A Source-Book of English Social History

by M. E. Monckton Jones

ALIENS

A.D. 1268

... His lordship the King ... had granted unto Sir Edward his son, to take custom of all things coming by sea into England and from England going forth, and such custom had been leased unto certain Italians upon yearly payment to Sir Edward of a farm of six thousand marks; the said Italians exacted the same custom of the citizens of London, and took sureties of them, in contravention of their franchises.

Wherefore the citizens went to Sir Edward, and begged of him that he would not allow such a yoke of servitude to be imposed upon them, in contravention of the franchises by the Charters of his lordship the King, his father, and of his predecessors, Kings of England, unto them granted: whereupon Sir Edward, at their entreaty, granted unto them acquittance of the custom aforesaid, giving them his letters patent thereon. The citizens, however, made court to him, giving him 200 marks.

A.D. 1269

... according to the custom of the City, all merchant strangers coming into London, were wont to be harboured, together with their merchandize, in hostels belonging to the citizens; and their wares, which are sold by the hundredweight, such as wax, alum and the like, to be weighed by the balance of his lordship the King. Other wares again, which are valued by the pound, such as pepper, ginger, brasil (i.e., a kind of wood for making red dye), grains, and the like, used to be weighed by various balances at the hosts’ places, or else by the basket of them, the buyer having upon every hundredweight four pounds for the draught; the commodity being weighed with the pin standing midway, the same as gold and silver are weighed. Afterwards the Italians, the people of Quercy, and the merchants of Provence (who at first however were but few in number), coming to the City with their merchandize, transacted business in a similar manner; but in process of time, when a great number of merchants from the parts aforesaid, who were extremely rich, had brought into the City a very great quantity of merchandize, in order that the amount of such wares might remain unknown to the citizens, they declined to be harboured in the hostels of the citizens, but built houses in the City, and abode therein by themselves, housing there their goods. And then too, weighing by balances of their own, they sold their wares contrary to the custom of the City; and even went so far as themselves to weigh by their own balances certain articles which were sold by the hundredweight, and which ought to be weighed by the King’s balance; to the prejudice of his lordship the King, and to the loss and subtraction of his pesage [duty for weighing]; and this they did for many years.

Afterwards, when his lordship the King gave unto the citizens a new Charter as to their liberties, in which it is set forth that no merchant stranger shall buy or sell any wares that ought to be weighed or troned, except by the beam and tron of his lordship the King, under forfeiture of the whole of such wares—and this, too, had been proclaimed throughout all the City—these merchants, nevertheless, continued to weigh as they had previously done. But when the King and his Council were given to understand this, his bailiffs, in accordance with his command, took all the balances and weights of the said merchants, and upon good sureties, attached the persons themselves. Afterwards, in this year, ... the King summoned the said merchants to appear before himself and his Council at Westminster; and because they were convicted ... and because their balances and weights, when examined in the King’s Exchange, were found, it is said, to be untrue, they were adjudged to be amerced and committed to prison; immediately upon which, being about twenty in number, they were taken to the Tower and there imprisoned.

On the morrow, too, their balances and weights were burnt in Westchepe; and such parts thereof as could not be consumed by fire, were broken to pieces with iron hammers, and wholly destroyed....

Then the said merchants made fine to the King in the sum of one thousand pounds sterling; and this under compulsion, as it were, they being in dread of being thrust into a most noisome prison.

A.D. 1270

... in this year, about Easter last past, it was provided by the common Council of his lordship the King, that cloths coming into England from the parts beyond sea should contain at least 26 ells in length, and an ell and a half in breadth, under forfeiture of the whole piece of cloth. And at the same time, orders were given to the merchants that, after the Fair of St. Botolph then next coming, they should not bring any cloths into England, under the penalty aforesaid, unless they should be of the said length and breadth, burels [coarse cloths] of Normandy excepted.