[12] Chron. of Lanercoste. See Macpherson’s Annals of Commerce, vol. i. p. 446. In 1282, the customs of England were farmed by Bonricini, Guidicon & Co. of Lucca, and the sum realized, from Easter 1281 till Easter 1282, netted 8411l. 19s. 11½d. The money, it may be observed at this time, was the same in both countries. Madox, History of the Exchequer, c. 23. fo. 1.
[13] The use of coal as fuel was very early known in Scotland. By a charter, dated in April 1291, William de Obervill granted liberty to the monks of Dunfermline, to dig coal for their own use in his lands of Pittencrieff, but upon no account to sell any, (Chart. in Statist. Account of Scotland, vol. xiii. p. 469.) By this restriction, it would seem that the proprietor not only set a value on the sale of coal, but also that the monks of those days were in the habit of improving their resources, by trafficking in temporal as well as in spiritual matters.
[14] Ayloff’s Calendar, p. 88. Some idea may be formed of the injury which the trade of Scotland sustained by the long protracted and impoverishing warfare she had to maintain in support of her independence, from the circumstance of James I. being obliged, in 1430, to commission two citizens of London to send him the following articles for his own use: viz. 20 tuns of wine, 12 bows, 4 dozen yards of cloth of different colours, and 12 yards of scarlet, 20 yards of red worsted, 8 dozen pewter vessels, 1200 wooden bowls (or caps), packed in 4 barrels, 3 dozen coverels, a bason and font, 2 summer saddles, 1 hackney saddle, 1 woman’s saddle, with furniture, 2 portmanteaus, 4 yards of motley, 5 yards of morray, 5 yards of black cloth of Lyn, 12 yards kersey, 12 skins of red leather, and some trifling articles. These goods, shipped on board a vessel belonging to London, were secured by a royal order from being molested by English cruizers, but they were to pay the customary duties. Fœdera, vol. x. p. 470.
[15] Rymer’s Coll. MS. vol. ii. p. 287.
[16] This traffic was frequently interrupted by war; in time of peace, it was carried on to a considerable extent. The first notice that we have of its revival after the wars of Wallace and Bruce, occurs in a letter of safe-conduct granted 12th January 1359, to Andrew Murray and Alan Erskine, two Scottish drovers, with three horsemen and their servants for travelling through England, or the King’s foreign dominions, for a year, with horses, oxen, cows, and other goods and merchandise.—Fœdera, vol. vi. p. 114.
[17] The greyhounds, “leporarii,” of Scotland were considered so superior, that the Duke of Berry, in France, thought it worth while to send his valet, and three other men, to procure some of them, and to obtain letters of safe-conduct from the King of England, to enable them to travel through his dominions on that business.—Fœdera, vol. vii. page 831.
[18] By the chamberlain’s accounts, it appears that the 178 hogsheads cost 439l. 16s. 8d. Sterling, while the 67 hogsheads and 1 pipe cost 373l. 16s. 8d. Could this difference arise from the latter being of superior quality, or from the market being overstocked, in consequence of the expected demand? No doubt there were speculators in those days, as well as at present.
[19] Wyntown, vol. i. p. 286.
[20] Some fine specimens of these battle-axes may be seen in the museum at Inverness.
[21] By the chamberlain’s accounts it appears, that in the reign of Alexander III., the King’s Balistarius, or keeper of the cross-bows for the Castle of Ayr, was allowed yearly two merks and a half.