FOOTNOTES:
[578] Rymer’s Fœd. v. p. 719; Macpherson i. pp. 544-5.
[579] In A.D. 1353; Rymer’s Fœd. v. p. 763.
[580] Rymer’s Fœd. vi. p. 659. The date of this famous treaty appears to be Aug. 4, 1370. Macpherson i. p. 577.
[581] Stat. 37, Edw. III. cc. 5, 6.
[582] Stat. 42, Edw. III. c. 8.
[583] Stat. 1, 2, Rich. II. cc. 1, 2.
[584] Walsingham, pp. 227-553.
[585] Rymer’s Fœd., vol. vii. p. 233, and Macpherson i. p. 590. In A.D. 1383, a large Genoese ship bound to Flanders was driven by stress of weather into Sandwich. Walsingham, p. 296.
[586] Stat. 1-5, Rich. II. c. 2.
[587] Ibid. c. 3.
[588] Among other persons, the Pope succeeded in carrying from the town of Bristol, in 1382, a prodigious quantity of goods (the list is given in full in Rymer’s Fœd. v. pp. 356-7, 577-90) without paying any duty.
[589] Rymer’s Fœd., vol. vii. p. 369.
[590] Stat. 1-6, Rich. II. c. 11.
[591] 7 Rich. II. c. 9.
[592] 7 Rich. II. c. 11.
[593] Ibid. c. 14.
[594] Stat. 12, Rich. II. cc. 3-9, A.D. 1388. These rigid rules seem to have arisen from a reaction against the concessions extorted from the feeble king by the insurrections of 1380 (Wat Tyler) and 1381.
[595] Stat. 1, Rich. II. c. 10.
[596] Stat. 1-6, Rich. II. c. 10.
[597] Stat. 2, Rich. II. cc. 7, 9.
[598] 14 Rich. II. c. 1.
[599] 14 Rich. II. c. 2.
[600] 14 Rich. II. cc. 4, 5.
[601] Fœdera, vol. viii. p. 96. It would seem that Waghen did not, on this occasion, gain his object, as his letters of marque were renewed in 1412 and 1414. Fœdera, v. p. 733.
[602] Fœdera, vol. viii. p. 318.
[603] It is, perhaps, worth remarking that, through the whole of this period, the name of every vessel employed is carefully recorded on the MSS., these names being almost as various as those at present existing.
[604] Knyghton col. 27-35.
[605] Sir H. Nicolas, from the various chronicles, &c., of the time, has well traced the course of this French plundering expedition. (Hist. Roy. Navy, ii. p. 260-264.) Mercer was ultimately crushed, not by the “Royal Navy,” but by the courage and power of a London citizen, John Philpott, who was created twice Lord Mayor in 1377 and 1378. Walsingham, p. 213.
[606] Fœd., vol. vii. p. 220.
[607] Rot. Parl. iii. 63.
[608] Rot. Parl. ii. 42, iii. 46, quoted by Nicolas, ii. pp. 274-5.
[609] Here, again, the munificence of John Philpott is especially noticed. Walsingham, p. 248.
[610] In July 1380. Walsingham, p. 249.
[611] The records of Parliament, at this period, are each year full of these natural complaints, to which Richard and his ministers appear to have paid little attention. See, especially, Rot. Parl. iii. p. 102. s.a. 1382.
[612] Rymer, Fœd. v. pp. 195-97. Knyghton col. 2577. Stowe, p. 369. This is believed to have been the first naval victory gained by the king in person since the days of Alfred. Sir H. Nicolas suggests that the gold nobles struck by Edward III. in 1344, on which the king is represented standing in a large ship, were struck in allusion to, if not in commemoration of, this action. (Hist. Roy. Navy, ii. p. 223.) Selden quotes the lines:
“For foure things our noble sheweth to me,
King, shippe and sword, and power of the sea.”
Mare Clausum ii. c. 25.
The same writer also gives this line:
“Thus made he Nobles coyned of record,”
in honour, apparently, of the capture of Calais A.D. 1347.
[613] Chaucer is generally believed to have been born in 1328, and to have died in 1400: it is certain that he flourished in the time of Edward III. and of Richard II. The orthography of this extract is from Bell’s ed. of Chaucer, 1855.
[614] Voluminous papers on this subject are given in Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 157, et seq.; with the letter of Henry IV. to the master-general of Prussia, together with the treaty itself, and the Hanse-Towns agreement.
[615] Rymer’s Fœdera, vol. viii. pp. 601-603. Hakluyt, vi. pp. 154-157. There seems some doubt as to the date of this transaction. See Macpherson, i. p. 625.
[616] Macpherson has collected from various sources all the details of the disputes between the Hanse and English merchants, of which the above is a condensed notice, vol. i. pp. 620-623, s.a. 1408-9.
[617] Rymer’s Fœd., vol. viii. p. 437.
[618] Rymer’s Fœdera, v. ix. p. 26-72.
[619] Ibid. v. ix. p. 13, ap.
[620] Fœdera, ix. pp. 215, 216-218, 238. Walsingham, p. 390.
[621] The same names of ships, and the place of their construction (then called Hampton), are given in the “Dominion of the Sea,” as preserved in Hakluyt, vol. i. See also the Chronicle of the Church of the Holy Trinity at Winchester, in which, too, is a notice of the action off Harfleur A.D. 1416. Sir H. Nicolas, quoting from the “Issue Roll” of Henry V., states that 496l. was paid at Southampton for the “Holy Ghost,” and 500l. for the “Grâce Dieu;” but this could have been only a portion of the real cost of these ships. (Hist. Roy. Navy, ii. 406.)
[622] Hakluyt, vol. i. pp. 187-203.
[623] The Emperor Sigismund came to London May 7, 1416, to try to make peace between England and France.
[624] Query, Castile soap.
[625] The ancient word Easterlings or Osterlings (whence Sterling) signifies from the east, and embraces the inhabitants of all the seventy-two Hanse Towns.
[626] It used to be thought that “lodemenage” had some connection with the mariner’s compass, but this is not the case. The word is a hybrid, part English, part French, and means “pilotage.” It is used several times in that sense in 3 George i. c. 13. Compare with it, “Loadsman” (the priest), “Loadstar,” and “Loads-stone,” all agreeing in their composition with “load,” i.e. some leading or guiding influence.
[627] See Treaty of Charles II. with the States-General.
[628] “The bonnet is belonging to another saile, and is commonly used with none but the missen, maine, and fore-sailes, and the sprit-sailes. I have seene, but it is very rare, a top-saile bonnet, and hold it very useful in an easie gale, quarter-winde, or before a wind. This is commonly one-third as deepe as the saile it belongs to; there is no certaine proportion, for some will make the maine-sail so deep, that with a showele bonnet, they will latch all the mast without a drabbler.” Manwayring, Sir H., “Seamen’s Dictionary presented to the late Duke of Buckingham,” Lond. 4to, 1644. See also “The Sailor’s Word-Book,” by Admiral W. H. Smyth, Lond., 1867.
[629] Ordinance of Hastings. Sir Harris Nicolas has thrown some doubt on this ordinance of King John, because we have no record that he was ever at Hastings; on the other hand, Sir Travers Twiss—who is supported in his view by Sir Duffus Hardy—shows that he may easily have been there, and issued it in the second year of his reign, A.D. 1201. (Black-Book, p. L.)
[630] This heavy expense doubtless applies to a time of war; but the return speaks also of previous debts of Henry IV. on Calais which had not been paid off.
[631] Fœdera, vol. v. p. 113.
[632] Act 9 Henry V. Stat. 1, ch. 10.
[633] To what extent England had been depopulated by the wars with France, may be seen from the fact noticed in the Act 9 Henry V. Stat. 1-5, that the sheriffs were to remain in office, instead of being changed annually, because a sufficient number of persons duly qualified for the office could not be found.
[634] Fœdera, xi. p. 258.
[635] Ibid. xi. pp. 226-27.
[636] Fœdera, xi. p. 277.
[637] See interesting details of William Canynge (the ancestor of George Canning), in “Illustrations of the History of Bristol,” p. 280, 1853, by S. Lucas, M.A., the first editor of “Once a Week.” Canynge’s grandfather was mayor of Bristol six times, his father twice, and himself five times.
[638] Act 3 Edward IV. c. i.
[639] Act 3 Edw. IV. c. 4.
[640] Fœdera, xi. p. 567.
[641] Ibid. xi. pp. 534-569, 572, 583.
[642] Fœdera, xi. p. 591. It is clear, also, from several notices in the “Fœdera,” that Edward IV. was himself a considerable owner of merchant vessels.
[643] Ibid. pp. 544-793.
[644] Rymer’s MS. Records, Edw. IV. vol. iii. p. 55.
[645] Fœd., xii. p. 270. Roscoe states that this Strozzi was still alive so late as A.D. 1538 (Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici, c. 10). Henry VII. appointed another English merchant, Christopher Spene, as consul at Pisa (Fœd., xii. p. 314).
[646] Fœd., xii. p. 389.