafs, fitted into a box (' pyxis nautica') as
now, though probably without a card, was in common ufe among the

* ' Ciica annum 1320 rem pulclierrimam uti- proof may be eftimated by thofe, who have had

' IKTimamque navignntibus invcnit quidam Flavins occafion to examine the caufe and origin of the

« Gioia civis Ama!philanii3, nempe ufum pyxidis particular parts of armorial hearings.
' nauticie c/ji2//<rque ad uavitrandum.' [_Bt\ncmuu, If it be ncceflary to give further proof, that

D'ljferlatto prima de rep. Amnlph. § 22, iid cahem the compafs was known in Europe before the he-

HiJI. pande8arurn.'\ S'"n'"g °f ^"^ fourteenth century, tlie writings of

A compafs with eight points and eight wings, Vincent of Beauvais, Albertus Magnus, and Peter

fuppoicd to repti'fent the e'<?ht winds, and having Adfigcr (for whom fee Cavallu on magnetijm, fecond

a ftar befide it, is the armorial bearing of the editiou) may be confulted, who all flouriflied in the

Principato eitra, in which Amalfi is fituated. [See thirteenth century, and all knew the polarity of the

the defcription in Brcncman, or tlie delineation in magnet.
Blncu't Atlas, part iii, /. lol-] The value of this

A, D. 1 200. ^6^

Norwegians, who had fo juft an idea of its great importance, that they
made it the device of an order of knighthood, to be conferred on men
of the higheft rank. [T'orfai Hijl. Norweg. L. iv, p. 345.]

In 1306 Robert king of Scotland, when croffing from Arran to the
coaft of Carrick in the night-time, fleered by a fire upon the fhore,

' For thay na nedil had nor flane,'
as is obferved by Barber, his poetical biographer. Hence it appears,
that the ufe of the compafs was well known in Scotland, at leaft in the
year 1375 *, when Barber wrote, and very probably alfo before 1306.

Though I have not found any earlier notice of the ufe of the com-
pafs among the Englifli f , they muff unqueftionably have known it
fooner than the Scots : and we may be alTured, that it was well known
to all the fouthern maritime nations, before fuch remote countries as
Norway and Scotland had the ufe of it.

In pi'ocefs of time navigators, or experimental philofophers, difcover-
ed, that the polarity of the magnetic needle was not perfedly true, and
that it diverged, or varied, fomewhat from the real north point. Suc-
ceeding experiments fhowed, that the Farianon was not everywhere the
fame ; that there was a Une on the furface of the globe, on which there
was no variation ; that on one fide of that line the north point of the
compafs varied to the eaflward, and on the other to the weflward, of
the true north ; and that the quantity of the variation increafed in an
unknown proportion to the diftance from the line of no variation. This
irregularity was known in, or before, the year 1269, when Peter Ad-
figer wrote upon the various properties of the magnet, the conftrudion
of the azimuth compafs, and the variation of the magnetic needle.
The difcovery of the variation has, however, been attributed by fome
to Chriflopher Columbus in the year 1492, and by others to Sebaflian
Cabot in 1500, who may have obtained the reputation of it, becaufe in
their voyages, wherein they made more difference of longitude than
former navigators, they had more ample opportunities of making ex-
periments upon the variation.

It was afterwards dif covered, that the variation not only differed as it
receded eaft or weft from the line of no variation, but that that line it-
felf, which was found to be an oblique waving curve, had alfo in the
northern hemifphere fhifted to the eaftward of its former ftation. The
nice obfervations of the eighteenth century have demonftrated, that
the variation is in a progreffive and perpetual ftate of alteration ; and

* I fay nothing of the Orkney fifliermen, who f Chaucer fays in his yljirolab'te, written in the

about that time made voyages on the coail of year 1391, that the fhipmen reckon thirty-two

America with the compafs, according to Ramufio's parts of the horizon, which plainly^ refers to the

narrative of Zeno's voyage, with Dgftor Forfter's compafs with its mod improved diviiion ; a divifion

explanation ; becaufe the geography of that voy- of which the people of Bruges in Flanders claim

age is ftill fomewhat doubtful. See below under the honour of being the authors.
the year 1360. *

366 ' A. D. 1200.

alfo, that it is fo far affeded by heat and cold, as to differ confiderably
in fummer and winter, and even in the courfe of the fame day.

Another property of the magnet is the Dip, or inchnation of the
north end of the needle towards the horizon, as if heavier than the
fouth end, which is therefor in fa6l made a little heavier in order to
counterpoife the dip. As the knowlege of the variation has been found
afliftant to navigators in afcertaining their longitude in fome parts of
the world ; fo, it is probable, that the theory of the dip of the needle
may, when better underftood, be alfo applied to fome valuable purpofe;
for Nature does nothing in vain.

All the properties of the magnet are admirable and incomprehenf-
ible ; and philofophers, in attempting to account for them, have only
involved themfelves in a labyrinth of ingenious, but fruitlefs, conjec-
tures. But though the Almighty Author of nature has not conde-
fcended to let us into the knowlege of the fecret laws, which govern the
magnet, the knowlege, which he has permitted us to acquire of the
methods of applying its wonderful powers to our fervice, has enabled
us to become acquainted with the whole of the globe, which was given
us to inhabit, and thereby to make prodigious improvements in the im-
portant fciences of geography and natural hiftory. The compafs has
given birth to a new sera in the hiftory of commerce and navigation.
The former it has extended to every fhore of the globe, and increafed
and multiplied its operations and beneficial effects in a degree, which
was not conceivable by thofe, who lived in the earlier ages. The later
it has rendered expeditious and comparatively fafe by enabling the na-
vigator to launch out upon the Ocean, free from the dangers of rocks
and flioals. By the ufe of this noble inilrument the whole world has
become one vaft commercial commonwealth ; the moft diftant inhabit-
ants of the Earth are brought together for their mutual advantage; an-
tient prejudices are obliterated, and mankind are civilized and enlight-
ened. And, by the compafs Great Britain has acquired that naval pre-
eminence, which flie confefledly poffefles over all the maritime nations
of the v/orld.

1201 — It appears from a diploma of Henry duke of Lorain, that
Antwerp, deftined to make fo great a figure in the commerce of fuc-
ceeding ages, was now firft inclofed by a wall : and Guicciardini, the
hiftorian of the Netherlands, adds, that from this time money of gold
and filver was coined in that city.

The town adjacent to the New-caftle, built by Robert the fon of Wil-
liam the Conqueror on the north bank of the Tine, appears to have
very foon rifen into fome degree of importance, as we may judge from
a pretty long lift, made up in the reign of Henry I, of articles paying
toll or duty there ; among which the moft worthy of notice are her-
rings, as an indication of that valuable fiftx being then caught in the

A. D. I20I. ' 367

adjacent fea, and feveral foreign furs, which infer fome trade with the
northern nations of Europe. [Brand's Hift. of Nezvcajlk, V. \\,p- 131-]
It mud have been a thriving place in the reign of Henry II to be able
to pay an annual rent of fifty pounds to the crown, as we find it did,
in terms of a charter of that king. The annual rent was now raifed
to fixty pounds; and the inhabitants, moreover, gave King John one
hundred marks and two palfreys for the renewal of their charter with
the confirmation of the liberties granted to them by Henry II. \Ma-
dox's Firma burgi, p. 54.]

The king charged the abbat of Muckelney three marks of gold, or
thirty marks of filver, for giving him feifinc of his abbay. \Madox's
H'lft. of the excheq. r. 13 $ 8.] We thereby learn, that filver was now
valued in proportion to gold as ten to one.

1202, January 6"" — King John, having occafion to fend two agents
to Rome, where no bufinefs could be forwarded without money, fur-
niflied them with a letter addrefled to all merchants, whereby he bound
himfelf to repay the fums advanced to his agents to the amount of five
hundred marks, at fuch time as fhould be agreed upon, to any perfoa
prefenting his letter together with the acknowlegement of his agents for
the fum received by them. And we find, that he repeatedly pracSifed
the fame method of borrowing money abroad in order to feed the infa-
tiable avarice of the nephews and other courtiers of the popes. \f'rynne''s
Hijl. of K. fohn, l^c. pp. 5, II.] In the preceding reign a company of
merchants of Placentia had advanced 2,125 iTfi^rks to the bifhops of
Anjou and Bangor, upon the faith of a fimilar letter of King Richard,
for the fervice of his nephew Otho king of the Romans (or of Ger-
many), which fum King John promifed (25"' Auguft, T199) to repay
them in four infl:allments in the courfe 6f two years. \Fcedera, V. i, p.
115.] As there is no mention of interefi: in any of thofe letters, it mufl
have been difcounted, when the money was advanced. This tranfac-
tion, the precife date of which is not expreifed, affords the earliefi: no-
tice I have found in any Englifh records of letters of credit, for fuch
they were to all intents and purpofes : and the tranfition from them to'
bills of exchange is fo natural and obvious, that we may believe they were
in ufe about the fame time, or very foon after, efpecially in Italy, where
there was more commerce than in any other part of Europe, and,
moreover, a prodigious fudion of money from every Chriftian country
in Europe, except the Greek empire, "into the ecclefiaftical coffers of
Rome.

The fourth crufade, wherein the nobles of France were the principal
leaders, furnifhes fome fads illufirative of the maritime power of the
Venetians. The warriors of France, who had no fhipping of their own,
applied to Venice, Genoa, and Pifa, for tranlports fufficient to convey
to the Holy land 4,500 knights, 9,000 fquires, 20,000 foot foldiers, and

368 A. D. 1202.

4,500 horfes : but tbey fucceeded only with Venice. That repubUc got
ready 1 ro large veflels, 60 of a long conftru61ion, and 60 other tranf-
ports, which veflels, averaging the whole fleet, muft have been capable
of carrying at leaft 200 men each. To thefe they added 50 warlike
gallies intended for the proteclion of the tranfports on the paflage, and
moreover laid in provHions for all the feamen, paflengers, and horfes,
in the whole fleet of 280 veflels for nine months. One of the fliips
called the Mondo (World) is laid to have been the largefl veflel that
ever floated upon the bofom of the Adriatic fince the great triumphal
fliip, or rather houfe, as Pliny [L. iii, c. 16] calls it, of the Roman em-
peror Claudius * : but we have no information concerning the dimen-
fions of the Mondo, or how many men flie carried. [Dajiduli Chron.
col. 323 ap. Muratori Script. V. xii. — Formakoni, EJfaifur la marine des Ve-
nitiens, trad. Franpife^ p. 29.]

When the Venetians had got every thing ready for the expedition,
the crufaders found themfelves unable to pay the whole fum ftipulated
for the equipment of their fleet ; and they agreed, as an equivalent for
a deficiency of 34,000 marks, to employ their forces againfl: the ci-
tizens of Zara, who had revolted from the fovereignty of Venice. The
rebellious city was taken after a fiege of five days. But, in turning the
arms deftined for the extermination of Goo's enemies againfl their Chrift-
ian brethren, they committed a crime deferving the fevereft penalties
of ecclefiaftical indignation, in the judgement of the pope, who failed
not to launch the thunder of his excommunication againfl: them. The
weftern pilgrims devoutly purchafed his pardon and abfolution. But the
Venetians, whofe views were more enlarged and judgements lefs fetter-
ed, fpurned his pardon, and difclaimed his authority and interference
in their temporal affairs. Such were the different effeds upon the hu-
man mind, of having not a thought but what was inftilled by interefl-
ed prieftcraft, and of acquiring knowlege from obfervations made upon
mankind in an extenfive intercourfe with a variety of nations. That
noble diftindion was the gift of commerce to the Venetians. [Katona,
H'ljl. reg. Hung. V. iv, p. 536. — Gefia Innoc. Ill, cc. 86 et feqq. ap. Mu-
ratori Script. V. iii.]

1 203 — The forces colleded for the conqueft of the Holy land were
a fecond time drawn off from their original deftination by the earnefl:
entreaties and liberal promifes of Alexius, the ion of the depofed em-
peror of Conflantinople. The weftern warriors and their Venetian al-
lies were perfuaded, that the reftoration of that prince M'as a proper
preparatory ftep to their holy warfare. They embarked in the fleet
furniflied by Venice ; they undertook the fiege of Conflantinople ; and
after a fliow of refiftancc, wherein a handful of Englifli and Danifli

• It is almoft necdlcfs to obftivo, lliat tlic conipariTon of the Montlo to Cl.uulius's great (hip is ar-
bitrarily alTunied, and conTcys no cl#ar idea of ils magnitude.

A. D. 1203. 369

guards alone performed the duty of foldiers (for the Roman-Greeks had
long ago given up all pretenfions to courage) the ufurper fled with his
treafure, and abandoned his wife and his empire to the mercy of the
conquerors.

July 19'" — The blind depofed emperor was immediately tranfported
from a prifon to a throne ; and he and his fon were proclaimed joint
emperors. Jealous of their own fubjeds, the emperors begged, and
bribed, the foreign warriors, who had created them, to continue their
prefence and formidable protedtion for a year. An outrage produced
by the intolerant bigotry of the Latins, or Franks *, and a delay in
the payment of the ftipulated fubfidy, were the fignals for hoftilities.
The young prince was murdered by a new ufurper, who in vain at-
tempted to expell the flrangers from the land. The city was ftormed.
the ufurper fled, and the rapacity of the crufaders was fatiated with the
accumulated wealth of the capital of the Roman world (April, 1204).
Thus fell, almofl: without refiftance, the Roman empire, once the fcourge
and the terror of mankind, a prey to a handful of military fanatics
(moflly French and Italians) and the naval forces of a commercial re-
public, nearly in the fame manner, as its antient Britifli provincials in
the fifth century fell under the dominion of their German auxili-
aries f .

The conquerors, who now forgot the Holy land, placed Baldwin earl
of Flanders upon the throne of the Eaftern Roman empire, and appro-
priated one fourth part of the countries yet fubjed to that empire for
the fupport of his dignity. Three eighths were divided among the
other chiefs; and three eighths were the portion of the republic of Ve-
nice. In the partition the Venetians took care to obtain for themfelves
a part of the maritime province of Peloponnefus, the feat of a rich ma-
nufadure of filks, together with a chain of iflands and maritime ports,
•which extended their territories from the head of the Adriatic fea to
Conflantinople ; and in that city itfelf they pofTefled three of the eight
regions or wards. They, moreover, purchafed the illand of Crete, or
Candia, for ten thoufand marks, from the marquis of Montferrat, to
whofe fhare it had fallen. But thefe extenfive and disjointed territories,
though apparently fo well adapted for commercial eftablifhrnents, being

* To foms readers it may not be fiiperfluous to Fianis in the eatlern borders of the Mediten-a-

be informed, that the nations, who acUnowleged nean.

the fnpreroacy of the pope, were callt J by the f It is curious to obferve the importance afTum-

gencral name of Latins, as thofe, who adhered to cd by fmall communities. An aiiiiahll of Pifa

the patriarch of Conltantinople, were ir. h'ke man- [^ap. Mvralori Script. F. vi, col. 191] has record-

iicr called Giech; and thence we find the RulTi- td, that in the year 1204 ConRantinople was taken

ans called Greeks by the writers of the eleventh by the Pif.uis and t!ie Venetians. The weftern

century. From the French, or Franks, being the warriors are totally annihilated by this hii^oiio-

moft numerous nation in the armies of the crofs, grapher of Pifa, the co-optration of which is

all the weftern Chriftians are to this day called fcarcely noticed en this occafion by general hif-

torians.

Vol. I. • ^ A

370 A. D. 1203.

too widely fpread to be governed and defended, and. too expenfive to be
fupported, by the republic, foon brought on a greater proportion of feud-
al lubordination, and military government, than was confident with
the genuine fpirit of commerce.

The commercial confequence of this great and fudden revolution was,
that the whole trade of the Eaftern Roman empire was p.t once transfer-
red to the Venetians, who immediately, and without any competition
from their merely-warlike affociates, became mafters of the remains of
the commerce, which had largely contributed to the opulence of Con-
ilantinople. That city had long been the principal feat of the richefl
and mofl fumptuous manufidures of filk ; and, as the demand for
that luxury was dayly increafing in the weftern parts of Europe, the ac-
quilition of the very beft manufadures of it was an objedl: of vaft im-
portance to the Venetians. By the poffeflion of Conftantinople they
moreover had a monopoly of the trade of the Black fea ; and they alfo fell
into, what was to them, a new conveyance of Indian goods by a route
over land to that fea, whereby the moll pretious articles of Oriental luxury
had been ufually conveyed to the capital. Thefe folid advantages fo
greatly extended the fphere of the Venetian commerce, that, during the
fubliftence of the Latin empire in Conftantinople, they were almoft the
fole and general merchants of Europe. And thus the crufades, whether
direded againft the Mohamedans, or againft the Chriftian heretics who
denied the fupremacy of the pope, were produdive of profperity and
opulence to Venice, as they were alfo, though in a much fmaller de-
gree, to the other commercial flates of Italy. [Nicetas, pp. 349-375 —
Villehardonin, n". 75-135. — Gejla Innoc. Ill, cc. 91-94. — Danduli Chron.
Venet. coll. 322-330, ap. Mur atari Script. V. xii.]

1 203, April — An afllfe of bread was made by King John andthe barons.
The bakers were ordered to afBx their ftamps to their bread : and they
were allowed a profit of four pennies, or three pennies with the bran, out
of every quarter of wheat. The weight of the farthing loaf of the fineft
bread, was ordered to vary from four fifths of a pound, when wheat
was at fix fliillings a quarter, to three pounds and feventeen twentieths,
when it was at eighteen pennies, the bread of the whole corn being pro-
portionally heavier. \^Rot. pat. %Johan. m.i. — M. Paris, p. 208.] This
is, I believe, the carlieft notice extant of fuch a regulation in England :
but there muft furely have been earlier afllfes, as we find the profits of
the baker upon each chaldcr of wheat, and his payment for each batch,
were before now regulated in Scotland by the Laws of the burghs, cc. 66,

April 11"" — Cologne, originally the capital of a German tribe called
the Ubii, was made a Roman colony by Agrippina, the wife ot the em-
peror Claudius, and it retains to this day fome traces of the Roman po-
lity. Its fituation upon the great navigable River Rhine, gave the citi-
zens the command of an cxtenfivc inland trade ; and they appear to

A, D. 1203.

Z7^

have alfo had fome commercial intercourfe with England ; for we find
a letter addrefTed to them by King John, wherein, after requefting their
good offices in fupport of his nephew Otho's pretenfions to the imperial
crown, he offers them the freedom of reforting to his dominions with
their merchandize, on paying the cuftomary duties paid by their an-
ceftors. {Fcedera, V. \,p. 133-] In the enfuing reign we (hall fee, that
they availed themlelves of this offer.

1204, June 6"' — He alfo gave a licence, or invitation, to the merchants
of Flanders, and other foreign countries, to trade in England, provided
they duely paid him the fifteenth part (the quinzieme) of their merch-
andize, together with fuch other cuftoms as might be laid on according
to his pleafure (' ad placitum regis'). The merchants of France had
alfo a fimilar invitation addreffed to themfelves by King John at the
fame time. \Rot. pat. 6 Jo. m. 11.] It thence appears, that the Flem-
ings (whofe licences were often renewed) were the chief foreign traders
who came to England in thofe days, the Englifli wool, for the fupply of
their great clothing trade, being no doubt their principal objed ; and
that the French were next to them.

1205 — The quinzieme was a duty payable by every merchant (an
appellation then given to all perfons who made a bufineis of buying and
felling, however trifling their dealings might be) whether natives or
foreigners. The amount of it colleded in each town may therefor be
confidered as a good comparative ftandard of the diftribution of the
commerce of England, which was not then near fo much engroffed by
the metropolis as it is in the prefent age. Before the year 1205 the
quinzieme of all England appears to have been farmed for one thoufand.
marks. In this year we find the following towns paying that duty, viz..

Newcaftle paid

Yarum,

Cotun, or Gotham^

;Cr58

5

II

Orford,

Ipfwich,

Colchefler,

Whitby,
Scarburgh,

Sandwich,
Dover,

Hedon,
Hull,

Rye,

Winchelfea,

York,
Selby,
Lincoln,

Pevenfey,
, Seaford,
Shoreham,

Barton,

Chichefier,

Ymminghara,

Southampton,

Grimfby,

Exmouth,

Bollon,

780

15

3

Dartmouth,

Lynne,

Yarmouth,
Norwich,

651

II

11

Effe (now Saltafh)

Fowey,

London,

Dunwich,

-

712 3 j:

836 12 10

A2

372 A. D. 1205.

The total fum coUeded between the 20'" of July 1204, and the 30"'
of November 1205, was - - ^^4-958 7 3^

IMng. rot. 6 Jo. rot. 16 h pojl. Kent Madox's Hijl. of the excheq. c. l{i,

\ 3.] From this fum, making fome allowance for fhort returns, the
trade of the principal towns of England at this time may be eftimated
at about 100,000 pounds of filver.

It is obfervable that no fewer than eight of the above towns were in
York-lhire, and three on the adjacent fouth fliore of the Humber : and
it may be prefumed that their trade confifted chiefly in coUeding and
fhipping the wool of that great (hire *, v/hereby the principal iburce of
the comfort and profperity of the prefent inhabitants was carried away
to enliven the induftry of Flanders.

In about three years after this time the citizens, or rather the mer-
chants, of London purchafed an exemption fi-om paying the quinzieme,
for the fmall fum of two hundred marks. The demefne merchant of
the earl of Leicefter was gratuitoufly exennpted by the king from pay-
ing the quinzieme. \Madox, c. 18, § 3.] Probably the demefne merch-
ants of the other great lords and bifhops were alio exempted ; an in-
dulgence equally impoUtic and unjufl.

Upon a marfliy piece of ground, belonging to Gilbert lord of Amftel
and Ifelftein, a village was built, wliich, from an adjacent dam upon the
fmall river Amflel, got the name of Amfteldam (corrupted to Amfter-
-dam), and has grown up in the courfe of ages to be one of the greatell
commercial cities in Europe. \Bertii Rer. Germ. L. iii, ^.41 — Junli
Batavia,p. 454.]

About this time the burgefTes of Ziriczee, a town in the ifland of
Schowen faid to have been founded in the year 849, built large Ihips,
with which they traded to the northward and to the fouthward, where-
by they became the mofl famous merchants and navigators of the coafts
of Zeland and Holland. Their port, which has fince been choked up
with fand, was then very good and convenient. \^Lnet, Belg. defcript. p.
138. — Cbron. de Hollande, Z^c. par Petit, V. i, p. 201.]

The Danes, who, being a maritime people, and conftantly in their
veflels, had formerly ufed only the manners and drefs of lailors, now
imitated the manners, drefs, and armour, of other nations, and were
clothed in fcarlet, purple, and fine linen : for they abounded in all kinds
of riches, by means of the f/Jjcryxhty had every year on the coafl of Schon-
en, which attraded merchants from all countries with gold, filver, and
pretious merchandize, to purchafe the herrings bellowed upon them by
the bounty of Providence. Nor were the Danes only enriched, they
were alfo polifhed and enlightened, in confequence of their profperous
iilTiery ; for learning became much more common among them than

* \Vc have already fccn tint wool wr.3 fhippcd from Hull in ihc ye.iir tiy8.

A. D. 1205. 373

before, and the fons of the principal people were generally fent to finifli
their education at the univerfity of Paris, then the moll celebrated fc-
minary in Europe. [Arnoldi Cont. Chron. Slav. L. iii, c. 5.] We fliall
fee reafon to beUeve that the natives of the Baltic fhores were in a few
years deprived of this copious fountain of wealth, not by any fault or
negled of their own, nor by any exertion of a rival or hoftile nation,
but merely by the caprice of the herrings themfelvcs.

The hoflilities, in which the ItaUan dates were almoft perpetually en-
gaged, were apparently the caufe of their having many of their veflels
much larger, and the crews much more numerous, than their commerce,
and their (hort voyages, moftly in an inland fea, could poflibly require.
This year the Genoefe, in a large {hip called the Leompardo (which had
been taken from the Pifans) together with two gallies, attacked two
large Venetian {hips, called the Falcone and the Rofi, bound for Con-
{lantinople. The Venetians in the Rofa, thinking is impolUble to fave
their Ihip, fcuttled her, and went with their moft pretious goods onboard
the Falcone, the largeli and {Irongeft of the two {hips, before the enemy-
came up with them. The Genoefe, however, boarded the finking vel-
fel, and faved about 200 bales of tine cloth of fcarlet and other colours;
and they afterwards took the Falcone, onboard which they fay they
found above nine hundred men. [Caffari Ann. Gen. ap. Muratori Script.
V. vi, col. 392.] Though we {hould make a large allowance for exag-
geration in this number, ftill the trade which could afford to fupport
even the half of fuch a mukitude of men in two {hips, and equip every
ve{rel in a warlike manner, muft have had an enormous advance upon
the fir{l co{l.

1 206 — The Genofe took the i{land of Candia from the Venetians,
who, however, foon recovered it again. Henceforth a {ierce conte{f
was kept up between thofe rival republics for the dominion of the Me-
diterranean, which fcarcely any other power could ever pretend to dif-
pute with either of them : for Pifa, formerly the rival of Genoa, was
now almo{lfunk into a mere auxiliary of Venice. The Venetians were
afterwards haraiTed by repeated rebellions of their Candian fubjeds,
wherein they were encouraged and fupported by the Genoefe, who alio
fupplanted the Venetians in their commercial privileges in Sicily by
alTifting the German emperor to wre{l that ifland from Tancred, the
laft king of the Norman race. Notwithftanding thefe advantages, the
commerce of the Genoefe with the ea{lern coa{ls of the Medherranean
continued to decline, while that of the Venetians increafed : and the
war between thofe powerful republics, which was truely a commercial
one, was continued, with fome intervals of infincere peace, for almolt
two hundred years.

1 2C7_By orders iffued for the ofHcers of the mint to carry their die3

374 ^* ■^' 1207.

to Weflminfter, and there to receive the king's commands, we find that
money was now coined at the following cities and towns, viz.

London, Ipiwich, Northampton,

Winchefler, Norwich, Oxford,

Exeter, L) nne, S\ Edmundfbury,

Chichefter, Lincoln, and

Canterbury, York, Durham *.

Rochefter, Carlile,

\_Madox^s Hift. of the cxcheq. ^- 9, § 3.]
The town of Liverpool now had burgelTes ; and this year they ob-
tained a grant of liberties from the kingf. \Rot. pat. 9 ^0. m. 5.]

1208 — King John, in the beginning of his reign, had confirmed the
charters of his great-grandfather and father to the city of London,
for which he received three thoufand pounds : and he alfo made the
other cities and towns take out confirmations of their privileges. \Brady
on burghs, Append. pp. 15, 16, 30 :{:.] He now, by his patent, granted the
citizens of London authority to elect their mayor annually §. But they,
notwithftanding, flillcontinued, orre-eleded, Henry Fitz-Alwin (their firfl
mayor, as already noticed) in that dignity till his death in the year 12 14.
After him we find Roger Fitz-Alwin mayor for two years ; and, for a long
courfe of time, the mayors appear to have continued feveral years, per-
haps for life, in ofiice. {Stew's Survey of London, pp. 916, 917-]

March 18'" — King John, in his charter to Yarmouth, befides the
cuftomary grants, with permiffion to chufe a provoft annually, and
the ftipulation of a yearly revenue to the crown of ^1^55 to be paid by
the burgh, gave liberty to all foreign merchants arriving in his king-
dom in his peace, or with his licence, to come to Yarmouth, remain in
it, and depart from it, infafety. \^Brady on burghs. Append, p. 9 ||.] We
are not told what was the ftaple article, which attratled foreign merch-
ants to Yarmouth, but we fhall prefently fee reafon to believe that it
was herrino;s.

o

* Mints were eftabllrtied at many other places fucli a glkl mud not of Itfelfbe admitted as a

befiJcs tliofe litre enumerated; fo many, indeed, proof, nor even as a prcfumption, that the burgefics

that it is perhaps impc Ifible to make up a com- were engaged in commerce, for (hop-keepers of

pkte hft of ihcm at any one time. See above, f>. every defcriptJon, and alfo all dealers, however

li^l, and Madox^s lii/l. of the exchiq. c. 22, § 4_ — trifling, who made a biifmtfs of buying and felling,

.Stow, after giving tlie above lift of coining places, were tlien called merchants, as they arc even now

adds, that the cuincrs deducted i^f\u the^ioo, in fome countries,
from the b>il!Ion ftjr coinage. \_Survey, [>. 'iii^.'\ § Fabyan [CroKj.7c, V. \\, J- xv b] mentions

f Enfield mentions charters to Liverpool in thirty-five heads or nilsrs, who governed the city

1129 and 1203. [H;/?. of Leverpool, f). 9.] before the right of annual elcftiors of mayors was

X It is not thought neceffary to encumber this granted. He fays, King John, in his ninth year,

work with mere renovations of charters, prcfervcd fent orders to the thirty-t'ive, to dcpofe and im-

by Madox, Brady, and others, nor with charters prifon ttie two bailifs (or Ihirrefs), becaufc they

of towns, which have never rlfen to commercial jircvented his purveyors from carrying wheat out

fminencr, r.or wiih thofc which contain only the of the city,

tiiftomary grants, among which a very common || N. B. In the charter, quinqiie is erroneoufly

•nc is a n.ctehaiit gild (• gilda mcrcatoriu'). Bui printed inflcad of qiii imru: ^

A. D. 1209. 375

1 209 — The great number of Englifh inliabkraits in the burghs of
Scotland, has ah^eady been noticed, and alfo the probability that their
comparatively-greater proficiency in manufactures, was the caufe of their
being invited and encouraged to fettle in them. That the burghs had
now made fome confiderable progrefs in manufaclures and trade, and
confequently in opulence, is evident from their contribution of fix thou-
fand marks *, to the fum of fifteen thoudind, given by William king
of Scotland, together with a refignation of his claim upon the counties
of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Weflmereland, as a portion with
his two daughters, contracted to the two fons of John king of England f,
when the nobles (or landed men) paid ten thoufand, and the clergy no-
thing. \_Fa;dera, V. i, p. 155 — Scotichron. V. i, p. 52, ed. Goodnll.^ It
may be prefumed, that the Scottifh burghs bore their fliares in like
manner in the two payments made by William to Richard I.

1210 — Perth, which maybe confidered as the capital of Scotland,
was before this time called a king's burgh, and was now favoured with
a charter by King WiUiam, prohibiting (according to the contraded
policy of the age) all merchant-ftrangers from carrying goods to any
part of the fhire of Pertli but the burgh, where they were obliged to
fell them by wholefale, and to lay out the proceeds in the commodities
of the country ; only between Afcenfion day and Lammas ftrangers
were allowed to fell cloth by retail in the market, and alfo to buy cloth
or other goods. It alfo grants to all the burgeffes of Perth, except weav-
ers and fullers, the privilege of being gild-brethren ; and they alone
are authorized to manufadure dyed or {horn cloth in Perth, and no-
where elfe in the fhire. But thofe who formerly had a charter for manu-
faduring, are not bound by this reflridion X-

* As the only ufe of money is to enable us to Geo. Ill, c. 102, § 11 : but it has varied in the

obtain what we want, it is evident that the only courfe of ages.

rule for eftimating the real value of any fum, is to f The terms of the conttaft can never be com-

compare it with the quantity of neccifary articles pletely or accurately known, unlefs the copy of it,

which it can purchafe. Tried by this ftandard, fent to the pope by Alexander II, the fon of Wil-

the value of fums mentioned in hillory, which found \\?Lm, \_FisJtra, K i, /. 235] Ihall be brought to

very trifling in modern ears, will olten be found light. But they are partly to be found in a fub-

very gieat. The prices of corn in Scotland, dur- fequent agreement of Henry III kiiigol England,

ing the reign of William, are not known, but in and Alexander II king of Scotland, ^FaJera, V.

that of his grandfon Ale)fander ill, 6,000 marks i, />. 375, or RyUy Viae. pari. p. 1613 and by the

(or 4,coo pounds of fih ei) would purchafe charge made by Henry III againft Hubert earl

240,000 bolls of oats at 44/, the higheil price ; of Kent. [ jl/. Paris, Addit. p. 152.] In failure

or 60,000 bollsofwheatati6i/,theordinary price; of fulfillmeut of the contraft the money was to

or 48,coc bolls of wheat at zod, thehigheft price ; have been returned 5 but Henry III was continual-

[IFyntouiii's Oiygynale Cronyhil of Scodand, V, i, p. ly poor; and Alexander was put off with lands in

4C0.] Soon after the death of Alexander, corn Northumberland, Cumberland, and Wellnif reland,

was Itill cheaper in England, efpecially in the weft of the trilling value of /200 a-year. [Fadera, V,

and north parts, the price of wheat being from %d i, pp. 375, 400.]

to i6j/the quarter. \_Triveii Annates, p. 266. — j The charter here referred to was apparently

Sioius yinnales, p. 7^\2, ed. 1600.] The Scottifli given by King David to Englifh, and perhaps

llaiidard boll is at prefent equal to fix Englifh Flemifli, raanufaflurers : and thus we may account

llandard bufliels, as fixed by atl of parliament, 37 for the exception of weavers and fullers, who may

havr

376

A. D. I2IO.

Some aitentlon was paid to the fifhery, and fome flax was raifed, and
confequently fome linen made, in Scotland in the reign of William, as
appears from the tithes of fifli and flax being mentioned along with
thofeofwool, corn, butter, cheefe, animals, &c. The fifheries feem
to have been chiefly in the Firths of Forth and Moray. [Chart, in-
Dugd. Mon. Angl.V. \, p. 422 — Chart. Morav. in Dalrymple's Canons, p.
20,]

Among the foreign countries, with which the Scots had commercial
connections, we may particularize Norway, as appears by charters of
John and Swer, kings of that country, concerning fome people who had
fuflfered fliipwreck, and letters of J. king of Norway, and H. his brother,
on a fimilar fubjeft *. [F/^dera, V. ii, p. 218.]

The foreign trade of Scotland was chiefly conduced by the merchants
of Berwick, who at this time were very much annoyed by the garrifon
of a fort erected by King John at Tweedmouth, on the oppofite bank
of the river, which on that account was twice demoliflied by King Wil-
liam. \\Vyntown^s Cronykil, V. i, />. 355. — Scotichron. V. i, p. 518.]

King John, regardlefs of the confirmation of privileges which the Jews
had purchafed from him in the beginning of his reign, ordered the
whole of them, women as well as men, to be tortured till they fliould
■pvij Jixty-ftx thonfand marks ; a moft enormous fum. The ranfom fet up-
on a wealthy Jew of Briflol, was ten tboufand marks ; and, on his refufal
to pay that ruinous fine, the king ordered his tormentors to pull out
one of his teeth every day, to which the unhappy man fubmitted for
feven days ; and on the eight he confented to latisfy the king's rapaci-
ty. Ifaac, a Jew of Norwich, became bound to pay the king ten thou-
{and marks in dayly payments of one mark. Many of the Jews, find-
ing it impoffible to live under fuch oppreflion, fled out of the country.
\Madox' s Hiji . of the excheq. c. 7. — M. Paris, pp. 229, 230.] But, ac-
cording to Trivet, [A/males, p. 154] they were driven out, after being
flripped of all their property. It appears, however, that they foon re-
turned.

John went to Ireland, and moft of the Irifh kings waited on him at
Dublin, with profeflions of duty and allegiance. He ordered the Eng-
lifti laws and cuftoins to be introduced in Ireland, and appointed fliir-
refs, and other officers to difpenfe juftice in the country according to
the Englifli forms. He alfo appointed money to be coined for Ireland

liave enjoyed feparate, and probably more ample, neral by the 37"' of the Antilles afcribed to that

jirivilfges : otberways tbc exclulion of them from king by Skene in his edition of Re^iam majcjlatem :

«he liberty of the gild feems unrcafonablc and ab- but thirc is no knowing wliat degree of credit can

furd. This account is taken from a trandation be given to that eolleflion.

(and feemingly a very bad one) of the charter in * The charters and letters were in the king's

Cant's Miifcs T'hrenodie, V. it, f>. 6, rrl. 1774. treafiiry at Edinburgh in the year J2S2. — Swer

The privileges, granted by William's ciiarter to vas king of Norway in the later part of the

■Perth, are given to the burghs of Scotland in gc- twelfth century.

A. D. 12 10.

377

equal to that of England, and the halfpennies and farthings, as Well as
the pennies, to be round, ordering that it fliould be current, and receiv-
ed in his treafury equally with the money of England. Returning
triumphant from his expedition, he afTembled the chiefs of all the re-
ligious communities of both fexes in England, and extorted from them
one hundred and forty thoufand pounds ; a fum then equal to the va-
lue of above two millions of quarters of wheat in years of moderate
plenty, and a proof at once of the enormous riches of thofe eftablifh-
ments, and of the infatiable avarice of King John. [M. Paris, p. 230.]
It is very probable, that this particular act of oppreflion is the principal
caufe of the black character of him tranfmitted to pofterity *.

About this time Zingis-khan, with liis innumerable hoft of favage rob-
bers, burft into the fertile and civilized empire of China, the nothern
partof which, calledCathay, he fubdued anddefolated. He next turned his
deflrudive march weflward, overturned and ruined many powerful king-
doms and innumerable cities, adorned by the art and induflry of man,
throughout all the northern extent of Afia; and, in a few years, con-
quered a larger, and perhaps a more valuable, portion of the globe,
than the Romans acquired in a perpetual war of many centuries. But
the page of commercial hiflory ought not to be ftained with a recital of
the miferies brought upon mankind by fuch a ferocious butcher.

At this time the city of Campion in the kingdom of Tangut was the
feat of a very great inland trade in linens, fluffs of cotton, gold and filver,
filks, and porcelain, brought by the merchants of Cathay, and bought up
by thofe of Mufcovy, Perfia, Armenia, and all the Tatar countries, who
were not permitted to go beyond that city. [De la Croix, Hift. de Genghiz.-
can, L.'w, c. 13.]

1 21 2 — A fire broke out in Southwark, and the flames were driven by
the wind to the north end of London bridge, which was immediately
on fire ; whereupon the crowd of people upon the bridge, rufhing to
the fouth end of it, were there intercepted by the flames, which had
now aUb taken hold of it. By this calamity, notwithflanding the aflift-
ance from the fhipping and boats, a thoufand, or, according to Mathew
of Weftminfler, three thoufand, people loll: their lives, and a great part
of the city, as well fis of Southwark, was deftroyed, [M. Paris, p. 233.
See above, p. 319.]

1213 — Philip king of France gathered together all the Ihips of his
own dominions, and all that he could colled belides from other coun-
tries, and furnifhed them with a copious fupply of provifions and war-
like ftores, for an invafion of England, to be undertaken at the defire of
Pope Innocent. There was in thofe days no fuch thing as a national navy

* John could fcarcely be more wicked than Edgar, who was canoniztd and worfhipped as one
of the firll-rate faints. But Edgar founded forty-tight inonallen'es, and John onlv four or liivf .

Vol. I. 3 B '

378 A. D. 12 13.

of {hips belonging to the ftate, and adapted for the purpofes of war only,
as at prefent. But King John iflued his orders for prefTing into his fer-
vice all the vefTels in England *, capable of carrying fix horfes, to attend
him at Portfmouth with fufficient tackling, men, and arms ; and his fleet
was found to be fuperior to that of his enemy. At the fame, time he
alfo fummoned his military vafTals, under the fevereft penalties, to af-
femble at Dover. However, having more confidence in his failors than
in his land forces, he determined on a naval engagement. But while
hoftile preparations were going forward on both fides, John ignoniini-
oufly made his peace with Innocent, who immediately ordered Philip
to defift from the invafion of England, now^ placed under his holy pro-
teftion. Thereupon he, not daring to difobey the pope, and at the
fame time unwilling to let his preparations be entirely thrown away,
dired;ed the florm of war againft the earl of Flanders, as an ally of the
Englifli king. John, as foon as he was informed of the diftrefs of his
friend, fent over five hundred fliips, with feven hundred knights, and a
great army, to his aflifl:ance. Thefe, arriving on the coafl of Flanders,
found the French fleet left entirely to the care of the feamen, the fol-
diers having gone afluore to plunder the country. The Englifh imme-
diately began the attack, took three hundred fliips, which they fent to
England, and burnt above a hundred more, which were aground f.
This decifive vidlory, by which the French navy was entirely defliroyed,
being the firfl: important battle fince the days of King Alfred, fought
by fliips and men entirely furniflied by England J, is deferving of par-
ticular notice, more efpeciafly as it alio fliows, that England poflefled
more fliips than the French king could find in all France, or hire in
other countries. [M. Paris, pp. 233, 234, 238.]

Though there was not any national eftablilhment of warlike fliips,
that bore the moft diftant refemblance to the royal navy of mo-
dern times, it appears that there wereyow/f gallics belonging to the king.
In the year 1208, a thoufand oars were bought for the king's gallies ;
and this year the expenfe of keeping them at Southampton, amounted
to ;^2 : 6 : 8. At the fame time, 12 fliillings were expended for keep-
ing another veflel (under the indeterminate name of a fliip ' navis') be-
longing to the king. [Madox's Hijl. of the excheq. c. 10, § 12 ; f, 18.
§ 3.] This, if I miftake not, is the firfl certain notice we have, after
the time of Alfred, of any vefl^els belonging to the king, or to the na-

* According to M. Wellniinfter, thofc of Ire- \ A part of Kincr Richard's fleet was furniilicd

land were alfo fiinimoncd. It may be doubted, if by llie pons of the wefterii coad of France, then

there was time between the 3" and 24"' of March fubjeft to liim, but not now fubjeft to John. It

for them to be coUeded, and to arrive at Portf- is, however, fnrprifing, that England, tlie com-

niouth. mcrcc of whicii appears to liave been nioiUy paflivc,

f Trivet, [/>. 157] and Paului ./Emyh'us the (liould have been able to mufter fo numerous a

hidoiian of France, [/!>. 194] fay, that thefe fliips fleet.
v.'cre bi.irnt by the French to prevent them from
falling into the hands of the EngliHi.

/

A. D. 1213. . 379

tion *, except thofe purchafed by Richard I for his crufade, the navies
fitted out for war being merely the whole mercantile fhipping of the
kingdom, prefTed into the fervice : fo that in thofe times the owners
could never call their vefTels their own f .

1 21 5, June 15"" — The oppreffions and mifcondudl of King John
brought on a civil war, which was now concluded by figning the fam-
ous Magna Charta, or Great Charter of the liberties of the people
of England, or, indeed, more truely fpeaking, of the clergy and barons;
for the great body of the people were as yet of too little importance to
have much attention paid to their concerns. Of the numerous articles
of this charter, the following are thofe by which the interefts of the
commercial part of the community were likely to be affeded.

By the fourth fecSion, the guardians of a minor are prohibited from
deflroying or wafting the men or goods belonging to the eftate, the pea-
fants attached to the lands being the property of their mafter as much
as the cattle, and held in no higher eftimation.

§ 10, 11) The debts of a minor ihall bear no intereft during his
minority, whether they be owing to a Jew, to the king, or to any other
perfon J.

§ 1 2) No tax fhall be impofed but by the general council of the king-
dom ; except for the king's ranfom if taken prifoner, for making his
oldeft fon a knight, and for once marrying, his oldeft daughter; and for
thefe the demands fhall be moderate.

§ 13) 23) London, and other cities and towns, fliall enjoy their an-
tient privileges, and fhall not be compelled to build bridges, &c. unlefs
fuch as they are bound to build by antient rights.

§ 20) No freeman fhall be amerced in a fum difproportionate to his
offence ; neither fliall a fine, upon any account, extend to the ruin of
his freehold, if a landed man ; of his merchandize, if a merchant; nor
of his farming utenfils, if a peafant.

§ 27) The property of a freeman dying inteftate, after paying his
debts, fliall be divided among his nearefl relations.

§ 28, 30, 31) The king's officers fhall not take any man's corn, or

* Madox [Hijl. ofexch. c. 10, § 12] mentions quietly put up witli the velTels belonging to his

king's (hips in the reign of Henry II : but the kijigdom, •which ought at all times to be ready for

.luthorities produced in ths notes t, u, -z, do not his fervice, being detained in foreign countries,

diftinguifti them as royal fhips ; and prcfently after l^Fa-iiera, V. iii,/. 400.]

{note ^] we find three veflels employed on fimilar + This feenis to authorize intereft, though re-

fervice in the fame reign,, exprefsly called ' fhips peatedly forbidden by ecclefiailical canons. The

< of Shoreham.' lender, however, by this regulation ran a very un- -

f A ftriking illuftration of the king's claim of fair rifle of being deprived of the income due from.,

tight to the fervices of all merchant (hips appears his capital. A man, whofe heir was young, was

\n a letter, written by Edward II to the king of thereby debarred from the accommodation of raif-

Norway upon the detention of three Englilh vef- ing moivey by borrowing,
fcls, which he concludes by faying, that he cannot

3B 2.

380 A. D. 1215.

other goods, without payment, nor feize his carts and horfes, nor cut
down his wood, without his confent,

§ 3;^) AH kidels (engines for catching fifli) fliall be removed from the
Thames, the Medway, and other rivers*.

§ 35) There fhall be one uniform ftandard for weights, meafures, and
manufactures. That for corn flrall be the London quarter.

§ 39) N^ freeman fhall be feized, impriloned, or outlawed, except by
the legal judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land.

§ 40) The king fhall not fell, deny, or delay, juflice to any perfon.

§ 41) Ail merchants fhall have fafety and fecurity in coming to, or
going out of, England, and in remaining and traveling through it by
land or water for buying or felling, free from aijy grievous impofitions f,
and agreeable to the old and upright cuftoms ; except in time of war,
and except merchants belonging to a country at war with us, who, at
the commencement of a war, iliall be attached without any injury to
their perfons or property, till it be made known to us, or our chief
jufliciary, how the merchants of our dominions, who happen to be in
the country at war with us, are treated there : and if our merchants are
not injured there, they fhall not be injured here.

§ 42) It fliall be lawful for all perfons, except prifoners, outlaws, and
foreign merchants as above excepted in time of war, to go out of the
kingdom freely and fecurely, and to return J.

§ 60) All the liberties, hereby granted to the king's vaflals, fliall alfo
be granted by the clergy and barons to their vaflals §.

The other articles of the charter belong to general hiftory, law, and
politics. By the concejjiojis in it we may forni an idea of the previous
(late of a fociety, where fuch conceflions could be required, or would
be accepted.

Almofl immediately after he had figned the Great charter, John pro-
cured, from his liege lord, the pope, two bulls annulling it, and excom-
municating thofe who had by force extorted it. The confequence was
a new war between the king and the barons, who were driven to the
defperate refourfe of inviting the French king's fon to come to their
afliltance, and be their fovereign. Louis accepted the offer, and landed
without oppofition at Sandwich with fix hundred fliips. Very fortun-

* From § 38 of the Magna cl-arla of liis fon + The chief iiiU'iU of this article vva"-. to allow

Henry III, in the ytav 1216, it appear-:, that John tli^ clergy to atteiul their fovereign, the pope,

had feized into liis own Imiids many of the rivers ; without afkiug the king's pcrmiflion.
no doubt thofe which afforded the greated and § Tlii'i is almoil the 'only article in the Ma;jna

mod profitable fidierics. Richard's order againll charta, iti which the great body of the people had

kidels in the year 1 196 muft already have been i;ny general concern; and the benefit of it was

ncgleiicd. probably never claimed by theni. The king's ob-

f ' Sine omnibus nialis loltls.' Toliis feems je£l in infcrting it (for it wan added by him) was

erroneoufly written for toWis, and accordingly the apparently to iiave a pretext from the breach of

old Englilh tranllation has evill t)lls. Knyghton ir to annull the whole of ths charter.
[col. 25*3] writes mallf tolls.

A. D. 1216. 381

ately Jo^^i"^ ^'^"^ f^on after (19"' Odober 121C), and lingland was ref-
cued from becoming a province of France.

The charader of John has been drawn in the blackefl: colours by
moft of the contemporary hiilorians. But, though few of his adions
appear to have fprung from laudable motives, we mufl; remember, that
throughout the whole of his reign he was on bad terras with the clergy,
the only clafs of people w-ho were capable of tranfmitting his adlons to
poflerity. It is, however, certain, that the over-ruling providence of
God, which often brings good out of evil, rendered his vices and mif-
conduft more beneficial to the community than the bell: adtions of his
predeceflors. His infulting treatment of the barons, and his violation
of their wives and daughters, with his general mifcondud, may be faid
to have produced the great charter, which, though it was not fiivour-
able to the great body of the people, and produced no advantages even
to the clergy and barons, as it was immediately broken, has in all fuc-
ceeding ages been looked up to as the foundation of Liberty in this
country. His quarrels with the nobles, who, by the feudal conftitution,
were the hereditary commanders of the national army, obliged him to
court the good will of the inhabitants of the towns (a clafs of people
hitherto held in contempt both by kings and nobles) and chiefly of
the maritime ones *. This policy, though didated only by his own in-
tereft, and very convenient for him, turned out much more extenfively
beneficial to the fubjeds. To the king it gave not only an addition of
power, by creating a new fpecies of militia, and by drawing off the vaf-
falsof the feudal lords f, but alfo an additional revenue, payable by the
corporations, and flipulated in their charters. To the people it gave a
degree of freedom formerly unknown ; r,nd it gradually raifed them to
opulence and importance by the commerce which came in time to
be carried on in the towns, in confequence of the liberty the inhabit-
ants poffefled of purfuing their own interefts free from any refl:raint,
and exempted from the jurifdidion of any fuperior except the fovereign
and the law. And thus the emerfion of the great body of the Englifh
nation from the fervitude, into which they were plunged by the jealous
tyranny of the two Williams, may be juftly afcribed t.o the vices and
fears of John.

Lubeck is faid to be the firft city in Europe, which adopted the valu-
able domeftic accommodation, hitherto known only in the Oriental re-
gions, of conveying water to the houfes by pipes, which, as it has fince
been improved, has become a mofl important and efficient preferver of

* King Jolin appeirs to liave conferred on the founder of the privileges claimed by the Cinqce

Cinque ports an amph'fication of their piivileges, ports.]

in confiJeration of their being bound to dnA rigi/y f S:e above [p. 30"] tlie temptation held out

fcncible Ihips at their own cxpenfe for forty days, to the feudal villeins to delert th? e'":ate3 of their

and after that time on the king's pay. \_Knyghton, lords and become burgelTes.

coi. 24-2^, who ciToneoufly calls John t'<e orisrinal 4

382 A. D. 1216.

lives and properties from the dreadful calamities of fire. But the date
of this improvement at Lnbeck is unknown to me, nor am I well aflur-
ed of the fad. We find the conveyance of water in pipes mentioned
as a new difcovery made at this time by Simon, a monk of Waverley in
Surrey, who, upon a failure of the well which ufed to fupply the breth-
ren, brought water from other fountains by means of pipes laid under
ground, whereby he made an artificial well, abundantly fufficient for
the ufe of the abbay. [J/i. Waverl. ap. Gale, ad an. 1216.] It was ap-
parently Simon's invention, for fuch it undoubtedly was, that furnifhed
the magiftrates of London with a model for the pipes they made in the
year 1 236.

Notwithftanding the convulfions of the kingdom in the contefis be-
tween John and the barons, there is reafon to believe, that the breed ot
that eminently ufeful animal, the fheep, was increafed during his reign ;
and that, though there was a confiderable exportation of wool, there
was more of it made into cloth in England in his reign than at any
time before : for we find the following fums paid into the treafury in
one year (the fifteenth of his reign) for duties on the importation of
woad, mofi: of which was ufed in dying cloths, though a great part of
thofe made in England were exported, and alfo worn at home, without
being dyed.

In Kent and Sufl'ex, except Dover, - ;/C^°3 ^3 3

The ports of York-lhire, - - 98134

Lincoln- flrire, - - - 47 3 4

Norfolk and Suffolk, - - 53 6 o

Southampton, - - - 72 i 10

Eflex, - - - - 424

Places not named, perhaps including London, 214 12 o

\Madox''s Hijl. of the excheq. c. 18, § 3.]

Immediately after the accellion of Henry III, the infant fon of John,
the great charter was renewed *.

1 217 — A treaty of friendfliip was entered into between Henry III of
England and Hakon IV of Norway, both under age, whereby the
merchants and fubjeds of both kingdoms had full liberty of going,
coming, and returning. [Fofdera, V. i, p. 223.]

Some of the circumfiances of a naval battle fought in this year are
worthy of notice. An Englilh fleet, faid to confifl; of only forty gallies
and other veftels f, attacked a French fleet of eighty large fliips, befides

• It was renewed at fevcn difTcrent times by Matlicw Paris, is fiilTicient. Paulus ^myliiif, the

Henry, wlien lie found it ncceffary to court tlie liilloi ian of France, lias not a word of this battle,
favour, nr to drain the pockets, of his fubjefls. Hcmingford [/>. ii, c. 105] has a wonderful

{^i.z BlaLkfloneiUiJlory of the charters, La-J!traas, (lory of a great fleet belonging to a tyrant, who

V. ii, />. 43, ft fenq.'l was coining from Spain to take the kingdom from

f The aniialilt of Waverley, and Robert of the infant King Henry, being defeated by the

Gloucefter, give the Englidi only eighteen fliipt. mariners of the Cinijue ports.
But furely the inequality of force, as related by J

A. D. 121 7. 383

many fmaller ones and gallies well armed, coming to the afliftance of
Louis. The Englifh, who are noted for their expertnefs in maritime
warfare, began the attack by a dreadful difcharge of arrows from the
crofs-bow-men and archers ; and having got the wind of their enemy,
they rufhed againft them with the iron beaks (or rojlrd) of their gallies,
whereby many of the French (hips were inflantly funk. They alfo
availed themfelves of their fituation to windward by throwing pulver-
ized quick lime into the French Ihips, whereby the men were blinded *.
After a clofe engagement, wherein the French fought bravely, but not
fo fkilfully as the Englifh, the greatefl part of them being llain or
drowned, almoft the whole fleet fubmitted to the Englifli, who triumph-
antly towed them into Dover. [M. Paris, p. 2^^ — Annul. Waver l. p.
183, ed. Gale — Rob. nfGlouc. p. 515.]

1220 — The merchants of Cologne in Germany (perhaps in confe-
quence of King John's invitation in the year 1203) efl:ablifhed a hall
or fadory in London called their Gildhall, for the faifme (or legal pof-
feflion) of which they now paid thirty marks to the king. [Madox's
Hijl. of the excheq. c. 1 1, § 2.] It feems probable that this Gildhall, by
the aflbciation of the merchants of other cities with thofe of Cologne,
became in time the general fadory and refidence of all the German
merchants in London, and was the fame that was afterwards known by
the name of the German Gildhall (' Gildhalla Teutonicorum') f.

It appears that the merchants of Cologne were bound to make a pay-
ment of two {hillings, probably a referved annual rent (for we are not
told' upon what occafions it was payable) out of their Gildhall, befides
other cuftoms and demands, from all which they were exempted in the
year 1235 by King Henry III, who moreover gave them permifllon to
attend fairs in any part of England, and alfo to buy and fell in London,
laving the liberties of the city. {^Charter hi Hakluyfs Voiages, V. i, p. 130,
ed. 1598.]

It may be prefumed, that there were very few people in England,
who pofiefTed the elegant and comfortable accommodation of glafs in
sheir windows about this time ; for, from the manner in which the
windows of a church furnilhed with glafs are mentioned by Mathew
Paris, \yit. p. 122] it appears that fuch windows were not in general
ufe, even in churches.

Though we find by Domefday book that fome of the inhabitants of
Yarmouth were fifliermen in the time of the Conqueror, it gives us not
the fmalleft hint of the /6frri«'^.fifliery, which has been the great iburce

* Above two centuries after this time, tlie ftra- f The inaccuracy of confounding the Teutonic

tngem of throwing quick lime was ptaCtiled by tlie gildhall with the Steelyard will be accounted for
Genoefe in a naval engagement, and was thought undfr the year 1475.
a notable invention. 'I'his fnows that the ptafticc
was at leatl uncommon.

284 ^' ^' 1220.

of the opulence of that town. From the fame authentic record we learn,
that Dunwich (then a place of confiderable trade, if compared with the
neighbouring towns) paid annually 60,000 herrings to the king, and
Sandwich paid annually 40,000 to the monks, at that time, and perhaps
long before ; but whether thole herrings were frefh or faked, we are
not informed. We find herrings enumerated among the articles charg-
ed with tolls or duties at Newcaftle upon Tine in the reign of Henry 1 ;
[Brand's Hi/I. of Newcaftle, V. ii, p. 131] and in that of Henry II the
abundance of them on the Englifh coafl is noticed by Henry of Hunt-
indon : (fee above, p. 344) and herrings made a part of the revenue
of the biihoprick of Chichefter. [Madox's Hift. of the excheq. f. 10, § 3.]
The refort of foreign merchants to Yarmouth, inferred in King John's
charter to that town, (fee above, p. 374) together with the certainty of
its being a ftaple market for the exportation of herrings foon after *,
warrants a belief that it was now the principal feat of the herring fifhery
upon the coafl of England : and upon that account William of Trump-
ington, abbat of St. Albans, was induced to purchafe a large houfe f in
Yarmouth, ' in order to lay up fifli, efpecially herrings, which were bought
' in by his agents at the proper feafon, to the ineftimable advantage, as
' well as honour, of the abbay.' \M. Paris, Vit. p. 126.] As we thus
know from undoubted authority, that herrings were ftored up at Yar-
mouth, and as our prefumption, that they were alfo an article of com-
merce and exported, will prefently be turned into certainty, it is evi-
dent that they muft have been preferved with fait. But in what refped
the antient method of curing them differed from the improved method
invented by Van Beukelen, who, according to fome of the Netherland
hiftorians, was the firfl curer and exporter of herrings, it is apparently
impoffible to tell.

From the unqueftionable authority of the public records we know,
that there was alfo a fifhery of at leaft fome confequence on the fouth-
weft cOafl of England, and that an improved method of faking the fifli
had been praflifed before this time by Peter ChivaUer, who appears to
have had the king's licence for a monopoly of his method, and that
Peter dc Ferars gave the king twenty marks in the year 1221, and
twenty more in 1222, and probably alfo in other years, for a licence to
fait fifli, as Chivalier nfed to do. [Mag. rot. 6 Hen. Ill, rot. 9, b, Coniub.
in Madox's Hift. of the excheq. f. 13, § 4.] As Perars appears to have liv-

* This will be further ilkiftraleJ under the year coft fifty marks ; and the fame abbat bought a

1238. I may here alfo obfcrve, that in the year lioufe, or rather a court of houfes, in London

1256 the burgelfes of Yarmouth reprcfentcd to the (wliere they were probably dearer than in Yar-

kin" that their principal fupport was derived from mouth), as extenfive as a great pdacc, with cha-

the fifliery ; and a record in the year 1306 Ihows pel, ftables, garden, a well, &c. for a hundred

that it was the herring fiihcry. Sec Braily on burghs, marks of purcliafe-moncy, to which he added fifty

Append, pp. 2, 6. marks for improvements. \M. farts, Vit. pp. 125,

\ It muft have been a very large houfv, for it 126.]

A. D. 1220.

3^5

ed in Cornwall, it is probable that pilchards, which annually vifit that
country in innumerable flioles, were the fpecies of fifh cured by the im-
proved procefs.

It is worthy of obfervation, that the German writers trace their trade
in falted herrings no forther back than the year i 241 , or at the farthefl:
1236. [Codex diplom. Brandenh. V. i, p. 45 ; V. ii, p. 430, and authorities
there quoted.'] But, to fiiy nothing of the herrings caught on the coafl
of Norway in the tenth century, thofeyZ;//'/*^^ at Rugen, and thofe pack-
ed in barrels at Ziriczee, in the twelfth century, mufl undoubtedly have
been falted. (See above, pp. 274, 338.) And there is good reafon to
believe, that, both in England and Scotland, herrings were cured with
fait for exportation at leaft Ibme ages before the time now under our
confideration. (See above, pp. 284, 303, 306, 325, 344, 376.)

1222 — Coining dies were delivered to the proper officers for making
pennies, halfpennies, and farthings, of filver ; and all the money of this
new coinage was round *. [Madox's Hiji. of the excheq. c. 22, § 4, note a.]

1224 — At this time the following, befides London, were efteemed the
principal ports of England, as appears from the king's orders to their
magiftrates, in confequence of the expiration of a truce with France, to
lay an embargo on all veflels lying in, or arriving in, the ports, and to
keep them in readinefs for the king's fervice.

Portefmue, now For tf moid h ;
Sorham, Shoreham ;

Suhamton,

Safford,

La Pole,

Exon,

Briftol,

Dertmue,

Noi'wic,

Gernemue,

Orefor[d],

Dunewic,

Southampton ;
Seaford ;
Pool;
Exeter ;
Briftol;
Dartmouth ;
Norzvich ;
Yarmouth ;
Orford;
Dunwich ;

Gipewic, Ipfwich ;

Lenne, Lyiin ;

Ere well, Orwell haven ;

Eremuth, unknown ;

Dovr, Dover ;

Rumenel, Rumney ;

Rya, Rye ;

Kingeflon, unknown ; f

Eya,_ Eye ;

Hailing, Haftings ; %
Pageham, Fagham near Chichefter ;

Pevenes, Pevenfey.

The ports in Cornwall and Devon-fhire are not named, the orders for
the whole fhires being addreffed to the Ihirrefs.

• Some lines of Robert de Brunne, defcribing
a coinage of round pennies, halfpennies, and far-
things, by Edward I, have been inferted by Stow-
in his Annales and by Camden in his Remains ; and
being thereby more generally known, they have
mifled thofe, wlio have taken only a fuperficial
glance of fnch matteis, to conclude tha^ tljere was
no round money fmaller than pennies till the year
X279. We have feen that round halfpennies were
coined by Henry I, and round halfpennies and alio

Vol. I.

fai-things by John, fome of which are ftill rcmaiu-
ing in cabinets. See above, pp. 316, ^"jG.— Pem-
broke's Nummi TT. 7, 23. — Folkes on coins, plate 2-

f Hull was not yet called Kingfton^ and King-
flon upon Thames could not with any pi-opriety
be called a port.

\ Though there was a general order addrefied
to the Cinque ports, we find there were alfo parti-
cular orders addrelTed to fome, perhaps to each, of
them on this and on other iirailar occalionS/.

3C

^86 A. D. 1224.

By means of orders in the year 1226 for permitting French vefTels,
loaded with corn, wine, or provifions, to come in and go out in fafety,
notwithflanding a previous general prohibition of French fliips, the fol-
lowing may be added to the lift.

Sandwic, Sandwich ;

Hoiem,

unknown

Heath, Hyth ;

Lincoln,

Lincoln ;

Wodering, unknown ;

Eborum,

York;

Winchelfe, Winchelfea ;

Hulm,

unknown

\_Foedera, V. i, pp. 272, 287.'

The king granted to the comminaltie of London to have a com-
' mon feale.' {Stow's Survey of London, p. 918, ed. 1 61 8.]

1225 — King Henry obliged all veftels belonging to the Cinque ports,
arriving with corn in the River Thames, to deliver at Queen-hithe *.
In two years thereafter he alfo ordered the vefTels bringing fifh to un-
load at the fame place, and direiled that the only fifh-market in Lon-
don fhould be held there, the citizens of London being, however, at li-
berty to unload their own vefTels where they pleafed. In the year 1 246
the city purchafed Queen-hithe from Richard earl of Cornwall, and
agreed to pay an annual rent of ;^50 to him and his heirs. For fome
time it was very produ<fHve, the corn, fifh, fait, fuel, and other articles,
landed there being fufHcient to keep thirty-feven men employed as met-
ers and carriers, with horfes, &c. Afterwards the bakers of London got
into the way of buying their grain in the country from the farmers f ;
and that diminution of the corn bufinefs, together with fome impedi-
ments to the paflage of the vefTels by delay in taking up the draw-bridge,
reduced the profits of Queen-hithe fo low, that when Fabyan wrote
(about the year 1500) they fcarcely exceeded twenty marks a-year of
fuch money as was then current. \^Sto^v's Survey of London, p. 680.]

Albert earl of Orlamund, who in the year 1216 had bought the fu-
periority of Hamburgh for 700 marks from the king of Denmark, now
fold it to the community of the city for 1,500. Till now, fays Lambe-
cius, the hiftorian of Hamburgh, the city was only in its infancy ; but
thenceforth, having fhaken off the yoke, it became dayly more and
more powerful and ilourifliing. [Orig. Hamburg, p. 1 1 8.]

1227 — King Henry III received prefents from Coradin, foldan (or
fultan) of Damaicus, brought by Jufelin (moft probably a merchant) of
Genoa, and fent him a complimentary letter in return. \Fa'dera, V. i,
p. 296.] Tiiis is, I believe, the lecond inftance of a Mohamedan prince
courting the friendfliip of a king of England.

Odober 1 2"' — The Catalans appear to have been at this time very

* This landing place was generally ajipropriat- out of the profits of it to the thurch of Reading,

ed to the queens of England as ;i part of tlicir re- \_Coivel's Inlcrpnicr, MiiiJc-y'j it/, iio. IIetlii.'\

venue, at kaft as early as the time of Ilenry 1; f So the bakers managed their bufinefs about

Srr Adelid, hie widow, gave ico (liilllngs a-year the year i6cc, when Stow wrote.

A, D. 1227. 387

little inferior to the mofl flourifliing of the commercial flates of Italy
in commercial enterprife and maritime power *. They traded to every
coaft of the Mediterranean ; and the veffels of every nation had been
made welcome to Barcelona, their principal port, by a law contained in
the code of ufages eftabliflied in the year 1068. But James I, king of
Aragon and count of Barcelona, being defirous of giving a preference
to the fhipping of his own fubjedls, now made a law, prohibiting all
foreign veffels from loading at Barcelona for Alexandria, Ceuta in Bar-
bary, or other foreign ports, if there was any veffel belonging to Barce-
lona capable and ready to perform the voyage. He alfo ordered, by the
fame law, that no foreigner fhould take onboard wine at Barcelona with-
out the permifllon of the citizens. This law, which, I prefume, is the
earlieft tiavigaiion act known in hiftory or record, was more ftridly en-
forced in the year 1268. {Copmany, Mem. hijl. de Barcelona, V. ii, Col.
dipl. //>. ir, 34.]

1228 — Riga, a city on the eaft coafl of the Baltic fea, which was fet-
tled by fome merchaiits of Lubeck in the year 1150, was now fortified
with a wall, and became a place of confide rable commerce and power.
[Ber!ii Rer. Germ. L. iii, p. 239.]

1229 — Liverpool was at this time a village belonging to the parifh
of Walton, to which indeed it continued attached till the year 1699.
[^ikifi's Defer, of Mancbejler, p. 332.] The burgeffes now paid the king
ten marks for a charter, which declared their town a free burgh for
ever, and granted them a merchant gild, together with fome other li-
berties f. {^Madox's HiJl. of the excheq. <:. 11, § 2.]

1230 — The citizens of Brunfwick, though fituated in the heart of
Germany, now had, or were at leafl; invited to have, commercial deal-
ings with England, as appears from a protedion granted to them by
King Henry for the fake of his coufin, their duke. [Fasdera, V. i, p. 317.]

1 231 — Olaf, king of Mann and the Ifles, having been driven from
his dominions by Alan lord of Galloway, implored the affift:ance of his
luperior lord the king of Norway. He and his Norwegian and Orkney
friends, with eighty fliips coUec^ted in Norway, Orkney, and the Wefl:-
ern iflands, arrived in the Firth of Clyde, and attacked the ifland of
Bute. But hearing that Alan had a fleet of one hundred and fifty
veffels lying at the Ryns of Galloway, they fleered off to the coaft of
Kentire, and thence went to Mann, and re-eftablifhed Olaf in his king-

• Their power was formidable at limes to the In the eleventh year of the fiime king's reign the

Greek empire and aliiioft every ftate on the coafts village or town (' villata') of Liverpool paid a tall-

of the Mediterranean. Sec Gibbon, V. xi, p. 347, age of eleven marks fevcu (hillings and eight pcn-

til. 179I. — Stella, and the other amial'ijls of Genoa. nies. [_^Madox''s Hijl. of the exchequer, c. 17, J 3. J

f Enfield dates this charter in the year 1227. The flourifliing town of Liverpool may leave to

\_HiJ}. of Leverpool, p. 9.] Being dated in the decayed communities the poor confolation of ficli-

thirteenth year of the king's reign, it might be in tious aatiquity.
the later end of 1228, but could not be earlier. 3

3G2

388

A. D. 1 23 1.

dom. \T!hordir, n contemporary Icelandic writer, tranjlated by 'Jobnjione. —
Chron. Manniee ap. Camd. Brit. p. 844 T'orfcsi Orcades^ L. ii.] The num-
ber of the Gallowegian fleet, equal to a fourth part of that with which
the French in the year 12 16 expected to eftubliflh a new king upon the
throne of England, is probably exaggerated by the northern writers,
who, however, all agree in celebrating the great naval power of Alan of
Galloway *.

1235, April 5"" — King Henry licenced Simon of Wiftlegray to carry
in his veflel, called the Gladyghyne, the pilgrims going from England
towards Jerufalem, S'. James of Compoftella in Spain, or other places
abroad, without hindrance or moleftation. {Pat. 19 Hen. Ill, piiblijljed
in Piirchas''s Pi/gri?nes, L. viii, />. 1271.] If he really proceeded as far as
Paleftine, he performed a voyage, which, I believe, was much more re-
mote than any that were ufually undertaken by any lingle Englifh vef-
fel in that age, wherein commerce was not fo powerful a ftimulus as
fuperftition in calling forth the energies of the mind or the exertions of
enterprife.

The tenth and eleventh fedions of King John's Magna charta, com-
prehending, perhaps, the mofl blameable part of that famous deed,
whereby the eftates of ininors were exempted during their minority
from paying interefl: for money borrowed by their predecelTors, were
now revived and fandioned by a public ad of the legiflative body af-
fembled at Merton. [Statutes of Merton, c. 5.] We thereby fee that it
was not now reckoned illegal to receive interefl: for money lent : but,
as long as this law remained in force, the vmfair rifk thrown upon the
lender by it muft; have kept the rate of interefl much above its natural
level.

The inhabitants of Amfterdam, who were ftill fubjed to the lord
of Amftel, were indulged by the earl of Holland with the liberty of
carrying their goods through the whole of his territory, as a compenfa-
tion for Ibme injury he had done them. [Bertii Rer. Germ. L. \\\,p. 41.]
Such was the humble commencement of the commerce of the illuflrious-
city of Amfterdam.

1236 — Some Flemifli merchants having been plundered of fifty-two
tuns (' dolia' f) of wine, and other goods in England, the countefs of

* The naval pre-eminence of llie feamen of was then in rebellion againft the king of Scot-
Galloway continutJ after the age of their famous land.

lord, Alan. To tlicm Alexander III, king of -j- The meafure of the ^/o/;«nj having been doubt-
Scotland, committed the maritime charge of an ed or mifundcrllood (fee Fleetiuond^s Chron. prec.
expedition intended to challife a rebellion of the p. 1 15, &c.) it is proper to obfcrve, that it is prov-
people of Mann. \_Scallchron. V. ii, p. 109, ed. ed to be a tun by a letter from King Edward III
G'jorla/J.'} And the Scottirti warlike, c;r piratical, to the king of Spain, wherein a pipe of wine,
vcffcls (for the terms were fynonvmons) which which is half a tun, is valued at ^of, the dolium
made fomc depredations on the fuhjefls ff Eng- being j[^. [.Fadera, V. v, p. 320. Sec alfo
land about the year 1236, [A'o/. pat. 21 Men. Ill, V. vii, p. 378, and the Statute of ejlreats, l6 Edw.
m 6] were pcrliapr. of their country, and in the /// In Statutes at laii^e, V. x, append, p. 23 : and
fervice of Tliomun, the natural foji (jf Alan, who many more proofs tnight be adduced, if ncceiFary.j

A. D. 1236. 389

Ji'landers demanded redrefs from King Henry, who thereupon promifed
to pay £^04. fterling for the wine, and jCioy : 10 : o money of Tours
for the other goods. He at the flime time promifed redrefs to others
who were wronged in his dominions, and expreffed his dcfire that the
merchants of Flanders and of England fliould mutually enjoy fecurity
in both countries. [Foedfra, V. i, pp. 316, 2)^S-]

With all this attention profefled to the interefl of merchants, Henry,
while he envied their opulence, did not fcruple openly to exprefs his
contempt of the riijlics of London, who prefumed to call themfelves
barons *. \M. Paris, p. 749.] And even the great legiflative body of
the nation held burgelTes of every defcription, and confequently merch-
ants, in fo low a degree of eftimation, that it was enaded in the parlia-
ment held at Merton, that a fuperior lord, who fliould difparage his
ward, being under fourteen years of age, by a marriage with a villein
(peafant) or a burgefs, fliould forfeit the wardfhip of the lands. [Sta-
tiites of Merton, f. 6.]

Hitherto London had been ferved with water from the feveral rivu-
lets flowing through it (which in the prefent day arc all hid under the
pavement), and from wells. But thefe fupplies being now found inade-
quate to the wants of the inhabitants, the magiftrates purchafed from
Gilbert Sanford, proprietor of Tyburn, the fountains of that burn (or
brook), with liberty to convey the water from the ciftern, into which
they had led it, through his lands in pipes, and occafionally to break up
the ground for neceflary repairs. \Ftxdera, V. xi, p. 30.]

The foreign merchants of Amiens, Nele, and Corbie, contributed
£,\oo to the expenfe of this 'improvement. About the fame time they
agreed with the mayor, the principal citizens alfo giving their confent,
to pay fifty marks annually to the mayor for the liberty of landing and
ftoring the woad imported by them, inftead of being obliged to fell it
onboard their veiTels, as they had hitherto done. The merchants of
Normandy alfo paid a fine to the city for the fame indulgence. {Stow's

Survey of London, p. 130 Fcedera, V. v, p. 105.] Thefe payments for

an accommodation in the fale of woad fhow that the quantity imported
was coniiderable, and confequently, that the manufadures, in which it
was ufed, mufl have alfo been confiderable. It is proper, however, to
obferve, that woad was more ufed by the dyers, before indigo became
common, than it is now, and alfo, that it is fuperior to indigo for dur-
ability of colour.

1238 — The Weftern world was threatened with total extermination
by the Tatars (or Tartars f ), a new, and to the Europeans an unheard-

* The reaJer will recoUcft, that the citizens of Abulgliazi, a defcendent of Zingis, and other Orx-
Loiidon, or at leaft the pit-emiucnl ones, had the ental authois, is ufed by Yvo Narbonenlli in his
appellation of barons. See above, p. 329. letter to the biiliop of Bourdeaijx in the year 1245,

f Tatar, the true name, as it is written by by PduJ Oderboin, a wnter cniUeTiporary witli

the

390 A. D. 1238.

of, race of invaders, more irrefiflible and more fanguinary than the
Saracens of the eighth century, who had already conquered Ruflia
(which remained fubjed to them till the year i486), and fpread defo-
lation through Poland and Hungary. It is a curious circumftance, that
we are indebted to this inundation of barbarians from the Eall for fome
important information concerning the herring fifhery. It appears, that
the herrings, which are very capricious in their migrations, had defert-
ed the Baltic fea for fome time, which obliged the Frifelanders, who
formerly ufed to go to the Baltic for herrings, and even the people of
Gothland in Sweden, who ufed to have the herring fifhery at their own
doors, to come to Yarmouth for cargoes of thofe fifh. But fo great and
general was the conflernation wherewith even the remotefl: nations of
Europe were ftruck by the approach of the Tatars, that thofe people
did not come to Yarmouth this year : and, in confequence of the dif-
appointment of their lales, the Yarmouth fifliermen were obliged to
give their herrings at fuch low prices, that they were fold exceedingly
cheap even in the inland parts of the country *. [M. Paris, p. 471. —
Playfair^s Chro?2ology, p. 121.] Thus have we undoubted information
of the exportation of cargoes of herrings from Yarmouth previous to
this time ; and thofe who aflert, that the art of curing herrings with
fait was not yet difcovered, may, if they pleafe, fuppofe that herrings
were carried frefli from Yarmouth to Sweden.

The Saracens, who faw themfelves expofed to the firft fury of the
Tatars, endeavoured to conciliate the favour of the kings of France and
England, in order to engage them in a confederacy againft the com-
mon enemy : and Frederic, the German emperor, wrote to the Chrift-
ian princes to perfuade them to combine their forces in order to ward
off the impending deftrudion. But the pope, having a quarrel with the
emperor, found means to fruflrate the only rational union of the Eu-
ropean powers that ever was projeded ; and the tide of devaflation was
rolled back to the Eafl by the valour of Germany alone. [Af. Paris,
/'A 47^557. 560.]

In the emperor's letter to the king of England he thus charaderizes
tlie weflern kingdoms : Germany, raging and ardent for battle ; France,
the mother and nurfe of brave armies ; bold and warlike Spain ; the

the fubjed of his work, in Vita "Joannis BafiUdls, -were fold for one ptr.ny (' uiio nrgento'). I fup-

•■•nd a few other earlv European writers. Sec alfo pofe tour or live hundred was the number j'nteud-

Eion's Survey of the Turkifjj empire, f>f>. IDI, 304. cd by the author ; tor, even in the picftnt day.

But moll of the writers of tlic middle nges, de- the twentieth part of an ounce of lilvcr (tlie wciglic

lighted wilh the identity of I'artar and Tartar-us, of a penny) would not be thought a bad price tor

the hell of the antient fabulous mythology, have tifty herrings in fome parts of the country. By

cmcuntd to tlbblini this vitiated name. See in the liatute of herrings iu the year 1357 the high-

j<:irticular M. Puns, pp. 55S, 957. ell price they could be fold for was 40/ per lad, at

* Mathew Paris fays, herrings were to be had which highell rate there were 25 for one penny ;

lh''a year almyll for nothing, and even in the in- and in 1357 the penny did not contain near fo

land parts of the country/or/y or fifty good hsrr'mp much filver as it did at this time.

A. D. 1238. 391

fertile England, ftrong in her foldiers, and guarded by her fleets ; naval
Denmark ; bloodthirfly Ireland ; lively Wales ; Scotland abounding with
lakes ; frozen Norway, &c. [M. Paris, p. 560.]

Such were the characters of the Europeaii nations, as drawn by the
emperor Frederic, to which it may be proper to add the ftile of living
and manners of the Italians of this age, probably the moft polifhed peo-
ple (except perhaps the Greeks) at this time in Chriflian Europe, as
drawn by an author who flourilhed about the end of the thirteenth cen-
tury. Their food was very moderate, or rather fcanty. The common
people had meat only three times in a week : their dinner was pot-herbs
boiled with meat, their fupper the cold meat left from dinner *. The
hufband and wife ate out of the fame difli ; and they had but one or
two cups in the houfe. They had no candles made of tallow or wax ;
but a torch, held by one of the children or a fervant, gave them light
at fupper. Many had no wine in the fumraer. Their wine cellars were
fmall, and their barns were not large. The men, whofe chief pride was
in their arms and horfes, wore caps made with iron fcales, and cloaks
made of leather without any covering, or of woollen cloth without lea-
ther. The women wore jackets of a fluff called pignolate with gowns
of linen, and their head-dreffes were very fmiple. Very few people
had any gold or filver on their clothes. Thofe who poffefled a fmall
fum of money were thought rich ; and the homely drefs of the women
required but fmall marriage portions. The nobles were proud of living
in towers, and thence the cities were filled with thole fortified dwell-
ings. [Riccobaldi Ferrarienfis Hijl. imper. op. Muratori Script. V. v, col.
128.] This portrait, taken from the accounts given by the generation
immediately preceding the author, fliows us that the manufadures and
commerce of Italy had not yet diffufed general wealth, or introduced
comfortable and convenient modes of living (according to the ideas ot
the immediately fucceeding age) throughout the country. Indeed the
fondnefs for living in towers is a proof that too much of the feudal
manners fl;ill prevailed to admit of a generally-flourifliing trade, or a
generally-profpei-ous condition of the people. But we alfo find, that iu
the courfe of fixty or feventy years the general fl;ile of living and the
circumflances of the people were much improved, and that our author
by no means regretted that he was not born in the good old times of his
anceftors.

I 239 — Four plates of filver, weighing fourteen marks (or 1 1 2 ounces),
got out of a mine in the bifhoprick of Durham, were delivered at VV efi:-
minfter by Robert de Crepping to the proper ofScer, to be made into
images for the king. \MS. Harl. 624, p. 175 b.] A copper mine, with
veins of gold and filver, at Newlands in the adjacent county of Cumber-

* By the immediately preceding clnufc they could have fuch boilings of herbs z.yl fuch fuppcrs on'y
'-Uiicc in a week.

392 A. D. 1239.

land (perhaps the fame which was worked by David king of Scotland
when he was lord of that country) was worked in this reign. \_Camdeni
Brit. p. 631.] x\nd there were many mines in various parts of the
country, which contained, or were expeded to contain, fome gold or
filver, as appears by grants of the fovereign to feveral individuals. [Ca-
lend. rot. pat. in "turri., pajjim.'] But whether they turned out beneficial
to the undertakers, we are not informed.

1 240 — From tlie ruins of the great and antient city of Mecklenburgh,
formerly the capital of the kingdom of the Vandals, Gunceline, the
lord of the country, built a new city, called Wifmar, on an inlet of the
Baltic forming an excellent harbour for the largeft veflels, the conve-
nience of which foon attraded a great refort of foreign merchants, by
which, and the fertility of the adjacent foil, the place foon became opu-
lent and refpeiflable. [Bertii Rer. Germ. L. iii, p. 304.]

1241 — Pope Innocent IV, who ufed to call England bis inexbmiftiblc
fountain of riches*, had fome time ago fent Otto as his legate into this
country, who truely acted as if he intended completely to drain the
well. At his departure from Dover he left not behind him, Mathew
Paris fays, as much money in the country as he had extorted from it,
for his inafter and himfelf, during a reiidence of feveral years, indefa-
tigably employed in fcraping together money from every quarter, and
upon every pretence. The whole amount of his colleftion was probably
unknown ; but two of his aflociates, who were difpatched into Scotland
in the year i 240, pillaged that kingdom of three thoufand pounds of
filver. Other blood-fuckers, who were immediately fent to glean what-
ever had efcaped the talons of Otto, fqueezed fifteen thoufand marks
cut of Ireland, and large fums alio out of England and Scotland. While
thofe harpies were making the beft of their way to Rome with their
booty, they v/ere intercepted by fome officers of the emperor of Ger-
many, v/ho, thinking he had as good a right to the plunder of the Brit-
ifh kingdoms as the pope, his moft bitter and unrelenting enemy, kept
the treafure for himfelf. [M. Paris, pp. 400, 540, 549, 573.]

The cera of the commencement of the Hanseatic association, one
of the moil important objeds in the commercial hifiory of the middle
ages, like the origin of many other great communities, cannot be pre-
cifely afcertained. It feems mofl probable that it derived its origin
from an agreement which was entered into in this year, 1241 f , by the

* The pope, wlio, Mathew Paris [/>. 938] ob- aius of commerce have fiipplied a dream fiiUy equal

ftrvcs, ought to be incapable of deceiving or being to all the wafte.

tli'ceived, was encoiirored in liis rapacity by Henry f This is the date aflumed by Lambecius, Stru-

himftlf, who abluhitely put tholV very words into vius, PfefFcI, &c. and furely the German writers,

liis inontli, havint; to!d him in his letters, that Kng- Irom local iituation as well as indudry in rcfcarchj

land was a fountain of riches, which could never be are well qualified for the examination of fuch a

drained. — Certainly it has flood a vail deal of drain- matter , .4

tag in that age, and ever fuice ; and Hill the fount-

-A. D. 1 241. 393

merchants of Hamburgh and Lubeck, to eflablifh a guard for the pro-
tection of their merchandize againfi; pirates and robbers in the inland
carriage between their cities ; [Lambecii Orig. Hamburg. L. ii, p. 26] a
precaution very neceffary in thofe days of rapine, when men of the firft
rank, having no ufeful employment or elegant amufement to relieve
them from the languor of idlenefs in times of peace, openly profefled
the trade of robbery *. The acceffion of other cities, and the prudent
meafures, which afterwards rendered the commercial confederacy, fup-
pofed to have fprung out of this alliance of two cities, fo flourifhi \^,
powerful, and famous, will be noticed on proper occafions as fully as
authentic materials will warrant.

Some mines of tin were this year difcovered in Germany, the pro-
duce of which was fo abundant, that the metal was even imported into
England, whereby the price of it in this country was very much re-
duced f. [M. Paris, p. 570.]

1 242 — Jacomo Theopolo (or Jacopo Tiepolo) duke of Venice, with
the afliftance of four noble and learned counfelors, collefted the laws of
the republic into a code, [Novelli Statuta Venet.'\ which is almoft entirely
occupied in regulating the defcent of property, the recovery of debts,
and the punifhment of crimes. And, what is furprifing in the laws of
the firft commercial people of Europe, they contain no other regula-
tions relating to commerce than feme diredions refpedling freights,
averages, feamen's wages, and the like. There is, however, one of the
laws XL. iii, c 18] which deferves notice on account of its containing
perhaps the earlieft inftance extant of the language of calculation, now
tmiverfally ufed by merchants, and, indeed, by all other defcriptions of
people. It was cuftomary for purchafers to pay down a depofit, which
was now directed to be lodged in the hands of the procurator of S'.
Mark, and the amount of it was fixed at ten per cent (' diefe per cento').
Other nations ufed, long after this time, to fay one tenth, one twentieth,
&c. or fo many pennies or fhillings on the pound. But the more judi-
cious and expreffive mode of calculating at fo much per cent, wliich we
have moft probably learned from the Venetians, has almoft univerfally
fuperfeded the calculation by tenths, twentieths, quarters,. &c. >

Thje king of France at the commencement of a war ordered the per-

* Thofe robbers were too powerful to be con- f M. Paris erroneouny adds, that hiliierto tin

trolled by the civil magiUrate, and they even dif- had never been found any where in the whole

regarded the excommunication of the clergy. [See world but in Cornwall. According to an author

Rolcrtfon's Hijioiy of Charles V, V. i, p. 398, ed. of that age, quoted by Camden, \_Bnlanma,p. 134]

1792, and ^f/oiy under the year 1255.] As their the German mines were difcovered by a Coniilh

gangs were numerous enough to be called armies, man, who was banilhed from his native country,

their depredations affumed the charasfter of war- The Cornilh tin, however, appears to be of a fu-

lare and victories, and, inllcad of being iligmatiz- perior quality to that of oihcr countries, as is ac-

ed as bafe and difgraceful, were often rewarded kr.owlcgcd by foreigners in counterfeiting the Eng-

with public appluute, as meritorious and honour- lilh ftamps upon their tin. \_CamphclVi Political '.

r.ble atlicns. Jurvey, K i, /. 41, note k.]

Vol. I; 3 D

394 ^' ^' 1242:

fons and properties of the Englifli merchants found hi his dommions to
be feized, whereby, fays Mathew Paris, [p. 585] he brought a gi-eat dif-
grace upon the antient dignity of France. The confequence was a re-
taUation upon the French merchants in England.

Henry III wrote to the barons of the Cinque ports, and to the good
men of Dunwich, to get ready their fhips, fufficiently manned, for his
fervice. He alfo ordered, that the king's galley of Briftol, and another
galley of the fame town, and the king's gallies in Ireland, fhould be fit-
ted out. He at the fame time ordered the mayor and citizens of Dub-
lin, and the good men of Waterford, to fend all their gallies and fhips.
Similar orders were fent to Bourdeaux for the gallies belonging to that
city. \Yoedera, V. i, pp. 406, 407.] This, I believe, is the fecond occa-
iion, after the days of Alfred, on which even a fmall number of veflels
belonging to the king *, or to the public, are mentioned. (See above,

p. 378.)

The mariners of the Cinque ports, making a very bad ufe of the
commiflion given them by the king to annoy the fubjeds of France,
wherein he warned them againfl injuring his own fubjedls, became
mere pirates, and plundered all they met, of whatever nation, not fpar-
ing even their own acquaintances and relations. Nor were fuch atro-
cities confined to the failors of thofe ports. There was a very general
combination of the inhabitants of the city of Winchefter and the adja-
cent parts of Hampfhire to plunder all whom they could overpower,
whether ftrangers or Englifhmen, fo that even the king's wine pafling
along in his carts could not efcape their depredations. In confequence
of a complaint made by two merchants of Brabant, accompanied by
threats of reprifals upon Englifh merchants in that country, an inquifi-
tion was fet on foot in the year 1 249 : but it was not without having
recourfe to very rigorous meafures that a jury could be found to con-
demn the guilty, of whom about thirty were hanged. [M, Faris, pp.
589, 760.]

1243 — ^The mofi; antient fpecimen of paper, fuch as we now ufe,
made of linen rags, is a charter, feven inches long and three inches
broad, preferved in the emperor's library at Vienna, which was written
in the year i 243, as the date is calculated by Mr. Schwandner, an Auf-
trian nobleman and principal keeper of the imperial library, who hag
written an eflliy on this curious relique, which, he fays, is at leaft half
a century older than any other fpecimen hitherto difcovered f .

* King Henry III liad a large (hip calL-d the of hnen-rag paper, fixed the commencement of the

Qiiecn, vvliich lie cliartercd to John lilancbiiUy for manufaifture of the later between the years 1270

his ( BlancbuUy'i) life in the year 1232 for an an- and 1302 : and in the year 1762 he offered a pre-

■nual jjayuient, or rent, of fifty marks. {MadoKS mium to any one v.'ho (hould produce the carliell

4hjl. of the exchrq. c. 13, ^ II.] public indnimcut, wiitten on paper made of linen

f Mr. Meerman, fyndic of Kotcrdam, who with rags. — Mr. North {Archxolog^'m^ F. x] mentions a

much lludy invcftigated the origin of printing and letter, wrillen by the king of Spain to lidward I,

5 king

A. D. 1244. 395

1 244 King Henry, whofe profufion involved him in perpetual pe-
cuniary diftreffes, and compelled him to opprefs his fubjeds, did not
fail to fqueeze the Jews very frequently. He now extorted from them
the enormous fum of fixty thoufand marks. Individual Jews were often
fined in large fums, 2,000 marks, 3,000 marks, &c. For a fine of ten
marks (80 ounces) of gold he gave a promife to a Jew, that he fhould
not be tallaged at more than /"i 00 a-ycar for the four enfuing years.
Another Jew compounded with the king to pay 100 marks a-year to
be exempted from tallages. If we confider the real value of money in
thofe days, we mufl be aftonifhed at the wealth of thofe men, who
could pay fuch fums, and flill have fomething left : for we mufl; fup-
pofe that the king did not pull off the (kin along with the fleece, but
left it to produce another fleece, to be again fhorn when fufSciently
grown. The method ufed to fpur on the payments was to imprifon
their wives and children till the money was paid. {^Mndox's Il'ijl. of the
cxcheq. <". 7.]

1 245 — Among the articles of a rigorous inquifition into trefpafles
committed on the king's forefls, whereby many were ruined, the fol-
lowing is the fourteenth. ' Let inquiry alfo be made concerning fea
' coal (' carbone maris') found in the foreft, and who have received
' payment for ditches led from the coal, and for the ufe of the roads
' (' cheminagium').' [M. Faris, Addit. p. 155.] This, being one of a
fet of inquiries previoufly drawn up for the ufe of the inquifitors, and
applicable to all the royal forefls, does not prove that coal was adually
found in any one of them. But the application of the termy^rt coal,
apparently as an eflabliflied name, to foilile coal, which might be found
in a foreff , affords a clear proof, and the earliefl authentic one known
to be extant, that coals had before now been brought to London by
fea, and probably from Newcaflle *. And accordingly we find, that a
lane in the fuburbs of London on the outlide of Newgate was known
by the name of Sea-coal lane f, at leafl as early as the year 1253. \^Ay-
lofft^s Calendar, p. 1 1 .]

Thus we are afliired, that the Englifh, though providentially difap-
pointed in their hopes of finding very produdfive mines of gold and fii-
ver, the nurfes of national lethargy and oftentatious poverty, had begun
now, and perhaps long before, to work the infinitely more valuable
mines of coal, the poffefTion of which, together with the knowlege of

king of England, in the year 1272, upon paper, * It has been afTerted, that the inhabitants of

■which he faw in the Tower : but he does not tell Newcaftle had obtained a charter for working coal

us, whether the paper was made of cotton or of mines in the reigu of King John, but apparently

linen rags. without fufQcient authority. See below under the

For tlie communication of, perliaps, the only year 1350.
copy in this kingdom of Mr. Schwandner's eifay, f Scow fays, it was called Sea-coal lane, and !

I am indebted to the polite attention of Mr. Ayf- alfo Lime-burners lane, becaufe lime ufed to be^-

cough, librarian for the printed booke in the Brit- burnt there with fea coal.

Ih Mufeum.

3D2

39^

A. D. 1 245.

the many important manufadures dependent upon them, have in later
times raifed the natives of Great Britain to the rank of the firfl mami-
facluring nation in the world, and given them a fufficient command of
the mines of gold and filver, wrought by the flaves of thofe who pridt
themfelves on being lords of the mod copious mines of the pretious
metals, by which induftry and enterprife have been banifhed from
among themfelves, while they have been animated by them among
thofe nations who are under the happy neceflity of giving valuable
commodities in exchange for them *.

In the council of Lyons the pope prohibited all Chriftians from fend-
ing their fhips for four years to any of the eaftern countries occupied
by the Saracens, that there might be abundance of {hipping to tranf-
port the warriors of the crofs to the Holy land. \A?iiiaIes Burton, p. 301,
ed. Gale.'] Thus did papal politics and fuperftitious frenzy trample un-
der foot the interefls of commerce, and the reafoning powers of the hu-
man mind.

King Henry proclaimed a fair to be held at Weftminfter, and he or-
dered that all the traders of London fhould fhut up their fhops, and car-
ry their goods to be fold at his fair, and that all other fairs throughout
England fhould be fufpended during the fifteen days appointed for the
duration of it. The weather happened to be remarkably bad. The
tents, made of cloth, affording no fhelter, the goods were fpoiled by the
rain ; and the citizens, inftead of fitting down to a comfortable meal
furrounded by their families, were obliged to eat their victuals in thofe
uncomfortable tabernacles with their feet in the mud. [M. Paris,

1248 — The fterling money ot England had for fome time been (o
fliamefully defaced by clipping, that fcarcely any of the letters of the
infcription were left : and the criminals were found to be moftly the
Jews, the Caurfini, and fome of the Flemifh wool-merchants. Some
of the king's council advifed, that the quality of the filver fliould be
fomewhat debafed in imitation of the money of France, that there
might be lefs temptation to clipping : but fortunately that very erro-
neous advice was not followed : and proclamation was now made that
all the defaced money fhould be brought in to the king's exchanges,
and there exchanged for new money, weight for weight. But the peo-
ple complained, that they fuffered more by bringing in their money to
the exchange offices, which were cllabliflied in but few cities, than it
they had been obliged to pay twenty fliillings a quarter for wheat ; for
what with their traveling expenfes and lofs of time, and a dedudion of
thirteen pennies from every pound for coiitage, whereupon the king

* See the opinion of Mr. Faujas S'. Fond, an intelligent foreigner, on ilie powerful fupeiiority in
manufaiihirts ariling from the poficfBon of coal mines. [Yravds in England and Scotland, F. 'ii,J>. 3,?9#
£11^1. trari/1.2

A. D. 1248. 397

had a large profit, they found that they had fcarcely twenty fliillings of
the new money in return for thirty of the old. The new coins differ-
ed from the old only in having the crofs upon the reverfe carried out
through the letters of the legend almoft to the edge, inftead of reach-
ing only half way from the center, as in the former ones, and having a
border of fmall beads on the extremity of the furface of the reverfe.
[M. Paris, pp. 733, 747, 748. — Ann. Waver I. p. 207, cd. Gale. — Pembroke
coins, pi. 4.]

A new coinage of the money of Scotland was made about two years
afterwards by the miniftry of the infant king, Alexander III, in which
the improvement introduced in the money of England was adopted.
\Scotichron. V. ii, p. 83, ed. Goodall.^

We are told that a fociety of Englilh merchants, called the Brother-
hood of St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury, at this time obtained privileges
from the duke of Brabant *.

1249 — Louis IX, king of France, made an attempt to expell the dif-
ciples of Mohamed from Egypt ; and he a6hially took Damieta, .; cjiy
fituated on the eaftcrn mouth of the Nile, which was then reckoned a
rival to Alexandria in the Oriental trade f. His fleet, which was con-
duded by the feamen of Pifa, Genoa, Flanders, Poidtou, and Provence,
confifled of one hundred and twenty of the great veflels called dromons
(or dromunds), befides gallies and other fmaller veflels, to the number,
in all, of at leafl fifteen hundred ; and it was reckoned the greateft and
noblell fleet that ever was feen, being indeed much more numerous
than that of Richard king of England in the preceding century. [M.
Paris, p. 793; Addit. pp. i66, 169.]

One of the great fliips of the French fleet (Mathew Paris calls her ' a
' wonderful fliip') was built at Invernefs, near the northern extremity
of Scotland, for the earl of S'. Paul and Blois. [M. Paris, p. JJi-]
That a French nobleman fhould apply to the carpenters of Invernefs
for a fliip, is a curious circumfi:ance, which feems to infer, that they
had acquired fuch a degree of reputation in their profeflion as to be
celebrated even in foreign countries. We fliall foon fee reafon to be-

* So fays Whtielfr, who was fecretary to the account of the Oriental regions, fays, that veflels

com])dir\Y of merchan; adventurers in the year \ 60 1, from Damieta fupplied Syria, Armenia, Greece,

and he adds, that thty afterwards laid afide the and Cyprus, with Indian goods, and that the tran-

nanic of St. Thomas, and took that of merchant fit of thofe goods through Egypt yielded a great

adventurers. [Treatifi of commerce, p. lo, Land, revenue to the fultan. He defcribes Alexandr:.!

ed.'] But, as he produces no authority for his af- and the light-houfe at the port, hut fays nothing

fertions, and is an advocate rather than an hiftor- of the commerce or (hippinj^- of it. \_ap, Bongarfii

ian, it may be doubted, whether the flory has not Gejia Del, V. \, p. 1 1 28.] Soon after the libera-

been nv. r.ted in order to outdo the rival company tion of Louis, who was made prifoner in Egypt,

of the merchants of the ftaple in tlieir pretenfious Alexandria was deltroyed by the Cyprians, and

to antiquity. reftorcd by the fultan, but very much inferior to

t Jacques de Vitry, a French author wlio flour- its former magnificence. [X« /^Jrk. p. 675, ed,

ifhed a liitle before the reign of Louis IX, in his 1632.]

39^

A. D. 1249.

lieve that the commerce of Scotland was much more fiouriflilng at this
time than in the calamitous ages, which fucceeded the death of Alex-
ander III : and it is very certain, that Invernefs, fituated near the
mouths of feveral confiderable rivers, which ran through vaft forefts of
excellent oak and fir, mufl have been a very convenient port for build-
ing veffels *.

Frederic, emperor of Germany, a prince whofe native powers of mind
raifed him above the barbarifm of the age in which he lived, though he
was plunged by papal authority into the madnefs of a crufade, faw the
abfurdity of facrificing the blood and treafure of his fubjects to the in-
ordinate ambition of the fee of Rome; and, having recovered Jerufalem,
Tyre, Sidon, and a confiderable part of Palefi;ine, in the year 1229, he
wifely accepted the beneficial friendfhip of the princes of the Eaft. In
confequence of that rational and advantageous connexion, his merch-
ants and fadors traveled, by land and water, as far as India f : and in
the lafi: year of his life (a°. 1250) twelve camels came to him loaded
with gold and filver, the produce of his trade in the Oriental regions.
It was from his wealth, thus acquired, that he was enabled to make pre-
fents of large quantities of filk and other pretious articles to Henry III
and his brother Richard earl of Cornwall, and to bequeath by his will
100,000 ounces of gold to the fervice of the Holy land (for he ftill had,
or thought himfelf obliged to profefs, a good will to the caufe), and
20,000 ounces to his younger fon and grandfon, befides what he left in.
fmaller legacies. [M. Paris, pp. 356, 431, 812.]

The emperor Fi-ederic pofTelfed a celeftial globe, which reprefented
the motions of the planets ; and to him we are indebted for the firfl:
Latin tranflations of fome of the mod efteemed authors of antiquity,
and particularly of Ptolemy, which, in an age wherein very few could
read Greek, rendered the fludy of geography common, if compared tO'
the almoft-total extindlion of it for fome centuries bypafl:. {Motitucla
Hijl. dcs mathem. V. i, p. 418.] This enlightened emperor and merchant
was literally perfecuted to death (fome fay a6tually poifoned) by that
infernal monfter of rapacity and ufurpation, Innocent IV.

12^1 — Among the commercial fi:ates of Italy the Tulcans were now
diftinguiflied as the mofi: eminent. The merchants of Florence, the
metropolis, though it is an inland city, had efi;abliflied commercial

* Invernefs appears to have furniflicd vcflils to hind, V. ix, p. 615. — Fhtcher''s worhs, p. 103, ed.

foreigners in the feventecntli, as well as in the thir- 1749. J It may be obferved, that the harbour of

tccnth, century. A large (liip was buili tlierc for Invernefs does not admit what is now called z. great

the fervice of Venice, as appears by the Phihifrt- fliip ; but all things arc great or fmall by compari-

phicul Iranjiitiions, F. xxi, p. 230. The writer Ion.

tiocs not give the year : but the paper is dated in f I would not be pofitive, that the weftern

\f)ijcj; and it appears that Invernefs was in a writers may not have given the name of India, a

floiiridiing condition during the feventeenlh ccn- name vaguely applied to the remote regions of the

tiiry, and alfo that the Scots and Venetians were Ead, to fome country lefs dillailt than liilldoc-

tlicii on friendly teims. [Slali/liiaf accoiiiil 0/ Scot- llan.

A. D. 1 25 1. 399

.-A
Tioufes In other parts of Italy, and even in foreign countries, and there-
by acquired great wealth. Many of them, having accumulated larger
capitals by their trade than could conveniently be employed in It, had
become dealers in money by exchange, and by borrowing and lending
upon Intereft * : and, by means of their partners, agents, or correfpond-
ents, in various parts of Europe, they appear to have got the bulinefs
of remittance by bills of exchange in a great meafure Into their own
hands. Their exteniive and profperous dealings enabled them to build
magnificent houfes or palaces, whereby Florence was fo much embel-
liflied, that it was reckoned the moft fplendid of the Italian cities : and
it alfo became fo powerful, that the neighbouring cities and dates came
in procefs of time to be fubjed: to it.

The merchants of the other cities of Italy foon followed the Floren-
tines in their pradice of dealing in money as well as merchandize. They
extended their concerns, and eftabliflied houfes in France and alfo in
England, though King Henry forbad his fubjeds to borrow from any"
foreign merchants. [Rot. pat. 29 Hen. Ill, m 6.] In the beginning of
the thirteenth century the citizens of AftI, an Inland city of Piedmont,
had acquired great wealth in France and other countries, chiefly by
their dealings In money, and they foon became the mofl opulent of the
Lombard merchants. The fame bufinefs being alfo followed by the
citizens of Milan, Placentia f , Sienna, Luca, and the other cities in the
north part of Italy, it became ufual In France and in Britain to give the
appellation of Lombard J and Hujcan merchants to all who were engaged
In money tranflidlons. Thofe Italian merchants, difperfed throughout
Europe, became very convenient agents for the popes, who employed
them to receive and remit the large revenues they drew from every
country which acknowleged their ecclefiaftlcal fupremacy. It feenis
probable that they alfo employed them to lend their money upon in-
tereft, whence they are called by Mathew Paris \_pp. 419, 823, &c.] the
pope's merchants : and fome of the nobles of England, following the
pope's example, availed themfelves of their agency ' in fowing their
* money to make It multiply,' as Mathew Paris expreffes it.

In England the foreigners, who made a trade of lending money, ap-
pear to have been known about this time by the name of Caurfini ; and

* Muratori \_Ai>hq. V. i, d'^lf. i6] fays, tliey tif)', />. 376] which, nobody doubts, is derived from

abandoned trade for the fake of the greater emolu- its being the refidence of Lombard merchants or

ments arlfing from lending money. But, with fab- bankers, as it is ftill the chief refidence of the

miffion to the erudition and judgement of that mgll bankers of London, there being yj'tvn/cra houfef,

refpeftable writer, it is abfohitely impoffible in the or partnerdiips, of them (about a qu,uter of the

nature of things, that interefl can ever be as high whole) in that one flreet, and a great proportion

as the profits of trade, out of lahich the intereft of of the reft in the adjacent ftreets. But there feems

borrowed money muft be paid. to be fcarccly any of the pofterity of the original

\ See above, p. 367, a fum of money advanced Lombard, or Italian, bankers now remaining, if

to King Richard 1 by merchants of Placentia. wc may judge by the names of the prefent part-

\ At Icaft as early as the year 131R I^onibard nerfliips.
-ftreet in London had its prefent name, -{Sto-vS's Sur-

400 A. D. 1 25 1.

they are accufed of taking moil unmerciful advantages of the neceffitles
of thofe who were obliged to apply to them for the loan of money *.
In the year 1235, when the king and moft of the prelates of England
were indebted to them, the bifhop of London made an attempt to drive
them out of the city : but the pope fupported his own merchants (fo
they are called) againft the bifliop, who, thinking himfelf ill ufed by
the fucceflbr of S'. Peter, recommended his caufe to S'. Paul, his own
patron. But he, having faid that the labourer is worthy of his reward,
ought, in confiftency, alfo to decide againfl him, as money, the price of
labour, is equally worthy of a compenfation for the ufe of it.

At length in the year 1251 the Cauriini were accufed before the
judges, by an agent for the king, of fchifm, heref}% and treafon. Some
of them were imprifoned, and others concealed themfelves. One of
them told Mathew Paris the hiftorian, that, if they had not purchafed"
fumptuous houfes in London, fcarcely one of them would have remain-
ed in England f . The neceflary confequence of the clamour and per-
fecution raifed againfl thofe who took interefl for the ufe of money,
was that they were obliged to charge it much higher than the natural,
price, which, if it had been let alone, would have found its proper le-
vel, in order to compenfate for the opprobrium, and frequently the
plunder, which they fuffered : and thence the ufual rate of, intereft was-
what we fhould now call mofl exorbitant and fcandalous ufury %, ,

The marriage of Alexander III, king of Scotland, to Margaret, the
daughter of Henry III king of England, both infants of ten years of
age, occafioned a difplay of magnificence, which feems to have exceed-
ed any thing ever feen in England before. Befides the kings of Eng-
land and Scotland with their retinues, the queen dowager of Scotland,
who refided in France, joined the company with a fplendid train of the
nobles of that country. Notwithllanding the rapine of the popes and the
folly of the crufades, the nobles of England could afford to make a mofl

* Do£\or Henrj', generally a careful and accur- with the money-lenders called Caurfini. He even

ate writer, feems to be miftaken In faying [K vlii, endeavours to clear his native country, Italy, ftjtl

/'• 335' "^- '7^^] ^''^^ ^'"T t-ook fixly per cent, further from the reproach, attending their opprefl'-

The condition in tlie obligation exemplified by ive ufury, by fixing them at the city ot Cahors in

Matiiew Paris, [/>. 418] which feems to have mif- France, the general rendezvous, as he fays, of

led him, was apparently the common form, (fee thofe traders, whether French or Italian*, whence

Fadera, V. f, p. 6.J3, for fuch another) and finii- they were called Caorfmi, Caturcini, &c. For this

iar to the modern praftice of making !)c;ids for he quotes Benevcnuto of Iniola who wrote in the

double the debt, in order to cover the damages year 1380, and Du Cange the learned French

and expcnfes. glofiarilt. Pcrliaps it may alfo bo confidcted as a

f Some of them foon after obtained a bull from mark of the fuperior fcicnce oi the people of that

the pope, dcfiring the king to treat them favour- place in money matters, that John of Cahors (* de

.ibly. \_Fadera, V. i, /. 467.] Caturco') was employed in the bufmcfs of coming

5, The fafts in this account of the tra<lc in mo- by Edward I. \_Mjdoxs Hijl. of the excheq. c. 22,^

ney are taken from M. Paris \_pp. 417-419, 822] ^ 4.] It would throw confiderablc light on the

and Muratori. S^/]uliq. V. i, d'iff. l6.j Muratoii difpntc, if we euuld certainly know, which fide of

Krcuuoufly denies, that the Corlini, a noble family the Alps Mathew Paris \p. 822] calls lianfalp'me.

of Florence, who, like the other nobles of that On othei oscafions he clearly applies that terra to

itatt", were engaged in trade, had any coniicflion the Italians. I

A. D. 1251. 401

extravagant difplay of magnificence. On the marriage day (December
26'*^) a thoufand Englifli knights appeared in cointifes of filk *, and next
day every one of them was dreffed in a new robe of another kind. The
Scottifli part of the company were not fo fumptuoufly adorned ; for we
are only told, that above fixty knights, and many others equal to knights,
were handfomely drefled. But the hiflorian declines fpecifying the great-
efl exceffes of profufion on that occafion, becaufe, he fays, they would
aflonifh and difguft the reader, if related, and fcarcely be credited. The
archbifhop of York had the very expenfive honour of being landlord to
all this jolly company alTembled from England, Scotland, and France,
at his metropolitan fee. In an entertainment he expended fixty Hailed
oxen for one article of the feafl: : and his total expeilfcs in entertain-
ments and prefents of gold, filver, and filks, to his guefts during their
flay, amounted to the prodigious fum of four thoufand marks. [M. Pa-
ris, pp. 829, 830.]

1252 — The port of Winchelfea, which was very ufeful to the merch-
ants of London, was much damaged by a dreadful florm, and an ex-
traordinary inundation of the fea. [M. Paris, p. 831.]

' The citizens of London, who, by the tenor of their charters and by

* antient cufloms, ought to be of the very freeft condition, were com-
' pelled by Kirig Henry's imperious requifitions to give him twenty

* marks of gold, as if they were the mofl abjcdl flaves, fo that their

* fituation feemed nearly as bad as that of the miferable Jews.' This
fum, which was but a drop in the ocean of treafure he extorted from
the city f (though 160 ounces of gold could not be called a trifle) is no-
ticed, as it was the immediate prelude to the repetition, at leafl: the
third time, of an arbitrary proclamation, ordering the citizens to fliut
up their fliops for fifteen days, and bring their goods to his fair at Wefl;-
minfter, where he compelled them to expofe their perfons and property,
though there were fcarcely any buyers, to the inclemency of the weather,
which happened to be exceedingly rain,y. But the king, fays the hif-
torian, did not mind the imprecations of the people. [M. Paris, p.
852.]

At this time died John of Bafingftokes, who in his youth had fludied
at Athens |, ftill the fchool of the languifhing fcience of Greece. He

* Such a difplay of filk (liows that there was no an equal difplay of filken pomp in the rtmoter and '

fcarcity of it in England. We are told, [^/inn. lefs cojnmeicial country of England, and at Icaft '

Waverl. p. 203] that in the year 124a the ilreets equally well attelled, has been little noticed,

of London were covered, or fliaded, with lilk, for -j- For other inftances of much larger fums

the reception of Richard, the king's brother, on fqueezed out of the cily, fee Mathew Paris, pp.

his return from the Holy 'and ; but that might be 336, 6qo, 693, 758, 863, 901, 902, 929.

faid, if only a few iilk awnings were put up. Long % He told Mathew Paris, that he learned what-

after this time, fo late as the year 1367, it was ever he knew, that was moil valuable in fcience,

thought worthy of being recorded, as an inftance from Conllantina, a learned virgin under twenty

of great magnificence, that a thoufand citizens of years of agf", tlie daughter of the archbifhop of

the opulent commercial city of Genoa were cloth- Athens,
ed in lilk : and it has been often repeated, while

Vol. I. 3 E

402 A. D. 1252.

brought to England the ' numeral figures of the Greeks, and the know-

* lege and fignifications of them, which he communicated to his friends.
' By thefe figures letters alfo are reprefented, and, what is mod wonder-

* ful in them, any number may be expreffed by a fingle figure, which
' cannot be done with the Latin numerals or the Algorifm.' The figures,
as defcribed by Mathew Paris, confift of a perpendicular flroke with a
fliorter flroke branching off from its fide, which by the variation of its
pofition and angles reprefents the nine fimple numbers, thofe with the
branch extended to the left being units, and thofe having it on the right
being the fame numbers in the column of tens, to fpeak in the language
of our ufual numeration : for example 4 is five, |- fifty, and + fifty-five.
\_M. Paris, p. 835, citm var. le£l.'\ How the higher numbers were writ-
ten, we are not informed. Thefe numerals, if there is no error in call-
ing them Grecian, for fome of them are much more like the letters of
the Runic alphabet, are totally different from thofe of the antient
Greeks, who, as well as the Romans, exprefled all numbers by their
letters *. If they were an effort of Grecian pride to emulate, without
imitating, the Oriental numeral figures, they feem to have foon yielded
to their fuperior utility, and funk into oblivion.

At the fame time flourifhed John de Sacro bofco, another Britifh au-
thor, who wrote a book upon the fphere, which has been efleemed clafP
ical, and has had feveral commentators and many editions, and alfo
treatiles upon the ailrolabie and algorithm f , which are flill in raanu-
fcript in the Bodleian library at Oxford. He died at Paris in the year
1256. [Lelandi Script. Brit. p. ^^^. — Montucla, Hijl. dc mathem. V. i, p,
417. — Mackenzie's Lives, V.\, p. 168.]

About the fame time, or perhaps foraewhat earlier, lived Daniel
Morley, who, after ftudying at Oxford and Paris, went to Toledo for
the fake of learning mathematics from the Arabs or Moors, then the
poffeflbrs of that part of Spain. After his return to England he is faid
to have written two books on the lower and upper worlds ; but whether
he added to the ftock of fcience in England, we are not informed. \Lc~
land de Script. Brit. p. 244.]

1253 — Some appearances of manufactures of linen in both the Britifh
kingdoms have already been noticed. But it is probable, that they were

* And tlicy have as little rcfemblance to the modern writers, who have inveftigated the origin

now-obfolcte Oriental figures ^, N, /\, now writ- of numeral figures.

ten 4, 5, 7, as they have to the modern figures. f Algorilhm, or algnrifm, called alfo aii^rim hy

The antient figures may be feen in many manu- Cliaucer in his Concluft<ins of the ojlrolah'ie, appears

fcripts, particularly in Clcop. li vl r.nd ix in the to have been a kind of aiithmclie, uhicii is vari-

Cotlon library. — It is furprilijig that Iceland, in onfly defcribed by modern authors. Mjrianns

his account of Bafingflokes, {^Script. Brit, p: 266] Scotus, who flouiilhed in the eleventh century, is

cxtradled from that of Mathew Paris, has entire- faid to have written a trcatife upon it ; and there

ly ntgleftcd tliis moil curious and important part arc many manufcript works upon it, befidcs that

of it, as unworthy of notice. And it is ftill more of John de Sacro bofco mentioned in the text, one

■t'Jrprifing that it is alfo unnoticed by mod of the particularly in the volume of the Cotton library,

Chop. B, vi, mentioned in the preceding note.

A. D. 1253. 403

moftly confine^' to the coarfe fabrics, and that the quantity was trifling,
the fupply of t e greateft quantity, and efpecially of tlie bcfl fabrics,
being procured from Flanders, where the Hnen nianufadure was carried
to perfection with native materials of the beft quality. It appears, how-
ever, that fome finer linens were made in England at, or before, this
time, efpecially in Wilt-fhire and Suflex, and we find orders fent by the
king to the fhirrefs of thofe two {hires, direding each of them to pur-
chafe 1,000 ells of fine hnen (' lineee telse pulchrse et delicatae') in his
fhire for the royal wardrobe. [Madox's Hift. of the excheq. c. 10, § 12.]
Many other infiances of linen bought for the king occur in the records ;
but we are ignorant whether it is foreign or home-made.

The manufacture of linen muft have alfo been pretty generally efla-
bliflied in "Wales at this time, as we find foon after (in 1314) that the
men. of that country were moftly clothed in linen. [^Barber's Life of
Robert Bruce, p. 276, ed. 1758.]

King Henry having ordered all the velTels in England, foreign as well
as Englifh, to be feized for his ufe in an expedition againft the mal-
content barons of Gafcoigne, the number of them was found to be
above a thoufand, whereof three hundred were diftinguiflied as large
Ihips. [M. Paris, p. 868.]

1254 — The people of Yarmouth fitted out a large and beautiful fhip,
manned with thirty ikilful feamen, to carry Edward prince of England
over to the continent. Thofe of Winchelfea had alfo fitted out fome
fhips to carry over the queen ; but none of their vefi"els being comparable
for beauty or magnitude to that of Yarmouth, they were fo enraged at
her fuperiority, that, according to the fierce and lawlefs manners of the
age, they attacked her, and killed fome of her men, for which grofs
outrage they had no provocation but mere envy *. [Af. Paris, p. 889.]

King Henry expended in his fruitlefs expedition to Gafcoigne above
two millions feven hundred thoufand pounds of filver, more money,
fays the hiftorian, than any prudent man would give for the two pro-
vinces of Gafcoigne and Poictou : and at the fame time he gave thirty
thoufand marks, befides. landed eftates, to his foreign uterine brothers,
Thefe fums, though reported by a very refpedable hiftorian, feem fcarce-
ly credible. [M. Paris, p. 890.]

About the beginning of this year fome large and elegant ftiips, well
found in naval ftores, arms, and provifions, and alfo carrying arms fuf-
ficient for an army, were driven by ftrefs of weather upon the Englifli
coaft near Berwick, and feized by the wardens of the coaft. The fight
of fome other ftrange fhips induced the wardens to let them go in peace,
left they fhould be found more cruel than tempefts, and left the quarrel

* Hoftilities between Yarmouth and tlie Cinque with repeated proofs of the barbarifm of the
ports, of which Winche'.ka was one, were frc- people and the inefSciency of -vernment in thof<:
(juent : but It is not iieceifary to ftain thefe pages ages.

3 E 2

404 ^^* -D* ^254-

of the ftrangers ftiould be revenged by their fuppofed conforts. As none
of the people of that part of the country underftood the language of
the foreigners, we have no means of even guefling at the country to
which thofe fliips belonged. [M. Paris, p. 882.]

1254 The people of all ranks in Flanders, from the prince to the

meanefl peafant, were enriched by their manufadures. Their earl
Ferdinand was fo opulent, that when John king of England and his al-
lies were planning the conqueft and partition of France, it was agreed,
that the title of king of France fhould be given to the earl of Flanders,
becaufe he had contributed the greateft proportion of men, and fup-
ported the whole army with his Flemilh gold. [P. Mmyl. p. 196.] But
the profperity of Flanders now fufFered a fevere check from a war,
which was kindled up on the continent by the rival fons of the countefs
Margaret, who is faid by fome authors to have had two hufbands at once,
like another Helen, wherein prodigious numbers of French, Germans,
and Flemings, were flain, above 30,000 Flemings having fallen in one
battle at Walcheren. So great a flaughter of the makers and confumers
of woollen cloth produced a flagnation of the manufadure, the confe-
quence of which was feverely felt in England, efpecially by the Cifter-
cian monks, apparently the greateft breeders of ftieep in the kingdom,
being encouraged thereto by the exemption from duties, claimed by
their order, [See Hemmgford, L. ii, c. 72 — W. Nnvbrig. L. iv, c. 38] who
were this year difappointed of their ufual lales of wool to the Flemings.
\M. Paris, p. 886. — Meyeri Ami. Fland.f. 77 a, ed. 1561.] Some heavy
duties laid upon the commerce of Flanders were probably alfo a con-
fequence of the war : but thefe the countefs lightened upon the re-
monftrance of the citizens of Hamburgh. [Lambecii Orig. Hainb. L. ii,

^- 37-]

- 1255 The feeble government of the emperor William brought the

imperial authority into contempt. The laws were negleded : public
tranquillity was deftroyed : the nobles of the imperial demefne and the
duchy of Swabia iiifefted the highways with robbery and murder, and
defolated the country. In vain did feveral of the moft powerful princes
attempt to fupprefs their atrocities, till the archbilhops of Mentz, Triers,
and Cologne, together with the princes of the Rhine, entered into a con-
federacy with above fixty cities, fituated on both fides of the Rhine from
Zurich to Cologne, on purpofe to carry on a perpetual war againft the
dlfturbers of the public tranquillity, and to abolifli the unjuft local tolls,
recently eftablifhed all-over the country. The confederacy under the
name of the League of the Rhine, was fmdioned by the approbation of
the emperor William, and confirmed in a general aflembly of the allies
held at Oppenheim : and they afterwards determined to hold an affembly
once in every three months in order to deliberate on the interefts of the
league. The country ioou experienced the good effecls of this allbcia-

A. D. 1255. 405

tion : a count was hanged for violating the public peace, and the nobles
defifted from robbing on the highways. The cities of Lubeck and
Hamburgh, already confederated for the protedtion of their commerce,
do not feem to have had any connexion with this afTociatlon, which did
not extend beyond the neighbourhood of the Rhine. But a coalition
afterwards took place ; and the union of other fmall confederacies and
fingle towns feems to have afterwards produced the powerful alFociation
of the Hanfe, which does not appear from any good authority to have
exifted at this time *. \Ffefel, Abrege de Vhijl. d" Allemagne , pp. 364, 380,
ed. 1758. — Striivli Corpus h'l/l. Germ. V. i, p. 596.]

Though the excellent accommodation of remitting money by hills of
exchange was probably known long before this time in Italy and all other
countries in which there was any commerce, there is not, I believe, any
exprefs mention of them (fo little attention did hiftorians pay to mat-
ters of real utility and importance), till a very extraordinary and infam-
ous occafion conneded them with the political events of the age. The
pope, having a quarrel with Manfred king of Sicily, had, in the pleni-
tude of his power as fovereign of the world, offered the kingdom of
Sicily and Apulia, on condition of driving Manfred out of it, to the
brothers of the king of France, and, after their refufal, to Richard earl
of Cornwall, brother of King Henry III, who faid, he might as well
offer to make him king of the moon. At laft he offered it to Henry
for his fecond fon Edmund, who without helitation accepted the fatal
gift, and empowered the pope to carry on his war againfl Manfred at
the expence of England ; whereupon he immediately took up large
fums from the merchants of Italy. When they afked him for payment,
he applied for the money to Henry, whofe conftant profufion made him
for ever poor. While Henry was in terror of lofing his fon's vifionary
kingdom for want of money to feed the pope's rapacity, Peter de Ege-
blanke, bifliop of Hereford, told him, that «he had hit upon an expe-
dient to raife the fums wanted, which was, that the Italian merchants,

* Some writers mention a charter of Henry III the year 1579, when the Hanfe merchants were

king of England to the merchants of the Hanfe dated moving heaven and earth in order to preferve their

in the year 1206, (which, by the bye is two years privileges in England, we find, in their addrefTes

before he was born) as a proof that that afTocia- to the emperor and princes of Germany and to

tion exiiled then, and long before, for it is faid to Queen Elizabeth, no pretenfions to any charters

refer to grants of his predcceflbrs. We have char- earlier than one faid to be given by King Ed-

tcrs of Henry HI to the merchants of Cologne ward I ; and that appears, from the account they

fettled in London in the 18* year of his reign,, give of it, to be the general charter given to all

to the merchants of Lubeck, Brunfwick, and Den- foreign merchants in the year 1 303 ; and they feem

mark In his 41'' year, and to the German mer- to have had no knowlege of Edward's charter of

chants in London in his 44"' year. But in none 1 280, which was a confirmation of his father's

of them is the word Hanfe, or any mention of a one of 1259 to the merchants of the Teutonic gild-

c-eneral mercantile airociation, to be found, which hall, the name oi Hanfe being apparently not ufed

would furely have been inferted in the charter to fo early. [_Pjpers concerning the Hanfe merchants,

the German merchants in general, with a reference MS. Bib. Colt, Vefp. F viii,y". 149 a, 157 a.] All

to the former charter to the merchants of the the charters, here mentioned, will be noted in their

Hanfe, if any fuch had exifted. Moreover, in proper places in this wort.

4o6 A. D. 1255.

who had advanced the money, being authorized by the king and the
pope, neither of whom had any rehiflance to forward fo honourable a
bufinefs, Ihould draw bills upon the Englilh prelates for fums pretend-
ed to have been advanced to them by merchants of Sienna or Florence.
This righteous plan was accordingly executed, and an agent was fent
into England to receive payment of the bills *• In vain the prelates
protefted, that they had no dealings or connexion with the perfons pre-
tending to be their creditors. They were obliged, under the terrible
penalty of excommunication, to pay the bills. [M. Paris, pp.- 892, 910.]
The bilhop of Ely, however, found means to fave himfelf from the
extorfion. Being fued by fome merchants of Sienna for 300 marks of
principal and 1 00 marks of interefl (' interefle') before Alexander de
Ferentin, a judge appointed by the pope, and being at the fame time
commiflioned to go to Spain as the king's ambaflador, he refufed to fet
out upon the journey, unlefs he were relieved from the iniquitous pro-
fecution : and the king was obliged to comply with his defire, and to
find other funds to pay the debt, which was jurtly due to the merchants.
[Rot. clauf. 40 Hen. Ill, in. 8. dorjo, in Frynne's ExaSi chronological vindica-
tion, V. n,p. 859.] This is believed to be the earliefl notice, extant in
this country, of interefl being fairly and exprefsly mentioned by that
name f , unlefs when the lender was a Jew : for it appears to have been
hitherto fettled by collufion between the parties, when both were Chrif-
tians, in order to avoid the cenfures and penalties of the church.

1256 — At this time the interefl of the money borrowed by the king
amounted to above a hundred pounds a-day, which, the hiflorian fays,
threatened the whole people of England, the clergy as well as the laity,
with defolation and ruin. [M. Paris, p. 938.] It is a pity he has not
alfo told us the amount of the principal, or, which would have been the
fame thing, the rate of the interefl:.

Juflices were fent to every city and burgh throughout England, in
order to regulate and corredl the meafures, and to eftablilh an aflife for
the weight of bread according to the fiuduations in the price of wheat ;
for example, when the quarter of wheat was fold for one fhilling, the
farthing loaf of uoajlel bread fhould weigh fix pounds and fixteen twen-
tieths, Troye weight. They alfo fixed an allile for ale proportioned to
the prices of corn, and for wine \. [Annates Burton, p. 365, ed. Galc.~\

The king by a charter to the burgefTes of S'. Omers in Flanders pro-

* The worthy contriver fubjeiSlcd himfelf to the the year 1249. I fliall afterwards have occafion to

payment of 4,000 marks, as a decoy to his breth- liint a fiifpicion that that law rather belonged to

ren. But lie had an order from the king to in- his fon Altxiinder III.

demiiify himfelf. \_Prynne's Exail chronological J The regulated prices of bread and ale will be

v'tndicalion, p. 860.3 found in the appendix of prices. Thofe of wine

f We fuid ' fanima principal!, cum damnis, ex- arc onu'ued by the annalift, nor do they appear

' penfis, et interelfi',' in c. 24 of the laws afcribcd in the allife iu the ftatute of ji Henry III.
to Alexander 11 king of Scotland, who died in

A. D. 1256. 407

mifed that they and their property fhould be exempted from arreft for
any debts, for which they, or fome of their countrymen, were not prin-
cipal debtors or fureties ; thuc their property in the hands of their fervants
fhould not be feized for any tranfgreffions of thofe fervants ; and that
any of them, who fhould die in his dominions, fliould have a right to
leave his property by will, and the heir fhould not be obflrudcd in tak-
ing pofTeflion of it*. [Fcedera, V. iv, p. 555. — Rot. pat. 40 Hen. IIT^
in. 4.] Whether the commerce of the burgefles of S'. Omers was an
objed of much confequence, or not, we are not informed : but the
charter merits attention, as the earlieft known relaxation of the law, or
cuftom, which made every foreigner anfwerable for the debts, and even
crimes, of all other foreigners, and made the whole property of every
ftranger at his death the prey of the king, or lord of the foil on which
he died ; a horrid prerogative, which continued to difgrace the laws of
France in particular from the age of Charlemagne down to our own
times f .

It will not be deemed impertinent to commercial hiflory to relate,
that an author called William de Sando amore (whom the biographer
of the popes calls a pernicious man) wrote a book, wherein he affirmed,
that thofe, who fpent their lives in idlenefs on pretence of devoting
themfelves to religious duties, and devoured the produce of other people's
induftry, were not in a flate of falvation. The book, containing fuch
dangerous and heretical dodtrine, was immediately condemned to the
flames, and all who kept copies of it in their pofleffion were excommun-
icated, by the infallible head of the church. [Triveti Ann. p. 207. —
Platince Vit. pontif. p. 427, ed. 1664.]

1 257 — Though the earl of Cornwall refufed the title of king of Sicily,
which, he forefaw, would coll more than the adual pofTefHon would be
worth, the fuperior fplendour of the imperial title got the better of his
prudence. A part of the German eledors, allured, as it is faid, by the
fame of his great riches (for he was as remarkable for accumulating as
his brother was for fquandering) elected him emperor of Germany, or
king of the Romans : and, in order to lliow his attention to the interefl
of his new fubjeds, before he left England he obtained from King
Henry a charter (May 1 1'^) whereby the king took under his protection
and fafe condud the burgefles of Lubeck with their merchandize, none
of which, he afllired them, fhould be taken for accoimt of himfelf or
any other perfon without their confent. And he ordered that they and
their agents fiiould have periled: liberty of buying and felling, as they

* The privileges of the bm-gefTes of S^ Omers f Some defcription of the cruel trer.tment of

were tlirice renewed by Edward II, and once by ftrangers in the middle ages may tc found in Rc-

Edward III. \^Rol. pat. 13 Edv.'. II, m. 15 ; and bcrtfon's Bijlorj of Charles Vy V. \, p. -^-^i,, ed.

16 Ediu. II, m. ^.—Failcra, V. m, p. 890; V. iv, 1792.
P- 5S5-li 3

4o8 ' A. D. 1257.

thought proper, and of coming, remaining, and going away, without
any impediment. Thefe privileges were to be in force for feven years,
provided they (hould continue faithful to his brother the emperor elect.
Charters in the fame form were alfo granted to the burgelTes and mer-
chants of Denmark and thofe of the city of Brunfwick. [Cbart. in Hak-
luyt's Voiages, Fi i, />. 131.]

Richard, the new-eleded emperor, expended upon his coronation,
and other fruitlefs objeds in Germany, the gatherings of his life-time,
amounting to the prodigious fum oi feven hundred thoufand pounds ofjilver,
belides his vafl revenues in England, which were remitted to him, while
he continued in Germany. By the exportation of fo much treafure the
country was very much diflrefled. [M. Paris, pp, 939, 949.]

This year the king coined money of the purefl gold, weighing two
fterlings, or pennies, and ordered that it fhould pafs for twenty pennies
of filver, being in the proportion of one to ten — \^Rot. clauf. 41 Hen. Ill,
m. 3. — MS. Chron. in arch. Lend. — Snelling^s View of the gold coin, p. i.]
Thus it is proved, that gold money was coined by Henry III ; whereas
the common belief is, that Edward III, his great-grandfon, was the firll
king of England who coined gold. It is probable, however, that there
was no great quantity of it, and the exigence of it was foon forgotten.
According to Carte, {Hiji. of 'England, V. n, pp. 23, iii] the citizens
of London remonftrated againft the new gold money, on Sunday 4"'
November, and the king thereupon proclaimed, that every perfon
might carry it to his exchange, and receive the value at which it had
been made current (which, to-be-fure, was much above the price gold
had been hitherto rated at) * deduding one halfpenny) or two and a
half per cent) for the exchange f .

The Welfh being threatened by Prince Edward, to whom his father
had afligned his fuperiority over them, with an invafion of the Irifli,
who were alfo his immediate vaflals, they provided a fleet of gallies,
fupplied with arms and provifions, to guard their coafl. In this war the
marches of Wales were reduced to a defert, the caftles and houfes were
burnt, the people and cattle were flaughtered, and the woods defliroyed.
A flop was alfo put to the ufual importation of horfes, oxen, &c. from
Wales, which in peaceable times was very advantageous to both nations*
[M. Faris, pp. 890, 949, 957, 958.]

* The continiiator of Mathew Paris \_p, 1009] vf London, but has midakt-n the year of the king's
values a gold cup weighing 10 pounds at 100 reign. Notwithdaiiding the mention of ihls coin-
pounds of filvcr in the year 1239. Probably he age by Carte, Eachard, Maitland, and Spelling,
allows 10 pounds of filver for the workmanlhip. upon the furc autliority of anticnt records, fo tcn-

f The coinage of gold by Henry III is alfo acious are many people of their accullomed be-

noticed by Eachard in his Hi/lory of England, and lief, that it will ilill be difficult te perfuade them,

by Maitland i]i his h'ijlory of' Scotland (a pott- that any gold money was coined in England before

humous work). 'I'hc later found it in the archives the reign of Edward III.
of the city, when collefting materials for his Hijiory 4

A. D. 1257. 409

The mifery of the year was aggravated by a very defedive crop,
which raifed wheat to the price of ten (hillings a quarter (' fumma') ;
and, the country being drained of money by the rapacity of tlie popes,
the profufion and mifmanagement of the king, and the tranfportation
of the earl of Cornwall's treafure to Germany, many thoufands perifli-
ed for abfolute want, and by the difeafes proceeding from the famine.
Some old men remembered former fcarcities, which raifed the wheat to
a mark, or even twenty fliillings, a quarter, and were not attended with
fuch mortal confequences, becaufe the people then had money circulat-
ing among them, and were enabled to buy corn, even at the extravag-
ant price. [M. Paris, p. 958.] Unlcfs the famine had been univerfal
throughout the world, which, we know, was not the cafe, the want of
corn in England could have been fupplied by commerce. But the com-
merce of England was, comparatively fpeaking, as yet but in its in-
fancy : and there were even many inftances in thofe ages of corn being
unreafonably cheap in fome parts of England, while it was enormoully
dear in others. So little were the principles, or the practice, of a be-
neficial commerce then under flood.

1258 — The famine in England was fomewhat alleviated by the arrival
of about fifty large fliips loaded with wheat, barley, and bread, which
the emperor Richard had engaged to come over ; and they were follow-
ed by others fent by the merchants of Germany and Holland. By the
king's proclamation the citizens of London were prohibited from buy-
ing any of the cargoes for floring up. But the want of money prevent-
ed many, who had formerly been in good circumftances, from being
benefited by the fupply. [M. Pa/is, pp. 963, 976.]

The king claimed as an antient prerogative, a right of taking at an
inferior price, by the name of prife, a certain part of the cargo import-
ed in every veflel ; and particularly two tuns (' dolia') from every cargo
of wine confiding of above nineteen tuns, viz. one before the mafl:, and
one behind it, at the price of twenty (hillings each "*. IMatiox's Hijl.

of the excheq. c. 18, § 2 Fa'dera, V. iii, p. 192.] His purveyors alfo

made a pradice of taking for his ufe, or at leafl; in his name, whatever
they thought proper, at a lower price than what the red of the cargo

* Some have fiippofed that the prife wines were li:ul an hereditaiy grant of the king's prife wines

tine to the king without any compenfation to the in the cities of Dublin, Drogheda, Waterford,

owners. But the following fafts ferve to prove Cork, and Limerick, and by the archbifhop of

that they were paid for at a fixed price. — Ed- York, who in the year 1327 claimed the prifage

ward II made over to his favourite, Piers de Ga- of the wines impcrted at Hull in virtue of a char-

vallon, his antient and due prifes of wine, being ter from King Athtlilan. {Fadcra, V. iii,/. 191 ;

two tuns out of every veffel, in two ports of De- F. ly, pp. 26S, 272.]

von-lhire, Gavafton paying to the merchants twenty The fixed price oi the pnfe wines at Brifto! ^va«

{hillings llerh'ng for each tun, ' as it ufed to be in only 15/, as appears by a record of the 12"' year

' the times of his anceftors the kings of England.' uf Iving John, quoted in Madox's Hijlory of the ex-

The fame price was alfo paid to the importers by chequer, f. 18, § 2, '<ivAthe Libir gardtra!>/f £dzv. I,

the family of Botiler (or Butler) in Ireland, who ^. ^56.

Vol. I. ■ 3 F

4id A. D. 1258.

fold for : and, as if that arbitrary proceeding had not been fufficiently
oppreffive, the importers were often obliged to go without any payment
at all *. The confequence was, that many Englifh merchants were ruin-
ed, and many of the foreign merchants about this time gave over trad-
ing to England, [ylnn. Burton, p. 400.] An exemption from the prif-
age of wines is one of the antient privileges of the city of London f.

Auguft 26"" — The principal citizens (' prohombres') of Barcelona
having compofed a body of maritime laws for the regulation of veflels
in the merchant iervice, it was now confirmed by James I, king of
Aragon and count of Barcelona. It confifts of twenty-one chapters,
containing rules to be obferved by the owners and commanders of veflels,
the fcribes or clerks who were fworn to keep fair accounts between the
owners and the freighters, the mariners, and the merchant paflengers ;
for lot\ding, flowing, and difcharging, the cargo ; for the arms to be
carried by every vefTel, and alfo by the feamen, who were to find theirs
at their own expenfe ; for the affiftance to be given by one vellel to an-
other when coming to an anchor ; and for a council to be eledled in
every vellel, whofe decrees fhould be binding upon the owner, com-
mander, and merchants, in all matters concerning the common intereil
of the vefTel and cargo. [Cbarta ap. Capmauy, Mef/i. hijl. de Barcelona,
V. ii, p. 23.] This code, apparently formed upon the model of that
of Rhodes, is faid by the Spanifh writers to be the moft antient body
of maritime laws in Europe: \Capma71y, V. i, com. p. 233] but it feems
•probable that thofe of Amalfi may claim the priority %•

1259 — Kii'ig Henry, at the requeft of his brother the emperor, grant-
ed a charter to the merchants of Germany, who had a hall or fadlory,
called the 'Teutonic gildball (' Gildhalla Teutonicorum') in London, where-
in he promifed to maintain them in the liberties and free cuftoms, which
they had enjoyed in his ovvn reign and thofe of his predecelTors, through-
out his whole kingdom. \Foedera Anglia, V. u,p. 161 — Hakli/yt's Voioges,
V. i, p. 132.] Unfortunately we are not informed, when thofe mer-
chants firfl occupied their fadory in London, which, by this (apparent-
ly the earliefl: extant §) authentic document of their privileges, they ap-
pear to have pofTefled for fome time. It feems moft probable, that the
afTociation, now called by the general appellation of merchants of Ger-

* The promlfe inferted in the charier to the lanced by the duties on the importation of wine

merchant! of Lubi'ck in the preceding year, that being heavier in London than in the ont-ports.
no part of their property (liould he taken from J The laws of Olcron, according to the ge-

thenr. wii l!o\it their conCent, was intended to guard iieral opinion, were alfo tarh'er. But the Spanilli

againll this abute. writers, and (as I have already obferved) at leall

f Thomas Chancer (who is believed to have one French writer, aflert that they are copied from

been the fon of the famoup poet) being chief thofe of Barcelona.

butler to King Heniy IV, made a complaint that J If they had got any earlier charter from

the citizens of London abufed their privilege by Henry, or any preceding king of England, it ccrt-

permiftinc^ wines helongir..'^ to others to be entered ainly could not be produced, when the German

in their names, in onier to evade t;ie prifnge. merchants obtained confirmations of their privi-

'[Collon's /IbridgcmenI of iht records, p. 47').] In leges from Edward II and Edward III.
the prefcnt day the exemption from prifage is ba-

A. D. 1259. 411

■many, has been formed by an accefllon of new members to the fociety
called in the year 1220 the merchants of Cologne^ the original pofleflbrs of
the Teutonic Gildhall. The articles imported by thofe merchants, ac-
cording to Stow, {Survey of London^ p. 431, ed. 161 8] were wheat, rye,
and other grain, cables and other cordage, mails, pitch, tar, hemp, linen,
wainfcot, wax, fteel, &c.

1261 — As long as the Latin emperors of Conftantinople polTefTed their
feeble and precarious fovereignty, the Venetians, the main inllruments
of their elevation to that lofty title, enjoyed fuch a commercial fuperi-
ority in the eaftern parts of the Mediterranean fea, that they, almofl ex-
clufively, fupplied the other nations of Europe with the productions of
Alia on their own terms. The Genoefe, who had long been their rivals
in commerce and naval power, could not behold without envy the ad-
vantages they enjoyed by their union with thofe emperors. They there-
for attached themfelves to Michael Palaeologus the Greek fovereign of
Nice, and affifted him with powerful fuccours, regardlefs of the indig-
nation of the pope, who favoured Baldwin the Latin emperor, and exe-
crated Michael, who refufed obedience to the Holy fee. The city was
taken by furprife (July 25"') ; and Baldwin, without making the fmall-
eft effort to repell the invaders, feemed very happy to make his efcape
witli a few friends onboard the gallies of his Venetian allies, who car-
ried him to Italy, where he was fupported during the remainder of his
life by the pope and the king of Sicily.

During the Latin government in Conftantinople the trade and opul-
ence of the city had declined, and the number of the people had de-
creafed. The new fovereign reftored the heirs of thofe who had been
deprived of their poflellions by the Latins, fixed the troops, who had
made him mafter of the city, as inhabitants, and invited fettlers from
the provinces. The merchants and traders of every defcription of Ita-
lian birth or parentage were willing, and were made welcome, to re-
main in the city, which, by their eftablifhed bufinefs and connections
was become their proper home. Among thefe the Venetians, the Ge-
noefe, and the Pifans, had been the moft eminent, ever fince the de-
cline of Amalfi, and each of thole nations poflefled their fadiories and
fettlements in their own particular quarter of the city, where they lived,
in fome degree independent of the imperial government, having chiefs
or governors and laws of their own. The Pifans, and even the Vene-
tians, were continued in the enjoyment of their fadories and privileges :
but the larger, and more favoured, colony of the Genoefe were put in
pofleflion of the neighbouring town of Heraclea, the antient Perinthus,
which was built in the flourifliing days of Greece by the Samians on a
peninfula projeding into the Propontis or Sea of Marmara; and thence
they were foon after tranfplanted to Galata (called afterwards Pera) a
fuburb fituated on the north fide of the Golden horn, the inlet of the

3F2

412 A. D. 1261.

fea, which conftitutes the harbour of Conftantinople. That town was
wholely refigned to them ; and they were alfo favoured with exemption
from paying cuftoms and with fome other privileges : and to thefe ad-
vantages the lituation of their town and their naval power foon enabled
them to add, with or without the approbation of the emperor, the com-
mand of the narrow entrance of the Black fea, and confequently to
monopolize the commerce of all the countries which furround it, toge-
ther with that branch of the Indian trade, which was conduded by
river navigation and land carriage to the eafl end of it.

It was enadted by the barons, that the wool of England fhould be
manufailured at home inftead of being fold to foreigners, and that all
perfons fhould wear woollen cloth made within the kingdom, and avoid
every fuperfluous extravagance in drefs *. [^IV. Hermngford^ L. iii, c. 27,]
At this time the Englifh were exceedingly exafperated againft all foreign-
ers on account of the king's glaring and immoderate partiahty to his
foreign relations and favourites, whereby a great proportion of the lands
and wealth of England was thrown into their hands. But it was yet too
foon to exclude the fuperior manufactures of foreigners, or to prohibit
the wool from going to the befl market.

1262 — Some German writers fay, that the Hanfe aflbciation about
this time made choice of Bruges in Flanders to be a ftation for their
trade, and an entrepot between the coafts of the Baltic and the Medi-
terranean, a voyage from the one fea to the other, and back again, be-
ing too arduous an undertaking to be accomplifhed in one feafon. It is
moreover faid, that the advantages of llorage, commiffion, &c. conti-
nued from this time to enrich the inhabitants of Bruges, till the em-
peror Frederic III was provoked by an infult put upon his fon to block
up their port, whereby the Hanfe merchants were obliged to transfer
their commerce to Antwerp. [Bertii Rer. Germ. L. iii,/. 28.] But it
may be doubted, whether the Hanfe aflbciation, tinder that name, was yet
in exiflence, or if there were any maritime cities yet added to the con-
federacy entered into by Lubeck and Hamburgh in the year 1241.

1264 — There ftill remained fo much of the fpirit of antient barbarifm
and ferocity in Europe, that the fpoils of rapine were often preferred
to the flow acquifitions of honeft induflry by tliofe, who felt themlelves
powerful enough to be robbers. Piracies were frequently committed
upon the fea, where the perpetrators thought themlelves fure of im<-
punity by the abfence of any fuperior controlling power, and more
efpecially when anarchy and public convullions in the country ihey be-

• This law is dated by Heminj^ford, the carlicd aiiotl.cr in the year 1271. Yet Edward III is rje-

aullior who mentions it, in 1261 ; and he afeiibcs ncrally fiippofed the lirll Englid) king who cnad-

it to l)ic parliament of Oxford, v.hicli, accordinjj ed fuch a l,;w. His law has the advantage of i)e-

to the other liiiloiians, was held in tlie year 1258. ing more generally known than the others. But

Jtisthc firft law piohibiting the exportation of all of them \\ ere equally intlledlve.
wool aud the in.porlation of cloth. We fliall fee 3

A. D. 1264. 41J

longed to fet them free from all reftraint. The government of England
being at this time diffolved by the war between the king and the barons,
there were more piracies than ufual committed by Englifli fubjecls : and
the mariners of the Cinque ports in particular are noted as moft guilty
in that way ; for they not only carried on unauthorized, though pro-
fefled, war againft the inhabitants of foreign cities, with fome of whom
they had quarreled, but they alfo feized every veflel they were able to
fubdue, and murdered all the people, not even fparing thofe of their
own country. Foreign commerce was foon at a ftand ; and wines which
tifed to be fold for 40 fhillings, were now fold for ten marks ; wax rofe
from 40 fhillings to above eight marks ; and pepper from fix pennies to
three fhillings a pound. There was fuch a fcarcity of fait, iron, fteel,
cloth, and all other merchandize, that the people were grievoufly afflict-
ed, and the merchants reduced to beggary, by it, the fale of the ex-
portable produce of the country being alfo at a fland in confequence of
the interruption of the navigation. The earl of Leicefler, the leader
of the barons who w^ere confederated againfl the king, attempted to
perfuade the people that foreign commerce was unneceflary, tlie pro-
duce of the country being fully fufficient to fupply all the wants of the
inhabitants ; and many people, in complaifance to him, laid afide their
coloured clothes, and drefled themfelves in plain white cloth. It muft
be acknov/leged, that the mariners of the Cinque ports were encour-
aged, perhaps commiflioned, by King Henry, who wifhed the fup-
plies coming to his enemies to be intercepted. But they muil have gone
beyond their inflrudions, which drew upon them the vengeance of
Prince Edward, who punifhed fome, and pardoned others, after which
there was perfect tranquillity upon the fea. \Cbron. IVi.kes, pp. 61, 6v
— M. Wejlm.p. 396. — and fee Focdera, V. i, pp. 250, 273 ; V. ii, p. 82.]
From the notice concerning the white and coloured cloths, we lee, that
part of the cloths made in England were undyed, and probably of the
natural colour of the wool. But fome cloths muft have been dyed in
Englai:id, as very confiderable quantities of woad were imported in this
age. The dil^refs occafioned by the want of foreign fait, iron, fleel, and
cloth, alfo fhows us, that the manufadures of thole articles^ which, ex-
cept that of fteel, muft have exifted in the country, in fome degree of
perfection, many ages before, were carried on upon a very fmail fcale,
and were now perhaps totally interrupted by the public diflurbances.

December 14'" — According to the Magna charta the king, in order to
eonftitute a common council for aiTefling an aid, was to ilTue his letters
to each of the archbifliops, bifhops, earls, and greater barons, indi-
vidually, and was to order the fhirrefs and bailifs to fummon all who
held of him in chief. There u'ere no elcftive members ; and the in-
habitants of cities and towns, including the merchants and manufactur-
ers, had conlequently not the moft diftant connexion with making the

414 A. D. T264.

laws, which difpofed of their lives and properties. The earl of Leiccfler,
having got the king into his hands, nov/ fummoned in his name the
prelates and nobles of his own party, and added to them a vaft number
of abbats, priors, and deans, a clafs of people among whom he had
great intereft. He alfo ordered the fhirrefs to caufe two knights out of
every county to attend, and fent letters to the cities of York and Lin-
coln, to the burghs, and to the Cinque ports, deliring them to fend two
members each. [F^dera, V. i, p. 802.] We are not told in what man-
ner the members were chofen.

1265, January — Thus were the commons introduced into parliament :
but there is no further mention of any members being fummoned from
cities or burghs till the year 1283 *> after which they appear to have
been frequently called, and at length formed a conftituent part of every
parliament, though even then a regular fucceflion of reprefentatives was
not kept up in every city and town ; for the fhirrefs often negledled de-
firing them to make their eledions : and the negled, whether occafioned
by accident or defign in the king or the fhirrefs, was thankfully ac-
knowleged as a gracious indulgence by thofe communities, who were
thereby exempted from paying the falaries of their members ; for then,
and during many ages after, the reprefentatives were paid by thofe whom
they reprefented. So very different were their ideas and pradice from
thofe of the prefent age. The commons long continited to have very
little influence on the legiflative body, and, indeed, were confidered as
mere petitioners. A6ls were pafled, and even money levied, without,
and againfh, their confent till the fecond year of Henry V, when it was
determined, that no law fliould be enaded contrary to the petition of
the commons, the king preferving his prerogative of aflent or difl^ent.
Though their rights, after being thus in fome degree defined, were often
infringed, they, notwithflanding, continued to grow up into flrength,
efpecially during the contefts between the houfes of York and Lancafler,
which, however fatal to individuals, tended to raife the great body of
the people to their due place in the conftitution. But it was not till '
commerce and manufactures conferred importance upon towns, and
opulence upon individuals, that the house of commons attained the
weight and dignity, which ought to belong to the representatives of

A FKEE PEOPLE f .

It would be improper to neglecl: noticing a pompous defcription of
the profperity and commerce of England, which Mathew of Wcftminfter
(/>. 396) introduces in the charader of a perfon lamenting ' in an ele-
' gant ftile' the %Tiileries of the country occafioned by the civil war.
* O England,' fays he, ' formerly glorious, illuftrious, and exalted among

* Brady appears to have never feen the funinionfes in 1283. He <lfites the firfl appearance of
citizens and burgcfTes in parliament in 1295. [Treatife of burghs, p. 25.]

t See Rujfhcad's Preface to the Statutes at large, and the authorities thdrc (I'lutedl

A. D. 1265. 41^

the kingdoms, like the grandeur of the Chaldfeans. The fhips of
TarQiifh were not comparable to thy (hips carrying aromatics and all
pretious merchandize throughout the four climates of the globe (' or-
bis'). T'be fea zvas thy wall; and caftles ftrongly fortified were the gates
of thy harbours. In thee chivalry, the church, and commerce, flourifh-
ed. For thee the Pifans, the Genoefe, and the Venetians, tranfport-
ed the fapphire, the carbuncle, and the fmaragdus, drawn from the
rivers of Paradife. Afia fupplied thee with the finell linen (' byflo')
and purple, Africa with cinnamon and balfam, Spain with gold, and
Germany with filver. For thee Flanders, thy weaver, made pretious
drapery of thy own materials. For thee thy own Gafcoigne produced
wine. To thee all the iflands between the Hyades and Ardlurus were
fubfervient. Thy inland parts abounded with the wild beafts of the
woods, and thy hills with cattle of every kind. Thou didfl poflefs
all the fowls of the air. Thy fields were beautiful. In the abundance
of fifh thou furpaflefl every region. And though thou haft but a nar-
row trad of land, confined within the fhores of the fea, yet the coafts
of all the nations of the world, warmed by the fleeces of thy ftieep,
have blefl^ed thy celebrated fertility. In thee the fwords were con-
verted into plough-fliares, and peace and religion were fo flourifliing,
that thou wert looked up to as a mirror and example by all the other
catholic kingdoms. Alas ! why art thou now fi:ripped of fuch great
glory, &c.' — Though the panegyric, which is probably an amplifica-
tion of thofe of Fitz-Stephen and Henry of Huntingdon, (fee above,
pp. 329, 344) is prodigioufly overftrained, yet the nations of the earth
being clothed with Englifli wool, and that wool being made into cloth
in Flanders, are valuable notices of the Hate of manufadlures and com-
merce in the thirteenth centurj ; and the importation of gold from
Spain in that age (which was probably in payment for wool) is a cir-
cumfi:ance exceedingly curious, and, I believe, not to be found in any
other Englilh author or record *. But, while he tells us that Oriental
luxuries were imported by the^ Pilans and other Italians, and at the
fame time reprefents the commerce of England as adive, and the fhip-
ping as very numerous and trading to all parts of the world, he evi-
dently wanders into the regions of romance England, at leafl; in the

prefent day, does not need to have recourfe.to fictitious naval or com-
mercial renown.

April 1 2'" — James I, king of Aragon, during the whole of his long
reign did every thing in his power to extend and improve the manu-
factures and commerce of his i'ubjeds, and efpecially thofe of the citizens
of Barcelona. Senfible of the pernicious eflfects of the taxes, which the
feudal lords afllimed a power of levying, he now relieved the merchants

* We {hall afterwards fee good authority, from Spanifh r.corJs, for thi importation of EngliHi
wool in that country. ^

4i6 A. D. 1265.

of Barcelona from the payments exacled by the abbat of Samt Felix
npon the arrival and departure of veflels, and alio from fimilar pay-
ments hitherto made to himfelf. At the fame time, in his zeal for the
profperity of Barcelona, but in dire61: oppofuion to the prudent and li-
beral policy of his predeceflor, Count Raymundo Berenguer I, he ex-
pelled all the merchants of Lombardy, Florence, Sienna, and Luca, re-
fiding in that city. King James afterwards ordered, that no foreigner
fhould keep a table (or bank) of exchange in Barcelona, nor fhip any
goods, not being his own property, onboard any foreign vellel. [Cap-
many, Mem. hijl. de Barcelona, V. ii, Col. dipt pp. 31, 34, and 12-36.]
The woollen manufa6lures of Catalonia, which appear to have been in
an eftabliihed ftate before the year 1 243, continued thenceforth to flouriffi
in Barcelona and many other towns of the province, \^Capmany, V. i,
607//. p. 241] till the tmion of the crowns of Caftile and Aragon deprefP
ed the later kingdom, and the expulfion of the Jews and Moors, toge-
gether with the difcovery of the mines of America, almoft completed
the deftrudion of induftry in Spain.

1266 — Alexander II, king of Scotland, had formerly made a propofal
to Hacon, king of Norway, for purchafing his fupremacy over the ma-
ritime kingdom of Mann and the Weftern iflands, which appear evi-
dently intended by Nature to be an appendage of Scotland rather than
of the diftant kingdom of Norway. But Hacon anfwered, that he was
in no want of money, and he did not chufe to difmember his kingdom.
In confequence of the failure of the negotiation, two hoftile expeditions
were undertaken ; one by Alexander in the year 1249, and the other by
Hacon in 1263; and both princes died by ficknefs while on their expe-
ditions, without any thing efFedual being done on either fide. An
amicable treaty was this fummer concluded at Perth between their fons,
by which Magnus IV, king of Norway, ceded for ever to Alexander III,
king of Scotland, the feudal fovereignty of Mann and the Weilern
iflands for the fum of 4,000 marks, together with an annual payment of
100 marks, of good and lawful fterling money according to the manner
and ufage of Rome, France, England, and Scotland * : an exceeding
good bargain on both fides, inafmuch as a voluntary ceflion is more ho-
nourable than a compulfive deprivation, and a fair purchafe is more ho-
nourable than the rapine of conqueft. The treaty alfo provides for the
fecurity and protedion of the perfons, veflels, and cargoes, of the fub-
jecls of either king, who might be wrecked on the coafts of the other.
\See the or'iglnaL treaty, ap. For dun, p. 1355, cd. Ilearne T'orftei Orcades,

* If \\\e fn'.mcrs of llic tve?ty iiiulcrftooj, that Euglilli or Scottifli poiiiul ; for in that ytar

'he i.ioiicy of Roii;f, France, England, and Scot- Henry III engaged to j)ay £2.0.0 of good and

Irird was of tlic fame value, they were very ill in- lawful ilcrling money as an eijnivalent for £dcu

iormi'd. Kefore the year 1235 liie I'rcnch pr)\ind 'I'ouinois, or French money, to the malUr of the

l,ad fii:k to one .'"ourtli part of the value of the Temple. l^FrJcia, V, \, p. 342.]

A. D. 1266. 417

L. ii.] The natural advantages for fiflieries and navigation pofleflcd by
thefe iflands render them capable of being made one of the mofl valu-
able appendages of the Britifli empire.

A regular cuftom duty was now charged on the exportation of wool,
as appears by the flatute of the exchequer, which direded that the col-
ledlors of the cuftoms of wool fliould fettle twice in the year, and ren-
der an account of the quantity of wool loaded onboard each veflel.
[Statutes at large, V. i, p. 26, ed. 1786.]

1267, January 5'" — The merchants of Lubeck, having no longer the
patronage of their emperor Richard, who had returned from Germany
to England, obtained a new charter from King Henry by the interefl of
Albert duke of Brunfwick, who had jufl married a niece of the queen
of England. The king therein grants to them and their property an
exemption from arreft on account of any debt, for which they are not
fecurity or principal debtors, unlefs the debtors are of their community,
or unlefs the burgefles of Lubeck lliall withhold juflice from Englifli
fubjeds aggrieved in that city ; that they fliall not forfeit their property
for the delinquency of their fervants ; that no prifes, beyond thofe eftab-
lilhed by antient cuftom, fliall be taken from them without being paid
for ; and they fhall have their hanfe for payment of five 'fhillings, in the
lame manner that the merchants of Cologne have had their hanfe *.
[Fadera, V. i, p. 839.]

1 268 — Glafgow was now fomewhat advanced in polity, having a court—
houfe and a common feal. It was governed by three provofts (appar-
ently co-ordinate, and alfo by bailies. [Chart, in Gibfoti's Hiji. of Glaf-
gow, p. 303.]_

The following account given in to the exchequer by Walter Hervy
and William of Durham, cuftodes of the city of London, gives a view
of the names and amounts of the dues collefted in the city from the eve.
of Eafter to Michaelmas 1268, viz.

T>iyexs.tronages\, viixh {ovae. {msWJirandages - £gy 13 11^

Ciifloms of all kinds of merchandize coming from foreign

* The Getmaii authors differ widely in their ' (mercatores) qui Hanfe, id eft Socii, vocan-

explanations of the meaning of the word Hanfe, ' tur.'

which the aflbciation of that name has rendered fo f Tronage, money paid for weighing at the

famous. Perhaps, without going any farther, or trom, or pubh'o beam.

diving at all into the abyfs of etymology, we may Strandage feems payment for the hberty of lay-

liave a pretty good idea of it by comparing this ing goods on the ftrand.fimilar to modern wharfage,
charter with thofe of fome of the towns of Eng- Scavage, paid for liberty to exhibit or ihow

land, wherein the king grants the burgefles a lianfi, (fchaw) the goods at market,
which feeais to fignify a right of afting as a cor- P'f'^g'i for weighing,
porate body, with, probably, a power of making Stallage, rent paid for the ufe of a ftall.
regulations, or bye laws, for their own internal Socage, (a word of difputed meaning) feems here

government. See Brady on hurghs, append, p. 10. to fignify payment for certain privileges enjoyed by.

' — Meyer, the annalift of Flanders, [_/". 296 a] ex- the company of butchers. See the Glojfary tc

plains Hanfe as meawng aflbci^tes ; — * Teutonic! Tit/y/den't Script, decern, vo. Socet.

Vol. L 3 G

4i8 A. D. 1268.

parts liable to pay the duty called fcava^e, together with
the /»^^^<fj- during the half-year - - ^^75 6 10

Meafiiring dues for corn arriving at the port of Billingfgate,

and the water-cujlom there - - - 5187-^

Cujloms offijh brought to London-bridge ftreet, and fome

other cuftoms there - - - 702^

Iflue of the field and bars of Sraithfield - - 4. 7 6

Toll taken at the gates of the city, and cujloms on the

Water of Thames towards the weft - - 8 13 2|-

Stallages, cujloms of butchers and others exercifing divers
trades (' mcrcandifas') in the market of Weft-Chep, [mail
tolls and ifTues of the fame market, the ifTues of the
inarkets of Garfchirche (Grafs church or Grace church)
and Wollechirchehawe, with a certain annual yofrt^^ of
the butchers of the city - - - 42 o 5

Iffues of Queen-hithe, being in the king's hands - 17 11 2

Fotjeits of fundry foreigners for buying and felling in the

city contrary to the ftatutes and cuftoms thereof 10 1 1 o

Fleas 2CcA per quijites'va. x}i\t cxvj - - 86 5 9^-

From the waidarii (dealers in woad) of Amiens, Corbye

and Neele (cities of France) fince Michaelmafs - 1 1 6 8

The whole amounting to - - £,2>^^ ^5 4t

{Madox's HJl. of the excheg. c. 1 8, § 4.]

Theodoric earl of Landfberg granted perfecT: freedom to the merchants
of all nations, even thofe whofe fovereigns might be at enmity with
him, to trade fecurely in the city of Leipfick. The fucceeding lords
of that city, with the fanction of the emperors, chartered the fairs,
which have continued to the prefent day to attradl the traders of every
nation in Europe. {^Peyferi Lipjta, p. 213 et feqq.'\

1 269, Auguft 1 6"" — ^There feem to have been fome mutual complaints
of injuries done to the fubjeds of England and Norway, Magnus Lag-
better (Reformer of the law) king of Norway, being a good man and a
lover of peace, had fent two ambalTadors to England, in order to adjuft
differences and ftrengthen the friendfhip entered into by his father Ha-
con with King Henry : and it was now agreed, that there fliould be
mutual liberty of trading to each country, and alfo that every proper
afhftance fhould be given to thofe who fhould have the misfortune to
l)c wrecked on either coaft, provided they did not abandon their veflels.
{Fader a, F. i, />. 857.]

A letter, written by Peter Adfiger in the year 1269, contains a fcien-
tific account of the attraction, repulfion, and polarity, of the magnet,
the art of communicating thofe properties to iron, the variation of the

A. D. 1269' 419

magnetic needle, and even the conftruitiou of the azimuth compafs *.
Thus we fee, that the fcience of magnetifm, and the appUcation of it
to the fervice of navigation, were brought to a degree of perfedion,
little inferior to that of the prefent age, at a time, when, it is general-
ly beUeved, that the polarity of the magnet was utterly unknown in
Europe.

1270 — At this time the k^al intered of money at Modena was four
pence per month for every pound lent (or twenty per cent for the year).
\Muratori Ant'iq. V. i, col. 893.] What defcription of people could bor-
row money at fuch interefl? If traders or manufadurers, what profits did
they get upon their goods, to enable them to pay fuch interefl ? As all
things are great or fmall, only by comparifon with others, is not this
rate of interefl a fufficient proof, that the trade of the Italian flates,
though a vafl deal greater than that of their ignorant and llothful neigh-
bours, and alfo than that of their own anceflcrs, was not, even now,
very extenlive, according to our modern ideas of the magnitude of com-
mierce, and that the profperous ftate of the merchants, and confequent-
ly of the commercial cities, was owing to the prodigious great profits
which the fmall number of competitors in trade enabled them to make ?
We have already feen, [/>. 391] that a great improvement in the cir-
cumflances of the people of Italy, took place before the conclufion of
the thirteenth century : but the high rate of interefl warrants a belief,
that it had fcarcely begun in the year 1270.

Louis IX king of France, who had already been made a prifoner in
an expedition againfl the Saracens in Egypt, after an interval of (ixteen
years, undertook a new crufade, which was the fevenih fmcc the com-
mencement of them, and the lafl one of any confequcnce. Now, as
well as on the former occafion, he applied to foreigners for the ufe of
their lliipping : and we learn from the original treaty, as quoted by
Formaleoni, \_E[[ai fur la marine des Vemtiens p. 31, trad, iv-.] that he ob-
tained three Ihips from the republic, and twelve from the private citi-
zens, of Venice. The Santa Maria, the largellof the republican veflels,
meafured ro8 Venetian feet (a little more than 125 Englifli feet) in
length, but whether by the keel, or on the deck, we arc not told, and flie
carried iiofeamen. We are thus, in fome degree, informed of the
lize of what was reckoned an extraordinary large Ihip in the Mediter-
ranean at that time ; and we are alfo authorized to withhold our belief
from the account of ten thoufand foldiers, and four thouland horfcs,
being carried by thole fifteen fhips, in addition to their own feamen.
The death of the king and the greatefl part of his army on the burn-

* This moft curious letter is preferved among but extracls from it are infertcd by Cavallo in th-
the manufcripts of the univeifity of Leydeo, and fecond edition of his Trcatife on magnetifm.
has not, I believe, ever been publiflied entire :

3G2

4'2Q -^^ D, 1270.

ing and peftllential fhore of Africa is unconneded with the fubjecl of
this work.

The Venetians now aflumed fo much authority in the Adriatic fea,
that they demanded a toll, or tranfit duty, proportioned to the quantity
of the cargo, from all veffels navigating that fea, efpecially from thofc
going between Pola (a town near the fouth point of Iflria) and Venice.
The Bononians (or Bolognians), after three years of refufal and warfare,
agreed to open the navigation of fome of the mouths of the Po, which
they had the command of, to the Venetians, on condition of being al-
lowed a free exportation of certain kinds of merchandize. The people
of Ancona applied to the pope for his paternal interpolition to free
them from the impofition, and he ordered the Venetians to defifl from
taking it. But they anfwered his holinefs, that he was not properly in-
formed of the affair ; and, the pope being in hafte to go to the council
of Lyons, nothing further was done by him. {^Platina Vit. pont. p, 438,
ed. 1664.]

Mangou-Timour, a grandfon of Zingis-khan, and fovereign of the
weftern Tatars, gave feveral of his cities and provinces to his relations \
and, particularly, he gave the cities of Crim and Caffa to Oran-Timour.
Crim (which in the prefent age is the refidence of a few miferable Turks
and Jews) was then one of the moll magnificent cities in that part of
the world. It was the center of a great inland commerce with the Eafl,
which was conduded by merchants who traveled in caravans, without
any. apprehenfions of being infulted, and were three months upon the
road, which was provided with a fufficient number of inns for their ac-
commodation, in places afterwards abandoned to deer and wild goats.
Caffa, lefs magnificent than Crim, became no lefs famous by means of
its advantageous fituation on a bay of the Black fea. The Genoefe,
who, ever fince the refloration of the Greek empire, had enjoyed
almofl exclufively the trade and navigation of that fea, foon difcovered
the importance of Caffa, fnatched it out of the hands of the Tatars,
and made it the principal flation of their commerce with all the coun-
tries bordering on the Black fea *. \liijh des Huns par De Gui^nes, V,

iii, A 34-3-]

At the fame time the merchants of many cities of the northern parts

of Germany, apparently now adfing as a confederated body (though I

have not found any authentic document for their being yet known by

* Stella, the annalid of Genoa, \^a/>. Muralcri lUc Imiifcs built by Aiiria may liavt been the corn-
Si-ript. F'. xvii, col. IC95] fays, he cnuld never Jif- menci-ineiit of a plan of enlargement and enibel-
i.ovcr at what time Carta had come into the hands lifliment s for it was a place of iome note befoic,
1 if the Genoefe ; but he uiidcrllooJ that it was and is even of vci y great aiitiiiuily, being mention-
not very lonp; fince lialdus de Auria built the firll ed by Skylax, Strabo, Pliny, and othtl- antient
houfcs in it, and fettled in it. — The ellablilhmcnt geographers, under the name of Tlicodofia, a name
of the Genoefe was, no doubt, near the lime at lately r'.ltorcd to it by the cmprefs Catherine, in
ivliich I Iiavc placed it, from Dc Guigncs : and her affectation of r^-gard for the Greeks.

A, D. 1270. 421

the appellation of the merchants of the Hanje) obtahaed leave from the
king of Norway to fix the ftapie of their northern trade at the city of
Bergen. At firft; their commerce was reftrifted to the fummer months
(from the 3"* of May to the 14"' of September), and the citizens were
not allowed to hire their houfes to them for more than fix weeks, to
which, however, three were added for bringing in their goods, and three
more for carrying out their returns. In procefs of time the Vandalic
cities of Germany obtained permiflion to eftablifh a permanent feat of
their trade, called a cotitoir, in the city : and in confequence of that in-
dulgence the bridge was covered with twenty-one large houfes or fac-
tories, each of them capable of accommodating about a hundred merch-
ants or fadors, with their fervants * : and they were bound to keep their
houfes, and alfo the bridge, in repair, and to perform watch and ward
in that quarter of the city wherein they lived. The merchants, who
were chiefly from Lubeck, Hamburgh, Roflock, Bremen, andDaventer,
imported flax, cloth, corn, flour, bifcuit, malt, ale, wine, fpiritous
liquors, copper, filver, &c. and received in return butter, falmon, dried
cod, fifli-oil, fine furs, timber, &c. They were obliged to confine their
trade to Bergen, the trade of the refl: of the country being referved to
the native merchants, to whom they gave credit of their goods till the
enfuing feafon. By this commerce, while it continued in its mofl
flourifhing flate, Bergen was fo much enriched, that no other city in
the three northern kingdoms could be compared to it f. [I'offcei Hi/i.

Norweg. V.'\, p. 72 ; V. iv, />. 352 Bertii rer. Germ. L. 'n\, p. 70.]

1 27 1 — Some difputes between King Henry and the countefs of Flan-
ders, on account of money alleged to be owing to her, and the confe-
(juent capture of feveral Englifli veflels by her fubjecls, occafioned an
order for prohibiting the exportation of wool to her dominions, and an-
other for the feizure of all cloth imported from abroad, which feems to
have been intended to adl as a compenfation to the proprietors of the
wool, by enforcing the manufacture of it at home. However, the fl:orm
foon blew over, at leafl: fo far, that the Flemings were again permitted
to import their woollen cloths as before. \^Rot. pat. 55 Hen. Ill, mm. 6,
TO, 15 — Foedera, V. u, p. 32.]

* They were all unmanied, auj lived together Teutonic language, frequenting his kingdom aE

'in mc-ffes witliin their own faftorics. giiefts and ftrangers with merchandize. Unfor-

•j- I iiave here briefly thrown together what in- tunately the hiftory of Norway about tliis time is

formation, apparently autlientic, I have obtained very obfcure, and lome, even of thoie wlio have

concerning the trade of the merchants, called G-'r- profcfledly written it, have called this very king

mans, Teutons, Aimains, Garpar, Vandals, (and Olaviis, though his name is certainly known (even

in later times, Hanfards, or Hanfeatics) in the from Engliih and Scottiih records and hiftory) to

port of Bergen. Perhaps the commencement of be Magnus. And the hiilory of the CermnH

it ought to be dated in 1278, if we may depend commercial cities is far from being clear, though

on the date af&sed by Wcrdenhageu [Wi/7. de reb. Werdenhagen has written a book, called the Hi/Iorv

h'anf. p, 262] to an cxtraA of a charter by King of the Hanfeatic republics, which he has tilled moIUV

Magnus, wherein he fays, he has thought proper with matter nothing to the piii-jjofc.
*.o grant fome immunities to the merchanls oj the

422 A. D. 1272.

1272. — Cloth of Ireland is mentioned along with cloth of Abendon,
and burrel of London (alfo a kind of cloth), as being ftolen at Win-
chefler fome time in the reign of Henry III *. [Madox's Hijl. of the
excheq. c. 14, § 9-] And this, I believe, is the earliefl notice we have
of any exportation of Irifh manufadures.

During this reign there were feveral treaties with Caftile and France,
wherein there is not a word of any commercial affairs. [Foedera, V. i,
pp. 503, 505, 675, 688, &c.] But I find a letter, or charter, in favour
of the merchants of Spain, or Caftile, wherein, probably, their fovereign
had no concern. [Rot. pat. 47 Hen. III.} Among the nations who car-
ried on fome trade at this time with England, of which we know no-
thing, but from the letters of fafe conduft granted to them, may be alfo
reckoned the Norwegians, Portuguefe, and Brabanters. [Rof. pat. 7, 10,
45, Jlen. III.}

Henry III, during the whole courfe of his long reign, opprefled the
citizens of London with grievous extortions, often upon the moft frivol-
ous pretences ; and many of his officers, whofe names, Mathew Paris
fays, it would be tedious and dangerous to particularize, following the
king's example, took every opportunity of plundering the merchants,
natives and foreigners, of their horfes, carts, wine, provifions, cloth,
wax, and other goods. He alfo fqueezed the Jews moft immercifully.
One inftance of a general tallage upon them has already been given.
From a fingle Jew, called Aaron of York, he extorted on various occa-
fions the enormous fum of fifty-fix thoufand marks, a quantity of money
equal in efficacy to about half a million of pounds in the prefent day.
Having borrowed money in the years 1255 and 1271 of his brother
Richard, he on both occafions inortgaged to him the whole Jews of Eng-
land, that is to fay, the revenue to be extracted from them, as a fecurity
for repayment. We need not be furprifed at the monftrous interell
extorted by the Jews from thofe who borrowed from them, which, we
are told, was, at leaft in fome inftances, above two pennies a-vveek (or
eight fliillings and eight pennies by the year) for the ufe of twenty Ihil-
hngs f. But they took fuch exorbitant intereft, with the dreadful
profpecl of plunder and murder before their eyes, and a certainty of be-
ing obliged to pay a large portion of it to the king, in whofe hands they
were in fadl inftruments for fucking the blood of the people. In ftiort,

* For this notice of Irifli inainifaflurcs we are pears, however, that the Jews af Oxford were
indebted to the record of a duel between two h'cenccd to take two pennies a-wcck for the loan
thieves. So honey is extraded fioin tlie vilcll of twenty (hilh'ngs, and in proportion for fmalhr
weeds. — For earh'er accounts of Irifli nianufaiflures, Aims. They had even taken more, and were re-
fee above, pp. 223, 333. ftrifled to tliat rate of intereft on the petition of

f That was apparently an uncommon inflance the/)uw ftudcnts. [Cltiuf. 32 IIcii. Ill, m Tovey't

of avarice ; and it drew upon the whole body of yliit^lia Juda'ua, p. 122.] But fuel) exorbitant in-

the Jews in London a pcrfccution, wherein 700 tercll was apparently only for petty fums and

of them pcriflicd. l_Stow's yinii. />. if)^.^ It ap- vciy (liort lime.

A. D. 1272. 423

Henry's whole reign was a continued extortion of money from his fub-
jeds, and a continual profufion of it to foreigners of every defcription.
England was, fays Mathew Paris, a vineyard without a wall or a faith-
ful keeper, open to the depredations of every vagrant. [M. Paris, pp.
S3^, 484, 600, 693, 864, 901, 902, 929. — Stozv's Annales,p, 286, 293,
ed. 1600 — Fcedera, V. i, pp. 543, 872.]

It is very wonderful, that in this age of exportation of money for the
benefit of foreign extortioners, paralites, and blood-fuckers, and of fran-
tic and ruinous projedts of acquiring kingdoms* and empires, a fmgle
penny remained in the country. How were the fountains recruited,
which fupplied fuch vaft and unceaiing drains ? Surely by no other
means than a large balance conftantly pouring into the country in the
filent channels of trade, which brought back fums equal, or even fuper-
ior, to the demands of rapacity, and the compliance of folly.

Though the national revenue was not in antient times fo much con-
nected with the commerce of the country as it is in the prefent day, it
cannot be deemed impertinent to flate, that the annual revenue of Eng-
land was fomewhat under fixty thoufand marks, and the net royal reve-
nue was about twenty-three thoufand f . [M. Paris, pp. 658, 859.]
Thefe fums may found very trifling in modern ears: but they were
probably greater thaxi the revenue of England in the reign of Henry II,
who amailed a great treafure out of his favings •. and it may be remem-
bered, that the proprietors of the land, and their tenants, conftituted the
national army, and ferved for a certain number of days every year at their
own expenfe. Thence the duration and expenfe of wars, were trifling
in comparifon with thofe of modern times. That part of the revenue of
the church, which was in the hands of foreigners, who could not fpeak

* The clergy, 'n a ftrong remon!lrance againft flatements of even the nioft faithful hiftorians are

the king's demands for money to anfvver the pope's fcldom correft in the numbers, which may be

bills on accouut of Sicily, told him, that if the partly owing to their own negleft of critical or

foil of the whole kingdom were turned into gold, arithmetical examination, and partly to the tran-

it would be infufficient to accomplifh the conqueft fcribers, numbers expreflcd by letters being much

of Sicily, which was inacceffible to the military more hable to error than words. The whole of

force of England. \_Aiin. Burton, p. 375, ed. the grofs national revenue, as here ftated, was not

Gale.~\ In the year 1265 the Sicilian dream was very much more than fuflicient to pay the fnterell

abandoned, or rather, to fpeak more properly, the of the king's debts, wliich, according to Mathew

king was obliged to ftop payment ; whereupon the Paris, was above ^f 36,500 a-year about the year

pope got Charles, the brother of Louis IX king 1256. See above, p. 406. It is true, that, ac-

of France, to take up his quarrel againft Manfred, cordingtoHoveden, [y^436b] Hubert, archbilhop

and accept his kingdom. of Canterbury, ftated to King Richard I, that with-

-|- When Ifabella, the wife of Edv^ard II, after in two years he had collected for him the prodi-
depofing her hufband, made her fon fettle an in- gious fum of i,ico,ooo marks, or 550,000 marks
come of twenty thoufand marks (not pounds, as each year. Both Hoveden and Paris arc refpeft-
faid by fome authors) upon her, [Rot. pat. prim. 1 able authors : but it is impoffible to reconcile their
Ef/iu. Ill, m. 1] there was fcarcely one third of the accounts ; and it is evident that Hoveden's fum is
royal revenue left for the young king and queen, incredibly great, and therefor is undoubtedly Cor-
as is aflerted by Thomas de la Moor, [/>. 601] a ruplcd. The revenue of England, at the revolu-
contcmporary author. tion, was not equal in effeflive value to one third of

I am obliged to obferve, that the arithmetical tliat aferibed to the reign of Richard I.

424 A. D. 1272.

the language of the people vvhofe fouls were committed to their paftoral
charge by the unerring father of Chriflendom, if they did Uve among
them, but who relided moflly in Italy, and drew their penfions to that
country, amounted in the year 1245 to fixty thoufand marks, and in
1252 rofe to feventy thoufand. [M. Paris, pp. 658, 859.] If the royal
revenue had been even judicioufly managed, fuch fums fent out of the
country without any vahie in return (nor v/ere they all that went out
for nothing) were fufficient to keep the kingdom in perpetual diftrefs.
It is no wonder then, that fuch a manager as Henry was continually
embarrafled, and indebted to all who would give him any credit, among
whom the merchants of Luca, Florence, and Sienna, the Caurfini fettled
in London, and his own brother Richard, are the moll confpicuous.
[Fa^dera, V. i, pp. 544, 6^c^.—^above, pp. 400, 422.] In the year 1255
he declared, as an apology for his exadions, that his debts, which may
alfo be called the national debts, amounted to three millions of marks,
which, if it was true, was a moft aftonifbing fum *. [M. Parts, p. 902.]
In the year 1222, upon a lumping fettlement of the arrears of the joint-
ure of Queen Berengaria, the widov/ of Richard I, payable in England,
((he probably had other appointments in the French territories of the
kings of England f) it was fettled at one thoufand pounds a-year.
[Fcedera, V. i, p. 242.] Henry ftated the revenue appointed for the efta-
bliihment of his oldeft fon at fifteen thoufand marks. But he brought
it forward unfairly, when apologizing for his exadions, feeing it arofe
from the duchy of Gafcoigne, and lands in Ireland. [M. Paris, p. 902.
— Fcedera, V. i, p. 500.] A knight, whofe lands produced ^150 a-year,
was thought very rich ; and to-be-fure fo he was. But John Manfel,
a clergyman, ftatefman, and warrior, by monopolizing a great number
of churches, had an income of 4,000 marks. No clergyman, indeed,
had ever before poffeflcd fuch an income : and people wondered, that a.
man of his prudence could forget, that he mufl: render an account of the
prodigious num^ber of fouls he hadprefumed to take the care of. Warine
de Muntchemfil, one of the noblcfl; and wifefl men of England, died in
the year 1255, poITeired of above two hundred thoufand marks, a fum
which may be pronounced almoft incredible :|;. [M. Paris, pp. 859, 908,

The queen dowager of Scotland, being entitled to a third of the net

* The iiitered on tlic king's dchts, though con- f Queen Ah'tnoia, tlic widow of Henry III,

fic'.ered by Mathew Paris as utterly ruinous to '.he had an annual income of ^f 2,000 fterling from

kingdom, would not have been livo ptr cail per an- Gafcoigne. \_Rjt. f>at. 8 Ediu. I, m. 10. J
num on the debt here Rated by Henry. But .is % By the moil probable account, the treafure

wc cannot fnppofe that the intenll was lower than accumulated by Henry H, one of the mofl power-

ttn ptr cent, it may wlII be prefnined, tiiat the prin- ful and prudeiit of the kings of England, during

cipal could not be fo much as 600,000 marks, or a long leign, was not near fo much. See nbove,

^^400,': CO; a fum fufficicntly dillrcl'sful to the p. 346.
kingdom, and alfo, moft probably, to the creditors,
when the art of funding was unknown.

A. D. 1272. '425

royal revenue, had thence an income of above four thoufand marks,
which flie drew out of the kingdom, to be expended in France along
with other funds which flie had in that country from her father Ingel-
ram de Coucy. Thence it appears, that the net royal revenue of Scot-
land was above twelve thoufand marks*. [M. Pa? is, p. 829.] The
portion of Margaret, the daughter of Henry III of England, married to
Alexander IH, the young king of Scotland, in the year 1251, was only
five thoufand marks, payable in four years, of which, however incred-
ible it may appear in the prefent day, the greateft part remained unpaid
in 1262, and then Henry, becaufe he had not money in hand, requeft-
ed Alexander's further indulgence till Eafter 1263 for the final pay-
ment. [^Foedera, V. i, pp. 467, 743.] What jointure was fettled upon
Margaret is unknown : Ihe died before her hufband.

1273 — The amount of a new duty, called x\\e. gauge, at fome of the
chief ports for the importation of wine, as made up from the Wedenf-
day after Martinmafs 1272 to Michaelmafs 1273, gives us a pretty good
idea of the quantity of foreign wine ufed in' England.

In London, - £i^ l6 7, which, at one penny per tun, make 3,799 tuns :

Southampton and Portfmoiith, 13 2 3, - - - 3,147;

and Sandwicli, - 7 18 4, - - 1,900;

The total was ^36 17 2, the amount of gauge duty for 8,846 tuns ;

befides the wines taken by the king in name of prife, being two tuns-
out of every cargo, which were not liable for the duty. [Madox's Hifi.
of the excheq. c. 18, § 2.]

There was a duty of the fame kind in Scotland, which probably ori-
ginated about the fame time, as we find the office of the gaugery confi-
dered as an old efiablifhment in the year 1 304 f.

The unfettled fiate of the German empire, together with the confu-
fions infeparable from a fuccelfion of controverted eledlions (the period
of which, from the death of Frederic 11 to the eledion of Rodolph, earl
of Hablhurg and founder of the houfe of Auftria, in the year 1273, is
called by the German hiftorians the long interregnum) very much
weakened the imperial authority in Germany, and reduced it to nothing
in Italy. . During thofe convulfions, the cities of Germany, already re-

* In the preceding page Mathew Paris makes ing a part of the year 1304, direfted the earl of

the queen's jointurey^iii-w thoufand marks, by which Athol to make inquiry, whether, according to the

reckoning the net royal income of Scotland is eib.blifiied ulage, he had a riglit to difpofe of the

twenty one thoufand ; alnioH equal to that of Eng- office of the gaugery. \_Ryni;r's Cjl/:f!. manufa-.

land, and, if reckoned in proportion to the popu- Fl iii, ?!'. 116, 117.] It is worthy of obfervation,

lation, greatly fuperlor. Therefor we may vcr.- that the king's order to the earl was in French,

ture to pronounce the greater number erroneous, and the earl in his precepts to the magiurates of

By the third chapter of the afts of James III, the the towns, defiring them to iuRItute inquiries for

queen's jointure is declared to be one third of the the king's information, fent them copies of the

king's land and cuHoms : and the fame rule was o\AtT tranjlated into Latin, which thence appears

probably adhered to in earlier times. to have been more generally j\ c'erflood in Scov

t King Edward, being mafter of Scotland dur- land than French.

Vol. T. -2 H

426 A. D. 1273.

fpedlable, became more and more flourifliing. The nobles, who hither-
to had engroITed the government and all the honourable public em-
ployments of the cities, were reduced to a participation of them with
the burgefles. The contefts, which had hitherto banifhed tranquillity
from the cities, were at an end, and they became powerful by their
imion. Mofb of thofe, which had the title of Imperial cities in the reign
of Frederic IT, refufed after his death to pay the taxes impofed upon
them by former emperors, and, in confequence of that immunity, af-
fumed the title of Free and imperial cities , which was confirmed to them
by fucceeding emperors. After the extinction of the powerful ducal
families of Swabia and Franconia in the year 1268, the number of Im-
perial cities was greatly augmented ; and the new ones were cordially
admitted into fraternity and alliance by the antient ones, who diflin-
guifhed themfelves by the title of Free cities. \FfeffeU Abrege de Vhifi.
d'AUeiiiagne,p. 379, ed. 1758.]

The regents who governed England in the abfence of King Edward,
who was at the Holy land when his father died, ordered a proclamation
to be made throughout Ireland, declaring that all merchants might free-
ly land in that tingdom with their merchandize, and trade in fafety and
fecurity, on paying the due and antient cuiloms, without any other ex-
action or grievance whatever. \Kot. pat. i Ediu. /, m. 5.]

1 274, April 1 o'" — We find the order againfb trading with Flanders
again enforced, and the fliirrefs ftridly enjoined to. allow no wool to be
carried out of the kingdom, and not even to Wales or Ireland, left, on
pretence of ftiipping it for thofe countries, it fhould be carried to Flan-
ders. \Foedera,V.\\,pp. 2i\., ^o^^ But, as the Englifh could not find
profitable confumption for all their wool, and the Flemings could not
carry on their manufadure without the wool of England, a treaty of
peace was concluded in July, wherein the countefs, and the earl her fon,
finding Edward a man of more courage and condud than his father,
agreed to make fatisfaction for the damages done to his fubjecls, he pro-
mifing to make fatisfadion for the damages done to the Flemings by
the Englifh. But the Flemifli balance of damages was not paid up to
England in the year 1278, nor then without having recourfe to rigor-
ous meafures. {Fccdcra^ V. 'n, pp. 32, 2^, 39, ill. — Rot. pat. 3 F.dw. I,
mm. 19, 22, 26. — Meyeri An. Flaud.f. 80 b.]

The rcfort of the Netherlanders to the Firth of Forth for the fake of
the fifliery, has already been noticed from a writer of the twelfth century.
(See above, p. 325.) After that time, though we know that foreigners
came to the Britifli ports to purchafe herrings, I have not found any
authentic account of their fifliing on our coafts till now, that we learn
from the mutual complaints of injuries on both fides, that the Flem-
ings were in the jiradife of fifliing upon the coafts ot England and Scot-
land. The Englifli commiflioners for negotiating the peace complain-

A. D. 1274. 427

ed, that, during the truce of a month (24'" June to. 24'" July) granted
by King Edward for fettling the terms of the treaty, fome Flemifh arm-
ed vefTels had put to fea, as on a filhing voyage, had attacked the Eng-
lifh fifhermen, who fuppofed themfelves fecure on the faith of the truce,
and had killed twelve hundred of them ; a number which, if not exag-
gerated, gives a very refpedlable idea of the EngliHi fifhery. [Foedera,
V. u,p. ^2-^ ^^ ^^^ other hand, the countefs of Flanders, in a letter
to King Edward, reprefented, that fome of her fubjeds, wlio had failed
after the conclufion of the peace, had put in at Berwick, on their re-
turn from fifhing on the coafl of Scotland, for the fake of drying their
nets ; and two-and-twenty of them*, who had gone up the Tweed about
as far as Norham, a callle on the Englifli fide of the river, to dry their
nets, were feized and iraprifoned by the commander of that caftle (Au-
gufl 15'^'.) [Fcedera,V. n,p. 37.] As it was furely unneceflary to go-
a journey of fix miles up the country to dry their nets, it feems more
probable, that their objedl was to catch falmon out of the fight of the
people of Berwick and Tweedmouth, and, as the fifli belonged to the
proprietors of the land on each fide of the river, their imprifonraent was
in confequence of that trefpafs upon private property.

Augull 11'" — King Edward while he was in the Holy land, had bor-
rov/ed fome money from the brethren of the Temple, and given them
his obligation for the principal, with expenfes, damages, and intereft f
(' interefi^e'), all which he now paid on their account to the mafi:er of
the Temple in London, [Fcedera, V. \i,p. 34.] This is believed to be
the firft infi:ance of the kings of England exprefsly agreeing to pay in-
terefi; X for money borrowed, which in all their former money tranfac-
tions, appears to have been fettled by coUufion.

Auguft ig"" — At the coronation of King Edward, there was a pro-
digious difplay of filks and gold fi:uffs, which, being articles of foreign
manufadure, ftiow that the exports of England, which could pay for
fuch an importation of luxuries, mufl: have been pretty extenfive, even
if there fhould have been no importation of the pretious metals this
year. An hiftorian fays, that no tongue nor pen could defcribe the
magnificence of the drefl^es, and the ingenuity of the pageants exhibited

• Among their names we find Renoud Eiigliili to the merchants of Italy in the year i 2JJ, ' qua;

(' Anglicus') and Michael Scot. « quotidle propter ufuvas, pcenas, et inUreJfe, non

f Though intercd Is expreflcd in the acknow- ' minima fulcipiebant incrementa.' Here we have

legement given to Edward by John of Bretagne, ufury, penalties, and tntereji. As the word ufury

liis brother-in-law, for whole ufe the money was in thofe days equivalent to our modern word

(10,500 Saracen befants) was borrowed in the intercjl, what did Mathew Paris undcriland by in-

year 1271, [ffjOTivV Coll, manufcr. V. i, n° . 42I terejje ? — In the marriage contract between Scot-

as well as in the mailer's difcharge to the king, land and Norway (25"" July 1281) ' damna, ex-

the ftipulated rate of intereft does not appear in ' penfffi, et interefle,' frequently occur, the later

cither. evidently fignifying intereft. [^FaJera, V, ii,

J Mathew Paris [/>. 910] mentions debts due p. 1079. J

428 A, D. 1274.

in the city on. this occafion, to fay nothing of the pomp of the corona-
tion feaft. [T. Wikes,p. ioi,ed. GaleJ]

1275, April 25"' — A parhament was held at Weftminfter, wherein

The laws of Henry I and Henry II, for preferving the property of
■u'recked veflels and merchandize for the lawful owners, were renewed
\^Acis, 3 Edzv. I, c. 4.]

It was provided, that no foreign perfon *, being of this realm, fhould
be diftrained in any city, town, fair, or market, for any debt, for wliich
he was neither principal debtor nor fecurity. [c. 23,]

Thofe who took up provifions or other things for the ufe of the king,
or for the garrifon ofacaflle, and did not pay for them, were made
anfwerable in their lands, or other property, failing which, they were to
be puniflied by imprifonment. Thofe who received bribes for paying
the king's debts were obliged to refund doubly, and were further to be
punifhed at the king's pleafure. [c. 32.]

We find a new cuftom upon wool granted (' concefTa') to the king at
this time, which was probably enadled by the fame parliament, though
it does not appear among their ads. [Rot. pat. 3 Ediv. I, m. i.]

A mandate was iflued by the king, obliging all foreign merchants to
fell their goods within forty days after their arrival. [Hakluyt, V. i,p. 133.]
This order put the foreign fellers entirely in the mercy of the buyers,
unlefs when the demand happened to be fo great, as to prevent the later
from combining to abftain from purchafing, till the term allowed to the
importers was almoft expired. Indeed, the frequent inconfillent orders
for the encouragement and difcouragcment of foreign merchants trad-
ing to England mud have been exceffively perplexing, and have very
much cramped the trade, which was expofed to fuch caprices and un-
certainties.

A Spanifh fheep, imported from France into Northumberland, infed-
ed all the flocks in England with a difeafe hitherto unufual (if not un-
known) in England, which raged eight-and-twenty years, and totally
deftroycd the flocks in many parts of the country f . [JValJlngham, Hiji.
p. ^6.]

1276 — Florence earl of Holland, being defirous that his fubjeds fliould
have a fliare of the beneficial trade of England, which their neigh-
bours the Flemings had almoil engrofled, made an offer to King Edward
of fafe condudf and perfed liberty for the Engliflr in trading in Holland
for the fpace of two years, provided that equal liberty were granted in
England to his fubjeds. [Fadera, V. n,p. 62.]

* By the tcrm/iyr«frt per/on vvc mud cvidtntly the year 1277, and fays, tliat it is ciireJ by nn

undcrlland one not belonging to tlie corporation ointment made of qiiick-filvcr and bog's lard,

of the city or town. Stow [yfi:nii/fs, p. 305, «/. 1600] calls the difeafe

f The annalift of Wavciley dates the introduc- m'lncin and rot,
lion of this difeafe, which he calls the claufiL, in

A. D. 1276. 429

The mayor and citizens of London had, during many years, prevent-
ed the citizens of Bremen from coming to England, for the very trifling
reafon, as alleged by thofe of Bremen, that a native of that city, who
was in the fervice of a citizen of London when a fine was levied from the
city by Henry III, had left the kingdom without paying his proportion
of it. The duke of Brunfwick, as fuperior of Bremen, requefled King
Edward to interpofe, and permit the merchants of Bremen to trade in
England, as they had done in the time of his progenitors. [^Foedera, V.
ii, pp. 1065, 1066.]

1277, May 15"" — In thofe ages the power of making war and peace
was often afTumed by the maritime cities and towns, as well as by the
great lords : and as their hoflilities were openly avowed, they were not
ftigmatized as piracy, according to the modern fenfe of that word *. The
whole of the Cinque ports, as a community, have frequently taken upon
them to engage in wars with foreign towns or communities, wherein
the fovereigns on either fide had no adive concern., Such a warfare
they carried on againft the citizens of Calais in the year 1220 ; againft
thofe of Bayonne in 1237 ' ^^^ againft the fame again in 1277. The
later quarrel was terminated by the interpofition of King Edward, who
now gave the people of Bayonne one hundred pounds for the preferva-
tion of peace. [F^dera, V. 'i,pp. 250, 373 ; V. ii,/. 82.]

Either the eftablifliment of the Englifh laws in Ireland by King John
was only partial, or they had flillen out of ufe ; for the people of Ire-
land made an etfer to the jufticiary (or viceroy) to pay to the king
eight thoufand marks, on condition that the laws of England Ihould be'
eftabliflied among them. The kingwas very well pleafed with the applica-
tion, for he thought the antient Irifli laws unworthy to be called laws, and
defired the jufticiary to inquire what was the general wifti of the people,
the prelates, and the nobles ; and, if he found the majority delirous of
the introdudion 'of the Englifli law among them, to bargain for the
largeft fum of money he could obtain for the king's confent. [Fcedera,
V. \i, pi 78.] . And, in two or three years after, the bufinefs appears to
have been accompUftied. [Rot. pat. 8 Ediv. /.]

May 24.'" — The revenue railed from the Jews in England feems to
have hitherto confifted chiefly of tallages, arbitrarily impofed at the will
of the king. It was apparently in order to introduce fome regularity in
that branch of the revenue, and to let the Jews know what they had to
depend upon, that a ftatute had been made, containing a multitude of
provifions for controlling and . regulating their tranladions, and fixing
their payments to the king, whofe flaves (' ferfs') they are repeatedly

* In thofe days, the men onboard all warlike vtfTcls wtre Called yS/r^to / and every veflel equipped
for war was called a piratic fliip, or mycparo in the Latin of the times.

43© A. D. 1277.

declared to be *. The Injuftice and inexpediency of fome parts of
that natute having, perhaps filently, rendered the whole of it inefficient,
the king now iffued an order by his own authority, wherein, after re-
capitulating fome parts of the flatute, viz. that every Jew, male or fe-
male, above twelve years of age, was to pay annually three pennies to
the king ; that they were to live only in thofe cities and burghs, where-
in there was an arch-chirographer of the Jews, who feems to have been
an officer appointed to draw up, and regifter, their fecurities ; and that
all Jews of above feven years of age, fliould wear a yellow diftinguifhing
badge, confpicuoufly placed upon their upper garments, he defires that
the tax of three pennies of head money, and all the arrears of it, may be
flridly levied. [F^ikra, V. ii,p. 83.]

1278, June 17'" — King Edward having received very confiderable af-
fi fiance from the Cinque ports in his war againfl the Welfh, gratified
them with a charter, wherein he refers to liberties they enjoyed in the
times of Edward the ConfefTor, William I, William II, Henry II, Rich-
ard I, John, and Henry III. The fervice required of them by the king,
is fixed at fifty-feven lliips, properly manned, for fifteen days. And in
return, they are favoured with exemption from prifage upon the wines
imported in their own trade, and with fome other immunities, [yeakts
Charters of the Cinque ports. ~\

According to Bradon, who flourifhed in the reign of Henry III, the
ports originally aflbciated in the duty of providing Ihips for the pubUc
fervice, and in the enjoyment of the privileges and exemptions granted
in return for their fervices, were Raftings, Hythe, Rumney, Dover, and
Sandwich ; and from their number, being ^w, was derived the colle<ftive
appellation o? Cinque ports, which continued in ufe after the acceflion of
other ports rendered it improper. Winchelfea and Rye were added
afterwards, probably in the reign of Edward I, and many more as mem-
bers. Their names have been varioufly fl;ated ; and probably they have
really varied, according to the fiuduating circumfiances of the places.

According to a cuftumal of the
town of Hythe, of a later age than
that of Edward If,
Hailings was to provide 21 fhips.
Its members wereSeaford,

According to a lift, dated in the
22** year of Edward I,
Ilaftings provided - 3 ftiips.
The Lowie of Pevenfey, i
Bulverhithe and Petit jahn, i

* The ftatiite, faij to be of uncertain date (See order. Tliere is a tranflation of the llatute in

S'.alutis at I'lrge, Index, -vo. jfe-ws, and j4ppendix, Toi>ry''s yJnglia JiiJiiica, />. 20O.

/>. 28), is dated by Prynne \_Demurrer, part i, f In the reign of Richard II \vc find an order

f>- 37] '" tl'C third year of Edw. I, wherein he to fit out the Cinque-port i\cet of Jifly-fevai vcfTeis,

dificrs from Lord Coke. It permitted the Jews armed and properly anayed, willi a mafter and

to be mcrciianls, labourers, and farmers, but pro- tiut-iity men in each, to ferve fifteen days after their

liibittd then, from taking any intereft for money, arrival at Briftol, the port of rendezvous, at their

and rcHored to thofe Clirillians, who had niort- own cxpenfe, and allcrwards aa long as the king

gaged their lands to Jews in fecurity for money fliould rcipiirc at his expenfe, though only the pay

lent, the chief hoiife and half of the lands. Thcfc, of the men is fpccified ; for all which charters of

being the mod obvious unjuft, and inexpedient, former kings arc referred to. [^Fai/era, K vii, />.

parti of the (latulc, arc not mentioned in the king's 784 ; fee aUoj». Sj^.; and F. x,/>. 108.]

A. D. 1278.

43

Beckfburn, - i fliip.

Grange and Gillingham, two
armed men.

Rye,

Winchelfea,

5
10

Romney,
Lydde,
Hythe,
Dover,

4

7

5

19

Folkfton,

7

Feverfliam,

7

Sandwich, withStonor, Ford-
wich, Dale, &c. - 5

The fhips to be ready upon forty
days notice every year, properly
srmed and arrayed, to carry 20
men each, befides the mafter of the
mariners, and to ferve five days at
the expenfe of the ports, and after-
wards at the king's expenfe.

Pevenfey, Hodney, Win-
chelfea, Rye, Ihame,
Beckfburn, Grange, Nor-
thie, Bulverhithe.
Romenal, or Rumney 5 fhips.

Its members, Promhill,
Lydde, Eaflwefton, Den-
geymarfli, Old Rumney,
Hethe, or Hythe, - 5

Its member. Weft Hythe.
Dover, - - 21

Its members, Folkfi:on,Fe-
verfham,andSMVIargarets.
Sandwich, - 5

Its members, Fordwich,
Reculver, Serre, and Dele,
or Deal.

Each fhip to carry 2 1 men and
I garcion or boy, the whole com-
plement being 1,197 ^^^^ ^^'^ 57
boys for the 57 fhips, which were to
ferve 15 days, countingfrom the firfl
fpread of the fails, at the expenfe of
the ports, and afterwards, as long as
the kingfhould defire, at his expenfe.
[Haklujt^s Voiages, V. i. p. 17.]

King Edward treated the Jews with great rigour. He prohibited
them fi'om felling or afligning their debts without his licence. He or-
dered their repofitories throughout the whole kingdom to be fearched.
He iffued various orders againfh their extortions by ufury. He fet on
foot an inquifition to take cognifance of thofe who negleded to wear
their diflinguifhing badges. The oppreflion and ignominy, which that
unfortunate race of people continually groaned under, feem to have
rendered them regardlefs of charader ; and the frequent extortions of
vafl fums from them made them think themfelves juftifiable in taking
every method whatever to indemnify themfelves. They were faid to
make a common pradice of diminifhing the currerit coin, circulating
counterfeit money, and making fraudulent exchanges, and to carry
thofe frauds to fuch an extent, that the nominal prices of all things
were raifed, and foreign merchants declined trading in England, where
the money was fo very much funk below its nominal value. In confe-
quence of their guilt, and the outcry raifed againfl them, all the Jews
throughout England were imprifoned in one day, and no fewer than
two hundred and eighty of both fexes were hanged in London only, be-

43? A. D. 1278.

fides vaft numbers in other parts of the kingdom, vvhofe property was
all confifcated. Some Chriftians were alfo hanged for being concerned
with the Jew's, and others were heavily fined. [7?o/. pat. 4, 5, 7, 8, 9
Edw. I. — M. Wsftm. p. 409 — T. Wikes, p. 107 — Walfingham, p. 48. J

1279 The awkward contrivance of making halfpennies and far-
things by breaking pennies into two or four pieces, which prefented a
very tempting opportunity of cutting fome of the filver from the pieces,
was flill in ufe, though round halfpennies and farthings had been many
years in circulation, but probably no't in fufficient quantity. In order
to prevent fo great a temptation to fraud, and to banifh all the counter-
feit or defaced money from the circulation, the king ordered a complete
new coinage of round pennies, halfpennies, and farthings, and alfo fome
pieces of four pennies each * ; and thenceforth no other than round
money was allowed to be current f . [ylmi. Waver/, p. 234. — T. Wikes,
p. 108. — M. Wejlm. p. 409 — Slaw's Ann. p. 307.]

It feems probable that King Edward alfo coined pieces of two pen-
nies, as Alexander king of Scotland coined pieces of that value, and, we
may prefume, others of four pennies :|:.

In order to difperfe the new money quickly through the kingdom,
it was given to the people in exchange for the old bad money, on pay-
ing the difference, at the minting offices, called changes or exchanges,
eftabliftied in moft of the principal towns. \ft. Wikesy p. 108.] At this
time the mint, or exchange (' cambium'), of London was under the
management of fome merchants from Luca in Italy, together with Gre-
gory de Rokefle mayor of London. {Madox's Hijl. of the excheq. c. 22,
§ 4 ; f . 23, § I.] As we have good reafon to believe, that the Englifli
filver-fmiths were by no means deficient in their art, we muft fuppofe,
either that the king was under pecuniary obligations to the foreigners,
or that his own fubjeds were inferior to the Italians in the knowlege of
accounts, which is the moft probable.

In the dark ages the people were made to believe, that the furefl way
to obtain eternal happinefs was to beftow their property upon, what

♦ The coinage of four-periny pieces by Ed- land, has already been noticed and accounted for.

ward I is mentioned, 1 believe, only by Stow; See above, p. 385, note.

and it was thought a mitlake. ^Fleetwoed't Chron. % A piece of two pennies, coined by King Alex-

prec. p. 38, td. 1745.] But his veracity is con- ander, is preferved in the Advocates' library at

llrmcd by Mr. Folkes, who weighed eleven fuch Edinburgh, and is afcribed to Alexander I [.

pieces of Edward I, and found them very unequal, [^Rudd. Pref. ad And. Dipt. p. 64.] But, as the

fome too light, and others much too heavy, kings were net numbered on their coins in thofc

^Tahhs of coins, p.'^.'\ They were probably never ages, it feems more reafonable to afTign it to his

very numerous, nor generally current ; and it is fon, the only Alexander contemporary with Ed-

pretty evident, that they, as well as the gold coins ward I, than to fuppofe that the Scots preceded

of Henry III, were forgotten in the reign of the EngliHi in any innovation or improvement.

Edward III. 'J'here is in the fame colledion a two-pciuiy piece

f The milakcn notion, that this was the firft afcribed to Edward I. But, for the reafon now

coinage of round halfpennies and faithings in Eng- given, it may be doubted, which Edward it be-

3 longs to.

A. D. 1278. 43

f^

were called, religious foundations. Before they were carried to excefs
in number and opulence, fuch foundations were produdive of fomc ad-
vantages to fociety, independent of the religious purpofes of their infti-
tution : for, as the clergy were the only people who could read and
write, there were in all ages a few of the monks, whofe inclinations
prompted, and whofe talents (according to the Aandard of the age)
qualified, them to tranfmit to fucceeding ages fome knowlege of the
events of their own times, and others to whofe patient induftry in tranf-
cribing we are indebted for the prefervation of that portion of anrient
literature, which has come down to our times : in monafteries men were
prepared for thofe public employments which required fome degree of
education : and in them the dull flame of the lamp of fcience was pre-
ferved from utter extinftion. So far thofe inftitutions were beneficial
to mankind. But the quantity of land and other property, beflowed
upon focieties deftiiied to have a perpetual fuccelTion, wiio were conti-
nually acquiring, and never giving away, had become in the courfe of
ages fo enormoufly great, that the whole kingdom was in danger of be-
ing fwallowed up by the church, and being fubjed to, or at leafl: in the
difpofal of, the pope *. The poflfeflxDrs of thofe vaft domains became
lazy, ufelefs, and vicious ; and the prodigious wealth of their houfes
held out a large premium to idlenefs, and an equally-large difcourage-
ment to induftry and commerce. Even the military profeflion, though
cherifhed and applauded by the temper and opinions of the age, was af-
feded by it ; and many, who by their birth and tenures, according to
the feudal fyftem, belonged to the national militia, preferred the flum-
bers of the convent to the dangers of the field f. A part, at leaft, of
the evil was feen, and fome faint attempts were made to check the pro-
grefs of it, before this time. In the year 1225 the regents, during the
minority of Henry ill, inferted in a new edition of the Magna charta
an order againft giving lands to religious houfes. But it appears to
have been difregarded ; and fuch donations feem to have been even tol-
erated, provided they were made by the licence of the chief lord of the
land, who would have brought an odium, if not excommunication, upon
himfelf, if he had ventured to refufe his confent. So flender a reftraint
.was therefor by no means fufficient to prevent the continuance of the
abufe, or to counterad the ftrong belief thac admillion to the joys of
heaven was to be purchafed with lands or money.

November 15"' — King Edward, by the advice of his prelates, earls,
and others of his council, now enaded thejiatute of mortmain, ftridly or-

• We have alre^idy feen, tliat the inefficient and f It is true that the lands of bifhops, abbats,

non-refident foreign clergymen, impofed upon Eng- priors, &c. who were barons as well as eccleCaf-

land by the pope, drained it annually of more tics, weie fubjecled to military fervices by William

money than the whole reveni;e of the kingdom the Conqueror : but they were performed by fub-

amounted to. ftitiites, and of little arail.

Vol. I. 3 I

434 A. D. 1^78. •

daining, that no lands fliould go into the poflefllon of any perpetual body,
either by donation or by fale ; and that any land, fo difpofed of by col-
lufion, fliould be entered upon by the fuperior lord, or, in cafe of his
negled or failure, by the king, \vho fhould put it into the pofleflion of
fuch as would contribute their fervices to the defence of the realm.
[7 Edzv. I.} As the king only adverted tO' the deficiency of military
ftrength occafioned by the ecclefiaftical monopoly of lands, it is pretty
evident, that the pernicious anti-commercial tendency of it never occur-
red to him or his council*.

The great, fertile, populous, induftrious, and wealthy, empire of China,
which was fir ft attacked, and in part fubjeded, by Zingis-khan, was
now completely fubdued by his grandfon Cublai. The conqueror next
afpired to the dominion of the fea and the iflands. But the fleet, which
he expected to make him mafler of Zipangu (fuppofed to be Japan), was
twice wrecked, and a hundred thoufand Moguls ar-d Chinefe perifhed
without achieving any conquefl. Notwithfianding this revolution, the
Gonflitution, the manufadures, and the commerce, of China remained
unimpaired. The army of the conquerors was foon lofl and blended
among the infinite numbers of the conquered : and the empire feemed
rather to have adopted a new dynafty of princes, than to have fuffered
a revolution. [See Gibboti, V. xi, pp. 414, 427, and authorities quoted by
bi?ii.']

The emperor Cublai, obferving that many lives were loft every year
in tranfporting the produce of the fouthern provinces to the capital by
fea, conftru6ted a canal by turning the waters of fome lakes into arti-
ficial channels extending northward and fouthward 840 geographical
miles. {Hi/}. Sin. ap. 'Thevenot, V. ii, p. 67.] This canal, which is the
longeft artificial navigable water in the world, by its connedlion with
the great rivers effedls an inland navigation, with very little interrup-
tion from portages, between Pekin and Canton, cities fituated at the
oppofite extremities of the empire, and is continually covered by in-
numerable barges employed in conducting the greateft part of the trade
of the moft populous country on the face of the earth, and alfo in con-
veying paflxingers, the journies being moftly performed by water f .

1280, July 17"' In confequence of fome differences between the

merchants of London and thole of Zeland, the later in the year 1275

• It appears Ly tlie patent rolls 27 EJw. I, m. fo monadic focicties were tlien called. \_RyIfy,

I, and Fa-flera, V. ii, /. 1004, that Kdward did Plac. pari. p. 644.] A very iifiial expedient for

not fcruple to infringe this ftatiilc himftlf, and al- evading- tlic law was to make an exchange of one

low others to infringe it. And, not to multiply j)iece of land for another with the fuperior of a

inilances in the fame and fuccceding reigns, whieh iiionaflic ellahlilliment, as may he feen in alinoft

might be produced by hundreds, it may fuffice to every page of tlie Calendar of the patent rolls.

oblerYC, that in the year 1329 it was reprefented f Sec the defcription of the navigation of the

to Edward III and his privy council, that, if they Cliiiicle tiuiid in ^Uiuntor'i j4aouNt of an cmbit^y to

were not very attentive to prevent it, his whole China.
dominions would fuoii be in the hands of religion }

A. D. 1280.

435

fitted out fourteen or more vefTels of the kind called cogs, in which they
cruifed againfl the Englifh trading vefTels. King Edward thereupon or-
dered, that the property of all merchants of Zeland, found in any of the
ports of England, or upon the fea, ihould be feized. And fo a petty
warfare was kept up for about five years, till the earl of Zeland offered
to make fatisfadion for the damages done by his fubjedls : whereupon
King Edward now ordered that the merchants of that country fhould
have their property reftored, and be allowed to trade in England as be-
fore. \_Fadera, V. ii, pp. 59, 156, 177 — Rot. pat. 8 Edw. I, m. 7.]

November 17^'' — The king confirmed to the merchants of Germany,
occupying the Teutonic gildhall in London, the privileges and liberties
granted to them by his father, and promifed that he would not himfelf
do any thing, nor permit others to do any thing, to infringe them.
l^Foedera, V. ii, p. 161. J There is fliil no mention of the appellation of
merchants of the Hanfe. The privileges, &c. were again confirmed to
them by the fame king in his twenty-ninth year. \^Rot, pat. 29 Edw. J,
a tergo.'\

1 28 1, November 20'" — ^The commercial intercourfe of the Chrifl:Ians
with the Saracens having been interrupted for fome time in compliance
with an order iffued by the pope, Pedro III king of Aragon, finding
that his fubjedls were very great fufferers thereby, now gave them per-
miflion to export all kinds of merchandize, excepting wheat and barley,
and alfo horfes, unlefs for the relief of the Holy land, to all nations,
whether Chrifl:ians or Saracens. But he added that it was not in his
power to difpenfe with the pope's particular prohibition againft carry-
ing iron, arms, and fome other articles, to the Saracens. [Capmany,
MejTi. hijl. de Barcelona, V. ii. Col. dipl.p. 37.]

It was, no doubt, chiefly for the fake of the flieep and the wool pro-
duced by them, that King Edward commiflloned Peter Corbet to dellroy
the wolves in the fliires of Gloucefier, Worcefl:er, Hereford, Salop, and
Stafford, \Fa:dera, V. ii, p. 168] and ordered John Gifford to hunt them
in all the forefi:s of England : \Rot. pat. 9 Edw. I, m. 2] and fome time
after John Engayne got an eftate on condition of defl:roying wolves and
other vermin in Huntingdon-fliire *. {Blount's Tenures, p. 60.]

While Edward was coUeding his army for the invafion of Wales, he

* The foreft of Cliikern was infcfted by wolves Thomas Engaine for the feivice of deftroyin j

and wild bulls in the time of Edward the Con- wolves and other vermin in that and four otlier

fefTor. IM. Paris, Fit. p. 4.^.2 William the Con- (liire?. \_Blount, pp. 15,71.] Yet we are told,

queror granted the lordlhip uf Riddefdale in North- that all the wolves in Wales were extirpated by

umberland to Robert de Umfraville on condition order of Edgar king of England, as if there could

ot defending that part of the country againft: ene- be wolves in England without being in Wales ;

mics and wolves. [^Blount's Tenures, p. 15, ed. and the ftory, though evidently falfe, has met with

1679.] ■'^'"g John gave a premium of ten (liil- general belief. I wifli we had proofs, equally

lings tor catching two wolves. \_Rymer''s Coll. ftrong, to deniolifh the other wonders in the hif-

manufcr. V. i, n". 62.] John and Edward III tory of that king of the monks,
gave lands in Northampton-fhire to Joliu and

3I 2

43*6

A. D. 1281.

fent agents, not only through all England, but alfo into the neighbour-
ing countries, 10 buy up provillons and other ftores. [Rot. Wa/lice, 10,
1 1 Edzv. I, uj Ayl'jffe^s Calendar ."l \l^e find, feveral agents were fent to
purcliufe corn and other provifions in Ireland, which thus appears to
have produced moVe than the confumption of the inhabitiuits required ;
and there were no potatoes then. \Kot. Wallice, mm. 10, 8, 2,] We
alfo find, the fhirrefs of Cumberland and Lancafter were ordered to fend
people to purchafc fifh on the weft coaft of Scotland, and to carry them
to Chefter : and Adam of Fuleham was appointed to provide roo bar-
rels of fturgeons of Aberdeen *, and 5,000 fait fifh, and alfo dry fifh.
[Rot- Wallia^ mm. 9, 8 dorfts.'] The fifh of Aberdeen were io well cured,
that they were even carried to the capital fifhing port of Yarmouth f .
Thus we are afllired that fifheries were carried on to fome confiderable
extent on both fides of Scotland ; and that Aberdeen, which had then
•got a charader for curing fifh, and probably fome port or ports in the
Firth of Clyde, were known to have a fupply of fifli, pickled and cured
for foreign markets, long before the time that the art of curing fifli is
generally fuppofed to have been difcovered in Flanders.

1282 — The colle6lion of the cuftoms was frequently entrufted to for-
eign merchants, either as an accountable truft, or for a ftipulated rent :|:.
Bonricini Guidicon and Company of Luca accounted to the exchequer
for the proceeds of the new cufloms on wool, wool-fells, and hides, from

* ' Ccnlum barr'tW efigionum lie giiitigtnt' ^ler-
den.'' — So it is in the roll, which I examined by
the favour of Mr. Aftle, the learned and liberal
keeper of the records in the Tower. The tranfla-
tion fcems to be — a hundred harreh, nfji-ve hundred
pounds each, of Aberdeen Jlurgeoni. — Qjiere if not
rather falmons {^ifyc'iorum orefochim, inftead of which
the copying clerk h?5 written ejtgwnum in the roll)
for the fuperior pickling and packing of which in
barrels of the old Hamburgh kind Aberdeen has
long been famous ? Sturgeons were fcarce, and too
cxpenfive for feeding; an army with. Six barrels
of them coft ^"19 for the houfehold of Thomas
> earl of L.auca(ler, nephew of King Edward I.
\_Slo'Uj's Suri'ty of Lcndon, p. 133, ed. 1618.] The
faked and dry fifh were probably cod or ling, not
put up in any packages. — In tlic year 1308 Ed-
ward II ordered his chamberlain for Scotland to
provide 3,cco falmons in Scotland out of the re-
venues of thft country, "and to have them properly
put up in cail<s (' doliis') for prcfeivation. \_Fa-
■d.r.i. V. iii,/. 95.]

f Four hunched li(1i of Aberdeen, two hundred
Tlockfifh, onr (ftriall) barrel of fturgeons, five dozen
"f lampreys, fifiy pounds of whale (* halen'), and
h'llf a lall of herrings, conrtitnted the fifli part of
»he provifiors, put onboard a (hip, fitted out at
Varmoiith in the year i 29c, for bringing the in-
fant ipiecn 01 Seollaiid from the court of her fa-
:i (r the king of Norw.iy. The fifh of Aberdem

cofl fomcwhat under three pennies each, the ftock
filh fomevvhat under one penny each, and the halt
lafl of herrings thirty {hilliv.gs. [/fym^r'j CoU.
maniifcr. V. ii, p. 287. j Aberdeen tith aifo occur
in the account of King Edward's wardrobe in the
year 1 290.

\ Tiie cuftoms were alfo affigned to individuals
ts icturities, or funds, for the payment of debts
due" by the king. In the year 1307 Edward I
affigned to the merchants of Brabant the new cuf-
toms payable upon their own imports for payment
of a debt due to them, whereupon they prcmifcd
to bring rrcrchandize much more abundantly to
the port of London. \_Ry!ey, Plae. pari. p. 327.3
In 1312 the culloms of Bolton were affigned to a
merchant of Genoa for a debt due by the king.
[^Mtidox's Hiji. c. 10, } 12. "I In the fame year
the cuftoms of wool, wool-fells, and In'des, in the
port of Berwick were afligntd to Piers dc Gavaf-
ton for ^^'408 : 1 1 : 8 due by the king, to be paid
to him immediately after the full payment of a funi
fecured upon tiie fame cuftoms to David of Brech-
in, a Scottlfli baron, then In the intereft of Ed-
ward, probably as a compeniation for the forfeiture
of liis cftatf in Soot\ird. \Fadira, V. ili, p. 310.^
And Alexander III king of Scotland took the
fame method of paying a foreign merchant by an
affignment of the cuftomn of Berwick. \Yadera,
y. )i, /, 60J.J

A. D. 1282. 437

Kafter I2?r to Eafler 1282 : and from fome particulars of their account
we find that there were .fliipped from Newcaflle upon Tine

771 facks 7y ftones of wool, paying a cuftom duty of 6/B per fack ;
11,182 wool- fells (Iheep's flvins with the wool on them) 6/"8 for every 300 ;
and 80 lafts 1 2 dacres of hides 1 3/4 per laft.

The amount of the ufual cuflom in the port of Hull was this year
£1 ,o?i6 : 10 : 8, and their whoic receipts for the year amounted to
;^"8,4ii : 19 : I li. [Madox's H'ljl. of the cxcheq. c. 23, § I.]

Many ovher i; ilances might be adduced, if neceifary, of the collec-
tion of the cuftoms being put into the hands of foreigners, who were
generally partners of fome of thofe flrong and numerous coinpanies,
who had their chief houies in Italy, and had branches of their trade,
managed by one or more of their partners, in London and other cities
of Europe, whereby they got into their own hands nearly the whole of
the trade between the Mediterranean coafls and the countries in which
they lettled. Such were in this age the FrifcobalJi, the Kembertini, the
Dardi, the Spini, of Florence; the Riczardi, the Ballardi, of Luca, &c.
Thole merchants were very ferviceable to the kings in lending them
money, and negotiating exchanges and other kinds of bufinefs for them,
and confequently enjoyed a good deal of their favour. They were alio
generally agents for the pope, and received the money extorted by him,
on a variety of pretences, irrom every country in his communion, which
they either remitted to him, or lent out at interefl on his account : for
the canons of the church, made to deterr the people from taking intereft
for the ufe of money, were not binding upon the head of the church,
who affumed a power of fufpending the laws of God and man for his
own purpofes. lx\ return for thcjfe lervices the popes, who knew how
to pay their own debts at the expenfe of others, ufed to defire the kings
to favour their merchants with privileges, exemptions, and lucrative jobs.
[Feedera, V. ii, pp. 311, 682, 705, 039, 1051, 8cc. &c. — M. Paris, pp.
362, 938 — Madox's n:ji. c. 22, § 2 ; r. 23, § 22 ; f. 24, § 7.J ^

The German merchants in London (called merchantb t)f the Hanic
by Stow, who, however, quotes no authority*) were bound, in conii der-
ation of lundry privileges, to maintain the gate of the-city called Bilhopi-
gate. Upon their refufal to fulfill their pint of the covenant the mat-
ter was carried before the barons of Uie exchequer, who gave judgemenc
againft them, and directed the mayor and fnirrefs of London to diftrain
Gerard Marbod alderman of the Hanfe, together with iix other merch-
ants, citizens of Cologne, Triers, Trivon, Hamburgh, and Munlter, for
the expenie of the reparations ; whereupon they paid 210 marks to the

* As I have no opportunity of tracing Stow's fad related. If ti;e word Ihnfe be getmine, quere,

authority, it is iinpoflible to tell, whether in tranf- if it is not the eatlieft known application of that

lating he had fupphed a name well known in liis name.'to the great affociatiOiT of mcccanlile cities?
own age, or found it in a record co-xval with tlie

438 A. D. 1282.

city, and engaged to uphold the gate in future, and alfo to bear a third
part of the charges in money and men to defend it. On that occafion
the community of the city granted, or confirmed, to the German merch-
ants the liberty of ftoring the corn imported by them for the fpace of
forty days, unlefs particularly prohibited by the mayor on account of
fcarcity, or other reafonable caufe, and of chufing their alderman, who
fhould be of the city, fhould be prefented to the mayor and aldermen
of the city after his eledlion, and fhould take an oath before them to
maintain jufbice according to law and the cufloms of the city *. \_Stow's
Survey of London, p. 431, ed. 16 18.]

1283 — ' Pedro III king of Aragon, by his provifion of the year 12^3,
' which is the feventh chapter of the cortes of Barcelona of that year,
' abolifhed the gabel (or duty) upon fait throughout all Catalonia, and
* decreed by law that neither he nor any of his fucceflbrs fhould ever
' be empowered to re-cflablifla it. This falutary meafure was a diredl
' encouragement to the fifhery and the trade of curing provifions, and
' particularly tunnies, the fifhery for which had been in all ages an ob-
' jecl of attention with the Catalans.' At the fame time (by c. 25'")
•the hofpitable law of Count Raymundo Berenguer I in the year 1068
was confirmed and amplified. [Capmany, Mevi. hijl. de Barcelona.^ ^'i.
Com. pp. 22 r, 224.] From thefe and other wife laws of the Catalans,
already mentioned, and to be mentioned, in this work, it is evident that
the true principles of commercial and manufailuring policy were well
underflood and aded upon by that nation many ages before they began
to be known in this country. And, indeed, at whatever time the fifh-
■eries and manufactures of Great Britain fhall be delivered from the
hardfhips of the fait laws, it mull be acknowleged that the legiflators of
Barcelona will have had the merit of preceding up by above five centuries.

The firfl: Englifh parliament, wherein eledive reprefentatives of the
people fat, was fummoned by the ufurped and tranfient authority of the
earl of Lelcefler in the year i 265 : and after that we know of no fimilar
reprefentative, or eledive, members of any parliament, till King Edward
fummoned a parliament (June 28''') to meet at Shrev/fbury on the 30"'
of September 1283, to which, befides the great barons called by a par-
ticular writ addreffed to each of them, and two reprefentatives eleded
for each of the fliires, there were called two members for each of the
following cities and towns, which, if the lift is complete, were thofe
which were then efteemed the moft opulent and confiderable in the
kingdom. The writs were direded to the

Mayor, citizens, and fhirrefs, of

London,
Mayor and citizens of Winche/ier,

Mayor and bailifs of Newcajlle upon

Tine,
Mayor and citizens of Tork,

• We (1 all afterwards find the office of alderman of the Hanfe ufually filled by one of the aldermen
of London. 5

A. D. 1283. 439

Mayor and bailifs oi Brijlol,
Mayor and citizens of Exeter,
Mayor and citizens of Lincoln^
Mayor and citizens of Canterbury,
Mayor and citizens of Carlile,
Bailifs of Norwich,
Mayor and good men of Nort/jamton,
Bailifs of Nottingha??i,
Bailifs of Scarburgh,

Mayor and bailifs of Grimjby,
Mayor and bailifs of Lynne,
Bailifs of Colcbejier,
Bailifs and good men of Tarmouth,
JMayor and good men of Hereford,
Mayor and good men of Chejler,
Bailifs and good men ofShrewJbury,
Mayor and good men of Worce/ier,
[Foedera, V. u, pp. 247-249.]

Thus were the reprefentatives of the trading part of the people, refiding
in cities and burghs, eftablilhed as a conftituent part of the legiflative
aflembly of the nation. But the conftitution of the parliament was fo
unfettled, that frequently the cities and burghs were not called upon to
eled their reprefentatives. I have already obferved, that the reprefent-
atives of the commons had little or no influence in parliament till long
after the time now under our confideration.

Odober 10'" — ^The parliament, met at Adon-Burnell, confidering, that
there was no law whereby merchants might recover their debts from
thofe to whom they entrufled their property, and that, for want of fuch
a law, niany merchants were impoveriflied, and many foreign merchants
defilled from trading to England, paffed an ad called the Statute of merch-
ants, which direded that the buyer fhould appear before the mayor of
London, York, or Briftol, to acknowlege the debt and day of payment,
which Ihould be regillered ; and that the debtor fliould put his feal to
a bill drawn by the mayor's clerk, who Ihould alfo affix the king's feal,
lod.'j;ed with him for that purpofe *. If the debtor negleded to make
payment when due, the mayor, upon the creditor producing his bill,
was direded to order a fale of the debtor's chattels, or burgages devife-
able, to the extent of the debt, if they were within his jurildidion, and
to deliver the money without delay to the creditor. If the property of
the debtor was not within the mayor's jurifdidion, he was to fend the
recognifance to the chancellor, who was to iillie a writ, dciiring the fliir-
ref, in whofe jurifdidion the property was, to do what the mayor fliould
otherways have done. If the debtor poflclled no property, he was to be
imprifoned, and fed with bread and water, till he or his friends fhould
fatisfy the creditor f. {A6i 1 1 Edw. /.]

In the years 1283 and 1284 Robert Durham the mayor, together
with Simon Martel and other good men, of Berwick upon Tweed, en-
aded the Statutes of the gild.

By c. 20 None but gild-brethren were permitted to buy hides, wool, or
wool-fells, in order to fell them again, or to cut cloth, except foreign
merchants.

* Thefe regulations fuppofe tlie debtor incapable of writing.

f I remember reading a plan, fomewhat fimilar to this law, projefted by fome modern author.

'..VO A. jD, i 2t>-2.

cc. 22, 37, 44, Herrings and other fifli, corn, beans, peas, fait, and
coals *, were ordered to be fold ' at the bray' alongfide of the veflei
bringing them, and nowhere elfe : and they were nor to be carried on-
fhore when the fun was down. Any burgefs, who was prefent at a pur-
chafe of herrings, might claim a portion of them for his own confump-
tion at the original coft.

c. 27, Brokers were eleded by the communi; y of the to\vn, and their
names regiftered. They paid annually a tun (' dolium') of wine for
their licence.

c. 28, No regrator was allowed to buy fifli, hay, oais, cheefe, butter, or
other articles, brought into the town for fale, till the bell rang.
cc. 29, 41 , No merchandize was allowed to be fold anywhere but in the
common mai-ket, where they were to pay toll,

c. ^7,, The government of the town was declared to be by a mayor,
four provofts (' prsepofitis'), and twenty-four counfelors.

The court of the Four burghs in Scotland confifted of reprefentatives
from Berwick, Edinburgh, Rokfburgh, and Striveline (or Stirling),
whofe province it was to judge of all matters concerning commerce,
and the conftitutions and cuftoms of the burghs ; fo that it was a board
of trade and police f.

The Chaviherlaiy! s court in Scotland appears to have alfo had a jurif-
diction over the burghs, and the infpeftion and regulation of many mat-
ters coniiected with the trade and general police of the kingdom. The
chamberlain made periodical progrefles through the whole country, and
carried with him ftandard weights and meafures, in order to prove thofe
kept by the magiftrates of the towns ; and it was his duty to prevent
thofe, who took up goods for the king's ufe at the king's price (which
thus appears to have been under the fair market price) from taking
more than was wanted for the king in order to get a profit to them-
felves, and alio from defrauding the merchants of their due payment.
From ihe regulations of this court we learn, that infpedtors were ap-
pointed to examine, and certify by their feal of office, the quality and
quantity of cloth, bread, and calks containing liquors ; that other offi-
cers, called troners, had the infpedion of wool ; that the falmon filhery
was carefully regulated, and filhing during the night, or while the fal-
mon were not in feafon, was prohibited, &c. :f:

• This 13 the carlieft mention of the uTe of coals of the Slaiuta gthU and Iter camcraiii, as piiblidicd

ill Scotland ; but, as they were carried to Berwick by vSkeiic along with the Rrgiam majcfiulcm. The

by water, it is uncertain, whether they were dug origin of the court of the four buiglis and of the

in England or Scotland. chambeilain's court cannot be difcoveied. We

\ In the year 136.S Lanerk and Linlithgow find them cllabliflied before the year 1291: \_Ry-
were fubllituted for Berwick and Rokfburgh, then lefs Placifn pur!, pp. 147-15 1 ] and, as we may be
in the hands of the Engli(h ; and Hadington, pretty well alFurcd, that they could not originate
though not one of the four burghs, was appointed during the eonvulfions, which diflrafted the king-
to be their place of meeting. [Shni; /. 15+ a.] dom after tiie death of Alexander III, we may
Sec below under tlie year 1466. prcfume, tli;it they are at kail as old as tlie reign

J The particulars of the commercial and muni- of that king.

cipal police of Seotl.iiid are given upon the faith ,

A. D. 1284. 441

1284 — King Edward, having made a conquefl of Wales and united
it to England, appointed fhirrefs, and partly eftablifhed the Englifh laws
and policy, in that country. Having extirpated the antient Britifli fove-
reigns, he conferred on his ion, jufl: then born at Carnarvon in Wales,
the title of prince of Wales, which has ever fince belonged to the oldefl
fons of the kings of England. In order to reconcile the Welfli to his
government, he made their principal towns free burghs, and favoured
many of them with exemption from tolls throughout all England. He
alfo gave them encouragement to work their mines of lead, which de-
ferves notice as the commencement of induftry in a branch, which has
fince become confiderable in that country. \Statutum Wallue in Statutes
at large, V. x, append. — Fcedera, V. ii, p. 293 — Ayhffe's Calendar, pp. 9 1-97.]

Eric king of Norway, in a friendly letter to King Edward, complain-
ed of injuries done to the merchants of his kingdom by fome magif-
trates in England, and efpecially thofe of Lynne, and requefted him to
put a flop to them, and to order redrefs. [Foedera, Fi ii, p. 272.]

That filver muft have been plentiful in England, appears from Flor-
ence earl of Holland, when he was preparing for a new coinage, fend-
ing agents to buy it in this country, who colledled filver bullion to the
value of ;^96o fiierling in and near Bedford. {Foedera, V. ii, p. 284.]

The rancour of neighbourhood and the jealoufy of commerce and
naval power, had kept up a long and almofl:-uninterrupted bloody
flruggle between the Genoefe and the Pifans : but now the Genoefe,
by the afcendant they had obtained in the commerce of the Eafl, in
confequence of their affifi:ance in the reiloration of the Greek empire,
were become too powerful for the Pifans. They fitted out eighty-eight
gallies, and eight veiTels called />rt/{/?'rtJ, larger than gallies, and went to
the port of Pifa, where there enfued a furious and obfi:inate battle.
Twenty-nine Pifan gallies, together with the great ftandard of Pifa, were
taken ; feven were laid to be funk. The reft fled within the chain of
the harbour ; and night coming on put an end to the adion, which,
however, was abundantly decifive. The podefta and raoft of the nobles
of Pifa were taken prifoners ; and thenceforth the commerce and em-
pire of the Mediterranean were contefted chiefly by Genoa and Venice.
[See Stella An. Genuenf. ap. Muratori Script. V. xvii, col. 983.]

1285, June — An ad was pafled to pi-ohibit all perfons from catching
falmon in the waters (or rivers) of Humber, Ouie, Trent, Don, Ayre,
Derwent, Werf, Yare, Swale, Teefe *, and all others in the kingdom,
between the S'*" of September and the ii''^ of November, and from
catching young falmon at mill pools between the middle of April and
the 24"^ of June. {Stat. 1,13 Edzv. I, c. 47.]

The law ot merchants being found nearly inefficient in all places at
a diftance from London, York, and Briftol, and being alio fometiraes

* It is obftrvable, that all the rivers here named arc in York-.liire, or contiguous with it.

Vol. I. 3 K '^

442 A. D. 1285.

fruftrated by the miftakes or wilful perverfions of the fherrifs, it was
now enaded, that debtors fhould acknowlege their debts before the
chief magiftrate or other fufficient perfon appointed by the king, and a
clerk alfo appointed by the king, in London and the other good towns ;
that the bill, written by the clerk, fhould be fealed and regiftered agree-
able to the former ad, e>:cept that the king's feal fhould be of two pieces,
whereof the largeft fliould remain with the magiftrate or perfon ading
for him, and the other with the clerk ; and each of them was directed
alfo to keep a duplicate of the enrollment. On failure of payment at
the day appointed, the magiftrate, if the debtor was a layman and with-
in his jurifdiftion, was to commit him to prifon, where he was to re-
main at his own expenfe till he made fatisfadion. If the debtor was
not within the jurifdidion of the magiftrate, the chancellor was to ad
agreeable to the former law. The debtor was allowed fix months after
his imprifonraent to raife money out of his property, failing which it
was to be delivered to the merchant at a reafonable extent (or valua-
tion) for payment of the debt, damages, cofts, labour, &c. The lands
and goods, but not the body, of a clergyman were liable for his debt *.
The regulations were alio extended to tranfadions in fairs, and the
king's feals were fent to a proper perfon in every fair. With refped to
the commonalty of the merchants of London, it was enaded, that two merch-
ants fhould be chofen and fworn, before whom the recognifances fhould
be taken, and the ieals lliould be opened, whereof one piece fliould re-
main with them, and the other with the clerk. This ordinance was in
force in England and Wales for the fervice of all perfons who chofe to
avail themfelves of it, except Jews. \_Stat. 3, 13 Edw. /.]

The king, underftanding that Gregory de Rokefley and Henry Wa-
leys citizens of London f , and other merchants of England, Ireland,
Gafcoigne, and Wales, had made a pradice of obliging the barons of
the Cinque ports and the other feamen of the kingdom to pay average,
in cafes of goods thrown overboard in ftorms, upon articles which ought
to be exempted, ordained by his letters patent :j:, that the veflel with her
apparel, the provifions and cooking utenfils, the mafter's ring, necklace,
fafti, and filver cup, and alio the freight payable for the goods brought
into port, fliould be exempted from paying any average ; but that all
other things in the veflel, not excepting even the feamen's bedding, ftiould
be appraifed, and bear a proportion of the lofs incurred by throwing
any of the goods overboard for the prcfervation of the reft; and that
the mafter fliould not have any freight for the goods thrown overboard.

• There it fome obfcurity, or relu£lance to f Both of them had frequently been mayors of

touch upon the fubjcft, in the provilion for com- the city.

pclhng clergymen to pay their debts. Perhaps % Tlic king took the advice of his council ; but

theic was uo inllaocc of a clergyman afting dif- the parliament had no concern in enafting this

Konettly. law.

A. D. 1285. 443

Each of the [even Cinque ports received a copy of this letter or law.
{Fcedera, V. ii, p. 298.]

The few inanufadures tlien carried on not being fufficient to find
employment for the men, who were not engaged in war, agricuhure,
or pafturage, and the great body of the people having neither capacity
nor opportunity to polilh and humanize themfelves by reading or other
rational amufements, robbery was the ufual refource of vaft multitudes
of people in every part of Europe for fubfiftence and employment: and
the plunderers were often affifted, and proteded againfl the purfuits of
juflice, by fome lawlefs baron, whofe caflle was their refuge and the re-
ceptacle of their plunder. In Germany their powerful combinations
obliged the friends of order and juftice to enter into confederacies
againft them, which proved more effeftual than the reliques of the
faints and the anathemas of the clergy * : and in England their bands
were frequently ftrong enough to fet law and government at defiance.
In order to- reprefs fuch enormities, laws were enacted, whereby the
magiftrates of walled towns were ordered to keep their gates fhut from
the fetting till the rifing of the fun, and to keep a fufficient watch, as
in former times, at the gates from Afcenfion day to Michaelmas f .
Thofe, who received lodgers in their houfes, were made anfwerable for
their conduct ; and the magiftrates of towns were dire6ted to make fre-
quent inquiry in the fuburbs for fufpicious perfons lodged in them. A
particular Ilatute was enaded for London, which, becaufe many mur-
ders, homicides, afHiults, and robberies, had been committed in the city,
both in the day and in the night, ordered, that all perfons found in the
flreets with fword and buckler or other arms after the curfeu was rung
at S'. Martin's le Grand, except great lords and men of good reputation,
fhould be committed to the Tun J, and next day carried before the ma-
giflrates. And becaufe fuch malefadors generally concerted their plans
in taverns, and continued in them till the appointed time of putting
their plots in execution, the mafters of all taverns for the fale of wine
or ale were ordered to (hut them up as foon as the curfeu bell rang.
The aldermen were moreover required to make diligent inquiry in their
wards for all malefadors, and for people who had no property or vifible
means of fupport. No buflies nor trees (except detached trees clear of
underwood) nor ditches, wherein robbers could be concealed, were al-
lowed to be within 200 feet of either fide of the roads : the whole peo-
ple of the hundred, wherein a robbery was committed, were bound to

* Some account of the laws and anathemas cenfion day, as the long dark nights required the
againft robbers may be feen in Roberlfan's Hi/l. of greatcft vigilance ?

Charles V, Vol. \, p. 397, ed. 1792. See alfo above, J The Tun was a prifon built in Cornhill in the

pp. 393, 404. year 1282 by Henry Waleys, then mayor, for con-

■f- Quere, if not rather from Michaelmas to Af- lining night-walkers. [.y/owV Survey of London,

/>• 357-]

3K2

444 ^' ^* ^^285.

make good the damage, if they did not apprehend the robber. And
every man was required to have in his houfe arms and armour, fuitable
to his circumflances, to enable him to affifl in keeping the peace. [Stat.
Wi?it. and Stat. Lond. 1 3 Edw. /.]

About this time a great conduit was made in the ilreet called Weft
Cheaping (now Cheapiide) which was fupplied with water brought from
Paddington in leaden pipes laid under ground *• [Stoiv's Survey of Lon-
don, p. 482.]

Two Norwegian brothers, called Adalbrand and Thorvald, are faid to
have difcovered land lying weft from Iceland. [Torfai Hijl. Borweg. V.
iv, p. 374.] But Greenland, the country due weft from Iceland, had
been difcovered, and alfo colonized, feveral ages before.

At this time the coafts of Denmark, Frifeland, and Germany, were
infefted by a moft famous pirate called Alf, a Norwegian nobleman,
who carried home his plunder to Norway, and was kindly received there.
The merchants of the Vandalic part of Germany fitted out a fleet of
about thirty large cogs, which cruifed for Alf in the Ore found feveral
weeks, during which he carried on his depredations in the Baltic fea.
So much of the old piratical fpirit ftill prevailed in Norway, that Eric,
the young king of that country, inftead of punifliing his fubjed: Alf as
the general enemy of mankind, promoted him to the rank of an earl,
and treated the German merchants as his own enemies ; and they ap-
pear to have really taken fome veflels belonging to his fubjeds. \Tor-
fcEi Hi/}. Norweg. V. iv, p. 374. — Fcedera, V. ii. p. 1088.]

Perhaps this pirate was the caufe of the war between the king of
Norway and the German merchants about the year 1280, as related by
Krantzius, \HiJl. Norweg. L. vi, c. 2] who fays, that the merchants, of-
fended with the king for fome encroachments upon their atitient privi-
leges, blocked up his ports, and prevented the importation of any pro-
vifions ; that the Norwegians, ftrongly habituated to the corn brought
from the fouthern countries, obliged their king to make peace, who re-
quefted the king of Sweden to ad as umpire, and, in confequence of
his award, reftored the privileges of the merchants, and paid them a
large fum of money for damages ; whereupon the merchants immedi-
ately imported corn into Norway. During the war the dukes of Sax-
ony and Brunfwick and the emperor of Germany wrote to King Ed-
ward, reprefenting the unjuft and tyrannic condud of the king of Nor-
way in feizing the property of the merchants of Lubeck ' to an infinite
amount,' and requefting him not to permit the Norwegians, whole own
country could not fupply them with provifions, to carry any from his
dominions, {Rymer's Coll. mamifcr. V. ii, «'. 71-73] whence it may be

* We arc not informed what materials tlie firft pipes for bringing water into London were made
of, (fee abevc, p. 389) and Slow hai quoted no author for his narrative of the conduit.

A. D. 1285. * 44^

inferred that foreign countries then received fome fupplies of provifions
from England *.

1286 — The hiflorians and poets of Scotland dwell with a melancholy
pleafure on the virtues of the good King Alexander III, and the profperity
of the country duringhis peaceable and happy reign. His lawsfor enforcing
agricultural induftry, related by Wyntown, [Oryginal Cro?iyHl of Scotland,
V. i, p. 400] produced more plentiful crops of corn in the kingdom f than
had been known in former times. He difcouraged idlenefs, and abridg-
ed the number of horfes kept for ufelefs parade by the prelates and ba-
rons. [Scoticbron. V. ii, p. i 29 ed. Gooda//.] In confequence of the abund-
ance produced by a more vigorous agriculture and diligent fifhery J, and
of the laws for rendering the lands and moveable property of debtors
liable to be fold by the fliirref for the fatisfliftion of their creditors, and
for preferving the property in veffels wrecked on the coaft for the own-
ers!, ^^ in the laws of England, and the general ftrict and impartial
adminiflration of juflice, the trade of Scotland, which had been an ob-
je6l of fome attention to foreign merchants, at leaft fince the reign of
Macbeth, was now of fuch importance, that the Lombards §, the great-
eft general merchants in Europe, made propofals to the king for eftab-
lifhing towns in various parts of the kingdom for trading pofts or con-
toirs, and particularly one on the peninfular rock at the Queens-ferry in
Fife, or on the fmall ifland near Cramund. [Scotic/jron. V. \\,p. 130.]

Such a contoir, or factory, adually was eftablifhed at Berwick by
fome Flemiili merchants, who occupied a ftrong building, called the
Red hall, and were bound by the terms of their tenure to defend it

* Krantzius is fo inaccurate as to call the king f Whoever compares the agricultural regulation*

of Norway Olavus, and the king of Sweden Eric, in the firft chapter of the laws afcribed to Alexan-

There was no Olaf king of Norway for feveral der II in Skene's edition oi Reg'mm majejlalem,isfc.

ages before and after this time : and Magnus was with Wyntown's account of thofe of Alexander

king from December 1 263 to May 1 280. \_'Torfai III, and confiders the general inaccuracy of Skene's

Orcades, L. ii. — Fcukra, V. ii, p. 1075.] And, compilation, will fee reafon, notwithftanding the

according to PuffendorfF, a Swedifh hiftorian, an- profefTed exaftnefs of the date, to think it at leaft

other Magnus was king of Sweden from 1279 '° ^s probable, that they were enabled by Alexander

1288. Krantzius fays that the conteft with the III, whom Skene does not admit into the number

German merchants was the only memorable event of his legillating kings. The prices of corn in

in the reign of Olavus, as he calls him. His (I Alexander's reign will be found in the appendix of

mean Magnus's) prudent negotiation with Alex- prices.

ander III for the ceiiion of the Weftern iflands to j For the filhery of tin's reign fee above, p. 436.

the crown of Scotland, and his reformation of the || Thefe laws are the 24'" and 25"' chapters of

lavvs, which obtained for him the honourable appcl- thofe afcribed to Alexander II. If he was the

lation of Lagbelter, were unknown to, or thought author of the firft, the law of merchants, enaded

unworthy of notice by, Krantzius. Werdenhag- in England in the year 1285, was later than a

en in his fuperficial H'l/lory of the Hanfeat'ic repuh- fomewhat-fimilar law in Scotland, which will be

lies, has followed Krantzius without any examina- thought rather improbable.

tion. And both thcfc writers have the good for- J It is perhaps alnioft unneceftary to remind the

tune to be quoted as refpeftable authorities reader, that the numerous ftates in the north part

From the letters of the German princes to King of Italy were comprehended under the general

Edwaid, Krantzius appears alfo to have a.'^itedated name of Lombards,
the war.

446

A. D. 1286.

againfl the enemies of Scotland * : and it appears to have been of the
fame nature with a fi/ndicia in the Mediterranean, the 'Teutonic gildhall m
London, and the contoir of the German merchants at Bergen. (See above
pp. 327, 410, 421). By the agency of the merchants of Berwick the
wool, hides, wool-fells, and other wares, the produce of Rokfburgh,
Jedburgh, and all the adjacent country, were fhipped for foreign coun-
tries, or fold upon the fpot to the Flemifh company. The exportation
of falmon appears to have been alfo a confiderable branch of their trade,
as we find it fome time after an obje6l of attention to the legiflature of
England, and the regulation of it intrufted to the great officers of the
government f . [Hemingford, p. 91, ed. Hearne. — Fcedera^ V. vi, p. 620. —
Stat. 2, 31 Edw. ni.'\ No other port of Scotland, in point of com-
mercial importance, came near to a comparifon with Berwick, which,
according to the teftimony of the contemporary writer of the Chronicle
of Lanercoft, [MS. Bib. Cott. Claud. D Vn,f. 207 b] was fo populous and
fo full of commerce, that it might be called afecond Alexandria. The
fea was its wealth ; the waters were its walls ; and the opulent citizens
were very liberal in their donations to religious houfes \. But we have
better authority than the voice of panegyric for the profperity of Ber-
wick ; as we find the cuftoms of it affigned by King Alexander to a mer-
chant of Gafcoigne for ;^2,i97 : 8 : o fi:erling, a fum equivalent to
32,961 bolls of wheat at the ufual price of fixteen pennies; and, of
1 ,500 marks a-year, fettled on the widow of Alexander prince of Scot-
land by her marriage contract, there were i ,300 payable out of Berwick.
\Fiederay V. u, pp. 605, 613.]

Berwick was governed, as already obferved, by a mayor with four
provofts fubordinate to him. Perth, Striveline (or Stirling), Rokfburgh,
and Jedburgh, had each at leafi; one alderman, apparently the chief ma-
giftrate. Hadington was governed by a provoft. Peebles, and Munros
(now called Montrofe), had each a bailie. Linlithgow, and Inverkeith-
ing, had each two bailies. Elgin alfo was governed by bailies. And
before this time Glafgow had three co-ordinate provofls and alfo bailieslj.
[Prynne's Hijl. of John, Isc pp. 653, 654 Rymer's Coll. MS. V. iii, tf.

* III tlie year 1296 tliirty Flemings defended Cumberland, had profited largely by the miftaken

the Red hall againit the Englifh forces, till it was piety of the wealthy citizens of Berwick ; and the

fct on fire : and the whole of the faithful and gal- writer of the Chronicle thcis repaid them in the

lant merchant garrifon pcridied in the (lames ; ufual coin.

\^H:m':ngf. /• 91] ^ cataRiophe, which apparently || Though mod of thcfc magifliates appear under

. j)iit an end tc the Flemifli company at Berwick. the year 1296, the cflablilhrnent of their offices was

f When Edward III wanted 2,oco falmon for moftprobably not latertlinn the relgnof Davidl,and
his own ufe in the year 1361, he fent o;dors to at any rate earlier than the time in which I men-
procure theni for him at Berwick (then bchmging tion them : for certainly no new icgulalions of fuch
to England) and Newcallle, no-donbt, the places matters could be introduced during the convulfions
moll famous for them in his dominions. \_Rat.pat, which cnfued on the death of King Alexander III
ji\-. 35 EdiA.. HI, m. 9.] and his infant grand-daughter. Queen Margaret.

X Jt'iobablv Lancrcolt, which was an abbay in 3

A. D. 1286.

447

1 1 6, — above p. 41 7.] We fhall afterwards fee thirty-feven aldermen, the
magiftratcs, and reprefentatives in parliament, of feventeen towns, among
which are Hadington, Peebles, Munros, Linlithgow, and Inverkeithing,
the firfl of which we find at this time under the government of a pro-
voft, and the reft under that of bailies ; whence it feems not improb-
able, that the title of bailie, and alio ofprovoft, may have been, at lead
fometimes, and in fome places, ufed promifcuoufly with that of alder-
man *. As the titles of magiftracy, fo, it may be prefumed, the con-
ftitutions of the towns, were more fimilar in England and Scotland in
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (and apparently alfo in earher
times) than they have been in later ages. But, during fome centuries
bypaft, no fuch titles as mayor and alderman have been ufed in Scot-
land : and it is now fcarcely known that they ever were ufed.

The lofs of feveral merchant veflels by pirates, ftiipwrecks, and ar-
reSftments in foreign ports, induced King Alexander to ena6t a well-in-
tended, but miftaken, law, whereby the merchants of Scotland were
prohibited for a time from exporting any goods in their own veflels.
And, before a year was expired, vefTels from feveral countries arrived
with merchandize of various kind to be exchanged for the commodities
of Scotland, the foreign merchants, according to the erroneous policy
of the age, being reftrided to deal with the burgefl^es only. Thele fet-
ters upon commerce were thought fo judicious by the hiftorian, that,
he fays, in confequence of them the kingdom in a few years abounded
in corn, money, cattle, fheep, and all kinds of merchandize f, and the
arts flourifhed. \Scotichron. V. \\,p. 130.] One certain confequence of
the reftridion muft have been a confiiderable decreafe of the mercantile
iliipping of Scotland.

Of the Scottifh navy the fcanty remains of authentic records anteri-
or to the death of Alexander give us the knowlege of only one fhip be-
longing to the king, or to the public ; \_Ayloffe's Calendar, p. 335] and
probably there were no more :j:. But the king of Mann was bound to
furnifh five warlike galUes (' galeas piraticas') of twenty-four oars, and
five of twelve oars, to the king of Scotland, vyhen required, \Scotichron,
V. \\, p. 1 01] and his other maritime vaflals contributed vefTels in pro-
portion to their lands ||.

* 111 pleadings of the year 1291 we find the iignify filh, corn, and other provifions, or was Scot-
mayor and bailies (' ballivi') of Berwick repeatedly land (0 well ftocked with general merchandize as
mentioned, the later being apparently the fame to have iome for exportation ?
who are called provofts in the Uatutcs of the gild. % The kings of England in thofe ages had very
{_Ryley, Plac. pari. pp. 149-152.] few (hips, and the kings of France had feldom any.

+ In the year 1283, when King Edward was || Colin Campbell held the lands of Loch Ow,

collefting ftores of all kinds for the invafion of &c. of the king by the fervice of finding one veffei

Wales, he commilTioned John Bifhop, a burgefs of of forty oars, properly equipped and fufficiently

I.ynne, to purchafe merchandize (' mercimonia') manned, during forty days, as often as required,

for him in Scotland. [_^yloJ't:'s Calendar, p. 88.] \_Chart. Rob. I, in Anderjon's Diplom. tab. 47, — or

— Querc, Was this term, merchandize,, intended to Craivfurd's Oncers of State, p. 41.] Tormod Mac-

leod

44§ A. D. 1286.

The general opulence of Scotland appears from the refpedable public
revenue, the prodigious fums fqueezed out of it by the papal extortion-
ers, which the temper of the age did not permit the wifdom of the king
entirely to prohibit, and the great opulence of the king himfelf, as he
has never been branded with oppreflion or avarice, who fairly purchaf-
ed with his money the vaflal kingdom of Mann and the Iflands, bought
many eftates and wardfliips in England*, and gave Eric king of Nor-
way a marriage portion of 14,000 marks with his daughter, referving
to himfelf an option of giving a life-rent of lands of the annual value
of 700 marks as an equivalent for half the fum f . In fhort, it is evi-
dent, that Scotland during the reigns of the three lafl fovereigns of the
antient race, and particularly during the peaceable and aufpicious reign
of Alexander III, was in a progreffive ftate of improvement, and pof-
fefled a much larger proportion of the wealth of great Britain than^it
has ever had in any fubfequent time. But the premature and fudden
death of the king (16'" March 1286), followed by that of Queen Mar-
garet his infant grand-daughter (September 1290J, and the fanguinary
convuliions which enfued, changed all this fun-fhine of national prof-
perity into a long night of w^arfare and devaftation, the calamitous con-
fequences of which have been felt almofl to the pretent day.

1288 — Though the power of Edward was much greater and his go-
vernment much more vigorous than what the Englifh had been accul-
tomed to for almoft a century, they were not fufficient to give full effect
to his laws, efpecially the late one for enforcing precautions againft rob-
bery. A powerful gang of banditti in the habits of monks and canons
fet fire to the populous commercial town of Bofton on the day appoint-
ed for a fair and a tourneament, murdered many of the merchants, who
were endeavouring to fave their property, and during the confufion flole
prodigious quantities of rich merchandize, which their accomplices re-
ceived from them, and immediately carried off. The fire made fuch
deftrudion of the pretious articles brought to the fair, that flreams of
melted gold, filver, and copper, were faid, in the exaggeration of popu-
lar report, to run down even into the fea, and all the money in England
was fuppofed infa/Ecitnt to make good the damage. The captain of
the gang, a warrior of great reputation, and owner of many houfes in
Bofton and of much ill-gotten wealth, was taken and hanged ; but, ad-

kod held lands in Gleiielg by the fcrvice of finding * Sec above, ^/. 416, 425. — M. Puns, pp. 54c,

one of iwenty-fix oars ; and Torkil Macleod, for 573, 723, &c. — Dugilale's Baromi^c, F. i, pp. (•$,

lands in AfTynt, was to find one of twenty oars, 769 Ryli'y, Plac. purl. />. 345.

when rtquirtd, as appears by charters of David II. \ Tlic annuity on tlie life of Margaret, then in

{R'lbn-'fun's Index, p. 100.] All thefe were pro- her twenty-firil year, was thus valued at ten years

bably renovations of charters, granted by Alexan- purchafe. Seethe contraft of marriai;c in FaJcru,

derlll upon afTuming the fovereigiity of the idands y. ii, p. 1079. E""'^" ^^''^ P"' '" poileflion of the

for the fake of fecuring the loyalty of the chiefs of lands, apparently the fame which were afterwards

the vvcflern coall, who had mncli llrongcr coniiec- given with King Robert's daughter.

tions with the Noi wegians than with the Scots. 4

A. D. 1288. 449

hering to the point of honour among thieves, he obflinately refufed to
betray his accompUces, who quietly enjoyed their plunder and the tri-
umph of having trampled upon the laws. [T. Wikes, p. 117 Trivet, p.

266 — Knyghton, col. 2466 *.]

This year the harvefl: was fo abundant in England, that the quarter
of wheat was fold in fome places for twenty pennies, in fome for fixteen,
and in others for twelve. [fTrivet, p. 266.] Stow fays, that in the weft
and north parts of the country it was fold for eight pennies (being a
flirthing the peck) but in London, when at the deareft price of the year,
fo high as three {hillings and four pence. Such a monftrous inequality
in the price of an article of the firft neceflity in various parts of the
fame kingdom fhows, that the home carrying trade, the greateft, and by
far the moft important, in any well-regulated country, was ftill almoft
unknown in England.

In the ordinance made this year for regulating the trade of Ireland
there was one chapter (the third) which very much abridged the free-
dom of trade granted to that country in the firft year of Edward's reign.
Merchants were permitted to carry corn and other victuals and mer-
chandize from Ireland, if not embargoed by the viceroy, only to Eng-
land and Wales, on paying the cuftoms and giving fecurity that they
fhould not be carried to the king's enemies of Scotland f or any other
of his enemies.

1290 — In the year 1275 the parliament pafled an ad (not publiflied
in the Statutes at large^ prohibiting the Jews from taking intereft for
money or receiving ftolen goods, on pain of death. In 1287 a Jew was
compelled by a tolerated perfccution to give up a mortgage ; and in the
fame year all the Jews of both fexes were feized on the fecond day of
May, and kept in prifon till they paid twelve thoufand pounds to the
king. In the year 1 290 all the Jewj were ordered to leave England be-
fore the firft of November, and never to return, on pain of death. They
were allowed to carry their moveable property with them, except their
bonds for money owing to them by Chriftians, which were in the cuf-
tody of the king:}:, who alfo feized all their houfes and tenements, Tri-

• The robbery is dated in 1285 by Kuyghton : yourlger infant fon, Edward, the enernies of Scot-

but the other two authors are confiderably earlier land, herein excepted, could not be the nation at

than him. If he were right, the laws for guarding large, nor the regents. They muil have been Rc-

againft robbery might be fuppofcd to have been bert Brus, the Stewart, and others connefted with

enafted in confequence of that outrageous infult them, who, together with the earls of Gloucefter

upon the juilice and autiiority of the government. and Ulfter, had entered into a confederacy in Sep-

f As a harmony, vi'hich for duration isperhapsun- tcmber 1286, and had even taken up arms, appar-

paralleled in the hiftory of neighbouring kingdoms, cntly with a defign to fet afide the young queen

had fubfifted between England and Scotland, and Ed- and difappoint Edward in the favourite objeft of

ward was now particularly alliduous in cultivating his ambition. [^Dii^dak's Baronage, J'. \, p. 2l6.

the friendfliip of the regents of Scotland, in order — Symfon's Hift. of ihe houfe of Sluart, p. 79.]
to fecute their infant queen, Margaret, with the \ The king exaftcd payment of the debts due

kingdom for her marriage portion, for his ftill to the Jews as his own property. But fome others.

Vol. I. 2 L

a«

45© A. D. 1290.

vet and Walfingham lay, that the king feized all their property, leaving
them only as much as would bear their charges to France : but, accord-
ing to Wikes, they carried enough with them to tempt the feamen to
murder them on the palTage for the fake of their money. The number
of Jews driven out of England at this time was reckoned to be 16,51 1 :
and the king had previoufly expelled them from his territories in France.
Such was the general eagernefs to get rid of the Jews, that the parlia-
nient granted the king a fifteenth of the property of the people for that
purpofe, though, as the expulfion was managed, it was able very amply
to bear its own charges *.

129T, April — Now (and how long before is unknown) coal mines
were worked in Scotland, as appears by a charter of William of Ober-
vill, granting liberty to the monks of Dunfermline to dig coals for their
own ufe in his lands of Pittencrief, but upon no account to fell any.
\_C/jart. in Statijl. account of Scotland, V. xiii,^. 469.] From the donor re-
llriding the monks from felling, it may be prefumed, that the fale of
coal was then a valuable obje6t, which he referved for himfelf.

June 15*'' — The property of fome Flemifli merchants had been arreft-
ed by the jufliciary, or viceroy, of Ireland in the ports of Waterford,
Youghall, and Cork, on account of difputes between England and Flan-
ders. But the king, unwilling that any interruption fhould be given to
the trade, now defired that it fhould be reflored. [Foedera, V, ii, p. 528.]
Either thofe merchants were in the carrying trade between Ireland and
England; or the rigour of the law of the year 1288 was now relaxed.'

Baptifta Burgus, the panegyrical hiflorian of Genoa, relates, that two
gallies, commanded by D'Oria and Vivaldo, were fitted out from that
city for the difcovery of weftern lands in the Atlantic ocean, but that
they were never more heard of.

Soon after the expulfion of the weflern pilgrims from Jerufalem in
the year 1 187 they were confined to a narrow flip of the coafl ; and the
maritime city of S'. John de Acre (or Ptolemais) was the capital of the
Chriftian territory in the Eafi. Being thus occupied by people from
every European nation, it became a general emporium for the mer-
chandize of the Eafi: and theWefl ; and commerce, conduded chiefly by
the Venetians, Genoefe, and Pifans, flouriflied as much as a ftate of fre-
quent warfare with the neighbouring Mohamcdans, and the diflraded
condition of a city wherein there were feventeen fovereigns, or repre-
fentatives of fovereigns and republics, no one of whom acknowledged
himfelf fubordinate to any other, could permit. Without entering in-
to any detail of the bloody war between the Venetians and Genoefe for

as might be expciftcd, thought they had as good a r,s.— Trivet, pp. 264, 266, 267. — IVUi-s,pp. 103,

right to a (hare of the plunder. \_Ryley,Plac. pari. 114,122 — ^l. ll'^ejlm. p. 414. — Walfingbam, p.

p. 131.] 476. — Rot. pat. 18,19 Edw. I. — Ryley> •?"»'■• /"ur/.

♦ See Mailox't lii/l.o/tljc exchequer, c. J, § S,nolet p. 129.

A. D. 1 291*. 451

the pofleflion of a monaftery *, I fhall only obferve, that one confequence
of the anarchy was, that nineteen Syrian merchants, trading in time of
peace under the fecurity of the pubhc faith, were plundered and ignomini-
oufly put to death by the people of Acre. The refufal of fatisfadion for
the outrage brought upon them the vengeance of the fultan Khalil, who
took the city by ftorm, carried all the remaining inhabitants into cap-
tivity, and made an end of the Latin dominion in Syria, and of the holy
wars, which during two centuries wafted the blood and treafure of Eu-
rope. {^Gibbon, V. xi, p. 166, and authorities quoted.'^

After the final lofs of Syria a folemn edid was ifTued (I prefume, by
the pope) whereby the Chriftians were prohibited from having any
commerce with the fubjects of the fultan. Cruifmg veflelswere ftation-
ed to intercept thofe, 'Viho, Jetting aftde the fear of God, prefumed to trade
with them : the tranfgreffors were declared infamous, and rendered in-
capable of performing any legal ad : their property was confifcated, and
themfelves condemned to be made flaves to any perfon who {hould ap-
prehend them. [Sanuto, ap. Gejla Dei per Francos, V. ii, p. 28.]

1 292 — An order had been iffued ten years ago for the officers em-
ployed on the fea coaft to guard againft the importation of counterfeit
and defaced money, [i2o/. pat, 1 1 Edw. I, m. 4] which appears to have
had but little effed ; for now the trade and intercourfe of the country
were fo much injured by an inundation of bad money from foreign
countries, that the currency of all money but that of England, Ireland,
or Scotland, was totally prohibited : and all perfons arriving from abroad
were required to fubmit their money to the examination of officers ap-
pointed for that purpofe in Dover, Sandwich, London, Bofton, South-
ampton, and the Cinque ports. Immediately after this another ftatute
was cnaded for punifhing thofe merchants, chiefly foreigners, who
brought defaced and counterfeit money into the kingdom, by forfeit-
ures and other penalties : and all other people, pofTefling bad mioney,
were direded to bring it to the mint to be recoined, on pain of forfeit-
ure. The bad money, now fmuggled into England, and generally put
up in bales of cloth and other packages to elude the fearch of the offi-
cers, confifted partly of light pieces ftamped with mitres and lions, 2of
of which weighed only 16/4 of Englifh money, and partly of counter-
feits of Englifh money, made of bafer metals and covered over with
filver, which were coined at Avignon and elfewhere. \Stat. /^, $, 6, of
20 Edw. /.]

The brighteft ornament of England and of the thirteenth century
was Roger Bacon, a Francifcan friar of Oxford. This heaven-taught

* Platina, the biographer of the popes, fays [j>. profecutiug the pious and necejfary Afiatic war. It
4.25, ed. 1664] that the quarrel of the Venetians certainly was a sexy profitable war in many refpefts
and Genoefc prevented Pope Alexander IV from to the popes.

5 L a

452 A. D. 1292.

genius, foaring above the incomprehenfible jargon which was then call-
ed philofophy, by the native force of his own mind made fuch difco-
veries in real fcience and experimental philofophy, that the bare recital
of them mufl aftonifh us. His works plainly fhow, that many mathe-
matical inflruments, fuppofed the inventions of later ages, were known
to, or invented by, him, though loft at his death, till they were re-in-
vented by feveral ingenious men of later times. His defcription of
fpecula compounded of feveral glafles placed at proper diftances, which
enabled him to bring the fun, moon, and ftars, apparently near to him,
and to read letters at a great diftance, applies exadly to our modern te-
lefcopes. Our modern fpedlacles are furely no other than his reading
glaffes, which magnified the letters for the ufe of old men and thofe
whofe eyes were weak. He underflood the conftrudlion of burning
glaffes, microfcopes, and the camera obfcura. In his writings he main-
tains, that greater wonders may be accomplifhed by the powers of na-
ture, if properly known, than by the pretended arts of magic. He af-
firms, that chariots may be made to go without horfes ; that machines
may be made, by which a man may mount up in the air ; others, by
which he may walk at the bottom of the fea ; and others, by which one
man may counteradt the force of a thoufand. He compounded falt-
petre, fulphur, and charcoal, into a powder, by which he produced arti-
ficial thunder and flame, and by which a city or an army could be de-
flroyed : and he knew many of the fuppofed-modern improvements in
chymiftry *. All the rules of arithmetic (not then, as now, a common
fcience) were familiar to him ; and he difcovered the exad; period of
the year, and methods for correding the calendar. In fliort, he was in-
defatigable in the profecution of fcience ; and he expended upon ex-
periments, by the afliftance of his friends, no lefs than two thoufand
pounds, a fum fully equivalent to at leaft fifty thoufand in the prefent
time. This illuftrious man would alone have been fufficient to illumin-
;ite a dark age, if his ardour for difcovery had not been repreffed by the
jealous defpotifm of ignorant priefts, from whom he fuffered much per-
lecution and feveral imprifonments, whereby the world was deprived of
the fruits of many of the bell years of his aftonifliing ingenuity and
incomparable induftry. After having made more difcoveries in fcience
than any other man ever did in any age or country, he died in a good
old age on the 1 1''' of June, 1292 ; and after his death fcience relapfed
into a flumber of about two centuries. [See his own Opus majus. — IVoocfs
injl. Oxon. L. i.]

The commerce witli France was interrupted by a fquabble between

* Petni! Peregriniis, wlio wrote upon almoft all fame writer is quoted under the name of Petnis
tlie qualities of the magnet, is faid by fome to he PcUcgriiuis hy Baptifta Jella Porta in liis Magia
no other than Bacon uiidcr an affumcd name. The nalurolis, L. vii, c. 27.

A. D. 1292, 4^;^

fome Englifli and French fiiilors for a well of frefh water, which was
followed by fanguinary and ruinous private hoflilities, if, being fo ex-
tenfive, they may be called private. The barons of the Cinque ports,
in order to revenge the lofles and flaughters of their countrymen, fitted
out fixty veflels, wherewith they attacked a French fleet of two hundred,
loaded with wine, and took them all, the whole of the people, to the
number of about 15,000, being killed or drowned, except a few who
got to the land in their boats. King Edward, as difapproving the adion,
refufed to accept any fliare of the plunder. The king of France, rouf-
ed by the cries of his people, fent a very urgent letter for compenfation ;
and Edward, very defirous of avoiding a war with France, fent the bifliop
of London wijth inftrudions to offer feveral propofals for fettling mat-
ters amicably.

1 294 — But the kings on both fides having other caufes of difcontent,
the negotiation proved fruitlcfs, and both kings prepared for war. The
king of France prohibited all commercial intercourfe between his king-
dom and England: and King Edward feized the property of the French
merchants in his dominions, which was exprefsly contrary to the pro-
vifions of Magna charta, unlefs the king of France aded previouily in

the fame manner. [Trivet, p. 274 — M.WeJl. p. 419. — Wikes, p. 126

Fadera, V. \i, p. 659.]

The favage and predatory fpirit of the age was continually breaking
out in enormities ; and the feamen of Bayonne, the Cinque ports, Blak-
ney, &c. as well as thofe of other countries, were frequently accufed of
ads of piracy and wanton cruelty. [Fo'dera, V. ii, pp. 607, 616, 617,
632, 667, &c.] It was faid, that fome merchants of Bayonne were pub-
licly plundered in the port of Lifbon ; and many hofiilities had pafled
between them, aided by their allies the feamen of England, and their
neighbours of Spain ; and in particular fifteen Spanifli veilels were taken
and carried into an Englilh port. But, by the intervention of the kings
of England and Spain (who do not appear to exprefs any difpleafure at
their fubjeds going to war without their authority *) it was agreed (in
fummer 1293) that all captures fhould be refi;ored on both fides. The
merchants of Spain and Portugal appear, however, to have been fi:ill un-
willing to venture themfelves or their property in Edward's dominions,
till, by the interceffion of his friend the earl of Flanders, he granted
them fafe-conduds (17'" February 1294), to lad only till the middle of
Odober, on condition that the kings of Spain and Portugal fhould ac"t
in the fame manner to his fubjeds. \F(xdera, V. n,pp' 609, 610, 627.
— M. Wejim.p. 424.]

King Edward, preparing for his intended war againfl; France, divided

* Mathew of Wetlminfter fays, [/>. 423] that in thofe days theie was neither king nor law for
failors, but every one called, whatever he could plunder or carry off, his own.

454 ^' ^* 1294.

his navy into three fleets, and appointed three admirals, viz. John of Bote-
tourt admiral of the fleet of Yarmouth and the eaft coaft ; WiUiam of
Leyburn, -of the Portfmouth divifion ; and an ofhcer (not named) of
Irifli birth commanded the fhips of the weft coaft and Ireland. [Trivet,
p. 279.] This is beUeved to be the earHeft appearance in England of
the title of admiral^ which had been fome time before adopted, in imi-
tation of the Saracens, by the maritime ftates of Italy, for the command-
er of a fleet. ■ And the title appears to be quite new and unfettled ; for
on the 3'* of September William of Leyburn is ftiled captain of the fea-
men and mariners of the king's dominions *, and in the following year the
king calls John of Botetourt his warden of the coajl of Yarmouth. [Fcedera,
Kii,//*. 654, 688.]

The great inconveniences produced by the circulation of bad money
in England, in fpite of all the laws and precautions againft the importa-
tion of it, induced King Edward to appoint Mafter John of Gloucefter,
and John of Lincoln merchant in Hull, to fuperintend the payments of
the merchants throughout the whole kingdom, and to compell all merchants
to bring their money to be examined by them. [Madox's Hifl. of the
excheq. c. 9, § 3.] Whether all the payments in England were made in
their office, or they had deputies in every trading town, we are not in-
formed : nor do we know how long their extraordinary commiflion con-
tinued in force.

September 20''' — King Edward, being engaged in a war with France,
and at the fame time very eager to make a conqueft of Scotland and to
• fupprefs fome tumults in Wales, demanded of the clergy one half of their
incomes for the year, from the merchants living in walled cities and
market towns one iixth part, and from the reft of the people one tenth,
of all their pofi~e(Tions ; but, I fuppofe, rather of their incomes. Thefe
heavy taxes were rendered ftill more diftrefsfulby a very fcanty harveft,
occafioned probably by the men being drawn off from agriculture to
the army, whereby many of the poor adually perilhed for want. [Tri-
vet, p. 279 M. Weflm. p. 422.]

1295 — King Edward, being at war with France, compelled the maf^
ters of neutral velfels in the ports of England to give fecarity that they
ihould not fail to that kingdom, without drawing any line of diftindion
between contraband and lawful goods. Some citizens of Lubeck, not
being able to find fccurity in England, were obliged to have their cafe
reprefented to the emperor, who wrote to Ed^vard in their behalf, and

•

Tlie learned Spelmaii '\_GloJf. vo. Admlra!h:s'\ cailiell appearance of tlie tide in Enj;land. For

li)- traiiflating the old French word ' isy/.t'Jix in- the derivation of the name, and nature of the office

ilcad a'ijtxtcen, has dated the ordinance at Bruges of admiral, fee his Glo/Jliry, wherein he has given a

(fee Fierlrra, V. ii, p. 75y) >n 1286 indead of feries of the admirals of England, which may now

1296, and fuppofed the mention of William of be greatly anijmented from the /VrAra and other

Leyburn in it as the king's admiral of the fea the records publifhed fiiice his time.

A. D. 1295. 455

in return was defired to have the required fccurity taken in Germany,
before the vedels fhould be permitted to move. {Foedern, V. ii, p. 679.]
. A merchant of Bayonne, having taken in 174 bafl<ets of almonds ou
the coafl: of Africa, and alfo 150 boxes* of Malaga raifins, and 490
frailes (' flayons') of Malaga figs, when proceeding with thofe and other
goods to England, anchored on the coafl; of Portugal, where, notwith-
ftanding the truce fo lately made with the merchants of Spahi and Por-
tugal, he was taken by armed men, who carried him into Lifbon. There..
his property was fold, and the king of Portugal received a tenth part
of it from the pirates, whereby the merchant was injured to the amount
of £']Oo fterling. King Edward's lieutenant in Gafcoigne thereupon
granted to him and his heirs licence to feize the property of the Portu-
guefe, and efpecially of the inhabitants of Lifbon, wherever he could
find it, during five years to come, or till he fhould be reimburfed for
his lofs and all expenfes. \Fosdera, F^. ii, p. 6gi.} This is, I believe,
the earliefl notice, to be found in Englilh records, of letters of marque
or reprifal. .

September 28'" — The king direded John of Botetourt, his warden
of the coafl of Yarmouth, to permit the people of Holland, Zeland,
and Frifeland (whofe fovereign had engaged to alfifl: him in his war
againft France) to fifh freely on the coafl: near Yarmouth ; and he de-
fired him to make frequent proclamation, that no peribn fliould pre-
fume to injure or hinder them in their fifiiing, and that they fhould
give them every requifite afliflance, till the 1 1'" of November f . [F^dera,
V. ii, p. 688.]

Dantzick was now for the firfl time inclofed with a wall, which was
made of planks, by Primillaus duke of Poland. In the year 1343 a
ftone wall was begun. But the houfes were built with reeds and mud
as late as the end of the fourteenth century, there being then only one
brick houfe, wherein the magiflrates aflembled. [Bertii Rer. Germ. L.
iii, p. 102.]

Nicolo and Matheo Polo, two brothers of a noble family in Venice,
having gone upon a trading adventure to Conflantinople and various
parts of Afia, after a variety of fortune arrived at Cambalu in Cathay ij:,
the refidence of Cublai khan, the conqueror of China, who treated
them very favourably, and retained them in his fervice. Being fent as
his ambalTadors to the pope, they arrived in Italy in the year 1269, and
returned to the Eafi in 1271 with letters from the pope, accompanied
by Marco the fon of Nicolo. Y''oung Marco foon acquired the languages

* ' Confines,' which apparently ought to be from him by Schook. in his D'tjfert, Je harengis,

rojines, boxes or ballcets. The word coffin was not § 38.

antiently rcftricled to a box for containing a dead j There can be little doubt that Cambalu,

body. which, Marco informs us, lignifies the city of the

+ This is doubtlefs the permiflion, dated by ting, is Pekin. Cathay is a name ftill ufed in Afia

Selden in his Marc claufum in 1265, and copied for the northern part of China.

456 A. D. 1295.

of the Moguls and fome other neighbourhig nations, and became a
great favourite with the khan, who employed him, and alfo his father
and uncle, on many important emballies. On their return from one of
them they found ambaffadors at the court of Cublai from Argon, an
Indian king, who had fent them to procure a wife for him. Their re-
turn home being rendered dangerous by a war in the intervening coun-
tries, they requefted the khan to allow them to convey the princefs, his
relation, by fea, and to permit the three Venetians to accompany them
on account of their fkill in maritime affairs. The khan reludlantly con-
fented to part with his Venetian friends, and ordered fourteen vefTels
to be provided for them, each of which carried four mafts and nine
fails *. In twenty-one months they arrived in Argon's dominions : and
thence the three Venetians proceeded by the way of Trebifond, Con-
ftantinople, and Negropont, to Venice, where they arrived in the year
T295, with more knowlege of the Oriental countries than any Europe-
ans ever had acquired f .

From Marco Polo's faithful account of the many countries he had
traveled through, and of thofe defcribed by him from the befl informa-
tion he could obtain, the following particulars, illuftrative of their com-
merce and manufactures, are extradled.

Giazza, a city with an excellent harbour at the north-eafl: corner of
the Levant fea, and a fettled mart for all the Eaft, is much frequented
by veflels from Venice and Genoa for the fake of the fpices and other
rich merchandize brought to it.

Zorziana (Gurgiflan or Georgia) has abundance of filk ; and all the
fluffs of gold and filk, called mufleims, are made in the province of
Moxul.

Baldach, or Bagdat, is fituated upon the River Tigris, at the diflance
of feventeen days failing from the fea. It has many manufadures of
gold and filk, damafks, and velvets with figures of animals. All the
pearls in Chriflendom are brought from that city.

In Tauris, a great and populous city of Hyrcania, there are manu-
fadures of gold and filk ; and many foreign merchants refiding there
acquire great riches.

Perfia abounds with filk, and has excellent artificers, who make won-
derful things in gold, filk, and embroidery. Jafdi, a city on the frontier
of Perfia, has a great trade and many manufadures of filk.

Ormus, the capital of the kingdom of Kerman, fituated on an ifland,

• The form of the fails is defcribed by Ramufio fome particulars of Cathay agreeing with and con-

jo his account of Marco's travels. firmed by Marco, were of no great importance in

\ The travels of Piano Carpini and his affo- thcmfelves, except as having fome degree of in-

ciatcs and followers, begun in the year 1246, thofc fluencc in flowly aroufing the fpirit of inquiry,

of Rubruquis, or Ruylbroeck, in 1253, and the without which no great objeA can crcr be accom-

work of Haitho, written about the time that the plilhed.
Polos wcic on their trarcls, though coutaining S

A. D. 1295. 457

is a great mart, to which the merchants from India and other countries
bring fpices, pearls, pretious ftones, and other rich articles, from India,
The veflels of Ormus are ftoutly built, with one deck, one mafl, and
one fail.

Cambalu in the province of Cathay, two days journey from the Ocean,
has been long' the royal relidence. The great khan removed the city to
the oppofite fide of the river, where the palaces are. The new-built
city, called Taidu, is a fquare of fix miles each fide ; and the fircets,
interfeding each other, extend in ftraight lines from gate to gate. In
a great building in the center there is a very large bell, which tolls
every night at a certain hour, after which no man mufi; be in the fiireets
till next morning, unlefs in cafes of very urgent neceflity, and then he
mufi: carry a light with him. Adjoining to each of the twelve gates
there are fuburbs three or four miles long, wherein the merchants and
fi:rangers live, each nation having their own diftindl fiiore-houfes, in
which they refide. The quantity and variety of merchandize of all
kinds is aflonifliing, and the number of merchants, of whom a great
proportion are Saracens, is wonderfully great. The money is not made
of metal, but of the middle bark of the mulberry tree, cut in round
pieces, and fl:amped with the khan's mark. It is death to counterfeit
it, or to refufe it in any part of the empire. Throughout the whole
empire there are inns eflablifhed at proper diftances, where the khan's
ambafladors or meflengers are fure to find frefh horfes, provifions, and
lodgings ; and ferry-boats are alfo fi:ationed at the rivers and lakes. By
thefe means letters are conveyed at the rate of 200 or 250 miles in a
day. In years of abundance the khan lays up corn in his granaries,
and in times of fcarcity fells it out for a fourth part of the current price.
Ill Cathay they make a liquor of rice much fl:ronger than wine. They
dig up black fl:ones (coals) which burn like wood, and keep on fire
through the whole night. The khan has the tenth of all wool, filk, and
hemp, and of all produce of the earth except fugar and fpices, which
pay only 3^ per cent, as does alfo the wine of rice (or arrack) ; and all
mechanics are obliged to work for him one day ii> the week; and thence
he clothes his army and the poor *. The whole country is full of great,
rich, and crowded, cities (many of which are named and defcribed)
thronged with manufadurers of filk, gold fluffs, and other rich or ufe-
ful merchandize. The rivers and canals, efpecially the great and mag-
nificent one made by turning the river at the city of Singuimatu into
two channels, one going towards Cambalu, and the other towards Mangi

* If our modern travelers have been well in- erroneous in his reeolleaion ; for it muft have beea

formed on the fubjeft of taxation in China, and a moll prepofterous policy to tax wool, filk, and

Marco has been corretl; in this part of his narra- hemp, the materials of indullry, thrice as heavy

tive, thofe opprefTive taxes are now lightened al- as fpiceries, a mere luxury, and arrack, the inftru-

moft to annihilation. Perhaps Marco was here went of intoxication, idlenefs, and riot.

Vol. I. 3 M

458 A. D. 1295.

(the fouth part of China) are continually covered with veflels, which
carry on a vaft inland trade throughout the whole empire. At Trigui
there is a great manufadlure of porcelain dilhes, eight of which may
be bought for the value of a Venetian groat. Many of the ports are
frequented by vefTels from India, which pay a duty of ten per cent to
the khan. At Zaitum, a famous port of Mangi, fhips arrive from all
quarters with merchandize, which is there refhipped for every part of
India. The quantity of pepper to be found thei-e is an hundred times
as much as all that comes to the Weft by the way of Alexandria. Ships
from Zaitum trade to an ifland (never feen by Marco) producing fpices,
lignum aloes, and pepper. They are a year upon the voyage out and
in, having winds of two forts (monfoons) which keep their regular
feafons.

Zipangu (fuppofed to be Japan) is a large ifland, which the khan's
forces were not able to fubdue.

Java is fuppofed the largeft ifland in the world. The merchants of
Zaitum and other parts of Mangi import a great quantity of gold and
fpices from it.

Another ifland, called the Leffer Java, contains eight kingdoms, fix
of which Marco traveled through. In one of them called Felh the
people are converted to the religion of Mohamed by the vaft number
of Saracens trading to that country. In another of them there are nuts,
as large as a man's head, containing within them a liquor preferable to
wine *. Lambrai, another of thofe kingdoms, produces trees from
which meal is made f .

One thoufand miles weft from Java is Zelan (Ceylon), 2,400 miles in
circuit, but formerly 3,600, as appears in antient maps : but the north
winds have made great changes, and funk much of it under the fea J.
Between Zelan and the main land of India there is a great fifhery for
pearls.

Sixty miles weft from Zelan is Malabar in the Greater India. The
kings of that country are fupplied with horfes from Ormus and other
places.

In Murftili, or Monful, lying north from Malabar, there are moun-
tains containing diamonds.

On the weft coaft of Malabar and in Guzerat there are many pirates,
who fometimes attack the merchants with fleets of a hundred veffels.
(We may thence infer, that the merchant veffels were very numerous,
and failed in ftrong fleets, as the pirates thought fo large a force necef-
fary to attack them.) In Guzerat there is abundance of cotton ; in

• Could coco-nuts be unknown to him till he J Marco, in his veneration for Ptolemy, rather

was in that counti y ? iuppofcs a very improbable event, than that his

I He proceeds to dcfcribc the procefs of mak- geography might be erroneous,
iiig tliis meal, which is f.igo.

A. D.I 295- 459

Ganhau, ftore of frankincenfe ; in Cambaia, indigo, buckram, and
cotton.

In Bengal the people live on flefh, rice, and milk. They have great
plenty of cotton, and carry on a vafl trade in the manufadures of it.
They have alfo abundance of fpikenard, galingal, ginger, and other fpices.

In Bafcia and Thebet, countries lying north from India, corals are
reckoned more pretious than any other article *,

In Carandana, and many other provinces lying round it, an ounce of
gold is exchanged for five ounces of filver f .

In the province of Chinchintalas there is a mountain containing mines
of fteel and andanicum if, and alfo falamander's wool (afbellos), whereof
a cloth is made, which fire cannot confume.

Magafter (Madagafcar) is 1 ,000 miles fouth from Socotora, and is one
of the richeft and largefl: illands in the world, being 3,000 miles in cir-
cuit. It is inhabited by Saracens ; and vafl: quantities of elephant's teeth
are brought from it.

Zenfibar (apparently the Zanguebar of modern maps) is alfo faid to
be a very extenfive country.

The vefl^els of India have many cabins on their decks, and each mer-*
chant has his own cabin. They carry from two to four mafl:s, which
are fet up and lowered at pleafure. The hold is divided by water-tight
partitions ; fo that, if a leak fprings in one room, the goods in the
others are not wetted by it. They are double-planked, and calked with
oakum, nailed with iron, and covered with a compofition of oil, lime,
and hemp. They carry from five to fix thoufand bags of pepper, and
from 150 to 300 men. They row with oars, which require four men
to each of them. They have fmaller vefi^els for tenders befides the
boats carried on their decks. Every year they put on a new flieathing
above the old ; and after fix fuch courfes the fhips are broken up §.

Thefe accounts of the vafl and rich countries of the Eafl; laid open
a new world to the curiofity and fpeculation of the Europeans, and in-
flamed them with the defire of dilcovering a way to reach them by fea,
which, after an interval of two centuries, was at lafl; accomplifhed ||.

* The great demand for corals in India, pro- of timber very different from that of Tylos in the

bably for the fupply of thofe countries, was noted days of Theophraftiis, (fee above, p. 59) or

by Pliny. Sec above, p. 167, note f . the very durable teek of the modern fliip-builders

f The well-informed auihor of the Periplus of of Hindooftan.
the Erythrjean fea obferved that there was a con- {{ The narrative of Marco Polo proved a power-

fiderable profit made in India by exchanging one ful ftimulua to Chriftopher Colon in his project of

kind of money for another : (fee above, p. 170) reaching India by a weftern courfe, in which, ac-

and there is ftiU a great difference in the propor- cording to the received geography, he (hould fail

tions between the pretious metals in India and in only 135 degrees weft from the meridian of Ferro,

Europe. inftead of 225 degrees, befides the great circuit

J This is believed to be that mofl excellent kind round Africa, in failing to it by an eaftem courfe:

of fteel, which in antient times was carried from for India was his objedl ; he had no conception of

India to Europe. See above, p. 160, note*. another great continent. \_H'tJl. del Almirantc Don

^ Thefe (hort-lived fliips muft have been built Chr. Colon, a. 7, 8 ; written by his fon.]

3 M a

460 A. D. 1295.

Whoever compares the Periplus of the Erythraean fea, the relations
of Cofmas Indicopleuftes, the Arabian travelers, MafToudi, Ebn Haukal,
and Benjamin of Tudela, with the narrative of Marco Polo, will find
them in many points Itrongly confirmed and illuftrated by him, as he
is by the accounts of all fucceeding travelers of veracity *. The clofe
refemblance between the earlieft accounts of the Indians (even thofe
obtained by Alexander's officers) and of the Chinefe, is particularly
flriking. Both thole great nations had made confiderable progrefs in
fcience long before it began to dawn upon the weftern world : and both
have continued, ever fince the times in which we have the earlieft know-
lege of them, nearly ftationary in fcience, or rather in fome refpeds
retrograde. In the age of Marco Polo we find the Indians, and the
people of Mangi, or the fouthern Chinefe, navigating every part of the
Indian ocean, as, we know, that in earlier ages, though colonies and
commercial fettlements of the Arabians, or Saracens, a people of fu-
perior commercial enterprife and knowlege, were eftablifhed in every
port of that extenfive ocean, and even in their own inland cities, -they
vifited every coaft of it in their own veflels, and took into their own
hands the moft of the maritime trade between the eaftern and weftern
parts of the world. But afterwards both the Indians and the Chinefe,
though better qualified in point of fituation and valuable commodities
and manufadures than any other people of Afia to command an ex-
tenfive and lucrative trade to all parts of the world, have allowed the
whole of their foreign trade to go into the hands ot foreigners. The
decline of navigation in China may perhaps be owing partly to the po-
licy of the government, and partly to their ieamen having loft the
knowlege of managing vefi^ls at fea in confequence of the great bulk
of their trade being conveyed, without any danger from ftorms or pi-
rates, by inland navigation, ever fince the great canal was made by
Coublai.

1296 — Hitherto the gallies in the Mediterranean had never had more
than two men to row one oar ; but now three men were put upon each

* Many other paiticulari, cliarafteriftic of tlie funereal fire along with the bodies of their dc-'

eaftern nations, and ftrongly proving the veracity ceafed hufbanda ; their cuftom of chewing a leaf

of Marco's narrative, might be ftleited ; fuch as (betel) which lie calls tembul, with fpiccs and

the Chinefe cultom of cxpofing infants, 20,coo lime ; a fmall city at the tomb of S'. Thomas,

ef whom were every year favcd and bred up by frequented by Saracens as well as Cliriftians on ac-

Fanfur, tlie lall king of Mangi ; the policy, per- count of devotion ; the Clirillians of Socotora and

haps peculiar to China, of one city having authority other places aeknowleging the pati iarch of Baldach

over many others, no fewer than 14c being fnU- tor tiieir chief or pope, nearly as it was in tiie

jt6t to the government of Qiiinfai (the city of time of Cofmas Indicopleulles, &c.
Iieaven), the grcatell and richcll city, and, before IJavIng already given the eoniprclTed commercial

the conquell of it by Conblai, the capital, of fnbllancc of all the early writeis upon Oriental

M. 1 gi; the plantations of mulberry trees in China afl'airs, it will not be neccdary to pay much atten-

foi let ding the filk-worms ; the refpec.t paid to tiou to any other travelers into the callern regions,

cows by the Indians ; their principle of not put- imlefs they add fomcthing confiderable to our lloclj

tifig any animal to diaih, and abftaining from ani- of matenals for commercial hillory.
»ial t(jod} '''*''■ widows devoting liicmlclveb to the

A. D. 1296. j^6t

•ar in the larger gallies, which were thence called terzaroli *. [Snnuto,
apiid Bongnrs. V. ii, p. 57.] Probably the Polos, who had juft returned
from the Oriental feas where they had feen even four men on an oar,
may have fuggefled this augmentation of force upon the oars of the
gallies.

1297 — ^In confideration of an alliance againft France, and of two
political marriages between the families of Edward king of England and
Guy earl (or cuens) of Flanders, the later obtained a very favourable
commercial treaty, whereby his fubjeds were permitted to carry wool
and other merchandize from Edward's dominions of England, Ireland,
Scotland, and Wales, as freely as the Lombard, or even Englifli, mer-
chants. Guy even had intereft to procure commercial favours in Ed-
ward's dominions for the merchants of Spain and Portugal, fome of
whom were immediately accufed of piratically feizing two veflels be-
longing to King Edward's city of Bayonne f . In one of the many
treaties between England and Flanders it was agreed, that all the veflels
belonging to King Edward's Britifli or French dominions fhould carry
his arms in their colours, and thofe of the earl's territories fhould in
like manner carry his : and all veflels fliould have letters patent, fealed
with the common feals of the towns to which they belonged, teftifying
that they really belonged to fuch towns. This is probably the earlieft
notice of national colours and Ihip's papers (as they are now called) to
be found in Englifli records :{:. [Foedera, V. n, pp. 737-765.]

September 15'" King Edward levied an eight part of the property

of all the laymen throughout the kingdom for the fupport of his war
with France : and in return, he renewed, or confirmed, the Great charter
of the liberties of England and the Charter of the liberties of the forefl: §.
{Fcedera, V. ii, p. 793 — Statut. 25 Edw. /.]

Odober i o"" — The parliament had granted the king an additional'
duty of forty {hillings upon every fack of wool, and five marks upon
every laft of hides, to be exported, during two years, or three years if
the war fhould lafh fo long. But the impofition was apparently found

* This word has apparently led fome of the eiifigns and arms of the fovereigns, mentioned as

later Italian writers to aflert, that trlreniis in an- things in common ufe. Some time before March-

ticnt times fignified a veffcl with three men to I'^IJ the people remaining onboard a vcffel of

every oar (whereas the antient veflels never had Bayonne, which iiad been taken by fome Flemifh

more than one to an oai) and to apply that an- and Scottifh cruifers, and abandoned by them on-

tient term to modern gallies ; a licence utterly fub- the appearance of an Englilli fleet, hoilled the-

verfive of the meaning of language. royal llandard of England at their .vuijl head as

\ Perhaps the letter of marque, granted in the feeking tlieir protection, and they were according--

year 1295 to a merchant of Bayonne, was now re- !y carried i.ito Yarmuulh. [_Ftedera, V. :ii,/i. 509.]
called or forgotten, the merchant being rcimburfed, 5 The Magna charta was repeatedly coiitirmed.

or his Inttieft not attended to. in the remaining part of Edward's reign. See-

\ Tl'.e diftingnilhing banners, &c. iifed in the Blackjione's H'ljhry of the charters. But neither

fleet of Riciiard I, fecm co have been tiiofe of the thofe confirmations, nor the frequent in.pofitions-

military cummandcrs, and they -were Jet up vpon of the taxes called aids, need, to be mentioned !a->

fpau-s. But ill th; year 1308 we fha.ll tinJ C.'i'l- this work,
ian colours and Portuguefe colouis, bearing liis

462 A, D. 1297.

intolerable, and the colledion of it impradicable ; for the king, by ad-
-vice of his council, direded the colledors of the cufloms to remit the
new duties, and take only thofe formerly eftablifhed, already fpecified
under the year 1282. {Staiut. 25 Ediv. I. — Madox's Hlft. of the excheq.
f. 18, § 5, note{t).'\

1298 — The people of Hull ufed to pay certain duties to the city of
York, and were alfo in fome degree of fubjedion to the archbifhop, till
the twenty-fixth year of King Edward I, when, under the appellation of
the king's men of his town of Kingjlon upon Hull^ they petitioned the king,
that their town might be made a free burgh, independent of the fliirref,
and have a fair and markets, with exemptions from feveral tolls and
impofts (now obfolete) throughout all England. They paid 1 00 marks
to the king, and their petition was granted. About the fame time the
men of Ravenfrod, or Ravenfer, obtained a fimilar grant of privileges,
exemption from the jurifdidion of York, from tolls, &c. And, if we
are to judge by the fum they paid, which was ^^300 (or 45° marks) it
mufl have been then a much more confiderable place than Hull *, \Rot.

pat. 51 Hen. Ill, m. 23. — Ryley's Plac.parl. p. 646 Madox's Hiji. c.ii,

§ 2.]

We find an officer appointed to meafure and infped cloths in the
fairs throughout all England, to levy fines upon thofe whofe cloths were
not according to the aflife, and to account for the fines to the exchequer.
This officer mufl have had deputies all-over the kingdom. The origin
of the office is not known f, the notice of it being occafioned by the

* Camden was miftaken, though deriving his ciates when he went to claim the kingdom of Scot-
information ' from the facred archives of the king- land in the year 1332, for the landing of Henry
' dom,' in faying that Edward built a town, which duke of Lancafter when he came to take poflef-
lie called Kingflon, upon a piece of ground called fion of the kingdom of England in 1399, and the
Wik, purchafed by him from the abbat of Meaux ; landing of King Edward IV when he came to rc-
though he is pretty correft in the privileges grant- claim the kingdom in 1471, but without having
cd. [£nVannw, /. 578.] The new name, and ever attained any great commercial importance, it
probably fome new buildings ercfted in confe- was entirely deftroyed by the encroachments of the
quence of the new privileges, have led him to fup- fea about the beginning of the fifteenth century
pofe a new foundation : and his authority, which (if not indeed before the landing of Henry) ; and
is defervedly great, has been implicitly followed. even the place where it ftood, which was on the

Hull, if we may truft the reprefentation of the Humber, and near the point called the Spurn, is

archbifliop of York, was a port of commerce in not cuaftly known. [_lVa//!njhijm, p. ^^^. — Fad-

the reign of King Athclftan. \_Fsdera, V. iv, era, V. viii, p. Sg.—Sto'W, Ann. p. 703.] But

/. 272.] But, to come upon furer ground, Hull Hull (for the additional name of Kingllon is now

was evidently a port of fome note at leall a cen- generally omitted) has become one of the moft

tury before tiiis time ; we have fcen that its cuf- confiderable ports on the eaft fide of England,
toms amounted to j^i,o86 in the year 1282 ; and f The oflice is probably co-oeval with the law

in the year 1294 we find a merchant of that town for regulating the breadth and goodnefs of cloth,

one of the two fuperintcndants of all the mer- which is at lead as old as the reign of Richard 1.

cantile payments in England. [See above, pp. 358, There arc fome inflances (in Madox's H'ljl. c. 14,

371, 437, 454.) I find no record of the trade of J 15) of people being fined in the reigns of John

Kavenliod, nor indeed any mention of it whatever and Henry HI for their cloths being over-ftretch-

before this time. After being noted in hillory for cd and under breadth.
4he embarkatiuu of Edward Balliol and his alFo-

A. D. 1298. 463

appointment (March 21") of a new keeper of the itlnary and ojfije of cloths
foreign as well as home-made. \Madox''s Hijl. c. 18, § 5, note (rt).]

May 5"" The king, by letters fent to the fhirrefs of Cambridge,

Huntendon, Nottingham, Derby, Bedford, Buckingham, Warwick, Lei-
cefler, Rutland, and Norfolk, ordered that all the wool, wool-fells, and
hides, exported from all thofe fhires, fhould be fhipped only at Lynne,
and there pay the duties. A trone (or beam) for weighing the wool,
and alfo feals for the cocket, were fent from the exchequer to the col-
ledors of the cuftoms at that port. For the fame purpofe coUedtors were
alfo eftabliflied at the ports of Newcaflle, Kingfton upon Hull, Boflon,
Yarmouth, Ipfwich, Southampton, Briftoj, and London *. \Madox's
Ht/i. c. 18, § 5, note (r).]

1299, May 15'" — Notwithftanding the late law of the parliament of
England againft the importation of bad money, and other fubfequent
precautions, the kingdom was ftill very much diftrefled by the circula-
tion of foreign coins of inferior value, known by the names of pollards,
crokards, &c. Therefor the king, by the advice of the prelates, earls,
and barons f , ordered that all importers of fuch money fhould be punifh-
ed with death and confifcation of all their property ; and all perfons ar-
riving from abroad fhould be very flridly examined by wardens chofen
in every port, and thofe found guilty of importing bad money be im-
prifoned ; that the foreign good money fhould be carried to the king's
exchange ; and that all Englifh money imported fhould be tryed by the
nearefl eflayers, and, if found counterfeit, fhould be feized. No per-
fon was to fell wool, hides, fkins, lead, or tin, but for good flerling
money, filver bullion tryed and ftamped at the king's exchange, or
good and fufEcient merchandize ; and no money nor bullion was to be
carried out of the king's dominions without his licence, on pain of for-
feiture X- The king ordered that tables of the various coins, and of
their value in flerling money, fhould be kept at Dover and the other
ports which he fhould ordain for pafTage, and that all perfons arriving
in, or departing from, the kingdom fhould there receive, in exchange
for their own money, an equivalent quantity of the money of the
country they were going to, fufficient for their expenfes while in it.

\Statut. 27 Edw.I. Rot. pat. 27. Edw. I. mm. 13, 14, 24 — Madox's Hi/i.

c. 9, § 9.]

* There is fomething, either erroneous, or Henry Walleis, then mayor of Lordon. \_Sloiu'j

flrangely capricious, in the order obh'ging the Annates, p. 318.]

wool of the caftern part of Norfolk to travel away % It was the general notion of the Europeaa

from the neighbourhood of Yarmouth to be fhip- legiflatois of thofe times, that they could controll

ped at Lynne ; and yet Yarmouth is one of the trade, and command the balance of it to be in

ports for fhipping wool. their favour, by fuch laws : and, though reafon,

f Thefe were the members of a parliament, as well as experience, ought to have convinced

which fat at Stebenheth (Stepney) in the houfc of them of their inefficiency, the delufion lafted a

prodigious time.

464

A, D.

1300.

1300, April 1 1* — King Edward afterwards by the advice of his nobles
(' procerum') entirely prohibited the currency of pollards and crokards,
and all other money not of his own coinage *. He alfo ilTued orders to
the magiftrates of all the ports to allow no money, either Englifh or
foreign, nor any bullion, to be exported without his own fpecial licence ;
and from the orders iifued on this occafion we obtain the following lift
of the ports of England, Wales, and that part of Scotland which was
then under fubjedion to him, viz.

Dover,
Sandwich,
Romney,
VVinchelfea,

Rye,

Hythe,
Faverftiam,
Haftings,
Shoreham,
Seaford,
Portfmouth,
Southampton,
Dartmouth,
Lymington,
Weymouth,
Poole,
Hamble,
Lyme,
Sidmouth,
Chichefter,
Teignmouth,
[Rylefs Plac. pari. p. 481

•]

Frome,

Fowy,

Looe,

Bodmyn,

Wareham,

Falmouth,

Briftol,

Haverford,

Carnarvon,

Carmarthen,

Lanpadermaur,

Conway,

Chefter,

Bridsewater,

Cardiff,

Oyftermouth,

Rochefter,

Grave fend,

Northfleet,

London,

Harwich,

Ipfwich,

Dunwich,

Orford,

Yarmouth,

Blackney,

Lynne,

Bofton,

Wainfleet,

Saltfleet,

Grimfby,

Hull t,

Raven fere,

Scarburgh,

Tinemouth,

Newcaftle upon

Tine, and
Bamburgh ;

alfo
Berwick upon

Tweed, and
Dunbar \.

The merchants of Bourdeaux complained to King Edward, that they
could neither fell their wines, paying povindage, nor hire houfes or cel-
lars to ftore them in. The king thereupon direded a writ to the mayor
andftiirrefs of London, in confequence of which many large houfes, with
cellars for the ftowage of wine, were ereded on a part of the river's bank,
formerly occupied by cooks. The place being called the Vintry, has

• Wikcs [/>. 127] fays, that the king allowed
pollards, crokards, and rofarics, to go for a Iialf-
jjcnnic each, before he totally prohibited them.
But that rediiftion is not mentioned by Trivet nor
Mathcw of Weliminflcr : nor does any fiich rc-
duilion appear in the public records till the fccond
)-«ar of Edward II. '^MadoK'i H'ljl' c, 9, $ 3.]

f Hull is not called Ki:ig(lon. The new nan-.e
had not yet made its way into all the public of-
fices.

X It is rcafonablc to believe, that "there mufl
have been more ports than thofe here mentioned,
though the letters fent to them do not appear. —
I have given all the names in modern fpelling.

A. D. 1300. 465

communicated its name to the adjacent wharf, and alfo to the ward
wherein it is fituated *. [Stow^s Survey, p. 438.]

Edmund carl of Cornwall (who died this year) gave the people con-
cerned in working the tin mines of Cornwall a diploma, containing a
fpecification of their liberties, and the ftipulated duty to be paid for the
tin to him as fuperior lord of the country, together with a code of laws
for their regulation, which are known by the name Qi\h& Stannary laws.
{Camdeni Britan. p. 1 34. ]

A ftatute was enadted, which ordained, that all wares made of gold
and filver, Ihould be of good and true allay ; gold of the ftandard of
Paris, and filver of the fterling allay f , or of better, if defired by the
employer. It alfo directed, that filver work fhould be marked with a
leopard's head hy the wardens of the craft if. [Statui. 28 Ediv. I, c. 20.]

While King Edward was carrying on his warlike operations in the
fouth part of Scotland, he received from Ireland a confiderable number
of cargoes of wheat, oats, malt, and ale, which were mollly brought by
the merchants of Ireland, and in Irifh veffels. This year the mayor and
community of Drogheda made the king a prefent of eighty tuns of wine,
and chartered a vefTel, belonging to their own port, to deliver it to him
at Kirkcudbright. \Liber garderobce Edw. 1, pp. 120, et fecjq.'] I do not
find that Ireland fupplied the Englifh army with any animal food, which
in the prefent age is a principal branch of the trade of that country.

At the fame time Galloway, being then moftly under the dominion
of Edward, fupplied him with horfes, apparently of the breed known
by the name of the country, for which it has long been famous. [Liber
garderobce, paffim.'\

The number of vefTels arriving in the year ending on the 20''> of No-
vember 1299, in London, and the other ports of England, except the
Cinque ports which were exempted from the prife, and bringing car-
goes of wine confifling of above nineteen tuns, from which, by an an-
tient law or cuftom, the king had a right to take two tuns at the fixed
price of twenty fhillings, was 73 ; and the number in the year ending
on the 20'i, of November 1300 was yi ; the prife wines (which appear
by the accounts to have been but a fmall part of thofe confumed in the
king's houfehold) being 146 tuns in the former, and 142 in the later,
of thefe years §. [Liber garderobce, p, ■^S^. 'I It is, however, very pro-

* The ward was fo called at Icaft as early as J By an act of the year 1299, ingots cf filver

the year 1304. \_Madox, c. 17, § 5, note />.] were to be marked by the king's eflayers, before

f The appointment of the filver money of the they could be paid away in place of money. In

kingdom to be the ilandard for filver vi'ork, and thofe days leopards, not lions, were the armorial

the ftandard of a foreign country to be followed enfigns of England.

in gold work, together witli the filence concern- § In the 47"" and 48'" yesrs of Henry III the

ing gold money, ftrengthen the conjefture in p. prife wines fcem to have been only 235 tims dur-

408, that a continued coinage of gold had not ing both years. \_MaJox's Hijl. if the excheq. c.

been kept up after the y«ar 1257. 18, § 2.]

Vol. T 3 N

466 A. D. 1300.

bable, that the Cinque ports, being exempted from prifage, and alfo
better provided with fliipping than moft of the other ports, imported
more wines than all the reft of the kingdom.

The money of France, from the time of Charlemagne, who corrected
anabufe of Pepin in coining 26j\. pennies out of a pound of filver, and re-
Jlored the old rate of 240 pennies, remained with little or no variation
of weight or finenefs till the reign of Philip I, who, about the year
1 103, mixed one third of copper with two thirds of filver in his deniers
or pennies. [Lf Blanc, 'Traite des monnoyes de France^ p. xvii.] It is not
my intention to purfue the money of France through all its fubfequenu
depretiations of weight and quality, which have been many and great.

1 30 1 — The firft diminution of the weight of the Englilh money of
account (if we except the money coined by Stephen, which, together
with that coined by the barons in his reign, was all deftroyed by Henry
II) was now made by King Edward, who coined two hundred and jvrty-
//?)r^^ pennies out of the pound of ftandard filver*. A defalcation of
three pennies from the value of the pound of account was probably
thought a very trifling matter; and the people knew nothing of their
money being one and a quarter per cent deficient of the juft value.
But it was a departure from the antient, ftri6l, and honourable, adherence
to the integrity of the national money ; and a breach, once begun, was
with lefs fcruple enlarged by the fucceeding kings.

Robert king of Scotland followed the example fet by Edward in Eng-
land ; and he went fomewhat beyond him : for, expecting that the pen-
nies of both kingdoms would continue, as formerly, to pafs indifcrimin-
ately f, he coined two hundred nnd fifty-two pennies from the pound
weight, the ftandard quality of the filver being the fame in both king-
doms. \Statut. Rob. Ill, c. 22, § 5, 6.]

In all the diminutions which have taken place in England and Scot-
land, as well as in France and other countries, the denominations of the
money of account have ftill remained the fame, viz. twelve pennies in
the nominal ftiilling, and twenty fliillings in the nominal pound, as
well as when the pound of account contained a real pound of twelve
ounces Troye weight of ftandard filver %.

* This is taken from Folkcs, \on Engl'ipi cnttn, f Tliey did pafs indifcriminately till the year

pp.9, H2, cd. 1763] who copied the agreement J355> as appears by the proelamatiou of ILJ-

inade with the coiner, and may therefor be deemed ward III. \_Fa:dfrn , F. v, />. 813-] The cxaA

more autlitntic than even the table of wciglits and year in wliich Robirt began the diminution of the

nu-afures, printed among tlie pnblic flatutes of tlie money of Scotland is not known. Ills leigH

year 1303, which Itatts twenty pennies to be in commenced in 1 306.

the ounce as formerly. Thecontinuator of Trivet's J There was no fuch coin as a fliiliing till the
Annals fays, [p. 2] that the money of Edward [ year 1504, and there never was a piece of filver
was held in very low ellimation (' admodiim te- money of the weight of a pound in Great Britain.
' nebatur in regno vili»') imnudiately after liis Having noticed the firll breaches upon the in-
deatli, though I do not fey for what reafon, nnlefs tegrity of the money of account, I refer the read-
there has liecn fomc debafement of the quahty of er for the fucceeding changes of the value of the
ihc fdver, which has cfcapcd the rcfearchcs of the Englifli and Scottilli money, which were many,
iiiimmarian antiquaries. both in weight and purity, to the table of money
} iu

A, D. 1301. 467

The redudions of the current money, from which the princes blindly
expeded great advantages, were ruinous to themfelves and the land-
holders, and produdive of unfpeakable confufion and embarraflrncnt in
commerce and dealings of every kind. Le Blanc, the hiflorian of the
French money, goes fo far as to afcribe the vidlories of the Englifli in
France to the impoverifhed ftate of the French gentlemen, occafioned
by the diminution of the money ; for, fays he, ' a knight reduced to
* poverty, and ill equipped, is already vanquiQied.'

The manufadures of Flanders in time recovered from the fanguinary
check they received in the war between the rival fons of the countefs Mar-
garet in the middle of the thirteenth century ; and, in confequence of
their profperity, the wool of England again found its ufual ready market.
, Flanders being the feat of the befl manufadures to the northward of
the Alps and Pynensean mountains, and confequently crowded with
people, the greateft agricultural exertions were neceflary to make the
fields as produdive as poffible ; and the encouragement afforded by fo
numerous a population was a mod powerful ftimulus to the induftry
and ingenuity of the farmers. It is generally allowed, that the other
countries of the weft part of Europe have been inftruded in agriculture
and horticulture by the Flemings, and have been earlier or later in
their improvements in thofe arts, in proportion to their intercourfe with
thofe fuperior cultivators. Literature and the polite arts were alfo
more flourifhing in Flanders than in the neighbouring countries, dur-
ing the profperous ages of their manufadures and commerce. So true
is it, that plenty and politenefs are produced and nourifhed by the gen-
ial influence of well-direded induftry *.

The firft interruption to the profperity of the Flemifli manufadures
proceeded from the rigour of fome regulations of the halls, which were
intended for preferving the charader of the manufadures and guarding
againft frauds, but chiefly operated as compulfive laws, to confine the
manufadures to the cities, arid fubjed them to the trammels of mono,
polizing corporations. The confequence, however, as generally hap-
pens with compulfive laws in matters of trade, was the reverfe of what
was intended by the legiflators ; for many of the manufadurers, in order
to avoid the reftraints, fettled in the villages, from which they were
driven out by the wars between France and Flanders, and forced to take
flicker in Tienen and Louvain in Brabant, where they were alfo ham-
in the Appendix, which exhibits them in one clear more poHflied and improved than the other natives
chronological view. of Britain, and our own dayly obfcrvation of the

* In our own illand we have the teftimony of vail difference between the diftrjds which are the
Diodorus Siculus \_L. v, § 22] and Cxfar, [&//. feats of commerce and manufadures, and thofe
Call. L. v,cc. 13, 14] that the people of Corn- which are 1 emote from their invigorating iufluence,
wall and Kent, as having the chief commeicial in- in the cultivation of the earth, and the politenels
tercourfe with the contiaent in antient times, weic and comfortable fubfiftence of the people.

468 A. D. 1301.

pered by reftridions and impofts. In the year 1301 thefe harfh raea-
fures provoked a tumult in Ghent, wherein two of the magiftrates and
eleven other inhabitants loft their lives. In the following year above
1 ,500 people periflied in the fame way at Bruges : and at Ypres tho
whole of the magiftrates were killed. Similar tumults were raifed
afterwards at Louvain and other places in Brabant by the cloth-
weavers and others, who thought themfelves opprefled by the reftridlive
laws ; and many of them emigrated to England and other countries, as
we fhall afterwards fee. [Di? Witl's Inter ejl of Holland, p. 47, Etigl.
trapJI.'l

The cataftrophe at Bruges feems to have been, at leaft partly, occa-
fioned by the intemperance of fpeech of a foolifli woman. In May
1 301 Philip the Fair, king of France, with his queen, made a progrels
through Flanders, which, he alleged, had devolved to him as fuperior
lord. They were everywhere received with the greateft demonftrations
of refpeft, and the people of every city made the moft pompous difplay
of opulence and magnificence. At Bruges the fplendour of the ladies
gave great offence to the queen, who peevifhly exclaimed, ' I thought
* I was the only queen here, but I fee there are many hundreds more.'
After their departure a diftuvbance arofe among the citizens concern-
ing the payment of the public expenfes, incurred by their reception of
their royal vifitors, which they muft have thought very ill beftowed.
The deacon of the weavers, who was called King Peter, with twenty-five
other confiderable men, were put in prifon by the praetor, but inftantly
releafed by the populace. Many other difturbances enfued ; and finally
the French were driven out of Bruges. \_Meyeri j4ntiales Flattdria,/. 88
b.] If the queen had had the good fenfe to rejoice, that the people,
who were to be her hufband's fubjeds, were enjoying the due rewards
of their honeft induftry, or could have only commanded her temper
fo far, as to affume an appearance of gratioufly accepting the refpe<fl:
paid to her, which would have coft her nothing, inftead of difplaying
her childifh envy and littlenefs, there would perhaps have been no op-
pofition to her hufband's claim *.

1302, November 7"' — King Edward, by fummonfes to the warden of
the Cinque ports, and to the magiftrates of Dover, Sandwich, Rye, Win-
chelfea, Romney, Hythe, Pevenfey, and Faverfham, ordered their quota
of fifty-fcven vefTels to be ready at Are (or Ayr on the weft coaft of Scot-
land) on next AlFumption day, in order to aft againft the Scots. But, as he
wanted men more than veflels, he defired they would fend only twenty-

* She died with a vtry bad cliara£lcr — ' altera pic of Cologne with a fight of licr face, won the

' Jcfahd, ma<;nnque pars caufse Imjus traga;dia; tt hearts of the ladles of that great city. \_M. Paris,

' crueniiiTimi belli.' \_Meyer, f. loS a.] — Ifabil, /. 415.] How cheaply may thofe of high rank

the filUr of Henry HJ, when (lie went over to attach the people to their iiitcreft !
he married to the emperor, by indulging the pco-

A. D. 1302. 469

five veflels, with the full number of men belonging to the fifty-feven.
[Fiedera, V. ii, p. gii.]

Auguft 13"" — The king gave the vvine-mcrchants of his duchy of
Aquitaine a charter, licencing them to import wines, and other merch-
andize, into all his dominions, and to fell them in wholefale in the
cities, burghs, and market towns, either to natives or foreigners. He
exempted them from the antient prife of two tuns of wine out of every
Ihip, and promifed, that no part of their wine, or other goods, fliould
be taken for his ufe, without being paid for at the fair price paid by
others. He alfo ordained, that, as the feller was obliged to make up
any deficiency of the fiandard gauge of the wine, fo the buyer fhould
pay for the furplus quantity when it exceeded the meafure, and that
the buyer and feller fliould each pay a halfpenny for the gauge. The
wine-merchants, in confideration of thefe privileges, which, the king
declared, fhould be perpetual *, confented to pay an additional duty of
two fliilhngs upon every tun of wine : and this duty, together with
feme new regulations in their charter, refpeding their trade, the re-
covery of their debts, &c. were very foon after extended to all foreign
merchants, and will therefor be found in the charter of merchants, to
be prefently recited. [F^dera, V. ix, p. 868.]

1303, February i" — It was vmdoubtedly from a defire of participat-
ing in the privileges granted to the inerchants of Aquitaine, that all the
foreign merchants trading with England, offered to pay additional duties,
in confideraticni of obtaining a charter, wherein their privileges fhould
be duely defined. The king accordingly now gave a general charter to
all foreign merchants, whereof the following is the fubflance.

The king being defirous, that the merchants of Germany, France,
Spain, Portugal, Navarre, Lombardy, Tufcany, Provence, Catalonia,
Aquitaine, Tholoufe, Quercy, Flanders, Brabant, and all other foreign
countries, reforting to his dominions, may enjoy tranquillity and ample
fecurity, eftablifhes the follov/ing regulations, to be obferved by himfelf
and his heirs for ever.

All foreign merchants may come fafely into England and our other
dominions with all kinds of merchandize, free from any demands for
murage, pontage, or pavage f. — They may fell, by wholefale only, to
our fubjeds, and alfo to foreigners, in all the cities, burghs, and market
towns, of our dominions ; and they may alfo retail fpices and the wares
called mercery, as formerly. — After paying the due cuftoms, they may
export to any country not at war with us, whatever they bring into our
dominions, or purchafe in them, except wine, which muft not be carried
out of our dominions without our fpecial licence — They may refide,
and keep their goods, in any of our cities, burghs, and towns, as they

* The charter was confirmed by Henry IV and Henry V. [Fadcra, V ix,/>. 868.]

•f Explanations of thefe terms will be found under the year 13 1 7. 4

470 A. D. 1303.

fhall agree with the owners of the houfes — Every contradl for merch-
andize {hall be firm and liable, after the earneft-penny is given and ac-
cepted by the contrading parties : but, if any difpute (hail arife, it fhall
be determined by the cuftoms of the fair or town where the contrad:
was made. — We promife, that we will make no prife, nor arrefl or de-
tention on account of prife, upon their merchandize or goods, upon
any occafion, againft their will, without firfl paying the price which they
might get from others, and that no price or valuation (hall be fet upon
their goods by us. — We order that all bailiffs and ofHcers of fairs, cities,
burghs, and market towns, on hearing the complaint of the merchants
fhall do juflice without delay, according to the merchant law; and in
cafe of delay, even though the merchant recover his damage, we will
punifli the bailif, or ofhcer ; and this we grant, that fpeedy juflice may
be done to flrangers *, — In all pleas between a merchant and any other
perfon whatever, except in cafes of capital crimes, one half of the jury
Ihall confifl of the men of the place, and the other half of foreign
merchants, if as many can be found in the place — Wc ordain, that our
weight fhall be kept in every fair and town, that the weigher fhall fhow
the buyer and feller that the beam and fcales are fair, and that there
fhall be only one weight and meafure in our dominions, and that they
be flamped with our flandard mark. — A faithful and prudent man, re-
liding in London, fliall be appointed jufticiary for the foreign merchants,
before whom they fhall plead fpecially, and recover their debts fpeedily,
according to the merchant law, if the mayor and fhirrefs negled or de-
lay their caufes.

In confideration of thefe liberties, and the remiffion of our prifage,
the merchants, conjun£tly and feverally for themfelves and all others of
their countries, have unanimoufly agreed to pay to us and our heirs,
within forty days after landing their goods, for

€very tun (' dolium') of wine imported-^ r£o 2 o

-every fack of wool exported, '. befides the old I 034

every laft of hides exported, ! cuftom \ o 13 4

every 300 wool-fells exported, J L o 3 4

every fcarlet cloth, or cloth dyed in grain, - 020

every cloth dyed partly in grain, - - 016

every cloth without grain, - - - 010

every hundred weight of wax, - - 010

and for fine goods, fuch as fluffs of Tarfus, filk, cindal, ' feta' (probably
fatin), and alfo horfes and other animals, corn, and other articles not
enumerated, a duty on importation of three pennies in the pound of
the value, according to their invoice, or their oaths if they have no in-
voice ; alio for every article, not enumerated, upon exportation, three
pennies in the pound of the value, befides the former duties.

» Hakluy t, in the margin of bis tranflation of thi« cliaitcr, afits, whav Is become of this law now ?

A. D.

^^^3'

471

Foreign merchants may fell wool to other foreign merchants within
our dominions without paying any duty : and, after they have paid
cuftom in one part of our dominions for their goods, they fhall not be
liable to pay it in any other part.

Henceforth no exadion, prife, loan, or burthen of any kind, fhall
ever be impofed upon the merchants or their goods. [Fivdera, V. iv, p,
361, and V. ix, p. 72.]

About this time a table of weights, meafures, &c. was made up by
authority, as follows.

Weights.

20 pennies (of money) i ounce,
1 2 ounces i pound of London,
124- pounds I ftone of London,
14 ftones
2 weyes (of wool)
12 facks

I weye,

I fack,

I

laft.

15 ounces of /(ffli - i pound,
12 pounds - I ftone,

5 ftones 10 pounds 1 fotmal,

50 fotmals - - I car.

But fome reckon only 12 weyes
to a car ; and in the Peek country
(owing, no doubt, to the fteepnefs
of the roads) the car is much lefs.

Flax, tallow, and cheefe, are fold
by the weye of 14 ftones, as well
as lead and wool.

Of wax, fugar, pepper^ cumin, al-
monds, and alum^
15 ounces ~ -

8 pounds
13I ftones 1

I pound,

I ftone,

hundred-weight.

Meafures.
8 pounds oi corn i gallon,

8 gallons 1 bufliel of London.

Numbers.

25 herrings

I glen,

IS glens

I rees :

120 herrings - 1

hundred,

10 hundreds - i

thoufand.

10 thoufands

I laft.

25 eels

1 ftick.

10 fticks

I bind»

160 mulvcls and dry fifj i

hundred.

10 hides

I dacre.

20 dacres

I laft.

^ojkiiis of conies ox g rife

I timber.

32 timbers

I bind.

10 pairs of gloves

I dacre.

20 horfe-Jhoes

■ 1 dacre.

56 pieces offleel

I flieaf.

13 ells oifi/lian

1 cheef

I o ellsoffrnelinenC ftndon') i head.
Of flax\ hemp, and linen,

120 go to - I hundred.

5 pounds of glafsf i ftone,

24 ftones - 1 feem.

The pound of twelve ounces is ufed only for money, fpices, and elect-
uaries, and the pound of fifteen ounces for all other things*.

* I have extrafted the fenfe of this ordinance, Tlie pound o^ fifteen ounces appears alfo in the laws

which is deficient, redundant, intricate, and fome- of Scotland. It lias probably been increafed to.

times contradictory, as well as I could. It is pub- Jixteen, for the fake of a more corn client fubdivi.-

lidied with the Statutes, and entitled ' Traftatus fian.
• de ponderibus et menfuris, anno 31 Edw. I.'—

472 A. D. 1303.

May 20'' — In a treaty of peace with France, liberty was granted to
the merchants on both lides to trade freely in all kinds of merchandize,
on paying the duties ; and each of the contracting powers agreed to give
no relief, not even viduals, to the enemies of the other. [Fcedera, V. ii,

PP' 927. 935-]

The abbat of Weftminfler, 48 of his brethren, and 32 other perfons,

were imprifoned in the Tower, on a charge of robbing the king's treaf-

ury in Weftminfler abbay of a hundred thoufand pounds. [Foedera, V. ii,

pp. 930, 938, 940.] The fum is almoft incredibly great How could

they carry off fuch a load of filver *, or what could they do with fuch a

mafs of money.

The Venetian writers fix the year 1303 for the termination of the
youthful age of their republic, which, they fay, has ever fince proceed-
ed with the gravity and prudence of mature age ; and, being a happy
mixture of monarchy, ariftocracy, and democracy, it is likely, with the
afiiflance of the gods, to endure to eternity. \CraJfi Notce in Donat. 'Jan-
not. p. 466, ed. Eh.] Eternity belongs not to human affairs.

1304, April — King Edward, having made peace with the king of
France, entered fo warmly into his interefts, that he took part with him
againft his old friend the earl of Flanders, and at his own expenfe lent
him twenty of the befl and largefl fliips to be found in all the ports be-
tween London and the Ifle of Wight, Dover excepted, each of them car-
rying at leaft forty fencible men, and properly equipped for war. And,
further to gratify his new friend, he banifhed all the Flemifh merchants
out of England, Wales, and Ireland, and ordered home all his own fub-
jeds who were in Flanders, thereby abolifhing the very befl trade, or
rather almofl the whole trade, of his fubjeds f — on condition that the
king of France would banifh his enemies, the Scots, out of his kingdom.
[Fa^dera, V. ii, pp. 943-946.]

King Edward having written to Eric king of Denmark, requiring
fatisfadtion for a fhip loaded with wine and other goods, belonging to
Yarmouth, Eric anfwered, that the owner, or his agent, fhould have
juflice whenever he would apply, and that any Englifli fubjeds vifiting
his dominions, fnould be favourably treated. [Foedera, V. n,p. 949. J

The town of Pera (formerly called Galata) on the north fide of the
harbour of Conftantinoplc, with ibme adjacent grounds, which the Ge-
noefe had occupied fince the refloration of the Greek emperors in the
year 1259, was now fully ceded to theni by the emperor Andronicus;
and it was rendered equal to many cities in the ftrength of its fortifica-

* The robbery was cummiltcj in die end of I.irid (wlu'cli was moftly caniid to Flanders) was

May, when the nights are very (hort. nearly equal to the half of the land in value. £Tfi-

f In ihc year 1297, the nobles, in their ptti- vtlyfi. 304-]
tion to the king, ancrtcd that the woyl of Eng-

A. D. 1304. 473

tiohs and tlie beauty of its buildings. [Siel/ce ^n. Gen. ap. Muratori
Script. V. xvii, fo/. 1021.]

1305 — Either the trade of England was confiderably increafed fince
the year 1205, or the duty called the quinzieme was now more flridly
coUeded. In that year it amounted only to ^^4.95 8 : 7 : 3t for the
whole kingdom : and now the barons of the Cinque ports agreed to pay
2,000 marks (/^i,333 ; 6 : 8) for the farm of the quinzieme of the
towns under their jurifdidion, Haftings undertaking to pay 700, and
Dover, Sandwich, Romney, and Hythe, the remaining 1,300. \pladox'^
Hiji. of the excheq. c. 15, § 11.]

King Edward, in his great eagernefs to crufli the independent Scots,
whom he called 7-ebels, clogged the letters of fafe condudt, which he gave
to the merchants of Flanders, with a condition that they Ihould not
permit the Scots to procure arms or provifions in their country. But
Robert earl of Flanders declined accepting the favour on thofe terms,
and wrote to Edward, that he and his fubjeds had no intention to en-
courage the Scots in their war or rebellion, and he had even proclaimed,
that no one in his dominions fhould give them any alliftance in their
rebellion or hoftilities againft him. But he added, that as his country
had from remote ages been fupported by merchandize, and been open
to merchants reforting to it from all quarters, he could not with pro-
priety, and ought not, to exclude the Scots, or any other people, from
exercifmg their lawful and juft merchandize in his country, but was ra-
ther bound to defend them from all unjuft oppreffion, while they car-
ried on their trade without any fraud. [Fordera, V. iii, p. 963.] By
perfevering in fuch an impartial line of condu6t, and avoiding wars as
much as poffible, Flanders long enjoyed the gixatefl part of the com-
merce of the weftern countries of Europe.

1306 — It was the law, or cuftom, in England to make every individ-
ual of the merchant flrangers in the kingdom liable to arrefl for the
debts, and even for the crimes, of any other foreigners, and to treat
them in many other refpeds with much rigour, unlefs when they ob-
tained the protection of the kings, either for particular fervices done to
themfelves or their favourites, or in confequence of recommendations
from the popes for fervices done to them. In the year 1301 a perfon
belonging to the houfe of the Spini of Florence was killed in a fquab-
ble w^ith fome other people belonging to the fame houfe ; and the guilty
perfon having abfconded, the officers of juftice feized the bodies and
goods of other perfons belonging to the company, and alfo, luckily for
the merchants, a fum of money coUedted by them in Ireland for the
pope, and fome merchandize purchafed for his account, who immedi-
ately fent a bull to the king, requiring the liberation of the people and
property arrefted. {Fa^dera, F. ii, j6. 891.] In the year 1306 leveral

Vol. I. 3 O

547*4 A. D. 1306.

foreign merchants were called before the king's council, who inquired
how many merchants of each foreign company were in England, and
ordered them to give in an account of all the money and goods they
poflefled, and to give fecurity that none of them fhould leave the king-
dom, or export any thing, without the king's fpecial licence. Next day,
not being able to find iecurity, they were all committed to the Tower,
from which they were afterwards liberated on becoming fureties for
each other *. [Madox's Hjjl. c. 22, § 7.]

1307, February 4''' — A fum of money having been colleded in Eng-
land for the pope, the king ordered that it fhould be given to merch-
ants within the kingdom for bills of exchange to be remitted to the
pope (' per viam cambii dido domino fummo pontifici dellinare'), be-
caufe he v/ould allow no coined money nor bullion to be carried out of
the kingdom on any account. \Fadera, V. ii, p. 1042.] Did he not
know, that fuch a tranfadion mufl either carry out n),oney, or prevent
it from coming in, which is nearly the fame thing?

The ufe of coal (called fea-coal, as being brought by fea) for fuel was
prohibited in London and Southwark f . {Slaw's Survey of London, p.

925O

The fociety of the New temple in London had ereded fome mills

upon the Thames, near Caftle Baynard, with a quay befide them, in

virtue of a grant from King John, and they feem alfo to have drawn off

the Water of Fleet from its channel. It appeared by an inqueft, that

- thofe eredions had deftroyed the navigation of the Fleet, upon which

fmall boats (' batelli'), loaded with merchandize, ufed to go up as far as

Holburn bridge :|: ; and the Templars were oi-dered to reftore the brook

to its natural channel. Stow fays, that the mills were removed, and the

channel cleaned out ; but the antient breadth and depth never wei'c

recovered, and there were mills upon it again in his time. \Rot. pat.

35 'E.dw. I i I Edzu. I J, amb. a tergo. — Ryley, Plac. pari. p. 340. — Sto-w's

Ann. p. 326 ; Survey, pp. 687, 688.]

1308, March 15''' — Edward II, having married a daughter of the king
of France, granted permiilion to the merchants of that kingdom to

• This lUibenil and impolitic treatment of fo- fmoke of wliicb was long fuppofed pernicious:

reigncrs was uot put ail f nd to by law till the yi-ar {i^^e Lvilyn's Fiimifiigium, piilililhcd in the year

I35;i, and not by praflite till long Kfterwaids. 1661] for the king fiirely did not propofe to hln-

-(• In June 1307 the king fent an order to the der tlie citizens from drcfTing their vidnals ; and

iiiavor and fiiirrefs of London to proclaim that no tliat this prohibiiion i.s the fame that is noticed by

pcrfon flionld prefumc to light fires (' rogus illos Stow. — But qiicre, if ro^os be written inftead of

• prsfumat aecendere') in London, or near the focos, and one of the innumerable blunders of Ry-

Tower, beeaufe the queen was going to refide in mer's amanncnfcs, which diigrace that great and

it, and fuch fires were apt to corrupt and infect valuable thefaurus of national records ?

the air. [Fttilcra, V. ii, />. 1057.] The word X The name of Batel-bridge feems to infer, that

fo^us, which figiiifies a fimeralfire, is evidently boats have at fome time proceeded vcven as high as

niifapplied, and the meaning of tiie order is ren- that place, which is more than a rtiik above Hol-

dcrcd obfcure by it. It is jirobablc that the pro- burn biidge.
hibition was dircdtd only agalnft fires of coal, tlu'

A. D. 1308. 475

come td England with money and merchandize ; and, after tranfudling
their bufinefs, to return with their goods, horfes, and even money,
notwithftanding his father's law againfl: carrying money or bullion out of
the kingdom. {Fadera, V. iii,/. 70.]

March 22'' — The ftatute of merchants, and the charter granted to the
foreign merchants, feem both to have been infufficient to procure jullice
for them : for we find that, on a complaint of the merchants of Brabant,
the king iffued general orders to do them juftice in all their jull claims.
{Fasdcra^ V. iii, /•. 71.]

Some Caftilian pirates, under Portuguefe colours, had taken fevcral
Englifh veflels, whereupon the commercial harmony, which had fub-
fifted for fome time between the merchants of England and Portugal,
"was interrupted, till the affair was explained by a letter from the king
of Portugal, who alfo requciled letters of fafe conduft for the merch-
ants of his kingdom to trade in the dominions of King Edward, which
were granted (Odober 3''), on condition that they fhould trade fairly,
pay the ufual cuftoms, and give obedience to the laws of the land while
refiding in it. \Fcedera, V. iii, p. 107.]

1309 — The merchants, or rather the feamen, often took it upon them
to carry on hoftilities againfl thofe of other countries or cities, and to
enter into treaties of peace or truce with them (as has already been
partly obferved) without the fovereigus on either fide being concerned
in the quarrel, unlefs fometimes as mediators, or umpires, between the
belligerent feamen. Many complaints having been made of piracies and
{laughters, committed during a truce of two years between King Edward's
fubjeds of Bayonne and the fubjeds of Caftile, the kings on both fides,
after a negotiation of confiderable length, commillioned two judges out
of each country to fettle the damages, do juftice, and punifh fome of
the firft movers. {FGedera, V. ni, pp. 112, 122, 131, 132, 153, 169, 170,
178, 181.]

. Other feamen, called Efterfings (people of the Baltic fea), taking ad-
vantage of the troubled fi:ate of Scotland, committed fome depredations
there; whereupon Edward, who confidered himfelf the fovereign of that
kingdom, having heard that the pirates had failed for the Swyn, wrote
to the earls of Namur and Flanders, and the magiftrates of Bruges, re-
quefling them to do juftice upon them. There were alfo com-
plaints about this time of Englifta fubjeds being maltreated in Norway.
[Fcedera,V. ni, pp. 131, 154, 215.] But the reader, I dare fay, will
gladly excufe me from entering into a tedious and difgufting recital of
the atrocities perpetrated upon the fea and the fliores in thofe ages of
ferocity and rapine, and alio from narrating many of the fhort-lived
and unimportant treaties, which were made, almoft every year, profeffed-
ly for the purpofe of guarding the interefts of commerce.

-, O 2

476

A. D. 1310.

1310, June 16'" — King Edward ordered the following ports to lend
fhips of war, fufficiently equipped and manned, to Dublin, in order to
tranfport the earl of Ulfter and his forces to Scotland.

Shoreham, to fend
Portfmouth
Lymington and 7

Eremouth j
Poole
Wareham
Weymouth
Melcomb
Lyme
Exmouth and 7

Exeter j

Teignmouth
Dartmouth

Plymouth
Colchefler
Harwich
Ipfwich
Dunwich
Orford
Yarmouth
Little Yarmouth
Snyterley
Burnham and 7
Holkham j
Boflon

I Grimfby - i

I Ravenfere - 1

1 Hull - _ 2

2 Scarburgh - r
I Hertlepool - i
I Newcaftle upon
6 Tine

I Newby - - i

I Gloucefter and 7

Briftol j ^

Bridgewater - i
I

4 [Fa;dera, V. iii, p. 2 1 2.]

}

I Lynne

There are no orders to London or the Cinque ports *. The great
number taxed upon Yarmouth affords a ftrong prelumption, that the
fifhery, the chief, or rather the only, bufinefs of that port, was then in
a very flourifliing condition. But of the ports, taxed at one vefTel each,
fome muft have differed greatly from others in commercial importance.

1 31 1 — The king of France wrote to King Edward his fon-in-law, re-
queuing that he would remit to the French merchants, and efpecially
to thofe of Amiens, the new duty of three pennies in the pound of the
value of their goods. But Edward anfwered, that the duty had been
granted in his father's time in a full parliament, and at the delire of the
foreign merchants themfelves, in confideration of liberties and immuni-
ties, from which they had reaped great advantages ; and that he could
not remit it without the advice of parliament f . \Fadera, V. iii, p. 269.]

There can be little reafon to doubt that the conftrudion and ufe of
the glalTes for aflifling weak or dim eyes, now fo generally known un-
der the name of fpedacles, were known to the great Roger Bacon. But
in thofe days the knowlege of improvements was llowly propagated, and
for want of printing, the great preferver as well as difl'eminator of know-
lege, was often entirely loft. We may therefor very well believe, that
the invention of fpedacles at Pifa, or Florence, or both, might be real
original difcoveries. Dominicus Maria Mannus of Florence, in an eflay
on fpe^acles, feems to prove, that they were invented by Salvino of that

• It appears fiom a fecond mandate ifiiicd in a
f"3w weeks after, w'uerrin the kinj;; ordered all tlic
vtlfels to proceed immcdiatdy fc^r tlie coall of Ar-
gyle without cslling at Ireland, that llie Cinque
ports were alfo railed upon for their (hipping at
this time. The ftcond orders coiitaiii, bclidcs the
t'itvquc ports ami all thofe in the full ones, the

port of Southampton. \Fadera, V. iii, pp. 22 j,

265-1

f The fame rcqueft was again made at the iii-

ftance of the merchants of Amiens by Charles the

Fair in the year 1323; and a finiilar anlvvcr was

retnrr.cd. {Faikra., V. iii, />. 1014.]

A. D. 131 1. 477

city, who died in the year 1317. And Peccioli, in bis Chronicle of Pifa,
fays, that Alexander de Spina, a monk of Pifa, (who died in the year
1 31 3) feeing that fome perfon (probably Salvino) who had invented
fpedacles of glafs, refufed to communicate the art of making them to
others, difcovered the fecret by his own ingenuity and apphcation, and
liberally imparted the knowlege to others. \_Muratori Antiq. V. ii, col.
396.] Spedacles being certainly known about this time in two princi-
pal commercial cities of Italy, it may be prefumed that the ufe of them
became general throughout Europe in the early part of the fourteenth
century. The fubfequent improvements upon the formation of the
glafles, whereby they are adapted to the long-fighted and the Ihort-
fighted, as well as thofe whofe fight is weakened by age, render fpec-
tacles one of the moil beneficial and important difcoverles that have
ever been made to a very great proportion of mankind, among whom
are comprehended many of the moft valuable individuals.

1313, February 15''' King Edward wrote to the earl of Flanders,

complaining that his fubjeds fi;ill traded with the Scots, and lupplied
them with provifions, armour, and other neceflaries. On the 1'' of May
he again wrote him, that he underftood, thirteen Flemifli fhips had re-
cently failed from the Swyn for Scotland with arms and provifions.
Whether it was on account of his demands for the abolition of the trade
with Scotland not being complied with by the earl, whofe anfwers I do
not find, or for any other caufe of difpleafure, the king ifllied orders
(June ip"") to arreft all the Flemiflri veflels in England. \Tcsdera, V. iii,
//». 386, 403,419.]

That the people of England, or at leafi; thofe of Lynne, reforted to
the fouth coafl: of Norway about this time for the purpofe of catching
herrings, we learn from the too-common complaints of piratical depred-
ations and other enormities, which difgrace the naval hift:ory of every
nation of Europe in the middle ages. About the fame time eleven,
Norwegians of diftinftion, who had been invited to dine onboard an
EngHfli vefTel from Berwick, were murdered by the crew, in confe-
quence of which, according to the general law then eftablifhed, fome
other Englifli vefiTels were ieized, whereupon King Edward wrote a let-
ter to Hacon king of Norway, reprefenting that it was contrary to rea-
fon, equity, juftice, and law, that thofe, who were not guilty, nor of the
fociety of the guilty, faould fuffer for the crimes of others * : and he
requefi:ed the refioration of the veffels, which, as they ought to be at ail
times ready for his fervice, he could not quietly fuflfer to be out of the
kingdom — In the fame year the treafurer of the king of Norway took
for his matter's ufe cloth, fifh, and other merchandize, to the value cf '

* However contrary it nvght be to reafon, dom. We fliall pvefently fee a flight relaxation of.
equity, or juftice, it certainly was agreeable to the the cruelty of this barbarous law granted as a very
Jaw or cuftom then eftablifhed in his own king- particular favour.

47§

A. D. 1313.

i'r,494 : 5 ; o flerling, from feven merchants of Lynnc, while they were
Lit North Bergen, for which they received no payment *. This merits
notice only as it fhows, that England had then forae cloth to fpare for

exportation. The fifh were probably caught on the Norwegian coafi:

But it would be tedious and difgufting to detail all the outrages and
enormities, which conftituted the chief mutter of the negotiations be-
tween the princes of Europe in thofe ages. [See Fadera, V. iii, pp. 3,95,
397, 400, 401. 449. 556, 566, 571, 577, 783.]

The advocates for the antiquity ot the fociety, or company, of the
merchants of the Staple aflert, that they exiiled as a corporate body in
the 51"^ year of King Henry III. What is, perhaps, more eafily afcer-
tained, is, that in two letters from Edward II to Robert earl of Flanders,
both dated 15* February 1313^ it appears, that Richard Stury, mayor of
the merchants of England, had jufl returned from the earl's court, to which
he and Sir William of Deen had been fent as ambafladors, in order to
accommodate all differences between the fubjeds of both princes (not
between the princes), and to concert meafures for maintaining fi'iend-
fhip and amicable intercourfe. {Feeder a, V. Lii, p. 386.] In this year
we find a patent of King Edward for ordaining a certain place xipon the
continent as a ftaple for the merchants of England, and for defining the
liberties (or powers) veiled in their mayor : and there was alfo a fecond
patent foon after ' in favour of the mayor and merchants of the Stapled
[Rot. pat. fee. 6 Edzv. II, m. 5 ; ^nd prim. 7 Ediv. II, m. 18.] There was
moreover a charter, dated the 20'' of May in this year, wherein the
king fets forth, that, as the merchants, natives as well as foreigners,
made a practice of carrying the wool and wool-fells bought in his do-
minions to feveral places in Brabant, Flanders, and Artois, for fale, he,
in order to prevent fuch damages, had ordained, that all merchants,
whether natives or foreigners, buying wool and wool-fells in his do-
minions for exportation, fhould carry them only to one certain ftaple in
one of thofe countries, to be appointed by the mayor and community
of the fame merchants of his kingdom f, who might change the ftaple,
if they thought it expedient. He alfo granted to the mayor and council
of thofe merchants authority to punifh all merchants, natives or foreign-
ers, carrying wool or wool-fells to any other place, by fines, which ftiould
be levied by his officers for his ufe upon the property of the delinquents.
And he ordered this charter to be publiflied in all the maritime fliires
of England. [Hakluyt's Voiages, V. i, p. 142.] There can be no doubt,
that the perfon, called in the king's letters, the firft patent, and the

* They had received no payment in June 1319, ported wool and wool-fells, only Englifli merch-

wh<ii King Edward dunned the king of Norway ants (liould be members of the fociety. It appears

for them. from a nmhitude of fadls and documents, thai ihc

f * Per m.ijorcm tt communltatem eorinuleni mayor and community continued the llaple at Anl-

« mcrcatorum de regno nollro ordinandam.' Thefe v,erp.
words inftr, that, though foreign merchants ex-

A. D. 1313. 479

charter, the mayor of the merchants, was the fame who is called the mayor
ofthejlaple in the fecond charter * ; and that the origin of the company
of the merchants of the Staple may mofl truely be dated in this year f .
The inflitution of the company, or perhaps, more properly fpeaking,
community, who conftituted fuch a fociety at Antwerp as the merch-
ants of the German gildhall did in London, infers that the merchants
of England now began to fee the propriety of taking into their own
hands at leafi a Ihare of the adive commerce of their own raw materi-
als. This was a fiift ftep towards obtaining the full benefit to be deriv-
ed from poflelling valuable materials by firll working them up, and
then exporting them in a manufactured ftate.

December 3'' — King Edward, at the requeft of his filler the countefs
dowager of Holland, granted, with great formality, to the burgeiTes and
merchants of Dordrecht (or Dort), the capital of Holland, an exemp-
tion, during the life of the countefs, for themfelves and their property,
from being arrefled on account of any debt or crime, unlefs they them-
felves, ox fome per/on of their community, were principal debtors, or fure-
ties, or charged as guilty, on condition that they fhould carry on fair
trade and pay the due cuftoms. And that fo great an indulgence might
not be abufed, they were required to bring an indenture (or manifefl)
of their cargoes, with the value appraifed by merchants of character and
the magi/lrates of the city, and alfo by the procurator of the countefs
and her prelent hufband the earl of Hereford and Eflex, and fealed with
the fea) of the city and that of the earl and countefs %. [^Fcedera, V. iii,
p. 458.]

13 1 4 — The king of France wrote to King Edward, that formerly he
had granted permillion to the Englifh importers of wool, who had their
flaple at Antwerp, to bring their goods to his town of S'. Omer's, and
hold their ftaple there, for which purpofe he had given them ample li-
berties and privileges, hoping that confiderable benefit would redound
to hirafelf and his fubjeds : but that now they gave up carrying their
wool to the annual fairs at his town of Lifle, as they ufed to do when
their flaple was at Antwerp, and alfo enticed other merchants to do the
fame, whereby his fubjed:s fuffered great lofs. Therefor he now re-
quefted his fon-in-law to induce his fubjedts, and, if neceflary, to com-

* I have already had occafion to obfcrve, that zcaloufly celebrates, I do not pretend to judge,

ftrift unitorniity of titles or appellations was not Plis work, being written in the bitter fpirit of

attended to in tho'^e day?. controverfy, mull be read (if any body will now-

■ ■\ Ge.ard Malynes, in his Caiier of the c'lrck of a-days take the trouble of reading it) with great .

eommerce, fays, that the merchants of the Staple in allowance for his partlalit)-.

the reign of Queen Eli'^ibeth produced proof, that J A finiilar iiidnlgcnee was granted to the fac-

there was a wool-iaple and officers belonging to it tors and fcrvants of the bifhop of Nidaros (Dron-

iii the reign of Henry III. But whether that tlieim) in Norway, wlicn he hecaine a merchant,

vcuid prove tlie anticpiitv of that company of and enga^eil in the trade to England in the vear. :

Englilli merchants of the Staple, wliofe high an- 1316. \Vxticra, K i'i, />. 551.]
tiquity, dignity, and ii.''efulnefs to the flate, he fo

480 A. D. 1314.

pell them, to frequent the fairs as formerly. So important an objedt
was the acquifition of Englifh wool. King Edward in return wrote him
(from Berwick, July 16''') that, as the matter concerned all the merch-
ants of his kingdom and many others of his fubjecSs, he could give no
final anfwer, till he fliould take advice upon it. [F^dera, V. \\\,pp. 482,
488.]

July 26'!' — Peace being concluded between the king of France and
the earl of Flanders, the later informed King Edward, that he had pro-
claimed throughout his dominions, that all merchants of France, Eng-
land, and other countries, with their merchandize, fhould be protedled
in his territories, and have abfolute liberty of returning to their own
coimtries, without their perfons or properties being fubjedl to arreft or
hinderance, and that the merchants of England might have their ftaple
for wool and other goods at his city of Bruges. In return he requefled
King Edward to give orders that the Flemifh merchants rnight enjoy
fimilar privileges in England agreeable to the grants made by his an-
ceflors and himfelf. {Yoedera, V. iii, p. 490.]

1 31 5, March 14''' — In a lift of orders addrefled to the prelates, nobles,
and communities, of Ireland, the only towns mentioned are Dublin,
Waterford, Cork, Rofs, Drogheda, Trim, and Kilkenny, \Fcedera, V. iii,
p. 511] which may thence be prefumed to have been at this time the
chief towns of the ifland.

September i" — The king of France, being again at war with Flan-
ders, required King Edward, according to treaty, to banifh the Flem-
ings out of his territories, and to affift him with a fleet againft them.
Edward thereupon ilTued orders to the fhirrcfs of London, and of every
ihire in the kingdom, for obliging all the Flemings, except thofe who
were married and fettled in the country, to depart from the kingdom ;
and he commanded that none of his fubjedts fliould give them any af-
fiftance *. He alfo ordered two of the admirals of the fleet fent againft
the Scots to draw off their divifions in order to adl: againft the Flemings,
and apologized to his brother of France, that he could not fend the
whole fleet to his affiftance, becaufe he was very hard prefled by his
enemies of Scotland, who, not content with driving his people out of
their own country and invading the northern parts of England, had
lately made a formidable attack upon Ireland. \F(xdera, V. iii, pp. 525,
53 ^> S^iZ'' S'^Si S?fi-\ Thus it was fo ordered, that the exertions of the
Scots, in defence of their own independence, were alfo inftrumental in
fupporting the Hberty and independence of other nations, and particu-

* The orders were probably not very rigoroiif- tlicm to leave t)ic country. \Fa:P.cra,V.'\\\,p.l^\.'\

Iv enforced ; for we find new orders in November Both tlie Englidi and the I'lemings knew how in-

for Uriel ftarch to be made for thofe Flemings, difpenfibly necclTary their commerce was to each

who had remained beyond ihe time appointed for other.

A. D. 1315. 481

larly, at this time, of the moft commercial nation in the weflern parts
of Europe.

Notwithflanding the friendfliip between England and France, four
vefl'els, loaded with wool and other merchandize from London for Ant-
werp, were attacked on the coaft of France by two-and-twenty armed
veflels from Calais, and one of them, valued at 2,000 marks fterling,
was taken and carried into that port. On the complaint of the merch-
ants King Edward wrote to the king of France (November 2'^), exprefT-
ing his wonder, that redrefs had not been given for that enormity, ef-
pecially as the French merchants were treated in his dominions as well
as his own fubjeds. ^Ftzdera, V. iii, p. 539.]

The fame Calais pirates fent their boats to attack a vefTel lying upon
the ground at low water near Margate, alfo loaded with wool from Lon-
don for Antwerp, and carried her over to Calais, together with John
Brand citizen and merchant of London, the owner and commander of
her, and three merchants of the Hanse of Germany, the owners of the
cargo, who lived in England in the enjoyment of the antient privileges
granted by the preceding kings. [Faedera, V. iii, p. 540.] What ren-
ders this event particularly worthy of notice, is, that it contains the ear-
lieft mention, that I have been able to find in Englifli records, of the
name of Hanfe being applied to the community of German merchants,
who made fo confpicuous a figure under that appellation for at leafl two
centuries after this time. And that the application of that name to
them was new at this time, appears from a grant in the patent rolls
[fee. 7 Edw. II, m. 1 2] to the merchants of Germany (' mercatores Ale-
mannise') of the liberty of coming fecurely into the kingdom and fell-
ing their merchandize, which is dated 23"^ April 1314 ; and even fome
years afterwards (viz. 7'" December 13 17) we find privileges granted to
the merchants of the T'eutonic gild, wherein the apparently-new name of
Hanfe is omitted *. [F(xdera, V. ix, p. 76.]

It is evident, that there mufl have been confiderable woollen manu-
fadlures in the northern parts of the French dominions, as the late King
Philip was fo delirous of having the Englifh wool carried to S'. Omers
and Lifle : and now his fon Louis very earneflly requefled King Ed-
ward to appoint a ftaple for the fale of Englifh wool in fome part of
France between Calais and the River Seine. Edward, before he would
come to any determination, fummoned a number of the moft prudent
and experienced Englifh merchants to deliberate with the parliament,
to be held at Lincoln in the enfuing January, upon what would be moft
proper to do in the matter (December 1 6'*") : and this aflembly of
merchants may be called at leaft the firft rudiments of a council of
trade. \Fosdera, V. iii, p. 543.] It may here be obferved, that there

* After this time the name of Hanfe, or Haiinze, occurs prett)' frequently, for example, Ka. pat.
prim. 20 Ediu. Ill, m. 17 ; fee. 20 Edw. Ill, m. u ; prim. 26 EJ^ju. Ill, m. 15.

Vol. I. 3 P

482 A. D. 1315.

mufl have been more than one ftaple, fome of them, fuch as S'. Omers
and Lifle being apparently fubfidiary to the chief one, which was fixed
at Antwerp, though the earl of Flanders had endeavoured to get it fet-
tled at Bruges.

England was this year afflided by a famine, grievous beyond all that
ever were known before, which raifed the price of provifions far above
the reach of the people of middling circumftances. The parliament, in
companion to the general diftrefs, ordered that all articles of food fhould
be fold at moderate prices, which they took upon themfelves to pre-
fcribe. The confequence (which, it is very wonderful, they did not
forefee) was, that all things, inflead of being fold at, or under, the maxi-
mum price fixed by them, became dearer than before, or were entirely
withheld from the markets. Poultry were rarely to be feen ; butcher
meat was not to be found at all ; the fheep were dying of a peftilence ;
and all kinds of grain were fold at moil enormous prices. Early in the
i^ext year (131 6) the parliament, perceiving their miflake, repealed
their ill-judged ad:, and left provifions to find their own price. \Wal-
finghnm, pp. 106, 107.]

In the time of the famine fome corn was imported from France, Si-
cily, and Spain ; and feveral Spanifh fliips, carrying provifions and arms
to the Flemings, were feized by the conftable of Dover cafl;le, upon
which the king of France requeflied his ally of England to confifcate the
velFels and cargoes to himfelf, and to make the men his flaves. \Fcedera,
r. iii, />/». 542, 544, 564.]

1316 — A great dromund of Genoa, loaded with corn, oil, honey, and
other provifions, for England, to the value of /^5,7i6 : 12 : o llerling,
and having the king's protedion and fafe condud, was attacked, when
lying at anchor in the Downs near Sandwich, by a fleet under the com-
mand of a French admiral, who carried her into Calais. The depriva-
tion of fo large a cargo of provifions in a time of famine was a national
calamity ; and King Edward applied both to the king of France, and to
the admiral who had taken the fiiip, requiring her to be brought back
to the Downs. The king of France being dead, he repeatedly wrote to
the regents, and to feveral French noblemen individually, upon the fame
bufinefs, but without effed *. \Fcedera, V. iii, p. 564, 894, 985.]

Immediately after his application for the recovery of a Genoefe vef-
fel, Edward, having learned by intercepted letters, that two citizens of
Genoa were in treaty with Robert king of Scotland to furnilh gallies
and arms for his fervice in the war againfl; himfelf, wrote to the com-
munity of the city (July 18'''), exprelfing his furprilc that they {hould
ehter into friendfiiip with his capital enemy, feeing that he had fliown
every kmd of favour to the Genoefe, and friendfiiip between his ancef-

* The papers iit the Focdern, here quoted, fliow that no compenfation was made in January 1323.

A, D. 13 1 6. 483

tors and theirs had been inviolably preferved from antient times * ; and
concluding with a requeft that thofe two citizens might be punifhed for
an example to others. [Feeder a, V. iii, p. 565.]

1317, January 30''' — King Edward, defirous of procuring fome Ge-
noefe veflels for himfelf, employed Leonardo PefTaigne of Genoa to hire
from his fellow citizens five gallies fitted for war, and fuflaciently armed,
manned, and vidualled, to be employed in his war againfl Scotland.
[Fisdera, V. iii, p. 604.] Many other inflances might be adduced, if
neceflary, of the princes of Europe applying to the Genoefe for naval
affiflance, which they, more frequently than any other of the Italian
Hates, granted, without being, however, any other way concerned in the
quarrel than as mercenary auxiliaries.

June 20''' — The king granted the merchants of Brabant permiilion
to tr^ttie in his kingdom with the ufual conditions ; and he alfo added
the fame exemptions from being liable for the debts and crimes of
ftrangers, which he had granted to the citizens of Dordrecht in the
year 13 13. And a fimilar grant was made (November 20''') to the
merchants of Bermeo, Bilboa, and the other towns of Bifcay, with the
fame exemption ; and, at the requeft of their fovereign the king of Caf-
tile, it was declared that ihey ihould not even be liable for the debts or
crimes of the people of any other kingdom or province of Spain. [Feed-
era, V. iii, //. 647, 678.]

July 6'*' — Edward, having occafion to thank the duke of Bretagne for
doing juftice to fome Englilli fubjeds in his territories, affured him, that
any of his fubjeds aggrieved by the Engliih fhould have fpeedy juftice,
and even favour ; and if they chofe to trade in his dominions, they
fhould be treated as he would wifti his own merchants to be treated in
a foreign country. [Fcedera, V. iii, p. 656.]

Some Engliih merchants having been plundered many years before
by fome Hollanders, it was determined, in the courfe of a dilatory and
interrupted negotiation, that there was due to Walter Ken and Com-
pany of Lincoln the fum of /J954, and to Richard Wake and John
Wype £2S9, as compenfations for damages fufFered by them. As a
fund for their payment the earl of Holland propofed, and King Edward
ratified it (July 3"), that the money fhould be levied from all the merch-
ants, fifliermen, and mariners of Holland arriving in the ports of Eng-
land, at the rate of twenty fliillings annually from every vefi^el bringing
herrings or other fifli, (fo antient at leaft is the very profitable Dutch
trade of fupplying the London market with fifh f ) and ten fliillings

• This has been adduced as a proof of a very f The Englilli had been accufed by the Dutch

antient commerce between England and Genoa, fifhermen of taking their lilli, whicli they brought

But fuch allegations £ifa»//V«/ friendlhips have ge- to fell on the coail of England, and paying them

ntrally as little meaning with refpect to time pall, as much or as little as they pleafed, and when they

ii% perpetual and tvirlajl'mg treaties of friendlhip and pleafed, or not at all. In Auguft 1309 the king

alhance have with regard to time coming. ordered the warden of the Cinque ports and the

(hirrefs {

3P2 ]

1

84 A. D. 1317^

each voyage from veflels bringing any other kinds of merchandize, and
alfo a duty upon the goods imported. [Fadera, V. iii, pp. 19, 67, 83,
143, 144, 150, 151, 152, 163, 469, 650.] Thus did the crafty Dutch-
man dexteroufly difcharge a debt due by individuals in his own domi-
nions, or by himfelf, by a tax, which was in reahty paid by the con-
fumers in England.

It is vexatious to obferve, that almoft the only materials to be found
in the public records of the middle ages, which in any way concern
commerce and navigation, confift of a fhameful and difgufling fuccef-
•fion of piracies and murders committed by the feafaring people of al-
mofi: every maritime country of Europe. From the detail of fuch un-
pleafant matters I gladly excufe myfelf, except thofe which happen to
contain any thing illuflrative of the progrefs or fiate of commerce ; and
therefor I have pafled over moft of the perpetual contefts of the GJ&fcons
with their French and Spanifh neighbours, many of the fquabbles with
Holland, and many of the innumerable accufations of rapine between
the Englifli and the Flemings, who, though they had many quarrels,
well knew that neither could fubfifi: without the other. I have alfo
omitted feveral of the commiflions for adjufting compenfations with
thofe, and fome other, nations, as moft of them contain nothing inter-
efting. Neither is it worth while to record all the hoftilities of the fea-
men of the Cinque ports, who were this year at war with the Flemings,
and feem to have aded generally as a confederacy of independent ftates.

December 17"' — The merchants of the Teutonic gildhall in London
obtained a new charter from the king, whereby he confirmed to them
their former liberties, and alfo, in confideration of a fum paid to him,
granted that they and their property fliould have the now-ufual exemp-
tion from arreft tor the debts and crimes of other foreigners beyond
the circle of their own community; and he engaged, that neither he
nor his heirs fhould impofe any new undue cuftoms upon their goods,
and that their goods fliould be exempted for ever from paying pontage,
pavage, and murage *, throughout the whole kingdom, provided they-
did not pafs the goods of others, not belonging to their gild, as their
own f . \Fcedera., V. ix, p. 75.]

The king licenced the prior of Birkhead to build houfes or inns
(' hofpitiis') near a branch of the fea at Liverpool. \_Rot. pat. prim.
1 1 Ldw. II, m. 14.] This was apparently an acceHion of growth to a

flwrrefs of the eaftern maritime (liircs to prevent paftiire of hogs, wlilcli it is not prob;ible that foi>-

ihat abufc. [tairlera, V. iii, />. 1 63.] It fccnis cign merchants (liould have any concern with.)

v.-ry probublc, that thole filh were caught by tlic Murage, a duty for upholding the walls of towns.
Diitcli fillitrmcn upon the cuall of England. f I'hcy had alrcu^ly (7"' Jnne 1311) obtained

* Ponlage, a dnty for ni.iking or repairing fmni Edward II, for a fine of ^ico, a renovation

bridges. Pavage, a duty for paving the llreet*). of his fathci's charier, without the additional im-

(The printer has made it panagium, a rent for the munities now granted. [^FaJera, /'. iii, p. 268."]

A. D. 1317. 485

village, deftined to become the chief feat of commerce on the weflern
fide of England.

131 8, January 28'*^ — The citizens of Montpelier, a city in the fouth
part of France, appear to have carried on a very extenfive trade, as we
may judge fi-om their having dealings in London, the voyage to which,
coafting round the whole of the great peninfula of Spain, muft then
have been reckoned a very long one. In the year 1282 Ferrand, fon of
the king of Aragon, recommended Bertrand de Crefuels, a merchant
of that city who ufed to trade to England, to the favour of Edward T.
And now we find that a company of merchants of Montpelier confign-
ed various articles of merchandize to three merchants in London ; and
I am forry to add, that it is to a breach of faith in the confignees that
we owe the knowlege of the trade. [Ftxdera, V. ii, p. 2or ; V. iii,/».
693.] The ftrid mercantile probity and honour, which are now fo
eminently the charadleriftics of the merchants of London, were then
but little known in the world.

June 29''' — The community of the city, or burgh, of Perth obtained
from King Robert a confirmation of a prerogative claimed by them,
whereby no veflel entering the River Tay was allowed to break bulk
without going up to the bridge of Perth, except vefl"els loaded with
goods belonging to Dundee, and that only in the time of the fairs of
Dundee. This monopoly of the river, which probably was the caufc
of the many fquabbles between Perth and Dundee, was often confirm-
ed by fucceeding kings, and even fo late as the year 1600. \Chart. in
Append, to Canfs Mufes T'hrenodie, p. 9.]

July 1 5'" — The quarrels between the Englifh and Flemings (not the
king of England and the earl of Flanders) had got to fuch a height,
that the commercial intercourfe between them was entirely fufpended
for fome time. But fuch an interruption being exceedingly diftrefsful
on both fides, the two fovereigns intcrpofed, and brought about a peace :
and thereupon King Edward now wrote to the fhirrefs of London and
all the maritime counties from York-ihire to Cormvall inciufive, and to
all bailifs and others, defiring them to allow the Flemings to enjoy free-
dom of trade without any moleftation, till next Chriftmas. In the en-
fuing November, however, there was another order, addrefled to all the
maritime counties of England : but whether it was in confequence of a
fubfequent rupture and accommodation, we are not informed. [Fcedera,
/^. iii, /)/). 718, 720, 741.] So very uncertain were the merchants in
thofe days, whether they fliould be received as friends, or feized as ene-
mies, in the country they v/ere failing to.

A vefltjl called the Little Edward, valued at only ^^40 fierling, loaded
with, 1.20 farplars * of wool, valued at ;^io each, the property of fix-

* Sarplera lanse, half a fack, or forty tods, of if Ainfworth is coircvS, was much larger than the
wool. {Ainf worth's Dlcl. Focah. injure An^l."] In farpltr of England. See Skene d^ -verb-fign. in -vc.
Scotland wool was reckoned by the ferplath, wliich, or below uoder the year 1425.

486 A. D. 1318.

teen fliippers, which was bound from London to Antwerp, had been
taken near Margate by the commander of a French fleet, who alfo land-
ed at Margate and carried off the fail and rudder *, which the feamen
had brought on-fhore. Compenfation not being obtained, though fen-
tence had been given in favour of the Englifh owners by the conftable
of France, then the regent of the kingdom, and the king of France
had been repeatedly applied to on the bufinefs, King Edward at length
ordered the French property in England to be arrefled, which produced
a promife from the king of France that the merchants fhould be fatisfied
before the firft of November. But they had received no compenfation
even in A.\)ril 1323, the reafon afligned for which was, that the veffe-i
and caig, ■ were the property of the Flemings, who were at war with
France at the time of the capture ; and, indeed, it is reafonable to fup-
pole, that a capture, made by a commiflioned officer of high rank,
could not be a mere a6l of piracy. [Fcedera, V. iii, pp. 730, 10 14.]

October 20"' — ^By the ftatute of York [c. 6] the officers of cities and
burghs, whofe duty it was to keep affifes of wines and vi6tuals, were
prohibited from dealing in thofe articles.

The king being defirous of confulting with judicious and prudent
merchants concerning the eftablilhment of the ftaple of wool in Flanders,
and other commercial matters, John of Cherieton, citizen of London
and mayor of the merchants of England f , who was furniihed by the
king's council with a particular flatement of the matters to be coniider-
ed, together with two merchants chofen out of every city and burgh
throughout the kingdom, were fummoned to meet at London in the
odaves of S'. Hilary, in order to deliberate upon thofe matters. [Foed-
era, V. iii, p. 740.] This is, properly fpeaking, the earlieft council of
trade known in Englifli hiftory or record, as the merchants appear to
have formed a board of themfelves, whereas thofe fummoned to Lin-
coln in the year 13 15 feem to have been called only to give informa-
tion, and perhaps advice, to the king's council, or parliament.

December 7"' — As the merchants of England fuffered great hardftiips
in confequence of the wars between the earls of Flanders and Holland,
King Edward fent ambafladors to endeavour to bring about an accom-
modation, and alfo wrote to both of them, and even to their friends,
£arneilly exhorting them to make peace. {Fadcra, V. ni, pp. 744, 745-]

J 31 9, March 25'' — King Edward wrote a long letter to Robert earl

■♦ * Velum et guberiiaculum.' Vtlum, in the fin- appointment to tlie ofScc of mayor of the Staple,

gular number, muft mean only one fail. [Rol. pal. fee. 15 Ei'.<w. II, m. 3 ; and 20 EdiL\ 11,

f The ftvtral notices concerning this gentleman m. 27. J He nuill not he confounded with another

put it out of doubt, that mayor of the nierchonis of John of Cherieton, his contemporary, who was a

England, the official title here given to him, and courtier and fomctimes a rtbcl. But he is probably

mayor of the Staple were I'yiwnimQus Urms. In the the perfon from whom tlie king demanded a loan

year 1321 he is called mayor of the Staj>le; and on of £l,oco in the year 1 5^6. IFailrra, V. v,/.

thf 30" of July 1326 the king gave htm a new 492,]

A. D. 1319. 487

of Flanders, complaining that many of his enemies of Scotland were
favourably received in the earl's dominions, where they obtained fup-
plies of men, armour, and provifions, and that many of the Flemings
alfo carried provifions, arms, and merchandize, to Scotland : and he
earneflly entreated him to prohibit all intercourle with the Scots, who
were laid under the fentence of the greater excommunication and an
interdid, fo that no good cathoUc could have any intercourfe with fuch
excommunicated rebels without involving himfelf in the penalties of-
the fame fentence. He alfo informed him, that, though he had hither-
to, from friendlhip to him, difmifTed the Flemings, who were taken
on their paflage to Scotland, without any punifliment, he fhould in fu-
ture ftation a fufficient number of fhips of war to intercept all who
fliould prefume to trade with thofe excommunicated rebels, and fhould
treat the Flemings as rigoroufly as the Scots. He concluded by admon-
ifhing the earl to reftrain his fubjeds from keeping up a damnable and
perilous intercourfe, left their folly fhould difturb the harmony and mu-
tually-advantageous commerce between England and Flanders, — He alfo
wrote letters of the fame import to the duke of Brabant, and to the
magiftrates of Bruges, Daan*, Newport, Dunkirk, Ypres, and Mechlin.
[Fcedera, V. iii,/". 759-}

There could be no doubt, tjiat, if the Flemings could have been com-
pelled to relinquifh the commerce, and abide the hoftility, of either na-
tion, that the trade of the Scots would not have been fo valuable, nor
their enmity fo formidable, as thofe of the Englifh. But, as the Ve-
netians in the beginning of the twelfth century had their ideas raifed,
by commercial intercourfe with various nations, above the apprehenfion
of the papal thunder, fo neither were the Flemings, who were now the
moft enlightened traders in the weftern parts of Europe, as the Vene-
tians had been in the Mediterranean, to be terrified by excommunica-
tions, which, they knew, could have little effeft, but what they fome-
times derived from the fimplicity of thofe againft whom they were ful-
minated f , nor to be prevented by papal bulls, or even the menaces of
the Englifh king, from profecuting their commerce with all nations :
and they well knew, that the wool, leather, and lead, the defirable ob-
jects of their trade with England, muft infallibly find their way to their
market, as being the beft one, in fpite of prohibitions and cruifers.
Therefor the earl in his anfwer to the king informed him (as he had al-
ready told Edward I) that Flanders being a country common to all
mankind, he could not deny free accefs to merchants, agreeable to an-

* I believe, this name ought rather to be Damm, cafion neither the Scots, though they thought it

a town between Bruges and the fea. decent and expedient to court the pope for a re-

\ I i^y fomctimes, becaufe the Venetians, in the verfal of his fentence, nor feveral foreign princes

niftance now alluded to, diTclaimed the pope's au- in nlliar.ce with therB,..paid any attention to it.
thority in their temporal afiairs ; ^■^A on this oc--

488 A. D. 13 19.

tient'cuftom, without bringing defolation and ruin upon his country:
but that, though the Scots frequented his ports, and his fubjeds traded
to the ports of Scotland, he had no intention to take part with them
in their war, nor to encourage them in their errors or crimes *. [Feed-
era, V. in,p. 770.]

The duke of Bretagne more obfequioufly informed his uncle, King
Edward, that he knew of no intercourfe between his fubjeds and the
Scots, and that he had prohibited all trade and intercourfe with them
in his territories. [Foedera, V. iii, p. 766.]

The magiflrates of Mechlin wrote a moft complaifant and flattering
letter, afliiring the king, that they were very much difpleafed with the
Scots for their offences againfl him, and that they had never admitted
them into their town, but had fuffered much upon the fea from the
Scots and their accomplices. Therefor they requefted that he would be
favourable to their burgefles, who would never carry any thing to the
coaft of Scotland, unlefs they (hould be driven upon it by ftrefs of
weather. The anfwers received from the magiflrates of Bruges and Ypres
were nearly of the fame nature with that of the earl, thofe of Ypres
adding, in order to footh their royal correfpondent, that, though they
had no authority to controU their fellow citizens, who were general
merchants, they would advife them not to go Scotland, nor have any in-
tercourfe with the Scots. [Foedera, V. in, pp. 765, 771.]

1320, June 18"" — The king underftanding that his ordinance for car-
rying wool and wool-fells only to one ftaple on the continent had been
very generally negledtedf, and the payment of the fines eluded, though
he had appointed inquifitors in various parts of the kingdom to difcover
who were liable to fines for tranfgreflions, fent orders from Dover, where
he now was on his way to France, to the collectors of the cufloms on
wool and wool-fells in the ports of London, Southampton, Weymouth,
Boflon, Kingflon upon Hull, Newcaftle, Yarmouth, Lynne, and Ipf-
wich, to be very flrid in fwearing the exporters, that the wool and wool-
fells entered for exportation were not entered under a falfe name, alfo
in taking fecurity for being anfwerable to the king for the fines which
might be incurred, and in receiving the cuftom duties before they fhould
permit the goods to be ftiipped. [Hak/ujt's Voiagcs, V. i, p. 142. — Kot.
pat. 13 Fdw. II, m. 8.]

Auguft 7''' — King Edward, at the requeft of the king of France,

* 111 ihc letter lie repeatedly mentioned the king f Malynes quotes a record in the office of the

'if the Scots, wliich mull have been peculiarly of- clerk of the pipe to prove that there were a mayor

fenfive to ILdward, who calhd the Scots his own and company of J/ii/>lirs at Antwerp in the twelfth

fuhjecls. — Notwithnanding the firmncfs of this year of Edward II. [_Cailcr of the circle of com-

denial, Edward again (April 1322) attempted to mcrce, p. 95."] We have already ften ample proof

perfuade the earl, that it woold be for his honour of their exiilence lix years earlier,
and advantage to prohiljit the Scottifh trade.
^Fadera, f. iii, />. 947.] • ^

A. D. 1320. 489

granted to the merchants of Amiens the privilege of being exempted,
together with their merchandize, from arrefl for any debts due to
merchants of England by the king of France, their fovereign. [Fcedera,
r.iii,/*. 844.]

There were perpetual caufes of complaint between the feamen of
England and thofe of Flanders. At a convention of deputies from both
countries the Flemings reprefented, that fome of their merchants, com-
ing home from various countries with wines and other merchandize,
had been robbed upon the fea of England near Crauden by fome Englifh
malefadtors, who carried their merchandize on fliore in England ; and
they prayed the king, as ' lord of the fea,' in virtue of his feigneury and
royal power, to puniih the crime committed within the bounds of his
dominion. The king and parhament granted, that jaftices fhould be
appointed by the king to try the caule, and to determine according to
law and reafon : and at the fame time meafures were concerted for re-
drefllng all grievances and damages on both fides. [Fcedera, T^. ui, p.
852.] Here it may be noted, that the dominion of the fea is afcribed
to the king of England by the minifters of a foreign prince, though
not, indeed, a prince of the firft, or royal, dignity : and it may be
added, that the fame was alfo done before by the deputies of feveral
other nations, when they wanted to induce King Edward I to make a
common caufe with them in recovering the veflels and cargoes feized
by Grimaldi, the Genoefe admiral in the fervice of France *. [See Sel-
derHs Mare claufimi, L. ii, c. 27.] But thefe matters lead to a controverfy
improper to be touched upon in this work.

The fifhmongers, who kept fhops upon Fifh wharf, ufed to fell her-
rings and other fifh, brought by land and by water, to the inhabitants,
and to hawkers who carried them through the ftreets. But the other
fifhmongers having entered into a combination to prevent the fale of
fifh by retail at that wharf, thofe of the wharf obtained the king's order
to the mayor and fhirrefs of London to permit them to continue to fell
herrings and other fifh, either in wholefale or retail, to all who chofe to
buy. [Rylej, Plac. pari. p. 399.]

1 32 1, May 3'' — By the articles of a truce, lately concluded between
England and Scotland, it was flipulated that the fubjecls of the two
kingdoms fhould have no intercoui'fe during the truce ; and that, if any
Scottifh vefi^els fhould be driven by ftrefs of weather upon the coafl of
England, or wrecked, they fhould be reflored, unlefs the king or any
other perfon might have a right to them as wreck. Agreeable to that
article. King Edward now ordered the magiftrates of Ravenfrode (or
Ravenfere) to inquire, whether the men and merchandize in a veflel,

* Whether Edward I or Edward II ever af- but we fliall fee Edward III, when preparing for
fumed the charafter of fovereign of the fea, dots war witli Fiance in the year 1336, claiming au an-
not, 1 believe, appear, from any avithentic voucher : tient hereditary' right to that dominion.

Vol. I. ' 3 Q.

490 A. D. 132 1.

lately arreted by them, were really Scottifli, and driven upon their coaft
by flrefs of weather, and if fo, to releafe them inftantly. A vefTel be-
longing to Dieppe in France, returning from Scotland, was alfo obliged
to take flicker in the fome port, where fhe was arrefted by the zealous
magiflrates, becaufe fhe had been trading to Scotland. At the requefl
of the king of France, Edward reflored the veflel and cargo, for this
time, to the owners, though he had a right to punifh them as adherents
to his enemies. But at the fame time he begged the king of France to
prohibit his fubjeds from having any intercourfe v/ith Scotland. [Fcedera,
V. in, pp. 879, 880.]

After the total expulfion of the Chriflians from Syria, Egypt again
became the entrepot of the greatefl part of the trade between the eaftern
and weflern regions of the world : and the fovereign of that country
took the advantage of what was almofl a monopoly in favour of his
fubje6ts to charge very heavy duties upon the tranfit of merchandize
through his dominions. Marino Sanuto, a noble Venetian, moved by
the hardfhips thereby brought upon the European traders, and burning
with catholic zeal, addrefled to the pope a work, entitled The fecrets of
the faithful^, v/herein lie propofed to fupprefs the Egyptian trade by an
armed force ; and to that work we are indebted for an ample accomit
of the Indian trade, as it was then conducted.

He fays, that formerly Indian goods were brought by the Perfian gulf
to Baldac (or Bagdad), and thence, by inland navigation and land car-
riage, to Antioch and Licia on the Mediterranean fea. In his own
time the fpiceries and other merchandize of India were moftly colleded
in two ports, which he calls Mahabar and Cambeth f, and thence tranf-
ported to Hormus (or Ormuz), to a fmall ifland called Kis, and to a port
(Baflbra) on the Euphrates, all which were fubjedt to the Tatar fove-
xeigns of Perfia. But the great bulk of the trade was conduded by the
agency of the merchants of the fouth part of Arabia (who had now re-
covered the trade of their remote anceflors) at the port of Ahaden, or
Aden, believed to be the antient city of Arabia Felix. From Aden the
goods were conveyed to Chus on the Nile, near the antient Coptos, and
thence forwarded by river crafc to Babylon ; and from it they were
floated down the river, and along an artificial canal to Alexandria. By
this route all bulky goods of inferior value, among which, however, are
reckoned not only pepper and ginger, but alio frankincenfe, and cinna-
mon, were conveyed. The duty charged by the fultan on fpiceries was
equal to one third of their value: and, as he permitted no Chriflians to

* The work of Sanuto forms the fecond vo- f He probably means by Mahabar the ccqjl oi
lumc of the colleftioii, edited by Bongarlius un- Malabar, the civoif port of wliich was CalicJC ; and
•der the title of GrJJa Del per Francos; and \vc are by Cambeth, the country of Cambay.
informed in the preface, tliat it was begun in the
vear 1306, and prefented to the pope in 132 1.

A. D. 132 1. 491

pafs through his territories, and his fubjcds had thereby a monopoly of
all the trade in that channel, the prices of India goods were now much
higher in Europe, than when they were chiefly conveyed by the inland
route of Bagdad and Antioch. The moft valuable goods, fuch as cu-
bebe, fpikenard, cloves, nutmegs, and mace, flill continued to be brouglit
from Bagdad and Thorifium * to various ports on the coaft of the Me-
diterranean : and by that route many Chriflian merchants had already
penetrated to India. Though this conveyance was more expenfive, fome
of the articles, fuch as ginger and cinnamon, were from 10 to 20 per
cent f better than thofe brought by the longer water carriage, efpecially
the ginger, which was apt to heat and be wafted, if kept long onboard
the veflel.

Sanuto, envying the fultan and the Saracens the great revenues and
profits they derived from filk and fugar, obferves, that the later grows in
Cyprus, Rhodes, Amorea, and Marta %. He adds, that it would grow in
Sicily and other Chriftian countries, if there were demand for it §. Silk,
he fays, is produced in confiderable quantities in Apulia, Romania,
Sicily, Crete, and Cyprus, and the quantity might be increafed. Though
flax abounds in the Ghriftian countries, the Egyptian fpecies, on ac-
count of its fuperior quality, is carried to the fartheft extremities of
the Weft ; and the Egyptian manufadures of linen, and of filk, and
others of linen mixed with iilk, as alfo dates and caftia-fi^ftula, are carried
in Chriftian and Saracen vefl'els to Turkey ||, Africa, the Black fea, and
the weftern parts of Europe.

He obferves, that the fultan's dominions produce no gold, filver,
brafs, tin, lead, quickfilver, coral, or amber, which are carried to them
by the Mediterranean fea, and bring in a vaft revenue in duties paid
upon them at Alexandria, which are, on gold 6f per cent ; on filver at
Cairo 10 per cent, but to fome, by favour, only 34- ; on brafs about 25 :
tin 20, &c. and thofe are the articles, which are moft valuable to his
fubjedts in their trade with Ethiopia and India. Great quantities of oil,
honey, nuts, almonds, faffron, and maftic, all of them paying heavy
duties at Alexandria ; alfo filk, cloth, wool, and other goods, are car-
ried to the fultan's dominions, and contribute to enrich him and his

* Thorifiuni, according to De Guignes, [Mem. when the name of Morea fuperfeded that of Pe-

cU Un. V. xxxvii, p. 507] was Tauris in Adher- loponnefus.
bigian, the antieiit Media. § He did not know that fugar had been culti-

f ' A decern ad viginti pro centenario.' Here vated in Sicily long before,
and clfewhere in his work we have the modern way || Turkey innft here mean Afia Minor, at this

of rating at fo much per cent. Earher authors time occupied by tlie Turks. Sanuto elfewhtre

generally reckon by one twentieth, one tenth, one fays, that Turkey was antiently called Greece :

fiftlh, one third, &c. and Sanuto lometimes does but the application of that name to the coaft of

the fame. For the firft undoubted appearance of Afia, if, 1 believe, fcarcely warranted by any aa-

the calculation /■£7- cin/, fee above, p. 393. tient authority. — Querc, if the blundering correc-

+ Thefe are apparently the Morca and Malta, tion of a tranfcriber ?
But I cannot at prcfent detetniine the cxaft liiUL-,

3 0.2

492 A. D. 1321.

fubiedts. Sometimes the failure of the overflow of the Nile occafions a
famine in Egypt, as happened after the lofs of Aeon and Syria. In
fuch a calamity, the Egyptians, if not fupplied with corn Carried to
them by the Mediterranean, mufl emigrate or perifli *. As Egypt pro-
duces no timber, iron, or pitch, and procures all thofe materials for
building vefTels by the Mediterranean lea, if the importation of them
were withheld, the fultan would lofe his duties of one fourth of the
value paid on thofe articles, and three byfants annually from every
velTel, whether large or fmall ; and the merchants and artificers in Ba-
bylon, and alfo the fultan with his admirals and army in Cairo, would
ftarve for want of the corn, which is brought by water from all parts
of the country.

Sanuto, having endeavoured to prove, that the Egyptians were de-
pendent upon the Chriflians for the fupply of their wants, as well as for
the fale of their redundant native commodities and manufadures and
their imported merchandize, propofes that, in order to transfer the
commercial advantages, now engroffed by them, to the Chriflians, and
to accomplifh the pious work of recovering the Holy land, the prohi-
bition of trading with the fubjedts of the fultan (fee above, p. 451)
fliould be moft rigoroufly, and univerfally, enforced by flationing a fuf-
licient number of armed gallies upon the fea ; and he alfo recommends
a military force in proper places upon the land, becaufe gallies cannot
keep the fea in ftormy weather, nor do they willingly keep out in win-
ter nights, and even in fummer they cannot be many days at fea with-
out landing for frefli water, and alfo, becaufe tranfgreflx)rs, laying afide
the fear of God, go to the fultan's territories, where they are kindly
received, and find no difficulty in landing their cargoes on their re-
turn.

The prohibition of trade ought alfo to extend to all Africa and the
Saracen dominions in Spain, the confequence of which would be a con-
fiderable diminution of the trade of the fultan's dominions, which is
very much fupported by the trade with thofe countries. Neither ought
any trade to be carried on with the coaft of Turkey, which was an-
tiently called Greece ; for there many veflfels are loaded with timber,
pitch, Chriftian and pagan boys and girls, and other merchandize, for
the fultan's dominions, and in return import fugar, fpiceries, and linen,
fufficient for the fupply of other countries as well as their own. — And,
as the only means to prevent fmuggling, let no Chriftian purchafe or
receive any fpicery or Indian merchandize, filk, fugar, or linen, which
may be fufpeded to come from the fultan's dominions. Let the captain
of the holy church carry on a perpetual and univerfal perfecution againft

* Sanuto did not fiippofe that there exiftcd any pcrfon in Egypt, endowed with the forefight o£
Jofcph, to make the redundance of one year provide for the deficiency of another.

A. D, 1321, 493

the Saracens and thofe perfidious Chriflians who mfringe this mojl hlejjhd
command: and let him take efpecial care that no iron be carried to Ar-
menia, which is adjacent to the fultan's country. Let ten gallies be
commi/Iioned, till your Holinefs can provide more. They will cofl
15,000 florins, and, allowing 250 men for each galley, the whole ex-
penfe, including pay, provifions, and other neceflaries, for nine months,
will amount to 70.000 florins : and, in order to quicken their diligence,
let all prizes be fliared entirely among themfelves.

He proceeds to fl;atc the complement of men of every defcription for
a galley, and gives many efl:imates and nautical inftrudlions, together
with a vaft deal of information refpeding the vefl^els of the age, which
the brevity neceflarily ftudied in this work will not permit me to enter
upon any further than jufl; to note the places, from which he propofes
to draw the befl: feamen for manning his fleet. Befidcs thofe of Italy,
he fays, good feamen may be found in Germany, and efpecially in the
farthefl: parts of the archbiflioprick of Bremen, in Frifeland, Holland,
and Zeland, Holfl;ein, and Slavia (where he himfelf had been, probably
Slefwick) Hamburgh, Lubeck, Wifmar, Rofl:ock, Xundis, Gufpinal, and
Sedin *, and alfo in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway f . He has alfo
an eftimate of the expenfe of a land army, which, however, mufl: be
carried by water; and he gives ample direftions for providing arms, and
warlike engines ; fo that he may jufl:ly be called the Vegetius of the
middle ages.

But his projedt of depriving the Mohamedans of their trade by the
operation of ten gallies, which were to keep the fea only nine months,
and only during the day-light, w^hile he acknowleges the fultan's marine
to be very llrong, is much like Captain Bobadil's fcheme, in the play,
of killing a whole army by the prowefs of twenty gentlemen like him-
felf. Both forget, that their adverfaries will not confetti to be driven out
of their trade or to be killed. — But fuppofing it had been pofllble for
the pope, by the fl:rength of his own treafury, or by drawing the princes
of Europe into a new crufade, to have muftered a fufficient force, what
was the objeft to be accomplifhed ? To pervert the free courfe of trade,
which as naturally flows in the channel which prefents the lighteft
charge or cheapefl; purchafe (and that by his own account was Alex-
andria) as water glides into the vallies \. It is furprifing that a Vene-
tian fliould have conceived fuch contraded anticommercial ideas, fo un-

* Xuiidis and Gufpinal are places unknown to and made tlie emperors of Conftantinople tremble

me. Sedlin is probably Stettin. for the exiftence of their empire, are entirel)' omit-

f The natives of our Britifli iflands, and even ted in his enumeration of maritime nations,
the Catalans, who, as Mediterranean navigators, + A iimile ufed (I mean abufedj by himfelf,

ought to be well known to him, and who had on p.,2 5- 4

feme occafions rode mafters of the Mediterranean^

494 -^« ^' 132 1«

like the general liberality of mind and commercial wifdom of his coun-
trymen *.

1322 — Among the various orders for colledling provifions for the
army fent againfl Scotland, we find one for nine thoufand quarters of
wheat and other provifions f , to be fent from Ireland. [Rot. pat. prim.
16 Edzv. II, m. 20.] This of itfelf, if it was really accomplifhed, was
no trifling exportation of grain from Ireland, confidering the flate the
country mufl have been in, after being the theatre of war between the
Englilh and the Scots.

May 7'" — King Edward, after having again attempted to perfuade the
earl of Flanders, that it would be for his honour and advantage to pre-
vent his fubje6ls from trading with the Scots, and finding that the Flem-
ings were fo far from being perfuaded by his arguments, that they rather
aded as the allies of the Scots by taking the veflels, which were carry-
ing provifions to his army, now ordered the magifi:rates of Yarmouth
and the barons of the Cinque ports to have the fhipping of their diftrids
ready to ad againfl the Flemings upon the fliorteft notice. \Foedera, V.
iii,//). 947, 949, 951.]

1323, April — Robert, the lleady earl of Flanders being dead, his
grandfon Louis was more pliant to the requifitions of King Edward, and
promifed to debar the Scots from trading in his territories, and to pro-
hibit his fubjecls from furnifliing any fupplies to them. The king, in
return, granted the Flemings all the freedom of trade they had former-
ly enjoyed in England, and moreover exempted them from being liable
for the debts of others, or for bypaft tranfgreflions againfl the charter
of the ftaple. {Ycxdera., V. iu, pp. 1006, 1007.]

This year the fame earl eftablifhed the magiftracy and court-houfe of
ihe Francoxates at Bruges, which he declared to be the fixed emporium
of his territories. He alfo decreed, that no cloth fhould be manufad-
ured nor fold at Sluys ; and he prefcribed what kinds of merchandize
fliould be fold at Sluys, and what kinds at Damm, Honks, and Mona-
chorede. [Mcyeri Ann. Flandr.f. 125 b.]

April 16"' — The people belonging to five Venetian gallies lying at
Southampton had lately got into a fquabble with the inhabitants of that

* Some of his countrymen went to the oppofite Mem. hlfl. de Barcelona, V. i, Com. p. 47-] Sanuto
extreme, and fupphed tlic Saracens witli arms, and liimfelf informs us, that a more vigorous prohibi-
provifions, for which they were pimidrtd hy Ed- tion had been ordered immediately after the tx-
ward prince of England, when tlicy fell into his puliion of the Chriftians from ralelline. So it
hands in the year 1270, probably In confequcnce appears, tiial tlicre was nothing new in his pro-
of the bull itfued by Pope Gregory X, prohibit- pofal.

iiig all communication with the infidels, and par- f ' Frunlcnli ac al' victual.' In the Latin of

liculaily with the fultan of Egypt. In the year thofc agesyi-umc/i/wm generally fignifics wheat, and

1274 James i, king of Aragon, at tlie dciirc of I'ifluaV may be other corns. In many parts of the

the fame pope, prohibited the exportation of iron, country vi'iiial h Hill a genctrtl teiiu for uil kinds

<rrms, fhip limber, corn and other provifiom, to of corn,
the Saracens. {^IValfingham, p. ^"Ji.—C'ipmniiyi

A. D. 1323. 495

town and the Ille of Wight, and much mifchief had been done to the
country, and feveral lives had been loft on both fides. The merchants
of Venice, dreading the revenge of the country, or the rigour of the
law, which, they knew, would take hold of any of them; as well as of
the individuals really guilty, abflained from trading to England till the
affair could be accommodated. For a fum of money they had already
obtained from John of the Ifle of Wight an engagement that neither
he nor any of his dependents fhould ever take vengeance, or demand
any further fatisfadlion, for the murders and robberies committed on
that occafion. The king alfo, unwilling to lofe the advantage of their
commerce, granted them an ample pardon, with afliirance of fecurity
in trading in his dominions, as long as they carried on fair trade, and
paid the due cufloms *. [Foedera, V. in, pp. 1008, loii.]

May 30^'' A truce was concluded between England and Scotland for

thirteen years, wherein the articles of the former one, prohibiting in-
tercourfe between the two nations, and refpeding the fhips of the Scots,
and their property in other fliips, forced upon the coafl of England by
ftrefs of weather f , were the fame as in the preceding truce, with the
additional condition, that no merchants belonging to any other country,
except countries at war with England or Scotland, fhould meet with any
obftrudion in trading to either kingdom. [Fcedera, V. iii,^. 1022.]

June 4'*' — It is probable, that the vefTels of Majorca traded to Flan-
ders, as we find, that, in confequence of a complaint, made by the
king of that ifland, of his fubjeds being plundered upon the fea by the
Englifh \, King Edward promifed to give every kind of juftice and
favour to any merchants of Majorca, who ihould trade to England.
[Foedera, V. iix, p. 1028.]

November 24'' — In an ordinance for the ftate of Ireland, all merch-
ants, natives or foreigners, are authorized to carry corn and other pro-
vifions and merchandize to England and Wales, unlefs they fliould be
taken by the juflice (or viceroy) by advice of the council in a cafe of
"neceffity, on paying the due and ufual cuftoms, and giving fecurity that
they fhould not go to Scotland or any other country at war with England.
[^Foedera, V. iv, p. 24.]

1324, March 10'" — The king fummoned the maritime towns on the
fouth coafl to aflemble their largefl velfels at Portfmouth, fufficiently
manned and provided wich landing bridges and clays §, for carrying fol-

* The pardon was ratified in parliament on tht; | This is the fame violence which the king of

lo"" of March 1324 by the king, prelates, and Aragon alfo complained of, the two gallies taken

nobles. [^Fadera, F. iv, fi. 39.] being the property of fubjefts of Majorca, and the

f There is no reciprocal ftipulation for the pro- cargoes belonging to a fubjcft of Aragon, who

tettion of Englifh veiTels thrown upon the coa'i of itated that he had put goods onboard them in

■Scotland. It was apparently fo far ont of the Flanders. \_Fmdera, V. \\',pp. 15, 82, 83, 1 30.]
traA of Englilh trading vcffels, that no fuch acci- J ' Clayas,' a word not well underftood : pcr-

dent was expeded ever to happen. haps hurdles {clayes in French) for majcing tem-
porary

496 A. D. 1324.

diers and horfes at his expenfe over to his duchy of Aquitaine. The
following are the quotas ordered from each port.

Southampton 6 veflels Seaford i Boldre - i

Sandwich 4 Shoreham 2 Yarmouth in Wight 2

Winchelfea 6 Weymouth 10 Pooleanditsmem- 1

Rye 2 Portfmouth i bers j ^

Faverfham i Hamelhok i [Fadera, V. iv, p. 40.]

July 22'^ — Afterwards, underftanding that warlike fhips were getting
ready in all the ports of Normandy, he ifTued orders to all the ports of
England to equip all their veflels to act as fhips of war again ft the
French. He at the fame time defired that they would lay afide all ani-
mofities againft their fellow fubjeds of England or of his city of
Bayonne, and that they would moleft no vefl^l belonging to Flanders
or any other country not fubje<S to the king of France *. [Fa'dera, V.
iv, p. 73.]

This year the king refumed the prerogative of feizing wrecks for his
ov^oi ufe f , which had been relinquilhed by Henry I and feveral other
kings, and alfo claimed all the whales and great fturgeons taken in the
fea, except in certain privileged places. \^Ad 17 Edw. II, c. 11.]

1325, January 5* — King Edward, being very defirous to obtain the
friendftiip of the king of Caftile (or Spain) to fupport him in the war
with which he was threatened by France, granted to all the nobles,
merchants, mafters of Ihips, mariners, and other fubjeds of that king,
permiflion to trade freely in his Britifh and French dominions, they
paying cuftoms and other ufual charges, and being anfvverable for all
contrads and tranfgreflions. And in order further to gratify the Spanifh
king, he promifed that his fubjeds fhould not be liable to arreft for any
matters formerly in difpute. {Fadera, V. iv, p. 118.]

February 26'" — The king renewed the grant of freedom of trade to
the Venetians, and added the now-ufual exemption from arreft for the
debts and crimes of others. But he alfo added a condition, that they
fhould have no communication whatever with his enemies or opponents.
[Fadera, V. iv, p. 138.]

May 7'*' — A vefTel having failed to Portugal with goods in order to
take in return a cargo of corn and other provifions to carry to Aqui-
taine, King Edward took fo much concern in the fuccefs of the voyage,

porary ftalls for the horfcs ; perhaps cleats (crofs * Walfingham \_p. 507] fays, that the navy of

liars) nailed upon the bridges to prevent tiie horfcs England this year took a tiimdrcd vcffcls belong-

from flipping.— -In Fatlera, V. v,p. 6, wc find the ing to the one province of Normandy. But he

king orders the fhirrcfs to provide timber and brufli often exaggerates.

(' bufcam') for conltruftinjj clays, bridges, boards, f An article in the truce with Scotland in the

racks, &c. for tranfporting horfcs; and in/>. 814, year 1319 gives room to believe, that the cruel

he orders 2,500 clays (' claias') along with eight prerogative of wreck had been lofumed before thai,

bridges of 20 feet long, and fcvcn of 14 feet, for tin e. See above, p. 489.
(hipping horfes.

A. D. 1325. 497

that he wrote to the king of Portugal, and alfo to his mother, to folicit
their favour to the owner. [Fcedera, V. iv,p. 146.] This deferves no-
tice chiefly as a proof of the Portuguefe then having corn for exporta-
tion, which has feldora, if ever, been the cafe, fince their wine came
into general demand in this country.

May — The great manufacturing and trading cities of Flanders aded
in feveral refpeds as communities, or republics, independent of their
earl, whofe power was very fir from being abfolute. At this time the
magiflrates and community of Bruges appear as principals in a nego-
tiation for a folid peace and accommodation of all damages, homicides,
and quarrels, between the fubjeds of the king of England and thofe of
their dearly beloved lord the earl of Flanders, for the benefit of com-
merce ; and they engaged, for themfelves and the good towns of Ghent
and Ypres, to ratify whatfoever fhould be agreed by their burgomafter,
whom they deputed as their procurator. King Edward, by his com-
miilioners, agreed with him and the procurators of Ghent and Ypres
to continue the truce with thofe cities and all the people of Flanders
till Eafter 1326 (and it was afterwards prolonged) and gave them per-
milhon to trade during the truce, as ufual, in England ; and he more-
over granted them exemption from arreft for debts or crimes not their
own, and for any tranfgrefllons againft his charter of the wool flaple, on
condition that equal indulgences Ihould be granted to his fubjeds in
Flanders. [Fa-^em, V. vj^pp. 147, 151, 188, 199, 207.] As this flipu-
lation for reciprocal advantages does not appear in the grants made to
the merchants of the more diftant countries of Venice, Majorca, or even
Spain, the abfence of it affords at leafl a prefumption, that no Englifh
veffels failed, or were expeded to fail, fo far from home. But it is alfo
omitted in grants to the iperchants of nearer countries, to which Englifli
veflels did fail : and it muft be obferved, that thofe writings are not
treaties between contrading powers, but g?-ants conceived in the lan-
guage of favour, and confequently the only reciprocity, that there could
be in fuch cafes, muft have been expreffed alfo vsx grants from the other
parties, which may have exifted, though now loft.

The coals of Newcaftle were now known and defired in foreign coun-
tries, as appears by a voyage made this year by a merchant of France
to that town with a cargo of com, in return for which he carried home
a cargo of coals. [Brand's Hrji. of Newca/ile, V. ii, p. 254.]

1326, July 20"' — King Edward, being driven, by misfortunes crowd-
ing upon him, to fluduation in his counfels, had revoked the charter
for holding the ftaple upon the continent, and appointed fome places in
his own kingdom * for the fale of wool, wool-fells, hides, and tin ; and

* I do not find the names of any of them ex- Itifm, probably came to nought upon the fall of

cept Cardiff in Wales, a town belonging to Hugh the favourite, which enfucd almoft. immediately

Defpenfer. [/fo;. fat. fee, 19 Ed-w. II, m. 5.J after.
But that eftablidiment, being a meafure of favour-

Vol. I. 3 R

498 A. D. 1326.

he now gave orders, that all foreign merchants, except the fubjeds ot
the kmg of prance, fhould have freedom of coming and going in fafe-
ty ; and to that intent he ordered the fhirrefs to take fuflficient fecurity
from the feamen of every vefTel before they failed, that they fhould not
commit hollilities againfl: any friendly veffels. He gave his admirals the
fame inftruAions for preferving inviolate peace with all neutral nations,
and efpecially with the Flemings and Bretons, whom he had taken un-
der his protedion. In a few weeks after he ordered all the fliipping of
the eafl; coaft of the kingdom from the mouth of the Thames north-
ward to Holy ifland *, doubly furnilhed with arms and provifions for
one month, to be ready at Erewell (or Orewell) to receive his further
orders for proceeding againfl his enemies. [Foedefa, V. '\v,pp. 218, 219,

225-]

We have now the firfl certain knowlege of reprefentatives from the

cities and biirghs forming a conflituent part of the parliament of Scot-
land.— In the firft treaty upon record between France and Scotland, in
the year 1295, John king of Scotland mentions the communities, or
corporations, of the towns ; but they do not appear as compofing any
part of the legiflative body. In a parliament, held by King Robert I in
1323, the burghs do not appear to ha^-e been reprefented : and in the
confirmation of a truce with England, in the fame year, Robert fays, it
is done with the confent of the bifhops, earls, and barons ; but he has
not a word of any reprefentatives of burghs. \Fcedera, V. ii, pp. 696,
698 ; V. iii,/. 1030.] But in a parliament of the fame king, held this
year, we find the burghs forming the third eftate in parliament, and
confenting to an aid granted to the king f . \Stat. Rob. I, in Karnes's
Law tracts, append. «'. 4.]

1327, April 29'*' — In early times the aldermen of London were pro-
prietors of the wards, which were conveyed by hereditary fucceffion or
purehafe X- They, together with the mayor, flairrefs, and fome eledlors

* There are forty ports mentioned in the fum- \_Scotichron. V. '\\,p. 90] when copying Wyntown's
monfcs : but as there are no rated quotas of vcfTels narrative, and comparing it with two other author-

;ni-

to (how tlieir relative importance, I have not ities, alfo omits the burgcfl'ts. It may be reme
thought it worth while to infcrl their bare names. bered, that biirgcfTcs were not then introduced in-
+ It ought, however, to be recoUcfted here, to the parliament of England. Under the year
that in the year 1209 the buighs granled King 1357 the carlidl knoivu lilt of Scottifli town« re-
William a fnbfidy of 6,000 marks, (fe above, p. prefcnted ii) parliament will be given.
•37c.) But whether they did fo of duty, as hold- \ Stow begins his account of the ward of
ing lands of tiic king in thi-ir corporate capacity, Farringdon by a dedutkion of the property
or as a fpontaneous mark of their afTeflion to their of it, as follows. It belonged fucceflively to
fovereign, or as occafional members of ihe legifla- Ankeiin de Avern, Ralph Arderne, his fon
tive body, docs not appear. The hurgefi'LS of Thomas Arderne, Ralph le Feure by purehafe in
Scotland, mentioned by Wyntown, [^/-sny//, ^ i, 1277, John le Feure, William Farendon by pur-
* sgrT as exprcffing, along with the barons and chafe in 1279, ^'"^ '"* '^"" Nicolas Farendon, and
prelates, '.heir difapprobation of lome negotiations his heirs, wliofe name the two wards formed out
with the king of England, muft not be fuppofed of it (till retain. Thofe whom Fitz-Stephen, in
a collective, or Icgidative, body. They are not his afftded Latin, calls confuls of the regions of
noticed ill the Chronicle of Mclros ; and Bowar, the city in the reign of Henry II, were probably

proprietary

A. D. I

327-

499

deputed from each ward, eledted the mayor, and other city officers *.
But they do not appear to have been noticed, at leafl: by the kings, as
principal conftituent members of the corporation of the city, all writs
or mandates (at leafl as far as I can find from any acceflible records) be-
ing addrefled to the mayor and bailifs (or bailies, ' balivis'), till nowf,
that the king ordered the mayor, aldermen, and whole community of
London, and the mayor and bailifs, or the bailifs, of other cities and towns,
to provide as many men as they were able, properly furnifhcd with arms
and horfes, for his fervice. [Foedera, V. '\v,p. 287.]

July — Gun-powder, which was undoubtedly made by Roger Bacon
in the thirteenth century, is faid to have been invented in the year
1330 by Barthold Schwartz, a German apothecary, whofe procefs of
making it became public, and was foon followed by the invention of
cannons, then called bombards. That the invention, or rather re-in-
vention, of it was earlier, is evident from the ufe of it in war being now
known in England, as appears from the Scottifh poet Barber, who (in
hk Life of Kw^ Robert, p. 40S, eri. 1758) relates, that the Englifh now
had guns of fome kind, which he calls cracks of ivar, at the battle, or
fkirmifh, on the banks of the Were, and that the Scots had never before
heard any iMQ)a. cracks. But in the year 1339 ^^ Scots ufed cannons to
batter the walls of Stirling caflle, which they probably received from
France %. [FroiJJart, L. i, c. 74.]

proprietary aldeimen. In the year 1266 the al-
dermen of London, together with the baih'fs, be-
came bound for the payment of ,^500, due by the
king to fome merchants of Doway. \_MadoK's
Ftrma hurgi, p. 136; and fee u'fo p. 14.]

* &ee Brady on burghs, p. 22, who quotes the
records in the city's archives, as does alfo Strype
in liis Survey of London, B, v, p. 73. Both thefe
authors wrote after the great fire, which deftroyed
fome of the records. But thofe llill remaining,
are, by fubfequent misfortunes, and removals in ,
confequence of new buildings, in fuch a confufed
ftate (as they appeared when I faw them by the
favour of Mr. Woodthorpe, the city clerk) that
they will require the labour of a perfon verfed in
antiquarian literature to arrange them, and make
a catalogue of them, before they can be rendeied
ufeful.

•}• The lad writ I find addrefled to the mayor
and bailifs of London, is dated 2S"' September
1326. [Fadera, V. iv, />. 234.] But the other
cities and towns, as far as I can iee, were governed
by bailifs, either in conjunflion with, or without,
a mayor : nor was the title of bailif generally fu-
perfeded by that of alderman, till many years after
this time. \_See above, p. 438, and Fadera, V. iv,
pp. ep, 234, 288, 668, 718, &c. &c.] In the
year 1336 we find the mayor, the bailif, and two
aldermen, of Cambridge ; and aldermen of Oxford

and fome other towns appear afterwards. \_Rot.
pat, prim. 10 Ediv. Ill, m. 32 ; prim. 20 Fd'W.
ill, (ergo, 30. — Fadera, F. v, pp. 353, 254 — See
alfo Spelman, Glcjf. vo. .^Idermiuinus ctvilulis.

It may be oblerved, as a curious circumftance,
that England and Scotland have in fome degree
made an exchange of the titles of magiftracy, every
city and town in the former being at prefent go-
verned by a mayor and feveral aldermen, and al-
moft every one in the later by a provoft and feveral
bailies, the titles of mayor and alderman being ut-
terly forgotten. See above, pp. 297, 446, and
below, under the year 1 557.

^ Some have afferted that the firft appearance
of guns of any kind was in the year 1350 ; others
fay that they were firft ufed at the battle of CrefTy
in 1346 by the Englifli ; and Polydorc Vergil
was fo ill informed as to fay that they were fiifl:
ufed in the year 1300 by the Venetians, who were
taught by the difcoverer of gun-powder. That
man wrote a book exprefsly upon the Invealcrs cf
things, and alfo a Hi/lory cf Eiigla:4d, without
knowing any thing of the date of lo important a
change in the method cf carrying on war. The
Moorifli king of Grenada in the year 1 33 1 had
guns, which fnot balls ot iron capable of throw-
ing down walls. [_Zurita, ^Innales de Aragon, V.
">/• 99 ^-1 "^^^ "'^ "^ guns was even common
before the year 1334, as appears from a curious

dialogue

500 A, D. 1327.

King Edward this year granted a patent in favour of the manufadur-
ers of fluffs made of worfted in Norfolk: and foon after an infpedor
and meafurer ofthofe fluffs was appointed. \_Rot. pat. fee. 2 Edw. Ill,
a tergo, a.nd prim. 3 Ediv. Ill, m. 1.] This is probably the earliefl ex-
tant notice of a manufadture which has become an objed: of great im-
portance in that part of the country *.

There is fome difcordance in the various accounts of the introduction
of filk-worms and the manufadure of filk in Italy. When the Venetians
became maflers of thofe provinces of the Greek empire, which were the
chief feats of the filk trade, they furely did not negledl: to tranfport the
manufacture at leaft, if not alfo the worms, to their own Italian or Dalma-
tian territories : and it is alfo reafonable to fuppofe, that the Genoefe,
when they got poffeflion of Galata, did not fail to tranfplant fuch lucrative
branches of induftry to their mother country. It is certain, that in the year
1306 the bufinefs of rearing filk-worms was fo far advanced in Modena,
that it yielded a revenue to the ftate ; and as the filk of Modena was
then efleemed faperior to that of the other cities of Lombardy, it is
evident, that other cities alfo cultivated that branch of induftry. In
1327, whether the filk trade of Modena was then falling off, or the ma-
giftrates were defirous of augmenting the revenue derived from it, they
made a law, that every proprietor of an inclofure in the city's territory
Ihould plant at leaf! three mulberry trees, and that all the cocons fliould
be publicly fold in the ftreet, the buyer and the feller paying each one
Ihilling to the city. The Bononians (or Bolognians) alone poffeffed the
machinery for twitting the filk ; and the Modenefe were obliged to fend
their filk to be thrown by ttiem till the beginning of the fixteenth cen-
tury, when they acquired the art of fabricating fuch machinery for
themfelves ; and from them it has fpread to the other cities of Italy,
and in time to other countries. We are told, however, that after the
year 1300 the filk manufacture flourilhed chiefly at Florence, where

dialogue in Petrarch. [Di- rmifJio utrhifjue for- impoitant and imiverfal a revolution tliey have ef-

tur.t, p. 84. cd. Bafil.'j About tl\e year 1344 fcfted in human alfairs, and that they have in no

gunners made a part of the military ellahliflimciit i'niall degree contributed to confer upon Europe,

of Edward III king of England. [^Sfielman, Glcijf. a pre-eminence over the larger quarters of the

va. Bomiarila.'] And the idea of them was fo fa- world, and efpccially to give the Britidi navy an

miliar in his reign, that Chaucer (afcribing," as acknowlcged fuperiority upon the Ocean, whence

then ufual with poets, the manners of his own age the Britilli commerce derives a ptoteilion and

to antient times) Irjlroduces guns in his defcription fafcty beyond that of every other nation, in every

of Antony's (lu'p, and alio in his book of Fame, quarter of the globe.

U^ 200 a, i82 a, ed. IJ9S.] Gun-powder and * Camden fays, that the Dutch, flying from
cannons are fuppofed by fome to have been ufed the perfecution of the duke of Alva in the fix-
by the natives of India againd Alexander the tcenth ceutury, Jtrjl introduced the mauufadlure
Great. But thi» I (liall not pretend cither to af- of light ftufls at Norwicii. l/iri/annia, f>. .547.]
firm or deny. ' ,And the prcfident Dc Thou \_Hi/2. Jul temporis, L.
Thefc brief hints of fome of the early notices of xlvi] fays the fame. But the teftmiony of both
gun-powder and guns, though more ftriftly belong- thole refpeilable writers mull give way to the
iiig to military tiiau commercial hillory, will not be furcr evidence of records.
tlecxncd imptrtintnt by ^hofe wKo confider how i

A. D. 1327. 501

many thoufand people were employed in it. But Textrini fays, that be-
fore the pillage of Luca in the year 1314 the filk manufacture flourifli-
ed only in that city *, which thereby abounded in riches ; and that from
it the workmen v/ere difperfed through the other cities of Italy, particu-
larly Venice f, Florence, Milan, and Bononia ; and fome went even to
Germany, France, and Bretagne$. [Muratori Antiq. V. ii, coll. 406, 408,
895, 896, 897.]

1328, January — ^The magiflrates of London having reprefented to the
king, that criminals ufed to fet juftice at defiance by pafling over to
Southwark, to which their authority did not extend, he gave them a
grant of the bailiwick of that burgh, at the ufual yearly rent of ten
pounds §. But Southwark was not properly incorporated with London
till the 2^ of April 1549, foon after which it was made one of the
wards of the city, and had an alderman and the other officers of a ward.
[Chart, in camera Lond. quoted in Strype's ed. oj Stozv''s Survey, V. \\, p. i.]

This year the ordinance of the ftaple was annulled by parliament ;
and entire liberty was given to all merchants, ftrangers or natives, to
go and come with their merchandize, according to the tenor of the
Great charter. [AB. 2 Edzv. Ill, c. 9.]

The king and his council (or parliament) enaded, that all foreign
cloths ihould be meafured by the king's meafurer in prefence of the
magiflrates of the place where they were landed. The flatute meafure
for cloth of raye|| was 28 elns in length, meafured by the lift, and 6^-
quarters in breadth, and for cloth of colour 26 elns in length, meafured
by the ridge or fold, and 6~ quarters in breadth, to be meafured with-
out opening (' fanz defoler') the cloth ^. The mayor and bailifs of the
towns where the cloth was landed, were required to attend, when called
by the meafurer, and to mark the cloths found agreeable to the lland-

* Muratori hefitates in giving credit to Tex- who defires to have information concerning the

trini. — ' Si fides Nicolao Textriao'. — And indeed various fpecles of filk goods made in the middle

his account is completely confuted by the laws of ages, may perufe the twenty-fifth diflertation of

Modena, which are copied from the originals by Muratcri's Antiquities, wherein ail the luxury of

Muratori himfclf. But fome families of filk-weavers drefs is difplayed.

undoubtedly went from Luca to Venice ; [&nrt7 ^7. ^ That rent was far below what it paid in the

de Vinezta, V. i,/>/>. 247, 256] and thence they have time of William the Conqueror,
been fuppofed the founders of the filk manufacture || Striped cloth, as it is explained by Stow,

there, jull as tlic Flemifh woollen manufafturers, \Jiurvey of London, at the year 1353, in his lijl of

who removed to England in the reign of Edward temporal governors, z.\x^d.% the word raji^ is ftill ufed

III, have almoft obliterated the memory of the in French. J Thomas earl of Lancailer (accorc'.ing

earlier Flemilh colony in the reign of William the to an account of the expcnfes of his houfeliold in

Conqueror. the year 1314, given by Stow, p. 134) had ' four

f We learn from Doftor Mofeley, \T'reatife on * clothes ray for carpets' in his haU. And tliis is

fugar, p. 267, ed. 1800} that the bufinefs of a filk probably the earhelt notice of the ufc of carpet*

manufacturer, and thofe of a glafs maker, and of in England.

an apothecary and druggift, are the three trades ^ We are thus informed 'that the coloured cloths-

which do not contaminate nobility in Venice. were doubled as broad cloths are now, and that the

J ' Ad Gallos Britannofque.' — In thofe ages cloths of ray were folded or ro! ed fingle, as nar-

Briiann'ia and Britanni fcarccly ever fignified the row cloths, called yard-wides, arc at prefent.
■fland and people of Great Britain.— The reader,

502 A. D. 1328.

ard, without any charge upon the merchants : and the meafurer was
dire6led to feize thole which were deficient in the prefence of the ma-
giftrates, and to accoant for the vaUie of them to the exchequer. \^A6i.
2 Edzv. Ill, c. 14.] This law appears to have been produdive of much
delay and trouble to the importers. \¥(edera, V. v, p. 79.]

Auguft 8'" — ^The merchants of Aragon, Catalonia, and Majorca, hav-
ing petitioned the king that they might partake of the privileges be-
flowed upon foreign merchants by King Edward I, he granted that they
fliould for ever enjoy all the liberties, immunities, and accommodations,
conferred by his grandfather upon other foreign merchants *. [Fcedera,
F. iv,/. 364.]

The merchants of Dantzik appear to have had fome trade with Eng-
land before this time, for this year the king granted them a confirmation
of their liberties. [^Rot. pat. prim. 3 Edw. Ill, m. 18,]

1329, May 9"" — The king, underflanding that John of Rous and
Mafter William of Dalby had made filver by the art of alchymy (• al-
' kemonia;'), and thinking, if they really pofreffed fuch an art, that it
would be of great benefit to him and the kingdom, gave orders to bring
them, with all their inflruments, to his prefence. \Fcedera, V. iv, p.
384.] We do not hear of any creation of filver by thofe artifts.

December 12'^h — At the requefl of his mother, the king gave the
merchants and burgefles of Deeft (or Dieft, an inland town of Brabant)
a charter, permitting them to come, remain, and depart, and to trade
freely with their merchandize, provided they paid the due and ufual
cuftoms, and had no communication with his enemies. He exempted
them and their property from being feized for any debts or crimes but
their own, or on account of any war, unlefs the lord of their town ftiould
be at war with him, in which cafe they fhould be allowed forty days
to depart from the kingdom with their property. Neither fhould their
property be feized for any tranfgreflions of their fervants entrufled with
it, nor upon the death of fuch fervants. They fliould be exempted from
paying pontage, pavage, or murage, for their goods, provided they did
not pafs the goods of any others for their own, and did nothing con-
trary to his father's ordinance for keeping the fi:aple in England f.
{Yadera, V. iv, p. 408.] This charter, except that it was to be in force
only during the king's pleafure, breathes fomewhat of a more liberal
fpirit than had hitherto appeared in any fuch grants, though far ftiort
of the liberality wherewith all commercial intercourfe ought to be con-
duced.

The merchants of Byerflete in Flanders, who appear to have already
had a grant of liberties in trading to England, had thofe liberties now

* Why they applied to the king, I do not fee, f As the ordinance of the flaple was annulled
as the charter of Edward I was to all foreign in the preceding year, this claufe muft have been
merchants without exception. inferted by millake.

A. D. 1329. 503

amply confirmed to them by the king. [Rot. pat. prim. 4 Edzv. Ill, m.

50-]

The whole of the old and new cuftoms of all England were farmed

to the merchants of the company of the Bardi of Florence for a rent of
;^20 per day ; which, if Sundays were not reckoned, amounted only to
£6,260 a-year. Next year the rent was raifed to 1000 marks each
month, or £^,oqo a-year. [Rot. pat. fee. 4 Edw. Ill, ?n. 7 ; tertia 5 Edw.
Ill, m. 4.] We have feen the cufloms for the year 1282 amount to
/^8,4i I : 19 : ii^' Had the trade of England fallen off now, or were
the king's miniflers very ill informed, or blinded ?

1330 — The firll clock we know of in this country was put up in an
old tower of Weftminfler hall in the year 1288 ; and in 1292 there was

one in the cathedral of Canterbury.' \Sdden,pref. to Hengham Dart's

Canterb. Append, p. 3.] Thefe were probably of foreign workmanfhip ;
and it may be doubted, if there was even now any perfon in England,
who followed the bulinefs of making clocks as a profeflion. There was,
however, one very ingenious artifl, Richard of Wallingford, abbat of S'.
Albans, who conflruded a clock reprefenting the courfes of the fun,
moon, and ftars, and the ebbing and flowing of the fea. That this
wonderful piece of mechanifm might be of permanent utility to his ab-
bay, he compofed a book of diredions for the management of it. And
Leland, who appears to have feen it, fays, that in his opinion all Europe
could not produce fuch another *. [Lei. de Script. V. ii, p. 404 ; ColleSi.
V. iii, {or iv) />. 27. — Willis's Mitred abb. ap. Lcl. p. 134.]

The wars in Italy between the Guelfs, who aflerted that the pope
ought to be the fovereign of the world, and the GibeUines, who main-
tained that the emperor fhould be fovereign of the empire, of which
they reckoned Italy a principal part, had now reduced that country to
the moll deplorable excefs of mifery. In the principal cities the people
waged cruel war againfl their fellow citizens, and at fea they took each
other's fliips f . The formerly-flourifhing commercial city of Genoa

• There is a watch in the pofleflion of his Europe, a clock that flruck the hours was fet up

Majefty, which has a convex plate of horn inftead in the year 1353, and was a new fight to the Ge-

uf a glafs, and Robertas B- Rex Scoltorum marked noefe. \_Stell.e yinn. Gen. ap. Muratori Script.

vipon the dial-plate, and has thence been beheved to V. xvii, col. IC92.]

have belonged to Robert I king of Scotland. (See -j- During tlie civil wars, the commander of a
ylrclijrologia,V. \,p. ^H).) If genuine, it mud have galley, who was chafed by another of fuperlor
been made before this time, and it ought to be notic- force in the evening, fet up a lantern on a ihield,
fdas the firft known produftion of the chronometnc wliich he left floating on the water, and thereby
;\rl in a more advanced ftate. But it is now known efcapcd in the night from his enemy. \_Sle/ta, cot.
that the dial-plate was fabricated by the roguilh 1061.] The fame ftratagem, fomewhat improv-
ingenuity of a pedlar, in order to pafs off the ed, was re-invcnted by Commodore Walker in the
watch at a high price, as a relique of the great year 1746, (fee his Voyages, V. ii, p. 11) and is
King Robert. [Sec Gentleman s Maga-zine, 1785, now common. It is not probable that either
p. 688.] It is univerfally allowed that watches Walker or the Italian had read Ammianus Mar-
were invented long after clocks : and it is pretty cellinus, [L. xviii] who himfelf managed a fimilar .
certain, that clocks were far from being common efcape from the Perfians by a light fixed to a .
at this time. In Genoa, where the arts were horfci ■<
furely more advanced than in the weftern parts of

504 A. D. 1330,

was driven to fuch a ftate of wretchednefs, that marriage was neglecled,
women were debauched, the people were fold for flaves, and almofl all
v/ere funk in poverty. Such was their condition, till the republic be-
came fubjedt to Robert king of Sicily (September 1331), to whom both
parties had fent advocates, entreating him to be a mediator, or umpire,
between them, in confequence of which he fixed a garrifon of his own
foldiers in Genoa, to the commander of whom th,e magiftrates were ob-
liged to fubmit. As a proof of the prodigious wealth of fome of the
citizens of Genoa, even in thofe diftraded times, it is proper to notice,
that a fliip taken by a fleet of Gibelline gallies in the year 1330, loaded
with wool and other goods, was valued at ;^6o,ooo of Genoa money ;
and a Genoele galley from Flanders, taken by a Genoefe pirate in 1344,
loaded with cloth and other valuable merchandize, was reckoned worth
£'jo,ooo. But fo dangerous was navigation in this unhappy age, that
when ten trading gallies failed from Genoa for Greece and Syria, it was
thought neceiTary, though they were armed themfelves, to fend ten
warlike gallies to prote6l them. So large a convoy made very dear
freights. [SielU Ann. Gen. ap. Muratori Script. V. xviii, coll. 1054-1080.]

Neither were the other ftates of Italy exempted from the miferies
which follow in the train of the daemon of civil war. Pifa was ruined
by the fadions of the Rafpanti and Bergohni. Ravenna, formerly
flourifhing and powerful, was brought to nothing by external war and
internal difcord. Naples, which about the year 1280 abounded in
riches, was reduced to fuch a wretched condition by the wars, that many
women of once-powerful families became proftitutes, and all the inha-
bitants were almoft perifhing for want. \Stell. col. 1063.] Such are
the fatal eflecls of people fighting in quarrels wherein they have no con-
cern, and for they know not what.

The coal mines in the neighbourhood of Newcaftle now became a
fource of revenue to their proprietors, as appears from the chartulary of
the monaftery of Tinemouth, which contains accounts of leafes of coal-
works, in feveral parts of the lands belonging to that community, to
various people, at the annual rents of X,*2, f\,\, £s, and £s : 4, in the
years 1330, 1331, and 1334. In the year 1338 the fame monaftery
leafed a ftaith (or coal wharf) at Newcaftle at 40/" per annum. [Brand's
Hijl. of Newcojlle, V. u,p. 255.]

1 33 1, March 3'' — In a fet of articles, drawn up by the king for the
ufe of his minifters in Ireland, the following are the only ones which
might have fome influence on the commercial ftate of that country. —
There fliould be the fame laws for the Irifii as for the Englifti, only ex-
cepting the fervices of the betaghs * to their lords, fimilar to that of the

• Lhiiyd fpcUs the woid biatach, and tianflates fuch farmers were in thcjfame condition M-ith the
ix. a farmer, i. e. one -who provides food. Wc fee villeins in England,
litre the authority of Kin* lidward to prove tiwt

A. D. 133 1. 505

"villeins in England. — Fines fhould no longer be levied in cows, but in

money The colledors of the king's cuftoms fhould not be ftrangers,

but Come of the mofl opulent and prudent burgefles of the towns in
which the cuftoms were to be coUefted. [F^dera, V. iv,p. 475.]

May 23'' — King Edward, at the requefl: of John Pultney, then mayor
of London, a renowned and opulent citizen, and for other caufes, gave
the merchants of Louvain in Brabant a charter of free trade, with the
now-cuflomary exemption from being arrefted for any other debts or
crimes than their own, provided the lord of their town fliould not make
war upon him, or be aiding to his enemies. The merchants of Louvain,
however, allowed at leaft (even years to elapfe, before they began to
avail themfelves of this charter; [^Foedera, V. \,p. 77] a circumftance
v^hich ought to put us on our guard againft prefuming a great trade
with every nation or community, to whom we find fuch charters grant-
ed, which were more frequently intended to ferve the intereft of, what
are called, politics than of commerce.

July 23*^ — The difcontents among the manufafturers of Flanders flill
continued ; and King Edward availed himfelf of the opportunity to hold
out to them an invitation to tranfport themfelves into England. The
firfl perfon who thereupon removed into this country to carry on his
bufinefs, and alfo to inftrud thofe who defired to learn it, was John
Kempe, a weaver of woollen cloth, whom, together with his apprentices
bred to the bufinefs, and his fervants, his goods and chattels, the king
took under his protedion. And in the fame grant he promifed the like
favour to other cloth-weavers, and alfo to dyers and fullers, willing to
fettle in his kingdom. [^Fcpdera, V. iv, />. 496.] This fmall, but valu-
able, colony, though not (as fome have fuppofed) the original founders
of the woollen manufadure of England, may very jufily be confidered
as the founders of the manufadure o^Jine woollen cloths, which has for
fome centuries been cherifhed with the mofi; anxious fofiiering care, as
the mofl: important branch of the induftry of the country*.

September 30"" — Fairs, which were the fcenes of mofl; of the inland
■trade of the kingdom, were frequently protraded beyond the time limit-
ed by their charters. That irregularity was forbidden by parliament in
the year 1328; and now the fame prohibition was repeated, with the
addition of a penally upon the merchants, who fliould negled to clofe
their booths and flails (' fcudes et eftaux') at the due conclufion of the
fairs. [A5ls 2 Edw. Ill, f. 15 ; and 5, r. 5.]

Odober 14''' — The king having, by an ad of parliament (which does
not appear in the flatute books) renewed his grandfather's law for pre-

* Mr. Anderfon afcrlbes the introduction of the people of England dtriving a real and per-

the Netherlaiid cloth-workers to the king's refent- maneiit advantage IVom a quarrel or their fovercijjo

ment againft the earl of Fland^is. If that was with a foreign prince,
'his motive, it was a Cngularly happy inftance of

Vol. L 3 S

5o6 A. D. 1331.

venting the exportation of money, and for obliging all perfons arriving
in, or departing from, England, to exchange their money with his ex-
changers Rationed at the feveral ports, (fee above p. 463) now, by his
own authority, licenced fifhermen bringing in herrings and other fifli
for the fuftenance of the people of the coimtry, to receive money in
payment for their flfh, and carry it away without being obliged to carry
it to the exchangers, provided they gave fecurity not to a6l contrary to
the tenor of the ordinance, or a£t, referred to. [Fcedera, V. iv, p. 500.]
Thofe fifhermen were apparently foreigners, and more fkilful than the
fifhermen of England.

December 29'" — A tafle for foreign horfes appears to have long pre-
vailed with the kings and nobles of England. In the year 121 2 King
John paid no lefs than 58 marks for two Lombard horfes, bought for
him by the agency of a Flemifh knight ; and next year he bought 1 00
great horfes from the countefs of Flanders. [Eymer's Coll. ins. V. i, n\
62. — Rot. pat. 1 S Johati. a tergo.'] In 1241 the earl Marlhal rode an
Italian horfe, by which he was killed ; and we may fuppofe that Span-
ifh and Italian horfes were pretty common at this time in England, as
it was thought worthy of remark, that the army of Scotland in 1244
had good horfes, though they were not Spanilh or Italian. [M. Paris,
PP- 565, 645.] But even the Scots, according to the Norwegian account
of Hacon's expedition, had many Spanifh horfes at the battle of Largs
in 1263*. In 1309 King Edward II fent to Lombardy for thirty war
horfes (' dextrariis') and twelve draught horfes (' jumentis'). In 13 13
he fent a merchant to Spain to purchafe thirty war horfes ; and at an-
other time he commilTioned two Spaniards to buy war horfes for him
in Spain, and put a thoufand marks into their hands. But the death of
one of them having put a flop to the bufmefs, Edward III, now
defiring to have it accomplifhed, fent an agent to recover the money,
and to purchafe fifty horfes f : and in order to forward the bufmefs, and
obtain leave to bring the horfes out of Spain and through France, he
wrote to the king of Spain, the magiflrates of Burgos, the furviving
agent employed by his father, the executors of the deceafed one, and to
the king of France. He alfo fent for lix war horfes, or courfers, from
Sicily in the year 1335. \Foedera, V. 'in, pp. 124, 394; V. 'vf,pp. 505,
561, 658.] By fuch feledions of choice horfes out of every country
has the Engli(h breed of horfes been gradually brought to that degree
of perfedion, that they are now eagerly fought for in many parts of the
continent, and contribute to fwell the vafl amount of the Britifli ex-
ports.

• The Arabian horfe belonging to Alexander 6f, Hil for each. They muft liave been very cofl-

I, king of Scotland, in the beginning of the ly horfes by the time of their arrival in England,

twelfth century, was probably a fohtary rarity. Many prices of horfes in tiic lime of Edward I,

•(• If he allowed 1 000 marks for 50 horfes, the fome as high as 70 marks, may be found in Lil/t_r

price waa very liberal indeed : no Wfs lliaii (^13, ccnlrarcl. gardcrclg Edw. 1, p. 173 ct pajftm.

A. D. 133 1. 507

December 23* — ^Though we know that the Saracens had fome veflels
of very great burthen, as appears by the number of men faid to have
been onboard them *, we know nothing of their conftrudion. The
Catalans, who fucce:;ded to their maritime eminence in their port of
Barcelona, as has already been noticed, had alfo very large veflels, of
the kmds called cogs and fhips, fome with two, and fome with three,
decks, befoi-e the year 1315 ; and, from the mention of caftles on the
decks, it appears moll probable that each of the three decks ran the
whole length of the veflels, as in modern three-deck merchant ftiips.
By the original articles of agreement, preferved in the archives of Bar-
celona^ it appears that thirteen of the citizens undertook to man a cog
(' cocha') of three decks, called the Sent Climent, belonging to the
community of the city, in order to cruife againfl: the Genoefe and
other enemies, the magiftrates agreeing to furnifli bread for the crew,
and to receive one third of the prizes to be taken, or, in cafe of lofs, to
bear one third of it : and the citizens engaged to fliip and pay from
four to five hundred men, to find all other provifions except bread, and
to put no cargo onboard her for commercial purpofes, her defl:ination
being merely warlike. From a very copious inventory of the flores,
delivered to them along with the velfel, it appears that (he was well fiar-
niflied with bows, arrows, fpears, and defenfive armour. But there is
no mention of fire-arms. One of the thirteen citizens was formally
commiflioned by the other twelve to be their captain of the cog (' ca-
' pitaneum noflrum didae cochse'), and alfo to command the other vef-
fels of an armada fitted out by them againfl the enemy. The city's
third of the prize-money amounted to /^i. 1 63 : 18 : 9 for a Genoefe
cog, and £33^ '• 3' ^^ *'or a Pifan galley, taken by the Sent Climenc
during her cruife. [^Gapmnriy, Mem. hiji. de Barcelona, V. i, Mar. p. 46 ;
V. ii, Gol. dipl. pp. 77, 406, 408, 415, 417.] Some of the Catalonian
vefl^els carried ftill greater numbers of men. In the year 1334 four of
them, carrying 1,980 fighting men befides the feamen, and alfo women
and horfes, and having moreover cargoes of cloth and other goods on-
board for Sardinia, being fitted for trade as well as war, were taken, af-
ter a battle of ten days, by ten Genoefe gallies. \Stell(e Ann. Gen. ap.
Muratori Script. V. xvii, col. 1066.]

1332, April 13'*^ — In confequencc of fome dilfenfions between the
people of England and the foreign merchants, the later had for fome
time withdrawn from the kingdom. In order to remove their appre-
heniions, the king now publilhed a confirmation of the charter given
by his grandfither to the foreign merchants in the year 1303, and add-
ed an aflhrance that they fliould not be fubjeded to any-undue prifes,
exadions, or arrefls, and that nothing fliould be taken from them for
his ufe without their confent. {Faedera, V. iv, p. 516.]

• See particularly above, p. 335.
3 3S 2

5o8

A. D. 1332.

July 25"' The king, intending to pafs over to Ireland, fent orders to

the jufliciary (or viceroy) to prefs all the veflels in that country, and to
fend them to attend him at Holyhead, properly provided with bridges,
clays *, and other neceflaries ; and he defired him alfo to make agree-
ments for the freights to be paid for them. [Fcedera, V. iv, p. 524.]

The king ordained that flaples for wool, hides, &c. fliould be held in
various places within the kingdom. \^Rot. pat. tert. 6 Edw. Ill, m. 6.]

1333, April 27" — King Edward, having refolved to make another at-
tempt for the conquefl of Scotland during the infancy of the king of
that country, wrote rwo very polite letters to the earl of Flanders, re-
prefenting that fome of his (the earl's) fubjeds had confederated with
the Scots, his enemies and rebels, and were committing hoftilities againfl
the Englifh upon the fea, which he begged he would put a flop to ; and
he fhould find him ready to do every jul1:ice to the Flemings, and every
pleafure to himfelf. He afterwards begged that the earl would releale
fome Enghlhmen, whom he had arrefted becaufe feveral Flemifh vefiels
had been taken by Englifh pirates, reprefenting the injuilice of making
the innocent fuffer for the guilty, and the fad condition of merchants,
if they mufl; be liable to fuflfer for the crimes committed by thieves and
pirates upon the fea (which, however, was the law, or practice, of Eu--
rope at the time f). As the magiftrates of the three principal towns
had nearly as much authority as the earl, if not more in matters relat-
ing to commerce, he alfo wrote to thofe of Bruges, Ghent, and Ypres,
upon the fame bufmefs. A negotiation enfued, in which mutual refti-
tution was promifed. \Fadera, V. iv, pp. 556, 560, 561, 576.]

Augufl 6"" — One effed of the renewal of the war againft Scotland
upon the commerce of England was, that many foreign merchants, ap-
prehending that their veflels and goods would be arrefted, defifted from
trading to Englajid. King Edward, unwilling to forego the benefits
flowing from their trade, thereupon ordered all the fhirrefs to proclaina
that foreign merchants fliould not be abridged of anj of their privileges
on account of the war, and that nothing Ihould be taken from them
without their confent, nor without due fatisfadioru [Fotdera, K iv,

P- 574-]

06tobcr 5''' — The kings of France and Aragon, fenfible of the great

* Clays, a word already luitii-cd in an order of of the eiglitceiitli and iiindeentli centuries. (The

the year 1324, as of uncertain meaning. fentiincnt of Rapin, tht hiilorian of England, upon

•J- Is not the properly of merchants npon the tha fnbjtft, will be qnottd in a note under the year

fea ftill expoftd to capture, and thcnifilvcs to ruin, 1407.) It remains for a conflellation of flatefmen

in quarrels of which they were not the authors? of fuperior illunnnation and virtue, endowed with

In the barbarifm of the beginning of the fifteenth courajje fuffieitnt to break through a baibarous

century, and even in the thirteenth century at cuftom, to at olifii this licenced piracy, at leaf! witli

Leipfick, (/- a^o-ur, /. 41^) there was a nearer refpefl to wliat are called innocent goads. Then,

approach, in this rcfpetl, to the civilization of war- and not till then, may they buad, that war is dir

fare (if fuch a term be not incongruous) than there vclUd u£ its fpirit of ftrocity and dcprsdation.,
h aow amidd nil the refinement and illumiiiatioa

A. D. 1333. 509;

interruption of commerce, and the many other abufes, proceeding from
the pradice of granting letters of marque to empower individuals to
procure redrefs by means of armed vellels for injuries fuffered, or al-
leged to be fuffered, by them, had- repeatedly made regulations for ob-
taining juflice to the parties aggrieved by an amicable procedure, and
agreed to give no letters of marque, unlefs juflice fliould be denied by
the fovercign of the aggreffors. \C11pma71y, Mem. hift. de Barcelona, V. ii,
Gol. d'lpL p. 100.] James III, the late king of Aragon, having no fuch
regulations fettled with England, a country with which he confidered
his dominions as no- way connected by neighbourhood or commercial
intercourfe, had given a letter of marque againd England to Eerenguer
de la Tone, who duely proved in his court (accordmg to the mode of
proceeding fettled between Aragon and France) that he had been plun-
dered upon, the fea by an Englifh pirate of property to the amount of
;^2,ooo Barcelona money, befides which there were found due to him
11,333 fliillings and 4. pennies for intereil, andj(^ioo for the expenfe of
feveral journies to England. Alfonfo, the prefent king, having liberat-
ed an Englifh ofHcer in the fervice of King Edward, who had been ar-
refled at the inflance of Tone's heirs, took tha opportunity of writing
to the king of England, and again requefling redrefs for his fubjefts :
whereupon King Edward, who by no means wifhed to (tir up any nev/
enemies, now anfwered, that his father, King Edward II, had offered
to do juflice to Tone, who had himfelf negledled attending further to
the bufinefs. Re argued that neither equity nor juflice warranted let-
ters of reprifal in fuch a cafe ; and he profefTed his readinefs to do fpeedy
juflice, even with favour, to the parties, if they would apply for it. [fW-
era, V. iv, p. 577.]

October 6''' — It is fcarcely worth while to notice fo common an event
as the appointment of two Englifh and two FlemiHi commifTioners to
fettle all claims of redrefs between the two nations. \¥a:dera, V. iv.
pp. 578, 579, bV.]

King Edward having got poffefTion of Berv/ick, and being defirous
that it fhould be repeopled, proclaimed that all merchants, who would
fettle in it, fliould have burgages for their refidence ; and fome time af-
ter he gave the burgeffes an affurance, that they Ihould pay no more
than the antient cufloms, which thence appear to have been more mo-
derate than thofe of England. \^Ayloffe''s Calendar of charters, pp. 146,
207.] But it may be doubted, if Berwick, even in the prefent day, be
equal to what, it was in the peaceable and profperous reign of Alexander
III, when it was the principal port of the ilourifliing trade of Scotland,
and the feat of a company of Flemifli merchants reiembUng the merch-
ants of the Teutonic gildhall in London.

1334, March ■^ — In a parliament, held at York, the king, at the re-
f^uelt of his people, determined to abolilli the flaples, which- had been..

5IO A. D. 1334-

eftablifhed in various parts of England, Wales, and Ireland, for wool,
wool-fells, and hides. [Rymer's ABa manufcr. Edw. Illy V. ii, n°. 75.]

April 5''- The king of England and the earl of Flanders allowed free

intercourfe of trade to the fubjeds of each-other, which was, however,
to continue only till the 15'^ of Auguft. But as it would not be worth
while for merchants to fit out their veflels for a privilege of eighteen
weeks, it was afterwards prolonged to Chriflmas 1336. [Fcsdcra, V. iv,
pp. 607, 661, 662.]

1335, Spring — The knights, citizens, and burgefles, reprefented to
the king the hardfhips funered by the public in confequence of the
people of cities, burghs, and fea-ports, engroffing the purchafe of wines,
' aver du pois,' flefh, fifh, and other viduals and merchandize, ufeful to
the prelates, nobles, and commons. The king, with the affent of the
prelates, nobles, and commons, thereupon ordained, that all merchants,
aliens or denizens, fhould have perfed liberty in all cities, burghs, towns,
fea-ports, fairs, markets, and elfewhere, within franchifes or without, to
fell corn, wine, ' aver du pois,' flefh, fifli, and other victuals, wool, cloth,
and all kinds of merchandize, to all perfons, natives or foreigners, ex-
cept the king's enemies. The mayors and bailifs of corporations, and
the lords of unincorporated places, were required, under the penalty of
forfeiting their privileges, to proted the merchants in the exercife of
their trade ; and the perfons aftually obflru6hng them were made liable
to double damages, and alfo to be puniflied by imprifonment and fine.
All flrangers and denizens had alfo equal liberty to buy and carry away
any articles whatever, except wine *, agreeable to the terms of their
charter. And all charters of franchife, which might be alleged in op-
polition to the general freedom of trade, were declared to be of no force,
as being prejudicial to the king, prelates, and great men, and oppre(Tive
to the commons, [i Stat. 9 Edtv. Ill, preo7?ible and c. i.]

June-Auguft — In the war between England and Scotland there was
more of maritime hollihty than might have been expeded in a contefl
between the two parts of the fame ifland. Edward, having heard that
fome fhips were fitting out in Calais by the Scots and other malefaBors
to infeft his coafts by land and water, ordered the warden of the Cinque
ports and the magiftrates of Yarmouth to difcover the truth of the re-
port, and to fend out a fufTicient force to deftroy them. Thefe pre-
cautions, however, did not prevent a veflel belonging to Southampton
with a cargo of wool, wool-fells, hides, 8cc. from being taken in the
mouth of the Thames by fome malefactors of Normandy and Scotland.
King Edward, being informed by his vafl-il, Edward Balliol, whom he
had fet up as a duplicate king of Scotland in order to divide and dillrad
that kingdom, that fome foreigners, at the iniligation of the Scots, were

* Though wine is excepted from exportation, corn is left ficc to be exported at pleafure.

A. D, 1335- 51^

fitting out a great navy to tranfport men at arms and armour to Scot-
land, ordered his fteward of Galcoigne, and the magiftrates of Bayonne
and Bourdeaux, to equip all the proper vefTels in all the ports of the pro-
vince with good men, arms, and provifions, to oppofe the malice of his
and his vaflal's enemies. He alfo wrote repeatedly from Perth to the
parliament aflembled at London, to the magiftrates of that city, and to
John Pultney and Reginald of the Conduit, opulent citizens who had
borne the office of mayor, that he underftood, feveral fleets of warlike
fhips, filled with men at at;ms, were coming to invade his kingdom, and
he defired them to fit out all the velTels capable of carrying forty tuns
(* dolia') or more of wine, with able men and arms, without delay.
[Fa^dera, V. iv, pp. 651, 652, 6^6, 658, 659, 665.]

Many of the Englifli veflels, and particularly thofe belonging to Yar-
mouth, Briftol, Lynne, Kingfton upon Hull, and Ravenfere, were now
diftinguifhed as Ihips of war (' naves guerrinae'). But whether they
were of a different conftrudion from others, or only the largeft and
ftrongefi: of the mercantile veflels, we are not informed. Wc know,
however, that they were not the property of the nation at large, as they
are called the warlike ftiips of Yarmouth, of Brifl;ol, &c. \_Ayloffe''s Ca-
lendars of charters^ pp. 139, 140, 142, 154, 155, 156.]

The king, obferving that counterfeits of the Englifli money were
made abroad, enabled that no man of religion or other perfon what-
ever fliould carry any Englifli money out of the country, or any filver
plate, or any veflels of gold or filver, without the king's licence ; and
that no perfon fliould import counterfeits of Englifli money. But all
perfons might carry bullion and 'wrought filver, and filver money of
any kind, except counterfeits, to the exchanges, and there be accom-
modated with convenient exchange. It was declared unlawful to melt
fterlings or pennies, halfpennies, or farthings, for making any vefl^el of
filver. The currency of black money was totally prohibited. The king
and his council were empowered to eftablifli exchanges at proper places.
Pilgrims were ordered to take pafl^age only at Dover. All perfons go-
ing from, or arriving in, the kingdom, were to be fearched to prevent
them from fmuggling money ; and the inn-keepers were to be fworn
to fearch their guefl:s. [2 Stat. 9 Edw. III.]

September 21' — In confequence of this ad the king eflabliflied ex-
changes at Dover, London, Yarmouth, Bofton, and Kingflon upon
Hull *, to which he ordered all florenes and other money to be car-
ried ; and he fl;ridly commanded, that none fliould be carried out of
the kingdom or clandefl;inely exported. He appointed all the exchanges

* From this very (liott lift we fliould fuppofe, had a pretty good (liare of trade. — From Fadera, .

that there were no money tranfattions worth notice V. iv, p. 697, and many other records, it is cer-

on the fouth or weft coafts : and yet Southampton tain, that there was alfo an exchange at Cantev--

was cue ef the chief ports of England, aad Briilol bury.

5^2 A. D. 1335.

to be under the management of William de la Pole, who was to be ahf-
werable, for his deputies as well as for himfelf, to the exchequer for the
profits of the exchange. And he gave notice of the cftablifhment to the
magiflrates of

Yarmouth, Chichefter, Southampton,

Dover, Hertlepool, Norwich,

London, Scarburgh, Lynne,

Boflon, York, Ipfwich,

Kingfton upon Hull. Ravenfrod, Sandwich,

Newcaftle upon Tine, Lincoln, Winchelfea,

and Briftol. [Fa-dera, V. iv, p. 668.]

William de la Pole, now appointed commiflioner or manager-general
of the exchanges, was one of the moil illuftrious of the early merchants
of England. He was firfb a merchant at Ravenfrod, or Ravenfere, and
thence removed to Kingfton upon Hull, for which town his (apparently
elder) brother and he obtained a grant of the cuftoms from the king.
In the year 1336 he farmed fome of the cuftoms at a rent of £10 a-day.
Upon Kingfton being privileged to have a mayor, he was the firft who
was eleded to that office ; and he founded the monaftery of S^ Michael
near that town. He was efteemed the greateft merchant of England,
and with good reafon, for he lent King Edward the prodigious fum of
;^i 8,500, when he was at Antwerp; in payment of which the king
made him chief baron of the exchequer, and gave him the lordftiip of
Holdernefs, with the rank of a banneret, and a promife of an eftate of
1 ,000 marks a-year in France, as foon as it ftiould be under his domi-
nion. He was frequently employed in embaflies along with the firft
men in the kingdom,, who were directed by his knowlege of bufinefs.
His fon Michael, alfo a merchant, was created earl of Suffolk by King
Richard II ; and his pofterity flouriflied as earls, marquifes, and dukes,
of Suffolk, till a royal marriage, and a promife of the fucceflion to -the
crown, brought the family to ruin *.

November 20'' — Jobn of Cologne, who appears to bave been in the
king's fervice f, having purchafed thirty tuns or cartloads (' dolia i'eu
plauftratas') of choice Rhenifli wine in Germany, the king took fo
much intereft in the fafe conveyance of it, that he wrote to the arch-
bifliop of Cologne, the earl of Holland, and the earl of Gelder, requeft-
ing their good offices in its paflage through their territories, and exemp-
tion from cuftoms. [Fa'ikra,^. iv, p. 676.]

This year a licence was granted for exporting ale, and another for

• This brief account of William de la Pole nnj tcrl. 2S Er/tu. Ill, m. 9. — CaniJ. Bill. pp. 341,
Ilia family i^ extraflcd from Fadaa, V. v, pp. 91, 578. — S/oiv's j-lmi. p. 367.

92, loi, 124, 125. — Rol. pat. prim. 3 Ed/w. Ill, f He is called tlie kinj^'s vale£t, and licenced
tn. I ; prim. 10 Ediu. Ill, m. 10 ; and fee, m, 17 ; to kernel (fortify) liis houfc on Cornliill in Lon-
don. \ Rot. pat. fee. II Edw. Ill, m. 2.]

exporting corn. [Rot. pat. prim. 9 Edw, 111, mm. 37, 38.] That for ale
contains, I believe, the earliefl notice of the exportation of that ar-
ticle.

We are indebted to Balducci Pegoletti, an Italian writer, for the fol-
lowing itinerary, or route, of the merchants, who traveled from Tana,
or Azof, at the head of the Palus Moeotis, to Gamalecco, Cambalek, or
Pekin, in China, as the journey was performed at this time *.

To Gintarchan (Aflracan) with waggojis drawn by oxen - days 25
(When horfes were employed, the journey was fooner performed.)
to Sara by the river _____ i

to Saracanco by water (the north coaft of the Cafpian fea) - 8
to Organci (fuppofed Urgentz on Lake Aral) with camels - 20

This place is noted for the expeditious fale of goods.
to Oltrarra (or Otrar on the Sihon or Sir) with camels - 35 or 40
to Armalecco (or Almaleg in Turkeflan) with affes - 45

to Camexu, with afles - - - - 70

to a river called Kara-Morin (or Hoang-ho) with horfes - 50

to CalTai, where there is good fale for merchandize, and the 1

merchants exchange their filver for the paper money of >- blank
China _____ j

to Gamalecco, the capital of Cattai or Cathay (North China) ' 30

1336, July 4'^ — King Edward, intent upon his great project of mak-
ing himfelf king of France, had already taken a crowd of the princes of
Germany into his fervice ; and being exceedingly defirous of gaining
the favour of the Genoefe, whofe naval power he viewed with defire
and apprehenfion, he addrefled a conciliatory letter to the podefla and
community of that ftate, wherein he acknowleged, that a large Genoefe
fhip or coch f , loaded with Oriental goods and other pretious merchan-
dize to the value of above 14,300 marks flerling, bound to England,
and provided with his father's letters of fafe condudl, had been unjuflly
taken in the Downs by Hugh Defpenfer, then commander of a fleet in
his father's fervice. Though no part of the plunder had ever come to
his father's, or his own, hands, he offered, if they would engage that no
other claim fhould ever be made on account of that capture, to aflign,
as a compenfation to the parties aggrieved, 8,000 marks, to be allowed
out of the cufloms payable upon merchandize to be imported or ex-
ported by merchants of Genoa in any port of England. Being further
defirous of gratifying the Genoefe, that they might be the readier to
ferve him upon occalion, he offered them free entrance for their vef-

* Not having pofTeffion of Pegoletti's book, I /i/h tranjlatkn : and I have alfo followred him in che
have extrafted this curious route from Forjler^s European, or famih'ar, names of the places.
Vayages and difcotjerks in the North, p. 1^0 nf Eng- f The fame kind of vefTcl which is elfewhere

called a cog.

Vol. L 3 T

514 A. D. 133^.

fels, with liberty of buying and felling, in any part of his kingdom, and
the further liberty of leaving any port without felling, or with felling
only a part, and going wherever they pleafed. The offer was accepted
by the Genoefe, who entered fo heartily into his interefl, that they
burnt fome gallies, which were fitting out in their port, becaufe they
conjedured, that they were intended to a6l againfl; him. Edward, high-
ly delighted with fuch a proof of their attachment, commiflioned one
of their own citizens to hire gaUies and ufcers *, properly manned, arm-
ed, and equipped, for war, at Genoa. \_Fa?dera, V. iv, pp. 702, 710,
712.]

October 1 5*^ — The luxury of the table had got to fuch a height in
England, that it was thought necelTary to reftrain it by a law, which
prohibited all perfons, of whatever rank, from having more than two
couries, and more than two kinds of meat with pottages in each courfe ;
except on eighteen holidays in the year, when gluttony and extrava-
gance might be freely indulged. [3 Stat. 10 JLdw. HI.']

October — Notwithflanding the recent friendly arrangements between
England and Flanders, the earl, probably at the defire of the king of
France, his feudal over-lord, imprifoned the Englifh merchants in his
dominions, and arrefted their property. King Edward thereupon iffued
orders for retaliating upon the Flemings in his dominions. But being
very anxious to avoid having any enemies in addition to France and
Scotland, he immediately wrote foothing and expoflulating letters' to
the earl of Flanders and the magiftrates of Bruges, Ghent, and Ypres,
requeuing redrefs of thofe outrages, and profefling his refolution to al-
low no injuftice to be done to the Flemings. \_Foedera, V. iv, pp. 711,

713-]

November 3'' — King Edward wrote to the king of Norway, and to

the earls of Holland and Gelder, requefting them not to allow their fub-
ieds to hire any veflels to the Scots, his rebels and enemies. \Fcedera,
V. iv, p. 715.] How could the oppreffed and j^erfccuted half of the
Scottilh nation, with their agriculture ruined and their trade annUiilat-
ed, find money to hire veflels in mod of the maritime countries of Eu-
rope ?

November 6'^ — King Edward, ftill alarmed with rumours of hollile
armaments upon the continent, and having heard that fome Englifli
veflels had adually been taken, fent orders to all the maritime cities
and towns in the kingdom to oblige the owiiers to fit out every vefl^el
in their ports in a fufficient manner with men, arms, and ftores : and he
appointed the harbour of Portfmouth to be the place of rendezvous for
all veflels belonging to

* Tancrcd king of Sicily gave Ricliard king of England four great fliips calk'd urfns, \_Hovcdin-t
■J. 391 b] or ujfen ; \_Bromloii, col. I 195] apparently the fame kind of vcllcls here called ufceit.

Briflol,

Chriftchurcli,

Melcomb,

Southampton,

Yarmouth-) .^.^,j

S'. Helens!"^ ^^ ^ '

Liverpool,

Stonore,

Sidmouth,

Sandwich,

Winchelfea,

Exmouth, -

Bridgewater,

A, D. 1336.

Chichefler,

Rumney,

Teignmouth,

Reculver,

Exeter,

London,

Dover,

Tollefbury,

Rye,

Seton,

Portfmoitth,

Falmouth,

515

Pevenfey,

We V mouthy

Chefter,

Lyme,

Seaford,

Dartmouth,

Portchefter,

Plymouth,

Faverfham,

Shoreham,

Haftings, and

Folkflone.

Yarmouth,

Lynne,

Kingfton upon Hull,

Ravenfere,

Scarburgh,

Newcaftle upon Tine,

Little Yarmouth,

Ipfwich,

Wallfleet,

Lymington,
He alfo fixed the port of Orewell for the rendezvous of the vefTels be-
longing to

Newbigging, Gosford,

Whitby, Harwich,

Alemouth, Grimfby,

Tinemouth, Barton,

Blakeney, Saltfleet,

Dunwich, Eofton, and

Kirklee, Waynfleet.

Gillingham,
Coeford,

After meeting at the ports of rendezvous, the veflels bound for Gaf-
coigne, or other foreign countries, were to be permitted to fail in ftrong
fleets, fo that they might protedl each-other : and he fent orders to the
ftevvard of Gafcoigne to oblige all the vefFels of that country, bound for
England, to join the Englifh fleet. [Foedera, V. iv, pp. 717-719.] We
find fuch orders for vefi^els failing in fleets repeated on many occafions ;
for fuch were then the only means of defence for merchant ftiips.

Edward's fears were not ill founded. A numerous fleet of fliips and
gallies, equipped by the Scots, who adhered to David II, the young king
whom Edward endeavoured to depofe, (or as probably by the king of
France in their name) took a number of EngUfh vefl^els lying at anchor
at the Ifle of Wight, and plundered Guernfey and Jerfey, while the fea-
•men of the Englifli navy were quarreling among themfelves, and plun-
dering vefl^els belonging to Englifli fubjefts, or foreigners in friendfliip
with their king. He thecefor appointed a commiflion to confult with
the nobles, fliirrefs, magifl:rates, and feamen, of all the ports, on the
means of repelling the enemy. He defired them to give due attention
-to the greatnefs of the impending danger, for, fays he, ' As our progeni-
' tors, the kings of England, in fuch contejis between themfelves arid thefove-
^ reigns of foreign countries were the lords of thefea and of The paffage to the

.^ T 2

5i6 A. D. 1336.

' continent in all times pajl, it would grieve us exceedingly, if our royal
' honour fjiould in the fmallefl degree be impaired in our times.' He
alfo wrote to all the fhirrefs of England to permit no veflels to fail, even
though they fhould have obtained his licence, except thofe appointed to
carry provifions and arms to Berwick, Stirling, and Perth, for his fer-
vice. [Fcedera, V. iv, pp. 721, 723.]

The above lift of ports, though evidently defedive, as all fuch lifts in
the records are *, furnifties an important fad in the hiftory of the flour-
iftiing commercial town of Liverpool, which now appears, for the firft
time, as a port capable of contributing fome veflels to the national navy.
About this time the community of Liverpool were i-epeatedly empow-
ered to levy duties for paving their ftreets ; another mark of advancing
profperity. \Rot. pat. 1 Edw. Ill, m. 34 ; prim. 7 Edw. Ill, m. 27 ; prim.^
10 Edw. Ill, m. 43.]

December 3'' — The Brabanters were the principal rivals of the Flem-
ings in the woollen manufadure : and the earl of Flanders being now
in the intereft of the king of France againft Edward, the duke of Bra-
bant thought the opportunity favourable for requefting King Edward
to remove the ftaple for Englifti wool to fome town in his dominions.
The king, who was very much difpleafed with the earl of Flanders,
wrote him, that he would fend over fome merchants to treat with him
for proper fecurity and a friendly reception in his territories : and he
required of him to engage, that none of the wool ftiould go into the
hands of the Flemings f . In a few weeks after he alfo fent an agent to
treat with the magiftrates of Brufl^els, Louvain, and Mechlin, upon the
fame bufinefs. [Foedera, V. iv, pp. 720, 751-]

December \2^ — King Edward in the midft of his eft'orts to fubdue
Scotland, and preparations for fubduing France, was not inattentive to
the more rational projed of eflablifliing the woollen manufadure in his
dominions. He now fent a letter of protedion (from Bothwell in the
weft of Scotland) for two weavers of Brabant, wlio propofed to carry on
their bufinefs at York ; and he exprefl'ed his hopes of utility and ad-
vantage to refult to his fubjeds from their induftry and example. He
alfo gave fimilar protedions foon after to a confiderable number of
woollen-manufadurers from Zeland with their families ami workmen.
[Fadera, V. iv, pp. 723, 751.]

1337, January 16'' — King Edward, having commiflioned three ad-
mirals, conferred upon them the power of punifliing all feamcn in the

* AH tliC Wctfli ports, of wliicli fiveii appear pear in fuch enumerations, that they did not exift,

in the enumeration of ilie year i jco, are omitted or liad no fhippinjj.

in this lift, as are alfo many of thofe on the fouth f As England and Brabant could not work up

and ead coafts, owing, undoubtedly, t') the lofs of all the wool that ufed to go to Flanders, what did

the writs fent to thofe ports. Tiiefe evident omif- the king propofe that the Englidi proprietors of

fions or loITeii of records Ihow, that we ought not the wool fliould do with it ?
tadily to conclude, bccaufe fome ports do not ap-

A. I>. 1337- 517

fleet, according to juflice, as it iifed to be in former times : and he alfo
gave them full power of chufing, either within liberties or without, as
many men as they might think neceflary for manning the fleet, and
feizing and imprifoning them, if they were unwilling to go onboard',
and he deflred all his faithful fubjecls to be aflifting to his admirals in
that fervice. [Fcedera, V. iv, p. 727.] The power of punifliing the
men onboard the fleet thus appears to have been already cftablifhed :
but this ample prefs-warrant feems to have been unprecedented. It
would, however, be no additional hardfliip upon the merchants, whofe
veflels were all feized, or expeded to be feized, for the king : neither
had the feamen any choice of employment except in the king's fervice.

January 27'" — The king, feeing the necefllty of having veflels of his
own, employed William de Kelin, a carpenter, to build a galley for
him at Kingfton upon Hull, under the infpedion of the renowned mer-
chant William de la Pole, for the ufe of which he ordered the prior of
Blithe to furnifli forty oak trees *. Having ordered anchors to be made
for his fliips, called the Chriftopher and the Cog Edward, he direded
the fliirrefs of London to provide for that purpofe 5,000 pounds of
iron, 200 Eaftland boards, and 100 quarters of fea-coal f, to be deliver-
ed to the fupervifor of his works (a clergyman) at the Tower. [^Fcedera,.
V. iv, p. 730.]

March 18''' — The Flemings being now leagued againfl Edward, he
wrote to the king of Caflile (or Spain) and to his principal courtiers,
requefting that the merchants of that kingdom might have no com-
mercial intercourfe with the Flemings, and that they would rather trade
to the ports of England, where, he promifed, they fliould meet with
every indulgence they could reafonably deflre J. [Fcedera, V. iv, pp. 736,

737-] .

April 15''' — Though King Edward was as eager to deprive the Flem-
ings of commercial intercourfe with other nations as his father had been
to deprive the Scots of their commerce with the Flemings, it was foon
difcovered, that the Englifli and the Flemings could not live without the
mutual advantages they ufed to derive from their friendly fupply of
mutual wants. A treaty was therefor fet on foot for marrying a fon of
the earl with a daughter of Edward, then in her cradle, and for re-
eflabliflaing the ftaple of wool in Flanders. [^Fadera, V. iv, pj>. 744,

745-]

May 24"" — The Brabanters, being thus difappointed of having the
ftaple of Englifli wool among themfelves, were now allowed to purchafe

* The trees muft have been very large, if no ten fliillings worth of coals bought for the corona-
more were to be employed, or the galley very tion of King Edward 111.
fmall. ' J So ftrarigely flutluating were Edward's poli-

f This is the earlieft -exprefs notice we have of tics, that we Ihall foon fee him granting favours to

fo large a quantity of coals in London. Brand the Spanifli merchants for the fake of his good

(in his Hijl. cf NcukoJIIc, V. ii, p. 254) meiuions friends the Flemings.

5i8 A. D. 1337.

at the towns in England appointed for the fale of wool, as much wool
for the ufe of their own manufacturers only, as would be fufficient for
the confumption of fix months, the quantity being afcertained by the
oaths of two deputies to be fent over from each manufacturing town
with the duke's letters patent. [Fcsdera, V. iv, p, 757.]

Auguil 8"" — ^The king gave orders, that a thoufand foldiers, levied in
Wales, (hould be drefl^ed in coats and mantles made of the fame cloth.
{^Foedera, V. iv, pp. 803, 810, &c.] Quere, if this is the firil mention of
-military uniforms ?

September 27"" — ^The parliament made it felony to carry any wool
out of the kingdom. They alio ordered, that after Michaelmafs * no
nfian or woman, of whatever rank, in England, Ireland, Wales, and that
part of Scotland fubjed to King Edward, except the king, the queen,
and their children, (a moll injudicious and antipatriotic exception)
fliould buy any cloth of foreign manufadhire, under the penalty of for-
feiture of the cloth, and arbitrary punifhment befides. Neither was any
perfon, whofe annual income was not at leaft /,'ioo, permitted to wear
foreign furs. All perfons in England, Ireland, Wales, and the Englifh
part of Scotland, were licenced to make cloth without being reftrided
to any ftandard length. All merchants importing cloths after Michael-
mafs were alfo fubjeded to forfeiture of the cloths and arbitrary punifla-
ment. And all foreign cloth-workers were promifed the king's protec-
tion to live in any part of his dominions, together with franchifes to
their full fatisfadion. {A£is, lo Ediv. Ill, cc. 1-5.] Thefe ads are
flrangely at variance with the many negotiations with the. princes and
communities of Flanders and Brabant for fettling the ftaple in their
countries, and permitting them to buy wool in England. They were
immediately broken by the king himfelf, who ieems to have adopted a
new fyflem of politics almoft every month, v.hich mufl have been ex-
ceedingly prejudicial to the commerce of England and the countries
conneded in trade with it f .

* From the king's own mandate to tUe iliiircfs f Walfingliam [/>. 135] obfeives, lliat nobody

■for the pubHcation and enforcement of tlicfe a£ls paid any attention to tliele laws, -wliich he dates in

(prirtcd immediately after them) which is dated 1335. He ailds, that the parh'ament a!'ov%ed the

at Windfor tl.e 28"' day of March (no year), it foreign mannfaclurers penfions (♦ vadia regis') till

appears that Michaelmafs in tlie following year they Ihould be cllabliflied in bufinefs. Indeed the

vas the day propoftd for the commencement ef law is either defective, as we have it in the edi-

llitir operation : for Michaelmafs niixt, though it tions, or the rtgiiits (in name of the young prince

is fo expreffed in the adt, c. 2, being the next day when warden of tlie kingdom) made an addition

but one, was loo foon for it lo be heard of even at to the llrength of it ; for, according to them, it

a moderate dillance from London. In the end of ordered, ' lliat all they (without any dillinCtioii

March 1337 Edward was at Windfor: on the of native or foreigner) \\, ho would engage in the

2S'" of March 13?^ he was at Berwick. Fiom ' manufadUne of woollen cloth, might cany on

thefe, and other, circumllanccs it appears that there ' their work in every part of the kingdom with-

is fome enor in the date of thefe atts, which, how- ' out any lu'nderanee whatever,' £Fadera, V. v, p.

ever, are rather curious, as the mark of a grand de- 137.]
lign, conceived rather prematurely, than important
on account of any efledl they l>.id.

A. D. 1337- 5^9

Odober 3'' — Tn dired, and (if they are rightly dated) immediate,
■violation of thefe laws, the king appointed commiflioners to confult
with fuch of his allies and friends as they fhould think proper, for fix-
ing the flaple for the fale of Englifh wool in fome proper place on the
continent. \Focdcra, V. iv, p. 813.]

It was perhaps in order to deliberate upon the fame bufinefs of the
flaple that there was this year held a council of trade, which, as it confift-
ed of deputies from the towns, might be called a commercial parliament :
and it was apparently more numerous than a parliament, feeing the
bailifs of Buckingham (which fent no members to parliament till the
year 1545) were direcfled by the king's precept to fend three or four of
the beft and mofl prudent men of their town ; and they accordingly
fent three. [Willis's HiJ}. of Buckingham, p. 41.]

About November i" — The king having takeii up wool throughout
all England, for which he gave the proprietors tallies at the rate of ^^6
per fack, fhipped ten thoufand facks * for Brabant, where they were
fold at /^2o each. [Knyghton, coL-25yo.']

December 20'*' — Two cardinals, fent by the pope to negotiate a peace,
arrived, in England. They received fifty marks a-day for their expenfes
from the clergy, being four pennies out of every mark from every
church, thofe claiming exemptions not excepted. [Knyghlon, col. 2570.]
We are thereby informed, that the revenue of the church amounted to
2,000 marks a-day, or, reckoning 365 days, to the enormous fum of
730,000 marks a-year, being more than twelve times the amount of the
national revenue in the reign of Henry III f .

The citizens of London this year obtained from the king an oider
for the reftoration of their exclufive privileges, notwithftandini^ the uni-
verfal liberty of buying and felling allowed to people of all defcriptions,
natives or foreigners, by parliament in the year 1335. — The king about
the fame time ordered, that no young falmon fhould be taken J. [Rot.
pat. prim. 9 Edw. Ill, mm. 37, 38 ; ^/ « tergo.'\

1338, January ■^ — The king appointed his own two gallies, com-
manded by John De Aurea and Nicolas Blanc §, to cruife upon the eafl
coafl againft the Scots and their allies, and alio to convoy the veffels
employed in carrying provifions for his own fubjeds in Scotland. {Feed-
er a, V. iv, p. 835.] We have feen the merchant veffels ordered about
two years before to fail only in flrong fleets for mutual defence ; and

* The anonymous hi.^orian of Edward III 1 The order againd catching young, falinon was.

(pubhfhed aloirg with Hemingford by Hearne, very little obferved, as appears by the very frequent

p. 412) fays, there were thirty thoufand facis,. repetition of new laws on the fame fubjed.
and that the veffels were detained in tlie harbours ^ At leaft one of thefe commanders may be

the whole fummer and autumn waiting for them, ptefumed to be a native of Genoa, the name being-

to tlie great damage of tie whole kingdom. the fame with De Auria, 01 Doria, of which name

f See above, p. 423. The revenue in the reign there was a fuccefiion of eminent naval command--

of }:dward ILI, I believe, is not kiiowu. erj in the fetvice of that Hate.

520 A. D. 1338.

this, if I miftake not, is the earHefl notice to be found of an appoint-
ment of PZnglifh warUke vefTels to convoy and protect merchant veflels *.

January B'*" — The king of Caftile, in anfwer to Edward's requeft that
he would prohibit trade with Flanders, infifted that neutral merchants
fhould have freedom to carry on their commerce with the belligerent
powers without being injured by either party. King Edward, in a very
fmooth reply, declared, that he did not wifh him to do any thing un-
juft, but only to prevent his fubjeds from aflifting his enemies, and that
it was his defire, that his own fubjedts fhould do no harm to thofe of his
friends. He added, that in fuch turbulent times it would not be very
fafe for the fubjeds of Caftile to have any intercourfe with the Flem-
ings ; but that, if any injury fhould be done to them, he would give
fpeedy juftice, and even favour, to the complainers. \_F(xdera, V. iv,
pp. 839, 840.]

Edward, eager to conciliate the good will of all the neutral powers,
and more efpecially of thofe who had the command of fhipping, re-
minded the podefta and other magiftrates of Genoa of the antient
friendfhip between his anceftors and theirs (a cuftomary introdudion
to a requeft) and begged they would prohibit the equipment of a num-
ber of gallies, which, he underftood, were arming in their port for the
fervice of his enemies. But the Genoefe, having an invariable eye to
their own intereft, and little regarding the refentment of a king fo re-
mote from them, preferred the friendfhip of their nearer neighbour,
the king of France : and fo far were they from burning the property
of their fellow-citizens for his pleafure, as they had done in the year
1336, that they permitted twenty gallies to be fitted out at Genoa, and
twenty at Monaco, to ferve againft him f . \Foedera, V. iv, p. 842. —
Stella, ap. Muratori Script. V. xvii, col. 1071.]

Neither was King Edward more fortunate in his attempt to get gal-
lies built for him at Nice, a fum of money, he had tranfmitted thither
for that purpofe, having been feized by the king of Sicily, the lord of
the adjacent country of Provence. [Foedera, V. v, pp. 94, 148.] The
fovereign, who is ambitious of maritime power, muft have his fliips
built in his own dominions, and as many as pofTible of the materials for
their conflruftion and equipment alfo produced at home.

February 24"' — The parliament, which met on the 3"* of February,
granted the king twenty thoufand facks of the wool already fhorn, he
giving fecurity for the payment of it. He accordingly appointed com-
miffioners to take one half of the wool, now ready, from all perfons,
without exception. He ordered them to relieve the merchants, whofe

* Convoys appear to have been ufiial vvitli the f The Gcnocfe failors ami foldicis were the

commercial llatcs of tlic Mediterranean before this Swifs of ihofe days. They ftrved the kings of

time, one inftance of which is noticed above, p. France, England, Scotland, and Callile, for their

504, and a much more antient one in p. 82. money.

A. D. 1338.

521

wool he had taken, by giving his own obligations to their creditors in
exchange for thofe of the merchants ; and he fixed the prices, payable
in two years, at which the befl wool of the feveral fhires fhould be fet-
tled for per fack, as follows.

Hereford 1 2 marks, or j(^S
Salop 107 - 7

Lincoln 10 - - 6
Glocefter, Worcefter,

Chefter, FUnt
Leicefler, Stafford, Ox-
ford, Somerfet, York
(except Craven)
Northampton, Notting-
ham
Warwick
Dorfet

o
o

13

o
o
4

6 6 8

13
6

4

8

13 4

Cambridge, Huntington,
Bedford , Buckingham ,
Eflex, Hertford, Rut-
land, Berks, Wilts,
Southampton, Derby ^^5

Kent, Surrey, Sufl"ex,Mid-
dlefex, London, Nor-
folk, Suffolk, Lancafter 4

Craven in York-fhire 3

Durham - - q

13
6

o

4
8

All inferior wool, as they could

agree.

London, Ipfwich, Yarmouth, Lynne, Bofton, Kingfton upon Hull,
Newcaflle, Sandwich, and Southampton, were the ports appointed for
fhipping the wool for the continent. [^R}'?;ier^s Acia mamifcr. Ediv. Ill,
V. iii, n'. 7-9-]

At the fame time the king ordered the (hirrefs to arrefl all veflels,
however fmall, that were able to fland the fea, to equip them with
men, arms, and provifions, and alfo with accommodations for horfes,
and to fit up feventy of the largefl of them for the reception of the no-
bility. He alfo ordered the following llores to be carried to the ports
of Yarmouth and Orewell, at which he propofed to embark his army
for the invafion of France, viz.

From York and the northern

and

From London and the foutl

em

eaftern (hires.

and weftern

(liires,

Total.

Wheat, or flour,

2„6oo

-

600

"

)

r4,aoo

Beans and peas

200

-

1

g

.quart-

J 200

Malt

4,100

-

2,200

- '

ers

/ 6,300

Salt

500

-

\

L 500

Bacons

Beef, or live oxen,

i>34o
490

-

760
210

' car-
^cafles

r 2,100
\ 700

Mutton, or live fheep *,

4,100

-

4,000

(.8,100

Herrings

40

-

1(5

-

lafts

56

Cheefe

5.900

-

5,600

-

ftones

11,500

Stock-fifh

-

46,500

-

fifh

46,500

Horfe {hoes with nails

-

-

40,000

-

fhoes

40,000

and empty cafks for packing the corn and flour.

* ' Multones,' latinized from the French word
muton or moutoii, which fome explain to mean only
a wether, but it is alfo applied to a ram, [_Gagu'm,
Bijl. f. 152 b] and is moft commonly ufed for
Jheep in general, as It evidently was during this
reign, (fee Fadera, V. v, p. 520) and as the Eng-
iilh word formed from it is for the flefli of any

Vol. L

fheep. If the king had been aware of the danger
of Icfing the fuperiority of EnglilTi wool (for fure-
ly, out of a flock of 8,100, lome muft have fallen
into the hands of the French or Flemings, if they
defired to have them) he would have exprcfsly
forbidden the exportation of rami, as indeed he
did fooii after.

522 A. D. 1338.

Though the king promifed to make payment for thefe flores in Lon-
don on the firft of Auguft next, it is evident, either that the country
could not fpare fo large a fupply, or that the people were doubtful of
their payment : for in feveral places the king's officers were refifted
by force of arms : and the king, fearing the confequence of a general
fpirit of difcontent, defired the clergy to foothe the people, and repre-
fent to them the inevitable neceflity and the juilice of his proceedings.
[Fcedern, V. \,pp. 3-14, 20, 21.] Some of the hiftorians fay, the people
were never paid for their wool, which, if true, was little encouragement
to them to part with their provifions. And, even if they were punc-
tually paid, the negotiation of fecurlties payable in London, which in
modern times are generally better than money on the fpot, muft then
have been very diftrefsful to the country people in the diftant fhires.

April 28'" — The merchants of Brabant having bought 2,200 facks of
w^ool from King Edward, who was now almofl the only feller of wool in
England, he engaged to convoy them fafe from Ipfwich to their own
country ; and he accordingly ordered his admiral to appoint a fuffi-
cient number of warlike vefTels for that fervice. [Fipdaa, V. v, pp. 32,

May 7* — Edward, now adverting to the confequence of allowing
Englifh rams to be carried to the continent, ordered the bailifs of Bol-
ton, and the colledtors of the cuftoms in that port, to fearch all velTels
for live rams, and to carry them afhore, becaufe he had heard that fo-
reign merchants had fhipped them there on purpofe to improve the
breed of fheep in their own country, and hurt the trade in Englifh wool,
to the great damage of his kingdom and fubjeds *. [Fcedern, V. v, p.

May lOth — The king ordered all the tin in Cornwall and Devon-fliire,
whether in the hands of his own fubjeds or already fold to foreign mer-
chants, to be taken for his account and fhipped at Southampton for the
continent, for which he promifed to pay the proprietors within two
years. [Ftxdera, V. v,pp, 39, 40.]

May 1 6"'' — In order to raife money by all pofTible means, he appoint-
ed commiflioners, who granted freedom to the llaves, called fiativcs, at-
tached to his manors, with the rank of free men to themfelves and their
pofterity for ever, for fums of money paid by them for account of the
king. [Fa'dera, V, v, p. 44.] This was a happy confequence, among
many unhappy ones, of the attempt to conquer France.

June — He alfo borrowed from the abbays and other religious founda-
tions all the money he could get from them, and alfo all their lilver
plate, which he promifed to retin-n to them, or the price of it, valuing it,
however, for the moll part only at its weight of metal. But this pro-

* It was not long before this firll law agalnft the ward lilnifL-lf, as well as thofc agaiiiR the cxporta-
cxpurtalioii of Englilh rams was infringed by iid- lion of wool and the importation of woolliu cloth.

A. D. 1338. 523

ceeding, being probably reprefented as facrilege, raifed fuch a clamour,
that he was glad to dcfifl: from it. [Fa^dera, V. v, pp. 48-50, 59, 60. —
Knyghton , col. 2571.]

Notwithftanding King Edward's application to foreign princes in order
to injure the trade of the Flemings, he was very defirous of being in
friendihip with them. In confequence of friendly letters fent by him
to the three chief cities of Flanders, his commiffioners appointed to ne-
gotiate with the good people of thofe towns and of the country, who,
I have already obferved, were in many refpeds independent of their
€arl, and who could by no means carry on their manufadure without
Englifh wool, concluded a treaty, whereby the Flemings were permitted
to purchafe the wool and other commodities of England, then lying in
Holland, Zeland, and elfewhere, and had a promife of ample protedion
in all the harbours of England and the king's other dominions, and of
fafety upon the fea to all their veffels, except thofe found trading with the
Scots. The Flemings promifed to take no part in the war between the
king of England and Sir Philip of Valois pretending to be king of France,
unlefs for the defence of their earl, if he fliould be attacked by either party
in their own country ; and they engaged to proted the Englifh mer-
chants and their property in Flanders. It was flipulated, neverthelefs,
that the earl with his military tenants, might ferve whom he pleafed out
of Flanders. Soon after this reconciliation King Edward gratified the
citizens of Ghent with an exemption for the cloths, bearing the feal of
their city, from being fubjed to the examination of the ulnators, aulne-
gers, or meafurers, in the ports of England. Fcsdera., V. v, pp. 38, s^^,
59i 74-] Thus was the premature la^v againft the importation of fo-
reign cloth effedually repealed.

July 27 '' — The parliament having granted the king twenty thoufand
facks of wool, he immediately, without paying the fmallefl attention to
the recent law againft the exportation of it, ordered the whole to be
fhlpped, and veflels to be prefTed for the carriage. The colledion of the
wool, however, went on fo heavily, that only 3,000 facks were got ready
before his departure for the continent ; and on his arrival at Antwerp
he found there only 2,500 of them, inftead of the 20,000, on the fale of
which he depended for the payment of his army and the fubfidies
of his numerous allies. He therefor fent home orders to feize all the
wool in the country, fparing no perfon, whether of the clergy or the
laity, and to prefs carriages and veifels for the fpeedy conveyance of it
to him at Antwerp. [Fcedera, V. ^^ pp. 66, 73, 80.] The quantity of
wool levied in Leicefter-fhire was 311 facks, in Lincoln-iliire 600, and
in Northampton 300. \^Kiiyghton, col. 2571.]

Among other expedients for carrying on a war of unprecedented ex-
penfe, King Edward gave orders for imprifoning all the Lombard and
other foreign merchants, except thofe of the companies of the Bardi and

^U2

524 A. D. 1338.

Peruchi, and for leizing all their goods and chattels, wherever they could
be fovind. [Rot. pat. fee. 12 Edw. III. m. 5.] He alfo feized the pro-
perty of the Cluniac and Ciftercian monks throughout all England,
[Walfingham, p. 146] and of all the religious eftablifhments depending
upon foreign ones, called alien priories, till they bought themfelves off.
\Fadera, V. v, p. 490 — Knyghton, col. 2570.]

AugufI: — At the requeft of the duke of Brabant the king granted the
merchants and burgeffes of Dieft, Bruffels, Tienen, Mechlin, and Lewe,
freedom of buying wool and trading in England, with the privilege of
being liable only for their own debts and tranfgreffions, provided their
lords fhould not make war upon him or allift his enemies : and he grant-
ed, that their cloths fhould be examined and marked by the ulnators, or
meafurers, within five days, at the furtheft, after being unpacked *. He
alfo confirmed the grants made by his predeceflors to the citizens of Co-
logne. [Fadera, V. v,pp. 79, 80, 82.]

Odlober 4" -24''' — Southampton, the principal commercial port on the
fouth coafi: of England, was burnt and plundered by the French. [Feed-
era, V. V, p. 99 — Walfingham, p. 512.]

Odober i4"'-24''' — There being apprehenfions of a formidable inva-
fion from France, orders were iifued for ftationing a fufEcient force in
the ifland of Sheppey, for fortifying London on the bank of the river
with flone or planks, and driving piles into the channel to obflrudl the
approach of the enemy's veflels : and all perfons, clergy or laity, without
any exception, were ordered to contribute, in proportion to their eftates
in London, to the expenfe. [Foedera, V. 'v,pp. 85, 86.]

1339, March G'*" — Henry Darcy mayor of London having reprefent-
ed to the king, that the income of fifty marks, which ufed to be paid
annually by the merchants of Amiens, Nele, and Corbie, to his prede-
ceflx)rs, (fee p. 389) had now failed by the merchants leaving the coun-
try on account of the war, he ordered the fhirrefs of London to pay that
fum to the mayor. [Foedera, V. v,p. 105.]

June 12''' — A fpecies of coin of inferior quality, called black money
or turneys (probably fuch as had been lately prohibited in England)
had been introduced in Ireland, the currency of which, being fuppofed
prejudicial to that of the legal money, had been fupprefled. But the
quantity of good money in circulation being found inadequate to the
wants of the country, the warden (or viceroy) of Ireland was now au-
thorized to reftore the currency of the black money, if he and his coun-
cil fhould think it expedient, till a fufficient quantity of better money
could be provided. About three months before, twenty-four pair of

* I liavf been very brief in relating the grants in tliey difTer from the grant to the people of Dieft
to thoft cities, becaufe the favour refpeftiiig the in the ye;ir 1328, already infcrtcd.
rxaminatiun of tin ir cloths i« the only article where- I

A. D. 1339. 525

dyes for coining pennies, halfpennies, and farthings, had been ordered
from the mint in the Tower for Ireland, of which no notice is taken in
the prefent order. [Fadera, V. v,pp. 104, 113.]

June — Among the mofl notable of King Edward's fliifts for getting
hold of money, for the fupport of his wars with France and Scotland,
may be reckoned his fcheme for a marriage between his fon, a child
juft ten yeare of age, and a daughter of the duke of Brabant, from whom
he immediately received ffty thou/and pounds Jlerling as the young lady's
portion, he obliging himlelf to return ^ 100,000, if the marriage fhould
not be compieted. [F(£dera,V.\, pp. 112,, i8i.] The marriage never
was completed ; and it merits notice in commercial hiftory, only as a
proof of the very flourifhing flate of the manufactures and trade of Bra-
bant, which enabled the prince of that country to lay down fuch a fum
of money ; a fum, though it was exceeded by what Edward himfelf co-
venanted to give with his own daughter to the prince of Spain, far great-
er in real effeftive value than is given with the daughters of any of the
modern kings of Europe.

November 25''' — The liberty granted by the late adl, for carrying on
the woollen manufadlure in any part of the kingdom without impedi-
ment, feems to have been interpreted by the magiftrates of Briftol as re-
ftrided to foreigners ; or the ad: was fo far difregarded by them, that
they perfecuted Thomas Blanket and fome others of their own citizens,
who had provided machinery, and hired workmen, for fetting up a wool-
ten manufactory in that city, with unreafonable exadions. Such was
the difcouraging reception given to the woollen manufadure on its firfl
appearance in the center of the country which has fince become the
chief feat of it, till government fent orders to the mayor and bailifs of
Briflol to defift from molefling their fellow-citizens in their meritorious
undertaking. [Foedera,V. v, p. i^'].']

December 23*^ — The king ordered five lafts of red herrings to be pro-
vided for the ufe of his houfehold at Yarmouth, which has fo long been
famed for curing herrings in that manner ; and 5,000 ftock-fifh from
Bofton, at which port, and alfo at Kingllon upon Hull, thole filh were
then imported, whether caught by the Englifli feamen themfelves at
Iceland, or bought in that ifland or at the fair of Bergen in Norway, the
great market for the filh of the polar regions*. [Fa^dera, V. v,p. 146.
— Camdeni Britannia, p. 578. — Qlaus Magnus^ L. 21. J

1340, February^ — ^The parliament granted the king the ninth part of
the lambs, the wool, and the corn, to be produced in the two next years,

* It mud not be underftood, that this was the the king ordeied 500 ' murruz' from Blakenhetl).

carlicd notice of flock-fifh in England. They Qnere, if moorfow's, and if tliey were then to be

were a ciiftomary article of fhip's ilores at leall as found in confiderable quantities fo near London as

early as the year i 290. See above, p. 436, note at Bhckheath P
*.—— Together wl'h the berruigs and ftock-fiih

526

A. D. 1340.

the ninth part of the real vaUie of all the property (quere, if not rather
income ?) of the citizens and burgefles, and a fifteenth from all others,
excxpt labourers and beggars *. {Sfat. 14 Edw. Ill, c. 20 — Knyghton,
col. 2576.]

April 16''' — They granted him alfo a duty of 40/" upon every fack
(containing 26 ftones of 14 pounds each) of wool, 40/" upon every 300
wool-fells, and 4q/'upon every lafl of hides, to be paid upon exportation,
and to be continued till Pentecoll in the year 134 1. In confideration
of thefe fupplies the king relinquilhed his right to the feudal tax for
knighting his oldeft fon and marrying his oldefl daughter f (a favour in
profpedl to thofe who held lands of him in chief) : and he engaged, that
after Pentecoft in 1341, he would demand no more than 6/'8 upon the
fack of wool, 6/8 upon 300 wool-fells, and 1374 upon the lafl of hides.
The exporters of wool were to find fecurity, that, for every fack of wool
carried out of the kingdom, they would within three months bring in
filver bulUon to the value of two marks, and carry it to the king's ex-
change, where they Ihould receive two marks in coined money for it.
IStat. 14 Edw. III.]

Though the parliament, and probably the generality of the people,
were fo liberal of their property for the purpofe of enabling their king
to make himfelf king of France, it appears, that there were fome who
were endowed with more penetration, and faw that the fuccefs of the
king would be the ruin of the kingdom. In order to counteract the ef-
fed: of fuch an opinion, the king ilTued a kind of charter :}:, wherein he
declared, that, being defirous to provide for the fecurity and immunity
of his liege people of England, he had, by the alTent of his parliament,
determined, that the people of England fhould not be bound by any
commands ifTued by him or any of his heirs as king of France, and
Ihould be as free of any fubjeilion to that kingdom, as they were in the
^ays of his anceftors. {Stat. 5, 14 Edw. III.] He might as well have
promifed the people of Cumberland and Cornwall, that they fhould not
be controlled by the laws enaded in the capital.

April 18"' — King Edward was now fo well pleafcd with his good
friends, the citizens of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres, that he made fome of
their magiftrates members of his council, and fettled penfions on them
with an allowance of robes from his wardrobe. For their fakes alfo he

* Knygliton [_ail. 2569] and Walfingham [f. f Though what is written is permanent, yet,

J 1 3] ttll us, that the king exaftcd from the peo- without the alTiftancc of printing, it is foon for-

ple of England, (without any diflindtion of per- gotten. A demand was made for knighting the

fons), a tribute of ■■iji/l/j part of tlicir goods in the prince of Wales in 1346, and in 1351 a new aft

year 1339. But I often find tiiefc hillorians inac- was paficd to re-ellablifli the claim for the oldeft

curate in numbers, when brought to the left of re- fon and the oldeft daughter as before. [Fteilera,

cords. It may be queftioncd, whether it would ^v,/). 527. — Stal. 5, 25 Edw. Ill, c. II.]
have been poffible to levy fuch a contribution in an * It is printed among the acls of parliament,

age when heavy taxes were as yet new and uii-
jtiiown.

A, D. 1340, 527

granted protedions to the vefTels of Cadile, Catalonia, and Majorca,
trading peaceably with Flanders, and giving fecurity to the magiftrates
of thofe cities, that they fliould do no damage to him or his friends.
Such was the advantage which thofe nations reaped from being conned-
ed in trade with the principal commercial nation in the weft part of Eu-
rope : and, on the other hand, fo valuable was the trade of thofe Span-
ifh nations to the Flemings, that they bound themfelves to indemnify
them for any damage they might fuffer from the Englifh ; an obliga-
tion, which Edward thought it incumbent upon him to take upon him-
felf \_Foedera, V. \,pp, 179, 183, 203.]

June 24'" — King Edward, underflanding that the king of France had
colle6ted a fleet of 400 veffels*, the largefl; of which belonged to Spain
and Genoa, in order to intercept him on his paflage to the continent,
boldly refolved to engage them with the fleet he had, confifting of 260
vefl^els great and fmall. On the 23'' of June he came in fight of the
enemy lying at anchor at the Swyn on the coafl: of Flanders. Early in
the morning of the next day the French fleet got up their anchors, and,
forming in three divifions, advanced about a mile to meet the Englifli,
who, having the wind of them, bore down to the attack, which they
commenced with a fhower of arrows, in the management of which they
excelled all other nations, and afterwards clofed in with them, and fought
with ftones thrown from the tops, and with pikes, poll-axes, and fwords.
The Englifli made but little impreflion upon the lofty flups of Spain,
but in the French vefl^els the carnage was moll horrible, about 25,000
men by the moft moderate accounts being either flain or drowned by
leaping overboard f. At the conclufion of the battle, which lafled all
the day and the enfuing night, 200 fhips and 30 barges fell into the
hands of the Englifli. Next day the king landed his forces amidft the
fliouts and applaufes of his Flemifli allies. [Fadero, V. "v^pp. 195, 197.
— Hcniingford, p. 319. — K?iyghtoii, col. 2577 — Walfinghani^ p. 148 — P.
^myl.p. 276 Stow, p. 369.]

The fplendour of this naval vidory, the only one gained by a king ot
England in perfon fince the days of Alfred, dazzled the eyes of the Eng-
lifli, and made them chearfuUy exhaufl: their wealth in order to make
their brave king the fovereign of a foreign country, and themlelves the
fubjeds of the king of France. It encouraged Edward to proceed in his
career : and it induced thofe allies, who wiflied to be on the fuccefsful
flde, to ftand by him longer than they would otherways have done. And
thus were the miferies and defolation of war prolonged. The phantom
of the kingdom, though repeatedly grafped, at laft totally vaniftied : but

* According to Knyghton, 19 very large (liips — 3C0 French fliips, and ?o of Bretagne. [i?.
and 200 other (hips of war, befides fmaller veffels J'Emyl.'\

arid barges. — 200 fiiips and many gallies. {_l'/alf,'] f Tliere was no fafety for them on the (here, .

which was occupied by the Flcmilh army.

528

A. D. I

340-

the taxes, brought upon the commerce and confumption of the country
by it, remained a lafling memorial of King Edward's fatal claim upon
the crown of France *.

Odober 11"" — The operations of war being fufpended by a truce,
King Edward, in letters addrefled to the fhirrefs of the maritime (hires,
obferved that the navy of the kingdom (that is, the whole veffels belonging
to the merchants of England) was much reduced by the war f ; and, as
the Jecurity of the kingdom depended upon the veffels being kept in the hands of
his ozvn fubjecls, he ordered them to make proclamation, that no perfon
fhould fell, or give away, any vefTel to a foreigner upon any account :
and he alfo defired them to return to him exad: accounts of all the vef-
fels, whether great or fmall, in each port within their jurifdi6tions, with
the names of their owners. [Fadera, V. v, p. 21 c] Thefe returns, if
colleded together, would conftitute, apparently, the firfl; Kegifler of the
Jhipping of England %.

1 341, February 12'" — The king wrote to the magiftrates of the prin-
cipal ports of England, ordering that all fliips of fixty tuns or upwards,
and all barges and fluves, Ihould be equipped for war. He alfo ordered
them to fend deputies, chofen from among their moft fubftantial and
prudent inhabitants, who fhould aflemble at Weftminfler, in order to
inform him of the ftate of the fhipping in their ports, and the progrefs
of the outfit. The following is the lift of the ports with the number of
their deputies to this firft naval parliament.

Sandwich to fend

Great Yarmouth 2

Gosford 2

Lynne 2

Ipfwich I

Winchelfea 2

Dover i

Rye 1

Haftings i

Southampton 2

Plymouth 2

Dartmouth 2

Weymouth i

Briftol 2

Bofton I

Kingfton upon Hull 2

Newcaftle uponTine 2

Falmouth i

Pevenfey i

Seaford i

Shorehani i

Hooke 1

Poole I

Exmouth I

Teignmouth i

Fowey i

Ravenfere i
Little Yarmouth i

\f(^dera, V. v,p. 231.]

April 1 2''' — Six Genoefe gallies, loaded with merchandize for Flan-
ders, having been taken at Breft by a fleet of Engli(h veffels in Septem-

* Though Edward, in an evil Iwur, afTunied the
title of king of France, and quartered the lilies of
that kingdom with his own leopards in his armori-
al bearings, he fccms to have been rather (hy, or
dilBdent, in^ufing his new ftile, the moll of his writs
about this time being begun with < Rex omn'dus' i^c.
without faying what country or countries he claim-
ed the fovccignty of.

f It is not to be fnppoftd, that many merchants
would build veffels to replace thofe which were loll,

as they vrere fure to have very little ufe of thetn
during the war.

\ TIic account of vefTtls furniflied by the fevcral
ports of England for the fiegc of Calais (to be
found under the year 1346) is nearly equivalent to
fuch a regillcr, as all the vclfels of the kingdom (or
nearly all) were aflembled on tliat fervice. We
there fuid the number of merchant vefFeh to be 685,
but for their tunnage vvc liave no other ftandard
than the number of mrn they carried.

A. D. 1341. 529

ber 1340, King Edwaid offered to pay the owners ^10,000 fteriing, if
the duke and community of Genoa would abftain from giving afliftance
to his adverfary of France. But this offer the Genoefe appear to have
declined. [FcederOj V. -v^pp. 244, 571.]

Augufl 8"' — The king, finding that wool was fmuggled out of the
kingdom wiihout paying the duty, appointed the flaple for wool and
other flaple goods to be at Bruges in Flanders, under the diredion of a
mayor and conftables to be eledted by the merchants of the kingdom ;
and he confirmed all their former liberties and reafonable cufloms. All
perfons, natives or foreigners, were permitted to carry wool and other
merchandize to Bruges, on giving fecurlty to the colledtors of the cuf-
toms that they would carry them to no other place. The mayor and
conftables of the ftaple were direded, and empowered, to feize all goods
hot fairly cleared out for exportation, and to punifh all offences in the
ftaple, not according to the common law of the kingdom, but according
to the mercantile law: and, for defraying the necelTary charges, they
were authorized to levy a duty on the merchandize imported at Bruges
in proportion to the quantity belonging to each perfon. [Fadera, V. v,
pp. 273, 275.]

1342, January 22'', May 28''' — The king wrote other letters to the
•duke of Genoa, earneftly labouring to win him to his alliance, and pro-
mifmg that the Genoefe merchants fhould be treated in all his do-
minions as well as his own fubjeds. IF^dera, V. v, pp. 296, 316.]

February 14"' — He alfo endeavoured to draw the king of Majorca in-
to an alliance with him by a propofal for a marriage, and an offer of
commercial favours to his fubjeds, \Foedera, V.v, pp. 2^6, 2^^.^ The
commercial propofal had probably as" little efFeft as the matrimonial
one.

1343, Spring — Another law againft carrying money out of the coun-
try was now enaded. \^ASts 17 Edw. III.} The frequent renovations
of fuch laws were not, it feems, fuflicient to convince the legiflature of
their inefficacy.

The chronological order of this work requires me immediately to lay
-before the reader the following ftriking contraft to this ad of the Eng-
lifli parliament.

May i'' — Pedro IV, king of Aragon, coftfidering the great hardship ira-
pofed upon the commerce of his fubjeds by an order, contained in the con-
ititutions of Catalonia, againft carrying filver out of the country, now
granted permiflion to the citizens ot Barcelona to export filver, whether
in bullion or in coin, except the money of Barcelona, from any part of
his dominions to any foreign country whatfoever. [^Caprnany , Menu hi/I.
de Barcelona, V. ii. Col. d'lpl. p. 1 17.]

May 10^ — The parliament ordained, that no perfon for the three en-

VoL. I. 3 X

%

53^

A. D. 1343,

- £s

7
6

5

5

13
6

o

o

6

o

o

13
13

o

4
&

o

o

8

o
o

4

4

o

o

13 4

fuing years, under penalty of forfeiture of the wool fo bought by him,
fhould buy wool at any lower prices than the following, viz.

Lincoln-fhire, befl: wool £g 6 8

Holland and marlh lands 768
York-lhire, beft - 768

Craven - - 6 13 4

Kent, Suflex, Middlefex 600

Marfh wool in thefe three 500
Surry - - -400
Salop - - -96-8
Oxford (Chiltern;^6 : 1 3 : 4) 8 1 3 4
Berks - -600

Nottingham - 700

Northampton - 768

Stafford - ^^8 to 8 1 3 4

Derby - - 6 6 8

Leicefter - 800 ter

Warwick, the befl 700 Devon

Cambridge, Huntington 6 o o Cornwall
Buckingham, Bedford 768 Rutland

The fellers were at liberty to take prices as much above the limited
ones as they could obtain *. [Foedera, V. v. p. 2,^g.']

1344, January 8 '' — King Edward, agreeable to his conftant policy of
conciliating the neutral powers, ordered the fhirrefs of London to make
proclamation, that the Portuguefe fhould be treated in all refpeds as
friends and, favoured allies. [Fadera, V. \yp. 402.]

January 22'' — Hitherto there had been very little gold money coined
by the kings of England f; fo little, indeed, that it has-been generally
believed that there was none : but now the king and parliament order-
ed money of three fizes to be coined of gold. The largefl pieces, damp-
ed with two leopards, and equal to two fmall florins of Florence of full
weight, were ordered to pafs for fix fliillings. The halves had one leo-
pard, and the quarters, a helmet. Soon after {]^\y 9'^) the king and his
council ordered another coinage of gold, confifling of pieces called
nobles, valued at fix fhillings and eight pennies, and halves and quarters,
of nobles. The exportation of money was o^aiii prohibited, with the

Wilt-fhlre,.
Somerfet
Southampton, befl:

Wight and New forefl
Dorfet - -

' 'ereford £6 : 13 14 to 8
Worcefler 5 : 6 : 8 to 7
Hertford - - 6

Effex (Marfh wool ^^5) 6
Gloucefler /^7 : 6 : 8 to 8
Norfolk, Suffolk 5

Cumberland, Weflmere-

land - 6

Northumberland, Lancaf-

5

3
- 2

6

13
13

8

o

4
4

* This tnl^lc of pricej rep;iilatfrl by aft of parlia-
iricnt, togcttitr with the pricis prclcribcd by the
king in the year 1338, pi»es us a ft;Uillical ac count
of the comparative quality of the wools in all the
iliircs of England, except Chelhirc, Durham, and
Monmouth, the two former bciu^' p:ilatiiic coun-
ties, aud the later not then an Eiiglilh lliire. It
a'fo fhows '13, that tliofe parts of the count ly,

wliitli produce the bed wool, arc uof tVic chief
leat'( of tlie woollen manufaftures.

f In the year 1338 King Edwaul ordered that
the filver, which was expec'U'<l to be found in Ue-
von-fliire, fhould be carried to the mint, anil the
gold, to the exchequer. [^Firikra , V. v, p. 71.]
Had there been any coi.iage of gold, he would molt
probably have ordered both to the niiut.

A. D. 1344' 53^

exception of this new gold money. The currency of all coins of gold
or filver, except the king's, was prohibited. And no perfon, receiving
a payment of twenty fliillings or more, was to refufe gold money *.
The king, in his orders to the fliirrcfs of London for proclaiming this
laft coinage, obferved that hitherto people had been impofed on, becaufe
there was no fixed rate of exchange, and informed them, that he had
ordered an exchange to be opened at Servate's towerf in London, where
the public might receive 6/7 in filver in exchange for a noble of gold,
or a noble of gold in exchange for 6/8- of filver, and in the fame pro-
portion for the halves and quarters, thus taking to himfelf a profit of
1^ per cent on iflliing filver, and | per cent on iflliing gold ^. The firft
gold money having been rated fo much above its value that it was im-
poflible to get the people to receive it, the king proclaimed ( Augufl; 20 '')
rhat no perfon ftiould be obhged to take it but at its value as bullion.
\^Foedera, V. v,pp. 403, 416, 424.]

February 6"' — The king, again defiring to be informed of the fiate of
the navy, or fhipping, of England, fent precepts to the magiftrates of
all the ports, ordering them to return a number of reprefentatives, pro-
portioned to their trade or population, well acquainted with maritime
affairs, to a council of fhipping, or naval parliament, to be held at Lon-
don in the enfuing lent, as follows, viz.

Yarmouth to fend

4

Dover

2

Exeter

a

Newcafl;le upon

Tine

2

Winchelfea

2

Dartmouth

2

Scarburgh

I

Rye

I

Plymouth

2

Kingfl;on upon

Hull

2

Haftings

I

Exmouth

I

Ravenfrod

I

Gosford

I

Falmouth

I

Grimfby

■I

Waynfleet

I

Sidmouth

I

Bofton

2

Lyme

I

Barnftaple

1

Lynne

2

Seaford

I

Weymouth

I

Dunwich

I

Chichefter

2

Briftol

2

Tpfwich

2

Portfmouth

I

Poole

I

Colchefl:er

I

Southampton

2

London

4

Harwich

I

S'. Helen's in Wight

; I

Blakeney

1

I

Orford

I

Melcomb

1

Ravenfere

I

Maldon

I

Pevenfey

I

Shoreham

I

Sandwich

2

Romney

I

[Fadera, V, v,}

X405.]

* The permiffion to refufe it in fmaller quanti-
ties fhows, tliat it was difli'ied by the people, and
for a very good reafon, as it w as rated confiderably
above its ^alue according to the proportion then
eftablifhcd between gold and filver. About a year
and a half after this time we find it ftill refufed in
the north partsof En -land. \_Fcrdera, P. v,p. 480.3

f Appar rtty tl-.r fame which Stow calls Sernes
tower tti> ' Ci:inei's tower in Bucklerlbiiry. [_Sur-
ijfy of London, pp. u8, 477.]

X Before this time the exchanges iffued good fil-
ver money in exchange for fuch as was deficient in
weight or purity, and accommodated travelers with
Englifh or foreign money, when arriving in, or de-
parting from, the kingdom : and from thefe ex-
changes a part of tlie royal revenue was derived.
In the third year of King Richard I the profit of
the exchange ('cambil') of all England, except
Winchefler, amounted to j^400. In the beginning
of the reign of John, Hugh Oifcl, a foreign mer-

3X2

532 A. D. 1344.

We may here obferve Yarmouth on a footing with London in navai
pre-eminence, furely the effed of a vigorous and proiperous fifliery ; and
that Ravenfrod, formerly more opulent than Hull, and Dunwich which
appears to have antiently had more trade than any of the neighbouring
ports, were now outftripped by others in the progrefs of naval and com-
mercial profperity *.

The late law for fixing the prices of wool was repealed, the buyers,
whether natives or foreigners, being allowed to make fuch bargains as
they and the fellers could agree : and fo fenfible were the legiflators of
the impropriety of the reftridive ordinance, that they decreed, that no
perfon fliould be troubled for having infringed it. The fea was alfo de-
clared free for the pafTage of all merchants of every defcription with their
merchandize. [Stat. 18 Edw. III. c. 3.]

Odober 12^''-— The foreign cloth-weavers, who had fettled in London
upon the faith of the king's protcdion, were maltreated and threatened
by a mob of people, who were fo foolifli as to think, that what was earn-
ed by thofe induftrious and valuable ftrangers was taken from them-
felves. The king therefor ordered the mayor and fiiirrefs of London
to proclaim that no one ihould do any injury to the foreigners, and to
imprifon all who fhould ad contrary to the proclamation. \Fa^dcra, V.
V, p. 430,] If the mob had proceeded now as far in their outrages
againft the foreign weavers as they often did againft the Jews in former
times, England might have continued fome centuries longer dependent
upon the Netherlands for the fale of wool, and the purchafe of fine
cloth.

The Ciftercian monks had the privilege of being exempted from all
public burthens ; and, in the ufe, or abufe, of that exemption, thofe of
them, who were fettled in Lincoln-fhire, had become merchants. Hav-
ing thus all the advantages that fmugglers feek to have without any of
their rifk, and alio the benefit of correfpondence with the houfes of their
order throughout the Chriftian world, no other perfons could enter into
competition with them : and they were therefor prohibited from being
merchants. [Rot. pat. prim. 18 Edw. Ill, 711, 57 — Bromtofi, col. 1256.]

Though the people of France had contributed very liberally for fup-
porting their fovereign againft King Edward's invafion, yet the preflure

thant, farmed tlie exchange of nil England for * Such councils wore fometinics called after-

850 maikja-ycar. But in the ij"h of Henry III wards. Or.c in particular in the year 1347 wae

the farm was lowered to 700 n.aiks. [_MaJcx's comjiofed of members from only 32 places, if all

Hi/}, c. 23, ^ I, notti m, n, ;•.] the orders be preferved, Newcaftle, Scarburgh, Pe.

The ciiargc for exchange was afterwards aug- vcnfty, Exeter, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Exmouth,

meuted, as appears by a petition of the commons Falmouth, Sidmoutli, Barnilaple, Weymoutli, (and

in the year 1363, that no more than one penny Ravcnfere, if differtnL from Ravenfrod, for one

might be taken for the change of a noble. The of thcfc names feems redundant) being omitted,

petition was rcfufed. \_Cotton's Abridgement of re- [Fadna, F. v, p. 548.] But it feems more pro-

ctrdsyp. 97.] » table tliat the orders arc loft.

A. D. 1344. 533

of Philip's expcntes now obliged him to impofe a tax upon fah *, which
rendered him very unpopular among his fubjeds, who thought it a horrid
oppreffion to make them pay for water and the heat of the fun. {Mezeray,
Hi/h de France, V. ii, p. 544. — Meycri, Jhnj. Flnndr.f. 301 . a, J The tax was
probably at firft very light, according to our modern ideas of taxation.
But taxes are like fnow-balls, which increafe as they roll along : and the
progrelTive augmentations of the fait taxes, the inequality of them in
different diftrids, and the extreme rigour in collecting them, became the
fources of much cvafion, much tyranny, and much mifery, in France.

It is faidthat anEnglifhman, named Macham (or Machin), failing for
vSpain with a lady, whom he had flolen away, was driven by contrary
winds upon the ifland afterwards called Madeira. There he landed with
the lady and fome of the fliip's company ; and they were deferted by
the fhip. The lady died ; and Macham and his companions made a ca-
noe, in which they pafled over to the coafl of Africa, and thence they
were fent to the king of Caftile. \_Galvands Difcoveries^ in Furcbas^s
Pilgrimes, B. x^ p. 1672.] Such is the account of the firfl: difcovery
made of unknown land after the ufe of the compafs became genera! f.

This fame year the pope, after preaching a fermon, wherein he prov-
ed, probably to the fatisfadion of his audience, that he had a right to
difpofe of kingdoms, created Louis of Spain, an ambaffador from the
king of Fvance,^ prince of the Fortunate iJlandsX, \^Hemingford, p. 376, ed>
Hear?ie,'\

1346, March 24''' — King Edward, thinking it would be advantageous
to merchants and to the public in general, both in England and Flan-
ders, if the fame money were to have free currency in both countries,
empowered two agents to fettle with the magiftrates of Ghent, Bruges,
Ypres, and other towns, refpeding a coinage of gold nobles, with their
halves and quarters, like thofe lately coined in England, to be executed
in" his name in that country. [F^dera, V. v, p. 506.]

■* King Edward, whofe pretenhons upon tlis we are told by Sir George Staunton. {_^ccount of

crown of France made him deny the exiftence of nn cmbaffy lo China, F. \, p. "] \, ed, 179S.]
the Salic law, whereby he, as claiming in right of- :j: It would have been a laudable deed, fays He-

his mother, was excluded from the fuccefiion, when mingford, if he had put him in polTefTion. He adds,

lie heard of the new tax, faid, with a fneering pun, that there are nine or ten of thofe iflands ; that the

that Philip of Valois was the real author of the natives^ who are neither Chrillians nor Saracens,

Salic law. Such falic (fait) laws have fince been live like beafts, and go naked; they cut tlieir bread

very fufficlently felt in this country, though not v/ith ftones, whicii are alfo tiicir weapons in fight-

quite fo feverely as in France. iiig, they having no iron, and no knives, nor any

■[•According to other accounts, Macham alio other kind of arms ; corn grows there without be-

died in the ifland. The Portuguefe fay, that, ing fowed, and trees grow to the height of 115

when they took pofleffion of Madeira, the roonu- feet. — Puichas [fi. >;, p. 1671] fays, from Gal-'

ment eredled by him, containing his own and the -vano's Difcoverks, that Louis dc lu Cerda (for that

lady's names, was (landing, and that the bay, where was his name) alked the king of Aragon to aflill

he landed, is called Machico after lus name. His him to take pofTeflion of his new dominions: but

llory, true or fabricated, is the fubjedl of a pi3.ure ^Ni hear nothing farther of it at this time
ia the hall of the government houfe in Madeira, as

534

A. D. 1346.

July 24''' — The king's high-way between the hofpital of S'. Giles and
the bar of the old temple* at London, and alfo the adjacent road called
Pourtepolf, being very much broken up and dangerous, tolls J, perhaps
the earlieft known by any remaining records, were impofed by royal
authority upon all cattle, merchandize, or other goods, pafling upon
thofe roads, and alfo the Charing road §, for two years, at rates upon the
feveral articles, amounting to about one penny in the pound on their
value, to be paid by all perfons, except lords, ladies, and perfons belong-
ing to religious eftabliftiments or to the church. \^Foedera,V. v, p. 520.]

September 6"" — King Edward having defeated his adverfary Philip at
CrefTy (Augufl 26'^') with a prodigious llaughter, and befieged Calais by
land and by fea, fent precepts to the Cinque ports and the ports on the
eaft fide of England, defiring the merchants to carry over flour, bread,
corn, wine, ale, flefli, fifli, bows, bow-ftrings, arrows, and other flores,
for which they (hould be paid in ready money ; and he afTured them,
that nothing fliould be taken from them without a reafonable and fatif-
fadory price. This order was frequently repeated. [Fcedera, V. v, pp.

525. 575-] . . . , ^. ^

As the commercial progrefs of the maritime towns is belt ilkiltrated

by comparing ftatements of their Ihipping at different times, I here lay

before the reader the following

Account of the vejfels furnijhed by the ports of Evglandfor the fleet employed

by King Edward III in thefiege of Calais.

The king's 25 Ihips carried 419 mariners.

The South fleet. The North fleet.

r#/i. ,

lijiirinfrs.

V<JfeU.

^lartntrs .

London fent

25

662 Bamburgh

1

9

Aylesford

2

24 Newcaftle

17

414

Hoo

2

24 Walrich

I

12

Hope

2

24 Hertlepool

5

145

New Hythe

5

19 Hull

- 16

466

Margate

15

160 York

I

9

Morne

2

23 Ravenfer

1

28

Faverfham

2

23 Woodhoufe

I

12

Sandwich

22

504 Strockhithe

I

10

Dover

i6

^;^6 Barton

3

30

Wight (ifland)

13

220 Swinfleet

I

II

"Winchelfea

21

596 Saltfleet

2

49

Weymouth

20

264 Grimlby

II

171

* The olJ temple was in Holburn without the towns were very eommon : but I ,im uncertai

b»rs. [_Sloiu's Survey, pp. 752, 824.]

•f Now Gray's-inn lane. [5/ow, p. 823.3 A

fmall lane leading into Gray 's-inu lane has now got

the name of Portpool lane.

X ' Confuetudincs,' culloms. Duties for paving

whether they were levied upon tlie inhaljitanls, or
upon thofe who ufeJ the ru:-.Js, as this order, and
Tcafiin, diretl. The exemption of thofe who were
bell able to pay was not, however, very judic^oiis.
§ 6uppofed to be HOW S'. Martin's lane.

A. D. 1346.

535

The South fieet.

7y&^ North fleet.

V^i^h. J

Mariner J ,

V.JfcU.

, Mariners,

Lyme

4

62 Waynfleet

-

2

43

Seton

2

25 Wrangle

-

I

8

Sidmouth

3

62 Lynne

i5

482

Exmouth

10

193 Blackney

-

2

38

Teignmouth

7

120 Scarburgh

-

I

19

Dartmouth

31

757 Yarmouth

-

43

^095

Portfmouth

5

96 Dunwich

-

6

102

Plymouth

26

603 Orford

-

3

62

Looe

20

325 Gosford

-

13

403

Yalie

2

48 Harwich

-

14

283

Fowey

47

770 Ipfwich

-

12

239

Briftol

24

608 Merten

-

r

6

Tinmouth

2

25 Broughlyngfey

■.

5

61

Haftings

5-

96 Colchefter

-

5

90

Romney

4

75 Whitbanes

=

I

17

Rye

9

156 Derwen

-

I

15

Hythe

6

112 Boflon

«» -

17

361

Shoreham

20

329 Swinhumber

.

I

32

Seaford

5

80 Maldon

-

2

3^

Newmouth

2

18 Barton

.

5

61

Hamilhoke

7

"7 Ireland

,

I

25

Hooka - r

II

208 jp ■

Southampton

21

Foreigners.
572 r.

Lymington

9

' Bayonne

Spam
^Sl Flanders
Yg Gelderland

a.

15

439

Poole - -

A

-

7

184

Wareham

^

1

-

14

133

Swanzey

I

■«

I

24

Ilfracombe-

6

79 Summary,

Padftow

2

1 7 King's fhips

~

^5

419

Pollrewan

I

5o South fleet

-

468

9,211

Wadworth

I

14 North fleet

_

217

4'52r

Hendefs

Bridgewater

Garmarthen

I
I
I

^* Total, England C
1 Ireland

10 T-

*or7oo)7io* ]
I

t4»i5i
25

Calchworth

I-

Foreigners

1 2

■■

37

780

Molbrooke

I

12 Total t (*

or 7383 748* 1

[4.956

{_MS. Bib. Con. Tit. K

iii,/

262.]

f The totals do not agree with the particular
numbers. But, as it is impolTiblc to difcoter where
the error lies, I am obliged to take them as I find
them in the manufcript, which is much more ac-
curate than the litl publifhed by Hakluyt. The
names of the towns are given in modern fpelling,
except a few which are unknown ; and the deful-
tojy arrangement, rer.de; i it impofiible to trace

them. We may obfcrve, that tl.ofe parts of the
coaft, where the fifhing flouriftied, had the greateft
number of velTels. Though we find two veflels
carrying 51 and 60 men, yet Gosford is the only
town whofe vefiels average fo many as 31 men^ the •
average of the whole fleet being under 20 men {os
each velici

536 A. D. 1346.

During the liege of Calais the king of France attempted to detach
the Flemings from the intereft of King Edward. He offered to fupply
them for fix years with corn at 4/ per quarter inftead of 12/] which they
then paid ; to fend them the wool of France at a low price, and to
oblige his fubjedts to ufe no other cloth, while their cloths, made of
French wool were to be got (thus offering to facrifice the woollen ma-
nufafture, which, we have feen, his own fubjedis certainly had). He of-
fered to reftore to them the towns of Lifle, Doway *, and Bethune, with
their diflrids, to defend them againlt their enemies, to fubfidize them,
largely, and to promote their young men. But all his offers were not
fufficient to prevail with the Flemings. [R. de Avejhtiry, p. 153.]

1347 — ^In the year 1347, and apparently in the early part of it, the
king's fon Lionel, as warden of the kingdom, in a council without the
cotnmons, impofed a duty of 2/ upon every fack of wool exported, 2/ up-
on every tun of wine, and dd upon every 20/ in value of other goods
(' des avoirs'), to continue till next Michaelmafs, for the protedtion of
the kingdom and the convoy of Ihips, [Cotton's Abridgement of records,

P' 52.]

April 10"' — For a confiderable time pait we have iiad little notice of
any commercial intercourib between England and Venice. In confe-
quence of an application by the conful f of the Venetian merchants at
Bruges and an Englifli merchant, the king now took all the merchants
of Venice, trading to England, Ireland, and his other dominions, under
his protedion during one year. [Fcedera, V. v, p. 558.]

April 13"' — -The king fent agents to Genoa to hire twelve gallics,
completely armed and manned, for his fervice. In July a very prolix
treaty was figned at Genoa, wherein King Edward offered, and the duke
and community of Genoa (for the parties interefted) accepted, ^^ 10,000
flerling in full compenfation for the fix gallies taken in the year 1340,
and 8,000 marks for the cog taken in the year 1321 X> 'which fums
were to be allowed in the cuftoms of goods imported or exported in the
ports of England, by the perlbns aggrieved and their heirs, for their
own accounts only, till every one of them (hould thus retain as -much
as his fliare of the compenfation fhould be fettled at§. Moreover, what
was the king's great objedl, each of the contrading powers engaged not
to allifl the enemies of the other. [Foedera,V. v, pp. 560, 569.]

Augufl: 12'' — King Edward, having made himfclf mafler of Calais
after a fiege of eleven months, defired the fliirrefs of the maritime

* So I have vcntiinJ to call llie town wrilteii liiable Mimorlat h'ljloricns de Barcelona, gives « lift

Rov-'acum in one MS. and Boivacuin in anotlier, of conlul.s commiffioiKcl by tliat city lincc tlie year

apparently for Do'zlwcum. 1 2 70.

•j- If I n^iituke not, this is tlie carllift notice of j Triis fccms the fa;nc fliip for which King

tlieoHtcec.f ac^>n/"«/o/"»ii'rf/i(7«/jinaiiy Englidirccord. Edward oflercJ to pay 8,oco inaiks in the year

But lor.g before this time the commercial dates in '3^6.

the Mediterranean had confulsin every confiderable § Another inllance of payment in this mann?"

port to which tiny traded. Capmany, in liis va- occurs i;i FaiUra, l^. v, p. 789.

A. D. 1347. 537

fliires, and the magiftrates of the chief ports of England, to make pro-
clamation, that merchants and others, wilHng to fettle in Calais with
their (lores and merchandize, lliould have houfes at moderate rents *.
\F(edei-a, V. v. p. 575.]

November 6''^ — The parliament of Scotland (if we may depend on
the authenticity of the laws publifhed by Skene) confirmed to the in-
habitants of the burghs, and to foreign merchants, the rights and pri-
vileges formerly enjoyed by them in good and peaceable times. They
ordered that the gold and filver coins of England fliould be received at
the full nominal value at which they pafTed in England f . And, agree-
able to the abfurd policy then generally adopted in Europe, they at-
tempted to prevent the exportation of money by charging it with the
monftrous and impradicable duty of 33! per cent, [^Stat. Dav. II, cc. 32,
ZZ^ ?»Sy 37] which, if it operated at all, could only have the efFedl of
raifing the prices of foreign merchandize upon the Scottifh confumer.

1348, January ts'*" — The merchants and others complained to the
parliament of England, that all the tin of Cornwall was bought and ex-
ported by Tidman of Limburgh, and no EngUfliman could get any of
it : therefor they prayed that it might be freely fold to all merchants.
But they received for anfwer, that it was a profit belonging to the prince,
and every lord might make his profit of his own. Another petition
was alfo prefented, praying for a repeal of the new cufloms upon wool-
len manufactures exported, viz. i4(S^upon every cloth, i<i upon every
worfied cloth, and loiupon every lit (probably litted, or dyed) cloth,
exported by Englifh merchants, which were half as much more upon
thofe exported by foreigners. But the parliament thought it reafonable,
that thofe goods fhould pay in proportion to what the quantity of wool
worked up in them would pay, if exported in a raw flate, and refufed
to repeal the duties. The exportation of home-made woollen cloths
thus appears to have become already an objeft of fome importance.
The commons in parliament alfo reprefented, that the duty impoied in
the preceding year, without their confent, for the protedion of (hips,
which was to be paid only till Michaelmafs, was ftill continued, and they
petitioned that it {hduld ceafe. The duty upon wool was, however, ftill
continued. The convoy duty was afterwards fixed by the king, peers, and
^xclztes^ nvith confent of the merchants, at one (hilling per fack ; and the
money was ordered to be paid into the hands of fome merchants, who
thereupon undertook to maintain a fufficient force upon the fea, and to
convoy the merchants fafe to the ftaple. In a fecond ledion, held in
Lent, grievous complaints were made, that, though the convoy duty

* He had no fmall number of houfes to let ; members of the new colony, [^uhyerl Ar.n. Flan-
for, of the fonner inhabitants, only one prieil and diiif,f. 151 a.]

two lawyers were permitted to remain. Thirty- \ At ihis time ^1:2:6 of Englidi money,

fix merchants from London were the mo!l opulent was only equal to jf i : i : 0 of Scottifli. Sec the

tables of money in the appendix.

Vol. I. 3 Y

538 A. D. 1348.

was exacled, the trade was not proteded, many merchants having loft
their lives and properties by the enemy upon the fea. The commons
therefor requefted, that thofe who had undertaken the protection of the
trade might be obliged to make fatisfaction to the fufferers. About
four years afterwards they petitioned for a total abolition of this new
duty ; but they were refufed. And it came in time to be firmly efta-
bliftied under the well-known denomination of tunnage and poundage *.
[Cotton s Abridgement of records, pp. 56, 57, 63, 75.]

February 14'*' — The Flemings, having again got the ftaple among
themfelves, took upon them to hinder the Lombards and others from
purchafing the wool carried thither by the merchants of England.
Their condu6l being complained of, the king wrote to the magiftrates
of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres, requiring them to refpeit the liberties
of the ftaple, and to permit the Lombards and others to buy wool from
the Englifh merchants, and to carry it by land or water whitherfoever
they pleafed. [F^dera, V.v, p. 611 .]

April 5''' — King Edward, in order to promote the profperity of his
new colony at Calais, ordained that it ftiould be a ftaple for tin, lead,
feathers, Englifh-made woollen cloths, and worfted ftuffs, for feven
years : and he ordered, that the exporters of thofe articles ftiould make
oath before the coUedors of the cuftoms, that they would carry them to
no other place. [Fctdera, V. v, p. 618.]

September — So earneft was King Edward to obtain an alliance with
Alfonlb king of Caftile, the moft powerful of the fovereigns of Spain,
that he kept up a correfpondence of feveral years with him, and
alfo with his counfelors, the mafter of his genet horfes, and Leonora
de Guiman his concubine, for the purpofe of contradhng a marriage
between Alfonfo'soldeft ion \ and his own daughter Joanna, which was
at laft agreed upon in June 1345, and the portion fixed at the enormous
fum oi Jour hundred thoufand gold florins of the JlneldX, Edward profefling,
however, that he expeded fome abatement of the fum, and a long in-
dulgence of time for completing the payment. But this conjugal alli-
ance, the labour of fix years, never took place. The young princefs
was fent to Bourdeaux upon her way to the court of Caftile ; and there
ftie fell fick, and death delivered her from being one of the wives of

* This later fentcnce I conceive to be infcrted is dill more fiiprifing, Edward wrote a letter in
by Sir Robcit Cotton, or his editor, Pi-ynne. July 1355 to Alfonlo, who had been dead above

♦ Born in Anguft 1334- His name appears to five years. \_Ficdera, F. v, />. 821.]

have btcn imknovvn in England till Augult 1345, J The fum was equal to ^8o,coo (Icrling, each

wlicn it is firft mentioned in FxJtra, V. y,p. 476. florin being worth four (hillings. (See Fadcra,

Neither do Edward or his fccretaries fecm to Ikitc V.y,p. 4H5.) But the kings of England and

known that the princefs and her intended hufhand France were bidding au6lion for the marriage of

were fo nearly related, that a difpcnfation would Alfonfo's heir.
be nccellary to legitimate theu- marriage. Whit 5

A. D. 1348.

539

Peter the Cruel*. [Fadera, V. ^,pp. 334, 383,410, 414,422, 423, 425,
426, 428, 434, 461, 476, 638.]

In the courfe of this negotiation many civiUtics pafTcd between the
two courts ; and Alfonl'o, underftanding that Edward had given orders
to purchafe a Spanifh genet horfe for him, prevented the purchafe, and
fent him a pair as a prefent.

It was probably alfo during this negotiation (for, though the fad is
unqueftionable, the year is not known) and perhaps in compenfation
for the (hips fent to the fiege of Calais, or in part of payment of the
marriage portion, that Alfonfo received a flock of fheep from England,
of the number of which we can only judge from more than one vefTel
of the large kind, called carracks, being employed to carry them over.
Of their importance in the eye of their new mafter we may judge by
his appointment of a man of i-ank to be judge over the fliepherds em-
ployed in the care of the royal flocks. And thus, by a great and lignal
breach of the law, or order, againft their exportation, was the breed of
Englifh fheep naturahzed in Spain, which has fince become the market
for the fineft wool in Europe f .

The manufadurers of worfled fluffs in Norfolk were put under the
infpedion of an ulnator, or meafurer, foon after they obtained the king's

* He had three wives living at once. See
Dillon's Hift. of Peter the Cruel, V. i\, p. 124.

f That Spain received fheep from England in
the fifteenth century, has been nflfcrted by Holin-
(hed, \_Cbronkk, p. 221, f</. 1586] (who, however,
knew nothing of this cargo) and by others, ap-
parently following him ; but it has been more ge-
nerally dilbelieved. It is indeed certain, that the
Spaniards had a very excellent breed of fheep in
the time of Strabo, and probably long before and
after his time. (See above, p. 128.) It is alfo
certain, that fome Spanifli wool was imported into
England in the reign of Henry II, but it is not
iafy to guefs for what purpofe, as the quality of it
was evidently inferior to that of Englifh wool ;
and England was fo far from needing to import
wool, that that article then, and during many fuc-
ceeding ages, compofed the chief part of the ex-
ports of the country. (See above, pp. 345, 347,
&c. &c.) But that the Spaniards were defirpus
of obtaining fheep of the Englilh breed, and aclu-
ally did obtain a confiderable number of tliem, is
now certain, beyond a poffibility of doubt, from a
mofl curious Spanifli letter, of which the follow-
ing is an extratl.

* Pedro Lafo faid, in the king's prefence, that
' Gomez Carillo was fon to one of the king's
' gentlemen or pages, and grandfon to King Don
• Enrique's chief cup-bearer, who was fon of
' Lope Carillo, gentleman and chief huntfman to
« Don Juan the Firfl, and that he v/as not fon of
' ajud^e o-vcrjhepherds. This was faid as a fneer,

for Juan Sanchez dc Tovar is defcended from
Fernan Sanchez de Tovar jtuige of the royal_flocls
offlieep and folds. Fernan Sanchez de Berlanga
anfwered, in the king's prefence, that he undcr-
flood the farcafm, but that it was ill aimed, and
might be retorted upon hinifelf ; for that Fer-
nan Sanchez, whom he reproached as a judge
over fhcpherds, was his equal ; and that the of-
fice of judge and alcayde of the royal flocks
was always held by gentlemen of rank. That
King Alfonfo, 'when he firji brought fljeep from-
England in great Jloips, (' in naves carracas') ap-
pointed Inigo Lopez de Orozco to be the firfl
pcrfon to exercife that office, from whom Pedro
Lafo himfelf was dsfcended on the part of his-
mother, and now, being informed that himfelf
was defcended from a judge over fhcpherds, he
might mock at his pleaiure. Written from Me-
dina del Campo, A. D. 1437.' \_EpijloL de
Ctbdareal, p. 126, a book feemingly almofl entire-
ly unknown in this country.] For this mod im-
portant extract, we are indebted to tlie elaborate
and benevolent refearch of Sir Frederic Eden.
See his State of the Puor, F. \, p. 88.

Alfonfo XI became king of Callile in the year
1312, when he was only thirteen months old, and
he died on the 29'" of March 1350. As Edward
II was dead long before he came of age, we need
not hefilate to afcribe tlie exportation of the fheep,
to Edward III ; and one or other of the occaCions
mentioned in the text may be afTumed for tiiing-
the date with a tolerable approach to certainty.

^ Y2

540 A. D. 1348.

patent, as already related : but, on their petition to the king, that of-
fice was this year aboliflied. [Rot. pat. prim. 3 Edzv. Ill, m. 1 ; and privi.
22, VI. 4. — Cotton^ s Abridgement, p. 71.]

The contraded fpirit of corporation monopoly fo far prevailed againft
the ads of parliament of the years 1335 and 1337 and the king's refo-
lution to cherifli the woollen manufafture, that the weavers of Lincoln
this year obtained from him a grant of, what they called, their liberties,
which confided in a power of depriving any weaver, not of their gild,
of the liberty of working at his trade within twelve leagues of their
city ; a pretty ample fcope for the exercife of petty tyranny. \Rot. pat.
fee, 22 Ediv. Ill, m. 22.] But this and other fuch monopolies were again
abohfhed by the a6l, called the ftatute of cloths, in the year 1351.

This year there were great commotions in Flanders among the weav-
ers. Six hundred of them v/ere (lain in a fkirmifh ; and thofe who re-
mained at home were dragged out of their houfes and murdered.
\Meyeri Ann. Flandr.f. 154 a.] Such tragical excefles muft undoubtedly
have been very prejudicial to the manufactures of Flanders, and contri-
buted to fpread them through the adjacent countries. Though we do
not meet with any formal letters of fafe conduct at this time, there can
fcarcely be any doubt that fome of the Flemilh weavers now availed
themfelves of the general encouragement held out to them in England,
and fheltered themfelves there from the fury of their enemies.

1349, May 19"" — The drapers of Barcelona, probably as being among
the moft fubftantial of the citizens, carried on the bufmefs of banking
or changing money in that city, as the goldfmiths in an after age did in
London. But, by an order of the king of Aragon, they were now
obliged to give fufficient fecurity, before they could enter upon thofe
branches of bufinefs. \Capmany, Mem. hijl. de Barcelona^ V. ii. Col. dipl.

1350 — The long-projeded marriage with Peter, now king of Caflile,
being fruftrated by the death of the Englifh princefs, and the young
monarch being conneded with the court of France by a contradl of
marriage, the maritime towns of Caftile and Bifcay fitted out a number
of large warlike veflels, which took a vail number of Englifli traders
with cargoes of wine and wool. Emboldened by the fuccefs of their
depredations, they collefted a large fleet, and arrogantly afiliming the
title oi lords of the EngTfhfea, threatened to deftroy the navy of England
and to invade the kingdom. It became neceflliry to appoint convoys
to protcdl the Englifli trade ; and the king, with the advice of the pre-
lates, nobles, and community of merchants of the maritime towns ot England,
ordained, that a duty of forty pennies flerling (hould be laid upon every
tun of wine Ihipped in Gaicoigne onboard any veliel belonging to Eng-
land, Wales, or Ireland, for whatever country bound, or onboard any
foreign veflel bound for England, Wales, or Ireland, as a fund for de-

A. D. 1350. 541

fraying the expenfe (06lober 20'''). King Edward, moreover, thinking
fuch an enemy fufficiently important to be oppofed. by himfelf, colledt-
ed a fleet, with which he engaged the Spaniards near Winchelfea, and,
chiefly by the fuperiority of the EngUfli archers, gained a complete
vidlory, took twenty-four large veflels richly loaded with Flemifli cloth
and other goods, and put the reft to flight. Thus did Edward a fecond
time triumph upon that element, which is the appropriate theatre of
Britifla warfare. [Fa'dero, V. v^pp- 679, 681, 688, 691. — R. de Avejbury^
p. 184. — Murim. contin. p. 102 *.]

This year 1,350 veflels failed from Bourdeaux, loaded with 13,429
tuns of wine, being nearly 100 tuns in each veflel on an average, and
paid ;,^5,i04 : 16 : o Bourdeloife money in duties [Record in the exchequer
in London, quoted in Mem. de litterattire., V. xxxvii, ^. 350].

The king granted to the burgefll^s of Newcaftle upon Tine the right
of digging coals and ftones in the Caftle-field and the Frith, both ad-
jacent to their town f \Rot, pat. tertia 24 Ediv. Ill, m. 6].

1351 — King Edward, diftrefl^ed by the debts he had incurred in his
chimerical attempt to conquer France, and defirous of paying his cre-
ditors with lefs money than he had borrowed, had ordered two hundred
and fixty-Jix pennies to be made out of the pound of ftandard fllver in
the year 1344 : and in 1346 he further diminiflied the money by mak-
ing two hundred and feventy pennies out of a pound. By thefe alterations
his own, and all other, creditors were defrauded, at firfl: of about a tenth,
and afterwards a ninth, part of their property \ ; and the whole body ot

* The hiftorians here quoted date the battle on of Richard II in the Tower \_Rot. pal. qmnt. i

the 24'" of July, on which day the king was at R'lc. J I, ot. i], which contains charters to New-

Weftminftcr. Later hiftorians have other dates, caftle by the lollowing kings, viz. John, in his 17""

and make the number of prizes twenty-fix. year, with reference to fome poffellions of the cor-

f It appeared afterwards by an inqueft, that the poration in the time of Henry II, but without a
lands called the Caftlc-field and Caille-moor, ad- word of coals or the Caftle-field ; Henry III, in
jacent to Newcaftle, had belonged to the town his 18"" and 36'" years; Edwai-d I, in his 22"* year;
froni time immemorial, but had not been exprefs- and Edward III in his 31" year (A. D. 1357),
ly granted by any charter : therefor the king in without any mention of this one in his 24'" year.
May 1357 confirmed to the corporation the pro- It is certain, however, that coals v.'ere dug in the
pcny of thofe lands ; and, in confideration of their neighbourhood of Newcaftle and fiiipped from that
fufFerings by the plague and other calamities, which port in earlier times, as appears by tlie Cliartulary
difabled them from paying their annual fee- farm of of Tluemouth, quoted in Brand's Hift. of Neia^
^100, he gave them a right to dig coals and cafde (fee above, pp. 497, 504, and alfo 395) :
ftones in thofe lands, without making any mention about the year 1364 we find fome Icafes of coal
of this previous grant, which, for ought I can mines near Gatelhead (the Southwark of New-
fee, Is thejirjl wherein any notice of coal or ftonc, caftle) by the biftiop of Durham confirmed by the
as belonging to the coiporation of Newcaftle, is king \_Rot , pat . fic. 38 Ediv. Ill, m. 26] : and in
found. the county of Cumberland we find coal mines be-

This obfervation becomes neceflary, becaufe it longing to the priory of Carlile in the 14"" year of

has been aflerted, that the burgefles of Newcaftle Edward I [_Rot. pat. prim. 5 EJiv. Ul, m. 8].
were warranted by royal authority to dig coal and X It may be obferved, that King Edward, in

ftone in the Caftle-field fo early as in the reign of his manifefto to the people of France in the year

King John. But in the very ample charter given 1340, affured them, that he would not feek his

them by that king there are no fuch words, as I own lucre by making sny change in the money,

have found upon examining an infpcximus charter when he fliould be received as their king, ^Fatd-

era,

542 A. D.I 351-

the people, efpecially thofe of the lower clafles, were further diftrefled
by the nominal, and partly real, rife in the prices of all the neceflaries
of life. They do not feem, however, to have made any attempt to
obtain compenfation for the diminution of their incomes till after a
dreadful peftilence, which originated in the Oriental regions, and began
its ravages in England in the year 1348, and is laid to have carried off
the greateft part of the people, efpecially in the lower ranks of life *,
Then the furviving labourers took the advantage of the demand for
labour and the fcarcity of hands to raife their prices. The king, by the
advice of the prelates, nobles, and others, thereupon enaded the Statute
of labourers, which ordained, that all men and women under fixty years
of age, whether of free or fervile condition, having no occupation or
property, fhould ferve any perfon by whom they Ihould be required,
and Ihould receive only the wages which were ufual before the year
1346, or in the five or fix preceding years, on pain of imprifonment,
the employers being alfo punifliable for giving greater wages. Arti-
ficers were alio prohibited from demanding more than the old wages f ;
and butchers, bakers, brewers, and other dealers in provifions, were
ordered to fell them at reajonahh prices. \Stat. 23 % Edw. III.'\

The * fervants, having no regard to the faid ordinance, but to their
' eafe and fingular covetife,' refufed to ferve great men and others, un-
lefs for higher wages than the law allowed. Therefor the parliament by
another ftatute fixed the yearly and dayly wages of agricultural fervants,
artificers, and labourers, the payment for threlhing corn by the quarter,
and even the price of flioes, &c. § They alfo forbad any perfon to
leave the town in fummer, wherein he had dwelt in the winter, or to
remove from one fhire to another. \^Stat. i, 25 FJuk III.} Thus were
the lower clafles of the people debarred by laws, which in their own na-
ture mufi; be inefficient, from making any effort to improve their fitua-

era, V. "f, pp. iJQi i^>4] apparently glancing a re- fcripts, which have never been published. The

ttedtion upon the kings of France, who had done conduft of the labourers fcenis alio to infer, that

an incredilile injnry to their country by fneh erro- rather a greater proportion of them than of their

ncoTis avarice, which Le Blaiic, the hiflorian of employers had been cut oft.

French money, alTrgns as a main caui'e of the vie- -f In a fupplcment to the act, made by the king;,

torics of the Engliih in France. the inferior clergy were alfo included.

» Moil of the hillorians fay, that fcarccly a J By a note in the margin of the printed fta-
tcnth part of the people furvivcd. Perhaps we tntes, the date of this one appears to be doubt-
ought to make a large allowance for exaggeration ful. It was as probably in the 24.'" year of the
in their narratives, wherein they make attempts at king's reign. For a good account of the many
being poetical. The moil moderate accounts (late hmilar laws which followed this one, and of the
that above half of the people pt-riflicd, arid Hume jiolliical couferjncnces of them, fee Sir I'rederic
fuppofcs one third, a more probable ellimate. Stow iLdcn's Slate 0/ //.'/■ poor, Ki,/. 31.
fays that few noblemen died; and though 1 do § In the year 1355 the mayor and fliirrefs of
not fee his authority, unlcfs it be the words ' pan- London, with two perfons fent by the king, were
« cis divitibus dimtaxat exceptls' in Avclbury, defired to compcll the armourers of I^ondon to fell
f/). 178 fJ. //Mz-nc] he may generally be tnifted; armour at rcafonabk prices. [Faclera, K v, />.
as he wrote with great fidelity (though too often 817.]
without quoting) and had the ufe of fome manu-

A. D.

'35'- 543

tlon in life. From thefe ill-judged laws, however, we learn a mofl im-
portant fa6l, that a great portion of the lower clafs of the people were
now emancipated from bondage, and earning their bread by independent
induftry.

It being evident to every perfon, who was willing and capable to
think, that the evil proceeded more from the defalcations of the money
than the fcarcity or perverfenefs of labourers *, the parliament enacted,
that no further diminution fhould be made in the weight or quality of
the money, but, on the contrary, it fliould be reflored as foon as pof-
fible to the antient weight. [Stat. 5, 25 Ediv. Ill, c. 13.] However,
William Edington bifhop of Winchefter fell upon a frefh device, where-
by, he thought, the deception would be lefs perceptible, which was to
introduce a new kind of filver money much larger than a penny, which
was called a gros or groat, and the king ordered, (June 21") that ic
Ihould be current for four pennies f , though it weighed fcarcely more
than three pennies and a half of his diminiflied money :^. The imme-
diate confequence was a further rife in the nominal prices of the ne-
cellaries of life, and another confequence, naturally following the firfl,
was an increafe of cunning and fraudulent tricks among workmen and
artificers. Edward, neverthelefs, urged by the preffure of his accu-
mulated debts, and having tailed, what he fuppofed, the advantage of
making a great quantity of money out of a fmall quantity of filver,
proceeded in the year 1353 to make feventy-five groats, or tbree hun-
dred pemiies^ {twenty-five JJydlings) from the pound of filver, which till
the later end of his grandfather's reign had never been coined into

* As the peftilence dimJnifhed tlie number of new money in payment of their old debts. And,
employers as well as labourers, though perhaps ra- becaufe the money of England is forged, clipped,
ther in a lefs degree, the demand for labour could and carried out of the kingdom, by the Lombards
not be vei-y much greater than before, and would and others, he llriflly commands, that no perfon
have probably had no effect upon the rate of wages, except thofe appointed by himfelf, (hall prefume
if the proportion between money and food had to deal in changing money, on penalty of forfeit-
continued tiie fame. But, however flrange it may ure of the money changed ; and that no perfon,
feem, the king, the parliament (except in tiiis one (hall carry out of the kingdom any gold or filver,
iuftance) and the writers of the age, afted and coined or uncoined, except only the new (light)
wrote, as it ihcy thought it was equal to the la- money. \_Ficdera, V. s, p. 708. j It is very llrange
bourers, if they had their number of pennies, whe- indeed, if Edward did not know, that foreign
ther they were heavy or light. Could they pof- merchants would pay no attention to the nominal
fibly be ignorant, that the diminution of the mo- value he might be pieafcd to put upon his coins,
ney, and the confcquent alteration in the price of and in fetting prices upon their goods would only
neceffaries, robbed thefe poor people of about a confider the quantity of real gold or filver, which
quarter of their incomes ? they would be allowed to carry home.

•f- On this occafion a proclamation, or manifefto, 1 have called the groat a new kind of money in

was iffued by the king, wherein he lets forth, that, compliance with the king's proclamation and the

finding the money of England was exported on writers of that age, though I have already (how-

accouut of its being too heavy, he had ordained, ed, (p. 432) that fome fuch pieces were coined by

for the profit of himfelf and his people, to coin King Edward I.

gold money of fuch imprefTion as the former, and J Fabyan favs, the»filver of the new groats

a new kind of filver money, which (liould be call- wanted 2j'''> in the pound of the old ftandard qua-

ed a gros of the value of four pennies, and alio a lity.
half gros. He orders all pcrfons to receive his

544 A. D.i 35 1-

more than twenty /hillings *. [Folkes ofi coins, p. 1 1. — F^dera, V. y,p. joS,
— Murim. contin. p. 1 03.]

February — The parliament enaded, what is called the Statute of cloths,
Avhereby it was ordained, that the aulneger, (called elfewhere ulnator)
or infpedor of cloths, ihould be fworn to do his duty, and fhould be
punifhed if he negleded it. — The a6l of the year 1335, for abolifhing
the reflraints of corporation charters and giving perfed freedom to all
traders, natives or foreigners, in every part of the kingdom, was re-
newed f ; and they were declared free to fell, either in wholefale or re-
tail, in London or any other city, burgh, or town of England, ' not-
' withftanding any franchifes, grants, or cuftom ufed, or any other
' things done to the contrary, fithence xh^itfiich nfages and franchifes be
* to the common prejudice of the king and his peopled The mayors and other
public officers were ordered to abftain from interfering in the fale of
provifions. — Foreflallers were made liable to forfeiture of the value of
the goods or provifions foreftalled, or to imprifonment for two years. —
All wears, kidells, mills, or other erections, by which the navigation
of rivers was obftruded, were ordered to be removed:}:. \Stat. 4, 25
Fdii). IIL'\ The parliament aboliflied a kind of weight called auncell,
and ordained wool and other wares to be weighed by the beam. They
alfo ordered, that all meafures of capacity fhould be agreeable to the
king's flandard ; that the quarter of corn fhould contain eight bufhels ;
and that all corn fhould be fold by flriked meafure, excepting that paid
in rent, which fhould be according to the former ufage. \Stat. 5, 25
EdiJD. Ill, cc. 9, 10.]

The people were allowed to make exchanges of money for mutual
accommodation : but no one was permitted to take any profit upon
fuch exchanges, that emolument being referved to the king's exchange.
[Stat. 5, 25 Edw. Ill, c. 12.]

Augufl: i" — The quarrel with Spain, or rather with the feamen of
the north coall of Spain §, was terminated by a truce, which was to lafl
twenty years. It was agreed that neither party fhould do any injury to
the other, or give any afliflance to their enemies. The mariners and
merchants of both countries were to have full liberty of failing with
their veffels, great or fmall, loaded with merchandize of any kind
whatfoever, or going by land, to the ports or cities of each country,

* The diminutions of the money by Ed- pear, wliat ftrength this could liavc, tliat tlie

w: rd III are mentioned here, only on account of other had not.

their connexion with the ftatute of labourers and \ The owners, by bribes, or by favour, got

their confequence. All the alterations of tlie mo- them all permitted to remain. \JValfmgbam, p.

iiey will be found in one clear view in the ap- 170.]

pendix. § One copy of the treaty was in the polTeflion

f That is to fay, the parliament cnafted, that of the maritime towns of Caililc and Difcay, and

it (hould be ' holdcn, kept, and maintained.' As another remained with the king of England and

the former a6t was not made for a limited time, France. [Fffr/ira, F. v, /i. 719.J

and confcquently could not expire, it docs not ap- »

A. D. 135 1- 545

or of any other country. Guardians were to be appointed to attend
to the obfervation of the truce, to punifli tranfgreffors, and to give re-
drefs to the parties injured within two months. Spanifli property found
onboard any veflel taken by the Englifh fliould be reftored to the own-
ers, and in like manner EngUfli property fhould be refpedled by Spanifli
captors. And the Spanifli fifliermen were permitted to come freely and
fafely to fifli in the ports of England and Bretagne, paying the duties
and cufl;oms *. [Fa^dera, V. v,p. 717.]

September 4"" — The merchants of Scotland had now attained fuch a
degree of refpedability, that their oaths and fecurities were required
by King Edward, along with thofe of the prelates, lords, and other
principal fubjeds of Scotland, for the performance of fome articles, of
the nature of which we are not informed. {F<jedera, V. v, p. 723.]

It was this year ordained, that the fame meafures and weights fliould
be ufed in Ireland that were ufed in England. [Rot. pat. fee. 25 Edw.
Ill, m. 14.]

1352 — The Genoefe colony of Pera, in the pride of their commercial
profperity, had afliimed the fovereignty of the Black fea, infulted the
adjacent capital of the feeble fovereigns of the Roman world, and burnt
two of the five gallics, which conftituted the imperial navy. After-
wards, without any exertion, they defeated a fleet of feven gallies and
fome fmaller vefl^els, which the emperor had colleded and fent againft:
them ; and with equal eafe they repulfed his military forces from their
walls (fpring 1349), and compelled him to cede a tradt of land, which
they found ufeful to themfelves. The war between the obftinate rival
republics of Venice and Genoa f being renewed, a fleet of gallies from
Chio, an ifland lately fubjeded to the dominion of Genoa by a fleet of
privateers, took the town of Negropont and the ifland of Cia from the
Venetians. The later thereupon made an alliance with the Catalans :
and the emperor of Conftantinople, provoked by a frefli infult of his
Genoefe neighbours at Pera, acceded as a humble ally to thofe power-
ful maritime ftates, and added his fleet of eight gallies x.o fixty-feven vefl^Is
of war, which they fent into the narrow ftrait between Afia and Europe.
There, before the walls of Confl;antinople and Pera, they were encount-
ered hy fixty-four Genoefe veflels, flronger and larger than theirs. The
allies loil fourteen Venetian, ten Catalan, and two Greek, veflels ; the
Genoefe lofl only thirteen, and claimed the vidlory (9"" March, 1352) :|;.

* Such a licence muft have been an excellent .% Stella reckons about 45 Venetian, 30 Catalan,

cover for fmuggling. 14 Gieek, and only 60 Genoefe, veflels: and

f I have not thought it necefiary to ftain thefe other writers have other numbers. Stella fays

pages with the recital of all the battles between that the Greeks declined the battle, and the G*-

the fleets of Venice and Genoa, which were cor.- noefe had a complete viclory. 1 have followed

diitted with a fanguinary ferocity that would dif- Nicepluirus Gregoras, who feems the moll im-

grace the traditional fongs of the moll lavage partial lelator of the events of this war.
tribes of America 01 New Zealand.

Vol. I. 3 Z

546 A. D. 1352.

After the engagement the Venetians and Catalans abandoned their im-
perial ally, who found himfelf obliged to grant an increafe of com-
mercial privileges to his Genoefe valTals, who were rather his maflers,
and to exclude all rival traders from his port. [Nic. Gregor. L. xvii, cc.
i_y. — Stella^ ap. Miiratori Script. V. xvii, coll. 1 08 8- 1092.]

July 25'" — Alfonfo king of Portugal had given a general protedion to
Englifhmen in his dominions ; and King Edward in return gave a gen-
eral protedtion to the merchants of that kingdom for trading in Eng-
land, and at the fame time gave particular letters of protedion to the
commanders of feven vefTels, four of them belonging to Lifbon, and
the others apparently to Oporto. \Foedera^ V. v, pp. 740, 741, and fee

P- 756-]

September 4'" — The city of Pifa has not for fome time furnifhed any
materials for commercial hiftory. It appears, however, that the Pifans
had fome trade with the weftern parts of Europe, moft probably Fland-
ers, the knowlege of which is owing to a depredation committed upon
a {hip belonging to them in the port of Sandwich. When they fent to
demand redrefs and to propofe a friendly intercourfe, the king anfwer-
ed, that their merchants trading to England fhould enjoy his protedhon,
and be treated like his own fubjeds. \Fcedera, V. v,p. 743.]

After Arteville the famous brewer of Ghent, the mofl zealous par-
tizan of King Edward in Flanders, was flain in a tumult, the king's in-
tereft in that country declined, and many of his ildherents were banifh-
ed. Thefe he invited (25'" September, 1351) to fettle in England or
his other donlinions, and to carry on their merchandize or other bufi-
nefs under his protedtion. This year he gave another very ample grant
hf liberties, more particularly to the manufadlurers of cloth fettling in
England, who were, no doubt, others of his Flemifh friends, alfo driven
out of their country for their attachment to him. {Tcedera^ V. \,p. 727.
— Rot. pat. prim. 26 Edzv. Ill, in. 21.]

The flaple was fcarcely ever allowed to remain long enough in one
place to give time to the merchants to form their arrangements agree-
able to the lateft eftablifhment of it. This year * it was removed from
Flanders, and fixed at Weftminfler and other places in England (Au-
gufl 2''), which was a great hardfhip upon the foreign merchants, but a
great advantage to the king, who thereupon had j(^i,i02 more than his
predeceffors f. [R. de Avejbiiry, p. 1 94. — Knygbton, col. 2606.]

1353, September — The king and parliament, confidering the great
damage which had arifen from the ftaple being held out of the king-
dom, now determined that the flaple for wool, hides, wool-fells, and

* Stow [^Survey 0/ Lin/fon, p. ^^l, ed. ifilS] f Kiiygluon mentions no other place than Weft-
fays, tliat in tlie year 1 351 the king fixed the minder, and the i'um dated by him fecnis to have
ftaple of wool to be only at Canterbury, for the been an increafe arifmg from the bufincfs done a:
lionojr of S'. Thomas. Querc, if a niidakc ? that ftaple. 3

A. D. 1353. 547

lead, the produce of England, Wales, and Ireland, (hould be heldjbr
ever in the following places, and no others, viz. for England in New-
caftle upon Tine, York, Lincoln, Norwich, Weftminfter, Canterbury,
Chichefter, Winchefler, Exeter, and Briftol ; for Wales at Carmarthen ;
and for Ireland at Dublin, Waterford, Cork, and Drogheda. All ftaple
goods were ordained to be brought to fome one of thefe towns, where
every fack and every farpler of wool, after being fairly weighed in the
prefence of the officers of the cufloms *, were to be marked, and the
quantity attelled under the feal of the mayor of the flaple, previous to
being fhipped. The goods from the flaple at York were to be fliipped
at Hull, thofe from Lincoln at Bofton, from Norwich at Yarmouth,
from Weflminfter at London, from Canterbury at Sandwich, and from
Winchefler at Southampton, and they were to be weighed again by the
officers of the cufloms at thofe ports. The cuftoms payable by denizens
were fixed at 6fi for a fack of wool, 6/8 for 300 wool-fells, 20/" for a
half laft of hides, and ^d per pound of the value for lead. The natives
of England, Wales, and Ireland, were mofh flridlly prohibited, under
penalty of death and forfeiture of all their property of whatever nature,
from exporting any flaple goods, having agents abroad for attending the
fale of ftaple goods, or being in the fmalleft degree interefled, diredlly
or indiredly, in the fale of them abroad, or even receiving payment
abroad for what they fold at home. Nay, the king even tied up him-
felf and his heirs from ever granting licences to any Englifh, Welfh, or
Irifh, merchants for exporting fuch goods, and declared, that, if he
fhould grant any fuch licences, they fhould be null, and fliould not pro-
tedl the exporters from the penalties of the law. But merchant flrangers
might carry them whitherfoever they pleafed, being only bound by oath
to hold no flaple in foreign countries. In order to replenifh the king-
dom with gold, filver, and foreign merchandize, full liberty was grant-
ed to all merchants, from countries not at war with the king, to fell
their goods at the flaple towns, or any other places, without being op-
prefTed by purveyors forcibly taking any part of their property for the
ufe of the king, or any prelates, lords, or ladies. All merchants, na-
tives, or flrangers, might buy flaple goods in any part of the kingdom,
provided they carried them to the flaple. Carriers, having certificates
from the mayors of the flaples that they were employed in carrying
flaple goods, were exempted, together with their carts, beafls, and boats,
from being taken to ferve the king or any other perfon, faving the
king's antient right of royal prifes of carriages and vidluals. The king's
judges were debarred from taking cognizance of any matters within the
province of the mayors and minifters of the flaples. The officers of the
king's houfehold were alfo prohibited from executing their office in any

* ' Noz cuftumers.' In the beginning of the eighteenth century (vflomer fignified in Englifh an
officer of the cultom* ; but it would now convey a very different meaning.

3Za

54^ - A, D, 1353.

houfe in the flaple towns, occupied by the merchants, their fervants, or
the ftaple goods. The mayors and conftables of the flaples had jurif-
didion over all perfons concerned in the bufinefs of the flaples in the
towns wherein they were held and their fuburbs ; and their proceedings
in all matters of debt or con trad concerning the flaples were regulated
by the merchant law, and not by the common law, or the cuftoms of
the towns. In trials, if both parties were natives, the juries were to
confift of natives ; if foreigners, of foreigners ; and if one was a na-
tive and the other a foreigner, the jury was to be compofed equally of
natives and foreigners. In order to give validity to contrads, the mayors
of the flaples were directed to atteft them under their feals of office,
and to charge one halfpenny for every contradt under jTi 00, and one
penny for every one above that fum. If the debtor failed to make pay-
ment when due, the mayor was to imprifon him and arrefl: his property,
if within his jurifdidlion, and to deliver it, or the proceeds of it when
fold, to the creditor to the amount of the debt. If no property of the
debtor were to be found within the mayor's jurifdidion, he was then to
certify it in the chancery, from which warrants fhould be ifTued againft
the debtor and his property according to the flatute of merchants *.
The uniformity of weights and meafure was a^ain enjoined under fevere
penalties. All merchants, denizens, or aliens, had liberty to fell their
wines and other merchandize, by wholeflile or retail, in the ftaples,
burghs, towns, and fea-ports : but no perfon was allowed to bargain
for any goods before they were landed. No perfon, native or foreigner,
was permitted to carry wool, hides, or wool-fells, to Berwick upon
Tweed f, or any other part of Scotland, or to fell them to any native
of Scotland, or to any perfon who would carry them to that kingdom,
under the pain of death and forfeiture. If any goods were plundered
on the fea and brought into the kingdom, they were to be returned to
the merchant, who could prove them to be his property. Goods thrown
on the fhore by fhipwreck were alfo to be reftored to the lawful owners,
on paying a reafonable falvage, to be rated by the fhirrcfs or bailifs of
the place. All merchants, bringing gold or filver in coin or bullion
into the kingdom, might receive the value of them in current money
at the king's exchanges, to be eflabliflied at the flaples and clfewhere.
No one was permitted to carry out old fterhng, or any other money, ex-
cept merchant ftrangers, who might carry back fuch part of their own
money as they had not laid out. All falfe money became forfeited to
the king. In every flaple town certain ftreets or places were to be ap-
propriated for floring v/ool and other flaple goods ; and reafonable rents
were to be fixed upon the houfes by the mayor and conllables of the

* For the ftatutc of merchants fee above, p. 4^9.

-)• Berwick was tlun in the hands of the Eiiglilh. But the king was not willing to trull Engli(h
wool in the bands of the inhabitants.

A. D. 1353. 549

ftaple with four of the principal inhabitants of the town. All foreign
merchants were now relieved from the grofs oppreflion of being made
liable for the debts, and even the crimes, of other foreigners *. But the
king referved to himfelf the right of granting letters of marque againft
any foreign prince or people, by whom his fubjeds fhould be injured :
and in cafe of a war breaking out, the merchants of the hoftile country
fhould have a notice of forty days, or even more if neceffary, to leave
the country, and perfed: freedom to fell, or carry away, their property.
There being lefs refort of foreign merchants to Ireland and Wales than
to England, the merchants of thofe countries were allowed to carry
their flaple goods to any ftaple in England ; and their cockets, teftify-
ing that they had paid the cuftoms in their own country, fhould clear
them, and the purchafers of their goods, from any further demand.
Any perfon {hipping ftaple goods in Ireland or Wales, or any part of
the coafl; of England, for a ftaple port in England, and carrying them
to a foreign port, was condemned to deatli and forfeiture of property.
No perfon was liable to lofe his property for any adion of his fervant
done without his authority. Immediate juflice was ordered to be done
in all matters, wherein tranfient merchants were concerned, agreeable
to the former ufuage of flaples. A perfon, well /killed in the merchant
law, was to be eleded annually for the office of mayor of each ftaple
by the native and foreign merchants of the place, and alfo two con-
ilables. The adminiftration of juftice in all matters concerning the
ftaple being in the hands of the mayors and conftables, particular prifons
were afligned to them for the confinement of offenders \ and the mayors,
Ihirrefs, and bailifs, of the towns, and lords of the adjacent country,
were enjoined to allifl: the magiftrates of the flaple on their requifition.'
A certain number of men of experience and refpedable charader,
llrangers as well as natives, were appointed in each flaple town as cor-
redors, to whom all perfons might apply, if they chofe it, to have their
bargains regiftered, agreeable to the former ufage of ftaples : and they
were not to be concerned in trade during their office. The mayors and
conftables were to make oath in the chancery, that they would faith-
fully difcharge the duties of their offices. All merchants, natives or
foreigners, trading at any of the flaples, were to fwear to the mayor and
conflables, that they would pay obedience to the laws of the flaple ;
and the porters, packers, winders and other labourers and officers in
the fervice of the flaple, were to fwear to do their bufinefs honeftly.
The foreign merchants were direded to eled two of their number, one
for the fouth parts of England and the other for the north, who might
fit along with the mayors and conflables of the flaples to judge any
caufe, whenever they thought proper, in order to lake care that juflice

* Several relaxations of the rigour of this execrable law or cuflom to particular communities of fo=.
reigners have already been noticed.

SS^' ^' ^' '353-

fhould be done to foreigners. In cafe they could not agree upon the
decifion, they were to refer the caufe to the chancellor and the king's
council, by whom it fhould be determined without delay. Two Ger-
mans, two Lombards, and two Englilhmen, were to be eleded to do
immediate juftice in all complaints of the quality or weight of wool be-
ing contrary to bargain. The foreign merchants having complained of
oppreffions and delay at the ports, contrary to the charter of Edward I,
(fee above, p. 469J the fhirrefs, mayors, and bailifs, were threatened
with imprifonnaent and fine, if they aded contrary to that charter. All
the privileges of the ftaples were confirmed, though they might inter-
fere with the franchifes and privileges claimed by cities, burghs, the
Cinque ports, or other corporations, or individuals, faving to the pre-
lates, dukes, earls, barons, and other lords, their fairs, markets, hun-
dreds, wapentakes, &c. In the former year the mayors of the ftaple
had levied Sd upon every fack of wool for themfelves : but the wool
brought to London being nearly equal to what was carried to all the
other ports in the kingdom, and the quantities carried to the other
ftaples being exceedingly unequal, it was now ordained that the mayors
of all the ftaples ftiould have regular fixed falaries *, as the mayor of the
ftaple ufed to have v/hen it was held upon the continent, and that only
4^ fhould be charged upon every fack as a general fund for the payment
of all the falaries f. [Stat. 2, 27 Edw. III.}

The lords and commons reprefented to the king, that the feizure of
cloths, on account of their varying from the ftatute lengths and breadths J,
was fuch a hardfliip upon the foreign importers, that many of them
had given up the trade ; wherefor they prayed, that the goods feized
might be reftored for a reafonable recompenfe. The king granted their
xequeft, and enaded, that uniform lengths in cloth fhould no longer be
required, but that his aulneger fliould mark the meafure upon every
cloth, and the feller fhould make a due allowance for defedive meafure.
The aulneger was intitled to receive a halfpenny for every cloth, and a
farthing for every half cloth, from the feller ; and he was not to mea-

* The falaries were as follows.

Weftininltei- - the mayor £''00 o o each coiiftable ^^13 6 8

Lincoln - - - -'■ 26134 - - 6134

York, Kingfton upon Hull (which, how-
ever, is not a llaple in the beginning
of the llatutc), Norwich, Wincheftcr,

each - - - 20 00 - - 500

Newcaftlc, Chicheftcr, Exeter, each 1000 - - - 368

•f- I have been nuich fuller in my account of Many parts of it are curious and interclling to the
the JIatule of thf Jlaple than my prcileceflor Mr. ftudents of manners, jurifprudence, and antiquities,
Anderfon, who, contrary to his ufual culloni, has and might fupply abundant matter for ample com-
crulhtd it into a few lines. But, as it exhibits a ments, which rtiall, however, be left to the refltc-
compkte view, nowhere elfe to be found, of the tion of the reader.

fylUm by which the principal branches of the % See above, p. 501. Tlie ftatute breadth of

commerce of the kingdom were condudcd, it is the cloth of raye in this adl is only fix quarters,
furely well worthy of a more particular attention. There is apparently aa error in one of the ads.

A. D. 1353. 551

fure any cloth till it was fold *. The parliament granted the king a
duty of ^d on every plain-coloured cloth, 5^onthofe dyed half in grain,
6d on fcarlet cloths, and in proportion on half cloths ; and they ordain-
ed that the cloths fhould be fealed by the colle(5tor to atteft the payment
of the duty before they could be expofed to fale. Thofe, who made
cloth for clothing themfelves and their retinue, were exempted from pay-
ing the dutyf. [Stat, i, 27 Edw. Ill, c. 4.]

Englifh merchants were prohibited from engrofling or foreflalling
wines in Gafcoigne, or making any previous bargain for them, on pain
of death and forfeiture of property of every kind. The fleward of
Gafcoigne and the conftable of Bourdeaux were ordered to arreft all
tranfgreflbrs and fend them to the Tower of London. Bourdeaux and
Bayonne were declared the only lawful markets for wine. Gafcons and
other ftrangers were allowed to bring their wines freely to any port of
England, the king's butler having, according to antient ufage, a right
to take wines for the king, to be paid for within forty days. All wines
were to be gauged ; and for thofe found fhort of the ftandard meafure
the feller was to make allowance to the buyer. \Stat. i, 27 Edw. Illy
cc. 5-8.]

Odober 1 5"" King Edward gave his protedion to the merchants and

mariners of Catalonia, coming to England to purchafe wool, hides,
wool-fells, and lead, at the ftaples or elfewhere, and to carry them
whitherfoever they pleafed, after having them duely troned (weighed)
and cocketed, and paying the due cuftoms and fubfidy. [Foederay V. v,
p. 762.]

06lober 20'" — The merchants, mariners, and communities, of Lifbon
and Oporto (the king of Portugal is not mentioned) having fent meflen-
gers to King Edward, in order to negotiate a firm alliance for the ad-
vantage of both {ides, it was agreed upon, and its duration fixed to be
fifty years. It was covenanted, that neither party fliould ailifl the ene-
mies of the other ; that the veflels of both parties Ihould be free to
carry all kinds of goods from any one country to any other country,
and to enter into any port of either country. All by-pall damages
fhould be funk in oblivion, and any future damages fhould be amicably
fettled by the lords or great men without any breach of the treaty. The
property of the merchants of Lifbon or Oporto, found in any place or
veflel taken by the Englifh, fhould be reftored to them, unlefs they were

* We thus fee, that it was the cuftom to fell who were beft able to pay it, the great chiefs, who

cloths at fo much per piece or half piece, and not kept armies of idle ruffians in their hvery. The

by the yard. In the prefent day, when they are exemption lets us know, that the duty extended

fold only by the )-ard, the lengths, though vari- to home-made cloths ; and we mull believe, thar

able, ftill do not differ very much from the antient there were now dyers and finilhers in England

ilandard. capable of producing fcarlets and other graii. cu--

■f- By this exemption the duty on home-made lours.
■cloths would be almoft wholely evaded by thofe.

552 A. D. 1353.

affifting the enemy. Their fifhermen were licenced (as thofe of Caftilc
had ah-eady been) to fifh in the harbours of England and Bretagne.
[Fcedera, V. v, p. 763.]

November 20"" — ^The highway between Temple-bar and Weftminfter
being already rendered fo deep and miry by the carts and horfes carry-
ing merchandize and provifions to the flaple, that it was dangerous, to
pafs upon it, the king required the proprietors of houfes, in confidera-
tion of the improvement of their property by means of the flaple be-
ing fixed at Weftminfter, to repair the road between their houfes and
the kennel under the infpedion -of the mayor and conftables of the
flaple : and for the reparation of the main road between the two ken-
nels, and alfo for the conftrudion of a bridge * intended for the ac-
commodation of the merchants frequenting the ftaple, he diredted that
a toll fliould be taken for three years upon all goods carried to or from
the ftaple, whether by land or water f. [Fadera, V. \,p. 774.]

The laft year, and alfo this one, were remarkable for great fcarcity •
of the fruits of the earth and the filh of the fea, fo that many things
were raifed to double price. The duke of Zeland gave fome relief by
fending over feveral cargoes of rye to London ; and confiderable quan-
tities of corn were alfo imported from Ireland. [Mu/im. co?itin. p. 1 04.
—Stow's Anil. p. 398.]

A Genoefe fleet of fixty gallies was this year defeated, and forty-one
of them taken, by the combined fleets of Catalonia and Venice con-
fifting of eighty gallies (Auguft 28""). The defeat was followed by keen
difl^nfions among the Genoefe, and the ruin of their independence.
They depofed their duke, and offered the fovereignty of their ftate to
John, archbifhop and lord of Milan; [Stella, op. Muratori Script. V.y.\\i,
col. 1092] and from that time their commercial fplendour, and their
naval power, have continued to decline.

1354, April — The parUament enaded that no iron, whether made in
England or imported, fliould be carried out of the country ; and in or-
der to prevent the price of iron from rifing too high (a conlequence
iurely not to be apprehended from the prohibition of exportation) the
fellers were fubjeded to the controul of the juftices appointed to take
cognizance of the labourers. \^Stat. 28 Edw. Ill, c. 5.]

Robberies were now more frequent than formerly (a neceflary con-
fequence of the continual war) and foreign merchants were more par-

• Mr. Anderfon doubted whether ihis bridge for a laft of hides - - • 6d

was intended to go acrofs the river, or only to be a cart of lead - - - 4

a landing place. From the dcfcription of a bridge a tun of wine for fale - - 4

at tht New temple, evidently a landing place or other goods for 20/' in value - - ^

wharf, [^Fadera, K v, p. 778] nnd from Sloiv's Goods, which paid in coming, were exempted in

Sirvry [_p. 894] it fetms 10 have been the later. returning. We find by the patent rolls, that this

f The lolls were pavage duty was renewed in the years J356, 1338,

for a farpler of wool . . ^d 1359, 1 360, &C. 5

300 wool-ftlk . . . 3

A. D. 1354. S53

ticularly the objeds oif plunder. The king, confidering the advantage
derived from the refort of thofe merchants, therefor ordained, that the
inhabitants of the county, wherein the robbery was committed, fliould
be bound to produce the robber, or make compenfation to the party in-
jured, within forty days. [Stat. 28 Edw. Ill, c. 11.]

In cafe of a veflel being driven into any port of England by ftrefs of
weather or other neceflity, the mafter or merchants were permitted to
fell a part of the cargo without being compelled to land, or pay cuflom
for, any more than the goods fold. [Stat. 28 Edw. Ill, c. 13.]
A record, preferved in the exchequer, contains the following
Account of the exports and imports of England in the year 1354, together
with the amount of the cujloms paid upon them.
There were exported

Value. Caftoms.

31,651-3- facks of wool - at ;(^6 ;^i 89,909 o o

3,036 cwt(i2o lb each) of wool 40/" 6,072 o o

t^ wool-fells - - 118

Total value of wool and cuftoms upon it 195,982 i 8 ;i(^8 1,624 ^ i

Hides __. » _ 89 50 6176

4,774| pieces of cloth - 40/" 9,549 o

8,061^ pieces of worfted Huff 16/8 6,717 i8

:}

215 13 7

Total value of exports and cufloms ;i^2i2,338 5 o ;i('8i,846 12 2

There were imported
1, 83 r pieces of fine cloth ffi £io,g^6 o o £gy 12 o
3971 cwt of wax - 40/" 795 10 o 19 17 5
1,8297 tuns of wine - 40/" 3^^ 59 00 182 19 o
Linens, mercery, groceries, 8cc. amount-
ing to - _ _ 22,943 6 10 285 18 3

Total value of imports and cufloms ;^38,383 16 10 £5^6 6 8

The balance in favour of England thus appears to have been ;^i73, 954:8:2.
But as tin, and lead, which have been flandard articles of exportation
from the earliefl times, befides feveral other fmaller articles, are entire-
ly omitted in this record, there can be no doubt that the real balance
was confide rably larger.

* Mr. Aiiderfon, and, before him. Sir William /"8l, 260: 5:6 above the real amount refulting

Temple, [^Obfervations on the Netherlands, p. 235, from the p?.rticulars.

ed. 1693] Dodfley, {^Preceptor, V. W, p. 41 4] and 1 have not found the particulars of this account

othcis, though li ey give only the totals, have publilhed by any wiitcr befides Andnfon, who,

iirangely flumped the cuftoms along with the however, fays it is ' publiihed in almoft all the

value of the merchandize, as if they wifhed to ' general hiftories of England;' a common way

ftiike a deluiive balance, which is tliereby raifed of evading accurate quotation.

Vol. I. . 4 A

554 A. D. 1354:

This great balance, the exports amounting to almofl fix times the
vakie of the imports, (and, as juft obferved, they probably amounted
to much more) has been held out as a proof of the moderation and
fobriety of the age. But when we look at the articles, and find that, of
raw materials for manufadures which conftitute fo great a part of the
modern imports, there was not one fingle article imported, and that,
on the other hand, the exports conlifted almofl entirely of the moft
valuable raw materials, and of cloths in an upfinifhed ftate, which may
therefor alio be clafled among raw materials, we mufl; acknowlege that
it affords only a proof of the low flate of manufa6lures and of com-
mercial knowlege among a people, who were obliged to allow foreign-
ers to have the profit of manufa6luring their own wool, and finifhing
their own cloths, and afterwards to repurchafe both from them in the
form of finifhed goods.

1355, January 20'" — I have already related the purchafe of the Ro-
man empire by Didius Julian, and that of the kingdom of Mann and
the Ifles by Alexander 111 king of Scotland : and I have now to relate
the purchafe of the kingdom of Scotland by Edward III king of Eng-
land, who for the abfolute fovereignty and property of it gave Edward
Balliol * five thoufand marks together with an annuity for his (Balliol's)
life of two thoufand pounds. [F^dera, V. '^,pp. 832-842.] But, though
Edward purchafed a whole kingdom for fo fmall a price, yet, with all
his prudence, he made a very bad bargain ; for the feller was not able
to ^ii;^' him pofl'effion ; and he, with all his power and great military-
talents, was not able to take pofi"efllon.

March 12"" — At this time the warden of Scotland (the king was a
prifoner in England) urged by the exigency of the public affairs, and
imitating the pernicious and miflaken policy of the king of England,
appears to have coined money, which, both in weight and quality, was
inferior to that of England. King Edward thereupon informed the
Ihirref of Northumberland, that the new money of Scotland, though
of the fame figure with the old, was not, like it, of equal weight and
quality with the llerling money of England, and therefor ordered him
to make proclamation within his jurifdidtion, that the new Scottifh mo-
ney fhould be taken only for its value as bullion, and carried to the
proper of^ce to be exchanged for current money ; but that the old mo-
nsy of Scotland (which fince the year 1 344 was confiderably better than
that of England) fhould flill be current as former-ly f . \Fcedera, V. v, p^

813]

* Balliol had been fupported by Edward in die of England and Scotland, apparently laflcd but a
title of king jf Scotland, as his feudal vafial, fincc very Ibort time ; and the money nuill have been
the year 1332, and had aclcd as king of that Tcry little below the llandard of the Enjflilh, as it-
country a few weeks. required a proclamation to put the people on thei;

f This deterioration, unknown to the hiftorians guard againft it . 4

A. D. 1355. 555

The Scottifh pearls were ftill an article of exportation. They were
efteemed in France, but not equally with thofe brought from India,
as appears by the manuibript flatutes of the goldfmiihs of Paris of this
year, wherein it is ordained, that no worker in gold or filver fhall fet
any Scottifh pearls along with Oriental ones, except in large jewels * for
churches (for which probably a fufficient quantity of Oriental pearls
could not be obtained, or would be too expenfive). [Da Cange, Gloffl
Lat. vo. Perlce.'^

This year Sir John de Mandeville returned to England from his pere-
grination of thirty-three years through Turkey, Armenia, Egypt, Africa,
Syria, Arabia, Perfia, Chaldaea, Ethiopia, Tartary, ylmazotiia, India,
China, and many iflands. His travels, or rather defcriptions of coun-
tries, written by himfelf, inform us that the Venetian merchants fre-
quently went to the ifland of Ormus in the Perfian gulf, and fometimes
even penetrated to Cambalu. He diftinguiflies Famagufla in Cyprus as
one of the greateft ports in the world, Avherein the merchants of almofl
all nations, Chriftians and pagans (Mohamedans), affembled. The fhort-
cfl abridgement, that could be made, of his account of the countries of
Afia would be tedious, as he has raked together all the fables accumu-
lated in the courfe of ages, and, if we except the fmgle notice refpedling
the confiderable trade of Cyprus, gives fcarcely any commercial inform-
ation worth noticing f .

1357, Spring — The parliament now permitted Englifh merchants, as
zvell as foreigners, to export wool, hides, and wool-fells, to any country
in amity with the king, from the 5"' of May to the 29'" of September
enfuing, on paying a duty of '^of for every fack of wool, 50/ for 300
wool-fells, and /?5 for every lafl of hides. The buyers were prohibited
from refufing any other parts of the wool than what ufed formerly to
be rejected ; and the fack was again ordained to contain exadly 364
pounds of the exchequer ftandard weight. All wool, fells, and hides,
wherever bought, were ordered to be carried to a flaple, and there to
remain at leafl fifteen days, after which, if they were not fold, they
might be exported. Wool was not permitted to be ftoi'ed or fold wj th-
in three leagues of a flaple, except by the owners of flieep, who might
fell the wool of their own growth, where they thought proper. \Stat.
1,31 Edzv. Ill, c. 8.]

An author, who lived at this time, elllmates the annual exportation
of wool at above a hundred thouiand lacks. \_Ave/bury, p, 210;]:.]

* In the n.iddle ages any thing reputed pre- Ovid's temple of die Sun, and are proliably the

tious, or made of valuable material^;, or richly models of fimilar biiilJIngs in the fairy talc?,
adorned, war, called a jewel. J He fays, the duty of 50/ was granted by the

f Mandeville copied from all preceding writers pailiament for fix years ; and he dates the giant

of hiftory and travels ; and he feems particularly in the year 1355. It may be cbfcrved that the

to be largely indebted to Marco Polo. His pa- wool of the well part of Enghind was valued at

laces, made of gold and jewels, arc in the (lile cf little more than 5c/ See Ebove p. 530.

4 A 2

556

A. D. 1357.

Another attack was mad€ upon the monopolizing charters of corpora-
tions by direfting the ntiayor and aldermen of London to prevent the
■fifliermen (or fifhmongers), butchers, poulterers, and other dealers in
provifions, from molefling thofe who brought proviiions to the city for
Me. [Stat. I, 31 Edw. I1I,€. 10.]

At the fame time was enacted the Statute of herrivgs, the preamble of
which fets forth, that the people of Yarmouth made a practice of meet-
ing the fifliermen, and buying their herrings at fea ; that the hoftilers
peepers of lodging h-oufes) affumed a prerogative of felling the herrings
belonging to the fifliermen lodged in their houfes, and paying them
what they thought proper for them, whereby the fifliermen were de-
frauded and difcouraged, and the price of herrings was advanced upon
the public. The parliament therefor enaded, that no herrings fliould
be fold, till the boat bringing them was made fafl: to the land.
The fifliermen ftiould have perfe<£l liberty to fell their herrings at the
fair, openly and without any interference, between the rifing and fet-
ting of the fun. No perfon fliould be permitted to buy herrings for
hanging up (making red herrings) at above 40/" per laft containing ten
thoufand herrings. Pykers * were not to purchafe herrings in the har-
bour of Yarmouth between the 29"* of September and the 11'" of No-
vember, nor to enter the harbour in the time of the fair. The hoftilers
were allowed to charge ■^f\ upon every laft of herrings fold to any other
than a hoftiler, in confideration of which they were to infurc the pay-
ment to the fifliermen f. The people of Yarmouth were prohibited
from felling herrings at more than 6/8 per laft above the price paid for
them ot the fair, and thofe of London were not to advance more than
i 3y4. (a regulation which we maj' venture to pronounce inefficient),
Shotten herrings were ordered to be fold at half the price of full ones,
when frefli, and when made red, at 6/8 per laft above the half price of
full red herrings. The pykers were allowed to buy herrings and other
wares from the fifliermen of Kirklee and other places on the adjacent
coaft : but the fifliermen weVc otdered to difcharge only as many her--
rings at Kirklee road, as might be fufficient for loading the pykers, and
to carry the reft to Yarmouth, no other fale being permitted within
feven leagues of that town, exce|:3t for the herrings of a perfon's own
demefne fifliery. The barons of the Cinque ports were declared to be
the governors or confervators, of the fair, agreeable to the compofition
between them and the peophi of Yarmouth, confirmed by King Ed-

* Pykers appear to liave been fmall vefTcIs be- fiipplying tlie fifhermen, \v]io were not inhabitant*

loncinc to London and other places, employed in of yarmniith, with all their neccflaiies, mud have

carrying lieirings and other fifl). en:ib!Kl them to command the trade. 'J'hey were

f The hollilcrs were thus allowed to purchafe nquircd, indeed, not to charge that comminion

hi Trial's nine or ten per cent lowc^- tlian all other on herrings bought by ihemfclves ; but the diffcr-

Vuyem, which, with the profits tlicy made upon cnce in the price amounted to the fame thing

ward I. It wa's t>rdained, that this ftatute fliould alfo regulate the trade
in the other towns of England, where herrings were caught. — The
thancellor and treafurer, with the aid of the juftices and others of the
king's council, were required to regulate the fale of fbockfiih at Bofton,
of falmon at Berwick, and of wine and fifh at Briftol and elfewhere, fo
that the king and the people might be better fcrved than before. [Stat.
2, 31 Ediv. III.']

The people of Blakeney were aecufed of felling their fait fiHi too
Q-ear. It was therefor ordained, that all the doggers and lode fhips, be-
longing to Blakeney and the adjacent coaft as far as Cromer, fhould de-
liver their fifh in the harbour of Blakeney only, and that the fifh fhould
not be carried out of the vefTels, till the owners had contraded for the
fale of them in clear day-light ; that the price of dogger fifli and loche
fifh fhould be let at the beginning of Blakeney fair ; that no fifh fliould
be fold by covine (fecret agreement) at any other price ; and that no
fifherman fhould fibre up mud fifh or dry fifli to retail them aficrwards
at a higher price. No perfons, but thofe employed in the fifhery, were
allowed to buy nets, hooks', or other fifhing tackle in the county of Nor-
folk. No fifherman was allowed to give up his trade on account of this
ordinance being difagreeable to him *. [Stat. 3, 31 Edw. HI.]

From the perufal of thefe, and, indeed, of moft other antient flatutes
relating to commerce, manufadtures, fifheries, and navigation, it is evid-
ent that the legiflators knew nothing of the affairs which they under-
took to regulate, and alfo that mofl of their ordinances, either froua
want of precifion, or from ordering what was almofl impoflible to be;
obeyed (for example, that people fliould fell their fifli at a price, re-
gulated, not by the flate of the market, but by aiuhority) mull have
been inefficient : and hence we find many of them fo very often re-
peated. No judicious commercial regulations could be drawn up by
eeelefiaflical or military men (the only clafTes who poffefTed any author-
ity or influence) who defpifed trade, and confequently could linow no-
thing of it. It was not till long after the time now under our confider-
ation, that the reprefentatives of towns, the only members of the le-
giflative body who could have the fmallefl knowlege of commerce or
manufadures, began to have any weight in parliament,

Th'e mayar and conftables of the ftaple in Ireland were aecufed of
taking cognizance of caufes noway concerning the bufinefs of the flaple.
An order of the king and council (fuppofed of this year) was therefor
iffued, prohibiting fuch practices, together with a vaft number of other
enormities, which had crept into the adminiftration of juftice in that
country. [ Statutes at large, V. x, Append, p. 37.]

* As fome cortipenfation for this reftraint, fifher- t'rat to which they were bred up. [TJo/. pat. fee.
men and mariners were this year exempted from 31 £iltv. UL m. 16]
being compelled to ferve in any other capacity thaa 1—

558 A. D. 1357.

The neutral nations thought it necefiary to obtain letters of fafe con-
dudt for their fliips from tiie belligerent powers. We have three in-
flances of fuch letters granted by King Edward to veflels belonging to
Venice, the chief feat of commerce in the Mediterranean, fiiiling to
Flanders, the chief feat of commerce on the weft coaft of Europe.
[Fo'dera, V. vi, pp. 11, 92, 120.]

April 29''' — We now find what is probably the earlieft precedent ex-
tant of the law, or ufage, of recapture, as determined by King Edward
and his council. Some goods, which had been taken ii\ a Portuguefe
veflel by the French, having been retaken by the Englifh, the Portu-
guefe owners claimed their property in virtue of the treaty of the year
1353. But the Englilli admiral condemned them as lawful prize ; and
the king of Portugal thereupon wrote to the king of England for refti-
tution. Edward, after advifing with his council, anfwered, that, if a
neutral owner were along with his goods onboard an enemy's veflel when
taken, they fhould be reftored : but the goods in queftion having been
found as French property, and taken from the French in fair war, the
captors were entitled to them. [Fadera, V. \'i,p. 14.]

April 29''' — In a truce between England and Scotland it was agreed,
that, if the fliips of either nation fliould be forced into the ports of the
other by fiorm or other unavoidable neceflity, they might quietly reft
for a reafonable time, and vidual, without being liable to any arreft or
hinderance. [Fa;dera,V. v'l, p. 15.]

September — Three Scottiih fliips of war, with 3C0 chofen armed men,
cruifed (apparently without any authority) on the eaft coaft, and annoy-
ed the Englifli commerce very much, till the equinodial gale drove
them, with a number of Englifli veflels, into Yarmouth, where the people
of the place feized them, and put an end to their cruife. \^K!iygbton,
col. 2617.] Tliefe were, however, powerful fliips to be fitted out by
private adventurers in that age, and in a country fo exhaufted as Scot-
land ii.uft have then been with almoft feventy years of war : but the
diftraded ftate of the country forced the people to forfake honeft in-
duftry, and fly to rapine for fubfiftence.

September 26 '' In a parliament, or full council, of the prelates,

nobles, and communities, of the kingdom of Scotland, held at Edin-
burgh, the following feventeen towns were reprefented, and may thence
be prefumed to have been the chief towns of the kingdom at the time,
viz.

Edinburgh, Cupar, Dunbarton,

Perth, S . Andrews, Rutherglen,

Aberdeen, Mimrofs, Lanark,

Dundee, Stirlii g, Dunfries, and

Inverkeithing, Linlitligow, Peebles.

Carail, • Hadiugton,

A. D. 1357. S59

The reprefentatlves, of whom Edinburgh, Perth, and Aberdeen, fent
three each, and the other towns two each, are all called aldermen,
merchants, and burgeffes, of the towns reprefented by them : and it is
worthy of obfervation, that of the feventeen towns, four were in the
maritime, and apparently commercial, fhire of Fife, and eight more
upon the eaft coaft. The bufinefs of the meeting was to agree to, and
provide for, the ranfom of their king, then a prifoner in England, which
was fixed at the prodigious fum of one hundred thoujand marks Jlerling, to
be paid by inftallments within ten years. For the payment of tliat fum
the bifliops of Scotland bound all the goods, moveable and immoveable,
then belonging, or to belong in time coming, to all the clergy of Scot-
land ; the nobles bound themfelves and all the barons (or freeholders)
of Scotland, and their heirs ; and the reprefentatives of the towns bound
themfelves and the other communities of burgeffes and merchants
throughout the whole kingdom, and all their property, for the full pay-
ment of the ranfom, with damages, expenfes, and interefl; *. On ac-
count of fome delays in the payment, the ranfom was afterwards raifed
to one hundred thoujand pounds Jlerling, a fum equal in efficacy (the only
true ftandard of the value of money) to at leall two millions in the pre-
fent day. We know what a lamentable pidture the writers of England
have drawn of the miferies brought upon that kingdom by the ranfom
of King Richard. What then muft have been the diflrefs of Scotland,
a country inferior in extent, and ftill more in population and fertility,
to England, already drained and exhaufted by wars, of which fcarcely
any man then living was old enough to remember the beginning, to
raife a fum nearly half as much more as that paid for the ranfom of
Richard ? We might be well warranted to queftion the poflibility of
raifing it, if there were not extant the moll undeniable proofs that the
whole of that enormous fum was adually paid in hard gold and filver f.
{Fadera, V. vi, pp. 41-65 ; and V. vii,/. 417 for the la/l difcharge.]
• The payment of fo great a fum may be admitted, in the want of
other evidence, as an unqueftionable proof that the commerce of Scot-
land revived immediately upon the celllition of hoftilities, and brought
in a confiderable balance in money from foreign countries, which ap-
parently proceeded chiefly from wool, fifh, hides, cattle, and probably
alfo fome iron and lead ij:,

* As no rate of interefl is mentioned, it is pre- the king himfelf, and alfo three of tlie principal

fumed, that there was a known rate, fo well efta- noblemen, put into his hands as hoftages ; and the

blilhed by cuftom, or the laws of both kingdoms, money remitted for their fupport was of ilfelf fuf-

that it was thought unnecefiary to fpecify it. ficient to diftrefs a country circumllanced as Scot-

•(• There was a great deal more money drawn land then was.
from Scotland to England : for King Edward, not J ' Ferrifodinis et plumbicidiis, cujufjibet etiam

fatisfied with the obligations of all the people of ' pene metalli, fatis habilis,' fays Fotdun [Z,. ii,

(Scotland, had, as a further fecurity, twenty youths, c. 8] in defcribing the productions of Scotland. —

tlie heirs of the fu-ft men of the kingd9m, and of As I. have already mentioned exportations of doge

from. .

560 A. D. 1357.

After this time the notices of the attendance of burgefTes in the par-
liaments of Scotland are more frequent : and in the title of the laws of
King Robert III (as publifhed by Skene) we are told, that the bifhops,
earls, barons, freeholders, and burgeffes holding of the king, were fum-
moned in the ufual manner. Admitting this to be genuine, burgeffes muft
then have been conftituent members of the parliament for a conliderable
time back.

King David foon after his return into his own dominions appointed
Adam Tore, a burgefs of Edinburgh, and James Mulekin of Florence,
joint keepers of the exchange for all Scotland, and mafters of the mint*.
It feems probable that the exchange, to which thefe officers were ap-
pointed, was formed upon the model of the new one lately eftabliflied
in England by Edward, whofe example he wilhed, and greatly needed,
to follow in all methods of acquiring money.

1358, November Before David was well fettled in his own king- ■

dom, he returned to England on a vifit to his kind brother-in-law, King
Edward. His bufinefs is faid to have been to entreat an abatement of
his ruinous ranfom, on condition of joining Edward in his wars ; and
he alfo requefted, that there might be mutual liberty for the merchants
of both kingdoms to trade freely in each, and that the money of both
might alfo pafs indifcriminately in each ; and thefe requefts, we are
told. King Edward agreed to. [Foederay V. vi, p. 98. — Knyghton, col.
2619.]

It is alleged that the merchant-adventurers of England this year ob«
tained a grant of very ample privileges from the earl of Flanders, and
thereupon ellablifhed their trade in Bruges ; and that Bruges and all
Flanders, in confequence of that trade, grew to great wealth and pro-
fperity. {IVheeler's 'Treatife of commerce, p. 14.] But we know from un-
exceptionable authority, that Bruges and all Flanders were very profper-
ous long before this time f .

1359, January 12'" — The trade of driving cattle from Scotland for
fale in England, which has continued down to the prefent day, is at

from the fouth part of Biitaiii, it may be proper long captivity in Oftober 1556, the end of 13561

to obferve, that the greyhounds (' leporarii') of or (ome time in 1357, feems the probable date of

Scotland were fo much cftcemed, that the duke the appointment. In 1357 Adam Tore was one

of BeiTy in France thought it worthwhile to fend of the rcprcfentatives of Edinburgh in parliament,

his valet and three oilier men to procure fome of [Failcra, V. vi, />/>. 44-59.] It is worthy of in-

them, and to obtain letters of fafe condudl from velligation, whether (he new exchange was eila-

the king of England for them to travel through blillied tor exciianging _5-o/(/ and fih«r money. See

his dominions upon that buimcfs. \_Fa:dcra, V. vii, below inidcr the year 1367.

p. 831.] f Wheeler, wiio was fccretary to the company

* This information is from a 7'fli/fo/"fon/fn// o/" of merchant-adventurers about the year i6co,

charlen, i^c. MS. Bib. Harl. 4609, Roll D 2 A x, WTites with great zeal for the honour and intcrcft

n'. 24, 2J. There are no dates mentioned ; but of his employers : he affetts roundly ; but he pro-

aa n°. 42 of the fame roll contains the charter of duces no authoriiics, though he mentions feveral

4:reation of the earldom of Douglas, which was in charters. His only original documints are fome

February 1358 (as wc now reckon the commence- certilicates, probably procured by himfelf, the ear

ment of the year) and the king returned from his licll of them being dated in 158^.

A. D. 1359. s(^i

leaft as old as the times now under our confideration : for we find a let-
ter of fafe condud granted to Andrew Moray and Alan Erfkine, two
Scottifh drovers, with three horfemen and their fervants, for traveling
through England or the king's foreign dominions for a year, with horfes,
oxen, cows, and other goods and merchandize. [Faedera, V. \''\,p. 114.]

The fleet, with which King Edward this year invaded France, is faid
by one author to have confided of eleven hundred well-appointed fliips.
[IValfinghani, p. 174.]

November 22'* — In January the Flemings banilhed all the Englifh
merchants in their country into Brabant, and put to death many of the
citizens of Bruges, who had been favourable to them. King Edward
therefor ordered all foreigners of whatever condition, except his own
farmers, to leave his dominions before the 20"" of July. But, as I have
already obferved, in thofe days neither the Englilh nor the Flemings
could live without the benefits derived from mutual friendly intercourfe.
When King Edward was this year on the continent, the Flemings were
zealoufly attentive in providing his camp with neceflaries ; and he in
return granted them liberty to trade in England, and to export corn and
other provifions on obtaining his fpecial licences and paying the cuftoms.
\_Knyghton, col. 2620. — Faedsra, V. ^i, pp. 40, 47.]

1360, January — The prerogative of purveying (that is forcibly tak-
ing provifions, liquors, or other wares) was not only veiled in the king
and the royal family, but was alfo aflhmed, legally or illegally, by many
others, to the ruin of the people and the great hinderance of trade. It
was therefor now refirided by ad; of parliament to the king, the queen,
and the king's oldeft fon ; and feveral things purveyed for the queen
and the prince were ordered to be paid for. \^Acls 34 Ediv. Ill, cc.

2, 3']

The flatutes of labourers were confirmed : new penalties were enad-
ed for labourers leaving their fervice and going into another county :
and they were deprived of the antient privilege annexed to refidence in
cities or burghs, the chief ofiicers of which were now required to de-
liver them up. \_AEls 34 Fdw. Ill, cc. 9-1 1.]

All merchants and others, aliens or natives, had liberty to trade free-
ly to and from Ireland with their merchandize, viduals, &c. without pay-
ing fine or raniom beyond the antient cuftoms and duties. \^A^s 34
Ediv. Ill, cc. 17, 18.]

The exportation of corn was now reflrided to the fupply of Calais
and Gafcoigne. {^ABs 34 Edzv. HI, c. 20.] From this ad, and the licence
granted in the preceding year to the Flemings, it appears that corn form-
ed a part of the ufual exports of England at this time *.

* In the year 1350 Everard Fitz-Nicol of Flar- \_Rymer''s jiaa mamifcr. Ed-w. Ill, V. vli, a". 130]
dyng obtained licence to purchafe 80G quarters of and there is reafon to beh'eve that ttill no corn could
corn in England, and to carry it to Holland : be exported without a fpecial licence.

Vol. I. 4 B

^62 A. D. 1360,

The permiflion granted to Englifh merchants to export wool was now
confirmed. [JSfs 34 Edw. Ill, c. 21.]

March King Edward ifTued orders for arrefting all the veflels in the

kingdom, loaded or unloaded, in order to get together a fleet for an-
other expedition to the continent : and he directed, that the largell fliips
fhould carry 40 mariners, 40 armed men, and 60 archers ; and barges
ihould be manned in proportion. [Fcedera, V. v'l, pp. 167, 169, 174.]

April \6'^ — The king, underftanding that there were various mines
of gold and filver in Ireland, which might be very beneficial to himfelf
and the people of that country, commiflioned his principal minifters
there to order a fearch for the mines, and to do what would be moft for
his advantage. \^F(edera, V. \'\, p. 172.]

At this time there were fome confiderable manufadures in Ireland.
The fluffs called y^y (? J- , made in that country, were in fuch requeft, that
they were imitated by the manufacturers of Catalonia, who were in the
pradice of making the fineft woollen goods of every kind : they were
alfo efieemed in Italy, and were worn by the ladies of Florence, a city
abounding with the richeft manufadlures, and in which the luxuiy of
drefs was carried to the greatefl height. \Capmany, Mem. hiji. de Barce-
lona, V. i, Com. p. 242. — Fazio delli Uberti, L. iv, c. 26. — TranJ. of Royal
Irijh acad, Antiq. p. 17.] The annual revenue derived from Ireland,
which amounted to near /"i 0,000 *, \Warcei Hibernia, p. 136, ed. 1654"]
gives a very refpedable idea of the balance drawn into that country by
its commerce and manufactures, though we know next to nothing of the
particular nature of them ; unlefs we fuppofe a great part of the money
to have been drawn from the mines, for which, I beUeve, there is neither
authority nor probability.

May 8''' The long war with France was terminated (or fufpended)

by a treaty of peace and friendfliip concluded at Bretigny, whereby King
Edward gave up his claim to the crown of France, and the king of
France, then Edward's prifoner, ceded many provinces and towns in
France to him, and became bound to pay him three millions of gold
ecus, which, at the declared value of 374 (lerling, were equal to half a
million of pounds of the Englifh money then current. The treaty,
which is very long, contains no hint of any commercial intercourfe
between the two countries. \Fcedera, V. s'\,p. 178.] France, then de-
Ititute of commerce and manufactures, was prodigioufly diftrefied by the
ranfom, which never was completely paid oif.

We are told, tliat Nicolas of Lynne, an Englifh friar and a good
aftronomer, made a voyage this year to the northern polar regions,
which he repeated five times afterwards, and then prefented an account

• Wiilfingham [////?./. 350] ftatcs the net re- aiul money at random ; wlieieas Ware's informa-
vefint ucrivnl from Ireland at tliis time at j^jo.ooo. lion is taken fiom tlie records Hill remaining.
But thai author often dalhes hie numbcis of men

A. D. 1360. 563

of his difcoveries to King Edward *. [Hak/ujt's Voiages, V. h pp. 121,
122.]

It was about the fume time, if we may depend upon the authenticity
of Zeno's voyage, with Dodor Forfter's expofition of the geography of
it, that fome filhermen belonging to the Orkney iflands were driven by
ftrefs of weather upon an ifland, iituated in the Weftern ocean, called
Eftotiland, which was apparently the country called Winland by the
Norwegian difcoverers. (See above, p. 279). The people of Eftotiland
were ingenious and fenfible ; they raifed corn ; their drink was ale ; they
pollefled the arts and handicrafts known in Europe f ; they had fhips,
with which they traded to Greenland and to the continent afterwards
called America; and they retained the intrepidity of their Norwegian
anceftors in croffing the tracklefs ocean, though ignorant of the com-
pafs ; but they immediately underftood the prodigious advantage the
Orkney-men enjoyed in poflefling that wonderful guide. From Green-
land they imported furs, brimftone, and pitch, and from the continent,
apparently, gold. The king of Eftotiland, confidering the Orkney-men
as fuperior in nautical fcience to his own fubjeds, gave them the charge
of a fleet of twelve vefTels for a voyage to the continent. Thofe veffels
were driven by a dreadful ftorm upon a part of the coaft occupied by
cannibals, who devoured the moft of the feamen : but the Orkney- men
faved themfelves from the fame fate by teaching the favages to catch
fifh with nets. The only one of them who returned to Orkney related,
that he lived thirteen years on the continent, traveling through a great
number of tribes, one of whom, Iituated in a mild climate to the fouth-
weft, was more civilized than any of the others whom he had known,
having gold and filver ; cities and temples ; that he afterwards got back
to Eftotiland, whence he made many voyages to the continent, and having
acquired wealth, had fitted out a veffel to return to his native country \.

* Leland fays, that Nicolas wrote Canons of to Zeno, or the recorder of his voyage, or indeed

tables, an elTay on the nature of the zodiak, and to any perfon in Italy, before books were render-

another on the houfes ot the planets, which were ed common by printing. That the people of Ork-

extant HI his own time. [_De fcriptoribus,p. ^^•].'\ iiey, a Norwegian colony, (hould be ignorant of

But he has not a word of his voyages ; and, I be- the language of thofe of Eftotiland, apparently a

lieve, they may be confidered as rather doubtful. colony from the fame parent ilock, may feem a

-}• The king of Eftotiland had a library, where- circumftance unfavourable to the credit of the

In there were fome Latin books, not underftood narrative. But, as all languages are continually

ty him, which were probably carried thither by changing, we may well admit, that a feparation of

Eric billiop of Greenland, who went to convert about five centuries fmce the fcttlement of Iceland

the people of Winland to Chriftianity in the year would produce a difference in two dialefts of the

1121, and feems to have died there. fame language fufficient to prevent them from be-

J Zeno's voyage was confidered as a very doubt- ing wutualiy intelligible. Very little of the lan-

ful ilory, or rather a mere fable, till Dodlor For- guage, fpoken in England five hundred years ago,

fter's able rind ingenious expofition removed the can be underftood in the prefent day by thofe

Tiiill, which overwhelmed it, and poured upon it a who have not ftudied it ; Chaucer's language is

ilream of light, little inferior to hiftoric demon- difficult to ordinary readers; and many words even

llration. It is fupported by, and it in return il- in Shakfpeare are obfcure, if not unknown, to

luftrates, the hiftory of the difcovery of Winland the mpft zealous and diligent of his coaimcnta-

about the year looo, an event probably notknovim ton*

4. B 2

564 A. D. 1360.

\ForJler's Difcoveries in the North, pp. 188, 204 Engl. tranJL'] The
fuperior people, here defcribed, mufi: have been the Mexicans, who thus
appear to have been known to this native of the Orkneys about 160
years before they were invaded by the Spaniards.

1 36 1 — The traditions of the North give very pompous accounts of
the commercial profperity of Wifbuy, a city on the weft fide of Goth-
land, an ifland in the Baltic fea. They tell us, that after the total de-
ftrudion of Winet and Julin, famous commercial cities near the mouth
of the Oder on the north coaft of Germany, and the fubfequent con-
flagration of Slefvvick, the whole trade of the peninfula of Yutland and
the coafts of the Baltic was removed to Ripen and foon after to Wifbuy,
which thereupon became the moft flourifliing commercial city in Eu-
rope * ; and the merchants of Gothland, Sweden, Ruflia, Denmark,
Pruffia, England, Scotland, Flanders, France, Finland, Vandalia, Saxony,
and Spain, had fadories there, and ftreets appropriated to each feveral
nation. There all ftrangers were made welcome, and admitted to all
the rights and privileges of citizens. The citizens lived fplendidly in
houfes built of marble ; and the greateft abundance and profperity
blefl'ed the happy ifland, till, in the revolution of human affairs, the
commerce, which had rendered Wifbuy rich and happy, was transferred
to other places. The invention of fea charts, and a code of maritime
laws, are alfo afcribed to Wifbuy ; and we are told, that the merchants
of other countries fubmitted their caufes to be tried by the magiftrates
of that city. — From thefe exaggerated accounts it feems probable, that
Wifbuy had more trade during the dark ages than any other place in
the inland fea wherein it is fituated. In the year 1288 the citizens had
a quarrel with the other inhabitants of the ifland, after which they for-
tified their city with a wall and a ditch ; a circumftance by no means
agreeing with the reports of its wonderful opulence in earlier times,
for, in thofe days of rapine and violence, no town, that contained any
thing worth plundering, could be without walls. Probably we fliall
come nearer the truth, if we afTume that date for the commencement
of the commercial profperity of Wifbuy f. After that time they be-
came very powerful; and, confcious of their naval fuperiority, and in-
toxicated, as we are told, with their exceffive profperity, they preyed
upon their weaker neighbours. Such condud could not fail to flir up
enemies. Waldemar king of Denmark invaded them in the year 1361,
threw down their walls, and loaded his fhips with the accumulated riches
of the citizens. After doing them all the mifchief he could, he enter-
ed into a treaty of friendfhip with them, confirmed all the privileges

• The authors of ihofe accounts probably knew figncd as one of the principal caufes of the popu-

uothing of the commercial cities of the Mcdiler- lation and trade of Wifbuy, is dated in 1288 by

ranean. Eric king of Denmark in his Uijhry of Denmark,

I The conflagration of Slefwick, which is af- p. 167 in Rep. Dan'ia.

A. D. 1361. 565

and immunities which had been granted to them by the emperors of
Germany and kings of Sweden, and gave them liberty to trade in his
dominions on as favourable terms as his own fubjeds, together with the
right of coining money, which thej' had hitherto pradifed without hav-
ing any right *. \_Pontani H'tjl. rer. Dan. pp. 376, 470, y^iS- — Olaus Mag-
nus, L. ii, c. 22. — Rc/p- Daniee, p. 80.]

1362, Odlober — Notwithftanding the ad of the year 1360, the op-
preffive abufe of purveyance ftill continued. It was now enaded, that
there fhould be no purveyors but for the king and queen ; that the
odious name of purveyor fhould be laid afide, and that of buyer fubfti-
tuted for it f ; that ready money fhould be paid for all things taken for
the royal houfehold, and that the prices of them fliould be appraifed,
Except thofe of things for the ufe of the horfes, for which the buyers
were to agree with the fellers ; that commiflioners fhould be appointed
to infped the condud of the purveyors ; and that no chator (or pur-
veyor) for any fubjed fhould take any thing without the confent of the
owner. \^Stat. i, 36 Edw. Ill, cc. 1-6.] As the purveyors, or buyers,
made very lucrative jobs of their office ij:, it is probable that thefe laws
were no better obferved than the preceding ones on the fame fubjed :
and, indeed, the frequent repetitions of laws for the fame things fhows
plainly, that they were in genera] very inefficient.

The flatute of the fhaple having vefled the mayors and conftables of
the ftaples with jurifdidion in matters of felony, affaults, and trefpaffcs,
in their towns, it was thought proper, that they fhould only take cog-
nizance of debts and contrads between perfons who were known to be
merchants, and that criminal matters fhould be tried at common law,
as formerly ; only that alien merchants might flill, if they chofe it,
bring all caufes, whether civil or criminal, wherein they were any way
concerned, before the mayor of the flaple. It was alfo ordained, that
the king and other lords fliould enjoy all the privileges they had pof-
fefled before the ftatute of the flaples was enaded, except in pleas of
debt, which were referved to the jurifdidion of the mayor of the flaple,
whoever might be the parties. [Stat, i, 2^ Edw. Ill, c. 7.]

The liberty granted to all merchants to export wool was this year con-
firmed. \_Stat. r, 2,'^ Edw. Ill, c. 11.]

The prelates, lords, and commons, reprefented to the king, that many
people fufFered exceedingly from the laws being unknown, becaufe they

• If they were an independent community, up- + We know, that the purveyors of wine in the

on what principle could it be alleged, that they year 1369 were accufed of detaining cargoes of

had not a right to coin money ? wine, on pretence that they were taken for the

f New names do not change the nature of king, to the great difappointment of intending

things. How long the name of purveyor remain- purchafers, and damage of the owners, that they

ed profcribed, is perhaps unknown : but we fee it m ght make their own profit of them. \Scc AHsy

revived, and holding its place (I fuppofe, very in- 43 Edw. HI, c, 3. J
nocently ) in the modern Ufts of the royal houfehold.

566 A. D. 1362.

were * pleaded, fliewed, and judged in the French tongue,' which was
little known in the kingdom, fo that the parties were ignorant of what
was faid in their own caufes by the lawyers in the courts ; and that the
laws ought in reafon to be exprelled in the language of the country,
agreeable to the pradlice of other nations, in order to enable the people
to know how to conduct themfelves. — It was ordained, that all pleadings
in courts fhould be in Englilh, but that they Jhoidd be inroUed in Latin;
and that the laws fliould be kept as they were before *. \_Stat. i , 36
Edw. Ill, c. 15.]

The parliament fixed the duty upon wool exported at ;^i : 6 : 8 per
fack, and fo to continue for three years. At the fame time duties were
alfo granted on wool-fells and hides. [Cotton's Abridgement, p. 94. —
Walfmgham, p. 179.]

Oftober 26"' — As if the enormous ranfom for the king and the ex-
penfe of the hoflages, all going out of Scotland without any return, had
not been fufficient to impoverilh that country, the bifhop of S'. Andrews,
feven earls and barons, one countefs, and nine burgefles and merchants
of Linlithgow, S". Andrews, Edinburgh, and Tinedale (one of whom,
however, is faid to be on the bufmefs of merchandizing) were all ftruck
with the frenzy of paying their devotions at the tomb of S'. Thomas at
Canterbury, for which purpofe each of them obtained a paflport from
King Edward. Some of them, whofe devotion to the martyr flill con-
tinued ardent, returned foon after with a new {hole of devotees to Can-
terbury ; and it is obfervable, that then, and afterwards, they were re-
llrained by the terms of their pafFports from carrying any Englifti horfes
to Scotland with them. So far was the king of Scotland from endea-
vouring to alleviate the mifery, his ranfom brought upon his fubjeds,
by a wife public economy, and the difcouragement of this ruinous
folly, that he himfelf, as long as he lived, was the mofl frequent vilitor
to S'. Thomas ; and, by his example, the people of all ranks in Scotland
continued many years infedted with the fame fuperftition. IFirdera, V.

vi, pp- 395. 4^7' 576. &c. 8cc,]

1363, March "i — The parliament having ordained * for the profit of

• the realm and eafe of merchants of England, that the ftaple of wool,

* wool-fells, and hides, fhould be held at Calais,' it now began to be
held there accordingly f . [A£is, 43 Ediv. HI, preamble.'] The king ap-
pointed twenty-fix principal merchants to have the cuflody of that town,

• By this law we learn that Englidi had been f In the parliament held in Oiloher 1 362 ' the

for a coiifidL-iablc time the predominant languajrc, * lords being required to fpeak what they thought

even among the higher clafles, in England. But ' of the repair of merchants to Callis, thought it

this law was as little within the comprchenfion of * good to have the fame done. But the com-

the great bulk of the people as all thofe which ' raons referred their anfwcr untill conference with

preceded it ; for it, and alfo all thofe after it, willi • the merchants.' \_Collon''s Ahr'ulgcmrvt of records,

very few exceptions, for above a century, were /). 92.] Tliis is a good inllance ot the ottcntioii

written in unknown language, generally French, of the reprefentatives to the commercial intercft*

cnly a very few being in Latin. of their conllitucnts.

A. D. 1363. 567

each having under him fix armed men and four archers en the king's
pay. He appointed a mayor for the ftaple and another for the town.
Tiie impoft, called maletorth, payable to the king, was fixed at 20/",
and that payable to the merchant wardens at 3/4, for every facie of
wool. [Kriygblofi, col. 2626.] Thus were the flatute of the ftaple, and
all the vafl: multitude of regulations relating to it, rendered nugatory,
before they were fairly efl:abli{hed, and before the people concerned were
habituated to the arrangements proper for conducting their bufinefs with
propriety and advantage.

June 7'^ — It appears that Englifh cattle were a profitable article in
Flanders, as Andrew Deftrer of Bruges giternar (player on the guitar)
to the queen, obtained permiflion to carry over twenty-five oxen or
cows, without paying any duty. [Fardera, V. vi, p. 418.}

Odober — Some very extraordinary laws were now enaded. The par-
liament, after fetting forth that many merchants, by undue arts and
combinations, and by means of their fraternities and gilds, had en-
grofi^ed all kinds of goods, which they kept up, till they could fell them
at enormous prices, ordained that every merchant or fhopkeeper fhould
make his eledion before Candlemas of one particular kind of goods,
and ihould be allowed till the 24'" of June to difpofe of his other goods
on hand, after which time he fliould deal in the one kind chofen by
him, and no other. Artificers were in like manner tied down to one
occupation, with an exception in favour of female brewers, bakers,
weavers, fpinfters, and other women employed upon works in wool,
linen, or filk, in embroidery, &c. * [Stat. 37 Edw. Ill, cc. 5, 6.}

Goldfmiths were ordered to make their work of fl:andard quality, and
to ftamp it with their own marks in addition to the eflayer's flamp.
Thofe who made filver work, were prohibited from gilding. [Stat. 27
Edw. Ill, c. 7.]

Luxury being come to a great height, the parliament took the trouble
to prefcribe a fcale of viduals and clothing for the various members of
the community, regulated by the rank, fortune, or profeflion, of each

* If this aft had been in the language of the In the piogrefs of improvement artificers have

country, we fliould have feen breiujhr, bakjler, found it expedient to fubdivide their employments,

-weljler, the termination _/<•/• fignifying a woman and reftriift thcmfelvtf, each to a particular branch,

(not a man) who brews, bakes, weaves, &c. as I not for the purpofe of preventing combinations,

have obferved in another work. When men be- but for a facility in carrying every particular

gan to invade thofe departments of indullry by branch to the greater perfedlion by attending to

which women ufed to earn an honeft livelihood, one only. Thus does trade, in procefs of time,

they retained the feminine appellations (as men- regulate itfelf, far better than the interference of

midwives and men-milliners do now) for fome any legiflature can ever do. He was a wile man,

time: but afterwards mafculine words drove the who, being afced by the prime miniller ot Fiance,,

feminine ones out of the language, as the men had what the merchants wilhed him to do for the be-

driven the women out of the employments. Spin- nefit of commerce, anfwered him with this (hort

fter Hill retains its genuine termination ; and the and pithy fentence, ' Laijffx, nous fain,' leave ua

language of the law feems to prefume, that every to ourfelves.
unmarried woman is indufliioufly employed in
fpinning. *

558 A, D. 1363.

individual. Plougbmen and others employed in country work, and
people not pollelling property to the value of 40/", were to clothe them-
ielves in blanket and ruflet lawn. Servants of lords, tradefmen, and
artifl^ns, were allowed cloth of the value of £1 : 6 : S per piece. Arti-
ficers and yeomen might give £2 for their piece of cloth. Gentlemen
having /^loo a-year, and merchants and tradefmen worth ^500 of clear
property, might wear cloth of ^3 per piece. Gentlemen having ^200
a-year, and people in trade worth above /^i ,000, were only intitled to
cloth of £^ : 6 : 8. But knights having 200 marks of income might be-
ftovv £4. for their piece of cloth : and thofe having above 400 marks
a-year might wear whatever they chofe, except ermine. The clergy
were to have their cloth equal to that of the laity of the fame income.
And all women were to drefs in proportion to the incomes of their
hufbands, fathers, &c. But it would be too tedious to go into the mi-
nutiffi of thefe fhort-lived and futile regulations, efpecially thofe for the
drefTes and trinkets of the women. We learn by them, that veils were
•worn, even by the wives and daughters of fervants, who were not al-
lowed to give more than twelve pennies for them. [Stat. 37 EJiv. Ill,
cc. 8-14.] We are told that the plunder brought from France furnifhed
the materials of a great part of the extravagance now complained of,
and an infectious example for the reft of it. \JValftngham, p. 168.]

Thefe regulations were immediately followed by another, worthy to
accompany them. The clothiers were ordered to make a fufficient
quantity of cloth of the feveral prices required ; and the ftiopkeepers were
ordered to provide a proper ftock of them to fupply the demand. [Slat.
37 Edw. Ill, c. 15.] This law, however, feems to infer, that there was
now a fufficient quantity of cloth made in England to fupply every
confumer, except thofe of the higheft clafles, whofe number being
fmall, their confumption of foreign-made cloth could have no influence
in depreffing the home manufadure.

This year the king commanded, that no man fhould export cloth,
butter, cheefe, flieep, malt, or beer. But the German merchants might
export worfteds and ftreight cloths, and thofe of Gafcoigne might carry
woollen cloths to the value of the wines imported by them. [Cotton's
Ahridgenmit , p. 96.] In the following year feveral licences were grant-
ed for exporting cloths ; and the merchants of Bofton, in particular,
were allowed to export wooled, fliort, and ftreight (perluaps narrow),
cloths*. \Rot. pat. prim, ■^'i Edw. Ill, mm. i, 2, 5, 17.] From theie
prohibitions and limited permiftions it may be inferred, that Englifti
cloth was already in great demand abroad. Probably the quantity made
in Flanders was now diminiflicd in confequence of more Englifti wool
being worked up at home than formerly.

a • • Paiinos lanutos, curtos, et ftrI£lo9.'

A. D. 1363, 569

November 27'h — King Edward having renounced his pretenfions to
the kingdom of France, and finding his purchafe of the kingdom of
Scotland from his va(T:d Balliol as ineffectual as his attempts to fubdue it
by force, bethought himfelf of another method of acquiring that king-
dom. Before King David was born, the parliament of Scotland had
fettled the fucceflion of the crown on the heirs male of King Robert,
and, failing them, on Robert Stewart the fon of his deceafed daughter.
David's wife had lately died without having ever born a child, and, as
often happens, he was not upon friendly terms with his declared fuc-
ceflbr. Such being the lituation of the royal family of Scotland, and
the country groaning under the preffure of the king's ranfom, Edward
thought it a favourable opportunity for perfuading David to confent,
that, failing male * ifTue of himfelf, he, or his fucceffors, kings of Eng-
land, fhould fucceed to the kingdom of Scotland. In order to fweeten
the propofal to the king, the nobles, and people, of Scotland, he offered
to remit the whole balance, then unpaid, of the ranfom (30,000 marks
were now paid) ; to reftore Berwick, Rokfburgh, Jedburgh, and Loch-
maben, with their annexed diftrids, immediately to the Scots ; to re-
ftore, or compenfate, to David the greateft part of the lands belonging
to his anceftors in England ; to make fimilar reftitution to Douglas (a
powerful earl in Scotland) and to the abbays and other religious founda-
tions ; to take upon himfelf to fatisfy fome Englifla barons for their
claims upon eftates in Scotland ; to fwear that the king of England and
Scotland fhould never alienate nor divide the later kingdom ; to pre-
ferve the antient laws and ufages of the kingdom ; and to condud the
government entirely by the adminiftration of natives of the country,
and by parliaments to be held in Scotland ; to lay no new impofitions,
prifes, tallages, or exactions, befides thofe which were eftablifhed in the
times of the good kings of Scotland; that the Scottifh merchants fhould
ufe their own franchifes in trade, without being under any compulfion
to go to Calais or any other place but at their own pleafure, and they
iliould pay no more than half a mark for every fack of wool to the

great cuflom f . [Ft^dera, V. vi, p. 426.] Such was the fketch of a

treaty talked over by the privy counfelors of the two kings in their
prefence at London, and approved of by them both. But David, hav-
ing already raifed an infurrection againft himfelf by propofmg to his
parliament to appoint Lionel, the fecond furviving fon of Edward, to
be his fucceflbr in cafe of his death without iflue, was now more cau-

* The word male is kept out of fight \n the be- to be liable to pay the much-heavier duty then

pliiiiing of the i'cheme ; but it appears in the con- paid upon wool in England. In a propofed treaty,

clufion of it. lomewhat fimilar, in the year 1290, when there

■\ Abercromby and Lord Hailes give dlfTerent was a profpeft of uniting the two kingdoms by a

cxpofitions of this article. I prefame, that half marriage, there was not a word of the commerce

a mark per fack was the antient duty on wool ex- or merchants of either kingdom. \_FaMra, V. ii,

ported from Scotland, and that the Scots were not p. 482.3

Vol. L . 4 C

^yo A, D. 1363.

tious : and it appears, that he never favv any profped of obtaining the
confent of his fubjeds, exafperated by the miferies of an age of war-
fare, to an union with their inveterate enemies ; and therefor he care-
fully kept the fcheme (for it was exprefsly declared to be no more) a
dead fecret *. Certain it is, that, under more aufpicious circumftances,
fuch an union might have been acceptable, and have greatly accelerat-
ed the improvement of agriculture and manufadures in both kingdoms,
efpecially Scotland, and would have enabled Great Britain much fooner
to aflTume a pre-eminent rank among the kingdoms of Europe.

The equitable mode of repairing the roads by funds raifed from tolls,
collected from thofe who ufed them, was now fo far eftabliflied, that we
find, befides the renewals of the tolls for the Wcftminfter road almofl
annually, tolls granted this year for the road between Highgate and
Smithfield, for that from Wooxbridge (Uxbridge) by A6ton to London,
and for the venel called Fay tor (Fetter) lane in Holburn. [Rot. pat. fee.
37 Edw. Ill, mm. 25, 44, 47.]

It may be proper to obferve, as a proof that fome of the citizens of
London were already very opulent, that Henry Picard, who had been
mayor fome years before, made a magnificent entertainment this year
at his own houfe in the Vintry, to which he invited his fovereign the
king of England, the kings of France, Scotland, and Cyprus, (all three
then vifitors at the court of England) the prince of Wales, and many
of the nobility ; his wife at the fame time giving another entertainment
in her apartments, I prefume, to the ladies. According to the cuftom
of the age, Picard prefented rich gifts to the king, the nobles, and
knights, who dined with him f . [5/oty'j- Annoles, p. 415, ed. 1600.]

1364, January — The experiment of compelling the people to feed
and clotl)e themfelves according to a prefcribed ftandard of rank and
fortvme was found not to anfwer expectation, and the ads ordaining it
were repealed. The other ftrange law, reftriding merchants or {hop-
keepers to one fingle article of merchandize, was aUb abrogated ; and all
merchants, aliens &r denizens, were allowed to buy and fell all kinds of
goods, and to export them on paying the cuftoms, except that Englifh
merchants were now again prohibited from exporting wool and wool-
fells. All perfons were again prohibited from carrying abroad any gold
or filver, excepting (as before) the fiflaermen who fold nothing but fifh.
{Stat. 1, 38 Edw.. Illy cc. 2, 6.]

* And it remained unknown to all the In'ftori- when he was mayor ; but 1363 was the year of

ans of England and Scotland, and utterly forgot- the vilitatlon of the kings. — In the year 1350

ten, till it was publilhed by Rymtr in the year Henry Picard and another perfon were appointed

J •727. by the king to make an inquiry concerning a Ge-

f Stow tells us that Picard, having won fifty noelc veffLi ; and in 1339 he and Hiigli de Wich-

marks from the king of Cyprus at play, reftorcd ingham lent the king 15,000 marks. \_Fa(laa,

ihcm to him, and gave gifts to his retinue. Stow y.s\, p. Ci^l.—Rut. put. ftc. 33 Ediu. Ill, m. 14.};
but dated the entertainment in the year 1357, *

A. D. i^r^. 571

• It was enaded, that a veflel fhould not be liable to feizure for a little
thing put onboard, without paying cuftom, unknown to the owner.
[Stat. I, 38 Edw. Ill, c. 8.] It is evident that the want of precifion in
this law (as indeed in mofl others of the age) left it in the breafl of the
judge to acquit or condemn any veflel, juft as he chofe to call the thing
fmuggled a little thing or a great thing.

That there might be the greater plenty of wine in the country, the
king allowed all denizens, except artificers, to bring wine from Gaf-
coigne, as well as the Gafcons and other aliens. \Stat. i, 38 Edw, III,

c. II.]

1365, May 20"* — A (hip belonging to the bifhop of Aberdeen, having
been left at anchor with only two men onboard, had been driven out to
fea, and put into Yarmouth, where the admiral feized her as a wreck.
On complaint being made to King Edward, he ordered the admiral to
reflore the veflel, which could not be adjudged to be wreck when there
was any living animal onboard, and much lefs being in the charge of
two men. [Fcedera, V. vi, />, 462.]

July 28''' — The king, obferving that many of the clergy and laity
carried great fums of money out of the kingdom, by bills of exchange,
and by way of advance, in merchandize, in coin, and by many other
fubterfuges, without obtaining his licence, fent orders to many of the
great officers of his foreign dominions to make flirid: fearch by day and
by night, and to flop all perfons having money, bullion, bills of ex-
change, 8tc. except known merchants ; and to make all mariners and
merchants arriving from England fwear, that they had no money, bul-
lion, or bills of exchange, except for the purpofes of their lawful trade.
\Fcsdera, V. vi, p. 475.] As the balance of trade is known to have
been favourable to England at this time, thefe prohibitions, and very
laborious and expenfive watchings, fliow clearly, that, though fome re-
mittances were made by bills of exchange, the fcience of negotiating
them, and, indeed, all other commercial fcience, was fcarcely known,
at leaft in England.

The number of perfons at this time in England, poflefllng property
to the value of thirty pennies in cattle *, was only Jortj-eigbt thoufand,
if we may venture to take it from the collection of S'. Peter's pennies,
amounting only to 300 marks, which the king this year took to him-
felf. [Slaw's Annales, p. 420.]

* Stow fays, ' All that had 30 penny woorth of -his houfe. Earlier defcriptions may be fcen in the

' goods, of one manner cattel in their houfe of Saxon laws, and Spelman's explanations of them

• their own proper.' — The fenfe cf this is rather in his Concilia and his Glofary : but this is the

obfcure : but It may perhaps be explained from latelt I find, for I do not know whence Stow hai

Knyghton's dcfcription \_coI. 2356] of the perfons taken the paflage, which 1 have here quoted from

liable to pay S,. Peter's penny in the reign of the him, and given on the farth of his general inte-

Conqueror, viz. every perfon having the value of grity.
thirty pennies of live money (flaves and cattle) in

4G 2

572 A D. 1365.

From the account of Bartholemew Glantville * \T)e propridatibus rerum,
L. vi, cc. 12, 16, ed. 1481] we find, that flavery ftill remained with all
its rigours in England ; the child of a female flave was a Have ; fhe was
debarred from marrying without the confent of her proprietor ; and a
free man by marrying a flave reduced himfelf to the ftate of flavery.
All flaves were fold like any other living property. We find, however,
no accounts of flaves being imported or exported in this age.

After an interval of almofl: a century, a feeble attempt was made this
year by the king of Cyprus to renew the holy war. He took Alexand-
ria, and after keeping pofliflion of it four days, burnt the greatefl; part
of it, and, underflanding that the enemy were approaching in great
forcfe, went off with a great deal of plunder, confifting of cloth of gold,
filk, and other pretious articles, which his foldiers, among whom there
were fome Engliftimen and Gafcons, proudly exhibited as trophies of
their valour in their own countries. But in confequence of the de-
llruftion made by thofe marauders, the price of fpices was raifed in all
the wefl:ern parts of the world. The crufade, undertaken on pretence
of religion, being thus found defl:ruclive of commerce, the Venetians
who were moreover fuffering from the refentment and revenge of the
Egyptians, perfuaded the king of Cyprus to negotiate a peace, in which
the recovery of the Holy land was entirely loft fight of. The war was
foon renewed by the turbulent king of Cyprus, who interefted the pope
in his caufe fo far as to attempt to ftir up fome of the princes of Europe
to renew the folly of the preceding century. But his holinefs, finding
he could not prevail with any of them to take the crofs, perfuaded the
king of Cyprus to feek for peace, which he obtained. [Fcedera, V. vi, p.
533. — A?ion. Vit. Edw. Ill, p. 430. — Walfingham, p. 180 — De Guignes, en
Mem. de Utter ature, V. xxxvii, p. 513.]

We are told, that fome navigators of Dieppe in Normandy this year
(or the year before) difcovered the coaft of Africa as far as the River
Senegal, v/here they formed a fettlement, and obtained fome articles of
African produce, which they had formerly received by the way of
Alexandria. The difcoverers admitted feveral merchants of Rouen to
flia-re with them in the African trade ; and in the year 1 366 the enlarged
company fitted out feveral veflTels, and fettled fadlories on the Rivers
Niger f and Gambia, at Sierra Leona, &c. In 1382 they built the fort
De la Mine d'or on the coaft of Guinea, and afterwards thofe of Acora,
Cormentin, and others : and they went on very profperoufly till the
year 1392, when the civil wars, cogether with mifmanageinent among

* Better known by the name of Baitholomxus known better liimfdf, render it often doubtful,

Angliciis. His book upon the properties of thiugs whether the manners he dcfcribes are thofe of his

is a kind of fummary of the knowlege of tlie age, own age or not.

in the manner of Ifidorc. It ib a pity, tliat his •(■ Rather tlic river which ufed to be fuppofed

very frequent quotations from anticnt autliors, and the mouth of the l>Jiger.
chiefly from llidore, for what lie ought to liavc

A. D. 1365. 573

themfelves, brought on their ruin and the lofs of all their fettle-
ments, except the one on the Niger. Thefe eftabliftiments (if they were
unqueflionably authenticated) might be confidered as a renovation of
the antient commerce carried on by the Carthaginians on the African
coaft, and the firfl: rudiments of the difcoveries, which, extending along
the whole coaft of that continent, and at length to India, entirely un-
hinged the fyftem of antient commerce, and paved the way to thofe
mighty revolutions which have affeded the whole furface of the globe *..
[See De Guignes, en Mem. de lilteratu?-e, V. xxxvii,/)/>. 518-521.]

The Flemings, who knew, better than any other people in the weft
parts of Europe, how to turn all raw materials to the mofl profitable
ufes, this year (and probably long before and after) received rabbit flcins
from England, which, we may fuppofe, they made mto hats. {^Rot. pat.
prim. 39 Edw. Ill, 7n. 28.]

1367 — Some writers have thought it worth while to inform us, that
a thouland citizens of Genoa, all drefled in filk, welcomed the pope to
their city, when he Hopped there in his way from Avignon to Rome :
and the exhibition of fo much finery is adduced as a proof of the great
opulence of the city f .

May 1 5'" It is worthy of notice, that Galeaz, lord of Milan, offer-
ed his fecond daughter in marriage to Lionel, the fecond furviving fon
of King Edward, and to give, as her portion, lands in Piedmont of the
annual value of 24,000 gold florins (then equal to three ihillings fter-
ling each) together with 100,000 in ready money ; or, if it were more
agreeable to the king and his fon to have all money, he offered to give
250,000 gold florins, befides furnifhing his daughter magnificently with
dreffes and jewels, and even furniture, and conduding her and the mo-

* ' The ivory brought from the Tooth coaft by and Carthage enjoyeJ thtir fecret trades to the
' the merchants of Dieppe gave birth to the works Caffiterides and the African coaft.
' in ivory, by which that town was enriched as f Quere, if not rather a proof that l,OCO
' long as the ware continued to be eftecmed by the dretfes of filk appeared in tlie eye of the writer a
' pubHc' \_Spc9acle de la Nature, Fl iv, jt). 429, veiy extraordinary difplay of magnifcence ? When
ed. 1739.] — Notwitiiftanding the very refpeiflabie filk was more worn by the ladies of this country
authority of De Guignes, the author of the Spec- than it is at prefent, would it have been vi'orthy
tacle de la Nature, &c. the whole hillory of the of notice, even in a newfpaper, that 1,000 ladies
French colonies on the African coaft is contro- appeared in filk gowns in Hyde park or Kenfing-
verted ; and it is generally aflerted, that no Eu- ton gardens ? Neither was the difplay of filk be-
lopcan ever failed beyond Barbary before the Por- yond fome others of much earlier ages. In the
tuguefe. It is faid that the Portuguefe kept their year II30 all the attendants at the coronation din-
difcoveries as fecret as pofTible ; but, admitting the ner of Roger king of Sicily were drefled in iilk.
authenticity of the French difcoveries, the fecret \^A'ex. Tenec. ap. Muratori Script. V. v, col. 622.]
of them muft have been much better preferved, as Sicily, it is true, was then a chief feat of the filji
it fcems pretty certain that the Portuguefe had no manufadlure. But even in the remote ifland cf
knowlege of any voyages made by the French to Great Britain the difplay of fdk and other finery
the coall of Africa previous to their own. But a at the marriage of Alexander III king of Scot-
continuation of a fecret trade for above a hundred land to the daughter of Henry III king of Eng-
years was not fo prafticable in the fourteenth and land in the year 1251 (See above, p. 4C0) was ra-
fifteenth centurief, as when the Phoenicians of Gadir ther fuptrior to this boafted exhibition of Gciio-*

the Stately. 4

f;^4 A. D. 1367.

ney to Calais at his own expenfe. The bargain was ftruck for the landt
and 100,000 florins. [Fadera, V. vr, pp. 547, 564] We have here a
notable proof of the vaftnefs of the mafs of the pretious metals circul-
ating in Italy at this time, the fruit of flourifhing commerce and ma-
nufadures : for it is idle to fuppofe, tliat any great proportion of the
wealth of Italy could be acquired by the trade of lending money upon
ufury or intereft, as fome have aflerted. Produdive induftry mufl ne-
cefTarily provide the funds for the payment of intereft, which, unlefs
in the cafe of intereft paid by the ftate, and provided for by national
eftates or taxes *, is truely a participation of profits between the pro-
prietor of the capital and the adual condudor of the bufinefs fupported
by that capital.

June i" King Edward licenced a German merchant to import eight

horfes from Flanders, and to fell them for his beft advantage in Eng-
land, or to carry them to any other country, except Scotland, to which
he did not allow any horfes to be taken out of England f . [Fadtra, V.
vi, p. 566.]

The parliament of Scotland had in the preceding year ordered the
money of the kingdom to be coined of the fame quality and weight
with that of England, viz. twenty-five fliillings out of the pound of
ftandard filver. But this year, confidering the fcarcity of filver money,
and thinking, according to the ftrange erroneous notion of the age, that
it was in their power to increafe the quantity of it, merely by diminifti-
ing its intrinfic value, they ordered that the pound of filver fliould be
coined into twenty-nine fhillings and four pennies, or rather (as there
were no fuch coins as fliillings) into 352 pennies, pennies with their
halves and quarters, together with fome groats and half groats, being
hitherto the only filver coins ftruck either in Scotland or in England.
They alfo ordered that no perfon, whether native or foreigner, ftiould
carry any money of gold X or filver out of the kingdom, except what
might be fufficient for his neceflary expenfes, without paying a duty of

* IntereR arifing from national eftates or taxes X I' '^ geneially agreed, tliat no gold money

does not crirlcU the comnMinity, as it only transfers was coined in Scotland before the reign of Ro-

moiiey from one hand to another, generally within btrt II, the fucceflor of David II. if the Iaw«

the fame territory. But manufaftures and com- of David II, pulililhed by Skene, were unquellion-

mercc enrich the country by money drawn from ably genuine, here would be a proof, or at lealt a

foreigners; and of the wealth fo acquiied, this ftrong prtfumption, that he coined gold. — But the

marriage portionl and the one given by the duke laws are not to be depended upou ; and I even

of Brabant to King Edward in the year 1339, are hcfitate in tranfcribing the regulations concerning

illuftrious examples and proofs. the Scott ifh money, though fiipported by the ex-

+ When Lionel went from England to marry ample of the diligent and accurate Ruddiman.

the daughter of Galeae, he took with him 1,280 Sec his learned Preface to Amieifms D':plomata et

hoifts though he nad only 547 men, and was go- tiumifmuta Scoliit. The anllent laws ol Scotland

ing to I.ombardy, a country from which England Rand much in need of a new edition ; but the

ufcd to import horfes. On that occafion the king work ou^ht to be undertaken by an editor, very

alfo fent fome horfes as a prefent to Galtaz. [Fad- different in knowlegc »nd induftry from Skene.

era, V. vi,/. 590 Mad'jxs MS. Coll. F. i./- 63,

IB Muf. Brit.^

A. D. 1367. 575-

half a mark for every pound (or i6j per cent), the duty impofed in the
year 1347 being thus lowered to one half: but foreigners were permit-
ted to carry away the money brought by themfelves without paying any
duty. They alfo further enforced the duties, formerly impofed, of forty
pennies in the pound on the price of horfes, and twelve pennies on that
of oxen and cows* carried out of the country : and they made fome re-
gulations refpeding the payment for things taken for the royal houfe-
hold, fimilar to thofe lately enadled in England. {^Siat. Dav. II, cc. 37,
38, 46. 48, 49, 52.]

1368, Januai-y — That the armourers of England were fupcrior to thofe
of Scotland, and probably alfo to thofe of fome other countries, appears
from the petitions of two Scottifh gentlemen to King Edward for leave
to purchafe armour in London for a duel, which they were engaged to
fight in Scotland. Their petitions were granted : but fo much was arm-
our an objed: of the jealous attention of government, that the various
pieces they were permitted to buy were carefully fpecified. Further
proofs of the fuperiority of the armour, and of the jealouly. of govern-
ment refpe6ling it, alfo appear in fome of the pallports granted to Scot-
tifh travelers in England, wherein they are charged to curry no armour
out of the country. [Fcedera, V. vi, pp. 582, 583, 584, &c.]

May I'-' — ^The permiflion, lately granted to the Engliih to import wine
from Gafcoigne, was now revoked ; and they were not even allowed to
bargain for any wine, till after it was landed by the foreign importer.
[A6is^ 42 Edw. Ill, c. 8.] As the natives of England were now de-
barred from exporting wool and wool-fells, and from- importing wine,
the chief articles of the trade of the country, we need not wonder, that
they looked upon foreign merchants with an evil eye. I believe, no
writer has ever attempted to account for thefe extraordinary prohibi-
tions, fo glaringly and diametrically oppolite to the moft obvious prin-
ciples of commercial policy and common fenfe.

May 4'" — King Edvv^ard took under his protedion John Uneman, Wil-
liam Uneraan, and John Lietuyt, clock-makers from Delf, who pro-
pofed to carry on their bufinefs in England : and he ordered all his fub-
jeds to proted and defend them from all injuries *. {Fasdera, V. vi, p.

May 24''' — The king had promiied by a charter to the burgefles of
Berwick upon Tweed, that they fhould be governed by the fame laws
and cuftoms, which had been eftablilhed in the reign of Alexander king
of Scotland. On their complaint of encroachments upon their rights,
he ordered his warden and chamberlain of that town to pay due atten-
tion to the laws of Scotland, and regulate their proceedings by them,

* Thefe were probably the firft profeffed clock, chanifm in the beginning of this reig.n (fee above,
makers in England. Wallingford, abbat of S'. j». 503) was a volunteer artift.
Albans, who conllruded a wonderful piece of rao

^76 A. D. 1368.

agreeable to his charter. But his order was not obeyed ; for the fame
complaint, and the fame order, were repeated a year after. [Fcedera,
F. vi.//-. 593, 620.]

November 20'" — In a treaty of alliance between Charles, king of
France, and Henry, the new king of Caflile, the later engaged to con-
tribute, and keep at fea, twice as many gallies as France, to ad againfl
England. [Fcedera, V. \i,pp. 598, 622.] Though the war was chiefly
on Henry's account, in confequence of the afTiftance given by the prince
of Wales to Peter the Cruel, we {hall, perhaps, not err very much, if
we fuppofe that Caftile had twice as much trade and navigation as
France.

1369, March 20'!= — King Edward, underftanding that fome artificers
refufed to work for the wages appointed by him and his council, order-
ed the keepers of the peace and the fhirrefs to punifh all recufant arti-
ficers, and alfo all employers who gave any more than the limited wages.
[Fcedera, V. vi, />. 615.]

May 10''' — The merchants and other people of Flanders and Lom-
bardy being injured andiniulted in London, the king declared, that they
were under his protedion, and that the kingdom was benefited by
them ; and he commanded, that all who molefiied them (hould be im-
prifoned. \Fcedera, V. vi, p. 618.]

Summer — In confequence of the renewal of the war with France, it
was thought unfafe to continue the ftaple for wool, wool-fells, and hides,
any longer at Calais : and therefor the king and parliament ordained,
that fl:aples for thofe articles fhould be held at Newcaftle, Kingfi:on upon
Hull, Bofton, Yarmouth, Queenburgh, We{lminfi;er, Chichefter, Win-
chefter, Exeter, and Brift;ol, and alio in thofe towns in Ireland and
Wales, wherein they had formerly been*. All merchants, denizens or
aliens, were permitted freely to go over all the country to buy and fell
all kinds of goods, carrying the Itaple articles to the fl;aple towns, there
to be weighed, cocketed, and cufiomed, and the facks of wool to be
fealed by the mayor of the fi;aple of the place. The fl;aple goods of
Weflminfl:er and Winchefier were obliged, as formerly, to undergo a
fecond weighing at London and Southampton, the ports of (hipping.
Alien merchants were at liberty to carry their merchandize to any port
whatever : but denizens were not permitted to export any ftaple goods
on pain of forfeiture of veflel and cargo, befides imprifonment for three
years. \Stat. 43 Fdw. Ill, preamble, and c. i.]

Though it was alleged that the law for allowing foreigners only to im-
port wines was found advantageous to all the kingdom, neverthelefs, as
the prince of Wales, who was alfo prince of Aquitaine (or Gafcoigne),
complained, that his revenue was impaired by the abfence of the Englilh

*

Stow [yf/;«/7/i-j-,/. 423] mentions only Q^ecn- fcrvcd that Sir Robert Cotton \_Mri,!^_iiiunt, f.
burgh, Kiiigfton upon I^ull, and Bolloii, I'.s tie no] notes the printed a(fl as varying nnitli from
ilaplcs urdaiucJ by patliamtnt : and it m;iy Le ol- the original record.

A. D. 1369. .577

buyers of wiiie> and great quantities of wine remained unfold, it was
now enaded, that any native of England, Ireland, or Wales, not being
an artificer, might go to Gafcoigne to buy wines, on finding fecurity to
the magiftrates of the port of departure, that he would buy at leafl: one
hundred tuns of wine, and carry them to no other country but his own,
on pain of forfeiture of veflel and cargo, befides imprilbnment. [Stat.
43 Edzv. HI, c. 2.]

A war, almofl entirely maritime, between Waldemar king of Den-
mark and the citizens of the Hanfe towns was this year concluded. By
the treaty of peace Waldemar agreed to put into their hands the towns
of Helfingburg, Malmog, Schanore, and Falfterbo, being almoft the
whole of Schonen, for fifteen years, during which they were to enjoy
the revenues as a compenfation for the injuries done to them by him *,
[Pontani Rer. Dan. Hijl. L. vni, p. 499.] Thus was the dominion of the
Baltic fea evidently in the hands of the merchants of the Hanfe.

King Edward, having refumed the title of king of France, fent am-
bafladors to confirm the alliance with the earl and people of Flanders.
He alfo ordered all his fubjefts to be very careful in preferving the truce
between him and his fubjefts on the one part and his brother David of
Bruys of Scotland f and his fubjeds on the other part. The truce with
Scotland was foon after extended to fourteen years ; mutual liberty of
trade was confirmed, letters of fafe condud: being even declared unne-
cef&ry. [Faedera^ V. v\,pp. 624, 625, 632, 62,S'^

1370, April 22" — The king alfo ordered his admirals to proteft all
Venetian fhips, carracks, and gallies, coming to England, provided the
Venetians gave no affiftance to his enemies, nor took their goods on
freight in order to fcreen them from capture. [^Fadera, V. vi, p. 6^^.'^

Augufl; 4"' — By a new treaty, between King Edward and the earl and
people of Flanders, the Flemifh merchants, and all other merchants of
countries in amity with both parties, were permitted to trade as freely
as in time of peace. The Flemings engaged to carry no goods belong-
ing to the French or Spaniards, and to make no Frenchmen nor Span-
iards burgefi^es of their towns to enable them to fail with Flemifli papers.
All Flemifli vefl^ls {hould have clear papers exhibiting the contents of
their cargoes, the real proprietors or fliippers, and the intended port of
difcharge, attefled by the magiftrates of the port of departure and by

• Others fay, they were to have only two thirds of courting the friendniip of David ?.t this time,
of the revenues. Some date the commencement Edward could not End ii: his heart to give hira hi*
of the Hanfeatic league from the beginning of this proper title oi king of Scotland, nor even any of
war. So very uncertain is Hanfeatic hiftory ; and tliofe additions which were ufupUy given to princes
therefor I truft the judicious reader will not blame of rank inferior to royalty. In like manner Rich-
me for giving fewer particulars of it than Mr. ard II refufed the title of king to his mojt dear
Anderfon has done. I am not quite fo well af- father of France, whole infant daughter wjs mar-
lured, as I wifh to, be^ of the authenticity of fome ried to him. See Fadtra, V. vi, f. 756 ; F. vii
parts of their hjftovy which I have admitted. pajjlm in A. D, 1396, S5°f.

f Notwithftanding the ftrong poHtical necefiity

Vol. I. 4 D

578 A. D. 1370.

the earl. The Flemings alfo engaged to carry no armour, artillery, or
ftores, to the king's enemies, [Fa^dera, V. \i, p. 659.] From this treaty
we learn, that the expedient ufed by merchants and mariners for fcreen-
ing their property from capture, when their fovereigns engaged in war,
by becoming nominal denizens of neutral powers, is at leaft as old as
the year 1370.

1 371, January i'' — A (hip and two cogs or carracks, belonging to
Genoa, and loaded with merchandize belonging to Genoefe, Florentine,
Lucan, Venetian, and Valentine *, merchants, had been feized by the
Englilh in the years 1369 and 1370: and now the king ordered that
they {hould be reftored, and that each of the merchants fhould receive
the packages appearing by the marks to be his property. Soon after
(February 3'') the treaty with Genoa of the year 1347 was renewed,
and all damages and hoflilities on both lides were configned to oblivion,
the king adding, as a condition, that the Genoefe fliould give no aflifl:-
ance by land or fea to his enemies. It appears that 2,000 marks were
paid to the Genoefe in the following year by the king ; and at the fame
time a perpetual peace, or alliance, between England and Genoa on the
above terms was concluded, or confirmed (26"' January, 1372). \_Fa;d-
era, V. v\,pp. G6^^ 670, 673, 676, 679, 682, 706, 707.]

Lent — The parliament, apparently in confequence of the duty, in-
tended to defray the expenfe of guarding the fea, being impofed by
the king's authority, enaded, that any new impofition laid upon wool,
wool-fells, or hides, without their aflent, fhould be null. \Stat. 45 Fdw,
III,c.^.-\

The commons reprefented in parliament, that fhips were often taken
up for the king long before they were wanted, and the merchants ruin-
ed by fupporting their feamen in idlenefs ; that by the merchants, the
fupporters of the navy, being fo often deprived of their fliips, the mar-
iners were driven into other trades ; and that the mailers of the king's
veflels took up (preffed) the maflers of other veflels, as good men as
themfelves, whereby the men were alfo obliged to feek other means of
living, and the fliips were rendered ufelefs ; and that by thefe means the
navy was reduced. [Co//o«'x Abridgement, p. 113.]

1372, February 7"" — Notwitliftanding this remonftrance, the king
iffued orders for all veffels in England and Wales to enter into his
fervice, and to affemble on or before the firft day of May in the har-
bours of Southampton, Portfmouth, Hamel in the Rys, and Hamel
Hoke, all on the coaft of Hamplhire oppofite to the Ille of Wight,
\FcEdera, V. vi, p. 708.]

April 7"" — A merchant of York obtained leave to fliip four pipes of
Rhenifh wine at York for Kingflon upon Hull, and thence to carry it
to Pruiria for fale,' he being bound to bring home wood for bows in re-

* Apparently of Valencia in Spain,

A. D. 1372. 579

turn for the value of it. [^Fa;dera, V. vi, p. 718.] By this very circuit-
ous carriage we might fuppofe, that the merchants of England carried
on a mod adive foreign trade, when they would undertake to fupply the
Pruilians with wine, which grew in a country between themfelves and
York. But this was only a rare inftance for a particular purpofe.

May 24."" — The race of architeds, who ereded the magnificent ca-
thedrals and abbays in Scotland, the ruins of which are ccitemplated
even in the piefent day with reverence and admiration, feem to have
been extind at this time ; for we find, that fix men were licenced to go
from England to ered a tomb for David II, the deceafed king of Scot-
land ; and Scottilli agents were licenced to travel through England on
their way to the continent to procure a Hone (moft probably a flab of
marble) for it, which, we thus fee, could not be procured in all Great
Britain*. {Fasdera, V. v\, p. 721 ; V. vu,p. 10.]

There were two confiderable naval engagements this year. In the
firfl the Englifli fought with the Flemings, without knowing whom they
were engaged with, as it is faid, and took twenty-five of their veflels,
loaded with fait f. The other battle was fought before Rochelle (23**
June) with the Caftilians, who by the fuperior bulk of their vefiels, and
alfo by the execution of fome cannon, now for the firfl; time (as far as
we know) ufed at fea, had fuch a fuperiority, that, after fighting almofl;
two days, the moft of the Englifli veflels were burnt, funk, or taken.
[Anoti. Hijl. Edw. Ill, p. 438, ed. Hearne. — Froi/fart, L. i, cc. 302-304, —
Murim . Contin .p. 127.]

July 19"' — In a league ofFenfive and defenfive between King Edward
^nd his fon-in-law, the duke of Bretagne, reciprocal freedom of inter-
courfe upon land and water, and free trade in all parts of both coun-
tries, were ftipulated. [Fcedera, V. y'\, pp. 738, 750.]

It is worthy of notice, as illuftrative of the growth and progreflive
profperity ef the great commercial capital of the Britifh empire, that
at this time at leafl: twenty of the houfes in Burcher (Birchouer or
Birchin) lane, in the very heart of the city, came under the defcrip-
tion of cottages, and under that denomination were conveyed to S'.
Thomas's holpital in Southwark. [^Rot. pat. 46 Edtu. Ill, rn. 2.] It may
be aUb obferved, that about this time Ihops m London appear to have
been detached and i'eparate tenements, or at leaft feparate properties, un-
conneded with houfes J, as they are at this day in feveral cities and. towns.

■ * The mountnitis of marble in Scotland were, upon the citiiens of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres,

it feenis, unknown to the king and his minifters. without regarding the king of France or even their

Yet marble is mentioned among the productions of own earl, accommodated matters with the Englifli,

Scotland by Fordun, [Z,. ii, c. 8] who furvived \Vhom they confidcrcd as their beft friends and al-

King David but a few years. lies, connected with them by the mutual benefits

f This fecms the fame battle, v/hich Meyer, of dayly commercial intercourfe.
t?ie annalift of Flanders, dates in 1371'. He fays, J Of many documents, which inight be adduced

tht Flemidi fliips were loaded with wine from in fupport of this obfetvation, one grant by King

•Rochelle ; and he adds that the Englifh fleet af- Edward III to William Latimer may be fufficient.'

terwards blocked up the Straits of Dover, where- It conveyed to h!m 2 melfuages and 4 (hops in the

A D 2 P^"^'

58o

A. D. 1372.

The citizens of London this year reprefented to the king and his
council, that by their induflry and their franchifes they had gained their
livelihood by land and water and in various countries, from which they
had imported many kinds of merchandize, whereby the city and the
whole kingdom were greatly benefited, and the navy fupported and in-
creafed : but that lately their franchifes were taken from them, con-
traiy to royal grants and Magna charta, which would be of ruinous
confequence to the city, the kingdom, and the navy, and difable them
from paying their taxes. They therefor prayed, that they might -have
relief, and that the relief might be extended to all the cities and burghs
in the kingdom *. [Bradj on burghs, Jippcnd. p. '^^.^

1373, January — King Edward having engaged a number of Genoefe
galUes in his fervice, and appointed the brother of the duke of Genoa
to command them, alfo employed Genoefe officers, foldiers, and mar-
iners, who received certain pay, and were moreover to have all the pri-
foners and merchandize they fhould take, together with all things that
could reafonably be called pillage, to be divided among themfelves, the
caflles, towns, and fhips, taken from the enemy being referved to the
king. \F(£dera, V. \i,pp. 753, 762, 763.]

November — The city of Briftol with its fuburbs was detached from
the counties of Somerfet and Glouceller, in both of which it is fituat-
ed, and made a county of itfelf by parliament ; and all its liberties and
charters were confirmed. {Cotton^ s Abridgement, p. 119.] Brifi:ol, feat-
ed in the heart of the clothing country, was at this time unqueftionably
the fecond commercial city in England.

By a new regulation for the meafurement of woollen cloths it was now
enaded, that cloths of raye fliould be 27 elns long and 5 quarters broad,
and cloths of colour 26 elns long meafured by the ridge, and 6 quarters
broad ; and half cloths in proportion. Thofe who made cloth for their
own ufe, or for clothing their retinue, were not bound by this law.
\Stat. 47 Edw. III.'\

1374, July 24"'-^King Edward, obferving that the money of Scot-
land was now inferior to that of England, ordered the chancellor of
Berwick to proclaim that the Scottifh groat fliould be taken for only
three pennies, and other coins in proportion f. {Fa^dera, V. vii,/*. 41.]

parifh of S'. Dionis, Langburn ward ; 3 mcfTuages ftand.ird of excliange. By the bed information we

end 5 ftiops in S'. Andrews, Billingfgatc ; I meff- are poffcfTcd of, the filver money of botli king-

uage and i (liop with a quay adjoining in S'. Mary doms was of the fame ftandard. The Englifh

at Mill, Bilhngfgate ; 3 mcITuages with a cellar in coined ;^i : 5 : o, and the Scots jf i : 9 : 4, from

S'. Botulph's, Billingfgatc ; and i mcfTuagc and a pound of itandard filver. So, if the Scots had

2 (hops in S'. Mildred's, Bread llreet. {^Rot. pal. fubmittcd to King Edward's regulation, and given

fee. 47 Ediu. Ill, m. 18.] jf l : 9 : 4 of their own money for /]'i : 2 : o of

• All the annalifts fay, that the merchants of Englith, they would have fudained a lofs of about

London, Norwich, &c. were inch'ned to rebell this 14 per cent. — Therefor wc are fure that the people

year : but tlicre is nothing in the preceding or fub- of Northumberland difregarded the proclamation,

fequcnt events to warrant fuch an affertion. gr evaded it by coUufivc prices,

f This was but a lumping way of fixing 3

A. D. 1375. 581

1375, January 31" — Some Scottifli traders having been plundered at
lea by pirates from Normandy, King Robert direded his ambafladors,
ihen going to the court of France, to demand compenfation. [Robert-
fotfs Index of charters, l^c. p. 100.]

February 1 6"' — ^The Scots had very often occaiion to import grain
and malt, of which many inftances might be adduced from the records,
but one may fuffice. — King Edward licenced James, fon of the carl of
Douglas, to purchafe for the ufe of his own houfehold 100 quarters of
wheat and 300 quarters of malt in Lincoln-lhire and Norfolk, and to
fnip them at any po"c for Scotland. [Fcedera, V. vii, p. 58.]

February — Though King Edward in the year 1370 had ordered his
naval commanders to refped: the Venetian flag, the duke of Venice
thought it neceflary again to apply for letters of fafe conduct for the
Venetian veflels trading to Flanders, and particularly for five gallies,
which were foon to fail for that country *. The merchants of Catalonia
alfo about this time applied for letters of fafe condud, before they would
venture to fail for Flanders. {Feeder a, V. vii, p. 52. — Rot. pat, prim. 48
Edw. Ill, m. 2 1 .]

June 27"" — The war with France was fufpended by a truce, wherein
it was provided, that the fubjeds of both powers might go and come
unarmed in either kingdom, and exercife merchandize or any other
bufinefs. [Fcedera, V. vii, p. 68.]

1376, January — It being ufual for fraudulent debtors to make over
their tenements to their friends in confidence, and live upon the rents
of them in the fanduaries of Weftminfter, S'. Martins le Grand, and
other fuch privileged places, in order to compell their creditors to ac-
cept trifling compofitions in full payment of their debts, the parliament
enaded, that all tenements or chattels, collufively conveyed, fhould be
liable to the jufl claims of the creditors. [Stat, jo Edxv. Ill, c. 6.]

It was enaded, that no woollen cloths fhould be exported without be-
ing fulled ; nor fhould any fubfidy be demanded for them before they
underwent that operation. \Stat. 50 Edxv. Ill, c. 7.] Thus we fee the
Englifh, who had hitherto been generally only the fhepherds, fpinners,
and weavers, for the foreign manufadurers, making a confiderable ad-
vance towards getting the manufadure entirely into their own hands.
But it was not till a very long time after that a law againfl: exporting
cloths, before they were completely finiQied, could be enaded.

The parliament alfo ordained, that neither fubfidy nor aulnage fhould
be charged upon the cloth called frife, made in Ireland, or in England
of Irifh wool brought to England ; and alfo that they fhould not be fub-

* In a fimilar application in the year 1382 the and ctlier fubjefl,; of England traveling to that

duke promifes, not reciprocal favour to Englifh city, \_FaJira, V. vii, i" . 354] the fuperior fplcnd- -

merchants in Venice, for there were apparently our of wliich thus appears to Lave already at- -

none, but L-beral treatrnent and favour to the nobles trafted the notice of Engliih travelers.

5'82 - A. D. 1376.

]e6t to the law,' lately palled, for regulating the lengths and breadths of
cloths. [Stot. 50 Edzv. Ill, r. 8.]

The magiflrates and community of London petitioned the parliament,
that they might enjoy their liberties, and that ftrangers might not be
allowed to have houfes, to be brokers, or to fell goods by retail. Soon
after, in the fame parliament, the community of the city reprefented
to the king and council, that their franchifes were invaded, merchant
flrangers aded as brokers, and fold goods by retail, and alio difcovered
fecrets to the enemy ; and they prayed that a flop might be put to thofe
enormities. Their petition v/as granted, ' faving to -the German merch-
* ants of the Hanfe the franchifes granted and confirmed to them by the
' king and his progenitors.' {Cotton^ s Ahndgement, p. 133.]

July 23'' — The flaple was again fixed on the continent. The inhabit-
ants of Calais having complained to the king, that their city was declin-
ing, he ordained, that the ftaple for wool, hides, wool-fells, and alfo lead,
tin, worfted fluffs, together with cheefe, butter, feathers, ' gaulae *,'
honey, peltry (' felpariae'), and tallow (' cepi' apparently for y^'Z'i), fhould
be held there ; and he ordered that all ihofe articles f, exported from
any part of England, Ireland, Wales, and Berwick upon Tweed, fhould
be carried to Calais, and to no other place. \Fadera, V. vu.,pp, 1 1 6, 1 1 8.]

Licences were required for bringing corn into England as well as for
carrying it out, as appears by a perniiffion granted this year to import
400 quarters from Ireland to Kendale in Weftmereland. \^Rot. pat. prim.
50 Edw. Ill, 711. 5.]

1377, January 30"' — Some Florentine merchants being perfecuted by
the pope. King Edward took under his protection all thofe who were in
England or Calais by putting them in the Tower and taking all their
property into his own hands. He then declared that they were his own
real and unfeigned fervants, and that the property, which he again put
into their hands, belonged to him, and was to be improved by them
for his advantage, wherefor he ordered all perfons to abftain from doing
them any injury %• [Faedern, V. vii, ^. 135.]

January or February — The parliament granted the king a cajntation
tax of four pennies from every lay perfon of either fex in the kingdom
above fourteen years of age, real known beggars only excepted. The
unpromoted ecclefiaftical perfons of either fex, except the brethren of
the four mendicant orders, paid the fame tax, and thofe v.'-ho were pro-
moted, twelve pennies §. [Cottons Abridgement, p. 145. — Walfmghav!.,
p. 191.]

• Gaulc, in rVeucli, a fwitcli, roil, or pt.lc. — % Wairiiigliam [/>. 190] fays, tliC pope gave

Q^i. if ofier branches for ihe coopers and balktl- them the option of bting ilavts to the kinj^of

makers on the continent ? England, Or fnbmittlug to the mercy of the papd

f They probably coniprlKended almofl all the court ; and of two evils tlicy cliofe the lealh
exports of the kingdom, except feme cloth, and § Walfingham [/>. 191] obfcrvxs;, that this was

fomttimcs corn. an unheard-of tax.

A. D. 1377.

5^.

From the accounts of the produce of this tax, happily prefcrved *, we
are enabled to form, a pretty good eftimate of the population of the
whole kingdom, and particularly of the following cities and towns.

London, a city

York, a city

Bristol

Plymouth

Coventry

Norwich, a. city

LitiGoIn, a city

Salisbury, a city -

Lynne

Colchester

Beverly

Newcastle upon Tine

Canterbury, a city -

S'. Edmundsbury

Oxford

Gloucester

Leicester

Shrewsbury

Yarmouth

Hereford, a city

Ely, a city

The counties of Bedford, Surrey §, Dorfet, Middlefex exclufive of
London ||, Weftmereland, Rutland, Cornwall, Berks, Hertford, Hunting-
don, Buckingham, and Lancafter, contained no towns thought worthy
of particular enumeration. Chefter and Durham, being palatine coun-
ties and having their own colledors, are not included in the roll ; neither
is Wales.

The whole number of lay perfons taxed in the Ihires and towns inferted

Lay p

crfoiii..

liove 14. Eftim.tocalf.

23,314

34,97 1

Cambridge

7,248

10,872

Exeter, a city

6,345 ,

9,517

Worcester, a city -

4,837

7,256

Kingston upon Hull

4,817

7,225

Ipswich

3,952

5,928

Northampton

3,412

5,1 18

Nottingham

3,226

4,839

Winchester, a city -

3,127

4,691

Stanford

2,955

4,432

Newark

2,663

3,9^5

Wells

2,647

3,970

Ludlow

2,574

3,861

Southampton

2,442

3,663

Derby

2,357

3,536

Litchfield, a city

2,239

3,358

Chichester, a city

2,101

3,1-52

Boston

2,082

3,123

Carlile, a city %

1,941

2,911

Rochester, a city

1,903

2,855

Bath, a city

1,722

2,583

Dartmouth

Lay p

crl:>-i.,,

ibove 14.

EUin^.. total

1,722

2,583

1,560

2,340

1,557

2,335

1,557

2,336

1,507

2,260

1,477

2,2 J 6

1,447

2,170

],440

2,160

1,218

1,827

1,178

1,767

1,172

1,758

1,172

1,758

1,152

1,728

1,046

1,569-

1,024

1,536

869'

1,304

814

1,221

678

1,017

570

855

570

855

506

759

* For the publication of them we are indebted
to Mr. Topham and the Antiquarian fociety. See
their Archaologla, V. vii, p. 340. '

f As many people would endeavour to pafs their
children of 15 and 16 as under 14, and many miifl
Isave been omitted by the colleftors, we (hall pro-
bably come very near the truth, if we reckon the
untaxed perfons, exclufive of beggars, equal'to one
half of tliofe who psid the tax. Thofe, who have
made the duration of human life their ftudy, agree
that one third of the perfons living arc under fix-
teen.

+ It is recorded in the patent rolls \_fec. 14
Ric. 11, m. 3] that onf thoujand Jive hundred houfes
's'ere burnt in the three principal ftreets of Car=

lile. But, notwithftanding the high authority of ■
a public record, and though the number is ex-
preffed fully in words, there muft be a- miftake.
Carlile, like almoll every other town in the king-
dom, is furely much more populoirs now than in
the fourteenth century : and in the year 1780 the
city and fuburbs contained only 1,605 families, or .
6,299 perfons, who lodged in 891 houfes. See
Sir Frederic Eden's Stale of the p'.or, V. W, p. 64.

§ Southwark feems to be included in London.

Jl It is furpriiing that VVellminll'r is not no-
ticed. We can fcarccly fuppofc it included in
London ; and yet the taxables of Middlefex, only
1 1,243, ^^^^ too few to comprehend the inhabit-
ants of that city, or large fuburb.

584 A. D. 1377.

in the roll, agreeable to the addition * at the bottom of it, is 1,376,442

Chester, supposed equal to Cornwall _ _ _ ^ 34,274

Durham, to Northumberland, including Newcastle - _ - 1(3,809

and Wales, including Monmouth-shire, to York-shire with its towns f 131,040

1,558,565
Proportion assumed for children under fourteen, and omissions - 779)282

Ecclesiastical persons, male aiid female, except mendicant friars - 29,161

Suppose the number of ecclesiastics in Wales and Durham, mendicant

friars, and other beggars - - _ _ _ 1 32,992

The whole people of England and Wales appear to have been about 2,500,000

The parliaments very often granted taxes of tenths and fifteenths to

be levied upon perfonal property. In a record of the year 1373, when

both a tenth and a fifteenth were coUeded, the following appear to have

been the only cities or towns which paid feparately from the fliires J.

London paid - ^733 6 8 Kingston upon Hull ^33 6 8

Bristol - - 220 0 O Bath - - 13 6 8

York ,- - 162 O O

During the long reign of Edward III the commerce and manufadures
of England appear to have been in a progreffive flate of advancement,
notwithftanding the rapid fucceflion of contradidory laws by which they
were haraffed. The merchants began to open their eyes to the bene-
ficial efFedls of taking the exportation of wool and other Engliih produce
into their own hands ; and confequently they pofTefl^ed more {hipping §,
and carried on more adive trade, than their anceilors had ever done.
The woollen manufacture, which almoft ever fince the reign of Edward
has been efteemed the chief fupport of England, made fuch a progrefs,
that before his death the people feem to have been almoft entirely cloth-
ed with it ; we fee Engliih cloths even a confiderable article of export,
and have reafon to believe that no great quantity of FlemiOi or other
foreign cloth was imported. The regulations for the fifhery, though far
from being judicious, fhow that it was at leaft an object of attention.
But the rage of conqueft fwallowed up every other confideration : to
that the interefts of commerce were unhefitatingly facrificed upon every
occafion ; and even the marriages projeded |1 for his children were di-
feded by belligerent politics. Thence, though he got vaft fums by
marriage conti ads and by the ranfoms of two captive kings, lie expend-

• The total difagrces with the particulars, and and Wales, I have followed Mr. Chalmers in hit)

alfo with the fum. But it is impoffibit to fay, EJlimate of thejlrenglh of Great Britain, p. l\,ed.

where the errors lie. The appearance of four 1794.

pairs of towns, perfetlly equal to each-other, is at % This tax-roll was prefcntfd to the fociely by

Icaft a llrange circumftaiicc, if not erroneous. That Mr. Topham at the fame time with the others, and

BolloM.alown of confideraLle foreign trade, Ihould is alfo publillied along with tlieni.
contain only 8:4 people above 14 ye.irs of age, is § Tlic proof of the incrcafe of (hipping is found,

alfo very furprifing. But it nr.ull be acknovvleged, notwithllanding the affcrtion to the contrary, in

that there is much inaccuracy ni the numbers, and the firll Navigation aS, palfcd in the beginning of

alfo in the words, of many of the records of the his fucecflbr's reign,
middle ages. II Many marriages were projcfted, which did not

I In the numbers affumed for Cheftet, Durham, take place. 2

A. D. 1377. 585

ed more of the money of his fubjeds (who, dazzled with the fplendour
of his fruitlefs vidories, generally gave it with good will) than any of
his predeceflbrs. The acquifition of the crown of France was the dar-
ling wifli of his heart, and the great objedl of all his politics. But, of
all that he had conquered in that kingdom, there remained fubjed to
him at his death only the fingle town of Calais, an ufelefs incumbrance
upon the treafury of England * : and, fortunately for Great Britain, his
attempt to conquer France deprived him of almofl all the territories in-
herited by him from his anceflors in that kingdom, except Bourdeaux,
Bayonne, and the iflands in the Channel. In his reign the integrity of
the fterling money was loft fight of, and permanent taxes became fami-
liar to the Englifli ; but that hardfhip was in fome degree alleviated by
the reprefentatives of the commons, the branch of the parliament moft
connefted with commerce, beginning to feel and aftert their own poli-
tical importance as an eflential part of the legiflative body, and truftees
for the purfes of their conftituents. If Edward had fet himfelf down
quietly (and there was nothing to hinder him) to mind the beft duty
of a king, and the beft interefts of his fubjeds, the Englifh might very
foon have become a great agricultural, manufaduring, and commercial,
people.

November — Before the introdudion of manufadures created profit-
able employment for the people not neceflarily engaged in agriculture,
(for the population of Europe, though far ftiort of the numbers now
maintained in the more civilized parts of it, was more than fufficient
for cultivating the ground, as cultivation was then managed) the fuper-
fluous people attached themfelves to chiefs, by whom they were main-
tained in idlenefs in peaceable times, and whofe ftandard they followed
in battle, to defend the country, to convulfe it by civil war, or to at-
tack a neighbouring chief, juft as their lord commanded them. In this
ftate of fociety even the fmaller barons found it impoilible to live in
fafety in the neighbourhood of a great lord without conneding them-
felves with him by an obligation of military fervice on their part and a
promife of protedion on his. Thus was a kingdom, though nominally
united under one fovereign, adually divided into a number of inde-
pendent territories, the lords of which paid no more obedience to the
king or the laws than what their own inclinations or interefts prompted
them to : and thence we find the perfonal charader of the fovereign in
thofe ages have a much greater effed in exalting a kingdom to a tran-
fitory fuperiority, or finking it into a temporary decline, than ever ap-
pears in the better conftituted and confolidated governments of later
times. It appears, that fome people of fmall eftates in England, perhaps
defirous of imitating the condottieri, or leaders of the companions, who,

* In the fecond year of King Richard 11 it was afieited in parliament, that Calais coft ^20,000 a-
year. {_Cotton^s Abridgement, ^. 174.J

Vol. I. 4 E

586

A. D. 1377.

independent of any loverelgn authority, about this time rendered them-
felves the terror of France, Spain, and Italy *, alfo fet themfelves up
as chiefs of retinues of armed idlers. The retinues or bands of each
chief were diftinguifhed by uniform hats and clothing, which were call-
ed liveries f , and ferved as a fymbol of union and attachment. The
parliament, fenfible of the pernicious tendency of fuch affociations, pro-
hibited the ufe of liveries under pain of imprifonment and forfeiture.
[^Statute I Ric. //, c. 7.] But the law, though feveral times renewed,
had little effed ijl, till the extenfion of manufactures and commerce, by
which the lower claiTes of the people found ufeful employment and were
enabled to eat the bread of independent honeft induftry, and the nobles
found more agreeable means of employing their redundant wealth, gra-
dually, but much more effectually, relieved the kingdom from the nuif-
ance of chiefs, who were above the law, and vaflals, who knew no law
but the commands of fuch chiefs.

1378, Summer — John Mercer, a merchant of Scotland §, who ufed
to trade to France, and was in great favour with the king of that country
on account of his prudence and good fervices, when returning home to
Scotland in the year 1 377, was driven by flreis of weather upon the coaft
of England, feized, and confined in the caftle of Scarburgh, till an or-
der from court efFeCted his difcharge||. His fon, to revenge the injury,
cruifed before Scarburgh with a fleet compofed of French, Scots, and
Spaniards, and took feveral vefTels. John Philpot, an opulent citizen of
London, thereupon took upon himfelf the protedtion of the trade of
the kingdom, negledled by the duke of Lancafler, who, without the
name of regent, governed the kingdom in the minority of his nephew,
and having hired a thoufand armed men, fent them to fea in fearch of

* The companions confided chiefly of Enfrlidi cloth, fome of them fcarlet and others gilded

and French foldiers, difbanded after the peace of (' deauratos'), among knights, fquires, valets, and

Bretigny in the year 1360, who, unwilling or in- others, his dependents. [^Knyghton, col. 2727.3
capable to return to honell induftry, affociated un- § He feems to have been a burgefs of Perth,

der the banners of profligate chiefs, and fupport- apparently the chief port of Scotland after the

ed themfelves by plunder. The king of France lofs of Berwick, till the royal refidence, pcrman-

feized the opportunity of the civil war in Spain to ently fixed at Edinburgh, gave Leith a fuperiority

perfuade them to enter into the fervice of Henry over the other ports of the kingdom. He obtain-

of Tradamare, who by their means became king ed charters for feveral tenements in and near Perth ;

of Callile. Tiie two daughters, legitimate or illc- and he alfo iield lands of the earl of Douglas, who

gitimate, of Peter the Cruel, the dethroned ty- calls him his vafTal in a letter fent to King Richard,

rant, were brought to England, and married to rcmonllrating upon the injullice of the feizure.

King Edward's two fons, John and Edmund, the l^Iiri!>erlfon's Index, pp. 66,74, '20, 129. — Original

former of whom immediately alfnmed the title of kller in Bib. Colt. Vejp. F vii,y. 34.^
king of Caftile and Leon, and thereby drew the || WaUingham fays, if he had been releafed as

enmity of King Henry upon England. a captive for a ranfom, the king and the whole

t The name and the uniformity of drefs dill re- kingdom would have got ineflimable riches by it,
main m the fmall retinues of noblemen and gentle- and he regrets the lofs of it. This is furcly over-
men, rating the opulence of Mercer at a prodigious rate.

X So little regard was paid to this law by the The narrow-minded monk, blinded with, what \\e

courtiers, that Simon Burley, warden of the Cinque fuppofed, patriotic zeal, did not fee any injuftice

ports and a great favourite with King Richard, in detaining a man a prifoner in time of peace.,
every Chriftmas gave from 140 to 220 pieces of 4

A. D. 1378. 587

Mercer, whom they took together with his prizes and fifteen Spanifli
veilels, his conlbrts, all richly loaded *. [Waffnigham, p. 211.]

October — The adl of 1376 having abolifhed the liberties formerly
granted in England to foreign merchants, except ihofe of the Hanfe, it
now appeared, that the franchifes, claimed by the cities and burghs,
were deftruftive of trade and hurtful to the community. The parlia-
ment therefor, perceiving the advantages derived irom the refort of
merchant ftrangers, revived the ads of the years 1335 and 135 1, and
gave the foreign merchants liberty to remain in the kingdom as long as
they had occafion, inflead of being reftridled to forty days, with per-
miffion to buy and to fell, either in wholefa'.e or retail, corn, flefh, fifh,
and other provifions, and alfo fpiceries, fruits, iurs, filk, gold und filver
wire or thread, coverchefs, and other fmall wares, from or to any per-
fon whatever, native or foreigner. But wines were to be fold in the
cafks wherein they were imported, and not to be retailed by any but the
freemen of cities and burghs. Cloth of gold or filver, ftuffs of filk,
fendal f , napery, linen, canvafs, and other large articles J, might be fold
by foreign importers to any perfon, native or foreigner, in any city,
town, fair or market, London not excepted, but in quantities not lefs
than a piece, only the freemen of cities and burghs being allowed to
fell thofe articles by retail as well as by wholefale. All charters and
franchifes, containing any thing contrary to this ad, were annulled, as
prejudicial and oppreffive. The prelates and lords, however, flill retain-
ed their oppreffive prerogative of purveying viduals and other necef-
faries, as they were wont to do in old times § : and the ordinances for
the ftaple at Calais were maintained in full force. Strangers were per-
mitted to buy and fell wool, wool-fells, mercery, cloth, iron, and other
merchandize, at fairs and markets in the country as formerly. All ma-
giflrates and others in authority were defired to protect the foreign
merchants in the enjoyment of the privileges now conferred upon them.
— The laws againfl foreftalling wines, viduals, mercery, and other merch-
andize, were alfo renewed. [Stat, i, 2 Ric. II, cc. 1,2.]

The parliament in the very next ad made an encroachment upon the
privileges of the ftaple at Calais, by granting permiffion to the merch-
ants of Genoa, Venice, Catalonia, Aragon, and other countries lituated
to the weftward, and in amity with the king, who brought carraks, fliips,
gallies, or other veflels, to Southampton or other ports of England, load-

* By this enterprife Philpot got much envy and imported, the quantity of them was very fmall iii-

illwill among the uobles and military men, but deed.

much applaufe among his fellow-citizens, who chofe § That oppreffive and unjnft prero'^ati<'e was

him for their mayor at the next eleciion. taken away from all perlons, except the king and

f A thin filken Huff. \_Du C:mge Glojf. vo. Cat- queen, in the year 1362, and even for them it was

dahim.'] modified fo as to be pretty tolerable, if the law

X It is well worthy of notice, that woollen liad been adhered to ; but fmiilar acts in fucceed.

cloths arc not mentioned, which, confidering their ing reigns fhow that it was not adhered to, and

former importance in the lift of imports, may be the legiflators of 1377 appearnot to have known

regarded as a good proof, that, if any were now any tiling of it.

4 E 2

588

A. D. 1378.

ed or light, to fell their merchandize freely, to load with wool, hides,
wool-fells, tin, lead, and other merchandize of the ftaple, and to carry
them to their own countries, on paying the cuftoms payable on goods
carried to the ftaple at Calais, and giving fecurity not to carry them to
the eaft countries*. [Stat, i, 2 Ric. I/, c. 3.]

A further infraction of the ordinance of the ftaple was a permifTion
to merchants of Gafcoigne and England to carry to the king's friends in
Gafcoigne and alfo in Breft, which had been lately ceded to the king
by the duke of Bretagne, corn and other victuals, together with leather
gloves, purfes, caps, and fome other petty articles. {Cotton's Abridge-
ment, /. I57-]

1379, March 6"" — Formerly when the kings of England borrowed
money, they got it chiefly from the clergy, becaufe they were almoft
the only people who had any money, the wealth of the nobles confifting
of lands and the produce of them with the fervices of their vafials, and
the commons being generally too poor to have any money to lend. The
loans, made by King Richard, fhow that a happy change in the circum-
ftances of the people had already begun to appear. In the firft year of
his reign he borrowed ' infinite thoufands of pounds from certain merch-
' ants:' {Rot. pat. prim. 1 Ric. II, m. 12] and at this time we find in a
lift, evidently defective f, of 145 fubfcriptions, as we would now call
them, to a loan, that 55 of them were by fix bifhops, and by abbats,
priors, and others belonging to ecclefiaftical eftablifhments, eight of them
being for £100 each ; 74 by noblemen and gentlemen from ;^ioo down
to ;^2 if ; and 17 by the communities of cities and towns, as follows.
London ^5 ,000 O O Winchester ^40 O O Hadley ^50

Gloucester 40 O O Brentwood
Bedford 20 O O Coggeshale

Northampton 40 O O Cambridge
Cirencester 33 6 8 Maldon
Salisbury 100 O O Retford
{Fa;dero, V. \\\,p. 210. — Rot. pat. sec.

* Genoa, Venice, &c. though fituated to the
caflward of England, were accounted we ftcrn coun-
tries, becaufe their (hips paffed the well parts of
France and England in coming to the later. The
Netherlands and the countries adjacent to the Bal-
tic fca were the eaft countries. This a£l permits
Etiglilh wool to be exported to Spain. How the
times are altered !

f 1 call it dtfeftivc, becaufe we may be alFured,
that no bifliop or earl could excufe himfelf from
contributing on fuch an occafion, and many towns,
of more importance than tbofe whicii appear, are
omitted.

% Several of the fubfcriptions are by two or
more pcrfons conjundtly ; but, as they are not dif-
tinguilhed as merchants or by any profeffioiral ad-
dition, we are not warranted to fuppoii. them part-
ners in trade.

In the year 1346 there was a loan, not by fiib-

10
40

66

40
33
o

0 O S'.Edmundsbury 33
O O Alderton and 7
13 4 Baudsey, Suffolk 5'*''
O O Ipswich 40

6 8 Bristol §. 666

Ric. J I. m. 17.]

0

0

0

8

6

8

0

0

3

4

fcription, but by prcfcriptlon, the king fending
his mandate to each perfon to advance fuch a fum
as he thought proper to order. Of 89 lenders 19
fcem to be laymen, one of whom, John of Cherle-
ton of London (apparently the mayor of the
merchants of the ilaple, and the only one in the
hll who can be fuppoftd a citizen, merchant, or
trader) was charged with ^^1,000, by much the
largeft fum in the hll. On that occafion the towns
were not required to advance money but to furnilh
prefcribed numbers of men. \_FaJera, V. v, p^.

49'. 493-]

J To a lefs general loan in the year 1377 the
city of lirillol fubfcribed £621 : 13 :4; Robert
Spiccr, a merchant of 15rilloI, ,^45 ; and fome
other laymen, very confiderable funis. The arch-
bidiop of Canterbury on that occafion fubfcribed
/^333 : 6 : 8, and now only ^100. [Fadcra, V.
Nil, /.I 77.] 4

A. D. 1379. . 589

June 6"' — The king, confidering the great force of warhke fhips, which
the French had upon the north (or rather eaft) coaft of England, and
the damage fuffered by the people of Scarburgh in particular by cap-
tures, and by paying ;^i, 000 in ranfoms within two years, whereby they
were brought almoft to ruin, ordered two (hips, two barges, and two
balingers, properly fitted for war, to cruife upon that coaft. For fup-
porting the expenle of thofe velTels he, at the requefl of the commons
in parliament, ordered the admiral and wardens of the North fea to
levy a duty of fix pennies per tun upon every fliip and crayer for each
voyage outward and homeward upon that fea, except thofe trading be-
tween London and Flanders or Calais (which on the other hand were not
intitled to the protection of the fquadron) ; fix pennies per tun from
fifhing veflels for every week they fhould be employed upon the herring
fifhery, or for every three weeks upon any other fifhery ; fix pennies per
tun upon all vefi^els with coals from Newcaftle to be paid quarterly ; and
fix pennies per laft of grain for each voyage from all fliips, crayers, and
veflels, trading to Pruflia, Norway, Sconen, or the adjacent countries.
[^Fa'dera, V. vii, p. 220.] We here fee the Newcaftle coal trade an ob-
jedt of the attention, and alfo of the favour, of government, being tax-
ed the lowefl:, while the herring fifhery was very unwifely taxed the
highefl. The attention of government to the coal trade appears further
in an order ifliaed foon after this time for meafuring the keels * at New-
cafl;le. \^Rot. pat. prim. 8 Ric II, a tergo, 34.] And that coals, together
with grindflones, were then, as at this day, the chief objeds of the in-
duftry of the country adjacent to Newcafi;le, may be prefumed from
their being firft mentioned among the things fwept away by a great flood
in the rivers of Northumberland about the beginning of the year 1377.
\Walfmgham, p. 191.]

This year an opulent merchant of Genoa offered to raife Southampton
to a pre-eminence above every port on the weftern coafts of Europe by
making it the depofit of all the Oriental goods, which the Genoefe uled
to carry to Flanders, Normandy, and Bretagne, which countries would
thenceforth be fupplied from it, to the great advantage of England, pro-
vided the king would allow him to flore his goods in the caftle of
Southampton. If this plan had been cai-ried into execution, it was fup-
pofed, that pepper would have been fold in England at four pennies a
pound, and other fpiceries in proportion. But the Genoefe merchant
was murdered upon the llreet in London ; and the Englifli merchants,
v/ho are faid to have thought his fcheme ruinous to their own trade, are
charged with having hired the affaffins. {IValfinghaniy pp. 227, S3Z-^

It muft be acknowledged, that the people of England, elpecially thofe
engaged in any kind of trade or manufactures, were fo far from being
fenfible, that an accefllon of well-employed capital, or of induftrious

* River craft for carrying the coals onboard the fiiips, and ufed as meafurcs then, as mow—.

590 A. D. 1379.

hands, is a powerful encouragement to every branch of the induftry of
the country in which^they fettle, that they were continually perfecuting
the foreign traders and workmen with every iniult and injury in their
power. The weavers in particular were perpetually quarreling with the
Netherianders, whofe example was deflined to exalt their trade to a fur-
prifing height of affluence and dignity. After a long fucceffion of
fquabbles, embittered by national pride and a collifion, real or fuppofed,
of interefts, between the weavers of London and thofe from the Nether-
lands *, an agreement was effeded between them this year, which was
confirmed by royal authority, as were alfo at the fame time the liberties
granted to the foreign weavers by Edward III. [Rot. pat. fee. 3. Ric. 11,
m. "^.J

1380, February 10'" — The accident of a Catalan fliip bound from
Genoa to Sluys, the port of Bruges in Flanders, being driven onfhore
at Dunfter in Somerfet-fhire, where llie was feized, and the application
of fome Genoefe merchants for the reftoration of their property fhipped
onboard her, gives us a fpecimen of the articles carried from Italy to
Flanders in thofe days. They confifled of

Green ginger ; White sugar, perhaps sugar-candy ;

Ginger cured with lemon juice ; Empty boxes, 6 bales;

Arquinetta, one bale ; Dry primes ;

Dried grapes, or raisins ; ' Oclo balas risarum,' qu. rice ?

Sulphur ; Cinnamon, 5 bales ;

Wadde (perhaps woad) 172 bales ; One pipe * pulveris salvistri;'

Writing paper, 22 bales ; Bussus f , 5 bales.

[Fcedera, F. vii,/). 233.]

Summer — Some privateers of Hull and Newcaftle took a Scottifli fhip,
the cargo of which was valued by the captors at Jeven thoufand marks.
[Walfingham, p. 239.] But there were probably very few veflels, belong-
ing either to England or Scotland, which had cargoes of fuch value J.

September 8"'— What muft have been the condition or management
of the navy of England, when the French, after having infulted many
parts of the fouth coaft, went up the Thames as far as Gravefend with
only four gallies, burnt fome houfes in that town, and after plundering
and deftroying on both fides of the river, carried off their prey and
prifoners with impunity ? {Murim. Contin. p. 150. — Stow's Ann. p. 449.]

November The king in parliament, ordered, that all kinds of wine,

oil, honey, and other liquors, fhould be gauged on importation, agree-
able to the law formerly made for gauging wine. [Stat. 4 Ric. II., c. i.]

* Some years before tliis time the Nethcrlaiid ritd to Tlaiiders for making cambrics. Sec San-

weavcrs in London were fo numerous, tliat ditfer- iito, p. 24, or above, p. 491. Tlicre arc fome

cnt places were appointed for their deliberations other articles unknown, which I have left in the

on the affairs of their communilies, thofe of Flan- original Latin.— A further fpecimen of Genoefe

ders having the church-yard of S'. Laurence Pult- expotts to Flanders will be feen under the year

iiey, and thore of Brabant tliat of S'. Mary So- 13S6.

merfet. ISloiu's Survey, p. ^o-], e,l. 1 61 8.] " f I have already had occafion to obferve that

t Probably the linell Egyptian flax (Bvjsoj) car- Walfingham dallies his numbers at random.

A, D. 1380. 591

About this time, according to the account of Zeno's voyage, with
Do6lor Forfter's geographical illuftration of it, the chief port of the
Orkney iflands was frequented by many veflels from Flanders, Bretagne,
England, Scotland, Norway, and Denmark, attracted by the vaft abund-
ance of fifh caught there, by means of which the inhabitants got great
wealth. {Forjler's Difcoveries in the North, pp. 183, 202, Engl, tranjl.']

1 38 1 — Capitation taxes, begun in the laft year of King Edward III,
now followed each other in rapid fucceffion. In the year 1379 thofe of
the higher ranks were made to pay for their titles as well as their pro-
perty ; for example, a duke or archbilhop £6 : 13:4, an earl, countefs
dowager, mayor of London, /^4 ; other mayors from 6/8 to 40/; merch-
ants from iJ6 to 2of, &c. and every perfon, male or female, above fix-
teen, 4<^. In 1380 a tax of twelve pennies was impofed upon every
perfon of either fex above the age of fifteen, except mere beggars.
IParliam. hijl. V. i,pp. 346, 358.] Thefe taxes were exacted with much
tyrannic rigour, indecency, and brutal infult, infinitely more galling
than the payment itfelf. The confequence was an infurredion of the
lower clafs of the people, whom the feverity of depreffion, and per-
haps fome faint glimpfe of the independence which commerce and ma-
nufadtui'es were deilined to confer upon their pofterity, difpofed to en-
gage in any defperate attempt to meliorate their condition. For fome
little time they carried all before them, and were, as may be fuppofed,
guilty of many atrocities. They obtained from the king charters for
the abolition of flavery, for freedom of trade, and for the fubftitution
of money rents for lands in place of oppreffive fervices. But Walter,
a Kentifti tiler, who was their leader, being killed by William Walworth
mayor of London (June 15'"), the unorganized multitude were imme-
diately difperfed: and fimilar tumults in other parts of the country were
alfo quelled. Then the king, or rather his counfelors, confidering the
charters of liberty as extorted, and ' prejudicial to the king, the nobles,
' and the church,' revoked them, and ordered the villeins and others,
who were under feudal fubjedion to fuperiors, to return to the accufi:om-
ed duties and labours of their condition (July 2''). But thofe convul-
fions were not without beneficial confequences : they admonifhed the
feudal lords to be more moderate in the exadion of fervices, which had
no foundation in mutual agreement, and were not wan-anted by reci-
procal advantages ; they induced them to confent to the emancipation
of their villeins on moderate terms * ; and, though they were to all ap-
pearance completely fupprefl^ed, the remembrance of them infpired the
vaflals with a defire for the independence enjoyed by their brethren em-
ployed in trades in cities and burghs, and particularly in the woollen

* Simon Burley demanded 300 pounds of filver and impn'fonment of the man, according to Stow,
for the freedom of one of his bondmen ; a price \_^iinales, p. 45 I ] provoked the infurredion in
perfeftlv equal to an abfolute denial : and his feizure Kent.

592 . A. D. 1381.

manufadures, now become pretty extenfive, which never ceafed to
operate, till manufadures finally banilhed flavery from the land, and
liberty became the inherent birthright of every Britifh fubjedl. [Knyg/j-
ton, col. 2633. — JVal/ingbam, p. 247. — Fcedera, V. Vn, pp. 316, 317, 371.]

November — The parliament, after premifing, that, in confequence of
the grievous mifchief of carrying abroad money and bullion, there was
fcarcely any gold or filver left in the kingdom, ftridly prohibited all
merchants and clergymen, aliens or natives, from carrying abroad any
gold or filver in coin, bullion, or vefl^el, or by exchange. But money
for paying the king's garrifons on the continent might be exported.
Prelates, great lords, and fome others, having occafion to make pay-
ments beyond the fea, might remit money by exchange on obtaining
the king's fpecial licence for the exprefs fum. But the negotiators of
the exchange were to be fworn, that they would fend no gold nor filver
out of the country for the purpofe of anfwering their bills. No perfon,
either of the clergy or laity, except lords and other great men, real
known merchants, and the king's foldiers, was to be allowed to go out
of the kingdom * : and to render the prohibition the more effedual,
London and fome other principal ports were declared the only places,
whence any perfon could pals over to the continent. The infringers
of this law were to be punifhed by heavy forfeitures. [^Stat. i , 5 Ric. II,
c. 2.]

In order to augment the navy of England, which was now faid to be
greatly reduced, it was enaded, that no fubjed of the king fhould fhip
any merchandize, outward or homeward, except in fhips of the king's
allegiance, after the next Eafter, on penalty of forfeiture of veflel and
cargo. \^Stat. i, 5 Ric. II, c. 3.] This was the firll Navigation acl pafl^ed
by the parliament of England.

If any EngUfhman pafled over the fea to import wines, he was pro-
hibited from felling them in England at above £$ per tun for the befl:
wine of Gafcoigne, Ofey, or Spain, and £^ for the bell Rochelle wine,
or above 6d per gallon for any of them in retail. Rhenifh wine, being
imported in calks of various fizes, was to be fold by the gallon only,
and not above 6d, whether in wholefale or retail. Inferior wines to be
fold in proportion. The king ftridly commanded, that no fweet wine .
or claret (' clarree') fliould be retailed in the kingdom after the 2^'" of
June 1382 ■\. [Stat, i, 5 Ric. II, cc. 4, 5. — Fadera, V. vii,/. 378.]

The citizens of Cork in Ireland this year obtained from the king an
ample confirmation of their liberties. \Rot.pat.Jec. 5 Ric. II, m. 32.]

1382, January — The parliament granted liberty to all foreign merch-

* This prohibition was in direft oppofition to f By Stat, i, 6 Ric. II, c. 7 they were per-
the 42J article of the JMagiia charts, which ufed mittcd to be retailed at the price of Gafcoigne and
to be formally ratified, without paying any other Riienifli wines,
attention to it, at the beginning of every fcfTion
of parliament.

A. D. 1382. ' 593

ants, of every nation in amity with the king and kingdom, to come in-
to England, to refide as long as they pleafed in franchifed places or
others, to manage their bufinefs under the king's protedion, and to re-
turn to their own countries at their pleafure, [Stat. 2, 5 Ric. II, c. i.]
It appears from the ftatutes, that this liberty required to be re-enaded
in the year 1387.

The parliament alfo permitted all merchants, natives or foreigners, to
carry wool, hides, and wool-fells, to any country, except France, if they
chofe to pay the Calais fubfidies and duties before-hand, for which they
offered a difcount of 6/8 from the duty on each fack of wool, 6/8 on
every 240 wool-fells, and in proportion on hides, to continue till Michael-
mas 1383. \Stat. 2, 5 Rk. H, c. 2.] This was, I believe, the firft at-
tempt to anticipate the revenue.

At the requeft of the merchants, who found themfelves much injured
by the French cruifers, the parliament impofed a fubfidy of 2/ per tun
on all wines imported, and fix pennies per pound on the value of woollen
cloth and other merchandize imported or exported, except wool, hides,
and wool-fells, over and above all other cuftoms and fubfidies, which
were to confi;itute a fund for the exprefs purpofe of guarding the fea.
{Stat. 2, 5 Ric. 11, c. 3.] *

May 4'" — I know not whether we may venture to confider all the articles,
which the pope's colledor was allowed to fliip at Brifliol without paying
duty, as fpecimens of Englifli manufadures. They confifi:ed of 6 pieces
of green tapefi:ry powdered with rofes, a prefent for the fovereign pon-
tiff; I great curtain of green ferge ; 2 blue bancals f of tapefi:ry work ;
5 pairs of fheets (' lintheaminum'), 2 blankets, and 6 blue curtains, for
beds ; i large coverlet for a bed ; and 6 culhions for a chamber ; 5 red
bed-curtains ; 2 long and 2 fliort pieces of red fluff for ornaments to a
chamber, with a blue bancal ; 2 large pieces of red ferge, worked with
the arms of the pope, the king, and the church :|:, for adorning a hall ;
2 large bancals and i fmall piece of red ferge for a hall ; i piece of red
andjblack tapefi;ry ; i palat, 5 mantles of Irilh cloth, one of them lined
with green cloth ; i mantle of mixt-coloured cloth likeways lined with
green ; i garment of ruflet lined with Irilh cloth ; i green woollen cloth
for counting upon ; 3 covered beds § with tefi:ers ; i blue fi;i-iped cloth
for a valet ; 5 elns (' alas') of blue cloth, and 16 of mixt cloth of two
kinds ; 6 elns of blanket ; i mantle of mixt colour lined with vair

* Walfingham \_p. 281] after a very brief ac- the additional uncertainty produced by fucli an in-

count of the jtls of this parliniiicnt, cries out, terferencc (which would now be called unconftiti -

' What is the ufe of ftatutes of parliament, when tional) of royal authority.

' they have not the fnialletl effeft ? The king with -j- Bancalt is tranflated bench ox feat by the glof-

' his privy council ufed to change or abolirti all faritls. But it mull here be fome kind o: fluff,

• that was done in parliament by the community perhaps a covering or cufhion for a bench.

• of the whole kingdom, and even the nobles them- J The women of England were famous fr m

• felves.' The rapid changes of the laws by the very remote ages for their fuperior flcill in era-
legiflators was fufficiently dillrefiing to the people, broidery. See above, pp. 290, 348.

■aad efpec'.ally to thufe engaged in trade, v.ithout § ' Cuoperta Ictta,' apparently for cooperti .cHi.

Vol. I. 4 F

594 ■^' ^' ^ 3^2. •

(* bayro'), with a fupertunic and capuce lined with their own fluff;
1 blue mantle lined with grife (' grifeo') with a fupertunic of the fame
colour lined with its own fluff; i garment lined with fquirrel (' calabre'),
with a tunic lined with blanket, and a capuce lined ; i garment without
fleeves, lined with vair, with a tunic lined with lamb-fkin ; a fur of vair
for a fupertunic ; a cap and a pair of gloves lined with grife, and a pair
of beaver gloves ; a tunic of mixt colour lined with blanket; 2 round
mantles, one mixt, and one black ; 2 garments of Norfolk cloth, one
lined with black cloth, and one with green ; and a caffock of another
form ; 4 ftrait tunics of blanket ; i entire blue robe lined with fine
linen ; i garment of bloody colour lined with fine linen ; i violet capuce
lined with fcarlet *; 10 elns of blue, with hand-towels and other linen
cloths ; a tabard f with a fupertunic and capuce of the fame fluff, lined
with blue linen ; i blood-coloured capuce lined with black; i fcarlet
capuce lined, and i blood-coloured one unlined ; and 30 books belonging
to the colledor. — He had alfo licence to fhip at Southampton a parcel
of images of faints, with many veffels of pewter, knives, &c. which
feem, as well as the books, to have been his own traveling equipage.
In the year 1388 a fimilar licence was given for fhipping a bed of cloth
of gold on a red ground, with gold foliage worked on a white ground
(' fredo') with covering, &c. and curtains of red tartarine if, and fome
other articles of furniture §. Such exemptions from cuflom in favour
of foreign ecclefiaftical dignitaries occur pretty often. [^Foedera, V. vii,

PP- 356, .357» 577. 59°-]

06lober — It was now enabled, that Englifh merchants, being in foreign

ports, and not finding any fufBcient Englifh veffels there, might fhip

their goods onboard foreign veflels. [Stat. I, 6 Ric. II, c. 8.]

Aliens were permitted to bring fifh and all other kinds of viduals into
any city or town, and to cut them and fell them in any manner they
thought proper. [Stat, i, 6 Ric. II, c. 10.]

Landlords, or hofls, in London, Yarmouth, Scarburgh, Winchelfea,
Rye, and other coaft towns, were ordered to defift from their noxious
pradlice of foreflalling herring or other fifli, or provifions of any kind,
on pretence of any cuflom or charter, all fuch being hereby abrogated :
and they were upon no account to hinder fifhermen or vidualers, natives
or foreigners in friendfliip with the king, from felling their wares, as
they might think proper. The fifhmongers of London were prohibited

* There feems to be no doubt, that fcarlet their armour, having their armorial bearings re-
cloths were now dyed and comjiktcly finiflied in prcfcntcd on it in embroidery. It Is (till worn by
England : and we find eight cloths, fcarlet, black, the heralds on folemn occafions.
and rufTct, (Englifh maniifaftiire undoubtedly) J Quere, if the party-coloured (Inff, now called
llioiight wortiiy of being fent as prcfents to the tartan, with red the predominant colour ?
great lords of France in the year I 383. \_Fccdcra, § This liil of articles, which throws light upon
V. vii, *. 415.] It is alfo worthy of obfervation, the codumc, as well as the manufafturcs, of the
that In(h cloth makes fome figure in this enumei- age, will be very acceptable to fome readers, and
ation. will prove tedious to others. The later have ouly

■|- The tabard was a drefs worn by knights over ^o Ikip over it. »

A. D. 1382. 595

from buying any frefh fifli to fell again, except eels, luces *, and pikes,
which either they or the foreigners might fell in London. [Stat, i , $■
Ric. II, c. II.]

Odlober 22" — The exportation of corn appears not to have been law-
ful without fpecial licences ; but now a general proclamation was iflued,
prohibiting, under penalty of veflel and cargo, any exportation of corn
or malt to any foreign country, except to the king's territories in Gaf-
coigne, Bayonne, Calais, Breft, Cherburg, Berwick upon Tweed, and
other forts held for the king. [Fcedera, V. vii, p. 369.]

1383 — In the beginning of this year a large Genoefe carrack was
driven by ftrefs of weather into Sandwich f. It was reported, that the
merchants of London, who had on hand great quantities of fruit, va-
rious fpicery, oil, &c. fearing that their goods would be rendered un-
faleable by the arrival of fo great a quantity of freflier articles, bribed
the Genoefe to fail for Flanders : and it was faid, that their cargo, if it
had been landed, was fufficient to make a glut of the articles it confid-
ed of throughout the whole country. {IValfingham, p. 296.] But we
may be permitted to doubt, if one cargo, though a very large one, could
have had fuch an effed, efpecially as the Genoefe were under no oblig-
ation to fell their goods under their value.

October — There being great complaints of frauds in cloth, the parli-
ament ordered, that all cloths expofed to fale, and found contrary to
law, Ihould be confifcated, and the informer fhould have one third of
the value %• i^^s 7 Ric. II, c 9,]

The reftraints put upon the fale of wines, vidluals, fifli, &c. were re-
pealed : and the dealers were placed under the controul of the mayor
and aldermen of London. [AEls 7 Kic. Ily c. 11.]

No perfon was permitted to carry armour, corn, malt, or any other
viduals or refrefhments to Scotland. \_A£is 7 Ric. II., c. 14.]

1384, January 26'" — A truce was concluded between King Richard
and his adverfary of France, to continue till fun-rifing on the i" of Oc-
tober 1384. The merchants of both countries were allowed to trade in
either country in lawful merchandize, but not in armour or other pro-

* A luce is a pike in the laft ftage of his growth, ceiving a large fliip. In the year 1385 two Frencli

The gradation of uames is frie, gilt-head, pod, prize (hips, which were too large to get into Ca-

jack, pickerel, pike, luce. [^Harrifun's Dtfcrip- lais, were brought over to Sandwich. \_Walfmg'

t'lon of Brilain, p. 224 in Hohurticd, ed. 1586.] ham, p. 319.3 See an account of the changes,

f Sandwich has apparently arifen in place of this Itrait, or river, has undergone, by Doctor

Rhutupis, the principal port of Britain in the time Campbell, \_Polhical Survey, y. i, p. 392] who

uf the Romans, when there was a navigable arm would have been glad to add the arrival of thefe

of the fea, open at both ends, between Thanet (hips to the fads he has colledlcd.
and tlie main land. The llrait was much diminilh- % It appears, that the aulnage, or ulnage, was

ed in the age of Bcde, and has (ince dried up en- farmed : \_Rot. pat. fee. 8 Rk. 11, tn. 27] and

titely, its place being now moftly occupied by two thence it is probable, that the duty was not very

Imallriveia; audi apprehend this great carr?ck faithfully performed. About this time there are

muft have rode in the bay befoie Sandwich, but very frequent orders in the patent roUi. for a ftri^t

could not enter the river, which probably never inl'pec^ion uf cloth otfcred for fale.

V95 capable, fmcc it became a mere river, of re-

4 F 2

596 A. D. 1384.

hibited goods ; and veffels driven on either coaft by ftrefs of weather,
or putting in for want of provifions, were not to be maltreated. The
truce was afterwards prolonged to the i*' of May 1385, and the kings
of Caftile and Scotland became parties to it. [Fcedera, V. Vn, pp. 419,
441.]

Both kingdoms immediately felt the happy efFeds of the fufpenfion of
hoflilities in a brifk commercial intercourfe, wherein the Normans were
diftinguifhed as the mofl active traders. By them was England fuppUed
in the fpring of this year with an extraordinary abundance of wine,
fruits, fpicery, and fifli, which were all fold wonderfully cheap ; and, as
gold and filver were given by the Englifh in exchange for them, the
reciprocal advantages of the intercourfe made the people on both fides
very defirous of a permanent peace *. [IValfingham^ Hijl. p. 308.]

About this time Edinburgh, though lately become the general re-
fidence of the kings of Scotland, was reckoned by Froiifart, a French
author who had vifited it, rather inferior to Tournay or Valenciennes,
cities in the Netherlands, and eflimated to contain fcarcely four hundred
houfesf. The houfes, according to Walfingham, {Hiji. p. 308] were
thatched with ftraw (' ftramentum'), as, indeed, thofe of the cities of
England generally were. Edinburgh was this year deflroyed in confe-
quence of an Englifli invafion : and its fituation, fo near the border,
whereby it was expofed to a frequent repetition of fuch difafters, was
fufficient to prevent the citizens from ereding valuable houfes, though
they had had the means. It is not probable that any other town in
Scotland, unlefs perhaps Perth, contained even fo many houfes as Edin-
burgh.

King Richard in his feventh year appointed William Brampton of
London to be governor ^ of the merchants of the wool-flaple at Middle-
burg ; and he direded him to fearch all merchants, natives or aliens, ar-

• This fpiritci'. trade of the Normans, who with Bath, were certainly much fmaller. Such were
refpeft to the rpiceries appear to have been the cities in thofe days. There is, therefor, no need
carriers between the Mediterranean ports and Eng- to fuppofe Froifl'art niillakcn, and to correft his
land, gives fonie fupport to what is faid of their account by altering it to/war thoufand, a number
early adventurous voyages and fettlements on the fcarcely inferior to that of the houfes in London,
coall of Africa. {See above, p. ^1 2.) The Nor- and vallly too great for any other city or town of
mans were undoubtedly the greateft merchants on England in that age ; or to fuppofe that he muft
the weft coaft of France, as thofe of Marfcille were mean lands, as they are now called in Edinburgh,
on the fouth coaft. Robert Bremville was at this each floor of which is a feparate habitation, near-
time diftinguidied as the moft opulent and power- ly fimilar to a fet of chambers in the inns of court
ful merchant in Normandy. \_lValfingham, Hiji. in London. The very fubftantialllile of building,
p. 318.] ncceflary for fuch large edifices, was apparently

f Though the houfes, and confequently the po- then confined to ecclefiaftical and mililaiy archi-

pulation, of Edinburgh arc rated fo low by Froif- tefture in both the Britifh kingdoms,
fart, we hnd he places it nearly on a level with the J The title of governor feems to have come in

ppulerit manufacturing city of Tournay. And from place of that of mayor ofthejlaple. This is prob-

ihe tax-roll of England in the year 1377 it is pre- ably the firft cftablilhment of the ftaple at Mid-

fumablc, that the cities of Exeter, Worcefter, and dlcburg, of which, I believe, we have no other

Winchcilcr, were not larger or more populous than record, except the xiXmnJrotn it to Calais in the

Edinburgh, if, indeed, they were equal to it, and year 1388. a

that Litchfield, Chichcfter, Carlile, Rochtftcr, and

A. D. 1384. 597

riving there, for gold or filver carried out of England. [Rot. pat. fee. 7
Ric. II, m. 13.]

1385 — This year the governor of Calais, the feamen of the Cinque
ports, and others, took above 800 veflels of various kinds, fhips, gallies,
cogs, carracks, barges, lines, balingars, &c. from the French *. Of thefe
fome, which were taken near Calais, in confequence of the fleet being
difperfed by a florm in September, were remarkably large and lofty ;
one in particular had been recently built for the Norman merchants in
the Eaft country at the expenfe of 5,000 francs {jC^t,3 : 6 : 8 fterling) for
a proteclion to the reft of the fleet ; and they had fold her at Sluys to
Cliflx)n, the conftable of France, for 3,000 francs (;C50o). Another
fliip belonging to the fame Cliflbn, taken by the Cinque-port vefl^els,
was valued at 20,000 franks, which muft have comprehended her cargo,
and is therefor no great fum, if compared with the value of fome of
the Mediterranean fliips and cargoes. (See above, p. 504.) Two of them
were loaded with fpiceries, and fome of them with isohite herrings to the
amount of 400 lafts f. \Kiiyghton, col. 2676. — Walfingham, p. 318.]

1386, March 28'" — In an order for prefllng veflels and feamen into
the king's fervice, the fifliermen of Blakney, Cley, Cromer, and the ad-
jacent coafts, were exempted. [Fa^dera, V. vii, p. 507.] As a contraft
to this indulgence, it may be obferved, that the fifliermen of Suflex and
Kent were taxed three pennies upon every boat-load for fortifying the
town of Rye. \Rot. pat. Jec.^ Ric. II, a tergo 32.] The fifliermen of
Rye moreover gave a fliare of their fifli to the king : and thofe of Win-
chelfea gave a fliare to the redor of the church. Probably both thofe
taxes were general, at leaft on that part of the coaft ; and in moft places
the fifliermen have been obliged to give a flrare of their earnings to their
fuperior lords :j:.

June 27'" — In a truce between England and Scotland * it is accordit, ,
' that fpeciale afRirance fal be on the fee frathe Watir of Spec to the

* Watir of Tamyfe, for all marchandes of bath the roialmes and here
' godes §.' {Fcedera, V. vii,/). 527.]

September 1 G"' — Loans to the king were now much more frequent than
formerly. There was one in the year 1382 ; and in that year the king ,

* Walfingliam fays, ' There were taken and flain was granted, probably rather confirmed, to the
' in thofe (liips 226 feamen and mercenaries. BlelT- reftor of S^ Thomas's church in Winchtlfea by

* ed be God for all things.' Henry IV. \_Rot. pat. prim. 37 Ed'W. Ill, m. 22;

•J- It is pretty generally believed (notwitlilland- tc'rtia 2 Hen. IV, m. 30. j Prifes of lilh were due

iog this and many other authentic proofs of the from the tilhermcn ot Hertlepool to the lord of

contrary, to be found in this work) that no her- the place. \_Fadera, V. s\\\, p. 573.]
rings were cured in any other way than what are § Spee, Spey — I'amyle, Thamei — here godes,

called red herrings, till Van Beukelen invented the tlxir goods, and cipecially cattle. — This is the fe-

metiiod of curing luhite herrings in the fifteenth cond appearance of the native language of the

century. country in Rymcr's Fadera yinglia, the lirll being

;f Edward III granted to the abbat of Stanley alfo a truce between the two Britilli kingdoms,

for ever the profits arifing from the ' kinge(hare' dated 15"' March 13S4-5, [/>. 468] which cou-

in the fifliing boats of Rye. The tenth part of tains nothing relating to commerce.
"the fifh caught at Winchelfea, called ' Chriftelhare,'

598

A. D. 1386.

repaid ;^2, 000, tvhich he had borrowed from the city of London by
laying his crown and fome valuable trinkets in pawn. The king now
niade a loaiij wherein the iums fubfcribed, or demanded, were larger
than in any preceding one. Of 51 fubfcriptions there were 25 by ec-
clefiaftical perforis, from £4.33 : 6 : 8 , the fum lent by the archbifhop of
Canterbury, down to ;^i3 : 6 : 8 j none by the barons j and 26 by cities
and towns, as follows.

Chichester

L-tTine
Worcester
Leicester
Gloucester
Lincohi lOO
and 70
York -
S'. Edmundsbury

London *

and again 4,000 / •^^'"^
Cambridge - 60

Cirencester
Salisbury
<L"oventry 133 6

and S2 10

and 100
Bristol

0 o

6 8^

10 0 >

0 oj

20
200

o

0
0

315 16 S

200 0 O

Oxford

- s£ 40

0

0

Nottingham s^ 50

0

0

100

0

0

Norwich -

100

0

0

20

0

0

Ip-\vich

40

0

0

- 66

13

4

Winchester

50

0

0

54

0

0

Shrewsbmy

66

0

0

S S}'™

16

0

Derby
Canterbury

20
50

0
0

o

0

100

0

0

Hereford

50

0

0

iry - 66

13

4

Litchfield

13

6

8

40

0

0

Whether the people of Boflon were refradory, or it was the general
form, we find, by a mandate direded to that town, that every perfon
living in it and its fuburbs, pofTeffing property to the value of ;^20,
was ordered under pain of imprifonment, to contribute his proportion
of/^200, the fum demanded by the king. [Fo^dera, V. v\\,'pp. 341, 2)S9^
543, 544.] It does not appear that intereft was ever paid upon any of
thofe loans, which were therefor in effed taxes, even if they were punc-
tually repaid, of at leaft the value of the intereft. In the preceding
year the king borrowed /^i,6oo from a Lombard merchant. \Rct. pat.
prim. 9 Rk. II, m. 31.] Whether he had the ufe of that money without
intereft, depended upon circumftances between him and the lender.

September 25"" — ^The king obferving that the increafed demand had
raifed the price of armour and horfes, which he thought wicked and
unrealbnable, direded proclamations to be made in the counties of Lin-
coln and Cambridge, aird the Eaft and North ridings of York-ftiire, or-
dering that they ftiould be fold no higher than formerly f . [Fccdera, V.
vii, p. 546.]

This year fome Genoefe cogs and carracks, loaded with wines, fpices,
ftuffs of gold and filk, gold, filver, pretious ftones, 8cc. bound for Flan-
ders, were feized on the coaft of Kent, and carried into Sandwich. By
the interceflion of Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk and chancellor of
the kingdom, the captors were ordered to give up the veflcls to the own-
ers, who were moreover indemnified for the damage fuftained by them J.
{Knyghton, col. 2678. — Walfingham, p. 322.]

• The London loana do not appear along wlih
the red in the Fader.! ; but they art found in the
patent rolls, prm. 9 Ric. II, m. 42 and prim. 10
Ric. II, m. 5.

f Though the proclamation wai probably of no
avail for tlie purpofe intended by its author, it
fcrvcs to let uf. know, that thofe parts of England
mentioned in it were then, as they arc at this day,
the chief breeding conntrici for horfes,

X With the fame blind avarice, wherewith he

had inveighed againfl the relloration of Mercer
[fee (ihovc, p. 586) Walfingham now reprobates
tin's 3.t\ of jnftiec of tlie earl of Suifolk, whom,
intending to dilhonour him, he calls a merchant,
the fon of a merchant, nioie engaged from hi»-
infancy in commerce than in militaiy affaiis, more
acquainted with bankers than witli loldiers. In
thofe days the chuich and the army cngioflcd all
rcfpcdtability to thcmfclvcs.

A. D. 1386. 599

The king of France got together a fleet of about twelve hundred vef-
fels for an invafion of England, which he Rationed at Skiys and along
the adjacent coaft, having alfo a great army * encamped upon the land.
Though the Flemings faw their country devoured by fo many myriads
of confumers, fo important was the herring fifhery in their eflimation,
that the fafe arrival of all their fifhermen was thought a confolation for
all the hardfliips they had fufFered. [Froijfart, L. iii, c. 35. — Aleyeri Ann,
Flandr.f. 207 a. — Walfinghcun, p. 325.]

1387, March 24'" — A great fleet of Flemifh, French, and Spanifh,
vefFels, failing together, as ufual in thofe days, for mutual protection,
was attacked by the earl of Arundel, who took 126 vefTels, loaded with
between twelve and thirteen thoufand tuns of wine f, the whole of which
the citizens of Middleburg offered to purchafe at £^ per tun, ready
money, which was no flight proof of their opulence : but their offer
was declined, and the prizes fent to England. Some time after he at-
tacked the harbour of Sluys, where he took feveral Flemifli, and alfo
fome Scottifh, veffels. \_Knyghton, col. 2692. — Walfingham, pp. 326, 539.]

1388, February — Some laws favourable to commerce, enaded by Ed-
ward III, were now renewed, whereby foreign merchants were allowed
to fell in wholefale or retail in London or any other city, burgh, &c. in
England, notwithftanding any claim of exclufive privileges, and all new
impofitions upon merchandize w^ere declared to be illegal and of no ef-
fed. [Stat. 1 1 Ric. II, ec. 7, 9.]

Auguft 21" — That fome Englifli merchants traded to PrufTia, has
been noticed under the years 1372 and 1379. Outrages, as ufual, were
committed on both fides in the reign of Edward III, probably in the
very infancy of the trade. The Prufllans complained, that fix of their
veflels had been plundered by the Englifli at the Swyn in Flanders. At
the prayer of his fubjeds the grand matter arrelted fome Englifh veflels
at Elburg and Dantzik : and, in return, fome Pruflian veffels were ar-
refted at Lynne. Conrad Zolner, now the grand mafler of Pruflia, de-
firing to have matters amicably adjufled, had fent ambafladors to Eng-
land, and Englifli ambafladors had alfo been fent to him. After long
negotiation, it was now agreed upon at Marienburg, the refidence of the
grand mafler, that juftice fliould be done to the Prufflan complainants at
London, and to the Englifh at Dantzik ; that Englifh merchants fhould
have free accefs to every port of Pruifla, with liberty alfo to carry their
merchandize to any part of the country, and to trade freely, ' as it ufed
' to be in antient times,' the Pruffians having equal liberty in England.
If any difpute fhould arife, the king and the grand mafler were to ufe

• Some writers, who think nothing worth no- but the loweft numbers are generally the trued ;

tice that does not at leaft border upon the incred- and Knyghton is the earh'er writer. — Stow fays,

ible, have increafed the fleet to 1,400 fliips, and the wine was fo!d in England for 23/). a tun ; but

the army to 600,000 men. that feems a millake ; for the king paid 20/ for

f Walfingham makes the wine 19,000 tuns; the wIiil- taken by prerogative as his prife.

Goo A. D. 1388.

iheir beft endeavours to accommodate it ; and, if they could not con-
ciUate matters, the merchants were to be allowed a year to withdraw
with their property from either country. [^F^dera, V. vn,pp. S'^S^ 579'
581, 588, 599. — Rot. pat. prim. 9 Ric. II, m. 1 1 — Hakluyt, V. i, p. 148.]

The Englifh ambafladors, who were fent to Pruflia, were aUb direft-
ed to adjuft fome difputes with the merchants of the Hanfe. \Fcedera,
V. vji,^. 602.]

September — Ever fince the infurredions in the year 1381 the court
and parliament had been intent upon depriving the inferior clafles of
the people (or rather the people, for the barons and clergy were but a
fmall part of the whole population) of any opportunity, or even hope,
of bettering their condition. In this fcflion the parliament enacted, that
no fervant {hould remove from one hundred to another, unlefs traveling
upon his mailer's bufinefs, and not even in pilgrimage for the good of
his foul, without a teltimonial under the king's feal, which it muil have
been next to impofllble to obtain. — The penalties for taking more than
the prefcribed wages were renewed ; and the wages for country labour
were fixed by law *. — Boys and girls, who were employed in hufbandry
till they were twelve years of age, were to be confined to it for life f . —
Servants in hufbandry were prohibited from carrying armour, except
bows and arrows for pradice on Sundays and holidays. — No beggars
were permitted to travel about, except certified people of religion, her-
mits, and ' fcholers of the tiniverfities' having the letters of the chan-
cellors. Impotent beggars were to be provided for by the people of the
towns, if they were able and willing. — Beggars, alleging that they had
been imprifoned beyond fea, were required to have teftimonials. — The
ftatute of labourers was to be in force, as well in cities and burghs as in
the open country. \Stat. 12 Rk. 11, cc. 3-9.]

It was enafted that llriped or coloured cloths and half cloths, made in
Briflol and the counties around it, fhould be agreeable to the law of
the year 1373 in length and breadth. \Stat, 12 Ric. II, c. 14.] This law
is mentioned here, only becaufe it proves that the country around Briflol
was then, as it has ever fince continued, the chief feat of the clothing
trade.

The ftaple was ordered to be removed from Middleburg, and to be
again eflabliftied at Calais by the firft of December. [^Stat. 1 2 Ric. II,
c. 16.]

1389 — In the year 1379 a general privateering commifiion was given
to the people of Dartmouth. [^Rot. pat. prim. 3 Ric. II, in. 10.] In 1385
they brought away fome rich vefi^els from the mouth of the Seine, one
of which, called CUflbn's barge, had not its equal in England or France.

• See them in the Appendix. vvho put llicrr cliiklrcn apprentices, wlien very

f Tliis law was made for preventing tlie cliild- young, to trades, which they afterwards folloivcd

rcn of villeins from becoming free by being ar- or not, a» inclination or circumftanccs dlretted.

tifans in burghs. It was evaded by the yilleins,

A. D. 1389. 601

{Wal/mghatn, p. 315.] And this year, after Eafter, a merchant of Dart-
mouth,-with a fleet fitted out by himfelf, is faid to have taken ^^ veflels
loaded with about 1,500 tuns of Rochelle wine *. [^Knygbton, col. 2735.]

June 18"' — In another truce with France the articles for inutual free-
dom of trade were inferted, as in that of 1384. {Foedera, V. v\i,p. 627.]

The king Hcenced Hugh of Huhiie in Middlewych and his fons to
boil fait f and brew ale, and to fell them and other merchandize. \Rot.
pat. fee. 1 2 Kic. II, m. 1 1 .]

He alfo granted to Thomas Scot the fifliery of the Thames from Lon-
don bridge down to Yenlade. {Rot. pat. Jec. 12 Rk. II, m. 21.] This
feems an invafion of the jurildiilion of the city : and it fubjected the
inhabitants to the extorfion of a mononolifh of river fifh.

1 390, January — The parliament confidering, that the prices of pro-
vifions could not be permanently fixed :t^, directed, that the juftices of
peace fhould every year afcertain the wages to be given to tradefmen
and labourers, and alfo limit the price of provifions §. \Stat. 1,13 Ric.
II, f. 8.J

Becaufe the cloths called cogware and Kendal cloths of the breadth of
three quarters or one yard, made in feveral parts of England, and ufual-
ly fold from 3/4 to 57 per piece to poor people, or for exportation, were
made of wool which was fit for no other ufe, they were allowed ftill to
be made of the accuftomed lengths and breadths, notwithftanding the
law for regulating the finer cloths, provided they were made of wool no
better than had hitherto been ufed for them. \Stat. 1,13 Ric. II, c. 10.]

Frauds were now beginning to difgrace the woollen manufadure in
the counties of Somerfet, Dorfet, Briftol, and Gloucefter, then, as in
a great meafure now, the chief feats of it ; and a common mode of
evading detedion was to tack the cloths fo as to render it very difficult
to infped the inner part of the piece, which was fometimes of inferior
wool, different colour, deficient breadth, or otherways difhonefily made.
By thefe deceptions the merchants, who had the misfortune to export
fuch cloths, were expofed to great lofl'es ; even their lives were in danger
from the refentment of foreigners ; and the national character of the
manufadure was finking in foreign countries. It was therefor enaded,
that all cloths ftiould be fold, agreeable to the pradice in ElTex, without
any fuch tacking : and the cloth-workers, weavers, and fullers, were re-

* Thefc feem the prizes, whicU, according to in a fiiigle privateer, alfo from Dartmouili, in the

De Witt, [_Intere/l of Holland, p. 235 Engl. trari/I.J year 1745.

the Engliili carried into Dort and Ziriczee ; and, f Tliole falt-works made a part of the revenue

as thofe towns had refufed to join their earl in the of the Saxon kings, as noticed above, p. 295.
war againft Englaild, the veffcls belonging to J Such I conceive to be the medning of the

merchants living in them were rellored by the words, ' pur ce qe homme ne purra mye mettre en

Ensrliili captors. — If the numbers are near cot- ' certein les pris des bledz ei autres vitailles.'
left, the veflels carried lefs than ^3 tuns each, which § This aCt orders that no liolleller fhould make

is not likely. This capture exceeded in number, bread for horfes, but it Ihould be made by tiie

though probably not in value, the French fleet bakers. The hollelleis are allowed a proQi of a

from Martinique, taken bv Commodore Walker halfpenny upon a bufliel of oats.

Vol. I. ' . 4 G

6o2 A. D. 1390.

quired to affix their feveral feals to every cloth paffed through their
hands. [Siat. i, 13 Ric. I/, c. 11.]

November — The parUament now ordered the flaple to be removed
from Calais by the 6"' of January, and to be eflablifhed in thofe towns
in England (and, I fuppofe, alfo in Wales and Ireland) wherein it was
fettled in the year 1353 *. Every foreign merchant, bringing goods
into England, was required to give fecurity to the officers of the cuftoms
at the port of landing, that he would inveft one half of the proceeds
of his goods in wool, hides, wool-fells, lead, tin, butter, cheefe, cloth,
or other Englifli commodities. [Stat. 14 Ric. II, c. i.] From this ad
it feems prefumable, that they were allowed to carry off half the pro-
ceeds of their fales in money or bills of exchange, if they chofe it f .

Every merchant, drawing a bill of exchange payable at Rome or
elfewhere, was required to lay out the whole money received for it,
within three months, upon the above-mentioned Englilh commodities.
[Stat. 14 Ric. II, c. 2.]

In order to keep up the price of wool, it was enaded, that no denizen
of England fhould buy wool from any perfon but the owners of fheep
or of tithes, unlefs in the flaple, nor regrate wool or other ftaple merch-
andize. No Englifhman was allowed to buy wool, except on his own
account for fale at the flaple, or for making into cloth. The exporta-
tion of wool, hides, and wool-fells, was prohibited to denizens, and al-
lowed only to foreigners. {Stat. 14 Kic. II, cc. 4, 5.]

It was enadted, that the merchants of England fhould export their
merchandize in Englifli vefTels only: and the owners were defired to carry
them for reafonahJe freights. \c. 6.]

Dartmouth was declared the only port for the exportation of tin.

Ic. 7.]

In order to encourage foreign merchants to come to England, the par-
liament alTured them of a courteous reception and fair treatment, [c. 9.]

Officers of the cuftoms were prohibited from being owners of vefTels.
Ic 10.] ■

The parliament ordered, that the Scottlfh money fliould be taken in
England for only half its nominal value if:, [r. 12.]

1 39 1, January 17'" — The Englifh merchants trading to Pruflia, the
Hanfe tov/ns, and the adjacent countries, imputing the many troubles

* Some new llaple towns were appointed in tlie exportation of flaple goods was then confined to

44"" year of Edward III. (iV<? ulniie, p. ^"jG.) ccitaiu ports, and tliat they were thence called

It is obfervable, that fome places in England were ftaplc ports.

called ftaple towns, when the folc legal flaple was f Their right to c.irry away one half of their

at Calais, e. g. in the year 1377 the ftaple was re- money is explicitly declared in an iCl, 2 I/iri. IV,

moved from Queenhurgh to Sandwich ; {^Cotlon^s c. 5.

/IliriJgemenI, p. 157] and in 1385 King Richard \ Unlefs there was fome great, but fhort-lived,

removed the ftaple of wool and wool-fells from diminution of the money of Scotland, unknown to

Ipfwich and London to Yarmouth. [^Table in the hiftoric or antiquarian rclearch, this law was drawn

toivn hall of Yarmouth, publ'iJlKd iv'ilh Leland's Col- up with ftill lefs regard to accuracy than the order

liiJaaca, y. \i, p. a86.] Ilia probable that the of 1373. See the table of money iu the Appendix.

A. D. 1391. 603

and difputes, which had happened in former times, to the want of a
proper dii'edion of their community, and, doubtlefs, obferving the ad-
vantages foreign merchants enjoyed by having regulated companies
eftablifhed in England, had eleded John Bebys, a citizen of London,
to be governor of the Englifli merchants in thofe countries *. Their
eledion was now ratified by the king, who alfo gave the governor full
power to difpenfe juftice to all the Englifli merchants in thofe countries,
to accommodate all difputes between them and the natives, or to de-
mand redrefs from the fovereigns of the countries : he authorized the
governor and his deputies to make ordinances, with the confent of the
Englifli merchants, for the regulation of their affairs, agreeable to the
privileges granted to them (apparently in the year 1388) by the grand
niafler of Prulfia : and he empowered the merchants to meet annually
in all time coming for the eledion of a governor f . \Foedera, V. vii,
p. 693.]

May 24''' — The fame of Richard's profufion attraded to England every
thing that was eminently magnificent and coflly. We now find two
merchants of Luca obtaining permiffion to import two crowns ot gold
with jewels, and a fet of furniture of cloth of gold and filk for a cham-
ber, to be offered firfl to the king, or fold to others if he fhould de-
cline purchafing them, without paying any cuflom for them, unlefs
they fhould fell them %. [Foedera, V. vii, p. 699.]

After fome years of abundance there was a comparative fcarcity of
corn this year in England, and the price was confequently very high :
but it would have been much higher, if there had not been as great a
fcarcity of money, occafioned by the refiraints laid upon the exporta-
tion of wool §. On this occafion London enjoyed the advantages flow-
ing from fuperior commerce and police : for, while wheat was felling at
Leicefter from 1 3/4. to 1 6/8 per quarter, it was fold in London for about
10/! Some veflels II arrived with corn from the continent in various

• The prcfent Btitifh couful in Priiffia is pro- few people in England were now clothed in foreign

bably the fucceflbr of this governor. The name cloth.

of conful, however, was uftd before this time, as Knyghcon dates tin's fcarcity in 1390 ; and he

appears by the mention of it already in this work, fays, t)iat the wool had lain unfold in many places

/>. 536, to fay rothing of other proofs, which two, and three, years, in confequcnce of the Eng-

might be adduced, if neceffary. lifh merchants not being allowed to export it, and

f The mercantile companies, who formerly car- the fale of it being confined to twelve places for

ried on very licrce contclls for priority of dignity all England. But, as the reftraints were not en-

and antiquity, without knowing any folid founda- aded till November 1 390, they could not produce

tion whereon to build their claims, might apparent- fuch effects in 1391, and far lefs in 1390. Stow

ly have found foraething in this grant to guide them places the relief procured by the magillratcs of

to a knowlege of their antiquity. London in the mayoralty of Adam Bamme, which

X In the year 1409 Henry IV licenced a Ge- commenced in November 1390; and thence Wal-

nocfe merchant to import an expenfive collar or fingham appears more accurate than Knyghton in

necklace on fimilar terms. \_Fadera, V. viii,j((. 569.] the date.

^ We thus fee, that the (hcep of England pro- |1 Knyghton fays, ' xi naves.' But I appre-

duced more wool tliau was required for the manu- hend, the numerals are erroneous. The cargoes ot

fafture of cloth and other woollen goods for the eleven fliips, unlefs they were much above the ufual

confumption of all the people, and the export burthen, could have but very little effed in reducing

trade befides : and it feeras pretty certain, that the price or alleviating the calamity.

4G 2

6o4 ^^> E^« 139 1*

parts of the kingdom : and the magiflrates of London, with 2,000 marks
borrowed from the orphans' chefl: *, together with £:^^o contributed by
the twenty-four aldermen, purchafed a ftock of corn, wherewith the
poor of London and the adjacent country were fupplied on eafy terms.
[Knygbton, col. 2737. — Walfingham, p. 346.]

In the year ending 21" June 1391, during which the quantity of
wool exported is faid to have been much lefs than ufual, the cuftoms on
it amounted to /^ 160,000, over and above tunnage, poundage, aulnage,
pellage, &c. [Cotton's Abridgement , p. 472.]

November — It was enacfted, that all merchants, denizens, or aliens,
might buy wool from any perfon whatever till the 24"" of June next,
they bringing to Calais one ounce of gold in bullion for every fack of
wool f . After the 24'" of June the flaple, now held at the towns ap-
pointed by parliament in the year 1353, fhould be held in fuch towns
upon the coaft as the lords of the council fhould diredt. [Cotton s Abridge-
ment, />. 341.]

The ad of the preceding year, for (hipping tin at Dartmouth only,
was now repealed. Tin might now be {hipped at any port ; but it was
to be carried only to Calais, as long as wool fhould be carried thither.
[Stat. 15 Ric. II, c. 8.]

From thefe reflriflions Calais appears to have been flill a flaple, at
which all wool and tin were to be landed ; flaples and reflraints in Eng-
land, and a fecond ftaple and other relliraints at the fame time on the
continent ! The condition of the merchants, who were obliged to deal
in flaple goods, was truely pitiable in thofe days of perpetual changes.

It was reprefented in parliament, that the cloths manufactured at Gild-
ford and the adjacent parts of Surrey, Sullex, and Hampfhire, called Gild-
ford cloths, which ufed to have great reputation as well-made goods,
were now much depretiated in confequence of fullers and others buy-
ing them unfulled, and injuring the lubflance by overftretching them
in length and breadth. It was therefor now enafted, that no Gildford
cloths fhould be fold, till they were completely finifhed and fealed. [Stat.
15 Ric. 11, c. 10.]

The people of Amfterdam had for fome time pafl traded to Schonen
for herrings :{:, and they had obtained from the king of Denmark a grant
of a piece of land for tranfading their bulinefs. This year the earl of

* This is belicve-.l to be llie carlitft notice, given !f. Scliouk [Difcr/. Je harengis, J 34] fay5, that

ly any bijlortan, of the orphan's fund in the city of the HoUaiidtrs had not ytt begun to filh on the

London. But it may be pnfumed to be nnicli Btitilh coaft. We know that the Flemings adua!-

more anticnt, as we find an tllablilhniint fur the ly fiihcd on tlie coafts of England and Scotland

orphans of Sandwich in the year 1390. \_Rot. pat. above ico years before, and that the Hollanders

1 8 Edvj. I, m. ^5.] obtained a licence in the year 1 295 to lifii on the

-}■ In the year 1397 the parliament ordered the coaft of England ; and they were probably among

nunce of gohl to be carried to the Tower of Lon- the Belgians who frequented the filliery in the

don ; and ii 1399 Cidais wis again appointed to Firth of Forth in the twelfth century. See above,

be the place for it. \_Cottvnt Ahrllgcment pp. 362, pp. 325, 427, 45J. 4
?93-]

A. D. i39i» 605

Holland gave a charter to his faithful fcabines and fenators of his city
of Amfterdani, authorizing them to elecft a prefeft, and to govern their
lands in Schonen by their own laws *. [Chart, op. Poniard Dan. hijl.p. 522.]

1392 — ^The merchants of the Hanfe obtained from the king a de-
claration, that they fhould be fubjeded to no new impofitions in any
town. \_Rot. pat. fee. 15 Rie. II, m. '^6^^

The magiflrates of London having refufed to lend the king ^1,000,
he took occafion to quarrel with them, deprived them of their offices,
refclndcd the city's privileges, and got a fine of ^100,000 impofed upon
it. He was encouraged in thefe oppreffive meafures by the nobles, who,
not knowing that the improvement of their own lands depended upon
, the profperity of trade, envied the growing opulence of the citizens. It
was probably thought at court, that the payment of fuch an exorbitant
fine would be impoflible ; and the king hinted a defire to be reconciled
to the citizens, who were fo tranfported with joy at the news, that they
begged to be honoured with his prefence in the city. He accordingly
made a proceflion through the city (Auguft 29'") ; and the citizens
ftrained their abilities to receive him with Iplendour and magnificence.
Two crowns of gold (probably thofe imported from Luca in the pre-
ceding year), two tables or plates of gold, one reprefenting the Trinity,
and valued at /^8oo, and the other a pidure of S'. Anne, with a vail
profuficn of other coftly baubles, were prefented to him and the queen,
and gratioufly received. The fine of /^i 00, 000 was remitted, and all
offences were pardoned, except treafons and felonies (September 19"'). The
citizens now rejoiced in the belief that the fi:orm of royal indignation
was blown over. But they were icon convinced of their miflake by a
demand of ^^i 0,000, to be paid for obtaining the king's good will : and
that fum, lufficiently difirefling, was collecfted by an afieflinent upon
all the inhabitants, and adually paid to the king f . \Fcedera., V. vii, pp.
735» 'ld>^-—Knygbion, col 2^^o.—Walfingham, p. 348.]

* According to fome authors, it was not before ferring him to thofe who place it in 1 400. Per-

tbe year 1400 that the fta made a breach through haps it may have happened in the great inundation

the ridge of hill?, which guarded the noith coall in January i 198-9 recoided by Hov(dtn,f. 326 b. .

of Holland and Friftland, into the lakes formed — Ann. IVaverl. and Chron. Mclros, ad an. 1198.

by the ftagnation of the north mouth of the Rhine, Meyer [Ann. Flar.dr.f. 117 b] is fo dillrcfied by

which, according to Pliny, [H'ljl.nal. L. iv, r. 15] the carelcfTEicfs of writers refpefting the in undatfonf,

■was called the Flevus, and converted them into an that he is quite angry with them : and, tc-b£-fure,

inland fea, well known in modern limes by the name there can be little dependence upon the early hif-

of the Zuyder zee, the chief entrance of which tory of a country, wherein an event of fuch im-

is at the ifland called the Texe). Before that ir- portance is lo veiy difcordantly related,
ruption took place, Amfterdam could have no f The prefent citizens of London, accuftomed

other navigation than by boats upon the ftefl> to turn much larger funis in their private concerns

water lakes and the rivers connefted with them, than what is here Hated as perhaps impoflible to be

We here fee undoubted proof that it was earlier paid by the conimunity of the city, will not blame

than the year 14CO: but it is impoflible to afcer- me, or rather WaUingham, for faying, that the

tain the precife time on account of the numerous colleftion of j^io,o;o diftrefled the whole city,

inundations difcordantly and indillinftly recorded when they recoiled, that /' 10, COO contained 8,000

by tlie Dutch writer?. [See Scbooi de inundationi- pounds or 96,000 ounces of ftandard filver, and

kus, and Junii Balavla, p. 122.2 De Witt [/>. 301 could purcbafe JOjOCO quarters of wheat at an

Jing/. traii/l.'\ quotes Pantaleon (publillied by M. average price.
VojQius) who dates it in 1 1 70, but without pre-

6o6 A. D. 1393.

1393, January — London, and the other incorporated communities,
were now indulged with ap ad: of parHament, prohibiting all foreign
merchants from buying and felling with each other, and from cutting
up or retailing any goods *, except provifions (' vivres et vitailes'). No
fpiceries were to be carried out of the kingdom, either by denizens or
aliens. [Stat. 16 Ric. II, c. i.] Thus, after being unfairly deprived of
their jufl rights, were the citizens of London, in return for what ought
]iot to have been demanded from them, gratified with what ought not
to have been granted to them.

March 8"" — Some merchants of Plafencia, a city on the north coafl
of Spain, having plundered Nicholas CoUyng of Chepftow, the king had
granted him letters of reprifal to the amount of ;^3,20o, that he might
recompenfe himfelf by taking veffels belonging to Plafencia ; and he
had moreover, at his fuit, imprifoned all the Plafencians found in Eng-
land. But at the requeft of the earl of Virtues (' comitis Virtutum'},
the lord of that city, who appears to have undertaken to compenfate the
damage, the letters were now fufpended. [Foedera, V. v'n, pp. 740, 749.]

April 20'" — Margaret, queen of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, the
countries whofe naval power four centuries before this time had been
a terror to all the weilern coafls of Europe, finding her fleet fcarcely
able to make head againft that of the Hanfe towns, and having applied
to the king of England for his afllftance, he licenced three large warlike
ihips of Lynne, with their commanders and mariners, to enter into her
fervice. \Fcsdera, V. vii, p. 744.]

April 22* — ^The following articles, which were permitted to be (hipped
at London for the duke of Bretagne without paying any duty, may ap-
parently be confidered as fpecimens of the manufactures, filhery, and
trade of England, viz. i piece and 1 5 elns of fcarlet cloth ; 9 cloths of
various colours ; 1 5 elns of blanket f ; 1 5 elns of black cloth ; 1 6 faddles ;
3 buts of Malvefey wine ; 132 pounds of fugar ; 50 grelings, 50 lings,
3 barrels of white herrings, 4 cades of red herrings, 120 fiock-fifh ;
12 brafs pots with covers, and fundry other articles of metal ; i bed of
bloody colour and green with 8 ' tapetis' (figured cloths, or perhaps bed
blankets) and curtains ; i image of alabafler. and feveral fmall articles.
\Fcedera, V. vii, p. 745.] From fome other fuch licences, occurring in
the fubfequent parts of the Foedera (and particularly V. viii, />. 117) it
appears, that the goldfmiths of England flill kept up their reputation as
excellent workmen.

1394, January — It was enabled that no filver money fliould be melted
for making veflels or any other things ; and that Scottifh, or other

m

It vmy be rcmaiked once for all, that the upon foreign doalors in fifli, S:c. was repealed by

tranfient foreign merchant, who could fubmit to Henry IV in the firft year of his reign.

the petty drudgery of retailing his goods, mulb f Blanket, a coarfe kind of cloth, allotted for

have liad but a very trifling cargo.— The rcftraiut the drefs of country lubourers by parliament in tlie

3 ycai- 1363.

A. D. 1394. 607

foreign, money fhould not circulate, but be carried to the mint. [Stat.
17 Ric. 11, CI.]

All perfons were now permitted to make cloth and kerfey of any
length and breadth, the quantity (and apparently alfo the fufficiency of
the fabric) being certified by the aulneger's feal, before it might be
offered for fale. {c. 2.]

The merchants, and the makers of the fluff called y^wj'/i? worjled, were
allowed to export bolts of it to any country not at war with the king,
paying only the cuftoms and fubfidies without the Calais duties, not-
withflanding the charters granted to the burgefles of Calais and the
merchants of the ftaple of Calais. But they were not permitted to carry
any double worjleds or half doubles, ox Jlr'iped or moiled worjleds. [f . 3.]

All the fubjedfs of England were allowed to export corn to any country
not hoftile, on paying the due cuftoms. A power was however referved
to the king's council to flop the exportation, if neceffary. [c. y.]

According to the ordinances of Edward II and Edward III, the alder-
men of London continued in olHce only one year. But now it was enacted,
that they fhould not be removed out of office at all, unlefs for fome jufl;
and reafonable caufe *. — The ward of Farringdon being lately very much
increafed in houfes and inhabitants f , it was enadfed, that there fhould
be one alderman for the divifion within the walls, and another for the
divifion without, in all time coming, and that they fliould thenceforth
be called the wards of Farringdon within and Farringdon without.
[cc. ilr^S]

Auguft 29'^ — The king, underftanding, that, in confequence of the
failure of herrings in other places %, many foreigners, with vefTels, fait,
and other requifites for curing herrings, had come laft year and this
year upon the coaft of York-fhire, where they had bought up great
quantities of herrings, which they faked and barreled, or cured red,
and carried away for their own advantage, to the great hurt of the
whole kingdom by raifmg herrings to an extravagant price, but efpecial-
ly of the inhabitants of Whitby, who fupported themlelves chiefly by
curing herrings, he therefor ordered the magiftrates of that town § to
proclaim, that no ftrangers fhould thenceforth be permitted to carry
away any herrings. [Fasdera, V. vii, p. 788.] We do not, however,
fee, that any attention, adequate to the importance of the objedf, was

* Stow, in his lift of temporal governors at the of thofe gardens may be the modern Sali/bury

end of liis Survey dates this alteration in the con- fquare.
ftitutioa of the city in the year 1354. % Werdenhagen [/. 3663 fays, the fifliery on

•f- We muft not fuppofe, that this ward then the coaft of Schonen was interrupted by the pirates,

approached to any refemblance of its prefent crowd- who infefted the Baltic fea. But King Richard'* •

ed ftate. In the fecond year of Henry IV the mandate is far better authority,
bifhop of Saiifbury leafed two gardens in S'. Brides § Similar orders, we may prefiime, were fent to

pariQi, Fleet ftrect for 80 years to George CrefTey, the other towns on the coall vilkcd by the her--

a citizen of London, at a rent of zcy' a-year. rings, thougli they do not appear.
l_Rot. j'tt./ei. z Hen. IV. m, 15.] Perhaps a part.

6o8

A, D. I

394-

paid to the filliery, fo as to make herrings a confiderable article of ex-
portation.

1396, Odober 25"' — The Genoefe, formerly raifed by profperous com-
merce to fuch a height of power and infolence that they pretended to
prohibit the neighbouring ftates from navigating the Mediterranean fea,
were fo far reduced by their inteftine divifions as to be incapable of
conducing their own government, and now furrendered themfelves to
the dominion and protedion of the king of France, under which they
remained till the year 1409, when the French, unwilling to be at the
expenfe of maintaining a Sufficient force in their city, obliged them to
refume their independence. [Stella Arm. op. Muratori Script. V. xvii, col.
1 1 51. — Muratori Ann. V. xii, />. 473.]

It was not long before the king of France found himfelf obliged to
his new vallals for a piece of fervice, which his own fubjeds could not
perform for him. The religious and military ardour of fome of the
princes of France and Burgundy had plunged them into a kind of cruf-
ade againfl: the Turkifh fultan Bajazet, and in the battle of Nicopolis
their own impetuous valour made them his prifoners. In the prefents,
lent to the iultan by the king of France to induce hini to ranfom his
captives, we have a fpecimen of the mofl valuable manufadures of
Europe. They confiiled of fcarlet cloth, fine linen of Rheims, and
tapeftry of Arras reprefenting the battles of Alexander the Great. The
ranfom was fixed by Bajazet at 200,000 ducats : and the merchants of
Genoa became bound for their fovereign in an obhgation for five times
the fum, ' a leflbn to thofc warlike times, that commerce and credit are
' the links of the fociety of nations,' [Gibbori's Roman hijl. V. xi,/). 453]
and alfo a proof, that the commerce of Genoa was flill very great and
refpedable in the eyes of the Oriental princes, who, however, might
eftimate it rather by its former fame than its adual ftate at the time.

1397, Augufl lo"" — We hear of no loans for fome years paft. But
there was one made now, the contributors to which were more numer^
ous, and the fums larger, than in any preceding one. Of 193 fubfcrip-
tions there were 78 by the clergy, from ^1,000 by the bilhop of Win-
chefler down to /,"i3 : 6 : 8 ; 45 by gentlemen from /^4oo by Sir Robert

Knollys down to ^3 : 6

8 ; and 70 by cities and towns, as

follows.

I^onJon

^e£QjQm 13 A

C;!mbridge ^100 0

0

Chichester

£m 13

4

iiristol

800 0 0

Winchester - 100 0

0

Northampton

m 13

4

Norwich

33:J 0" 8

Colchester - 100 0

0

Yarmouth

-

m 13

4

Boston

300 0 0

Kingston upon Hull 1(X) 0

0

Abingdon

-

m 13

4

I ynne

26G 13 A

Hereford - 100 0

0

Scarburgii

-

60 13

4

York

200 0 0

Shrewsbury - 100 O

0

Nottingham

-

60 13

4

Gloucester

2(X) 0 0

C;inlerbury - 60 13

4

Worcester

-

OO' 13

4

Salisbury

2(X) 0 0

Sandwich - 6ti 13

4

Leicester

•

66 13

4

Ijncoiii

133 6 8

Stanford - QQ 13

4

Cirencester

-

60 0

0

Soutliampton
S;. Edniundsbu

113 (5 8
y 10t> 13 4

Grantliam and "1 0(j 13
Harlaxton J

A

Oxford

Wells (' Walleys

S3 6
') 53 Q

8
8

and others

for fums und

er £$0 down to /^6 :

\l

j : 4. \Foedera^ V. viii..

P-9''\

A. D. 1397. 609

This lift, though evidently very defective *, fhows that the people were
much richer, or the king much greedier, now than a few years before.

^39^' January — The commons reprefented in parliament, that the
llaple was appointed to remain at Calais, and that all wool, wool-fells,
hides, lead, tin, cheefe, butter, honey, peltry, and tallow, from England,
Ireland, and Wales, ought to be carried to Calais and no other place ;
but that fome perfons had purcPiafed licences to carry thofe articles to
other ports, which gave them an unfair'advantage over other traders, to
the deftrudion of the ftaple, and detriment of the coinage and cufloms
of Calais, The king thereupon ordained that the ftatute fliould be ob-
ferved with refpecT: to wool, hides, wool-fells, tin, and lead, and that no
licences fhould be granted to the contrary, unlefs by his own efpecial
grant f. [Slut. 21 Ric. II, c. 17.]

February 21" — The grand mafter of Prufha complained to King
Richard, that his fubjeds could get no redrefs at his court for damages
done to them by the Englifh : and he therefor renounced the commercial
alliance formed in the year 1388, allowing the Englifli merchants a year
to withdraw from his dominions agreeable to the terms then ftipulated.
Such prohibitions were repeatedly ilTued by the grand maflers again ft
the Englifli merchants : but it is not necelTary to particularize every
one of them. IHakliijl, V. i, pp- 153, 154-]

The city of London this year purchaled Blackwell hall, which wns
thereupon appointed to be the only place in the city wherein any for-
eigner or ft ranger X ftiould be permitted to fell woollen cloth, [Stew's
Survey, p. 518, ed. 1618.]

1399, A-pril 16"' — King Richard, while preparing for an expedition
to Ireland, made his will, whereby it appears, that he had amaffed a
treafure of 91,000 marks. He was very particular in ordering the ce-
remonial of his funeral, for which he allotted ^^4,000. \Fcedera, V. viii,
p. 75.] Within ten months the unhappy Richardwas depofed, murder-
ed, and buried without any pomp. He was fucceeded (September 30'")
by Henry duke of Lancafcer, who had no hereditary right, though
Richard had been dead ; and that ufurpation was the direful fpring of
innumerable woes to England ; the royal family was alm.oft exterminat-
ed, and the kingdom depopulated, by the ftaughters in the civil wars
which enfued, whereby the manufadures and commerce of the country
were grievoufly deprelTed, and their advancement retarded. -

During the reign of Richard feveral projects for mining were fet on.
foot in England, but we know not with what fuccefs. \Rot, pat. pnjfim.'\

The Viifliop of Winchcfter for £i ,000, and f We find the merchants of Newcaftle in pof-

"]^ bifliop of Hereford for yf66 : 13 : 4 are the only ftfiion of fuch a licence in the year 1401. [^Co!-
"''"ops in the lift, and there is not one noble- tons^Abrid^eir.ent, p. 408.]

"^^n : but we may be fure, tliat no bifhop or no- ;{: Foreigner or Jlratigcr uiufl here mean one no'. -

blcman could be cxcafcd. Walfmgham [/. 353] a citizen of London,
fays exprefsly, that no prelate, no city, no citizen
reputed to be rich, in the whole kingdoRi efcapcd, ^

Vol. L 4K

6ix> A. D. 1399.

It may be obferved, that England mull at this time have had no
■flrength of fhipping befides thofe attending the king in his Irifh expe-
dition, when the duke of Lancafter, after fhowing himfelf on feveral
parts of the coaft, merely for the fake of difcovering what refiftance he
was to expeft, and thereby giving very fufficient warning, could land
deliberately and unoppofed, with a very trifling retinue.

Odober — For the eafe of the poor it was enaded, that cloth, kerfey,
Kendal cloth, Coventry frife, cogware, or any other Englilh cloth or
Welfh cloth, of value not exceeding i^/^- per dozen *, fliould not be re-
quired to be fealed, or to pay any duty, for the fpace of three years.
[Stnt. I Hen. IV, c. 19.]

It was enaded, that the ftaple for wool-fells, ikins, lead, and tin, ihould
be held only at Calais ; faving that the merchants of Genoa, Venice, and
•other places towards the Weft, in friendfliip with the king, might dif-
charge their merchandize at Southampton, and take in fuch ftaple wares ;
and faving alfo to the people of Berwick their liberties for their wool f .
[Cotton'' s Abridgement.) p. 393-]

Odober 27''' — Letters of marque and reprifal were granted not only
for revenging or compenfating hoftile aggreilions upon individuals, .but
alfo for procuring payment of debts due to them in foreign countries, as
appears by fuch letters now granted to John of Waghen of Beverley
againfl the fubjeds of the earl of Holland, becaufe he had not com-
pelled two of them to pay fome money due to Waghen. King Henry
-moreover ordered his admirals to detain all veflels and property found
in England belonging to Holland and Zeland, till the earl fhould de-
termine the affair according to juflice :]:. \_Foedera, V. viii,^. 96.]

December 6"' — King Henry fummoned the grand mafter of Pruflia,
and the governors of Lubeck, Wifmar, Roftock, Stralfund, and Grip-
pefwald, to appear in perfon, or by deputies, before his council to an-
iwer to the merchants of England, who complained, that they were not
treated in thofe places fo well as the merchants froni them were treated
in England, though the exprefs condition, upon which they had obtain-
ed their privileges in England, was, that Englifh merchants fhould en-
joy the fame advantages in their countries §. He alfo warned the merch-
ants of the Hanfe, that if they allowed others to enjoy, under colour of
their name, the privileges granted only to themfelves, he would totally
abolifli and annuU their charter. \Fa'dcro, V.\i\\,p. 112.]

About this time Timour (corruptly called Tamerlane) completed the

* It appears by an acl li Htn. IV, c. 6, lliat liis letters of inarqnc wf-re renewed in 1412 and

a do7:cn ot cloth was a half piece coiihlliiig oifour- 1414. \_Fa:lcra, r. ini, p. 733 ; /''. ix, pp- 125,

teen yards. 1S8. j

f Their liberties authorized them to export all § When thofe coiidiliona wtre fti;)idated, the

the wool produced on the north fide of Coquet reciprocity was merely nominal, for tliere were

liver to any place whatfocver. [^Cotton's Abridge- very few Englifhmen who traded to foreign coun-

;n.'n/, p. 482.] tries : but there were now many, and thence more

X Waghen, however, got no falisfadion, and freqiicnt occafions of quarrel.

A. D. ij99^. 61 r

conqucff of Hindooftan, a country, which, by the great riches and un-'
military temper of its inhabitants, has repeatedly invited, and fldlen a
prey to, thofe fcourges of the human race called conquerors.

1400 — About this time the. fifhery on the coafl of Aberdeen-fhire,
which in later ages has been almoft abandoned to the Dutch, was fre-
quented by the Englifli. The Scots fitted out a fmall fleet under Sir
Robert Logan to drive away or deflroy the Englifli veflels. But Logan's
force was apparently infuflticient, for he him felfwa& taken by the vefl!el&
belonging to Lynne. [Walfingham , p. 364.]

The Roman world comprehended now but a few miles beyond the-
walls of Conflantinople, the peninfula of Peloponnefus or Morca, and
fome trifling fpots and' iflands. Manuel, the unhappy emperor, was
driven by the terror of the Turkifli arms to mendicate pecuniary aflift-
ance from the defcendents of thofe barbarians., who had ufurped his
weftem provinces. From the obfervations of the emperor, or his at-
tendants, on the diflferent countries vifited by- them, I feled fuch parti-
culars as fliow the ftate of commerce and- manufadures, at lead as they
appeared to the Greeks. — The natives of Germany excell in the me-
chanic arts, and they boafl; of the invention of gun-powder and canuons.

Above two hundred free cities in it are governed by their own laws

France contains many flourifliing cities j of whicb Paris, the royal refid-
ence, is pre-eminent in wealth and luxuryi — Flanders is an opulent pro-
vince, the ports of which are frequented by merchants of our own fea
(the Mediterranean) and the Ocean. — Britain (or rather England) is full
of towns and villages. It has no vines and bur little fruit, but it abounds
in corn, honey, and wocl, from ivhich the natives make great quantities of
cloth. London, the capital, may be preferred to every city of the Wefl
for population, opulence, and luxury. It is feated on the River Thames,
which, by the advantage of the tide, dayly receives and difpatches trad-
ing vefl^els from and to various countries. — Venice * excells all the cities
of Italy in the opulence of its citizens and the magnificence of its build-
ings. The Venetians fend every year ten triremes \ to the Ionian and
jEgaean feas to protedt the- fliips trading to Egypt and Africa againfl:
pirates ; and they are relieved by other ten at the end of a year's cruife.
Twenty-two veflTels, larger than others, trade to Alexandria, Syria, Ta-
nais (or Afof), the Britifli iflands, and Africa, under the care of the
fons of the nobles, for fuch is the cuflora, [Laon. Chalcocortdyles, L. ii,
pp. 36-50; L. iv,p. 105:.]

1 40 1, January 1 1"" — King Henry propoflng to go to war, and under-

* The defcription of Venice is taken from tlie f;ave the claflical rame of ti iiemis or r^n:^:;;. Stella,

emperoi's vifit to it in the year 1438, and brought the Genoefe chronicler, fays exprefsly that the tri-

in here for the fake of connexion. remes were the fame vefftls, which in his time were

f From Sanuto [/>. 57] and many other Itah'an UhtUal/y called galli-.s. 'i'he real triremes were

culhors it is pretty certain, that the terzaroli (gaU then as much unki;own and forgotten, as if the?

iies with three men to au oar) were the veffels, to Lad never exifted.

vhich they, and this Greek writer imitating them.

4H 2

6i± A. D. 1 40 1.

ftanding that barges and balingers were the veflels mofl proper for that
purpofe, ordered the community of the city of London to provide one
of each at their own expenfe. Tlie other confiderable towns, inland as
well as maritime, were taxed, fome to find a barge, and fome a balinger;
and the fmaller towns were made to join, two, three, or more, according
to their abiaties, to find a barge or a balinger *. [^Fcedern, V. •v\\\,p. 172.]

January — In order to put a flop to the frauds committed by means of
the currency of Flemifh and Scottifli coins in England, it was enaded,
that they ihould be all coined into Englifli money in England or Calais-;
and that no more fhould be admitted into the kingdom f . \Stat. 2 Hen.
IV, c. 6.]

June 8"* — Notwithftanding the complaints on both fides, and the
formal renunciation of the grand mailer, the commercial intercourfc
between England and Pruflia was ftill kept up, and many Englifh merch-
ants were fettled in that country. But the harmony was interrupted by
the capture of a Pruflian veflel by the Scots, which being retaken by
fome vefFels belonging to Lynne, it was reported in Pruffia that flie was
taken by the Englifh, and, in confequence thereof, all the Englifli fub-
jedls found in that country, with all their property, were arrefled. King
Henry, therefor, now wrote to the grand mailer in order to correal the
mifreprefentation, and requefled him to take off the arrefl from his
fubjeds and their property. [Foedera, V. viii, p. 203.]

This year the magiflrates of Barcelona ellablifiied their bank of ex-
change and depofit, called Taula de cambi (Table of exchange), upon the
fecurity of the funds of the city, and with the intention of extending
the accommodation afforded by it to foreigners, as w^ll as to their own
citizens. And it appears, from records ftill extant, that foreign bills of
exchange were ufually negotiated in it, and that the diredtors of it gave
affiftance to the manufadurers, when making their purchafes of raw
materials, fuch as EtigliJJj tvool, &cc. The Spanifli writers call this bank
the firfl cflabUfhment of the kind in Europe J. [CnprnaTij, Mem. hiji. de
Barcelona., V. i, Com. pp. 144, 213 ; V. ii, Col. dipl. p. 203.]

1402, Augufl 11'" — The magiflrates of Bruges complained to King
Henry's council of feveral injuries, and particularly, that a fillierman
of Oflend, when fifliing for herrings in the North fea, and alfo one be-
longing to Briel in Holland, had been taken by the Englifh, and car-
ried into Hull, though they havered their fails ^ the moment the Englifli
called to them. \_Foedera, V. win, pp. 273, 276.]

* In the preceding year fcvcnil of the batons concerning tlu' conflitution and management of tlii?

found vcfTels for the king at their own expenfe. bank of Venice in the early ages of its exillenct.

[^FceJcrti, Ffviii, /I. 125.] Capmany and the authors preceding him mull liave

f The meaning mull be, that they fliouM no confuh-rtd them as very diil'ercnt from thofe of the

longer be current. A refufal to adnu't money bank ol Barcelona. The creditors of the republic

would have been in direft oppofition to the policy of Cen )a were not yet incorporated as a banking

of the age. company.

I I have not been able, even with the alTillancc } This acknowlegcmcnt of the dominion of tlie

of a Venetian gentleman, to find any information fea h marked with capital letters by Rymer.

A. D. 1402. 613

Odober — All importers of merchandize, whether Englifli or foreign-
ers, were ordered by parliament to invefl the zvholc proceeds of their
cargoes in Englifli merchandize for exportation, relerving money only
for their neceflary expenfes. Neither was any perfon whatfoever per-
mitted to export gold or filver without the king's fpecial licence. \Stat.
4 Hen. JV, cc. 15, 16.]

It is probable that the Canary iflands, which were undoubtedly known
to the Phoenicians of Gadir, and by report even to the Romans, were
never entirely forgotten in Europe *. 'fhe French and Spaniards claim
the merit of having difcovered them in the year 1395, and feem to ac-
knowlege that they were put upon the fearch for them by the report of
Macham's difcovery of Madeira. Jean de Bethencourt, a Norman. gen-
tleman of Dieppe, now made a conquefl of thofe iflands. [Hakluyt, V,
ii, part ii,/>. I. — Mem. de litterature, V. xxxvii, ;!). 521.]

1403, March 10''' — It is vexatious to find the records filled with com-
plaints, made by the continental merchants and efpecially thofe of the
Hanfe, of outrages and depredations committed by Englifli feamen,
who, it mufl be acknowleged, feera too often to have confidered power
as the only flandard of right. The aldermen and jurates of the Hanfe
merchants refiding at Bruges complained of the capture of a Pruflian
veflel loaded with wine in July 1402 ; and the confuls of the maritime
cities of the Hanie afl'embled at Lubeck reprefented, that a veilel be-
longing to Stetin was taken by the mayor of King Henry's city of
Bayonne, who prefumed to detain her in defiance of the king's order
for reftitution f . The magifi:rates of Eubeck, and thofe of Hamburgh,
alfo reprefented, that a veilel loaded with 29 lafts of herrings ij: was
taken on her way from Malrao to Flanders in Autumn 1402 by fome
veflels belonging to Lynne and Blackney. [Fcedera^ V. viii, pp. iCg,
270, 284, 287, 297.]

June 27''' — It was agreed, in a truce with France, that all perfons,
"veffels, and property, fl:iould be mutually and freely refl;ored ; that merch-
ants and others might go about their bufinefs in either kingdom with-
out any hinderance, and without needing letters of fafe-condud: ; and
that, for the fecurity of navigation, all armed veflels ftiould be called
into port. It was afterwards further fl.ipulated, that during the ap-
proaching herring feafon the fifliermen of both kingdoms might fifli
freely and together from Graveling and Thanet down to the mouth of
the Seine and Southampton ; and, if they fhould be obliged to go into
port, they fliould be kindly received on either fide. [Fcedera., V. viii,
pp. 305, 336.] But all thefe harmonious meafures were very foon broken.

* See above p. 112 for Gadir, Sec. and p. 327 Bruges again reqiieftcd the king to enforce refti-

for a voyage made to them by the Saracens in the tution. \_p. 354.]
twelfth century. J We tlius lee, that the capricious herrings had

■f- The vefiel was ftill detained in April 1404, again returned to their old flation on the coaft of

when the aldermen and jurates of the Hanfe at Schonen.

6i4 ^' ^' ^4^3'

This year treaties, containing ftipulations for mutual freedom of trade,
were entered into with Caftile, Portugal, and Flanders. [Fadera, V. viii,
PP- V^' 3^7' 329.] All of them were frequently renewed j and the
renovation is a lufficient proof of their inefficiency.

1404, January — The parliament made it felony to multiply gold or
filver, or to pracRiife the art of multiplication. [Stat. 5 Hen. IV, c. 4.]

The parliament, in their anxiety to keep money within the country,
obliged all foreign merchants to give fecurity that they fhould lay out
their money on Englifh merchanoize, and moreover compelled them to
fell their goods within three months after their arrival, and to Englifli-
men only, but upon no account to other foreigners. The magiflrates
of the fea-ports were alfo direded to affign lodgings to foreigners *.

To prevent deceptions in putting off gilt or plated locks, rings, beads,
candlefticks, harnefs for girdles, chalices, iword-pomels, powder-boxes,
and covers of cups, for folid metal, all fuch workmanfhip upon copper
or latten was prohibited, except ornaments for the church, of which
fome part Ihould be left uncovered to fhow the copper or latten f . [c..

May i^'"* King Henry borrowed 1,000 marks from ten merchants

of Genoa, and for payment he allowed them to retain the duties on
goods to be imported, and on wool, hides, wool-fells, cloth, and other
goods, to be exported, by them in London, Southampton, and Sandwich,
for four months ; and he engaged to pay them the balance, if any, at
the end of four months by the hands of his treafurer. Five merchants
of Florence lent him 500 marks on the fame terms. And in the fol-
lowing year fums to the fame amount were lent by the fame parties, and
on the fame terms. [Fcedera, V. viii, pp, 358, 359, 383.]

June 6'' — The king empowered the EngHfh merchants trading to
Pruffia, Schonen, and other places within the limits of the Hanfe, to
meet, as often as they ihould think proper, for the purpofe of eleding
governors ; to whom he delegated the fame authority over the Englifh
merchants, and for obtaining juftice in difputes between them and the
natives of the places of their relidence, confiftent with the privileges and
authority granted to them by the grand mafter of Pruflia or other po-
tentates, which had been conferred on a fmgle governor of the merch-
ants in the year 1351. [Foedera, V. viii,/>. 360.]

December 4'' — The commercial reader will undoubtedly be pleafed
to fee how nearly the tenor of bills of exchange, and the.circumflances
attending the non-payment of them, about four centuries ago refcmbled
thofe of the prefent day. Antonio Quarti, a merchant of Luca refid-

* The rcftraints of this law, being fotind de- goods imported by foiiigiurs ; a prohibition ap*
(Irudtive to tht trade, were partly repealed in the parently umicciflTiiry.

enfuing year, with a faving of the privileges of f 'Jhls att dclcrves ridticc merely as an evidence
London, and a prohibition of exporting foreign of the perfcdiion to which gilding and platinjj were

ihca brought in Enghuid.

A. D. 1404. 615

jtng at Bruges, the center of the commerce of the weftern parts of
Europe, had fold two bills of exchange for 1,000 fcutes each to John
Colombo, a merchant of Barcelona alfo refiding at Bruges, to be paid
by Francifco de Prato a merchant of Florence, in the ufual manner, at
Barcelona. The following is a clofe tranflation of one of the bills *.
Francifco de Prato and Company at Barcelona.

In the name of God, Amen^ the 28"' day of April 1404.

■Tay by this firfl of exchange at ufance to Piero Gilberto and Piero Olivo one thou-

f and fcutes at tenfhillings Barcelona money per fcute ; which thoufand fcutes

are in exchange with "John Colombo at twenty-two grofjes per fcute. Pay on

our account, and Chriji keep you.

Antonio ^artifal. of Bruges.

The other differs only in the dare, 18'^ of May, and being payable
to Piero Gilberto and Piero de Scorpo.

The bills were fent to Barcelona, but were not paid by Prato ; and
William Colombo, as agent for Gilberto, Olivo, and Scorpo, purchafed
-fcutes in Barcelona to pay the bills, for the expenfe of which he claim-
ed reimburfement from Antonio Quarti, and for that purpofe returned
the bills protefted to John Colombo at Bruges. But Quarti alleged that
William Colombo ought to have got money for the bills at the bank
{taula di cambi) of Barcelona, according to the cuflom of the city in
fuch cafes, which would have been lefs expenfive, and that therefor he
was liable only for the expenfe attending the re-exchange in that form,
and not for the expenfes and interefl demanded by John Colombo.
Thus the matter relied at this time, when the magiftrates of Bruges
%vrote to thofe of Barcelona, requefting information upon the ufage re-
fpediing bills of exchange in their city : and to their letter we are in-
debted for this curious relique of commercial antiquity. [Capmany^ Mem.
hifl, de Barcelona, V. ii. Col. dipl. p. 203 — above, p. 612.]

1405, July 16'^ — The king had ordered fome pirates of Whitby to
make reftitution to two Danifli merchants, whofe veflels they had taken.
But they paid no attention to the mandate ; and an officer was now or-
dered to bring them before the king, that they might anfwer for their
difobedience — The Scottifh traders were alfo haraffed by lawlefs Eng-
liili cruifers, fome of whom, belonging to Cley on the coaft of Norfolk,
fhowed themfelves as regardlefs of their fovereign's commands, and of
:".heir own contrads, as if they had been fubjed to no government, and
•might adt as independent of controul upon the land, as they did upon
the fea. ^Foedera, V. \ni, pp. 404, 450. — MS. Bib. Cott. Vefp. F vii, n'. 22,
89, 116, ;ii7, 118.]

* For the fatisfaftion of the reader I here add th« oiigiual bill.
Francifco de Prato l^ Comp. a Bjrfalona.
Al name di Dlo, Amen, a di xxviii Aprile 1404.

Pagatt per quejla prima di camh. a ufait-Tia a Piero Gi/k'rfo e Piero Olivo fctiti m\lle a fold x Barfclonej't
iitrfcuto: i quali fctiti miUe fono per camlii chc con Giovanni Cal-nnilio agroffl xxii d.g.fcuto : iff pag. a
tiojlro cento, ip" Chrtjlo vi guardi.

An/onio ^arli/al tie Bru^gicti.

6i6 A. D. 1405,

September 4* — The king, defiring to anticipate the receipt of the
taxes voted by parliament, commilTioned the fliirref and fome other
gentlemen in every {hire to oblige the richeft men to advance the money
for the taxes to be colleded in their diftricfl, which fhould be repaid to
them by the colledors. [Foedera, V. vn\,p. 412.]

October 1 2''' — In the Scottidi court of the Four burghs, held at Stir-
ling, it was ordained, that every royal burgh on the ibuth fide of the
River Spey fliould annually commiffion two or three fufficient men as
members of the parliament of the Four burghs, which, I have already
obferved, was a board of trade*. [Regiam majejiatem, ^c.f. 153 b.]

1406, March — The magiflrates and traders of London having taken
upon them to prevent the eloth-makers and the dealers in wine, iron,
oil, wax, and other articles, from felling their goods by wholefale in
London to any but the citizens, the parliament enaded, that they might
freely fell their goods by wholefale in London to any of the king's fub-
jeds.' [Stat. 7 Hen. IV, c. 9.]

It was enaded, that thofe, who did not poflefs twenty fhillings yearly
in land or rent, fhould not put their fons or daughters to be apprentices.
But fuch perfons were allowed to fend their children to fchool f. [c. 17.]

April 6'*' — The parliament having affigned to the merchants the guard
of the fea from the i" of May 1406 to the 29"' of September 1407,
they were empowered to receive 3/ upon every tun of wine, and one
{hilling in the pound of the value, befides a quarter of the fubfidy, up-
on wool, hides, and wool-fells, they being bound to keep 2,000 fighting
men fufficiently armed, and 1,000 mariners, upon the fea. The merch-
ants were alfo direded to appoint an admiral for the fouth and another
for the north, to be invefled by the king with the ufual powers of ad-
mirals to punifh all offenders, take up veffels, prefs men, and appoint
deputies if. In a few months the funds allotted to the merchants were
{topped in confequcnce of complaints of the many lofles fuflained for
want of a fufHcient guard upon the fea. [Fcedero, V. \'m, pp. 437, 439,
449, j^^^.-'^Cottovs Ahridgement, p. 452.]

Odober 5''' — The king again granted his protection till the 2"^ of Fe-
bruary to all fiflicrmen of France, Flanders, and Bretagne, for their fifh-
ing bufinefs only, and provided they did nothing contemptuous or pre-
judicial to him or his kingdom. [Fcedera, V. viii, p. 451, and fee 459.]
1407, February 5''' — The Engli{h merchants trading to Holland, Ze-

* Skenf, in lils title, moft thouglitlefKly tfalls tloii of freedom enjoyed by meclianiL's. The per-

F.dlnbiirgh, Stirling, Berwick, and Rokfbiirgli, milTion to Icnni to icad Uas of little avail before

ihrfvur burghs, though Vie ought to have known, the art of printing brought books within the reach

cvi.n from the oppoiltc page of his own book, of the poor.

tliat Lanark and Linlithgow were at thin time ftib- | Together with the mai-itime towns, to which

llituted for Berwick and Roklburgh, which were the king fent notice of this regiil.ition, we find

in the hands of the Englilh. not only Lincoln, Norwich, Beverley, and Nol-

+ Tiie poor would fully comprehend the op- tiiighatti, which were acCefiible by boats, but

prcfiivc tendency of this law, which was to pic- Grauthain, which could fcarcely have any coj)-

vent their children from acquiring the fmall por- ueftion with the fea.

A. D. 1407. 617

land, Brabant, and Flanders, feeling the inconvenience of a want of re-
gulation and government, obtained authority from the king to eledl go-
vernors, on whom he conferred the fame powers, which had been given
to the governors of the merchants in Pruflia, 8cc. they acting agreeable
to the privileges and authority granted to them by the lords of the places
of their refidence *. [Foedera, V. viii, p. 465.]

March lo'*" — In a convention between the ambafllidors of King Henry
and thofe of the duke of Burgundy, who was alfo earl of Flanders, it
was agreed, that the king's fubjeds of England, Calais, Ireland, &c. and
thofe of Flanders or other parts of France f , whether dealers in wool,
hides, provifioiis, or other goods, except cannon and other warlike flores,
fhould have mutual freedom of trading by land between Calais and
Flanders \. — All merchants, mariners, and vellels, fliould have free en-
trance into the ports of either fide with their goods, they carrying no
cannon or other warlike ftores beyond what were needful for their own
defence. — No reprifals fliould be made on either fide on account of al-
leged hoflilities or pillage ; but all fuch fhould be duely redrefled by the
fovereigns on both fides. — The liberty lately granted to the fifhermen
on both fides, was confirmed, and extended to the whole coaft of France.
— Pirates were not to be allowed to enter the ports on either fide, nor
to go out of them to prey upon the fubjeds of the other fide, nor to
fell, or land, their plunder in any port — In cafe of any infraftion of
the treaty, commiflioners, appointed by the king of England, the cap-
tain of Calais, or the company of the ftaple, on the one fide, or by the
king of France, the duke of Burgundy, or the four members of Flan-
ders, on the otlier, ftiould have free paflage by fea or land to demand

redrefs The merchants of Brabant, Holland, Zeland, Italy, &c, who

were accuftomed to frequent the w^ool fi:aple at Calais, fliould have free
paflage to and from it by land or water with their wool or other merch-
andize, except cannon and other warlike (lores — This treaty was to be
in force for one year, and not to be broken, even though hoilihties
could commence between England and France within that time. — On
occafion of one of the feveral renewals of this treaty, King Henry ob-
ferved, that the fuft;enance of the Flemings depended upon trade, and
very much upon drapery. We may thence infer, that the chief de-
pendence of their manufadures was fiiill upon Englifli wool. The po-
licy of the kings in keeping up the commercial intercourfe of their fub-

* This is the chatter, by which the company tiouble in fearching for records to fubftantiatt their

oi menhant-advcnlurrrs claimed tlic excrcile of ex- pretenfions.

cluf)ve trade. But there is here no mention of f Flanders is here reckoned a part of France,

uiiy cxclufive privilege, nor any hint of a corporate of which it was a tief: and th;s treaty is exprefs-

bu'dy, or a collediive name, whether of S', Thomas ly faid to be auth>^rized by the king of France, at

Bechet or adventurers. Wheeler, Miflclden, Ma- the dnke's over-lord.

lynes, and other keen difputants on both fides of J The n.eichants were to have no dcgs witii

thofe now-dormant conteitf, feem all to have af- them, and to catch no rabbits on the downs he-

ferted boldly without giving themfclves much tween Calais ar.d Graveling.

Vol. I. 4 I

6i8 A. D. 1407. ^

jedls, even when themfelves fhould be at war, fhows, that they were be-
ginning to difcover that their own welfare depended on the profperity
of their fubjeds *. [Fcedera, V. v'ni, pp. 469-477, 530, 548. J

July 1 1 ill — It was alfo flipulated, in a truce of one year between King
Henry and his ftep-fon the duke of Bretagne, that the merchants of
either party fhould have freedom of trade in the dominions of the other,
without being concerned in any hoftilities. [Fa^dera, V. viii, p. 490.]
This treaty was alfo frequently renewed.

June 27''' — The king again anticipated his revenue by borrowing on
the fecurity of his fubfidies on wool, hides, and wool-fells, for the pay-
ment of his garrifon at Calais. The tranfadion merits notice only as
i"howing that laymen were now become more able to advance money
than formerly, the happy eflfed of the filent influx of commercial opul-
ence. The fums were as follows.

The bishop of Durham ^ 66 1 3 4 John Norbury f ^2,000 0 O

The earl of Westmerland 500 O O John Heiide f - 2,000 O O

William lord of Rods 166 13 4 Richard Whityngton f 1,000 O 0

Hugh lord of Burnel 1 66 13 4 The merchants of the staple 4,000 0 O

The Italian company of the Albertini alfo lent j^" 1,000, for which they
were allowed to retain the cufloms on wool, &.c. exported by them at
London, Dover, and Southampton, till their debt fhould be paid up.
[Fcedera, V. viii, p. 488.]

The bank of Genoa may be properly faid to have commenced this
year. It had been ufual for the republic to borrow large fums from
the citizens, and to affign certain branches of the public revenue as
funds for the payment of the intereft, which were put under the man-
agement of fome of the mofl refpectable citizens, who were to pay the
interefi; to the creditors, and account to the flate for the funds entruft-
ed to their care. In procefs of time the multitude of thole funds, there
being apparently as many as there had been loans, bred confufion ; and
it was now thought proper to confolidate the whole into one capital
flock, to be managed in one bank, called the chamber of S' . George, and
to be governed by eight protectors eleded annually by the creditors or

* On a fomcwliat-fimilar occafion it was ob- tizens of London, and great builders of cluirclies,

ferved by Rapin, that England and the Nether- colkges, &c. Hcnde was elcftcd mayor in 1391

lands were fo cluftly comicfttd in trade, that it and 1404. Whityngton was fubrtitulcd by royal

could not be interrupted without remarkable pre- authority in place ot Adam Bamme, who died in

judice to both, and therefor treaties for guarding his mayoralty in 1397, and he was cledled mayor

the interells of commerce were often made even in in that year, and alfo in 1406 and 1419, fo that

times of the hotte.1 war. He adds, that ' tins he was in office at the time of this loan, and in

• maxim was infiiiilely hetler than -jihat has been fol- all three years and five njonths. He feenis to have
' loiuedfince of making a prey of the merchants, tvhich been alfo mayor of the llaplc at Calais, but refid-

* proves to their ruin.' \_Rapin'' s ^iia regia, V. ii, ing in London, about 1420. [/IW. Bib. Colt.
p. 367, %-vo ed.'\ Calba, B i, n". 172.] The manufa<5lurers of books

^ff Norbury was treafurer of the exchequer in for childien have moil unaccountably taken it into

the lail year of Richard II, and firfl of Henry IV, their heads to make Whityngton originally a fcul-

and afterwards king's treafurer, as appears by the lion boy, and have veiy confiflently provided ^

Tatcnt rolls. Tlic other two geutlciiicn were ci- great fortune for him by means of a cat.

A. D. 1407. 619

ftock-holders. Under tins form of government the affairs of the bank
were conduced very profperoufly, till the further increafe of the public
debts, and the acceflion of whole towns and territories, among which
was the little nominal kingdom of Corfica, made them fenfible of the
inconvenience of annual fucceifions of new protedors, and determined
them, in the year 1444, to eled eight new governors, of whom only

two were to go out every year. [Biza/i Atin. Genuenf. pp. 205, 797

"J. De Laet de princip. Ital. pp. 175, etfeqq.']

Emden is noted as a retreat of the northern pirates in the year 883.
[R. Hoveden, f. 240 b.] At this time the citizens, being diftreffed by
their too-powerful neighbours, applied for afliflance to the affociated
cities of Hamburgh and Lubeck, whole maritime power was now very
refpedable. They were the firfl of their nation, who were alTumed in-
to that confederacy ; and, in confequence of the fupport of their new
allies, they in their turn became formidable to their enemies. IPontatii
Rer. Dan. hijl. p. 539.]

1408, March i" — The Englifli merchants trading to Norway, Swed-
en, and Denmark, were empowered to eleft a governor, whofe fundions
and authority were made fimilar to thofe of other governors of merch-
ants, already fpecified. It appears, that his refidence was at Bergen,
and that he was alfo called alderman of the merchants. [Fcedera, V.
viii, pp. 511, 685.] The office of governor of the Englilh merchants
trading to a particular country now beginning to be general, it will not
be neceflary to particularize any more of them.

The city of Wifbuy with the ifland of Gothland, after being jointly
poflefTed by the northern heroine, Margaret queen of Denmark, Sweden,
and Norway, and by the Vitalian pirates, was wrefted from them by a
fleet equipped by the citizens of Lubeck, Dantzik, Thorn, and Elbing,
and put into the hands of the grand mafter of Pruflia, from whom Eric,
king of Sweden (under Margaret), endeavoured to take it. But, by the
mediation of the emperor Wenceflaus, he agreed to pay the grand maf-
ter nine thoufand Englijh nobles for the furrender of the ifland, which
accordingly took place in the year 1408, Eric not being able to raife
the money before that time*. \Fontani Rer. Ban. hiJl. pp. 531, 532,

The people of Holland were now beginning to lay the foundation of
that commercial importance, which afterwards aftoniflied the world.

* Olaus Magnus \_L. !i, c. 22] makes the price to the duke of Burgundy at the current rate in the
20,oco nobles or dubloons ; and he makes Q\ieen year 1431. \_^Meyeri Ann. Flandr. f. 278 a. J
Margaret the purchafer, as does alfo PufFendorf, After this we hear little or nothing of the cele-
who Hates the fum 10,000 nobles. Thus it ap- brattd commercial city of Wilbuy, which in the
pears, that all the afts of the Englifh parliament (ixteenth century, perhaps earlier, was only known
could not prevent the gold of England from find- by its ruins, among which the fragments of polish-
ing its way to the continent : and the Englifli no- ed marble, doors made of iron, brafs, and copper,
bles continued to be current money in the Nether- and windows made of copper covered with gold
lands, as appears by a payment of 100,000 of them and filver, exhibit proofs of the magnificence of

the antient inhabitants. [0/. Mag. L. ii, c. 22.}

4 I 2

620 A. D. 1408.

The frequent fquabbles between the cities and villages of Flanders and
Brabant, refpedling the right of the villages to make woollen cloth, had
driven many of the manufadurers to take refuge in England and Hol-
land, and especially in the later, whereby the towns of that province
were greatly increafed in magnitude and population. The Hollanders
alfo engaged in maritime commerce : but their trade was much infeft-
ed by piratical veffels fitted out by their neighbours of Eaft Frifeland.
The earl and the barons, thinking themfelves not at all interefled in the
profperity of the commerce of their country, ufed to pay no attention
to thofe depredations ; and they went on with impunity, till the citizens
of Amfterdam and fome other places in North Holland, with the aflifl-
ance of thofe of Lubeck, Hamburgh, and Campen, cleared the fea of
thofe pirates *.

1409, May — The magiftrates of Norwich were authorized to infpedl
and meafure all worfled fluffs made in their own city and in all Nor-
folk, and to affix their feal, without which they Ihould not be offered
for fale f . [Cotton's Abridgement, p. 474.]

Augufl 23'' — King Henry granted permiflion to the nierchants of
Venice to bring their carracks, gallies, and other veffels, loaded with
merchandize, into the ports of England and his other dominions, to
tranfaft their bufinefs, to pafs over to Flanders, to return to his domi-
nions, to fell their goods without impediment or moleftation from his
officers, to load their veffels with wool, cloth, or other Englifli merch-
andize, and to return to their own country. [Fcedera, V. viii, p. 395.]
We find frequent renewals of this permiffion, with the fame routine of
the trade, in the fubfequent years.

Odlober 10th — A negotiation and correfpondence were kept up dur-
ing feveral years for the purpofe of effecting an amicable compenfation
for the dam.ages fuftained by the fubjeds of England on the one fide,
and thofe of Pruflia and the Hanfe confederacy on the other, from the
freebooters of both fides. As the complaints brought forward on each
fide in the courfe of this bufinefs contain many curious fads illuftrative
of the nature of the trade between England and the Eafl country, a
brief enumeration of them will not, I truft, be deemed tedious. At the
lafl meeting, held at the Hague in Holland in Augufl 1407, the Eng-
lifli complained, that in the year 1394 a fliip of 200 tuns belonging to
Newcalllc, valued at ^^400, having onboard woollen cloth, wine, gold,
and money, to the value of ^^133 : 6 : 8, was taken. — An inhabitant of
Hull, being palfenger onboard a Pruffian vefl'el, was robbed of goods to
the amount of ^^53 : 6 : 8 In 1395 an Englifliman was robbed of 5

* See Vojfn ylnnal. L. xv, />. 126, or De ll'^ill's contains all the terms, fabrics, and qUc-Hitities, of

Inlerrft of Hullaiul, p. 161, and alfo/). 47, of Engl, the various kinds of worded ilufTs. Tiity are pro-

tranjl. an<l Meycr'i /inn. FLinilr. fiajim. bably the fame as thofe which the reader may find

f yir Robert Cotton obferves, that tlie grant under the year 1422.

A, D, 1409. 621

pieces of wax, 4 handred of werke, and half a laft of ofmunds*, near
the coall of Norway. — In 1396 a cog of Hull, with 300 woollen broad
cloths and 1,000 other cloths, value X^200, was taken. — In 1398 an-
other veiTel of Hull, with oil, wax, and werke, value ;i^3oo, was taken

In 1399 an Englifli paflenger in a Dantzik veflel was robbed of two
cakes of wax, value /^i 8 — In 1394 werke, wax, ofmunds, and bow-
flaves, to the value of 1,060 nobles, belonging to three citizens of

York, were taken out of a veflel of Elbing 140 woollen cloths, worth

j^2 : 13 : 4 each, befides other things, were taken from another citizen

of York onboard a veflel of Holland In 1393 ^ citizen of London was

robbed of woollen cloth, green cloth, meal, and fifli, to the value of

;^I33 : 6 : 8 In 1405 another citizen of London was plundered of 5

lafl:s of herrings in the North found In 1398 eleven packs of woollen

cloth, value £2>^6 : 13 : 4, the property of merchants of Colchefl:er, were
plundered out of a Pruffian veffel. — In 1 394 four merchants of Yarmouth
and Norwich v-ere robbed of woollen cloth to the value of £666 : 13 : 4,
which they had onboard a Pruflian veflel. — In 1401 a veflel belonging
to Zeland was plundered of hides of oxen and flieep, butter, mafts, fpars,
boards, quefting ftones, and wild werke, value £66 : 13 : 4, the property

of a merchant of Yarmouth In 1402 a barge belonging to Yarmouth

was taken near Plymouth, with 130 weys of fait and 1 ,000 pieces of
canvafs of Brctagne, value £3;^^ : 6 : 8. — In 1405 another vefl^el of Yar-
mouth was taken in Selaw, a port of Norway, loaded with fait, cloth,

and falmon, value ;^40 Six veilels belonging to Cley, chiefly loaded

with fait fifli, were taken, and moft of them, carried over to Norway. —
The people of Wiveton loft two doggers and another veflel employed in
the fifliery, with their fifli, &c. and two veflels of Zeland, loaded in Pruf-
fia with mafts, fpars, &c. for account of a merchant of that town, who
alfo loft a pack of woollen cloth, plundered out of a vefl'el belonging to

Lynne In the year 1394 the pirates took Bergen in Norway, and

burnt twenty-one houfes, value £^46 : 13 : 4, belonging to the merch-
ants of Lynne, whom they alfo plundered of proj^jerty to the amount of
;^i,8i5. — In 1394 four veflels of Lynne, loaded with cloth to the value
of jr3, 623 : 5 : II, befides wine and other goods, were taken on their
way to Pruflia. — In 1396 a crayer belonging to Lynne, with ofmunds
and other goods to the value of ^^643 : 14 : 2, was taken between Bergen
and the Scaw ; and two veflels were robbed of cloth and other goods,
alfo belonging to merchants of Lynne. — In 1399 many articles of con-
liderable value, belonging to a merchant of Lynne, were plundered out
of a veflel, apparently foreign, belonging to Michael Van Burgh. The
complainants further ftated, that many men were killed, and many car-
ried away as prifoners, and forced to pay heavy ranfoms : and the Eng-
lifli commiflloners aflerted, that thofe outrages were perpetrated by pi-

f I can find no fatisfaftory explanation of werie, ofmunds, and feme other articles intntioJied in tktfe
complaints. a

622 A. D. 1409.

rates fitted out by the Hanfe towns, and chiefly by the citizens of Wif^
mar and Roflock *.

From this ftatement we learn, that woollen cloths now formed a con-
fiderable part of the exports of England, and that there was fome ex-
portation of wine notwithflanding a law againfl it. From the frequent
mention of Englilh property onboard foreign veflels, it alfo appears, that
the naiigat'ion a£l, which has been pretty generally fuppofed to have re-
mained in full force ever fince its firll enadment, was but little attend-
ed to.

The complaints of the merchants of the Hanfe turned chiefly upon
infringements of their chartered privileges by the communities of Lon-
don and other corporations. They alfo iiated, that beiides the antient
duty of 3/4 upon every fack of wool paid by them in addition to the
duty paid by Englifli exporters, they were of late compelled to pay 1/7
as an impofl for the town of Calais, contrary to the terms of their chart-
er ; that the oflacers of the cuftoms over-rated their goods for the pay-
ment of poundage duties, and exaded duties for fome kinds of cloth,
which were exempted by the charter of merchants ; that they were com-
pelled to pay the duties twice upon goods, which they had occafion to
remove from one port of England to another ; that the officers aug-
mented their fees, and demanded new ones ; and alfo created unnecef-
fary delays, whereby the merchants often lofl their markets, and got
their goods damaged by lying three or four weeks upon the wharfs ;
that the officers at Southampton overcharged them 2/ for every lafl: of
herrings f, pitch, and foap-aflies, 2d for every hundred of bow-flaves
and wainfcot boards, and 4^ for every hundred of Richolt boards, im-
ported by them ; and that they had alio been impofed upon by the ma-
gifl;rates of Newcaftle. The Englifli commiflioners, on the other hand,
affirmed, that the Hanfe merchants had combined to diftrefs the com-
merce and manufactures of England by refufing to hold any intercourfe
with Englifh merchants in the Hanle towns J, or to buy any Englifli
cloth from Engliflimen, and had even impofed fines upon thofe who
had Englifli cloth in their pofl^eflion. They accufed them alfo of pafl'-
ing the goods of people not belonging to the Hanfe under their names,
in order to flicker them from paying the proper duties ; and they de-
manded a lift of the cities, towns, and companies, claiming the privi-
leges granted by the kings of England to the Hanfe aflLciation, and alfo,
if the general alfociation difavowed the hoftile proceedings now com-
plained of, the names of the cities wherein the Englifli were fo mal-
treated.

* Kraiitz [Hi/l- Noiiuet;. L. vi, c 8] alfo fays, % To fuch excefs did tliey carry their barbarity

dial thiKc pirates, wiiom he calls Vitaliaiis, acted in one of their principal cities, that they icfiifcd

by the authority of the cities of Wifmar and Rof- to purcliale cloth from fome Englidi tiKrcliante,

tock. who had arrived dellitiite of provifions or money,

f Herrings thus appear to have been imported, though they defired to fell it only for the purpofe

as well as exported, in thute times. of obtaining food. 4

A. D. 1409. 623

The people of Hamburgh claimed reftitution to the amount of 9,1 17.
nobles i fhilling and 8 pennies ; and upon examination their demand
was reduced to 416 nobles 5 fliillings.

Bremen demanded 4,414 nobles

not fettled.

Stralfund 7,4 1 5 i 8

reduced to 253 nobles,

Lubeck 8,690 3 4

550

Gripefwald 2,092 3 4

153 3 4

Campen 1,405 0 0

not fettled.

At laft the commiflioners, or ambafladors, having made the befl fet-
tlement they could, King Henry now gave his obUgations as follows, viz.
To the grand mafter of Pruffia for his fubjeds of Pruflia and Livonia,

payable 11'" November 1409 - EngUJh nobles s, 3'^^ 4 5

2'' February 1410 - - _ 5,318 4 5

2"* February 141 1 - - 10,637 2 2

2^ February 141 2 - - - 10,637 2 2

and to the magiilrates of Hamburgh, due 2^ Feb. 141 1 416 5 o

At granting thefe bills he flipulated that the money fliould not be
carried away in gold or filver, but in bills of exchange *.

The grand mafler, on the other hand, became bound to pay 766
nobles to the Englifh fufFerers. [Fcedera, V. viii, pp. 601-603. — Hakluyt^
r. i, pp. 154-179-]

December 4^'' — The commercial treaty with Pruffia was renewed.
Mutual freedom of trade, and oblivion of pafl injuries, were agreed
upon. In cafe of any fubfequent outrages the fovereigns were bound
to make fatisfadion for the aggreffions of their fubjeds ; failing which,
the fovereign of the party injured was at liberty to arreft any fubjed of
the other power, found in his dominions, within fix months after pre-
ferring the complaint. It was alfo fettled, that feveral fums, particular-
ly exprefled (and all reckoned in nobles), fliould be paid for outrages
committed by the feamen of Hull, Scarburgh, Blakney, Cromer, Ply-
mouth, Dartmouth, Calais, and Bayonne, and alfo by a vice-admiral of
England for provifions taken from a Pruffian fliip of 300 tuns, together
with 838 nobles due by Henry de Percy for corn bought for the caftle
of Berwick upon Tweed in 1403. On the other fide only 200 nobles
were found due for an outrage committed by a man of Dantzik. \H.ak'
/a/?, F. i, A 181 f.]

1410, April 28"' — In a royal grant of tolls for paving the fireets of

* I remember reading in a newfpaper a fjieech, al proof of the common currency of that fpecies

made in reply to a rcmonftrance againft continent- of Englilli gold coin upon the continent, contrary

al fubfidits, wherein it was aficrted, that this coun- to aft of parliament.

try fuffered nothing by fuch fubfidits, as they were + The king's comminion for treating is in the

paid m broad cloth and bills of exchange. The Foedera, as is alfo the treaty itfelf, but without the

anlient politicians of England, like this modern flipulations for compcnfation, in a confirmation of

one, mull have fuppofed that bills of exchange it in December 14 lo by the fucceeding grand maf--

could begot for nothing. — The ftatement of all ler. \Fii:dcra, }', viii, pl>. 61 2, 664.I
tlie accounts in Ensrlilh noblss affords an additioii-

624 A. D. 1410.

Cambridge and the adjacent roads, there are fome things worth notice.
Coals (fold by the chalder), turfs, reeds, and fegs (fedges), appear to
have been articles of fuel; falmon, frefh or faked, wxi'A. porpufes , paid one
farthing each ; herrings, a halfpenny per barrel ; a large boat (' navis')
loaded with herrings or other fifh, ifd ; a fifhing boat with fifli, oifters,
or muffels, 2d ; a cart-load of fifh, frefh or falted, 2d. Irifh cloth muft
have been pretty common in England, as we find it here charged,
equally with worfted fluffs, canvas, and fome other articles, 2^ per hun-
dred (' centena'). \Fcedera, V. viii, p. 634.]

This year Sir Robert I'mfraville, vice-admiral of England, with ten
fhips of war, entered the Firth of Forth, both coafls of which he plun-
dered, the Scots having apparently had no naval force fit to oppofe to
him. He burnt many veflels, among which was one, probably belong-
ing to the crown, diftinguifhed by the name of the Galliot of Scotland;
and he carried off fourteen veflels (called good fiiips), with prizes of
woollen and linen cloth, pitch, tar, woad, meal, wheat, and rye. Un-
fortunately we are not able to diftinguifh, what part of thofe goods were
Scottifh manufacture and produce, and what imported : but, if there is
no exaggeration, the quantity of them was fo very great, that the falc
of them lowered the prices in England ; and thence Umfraville got the
name of Robin Mend-market. IStow, udnn. p. 549.]

141 1 , June 25"" — Guns were now become an article of Englifh manu-
facture and exportation, as appears by a licence for fending two fmall
guns for a fhip, along with the king's great gun, to Spain. [Fardera,
V. viii, p. 694.]

1 41 2, February 3* — The fliare, which the Englifh had now obtained
of the active commerce of Europe, was fuch as aroufed the jealouiy of
thofe mercantile communities, who, in virtue of long, and almoft unri-
valed, occupancy, conceived the commerce and navigation of Europe
to be their own patrimonial inheritance : and, agreeable to the ferocious
and unprincipled manners of the age, they had recourfe to the moft
atrocious meafures for crufhing the Englifli adventurers, before they
fhould acquire much wealth and power. William Waldern and a con-
fiderable number of other principal citizens of London * hud Ihipped
wool and other goods, to the amount of ^^24,000, onboard feveral
veflels f for the Mediterranean J, under the care of fadors, or fupei*-

• William Waldern was clefleJ mayor in 1412 t ' Verfus partes occidentales per Didridlus de

and 1422. His partners were Drue Barantyn, ' Mam k' (to the wcllern countrits /i_)' (01 //jroB^;,'/j)

mayor in 1^98, 1408, who lent the king ^1,500 the Snails of Morocco) ; chat is to lay, w/V/j/n the

in 1409; \_Rot. />al. fee. 11 Hen. IV, m, 5] John Midilerraiiean. For the application of wi/fern to

Reynewell, mayor in 1426 ; and other gentlemen, coiintiics ii:A\\y foulh-etij} from England, lee above,

who had been fliirrefa, ice. p. 588 note, and p. 610. There is nut a (liadow

\ We are not told, whether the vclTcls were of a reafon to fiippofc the voyage intended for

Entrlifh or foreign ; awd Mr. Anderfon fuppofes Morocco, a coui.tiy which never had occafion to

them Venetian, and thereby accounts for the fciz- import wool. The fliips were probably dcllined

lire by the Gcnoefc. But there feenis no reafon to Catalonia or Tufcany.
to fuppofe them any other than Englifli.

A. D, 1412. 625

cargoes, to whom, as it was a great, and apparently a new, undertaking,
the king gave letters recommending them to the tViendfhip and good
offices of the Genoefe government. But fo Uttle refped: did the Genoefe
pay to the king's letters, that they feized the vellels, and publicly fold
their cargoes in Genoa. In confequence of this acT: of hoflility, the king
ordered proclamation to be made in London and the other ports of Eng-
land, and in Calais, that none of his fubjeds, nor any Granger within his
dominions, fhould fend abroad any merchandize, money, or bills of ex-
change, for account of the Genoefe, or receive any merchandize brought
in Genoefe veflels, except fuch as fliould be brought in as prize in vir-
tue of the letters of marque, which he had granted to the injured merch-
ants, empowering them to take all Genoefe veflels they could find, till-
they fhould be reimburfed of ^^24,000, their prime cofl, and /^lo, 00c
for damages. Thus were a few merchants of London at war with the
whole republic of Genoa. [^Fadera, V. viii, pp. 717, 773.]

In the North fea the Hanfeatic aflbciation, aduated by the fame fpir-
it, and utterly regardlefs of that probity, which conftitutes the princip-
al feature of the modern commercial charader, committed many out-
rages upon the Englifh. About the year 1390 they entered the harbour
of Bergen in Norway with a fleet of armed veffels, attacked the Englifli
merchants fettled there under the charter of the fovereign of the coun-
try, and burnt their houfes and merchandize to the value of /^2, 000, to-
gether with fecurities for debts to the amount of above £1 ,000 *. Not-
withftanding the interpolation of the king of Denmark in favour of the
Englifh, the Hanfe pirates continued to harafs and abufe them, and, ia
mere wantonnefs of cruelty, drowned loofifliermen belonging to the
coafl: of Norfolk, who had fled to a Norwegian port for fafety from ene-
mies. A fhipmafter of Bremen, whofe vefTel was chartered by fome
merchants of Lynne, was threatened with death, if he fhould perform
his contrad. Some Englifh merchants were robbed of hard fifh to the.
value of/^roo in Bergen, where the fovereign of the country feems to
have exercifed no government. The Hanfe merchants at Bergen enter-
ed into a combination to have no intercourfe with the Englifh fettled
there ; and by fuch means they hoped to drive them out of the North
fea. King Henry repeatedly arrefted the merchants of the Hanfe at
Bofton, in order to make them anfwer for the aggrefTions of their bre-
thren in Norway ; for, according to the reprefentation of the merchants
of Lynne, the whole of the Hanfe confederacy were combined in a de-
termination to diflrefs the Englifli trade : but they found means fome-
how to get out of his grafp. He then wrote to the alderman f of the
Englifh merchants at Bergen, and alfo to the alderman of the Hanfe merch-
ants there, defiring them to inquire into the truth of thti complaints,

■* Perhaps this is the fame outrage, which is already noticeJ, under the year 14^:9, as committed In

J394-
f The fame who was formerly called governor.

Vol. L . 4 K

626 A, D, 1412,

and fend him information. We are not informed, what effect thefe
meafures produced : but we find by a letter from Henry to the magif-
trates of Bergen, dated 22'' September 141 1 *, that the EngUfh had been
treated as the aggreflbrs : and the affair appears to have been ftill unfet-
tled in December 141 5. [Fcedera, V. viii, pp. 684, 700, 722, 736 ; V. ix,

A 415-]

March 5"" — The Englifh were alfo infulted in Portugal. A fhip of
200 tuns belonging to a nierchant of London, and carrying a merchant
or fupercargo, and a purfer, befides her commander, was feized in Lif-
bon on a falfe information, after having taken in a cargo of oil, wax,
and other merchandize ; but there is no mention of wine. Her com-
mander and people were loaded with irons, and obliged to fupport them-
felves at their own expenfe in the prifon, wherein they were kept feve-
ral weeks, till the «rror was difcovered. Thomas Fauconer f , the own-
er, ftated that the freight of his fhip amounted to 6,000 crowns of gold,
for which, and the damage and expenfes, he got King Henry to make a
demand upon the king of Portugal. [Fiedera, V. viii, p. 727.]

June 11'" King Henry having written to the magiftrates of Ghentj

Bruges, Ypres, and the free territory of Flanders, defiring to know, whe-
ther they would adhere to the terms of their truce with him, or aflift
their earl againfl him, they, preferring the profperity of their trade to
the gratification of their earl, anfwered, that they wifhed to preferve
peace with England : and .the truce was thereupon proclaimed on both
fides. [F^dera, V. viii, pp. 737, 75 1, 756 — MeyeriAmi. Flandr,f. 238 b.]

June, July ^The king borrowed 10,000 marks from the community

of the city of London, 400 from Norwich, and other fums from the
prelates and nobles, for an expedition to Guienne. \Foedera, V. viii, pp,
747-767.]

July 5"" The king, having given letters of reprifal % to fome merch-
ants, from whom two veffels loaded with wine, &c. to the value of 5,250
marks, had been taken by a French lord, at the fame time declared,
that merchants going to, or returning from, the fiaple at Calais fhould
not be liable to feizure in virtue of thofe letters. [Fcedera, V. viii, p.
755.] Thus did this favourite town enjoy the privileges of a neutral
port §.

Notwithftanding the turbulent ftate of England during the reign of

•» It is worthy of notice, that in tUis letter the \_Stoiu's Survey, p. 934. — Fadera, V. ix, pp. 298,

king appears to rank, the Kiiglilh ni<-rchaiits of 405. J

Lynne tradiiijj to Ikrgcu among the mcrcliants of \ Letters of marque or reprifal were (rencrally

the Hanfc ; — ' Mercatorts villte nollrae dc Lrnii, granted for the recovery of private property, where-

' partes dc Norili Berne pi-xdifts mereantilitcr by the execution of jultice, perhaps injullice, was

' ufitantes, ex una, c^terofque mercalores de Hanfa, put into the p:'.rty' own hands. Of a general pri-

' regnum nollrum Anglix mode confimiii frequent- vateerin^ comniiirion om inlhuu.c has occurred in

' antes, parte ex altera.' the year 1375. Sec above, p. Goo.

f This gentleman was eleftcd mayor in 1414; § Aiiollier inRancc of the trade with Calais be-

and in his mayoralty tlic city lent the king 10,000 ing protecleJ from c.ijiture occurs in FuclcrOf K

-narks, for which he received jewels in pledge, ix, /. ijfi. ■*

A, D. 1412. 627

Henry IV, the commerce and manufadures of the kingdom appear to
have been in a fiate of progredive improvement. The guard of the fea
(to the negled of which by his predeceflbr he owed his elevation) was
more flridly maintained ; piracy was more rigorouOy fupprefled ; and
more attention was beftowed in terminating the quarrels, or petty wars,
©f the feanien and merchants of England with thofe af the continent,
than in any preceding reign.

1413 — 'The book of duties on imports and exports, compiled at this
time under the authority of Fernando I, king of Aragon, gives a good
idea of the trade and commercial policy of the antient and flourifliing
city of Barcelona — All goods, imported or exported, paid a duty of two
thirds per cent ad valorem, except thofe imported from Conftantinople,
Syria, and Egypt, which paid only one third — Corn and all vegetables,
wine, and pork, were free from duty on importation ; but they were
charged with five per cent on exportation, except to Majorca, Minorca,
and Iviza. Wrought filver, jewels, arms, and wearing apparel, exported
as merchandize, paid two and a half per cent. — Cloth and other manu-
fadlures paid no duties on exportation : and the like goods^ imported
for fairs, paid only at the place of fale, where a duty of three quarters
per cent was levied on the fales, the home manufadures being charged
three eights — Ships built for foreign countries, and all fhip timber ex-
ported, paid thi"ee per cent on the value — Small parcels, not exceeding
in value five fueldos (twenty reals of modern money), paid no duty, ei-
ther inward or outward. — Neither was any duty charged on caflcs, wrap-
pers, or other packages. — Veflels arriving in port, and neither landing
nor trans-lhipping any goods, were not required to pay any duty. [Cap-
many, Mem. hiji. de Barcdona^ V. i, Com. p. 231.} The wifdom and hber-
ality of thefe regulations, in an age wherein cuftoms were generally
impofed with no other view than merely to raife a revenue for the fo-
vereign, mufl imprefs us with a very high opinion of the commercial
policy and experience of the Barcelonians, in which they appear to have
been nothing inferior to the moil enlightened legiflators of the prefent
age *. It is a pity that we have no firnilar documents of the commer-
cial jurifprudence of Venice or Genoa, or of the Hanfe towns. In all
fuch matters our own country, now fo pre-eminent,. was then exceeding-
ly deficient.

King Henry V, in the beginning of his reign, confirmed the privileges -
granted by his predecefTors to the Venetians and to foreign merchants
in general. \Fcsdera, V. ix, pp. 26, 72.]"

* Other proofs of the commercial wifdom and which occupies almoft the whole of his fecond vo-

liberality of Barcelona have already appeared ia Iflme ; and I obfcrve that Sir John Talbot Dillon,

this work. Bnt the general wife pohcy of the when mentioning thefe diilies in his Hlflory of Pc-

other duties and exemptions Teems to render the Ur the Cruel, has written ^ imptirud' infteadof^x-

genuinenefs of the duty on filver ware, jewels, Sec. portsd, perhaps from the original Llibre dt!s JV

tstporled for fale (' fi fe extrahian por via de com. fenjah d:l g^iral de Cujhinya, which certainly is

' mcrciu') rather doubtful. Capmany has not in- more copfuter.t with found commercial policy,
icrted the ori^aji^] {q the C'jlccdcn diplomatka ^

4 K 2

628 A. D. 1414.

1414, May 26"' — The king farmed ihe fole right of drawing bills of
exchange for the ufe of perfons going to the papal court, the city of
Venice, or other foreign places, for three years, to Louis John, at an
annual rent of ;^ 133 : 6 : 8 ; and he bound him down to export no gold
or filver on account of his bills. The merchants were, however, allow-
ed to draw bills for their merchandize, but upon no other account. But
no perfon was permitted to carry money to Bruges or any other place
for remittances to the papal court or elfewhere. The leafe of the trade
of exchange was afterwards renewed to Roger Salvern and Louis John,
and the rent raifcd to £200. [Fcedera, V. ix, p. 130 — Rot. pat. 5 Hen. V,

VI. I.]

September 26"" — It is probable that gun-powder was not made in
England in the year 1386, as we find a quantity of it efteemed more
valuable than all the other articles found onboard two French fhips
taken at that time. In 141 2 the ambafTadors of the earl of Alen9on
were licenced to export 400 pounds of faltpetre and 100 pounds of ful-
phur, along with other military flores, whence we may infer, that pow-
der was then made in England : and now we find the exportation of
gun-powder firidly prohibited. [Walfingham, p. 323 — Feeder a, V. viii,
p. 754; V. ix, p. 160.1

November — ^The parliament ordained, that goldfmiths (hould take
no more than £,2:6:Z for the Troye pound of ftandard filver gilded ;
and that they fhould charge only a reafonable price for gilding *. lAds
2 Hen. F, Jlat. 2, c. 4.]

The exemption from the obligation of carrying the ftaple goods to
Calais, granted to the commercial ftates of Italy and Spain by the adl of
the fecond year of Richard II, was renewed. The parliament alfo con-
firmed to the merchants and inhabitants of Berwick their privilege of
purchafing wool, hides, and wool-fells, of the growth of Tiviotdale and
the adjacent part of Scotland then fubjed to England, and of England
as far fouth as the River Cocket, and to fell the fame in Berwick, or to
export them. The merchants of Jerfey, Guernfey, Bretagne, and Guy-
enne, having made a pradice of buying unfounded tin and fliotten tin
in Cornwall, and carrying it to France, the Netherlands, &c. all perfons,
except thofe above-cxcepted, were (Iridly ordered to carry all kinds of
ilaple goods to Calais. \c. 6.]

141 5, March, April — King Henry, having determined to afiert his
claim upon the crown of France by the fword, fent commiffioners to
hire vefiels for him in Holland and Zeland. He alio ordered all the
veflTels in England of twenty tuns burthen and upwards to be taken into

• By tliis aft the goldfmiths were allowed it dcteimiiic, what was a rcafoiuil-lc piice for gild-

jfl : 1 : 8 for the gold and workmaiifliip. If lliat iiig. Biitltr, llic author of IrhiJibras, who under-

was' too little to pay for fufficient gildinjr, they flood that matter better tl)aa our anticnt Itgiflat-

had only to make it flight ; for the law did not, ors, fays, that the worth of any thing is fo much

like the one now in force, afccrtain tlic qnantity money ae 'twill bring.
-of gold to be laid on a given furface. Neither did

A. D. 1415. 629

his fervlce ; and the whole, Englifh and foreign, were direded to af-
femble in the ports of Southampton, London, Sandwich, Winchelfea,
and Briftol. The commanders of feveral fhips, which, being diftinguifh-
ed as belonging to the I'ower, may be prefumed to have been royal JJnps,
were commiflioned to prefs men for their veflels. The whole fleet, col-
lected for the invafion of France, confiftcd of 1,500 veflels. [Foedera^ K
ix, pp. 215, 216, 218, 238 — Waljhgham, p. 390.]

November — The parliament ordered, that none of the foreign coins,
called galley halfpennies becaufe imported in the Genoefe gallies, thofe
called fefkyns and doydekyns, nor any of the Scottifh filver money,
Ihould any longer be current in England *. \^ABs 3 Hen. V,Jl. i , c. i .] .

November 28'" — King Henry, in order to conciliate the favour of the
king of Denmark and Norway, ordered proclamation to be made in all
the ports on the eaft fide of England, that none of his fubjeds fliould
go to any of that king's iflands, efpecially Iceland, for the fpace of a
year, to catch fifh, or do any other bufinefs, except what ufed to be done
in antient times. [Foedera, V. ix, p. 322.] It may be obferved, that
ftockfifli, which were common in England above a century before this
time, were all brought from the Norwegian territories.

This year John king of Portugal, with the afliftance (according to
Walfingham) of fome Englifh and German merchants, took the city of
Ceuta, fituated on the fouth fhore of the Straits of Morocco (or Gibral-
tar), from the Saracens of Africa. If it be true, that by converfations
with the Saracen captives John's fon Henry firft conceived an idea of
the pradicability of a route to India by filling round the fouth end of
Africa, the capture of Ceuta is of great importance indeed in commer-
cial hiftory. \Walfingham, p. 393 — Purchases Pilgrims, B. ii, p. 5.]

Henry, the fifth fon of King John by Philippa the daughter of John
duke of Lancafler, was a prince enlightened beyond the flandard of the
age ; and he fpread the illumination of fcience all-around him by the
munificent encouragement he gave to learned men and artifis, whom
he endeavoured to attrad from all countries to his refidence at Sagres
near Cape S'. Vincent, where he ereded an obfervatory, and eftablilhed
fchools for the fciences conducive to the improvement of navigation.
James, a man eminently fkilful in geography, navigation, and the ufe
of the inftruments then known, whom he invited from Majorca, in-
ftruded the Portuguefe youth in thofe fciences : and, cherifhed by the
beams of royal favour, a number of artifl;s quickly fprung up, who com-
pofed maps, wherein all parts of the world, known by report as well as
by difcovery, were inferted, with very little attention to corrednefs in
their configuration or pofition. Thofe maps, fuch as they were, difle-

• The currency of the galley halfpcniiies had days, being fomcwhat broader, but thinner, than

already bicn prohibited by an ad\ 1 1 Hen. IV, the Englilh halfpennies of his time, which were

c. 5. Stow, however, fays, that they continued much inferior in weight of filver to the halfpennies

current in fome degree even in his own younger of the age of Henry V. [Survey of London, p. z(i2.'\

630 A. D. 1415.

minated among the Portuguefe a fcience hitherto fcarcely known to any
Chriftian nation, except the commercial ftates of Italy *, and contribut-
ed to nourifh that fpirit of enterprife, which in time accompliihed the
greateft revolution that ever happened, or probably ever can happen, in
the commercial world.

Prince Henry, being defirous of making difcoveries upon the weft
coaft of Africa (but whether with the expedation of finding a paffage to
India, I will not venture to fay) fent out two veflels, with orders to pro-
ceed as far as poffible along the coaft, which they traced only as far as
Cape Bojador in 27 degrees north latitude. {^Piircbas's Pilgrims, B. i,
<r. 2, § I ; B. K, c. I ; and authors there quoted.'\

141 6, March — The crimes of clipping, waftiing, and filing, the money
of the kingdom were declared by parliament to be treafon ; and the pu-
niftiment of them, as well as of importing bafe money, was committed
to the judges, [^fls 3 He?i. V^ flat. 2, cc. 6, 7.]

It has been obferved (p. 515) that merchant veflels ufed to fail in
fleets in time of war, that their united force might enable them to re-
pell the attacks of the enemy. Before they failed, they eledted admirals
among themfelves, and all the commanders, in prefence of the magif-
trates of the port of departure, fwore to ftand by their admirals. In
confequence of a feparation of the vefTels of a fleet from Bourdeaux, one
of the admiral fhips, a vefl'el belonging to Hull with a valuable cargo,
was taken : and the owner of her applied to parliament to oblige the
owners of the other veflTels to indemnify the lofs fuftained by their de-
fertion. \Cotton''s Abridgement, p. 548.]

It appears from the rolls of the king's wardrobe, that the greateft part
of the linen ufed in England, efpecially by thofe of the higher ranks,
was imported, and was chiefly of the fabrics of Reynes (or Rennes) and

* If we may credit the accounts given of maps l!(hed by Formaleoni, wherein Africa appears with
executed in tliis age, trpetiiSny the Venetian ones, a chai' fea to the foiilLward of U, one of tlic Azores,
not only the Cape of Good Hope, under the name or Wcllein idands, lias the name of Brafii* , and to
of the Fore front of /ifr'ica, but even the Straits the weltward of them there is adliially delineated
of Magellan, called the Dragons tad, were now a great illiind called y^iilUHa. But it may well be
known. Pedro, an elder brother of Henry, is faid doubled, whether envy of the naval pre-eminence,
to have got a map of the world at Venice in the fiiatched out of their hands by the Portuguefe and
year 1428, wherein thofe foutliern extremities of Spaniards, may not have inlligated the Venetians
the old and new continents were delineated : and to make interpolations upon, and give fiflitious
Cralvano relates, that Francis dc Sola Tavares told dates to, fome antlcnt maps ; for iflands can eafdy
him, that in the year 1528 he faw a map, drawn be inferted in the void fpace reprefenting the fea
in 1408, containing ' all the navigation of the long after the original conilrudion of a manufeript
' E.ill-Indies with the Cape of Bona Speran^a map, without the overciowding or crafure, which

• (Good Hope) according as our later maps have detect interpolatiuns in a manufcript book ; and

• defcrlbed it.' [_Pur(.has, B. x, /). 1673.] To we, who fee them only in engraved copies, have
»hcfc may be added the maps, (llll prefcrvcd in the not the fmalkil opportunity to judge of their gen-
library of S'. Mark at Venice, bearing the name uinenefs.

of Andrea Bianco and the date of 1436, and pub-

* In Tcnreira, onr of lh<! Ajcrcs, tliirc arc two hills ' ihe enchanted ifl:>nj, llic ])..radifc of the pagan Irifh,* was
Cillcd Brcfyl. \Lllfdl,trHl^'li\(l)^rJ,fj>.lii,l'6(l■^ I know fuppoffd to he fituatcd in ihc Ocean to the Wtftward of
r.ot if il bt worth while to otftrvc, th.tt ' U-/ lirsfajl, or lithnid. [I'ulufucyj Coll. de rth. Hit'crii. yi. xi, f. 282.]

A. D. 1416. 631

Champagne in France, and of Flanders and Brabant in the Netherlands *.
[Foedera, V. ix, pp. 334, 335.]

' Henry Barton (mayor of London) ordained lanthornes with lights
' to be hanged out in the winter evenings betwixt Hallontide and
' Candlemaflb.' [Stoiv''s Survey, p. 935.]

This year the Hollanders in their herring fiftiery began to ufe the
veflels called bufTes. [^Schoockn Differ t, dehareng. § 35.]

1417, July 31" — The truce with the duke of Burgundy, who was
alfo earl of Flanders, Bologne, &c. was renewed till Eafter 1 41 9. It
was agreed, that during war with Genoa all goods, belonging to the
Flemings or others, found onboard Genoefe velFels, fhould be liable to
feizure and condemnation ; but that the property of the Englilh in Flan-
ders and of the Flemings in England fhould not be liable to any arreft,
unlefs for debts contraded, or crimes committed, after the date of the
truce. In the fubfequent confirmation by the duke, it was alfo provid-
ed, that no damage fhould be done to the merchants, feamen, pilgrims,
clergymen, and fifhers, on either fide ; that veflels belonging to either
party, taken by corfairs, and carried into the ports of the other party,
fhould be reftored to their owners, or the value be made good to them ;
provifions and merchandize might be imported in neutral veflels into
either country without moleftation ; unarmed merchant vefTels chafed
by enemies fhould be freely admitted into the ports of either party ;
the Englifh fhould make a ipacious road from Calais to Gravelings, and
the Flemings fhould continue it along the Downs of Flanders, for the
ufe of merchants and other perfons of both countries, who were to have
no dogs with them, and not to moled the rabbits on the Downs ; the
Englifli fhould have the liberty to make fafl their vefTels in the Flemifh
ports, as pradifed by the French, Hollanders, Zelanders, and Scots, the
Flemings having the like liberty in the Englifh ports ; neither party
fhould carry goods belonging to the enemies of the other. The duke
moreover engaged, that the four members of Flanders fhould become
bound for the due execution of this treaty, and that he would obtain
the confirmation of his over-lord, the king of France. It was alfo de-
clared, that the treaty fhould be obferved in all his territories from the
coaft of Flanders to Cologne on the Rhine ; and that no infringement
of any of the articles by individuals of either fide, nor even war be-
tween France and England, fhould efFed any breach of it. \Fadera, V.
'r%,pp. 476, 483.]

Augufi: — King Henry, obferving that the fhips, brought to aflifl the
French by the Caflilians and Genoefe, were much larger than thofe of
his fleet, had got fome large vefl^els, called dromons, built at Southamp-
ton, fuch, fays an old writer, as were never feen in the world before,

* The excellence of the linens of thofe coun- ation. Fine linen of Rlicims made a part of the
tries is celebrated in many romances and poems prefents fent by the king of France to Bajazet, a)
'jompofed before the age now under our confider- already noticed, p. 698.

632 A. D. 1417.

three of which had the names of the Trinity, the Grace de Dieu, and the
Holy Ghqft. But the principal veflels of the whole fleet, wherewith he
now made his fecond invafion of France, were two large fhips, mofl;
magnificently fitted up. One of them, called the Kings Chamber, in
which he embarked himfelf, carried a fail of purple filk (furely only for
holiday exhibitions) whereon the arms of England and France were
embroidered ; and the other, called the King's hall, "was alfo very fump-
tuoufly adorned *. {Fragment, and Libell of EngliJJ? policy, in Hakluyt, V.
h pp. 185, 203 — Tit. Liv. Fit. Hen. V,p. '7,-i,?[

We have already I'een that the Normans were the mofl fpirited merch-
ants in France ; and, as commerce and manufadtures mutually fupport
each other, we find them alfo the greateft manufacturers, at leaft in
the woollen branch. The arrival of the Englifh army in Normandy
ftruck fuch a terror throughout the province, that above twenty-five
thoufand families fled from it into the adjacent province of Bretagne
(whofe duke was then in friendfliip with King Henry) and carried the
art of making woollen cloth among the Bretons, who were hitherto ig-
norant of it : and thus was Henry's invafion the means of fpreading
that manufadure more widely through France. {Meyeri Ann. Flandr.
f. 250 b.]

1418, May 4'^ — King Henry, having got pofi'eflion of Normandy,
and underftanding that his fubjedls of that country had been grievoufly
opprefTed by heavy duties impofed upon fait in times pafi: by his adver-
faries, and tyrannically compelled to buy fait at exorbitant prices, gave
notice, that he, being defirous to relieve his poor people from fuch op-
prefiion, and to govern them according to jufl:ice, licenced the Normans
and his other French fubjeds to buy whatever quantities of fait they
fhould think proper in places to be appointed by him. And forafmuch
as it was ufual in all Chrift;ian kingdoms to levy cufi:om upon every
kind of merchandize bought or fold, and fait among others, and he was
in great need of money to carry on the war, he impofed a duty of one
fourth part of all fait fold, to be levied in kind or in money at his op-
tion, and ordered that all filt ftiould be fi:ored in warehoufes to be efta-
blifiicd by him, and meafured by his meafurers, under penalty of for-
feiture of the fait, the flefh faked, carts, horfes, harnefs, &c. [Fcedera^
r. ix,/>. 583.]

September 24'*" — Alfonfo king of Aragon having about a year before
granted protection to the fubjeds of England with their vefl^els and merch-
andize in his territories, which feems to have been little, if any thing,
more than a fliadow of favour in order to obtain a fubftance by way of
rcciprocration, King Henry now granted fimilar protedion to the fub-

• As the Libctl of Englifli policy has no men- been given on the occafion to two of the three
tion of the King's chamber and the King's hall, large (hips piirlicularly named in it.
it is not improbable, tliat thofe nanncs inay liave 3

A. D. 141 8. 6^^

jeds of Aragon, [Fadera^ V. ix,p. 622] who, as we (hall fee afterwards
(A. D. 1438), knew how to make the beft ufe of the privilege.

1419, July 14''' — The truce or treaty with Flanders for the fecurity
of trade was renewed. King Henry having made a demand of /?i 0,000
as a compenfation for merchandize taken from fome merchants of Eng-
land and Ireland in the port of Sluys, and alfo feveral privileges re-
fpeding the conveyance of money through Flanders to the flaple at
Calais, the Flemifli ambailadors declared, that thofe matters were not
within their commiflion ; and it was agreed, that they fliould be adjuft-
ed in a fubfequent meeting to be held at Calais. IFcede/a, V. ix, pp. 769,

779-] . ^.

Odober 1 2'^ — King Henry accordingly appointed commiflioners to
meet thofe of the duke of Burgundy. But the Flemings were prevent-
ed from attending by the troubles confequent upon the murder of their
duke, till January 1420, when the treaty was renewed till the 1" of the
enfuing November, and a commiflion was appointed to liquidate the
claims for damages on both fides. [Faedera, V. ix,pp. 804, 843.]

This year Schahrok, the fon of the great Timour, fent ambaffadors
to the emperor of Cathay, or China. Some merchants went in their
train ; but no commercial tranfadions are noted in a pretty circumftan-
tial account of the embaffy, from which we learn, however, that the
arts were then in as high a degree of perfedlon in that great empire as
they are at this prefent day. [T'/jevenoi, Voyages curienx, pariie 4.]

1420, December — The parliament gave a new proof of their anxiety
to flock the kingdom with gold by an ad obliging every merchant
flranger buying wool in England, to be carried to the weflern countries*
without previoufly going to the fl:aple, to deliver to the mafl:er of the
mint in the Tower one ounc6 of gold bullion for every lack ; and the
fame was alio to be delivered for every three pieces of tin. \_ASls 8 Hen.

V,C.2.-]

The Portuguefe began this year to cultivate the ifland of Madeira.
The firll fettlers did not think of planting vines, but gave their atten-
tion chiefly to fugar canes, brought from Sicily, which fucceeded very
well, the prince's tifth part amounting in fome years to 60,000 arobas,
or about 15,000 hundredweights f. [Furcbas, B. ii, c. i, § 2.]

We have the following pidure of the commerce of Venice about this
time in a fpeech addrefled by the duke Tommas Mocenigo to the fena-

tors The annual value of goods exported was ten millions of ducats,

and the profits, outward and homeward, were about four millions. The
ihipping confifl;cd of 3,000 veflels of from ten to two hundred amforas
burthen carrying 17,000 feamen, 300 fliips carrying 8,000 feamen,

* In the fecoiid year of Richani II the paili,-- the difcovcry and fettlement of every idand occu-

rr.cnt cxp'.aintd which countries they comprehend- pied in th.i': sj^c oi ll;e weft fide of Afiica. The

cd under the term Wcftcrn. See above p. 587. Portuguefe and Spanilli accouius arc apparently

■}■ 1 do not pretend to give a clear account of irreconcilable.

Vol, I. 4 L

634 '^' ^' M'^o.

and 45 gallies, great and fmall, manned by 1 1 ,000 feamen * : and there
were 1 6,000 carpenters employed in the dock-yards. The mint of
Venice coined annually 1,000,000 of ducats in gold, 200,000 pieces of
fjlver of various fizes, and 800,000 foldi. Every year 500,000 ducats
were fent into Syria and Egypt, and 100,000 ducats to England (the
balance of the Venetian trade with England being thus one fifth of the
Turn paid for the oriental produdions, for it may be obferved that the
Venetians affuredly carried a great deal of merchandize to England, and
probably very little to Syria and Egypt). The Venetians received an-
nually from the Florentines 16,000 pieces of cloth, from middling qual-
ity to the very fineft, which they fent to Apulia, Sicily, Barbary, Syria,
Cyprus, Rhodes, Egypt, Romania, Candia, and the Morea through Iftria.
Though the Florentines fold fo much cloth to Venice, they alfo carried
thither 7,000 ducats weekly, and purchafed French and Catalonian
wool, crimfon, and grain, filk, gold and iilver thread (or wire, ' fdati'),
wax, fugar, and violins. The value of the houfes in Venice was eftim-
ated at feven millions of ducats, and the annual rents at half a mil-
lion. [Sanuto, Vite de duche di Venezia, ap. Muratori Script. V. xxii, coL

1421, May 6''' — As we can have but few opportunities of feeing any
account of the antient revenue and expenditure of the kingdom of
England, the following ftatement of them for one year ending with
Michaelmafs, prefented to the king by the treafurer of England, appears-
worthy of notice, efpecially as it fhows, that, even in thofe days, the
greatefr part of the public expenfes were fupplied from the trade of the
country.

The revenue confifled of
Customs on wool - - - - ,^3,976 1 1

Subsidy on wool _ _ - _ 26,035 18 8-

Small customs - - - - - 2,'138 9 I4

Duty of 1 1 pennies on tlie pound in the value of goods (the w hole a-

mountofwhich thence appears to have been^l64j750:15:10) 8,237 10 gf

40,676 19 gi
Causual revenues paid into the exchequer - - 15,o66 11 1

Total revenue - _ _ _ 55,743 10 10^

Out of the above were to be supported
The custody or defence of England - ^5,333 6 8

ofCalais and its marches in time of war 1 9,1 1 9 5 10

of the marches of Scotland and Koks-

burgh, in war - - 19,500 0 O
of Ireland f - - 1,666 13 4

• The 3000 vefTch carried only five or fix men f With icfpcft to the marches of Scotland vvc

each on an average, and the 300 Ihips about have the correfpoiulinf; tcllimony of the hillorian

twenty one eacl). Ot the 45 gallics fome mud ofCroyland, \jip- Giile, p. 56^] that the keeping

have heen formidable vcfTcls, each of them having, of Berwick alone cod abont this time 10,000

upon an average of the whole 45, about 244 fea- marks annually ; and thence he concluded, tliat

ir.en, a fufficient complement for a very rcfpcdtabic the pofilfllon of it was a lofs, rather than an ac-

modcrn frigate. qviifition, to England. Thus thofe two antient

A. D. 1421, 635

The custody of the castle of Frounsake - ^666 13 4

Salaries of the treasurer, keeper of the privy seal,
judges, barons of exchequer, and
and other officers of the court 3,002 1 7 6

of the officers of the customs, &c. 547 O O

of dukes, carls, knights, esquires, abbess

ofShene, &c. - - - 7,751 12 7i

Annuities charged on the customs - 4,374 4 3

Salariesofofficersofthecustomsinthe several ports* 274 3 4

Total expenditure - f 52,235 16 10;

Surplus of revenue _ _ _ _ _ ^3,507 13 Hi

out of which were to be defrayed the charges of

The king's and queen's houfehold and wardrobe (' camera — hofpitio

' gardei'oba') ; The king's works, the new tower at Portfmouth — clerk
of the king's fhips — the king's lions and the conftable of the Tower —
artillery — the king's prifoners — ambafladors — meffengers, parchment,
&c the duchefs of Holland.

There remained unprovided for
Old debts for Harfleur and Calais — the king's wardrobe, and clerks of
the king's fhips and works — arrears to annuitants — debts of King Henry
IV, and of Henry V when prince of Wales. \_Fadera, V. x, p. 113, ex
MS. Bib. Cott. Cleop. F iii.]

May — It being cuflomary to build the keels, ufed at Newcaflle for
carrying coals onboard the fhips, larger than the ftandard meafure of
twenty chaldrons, in order to evade part of the duty of two pennies,
payable by all perfons not free of Newcaftle, it was enaded, that their
burthen fhould be meafured and marked by commiflioners appointed
by the king %. {Acts 9 Hen. V^Jlat. i, c. 10.]

Notwithflanding the late law againfl vitiating the money, it was now
in fo bad a flate, that the parliament cnaded, that the gold money of
England fhould only be taken by weight. And the people were ordered
to carry their light and vitiated money to the tower to be recoined, the
king, in confideration of their lofs, foregoing the emolument due to him
upon the coinage ||. [r. n.]

May 29"^ — Peace being made with the king of France (May 21"), it
was immediately followed by a reconciliation with the Genoefe, and by

Gibrahars, Calais and Berwick, appear to have % The parliament feem to have known nothing
coll almoil fixteen times as much as the whole of an order fimilar to this aft in the reign of Rich-
kingdom of Ireland. ard II. See above, p. 589.

* As the officers miift have been very numer- || Stow \Survey of Lond'jn,p. 85] fays, that the

ous, this very fmall amount of all their falaries ac- nobles were taken this year in payment of the flf-

counts for the frequent complaints of their extor- teenth granted to the king at the full value of <^?,

tions. if they were worth 5/8. That regulation was

f In this account we find the very ufual difa- probably fubfcqucnt to the diminution of the mo-

grecmcnt between the totals and the particular ney, for which Ice the appendix,
numbers : but, as it is impofiible to trace the error,
wc mull take them as they Hand in the record.

4 L 2

636 A. D. 142 1.

a new treaty, whereby all paft injuries were configned to oblivion. Each
party was at liberty to trade with the enemies of the other, but not to
give them any affi fiance by fea or land. In cafe of a breach of this
perpetual alliance rhe fubjeds of either party were to be allowed eight
months * to retire with their property. The fubjeds of each power
might import and export in the ports of the other all kinds of merchan-
dize not prohibited, on paying the ufual cuftoms, and freely tranfadl
their bufinefs. Infractions of this treaty by individuals (hould be duely
punifhed, but fhould make no breach of the friendfhip between the
contrading powers. The duke and community of Genoa became bound
to pay to William Waldern and his partners, who had obtained letters
of marque againft them, (fee above, p. 625) ;(^6,ooo fterling, as the full
balance for damages remaining unfatisfied f . \Fcedera, V. \, p. 117.]

December — The parliament enaded that exchanges for gold and fil-
ver money fhould be eftablifhed in London and other places in the
kingdom, where money fhould be coined for the public on paying 5/
for the Tower pound of gold, and 1/3 for the fame weight of filver, as
the dues of feignorage and coinage. [ABs 9 Hen. V,Ji. 2, c. 2.]

For the eafe of the merchants and others reliding at Calais, it was
enaded, that a mint and coinage (hould be eftablillied there during the
king's pleafure, faving to him his dues from the coinage, &c. [c. 6. J

1422, Augufl 51" — It pleafed God to cut off King Henry in his bril-
liant career of vidory, and to fave the Britifh iflands from becoming
provinces of the French empire. I fay the Britifli iflands ; for not only
Ireland, as an appendage of England, would have been fubjed to the
king of France and England, but Scotland alfo, as foon as the French
fhould have perceived, that, inflead of being a conquered and deprefTed
people, they were really the predominant nation, and had acquired a
great and valuable addition of territory and of naval and miUtary power
along with their new king, mufl have fubmitted to the irrefiftible unit-
ed naval and mihtary forces of France, England, and Ireland : and
then the agriculture, manufadures, and commerce, of the Britifh king-
doms would have been as completely fubfervient to the interefl and
policy of France, as ever thole of Ireland and the colonies were to thefe
of England. By the invafions of France England was depopulated % ;
and Henry, like his predeceffor who tiril flarted the fatal pretenfion to
the fovereignty of that kingdom, found himfelf reduced to the mifer-
able and illuiory expedient of diminifliing the value of the current mo-
ney of the kingdom ||. In fhort, the interefis of commerce and the

• In the treaty with Priifila in J387 the merch- \ One proof of the depopulation is recorded by

ants were allowed liL'elve monlhs to fctlle their bu- parliament, in the aft 9 Hen. V,Jl. Ij «"• 5> where-

lincfs in eafe of a rupture. by the (lierrifs, inltead of being changed annually,

•j- In the year 1414 the Gcnoefe made olTera of were to continue levtral years in olHee, bccaufe a

compeiifation to the injured merchants, which fujfic'tent wimber of ptijons Juely qualified for the office

were probably not falisfattor)' ; [^Fadera, V. \\, p. couH nol he found,

160.^ It is oblervable, tliat this treaty, which |{ Sec the appendix,
contains but little matter, is almoll as proUx as a
modern one.

A. D. 1422. 637"

happinefs of the people were equally difregarded during this fplendid
reign of conquefl and defolation. The Scots, by their ftrenuous exer-
tions againfl Edward III, and their opportune afliftance to France againfl
Henry V, contributed largely to prevent the fubjedion and ruin of
Great Britain.

October — In the firft year of Henry VI feveral laws refpefting money
and the ftaple of Calais were confirmed by parliament. {Acts i Hen. VI.J

The Genoefe had obtained from the Greek emperor, Michael Palajo-
logus, a leafe of a mountain on the coafl: of Afia Minor, containing a
mine of alum ; and near it they built a fmall fort, which gave birth to-
a town called Nev/ Phocsea, being nearly on the fite of the antient
Phocsea, a city of fome note in the early annals of commerce. The
Turks, when they became m.afters of the country, permitted the Genoefe
to enjoy their trade in alum as before. The French, Germans *, Eng-
lifh, Italians, Spaniards, Arabians, Egyptians, and Syrians, were their
purchafers ; and the fadory, or colony, continued to profper, till their
trade was interrupted by the war with Catalonia, which prevented the
Genoefe vefTels from tranfporting the alum to France, Spain, England,
and even to their neighbouring ports of Italy |. {Di^cas, c. 25, pp,
89-91.]

1423, 06lober — ^The parliament permitted gold and filver to be car-
ried out of the kingdom for military expenfes, and to pay for horfes,
oxen, flieep, and other things, bought in Scotland for the fervice of the
adjacent parts of England, and for thofe purpofes only. In order to
prevent alien merchants from fmuggling money out of the country,
every company was obliged to find fecurity that none of the partners
(hould export gold or filver. [Acts 2 Hefi. J^% c. 6.]

Frauds in the fizes of feveral kinds of caiks having become common,
the parliament ordained, that no perfon fliould import, or make within
the realm if, a tun of wine meafuring lefs than 252 gallons Englifli mea-

* Tiie Flemings are furely comprehended here this patTage Ducas does not exprefsly fay, where

under the name of Germans. thofe nations bought the alum ; but the fubfequent

■\ I am here obliged to differ from Mr, Gibbon, information in p. 91 leaves no doubt, that thty re-

an author, whofe general accuracy, ftricl: attention ceived it in their own ports from the Genoefe vef-

to authority, and extent of refearch, are almoft un- fels. In the year 1450 we (hall fee alum to the

fq^ialed. He fays, \_V. xii,/i. 52] that the Eng- value of ^{^4,000 delivered by the Genoefe to Henry

liih are mentioned by Ducas among the nations VI king of England.

that refortcd to New Phocxa ; an early evidence % ' Si eft ordeinez et eftablez, qe null homme
of Mediterranean trade.— I was myfelf very much < *»* » apporte en le royalme d'Engleterre, de
pleafed to think that the Engiilh were now carried ' qel paiis qe ceo foit, ne face deins melme !e roy-
by the fpirit of commercial eiiterprife almoft as far ' alme, tonell de vyn, s'll ne conteigne del mefurc
from home, as their anceftors liad been by the ' d'Engleterre J' et xii galons.' — Does the verb
frenzy of fuperftition, till I confulted the original _/icf j^ma/ff^ apply to the tun, or to the wine ? Was
author, who only fays, that the mariners faiUng wine made in England at this time in fuch quant-
from the eaft to the weft thought alum a ufeful and ities as to be an objeft of trade and legiflative re-
convenient cargo for their (hips, (as, I fuppofe, it gulation, or was it only mentioned from fuper-
has, like common fait, the virtue of preferving the abundant caution ? Doctor Henry [K viii,^. 270^
timbers) and that the French, Germans, Englifli, thinks that this acl indicates, that the wines made
&c. purchafcd the alum dug from the mountain, in England were confiderable in quantity, and of .-
v/hich is very valuable to fullers and dyers. lu the fame kinds with foreijjn wines.

638

A. D. 1423.

fure, the pipe 126, the tertian and hogfhead in proportion; that the
barrel of herrings or eels fhould contain 30 gallons, the butt of falmon
84 gallons, and fmaller cafks in proportion, the fifh in all of them, whe-
ther imported or cured at home, being fully packed, {c. 11.]

The laws for regulating the ftandard quality of filver were renewed.
The filverfmiths were ordered to affix their own mark to their work.
Keepers of the touch (or elTay-mafters) were appointed in London,
York, Newcaftle upon Tine, Lincoln, Norwich, Briflol, Salifbury, and
Coventry, who were to ftamp all filver work of the due flandard with a
leopard's head. In other places the filverfmiths were allowed to fell
their wares with their own flamp only, but liable to a penalty of double
the value of any filver found under the ftandard of flerling money.
[c. 14.]

1424, February — James, king of Scotland, having bound himfelf and
his kingdom to pay ^^40,000 flerling, by inflallments in the courfe of
fix years, to Henry VI, king of England, for his board or keeping *,
gave his own obligation, and delivered a number of hoflages of the firfl
families in Scotland ; and moreover, as if thofe fecurities were not fuf-
ficient, the communities of Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee, and Aberdeen,
as the moft opulent towns of Scotland, gave their obligations for 50,000
marks each, every one of them thus taking burthen for the whole,
which, by an allowance of 10,000 marks as the portion of Lady Jane,
daughter of the duke of So'merfet, married to King James, was reduced
to that fum inftead of the original 60,000 marks. In a truce of feven
years, which accompanied this pecuniary tranfadion, the only article, in
the finallefl: degree conneded with commerce, provided that the merch-
ants, pilgrims, and filhers, of either party, driven by ftrefs of weather
into the ports of the other, fhould not be feized. [Foedtra, V. x, pp.

.324,3291-]

May — James I, king of Scotland, was diilinguiflied by a bright genius,
a vigorous mind cultivated in the fchool of early adverfity, and an eager
defire to improve the condition of his kingdom, which had been in a
retrograde ftate fince the death of King Alexander III. With his reflor-
ation commences the regular feries of the written laws of Scotland J,
which will henceforth furnifli authentic materials for the commercial

* ' Pro tempore quo diclus dominus Rex Ja- + It is worthy oF obfcVvation, that the laws of

' cobus ftclit ill prefentia regum Anglis'. The Scotland, vvhich had hitherto all been written in

comniifiioners carefully avoided the word ranfom, Latin, were after the relloration of James, with the

;is they did not chufe to fay that James was a prif- exception of about half a dozen, all cxprefled in

oner. ''"■' language of the |)eoplc, who were to be go-

f The panes here quoted are only thofe con- verned by them, and the (liirrefs were diredled to
laiiiing the obligations of the four towns, whicli make them fufficieiilly public throughout the king-
had tlic heavy honour of jjciiig fteuritica for iheir dom. In England tiie laws were either in Latin
fovcrcign, and the article of the truce referred to. or French, and moftly Freneli, till the reign of
Of the hundreds of writings concerning the libera- Richard III, when the full EnglKh llatute was
tion of King James, thofe printed in the ninth and enafted, whicli was long after the French lan-
icntli volumes of the Focdera, though only a part, guage had become obfoletc even among the upper
are far too numerous to be particularly quoted. tanks. »

A. D. 1424.

639

Iiiftovy of that kingdom. la his firfl: parHament the great and fmall
cufloms and the burgh mailles (or rents) were annexed to the crown.
— The fluughter of fahnon in the improper feafon was ftritflly prohibit-
ed * — Cruivcs and yairs (engines for catching fifli) were prohibited in
tide rivers ; and thofe, who had right to fet them in rivers above the
tide, were enjoined to obferve the laws for preferving the breed of the
fiiii. — All mines, yielding three halfpennies of filver out of a pound of
lead, were declared the property of the kingf — The exportation of
gold and filver was permitted, but loaded with the prohibitory duty of
<^ per pound (i6| per cent); and foreign merchants were to prove
by the evidence of their hofts, that they had inverted the proceeds of
their imports in Scottifli merchandize, or paid the duty for exporting,
the money. — The following duties were impofed upon cattle and other

■}

goods carried out of the kingdom.

Horses, oxen, and sheep, one shillings"
per pound of the value

Heirlngs, per thousand 0 I

Herrings, barreled, taken by natives, per last 4 O

■■ — by foreigners, 6 0

Redherrings,curedinScotland,pertliousand O 4

Skins of merlriks (martins) each 2

of fowmarts (weasels) — O

of cunnings (rabbits) perhundred . . I

of otters and foxes per daker 0

of harts and hinds 1

of does and roes every ten 0

J.
O
I

o
6
0
4

— The parliament empowered the king to reftore the money to an
equality with that of England |. — Able beggars were not to be permit-
ted to infeft the country ; and thofe efteemed proper objedls of charitv
were to be furniilied with tickets by the fhirrefs in the country, and by
the aldermen and bailies in the towns ||. [Acisjac. /, cc, 8, X2, 13, 14,
17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 27.]

Thefe regulations were intended to be permanent. But as it was ne-
cefTary to make provifion for the payment for which the kingdom was
bound to the king of England, a temporary law of this feflion [cc, 10,
11] impofed a tax of twelve pennies on every pound of rent and other
branches of income, and alio of the annual increafe of corn and cattle,
to be paid agreeable to a ftandard valuation fixed by parliament § : and
this tax was to be paid by the clergy as well as the laity. We learu
from Walter Bowar, one of the commiffoners for this taxation, that it

* From an aft of the next fLflian the prohibited
feafon appears then to have begun on the 15"" of
Auguft and ended on the 30'" of November.

■)- Tliis law is fomevvhat obfcuve. It fays, ' Gif
' ony niyne of gold or filver be fundln in oiiy lordis
' landis of the reahne, and it may be previt that
' thre half pennyis of lilver may be fynit out of the
' pund of leid : the lordis of parliament confentis,
• that fic myne be the kingis, as Is ufuai of utlicr
' realmes.' — Wa3 the lead, with the filver, or only
the filver, to belong to the king ? Though gold is
mentioned, 1:0 provifion is made refpecling it.
Tliere was probably no expectation of ever finding
any : but fome gold was afterwards found In fome
of the rivulets of Scotland.

X The Impoveriihed {late of the country, not

yet recovered from the calamity of King David's
ranfom, and now further drained by the contribu-
tion for the boaid-money, ranfom, or finance, of
King James, together with the erroneous ideas of
tlic age concernirg money, operated more power-
fully than any act; of pailiament, and produced a
diminution, inllead of an improvement, of the mo-
ney of Scotland. See the appendix.

II The repetition of this act in lefs tlian a vear
fliows that it was inefficient.

§ Fur the rates fee the ajjpcndix of prices. But
it muH be obfervcd, that the articles are all much
undervalued, e. g. a boll of wheat only 2/, which
is much below the price in Englan.', and, allowing
for the diminution of the money, hclow the ufual
price in the happy days of Alexander III.

640 A. D. 1424.

amounted in the firfl: year almofl to fourteen tlioufand marks, which,
without making any allowance for (hort returns ufual in fuch cafes,
makes the annual income of the people of Scotland, independent of the
lands and cattle employed by land-holders in their own hufbandry,
which were exempted, amount to near 280,000 marks, equal in efFe<5live
Talue to about three millions of modern flerling money. Next year,
the zeal of the people being cooled, the tax was lefs productive ; the
people grumbled (for taxes, except in cuftoms, which became part of
the apparent price of the goods on which they were charged, were un-
known) and no more was levied. [Scoticbron. V. ii, p. 482.]

1425, March — The parliament of Scotland prohibited the exportation
of tallow. — No perfon was allowed to go abroad as a merchant, who
had not three ferplaiths* of wool, or other goods of equal value, either
of his own property, or configned to him — A duty of 2y"in the pound
on the value was impofed on woollen cloth exported ; and a duty of 2/6
in the pound was laid upon falmon exported by ftrangers. Englifh
goods imported were charged with a duty of 2/6 in the pound, alfo of
the value. [ABs Jac. I, cc. 35, 41, 44.] Thefe laws fhow, that there
•was fome manufacture, and even exportation, of woollen cloth in Scot-
land. And they alfo {how, how much the principles of commerce were
miftaken by one of the mod enlightened and patriotic kings of the age:
but thofe principles were not then known on this fide of the Alps and
the Pyrenees, unlets perhaps by the Flemifli and Hanfeatic merchants.

INIay — It was now a common pradice to carry fheep from England
to Flanders, whereby the price of wool was lowered, to the great dam-
age of the king and the kingdom. The parliament therefor ftridtly
prohibited all perfons from carrying fheep beyond the fea, except for
victualing the town and marches of Calais. \_ABs 3 Hen. VI, c. 2.] If
the exportation of live fheep was really fo confiderable as to deprels the
price of wool in England, it proves, that there was ftill more wool ex-
ported than v/as worked up in the home manufactures. The uncon-
troulable opportunity offmuggling fheep from Calais (which might as
well have received carcafes from the butchers at Dover) was one ot the
evils attending the pofleflion of that poft.

We find an inftance of attention to inland navigation in an ad; en-
forcing the ordinances formerly made for removing all impediments to
the paffage of boats on the River Lea, whether by abftradion of the
water in ditches, by kidcls, wears, or mills, {c. 5.]

October 1 1'" The Lombards traded to Scotland in very large car-

• The quantltj' of tlie fci'plaitli prc^bably varied Merchant, explnine three ferplaiths lobe 2 24ftonc3

!n the co'irfe of ages. In tlie year 1527 the Uirds of wool. Q^. if not an ciror for 240 : — In Eng-

of council in Scotland determined its contents to land a farpltr (apparently the f,>nie word) was

be eighty Hones of wool. [_Shne de verh.fi^n. In tqiial to two faeks and a half in the year 1449, as

vo."] Murray in the alphabetical abridgement at ajpedis by the act 27 Ktn. VI, c. 2, to be noticed

the end of \u\i edition of the Luwi of Scolltiinl, vo. in due time. 4

A. D. 1425. 641

racks, one of which (' navis immaniflima'j was wrecked near Leith by
a fudden ftorm with a fpring tide on the change of the moon *. ^Sco/i-
chron. V. ii, p. 4S7.]

The I'lemings, as aUies of England, having commiitcd feveral hoftil-
ities againft the Scots, the alUes of France, King James had ordered the
flaple of the Scottifli commerce in the Netherlands to be removed to
Middleburg in Zeland. About the end of this year the Flemings fent
umbafladors to Scotland to folicit the return of the trade, which was
granted in coniideration of more ample privileges ftipulated for the
Scottifh merchants in Flanders f. [Scotichroti. //>.]

The Florentines having acquired the port of Leghorn by purchafe,
were defirous of participating in the lucrative commerce of Alexandria,
then almoil entirely in the hands of the Venetians. Their firfl: fhin
carried ambafladors with prefents for the fultan of Egypt, who granted
them permiflion to eftablifli fettlements in his dominions, with a churchy
warehoufe, bath, &c, and a conlul, at each, with all the privileges grant-
ed to the Venetians jl. [Leibnitz, Mantljpi. Cod. jur. gent. dipl. pars 2, p.
163 Rofcoe's Life of Lor. de Mediti, V.i, p. 136.]

1426, February 18'" — Formerly one of the aldermen of London ufed
to ad. as a judge in mercantile caufes, wherein the German merchants of
the Hanfe reliding in England were parties : but for above feven years
the magiftrates of London had refufed to appoint any one of their num-
ber to adl in that capacity. After repeated applications of the Hanfe
merchants to parliament, the king now nominated Alderman Crowmer
to the office of alderman and judge of the Hanfe merchants §. {Fcedera,
F;x,/>. 351.]

March — The Scottifh parliament directed the merchants returning
from foreign countries to import harncfs (defenfive armour), fpears,
fhafts, bows, and ftaves They renewed the unavailing law for confin-
ing money within the kingdom, and fubjeded foreign merchants, not
only to the infpedion of their hofls, but alfo 10 the controul of two
fupervifors in every port. — They ordained, that uniform meafures of the
boll, firlot, half firlot, peck, and gallon, conform to ftandards kept at
Edinburgh, Ihould be ufed throughout the kingdom. ; that all goods
fold by weight (hould be weighed by the ftone, containing fifteen law-
ful Troye pounds, equal to fixteen lawful Scottifh pounds , and that the

•0 '!:.j: . :■■■'- ■■'-■

* The failors cf this great (liip, accuftomed ap- treaty with the Flemings. [^Scolic/jron. V. ii, p.

patently only to the ahiioil-tidclefs Mecliterranean 509.] Perhaps he is coiifuledly repeating the

fea, were not aware of the great rife of the fpring fame tranfaftlon a fccond time,

tides on our Britijh fhorts, and their (liip feems to J A fptcimen of the fales of the Florentine

have been loft by diaijging her anchors or parting woollen manufadlures has already been given in the

lier cables. She was^vrccked at Granton about view of the commerce of Venice under the year

three miles above Leith. J420.

-j- Bowar nieniions, without any date, a pacific- J In the year 1442 we find the king making a

ition between King James and the Hollanders, fimilar nomination of Alderman Frowyk. [Fctdera,

with fome circumliances fimilar to thofe of this V. xi,/. 16.]

Vol. I. 4 M

642 A. D. 1426.

alderman and bailies of each town fhould appoint a fufficient perfon to
meafure coals and other goods fold by the water mete, with whom the
fellers fhould not interfere. — Laflly, they ordered that the ads of this
and the two preceding parliaments fhould be regiftered, and that the
fhirrefs fhould ufe the proper means to render them fufficiently known
in every part of the kingdom, [^^s Jac. /, cc. 52, 55, 63, 64, 6^,

77-]

July 29"' — In a treaty between James, king of Scotland, and Eric, king

of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, theantient treaties were renewed or
confirmed ; mutual freedom of trade in the ports formerly frequented,
and agreeable to the rights and approved cuftoms of both kingdoms,
was agreed upon ; and all damages, tranfgreliions, and defaults, on both
fides were forgiven and cancelled, the annual rent for the vaflal king-
dom of Mann and the Ifles being ftill payable to Norway. [Tra^. ap.
For dun, p. 1353, ed. He arm. '\

July 30"" — The commanders of fome Englilli fhips, alleging that the
Flemings palFed the goods of Spaniards, Bretons, and other enemies, as
their own, had feized feveral Flemllh vefTels ; and the duke of Burgun-
dy had interpofed in behalf of his Flemifh fubjeds. The council of
England thereupon promifed, that juftice fhould be done to the Flem-
ings, and ordered the king's fubjeds to abflain from doing any injury
to them. \Joedera, V. yi,pp. 360, 361, 367.]

1427, March — The parliament of Scotland decreed, that the elne
fhould contain thirty-feven inches, agreeable to the law of King David I;
and they made fome alterations on the corn meafures *, which have re-
peatedly been altered fince. ^JEts Jac. I, cc. 78, 79, 80 f .]

July — They alfo ordained, that caufes concerning the property of
Scottifh merchants or pilgrims dying in Zeland, Flanders, or other for-
eign countries fhould be tried in Scotland before their ordinaries, by
whom their wills fhould be confirmed, though fome part of the property
might be in England or beyond the fea. [ABs Jac. /, c. 99 f .J

Odober — The parUament of England pafled an ad, whereby all merch-
ants, whether denizens or aliens, were permitted to fliip wool, hides,
wool-fells, and other merchandize, at the port of Mclcomb for Calais on
paying the due cuftoms, &c. [y/c?x 6 Hen. VI, c. 6.]

1428 March The parliament of Scotland permitted merchants for a

year enfuing to fiiips their goods in foreign vefTels, where Scottilli ones
were not to be found, notwithflanding the ftatute made to the contrary.
lABs Jac. I, c. 1 17.] This law, copied from the Englifh ad of the 6"
of Richard II, (as, indeed, almofl all the Scottifli laws were copied from

* The meafures are contradidlorily (U-fcribeJ iu two fcfTions of parliament, between which another

ibe aft by tiic blunder of the ocigiiiul clerk, the one, l>floiigiii[r to the preceding year, is placed in

tranfcribcr, or printer. the eJiUons.

ff There is an error in the numeration of ih«fs

A. D. 1428. 643

thofe of England) neceflarily infers the pre-exiftence of a Scdttifh )i/tvi-
gation a6l, whereof we find no traces in any edition of the adls *.

March, May — Some idea of the progreflive ftate of the manufa6liires
of England may be obtained from a comparifon of the articles now
fhipped, without paying cuflom, for the ufe of the king of Portugal and
the countefs of Holland, with a fimilar Hfl: of articles in the year 1393.
For theking, 6filver cups, weighing 6 marks each, gilded ; r pi6ce of fcarlet
cloth ; I piece fanguine dyed in grain ; 1 piece blood colour ; 2 pieces
muftrevilers ; 2 pieces of marble colour ; 2 pieces of rulTet murtrevilers ;
1 pieces black cloth of lyre ; i piece white woollen cloth ; 300 pieces
Eflex flraits for liveries j 2,oco platters, difhes, fawcers, pots, and other
vefTels, of eledrum f ; a number of beds of various kinds and fizes with
curtains, &c. ; 60 rolls of worfted ; 12 dozen of lances ; and 26 ambl-
ing horfes. For the countefs, feveral cut quantities of various woollen
cloths ; 12 yards of red figured fatin ; 2 pieces of white kerfey \ 3 man-
tles of rabbit's fur ; i| timber of martin's fur ; a quantity of rye, whole
and ground, in cafks. \Fcedera. V. •&, pp. 391, 398.J

July i" — The merchants of Holland, Zeland, and Flanders, had for
fome time in a great meafure given up trading to England in apprehen-
iion of being arrefled on the complaints of fome Englifli fubjeds. The
council of England, therefor, fenfible that commerce was ufeful and ne-
ceflary to all the world, and in compliance with the requeft of the
merchants of England, declared, that all people of Holland, Zeland, and
Flanders, coming in a mercantile manner, with provifions, merchandize,
gold, filver, coins, filver veflels, jewels, and all other goods whatever,
fliould be freely admitted in the king's dominions to fell their goods, and
purchafe any other lawful goods in return. {Fcedera, V. \, pp. 403, 404.]

1429, February 18"" — ^The king's fubjefts of Bayonne in France were
prohibited from exadling toll, laftage, pavage, pontage, or murage, from
the citizens of London, the charters of former kings having exempted
them from thofe impofts. [Fadera, V. x, /». 411.]

May 13"' — The eftablifhment of Bergen in Norway (' Norbarn'j, as
the ftaple for the trade in fifh and other merchandize, by the king of
Denmark, was announced by the council, who flridly prohibited the
Englifh feamen from going to Finmark, or any other place in the Dan-
ifti dominions than Bergen. {^Fcedera, V. x, />. 416.]

September — The weight called auncel being found a means of fraud,
it was prohibited :j: ; and all cities and burghs were required to provide

* The omiffion need not furprife, when wc find f What kind of fubftance or metal is here
a Cmilar want of fome afts of the parliament of meant by the name of elcdlrum, I fuppofe, it i?
England, where the records have been preferved, now impoffible to tell.

probably witli more care than in any other coun- J Though the auncel weight, which foems to

try in Europe. See below in the year 1463. have been fomething of the nature of a lleclyard,

was

3 4M 2

644 A- ^' 1429.

balances and weights made conform to the ftandard of the exchequer
and fealed, for weighing wool and other merchandize. None but
makers of cloth were permitted to buy woollen yarn. {Atls 8 Hen. VI,

c. 5]

The parliament, obferving, that many merchants for their own pro-
fit carried to Flanders, Holland, Brabant, and other places, the wool
and other ftaple goods of England, which ought all to have been carried
to Calais, whereby the payment of the duties was evaded, and the king's
mint at Calais was almofl: at a ftand, flridly prohibited ail perfons from
carrying any fuch goods from England, Wales, or Ireland, to any other
place than Calais, on penalty of forfeiture of double value and imprifon-
ment for two years. The merchants of Genoa, Venice, Tufcany, Lom-
bardy, Florence, and Catalonia, were, neverthelefs ftill allowed to fhip
wool, &c. for their own countries ; and the burgefles of Berwick were
alfo ftill allowed to retain their former privileges. \_c. i 7.]

For the profit and wealth of the kingdom it was ordained, that the
prices of wool, wool-fells, axid tin, fhould be raifed ; — .that they fliould

be fold only for gold and filver ; that three quarters of the price fliould

be carried to the mint at Calais to be coined ; — that the merchants
ihould account faithfully to thofe concerned with them ; — and that the
fellers fliould give fealed difcharges to the buyers, and make no coUuf-
ive agreements for giving them credit, [c. 18.]

The parliament, obferving that the people of Flanders, Holland, Ze-
land, and Brabant, in order to avoid carrying wool and other Englifli
merchandize of the ftaple to Calais, frequently packed them in tuns,
pipes, &c. and flowed them in their vefteils under wood, wheat rye, &c.
(whence the exportation of corn appears to have been pretty common)
all fuch fmuggling was now prohibited under the penalty of confifca-
tion of veflel and cargo, permiflion being ftill granted, as formerly, to
carry fuch goods into the Mediterranean*, [c. 19-]

The merchants of Calais having lately made a pradice of preventing
ftrangers from buying the ftaple goods from the importers, that they
might get them into their own hands, whereby they made great profits,
to the prejudice of both parties, the parliament, in their zeal for the
welfare of trade, prohibited them from buying any ftaple goods beyond
the fea, on pain of forfeiture. [<r. 20.]

The exemption, enjoyed by the men of Newcaftle and Berwick, from
the obligation of carrying their ftaple goods to Calais, being found pre-

was now proliibitcd by parliament, it appears to » ' Outre ks eft roitcs do Marrock.' Tiimigli

have been ftill uW ; for we find the clergy in tlie nulre is written in this ad Inftead of /./7>-, the word

fallowing year adding their authority to that of nfed in otiiers which liave a fimilar claiife, tliire

the parliament by a canon enjoining the fupprcf- feems no reafon to believe tliat any place really

fion of it under the terrible penalty of cxcommuni- beyond (or to ihc/outhward of) the Straits couM

cation. ItVilLins'' Concilia, p. ^\6.'] be intended.

A. D. 1429; 645

judicial to the kingdom, and it being alleged that they innported no
money (their proceeds being apparently inverted in goods wanted at
. home, and yielding a profit upon importation) they were now ordered
to carry their goods to Calais, as other fubjecls of England were obliged
to do. Perfons conveying llaple goods into Scotland, in order to evade
this law, were to be punillied by confifcation of their goods with double
value, and a year's imprifonment. [c. 21.]

Some regulations againft fraudulent pradices in exporting and pack-
ing wool, and againfl felling the ends of woollen yarn, called thrums,
were now enaded. [cc. 22, 23.]

It was ufual with foreign merchants to ftipulate with the buyers, that
the payments fliould be made in gold, apparently for the convenience
of carriage, as the laws fubjeded them to the expenfe and rifk of fmug-
gling their money out of the country. The parliament, in order to
counteract their purpofe, ordained that no perfon fliould be compelled
to pay in gold: and they alio enaded, that no perfon in England fliould-
fell any goods to a foreigner, unlefs for ready money, or goods in ex-
change immediately delivered, [c. 24.]

All thefe fetters upon commerce, impofed, as the legiflators fincerely
believed, for advancing the profperity of it, were like attempts to pre-
vent the rivers from running in their natural courfes.

1430, March — In Scotland the parliament enadlcd, that no perfons un-
der the rank of knights, or having lefs than 200 marks of yearly in-
come, fliould wear clothes made of filk or adorned with the finer furs.
The fons and heirs of the noble and opulent were allowed to drefs as

fine as their fathers In cafe of vefl^els being wrecked on the coafl: of

Scotland, the prefervation of the property for the owners, or the con-
fifcation of it to the king, was regulated by the law refpeding wrecks
in the country to which they belonged — All proprietors of land within
fix miles of the weft and north coafts, except thole who held their land
by the fervice of finding velTels, were now ordered to contribute to the
building and equipment of gallies for the public fervic, in the propor-
tion of one oar of the gallies to every four marks worth of land. [yJcfs
Jac.I.cc. 133, 138, 140.]

July 12*'' — The fuperiority of the Englifli commerce and manufac-
tures over thofe of Scotland appears by King James employing two citi-
zens of London to ftiip for his own ufe 20 tuns of wine, 12 bows, 4.
dozen yards of cloth of different colours and 12 yards of fcarlet, 20
yards of red worfted, 8 dozen pewter veflels, 1,200 wooden bowls (or
caps) packed in 4 barrels, 3 dozen coverels, a bafin and font, 2 lumnier
laddies, i hackney faddle, and i woman's diddle with furniture, 2
portmanteaus, 4 yards of motley, 5 yards of morrey, 5 yards ot black
cloth of lyre, 12 yards of kerfey, 12 fl<ins of red leather, and fonie trifl-
ing articles. Thefe goods, fliipped onboard a velfel belonging to Lou-

646 A. D. 1430.

don, were fecured by a royal order from being moleiled by Englifh
cruifers ; but they were to pay the cuftomary duties *. [Fcedera, V. x,
p. 470.] About this time a great cannon, made for King James in
Flanders, and called ihe Lionf, was carried to Scotland. [Scoticbron^ V.
li,/. 490.]

May 19'" — ^The king, or rather the council, borrowed ^50,000 for
the expenfes of a coronation in France. We find only fifteen cities and
towns in the records as lenders, whereof London gave £6,666 : 13 : 47,
Briftol £3^3 : 6 : 8, York £162, Coventry /^loo, Sarum £j2, and the
others frnaller fums, down to ^,^4. Of the clergy, the bilhop of Win-
chefter, cardinal of England, fubfcribed the enormous fum of ^£"9, 950 i/,
the prior of S'. John of Jerufalem £333 : 6 : 8 ; and feveral others
contributed frnaller furas. Sir John Cornwall was the only lay individ-
ual, whofe fubfcription was fo high as £s^°- [Fcedera, V. x, p. 461.]

July 1 9''' — The fubje^ls of the crown of England were prohibited
from attending any market in Brabant, efpecially Antwerp, till proper
fteps fhould be taken for the fecurity of their perfons and property.
They were alfo ordered to purchafe no linens of Flanders or Hainalt,
nor any napery or bokeram made in thofe countries, except according
to the regulations made by the four members of Flanders, and lately
proclaimed in Ghent, Bruges, and other places in that country. [Fcedera,
V. x,/>. 471.]

November S"" — A truce, to lafl one year from the firfi: of May, was
concluded with the king of Callile, wherein mutual freedom of trade
was llipulated ; and it was agreed, that any depredations committed on
either fide fi^ould be puniflied, and juftice done to the party injured, by
the fovereign of the offenders, without a breach of the treaty. It was
alfo mutually agreed, in order to prevent piracies, that no armed veffel
fhould be allowed to fail out of the ports of either kingdom, till fufla-
cient fecurity were given, that fhe fhould commit no hoflilities on the
fubje(fls of the allied king, nor carry any prizes whatever into any port,
but that from which fhe was fitted out. [Fa'dera, V. x, p. 473.]

December 1 5'" — A further truce of five years, reckoning from the
i" of May 1 43 1, was concluded between England and Scotland, which
is moftly occupied with expedients for reflraining the border mar-
auders. The merchants, pilgrims, and filkers, of either kingdom were,
as in the former truce, not to be feized in the ports of the other, if
driven in by flrefs of weather ; and flnpwrccked men were to be allow-
ed to pafs to their own home. In cafes of piracy not only the princip-

* ThoMgh James had been fo profitable a dear coufin the king of the Scots (' cariflimo con-
boarder to King Henry's grandfather, his fa- * fanguiiico noftro Jacobo lege Scotorum').
ther, and liimfelf, the compliment, ufually paid to f Grafton fays, this Lion was tlie gun, which
foreign princes and prelates, of exempting their burft and killed King Jame« II at the fiegc of
goodj from cuftona, was withheld from liis mod Rokfbuvgli.

A. D. 1430. 647

als, but alfo their receivers and encouragers, were made liable for com-
penfation to the perfons injured, or to punifliment. It was agreed, that
aggreffions by the fubjeds of either king fliould not occalion a breach
of the truce. [Foedera, V. x, p. 482.] Thefe were all the mutual accom-
modations afforded to each-other's commerce by the governments of the
fifter kingdoms.

1431 , January 5'" — * King James foon gave a proof of his fincerity by
idling apparently beyond the fpirit of the treaty. On the complaint
of three Englifh merchants he iflued letters empowering all perfons in
authority in the ports of England, Holland, Zeland, and Flanders, to
arreft fevcralofhis own fi;bjedts, therein named, accufed by thofe
merchants of having, about the end of November 1428, taken two
vefTels belonging to them with their cargoes, valued at /!^ 1,500, which
they conveyed to fome foreign country in contempt of the former
treaty. The king, in his eagernefs to do juftice to the injured perfons,
defired, that not only the four principal malefaftors particularized by
name, but alfo (if there is no error in tranfcribing or printing) any
other merchants or mariners of Scotland, ihould be arrefted at the re-
queft of the Englifh claimants. Surely juftice did not require that the
innocent fhould fuffer for the guilty.

At this time Bruges was the ftaple of the Scottifh trade in Flanders,
which was found fo beneficial on both fides, that the merchants of Scot-
land, authorized by their fovereign, entered into a treaty with the magi-
ftrates of Bruges (undoubtedly alfo fandioned by their fovereign the
duke of Burgundy) for the continuance of their commercial intercourfe,
and for certain privileges to be enjoyed by the Scots at Bruges, during
a period of one hundred years f .

January — The law of the B'** year of Henry VI, which prohibited all
fales to foreigners except on the terms of receive and deliver, having
produced a ftagnation in the woollen manufadure of England and a
deficiency in the cuftoms, the Englifh merchants were now permitted
to give credit to foreigners, but not to let it exceed fix months. \^Ad 9
Hen. VI, f. 2.]

1432, May — Many of the Englifh merchants complained, that their
merchandize was feized by the king of Denmark, apparently for viol-
ating his laws of the flaple. Within a year pafl the merchants of York
and Hull had lofl ;)(^5,ooo, and thofe of other ports of England ^{"20,000,
by fuch feizures. As no Danifh fubjeds traded to England, no reprifals

* King James's letter is dated 5'" Januafy 1430 expiration of it in a treaty for renewing it for an-

(chat is 143 1 reckoning the v'^ of January the be- other term of one hundred years, dated at Bruffels

gining of the year), and the twenty-fixth of his 24'^ July 153 1. [MS. Bib. Hai-l. ifi-^l V. iii.]

reign. The twenty-fifth year did not expire till It Is alfo mentioned in feveral letters of the year

5'' April 1431. But the correfponding date in 1531 (as appears by their contents, for the year

King Henry's order to his own fubje<as (hows that is omitted in the dale of eveiy one of thcmV

143 1 is right, andy^ATM printed inftead ol qmnto. prcfervcd in the Cotton library.

f This treaty is known from the mention of the

648 A. D. 1432.

could be made within the kingdom : and the king and parUament or-
dered, that letters fliould be fent to the king of Denmark, requiring re-
ftitution of the property. [yiSls 10 Hen. VI, c. 3.]

The commons in parliament pi-opofed (or petitioned) that the Hanfe
merchants fettled in London fliould be made liable for compenfation to
thofe whofe property fhould be feized by the Hanfe merchants in their
own countries. But the king would not confent. {Cvtloii's Abridge-
ment, p. 604.]

14^^, July lo'*" — The filverfmiths and gilders of England ftlll retained
their luperiority of workmanfliip, as appears by a pretty confiderable
number of articles, partly of plain filver, and partly gilded, exported to
France and Navarre. [Fa;dera, V. x, p. 553.]

July — The parliament prohibited the ufual pradice of accounting
nine, inftead of eight, bufliels of corn to a quarter They alfo ordain-
ed, that no woollen cloth fhould be offered to fale without being mea-
fured and fealed by the king's meafurer. They moreover ordained,
that only broad cloths fhould be fubjed to the regulations of the feventh
of Henry IV, and that the cloths called7?;wVj- might be made only 12
elns in length and one in breadth. [AEls 1 1 Hen. VI, cc. 8, 9.]

November 21" — The citizens of Barcelona claim the honour of hav-
ing made ordinances for regulating the important bufinefs of maritime
infurance before any other community in Europe. The counfelors and
chief men of the city now ordained, that no veflel fhould be infured for
more than three quarters of her real afcertained value ; that no merch-
andize belonging to foreigners fhould be infured in Barcelona, unlefs
it were freighted onboard a veflel belonging to a fubjedl of the king of
Aragon. Merchandize belonging to lubjeds of Aragon, freighted in
foreign veflels, fhould be infured only to the extent of half the real
value : and no merchandize whatever, except corn and wine, fhould be
infured for more than three quarters. The words value more or le/s, and
the like, fometimes inferted in policies (' feguretats'), were declared un-
lawful, and prohibited. If a veflel were not heard of for fix months,
fhe fliould be confidered as certainly loft. The infurance-broker's com-
miffion fhould not exceed two ihillings on the hundred pounds, to be
paid by the party infured ; and no broker, nearly related to, or con-
neded by marriage with, either of the contradting parties, fhould be
employed to negotiate an infurance. [Ordeu. ap. Capmany, Mei/i. hijl. dc
Barcelona, V. ii, p. 3^^.]

1434 — It may appear ridiculous to introduce religious pilgrimages as
fubjeds of commercial hiftory. But as great funis of money were ex-
ported and imported by means of thofe fuppol'ed ads of devotion, they
feem to merit Ibme notice. A pilgrimage to the Holy land, being an
arduous and expcnfive undertaking, was now only performed upon very
extraordinarv occafions : but a fummer trip to Compoftclla in Spain

A. D. 1434. 649

was merely a pleafure fail, efpecially from the fouthern ports of Eng-
land. At this time the rage for vifiting the fhrine of S'. James of Com-
poflella, which became very prevalent about the year 1428, had got to
fuch a height, that permits were granted by the king for carrying lixty-
three cargoes of pilgrims, confifting of above three thoufand perfons,
with the money neceflary for their charges and their devotional offer-
ings ; for the faint was very fond of money. It may be here noted, in
order to make an end of this tranfport trade, that, on a new rage for S'.
James breaking out again in 1445, the fhip-owners, who apparently
found the trade profitable, fitted out larger veflels than formerly, fome
of them being capable of carrying 200 pilgrims*. [Faedera,V. y.^pp.
386, 396, 401, 407, 567-582 ; V. yi\,pp. 77, 78.] The balance of this
commerce of fuperftition is, however, fuppofed to have been in favour
of England, owing to the great veneration in which S'. Thomas of Cant-
erbury was held by foreigners, whofe offerings at his ftirine, it is be-
lieved, amounted to more than all that was carried abroad by the Eng-
lifli pilgrims. ThUs it may have fometimes happened, that he, who
was a pell to his country while alive, might be of fome fervice to it
when dead. But the pecuniary advantage, derived from an exchange
of idlers for idlers, was a miieruble compenfation for the perverfion of
the purfuits of fo great a number of people from ufeful induftry.

1435, Jtme 26"' — The law, enacled in Scotland in the year 1424,
whereby thofe mines of lead, which were rich in filver, became the pro-
perty of the crown, apparently put ftich a check upon the operations of
mining, that King James, having occafion for thirty fodders of lead,
was obliged to purchafe it in the bifhoprick of Durham. The council
ol" England permitted it to be carried either by land or water, on paying
the ufual cufloms. [Fa^dera, V. x, />, 615.]

1436, April 18'" — Though the duke of Burgundy had withdrawn his
fupport from King Henry, the people born in his dominions, fettled in
England, were not molefled by government f on that account, provid-
ed they adled as good fubjecls ; whereupon 1738 aliens, among whom
were many born in Holland, Germany, &c. as well as thofe born in
Flanders, took the oath of allegiance, and obtained letters of protedion.
[Foedera, V. 's.,pp> 6^6, 637.]

September 8'" — In confequence of the defedion of the duke of Bur-
gundy an order had been iffued, that no EngHlhman fliould fail to any
foreign country, and particularly Flanders, without a fpecial licence :
and the merchants of neutral nations had availed themfelves of the pro-
hibition, and imported linen cloth (' pannum lineum'), madder, &.c.

• In the year 1434 molt of the veffcls carried ancl 60. Mod of the veffels carried two cargoes

about 60 pilgrims, 'ilie fniallcft cargo was 24 ; in the feafon.

and the Mary of Southampton was the only vellel f 1" ^^^ ^"^^ tranfport of the fury, excited by

which carried 100. Only two velTels failed from the dtfectioii of tiie duke, iomc of hij lubjcSs re-

Londoii in this tianfport trade with cargoes of 80 uding in London were plundered and murdered by

• the populace. [_ManJlrelci, f. 120.]

Vol. I. 4 N

650 A, D. 1436.

But the king's council, determined to cut off all communication or in-
tercourfe, forbad all foreigners to import any goods whatever from
Flanders. The orders were addrefled to the warden of the Cinque ports,
to the fhirrefs of London, and to the mayors and bailifs of Kingftou
upon Hull, Southampton, Chichefter, Briflol, Lynne, Orwell, Bofton,
Yarmouth, Colchefter, and Pool.

Odober — The parliament of Scotland enacted, that the exporters of
■yvool fliould give fecurity to bring home, and deliver to the mafter of
the mint, three ounces of bullion for every fack of wool, nine ounces
for a laft of hides, and three ounces for fuch quantity of any other goods
as paid freight equal to a ferplaith *. — No perfon was allowed to purchafe
Engliih cloth or other goods from Engliflimen ; and Engliilimen, hav-
ing permillion to enter Scotland, v/ere not permitted to carry any goods
with them, unlefs fpecified in their fafe-condu6ts. — The Scots were pro-
hibited from felling falmon to Engliflimen by previous contract, and'
were directed either to fell them in Scotland for prefent payment in
gold, or to export them to Flanders, or any other foreign country ex-
cept England. — They were alfo prohibited from buying wine in Scot-
land imported by the Flemings of the Dam. \_^6is Jac, I, cc. 160, 162,
163, 164.]

William Elphinflon, who is reputed the founder of the commerce of
Glafgow, flourifhed in the reign of James I f . His trade is fuppofed to
have confifted in exporting pickled falmon. \Gibfoiis Hiji. of Glafgow^
p. 203.]

1437, January — As the law flood in England, no corn could be ex-
ported without a fpecial licence from the king, whereby the prices of
corn were fometimes kept rather under their fair value. For relief to
the farmers, it was now enacted, that all perfons, without applying for
licence, might fhip corn for any country in friendfliip with the king,
whenever wheat fhould not exceed 6/?, and barley 3/, per quarter. {Acts
15 Hen. VI, c. 2.]

The Englifh merchants were fo much offended at being prohibited
from failing to Iceland, that they got a petition prefented in parliament,
praying the abolition of the privileges of the Eafterlings (or Hanfe

* This law, befiJes die Jmpolicy of preventing of Glafgow, f/5. 115] fays, the next confidcrable

ilic merchants from bringing home fuch goods as mercliaiit in (rlalgow was Archibald Lyon, who

tlieir own judgement and intcrcft might direft, re- traded to Poland, France, and Holland, with great

gulated the delivery of the filver by tlie fcale of fuccefs. The notions of dignity in Scotland, we

the freight, that is, by weight or meafure, and may well prefume, were then at lead as ftrongly

not by value. infefled with feudal pride, as they have been in

f Gibfon dates the commencement of Elphin- later times, and are in fomc degree in the prefent

(Ion's trade in the year 1420. But that feems too day. It was therefor a proof of great l\croifm in

early, as he lived till the year 1486, being then Elphinflon and Lyon, both born of honourable

indeed an aged man, as his fon, the founder of the families afterwards ennobled, that they fnrniountcd

iMiiverfity of Aberdeen, who was born in 1437, the filly [jrejudicei of education, and dared to be

was a bifhop fome years before his death. [Craw- iifeful to the community and tliemfclves.
furd^s Officers, p. ^'j.'^ Macure, the earlier hiftorian

A. D. 1437- 651

merchants) in England. But the king would not agree to it. [Cotton's
Abridgement, p. 616.]

March 22" — The commiflloners of King Henry fettled a treaty with
thofe of the grand mafler of Pruflia, the cities of Lubeck and Ham-
burgh, and the Hanfe towns, whereby the antient privileges were con-
firmed on both fides. The merchants of Pruflia and the Hanfe towns
were exempted from the jurifdi6lion of the admiral of England, and were
indulged with an option of having any caufes, wherein they fliould be
concerned, tried with difpatch, and without the buflle and formality of
a law-fuit, by two or more judges to be appointed by the king : and a
fimilar mode of trial was flipulated for the caufes of Englifh merchants
in their countries. There being Hill 19,2747 Englifh nobles unpaid of
the fum fettled in the reign of Henry IV as due to the Pruflians, (fee
above, p. 623) it was agreed that King Henry fhould pay it off by an-
nual inflallments and aflignments of the cuftoms upon their goods. It
was flipulated on both fides, that in cafe of any depredation at fea, the
inhabitants of the port, from which the piratical vefTel failed, fliould be
obliged to make compenfation, agreeable to an ordinance of King Ed-
ward, and that fufhcient fecurity to that efFed: fhould be given before
any armed vefTel fhould go out of port. \Foedera, V. x,/>. 666.]

A politico-commercial poem, called the Libell of EngliJJj policie, writ-
ten about this time *, gives the following view of the commerce of
Europe.

The exports of Spain confifled of figs, raifins, baflard wine, dates, li-
quorice, Seville oil, grain, Caflile foap, wax, iron, wool, wadmole, fkins
of goats and kids, fafFron, and quickfilver, which were all fhipped for
Bruges, the great Flemifh emporium. Of thefe wool was the chief ar-
ticle. In return the Spaniards received fine cloth of Ypres, which is
noted as fuperior to that of England, cloth of Curtrike (or Courtray),
much fuflian, and linen f . — The Flemings could not make good cloth
of the Spanifli wool by itfelf, and were obliged to mix it with the Eng-
lifh, which was the chief fupport of their manufacture, and without
which, indeed, they could not poflibly carry it on, or fupport their
numerous population, their country not producing food fuflicient for
one month in the year.

With Portugal the Englifli had confiderable intercourfe, and ufed to
make voyages to it. The commodities were wine, ofay, wax, grain, figs,
raifins, honey, cordovan, dates, fait, hides, See.

• * The poem mentions the precipitate retreat of end of 1436 or in 1457, in wliich year Sigifmund

the Flemings from Calais, which was in July 1436, died.

and the lols of Harflew, which Hakluyt has dated \ It is neccffary to remember that Spain at this

in his margin in 1449. But if he has rightly given time coniained feveral kingdoms, often at war

the anthor's text, where he fays, the emperor Si- among thcmfclves. The trade here dcfcribed is

gifmund ' yet rii^neth' (for in the Harlcian manu- apparently that of Caftile. Catalonia pofTcfred

fcript it 19 written ' reigiied') that lofs of Hardew flourifhing manufaflures in wool, cottor., linen,

mull be the capture of it by the French in 1432 ; filk, &c.
and the poem muft have been written in the kter

4N2

6^2 A. D. 1437.

Brctagne exported fait, wine, creft cloth, and canvufs. The Bretons,
efpecially thofe of S'. Malo, were much addifted to piracy, and cared
very little for the authority of their duke. They ofren plundered the
eaft coafls of England, and levied contributions, or ranfoms, from the
towns.

The exports of Scotland confifted of wool, wool-fells and hides. The
Scottifh wool, mixed with Englifh, was made into cloth at Popering and
Bell, manufaCiuring towns in Flanders. The Scottifli veflcls carried
home from Flanders mercery, haberdaihery ware, and even cart-wheels
and barrows.

The exports of Prnjfia were beer, bacon, ofmunds, copper, fleel, bow-
flaves, wax, peltry, pitch, tar, boards, flax, thread of Cologne, fuftian,
canvafs, card?, buckram, and alfo filver purchafed from Bohemia and
Hungary. The returns from Flanders were woollen cloths of all colours.
And many of rhe Pruflians ufed to fail to the Bay of Bifcay for fait.

The Genoefe, in great carracks, imported into England cloth of gold,
fiik, black pepper, woad in great plenty, wool, oil, wood-alhes, cotton,
roche-alum, and gold for paying their balances. They took in return
wool, and woollen cloth of all colours, which they fometimes carried to
Flanders, where the chief ftaple of their trade was.

The Venetians and Florentbics imported into England, in large gallies,
all kinds of fpiceries and groceries, fweet wines, apes and other foreign
animals, and many trifling articles of luxury. In return they received
wool, cloth, and tin. The balance appears to have been in their favour;
for the author is much difpleafed, that

' Thti bere the gold out of this lond,
' And sowketh the thrifte out of our hond,
' As the waspe sowketh houy of the be'.'
The Venetians were alfo dealers in exchange and lending money at in-
tcreft, which they found fo profitable, that, when they bought the Eng-
lifh wool on credit, they did not mind felling it at Bruges five per cent
under the coft, in order to have the comiuand of the money for lending,
till it flioidd fall due. They alfo ufed to travel to Cottwold and other
parts of England to buy up the wool, cloth, tin, &c. Thereupon the
author regrets, that they were not compelled to unload in forty days,
and to load in other forty, nor obUged to ad under the controul of an
hofl; or landlord-broker, as fcrmcrly, and as the Engiifli at Venice were
obliged to do *.

In the marts or fairs of Bralnut the Engliih (and probably other for-
eigners alio) were obliged to fell their cloths, &c. in fourteen days, and
make their purchales, eonfifting chiefly of mercery, haberdalhcry, and
groceries, in as many'more, on pain of forfeiture. Thole fairs wc re
frequented by the Engiifli, French, Dutch (or Germans), Lombards,

* Qu. Is there any earlier notice, equally authentic, of Englidimcn tradmg to Venice.

A. D. 1437. 6^2

Genoefe, Catalonians, Spaniards, Scots, and Irifli. The author affirms,
that the Englifli bought more m the marts of Brabant, Flanders, arid
Zcland, than a!/ other nations.

Brabant and Zeland exported madder, woad, garlick, onions, and fait
fifli. The Hollanders bought the Englifh wool and wool-fells at Calais.
In the marts of Brabant were alfo fold the merchandize of Hainault,
France, Burgundy, Cologne, and Cambray, which were brought in carts
over land.

The exports of hrland were hides, wool, falmon, hake, herrings, linen,
falding, and the fkins of martins, harts, otters, fquirrels, hares, rabbits,
llieep, lambs, foxes, and kids. Some gold ore had lately been brought
from Ireland to London. The abundant fertility and excellent harbours
of Ireland are noted by the author, who laments that the ifland was not
made more profitable to England by a complete conqueft.

The trade to Ice/and for llock-fifli, hitherto almoft confined to Scar-
burgh, had for about twelve years pall been taken up in Brifiiol and
other ports, and feems at this time to have been overdone, as the vefTels
could not obtain full freights.

The main intent of the author was to exhort his countrymen to main-
tain the command of the fea, ' which of England is the towne wall,*
and efpecially of the ftrait between Dover and Calais, whereby they might
eafily intercept the fliipping of any of the above-mentioned nations,
who all made Flanders the ftation of their trade, and thereby compell
the Flemings (who at this time were hoftile in confequence of the re-
conciliation of their fovereign, the duke of Burgundy, to the king of
.France) to fee their own interefl in amity with England*.

It will not be deemed foreign from our fubjecT: to give the charader
of the Englifh noblemen about this time, as drawn by Poggio, an Ital-
ian, who refided fonie time in England with the cardinal-biihop of Win-
chefter. — ' The nobles of England think themfelvcs above refiding in
' cities. They live retired in the covmtry among Moods and paflures..
' He who has the greateft revenue is moll refpeded. They attend to
' counti-y bufinefs, and fell their wool and cattle, not thinking it any
' difparagement to engage in rural induftry f .' [Poggii Opera, p. 69.]

1438, March 10'" — It appears that fome Englifh merchants imported
goods from the Mediterranean on their own account ; and at this time
there was at leaft one inflance of (hipping tliem in foreign velTels by
reafon of the war with Flanders, as we learn from the circumftance of a
fraud being committed by the commander of a Venetian carrack, who,
inflead of proceeding to England according to contracl:, put into Lifbon,
where he contrived to embezzle the goods. {Fasdera, V. x, /. 75 1. J

* The extraft here given is taken from Hakluyt to agricultnral putfuits, the moft valuable part of

\_F. i, pp. 1 87-208 J correftc-J ' ir.ufcript n". the charader here delineated, is happily reviving

401 1 in the Harleian library. in the prelcnt day.

^ The attention of the upper r,ini-.,s in England ^

654 -^' ^- I43S.

March 21" — An agent of the king of Portugal was licenced to fliip
fixty facks of Cotfwold \too1, without paying any cujiom, for Florence, in
order to procure fluffs of gold and filk for the ufe of that king. [Fad-
era, V. \,p. 684.]

March 31" — Soon after the acceflion of James 11, king of Scotland,
the truce between the Britifh kingdoms was prolonged till the i'' of May
1447. In addition to the flipulations againfl feizing vefTels driven in-
to port, or hindering fliipwrecked men from returning home, it was
now agreed, that, if any veffel belonging to either kingdom were car-
ried by an enemy into a port of the other kingdom, no fale of the veffel
or cargo fhould be permitted without the confent of the original own-
ers ; — that no veffel driven into any port fhould be liable to arrefl for
any debt of the king, or of any other perfon *, but all creditors fhould
have fafe-conduds in order to fue for and recover their debts with law-
ful damages and intereft ; — that in cafes of Ihipwreck the property fhould
be preferved, and delivered to the owners ; — that goods, landed for the
purpofe of repairing a fhip, might be reloaded in the fame or a differ-
ent veffel, without paying any cuftoms, except for fuch as might be
fold ; — that no wool or wool-fells fliould be carried from the one king-
dom to the other, either by land or by water; — velTels of either king-
dom, putting into the ports of the other in want of provifions, might
fell Ibme goods for that purpofe, without being liable to pay cuftoms
for the reft of the cargo. — In cafes of depredation not only the princip-
als, but alfo the receivers and encouragers, and even the communities
of the towns in which the plundered goods were received, were made
liable for compenfation to the fufferers, who might fue for redrefs be-
fore the confervators of the truce or the wardens of the marches. — No
acts of individuals fhould be allowed to produce an infradion of this
truce. \_FiEdera, V. x, p. 688.]

November 21" — We have already feen feveral unqueftionable proofs
of the wool of England being fuperior to that of Spain. A further,
and a moft authentic, evidence of its fuperiority appears in a body of
laws, drawn up at this time by the municipal magiftrates of Barcelona,
for the exprefs purpofe of regulating ibe manufa£lure of cloths mcide of fine
EngliJJj wool (' lanes fines de Anglatetrd) and other fine wools. The firfl
fedion (exadly like the ordinance in the patent given to the weavei's of
London by King Henry II) prohibits the mixture of any other wool
with the Englifh. The other fedions, to the number of thirty in all,
are entirely filled with precautions for preferving the purity of the wool
in fpinning and through the other ftages of the manufodure, and againft
debafing the fabric, rules for the infpedioii of the finiflied goods and
for afcertaining the quality by known authorized marks. [Capfnany,
Mem. hift. de Barcelona, V. ii, Col. dipt. p. 427.]

• Tin's article fccms intcmlcd to provide a remedy againft tlie fuperabundant zeal for compenfation
lately manifeftcd by King James I.

A. D. 1438. 655

As belonging to the fame fubjed, I will here add, that in March 1441
the municipal magiflrates of Barcelona wrote to their agent in Bruges
to purchafe four hundred quintals of the finell Englifh wool to be (hip-
ped at Sonthampton or London, to endeavour to get it weighed by the
London weight, which was above five per cent heavier than that he had
formerly bought by, and to buy it ten per cent lower than the lafl: parcel
(but how could he do that and get the fineft wool?) and moreover to
ftipulate, in order to guard againll deception, that the wool fhould be
at the rifle of the feller till landed in Barcelona. \Capmany, V. ii. Col.
dipt. p. 241.] The Englifli wool was fometimes fent back to its native
countiy in the form of manufadured cloth ; as appears from a record,
flill preferved in the archives of Barcelona, which informs us that 250
facks of fine Englifh wool, weighing eight arobas (about two hundred-
weight) each, imported|by a Barcelona galley returned from England,
were diflributed about this time to different manufadhirers, in order to
be made into cloth to be fent to England. {Capmany, V. i, Com. p. 144.]

We thus fee that the Englifh had not yet attained the art of making
x.\\Qjiriefi woollen cloths, that Ypres was not the only place which excell-
ed England in the manufadure, (fee above, p. 651) and that the fineft
cloths of Catalonia were in demand in England, long after Englifh cloths
had become a confiderable article of exportation. On the other hand,
we find (from Capmany, V. i, Com. p. 242) that fome of the Englifh
fabrics, and thofe of Florence, were afterwards thought worthy of imi-
tation by the manufaflurers of Barcelona, as fome of thofe of Rheims,
Flanders, and even Ireland, were before this time. We ihall foon fee
the fubjeds of Aragon, whofe principal errand to England was the pur-
chafe of wool, treated with peculiar favour in this country.

We have already feen that Caftile, the principal kingdom in Spain,
obtained a large flock of fine-wooled flieep from England, in the I'eign,
and apparently by the ad, of that very king, Edward III, who has gen-
erally obtained the praife of being the great preferver of the wool, and
founder of the woollen manufactures, of England. In procefs of time,
the exportation of wool having never been prohibited by the govern-
ment of Spain, that country, by unremitting attention to the royal
flock, has acquired the reputation and the eflabliflied market for the
fineft wool in Europe : and the Spaniards now receive their own wool
from England, made into cloth. What a wonderful change in the ftate
of the cominercial intercourfe between the two countries in the fifteenth
and eighteenth centuries !

1439, February — The crops of corn, efpecially wheat and rye, hav--
ing been very deficient in England, while they were more abundant in
the Danifh dominions and the Eaft country, Robert Chapman a merch-
ant of York, being furnifhed with a letter from King Henry to the king
of Denmark, failed to that country for a cargo of grain. Sir Stephen
Browne, mayor of London, alfo imported feveral cargoes of rye from.

656

A. D. 1439.

Pruffia, which gave great reUef, [Fcvdera, V. x, p. 717. — Stow's Survey
of London, p. 937.]

November — The parliament, confidering that butter and cheefe could
neither bear long keeping nor heavy expenfes, permitted them to be ex-
ported, without any fpecial licence, to other places as well as to Calais,
[ASls 18 Hen. VI, c. 3.] The parliament mud undoubtedly have thought
that fome good efFeds arofe from the fyflem of impofing the hardihips
of long keeping and heavy expenfes on wool, hides, tin, &c.

The parliament now prohibited merchant flrangers from buying and
felling with each other in England. They alfo enforced the law oblig-
ing them to live under the furvey of hofls, who were to be fufficient
Englifhmen, experienced in bufinefs, but not concerned in the branch
which their guefls were engaged in, and to be appointed by the ma-
giftrates of the towns wherein the flrangers tranfaded their bufinefs.
The merchant flrangers were obliged to do all their bufinefs of buying
or felling, landing or (hipping, under the infpedion of their hofls, and
to make fale, within eight months after their arrival, of all goods im-
ported by them, except cloth of gold and of filver, or of filk. They
were bound to lay out all the proceeds of their fales in Englifh goods.
The hofls were required to lodge in the exchequer twice a-year attefted
accounts of all the tranfadions of their guefls in buying and felling ;
and they were entitled to two pennies out of every twenty Ihillings of
goods bought and fold. [c. 4.]

An abufe had crept in of meafuring cloths, not by the yard and full
inch, but by the yard and full hand, which the buyers alleged to be
the meafure of London, and thereby got 2 yards in every cloth of 24
yards. It was now enabled, that one inch only fhould be allowed in ad-
dition to the yard. [c. 16.]

The parliament, conlidering that oil and honey were not by law liable
to be gauged *, ordered that they fhould be gauged as well as wine, ahd
that the buyer lliould have allowance for any deficiency of the flandard
meafure of 252 gallons in the tun, and in proportion in the pipe and
tertian or tierce, [f. 17.]

The commons propoi'ed in parliament, that the Italians and others
living within the Straits of Morocco fhould not be permitted to import
into England imy other merchandize than the produce of their own
countries f. They alfo defired, that all fpiceries, fold in the out-ports
by merchant flrangers, fhould be as clear garbled as in London. But
both propofilions were rejeded by the king. {Cotton^s Abridgement^ p. 626.]

1440, February 2"* — King Henry addrelTed an expoftulatory letter to

* If the parliament had looked back to the aif\ one of the inmimciable evils, to which tlic avt of
4 Rich. II, c. I, itiey would have feeii, that oil priiitlnfj lias ajiplied a remedy,
aiid lioney were already on the lame fooling with f The reader will perceive that a principal part

wine in rcfpeil to gauging. That overfight was I'f the famous navigation aft was propofed by the

mcrcliants in the year 1439.

A. D, 1440. 657

the grand mailer of Pruflla, dating, that in former times no duties were
exaded for veflels or cargoes in PrulTia, but of late the merchants of
England had been often compelled to pay a duty upon the value of their
veflels and cargoes in Dantzik, and been opprefl'ed with other arbitrary
exadions, detention of their veflTels, &c. Some Englifli merchants hav-
ing complained of being wrongoufly imprifoned and plundered in the
towns of Stetin and Coilelyn, the king wrote alfo to the burgomafters,
proconfuls, Sec. of the Hanfe towns, demanding redrefs. IFxdera, V.

^>PP- 753-755-]

February 8'" — A more produdtive method of making fait was now in-
troduced in England : and, for the advancement of that manufadure,
John of Schiedam, a native of Zeland, was encouraged to bring over
from Holland and Zeland a number of people, not exceeding fixty,
who were taken under the king's protedion. \Fcedera, V. x, />. 761.]

February 26'" — After the reftridion of the foreign trade of Norway,
&c. to the one port of Bergen by the king of Denmark, we find feveral
licences granted by King Henry to the two bilhops of Iceland for fend-
ing Englifh veflels to that ifland on various pretences *, which feem to
have been fchemes of coUufion between the bifliops and the owners of
the veflels for carrying on illicit trade, though that was oftenfibly guard-
ed againfl: in the licences. However, one now granted to the bifliop of
Skalholt authorizes him to load two veflels with 200 quarters of corn,
and with other provifions, and cloth, for Iceland, which the king was
told, pofl'efled neither cloth, wine, ale, corn, nor fait, and to reload thera
with the produce of the ifland. [Foedera, V. x, pp. 645, 659, 682, 711,
762.]

June 1 7'" — .The manufadures and commerce of the Netherlands be-
ing almofl ruined by the war with England, the duchefs of Burgundy
wrote to King Henry, to whom flie was nearly related f , earneftly en-
treating that he would renew the friendly intercourfe, which had fo
long fubfiflied between the two countries. Commiflioners were accord-
ingly appointed on both fides, and a truce of three years was concluded
with the people of Brabant, Flanders, and Mechlin, whereby they were
again admitted to commercial intercourfe with all the king's fubjeds on
both fides of the fea. The hoftilities committed before the declaration
of war were confidered as piracies, and commiflioners were appointed to
afcertain the compenfations due on both fides, who found the Flemings
indebted to the Englifli on that account 32,000 riders, each of the value
of four fliillings of Flemifti money :j: ; and for that fum the four mem-
bers of Flanders gave their obligations. \Fcedera, V. ^,pp. 730, 761, 791.]

* One was, that the new-appointed bilhop of f This aftive pacific princefs was giand-daugh.

Hola, an Englifhman, was afraid to go fo far, and ter of John duke of Lancaller and filler of Dj.i

•therefor employed the mailer of an EngUfli veflel Henry, the prince of dil'coverers.
to infpeft his biflioprick as deputy bifliop. Both J Tlie Flemifh rider was worth j/j. of EngUlh

bifliops were conneded with John Wefton a ftoc!> money, as appeals from an aft of the pariament of

filhmonger in London. Scotlana in the year 1451.

Vol. I. 4 O

658 A. D. 1440.

Odober 13'" — In a treaty between King Henry and the duke of Bret-
agne a mutual freedom of commercial intercourfe between the fubjects
of both was ftipulated : and, in order to guard againfl piratical depred-
ations at fea, the commanders of all veflels, fitted out in the ports of
either country, were obliged to find fecurity before their departure, that
they (hould not commit any depredations on the fubjects of the other,
and judges were to be appointed in each port, Who, without the formal-
ities of law, fliould do fummary jufl;ice upon the offenders and their
feciu-ities, or, failing them, vipon the inhabitants of the place. [Fcsd-
era, V. x, p. S03.] Such fecurities for the peaceable condud of veflels
upon the fea were now become fo common, that it will henceforth fcarce-
ly be neceflliry to mention them.

Odober 28"" — The duke of Orleans, after a captivity of twenty-five
years in England, agreed to pay 100,000 nobles for his ranfom, whei-eof
he paid 40,000 in hand, advanced to him by four Florentine .merchants
in London. Having reprefented to King Henry, that he never fliould
be able to pay up the remaining 60,000, unlefs his vaflals had the liberty
of trading to the dominions of England, the king granted licences to a
great number of them to import wine, iron, fait, linen cloths (' toilles'),
and other merchandize, from any place in the obedience of his adverf-
ary of France, in veflels not exceeding 200 tuns burthen nor carrying
above 20 men, or in carts, &c. to his dominions on either fide of the
water, they paying the ufiaal cufl;oms, &c. \Fcedera, V. '^,pp. 777, 783,
812-826.]

Pliny obferves that paper confers immortality upon the works of man.
That beautiful and juft eulogium may with fi:ill more propriety be ap-
plied to the art of printing, which befl;ows furer immortality, together
with univerial circulation, upon all works worthy of prefervation; which,
by retidering books cheap, has brought knowlege within the reach of
all mankind, and has done a thoufand times more than the ledures of
all the philofophers of antiquity in difpelling the thick mifi: of ignor-
ance, diffufing the lights of learning and fcience, and enlarging the
powers of the mind. This mofl: valuable art appears to have been in-
vented about this time : and the honour of the invention has been very
keenly contefted by the partizans of Gutenburg, Fuft, and Laurence.
Gutenburg is faid to have printed at StrafiDurg in the year 1440, and
afterwards at Mentz, his native city, where he aflimied John Fufl; as a
partner. According to others, Fuft was the original inventor. And
John Laurence of Harlem is alfo faid to have invented the art fome
years before this time *. The firft rude eflliys were made with wooden

* Gutenburg has tlie moll numerous, and the firft types, ruddy cut In wood, nmong which there
moft anticnt, evidences in favour of his priority of are fonic containing whole words, (fo that the
invention. In honour of him, the invention has modern logography is no new invention) are dill
been commemorated by a jubilee held in the for- prcferved in that city nlong with fomc impreffions
tieth year of every fuccccdinjj ccjitury : aud the of the firft printing, which exhibit the imperfec-

tiOB

A. D. 1440, 659

blocks containing the whole letters of a page in one piece : and this kind
of printing is apparently of very high antiquity among the Chinefe,
who ftill ufe no other. Moveable types of lead, tin, &c. were very foon
fubflituted : and the various improvements upon the manufadure and
management of them in a very iliort time brought printing to a con-
liderable degree of perfed:ion.

1441 — A fui-ious war broke out in the year 1438 between Holland
and Zeland on the one fide, and the cities of Lubeck, Hamburgh, Lun-
enburg, Wifmar, Rollock, and thofe of the Sound, affilled by the Vene-
tians, Spaniards, and Pruflians, on the other ; and the Netherlanders
fuffered very much from the frequent captures made by their enemies.
In vain the duke of Burgundy endeavoured to accommodate matters by
a convention of deputies. The claim of his fubje6ts for compenfation,
amounting to 50,000 florins of gold, was haughtily received by the
Eflerlings, and the meeting broke up with mutual defiance. The Hol-
landers and Zelanders, with the confent of the duke, immediately built
a number of ftout fhips (but not equal in fize to thofe of the Efiierlings)
at Harlem, Amfi;erdam, Home, Enkhuyfen, Dort, Gouda, Roterdam,
Middelburg, Vere, Flufhing, Armuyden, Ziriczee, and fome other towns,
and fent them out, well armed and manned, againll their enemies. Thefe
cruifers took twenty large hulks, three carracks from Prufila, and a great
Venetian carrack loaded with all forts of goods, by which the damages
of the Netherlanders were compenfated. At lafi; a truce of ten years,
concluded with Lubeck and five other principal cities, terminated, or
fufpended, this war of commercial rivalry. IPetit, Chron. de Hollande,

1442, January 26'" — It was apparently in order to avoid the hard-
fhips impofed upon foreign iTierchants by the late law, that Jeronimo
Dandulo of Venice and his fon Marino paid forty marks for a licence,
whereby the king made them denizens of England, and inverted them
with all the privileges of native fubjeds *, and leave to export wool, tin,
and cloth, without being obliged to carry them to Calais, paying in that
cafe the duties paid by aliens. {Foedera^ V. x\,p. 2.]

January — The parliament enaded, that denizen merchants, having
the king's licence to export wool, wool-fells, and tin, to any other place
than the fl;aple at Calais, fliould pay the fame duties, which aliens paid
upon fuch goods. {ylSls 20 Hen. VI, c. 4.]

It had become ufual for the oflEicers of the cufioms to employ, as
their clerks or deputies, perfons who were owners of fliips, engaged in
trade, occupiers of wharfs and quays, tavern-keepers, brokers, &c. wherc-

tion of an art in its infancy. \_Schcpjlin, in Mem. priming figures upon blocks, there cau be no doubt,

de Vacocl. V. xvii, p. 762.] The advocates for thnt it Is at leafb as old as the year 1423.

Full and Laurence are equally fatisfied in the jijft- * The king fays, they (hall be iiativcj (' ind:-

nefs of their claims to the honour of the invention. « genx') ; and that word continued for focie time

The contelt will never be decided. Perhaps each to be ufcd inilead of dAiizen.

of them invented fome improvcinent. As for

4O 2

66o A. D. 1442.

by the regular merchants were hindered in their bufinefs, and many
frauds were committed. It was therefor enaded, that no perfon con-
cerned in fuch branches of bufinefs fhould have any employment what-
ever in the cuftoms. [c 5.]

It being reprefented, that the worlled goods of Norwich and Norfolk
were unfairly made, and had loft their reputation in foreign markets,
the parliament diredled that fix wardens fhould be annually chofen to
infpe61: the fufficiency and uniformity of the fabric, and the due meafure-
of the goods *, and to feize all found defedive f. [c. 10.]

The legal reftraints put upon the wool trade at Calais were found to
have very much reduced the fales, to the great injury of the king's re-
venue, of the merchants and mariners of England, and of the country
in general. The laws refpedling the bulUon were alfo attended with the
bad confequence of producing retaliating laws in other countries, which
it is wonderful that the parliament did not forefee. It was now decreed,
that merchants might fell their wool at Calais mider the rules of the
ftaple, whenever they fhould think proper. But ftill they were ordered
to carry a third part of the price to the mint at Calais, to be coined, and:
to bring the coined money into England, [c. 12.]

1443, January iS'*" — King Henry, defirous of conciliating the favour
of the king of Aragon, granted all the Aragonefe trading to England
an exemption from the late ad: of parliament, obliging merchants to
tranfad their bufinefs under the infpedion of hofts. [Fadera, V. xi,
p. 18.]

June 25'" — ^The water formerly brought to London from Tyburn
(fee above, p. 389) being found infufficient in the year 1439 ^°^ ^^ ^'^~
creafed population of the city J, the magiftrates obtained from the ab-
bat of Weftminfter a perpetual grant of a fountain in the ma, or of
Paddington, together with right to break up the ground for laying their
pipes, for an annual rent of two pounds of pepper. The king now con^
firmed the abbat's grant, and moreover authorized the magiftrates to
break up any public road, and any ground belonging to himfelf or to-
any other perfon, to purchafe 200 fodders of lead for their pipes, 8cc.

* The following were the ttandard meafures of Norwich fluffs, agreeable to the aA.

Beds of the greateft fize 14 yards largely, by 4 yards.

Beds of middle fize 12 - 3

Beds of the finalleft fize 10 largely, 2^

Monk's cloths - 12 - I7

Canon cloths - 5 - ij

Cloths called cloths 6 - 2

(In aft 23 Hen. VI, c- 4, they
are called canon cloths of the
other fizc.)

Double worlleds 10 - 1 -J largely.

Half doubles - 6 • ly

K (.11 worlleds - 30 - t largely.

I This law was renewed, and declared to be in force for three years by an ad 23 Ihn. Vh c. 4.
\ The king's confiimation fays, that the founiaius were dcfeftive and dried up. But they continue
Vunniiig to this prcfcnt time.

A. D. 1443- 66 r

and to prefs plumbers, mafons, and other workmen, ii>to their fervice.-
[Foedern, V. xi, pp. 29-33.]

The Portuguefe, in the progrefs of their difcoveries along the coafl
of Africa, having kidnapi:>€d fome of the Moors, Prince Henry this
year ordered the commanders of his vefTels to carry them home to their
own country. His officers, however, inftead of obeying his humane
and judicious order, obUged the friends of the captives to redeem them,
and received in exchange ten Negro flaves and a quantity of gold. Thefe
two kind of new objeds, thus unexpededly offered to the avidity of the
Portuguefe, filenced the murmurs againfl; Prince Henry's fchemes of'
difcovery, and immediately filled all Europe with eagernefs to embark,
under the flag of the Portuguefe, to whom the pope had very liberally
granted all the countries between Cape Bojador and India. A company
of merchants at Lagos obtained from the prince a charter for the ex-
clufive right of trading with the Moors of the African coaft for a limit-
ed time ; and in the following year (1444) a few veffels belonging to
this firll Royal African company arrived at a fmall ifland called Nar. But.
inflead of trading with the Moors, they made a hoftile attack upon
them, flew many, and brought off 155 captives. Prince Henry after-
wards built a fort on the little ifland of Arguin for the accommodation
of the company; and there they eftabliflied their fadory, to w'hich they
fent regular annual fliips with woollen cloth, linen, corn, &c. and fome-
fllver. Thefe they exchanged with the Moors, or Arabs, for Negro -
flaves (to the number of feven or eight hundred annually about the
year 1456) and gold duft. Such was the commencement of the Euro-
pean trade on the coafl: of Africa for flaves, who were then all carried .
to Portugal. \Faria y Sou/a, V. i, p. 10. — Cada Mo/Id's Voyage, p. 55. —
Purchas, B. x, p. 1674.]

1444, May 28"' — After an age of warfare the ambaflTadors of England j
and France concluded a truce to lafl: till the 1" of April 1446, whereby
the fubjedts of both kingdoms were allowed reciprocal freedom of trade, .
and it was agreed, that their property, being in any town belonging to
the oppofite power at the expiration of the truce, fliould be preferved .
inviolate. [Foedera, V. xi, p. 59.]

1445, Odober 21" — Notwithftanding the repeated injundions of
councils againfl ecclefiaftical perfons being concerned in trade, many
of them were merchants and traders of every denomination ; and, be-
ing exempted from moft of the taxes paid by the laity, they underfold
and ruined the regular traders, w-ho contributed to fupport them. In
order to give fome check to the prepofterous converfion of monafleries ,
into warehoufes, work-fliops, inns, and tap-houfes, PhiUp duke of Bur-
gundy now iflued a placard, wherein he fets forth, that many more con-
vents for monks and nuns had been founded within a few years in his
territories of Holland and Zeland, than were proportioned to the extent
of thofe countries ; that all trades and handicrafts are carried on ir. .

662 A. D. i445»

them, whereby they accumulate eftates, which remain with them for
ever, and all the land in the country mufl: in time come into their
hands. He therefor prohibits them from receiving or purchafing any
more eftates in his dom.inions, till commiflioners, to be appointed by
him, fhall determine in what manner they may hold lands. [Brandt's
Hift. of the reformation^ V. i, p. 23 Engl, tranjl. *] This perverfion of the
privileges and wealth, obtained from the miftaken piety of princes and
devout perfons or the remorfe of opulent criminals, this licenced fmug-
gling, was by no means peculiar to the Netherlands : it was common in
other countries, and perhaps in none more than in England f .

1446, Augufl 4"' — A truce between King Henry and the duchefs of
Burgundy, adling for her hufband, was followed by another treaty,
whereby a free commercial intercourfe was continued till the i" of No-
vember 1459 between the king's fubjeds and the merchants of Brabant,
Flanders, and Mechlin, whether dealers in wool, hides, provifions, or
whatever other merchandize, (except armour, artillery, powder, and
other warlike ftores) on paying the cufloms ufual in the ports of each

country The fifliermen of either country were to have liberty to fifh

where they pleafed, and, if obliged to take fhelter in the ports of the
other, they were to be admitted freely on paying the ufual duties — No
privateers were to.be permitted to iffue from the ports of either coun-
try to prey upon the fubjecls of the other : neither fliould they be per-
mitted to land their plunder in the ports of the contrading powers

Neutral veflels, bringing provifions or other goods from the Eafl: coun-
try to the dominions of either party, fhould not be molefted in any
manner. — Veffels of cither coimtry, not fitted for war, being driven by
florm or enemies into the ports of the other, fhould be allowed to enter
and depart at their pleafure, but not to land any goods without a licence

* BranJt next gives a book of rates, or table, of the king's own law againft the exportation of

of the regulated prices of pardons for a variety of wool : but that law was never kept,

fins, wherein it is obfervable, that the murder of The Cillerciau monks were great wool-merch-

thc nearell relations is the cheapoil fin in the cata- ants, till their trade was prohibited in 1344. See

logue. above, p. ^11-

f In the reign of H=enry I the afebat of S'. Al- The fmuggling fchemca of the two bifliops of

bans was a f.niniongcr. See ah^ve, p. -^"S.^. In the Iceland have been noticed, p. 657.

reign of Henry II the bifliop of Ely owned a vef- It is not ncccffary to add to thefe examples a

fel of the kind called an cfneck ; and In that of long lift of the verj- ufual grants enabling the popes

Richard I the bifhop of Durham was owner of a and other foreign priefts to export wool and other

Clip remarkably large. \_Mado%s H'ljl. of the exch. cullomable goods without paying cuftoms.

<r. 17, 5 3 ; Ni)le en Dial, ilefcacc. L. i, c. 6.] Neither was Scotland without fonie examples of

A. D. 13 1(^1 — The bllbop of Nidaros (Dron- trading bilhops.

theim) in Nor.vay traded to England as a mcrch- 1365 — The bidiop of Aberdeen was owner of

ant. See above, p. 479, note f. a vell'el. See a'cve, f. ^- 1. ■•

1340— In thr famous battle near the Swyn there 1404 — A rich velfel, which the bidiop of S'.

was a fuip be!, iiging to the prior of Canterbury. Andrews owned, or was largely interelled in, was

[Ajito.V Ann. p. 370.] taken by the Englilh. \_MS. Lib. Cott. Vejp.

In the fame year King Edward III licenced a F vii.]

cardinal to export fixty facks of wool every year The fuececding biiliop of S'. Anduws builtthe

of his life, \^Failera, V. v, p. 215] which was a fnicil fliip then in Scotljind, which was called The

ery good annuity. It was moreover a vioktlon bilhop's barge. [Z.r/7. //. 303, 304.]

V

^. A. D. 1446. 663

from the proper officers. — The Enghfti might make fad their veflels
in the ports of Brabant, Flanders, &c. in the manner.pradifed by the
French, Hollanders, Zelanders, and Scots; and tlic Flemings, Sic. might
do the fame in the Englifli ports. — The veffels of either party were pro-
liibited from carrying the property of the enemies of the other. — In
cafe of the vefTels of either country being wrecked on the coafts of the
other, the property fhould be delivered to the owners on paying reafon-
able expenfes The road along the coaft from Calais fliould be renew-
ed ; and the merchants were, as in former treaties, forbidden to take
dogs with them, or to catch the rabbits on the Downs — The Englifh
merchants fhould have inns, or hotels, for themfelves in the cities of
Brabant, Flanders, and Mechlin, and enjoy all the privileges they en-
joyed in former times * Any infradion of the treaty by individuals

fhould be compenfated by the fovereign, but (hould not produce a rup-
ture of the truce. — Laftly, it was agreed, that the four members of Flan-
ders fliould bind themfelves to obferve this treaty : and they according-
ly did fo in a few days after. [Fa'dera, V. xi, //. 140-146.]

King Henry granted the mayor of Briftol the privilege of being ex- -
empted from the jurifdidion of his admirals and other minifters. [Rot, ■
pat. fee. 24 Hen. VI, m. 23.]

1447 — It is impoffible to reconcile the various ceras affigned by the
writers of the Netherlands to the improved method of curing herrings,
invented by William Beukels, or Beukelens, of Biervliet in Flanders,
who, by the mofl probable account, died this year. From a variety of
notices, difperfed through the preceding part of this work, it is evident
that they are miftaken, who reprefent him as the firft who ever cured
thofe fifli. The truth feems to be, that he -introduced fome improve-
ment in the manner of treating the fifh, or perhaps of preparing the
fait, concerning which the information is very obfcuref, which, being .
adopted by his countrymen, procured a fuperior reputation to their fifh

* The return of the Englifh at this time to enjoy ftarch upon it, is the following. — • Ctux de Byer»
their former privileges in Antwerp, the chief city of ' vlyet, [no mention of Beukelens] ifle de Flan-
Brabant, is related by AVheeler \_Treatife nf com- ' dres, qui premierement fnventerent (pour le
merce, p. 1 6] as their firfl arrival in that city, • mieux garder etant fallc) de I'egorger, et lui ofter
which he ignorantly fays, conlilled of thatched ' les machoires, qui Ic failoient autrement bien toll
huts, contained only four poor and ignorant merch- ' corrompre, ce qu'en langue du pays fe difoit la-
ants, and had only fix fmall vcffels for the river, ' ;5f?;, c'ell adire dcmacheler.' \jC'nrontque de Hol-
but none fit for going to fea. What he and others lande, life, par Petit, p. 184. — See alfo AlarcianlU
fay of the order of the golden fleece, being inftii FlanJria, L. i. — Olai Alagni H'lfl.fept. L. sx, c, 22.
tuted by the duke of Burgundy in honour of the — Schaock de hareiigis, § 36. — Dc IFilt's Inlere/l of
Englifh wool and cloth, is unfupported, or rather Holland, pp. 49, JO, ling!, tranjl.'] Beukelens
is contradifted, by his diploma of the original ere- feems one of thofe charaifters, who, by fome accid-
ation of the knights, dated 27'" November 1431, ental circumftances, have obtained higher places
which is recited verbatim by Meyer in his Amia'les in the temple of Fame, than their real merits cu-
Flandrire^ f. 274. The duke appeai-s to have had titled them to, Sucli a circumftancc was the vifit
the fleece of Gideon, the judge of Ilrael, in his eye, of the emperor Charles V and his fiiler to the tomb
when chufmg his device. \_Marchanlii Flandria, of Beukelens, where they offered up their prayers
f. 285.] for his foul. Goguet moreover fays, that tlic em-

f The mofl; diftinft account of the procefs that pjror erected a ftatue to hlo).
i have been able to find, after beftpwing much re- 4

'664

A. D. 1447.

^t Rome and other foreign markets, where they were dilUnguifhed by
the name of Flemijh herrings. The herring trade, together with other
branches of Flemifli induilry, pafTed afterwards into the hands of the
Hollanders, who have been wonderfully enriched by it.

According to Galvano, the crew of a Portuguefe fhip reported, that
they had been driven by a ftorm to the weftward, and had arrived at an
illand, wherein there were feven cities inhabited by people fpeaking
Portuguefe, who faid, their anceftors had fled from Spain on the death
of King Roderigo (about the year 700), and afked, if Spain was ftill
troubled by the Moors. Some land, brought from the illand, produced
a good quantity of gold. Galvano adds, that this ifland was fuppofed
to be the Antiles, or New Spain*. \Galvano, copied in Furchas, B. x, c.

1-3

1448, July 24'" — From King Henry's appointment of commiflioners
to fettle all difputes with the grand mafter of Pruflia and the people of
the Hanfe towns, and to confirm or renew theantient treaties with them.

* Thefe feven cities, which afterwards became
golden cities, and filled the heads of the Spanifli
difcoverers, and alfo that of Sir Walter Raleigh,
with golden dreams, perhaps grew out of Zeno's
report of a nation poflefling gold and filver, cities
and temples, in an unknown weftern part of the
world, (probably Mexico, y^^ ahoy e, p. 563) incor-
porated with fome obfcure tradition of an antient
migration from Spain. That the (lory was not in-
vented after the difcovery of the weftern lands by
Clniftopher Colon, is evident from a letter written
by Paolo (Tofcanelli) a phyfician of Florence,
25'° June 1474, to Fernando Martinez, who, at
the defire of the king of Portugal, had confulted
him on the (horteft courfe by fea to India. He
fent him a chart of tne weftern coafts of Europe
and Africa from Ireland to Guinea, exhibiting all
the known iflands, and alfo containing the coall of
India and the fpice iflands in the luejlern part of the
chart: and, after a pompo.is defcription of Catai
«nd Mango (north and fouth parts of China) he
obferved in his letter, that ' from the ifland of An-
' tilia, which you call the ifland af the feven cities ;

* and of which you have the knowlege, to the

• mod noble ifland of Cipango, there are ten fpaccs,

* making 2,500 miles, which ifland abounds with

• gold, filver, and pretious flones.' — He afterwards
fent a copy of the fame letter, and alfo of the chart,
to Chrillopher Colon, and added defcriptions and
arguments, tending to inflame his ambition of being
the firft European to accomplifli a weftern paflage
io thofe regions of riches. \_HiJl. de Don Chrijl,
■Colon, par fu hijo Fernando, c. 8.] Tofcanelli was
the arlift, who about the year 1460 conllrufltd
the celebrated gnomon at Florence, which is ef-
■tcemcd one of the nobleft aftronomical inftrumcnts
in the world.

Somewhat fimilar to Galvano's ftory, but
■^\\\ more improbable, is tjje fol'owing, which I

have therefor thought proper to place in a note.
— In the year 1450 Phranza went as anibaflador
from the laft emperor of Conftantinople to the king
of Iberia, and was told by Ephrem, a native of
that country of about 100 years of age, that he
had been carried off when a boy by barbarians,
and fold in Perfia to one of a company of merch'
ants traveling to India. In India he found an op-
portunity of leaving his mailer, and, after long
traveling through deferts, at laft arrived at iflands
inhabited by people who geneially lived 150 years,
and enjoyed a perpetual fpring and harvcli of aro-
matici and large nuts. Their country alfo pro-
duced the magnet ; the animals in it were of a
ftupendous magnitude ; and the fprings of the Nile
were in it. (How could the Nile rife in an ifland?)
After living among thofe happy people long enough
to be mafter of their language, he wiflicd to return
home, and was conduced to a place, whence vef-
fels from the farther India failed with aromatics.
He embarked in one of them, and afterwards found
a great Iberian flilp, \y\uch carried him to Portugal,
•whence he failed to the Britifli iflands, and from them
to Iberia. [Phranxn, L.W'u c. I. J Phranza wrote
in the year 1477, [L. iii, c. 30] and therefor this
ftory ' is fpurious or ivonderfui.^ \^Gibbon, V. xii,
p. 178.] Of Phranza's work we poflefs only a
Latin tranflation, made by Pontanns, who lias fup-
preffed fuch parts as he thought ufelefs digreflions.
Quere, If he has taken the further liberty of in-
troducing (ome improvements ? If Ephrem ever was
in Britain, he might fail for Gem a, and thence to
the Black fea, and fo travel by land to Iberia, which
is an in/and country between that fea and the Caf-
pian. But that Iberia fliould have any fliips (if in
the ftrange confufion llcrian docs not mean Span-
ifh^ is as incomprehenlible, a', that a voyage from
the Indian ocean to Poilugal fliould be invented
by any Iberian or Cicck before the year J 498.

A. D. 1448. 66^

it appears, that fome depredations or other enormities had been com-
mitted, probably on both fides*. [Foedera, V. x, />. 217.]

At this time flourifhed Cardinal Cufa, the firft European after Pytha-
goras and his dlfciples, who conceived the truth of the fyftem of cof-
mography, by which Copernicus, whofe name is attached to it, is im-
mortalized. [Nouveau DiB. hiji. art. Nicholas (de Cufa) V. vi.]

1449, February— Englilh cloths were now prohibited in Brabant,
Holland, and Zeland, which being judged contrary to the fubfiiting
treaty, and found very diilreffing to the men weavers, fullers, and dyers,
and the women webflers, carders, and fpinners, and all others concern-
ed in the trade, it was refolved in parliament, that, if the duke of Bur-
gundy did not repeal the injurious ordinance, no merchandize of the
growth or manufacture of his dominions fliould be admitted in Eng-
land. \^AB; 27 Hen. VI, c. i.]

The parliament remarked, that the revenue ariflng from the ftaple of
Calais in the reign of Edward III was above ;;(^68,ooo a-year, and the
kingdom was enriched by the trade of the merchants of the ftaple, who
were numerous and opulent : but that, by frauds and abufes crept into
the trade, and by the great number of licences exempting individuals
from the law of the ftaple, the revenue was now funk to /^i2,ooof.
Therefor it was enaded, that the mayor, conflables, and merchants, of
the ftaple at Calais fhould enjoy all their antient privileges unimpaired,
and that no licence to be henceforth granted by the king for carrying
wool, wool-fells, or tin, from England, Ireland, or Wales, fhould be of
any avail, except for fhipping them for the Mediterranean upon paying
alien's duty. There were, however, referved in full force, a licence
granted to the nixarquis of Suffolk (grandfon of the famous merchant
William de la Pole) for fliipping 2,oco facks of wool of the growth of
Norfolk, a licence to the convent of S'. John of Bridlington for fhipping
12 farplers containing 30 facks, and licences to three other perfons, all
thefe being ftill permitted to carry their wool to the beft market accord-
ing to the direction of their own judgements, [c. 2.]

The law againfl carrying money out of the kingdom had been fre-
quently broken by Englifli and foreign merchants importing cargoes of
grain. The parliament now directed, that all merchants importing
grain fliould give fecurity, that they would faithfully beltow the money
arifing from their fales in the purchafe of Engliih goods. \c, 3.] A
fcarcity of corn muft immediately have broken this law,

March 20'" William Canyngs, an eminent merchant of Briftol, like

the Itahan merchants, fent factors to tranfait his bufmefs in foreign

* Werdenhagen, in his cavelefs comporuioii call- f The funis paid fji the licences probably made
ed a H'ylory of the Haiifcalic i\pnhuis, has magnjfifd up tlie deliciency.
ihofe piracies into a gicac and fcrious war.

V^oi.. I. 4 P

666 A. D. 1449.

countries, as we learn by two letters of King Henry, addrefled to the
grand mafler of Pruflia and the magiflrates of Dantzik, recommending
to their good offices two perfons defcribed by the king as fadors of his
beloved and honourable merchant, William Canyngs. [^Fcedera, V. xi,
pp. 226, 227.]

April i" — Thepropofed marriage of James II, king of Scotland, with
Mary, the daughter of the duke of Gelder, and niece of the duke of
Burgundy, with whom, as the more powerful prince, the treaty was ne-
gotiated, and alfo, the confideration of the friendly commercial inter-
courfe maintained between the Scots and the people of Brabant, Flan-
ders, Holland, Zeland, and other territories, all now fubjed to the duke
of Burgundy, from the mofl remote ages, produced a treaty of perpetu-
al alliance, wherein each prince promifed to compel! aggreflbrs upon the
fubjedls of the other, whether by land or fea, to make compenfation to
the party injured. [MS. Bib. Hart. 4637, V. \n,ff. 5 b, 11 a.]

July 17"" — The Engliih merchants and feamen, in defiance of the or-
ders of the king of Denmark, frequently reforted to the coafts of Ice-
land, Halgaland, and Finmark, in confequence of which fome of them
had beenfeized about the year 1447. and were ftill detained asprifoners.
The ambaffadors of the kings of England and Denmark, having met at
Copenhagen *, now agreed that all injuries on both fides fliould be re-
drefled, that the fubjeds of both kings fhould have mutual freedom of
navigation, and particularly that the Englifh merchants fliould enjoy
their antient liberties and privileges, and pay the antient cuftoms. But
they were exprefsly debarred from failing to Iceland, Halgaland, and
Finmark, on any pretence whatever, without having a fpecial licence
from the king of Denmark ; and it was declared, that the feizure and
punifliment of contumacious interlopers fliould not be confidered as a
breach of the treaty. In a few days after, the king of Denmark more-
over granted the Englifli, trading to or from Pruflia or any part of his
own dominions, the privilege of traveling or iailing through his territo-
tories, either in Englifli or German veflels. \_F(xdera^ V. xi, pp. 264,

273-]

December 2" — John Taverner, a mariner of Kingfton upon Hull, by

the help of God and fome of the king's fubjeds, had built a flbip as
large as a great carrack, or even larger, which he called the Grace Dieu
(Grace of God). The king direded that flie fliould be called the Car-
rack Grace Dieu ; and he granted Taverner the more folid advantage
of taking onboard his carrack wool, tin, lamb-flcins, wool-fells, paflx^larges
and other hides raw or tanned, and any other merchandize, the property

• Beitiiis [/<tr. Germ. L. iii, /. 139] fays, Copenhagen appears by this treaty to Iiave been

that this city was put on a fooling with tlic other the royal rcfidence, and to li.' vt had fevcral churches,

towns of U( nmark in refped to municipal privi- in the chaptcr-houfc of one of which, called the

leges fo late as the year 1443. His information is grcaler church, the BmbalTadors met.
fometimes defedive ; and tliis date fccms too late. *

A. D. 1449. 667

of Engliih or foreign merchants, in the ports of London, Southampton,
Kingfton upon Hull, and Sandwich, or in any of them, and carrying
them dired to Italy, on paying alien's duty. The king expedcd, thaf
he would import bow-flaves, wax, and other foreign produce neceflary
for the country, to the great benefit of the revenue and of the nation.
[Fiedera, V. \i,p. 258.] The exemption of anEnglifli fubjecT: from the
law of the flaple, in confideration of the extraordinary fize of his fhip, is
a clear proof, that no fuch veflel had hitherto been built in England.

1450, November — In confideration of alum to the value of ^^4,000,
delivered to King Henry by fome merchants of Genoa, the parliament
licenced them to fhip any flaple wares from the fouth part of England,
till they (hould be repaid by the amount of the cufl;oms. The king fold
the alum for /^8,ooo in ready money to fome merchants, to whom the
parliament gave a monopoly by prohibiting all perfons from importing,
buying, or felling, any other alum during two years, [Cotton's Abridge^
jiient, p. 647.]

December 16"" — William Canyngs, merchant in Briflol, already men-
tioned, had obtained letters from the king of Denmark, authorizing him
to load certain vefl^els with lawful Englifli merchandize for Iceland and
Finmark, to take in return fifh and other merchandize, and to make as
many voyages as he fliould think proper during a limited term, in order
to recover debts due to him in thofe countries. The trade was prohi-
bited by an Englifh ad: of parliament : but King Henry, confidering
the good fervices rendered to him by Canyngs while mayor of Briflol,
gave him leave to employ two fhips, of whatever burthen, during two
years, in the trade to Iceland and Finmark, and to export any fpecies of
goods not reftrided to the flaple of Calais. [Fa^dera, V. xi, p. 277.] It
is known that Canyngs pofl^efled (hips of 400, 500, and even 900 tuns
burthen : but it is not likely that he employed them in that northern
trade, even though the limited number of vefl'els would tempt him to
have them as large as pofllble. Thofe very large (hips probably tranf-
ported timber and other bulky articles from the Baltic, where, we may
believe, they were purchafed, as the extraordinary notice taken of Ta-
verner's great fhip in the year 1449 renders it improbable that they
were built in England *.

According to a roll preferved in the Tower, the king this year bor-

* Canyngs was five times mayor of Briftol, and fliips mentioned in the text. That the king's dif-

founded the church of S'. Mary Radcliff on the plealuie was not incnned by piracy, as has been

outfide of the walls, the moll magnificent paiifh fuppofed, or by any diflionourable deed, is evident

church in England in the opinion of Camden, from the fait being recorded on his monument.

\^Brit. p. 173."] From his monument in that His memory has lately been revived, as connected

church we learn, that King Edward IV, on fome with Rowley, the alleged author of moft of the

occafion of difpleafure, took from him 2,470 tuns poems publifted by Chatterton, and as author of

of dipping, among which were the three great fome of them himfeif.

4 P 2

668 A. D. 1450.

rowed infinite fums from the merchants of the ftaple and other merch
ants *. [Rot. pal. prim. 28 Hen. VI, m. 2.]

About this time, the Azores, or Weftern iflands, faid to have been
previoufly difcovered by fome Flemifli navigators, were occupied by the
Portuguefe under the aufpices of the enhghtened prince, Don Henry f.

1451, Augufl: 14'" — The truce between the two Britifli kingdoms was
renewed. The promife not to phmder wrecked vefTels, and to permit
veflels in diftrefs to purchafc provifions, was again mutually repeated ;
and each fovereign engaged, that the enemies of the other, bringing
prizes into his ports, fliould be proliibited from difpofing of their plun-
der without the confent of the oi-iginal owners. It was agreed that vef-
fels, fhowing by cockets and other fufficient documents that they be-
longed to either nation, fhould not be compelled to lower, or take in,
their fails, or be any way impeded in their navigation, by any veflels of
the other nation. {Fadera, V. xi, /. 293.] Truces, nearly in the fame
terms, were repeatedly renewed during the reigns of Henry VI and
James 11, which both terminated in the year 1460.

1452, January 20'" — In a diet, which had been held at Utrecht by
commiflioners from King Henry and reprefentatives of the grand maf-
ter of Pruflia and the Hanfe towns, the matters in difpute were adjufted
in a manner fatisfadory to the king and the grand mailer. But the ci-
tizens of Lubeck refufed to abide by the determination of the diet, re-
tained a number of Englifh fubjeds in prifon, and even prefcribed to
the king rules for the condud of his fubjeds. The other Hanfe towns
appear, in complaifance to Lubeck, to have alfo negleded to accept, or
ratify, the ads of the diet. The magiftrates of Cologne, however, ap-
prehending the difpleafure of King Henry, had written to him requeft-
ing the continuance of his favour, and the merchants of the Teutonic
gildhall in London importuned him to the fame effed. The king now
wrote, in anfwer to the magiftrates, that nothing fhould he wanting on
his fide to the faithful prefervation of the antient friendfhip between
England and Cologne, and he defired to know, whether the Hanfe towns
were to take part with Lubeck in the hoftile condud of that city to-
wards England, or to comply with the decrees of the diet. He alfo
wrote in the fame manner to the grand mafter, in anfwer to his letters
fignifying his approbation of the proceedings of the diet. [Tadcra, V. xi,
pp. 504, 305.]

* Wc afterwards find other loans from the merch- 1460 Martin of Niirenbcrg, under the aufpices of

ants of the (laple ; for example; lc,ooo marks in tlie duchefs of Burgundy (who thereby proved

the 31" year of King Henry VI, and £20,000 in hcrfdf a worthy filter of the ilhiftrioua Don Heii-

his 33" year. [CoZ/cn'j Jhr'ulgemenl, pp. O53, ry of Portugal) occupied Fayal, the principal

Cjy.J ifland, for the truth of vvhitli he appeals to the re-

f The difcovery of thofe iflands is varloufly dat- cords of Nurcnberg. Sec alfo Forjier's Difiovrtiet

td in 1449, I45S> 1460, and 1481. Mr. Otto in the North, p. 2^1 En«l. tratifl.
^^Amer. phihf. tmnj. K ii, p. zGjJ fays, thai 111

A. D. 1452. 669

November 2^ — King Henry granted a fafe-conducl for four years to
rhree fkilful miners, with thirty other perfons, from Bohemia, Hungary,
Auflria, and Micia (rather Mifnia or MeifIen),who were to be employ-
ed in his mines in England. [Fcedera, V. xi, p. 317.] The mines in
thofe countries had been worked many centuries, and the miners were
probably the moft expert in Europe,

1453, March — The parliament granted the king the duties of tunnage
and poundage for life. They alfo granted him, during his fubfidy of
wool, 23/4 from denizens and ^5 from aliens on every fack, with pro-
portional duties on other ftaple wares. And they impofcd an annual
tax of 40/ upon every alien merchant keeping houfe in England, and
20/ upon thofe who remained only fix weeks in the country, and more-
over /^6: 13 : 4 to be paid annually by every alien merchant during the
king's life. {Cotton'' s Abridgement, p. 649.] Whether thefe taxes operat-
ed as real burthens upon the Englifli confumers and fellers, or were, as
intended, a<flually taxes upon the foreigners, depended upon the Eng-
lifli merchants being capable, or not, of competing with them.

May 29'" — The imperial city of Conftantinople was taken by afTauk
by Mohamed 11, emperor of the Turks. Conftantine Palseologus, the
laft of the many fucceflbrs of the firft Conftantine, who traniplanted the
feat of empire to the fhore of the Bofphorus, was found buried under
a mountain of his flaughtered fubje6ls : and the Roman empire, after
dragging out many centuries in the imbecillity of extreme old age, was
finally extinguifhed. Conftantinople was no longer an emporium or-
conneding point for the commerce of the eaftern and weftern regions
of the world. The Genoefe were obliged to abandon their fettlement
at Pera, adjacent to that city ; and they foon after lofl: all their other
fadlories or colonies in the JEgaean fea. Their eaftern trade, which had
been chiefly fupported by thofe fettlements, declined rapidly ; and the
Venetians, almoft without a rival, fupplied the increafmg demand of
Europe for the produdions of the Eaft, which they were enabled to ob-
tain on the moft advantageous terms by their connedions with the ful--
tan of the Mamelukes. ^

- One good confequence of the overthrow of the Greek empire w^as,- ,
that many men of literature and fcience, and along with them many
works of the learned of former ages, were difperfed through the weftern
countries of Europe ; and the knowledge diffeminated by their inftruc--
tions, and by their books, which were multiplied, and rendered attain-
able by people of moderate wealth, by the late happy invention of
printing, wonderfully enlightened Europe, and had great influence in
bringing on a ftate of civilization, fovourable to the advancement of
commerce, the arts, and the happinefs of mankind.

Odober 17"* — The city of Bourdeaux was a fecond time taken by the
French ; and the Englifli were finally expelled from every part of France,
except Calais and its fmall diftrid. Without detr.iding from the wonv

670 A. D. 1453.

derful effects of the patriotic enthufiafm of the Maid of Orleans, or the
military talents of the French generals, an hiftorian of commerce may be
permitted to obferve, that this event, happy for France, and infinitely more
h:'.ppy for England, was in a confiderable degree owing to the unexampled
opulence and p;trriotifm of Jacques Coeur, who, at a time when trade
was fcarcely known in France, is faid to have employed three hundred
factors * to manage his vaft commerce, which extended to the Turks and
Perfians of the Eafl:, and the Saracens of Africa, the moft remote na-
tions then known to the merchants of Europe. His exports confilled
chiefly of woollen cloths, linens, and paper, then the principal manufac-
tures of France ; and his returns were filks, fpiceries, 8z;c. But fome fay,
that his dealings were chiefly in gold, filver, and arms f . This illuftri-
ous merchant was treafurer (' argentier') to the king of France, and lent
him 200,000 crowns, without which he could not have undertaken the
redudion of Normandy. Being fent on an embafly to Laufanne, his
enemies took the opportunity of his ablence to bring falle charges
againfl: him ; and the king, regardlefs of his multiplied fervices and
zealous -attachment, abandoned him to their malice. Though nothing
could be proved againfl: him in a trial conduced by his enemies with
acknowleged unfairnefs, he was condemned (19"' May 1453) to the
amende honorable^ to confifcation of all his property, and impriibnment.
Having efcaped from confinement by the grateful afliflance of one of his
clerks, he recovered fome part of his property which was in foreign
countries ; and, being appointed by the pope to command a divifion of
his fleet, he died in that fervice at Chio in the year 1456. [Mezeray, V.

'n,p. 703. — Villaret, T. viii, pp. 237-243 Nouveau Did, h'lfl. V. ii, p.

704.]

In the year 1448 the duke of Burgundy exadted a duty of 18 fliil-
lings, money of Paris, upon every fack of fait. The citizens of Ghent,
tmaccuftomed to arbitrary impofitions, refufed to pay any new taxes.
Next year he laid a tax upon wheat, which they alio refufed ; and in
J 45 1 they refufed payment of the duty on herrings at Sluys and the duty
on wool. The confequence was a very furious war, which proves the
great power and refources of the citizens, derived entirely from their
ilourifhing manufadures. But the fuperior power of the duke, whofe
territories equaled in extent, and exceeded in population and wealth,
fome of the kingdoms of Europe, obhged them to fubmit to the con-
ditions didated by him (in which the taxes are not mentioned), to pay
him a fine of 300,000 riders, and moreover to pay 50,000 riders for the
refloration of fome churches dcftroyed iu the war. {hleyeii Ann. Flandr,
f. 301-314.]

* Pn.bably all the tkrkt employed umk-r the came treafurer to tlie kiiip;, his attention would nc-

faftors, and even the porters ard menial fcrvants cttTarily be turned to the importation of the pre-

ought to be comprehended in this number. tious n'.ttals and the fupply of arms.

\ Both accounts inay be true, as, after he bc«

A. D. 1454. 671

1454, April — The parliament having granted a fubfidy of twelve
pennies in the pound of the value of all merchandize exported, whether
by denizens, aliens, or merchants of the Hanfe, and railed the duty on
wool and wool-fells from 337*4 to 43/4, it was reprefented, that the im-
pofitlon of twelve pennies per pound would diminifli the fale of woollen
cloth *, and the augmentation of the other duties would lower the value
of wool. It was therefor enaded, that the exporters of wool and wool-
fells to the ftaple at Calais, or by licence to the Mediterranean, fhould
be exempted from paying the additional ten Ihillings. [j^Sis 31 Hen.
VI, c. 8.]

1455, March 15'" — It has already been obferved, that the northern
nations built large velTels in the tenth century, when even the Italian
ftates !iad probably none equal to them ; and they ftill excelled in the
conftrudion of Hups. The king of Sweden at this time owned a trad-
ing fhip of near 1,000 tuns burthen, called the King's barge, which he
fent to England with a requeft, that fhe might be permitted to trade,
and to reload with lawful merchandize, which was granted, provided the
due cuftoms were paid. [Foedera, V. xi, p. 364.]

July — The filk-women of London complained to parliament, that the
Lombards and other foreigners, feeking to deprive women of their honefl
employments, imported the articles made by them, inflead of bringing
unwrought filk as formerly. To prevent the ruin of thofe induftrious
women, it was enaded, that during the five enfuing years no perfon
whatever fhould import any wrought filk, twined ribands or chains,
girdles, or any other article interfering with the manufadures of the
filk-women, except girdles of Genoa. \^Acis ;^^ Hen. VI, c. 5. J

The lords, to whom the guard of the fea had been entrufted, refigned
their charge ; and it appears to have been afterwards put into the. hands
of the mayor and merchants of the flaple, to whom we find the tunnage
and poundage, duties exprefsly appropriated to that objed, ordered to
be paidf. [Cation's abridgement, pp. 652, 657. — Rot. pal. prim. ^^ Hen.
VI, m. 14.]

1456, March 5"' — The mifunderflanding with Lubeck feems to have
proceeded to an open maritime war, which, at the interceflion of the
other Hanfe towns, was now terminated, or fufpended, by a truce of
eight years, during which both parties fliould have liberty of com-
m^erce, and the differences, it was hoped, might be amicably adjufted X-
[Fcedera^ V. xi, p. 374.]

* I am here obliged to notice an overfight of f I am obliged to omit fome matters concerning
Mr. Anderfon, who i'uppofcs this the firft fubiidy the merchants of the ftapk and the merchant-ad-
on woollen cloth. I fee no reafon to believe, that venturers, mentioned by Malynes and Wheeler, be-
lt was exempted from paying duty on the very firll caufe their afleitions are fometimes found contra-
exportation of it : and, not to multiply proofs, I dictoiy to record, and 1 dare not truft to fuch zealous
may only refer to the aft of parliament in 1348 ai/W<-fl/fj, when unfupported by better authority,
for new (apparently additional) duties on the ex- J Notwithflanding this truce there was an en-
portation of woollen cloth, and that of 1353 for gagement between the Lubeckers and the fhips of
other duties, whicii were to be paid by Englidi the earl of Warwick in the year 1458. [_Fadera,
confnmersias well as exporters. V. xi, />. 415.]

672 A. D. 1456.

May 31" — Though "King Henry had in former years commiflloned at
leaft three pretended philofophers to make the pretious metals, without
receiving any return from them in gold and filver, his creduhty was un-
fhaken by difappointment ; and he now ilTued a pompous grant in fa-
vour of three philofophers, who boafled, that they could tranfubftan-
tiate the meaner metals into gold and filver, and could alfo cure all dif-
eafes, preferve the hfe of man to the utmoft term with unimpaired
powers of body and mind, 8cc. &c. all by means of a mofl pretious me-
dicine, called the mother and queen of medicines, the inejlimable glory, thequint-
ejfence, the phitofopher s J}one,or the elixir of life. In favour of thofe three
' lovers of truth and haters of deception^ he difpenfed with the law (5 Hen.
IV, c. 4) againil multiplying gold and filver, and empowered them to
tranfmute other metals into thofe more pretious ones. This extraordi-
nary commiffion had the fandlion of parliament, now a common corro-
boration of the king's grants. {Fcedera, V. xi, pp. 68, 128, 240, 309,
379-] Thefe irapoilors, perhaps impolang even upon themfelves, kept
the king's expectations wound up to the highefl: pitch ; and in the fol-
lowing year he actually inforined the people, that the happy hour was
approaching, when, by means of the Jlone, he (hould be enabled to pay
off all his debts in a few years*. [T'ovey^s AngUa fudaica, p. 257.]

1457, March 2^ — The king of Portugal obtained a licence to Ihip
from the port of London 3,000 pounds of tin and 2,000 pounds of
lead, paying the due cufloms f . [Foedera, V. xi, p. 387.]

1458, March — The parliament of Scotland enaded, that gold and fil-
ver ware fhould be examined and ftamped by the deacons of the gold-
fmiths, or in towns, where there were no deacons, by the principal offi-
cers.— They prohibited dyers from buying cloth to fell again, or being
drapers. — They alfo decreed, that none but perfons of good credit, and
having at lead the value of three ferplaiths of their own property or
configned to them, iliould go abroad as merchants. — They alio enad-
ed a fumptuary law, prohibiting merchants, unlefs-they were aldermen,
bailies, or members of the council of a town, to wear filk, fcarlet, or
far of martins. Landed men, having within ^^40 a-year of old extent,
were to drefs as merchants. Labourers and hulhandmen were to wear
grey or white, and on holidays light-blue, green, or red. Women were
directed to drefs in proportion to the condition of their hufbands and
fathers. The clergy were alfo prohibited to wear fcarlet or martin's
furs, unlefs they were dignitaries of the church. — The parliament alfo
ordained, that, as there was but one king and one law, there fliould be
but one meafure, agreeable to the flandard kept in Stirling, and that

* After all ttic proofs King Heniy liad of the f Were tlie mines now cxhauftcd or forgotten,

ignorance or knavery of tliofe projcdtors, lie con- vvliich produced thofe metals in his own coiin-

tiiiued to encourage others of the fame clafs to the try, probably before the Britifli mines were

end of his reign. Nor was liis fuccclior exempt known \
from the fame credulity. See Futleia, F, \i,/>J>.
462, 637, &c. ■ 4

A. D. 1458. 673

meafures of the ftandard fliould alfo be kept in Aberdeen, Perth, and

Edmburgh Several ads were pafled for improving the agricuhure of

the country, for prohibiting the capture of fifli in improper feafons and
by illegal engines, for deflroying wolves and birds of prey, and for pre-

ferving the breed of hares and rabbits Laftly, the parliament wifely

ordered, that copies of their ads Ihould be taken by the fliirrefs and the
reprefentatives of burghs, and be duely publiflied throughout the king-
dom, that the people might not be ignorant of the laws, by which they
vsrere to be governed*. [^£??j- y^ir. //, fc. 73, 74, 75, 78, 82, 91-99,
loi, 102.]

At this time the Scots entered into a friendly treaty with the citizens
of Embden, which, like that with Flanders, was to be in force for one
hundred years f. [Left. Hiji. Scot. p. 488.] A treaty with a commer-
cial city could only regard matters of commerce.

The attention of the Scottifli government to the interefls of com-
merce is further manifefted by a grant of duties upon vefTels for repair-
ing the harbour of Dundee, a port advantageoufly fituated at the mouth
of the Tay :j:. [Skene de verh.fign. vo. FercoJla.'\

About this time George Faulau and John Dalrymple, merchants of
Scotland, and undoubtedly eminent in their profeffion, were frequently
employed, in conjunction with the clergy, the only men of leaiTiing,
and the nobles, in emballies and other public negotiations by King
James IT. [Fcedera, V. 'u, pp. 213, 277, 389, 400, 403, 421. — Adsjac,
11, cc. 34, 72.]

Thefe various notices, when added to the zeal for the commerce and
improvement of the country appearing in the ads of the parliament of
Scotland, infer that the country mufl at this time have enjoyed fome
degree of commercial profperity.

This year all the Genoefe merchants in London were imprlfoned, and
condemned to pay 6,000 marks. The reafon affigned was faid to be
the injury done to England by plundering a fhip belonging to a merch-
ant of Briftol, called Sturmyn, who was trading to various ports of
the Levant and other parts of the Eaft, on the pretence that he had
growing plants of pepper and other fpices onboard, which he propofed
to propagate in England. \Fabyan s Chronycle^ V. ii, f. ccii b.] Eng-

• Some of the aCls of this parliament arc repe- burgh benorth the Scottifli fca (Firth of Forth),
titions of ads of James I, which thence appear not The port duties were, iq/"on every fliip, ^J on

to have been duely enforced : but that need not every crayer, bufs, barge, and balinger, i/"on every

fiirprife us, when we fee finiilar repetitions com- fercofl, and 6 pennies on every large boat, as copied

mon in the afts of the parliament of England, a by Skene from the original record. Farccoft oc-

country more advanced in civilization. curs as a kind of vefTcl in England, \^Fai!era, F'.

f This, like the Flanders treaty, is only known xi,/>. 44] and is apparently the fame with fercq/t,

from its renewal in the year 1537. one or olhci being enoneoully tranfcribed from the

X Hardyng, a contemporary Englifh traveler in record,
Scotland, [_/". 236 b] calls Dundee the principal

Vol. L 4 Q

674 ■^' ^' '45^*

lifh voyages to the Levant were as yet very rare ; nor is this one un-
queflionably authenticated*.

1459 — '^^^ merchants of the ftaple, probably finding the ad of par-
liament of the year 1449 not fufficient to guard their monopoly at Ca-
lais againft the licences, which had been fo prejudicial to their trade, ob-
tained from King Henry a promife, that he would grant no more of
them. {Rot. pal. prim. 37 Hen. VI, m. 17.]

1460, February 13'" In a treaty with the Genoefe it was agreed,

that they Ihould have free admiflion in every part of the king's domin-
ions, and leave to export all lawful goods, they having none of the king's

enemies in their fervice They fhould give no afliftance to the king's

enemies ^They fhould not carry in their veffels any property of the

king's enemies ; and, if they had any fuch onboard, they fhould fur-
render it to the commanders of his fhips, who would pay them the fti-
pulated freight For the fake of form it was agreed, that all thele ad-
vantages fhould be reciprocal ; and it was added, that the mifcondud of
an individual fhould not break the treaty. {Fader a, V. xi, p. 441.]

February — Jerom Lynch, goldfmith of London, was appointed maf-
ter of the mints of Dublin and Trim in Ireland f , and ordered to coin
copper money, which was apparently the firfl of the kind in the Brit-
ifh iflands fince the days of the Roman dominion J. {Rot. pat. 39 Hen.
Vl^m. 7. — Warai Hibernia, p. 137, ed. 1654.]

May 9'" It feems that Caen in Normandy was the mofl: convenient

place known, from which flones proper for the reparation of Weflmin-
fler abbay could be got ; and they were imported in a veffel belonging
to that foreign port. [Fadera, V. \i., p. /^S^-^

1451 — The earliefl notice, I believe, of the manufadure of beer in
England, is found in a patent appointing John Devenifh and others to
be fupervifors of all the beer-brewers in England, with a fee of half a
filver penny for every barrel of beer. {Rot. pat. tert. i Edw. IV, m.
16.]

King Edward granted to the mayor and citizens of London the pack-
age of all woollen cloths and fkins within the liberties of the city. {Rot.
pat. tert. I Edw. IV, m. 16.]

That the woollen manufadure of York-fhire was now fomewhat con-
fiderable, may be inferred from a grant of the ulnage of woollen cloths
in York, Hull, and throughout the fhire, to Lord Montague. {Rot. pat.
quart. 1 Edw. IV, m. i.]

• Fabyan, who relates this (lory of Sturmyn ia, confukring iiow many hands they mud have
with fome hcfitptlon, obfcrves, that, of all the na- gone thro>i!;h, was exceedingly improbable, or ra-
tions who traded to England, the Gcnoele were thcr iinpolTible.

the lead concerned in the fpice trade in his time f Drogheda (' Drodath'), Waterfoid, Cork,

(he was fliirref of London in 1493), ai'l '^at it I^imcrlck, and fome other places in Ireland alfo h:,d

was therefor improbable that they Ihould have at- mints in the year 1474, and probably now alio.

tacked Suirmyn from apprchtnfion of fpiccs being \_Rot. [>al. fer. 14 Edw. IV, in. 22.]

naturalized by him in England. He might have J Tlie Saxon (1 yeas Were made of brafs. ^Nicies,

;.dded, that the importation of live plants from Iiid- Di/frt. fp'ijl. p. 182.] 4

A. D. 1463. 675

T463, March 9"' — King Edward gave the merchants of the Teutonic
gildhall in London a confirmation of all the privileges granted by his
predeceflbrs ; and he alfo exempted them from all new taxes impofed,
or to be impofed, on imports or exports. Thefe privileges they were to
enjoy during two years and a half, to be computed from Chriflmafs
1462, provided they (hould not attempt to pafs the goods of others as
their own, nor commit hoflilities or depredations againft himfelf or his
fubjeds. [Fa'dera, V. x'l, p. 498.]

April 29"" — The parliament, for the defence of the realm, and efpe-
cially for the guard of the fea, granted the king for life a fubfidy, called
tunnage, o£ ^/ upon every tun of wine imported, and 3/ more upon
every tun of fweet wine imported by any foreign meixhants, thofe of
the Hanfe not excepted. They alfo granted a poundage duty of twelve
pennies on the prime-coft value of all goods exported or imported, to be
paid by natives, as well as merchants of the Hanfe and other ftrangers,
who fhould, however, pay double poundage on tin. From this duty
were excepted woollen cloths, made by Englifli-born fubjeits, wool,
wool-fells, hides, and provifions for Calais, exported ; and alfo the flour
of all kinds of corn, frefh fifh, animals, and wine, imported. [Aci 3
Edw. IF*.]

June — ^The parliament, confidering that the wool of England was the
principal commodity of the kingdom, and defirous of promoting the in-
duflry of the people and the profperity of the towns, prohibited foreigners
from buying or (hipping any wool, wool-fells, morlings,or Ihorlingsf ,from
England or Wales. But thofe produced in Northumberland, Cumberland,
Wefl;merland, Durham, and the dillrids of York-fhire called Alverton
and Richmond, might befhipped, at the port of Newcaftle only, for any
foreign port : and the wool, &c. of the reft of the kingdom might be
exported, by denizens only, and only to the ftaple at Calais. The
merchants of the ftaple at Calais were directed not to fell any wool or
other ftaple goods without receiving immediate payment, whereof one
half Ihould be in Englifli money, or bullion, which fhould immediately
be coined at the mint in Calais, and in three months be imported into

England They alfo enaded fines to be levied upon thofe found guilty

of fraudulent package of wool. — And they ordained, that no Englifh
merchant ftiould fhip any goods, outward or homeward, in foreign vef-
fels, unlefs fufficient freight could not be found in Englifh ftiipping.
l^^ils 3 Edw. IV, c. 1.]

The importation of corn, except the produce of Wales, Ireland, or

* This ad does not appear in its proper p'ace the Italians in 1476, wliich will be found in their

in the cullcftions of the Ilatutes ; nor is it even pi opcr places.

mentioned in CcttorCs Ahndgement of the records of f McrFiiig, wool taken from the Iliin of a dead

pirLiment. But it is quoted in an ad 12 Ediv. flieep. 56o//m^, a fell after the the fljecc is fhotn

IF, c. 3, in the grant of King Henry to the Ge- off. [_Col:s's Di2.'\
nocfe in 1471, and in '.hat of K'ng Ed.vaid to all

4QJ5

6y6 A. D. 1463.

the iilands belonging to England, was prohibited, whenever wheat did
not exceed 6/'8, rye 4/ and barley ;^/, per quarter. \_c. 2.]

The male and female artificers of London, and other cities, towns,
and villages, of England and Wales, having reprefented that they were
grievoiifly injured by the importation of foreign articles of quality infer-
ior to thofe made by them *, the parliament prohibited for a time to
be limited by the king's pleafure, the importation or fale of woollen
caps, woollen cloths, laces, corfes, ribands, fringes of lilk or thread, laces
of thread, filk twined, lilk embroidered, laces of gold, tires of filk or
gold, faddles, ftirrups, harnefs belonging to faddles, fpurs, bofles of
bridles, andirons, gridirons, locks, hammers, pinfons, fire-tongs, drip-
ping-pans, dice, tennis-balls, points, purfes, gloves, girdles, harnefs for
girdles of iron, latten, fleel, tin, or alkmine, articles made of tawed lea-
ther, tawed furs, bufcans (probably buflcins), fhoes, galoches or corks,
"Tcnives, daggers, wood-knives, bodkins, fheers for tailors, fciflbrs, raf-
ors, fheaths, playing cards f, pins, pattens, pack-needles, any painted
ware, forcers, cafkets, rings of copper or of latten gilt, chafing-difhes,
hanging candlefticks, chafing bells, facring bells, rings for curtains,
ladles, fcummers, counterfeit bafins, ewers, hats, brulhes, cards for
wool, and blanch iron wire, commonly called white wire. The manu-
factures of Ireland and Wales might be fold in England as freely as be-
fore ; and alfo goods taken from enemies, or found in wrecked veflels.
The tenants of the precinft of the chapel of S'. Martin le Grand in Lon-
don were exempted from the operation of this ad X- [^^s 3 Edw. IV,
c. 4] By it we are informed, what articles were then in requeft, and
Avhat manufadures were then eftabliflied, in England.

By the king's patent, granted to the mayor and citizens of London,
thetronage (weighing) of wool was transferred from Wellminfter, where
Henry VI had eftablifhed fix wool-houfes, to Leadenhall in London §.
[Rot, pat. fee. 3 Edzv. 11"^, w. 17. — Stoiv's Survey, pp. 304, 843.]

Hitherto all people bringing corn, fifli, fait, fuel, onions, &c. to Lon-
don by water, had been ordered to land them at Queenhithe : but the
trouble and liinderance occafioned by delays in taking up the draw-
bridge had induced many of them to rilk the penalty by unloading at
Billingfgate. It was now thought expedient to authorize what had

* The application to parliament gives rcafon to tliem, by means of wooden blocks, the figures of

fufpeft that the foreign goods were ofyu/mor qual- of faints with infcriptions. Some fnch, executtd

ity ; and thence the home-r.iade goods rtquirtd fo early as the year 1423, may be regarded as the

the protcfllon of a monopoly againll tlie foreign firll fpecimens of printing. [_Id^e ^entrale d'uiie

manufacturer and the Englidi confumcr. Tlie co/kc/lon i!'i/i:impa, />/>. 2 }g-2^o.]
quantity ot foreign goods poured into the country J The fame exemption is repeated in all the ails

aa foon as the prohibition expired (fee below in the containing reftiaints upon trade about this time,

year 1+83) proves, that they were more accept- fo that S'. Martins tenants were the only free

able to the confnmers. traders. Stow, in his Si^rvry, gives fomc account

f Playing cards were invented in Germany be- of the privilcgts claimed by this college or chapel,
fore tht end of the fourteenth century. At firft § A pretty ample hillory of Leadtnliall is given

iifcd only for amufement, they were afterwards by Stow in tnc account of Lime-ftrett ward in hill

made fubfervicnt to fuperllition by (lamping on Survey of London.

A. D. 1463. 677

hitherto been done agamft authority ; and a part of the veflels, bringing
lalt, wheat, rye, or other corn, from beyond the fea ; or other grains,
garlick, onions, herrings, fprats, eels, whiting, plaice, cod, mackerel,
&c. were permitted to unload at Billingfgate. But ftill the greater
number were to proceed up to Queenhithe. [Stow's Survey, p. 682.]
This is apparently the origin of a legal market for fifli at Billingfgate.

1464, January — King Edward owed ^^32,861 to the company of
merchants of the ftaple at Calais, for payment of which he afllgncd them
a yearly rate (or inftallment) out of the fubfidies of wool. {Cotton s
yibridgement, p. 6']%.']

The commencement of the Oriental trade of Florence about the year
1425 has been noticed. The Medici, a race of fuccefllve eminent
merchants (and the anceftors of many families of fovereign princes)
were, it is believed, deeply concerned in that trade. Cofmo de Medici
was the greatefl merchant of the age, or equaled only by Jacques Coeur
in France. In every part of Europe he had houfes ellablifhed for con-
dud;ing his vaft commerce, and his extenfive money concerns, whereby
he ferved all Europe with the accommodation of borrowing and remit-
ting. Nor were his agents lefs alliduous in collecling for him the trea-
fures of antient learning, and the choiceft productions of art, than in
procuring the rich merchandize of India ; for this illuftrious merchant,
who dedicated his riches to the fervice of mankind, was the mod: mu-
nificient, unaffuming, patron of arts, fciences, and literature. He em-
ployed his wealth and his literary treafures for the fervice of his coun-
try and his friends with fuch effedl, that, when Naples and Venice com-
bined againfl: Florence, he deprived them of refources for carrying on
the war, merely by calling in the vafl fums due to him in thofe dates ;
and by a manufcript of Livy, fent as a prefent to the king of Naples,
he conciliated his friendfhip. Nor were the politics of Italy only
governed by the conimercial operations of Cofmo : even the diftant
kingdom of England was affeded by the power of his pecuniary influ-
ence, and the fums, lent by his agents to Edward IV, amounting to
120,000 crowns, contributed in a great meafure to fupport him in his
conteil with the houfe of Lancafter. This truely-great man died, with
the juftly-merited title of father of his country, on the i" of Auguft
1464*.

* For a more complete account of this great cd Uis money at lall. He ailo knew another of

merchant, and for the authorities, fee Rnfcoe's Life Cofmo's agents, called Portunaiy, who -became

of Lorcnxo de Metiici, his grandfon. See alfo Gii- fccurity for King Edivard to the duke of Bi'.r-

l/on, Fi xii, /). 135. — and Coinings, L. \\\, c. 6. gundy for 50,000 crowns, and at another time for

The later, after noticing the wonderful extent of 24,000. — Coiniiics's hint of the damage fullaincd

the credit of his commercial boufes, as he himfelf, by delay of payment is fupported by a grant of

had had occafion to fee them in France and Eng- King Edward, dalcd^o'" November 1466, wheiv-

land, fays, that, to his knowlege, GnerarJ Quan- by it appears, that ;t'5'i;4= '9 = 'o "f ^1^^ money

refe, one of Cofmo's agents, was the chief inltrn- lent him by Gerard Camzian (whom Comines calls

ment in fupporting Edward IV by fuinifliing kim Qu^anvcfe) Hill remained due; for payment of

at a time above i2c,ooo croivns, not much to the which Edward permitted liim to berd, cbck, and

advantage of his principal, wt.o, however, recover- cli;an, any wool whatfoever, and export it, or any

oth-

er

678 A. D. 1465.

1465, January— The parliament, obferving that many frauds had
crept into the manuflidure of cloths, by reafon of which their reputa-
tion in foreign countries was much impaired, and foreign cloths were
even imported into England, ena£ted, that every whole cloth, when
properly finifhed for fale, fliould meafure 24 yards in length, and 2
yards, or at leafl 7 quarters, in breadth within the lifts : if longer, the
buyer fhould pay for the extra meafure. Straits, properly finifhed,
fhould meafure 12 yards in length and i yard in breadth; kerfeys, 18
yards in length and i-'y, or at leaft 1 yard, in breadth. Half pieces of
each in proportion, and all meafured with an allowance of an inch to
every yard in the length. The makers were prohibited from putting
lamb's wool, flocks, or cork *, in any cloth. Cloth might be made,
however, all of lamb's wool : and cork might be ufed in dying cloth or
wool woaded, or cloth perfe6lly boiled and maddered. They required,
that cloths fliould be perfedly uniform in their fabric from end to end,
and they ordained, that cloths of unequal fabric, and thofe of irregular
lengths, fliould be diftinguifhed by leaden feals, different from thofe put
upon goods of flandard dimenfion and quality. — Another abufe, com-
plained of, was, that the manufacturers compelled their carders, fpin-
ne^s, and other work-people to take ' a great part of their wages in
' pins, girdles, and other unprofitable wares,' and alio delivered wool to
them by exceflive weight ; wherefor it was now ordained, that they fliould
pay their labourers in money only, and ufe jufl weights. — The parlia-
ment alfo now declared, that all foreign-made cloth, found in England
after the i" of Auguft 1465, fliould be forfeited to the king, except
cloths made in Ireland or Wales, or taken from enemies upon the fea
without fraud or collufion. \^J£is 4 Edw. IV^ c. i.]

In order to abolifh the trade of fmuggling wool, which was openly
fliipped off in defiance of the law by day-light, as well as fecretly by
night, it was enacted, that it fliould be exi^orted at no other ports or
creeks, than Pool, Southampton, Chichefter, Sandwich, London, Ipf-
wich, Bofton, Hull, and Lynne, at all which ports colledfors of the cuf-
toms were ftationed, and beams and weights provided ; and alio that it
fliould be fliipped only in gallies and carracks, except what was to go to
the Mediterranean. The cuftom-houfe officer at Calais was direded to
give every merchant a certificate of the wool landed by him there,

A. D, 1465. 679

which the merchant was required to lodge in the exchequer, as a proof
that he had not carried it to any other port. [c. 2.]

In confequence of the licence of fhipping the north-country wools at
Newcaftle, thofe of the counties of York, Lincoln, and Nottingham,
were frequently carried to that port, and (hipped as the produce of the
northern counties ; which pradlice was now prohibited under a heavy
penalty, [c. 3.]

In favour of the woollen manufadurers it wasenadled, that they alone
fhould have a right to make contracts for wool before it was fhorn. All
other perfons were prohibited from making any fuch contrads in the
counties of Berks, Oxford, Gloucefter, Salop, Hereford, Worcefter,
Wilts, Somerfet, Dorfet, Hants, Eflex, Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk,
Kent, Surrey, and Suflex. [c. 4.]

The duke of Burgundy had publilhed another ordinance, never to be
repeated, ordering all woollen cloth and woollen yarn made in England
to be baniflied out of his dominions, in confequence of which it was
apprehended, that the weavers, fullers, dyers, fpinners, carders, and
winders of yarn, in England would be thrown idle. The parliament,
in retaliation, prohibited the importation of any produce or manufac-
ture of the duke's territories, except provifions, in England, Wales, or
Ireland, till he fhould repeal his ordinance. In the meantime, the
merchants, pofTefling fuch goods, were ordered to take no advantage of
the fcarclty by raifing the price. The merchants of the Teutonic gild-
hall were not bound by the prohibitions of this ad. [r. 5.] Therefor
the non-importation ad was in fad a charter of monopoly to them ; .
and the duke's fubjeds would feel no inconvenience from it.

The foreign merchants were fo much embarralTed in finding fecurity
tor their faithfully inverting the proceeds of their cargoes inEnglilh goods,
or perhaps fo unwilling to comply with the law, that many of them
gave up trading to England. In order to mitigate the hardfhip, the
officers of the cuftoms were direded to require no other fecurity of the
merchants than their own. [c. 6.]

For the encouragement of the homers, efpecially thofe of London,
it was enaded, that no horns fhould be exported, except what might be
to fpare after fupplying their demand, provided the homers fhould take
no advantage of this ad to lower the price of horns*. [<r. 8.]

Odober 13'" — In a treaty of alliance between England and Denmark,
the merchants on both fides were allowed free accefs to the ports of each
country : but flill the Englifh were excluded from failing to the coafts
of Iceland, Halgaland, and Finmark ; nor was their being driven upon.

* In tliofc days fpoons and other utenfils made tain: for Richard Benyngton was thought wor-

of horn were more in ufe than now. It is alfo thy of honourable ccmmcnioration by the hillorian

certain that horn plates then anfwered many of Croy land for hberally bellowing jf 40 for glazipjf

of the purpofes, for which window glais is now a window in that abbay. [^Ifijl. Croyl.np. CiiL,p.

employed. That glazed windows were by no 536.] Though the window may have been large,

means common at this time, appears pretty cer- fo great a funi fhows that glafs was very dear.

68o A. D. H^5*

them by ftrefs of weather to be admitted as a pretence for trading.
[Fcedera, V. xi, p. 551.] So anxioufly did the king of Denmark feek to
preferve the fifhery, apparently the only obied: of attradion to thofe
hyperborean regions, to his own fubjedts. Walter Cony and Henry
Bermycham, merchants of Lynne, were two of the ambafTadors appointed
to negotiate this treaty, they being, it may be prefumed, well acquainted
with fuch commercial matters as might fall under difcuflion.

1466, April 30"" — A treaty between King Edward and the duke of
Bretagne ftipulated for the fubjeds of both princes a mutual liberty of
trade in merchandize not prohibited. [Fcedera, V. xi,^. 567.]

Auguft: 6'" — King Edward, delirous of fortifying himfelf againft the
rival houle of Lancafter by the friendlhip of the fovereigns on the con-
tinent, entered into treaties of offenfive and defenfive alliance with as
many of them as poflible. Some negotiations (whereof, I apprehend, no
record remains) had taken place between him and the king of Caftile
before October 1464; and now he concluded a perpetual alliance with
that prince, wherein it was agreed, that the merchants of either king-
dom might freely buy and fell any merchandize whatfoever in the other,
and fhould be treated in all refpeds as well as the natives of the country.
\Toedera V. xi, pp. 534, 569, 572, 583.] This treaty, though not of
itfelf very important in commercial hiflory, merits notice, becaufe the
eagernefs for cultivating the friendfhip of Spain, which produced it,
probably alfo occafioned an exportation of the fheep of Cotefwold in
Gloucefter-fhire to Spain about this time, which, though afferted by
annalifts who lived not very long after, has been ridiculed by fome late
writers, only becaufe they thought it unlikely. It is enough to fay,
that the feveral unqueftionable exportations of Englifh fheep, already
related and to be related in this work, fufficiently warrant the belief of
the exportation faid to have taken place at this time *.

Odober — The parliament of Scotland authorized a committee of

* Harrifon in his Defcriptlon of Britain, prefixed ' into Spaiiie, who having licence but for a few,

to Holinjhed, [/. IC9 a ed. 1577] complains of the ' fliipped vciie manie.' — Holln/bcd in his Chronicle

praAice of exporting flicep in his own days. Thefe • [/>. 1317, ed. 1577] relates the exportation thus,

are his words.—' So much are our wooUes to be ' — Kyng Edwarde concluded an ametie and

' preferred before thoft of other places, that, if Ja- ' league with Hcnryc king of Caftile and John

' fon had knowiie tlie value of them that are brcdde ' king of Aragon, at the concluding whereof hee

• and to he had in Englande, he woulde never ' granted licence for certayne Cottefolde fheepe to

• have gone to Colchos to loukc for any there. * be tranfportcd into the countrey of Spaync (as
'What foolcs then arc our countrymen, in that 'people report) whych have there lo niuhiplyed
' they feeke to bercve themftlves of this commo- ' and increafed, that it hath turned the commoditie
' ditie by pradlizing dayly liowc to transferre the ' of England much to the SpanilI.e prcjfite'. —
'fame to other n.!tions, in carying over their Stow [^;m./». 6i;6(i^. 1600] ncaily repeats Holin,

• rammes and ewes to breede an increafe among fhed's words ; as does alfo Speed, f/". 854, ed.
•them.' In the edition of ij86 [/>. zai] he 1632] who adds, tliat clotlis made from the woo!
adds, ' — The 11 rft example hereof was given un- of the dcfcendents of the flieep now carried to
' dcr Edward the fourtli, who not underftanding Spain, v.erc (in his own time) a great hinderance
' the boluine of the fute of fundrlc traitorous to the Englifli merchants adventuring to the Le-
« merchants, that fought a prefcnt gaine with the vant feas. — 'J'hc other authors, whom 1 have ex-
' perpetuall liinderance of their countric, licenced amined for this fait, are filent upon it.

' ihcm to caric over, ce/teine numbers of them

A. D. 1466. 68 1

their own body to ratify, or annull, as they might think expedient, the
ftatutes advifed in the feflion of burghs (or court of the four burghs)
for the good of merchants and the advantage of the kingdom. — They
repeated the unavailmg law againfl carrying money out of the country ;
and, thinking nothing elfe fo valuable, they ordered all merchants to
bring two ounces of pure filver to the mint for every fack of wool ex-
ported by them, and in proportion for fkins (apparently wool-fells) and
hides. — They ordered copper coins to be made, whereof four fliould
be equal to a penny, and alfo another kind of fmall money, to the
amount of only £300, with a mixture of filver in it. No perfon was
obliged to receive more than twelve pennies in the pound of thofe in-
ferior kinds of money ^The coinage of the mixed, or black, pennies

was abolifhed in the following year *. [Ads Jew. Ill, cc. 2, 10, 11,
12, 22.]

1467, January — ^The Scottifh parliament pafTed feveral a<fls, all intend-
ed for the advancement, but mofl of them probably operating for the

obftrudlion, of commerce They ordained, that none but burgelTes, or

their fadors living in their families, fhould go abroad as merchants.
But prelates and other clergymen, lords, and barons, might export their
own goods, and import what they had occafion for, by the agency of
their fervantsf. — Handicraft tradefmen were particularly debarred from
failing as merchants, or ufing merchandize, without obtaining fpecial
leave, and renouncing their former employment without diflimulation.
— The fmalleft quantity of goods, in property or truft, qualifying a per-
fon to fail as a merchant, was now fixed at half a laft. — They ordained,
that no fhip fhould be freighted without a charter party, wherein fhould
be exprefTed, among other conditions, that difputes between the mafler
and merchants fhould be fubmitted to the jurifdidlion of the town to
which they were bound, that goods fhould not be crufhed or damaged
by unreafonable flowing ; if the mafler carried any goods upon deck,
he fhould have no freight for them, and in cafe of their being thrown
overboard or lofl, the goods in the hold fhould not be Uable to pay
average for them ; and the mafler fhould receive no drink-money.
VefTels carrying lefs than five lafls fhould pay the freight of half a fack,

* Ruddiman, on the autliority of Buclianan, in trade and were even owners of veffels, as appears

inclines to believe, that copper money was coined by a receipt (dated S May 1475) for 100 marks

by fome of the earlier kings of Scothnd. \_Praf. EngUfh money paid by King Edward's agent,

adDlpl. Srotit, pp. 66, 67, 71.] But Buchanan's Lye, for a (hip loaded with merchandize, belong-

afTertion, if unfupported by other vouchers, is no ing to Sir John Colquhoun^ the clxamberlain of

fufficient authority (as has repeatedly been proved Scotland, which had been taken by Lord Gray,

by Ruddiman himfelf in his valuable notes on that {^Rymer's ur.puhlijhcd records, Ediu. IV, Vol. ii, p.

author, and as I have alfo had occafion to remark 589.] Unlefs the compenfation was ver)- inade-

in anoihcr work) efpeciallv, as he confounds the quale indeed, tlic veiTel and cargo mu.fl have been

copper money with the m'ixed or black money, very trifling, merely for the _lerv:ce of his own

There were fcarcely any innovations, in which the houfehold. In this age the kmgs alio interfered

Scots preceded the Engh(h. iu trade, as will appear afterwards.

+ Some of the Scottifh bcTons were concerned

Vol. I. 4 R

\

682 A. D. 1467.

and thofe of a greater burthen the freight of a fack, to the chaplain of
the nation in the country failed to, and on their return home fhould

pay the freight of a tun to the church of the port of delivery VefTels

were prohibited from failing to any foreign country between the 28"'
of Odober and the 2" of February. — The merchants of Scotland were
now prohibited from failing to the Swyn, the Sluys, the Dam, or Bruges,
and were required to remove their property from thofe places before
the i'' of Auguft enfuing, and thenceforth to have no intercourfe with
them, l^i-ls yac. Ill, cc. 14-19.] The interruption of trade with
thefe towns was an infraction of the hundred-years treaty, owing to
fome caufe of difpleafure, which the hiftorians of the age have not in-
formed us of.

July — In England alfo the attention of the parliament this year was
chiefly turned to trade. — Notwithftanding the act for enforcing uniform-
ity of fabric and quantity in the worfted-ftuff manufadures of Nor-
^ wich and the adjacent country, pafled in the 2o'^ and repeated in the
9 23^, year of Henry VI, there were now frefti complaints of the delin-
quency of the manufadurers of thofe goods ; whereupon a new ad was
made, which was little more than a repetition of the former ones. \^Acls
7 Ldw. IV, c. I .]

The clothiers in the hundreds of Lifton, Taviftock, and Rowburgh,
in Devon-fhire were permitted to mix flocks with their wool, they
having reprefented, that, on account of the grofliiefs and fl:ubbornnefs
of the wool in that diftrid, no cloth could be made without fuch a mix-
ture, [c. 2.]

The exportation of woollen yarn and unfuUed cloth, whereby the
^ king lofl; the cuft;oms payable upon finiflied cloths, and the people a part
of their employment, was prohibited, [c. 3.]

Augufl: 29'" — King James allowed the merchants of Scotland to fail

to Middleburg, but not to eftablifli their trade in that city as a flaple,

as he intended to fend commiflioners to negotiate privileges for them in

whatever place fhould be found moft advantageous for a flaple. — They

, were alfo at liberty to fail to Rochelle, Bourdeaux, and the other ports

■> of France. [A£ts Jac. Ill, cc. 20, 21.]

Odober — The parliament of Scotland, after having lowered their
money of account by making a nominal rife upon their own and all
foreign coins current in the kingdom, or, in their own language, making
their money equivalent to the currency in Flanders, next obliged all
debtors to make payment in the full value originally contraded for. In
a few months the parliament obferved, that that change anfwered no
good purpofe, that the pennyworth rofe with the penny, and that land-
lords were defrauded of the fourth or fifth part of their rents * ; and

• However obvious thcfe confcqucriccs miglit days. V>\.\\. iuch ignonnct oi the nature and caufes
bt to the eye of rcafon, none of the nations of of the tucahh of nat'iom in tliofe ages need not fur-
Eurcpc fecm to have liad any idea of ihtiii in thofe prife us, when, cvrn in the prefent cnhghtcned age,

we

A. D. 1467. - ♦^ 683 V

therefor they reduced mofl: of the foreign coins current in Scotland to a
fmaller numerical value than they had lately fet upon them (January
1468). [Jcis Jac. Ill, cc. 22, 23, 29, and fee alfo 58.]

November 24''' — The Englifli and the people of the Netherlands feel-
ing the bad effeds of turning the trade of the two countries into a cir- ,,
cuitous channel, the commercial intercourfe between them was now re-
vived, and regulated by a new treaty between King Edward and the ^%
duke of Burgundy, which was to be in force thirty years. The fubjeds
of both princes, whether dealers in wool, hides, or provifions, or other
articles, were to have free accefs by land or water with liberty to buy
and fell all kinds of merchandize, except warlike ftores, on paying the
duties, eftablifhed when commerce formerly had free courfe between ^,_-

the two countries Each prince, in cafe of fcarcity, might prohibit the

exportation of provifions. — The fifhermen on both fides might freely

fifh in any part of the fea, without needing formal licences or fafe-con-

duds, and, if driven by neceffity into any port on the oppofite coafl,

they fhould be kindly treated, provided they paid the cuftomary dues,

committed no fraud, and did no damage. — No corfairs fhould be allowed

to fail from the ports of either prince to prey upon the fubjeds of the ,

other : neither fhould they be allowed to fell, or even to land, their plun- •# *

der in any harbour, and the officers of any place, permitting fuch fale ^

or landing, fhould be bound to make compenfation to the party injured.

Neutral veflels, carrying provifions or other merchandize from the ^

Eaft-country to the territories of either prince, fhould not be molefted *^
by the fubjeds of the other. — Merchant vefTels, driven into port by
florms or enemies, fhould be kindly treated, but fliould not land any
merchandize without permiffion. — Mariners flionld be allowed in the
ports to fafien their veflels to the fhore. — The fubjeds of either prince
fhould not carry the property of the enemies of the other — VefTels •%

ftranded or wrecked on either fhore, wherein a human creature, or even '
a dog, cat, or cock, remained alive, fhould be preferved with their car-
goes as fafely as poffible, and reftored to the owners for a reafonable
falvage. — The road from Calais to Gravelings fhould be kept up ; the
Englifh fliould have inns or hotels, with all their former privileges, in
the towns of Brabant, Flanders, and Mechlin ; and the merchants of
thofe countries fhould have the like in England — The treaty fliould not
be infringed for the adlion of any individual. — Laftly, the four members
of Flanders fliould bind themlelves to preferve the treaty inviolate on
their part. \Fcedera^ V. xi, p. 591.]

1468, June — The clothiers in Norfolk and Suffolk having got into a
pradice of making their cloths, called fet cloths, very deficient in length,

we fee (andyi'f/) the race of depretiation, though piofpciity. But the very fame men do not blulh

by different means, proceeding with a moll Jeftruc- to alk, and receive, an augmentation of emolu-

tlve career, and men, who affume the charaflcr of ments, drawn from the necelTities oftiiofe who arc

pliilofophical pohticians, holding up that very de- finking under the depretiation, to fliield themfelves

pretiation as a triumphant evidence of national from the baneful effefts of their boafted profperitv-

4R2

•'^

684

« »

A. p. 1468.

*«»

breadth, and fub fiance, the parliament enacled, that evei-y broad fet
cloth, properly finifhed for fale, fhould meafure 28 yards and 28 inches
by the fold in length, and 7 quarters in breadth within the lifts in all
parts, and fliould weigh at leafl 38 pounds ; and flrait fet cloths, duely
finifhed, fliould meafure half as much in length and breadth, and weigh
at leall 94- pounds. AW fet cloths were to be infpeded and fealed by
the king's aulneger with the feals of the fubfidy and aulnage. [Jets
8 Edzv.IV,c. I.]

In confideration of ;iC3350CO due by the king to the company of the
flaplers at Calais, he aihgned to them for eight years the fublidies of the
port, and all his other revenues in Calais, for payment, they allowing
out of them the pay of the foldiers and maintenance of the works *.
[Cotton^s Abridgement, p. 68 1 .]

An account was prefented to parliament of the money exchanged in
the Tower by the keeper of the king's exchange in three years, whereof
the following is an abftract.

Years
ending
29'" Sept

ember.

1466
1467
1463

.Old
nobles.

I3;,S7
60,15
33,400

Emption for
die king's
farm at \d
acli,

574 9 7
200 13 7

SILVER.

Troye
pounds
weight,

3,845

Emption at
iT'/p'pound
weight,

72
183

Emption,

1
19

10; 646 11

384 13

whereof

paid to

the king,

and remain-
ed to tiie
keeper.

400
200

246

184

>•

[Cot toft's Alridgement^ p. 685.]

July z^ — A treaty for commercial intercourfe with Bretagne for
thirty years was now fettled, almofl upon the lame terms as that with
the duke of Burgundy, except that the trade was allowed to be more
general and free ; wool, cloths, linens, wines, fruits, hides, provifions,
and alfo harnefs, armour, artillery, horfes and other animals, and all
f)ther merchandize whatever, were lawful. Plymouth, Dartmouth, Win-
chclfea within the chain and its little harbour, and Calais, were except-
ed from the general liberty granted to the merchants of Bretagne of
making fafl their veiTels in the harbours, and having hotels or inns in
the towns, of England ; the duke of Bretagne having an equal right to
except any of his towns from the fimilar liberty to be granted to the
Englifh merchants. [Fasdern, V. xi, />. 618.]

September 8"" — The purchafeof the vaflal kingdom of Mann and the
Weftern iflands by Alexander III king of Scotland in the year 1266 has
been related. The flipulated annual payment of 1 00 marks, perhaps
as too trifling to merit attention on cither fide, liad been allowed to run
in arrear for twenty-fix years. In confequence of the advice of Charles,
the late king of France, a very amicable fettlement was now effected be-

* This loan, aiid lliat of 1464, fbow that the f^xofioo for payment of a part of iiis fillci's por-

nicrchants of the ftaplc were very rich (/^33,ooo tioii to the duke of Burgundy : and on many other

being Hill a great fum) and that the king knew occafions King Edward reforted to them for pe-

t.hey were. In the following year he borrowed euniary alTiftance. [<7i)//o;;, />^. 683, 692,. Sec]

A. D. 1468.

685

tween the parties concerned. Chrifliern king of Denmark, who, as fuc-
ceflor to the kings of Norway, had the right to the annual, gave his
daughter in marriage to King James, with a portion of 60,000 florins,
together with a fall difcharge of the arrears of the annual, and alfo of
all demands on that account in time coming. Of the fum llipulated,
he engaged to pay down 10,000 florins before his daughter's departure
for Scotland, and to give a niortgage of the fovereignty of the Orkney
iflands, which fliould remain fubjecfi: to the crown of Scotland, till he
fliouid pay the remaining 50,000. When the time appointed for the em-
barkation of the princefs arrived, Chrifl:iern, being much harafled with
war, could only pay 2,000 florins; and therefor (20''' May 1496) he offered
a further niortgage of the iflands of Hialtland, or Shetland, till he fliould
find it convenient to redeem them by paying 8,000 florins. None of
the money was ever paid ; and all the iflands, fcattered in the Northern
ocem in the vicinity of Scotland, remain to this day attached to that
kingdom. [T'orfai Orcades, pp. i 85 c'/'y^-^y.]

December — The arrival of one hundred and fifty veflels at once was
beheld by the inhabitants of Slays with wonder and delight : for very
feldom fo many arrived at once *. [Meyeri Ann. Flandr.f. 347 a.]

1470, March 23'' — A proclamation of King Edward, offering a land-
ed eftate of ;(^ioo a year, or, in the option of the receiver, £^1,000 iu
ready money, as a reward for apprehending the duke of Clarence or the
earl of Warwick, [F^i/if/-^, r. xi,/". 654] has been adduced as a proof,
that land was ufually worth only ten years' purchafe. But it is only a
proof, that Edward was rich in lands from the very numerous forfeitures,
and poor in money, as appears from his conflant borrowing. Neither
was forfeited land, in thofe days of fudden revolutions, a very fecure or
eligible property f .

December 24'*^ — Several merchants and mariners of the north coafl
of Spain fought redrefs for vefTels and cai'goes, which, they declared up-
on oath, were piratically taken from them by the people of Sandwich,
Dartmouth, Plymouth, and Fowey. The veflels and their cargoes were
valued by them as follows %.

a ship of 100 tuns, value ^107 10 O; total of vessel and cargo £bQ5

a ship 70 - 100 0 0-'"

a carvel 40 - 70 O O -

a ship 120 - 110 O O ditto,

a carvel 110 - 140 O O ditto,

a carvel 110 - 150 O O ditto,

a carvel 120 - 180 O O ditto.

ditto, ditto

ditto, ditto

ditto, and freight

ditto, ditto

ditto

ditto, ditto

350
250
300
380
2,500
450

• This arrival has been related by fiicceeding J The fums here ftated are taken from the coni-

writers as a common occurrence, and as a proof of plaint of the merchants addrcfTed to the king : but

the vaft commerce of Bruges, of which Sluys was
the fea-port. We thus fee, what miiiaken infer-
ences may be drawn from an erroneous llatement
of a fimple faft.

\ We have already feen (p. 448) a life-rent,
not a property, in lands valued at ten years' pur-
chafe in Scotland in the thirteenth century.

the particulars, fworn to in the court, give totalt
fomewhat different, and in gcnctnl amounting to
greater Turns. The wool was valued at f^ per
facie of I -J quintal, the iron at ^^4 per tuu, tlic
wines at ,^4 to ^^5 per tun.

686 A. D. 1470.

The cargoes confifted of iron, wine, wool (440 facks), raifins, liquor-
ice, fpicery, incenfe, oi-anges, marfac, and 4 facks of cheefe intend-
ed for prefents. The mofl valuable veffel with wool, iron, 8cc. was
bound for Flanders, and all the reft for England. [^F^dera, V. y^-'i, pp.
671, 672.] We do not fee, what was decided by the court. But the
merchants of the northern ports of Spain declined trading to England,
as appears by an invitation held out by Edward IV in the year 1471,
afluring them, that they had nothing to fear in his kingdom.

December 29"' — King Henry VI, being reftored for a few months,
gave the merchants of Cologne, who, with other merchants of Germany,
pofTefTed the Teutonic gildhall in London, a grant fimilar to that, given
in the year 1463 to the merchants of the Hanfe in general, by his an-
tagonift Edward IV : but this was to the merchants of Cologne only *,
and was to laft for five years, inftead of two and a half, the term grant-
ed by Edward. [^Foedera, V. xi,^. 678.]

During the Ihort fecond reign of King Henry, the earl of Warwick,
who then governed the king and the kingdom, fent an army over to
Calais to act againft the duke of Burgundy and the exiled king Edward

IV. But the Englifh merchants of the ftaple, whofe greateft fale for
woo] was to the clothiers of the duke's provinces of Flanders and Hol-
land, knowing the ruinous confequences to their trade to be exped:ed
from a war in the Netherlands, found means to divert the earl from his
purpofe. \Comines, L. iii, c. 6.]

1 47 1, February 16''' — King Henry entered into a treaty, or truce,
with the king of France, which, being merely calculated for his own
perfonal fafety, an objeft which left him no leifure to attend to any
other confideration, contains very little relating to commerce. As an
article of courfe, the merchants and all other fubjeds of both kings were
to have freedom of going into either kingdom on the bufinefs of merch-
andize, fiOiing, or any other occafion. [Foedera, V. \i, p. 683.]

February ^a** — He alfo granted the Genoefe an exemption from the
additional duties laid upon foreign merchants by an ad: paffed by him-
felf as well as by another of the third year of King Edward. [Fadera,

V. xi, p. 696.] But a few weeks terminated his life and reign, and their
privileges.

Auguft — The parliament of Scotland thought it expedient, for the
benefit of the kingdom, and in confideration of the great riches which
might be acquired from other countries, that certain lords fpiritual and
temporal, and burghs, fliould build large ftjips, buflcs, and pink-boats,
and furnifii them with nets and other apparatus proper for fifliing f.
iJias Jac. Ill, c. 60.]

• Cologne courted the friendfliip of England contain, as fuppofing it already generally known.

in the year 1452, when Lubeck was holtile, and It is from a fubleqiicnt aft (c. 133) that we learn,

*the other Hanfe towns were not friendly. • ■ that the filhery was intended to be on the well

•J- The very brief afta of the Seottidi parliament coa(l, and for catching and curing herrings and

fonietimes fupprcfs a part of what they ought to other filh.

A, D, 1071, 687

November 9'' — King Edward, mindful of the friendfliip fhown to
him in his exile by Peter Bhidelyn, lord of the town of Middleburg in
Flanders, granted for ever to all the traders (' mercatores') of that town,
though not alTociated in the Teutonic Hanfe, as well thofe working at
the mechanic trade called battery, as thofe engaged in other trades, an
exemption from all duties and imports on their wares throughout all
England, with all the liberties and privileges which had been enjoyed by
the people of Dynant, before it was deftroyed *. [F^dern, V. x\,p. 729.]

December 22'' — He alfo granted for ever to Henry of Borfel, lord of
Vere in Zeland, and to the inhabitants of that town, liberty to import
their merchandize and export thofe of England, ftaple goods excepted,
paying only three pennies per pound on the exports, except cloths on
which they fhould pay twelve pennies for the piece of 28 yards, and for
ingrained cloths the fame duty paid by the Eflerlings ; and he affured
ihem, that no other or higher cuftoms Ihouldever be demanded of tiiem.
This grant was made on the condition, that his own fubjeds fhould be
exempted in the port of Vere from all duties already impofed, or after-
wards to be impofed. [Fcedcra, V. xi, p. 730.]

This year the merchants of Lubeck, Roflock, Wifmar, Stralfund,
Dantzik, Koningfberg, Riga (' Rigla'), Revel, and all the other Hanfe
towns of Germany, Pruflia, and Livonia, bound themfelves, under the
penalty of forfeiting all their rights and privileges, to make Bruges the
fole flaple for all their goods, and to fliip them all onboard certain vef-
fels, fufficiently armed for beating off pirates, which fliould be regular-
ly ilationed at Hamburgh and Sluys for the accommodation of the trade.
On the other hand the citizens of Bruges engaged, that the cuftoms
(' portoria') fhould be lowered, that brokers or others employed by the
merchants fhould alk no exorbitant recompenfe, and that the due
depth and other accommodations of their port of Sluys fhould be pre-
ferved. ^Meye/i Ann. Flandrice^f. 354 a.]

1472, February 12'" — King Edward licenced his fifler, the duchefs of
Burgundy, to berd, clack f, and clean, fifty facks of wool, and export
them in any veflels whatever to the Mediterranean fea, without paying
any cuftoms, or being obliged to import bullion on account of them.
This adive trading princefs obtained frequent repetitions of fuch grants ;
and as fhe never paid any cufloms and was not obliged to bring bullion
to the mint, her traffic, which by herfelf or her proxies v/as very extenf-
ive, mull have been very injurious to the fair traders. [^Fadera, V. xi,.
p. 735 Rymer's MS. records, pajjlm^

* Of the privileges of Dynant in England, I duke of Burgundy in 1466. \Com\nes, L. ii,J>. 74.

fuppofe, we have no further memorial extant. In — Meyeri Ann. F'andr.f. 337 b.]
1359 feme merchants of that town had a fafe-con- f To duel 'wool is to cut off the fheep's mark

duft from Edward III. \_Rot. pat. ^rim. ■s,^ Ediu. to make it lighter. [Cr.Us's D'i3.~\ Berding, I

///, m. 10.] It was famous for pots, pans, and pi-efume, is alfo an operation of forting and rtjccl-

other articles made of copper, which were called ing the inferior parts ; fo the duchcfs's wool was.,

Djnanilrie. It was a new town, founded by the all of prime quality.
fame Peter BJadelya, and it was deftroyed by the *j«

688 ^ A. D. 1472.

Odober — The parliament obliged the foreign merchants to import
four fufficlent bow-ftaves along with every tun weight of goods imported
by them. \_A6is 12 Edzv. IV, c. 2.]

In order to put a flop to the pradtice of fmuggllng cloth of gold, cloth
of filver, bawdekyns, velvet, damafk, fatin, farcenet, tarteron *, cham-
elets, and other fluffs of filk and gold, and of filk, whereby the fubfidies,
voted in the year 1463 for the guard of the fea, were rendered inade-
quate, and the law obliging foreigners to invefl the proceeds of their
fales in Englifh merchandize was evaded, the parliament ordained, that
all fuch goods, now being in England, or hereafter to be imported,
fhould be fealed and countcrfealed by the colledor and comptroller of
the fubfidies of tunnage and poundage in the port of delivery, before
they could be expofed to fale, on penalty of forfeiture f. — Precautions
were alfo taken againfl: another praftlce of fhipping fine cloths as coarfe
ones, owing to the negligence of the officers of the cufloms, who were
now ordered to examine the contents of every package, [r. 3.]

The parliament, finding that wool of other parts of the country was
flill fmuggled to the Netherlands under colour of the permifHon to fhip
the wool of the northern fhires from Newcaflle to any foreign country,^
now ordained, that thofe northern wools ihipped at Newcaflle fhould go
to Calais or New Middleburg in Flanders, and to no other place, and
that all other wool, wool-fells, morlings, and fliorlings, exported, except
thofe fhipped in gallies and carracks for the Mediterranean, fhould be
carried to'Calais only, on pain of felony, [c. 5.]

1473, June 20'" — Though the bifliops of Durham had for many ages
enjoyed the privilege of coining flerllngs, or pennies, the prefent bifhop
did not think himielf fully authorized to coin halfpennies without ob-
taining the king's fpecial permifHon, which was granted. [Foedera, V.
xi,/.. 783.]

1474, March 31" — WilHam Caxton, a mercer of London, being a
man of great ingenuity and unwearied application, and having refided
about thirty years on the continent as agent for the company of mercers
of London, and in the year 1464 as one of the ambalTadors fent by
King Edward to the duke of Burgundy, found means to make himfelf
mafler of the new art of printing. He actually undertook to print a
Hijlory ofT'roy, tranflated by himfelf from the French, which he finifhed
at Cologne in the year 1471. In the following year he returned to
England with fome copies of his book, and fet up aprefs in the almonry
of Weftminfler abbay, where he now produced the Game at Chefs^ the
firfl book printed in England. ' From this time to his death, A. D.
' 1491, he applied with fo much ardour to tranflating and printing, that,
' though he was an old man, he publiflied about fifty books, fome of

• Was this tlie checquered fluff, now called f Formerly the penalty had been only double
inrtan, and thought peculiar to the Highlands of payment of the fublidy.
S Ltland i

A. D. 1474. 689

' them large volumes, and many of them tranflated by himfelf. How
' produdive is incefHint labour, and how worthy are fuch men as Cax-
' ton of a place in the hiftory of their country*.'

Several foreigners, probably brought over as workmen by Caxton,
and alfo Thomas Hunt and fome other JLnglifhmen, fucceeded him in
the bufinefs of printing in England, which profpered fo well in their
hands that we fhall foon fee printed books an article of exportation.
[Middletoti's Origin of printing in Engl and. "^

There is no certainty of any eftablifliment of a printing prefs in Scot-
land before the year 1507, when Walter Chepman, a merchant of Edin-
burgh, obtained the king's patent for himfelf and Andrew My liar to
carry on the bufinefs of printing f .

May — The Scottifh parliament, ftill anxious to fill the country with
money, and thinking they could command it to flow in, direded the
officers of the cufloms to make the merchants give fecurity, that they
fliould bring to the mint two ounces of filver for every ferplaith, four
ounces for a lafl of hides, two ounces for a lafl; of falmon, and propor-
tional quantities for cloth or other goods, before they fhould give them
cockets for their exportation. \_Acis Jac. Ill, c. Q\t^.'\

Odober — In the parliament of England the adl 12 Edw. IV, c, 5,
againfl fmuggling wool was renewed : and, inflead of Middleburg, the
town of Byrwick in Brabant was declared the only place, befides Calais,
to which the northern wools might be fhipped from Newcaftle, a power
being however vefted in the king to name any other port inftead of
Byrwick, upon giving three months notice. \^AB,s 14 Edw. IV, c. 3.]

December 19'" — King Edward acknowleged himfelf indebted to the
merchants of Guipufcoa in Spain in the fum of 1 1 ,000 crowns, as a com-
penfation for damages done to them by the Engli{h :• and he alfigned
to them half the cuftoms payable on goods imported and exported by'
the merchants of Spain, till the debt fliould be difcharged at the rate of
^/4 fterling for every crown. {Fosdera, V. xi, p. 841.]

1475, February 3'' — A large fliip built by James Kennedy bilhop of
S'. Andrews, called the Salvator, and alfo, by way of eminence, the
Bifhop's barge, as being the finefl vefl^el hitherto built in Scotland J, was
wrecked in March 1473 at Bamburgh, where the cargo was plundered,

* The two laft fentences are taken verbatim f The original patent was difcovcred a few years

from Doftor Henry, H'ljl. V. x,/>. 203. — See alfo ago by Mr. William Rubcrtfon of the Regifter

Ameses Hift. of printing, p. 2 AlitUletort^s Origin of office, who made the fearch in order to gratify Mr.

printing in England. — jljlk's Origin of ivritlng, p. Chalmers : and the later, by mentioning, it in his

222 There was a book printed at Oxford by Life of RudJiman, p. 80, has given the knowlege

Corfelis, a foreigner, dated mcccclxviii : but Doc- of it to the public.

tor Middleton, Mr. Lewis, and Mr. Aftle, who J So the great fliip belonging to the king of

have bellowed much attention upon the fubjeft of Sweden {fee p. 671) was called the King's barge.

printing, are of opinion that an x mud have dropt

out, and that mcccclxxviii is the real date of the

book printed by Corfelis.

Vol. I. 48

690 A. D. 1475.

and the men made prifoners, by the people of the country *. In the
year 1474 the parhament of Scotland had ordered that redrefs fhould be
demanded from the king of England ; and it was now finally fettled by
a payment of 500 marks fterling made at Edinburgh by Lye, King Ed-
ward's agent, to the bilhop of Aberdeen, as a compofition to be divided
among the merchants concerned. \_Acls Jac. Ill, c. 62. — Fcedera, V. xi,
pp. 789, 820, 850. — Lejl. H'ljh Scot. pp. 303, 304.] It is not improbable
that the interefl of the Scottilh merchants was in fome degree facrificed
to a marriage treaty now going on between the two kings.

February 28* — However defirable the management of the trade of
the country by foreign merchants may have been in the early ages,
when, if there had not been a trade of that kind, there would have been
none, the Englifh merchants of this age, who owned many good vefTels,
could not contentedly behold the merchants of the Hanfe invefled with
privileges equal, in fome cafes fuperior, to thofe enjoyed by themfelves,
which, together with their extenfive connections upon the continent,
their mutual fupport, and other lefs jiiftifiable means, enabled them
generally to command the market. The reciprocal ill will, arifing from
fuch a (late of affairs, had during many years paft produced frequent
difputes and many captures of vefTels and other ads of open hoftility on
both fides. Neither was the policy of King Edward, who, in his feveral
renewals of the privileges of the Hanfe merchants, gave them very fhort
terms, fometimes only one year f, calculated to give fatisfadion, either
to them, or to his own fubjedls.

The citizens of Lubeck, who had formerly dillinguiflied themfelves
beyond their confederates by a fpirit of hoftility to England, had in
April 1473 fent deputies to a general aflembly of the reprefentatives of
the Hanfe towns held at Bruges, with inftrudions to ratify the articles
agreed upon with King Edward's commiflioners. After feveral adjourn-
ments, three commiflioners from the king, with the reprefentatives of
Lubeck, and two or three from each of the cities of Bremen, Hamburgh,
Dortmund, Munfter, Dantzik, Daventer, Campen, and Bruges, the fe-
cretary of the merchants of the Hanfe in London, and the fecretary of
thofe in Bergen in Norway, met at Utrecht in order to fettle the terms
of a permanent amicable intercourfe, and now concluded a treaty, in.
fubftance as follows All hoftilities fhould ceafe, and a free inter-
courfe by land and water fli<jukl be reftored All fuits for compenf-

ation on either fide fliould be dropt, and all injuries be buried in ob-
livion : no claims fhould be made upon vefTels or other property by

• The people of Northumberland and Durham f Some ofUic grants are in tlie Patent rolls of
mud have been much addidicd to phindering vef- Edward IV, tert. I, m. l8 ; />/■;'(«. 9, ;«. 12 ; prinu
ftls : we find a coirplaint of the fame kind brought 12, ;«. 6 ; fee. 14, m. 16.
againft Lord JLumley and his valhils of Hartltpi;ol
by the citizcRs of Lubeck. [Fuv/ivv;, V. xii,/. 38.J

A, D, 1475. %i

thofe from whom they had been taken, nor the captains of (hips * or
others be Hable to arreft for any by-paft quarrels. — This general am-
nefty (hould be confirmed by ihe king and parliament f of England ;
and all obligations entered into by the Hanfe merchants in England for
compenfation of damages iliould be cancelled. — The merchants of P^ng-
land might trade to Prullia and other places of the Hanfe as freely as in
former times, and fhould be charged with no cuftoms or exactions but
what had been a hundred years eftabliihed ; and the merchants of the
Hanfe {hould enjoy all the privileges in England granted by any of the
kings to their predecefFors. — The king and parliament of England, and
the Hanfe confederacy, by letters under the feal of the city of Lubeck,
fhould certify, that no pretence of forfeiture of privileges on account of
the late hoftilities fliould be advanced on either fide. — In civil or crim-
inal caufes, wherein the Hanfe merchants might be concerned in Eng-
land, the king fliould appoint two or more judges, who, without the form-
alities of law, fliould do fpeedy juftice between the parties, the merch-
ants and mariners of the Hanfe being entirely exempted from the jurif-
didion of the admiralty and other courts ; and fimilar provifion fliould
be made for the eafy and fpeedy difpenfation of juflice in the Hanfe
countries. — As part of the recompenfe, found due by the Englifli to
the Hanfards, the king fhould convey to them the abfolute property of
the court-yard called the Staelhoef or Steelyard % with the buildings ad-
hering to it, extending to x.\\t 'Teutonic gildhall in London, and alio a
court-yard called the Staelhoef O): Steelyard in Boflon, and a proper houfe
for their accommodation, near the water, in Lynne §, they becoming
bound to bear all the burthens for pious purpofes, to which the Stael-
hoef was made liable by antient foundation, or thebequefts of the faith-
ful II, and having full power to pull down and rebuild, as they might

* ' Capitanei navi'um.' — This is the firft time I their tenements in Windgoofe lane in London,

find the commanders of vefiels called cafilain.t in and for their place in Lynne, appear in i?o/. Aij;. .

any Englilh record. For an example of it in a Ij Ed'w IV, print, m. 6, andylf. m. 12.
Barcelona record of the year 1331 fee above p. || The Steelyard (Staelhoef) and the Teutonic

507. gildhall have been fuppofed by Hakhiyt and otlierj

\ The precaution of demanding the fanftion to be different names of the fame building ; and

of parliament, which occurs feveral times in this thence the appellation of merchants of the Steelyard

treaty, fliows that foreigners did not now think has been ufed as fynonymous with merchants of the

the king's patent of itfelf a fufficicnt fecurity. Teutonic gildhall and merchants of the Hanfe, but

+ Kilian, in his Etymologicum Tcutonscie fingiia, improperly till after this time, as appears from this

explains 5'tof/-/6o/" to be the place where dyed cloths treaty. — Stow [_Sur-vcy, p. 433, ed. i6iS"]favs,

are fealed with thc^acZ/oc/ (feal of lead). Quere, that a great houfe called the Sleet-hoife, near the

if the Englifli word iteelyard be not rather a cor- Teutonic gildhall, (though he feems to confound

rupt tranilation of the iame name tlian any way them a few paragraphs higher) was given to the

connefted with fteel ? — Kilian finiflie^ his work in city as a fund for deeds of piety, and that it was

1598. confirmed to the merchants of the Teutonic gild-

§ In the tranfaftions of the year 141 2 we find hall by the king and parliament in the ij"" vear of

the merchants of the Hanfe fettled at IJofton, and Edward IV for a rent of £-jo : 3 : 4, payable to

apparently at Lynne. Quere, if the rich merchants the city. But no parliament of that year appears

plundered at Bollon in 1288, whofe opulence was in the ilatute books, nor in Cotton's Abridgement

undoubtedly much exaggerated, were of the of the records of parliament, nor in Stow's own

Hanfe ?— The grants to the Hanfe merchants for Annals. There was, indeed, in that year an ex-

4 S 2

e.mpliucation

692 A. D. 1475.

find convenient. — After difcuffing the claims for pillages of fhips and
cargoes and other outrages committed on both fides, the fum of ^15,000
ilerling was tound due, as a balance of compenfation, from the Englifh
to the Handirds, befides the above-mentioned houfes : but in confidera-
tion of the protcdion againft fuits for by-paft grievances aflured to thenx
by the king, they agreed to reduce the fum to ;^r 0,000, and to receive
the payment in the cuftoms faUing due on their fublequent imports and
exports*. — If any city fliould be difmembered from the afiociation of
the Hanfe, the king, upon receiving due imimation, fhould put the
merchants of that city upon a footing with other foreigners, till he
fhould be duely certified that they were re-admitted into the aflx)ciation.
— The city of London iliould be bound by the prefent treaty in tranf-
adlions with the Hanfe merchants, whofe antient privileges ftiould not
be impaired by any later grants m^ade to the city;, and the Hanfe
merchants fhould ftill have the keeping of Bifhopfgate, as formerly. —
The king fhould oblige the public weighers and meafurers to do juftice
between the buyers and fellers ; and he fhould prevent vexatious delays-
at the cufiom-houfe, and the repeated opening of the packages contain-
ing federatures and other pretious furs and merchandize, (after being
fealed, as having paid the cuftoms) at Canterbury, Rochefter, Gravef-
end, and elfewhere, and fhould abolifh theexadlion of prince-money and

fome other unlawful charges Wrecked vefl'els fliould be preferved for

their owners on the ufual conditions. — The king fhould make dihgent
proviiion againft defeats in the length or breadth of cloths, or in the

quality of the wool The merchants of the Hanfe, after giving fecurity

to abide the law in fuch cafes as their property ufed to be arrell:ed for,
fhould have perfed liberty of felling their goods as they pleafed, and of
retailing Rhenifh wine, according to antient ufuage : neither fhould the
mayor of London claim a portion of their fait, as he ufed to do. [Fced-
ero,V.\i,pp. 544, 645, 739, 765, 779, 780, ']g2-— Cotton s Jlbridgcvicnt,
p. 692.]

June 6''' — The commercial and political dignity of the family of Me-
dici was now fupported by Lorenzo the Magnificent, the grandibn of
Gofmo. King Edward, who was perpetually in w.ant of money, had
now borrowed ;^5, 000 from him and his brother Giuliano, together
with Thomas Portunary, and others, filled merchants of Florence, pro-
bably agents of the Medici, for which, as ufual, he gave an affignment

cmplification of an aft of llie 1 2"' parliameiil of • This mode of payment was even introduced

Edv.aid IV, cDiiii riling the mcrcliants of tlie in the king's ^private tranfailions. In 14S2 lie

Hanfe in JL.onilon, [/fa/, frnt. [rim. ly Edw. IV- bought jewels from fome merchants of Genoa,

mm. 16, 17] which ii> pi-rhap; what Stow alludes wlio were to receive iheir payment in the fame

to: and the fum, mentioned by Kim as rent, was way. {Rymer'i Unpublijheil record:, Edzv. IF, Vol.

apparently a conipofition for tho pious payments ill, no. 102.] He died foon after, and it depcnd-

to be made out of the tcnantnts, for which the ed on the pleafiue of his fuccelFors, whether the

magiftratts of Loudon were trulUcs. Gcnocfe wtrc paid or not.

A. D. 1475. %

■opon the cufloms to fall due *. [Fa^dera, V. xii, pp. 7, 9.] Though mc
poflefs ample notices of Lorenzo's munificence in patronizing the arts
and literalurc, and of his political negotiations, in all which his fame
has even tranfcendcd that of his grandfather, yet very little knowlege of
his commercial tranfadions has been tranfmitted by the writers of the
age: and v^^e are indebted to our own public records for fome of the
mod important of them that are known to us f .

This year Caffa, the chief fettlement of the Genoefe in the Black fea,
was taken by the Turks %. The trade of the Genoefe, already declining,
was reduced very low by the lofs of all their eaftern poflelTlons ; and
their llate being alfo convulfed by internal difcord, they were obliged
to court the proteftion, or fubrnit to the dominion, of their more

powerful neighbours. \Uberti Folietce Hi/i. Gen. f. 243 b Be Guigues,

Hyi. des Hitnnei^ V. iii,y>. 378.]

1476, July I a"' — King Edward flavoured all the merchants of Italy
with an exemption from moft of the additional duties, impofcd upon
the perfons and the trade of foreigners by the ads of 31 Henry VI and
3 Edward IV, reducing the duty pay^able by them on wool from 66/8
to 53/4, and that on tin from 2/ to 1/3 §. \Fiymer''s MS. records, Edw.

lV,Vol.n[,p.SS'^

November 6'" — We have feen the citizens of Cologne in friendOiip

with England, when all the other members of the Hanfe afTociation
were hoftile, or at leafl: unfriendly : and they alone enjoyed the privi-
leges of the Hanfe in England, though for very iliort terms, fubjed to
the trouble and expenfe of frequent renewals ||. In confequence of that
difiindion they had either withdrawn themfelves, or been expelled,
from the confederacy. But now that all the Hanfe towns were in friend-
fhip with England, Cologne was again received into the alTociation ;
and, agreeable to the treaty, due notice of the re-admiflion was fent to
King Edward by the magiftrates of Lubeck irv the name of the whole
Teutonic Hanfe ^. [Fo'dera, V. xii, p. 36.]

At this time, and perhaps long before, the Hanfe towns were divided
into four regions or clafles, according to the following arrangement.

Lubeck, by general confent, was placed at the head of the whole con-
federacy, and inverted with authority to convoke affemblies of the-

* The grjnt is nearl)' a copy of thofe formerly ticiilarly by Edward IV in Dectm'oer 1482, and

given to Cain/ian, an agent ot" Cofmo de Medici, by Richard III in January 1485. [Fcedfrdy V.

abridged in the note in p. 677. xii, ^. 255. J

f We Ihall afterwards fee a proof of the great || Their privileges were generally for only one

and ixlenlive credit of the bank known by the year, agreeable to the rule followed by King Ed-

fam' y name of Medici, at the head of v.hich Lor- ward. {Rot. pat. Etizu. IF, prim. I 1 , m. 13 ; fee.

enz.o undoubtedly was. 12, w. 11; prim 14, mm. 10, 14, 16.]

X The inhabitants of Kubefchah, a village f^ Bertius [AVr. Gtrm. Z,. iii,/». 25] dates this re-

among the mountains of Derbend, who call them- admiffion of Cologne (which he inadvertently fup.

felves Franks, are fuppofed to be defcendcd from pofcs the original accelfion of that city to the con-

the Genoefe of Caffa. * federacy) in the year mcccclxxxi, whercio lxxxi

J This indulgence was repeatedly renewed, pitr- is evidently a mlllake for lxxvi.

6^4 ■^- ^' 147^'

neighbouring cities, and there the archives of the Hanfe are preferved.
To this city, as the more immediate head of the firft divifion, there were
annexed

Hamburgh, Lunenburg, Gripswald,

Rostock, Stettin, Colberg,

Wismar, Anclam, Stargard, and

Stralsund, Golnaw, Stolpe^

Cologne was the chief city of the second region, in which were comprehended
Wesel, Hervorden, - Venlo,

Duesburg, Paderborn, Elburg,

Emmerich, Lemgow, Harderwick,

Warburg, Bilefeld, Daventer,

Unna_, Lipstadt, Campen,

Ham, Coesfeld, Swolle,

Munster, Nimeguen Groningen,

Osnaburg, Zutphen, Bolswert,

Dortmund, Rui-emond, and

Soest, Arnheim, Stavern.

Brunswick, the capital of the third region, had under its jurisdiction
Magdeburg, Hildesheim, Stade,

Goslar, Hanover, Bremen,

Einbeck, Ulsa, Hamelen, and

Gottingen, Buxtehude, Minden.

Dantzik, the chief city of Prussia, was at the head of the fourth region^
consisting of

Koningsberg, Brunsberg, • and also sundry towns in

Colmar, Riga? Slavonia.

Thorn, Dorpt,

Elbing, Reval,

There were alfo fome cities, whofe right to the privileges of the
Hanfeatic aflbciation was controverted, viz.

Stendale, Breslaw, Halberstadt,

Soltvvedale, Cracow, Helmstadt,

Berlin, Hall, Ryla,

Brandenburg, Aschersleben, Nordheim, and

Frankfort on the Oder, Quedlinburg, Dinant*.

The four chief fadories of the Hanfe merchants were eftablifhed at
NovoGROD in Ruflia, London in England, probably the moft antient as
well as the moft important of the whole, Bruges in Flanders, and Bergen
in Norway. All the merchants of every one of the Hanfe towns had a
right to trade to thofe fadories, and to enjoy all the privileges obtained
from the fovereigns of the countries, conforming to the regulations en-
aded for the general good of the whole confederacy f .

* Dinant was at tliis time in ruins, l)ut after, many, which is fomclimcs followed by Werdoii-

wards revived. Wtrdcnliagen extends the num- hagen, the profcfTed hidorian of the Hanfe rc-

ber of cities of this dcfcription to forty-four, among publics. But, though accuracy and unquellionable

which arc Lifbon and Stockholm. authenticity might be expcitcil from the records

•j- Thefe lills and other notices are taken from preferved at Lubeek, fuch is, uolwithflanding, the

Bcrtius, who w rote a book upon the cities of Get. uncertainty of Hanfeatic hillory, that of the lifts

4. &'"""■

A. D. 1476. 695

This year, or perhaps a little earlier, Louis XT king of France efta-
blifhed ports for the fpeedy conveyance of letters ; an inftitution ap-
parently unknown in that country ever fince it became independent of
the Roman dominion. But thole ports were not intended for the ac-
commodation of merchants, or the public, but only for the king's own
fervice. {Comines, L.v,c. 10.]

1477, Augaft — The duke of Burgundy, unwilling that his fubjeds
fhould fuffer by the lofs of any of their commercial connexions, had
written to Scotland, exprefling his wilh for a renewal of the alliance en-
tered into by that kingdom with his predeceflors. The parliament of
Scotland, in return, ordered an embalfy to be fent to the duke at the
expenfe of the burghs, in order to renew the alliance, endeavour to ob-
tain fome additional privileges for the merchants, and aOc redrefs for
damages fuftained. \ABs, Jac. Ill, c. 90.]

Provifions being very fcarcc in Scotland, and the fupply depending
chiefly upon importation, the foreign merchants, importing corn and
other lawful merchandize, were alTured, that they fliould find an honour- -
able reception and fxvourable treatment, and that they rtiould not be
haraffed with new impafitions and arreftments, which, it was acknow-
leged, had lately prevented them from continuing the trade ; that, as
foon as their cargo was entered at the tolbooth (curtom-houfe),-the king
and the lords of the council ftiould be firft ferved, at the price fixed with
the merchants, and the remainder fl:iould be fold to the pubUc with
perfedl freedom, [c. 91.]

The Scottifli curers of ialmon having diminirtied their barrels, where^
by the reputation of the article in foreign countries was impaired, they
were ftridly enjoined to ufe no barrels fmaller than the old affife of Ham-
burgh *. [f. 95.]

T478, January — Tli^re had been many abufes committed in the courts
of piepoudres held at the fairs in England, chiefly by the avarice and
injuftice of the ftewards, bailifs, and others, whole province it was to
hold the courts and adminifler impartial juftice in all cafes arifing dur-
ing the continuance, and within the jurifdidion, of the fairs, but who
took cognizance of contrafts and trefpafles unconnected with the fairs,
and frequently having no foundation in truth. Thefe enormities pre-

given by Bertius, Werdenhagen, John Cliiveriiis 1206, that fcventy-two cities were then compre-

fwho copies from Huitfield's Chronicle, a book I hcnded in the Hanfe confederacy. [_Rffp- Germ.

have not been able to find) and the writer of an V. ii, />/>. 366, 370.] But that charter, dated be-

elfay on the Hanfeatic confederacy in the fecond fore Henry was born, is evidently fpurious. Wc

volume of the Refpublica Gennanus, no two agree in have already feen, that Henry's charter to the

the names or numbers of the towns. The laft- merchants of the Teutonic gildhall is dated in

mentioned author (who got his materials from 1259. — Where is any charter of 1206 to be feen ?
Henry Suderman, ambaflador from the Hanfe con-. * The meafure is explained in an adl of a fub-

federacy to Holland, England, and various parts fcquent parliament [t. 131] to be fourteen gallons,

of the empire between the years 1550 and 1590) By the regulation of meafures enadcd in the reign

fays, that it clearly appears from the charter of of James I, [c. 80] the gallon meafure contained .

iienry Hiking of England, dated in ihe year 32S ounces of clear river water.

696 A. D. 1478.

vented merchants from attending the fairs, whereby the people of tlie
country were deprived of the convenience of purchafing goods, and the
lords of the fairs loft their cuftomary profits. It was therefor enaded,
that in fuch cafes the plaintiffs fhould fwear, that their caufes originated
in the time of the fair and within the jurifdidion of it. [^6?j- 17 Zdw.
IV, r. 2.]

Tile-makers were required to have their tiles fufficicntly wrought,
well whited and anealed, and of ftandard dimenfions. \c. 4.]

March 5'" — King Edward renewed the antient friendfhip and free
coinmercial intercourfe with Frifeland, which had been interrupted.
\F(£dera, V. xii, p. 51.]

May 3'^ — Tn this age it was cuftomary for fovereigns to be concerned
•in merchandize. We have feen a great ftiip, belonging to the king of
Sweden, in England in the year 1455. The king of Naples had a galeafle
now in Southampton, the commander of which obtained King Edward's
protedion for himfelf and his veflel from arreft for any debt or tranf-
greflion. The king of Scotland was owner of at leaft one veflel, a carvel,
which was taken at Cadfant in Flanders by a veflel belonging to the
duke of Gloucefter, for which King Edward ordered his ambaflador
Lye to promife reparation. But King Edward went beyond all the con-
temporai-y fovereigns in commercial tranfactions : he owned feveral
veflels *, ' and, like a man whofe living depended upon his merchandize,
' exported the fineft wool, cloth, tin, and the other commodities of the
' kingdom, to Italy and Greece, and imported their produce in return,
' by the agency of fa<5lors, or fupercargoes.' {See above, p. 671. — Feed-
era, V. xii, p. 59. — MS. Cott. Vejp. C. xvi,^ 119, 120. — H'ljh Croyl. p.
559.] But the trade of thefe royal merchants, when they carried it to
a great extent, as King Edward adually did, muft have been very op-
preflive and ruinous to the real merchants, who could not pollibly com-
pere with rivals, who paid no cuftoms, and had the national force to
aflift and protedl their trading fpeculations.

June 1"— Agreeable to the treaty between England and the Hanfe
towns, notice was given, under the feal of Lubeck, that the citizens of
Colberg had defired to withdraw from the confederacy. \Fcedera^ V. xii,
pp. 60, 91.]

July 1 2'" — The treaty of thirty years, entered into with the duke of
Burgundy in 1467, was now renewed, and declared perpetual. In ad-
dition to the articles of the former treaty, it was ftipulated, that the
merchants of England fliould be at liberty to carry the gold or filver,
acquired by them in countries not fubjed to Burgundy, through the

* He took from William Canyngs of BriRol be fitted out for an invafion of Scotland, it is

2,4.70 tuns of (hipping, as already obfcrvcd in a doubtful, whether they had been all employed in

note under the year 1450. A lilt of fix vefTels, tr ide, or were built on purpofe for war, as tliofe

called //;^ king's Jliifis, appears in the year 148 1, now called L'ln^^s Jliifis are.
:^FcecLra, V. xii, />. 139.] 13ut ai they were to «

A. D. 1478. 697

Eurgundian territories, and the fubjedts of Burgundy fliould have fimilar
liberty in England : — that the court-mafter of the Englifh merchants
fhould not prefume to fix the prices to be paid for goods at the fairs of
Antwerp or any other place in the dominions of Burgundy, or to make
ordinances againfl buying from the inhabitants of any town or any in-
dividual, or againfl buying till near the end of the fair, by which the
fellers, tired out with attendance, had formerly been obliged to let their
goods go at an under-value ; neither fhould they ufe different weights in
buying and felling, as they had formerly done : — in cafe of any Englifli
merchant being injured by a Netherlander, no other Netherland merch-
ant fliould be liable to be arrefted or injured on that account. [^Foedera^
V. xii, /». 67.]

At the fame time the commiflioners made many regulations, refpedl-
ing the recovery of debts, and againfl frauds in the package, fliipping,
and fale of wool. \Foedera, V. yX\, p. 76.]

Odlober 22* — King Edward followed the example of his predecelTor in
infringing the adl of parliament refpeding the flaple of Bergen, and the
treaty with Denmark, which had recently been renewed, as appears by
two licences to Robert and Thomas Alcock, authorizing each of them
to employ a fhip of 240 tuns in carrying goods, not belonging to the
flaple, to Iceland, and trading for fifh or any other commodities of that
ifland, during a year. \Fcedera^ V. -^n, pp. 57, 94.]

1479, February 14"' — In the year 1475 King Edward landed with an
army in France, having previoufly promifed to give fome provinces of
that kingdom to the duke of Burgundy for his alllftance in the conquefl
of it. But ' Lewis the XI, being a very wife prince and philofopher
* above the common fort *,' diverted the threatened calamity from his
kingdom, without the effufion of any blood but that of the grape, by
agreeing to give Edward a prefent payment of 75,000 ecus (fcutes or
crowns), 50,000 more as a ranfom for Margaret the widow of King
Henry VI, and an annual penfion of 50,000 for life f . Neither was he
fparing of entertainments, prefents, and penfions, to Edward's counfelors,
nor negledful of his foldiers, whom he gratified by a prefent of 300
cart-loads of wine. The king of France paid the annuity very regular-
ly for feveral years, and now even entered into a new treaty, whereby
he bound his fuccefTors to continue the fame payment during one hun-
dred years after the deceafe of himfelf or Edward, whichever of them

• Thefe are the words of Rymer in his dedic- Old ecu of France 042 Englilh.

ation of the eleventh volume of the Fccdcra to new ecu of the fun o 4 3 1
Quecn Anne. great groat o o 4-J-

f The following rates of currency for the coins \_FaJera, V. xii,/>. 115.]
of England, as fettled by the commiflioners of the There were two commiflions in 1474 and 1478

two countries in January 14S0 may be ufeful for for fettling the ratiis of the money of England and

uiiderllanding fome of the tranfaAions of the age. that of the Burgundian dominions. But the fet-

Englifh rofe noble [,'},$ o French money. tlements do not appear. ^Rymcr's MS. record:,

angel 234 Ediu. IV, fal. ii, no. 117; Vol. iii, tta. zS.j

filver groat 026

Vol. L 4 T

698 A. D. 1479.

fhould die firft. What conneds this Angular tranfadion with commercial
hiftory, is the proof it furniflies of the great reputation of the com-
mercial houfe of Medici, it being exprefsly ftipulated in the treaty, that
the king of France fhould engage the partners of the bank of Medici to
become bound for the faithful and regular performance of the agree-
ment on the part of himfelf and his heirs *. [Feeder a^ V. xi, pp. 804
etfeqq; V. xii, p. \o\.'\ In the year 1487 a houfe of the Medici in
Naples, apparently a branch of this bank, paid a bill drawn by Mar-
chioni, a Florentine in Portugal, to Covillan, the Portuguefe traveler
and difcoverer of India. {Purchas^ B. vii, c. 5, § 15.]

1480, September 16"" — Whatever doubt there may be refpeding the
fheep fent from England to Spain in the reign of Edward IV, there can
be no doubt that that prince now gave permiffion to his fifter, the duchefs
dowager of Burgundy, and her afligns, to tranfport one thoufand oxen f
and two thoufand rams out of the kingdom every year, as long as Jloe fhould
Mve, without even paying any cuftom. [Fcedera, V. xii, />. 137.] Thus
it plainly appears, that Edward III and Edward IV had little or no ap-
prehenfion of any bad confequence from the breed of Englifli flieep
being naturalized on the continent : and it may be believed, that neither
the duchefs, who well underflood, and keenly purfued, her own intereft,
nor the fagacious Netherlanders ading under her affignment, allowed
the grant to lie dormant during the reigns of her two brothers. Her
enemy Henry VII, we may be alTured, would put an end to her ex-
portation as foon as he got the power.

148 1, February 15'" — A war with Scotland brought into adion the
greatefl royal navy, hitherto known to have exifted in England fince the
Norman conquefl;, as appears by orders addreffed to eleven naval com-
manders to prefs mariners for manning their vefTels, fix of which are
diflinguifhed as king's fhips. [Fcedera, V. x'l, p. 139.]

It was in this war that King Edward introduced an eflabliihmcnt of
riders with pofl horfes, to be changed at every twenty miles, who, by
handing letters from one to another, in two days forwarded them two
hundred miles, apparently the farthefl extent of the eflablifliment J,
[Hi/l. Croyl. ap. Gale, p. 571.] This improved mode of conveyance, like
that in France from which it was copied, had no connedion with com-
merce or public accommodation, unlefs it may be confidered as the firft
rudiments of an eftablifliment, which, when properly extended, might

• The Medici were to give their hond to King hiftorians of the Medici, and, if I miftake not, of

Edward within eighteen months. But as he very all otlier liiftoriaiis.

foon after made an alliance with Biirgnridy againlt f ' Mille bovcs.' This latin word comprehends

Vrance, it is probable that the bond was never bulls and cows aa well as oxen,
executed. The ftipulation in this treaty, fo il- J We find an order of the Scottith parliament

hiflr;itlve of the commercial fplendour of the houfe in April 1481 for expediting couriers to every part

of Medici, has cfcapcd the attention of Valoii, of the kingdom ; but it does not e>;prefs, wlicthcr

Bruni, Tenhove, Rofcoe, Noble, and Clayton, the they had the changes of horks, without which rapid

4 conveyance is impradicable.

A. D. 1481, 699

become one of the greateft and moft eflential accommodations, that ever
was given to commercial and friendly intercourfe.

The Portuguefe flill profecuting their difcoveries along the wefl coaft
of Africa, which too often degenerated into voyages of piracy and flave-
hunting, this year built the fort of S'. George de la Mina in 5" north la-
titude : and foon after the king of Portugal aflumed the title of lord of
Guinea. \Barros, Dec. i, L. iii, c. i. — Foedern^ V. xii,/>. 380.]

1482, January — The parliament ordained the following ftandard mea-
fures and regulations for fifh cured for fale. — Salmon to be packed in

butts of 84 gallons, barrels of 42, and half barrels of 21 Herrings in

barrels of 32 gallons, half barrels, and firkins (quarters) in proportion.
— Eels in barrels of 42 gallons, half barrels and firkins in proportion. —
Merchantable falmon were to meafure 26 inches at leaft from the bone
of the fin to the third joint in the tail, and to be fplit open and freed
from the bone as low as the navel. Grils (fmall falmon) were to be
packed by themfelves ; and thokes (broken-bellied falmon) were not to
be packed with fizeable or found filh. — The herrings in a barrel were
required to be all caught at one time, faked at one time, and to be as
good, and as well packed, in the middle of the cafk as at the ends. —
No gall-beaten, ftarved, or pulled, eels, or red eels, were to be packed
with good eels. — The magiftrates of towns were required to appoint fuf-
ficient infpedors to examine the quality and meafure of filh. {Ads 22
Edw. ly, (T. 2.]

The ad prohibiting the importation of feveral kinds of filk goods be-
ing no longer in force, fuch an inundation of corfes, ribands, laces, call
filk, and Coleyn filk, poured into the country, that all the Englifh mak-
ers of fuch goods, men as well as women, were thrown idle ; a clear
proof that the Englifh goods were fi:ill of inferior quality. The parlia-
ment, in confideration of their diftrefs, prohibited the importation of
all fuch goods for four years, [c. 3.]

Machinery was fo far improved in England, that hats, bonnets, and
caps, were thickened and fulled by mills. This abridgement of labour
gave fuch an alarm to thofe engaged in the old method of thickening
them by the a£lion of the hands and feet *, that they petitioned parlia-
ment to prohibit the uie of the mills, which, they alleged, deprived
them of employment, and broke the fabric of the hats, &c. The par-
liament indulged them fo far as to forbid the ufe of the mills for two
years, [c. 5.] This is, I believe, the firfl; known inftance of an oppof-
ition to the improvement of manufadures by machinery in England,
which has regularly ever fince rifen up againfi; the introdudioii of every
fucceeding improvement tending to make goods cheaper by abridging
labour. Upon the fame principle corn ought not to be ground by water

* Apparently the fame method, which is de- female maiuifactiirers of tlie Wcftcrn iflands and
fcribed by Mattin about a century ago, and by Highlands of Scotland.
Pennant in our own days, as Hill prafitifed by the

4 T 2

yoo A. D. 1482.

or wind mills, but only by hand mills, corn fields ought to be dug rather
than ploughed, heavy loads ought to be carried by men rather than
drawn by horfes in carts or waggons, and all canals ought to be de-
ft royed.

March 9"" — King Edward entered into a treaty with the inhabitants
of Guipufcoa in Spain * (they having the confent of their fovereigns
Ferdinand and Ifabella) wherein, befides mutual freedom of trade, and
fecurity to be given for the friendly condu6l of vellels on both fides be-
fore their failing, it was fi:ipulated, that, in cafe of letters of reprifat
being ifilied by the kings of England or Spain, the Guipufcoans fiiould
not be injured by the Englifh cruifers, and they Ihould permit no
Spanifh letters of reprilal againfi: the Englifti to be put in force in their
province. {^Fcedern, V. xii,^. 148.]

Augufl 4''' — When King Edward was preparing for an invafion of
France in the year 1474, he concluded a treaty with James king of Scot-
land for a marriage of their infant children ; and fo defirous was he of
being on friendly terms with that prince, that he agreed to pay his
daughter's portion by infl:allments to commence immediately, and ac-
tually made feveral payments. It was, however, ftipulated, that, if the
marriage fiiould not be accompliftied, the money advanced fiiould be
reftored. Anew fyftem of politics having induced Edward to break with
Scotland, the provoft, fellowfliip of merchants, and community, of Edin-
burgh f , in confequence of his declaration, that he did not chufe to com-
plete the marriage, now bound themfelves and all their property, at
home or abroad, for the return of the money. [Foedera, V. xi, p. 824;
F'. xii, pp. 161, 165, 167.] It was probably this large and patriotic pay-
ment made by the citizens, that induced the contemporary hiftorian of
Croyland [ap. Go/e,p. S^2'\ to call Edinburgh a very opulent town. But,
though the merchants were evidently engaged in foreign trade, and had
property configned in foreign countries, its opulence was probably much
inferior to that of fome of the maritime villages (or burghs of barony)
at no great diftance from it in the prefent day. From this time, however,
Edinburgh continued to improve with a flow, but gradual progrefs till
the year 1603, when it loft the advantages flowing from the preience of
the fovereign.

September 1 2''' — King Edward confirmed the exifting treaty, or truce,
with tlie king of Portugal. The Portuguefe ambafiadors requefled him
to prohibit John Tintam and William Fabian, who were fitting out fliips,
at the defire of the Spanifli duke of Medina Sidonia, for the coaft of
Guinea, from proceeding on the voyage, as their fovereign, the lord of

• Wc have nlready fecn an inftancc In the year Edinburgh is called firov^ as at prefent, and not

1351 of the people of the north coaft of Spain tn- alderman as in the lailier ages, liht: felloii'Jhifi of

tcring into a treaty for themfelves. mcrclianls is now called the merchant company.

f In the obligation, &c. the chief magiftrate of

A. D. 14S2. 701

that country, referved the trade of it for his own fubjecls : and he grant-
ed all they required of him *.

December — The parliament of Scotland ordered, that no corrupted
or mixed wine fhould be imported or fold in the kingdom ; and they
prohibited all mixture of wine or beer, imder pain of death. \_^cis
jfac. Illy c. 89 f . j This aft merits notice chiefly as containing, perhaps,
the earliefl: extant notice of beer in Scotland.

1483, April a^'"^ — The only matter worth notice, any waj'' connected
with commerce, which occurs in the very fliort reign of Edward V, is
a renewal for one year to Robert Alcock, merchant of Kingflon upon
Hull, of the permiflion to trade to Iceland with a Hiip, which he is now
allowed to have as large as 250 tuns 4. \Foedera, V. xii, p. 180.]

1484, January — In the only parliament of King Richard III grievous
complaints were made of the many frauds introduced in the clothing
trade. What they were, will appear from the following regulations and
prohibitions. — Whole cloths were now to meafure only 24 yards in length
by the fold, and to be two yards broad. Half cloths to be of the fame
breadth, and run from 12 to 16 yards. The 15uyer to allow for any
meafure above 24 yards in whole cloths, or 12 in half cloths §, Cloths
c-sWtdiJlreits, 1 2 yards long and i yard broad. Kerfeys, 1 8 yards long,
i-j-'j- yard broad. One inch was to be given in addition to every yard :
the cloths were to meafure the required breadth within the lifts, and to
have the fame breadth and goodnefs throughout the whole piece. Cloths
not made according to law were to be cut afunder, and the owner of
them was to be fined. Seals of lead, ftamped on one fide with the arms
of England, and on the other with the arms of the town or name of
the county wherein the cloth was made, fhould be affixed to every cloth
by aulnegers of fufficient fkill and reputation. No cloths fhould be of-
fered to fale, or be exported, without being fully watered ; and no cloth
fliould be drawn in length or breadth after being fully watered ||. No
flocks or other deceitful material fhould be put in cloth ; neither fhould
chalk be put upon white cloths or kerfeys. No cloth fhould be fheared
or cancelled before being fully watered. Tenters for flretching cloths
fhould not be fet up within houfes, but in open places. The pradice of
exporting picked wool to the Meditei'ranean and leaving the locks and .

* This tranfaction, of which I fee no traces in others, pafFcd in December 1482, are publiflied

any acccfliblc Eiiglidi record, is tranfcrlbed from by Miiiray, but do not appear in the edition of

the Poitugiiefe hilhm'an Garcias de Reltnde by 1566.

Hakluyt. \_Vuiagcs, V. ii, part il, f. 2.] Accord- j; It is probable that AJcock had got annual re- -

ing to Doflor Campbell, [Po/. Survey, V. ii, p. newals ever fmce 1478.

626] fome fay, that Tiiitam and Fabian actually § Surely it would have been much better to fay,

accomplilhed the voyage, and were great gainers that the cloth (hould be fold at fo much a-yard.
by it. But, though he is generally very copious || The complainers alleged, that it was common

ju quotations, he has not given us the name of any to draw a cloth of 24 yards out to 30, and from

one narrator of that voyage. 7 quarters to 8 in the breadth.

f As numbered by Murray. This a£l and two 4

702 A. D. 1484.

other refufe at home, being found prejudicial to the finer branches of
the manufadare, was prohibited ; and the exporters were obliged to
take the whole fleece as it was clipped. No orchel or cork of the kind
called jarecork fhould be ufed in dying woollen cloths ; but woaded wool
and cloth made of wool only, if they were perfedly boiled and mad-
dered, might be dyed with Englifh cork. The pradice of faflening
ruflies upon the lift, in order to make cloth dyed in the piece appear. as
if dyed in the wool, was prohibited. To all thefe prohibitions fuitable

penalties were attached From the operation of the ad: the parliament

exempted cloths called ray^ and cloths made in Winchefter and Salifbury
ufually joined with ray ; cloths called vervife,ploiikef.s, turkins, or cekftrines,
with broad lifts; packing tvhites ; veffes ; cogzvare ; wotjleds ; floretices
with cremil lifts, broad lifts, or fmall lifts; bajiards ; kendals ; dtXidfrife
ware*. [ABs i Ric. Ill, c. 8.]

The merchants of Italy, including the Catalans f, were accufed of
keeping houfes, warehoufes, and cellars, in London and other places, in
which they packed and mixed their goods, and kept them till they got
great prices for them ;' they fold by retail ; they bought Engllfti com-
modities, and fold them again in England ; and they fent part of the
money arifing from their fales to their own country by exchange ; they
received other foreigners to lodge in their houfes, and made fecret bar-
gains with them ; they bought up wool, and fold part of it again to the
king's fubjeds, and employed people to make part of it into cloth on
their account ; foreign artificers with their families reforted to London
and other parts of England in greater numbers than formerly, and they
engaged in the manufadure of cloth and other eafy handicraft occupa-
tions, and alfo in the bufinefs of importing foreign goods and felling
them by retail in fairs and markets ; but they declined the more labor-
ious occupations of ploughing and carting:}: ; they employed none but
their own country people as workmen and fervants, whereby the king's
fubjeds were driven into idlenefs, beggary, and vice ; and, after making
fortunes in England, they retired to other countries to enjoy them — In
order to remedy thofe evils, the parliament enaded, that all Italian
merchants, including Catalans, not being denizens, ftiould fell the goods
they had now in England, and inveft the whole proceeds, their reafon-
able expenfes excepted, in Englifli commodities, before the 1'' of May
1485 ; all goods arriving after Eafter 1484 fliould be fold within eight

» Tlicre was an ordinance for ilic lengtl\ and the people bordering on the Mediterranean under

breadth of clotlis during the fliort rci;rn of Ed- the name of Itah'ans.

ward V, IRymer's MS. rnords, Eihv. V"\, which % To forci;rners England is indebted for the de-
was probably the foundation of this adt. The grce of perfection, whicli the boallcd woollen ma-
enumcration of names in it, now moftiy obfolete, nufafture has attained. Several protedions for
will not be thought ufelefs by thofe who with to foreign woollen nianufacliirers had been given by
trace the progrefs of the manufaftnre, and may Edward IV. Surely, if ploughmen or carters had
afford fomc allillancc to antiquarian refearch. come from the continent, there would liave been

\ The Engliflj ia thofe days ufed to include all as much rcafon for an outcry againlt them.

A. D. 1484, 703

months after their arrival, and all goods unfold at the end of eight
months Ihould be carried abroad within two months more, unlefs pre-
vented by the weather, on pain of forfeiture *. They were allowed to
remove the goods imported by them from one place to another within
the eight months. They might take their own countrymen to lodge
with them, but no others. They were prohibited from felling woollen
cloth in England, and from employing people to convert wool into cloth
for their account; and they were enjoined to carry all the cloth and wool
bought by them to countries within the Mediterranean. Foreigners were
alfo prohibited from exerciling any handicraft occupation in England,
except as fervants to Englifh mafters ; and they were particularly debar-
red from having any concern in the clothing trade. Foreign artificers or
handicraftfmen were obliged to fell their wares by wholefale only, and
only in xhe place of their refidence ; and they were not to have any ap-
prentices or fervants but natives of England, except their own children f.
— A dawning attention to the interefl of literature fuggeftcd an exempt-
ion from the rigour of this ad: in favour of the importers of books
written or printed, and the writers, illuminers, and printers of books.

The prohibition of the importation of many foreign articles, firft en-
adled in the year 1463, and continued for four years in 1482, was now
extended to ten years. And, at the requefl of the girdlers, point-mak-
ers, pinners, purfer&5 glovers, cutlers, blade-fmiths, blackfmiths, fpur-
ricrs, gold-beaters, painters, fadlers, lorimers J, founders, card-makers,
hurers :{:, wire-mongers, weavers, horners, bottle-makers, and copper-
fmiths, the parliament prohibited the importation of all kinds of girdles,
points, laces, leather purfes, pouches, pins, gloves, knives, hangers, tail-
ors' fheers, fciilbrs, andirons, cobbards, tongs, fire-forks, gridirons, flock
locks, keys, hinges and garnets, fpurs, painted glafl^es, painted papers,
painted forcers, painted images, painted cloths, beaten gold or beaten
filver wrought in papers for painters, faddles, faddle-trees, horfe-harnefs,
boots, bits, flirrups, buckles, chains, latten nails with iron fhanks, turnets,
flanding candleflicks, hanging candlellicks, holy-water flopps §, chafing-
diflies, hanging lavers, curtain rings, cards for wool (thofe of Rouen ex-
cepted), clafps for gowns, buckles for fhoes, broches, bells (thofe for
hawks excepted), tin and leaden fpoons, wire of latten and iron, candle-

* Eight, or probably ratber in reality ten, or But it is obfcurely expirffbd ; and the prohibition

even twelve, months, when compared witli forty was perhaps rellridled to thofe who fliould arrive

days, the time formerly limited, may be reckoned after Eafter 1484.

a liberal allowance. The time, now fliortened, docs J± Lorimers, makers of bits, fpurs, &c. I know
not feem to have been enjoyed by any law, but not, what kind of trade hurers followed, unlefs
only in virtue of that filent repeal, which permits they were workers in hair.' //are is hair in North-
laws of evident abfurdity to fink quietly into ob- country dialeft. \^Co/es's D':3.2
livion. § Probably rather_/?o.v^,-, deep vefielswit!ilia3dL:s>

f This fentencc is contradii^Vory to a preceding for carrying liquids,
one, which allows no foreign liaudiciaflfmtn at all.

704 A. D. 1484.

flicks, grates, horns for lanterns, or any article pertaining to any of the
crafts above mentioned, [cc. 10, 12.]

The bowyers alfo complained of a ' feditious confederacy of the Lom-
' bards,' who had raifed bow-ftaves from 40/" to ^S a hundred, and
obliged them to take the good and bad together without garbling. It
was therefor enacted, that no Venetian or other merchant fliould be per-
mitted to import merchandize without bringing ten good bow-flaves for
every butt of mahnfey or tyre, and that bow-ftaves fliould be garbled,
and fold only to natives of the king's dominions, [r. 11.]

It was reprefented in parliament, that till about the year 1450 malm-
fey wine (apparently in confequence of a glutted importation) ufed to
be fold from 50/to 53_/4 per butt, running from 126 to 140 gallons, the
payment being made, two thirds in cloth, and one third in money ; but
now, by thefidtiliy of the fellers who were r. ade denizens, the importa-
tion was fo proportioned to the demand, that the butt, running only
•about io8 gallons, fold for £^ : 6 : 8, paid all in money. The parliament
(without interfering with the price) enaded, that no malmfey fhould be
imported in butts fmaller than 1 26 gallons, nor any wine or oil in cafks
fmaller than the ftandard meafures * ; and in cafe of defedive meafure
they only obliged the feller to allow for it to the buyer. They alfo re-
newed the law for gauging all calks of wine or oil imported, before they
fhould be fold. [c. 13.]

Of fifteen adls, paffed in the only parliament alTembled in the reign
of Richard III, there were feven f for the regulation of commerce and
manufadlures, of the condition of which they exhibit a pretty good
view, and alfo of the fituation of foreigners trading to, or refiding in,
England, which, though to us it appears hampered with ungenerous,
impolitic, or unavailing, reftridions, was much ameliorated in compari-
fon of what it had formerly been.

All the laws of England prior to this fellion of parliament were writ-
ten in barbarous Latin or French, and laterly moft of them in a jargon
compounded of Englifh and French, but all unintelligible to the great
bulk of the people, whofe lives and properties were to be difpofed of by
them. This parliament firft gave the people of England laws in their
own language ; and ever fince mongrel Latin and French have been dif-
carded from the acts of parliament. Richard's ads were alfo the firft
that were printed.

February 21" — King Richard gave the magiftrates of Kingfton upon
Hull permiflion to export and import all kinds of goods, wool and wool-
fells excepted, and out of the cuftoms of them to retain £60 annually
for twenty years, to be applied for the fupport of the harbour and other
public expenditure of the town. [Fadcra, V. xii, p. 213.]

* They arc particularized in the aiS^, and are already inferted from the aiV 2 Ilcn. VI, c. 1 1.

•^ One of ih«m \c. 6J was a perpetuation of the law of Edward IV refpefting courts of piepoudre.

A. D. 1484. 705

February — The parliament of Scotland prohibited for two years the
exportation of tallow, and hides, faked, dried, or barked. [J6Is Jac.
Ill, c. 115.]

Martin Beheni of Nurenberg, after having redded about twenty years
in his ifland of Fayal, one of the Azores, is faid to have this year ap-
plied to John II king of Portugal for the means of undertaking extenf-
ive difcoveries. Having obtained fome veflels, he dilcovered Brazil,
and ranged along the coafl as far as the ftrait fince known by the name
of Magalhanes, or Magellan. But this difcovery is not fo well authen-
ticated as we could wifh fo important an event to be *.

The fame Martin, in conjunction with Rodrigo and Jofeph, two JewiOi
phyficians in the fervice of king John, firll: applied the aftrolabe, hither-
to ufed only by aftronomers f , to obfervations of the fun's altitude at
fea, and compofed tables of declination for afcertaining the latitude. \Pur~
chas''s Filgrimes^ B. ii, § 3.] Before thefe improvements were introduced
in navigation, feamen mufl have had very little confidence in their con-
jeEiures of their polition.

1485, June 4"" — As fome Englifli merchants intended to trade to for-
eign countries, and efpecially Italy, with their own or chartered veflels
and their merchandize. King Richard, obferving from the pradice of
other nations the advantage of having a magiftrate appointed for fettling
difputes among them, and alfo underflanding that the city of Pifa was
moll convenient for the refidence of the Englifli merchants, he, at the
requeft of the merchants trading,. or intending to trade, to Pifa and the
adjacent countries, appointed Lorenzo Strozzi, a merchant of Florence,
to be conful of the Englifli merchants in thole countries, and delegated
to him the power of hearing, aiid fummarily determining, all difputes
between Englifli fubjedis in thofe parts, and doing all other things per-
taining to the office of a conful, with a right to receive one and a quar-
te^per cent on all the fales and purchafes of the EngUfli in the city and
port of Pifa."|:. [Ftxdera^ V. xii, p. 270.] This was pretty certainly the

* Mr. Otto [Amer. Phil. tranfaS. V. ii, />. 26S] 400 miles from north to fouth, all on the north

fays, that this difcovery is authenticated by Mar- fide of the equator, which is probably drawn from

tin's own letters dated in i486, which are preferv- fancy for the fabulous Atlantis of antiquity, but

cd in the archives of Nurenberg, and alfo by the could never have been drawn by a man who had

delineation of a terreftrial globe condrufted by ranged along the coaft of South America as tar as

himfelf in 149*, and ftill preferred in the library the Straits of Magalhanes.

of Nurenberg. Dodtor Robertfon, the hiftorian f Chaucer, the father of Englifh poetry, in

of America, denies the difcovery. If genuine the year 1391 nddreifed an effay on the aftrolabie

Touchers of the truth of it ilill remain at Nuien- to little Louis his fon.

berg, it is furely very unworthy of the literary in- J According to Rofcoe \_Life of Lorenzo tie

dufti-)' of Germany to allow them to lie In obfcurity Media, c. 10] a Lorenzo Strozzi, probably the

and concealment. — Quere, has not Mr. Otto mif- fame perfon, wau alive after the year 1538, and

taken the delineation of the Nurenberg globe ? wrote the Life of his brother Filippo Strozzi,

In the engraved copy of it, the only lands de- which is publillied along with Beneihlto VarchCs

hneated in the ocean, which has the Azores and Hi/lory of Fhtencc. — Henry VII, dcfirous of un.

the Canary iflands on the eaft fide of it, and Ci- doing whatever was done by his ptedecefTor, ap-

pangu (Japan) and the Indian iflands on the well pointed another Florentine merchant, called Chrill-

lidc, are a fniall idand, called Antilia, with the opher Spene, to be conful at Pifa. \_Fad:ra, F.

famous feven cities in it, and a lurser one, of about xii, /. 314-''

Vol. I. ^ ' 4U

7o6 A. D. 1485.

firft appointment of a conful for the merchants of England in any of
the countries within the Mediterranean : and the cuflom of appointing
foreign merchants to be confuls for the Enghfh in thofe countries con-
tinued for a confiderable lime, and continues in fome inflances to the
prefent day.

Soon after the invention of the art of printing the induflry of Venice
made it an objed of connnercial advantage, fo that, in every part of
Europe, thofe who could read had books imported from Venice. And
in England alfo, the bufinefs of printing, though fo lately introduced,
appears to have been already fo well eftabliflied, that books from the
Englifli preffes now began to be articles of exportation *.

November — The firfl parliament of King Henry VII, obferving, that
in the reign of Edward IV a great number of foreign merchants had
obtained letters and ads of denization, whereby they were put upon a
footing with the native fubjeds in the payment of cuftoms, and alfo that
they frequently entered the merchandize of other foreigners in their
own names, and thereby defrauded the revenue, enaded, that all for-
eigners made denizens fliould pay the full duties payable by foreign
merchants. [y^Sis i Hen. VII, c. 2.}

Confidering the danger to be apprehended from a decay of the navy,
and the feamen being unemployed, they enaded a law, the very reverfc
of that of Edward III in the year 1368, which entirely excluded Eng-
liflimen from the carrying trade; for now no perfon was allowed to buy
or fell any wine of the growth of Guienne or Gafcoigne, in England,
Ireland, Wales, Calais, or Berwick, unlefs it were imported in a veffel
belonging to England, Ireland, or Wales, and navigated principally by
natives of England, Wales, Ireland, or Calais. — This law, being ap-
parently intended as an experiment, was to be in force only till the next
parliament, {c. 8.]

The prohibition of the importation of a variety of foreign articles, en-
aded in the year 1482 was confirmed, and twenty years added to it, the
addition of ten years by the ad of Richard III being fet afide, as the
ad of an ufurper. [c. 9.]

The Italian merchants, availing themfelves of the king's difpofition to
undo the ads of his predeceffor, obtained a repeal of the 9"* ad of
Richard. But the fines, incurred by tranl'greilions of it, were ftill to be
paid to the king. \c. 10.]

i486, January ly'** — King Henry very foon after his accefTion ifllied
orders to all his fubjeds to receive the merchants of France in a friendly
manner, without requiring the produdion of fofe-conduds or licences.

* This Information concerning the progrefs of I485> wherein there are the following lines :
the art of prinling in England is derived from the ' Cclatos, Vcncti, nobis tranfniittcre libros

loloplion at the end of a Latin tranflation of the ' Ceditc, nos alt'is vend'tmus, O Vcncti.'

F.p'iJlUs oj P/ja/aris, printed at Oxford in the year \_Mid<llelon t Origin ef printing in Englanil, p. 10. ]

A. D. i486. 707

And now a more formal truce of three years (not a peace) was conclud-
ed, whereby all grievous exadions, impofed upon commerce in the lafl
two-and-twenty years, were abolilhed in both kingdoms, except the local
duties of towns, &c. [Fasdera, V. xii, p. 281.]

July ■^ — A truce of three years was alfo concluded between England
and Scotland, in which the feizure of perfons and merchandize (hip-
wrecked was more particularly guarded againfl than formerly, the pre-
fervation of the property being, however, now made to depend on the
lurvival of a human creature, and not on that of a cat, dog, or cock,
which, it may be believed, were never allowed to live to the prejudice
of depredators. The other articles were nearly the fame as in former
truces between the two kingdoms. \Foedera, V. xii, p. 285.]

July 22'' — Henry was particularly defirous of cultivating the friend-
fhip of the duke of Bretagne, and therefor renewed the truce with him,
with nearly the fame conditions refpeding commerce, which were in
the former treaty of the year 1468 ; the towns of S'. Malo, Brefl, and
Tonque, being now excepted from the general liberty granted to the
Englifli of having hotels in the towns of Bretagne, as, on the other hand,
thofe towns in England, which the king fhould name by his letters, were
to be excepted from the fimilar liberty enjoyed by the Bretons in Eng-
land. [Foedera^ V. xii,/>. 303.]

1487, Odober — A difpute between fome citizens of Cologne and fome
fubjeds of Scotland had been decided by the king of Scotland and his
council. The foreigners were diffatisfied, and obtained from the em-
peror a letter of marque againfl; the Scots, which was now fufpended
(probably upon the king's interpofition) till Eafter 1488. In the mean-
time the Scottifh parliament ordained, that a clergyman and two bur-
gefles fliould go, at the general expenfe of the burghs., to the emperor's
court with an authentic copy of the fentence, in order to fhow that juf-
tice had been done to the Gologners, and to obtain a revocation of the
letter of marque. \^Acis Jac. Ill, c. 126.]

The reprefentatives of the burghs of Scotland, ading as a feparate
body, or committee, requeflied, and obtained, a ratification of the ads
for the qualifications of merchants, for regulating charter parties, the
meafure of falmon barrels, the profecution ot the herring fifliery in the
weft fea, &c. \cc. 127-131, 133-]

They alfo ordained, that commiflaries (reprefentatives) from all the
burghs fhould affemble at Inverkiething on the 26''' of July every year,
in order to confider the iuterefl of merchandize and the burghs, and to
make regulations for their general welfare *. \^c. 1^2.]

November — Kix;g Henry, in his deteflation of avarice, with the aflent
of the parliament, prohibited and annulled ' all dampnable bargayns

* This is apparently tlie origin of the convention of the royal burghs of Scotland, which is flill kept
up. I do not hnd, when the convention removed from Inverkiething to Edinburgi.

4U2

7o8 A. D. 1487.

' grounded in ufury,' hov/ever difguifed under the name of new chevyf-
ance, dry exchange, &c. by which the lender was to have more or lefs *
• for the ufe of his money, and impofed a fine of ^100 on the offenders,
befides committing to the church the corredion of their fouls. \_A6is 3
Hen. VII, c. s]

The magiflrates of London, in order to oblige the people to refort to
the city for all their purchafes, had made an ordinance, that no citizen
fhould carry goods for fiile to any fair or market out of the city. The
affortment of goods in London appears to have been fo commanding,
that thofe interefted in the fairs of Salifbury, Briflol, Oxford, Cambridge,
Nottingham, Ely, Coventry, and other places, and alfo tlie people of
the country in general, were alarmed, and reprefented to parliament the
deflrudion of the fairs, and the great hardfliip of being obliged to travel
to London to procure chalices, books, veftments, and other church or-
naments, and alfo viduals for the time of Lent, linen cloth, woollen
cloth, brafs, pewter, bedding, ofmond, iron, flax, wax, and other ne-
celTaries. The London ordinance was annulled ; and the citizens were
permitted to go with their goods to the fairs and markets in every part
of England, [c. 9.] In this aft we have a good pidlure of the inland-
trade of England.

The fhearmen, fullers, and others concerned in the clothing trade,
reprefented, that the acl of 7 Edward III, againfl exporting woollen yarn
and unfulled cloth, had not provided againfl cloth being exported with-
out being rowed and fhorn. For the encouragement of thofe trades,
the parliament enaded, that no cloths fliouldbe carried out of the coun-
try till they were barbed, rowed, and fliorn, except thofe called itjfes,
rnys. Jailing cloths, and others fold at or under 40/; \c. 1 1.]

At this time the commercial intercourfe between Florence and Egypt,
which began in the time of Cofmo de Medici, was greatly extended and
improved under the direction, and by the example, of his grandfon Lor-
enzo. So highly was this illuflrious merchant eiteemed by the fultan of
Egypt, that he fent an embaffy to him (a mark of refped: very feldoni
beftowed by Mohamedan princes on the moft powerful Chriflian fover-
eigns) vvith magnificent prefents, among which were a fine bay horfe,
probably an Arabian, baliam, civet, lignum aloes, large vales of por-
celain*, fine cotton cloths of various kinds, and other rich Oriental ma-
nufidtures. {Rofcoe's Life of Lorenzo, V. ii, p. 60 ; and otiginal letter in
V.m,p.2']\.]

John II king of Portugal, who was very defirous of completing the
difcovery of the route to India, had already fent two agents to obtain
information refpefting the nature of the trade of that country, who went
no farther than Jerufalem, having there difcovered that their want of the

* Porcelain was far from being common, or even ler of the maritime laws of Barcelona among the
generally known, in E'Jropc in this age, though it imports from Egypt. \_C:i{^n:any, Man. hift. de
is one of the articles enumerated in the 44'" chap- liurcckna, V- i, Cm. />. 44.]

f •»

A. D. 1487. 709

^ Arabic language rendered their further progrefs impradicable. This
year he fent Pero de Covillan and Alfonfo de Paiva, who were both
maftersof the Arabic, with inftrudions to travel to the country of Prefte
laani (or Prefter John), to learn whether his dominions extended to the
fea, and where the pepper, cinnamon, and other fpices, which were
brought to Venice, were produced. Along with their inftruclions, and
. ,^ money and bills for their fubfiflence, they received a chart drawn by the
^ king's bcft geographers, who laid, they had found fome memorial of a
'^ paflage between the eaftern and the weftern feas. Having bought a cargo

of honey at Rhodes, they proceeded in the charafter of merchants to
Alexandria, and thence by Cairo, the defert, and the Red fea, to Aden
in Arabia, where they feparated : Paiva crofTed over to Ethiopia, and
Covillan failed for Cananor, and thence to Calicut, where he faw ginger
and pepper growing, and learned that cloves and cinnamon were brought
from countries flill more remote. He then returned by Goa and Ormuz
to the Red fea, and thence foiled in company with fome Moorifli merch-
ants on the Ethiopian fea, which he found reprefented in his chart, as
far as Sofala, where he learned, ' that the coaft might be failed ail-along
• toward the weft,' and heard of the Ifland of the Moon, 900 miles m
length. Having now acquired more knowlege of India and the eaftern
feas than any European of that age, he returned to Cairo, where he
heard that Paiva was dead, and found two Jews, fent to him v/ith letters
from the king. One of them he fent back to the king with an account
of what he had difcovered, and his opinion, that the iliips, which trad-
ed to Guinea, by keeping along the coaft might get to Sofala and thence
to Calicut, for there was a clear fea. With the other Jew he returned to
Ormuz, and thence back to Aden, which was ftill, us in ancient times,
the center of commercial intercourfe. There he difpatched the Jew
home to Portugal, and bent his own courfe to the court of Prefte lanni,
where he was well treated and enriched, but never permitted to leave

the country till the year 1520. [Barros, Dec. i, L. iii, c. 5 Purchas,

B. vii, />. 1 091 ; B. X, p. 1675.]

In the meantime, before the arrival of Covillan's very encouraging
information, Bartholomew Diaz, one of the many Portuguefe com-
manders, who, during almoft a century, had been endeavouring to reach
the fouthern extremity of Africa in the hope of finding an open naviga-
tion to the Oriental regions, returned (December 1487) from a voyage
in which he had made a ftretch along 1050 miles of the coaft, and act-
ually paffed the fouthern extremity of the continent, to which, from
the ftormy weather he met with when off it, he gave the name of Cal'2
Tonnentofo (or Stormy cape) : but the king, underftanding that the land
beyond it trended to the eaftward, and full of hope that the greateft dif-
ficulty in the route to India was now furmounted, changed the name to
the more aufpicious one of Caho de Boa E/p:ranfa (Cape of Good Hope),

7IO A, D. 1487.

by which it has ever fince been called. [Barros, Dec, i, L. iii, c. 4.—
Purchas, B. ii,/. 7.]

1488 — While the Portuguefe were endeavouring to get to India by
an eaflern route, Chriflopher Colon (or Columbus) a Genoefe navigator,
whofe nautical knowlege was much enlarged by refiding amone the
Portuguefe, was induced by Ptolemy's geography, wherein the eaftern
parts of Afia are extended fo far into the oppofite hemifphere as to leave
only about one third of the circumference of the globe between them
and the weft parts of Europe, by the difcoveries of Marco Polo, and
accounts of land accidentally feen by feveral navigators in the Weflem
ocean, to believe that the eafieft accefs to India, mufi; be by failing to
the weflward *. Strongly imprefled with this idea, he applied for the
means of accompliftiing his difcovery to the king of Portugal, who, he
might well fuppofe, would gladly encourage a project for attaining his
grand objed, the trade of India, by a fhorter route than that which had
fo long baffled all the endeavours of his predeceflbrs. But the Portu-
guefe court very vmgeneroufly and unfairly kept him in fufpenfe till the
return of a carvel, which they fecretly fent out to make the difcovery
fuggefted by him ; and then, as their own vefFel had found no land, they
refufed to pay any attention to his fcheme. It is to the credit of Eng-
land, that Colon next turned his thoughts to that country, to which he
fent his brother Bartholomew, while he himfelf made application at the
court of Ferdinand and Ifabella, the fovercigns of Spain. In his paflage
to England Bartholomew was taken by pirates, plundered of his all,
and made a flave. Having at lafl efcaped from them, he arrived in
England, but in no condition to obtain accefs to the royal prefence.
Thus circumftanced he applied himfelf to drawing fea charts for a live-
lihood, and, as foon as he got himfelf decently clothed, he prefented a
map of the world to the king, and laid before him his brother's fcheme.
King Henry was fo far pleafed with the propofal, that he defned him to
bring his brother to England. But fo much time had been loft, that
when Bartholomew got to Paris in his way to Spain, he was informed
that his brother had failed upon his voyage, and was returned, having
accompliftied the difcovery, not of India or the fpice iflands, but of the
iflands of the Weft-Indies, \_HiJl. de Don Cbrijl. Colon por fu hijo Fer-
nando, cc. 6-9, II, 60.]

The capture of Bartholomew Colon by pirates thus turned out, under
the direction of Providence, the means of preferving the Engliih from
lofing their induftry and commercial fpirit in the mines of Mexico and
Peru.

• Tlic iifiial belief, tl.at Colon fct out with a geoginpliy, received from Plolcmy nnd oilier nil-

view to difcovcr a tunv corilinn:!, in not warranted tient iiutliors, fcarecly left lliffielejit Ipacc iur fiicli

hy any good iiiilorian, and is in dircft oppofition a continent as America in tlie lea between tlie tail

to the Hlftciry of his life by his own fon, whole pait of Afia and the wcfl parts of Europe and

authority muli certainly be preferred. His ideas of Africu.

A. D. 1488; 711

February 18'" — The firft parliament of Henry VII had granted him
the duties of tannage and poundage with the extra duties payable by
foreigners, as ufual in the preceding reigns. The merchants of Venice,
Genoa, Florence, and Luca, now obtained from him an abatement for
the fpace of three years ; and the whole duties of every kind payable
by them were fixed at ^T) : 6 : 8 for every fack of wool, and if^ for
every twenty -fhil lings worth of tin. [Fadera,V. xii, p. 335.]

Odober — The firft parHament of James IV king of Scotland, in a fet
of new regulations for money, flated the obligation upon the merchants
exporting Scottifh commodities to import bullion as follows, viz. for
each ferplaith of wool, each laft of falmon, or each four hundred cloth*,
four ounces of fine filver ; for each laft of herrings (now apparently an
export of fome confequence) two ounces ; and for other goods paying
cuftom, in pi-oportion. \_Ads Jac. IV, e. 10.]

They reftrided the arrival of veflels, whether Scottilh or foreign, to
the free burghs, whereof Dunbarton, Irwin, Wigton, Kirkcudbright,
and Renfrew, (all on the weft fide of the country) are mentioned, appar-
ently as the moft confiderable. Foreigners were, prohibited from buy-
ing fifti, till they were faked and barreled, and from having any deal-
ings at the remote ifland of Lewis, or any place whatever except at the
free burghs, [r. 11.]

The navy of Scotland at this time confifted of two vefTels, the Flow-
er and the Yellow carvel. They were adapted chiefly for war, being
well provided with guns, crofs-bows, lime-pots, fire-balls, two-handed
fwords, and alfo with good feamen under the command of Sir Andrew
Wood, a brave and experienced officer : but I cannot venture to affirm,
whether they belonged to the public, or were Wood's own private pro-
perty. [Buchanani Hj/i. L. xiii, cc. i, 3, 6. — Yitfcottie, pp. 145, 155, ed.
1778.] During the reign of James IV feveral warlike fliips were added
to the Scottifti navy, one of them particularly remarkable, as being
longer than any other veflel that has been built from the time of Ptole-
my Philopator to the prefent day.

1 489, January — The parliament of England undertook to regulate
the prices of feveral articles, which, they conceived, were exorbitant.
Drapers and tailors were not allowed to take for the fineft broad cloth
of fcarlet or other in-grain colours above 16/' per yard, or for cloths of
the beft quality of plain colours, or ruftTets, above i i/f . The hatters
and cap-makers were accufed of charging ■^f or 3/4 for hats which coft
them only 1/4, and from 3/" to 5/ for cap«r which coft them only 1/4.
They were now ordered to fell the beft hats at 1/8, the beft caps at 2yB,
and thofe of inferior quality as they could agree. \_Ai5ts 4 Hen. VII, cc.
8,9.]

* The aft does not exprefs, whether this was a ence of prices in the prefent day is owing to the

kindof cloth fo called, or 400 pieces, or 400 yards, great abundance of cocliineal now brought from

f The in-grain colours were thus about 46 per America,

cent higher than the others. The fmaller differ- »

712 A, D, 1489.

It is very certain, that the greatefl part of the foreign trade of Eng-
land had hitherto been carried on by foreign merchants in foreign vef-
fels, though fonie faint and tranfient indications of a fenfe of the dan-
ger and impoHcy of refigning the moft valuable interefts, and the befl
means of the defence, of the country into the hands of ftrangers had
fometimes appeared. The parliament, now confidering, ' that where
* great minifhing and decay hath been no we of late tyme of the navye
' of this realme of Englande, and ydelnes of the maryners of the
' fame, by the whiche this noble realme within ihorte procefs of
' tyme, without reformation be had therin fhall not be of abylytye ne
' of ftrengthe and power to defend itfelfe,' enaded, that no wines of
Guienne or Gafcoigne, nor woad of Tholoufe, fliould be imported into
England, Ireland, Wales, Calais, or Berwick, unlefs in vefTels belong-
ing to the king or fome of his fubjeds of thofe territories, and navigat-
ed by feamen of whom the greater part fhould be natives of the fame
territories. They alfo prohibited the king's fubjefts from ihipping goods
in England or Wales onboard any veflel owned by a foreigner, unlefs
when fufficient freight could not be found in Englifh vefTels. Foreign
veffels, loaded with wine or woad, if driven into Englifh ports by florm
or enemies, were allowed to fell as much as would pay for neceflliry pro-
vifions or repairs, and no more. [c. 10.]

The adl [4 Edzv. IV, c. 4] againfl; foreftalling contrads for wool pro-
duced in the counties of Berks, Oxford, &c. was continued for ten years
longer, [c. 11.]

The parliament, confidering the defolation of the country, the de-
flrudion of houfes and towns, and the idlenefs of the people, occafioned
by turning corn lands into pafture, fome towns, wherein formerly two
hundred perfons earned their livelihood, being now occupied by two or
three herdfmen *, enaded, that all houfes, having twenty or more acres
of land in tillage annexed to them, fliould be kept up by the proprie-
tors, whether they leafed the land to farmers, or cultivated it for their
own account, on pain of forfeiting half the rent to the king or other
over-lord. [r. 19.] Though the parliament afcribed the exceffive pre-
diledion for paflurage to the avarice of the land-holders, it was more
probably a neceflary confequence of the depopulation of the country
by the civil wars between the rival families of York and Lancafter fol-
lowing immediately after that occafioned by the repeated invafions of
France, the proprietors being compelled by want of hands to feed flieep
upon the fields which ufed to be cultivated by their predial fervants, as
the fteady demand for wool prefented the only means of obtaining any
emolument from their eilutes : and moreover, in thofe calamitous times,
living ftock, which could eafily be conveyed out of the reach of an ene-

* Many of the greater towns were alfo fo much granted in the reign of Edward IV, as appears by
decayed as to need parliamentary aids to preferve Coll(/»'s jlbi'ul^emcnt of the records.
them from utter drfulation, whicli were frequently

A. D. 1489. 713

my, was a much more defirable property than corn, which, whether in
the field, the flack-yard, or the barn, was doomed to inevitable deflruc-
tion or pillage.

The embroiderers having complained to parliament that the pound
packets of the gold thread of Venice, Florence, and Genoa, contained
only about feven threads inflead of twelve, that the thread was of unequal
thicknels, and colour, and the price was raifed from 3374 to £^, to the
great prejudice of them and alfo of the buyers of ' broudered warke,'
it was enaded, that gold thread, deficient in weight, or of unequal qual-
ity, fliould be forfeited, [c. 22.]

February — In the fcarcity of Scottifh commercial treaties we muft be
content with obferving, that the parliament of Scotland ordained, that
ambafladors (hould repair to France, Denmark, and Sweden : and that
their inftrudions direded them to endeavour to obtain friendfliip, liber-
ties, and freedoms for the good of the kingdom and the courfe of merch-
andize. [ASis Jac. IV, c. 22.] In confequence of one of thofe embaC-
fies fome commercial privileges were obtained in the Danifli dominions.
[LeJ.IIi/i.p.319.]

1490, January 20'" — A treaty between England and Denmark had
been made in the year 1489 at Weftminfter, A more ample one was
now concluded at Copenhagen by a doctor of laws, a herald, and two
merchants of Lynne, for England, with the minifters of the king of
Denmark. Befides the ufual freedom of trade on both fides, it was
agreed, that the merchants and fifliermen of England might freely re-
pair to Iceland for the purpofe of merchandizing or filhing, they paying
the cuftomary dues in the ports, and acknowleging the fovereignty of
the king of Denmark by applying at the end of every feven years for re-
newals of their licences. They might purchafe frefh fi{h of all kinds,
and fait them, at Sconen, Seland, Dragor, and other ufual places in the
kingdom of Denmark, on paying the due cuftoms. Englifh veflels,
obliged by ftrefs of weather ' to go through the Baltic fea, that is,
* through the Belts,' on giving fccurity at Nyburg for the toll payable
on pafling at the Ore-found, ihould be no way molefled for infringing
the law or cuftom of Denmark. It was agreed, that before veflels fail-
ed, fufficient fecurity fliould be given (as now ufual) for their peaceable
demeanour at fea, unlefs they were licenced by either of the kings, who
fliould thereby become liable to redrefs any ads of piracy committed

by them The Englifli, whether buying, felling, or fiftiing,in the Dan-

ifli dominions, fliould enjoy as much liberty as any other foreigners.
They fliould alfo freely enjoy for ever the property of the lands and ten-
ements acquired by them in Bergen in Norway, Lunden, and Land-
flcrone in Sconen, Dragor in Seland, and Loyfa in Sweden, or afiierwards
to be acquired in any part of the Danifli dominions. They fliould have
perfed liberty at Bergen and other places to eled their governors or ald-
ermen, who fliould have the power of adminifl:ering juflice to Englifli

Vol. I. 4 X

714

A. D. 1490.

fubjedts agreeable to the rules enaded by themfelves ; and any Englilh-
man, refufing to fubmit to their jurifdiftion, fhould be deprived of the
privileges granted to theEnglifli in the Danifh dominions. — The execut-
or, or next of kin, or failing both, the aldermen or governors, fliould
have the cuftody of the effects of EngUfh fubjeds dying in the Danifh
territories. — The merchants of England fhould have liberty to fell their
cloths without the interference of any Danifh ofhcer ; and they might
appoint their agents in Copenhagen, Malmo, and LandlTcrone, who, if
they relided a year or more, and paid the local dues, might tranfadl bufi-
nefs for abfent merchants, and fell cloths by the piece or in fmaller

quantities No Englifli merchant (hould be Uable to arrefl for the debt

or fault of another ; nor fhould his goods be arrefted for crimes or
debts charged againfl himfelf, if he gave fufKcient fecurity to Hand trial.
— In cafes of wreck the property fhould be carefully preferved for the
o\\Tiers, and no perfon fhould be permitted ' in fuch melancholy cafes
' to claim any right to the property on pretence of a damned cuflom,
' or make profit of the calamities of others,' beyond a reaibnable re-
ward for labour Every pofTible means fliould be ufed on both fides to

prevent the depredations of pirates Any infradlions of this treaty

fhould be punifhed by the fovereign^of the offenders*. [Fcedera V. xii,

#•3.75.381-]

April 15'" Florence, under the wife adminiflration of the illuftrious

merchant, Lorenzo de Medici, was now in the zenith of profperity. The
inhabitants, freed from wars and tumults, exerted their adive fpirit
in commerce and manufadures. Their Oriental trade by the way of
Egypt, was extended and improved by Lorenzo. Their linens and filk
.goods were made from materials produced in their own territories, but
their woollen manufadures depended on importation from Spain and
England. [Ro/coe's Life of Lorenzo, c. 6.] The trade of the later coun-
ti-y with Italy had undergone a very important change in the fhort fpace
of five years fince King Richard commiflioned the firft conful for the
Englifh merchants at Pifa. From that commifhon we learn, tliat they
■propofed to trade in their own or chartered veflels ; and now we find
Englifli veflels efi;ablinied in the trade, and the Englifh merchants even
extending their ideas to the employment of their veflels in a mere car-
rying trade. A treaty of fix years for the regulation of this commerce,
fo important to the manufadures of Florence, was now concluded by a
dodor of laws and an alderman of London with the delegates of Flor-
ence, as follows. — The Englifli might freely relbrt to the territories of
Elorence, and carry thither all kinds of merchandize, whether ihe pro-

• It has been very j.ropcrly remarked by Mr. (except in cafe? of (hipwreck). How prodigious

Anderfon, that thi-i treaty fiippofes the trade be- an alteration had taken place fince the ages in which

twecn the two coinitrieo tu be entirely in tiie hands the Danes and Norwegians domineered upon the

of the Englifli, there being no rcciprceation of Ocean I
advantages llipulated for the Danes in England

A. D. 1490. 715

duce of England or of other countries, not even excepting countries
which might be at war with Florence, and might there buy and fell,
with the Florentines or any other people, all goods not already prohibit-
ed, and might carry prohibited goods through the Florentine territories
to any other country whatever, whether friendly or hoflile to Florence.
— The Florentines agreed, not to admit any wool produced in the Eng-
lifli dominions, if imported in any other than vefTels belonging to fub-
jeds of England, the Englifli on the other hand engaging to carry every
year to Pifa, the appointed ftaple port, as much wool as ufed to be im-
ported annually, on an average of former years, to all the dates of Italy,
except Venice, unlefs circumftances, of which the king fliould be judge,
fhould render it impradicable. — The Englifh merchants fhould have li-
berty to hire or acquire houfes for their refidence in Pifa, and fhould
there enjoy all the privileges enjoyed by the citizens of Pifa or thofe of
Florence : they fhould alfo be exempted from feveral municipal bur-
thens, and even from many duties upon merchandize, in all parts of the
flate, except Florence, they being only liable to pay the excife and other
duties upon wine, corn, and other food, and not even upon thofe when
bought for fhip's ftores. — The Englifh in Pifa fhould have a right to
form themfelves into a corporate body, with governors and other officers,
funds, &c. agreeable to their own regulations : and the magiftrates of
Florence engaged to give them either a fuitable edifice, or a piece of

ground for ereding one, proper for their joint accommodation It was

agreed, that in all matters concerning the fubjeds of England only, they
fhould be independent of the jurifdidion of the city ; in controverfies
between them and any others, the podefla of Pifa, in conjundion with
the chief magiflrate of the Englifh, fhould determine ; and in criminal
cafes, the Englifh fhould be amenable to the juflice of the country. —
The Florentines promifed to endeavour to procure for the Englifli a full
participation of the benefits of any commercial treaty they might af-
terwards engage in. — The king of England engaged to allow no foreign-
ers to export wool from any part of his dominions *, except the
Venetians, who fhould be allowed in each voyage to England to carry
away 600 facks in their gallies, and no more, merely for the ufe of the'

city and territory of Venice ^If the Englifh fhould at any time fail in

carrying the agreed quantity of wool to Pifa, the Florentines fhould be
at liberty to receive it, either from the Englifli or from others, as be-
fore— It was finally ftipulated, that the wool fliould be faithfully clean-
ed and packed, as in former times. [Fcedcra, V. xa, p. 389.] Though
by this treaty the Florentines were to have all the Englifh wool that
went to Italy, except the quantity allotted to Venice, at their own dif-
pofal, the advantages allowed by them to the Englifli fliow a fpirit of li-
berality, much beyond the ufual tenor of the treaties of the age.

* Surely it was not iatendcd, that fortigiiers fliould be prevented from buying wool in the ftaple
at Calais.

4X2

yi6 A. D. 1490.

The Englifli merchants engaged in the trade to Italy, of which Pifa
was the ftaple, appear to have been a regulated company, like the
merchants of the ftaple, and perhaps the merchant adventurers : but how
long they exifted as fuch, I fuppofe, is utterly unknown *.

1491, May — Notwith {landing the treaty fo formally concluded with
the Hanfe confederacy in the year 1475, the jealoufies and coUilions,
which became more frequent, as the Englifh came more and more into
the fituation of rivals in trade, had again broken out in hoftilities, cap-
tures, and flaughters. A meeting of deputies from both fides was now
held at Antwerp in order to adjuft pretenfions and compenfate damages.
But the aflembly broke up without coming to any accommodation.
[Fcedera, V. xii,/>. 441.. — Werdenhagen, V. n, part iv, c. 10.]

October — King Henry, intending to invade his antient enemies of
France, granted feveral exemptions from the oppreffive burthens of the
feudal conftitution to thofe who fhould accompany him, particularly a
right to alienate their honours, caftles, manors, lands, and other heredi-
tary pofTeflions, by licence from the king, without paying any fine or
fee. [Ads 7 Hen. VII, cc. 2, 3.] Thefe, and fome other ads of fimilar
tendency, laid the foundation of a moil important change in the cir-
cumftances of all the people in the kingdom. The great nobles being
permitted, as a favour, to iquander away their enormous eftates, gradu-
ally declined from that dangerous fuperiority, which had made them
the terror of the kings, and the opprefTors of the people, ever fince the
Norman conqueft : and an opportunity was offered to the fuccefsful
merchant and manufacturer to acquire the refpedtability and influence
annexed to the property of land ; a kind of property more particularly
defirable in an age, wherein the greateft and moll opulent imlanded
merchant was eftecmed inferior to the fmalleft land-holder.

The Venetians, for the maintenance of their own maritime power,
having impofed a new duty of four golden ducats (iS/flerling) on every
butt of malmfey fhippcd at Candia onboard Englilh veflels, an equaliz-
ing additional duty of 18/ was impofed by parliament on every butt im-
ported into England by any foreign merchant, to continue as long as
the Venetians Ihould perfift in demanding their new duty. It was more-
over ordained, that no malmfey fliould be fold above ^^4 per butt of
126 gallons with abatement for any deficient mealuref. [c. 8.]

1492, March 1" — King Henry gave two French merchants a licence to
import wines, woollen and linen cloths made in France or elfcwhere, and
any other merchandize, excepting wine of Gafcoygne and woad, in a veiTcl
of 140 tuns and 64 men ; and to export tin and other merchandize, not

• Though the public have been formerly ftunned -f This aft begins wilh felting forth the great

With the fierce contefts of thofe two companies, 'trade of I'ltiglilh (hips to Candui time out of miniL

vie hear nothing at all of the company of mejehaiiis But we know not liow to tnilt to tlic chronology

trading to Italy. of fuch icpiefentatioiis.

A. D. 149a. 717

belonging to the ftaple of Calais *, to any country whatever, repeating
the voyage as often they pleafed during the year, and duely paying the
cuftoms, &c. [Fa^dera, P^. xii, />. 471.]

The Chriftian provinces of Spain, almofl: entirely united by the mar-
riage of Ferdinand king of Aragon with Ilixbella queen of Caftile, which
took place in the year 1469, had for fome time been in a very flourifh-
ing condition. About ten thoufand people were employed in the ma-
nufadures of filk and wool in Toledo. In Catalonia, before the union
of the kingdoms of Caftile and Aragon (an event fatal to the commer-
cial profperity of that province) many of the towns were filled with in-
duflrious and fkilful manufadlurers in wool, cotton, flax, filk, leather, tin,
copper, iron, fl;eel, filver, &c. The fliip-carpenters of Barcelona built
vefifels, not only for their own countrymen, but alfo for other nations.
All thefe branches of induftry, together with the produce of a fertile
foil diligently cultivated, fupplied the materials of an extenfive commerce
with every port of the Mediterranean fea,and alfo to Portugal, the weft
coaft of France, Flanders, and England. [Schott. Script. Hifp. V. ii, pp.
308, 844. — Capmany, Mem. hiJI. de Barcelona, pnffim\.'] But all the Chrift-
ians of Spain were furpafl^ed by the Saracens of Granada in the cultiv-
ation of their lands, the excellence of their manufadures, particularly
thofe of filk, (which, as already obferved, were in a flourifhing condi-
tion in Almeria before any of the Chriftian flates to the weftward of
Greece pofi!efi"ed a fingle filk-worm) the extent of their commerce, their
riches and magnificence :j:. That kingdom was finally fubdued in the
beginning of January 1492 by Ferdinand, who by the treaty fecured to
the Saracens the free exercife of their religion with the ufe of their
mofques, their own laws, and their property of every kind, including
even their arms, except cannon. Ferdinand has generally obtained the
charadler of a wife king : but, with fubmiffion to the wifdom of thofe
who have given him that charafter, it may be obferved, that he had
now an opportunity, by a prudent and conciliatory treatment of his new
fubjeds, to render his kingdom the firft manufaduring and commercial
country in Europe, and that his condud was quite the reverfe. Urged
by bigotry and infatuation, he had already efiablifhed the horrible tri-
bunal of the inquifition, of itfelf fufficient to deftroy all fpirit of in-
duftry and enterprife ; and, not fatisfied with fo great a facrifice of the
inherent rights of the human mind on the altar of fuperftition, he com-

• The king's complaifance to the French merch- Don Antonio de Capmany, I have to acknow.

ants made him forget that tin was a principal arti- lege the kindnefs of Sir John Talbot Dillon in

cle of the ftaple, and admit not only French-made favouring me with the ufe of his copy, perhaps the

woollen cloths, but even thofe of other countries only one in Great Britain : nor fhould I even have

imported by French merchants: and yet he is faiJ known of the work, but by his mention of it in

to have underftood, and afted upon, the principles his valuable Hiftory of Peter the CrueL
of the aft of navigation. | The magnificence of their buildings appears

■f- For this and the preceding quotations from in the remains of ibem ftill cxifting.
the important colkiStion of records, publiflied by 3

7i8

A. D. 1492.

manded (March 1492) all the Jews in Spain to become Chriftians or
to leave the kingdom in four months; and 170,000 famiUes*, all induf-
trious and valuable members of fociety, by whom a great part of the
trade of the country was conduced, were driven out to enrich other
countries with their arts and induftry, and as much of their property as
they could fave. With refped to the Saracens, or Moors, inftead of
imitating the wife and liberal condud of the anceftors of thofe people,
who, when they conquered Spain, permitted their Chriftian fubjecls to
enjoy their religion and laws, or that of the Chriftian conqueror of Si-
cily, who gave the Saracen inhabitants the fame indulgence, or paying
any regard to his own treaty, Ferdinand the C'atholic f refolved to com-
pell all his new fubjeds to become Chriflians X- Many of them pro-
fefled the Chriftian religion, while they retained their own : but thofe
hypocrites were foon exterminated by the burning zeal of the holy fa-
thers of the inquifition. Others, by far the greateft number of them,
were either murdered, or plundered and driven out of the country.
Moft of the exiles took refuge among their brethren on the oppofite
coaft of Africa, and, in revenge for the miferies inflided on them by
the Spaniards, refolved to carry on a perpetual predatory war againft
their opprefTors. But their war of juft reprifals has been perverted by
their defcendents into indifcriminate piracy againft every nation pro-
fcffing the Chriftian religion, excepting only thofe, who by bribes, or fu-
perior naval power, allure or compell them to refped their flags : and
thus it happens, that a private merchant in the United ftates of Ameri-
ca, a country not known to exift when Granada was conquered, is ruin-
ed in confequence of that event. By thefe depopulations with the fub-
fequent drains to the colonies, by blind and furious bigotry, and the
lazy pride introduced by the acquifition of the American mines, Spain,
from the time of entering upon pofl'eflion of the greateft opportunities
of improvement, has been falling back in civiUzation, induftry, and com-
merce, while all the other countries in Europe were rapidly advancing:
a memorable and dreadful example of the fatal confequences of pcrfe-
cution for religious opinions. [See Maria?ia, LI. xxv, xxvi, xxvii.]

It has been obferved that the commerce of the Venetians acquired
a very great extenfion by the depreflion of their rivals, the Genoefe,
upon the eftablifliment of the Turkiih empire in Europe. The wealth
of Europe, and, along with it, the tafte for the fpiceries, jewels, pearls,
and other rich produdions and manufadures of the Eaft, continued to
increafc. Thofe articles of luxury were almoft entirely fupplied by the

• Tills is tlie mod rrodcrati; eiUuiatc. Some
authors make tlie mirr.ber much greater.

f He WHS the fitd hiiig of .Sjjain who liaj tliat
title, which was tloiihtlcls givtu to him as a reward
for his zeal .igainll heretics.

X Tliis couvtrfioH did not begiu till the year

1499 ; but I have iiitrodiicfd it here fur the fake
of coMiicftioii. Tlie archhilhops of Toledo and
Granada were the cliief advilcr;, and executors of
this j)crfecutioii, which, as Mariana ackiiowlegcs,
was ihc fource of all the fubfecuieut troubles.

A. D 1492. 719

Venetians, whofe veflels viflted every port of the Mediterranean, and
every coafl of Europe, and whofe maritime commerce was probably
greater than that of all the reft of Europe taken together. In Venice
the rich manufadlures of filk, cloth of gold and filver, veflels of gold
and filver, and glafs, were carried to the higheft degree of perfedion.
Tiie Venetian navy was fufficiently powerful to reprefs the piracies of
the Turkifli and Barbary corfairs. The government was beneficent :
the people were numerous, opulent, and happy. Such was the com-
mercial Iplendour and profperity now enjoyed by Venice, from which
ihe was foon to decline, without apoflibility of recovery, in confequence
of events, which no errors in commercial policy produced, and no hum-
an prudence could poffibly avert.

liND OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

-X-\

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

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