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Another Letter of Edward the second, to Haquinus King of Norway, in the behalfe of certaine English Marchants
Magnifico Principi Dom Haquino Dei gratia regi Norwegiæ illustri, amico suo charissimo, Edwardus eadem Dei gratia Rex Angliæ, dominus Hyberniæ, & dux Aquitaniæ, salutem cum dilectione sincera. [Sidenote: Northbernæ villa.] Querelam dilectorum Mercatorum nostrorum Thomæ de Swyn de Waynfleete, & Simonis filij Alani de eadem recepimus, continentem, Quod cùm ipsi nuper quosdam seruientes suos infrà regnum vestrum pro suis ibidem exercendis mercimonijs transmisissent, Thesaurarius vester bona & mercimonia prædictorum Thomæ & Simonis ad valenciam quadraginta librarum, quæ seruientes prædicti in villa de Northberne in sua custodia habuerunt, die Sancti Michælis vltimò præterita fecit absque causa rationabili arestari, & ea adhuc taliter arestata detinet iniustè, in ipsorum Thomæ & Simonis damnum non modicum & depauperationem manifestam. Et quia eisdem mercatoribus nostris subuenire volumus, quatenus suadente iustitia poterimus in hac parte, vestram amicitiam requirimus cum affectu, quatenus audita querela prædictorum Thomæ & Simonis, vel ipsorum atturnatorum super restitutione bonorum & mercimoniorum prædictorum impendere velitis eisdem celeris iustitiæ complementum: Ita quod pro defectu exhibitionis iustitiæ super arestatione prædicta non oporteat nos pro mercatoribus nostris prædictis de alio remedio prouidere. Nobis autem quid ad hanc nostram instantiam duxeritis faciendum, rescribere velitis per præsentium portitorem. Datæ vt supra.
The same in English.
To the mightie Prince Lord Haquinus, by the grace of God the famous King of Norway, his most deare friend Edward by the same grace of God king of England, Lorde of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine, greeting and sincere loue. Wee receiued the complaint of our welbeloued Merchants Thomas de Swyn of Waynfleet, and Simon the sonne of Alanus of the same towne: the contents whereof are, that whereas of late, the saide parties sent certaine of their seruants to traffike in your kingdome, your Treasurer vpon the feast of S. Michæl last past, without any iust or reasonable occasion, caused the goods and merchandise of the foresaide Thomas and Simon, to the value of fortie pound, which their said seruants had vnder their custodie at the towne of Northberne, to be arrested, and as yet also iniurously deteineth the same vnder the same arrest, to the great damage and impouereshing of the sayd Thomas and Simon. And forasmuch as our desire is to succour these our marchants so far foorth as we can, Iustice requiring no lesse in this behalfe, we doe right earnestly request you, that hauing hearde the complaint and supplication of the foresayde Thomas and Simon, or of their Atturneyes, you woulde of your loue and friendship, vouchsafe them speedie administration of Iustice, about the restitution of their goods and marchandise aforesaide: least that for want of the exhibiting of Iustice about the foresaid arrest, we be constrained to prouide some other remedie for our marchants aforesaid. Our request is, that you would by the bearer of these presents, returne an answere vnto vs, what you are determined to doe, at this our instant motion. Giuen as aboue.
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A third letter of King Edward the second, to Haquinus King of Norway in the behalfe of certaine English Marchants.
Magnifico Principi Domino Haquino Dei gratia Regi Norwegiæ illustri, amico suo charissimo, Edwardus eadem Dei gratia Rex Angliæ, dominus Hyberniæ, & dux Aquitaniæ, salutem cum dilectione sincera. Pro mercatoribus nostris Lennæ, & partium vicinarum, quos Balliuus & Officiarij vestri ciuitatis vestræ Bergen dudum ceperunt, & stricto carceri manciparunt, quorum multi vt iam intelleximus, propter alimentorum subtractionem & duritiam, ac asperitatem carceris perierunt, vt ipsorum & bonorum suorum deliberationem præcipere curaretis, vestræ serenitati Regiæ nostras nuper transmisimus literas speciales. Sed vos, retentis adhuc in carcere nostris mercatoribus sicut prius, nobis per literas vestras quas audiuimus & intelleximus diligenter, inter cætera rescripsistis, quod quidam mercatores de regno vestro de iniurijs, violentijs & arrestationibus, quibus in regno nostro his diebus sunt vt asserunt, contra iustitiam aggrauati, multipliciter conqueruntur, adijciendo in vestris literis memoratis, quod quidam iniquitatis filij in villa Lennæ, ad piscandum vt dicebant halecia venientes quendam militem Balliuum vestrum, in Vikia vnà cum decem alijs subditis vestris, in vestris & regni vestri negotijs existentibus crudeliter occiderunt. Super quibus mens nostra grauatur quàmplurimum & turbatur, præsertim quum nunquam nostræ fuerit voluntatis, quod iniuriæ, violentiæ, seu arrestationes aliquæ mercatoribus, vel alijs de regno vestro per aliquos de regno & potestate nostris fierent indebitè vel iniustè: nec adhuc intelligere possumus, quod mercatoribus vestris per aliquem vel aliquos de subditis nostris huc vsque aliter factum fuerit: Scientes pro certo quod si nobis per inquisitiones legitimas constare poterit huiusmodi grauamina subditis vestris infra regnum nostrum illata fuisse, nos sufficientes emendas, & satisfactiones debitas super illis, celerísque iustitiæ complementum fieri faciemus. Et insuper si malefactores prædicti, qui præfatum militem, & alios secum existentes, vt præmittitur, occiderunt, de regnò, seu potestate nostra sint, vel infrà idem regnum vel potestatem poterunt inueniri, de ipsis iudicium & iustitiam fieri pracipiemus, secundum Leges & consuetudines regni nostri. [Sidenote: Antiquitas comercij inter Angliam & Norwegiam.] Et quia inter nos & vos, nostrósque & vestros subditos hinc inde foueri desideramus mutuam concordiam & amorem; ita quod mercatores nostri & vestri mercandisas suas in nostris & vestris regnis & dominijs liberè, & absque impedimento valeant exercere, prout temporibus progenitorum nostrorum fieri consueuit, & ex dictarum literarum vestrarum serie collegimus euidenter vos promptos esse similiter, & paratos ad omnia & singula, quæ pro vobis & vestris subditis super discordijs, contentionibus, aut grauaminibus inter nostros & vestros subditos qualitercunque suscitatis pro bono pacis & iustitiæ fuerint æquanimiter facienda; Nos consimilia pro nobis & nostris, quantum ad nos & ad ipsos attinet, illius amore, qui pacis author fore dinoscitur, & pro quiete & commodo populi vtriusque regnorum nostrorum, quatenus ius & ratio dictitauerint, promittimus nos factoros: Vestram amicitiam requirentes obnixius & rogantes, quatenus mercatores nostros prædictos, qui adhuc superstites relinquuntur, quos etiam tempore, quo dicta felonia committi dicebatur, interclusos tenebat custodia carceralis, iubere velitis nostri contemplatione, zelóque iustitiæ ab huiusmodi custodia liberari, bona ab ipsis capta eis prout iustum fuerit restitui faciendo. Et vt deliberatio mercatorum nostrorum prædictorum, & bonorum suorum eò facilius concedatur, placeat vobis cum diligentia debita ponderare, quod Galfridus Drewe, & quidam alijs mercatores nostri de Lenne, quibusdam mercatoribus de regno vestro occasione eiusdem grauaminis ipsis mercatoribus vestris, ad sectam Tidemanni Lippe infrà regnum nostrum, vt dicebatur, illati, centum libras sterlingorum persoluerunt, sicut in quodam scripto indentato inter Ingelramum Lende de Thorenden, & quosdam alios mercatores vestros ex parte vna, & præfatam Galfridum, & quosdam alios de regno nostro similiter ex altera confecto, vidimus contineri. Si qui verò de subditis vestris de aliquibus subditis nostris, de aliqua iniuria ipsis facta querelas in curia nostra deponere voluerint, & prosequi cum effectu, ipsorum subditorum vestrorum petitiones admitti, & eis super querelis huiusmodi plenam & celerem iustitia fieri faciemus. Ita quod ijdem subditi vestri exinde reputare debebunt meritò se contentos. Et interim de excessibus & grauaminibus subditis vestris infrà regnum nostrum qualitercunque illatis inquiri faciemus cum diligentia veritatem. Vestræ igitur voluntatis beneplacitum in præmissis nobis rescribere velitis per præsentium portitorem. Datas apud Westminster tertio die Aprilis.
The same in English.
To the mightie Prince king Haquinus, by the grace of God the famous king of Norway, his most deare friend Edward by the same grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, Duke of Aquitaine, greeting and sincere loue. We sent of late vnto your royall maiestie our special letters, for the behalfe of our late marchants of Lenne, and of the coast adioyning (whome your baily and officers of the citie of Bergen lately apprehended, committing them to close prison, many of whome, as we vnderstand, are, for want of due nourishment, and by reason of the extremitie & loathsomnesse of the prison, quite perished) that you would cause them and their goods to bee released. Howbeit, you reteining as yet our marchants in durance as before, in your letters, which we haue diligently heard, and throughly vnderstood, haue, amongst other matters, returned this answere vnto vs, that certaine marchants of your kingdome doe make sundrie complaints of iniuries, violences and arrests, whereby they haue lately (as themselues auouch) contrary to iustice bene aggrieued and oppressed in our dominions adding moreouer in your sayde letters, that certaine sonnes of iniquitie of the towne of Lenne, comming, as they saide, to fish for herings cruelly murthered a certaine Knight, who was in times past your bayliffe of Vikia, together with ten others of your subiects, being imployed about the affaires of your kingdome. In consideration whereof our minde is exceedingly and aboue measure grieued and troubled, especially sithence it as neuer any part of our intent, that any iniuries, violences, or arrests should vniustly be inflicted vpon any marchants, or any others of your realme by any of our kingdomes: neither can we as yet haue any intelligence, that any such hard measure hath bene offered vnto any of your marchants, by any one or moe of our subiects: giuing you for a certaintie to vnderstand, that if vpon lawfull inquisition we shal be aduertised of any such grieuances, which haue bene offered vnto your subiects within our realme, we will cause speedie iustice to be administred, and sufficient recompence, and due satisfaction to be made in regarde thereof. And moreouer, if the saide malefactors, which, as it is aforesaid, slewe the forenamed Knight, and others of his companie, either be appertaining vnto our kingdome and dominion, or may at any time be found within our saide kingdome or dominion, we will command iustice and lodgement to be executed vpon them according to the lawes and customes of our realme. And forasmuch as our desire is, that mutuall concord and amitie should be mainteined and cherished between your and our subiects on both parts: so that our and your marchants may, in both our Realmes and dominions, freely and without impediment exercise their traffique, as in the times of our progenitors it hath bene accustomed; [Sidenode: The antiquity of traffique betweene England and Norway] Whereas also we euidently gathered out of the contents of your letter, that you are in like sort readie and willing to put all things in practise, which are by you and your subiects (for the taking away of discords, contentions, and molestations howsoeuer occasioned, and sprung vp betweene your and our subiects) louingly to be performed: we also doe promise for our selues and our subiects so much as in vs and them lieth for his sake who is knowen to be the author of peace, and for the benefite & tranquilitie of both our Realmes (as iustice and reason shall moue vs) to doe the like. Desiring and earnestly requesting at your hands, that of your loue and friendship, hauing regard of vs, and consideration of iustice, you would commaund that our foresaide marchants, who as yet remaine aliue, and who also at the time of the saide felonie committed, were shut vp in close prison, be deliuered out of the saide thraldome, causing their goods which haue bene taken from them, to bee, according vnto iustice, restored to them again. And that the deliuerie of our foresaide marchants and goods, may be the more easily yeelded vnto, may it please you with diligent obseruation to consider, that Gefferey Drew, and certaine other of our marchants of Lenne, vpon occasion of the greiuances offered vnto your marchants within our Realme, (as the report goeth) at the suite of Tidman Lippe, paide vnto the same your marchants an hundreth pound sterling: euen as in a certain Indenture made betweene Ingelram Lende of Thorenden, and some other of your marchants on the one part, and betweene the foresaide Geffrey, and certaine of our marchants on the other part, wee sawe conteined. Moreouer, if any of your subiects be minded to exhibite, and effectually to prosecute their complaints in our Court, concerning any of our subiects, or of any iniury done vnto them, we will cause the petitions of those your subiects to be admitted, and also full and speedie iustice to be administred, vpon any such like complaints of theirs. Insomuch, that those your subiects shal thinke themselues right well and sufficiently contented therewithall. And in the meane space we will cause diligent inquisition of the trueth to be made, of all excesses and grieuances howsoeuer offered vnto your subiects within our dominions. May it please you therfore, by the bearer of these presents, to returne an answere vnto vs, what you are determined to doe in the premisses. Giuen at Westminster, the third day of April.