This indenture made between Thomas Beaupyne of Bristol and John Polymond of Hampton appointed in Parliament to make order for the safe keeping of the sea by means of the subsidy of 6d. in the pound and 2s. on the tun [of wine] on the coasts of the west, granted in the said Parliament for the same cause, of the one part, and William Bast of the other part, witnesseth that the said William has received from the said Thomas and John 180l. of the said subsidy to find a ship and a barge of 180 men to serve our lord the King on the sea for a quarter of a year, the said quarter beginning on Michaelmas Day next or within fifteen days after, as he shall deem best to be done, by the testimony of the mayor of Dartmouth or the admiral's lieutenant in those parts, taking from the commencement of the said voyage 20s. for each man for the said quarter, together with all the profit that he may seize from enemies in the mean time without impeachment, according to the form ordained and agreed upon in the said Parliament, to be on the sea for the preservation of English shipping according to their power, without making for the land of England unless it be through tempest of the sea or other reasonable cause during the said quarter; for the good and lawful performance of which voyage in the manner abovesaid the said William hereby binds himself, his heirs and executors, and all his goods and chattels, moveable and immoveable, to our said lord the King to perform the said voyage as is abovesaid; and the survey of the number of the said men, according to the form of this indenture, shall be made and witnessed by the admiral in those parts or his lieutenant. In witness whereof to these indentures the parties aforesaid have interchangeably put their seals. Written at Exeter, 24 August in the sixth year of the reign of King Richard the Second after the Conquest.
3. The King's Prise of Wines [Fine Roll, 13 Edward II, m. 3], 1320
The King to his beloved clerk, Roger de Northburgh, keeper of his wardrobe, greeting. Whereas we lately confirmed certain ordinances made of late by the prelates and chiefs of our realm, and commanded the same to be observed in all and singular their articles, and in those ordinances it is contained that all gifts and grants made by us to our loss and to the diminution of our crown after 16 March in the third year of our reign, on which day we made our commission to the aforesaid prelates and chiefs touching the making of the said ordinances, ... be wholly revoked, and afterwards we granted to Stephen de Abindon, our butler, our right prise of wines one tun of wine before the mast and one tun of wine behind the mast, at our will, he paying to the merchants from whom he should receive those wines in our name 20s. for each piece and 20s. to us for each piece in our wardrobe; which grant was made after the said 16 March, and is known to redound to our damage: We, wishing the said ordinances to be duly put into execution in this behalf, command you that you fully charge Stephen, in his account of the things pertaining to his office of butler to be rendered before you, with the wines of our right prise aforesaid for the whole time in which the same Stephen was our butler, notwithstanding our grant aforesaid and our commands afterwards following hereon. Witness the King at Odiham, 23 May[246].
By the council.
[246] The prise of wines was the royal right, limited at least from the time of Edward I., of purchasing 2 tuns of wine from every ship at the rate of 20s. a tun, whatever the market price might be; 60s. a tun was a normal price in the 14th century (see K.R. Accounts, 77. 21). The value of this grant to Stephen is obvious.
4. The Custom on Wool [Fine Roll, 3 Edward I, m. 24], 1275.
For the new custom which is granted by all the great men of the realm and at the prayer of the communities of the merchants of all England, it is provided that in every county in the largest town where there is a port two of the more lawful and able men be elected, who shall have one piece of a seal in keeping, and one man who shall be assigned by that King shall have another piece; and they shall be sworn that they will lawfully receive and answer for the King's money, that is to say, on each sack of wool ½ mark, and on each 300 fells which make a sack ½ mark, and on each last[247] of hides 1 mark, that shall go out of the realm, as well in Ireland and Wales as in England, within the franchise and without. Furthermore in every port whence ships can sail there shall be two good men sworn that they will not suffer wools, fells or hides to leave without letters patent sealed with the seal which shall be at the chief port in the same county; and if there is any man who goes otherwise therewith out of the realm, he shall lose all the chattels which he has and his body shall be at the King's will. And forasmuch as this business cannot be performed immediately, it is provided that the King send his letters to every sheriff throughout all the realm, and cause it to be proclaimed and forbidden through all the counties that any man, upon forfeiture of his body and of all his chattels, cause wools, fells or hides to be taken out of the land before the feast of Trinity this year, and thereafter by letters patent sealed with the seals as is aforesaid, and not otherwise, upon the aforesaid forfeitures. And the King has granted of his grace that all lordships, through the ports whereof wools or hides shall pass, shall have the forfeitures when they are incurred, each in its port, saving to the King ½ mark on each sack of wool and fells, and 1 mark on each last of hides.[248]
[247] 12 dozen.
[248] This and the two following documents fix the normal rates of customs on exported and imported goods for the mediæval period. The custom on wools, woolfells and hides, came to be known as the great or ancient custom.
5. The Custom on Wine [Charter Roll, 30 Edward I, m. 2], 1302